welcome to bbc news, i'm aaron safir. our top stories: joe biden promises a hundred million vaccinations against covid in his first one hundred days as us president. iam i am absolutely convinced that in100 i am absolutely convinced that in 100 days we can change the course of the disease and change life in america for the better. a 90 year—old british woman becomes the first person in the world to be given the pfizer vaccine to protect against covid—19. a champions league match in paris is abandoned, with teams walking off the pitch following an alleged racist slur. a cyber—security firm which protects big companies from data theft has itself become the victim of hacking.

the us—president elect, joe biden, has outlined his plans to combat a deepening coronavirus health emergency which has left record numbers of americans in hospital, and a death toll of more than 280,000. he promised that in his first 100 days, 100 million americans would be vaccinated, and that he would push to re—open schools. in some states, children haven't sat in a classroom for 10 months. the president—elect also again appealed for everyone to wear a mask during his first 100 days. masking, vaccinations, opening schools, these are the three key goals for my first 100 days. it will start with my

signing in order to require a mask where i can under the law. like federal buildings, interstate travel on planes, trains and buses, 100 million covered vaccine shots into the arms of american people in the first 100 days. while the president—elect was talking, the current president, donald trump, was holding an event to outline america's vaccine rollout. while the president—elect was talking, the current president, donald trump, was holding an event to outline america's vaccine rollout. while the president—elect was talking, the current president, donald trump, was holding an event to outline however both of the companies behind the top two vaccine candidates declined to attend. moderna is one of them — a meeting on emergency approval for us its vaccine is scheduled for next week. pfizer is the other company. its vaccine, developed with biontech, is expected to be given emergency approval by us regulators on thursday, and president trump says his administration is on their case. we arejust we are just days away from authorisation from the fda and we are pushing them hard, at which point we will immediately begin mass distribution.

earlier i spoke to dr krutika kuppalli, who's an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the medical university of south carolina. she is also one of the medical leads for the roll out of the vaccine at her hospital. i asked her who will be first to recive the vaccine in her state. the recommendations were for healthcare workers, and residents of long—term care facilities to be the first individuals to receive the vaccine, so hopefully, sometime next week. are you having to compete with other hospitals, with other states to get your hands on these doses, because one of the criticisms of the way the trump administration has handled this pandemic is it has handled this pandemic is it has left so many decisions to the individual states, and are you working in partnership or are you competing to get this vaccine out? the way that it works is that the vaccine is distributed back to the state from the federal government based on the population of the state, and then from there the

state, and then from there the state distributed to the hospitals, so the pfizer vaccine, because it has the ultra— cold storage requirement, that is one of the requirements in order to be a distribution centre for the vaccine, and so, in our state for example, you have to have that requirement, and so the new state is the one who distributes the vaccine to your healthcare system. you are quite involved in work trying to convince people that the vaccines are safe, trying to encourage them to take and get the vaccination. how do you go about that, especially when you encounter some people who believe all sorts of things which have no basis in reality? yes, community engagement and education is extremely important, particularly in the situation where we have a new vaccine platform, it was developed in record time, and we are in a pandemic where

there has been so much misinformation propagated, so we're doing a lot of grassroots effort to engage community, education efforts, we have been involved with numerous information testing and town hall meetings, and we have developed a survey at our institution to assess people vsv institution to assess people ‘s' understanding and concerns about the vaccine, and we try to develop faqs or facts about the vaccines surrounding the concerns that people have, and so, we're just getting started, we are working on our and healthcare providers and we will be reaching out to the community, and i think that's what a lot of people are doing here, so we can really build up vaccine confidence, it's really important, so the first step was developing the vaccine, but the next step, which is extremely important is getting people to take up the vaccine.

0n the first day of the uk's mass covid vaccination programme, thousands of people have received jabs. 90 year—old margaret keenan became the first person to be given the pfizer vaccine outside of clinical trials, which manufacturers say it is up to 95% effective. the british government has ordered a0 million doses, with 800,000 in the first batch. our health editor, hugh pym reports. an early morning hospital appointment. at first glance, nothing out of the ordinary. but this was unlike anything before. margaret, aged 90, was the very first patient to receive the newly—approved coronavirus vaccine. applause. there was a well deserved round of applause, and intense interest amongst media and health officials at this hospital vaccination clinic in coventry. she seemed to take it all in her stride. so, margaret, first of all, tell us, how was it for you?

