this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. uk prime minister borisjohnson and the president of the european commission will speak later today to try and break the brexit trade talks deadlock. we keep calm, as always, and if there is still a way, we will see, huh? the two sides remain divided on fishing rights — the rules governing state subsidies for business and how the deal is policed. uk businesses say they need clarity now. the government have sent out a letter to every business in the country saying "check, change, go". well, check what? change what? go where? we need to know now. this has now got to be done, there has got to be compromise on both sides.

the uk vaccine regulator says the covid—19 vaccine will "definitely" be ready to go into care homes in the next two weeks. a large scale vaccine roll—out begins today in russia, using the country's ‘sputnik‘ jab. the makers say it is up to 95% effective, but it's still undergoing trials. coming up: in a week that's seen the collapse of uk household names including topshop and debenhams, what's next for the high street as we know it? hello and welcome. if you are watching in the uk

or around the world, stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. britain's prime minister, boris johnson, and european commission president, ursula von der leyen, will seek to break the deadlock over a post—brexit trade deal. negotiators for the two sides called in the two leaders after saying "significa nt divergences" remained following a week of intensive talks. most of the deal has been completed but key sticking points remain. these include fishing rights, the rules governing state subsidies for business and how the agreement is policed. time is running out to get a deal through before the uk leaves eu trading rules on 31st december. here's the eu chief negotiator, michel barnier, speaking this morning on his way back to brussels. good morning, monsieur barnier. hello, how are you? what will you be saying to president von der leyen? good morning. we keep calm, as always, and if there is still a way, we will see, huh? thank you.

au revoir. is all hope of a deal lost, mr barnier? if there is still a way we will see, huh? au revoir. thank you. safe trip. with me now is our political correspondent jonathan blake. michel barnier not saying very much, but saying it elegantly. deliberately saying very little. he is off back to brussels as the negotiations here in london, which have been continuing intensively here have now been posed last night. they also said that significant divergences remain between the uk and the eu. given the diplomatic language tends to understate rather than overstate things, we can take it that there are still big gaps between the positions of both sides and those key sticking points.

fishing access, eg boats in uk waters, the governance and enforcement of any deal, and competition rules, or the lab field as it is often referred to. the negotiating teams have gone as far as they can at this point with a remit they have been given by their political masters. they are now handing it over to them, boris johnson and ursula von der leyen, to see if those two crucial figures in this ongoing drama can give each other an indication that a deal can still be done. both will have to make compromises of some sort. that is where we are this morning. the sta kes a re is where we are this morning. the stakes are incredibly high because of the timescale, the deadline of the 31st of december is looming, when the transition period comes to an end and either we will trade with the eu on the basis of an agreement between now and then, or world trade organization rules which will see ta riffs organization rules which will see tariffs and quotas come into force.

one man who knows a thing or two about brexit negotiations, david davis, has been speaking on bbc brea kfast davis, has been speaking on bbc breakfast this morning, indicating that the process could go beyond that the process could go beyond that date. it will go the distance. it will be decided politically, not in the negotiating chambers. there will be compromises, i suspect, on both sides. what the prime minister will have to protect are the key issues of control — not giving control away to the european union in pursuit of economic outcomes. but there will be... in my view, it is an everybody's interests to come to a deal, but i'm afraid it will be tense, it will be nerve—racking, it will run to the end of the month. how concerned should people be hearing that our french minister said on friday that they are

prepared to use their veto and they won't sign up for adobe would like. we need to be very wary of anything we see or hear from all quarters in this process and have a scepticism about what is being said when and why. yes, there are detailed negotiations happening which are dealing with some incredibly important and significant issues, but here in the uk, for boris johnson's part, and in paris, berlin and capitals around europe, and in brussels itself, there are political factors at play. both sides, and then the individual heads of state in all the eu member nations will have to sell to steal as a success for their electorate and their voters and their people and their countries. that is why perhaps we are seeing this part of the process happen at this point. there is perhaps an element of drama and choreography around it. both sides

