good evening and welcome to bbc news. coming up in five minutes, reeta chakrabati will be here with a bulletin of the day's news. and at 10.30pm, we'll be taking a first look at the front pages of sunday's newspapers. but first, the uk and eu have tonight announced that they have agreed to return to the negotiating table to try to agree a post—brexit trade deal. prime minister boris johnson and european commission president ursula von der leyen made the decision during a phone call late this afternoon. ursula von der leyen had this to say after the call. translation: whilst recognising the seriousness of these

differences, we agreed that a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be resolved. trade and transport organisations in northern ireland have expressed their concern about the stalemate. from belfast, mark simpson reports. whichever way the brexit negotiations go, there is huge interest in northern ireland. but some business groups say they're tired of waiting for answers. we would hope, and i'll use an old ulster phrase, that the eu and the uk would just simply wise up, get the deal done. this is too important for the games and we need to make sure that people understand what the rules are going to be from the 1st of january and relationships are improved. first of all we need a deal, that will be vital to reducing any barriers between trade between gb and northern ireland. then we need an implementation phase because industry and government simply isn't ready for january the ist. and lastly, we need special derogations on retail food movements coming into northern ireland and post and parcels. politicians here have their

differences are brexit, but they all agree and one thing — that what happens next could have major implications. obviously we've been very heavily focused on covid over the past 12 months and this has really slipped down the agenda. what happens in this regard will have huge implications for both businesses and households alike, not least in terms of the choices of available goods and also their prices. stormont politicians know all about difficult negotiations and the thin line between a breakthrough and a breakdown. the focus is on political leaders in brussels and london. they have been through the issues many times before. now it's crunch time... ..once again. all people in belfast, dublin and across europe can do is wait, to see whether a last—minute deal can be done. mark simpson, bbc news, belfast.

and we'll find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:30 and 11:30 this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are the broadcaster lucy beresford and co—founder and director of deltapoll, joe twyman. next, the national news with rita chakrabarti.

no breakthrough on a post—brexit trade deal for the prime minister and the eu commission president — but they have agreed to keep talking. it's an eleventh hour bid to keep negotiations alive — with three critical issues dividing the two sides. whilst recognising the seriousness of these differences, we agreed that a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams with talks due to resume tomorrow, we'll be asking what is the likelihood of a last—minute deal. also tonight... why scientists say contact—tracing should focus on the super—spreaders. and ireland prolong scotland's woes in dublin — their win puts them third in the autumn nations cup.

good evening. a lengthy phone call between the prime minister and the european commission president this afternoon resulted in a decision to restart talks on a post—brexit trade deal in brussels tomorrow. in a joint statement, borisjohnson and ursula von der leyen said "significant differences" remain between them — and that no agreement was possible if they weren't resolved. they spoke of three critical outstanding issues — fishing rights, competition rules and how the trade agreement should be enforced. the uk has this year followed eu trade rules, but the so—called transition period ends on december 31st. the two sides have been holding talks since march in an effort to reach a deal. in a moment, we'll have reaction from brussels — but first, here's our political

correspondent chris mason. the prime minister on the phone this afternoon trying to see if the brexit trade deal is possible. he was talking to ursula von der leyen, president of european commission. big differences remain between the two sides. and afterwards, she said... whilst recognising the seriousness of these differences, we agreed that a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be, these issues can be resolved. we are therefore instructing our chief negotiators to reconvene tomorrow in brussels. the day began with the eu's chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier, checking out of his hotel in london. the talks, paused. any hope for a deal? in the four and a half years since the eu referendum, we have all become wearily familiar

with talk of deadlines. but this time it really is it. the uk left the eu at the end of january and since then has been in a transition period where very little has changed. but that runs out at the end of this month. so if there is going to be a trade deal, it has to be sorted in the coming days. 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 in everyone's interest to come to a deal. fish, how many are allowed be caught by eu countries‘ boats in uk waters is one of the big remaining disagreements. along with competition rules and how any deal is enforced. if we have a deal, at least

there is some certainty. even if we have a deal, we have to adjust to it. the government has sent out a letter to every business in the country saying, "check, change, go." well, check what? change what? go where? big changes are coming to the uk's relationship with the eu. whether there is a deal or not. and a big few days lie ahead. and chrisjoins me now. this really does feel like the last chance, doesn't it? it does. the prime minister and the president of the european commission spoke for an hour. it seems the conversation was difficult. both sides still want to get to a deal if they can. someone in government said they can. someone in government said the darkest hour is often just before the dawn, but bluntly there is hardly any time left and people in government acknowledge that there may be no deal and there's a

