this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. one day left to secure a trade deal — talks resume in brussels with both sides warning they're unlikely to reach a post—brexit agreement by tomorrow's deadline. four royal navy patrol ships are being readied to help protect britain's fishing waters, in the event of a no—deal brexit. the us regulator authorises the pfizer biontech coronavirus vaccine — donald trump says it'll be rolled out immediately. we have already begun shipping the vaccine to every state and zip code in the country. the first vaccine will be administered in less than 2a hours. —— and i'm proud to say this action will be free for all americans.

—— and i'm proud to say this vaccine will be free for all americans. travellers returning to the uk from spain's canary islands must self—isolate — some fear they won't get back in time to avoid christmas in quarantine. world leaders will hold a virtual climate summit later — to lay out their plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. hello, and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. the uk prime minister borisjohnson has chaired a meeting to look at the uk's contingency plans, in the event that a deal can't be reached in post—brexit trade talks. trade negotiations with the eu — which are currently stuck in stalemate — are expected to end tomorrow. the sunday deadline was set by mrjohnson and european commission president ursula von der leyen after the pair met in brussels on wednesday, after months of talks failed to achieve an agreement. mrjohnson said the eu needed to make a "big change" over the main

sticking points on fishing rights and business competition rules, while mrs von der leyen said no deal was the most probable end to "difficult" talks. the ministry of defence has also confirmed that four royal navy ships are on standby to protect british fishing waters if no agreement is in place when the transition period ends on the 31st of december. here's our political correspondent, jonathan blake. in downing street yesterday, the prime minister chaired what has been described as a stock—take on the uk's readiness to end its relationship with the eu without a trade deal. visiting a manufacturing plant in northumberland, he said while it's not the outcome he had wanted, britain would be prepared. four royal navy patrol boats will be ready to protect uk fishing waters, it was confirmed last night, as part of what the ministry of defence said was "extensive preparation for a range of scenarios at the end of the transition period". in brussels, the eu rejected borisjohnson‘s attempt to meet key leaders individually

to try to make progress. while some member states sound more worried than others about a no—deal outcome, they are united in their approach. plans to manage traffic queues are being tested this weekend — one of many possible consequences whether or not a free trade agreement is reached. but still, so much is uncertain with less than three weeks to go. jonathan blake, bbc news. i'm joined by our political correspondent helen catt. the front pages of the newspaper have the royal navy on standby to perform that patrol fishing waters which sounds like an escalation in terms of rushing up the idea of sovereignty, perhaps the prime minister trying to play to be redwall vote. is it really necessary? we have seen disruption in the channel before if you think about the so called scholar, clashes between fishermen in devon and

england and in normandy in france over the fishing of scallops on the channel. there are instances of it in the past but there certainly seems to be a sense of a hardening of position on both sides, so in the uk, the position of borisjohnson has chaired the committee to take stock of note your readiness and news about the naval boats on standby does suggest that is trying to send a message of the uk being ready and prepared to go it alone in the same way that when you cite, emanuel micron and angela merkel saying they will not have conversations with borisjohnson. —— emmanuel macron. there is a public standing at least of hardening on both sides. quite rightly think people will be worried about if there is a no deal exit as food, visiting —— medicines being in

supply outside of the eu. they have been preparing for this very long haven't they? yes, there is a test being done this weekend over traffic of lorries building up in kent. the trouble there is there will be checks if there is there will be checks if there is there will be checks if there is a trade deal or not. there will be checks at the ports across the channel but the worry that will potentially be more checks of rose no deal and the conservative government not being ready for them. if there are delays at the port, thatis if there are delays at the port, that is when you get goods backing up that is when you get goods backing up and because there is a short, fast crossing, you get perishable items going across that. if they sit ona items going across that. if they sit on a lorry or a mortuary, they can go off it. that is the issue the. there are contingency plans for keeping its flowing which are being tested out. we know, were some things are going to be prioritised,

it is going to be the point. the sunday really deadline or can this go to december 31 either side to side to have a change of heart because we are seeing some criticism today in the paper as of where we are heading and a former conservative party chairman saying boris johnson's conservative party chairman saying borisjohnson‘s view... isn't a true conservative, he is in english nationalist. there have been deadline is coming and going but tomorrow is seen deadline is coming and going but tomorrow is seen 3s deadline is coming and going but tomorrow is seen as the point where they have to decide if a deal is doable so if it looks like it is, they could roll—on for a few more days but we are talking about if it really isn't doable, that is the point where they've said they will decide that. not when you're asked about prioritising goods and the flow of foods, there is not much scope for them to prioritise many trucks so they can only prioritise fast tracking 70—100 trolleys, to give you context, 10,000 across the