need to demonstrate that they have gone as far as they possibly can, they are sticking to the red lines and they have only made a compromise because they absolutely had to at the last moment and the best interests of their nation. let's see what happened this afternoon. it will either be a breakthrough, or a breakdown. joining me now is boyan pancheski, german correspondent for the wall streetjournal, and who joins us now from berlin. good to speak to you. who will blink first, or is everyone going to bring together? everyone is going to blend together. that is a trusted modus operandi in negotiations. we have seen that before with a preliminary deal when britain actually leaves, so everyone wants deal when britain actually leaves, so everyone wants a deal. it is true that the technical talks, the

diplomatic talks have run their course, probably. it is true that it is not up to the chief to settle debts. it was like that last time around. if you remember, there was a meeting between the irish taoiseach and british prime minister, ante resolved issues between themselves. now it will require a similar effort. i can't think of a major leader in the european union who doesn't want a deal. as far as germany is concerned, germany has beenin germany is concerned, germany has been in the past months and weeks playing an extremely constructive role, in the words of one of the brexit negotiators in brussels, the german machinery is in full steam working, pushing to get a deal, to working, pushing to get a deal, to work around the french sensitivities on fisheries, to work around the whole bureaucratic construct of the negotiations. so i'm fairly confident that they will reach a deal. there is no sense that anyone wa nts deal. there is no sense that anyone wants anything else but to do a

deal. presumably, this year of all yea rs, deal. presumably, this year of all years, given the profound economic shock that the global economy has experienced, never mind the eu economy and the uk economy, nobody wa nts to economy and the uk economy, nobody wants to add to that by the uncertainty that would be triggered bya uncertainty that would be triggered by a period of trading without a formal arrangement? well, certainly. everybody is in a recession. the vaccines are coming but will they come fast enough? will they come in sufficient quantities. everybody has their internal problems, some of the countries do, anyway. they have to have a deal. essentially, there is no permanent scenario of a new deal. let's say the talks to break down and britain's slights out of the eu without a proper arrangement. a proper arrangement will then be followed later. they have to trade with europe, europe has to trade

with europe, europe has to trade with great britain. this will not be a permanent state of vacuum, even if the talks breakdown, which is not to be expected, i'd think. if you look at what angela merkel has been saying in the past few months and weeks, she quite explicitly said on two occasions that she understands how to treat very important for france, but if the talks would break down then france would have no access whatsoever to british waters, and that is obviously not a solution for the french governments, were fisheries are historically a very powerful, politically galvanising issue. it is quite interesting that michel barnier was himself minister once in the french government for agriculture and fisheries. when i was in brussels as a correspondence, he even vetoed briefly legislation that was in the pipeline that was meant to protect fisheries and to

protect the seas, and it wasn't necessarily in the interest of the french fishing industry so he vetoed it for as long as he could come a couple of weeks. so he understands the sensitivities. in the british side, they know that if they lose access to the market, they effectively lose the place where most of the british fish are sold. just one brief last thought, would you and expect an agreement this weekend, or more likely later on?” spoke yesterday night with one of the senior negotiators in brussels and he relates an opinion that it would be a make or break weekend, but that can mean a lot of things. everyone is tired of the process but they have to run the extra mile. i wouldn't necessarily jump out they have to run the extra mile. i wouldn't necessarilyjump out of a window if there was no deal this weekend. there will be the phone call between ursula von der leyen and boris johnson later on call between ursula von der leyen and borisjohnson later on today, but that is not the top level that

needs to take place. there will be phone calls between angela merkel and boris johnson, emmanuel macron. you will see what happens. i wouldn't necessarily think if there is no fundamental deal reached this weekend that that is the ultimate failure. busy time for government telephone operators this weekend if nothing else! absolutely, yes! a pleasure to speak to you. my pleasure. with a deal so far not in place there is uncertainty for businesses on both sides of the negotiations. lord bilimoria is the president of the confederation of british industry, which represents nearly 200,000 businesses across the uk. he said businesses need answers. this is, of course, very concerning for the whole country and for business. it is so close. we are