frustration on the uk side at what they see as the eu not getting the importance of sovereignty and control. that was a driving motivation for so many people behind voting for brexit, breaking away properly from the eu's rules. this was always going to go down to the wire, the 11th hour, whatever phrase you choose but this is it, this is that point. 0ne you choose but this is it, this is that point. one source saying this is the final throw of the dice so the uk's chief negotiator will be to brussels tomorrow. he will have a small team with him, both sides will ta ke small team with him, both sides will take stock this time tomorrow night. 0n take stock this time tomorrow night. on monday night the prime minister and the commission president will speak again. this really now is the endgame. let's get the view from brussels now with our correspondent nick beake. how are people now assessing the chances of a deal there? this evening, one diplomat was suggesting this was all part and

parcel of the inevitable choreography you get before a deal is sealed, that's to say you throw ina dose is sealed, that's to say you throw in a dose of drama here, a dollop of intrigue there and it all comes together very nicely indeed. but i got to tell you more people here in brussels tonight do not share that confidence. very few people say with certainty that yes, there will be a deal and that is because this isn't just haggling over the price of fish although clearly this is an important topic in the talks, this goes to the heart of those competition rules that underpin the eu single market. and the eu are adamant they will not be giving the uk unfair advantage adamant they will not be giving the uk unfairadvantage in adamant they will not be giving the uk unfair advantage in trade in the future. as chris was saying, boris johnson says the problem is the eu is not willing to wake up and smell the coffee and recognise that the uk is now a sovereign independent country. i think the problem, the challenge is that if there is to be a deal, both sides need to sell it to their respective domestic audiences, they need to claim they

haven't made too many sacrifices but this is getting very late in the day, it's no easy task. coronavirus now, and the latest government figures show new infections continuing to fall. there were 15,539 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week, is now 14,400. 1,365 people were admitted to hospital on average each day over the week to last tuesday. 397 deaths were reported — that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. that means on average in the past week 427 deaths were announced every day. it takes the total number of deaths so far across the uk to 61,014. next week will see the start of the coronavirus vaccination programme, after the pfizer biontech vaccine was approved for use in the uk.

but the nations‘ four chief medical officers are urging caution, saying it will only have a "marginal impact" on the numbers in hospital this winter. so, mass testing is likely to be key to containing the virus. but there are concerns here too, after the rapid turnaround tests used in a pilot in liverpool missed half of all cases. katherine da costa reports. council staff here in wolverhampton are preparing to roll out mass testing from monday. nose and throat swabs are taken but instead of being sent to a lab, lateral flow tests provide results within half an hour. but there is concern they are not as accurate as standard pcr tests, so more people could be told they are negative when they are not. if those people then go out and they visit their grandparents, they stop socially distancing and so on because they believe they haven't got covid, that's not going to help, it could actually make it worse. in wolverhampton they hope rapid

testing will help them move out of tier 3 by detecting those without any symptoms and getting them to isolate. that is what happened following a trial in liverpool last month. the government said mass testing helped towards reducing the rate of infection, but figures from the pilot showed tests missed half of all cases. health advisers say they still have a value. we've been very clear that this test finds people that we couldn't otherwise. what we are doing here is we're doing case detection. we are not trying to say people do not have the disease if their test is negative. we're trying to say, you do have the disease and now we want you to go and isolate for ten days. trials of mass testing are being explored across the uk. in england the tests are also being used in schools, care homes and by students before they head home for christmas. behavioural experts say that could send mixed messages. the problem is that this is being used, for example, with university students, to say if you get a negative result on two occasions, you're all right to travel home.

because this is being done in this way, it's communicating that somehow those people are not infectious. they may still be infectious after two such negative test results, so the government urgently needs to explain that this test is for identifying those who are infectious so they can isolate. it is not for reassuring those who test negative. coronavirus is highly contagious... this new public health video has just been released as a reminder that even with mass testing and vaccines on the way, we still need to be vigilant to stop the spread of the virus this winter. katherine da costa, bbc news. tracing the contacts of someone who tests positive for covid—19 is crucial to breaking the chain of transmission. scientists say that backwards contact tracing — that is, finding the source of an infection — can result in two to three times as many cases being traced and isolated. 0ur science correspondent

rebecca morelle reports. we need to break the chains of transmission, but coronavirus does not spread evenly from person to person. this event at the white house is a prime example. while most people won't pass the virus onto anyone, scientists estimate thatjust 20% of infected people are causing 80% of covid cases. it is known as super spreading and in the rose garden, one person is thought to have infected at least 11 others, including donald trump. with respect to super spreading events and that seems to relate both to the activities that people are doing, how many people are in the room, how close they are, but also there seem to be some people that do just excrete more vii’us. stopping super spreading could be the key to fighting covid—19, but you need to discover the source of an outbreak. and that means tracking and tracing in a different way.