it was fine, it was fine. i wasn't nervous at all. it was really good, yeah. and what do you say to those who might be having second thoughts about having this vaccine? i say go for it, go for it, because it's free, and it's the best thing that's ever happened... ..at the moment. so, do please go for it. that's what i say, you know? if i can do it, well, so can you. the matron who administered the historicjab said this significance only sunk in afterwards. i do this all the time. i've done hundreds of vaccinations, but never with such interest, and people, like, wanting to know what's going on and wanting to actually witness it, so it was really surreal. it's a world first, it represents extraordinary progress by science, but for the nhs, this is a huge achievement,

turning research into reality. around the uk, there were similar stories. in glasgow, the vaccine was delivered to the sec centre, with nhs staff among the first to receive the jabs. it's really exciting, it's lovely. you feel like you're a wee bit of history in the making. it's really lovely. in belfast, health staff queued to get theirjabs. the policy is for those doing the vaccinations to be vaccinated first. the health service in general has struggled throughout the fight with covid—19, so it feels like a momentous day. very privileged. at this vaccine centre in cardiff, one of seven in wales, more than 200 people have been booked in every day till friday. we do need people to be patient for that bit longer. let's get through to the spring. as we work through to the spring, we'll be vaccinating as many people as we can. it's a good day for

the whole country. the prime minister, on a visit to a london vaccination centre, wanted to rein in people's expectations. i urge people to contain their impatience. it's a very exciting moment but there's still a lot of work to be done and a lot of discipline to be maintained. the head of nhs england was urging people not to turn up without appointments. wait to hearfrom the nhs. we will make contact with you. the vaccine is being made available to us from the manufacturers on a phased basis, so the bulk of the vaccination is going to be injanuary, february, march and april. the priority groups now include the over 80s. harry and ranjan, who spoke to us yesterday, had their jabs together in newcastle, with badges to prove it. applause. margaret certainly won't forget her vaccination, nor will nhs staff on a dramatic and momentous day which they can only hope marks a turning point. hugh pym, bbc news, coventry.

a european champions league football match in france will have to be completed on wednesday, after both teams walked off the pitch, accusing a match official of racism. players from paris st germain and istanbul basakshir stopped playing 1a minutes into the game, and refused to continue. 0ur reporter, paul hawkins explains more. this is a champions league group match, psg taking on istanbul and in the 14th minute the referee comes over to the touchline, shows a red card to the basakshir assistant coach, turns to him, and this is on

youtube clips, he says why are you referring to me by the colour of my scan. another player for the turkish side said to the fourth mastjo match official why would you mention a black guy? why do you have to say there's black guy? the implication is you would not see it if the guy was white. tv footage also shows a psg player saying is he serious, we are heading in, that's it, we are heading in, or the players disappeared down the tunnel and the matches suspended in the 14th minute. uefa make the offer of replacing the fourth match official and that doesn't seem to placate anyone, the matches abandon and it will be replayed on wednesday night with a difference that all the match officials have been changed, it will be a dutch referee, and the other match officials are a

mixture of netherlands and poland. this is really unprecedented? poland. this is really unprecedented ? we poland. this is really unprecedented? we hear poland. this is really unprecedented ? we hear about racism in sport but from a match official, i don't think i've heard of that before. no, never, this is unprecedented, ugly scenes in paris, normally we hear about racism with the fans, sometimes with the players, uefa they said they will impose sanctions, and i don't think uefa have ever had to impose sanctions on their own match officials so unprecedented territory here. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we meet a group of chinese litter pickers who are taking team work to new heights. john lennon was shot at the entrance to the dakota building in the centre of new york. there's been a crowd here standing in more or less silent vigil, and the flowers have been piling up.

the 14th ceasefire of this war ended at the walls of the old city of dubrovnik. this morning, witnesses said shells were landing every 20 seconds. people are celebrating the passing of a man they hold responsible for hundreds of deaths and oppression. elsewhere, people have been gathering to mourn his passing. imelda marcos, the widow of the former president of the philippines, has gone on trial in manila. she's facing seven charges of tax evasion, estimated at £120 million. she pleaded not guilty. the prince and princess of wales are to separate. a statement from buckingham palace said the decision had been reached amicably. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: us president electjoe biden pledges 100 million vaccinations across the united states in his first 100 days in office.

the uk prime minister, boris johnson will travel to brussels later on wedneday to have dinner with the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen. politicians hope that meeting in person will help negotiations ahead of the brexit transition period ending on the 31st december. negotiations are currently stuck, with only weeks to go. 0ur deputy political editor vicky young has more. reporter: will there be a deal, prime minister? trade talks have run into trouble, and boris johnson will soon need to take some difficult decisions. everyone is waiting to see if there is a way through. i think the situation at the moment is very tricky. 0urfriends havejust got to understand that the uk has left the eu in order to be able to exercise democratic control over the way we do things, and then there is also the issue of fisheries, where we are a long way apart still, but hope springs eternal.