less tha n business. it is so close. we are less than four weeks away from the dead of actually the transition period ending. it is 4.5 years since the referendum and we still have not been able to agree this. the uncertainty is just so, so scary, so worrying. and what to type it is to be happening? the 31st of december, right between christmas and new year when right around the world many country sort of shutdown and at a time like that you have got to cope with all this uncertainty and all this disruption. if we have a deal, at least there is some certainty. evenif at least there is some certainty. even if we have a deal we have to adjust. even if we have a deal we have to adjust. the government have sent out a letter to every business in the country saying "check, change, go". well, check what? change what? go where? we need to know now. this has now got to be done, there has got to be compromise on both sides. we need to know now. this has now got to be done, there has got to be compromise on both sides. ias i as president of the cbi, i set on

the console of business europe, which is my counterparts and all 27 countries around europe, including countries around europe, including countries like turkey, as well, and we had a meeting last week and it was very clear, all of them, all businesses around europe, including the uk, want both sides to come to a compromise and to come to a deal for all of our sakes, because we have struggled so much as businesses this year. it has been a nightmare of the year. it has been a nightmare of the year. our economy has been decimated, an 11% drop in gdp, or worst in 300 years, yet we have shown is a country we can get on top of this pandemic. we have this wonderful news about the vaccines, rapid mass testing that has not been ruled out, there is light at the end of the channel, but if you aren't that the brexit uncertainty of a new deal scenario, we have got to remove that. if we can have that deal we will have a to build on. gps in england will start offering the coronavirus vaccine from 14th december. patients aged 80 or over will be

the first to get it. care homes in england are expected to get the vaccine within two weeks, with the first vaccinations in hospitals taking place next week. andy moore reports. any allergies that you may have? nurses in a coventry hospital practising how they will administer the new pfizer vaccine, beginning next week. because the jab comes in large batches at low temperatures, the initial roll—out will be at 50 hospitals across the uk. but we now know that will be swiftly followed with the vaccinations by groups of gps in england, beginning on monday 11! december. the priority for getting the jab will be the over—80s who can make their own way to the vaccination centre. special freezers will be provided to store the vaccine at —70. gp practices will come together to manage the programme. they have been told that is their priority, with only urgent care for all other patients. after that, within two weeks,

doses of the vaccine will start going out to care homes. plans are in place to reduce the boxes containing the vaccine doses to more manageable consignments. all of this will place a huge burden on the nhs, and so the chief medical officers of the four home nations have written to staff, praising them for their hard work, while warning that this winter will be especially hard because of the pressures from covid. they warn of a possible surge in cases because of extra socialising over christmas, and they say for the next three months, vaccines will only have a marginal effect on the burden for the nhs. every action counts when it comes to protecting ourselves and our loved ones from coronavirus. that's why the nhs has launched a new public information film comparing the wrong and the right ways we can go about our lives every day to stop the spread of covid. it reminds us that up to a third of people show no symptoms, so they can spread

the virus unknowingly. russia's coronavirus vaccination programme is beginning today, despite the sputnik vaccine still going through safety and efficacy trials. the firstjabs have been administered in clinics in moscow. it comes as russia is reporting record high numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases. mark lobel reports. russia's roll out begins here in moscow, with a cautiously optimistic public looking on. translation: i don't know whether the vaccine works or not, but i'm sure there's nothing wrong with it. i'm not an anti—vaxxer, but it's yet to be proved how effective the vaccine will be. with thousands signed up already, those currently eligible to apply on line are medics, teachers, social workers, and those in contact with lots of people during their day—to—day duties. we expect to vaccinate around two million people in december. sputnik has good safety, good efficacy, it can be stored

at plus two, plus eight. one jab costs less than ten dollars so definitely is a very good contender to be part of solution, but of course it cannot be the only solution to the world vaccine, you know, issues. president putin has now ordered the large—scale roll out of this vaccine across russia, which is yet to finish its stage three safety checks, having registered it back in august, as the country with the world's fourth worst case load for coronavirus and the recent grim domestic record of 589 covid deaths in a day. so far, the sputnik vaccine's trial results have not been peer reviewed or approved by any international drug control agency, but the vaccine has been preordered by india, south korea, china, brazil and hungary. one challenge will be to convince some of the somewhat sceptical russians of the reliability of sputnik v. translation: i am not going to get the vaccine jab. let everybody else get vaccinated,