contact tracing is all about detective work. for forward contact tracing, if i test positive, it means finding all the people that i could have given the virus to and asking them to self—isolate. but for backward contact tracing, it means finding the person who gave the virus to me. because if they passed it to me, they are more likely to have infected other people too, so then their contacts are identified and asked to self—isolate as well. if we just look forward then because a lot of cases won't spread infection to others, potentially, you could miss that large part of transmission where super spreading is happening, so going backwards has the advantage that you can identify those clusters, identify who else was there and potentially prevent any onward transmission. modelling we did estimated that looking backwards as well as forwards could prevent two or three times more infections and hence transmission than byjust looking forwards alone. in sydney they are

back on the beach. they have managed to keep coronavirus cases low and backwards contact tracing has been an important part of australia's policy. so in one instance we were notified of a person who had covid and it wasn't obvious where they had acquired their infection from. but in the period before they got sick, they had been to a restaurant and there were more than ten other cases linked to that restaurant and so we were able to limit spread in those other chains of transmission that had been ongoing. in the uk, the spread of coronavirus seems to be slowing and if numbers fall more, backwards tracing could be a way to get ahead of the pandemic. rebecca morelle, bbc news. the labour party has revealed that sir keir starmer is self—isolating. a member of his private office staff tested positive, but the labour leader says he's not showing symptoms. in line with government advice, he will work from home until wednesday 16th of december.

merseyside police say the mayor of liverpool, joe anderson, has been released on bail, following his arrest on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation. he and four other people were detained as part of a year—long investigation into the awarding of building contracts. in a statement, mr anderson said that he was "interviewed for six hours" and that he was "co—operating fully" with the police. hens, turkeys and other captive birds in britain will have to be kept indoors from december 14th to prevent the spread of avian flu which has hit europe. the strict new measures — which have already been introduced in the netherlands — apply to large commercial poultry farms, but also to people with small garden pens. with all the sport now, here's lizzie greenwood—hughes at the bbc sport centre. thanks, rita. good evening. it's the last weekend of rugby union's autumn nations cup. england play france

in the final tomorrow — today was about pride and wales survived a scare to beat italy 38—18 for 5th place, while ireland continued their long winning—streak over scotland at home — winning 31—16 to finish third. ben croucher reports. back where it all started. ten months, one pandemic and a scottish rugby revival later, yet a familiar feeling in dublin. the recent momentum swung in an instant in a swing of duncan taylor's arm. deliberate according to the referee, a yellow card. one man and soon two points down as keith earls had the fastest reactions and the first try. fast in mind, fleet of foot and acrobatic in the air. the munster man extended the irish advantage but for all of his fancy on the flanks, scotland and dth van der merwe went straight through the centre. but that was all they would have to shout about as ireland kicked clear to book in 2020 with another win over scotland. the lights are not shining as brightly on welsh rugby right now either.

by how much their glow had faded wasn't initially evident as kieran harvey helped them to a comfortable lead against an italian side who had a few headaches to contend with. the retribution was dished out by marko zaman. italy had never beaten wales in wales. was this their moment? in this mood there was no stopping them. ioan lloyd tried and came off second best. italy ahead. so it was with a collective sense ofjoy and relief that wales‘ stars shone. gareth davies, george north and justin tipuric added the sparkle to the scoreline and give some confidence for when they do it all again injust a couple of months. ben croucher, bbc news. there were no fans at those international games, but 2000 were allowed into worcester‘s. .. premiership match for the first time since march. not quite the spectacle they were hoping for though. worcester were disappointing against bath who beat them 33—17. match of the day and sportscene follow the news —

so don't listen if you want to wait for the football results because they're coming now... chelsea are the new leaders of the premier league after beating leeds 3—1. fans were able to watch their victory at stamford bridge for the first time in nine months. elsewhere there were wins for manchester city who are now fifth — and manchester united who jump to fourth. in the scottish premiership — hamilton won at home for the first time this season, and there were victories for livingston and hibs. the football association has condemned the behaviour of fans at a millwall game today after a section booed >when players took the knee to protest against discrimination. it was the first time fans have been allowed there this season. they lost the match to derby. rally driver elvyn evans says his chances of becoming britain's first world champion for 19 years are now pretty slim. the welshman was leading going into the final event at rally monza but crashed—out in the snow.