channel. they've decided they are prioritise 1's carrying live and fresh fish and dealt chicks. those will be given priority. thank you. the us supreme court has rejected an attempt to overturn the election results — which was backed by president trump and more than 100 republican members of congress. the state of texas had filed a lawsuit arguing that voting results in the battleground states of georgia, michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin — all won by president—electjoe biden — were invalid. if but the court said texas didn't have a good reason to bring the case. in a tweet, mr trump accused the court of letting down his republican supporters, and showing neither wisdom or courage. the pfizer biontech coronavirus vaccine has been authorised for emergency use in the united states — by the us food and drug administration. the agency had come under intense pressure from the trump administration to approve the vaccine. 0ur washington correspondent nomia iqbal has more.

this emergency authorisation has taken a bit of time. the fda has approved the vaccine after being advised to do so by an outside advisory group of independent medical experts. they had analysed the effectiveness of the vaccine. it also looked at the potential side effects, including those reports of two british patients who had allergic reactions after receiving the pfizer jab. and after the recommendation came this intense political pressure by president trump. he had called the fda a "big, old slow turtle". he was demanding that they approve the vaccine. he had this to say, once that green light came. the first vaccine will be administered in less than 2a hours. the governors decide where the vaccines will go in their state and who will get them first. we want our senior citizens, health care workers and first responders to be first in line. i promised that we would produce a vaccine in record time, before the end of the year. they said it couldn't be done.

but with today's announcement, we have now achieved that goal. there is pressure for protection because the pandemic is surging here. on wednesday — one day alone — there were more than 3000 deaths and mr trump is keen to turn those headlines away from americans dying to american being vaccinated as he leaves the white house. and we will now see what will be the largest vaccination campaign in us history. people who are over 16 will receive the jab. health workers and the elderly living in nursing homes will be the first to receive the vaccination. those with severe allergic reactions are recommended not to take the vaccine, but the us is also waiting for approval on another vaccine made by the company moderna, and that's expected to go through the same robust approval processes next week. anyone arriving in the uk

from the canary islands must now go into quarantine. the new rules came in to force at four o'clock this morning — after the islands were removed from the travel corridor list because of a rise in covid cases. however, the isolation period is being cut from 1a to ten days, as john mcmanus reports. with december temperatures in the low 20s, life is still a beach on the canary islands. but for holiday—makers returning from there to the uk from 4am this morning, the welcome home is going to be bit chillier. they will have to go into quarantine after the canaries were removed from the uk's travel corridors list because of rising infections there. tour operator tui says it has around 5000 uk customers on the islands. many will have been unable to change their plans to beat the deadline. there is some good news, though — the time spent in isolation for those returning from high—risk areas will be cut from 1a days to ten. the relaxation also applies to those who have been in contact with virus carriers. the change has already started in wales. the rest of the uk follows on monday.

wales is facing a serious challenge, though. with more than 1900 people in hospital with the virus, there has been a warning that another lockdown may be imposed after christmas if current restrictions, which include school lessons moving online from monday, fail to work. if those measures do not succeed in turning the tide of the virus, then it is inevitable that we will have to consider a move to alert level four immediately after christmas. in parts of london and the south—east, cases are also rising, particularly among secondary school—aged children. past experience shows this can precede a jump in infections for older age groups. elsewhere in england,

67 local authorities which are under the highest tier 3 rules have been given the green light from the government to offer rapid result testing programmes to help them cut transmission rates. ministers say the move follows a successful trial in liverpool, but there are concerns over the tests after preliminary data from the city showed they had missed 51% of covid cases. the government, though, insists the tests are reliable and can help quickly detect the virus in those who don't have symptoms. john mcmanus, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... one day left to secure a trade deal. talks resume in brussels with both sides warning they're unlikely to reach a post—brexit agreement by tomorrow's deadline. the us regulator authorises the pfizer biontech coronavirus vaccine — donald trump says it'll be rolled out immediately. travellers returning to the uk from spain's canary islands must self—isolate — some fear they won't get back in time to avoid christmas in quarantine.

