this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: president trump attends his first campaign rally since losing the election — and he's still refusing to concede. britain's prime minister borisjohnson and the eu commission president talk at length and decide post—brexit trade negotiations are to resume on sunday. ajapanese space capsule lands back on earth carrying possible clues to the origins of the solar system. carbon—rich molecules may hold some clues as to the building blocks of life on earth. and venice lights up for christmas — but you may have to be a local to see this year's spectacular sight.

president trump has again insisted, without facts, that he won the us presidential election. he was speaking at a rally in georgia — his first campaign event since last month's election. he's in georgia to support the state's two republican senators, who need to win runoff elections injanuary if republicans are to hang on to control of the senate. he said the stakes at these runoff elections are high. because at stake in this election is control of the us senate, and that really means control of this country. the voters of georgia will determine which party runs every committee, writes every piece of legislation, controls every single taxpayer dollar. very simply, you will decide whether your children will grow up in a socialist country, or whether they will grow up

in a free country. our north america correspondent peter bowes says there's a chance the president might be shifting his position ever so slightly. his tone did change a little bit, and he was talking about the number of federal judges that he has succeeded in appointing during his term in office. and then he said, "if we do — if we do a second term, which i hope we do" he predicted that he would appoint hundreds more federal judges. so that was not quite as certain as he was when he perhaps when he started off this speech — perhaps a glimmer of doubt in the president's mind — but i think the tenor of the message is that he is fighting on and that he is going to continue with these baseless claims that there was fraud during this election, and he says, referring to the election coming up — which is really what this rally is all about — the two senate seats in georgia, the election is injanuary — actually, early voting starts in less than two weeks — he says that the democrats are going to cheat again and i think

that is the kind of allegation that a lot of people had been looking out for, and especially local republicans, perhaps nervous that it might actually put off some of their supporters from going to the polls injanuary. yeah, interesting. and let's just quickly focus on these elections because they might seem slightly marginal — just two senate seats in one state of the us — but they are actually absolutely crucial to the future of the country, aren't they? yes, they are. and donald trump reflected that during his speech. and he was absolutely right. the historic importance of these two senate seats really cannot be overstated because at the moment, the republicans have the lead, they have the balance of power in the senate. these are two republican seats. and if they win them, they will secure that majority in the senate. but there is the possibility that it may lose them to the democrats, both parties will have an equal number of seats in the senate,

and then who would essentially hold the balance of power, the casting vote in close situations, well, it would be the vice president kamala harris. that is the main constitutional role of the vice president — to oversee the senate and to have the casting vote if there is a need for a tiebreaker. and that is why it is so crucially important to both the republicans and the democrats and, yes, in big part important to president trump as well, because of the democrats have the balance of power, they will think about saying goodbye to a lot of the policies that the president managed to get through over the past two years and it will be a lot easier for democrats to change things. brexit negotiations will re—start later after a lengthy phone call between prime minister boris johnson and the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen. it's still not clear whether britain and the eu will be able to break their current deadlock over fishing rights, competition

rules and how the agreement will be enforced. but the sense of urgency is clear, as the uk's brexit transition period ends on the 31st of december come what may. our political correspondent chris mason has more. the prime minister on the phone trying to see if the brexit trade deal is possible. he was talking to ursula von der leyen, the president of the 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. the day began with the eu's chief brexit negotiator michel barnier checking out of his hotel in london, the talks paused. reporter: any hope for a deal? in the 4.5 years since the eu

referendum, we have all become wearily familiar with loose talk of deadlines. but this time, it really is it. the uk left the eu at the end ofjanuary, 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, 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 to 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. i mean, 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. chris mason, bbc news at westminster. here's our correspondent nick beake with the latest from brussels. well, i was talking to one eu diplomat this evening who was suggesting that this actually can be viewed as all part and parcel of the inevitable choreography you get just before a deal is sealed. in other words, you throw in a bit of drama, there's a dollop of intrigue and lo and behold, it all comes together nicely and a deal is done. however, the majority view