there has been progress in another very tricky area. to avoid checks along the irish border, northern ireland will continue to follow some eu rules. but that means inspections on certain goods entering northern ireland from the rest of the uk. businesses there have been worried about extra paperwork and the impact on food and medicine supplies. how do you start to unpeel the complexity that is northern ireland and not create any instability? so, i think if they've got some sort of solution today, albeit late, we would welcome it and we would be pleased, and we hope that with the detail coming out, they have listened to our concerns. this has been a hugely complicated and controversial issue where economic considerations have had to be seen in the context of a delicate peace process. positives have been difficult to find in recent days when it comes to brexit negotiations, but this is most certainly a very important positive for the island

of ireland as a whole because what this does now is it provides the guarantees that ireland's place in the single market and the issues around the border are now all settled. hopefully this is a signal that the british government is in a deal—making mood. some see today's agreement as a positive sign for the broader trade talks, but don't forget those arrangements in northern ireland will apply whether there is a deal or not, and eu sources say their chief negotiator, michel barnier, has told european ministers we are now tilting towards no deal. and while politicians talk, the uncertainty affects businesses everywhere. the manager of this sawmill in somerset says he is ready to adapt. we have to be as positive as we possibly can about it and move forward. we employ three, four people and a couple of part—timers, and having to let people go is the worst thing for me, so my biggest fear

is having to let staff members go if there are price increases and we become less efficient and if we go into recession. tomorrow, boris johnson heads to brussels for dinner with the president of the european commission, a last chance to find a breakthrough and a trade deal that both sides can sign up to. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. an american cyber security firm, which normally protects major companies and governments around the world from data theft, says its own systems have been hacked. the chief executive of fireeye says sophisticated cyber attack tools had been stolen and that he believes the hacking was state—sponsored. the fbi is investigating. william beer is general manager of the cyber security firm mitiga and he's in new york. thanks very much forjoining us. thanks very much forjoining us. if this is the company that corporations and governments turn to when they have been

hacked, this sounds like a pretty big hack. it is, equity was very high in the security industry and considered the gold standard so it does beg the question that if a company like this can be hacked, what sort of possibilities are less mature organisations. i get you have been speaking to some of your contacts in business about this hack. what have you been hearing? the security sector is definitely buzzing with regards to what happened today. i spoke to what happened today. i spoke toa to what happened today. i spoke to a couple of our clients earlier and they expressed a significant amount of concern about what the implications could be from this breach stopping the tools that were stolen are very advanced tools and they could be used not only to perpetrate attacks but could also hinder some response recovery efforts, so it is definitely a serious event. could you explain what we know exactly about what has been stolen, because it seems to be keys to unlock other flaws in

other systems. to be a little more specific, they are advanced tools which are used to simulate a tax, and it seems those other tools that were stolen, and the fact that now, potentially, in the hands of a foreign government or could potentially be leaked onto the internet, definitely gives organised criminals and foreign state companies and unfair advantage. should people be changing their passwords? how long until we potentially see an impact on everyday consumers and people who do internet banking or have government account? well, the good news is that fireeye, to their credit, already released a series of countermeasures, so security teams across the globe will be applying those and putting those into place as soon as possible, but i think it does,

again, really indicate that we are in an arms race and that all organisations of all sizes and all sectors need to focus more on this, need to invest more, and they would even suggest that government across the world needs to work on a more united fashion to really, really go after some of these nationstate attacks and try to reduce them. this is an ongoing problem that doesn't seem to have any end in sight at all. certainly something we are going to be talking about again, iam going to be talking about again, i am sure. thanks very much for your time. the us president—electjoe biden has chosen retired army general, lloyd austin, as his defense secretary. if confirmed, general austin will be the first african—american to lead the pentagon. his nomination was received favourably by a number of prominent figures, in particularformer presidential candidate and first lady hilary clinton who said, "i've known lloyd austin for 15 years. he will make history, and serve this country well."

benjamin crump, the attorney who has represented the families of george floyd and breonna taylor also tweeted, saying that, "lloyd austin's nomination as defense secretary is another groundbreaking selection!" i spoke to christopher parker, professor of political science at the university of washington who has written extensively on race and politics. he explained how qualified lloyd austin is for the role of defense secretary. the guy was commander of central command which is arguably the most important command the american military because it is head of all american forces in the middle east so they are not just going to put anybody of commander of central command, particularly during a time of conflict. so, it sounds like he is well qualified, then. it is interesting to see quite a broad selection of voices approving of him. let's talk about race, then. the first black person to lead the pentagon if he is confirmed, what would

be the significance of that? technically, colin powell was the chairman of thejoint chiefs of staff back in the bush administration, the first bush administration, so he spent time up there too in the pentagon, but it is really important, simply because when a military has and enjoys and exalted position in american society and black people served in military through the very beginning with the revolutionary war, actually revolting from you guys. so black folks have always served in the military, but often times, especially during the early years of the republic, there were times in which we were not even considered first—class citizens so to have a black person in charge of the military is completely appropriate and then beyond that, we have already had a black person that was secretary of state, again, colin powell, condoleezza rice and then the attorney—general‘s office with eric holder and ms lynch, so to have a black person finally in charge of the pentagon and defence is a really important thing for us.