he's fit to continue tomorrow, but can only win the title — if his rival fails to finish. there's more on the bbc sport website, including how lewis hamilton's stand—in just missed—out on pole position in bahrain. back to you, rita. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. that's all from me. goodnight. well, the chilly weather is here to stay for the next few days. it's not desperately cold but certainly cold enough for some of that snow to still hang around in the hills and the mountains. for most of us, sunday is actually going to be quite a bright day

you're watching bbc news with maryam moshiri. coming up at10.30pm, we'll take a first look at all of sunday's papers with my guests. but first... a 28—year—old man has been charged with attempted murder after baby girl was found seriously injured inside a property in blackpool. the baby is in a critical condition in hospital. our news correspondent, steve saul gave us more detail. lancashire police were called to police in leyton at around six o'clock on thursday. they were made aware by the ambulance service and there they found a four—month—old baby, she had been seriously injured. she was taken to hospital and she was transferred to the specialist elder hey children's hospital and told that she remains ina hospital and told that she remains in a critical condition tonight. a 28—year—old man from blackpool was initially arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm but lancashire police say after consultation in

talks with the crown prosecution service the man, 28—year—old jordan lee, from the same property, was charged with attempted murder. he appeared at court this morning and has been remanded in custody. dci eric halford of blackpool police in lancashire said the thoughts of the force remained with the family at this difficult time for them and she remains in hospital in a critical condition. they say while a man has been charged, their investigation is very much ongoing and they are asking anyone with information or anyone who saw 01’ asking anyone with information or anyone who saw or heard what they —— anything suspicious in the area at the time, to contact the police. three people have been treated in hospital two of them for serious injures — after an explosion destroyed a house in west yorkshire. the blast happened at a property in illingworth, near halifax, shortly after 7.30 this morning. west yorkshire police say their investigation involves liaising with the gas supplier, local council and the health and safety executive.

as sabbiyah pervez reports. a property engulfed in flames was reduced to its bare bones. six of houses were evacuated. the shock was palpable. we saw people jumping out of the house, literally, there was no front of the house and from the top floor, i could see it had collapsed and i saw someone jumping out. i heard people saying, get the old lady up who lives next door, and they managed to get her out and i saw them carrying her over their shoulder. it was like something out ofa shoulder. it was like something out of a horror story. as i opened my door at the back, the flames were coming all along. we've all been evacuated in the immediate area to make sure it is safe before we can go back. it was an explosion that

was felt by everyone living in this neighbourhood here in halifax, and as you can see behind me, emergency services are continuing to extinguish any small fires that might appear. the family affected oui’ might appear. the family affected our thankfully saved and currently in hospital being treated with minor injuries. whilst investigations continue into the cause of this explosion. there is a gas main that is still ignited but we are projecting that, we have got water surrounding the property, we have evacuated the new properties as well. you can probably see behind me that the gas services are on the scene, along with police and health and safety executive. we won't be going from the scene until we are happy that it is safe. meanwhile, the community here have come together to raise funds and donate essential items for the family affected. they hope that at the very least the family can have a co mforta ble least the family can have a comfortable christmas after a traumatic experience.

time for a look at the weather with thomasz. well, the chilly weather is here to stay for the next few days. it's not desperately cold but certainly cold enough for some of that snow to still hang around in the hills and the mountains. for most of us, sunday is actually going to be quite a bright day and, yes, a few showers in the forecast. low pressure is close by so hence there will be a fair bit of cloud in places from the morning onwards. but more significantly we still have that current of cold air coming in and out of the arctic. it is actually fed all the way down towards the western mediterranean. so, this is what it looks like through the early hours of sunday morning, clouds and some showers there across northern parts of england. i think the coldest weather will be early in the morning across many western parts of the uk. temperatures in rural spots under the clear skies will have dipped down to around minus three degrees. but most towns and cities it will be around freezing or above. so, here is the forecast for sunday. notice a few showers as they are filtering

in through parts of the midlands, maybe one or two showers close to the south coast of england, but for places like belfast, glasgow, much of scotland, actually, lots of sunshine on the way and there will be some sunshine in the south as well, but chilly, temperatures fall to six degrees celsius. and sunday into monday is going to be every bit as nippy as well. here is the jet stream for monday. we still have that big dip in the jet stream across many parts of western and central europe, and this is the reason for the cold air leaking in from the northern climes. so, this pattern are certainly worse through the first half of the week. in fact, what we are going to see is low pressure forming in the north sea during monday afternoon. monday afternoon itself is actually looking dry but then it does look as though monday night into tuesday, that weather front is going to roll in and it will produce rain, sleet and snow i think across the hills, probably yorkshire, the southern uplands, into the highlands as well.