here in brussels this evening as that they are concerned. and you get very few people are willing to say "yes, i believe there is going to be a trade deal" and that is because it's notjust haggling over the price of fish — that is, of course, a very important topic in these negotiations, fish is something we have heard a lot about — but for the eu, it goes to the heart of competition rules that underpins their single market. it is sacred in the eyes of people in this city and they don't want to give the uk an unfair advantage in the future. i think the key, really, is is the eu able to say if there is a deal that "yes, we have got what we wanted, we haven't given up our principles." and is borisjohnson able to say "i have got what i have wanted and not sacrificed any sovereignty that the uk has won back". at this late stage, that is really tricky to do, i think. one part of the united kingdom where there's particular concern about the current post—brexit trade negotiation stalemate is northern ireland. it's part of the uk but sits

on the island of ireland. and the republic of ireland is part of the eu. businesses who need to deal with both sides have a lot at stake. from belfast, mark simpson reports. whichever mark simpson reports. way the brexit negotiations whichever way the brexit negotiations go, there is huge interest in northern ireland. but some business groups say they are tired of waiting for a nswe i’s. they are tired of waiting for answers. you would hope that both the eu and the uk would wise up, get the deal done. this is too important and we need to make sure that people understand what the rules will be from january one and the relationship is improved. first, we need a deal. that will be vital to reducing barriers. then we need implementation phases because industry government is not ready for january one. industry government is not ready forjanuary one. and then we need special regulations on retail food movements. politicians here have their differences on brexit but they all agree on one thing. what

happens next could have major implications. obviously there isa implications. obviously there is a heavy focus on covid over the past 12 months and this has struck down the agenda. in this regard, there are huge implications for both business and household in terms, not least in terms of the choice of available goods. stallman 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 is 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. for a second weekend running, there've been violent demonstrations in paris. riot police used tear gas to disperse protesters who are opposed to a draft law protecting french officers

from being filmed on duty. our reporterjohn johnson has more. horns blare. this was the scene on the streets of paris on saturday as peaceful rallies over a controversial draft security law turned violent for a second consecutive weekend. officers fired tear gas and a pocket of demonstrators set cars and barricades on fire. shop windows were smashed by some hooded protesters and a bank was ransacked and torched. the protest started over a clause in a draft security law which aimed to restrict how people shared images of on—duty police, making it a criminal offence if there was an intent to harm their physical or psychological integrity. the government backed down in the face of pressure

and said the controversial clause would be rewritten, but protesters want the law to be scrapped completely. translation: france must distinguish itself being in the core of great democracies. it often has this habit of curbing freedoms while preaching their importance to others, in the name of democracy and france being the country of human rights. the weekly nationwide protests — which have been peaceful in lyon, marseilles and rennes — have become a problem for president macron‘s government. in an interview on friday, he acknowledged that some police officers are violent and said race was a factor, but lashed out at earlier violence in paris. translation: i can't let it be said that freedoms are being curtailed in our country and i can't say that there is no democratic debate, sometimes a little vibrant.

at least i will always be the guarantor of that, but today we are facing violence which is sometimes unprecedented. images of music producer michel zecler being kicked and punched by three white policemen last month shocked the nation. human rights activists say they might never have been made public if the new security law had already been in force. john johnson, bbc news. the world's first massacring a violent —— coronavirus vaccination programme is under way in putin. they are using sputnik five which has been approved even though trials are yet to be completed. this is one of the moscow clinics that is now rolling out russia's sputnik vaccine

to the population. first of all, doctors, medics generally, health workers, teachers and social workers have been invited to receive the vaccine. now, sputnik v is still in an experimentalform — mass trials for its safety and its efficacy are still under way — but the chief doctor at this clinic has said she is confident it is fine to roll it out now. translation: this vaccine has been officially registered. we have enough research to know that it is 92% effective. and if there is a choice to get sick or have the vaccine, then this is a dangerous disease, the answer is obvious. this is a leaflet that patients are given before they get the jab, and it talks about some of the possible side effects, although it sets out that they should be pretty minimal and last maybe one to three days — perhaps some weakness, perhaps some sickness or a fever — and it suggests just taking paracetamol. now, some 5,000 people have supposedly signed up already to get this vaccination in the mass roll—out, although we have only seen a handful or so here actually