and more broadly, joe biden has promised to make his administration the most diverse in american history, is he on track for that? yes, he's on track but it seems like he's really kind dragging his feet. we still have yet to see a prominent latino that is part of the upper echelon of the cabinet position, so he needs that. he's really lagging there, but so far so good, but he needs to nail that down when it comes to latinos. so, yes, but he needs to do that. this is something on which he needs to remain focused, because it is by and large because of people of colour, especially black people, that he is in the position he has right now.

black people rescued his campaign in south carolina, we turned out in full force, in wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, the so—called blue wall states, and we also delivered georgia to him so he needs to continue with this. a uniquely beautiful mountain in central china draws thousands of visitors each year. but with the influx of tourists comes a troubling environmental impact. now, a group of litter collectors are putting their lives on the line to keep the mountain clean. tom brada reports. perched hundreds of feet up in the air, with an unforgiving vertical drop to one side, it's a litter collection route like no other. it is this man's job to abseil down this mountain in china, cleaning up the waste left by tourists. yang and his

gravity defying team, have learned dominic earned a fitting nickname by locals and media who refer to them as spider—men. translation: media who refer to them as spider-men. translationzlj media who refer to them as spider-men. translation: iwas a little nervous when i started but now it is nothing. yang's tea m but now it is nothing. yang's team was set up to deal with waste accumulating on the mountainside, an issue that is u nfortu nately mountainside, an issue that is unfortunately common at chinese beauty spots. but yang has noticed that visitor habitat started to improve. tourists are better behaved in our. when i started there was so much letter could pick ten or even 20 bags. now there is a lot less. it seems like yang and his team's perilous work is paying off. gosh, they are very brave, aren't they?

you can reach me on twitter, i'm @aaronsafir. there is plenty more on the bbc news website which you can get online or on your smart phone. hello there. low pressure will continue to bring more unsettled weather to our shores for the rest of this week and very slowly, those temperatures will be creeping up as we reach the end of the week and into the weekend. now for wednesday, we'll have some showers across eastern areas. some sunshine will develop, though, behind it is this ridge of high pressure that builds in and then there will be rain pushing to western areas later on all courtesy of this new frontal system. so we'll start off rather grey, misty, murky conditions with some showery bursts of rain through this morning. they should eventually clear away, it's an improving picture with some sunshine developing though showers holding on across northeastern scotland. later in the day for northern ireland, western fringes of england, wales and practically into the south west we will see thicker cloud moving in here with outbreaks of rain. temperatures slowly climbing but again it's going to be another chilly day for most, temperatures range from to 5—7 celsius quite typically. as we head through wednesday night, we will start to see

that cloud thickening up across the east as well. it looks like most of the heaviest rain will start to push across wales, the south west england, to the channel islands. elsewhere, we will hold onto quite a bit of cloud, some light and patchy rain under clearing skies across the north, it will be quite chillier otherwise, less cold than it's been on other nights. on thursday, we are in between weather systems although we have this weather front affecting the northern half of the uk. we've got a slack airflow once again so winds will be light, rather grey skies for many with some patchy light rain or drizzle, little bit heavier across scotland. could see a touch of winteriness over the high grounds. the air is still quite cool with those highs ranging from 5—8 celsius. but slowly coming up across the south west, 9—10 celsius there for cardiff and for plymouth. as we head on into friday, a more substantial frontal system spreads its way eastwards across the country. this one will bring a bit of a change to the weather, some heavier rain at times will make its way towards the eastern side of the country, winds stronger for a time, and then skies will brighten up across western areas, perhaps one or two showers here. so, it's out west where will

start to see temperatures lift by the end of friday, 10—11 celsius here. a little bit less cold further east, too. still on the chilly side — with temperatures in single figures. into the weekend, we hold onto a lot of cloud, some rain in northern and western areas. by sunday, we'll see another area of low pressure which will bring windier weather, some milder air, and also outbreaks of rain.

this is bbc news. the headlines:

joe biden has put forward his plans to deal with a worsening coronavirus health crisis which has killed nearly 300,000 americans. the us president—elect promised that one hundred million vaccinations would be carried out in his first one hundred days in office. britain has become the first country to begin a mass coronavirus vaccination programme, with an authorized, fully tested jab. 70 hubs have been set up at hospitals around britain. 90 year old margaret keenan got the first dose of the pfizer biontech jab, outside of the clinical trials. boris johnson will travel to brussels on wedneday to have dinner with the president of the european commission in a last—ditch effort to reach a trade agreement. negotiations remain stuck with only weeks to go before the transition period ends at the end of december. tonight the uk's biggest celebration of black music