and if they will i will survive. but the vaccine producers say this offers real hope for russian medical workers and hospitals alike, who, despite the constraints put in their path by coronavirus, are still finding ways to smile and keep safe this christmas season. mark lobel, bbc news. what are the potential issues surrounding russia's vaccine roll—out? i'm joined now to discuss this by natasha loder, health policy editor for the economist. thank you very much for talking to us thank you very much for talking to us today. let's deal with the russian vaccine first. do we know very much about this vaccine and a process that has led up to it being made available for vaccinations? no, not really. the most important thing we don't know is the most important thing, which is whether we can trust

it or not. that is the way it has been developed, something that has created a lot of concern and suspicion all over the world, i would say. the issue of rolling out vaccines internationally is important, not just for the individual countries concerned, but because presumably other countries wa nt because presumably other countries want reassurance that foreigners coming to their country who say they have been vaccinated have actually been vaccinated with something that works. that isjust something we have no idea about with the russian vaccine. i would have no idea about with the russian vaccine. iwould point have no idea about with the russian vaccine. i would point out that it really is unethical to start giving vaccines to people when you have put them through late stage trials. the sputnik vaccine did skip an entire stage of testing before it was registered in russia. that isjust not normal and it is not unusual at all. i think the registration workers —— was in august, wasn't it?

essentially, they just workers —— was in august, wasn't it? essentially, theyjust did with the last stage of testing and said, ok, we will register it. that is not the way to do it. if you think about how much concern there is around the world about the speed at which vaccine development is going, it is really ha rd to vaccine development is going, it is really hard to convey to people that when you are talking about the major manufacturers who have been developing these vaccines, although they have moved quickly, they haven't just skipped an they have moved quickly, they haven'tjust skipped an entire stage of testing. they have done them all, just kind of touch do not quite close together because normally they would be gaps between them. there has been no sort of safety breach or ethical breach in any of these other vaccines, but the russian vaccine is categorically different in the way it has been developed. what about the logistical challenges that the british are facing with a ruler to their vaccine, in trying to get it distributed efficiently? well, this

isa distributed efficiently? well, this is a journey of discovery, isn't it? none of us really know what is going to happen. we can speculate. i happen to think the nhs will be pretty good at this. i'm sure there will be problems, people who can get it, care homes that are unvaccinated. there will be all sorts of complaints. we have never done anything at the skill or nature before. there is nothing we can compare it to. vaccinating most adults in under a year! it will be difficult. there will be logistical challenges. obviously with the pfizer vaccine, and that astrazeneca once. . . pfizer vaccine, and that astrazeneca once... you have to do all of these mass vaccinations, but assemble people to have the vaccine, but you can get them to close so they in

fa ct can get them to close so they in fact each other, then bring them back a month later. it will be extraordinary. it will need quite a lot of infrastructure and careful preparation to ensure people get that second dose. thank you very much. the united nations says fighting in many parts of ethiopia's tigray region is hampering efforts to deliver aid, while thousands of refugees continue to make their way to sudan in an effort to escape the conflict. their stories are harrowing. tanya dendrinos reports. it should be a symbol of safety. but instead, this makeshift home houses the haunting memories of a family tragically broken. translation: my family and i were in our house in humera when it all started. once we heard the explosions, my wife and i gathered our children and ran outside towards the suez, and tried to keep ourselves safe there. once we heard explosions coming closer to us, we kept running in different directions to get away from them.

he hasn't seen his wife or daughters since. a father desperate to give his younger children hope to cling to, even in the depths of his despair. translation: i worry when i think about how i need to provide for my children and what has happened to my family. sometimes the thoughts that come to my mind are incomprehensible, they are very hard to think about. i'm really suffering, even in my thoughts. translation: we are miserably broken by what is happening there. we have lost everything, and it has been very difficult to sleep here. we are still suffering and thinking about our family. the one thing we have is that we have saved our lives, but we are suffering here, and we are not much better off than those who died. this is the devastating reality for many who have made the trek from ethiopia's war—torn tigray region over the border to sudan.