getting the jab. translation: we see how sick people get, so we have no doubts at all about getting vaccinated. we use protective clothing, of course, and now we are getting the vaccine as early as possible. from the very start, russia's treated this quest for a covid vaccine as something of a race. certainly, it declared itself the first country to register a vaccine, sputnik v, back in august, even before the mass trials had begun. now it is moving very quickly to roll the vaccine out for use by the population at large. there are still questions about how much it can actually produce of sputnik v, though, manufacturers unable to quickly scale up their production. president putin has said that 2 million doses should be available for people this year and then next year, russia plans to roll this out much faster, much wider as the number of covid cases in the country

continues to grow. this is bbc news, the headlines. president trump attends his first campaign rally since losing the election — and he's still refusing to concede. britain's prime minister borisjohnson and the eu commission president talk at length and decide post—brexit trade negotiations are to resume on sunday. are we one step closer to discovering how life began? what looked like a shooting star landing in the australian desert was in fact a japanese space capsule carrying the first samples of rock from an asteroid, which could help explain the formation of the solar system as mark lobel reports. coming from right side and it is getting brighter and brighter. entering the earth's atmosphere. that fireball on your screen moving from right to left is a closely watched space capsule whose contents could help explain the creation of our solar system. applause there was joy

and relief at the japanese aerospace exploration agency's mission control as the soil sample sent from the japanese space craft hayabusa two, part of a 6—year mission, parachuted down safely in the australian desert. scientists are expecting about 0.1 of a gram will be returned for examination at their laboratory near tokyo from the asteroid rugu which lies some 300 million kilometres away. they will measure the rock's age, what it is made of and how it is formed, potentially offering vital clues as to how the sun and planets came to be. this one is special because this one is going to an asteroid that we think is really rich in organic material and water so in the very earliest history of the earth we think it may have been pelted with asteroids like that and that is what gave us the water and the carbon to form our oceans and to enable life to flourish on earth.

it is an exciting prospect after a successful landing following what one member of the space agency here described as a perfect mission with many more to come. translation: i had jotted down the dates when the probe adjusted its orbit. if there is a hayabusa 3 or 4 or even 5, i would like to be involved in the mission. that next mission on this mothership, having launched its first capsule, will boldly go examining near earth asteroids where no—one has gone before. australia's official astronomer—at—large fred watson has been following all of this very closely. earlier he told me why these asteroid samples are exciting. the potential is enormous because these are, for the first time, samples of the material of an asteroid which have been taken from below the surface.

the problem with asteroids is that they float around in space, sometimes for 4.5 billion years. the age of the solar system. but they are bombarded by sun radiation throughout that period, so the surface material can be different from what is inside. so for the first time, the hayabusa 2 mission has extracted a soil sample from within the asteroid and that could contain all kinds of secrets including the mineral content, it may tell us about the early history of the solar system. and the carbon content, that is the extraordinary part. carbon rich molecules may hold some clues as to the building blocks of life on earth. so it is that digging down under the surface that is the crucial bit and the difference this time. just quickly, this is a japanese mission. why did it land back on earth in australia? well, it is the best

place to land. it is all about, when you bring a spacecraft home, you are determined by the orbit of the spacecraft itself and the orientation of the earth at the instance that this thing is going to land. so it is all predetermined as to when you should choose to put a spacecraft down, the target was chosen many years ago and so the whole orbit has basically been dictated by that. in fact this is the second time it has happened because the first hayabusa landed at woomera. we only have 20 seconds left but in a couple of sentences, what happens next now to the capsule? the capsule goes to tokyo where it will be very carefully checked over and the volatile material will be taken out and it will be opened up to see what is inside.

germany's mean national area carrier has warned that tens of thousands additionaljobs are under threat as it scales down its operations. lufthansa said the coronavirus pandemic made it harder than ever to predict how quickly any recovery might come. 30,000 staff lost their jobs in 2020 despite a german government bailouts worth $11 billion. venice is one of the world's year—round tourist hot—spots, but not this year. even the christmas lights have been switched on without the usual fanfare. sophia tran—thomson reports. cheering. not the grandest of celebrations, but in 2020, moments like this are worth celebrating. translation: this christmas is different from the others. unfortunately, like everyone else around the world, we are experiencing the same challenges. but i strongly believe in positivity. italian artist fabrizio plessi was invited to decorate venice for christmas this year, and chose to illuminate the city's brightest

attractions. translation: my purpose is to light up this town, which needs lights, which needs culture, which is new emotions. from the golden led tree to the doge palace and the rialto bridge, all of the city's most popular attractions are shining bright. for many christmas travellers, news that all foreign arrivals landing in italy after december 21 will need to quarantine for two weeks is disappointing. but for venetian locals, in a time of darkness for many, it is a unique opportunity to reclaim and enjoy the city for themselves. a treasure trove of love letters dating from the second world war has been found at a waste recycling centre in france. the documents were written by a soldier to the woman he would end up marrying. she died six years ago — and the letters were assumed to be lost. the bbc‘s tim allman

has the story. these pictures, just released so these pictures, just released so many of the fighting french army going back to the native land. france was torn apart by the war, occupation, then liberation. 5 million men were mobilised. these are the letters of just one mobilised. these are the letters ofjust one of them. pierre, writing to his sweetheart amy, his words now spoken by their grandson. translation: tonight it's very cold and i don't have much to warm up. i kiss you very tenderly hoping my letter finds you in good health. this is where the letters were found, a recycling centre in south—west france. around 200 of them, thrown away amongst a pile of old newspapers. translation: we we re old newspapers. translation: we were a little intrigued, we looked at me realise that the letters were mainly dated from the second world war and that

they were all sent to the same person. cecile rescued the letters, and after a little detective work they were returned to their rightful owners. their contents, unexpected, and almost overwhelming. translation: it's a little, if i hadn't seen these letters i would not have known my dad had so much love for my mum. pierre survived the warand for my mum. pierre survived the war and married his girlfriend, amy died in 2014. this isjust one story amongst millions, a generation of young men sent to war, but neverforgetting generation of young men sent to war, but never forgetting their loved ones back home. let's take you now to bethlehem, where they've also switched on the christmas lights! the city is of course famous for being the biblical birthplace ofjesus, and is a destination for tourists and pilgrims alike. these pictures are from manger square outside the church of nativity, south ofjerusalem in the west

bank. since at least the second century people have believed that the place where the church stands is wherejesus was born, specifically a grotto underneath where the church was first built which is marked by an inlaid silver star. the duke and duchess of cambridge are beginning a tour across britain by train, to personally thank people who have gone to exceptional lengths to help out during the coronavirus epidemic. during the three day trip, they'll be greeted at pre—arranged stops by care home staff, school children and volunteers a quick reminder of our top story stoppage — our top story. president trump has begun a campaign in georgia, and he repeated without elements his

allegation that the presidential contest had been rigged and he had really one. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. 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 thejet 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 is 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. but in the south of the country, it should stay clear early on tuesday morning. so, let's have a look at the outlook, then, for the next few days. this is the summary. you can see those temperatures are into single figures. there isjust a gradual, gradual rise in those temperatures as we head towards the end of the week there, from four to eight in southampton. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

president trump has been speaking at a rally in georgia — his first campaign event since he lost the presidential election last month. but as he's made clear he's still refusing to concede tojoe biden. negotiations between eu and british representatives will resume on sunday — after an hour—long phone call between prime minister boris johnson and the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen. the sense of urgency is clear, as the uk will transition out of eu trade rules on the 31st december. for a second weekend running, there've been violent demonstrations in paris. riot police used tear gas to disperse protestors who are opposed to a draft law protecting french officers from being filmed on duty. protesters attacked shops, ripped up pavements and burnt cars and barricades.