jan egland has been visiting refugees, and spoke to bbc world news about what he witnessed. the conditions are very difficult. remember that sudan has received now more refugees per day than the average european country receives in a year, and that has been uninterrupted now since the beginning of november. meanwhile, the united nations says fighting is hampering efforts to deliver aid to those in need in the tigray region, despite the announcement of a deal to deliver assistance in government held areas. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. new raf and satellite images show the world's largest iceberg is on a collision course with south georgia island, in the southern atlantic ocean. the giant iceberg, known as a68a, broke away from antarctica in 2017, and as you can see in these satellite images, it's slowly

drifting through the south atlantic sea towards south georgia. some breaking news now. this is following up on the rest yesterday of the mayor of liverpool. joe anderson has apparently been given bail. a statement has just been released from merseyside police. merseyside police can confirm five arrests as part of an investigation into building and development contracts in liverpool. they have been released on bailfollowing further enquiries. that is joe anderson and a further four people arrested on friday in a police investigation that was a year—long anti—bribery and witness

intimidation regarding building and development contracts in liverpool, those five people have been released on bail. with christmas just three weeks away, it's usually the busiest time of the year for our retailers. nonessential shops have now re—opened in england, but in a week that's seen the collapse of giants including topshop and debenhams, is this the end of the high street as we know it? our business correspondent katie prescott reports. lifting the shutters at bishop auckland, shelves here are stacked and shoppers are out and about once again. it's not as busy as i thought it was going to be, to be honest. we came down and didn't think we'd be able to get into any shops, but it's quite nice. it's a pleasure to see people in the street and hopefully, hopefully, we will hang on to some of the businesses in the street. it isn't the same, online shopping, because you can't see what you are buying, can you? sometimes it is ok but sometimes it is what you get, not what you wanted. so it is nice to be able to come out and look again. it is more like the small businesses, i'm pleased to see

them up and running, because i think, like, obviously the big high street chains, they've kind of helped themselves. it's just all these people that have been going for generations and have had to shut down. it's just quite scary. it's also scary when you look at the drop in the number of people shopping around the uk. yesterday, uk high streets saw a drop of 39% compared to last year. uk shopping centres, a drop of 29%. retail parks are faring better, down just 4%. overall, there has been a drop of almost a third. this pandemic—induced plunge in footfall has been a catastrophe for small shops. trends that have been brewing for years accelerated in the course ofjust a few short months. there's the cost of paying for premises like these, business rates, higher tax on property, and then of course the often cheaper and more convenient alternative of online shopping. it is a tough time to be in retail. to help sweeten the deal

for independent retailers like this chocolate maker, there are calls for the government to redistribute the business rates relief cash that several large supermarkets have given back to the treasury this week. as for so many, christmas is the most important time of year for her business. but this season she is afraid there'll be fewer parcels to wrap. lockdown has been a roller—coaster, really. a huge amount of self—doubt, a huge amount of loneliness, a huge amount of, what are we going to do with ourselves? this is now, we have smaller shoulders. i have to say, you know, without the masses of support from my customers, it would have been different. much local supporters come from lockdowns, meaning that people are shopping more in their local areas, to the detriment of cities. people have discovered stores which perhaps they never even shopped in when they were working away or long distance or they were commuting into the cities.

so it's a real opportunity for independence, although they're having a hard time at the moment, if they can continue to capture that spirit of local, going forwards, and hopefully it will help them to recover quicker. the limited time shops have had to open means december is even more vital than ever, as they face pressure to make up for lost ground in the run—up to christmas. katie prescott, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello, there. the weather's going to stay cold through the rest of the day today. there will be some patches of rain round as well, but earlier on we had some snow fall for a time. this was the early morning weather picture from the gloucestershire area, near the wye valley. now into the afternoon, as i say, most of us will see rain. there could be, though, a little bit of snow across the high ground of wales, and also across the high ground in scotland, particularly above around 200 metres elevation. generally, the weather improves a little bit through the rest of the day.