the uk, france and the un will be hosting a virtual climate meeting later. around 75 world leaders will attend to lay out their plans for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. the summit marks five years since the adoption of the paris climate agreement, as our chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt, explains. there were celebrations on a global deal on climate was finally done in paris five years ago today. for the first time, the whole world agreed that all nations need to play their part in keeping climate change to 1.5 celsius. the only problem was the commitments made in paris were not enough to do the job. in fact, until this year, emissions have been steadily rising.

the woman who helped secure the paris deal said action is urgent. science has been telling us that we are running out of time for a long time but now it's really, really, really dangerous. in paris, world leaders agreed to get together every five years to try to up their game, raising their targets for cutting emissions. that was to have happened at a uk—hosted conference in glasgow earlier this year. thanks to the pandemic, that has been put off. but a virtual meeting will happen today. with borisjohnson chairing it. the future of our planet is stake and mrjohnson hopes

both sides will bring targets to the table. that will make a really cute global deal cutting emissions much more likely. let's speak to our environment analyst, roger harrabin. what they hope will be achieved? meetings have been figuring out a way of cutting out by a single number, the amount the temperature shouldn't be allowed to exceed. now this one is focused on action, with the only countries being invited will be in countries where they have agreed the level of action to cut carbon emissions prior to previous levels which excludes countries like brazil, australia, south africa, russia who have all been banned from this conference because their actions are deemed to be inadequate, so actions are deemed to be inadequate, so what the uk government is hoping will come out at the end of it as a sense of momentum that, at last, there are my words, politicians are

really taking this seriously and making the sort of cuts they need to make to keep us on a safe planet. the problem is, from my point of view, having been to so many of these conferences over a decade, scientists have been shouting for yea rs scientists have been shouting for years that action is urgently needed and the politicians have not stepped up. there are questions now about whether we are already in a state of danger with climate change seen forest fires ravishingly bold and the amount of ice melting at the polls, so it is by no means too late. thank you. with me now is myles allen, he is the head of the climate change programme at the environmental change institute and the director of the oxford net zero programme and one of the authors of the ipcc report on 1.5. thanks forjoining us. what do you hope is going to come out of today? i hope one of the new things to come out will be a way of thinking about how we deal with climate change

because what is coming up next year has been built as a conference for the private sector against rot in to deal with the problems. we felt all these pronouncements with governments but the government doesn't emit. it is a vigils —— individuals who had omit, so we have to look at the way companies do things and above all, we need to get the fossil fuel industry itself inside the tent to help with the solution caused by the products they sell rather than being part of the problem. what would you specifically like to see from them? recognition. increasingly, companies are making rather merely knows the acknowledgements that they have to get unit zero along with the rest of the world. rather than just a number, i'd like to see a plan. i don't think any major fossil fuel company has a plan for getting to a durable net you will future and they

got the resources to do it. energy is about 10% of the global economy and 85% of our energy it still comes from fossil fuels, down from 87% in 1990. this is an enormous industry and the one entity, institution in the world that has the resources, the world that has the resources, the access to capital, the engineering capability to stop climate change, is the fossil fuel industry and right now governments are setting all the targets but not seriously asking the industry to try. all governments are facing massive challenges and economic challenges. it will be tempting for eve ryo ne challenges. it will be tempting for everyone to say, look, this is expensive and difficult, we cannot actually do much right now. which is precisely why. .. actually do much right now. which is precisely why... we should not bridge depend on throwing public money at this problem as the solution.

in the end... they are going to have to be told to get on with it. how hopeful are you of a change china has committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2020 while the —— zero carbon emissions by 2020 while the -- 2030 zero carbon emissions by 2020 while the —— 2030 while biden a sing up to 2050 and europe saying that timescales well. in the uk, we have the legislation. what we need is to

tra nsfer the legislation. what we need is to transfer those government commitments into law. but also to see how they propagate through on to private companies. it doesn't make sense to be exploring for new fossil fuel reserves right now unless you have a plan for what will happen to the carbon dioxide they regenerate. the indian prime minister, narendra modi, has assured protesting farmers that new reforms in the agricultural sector are aimed at helping them. tens of thousands of farmers have been gathering on the outskirts of the capital, new delhi, blocking roads and other key infrastructure. they fear the reforms will erode gauranteed prices they recieve for wheat and rice crops, threatening their livelihoods. despite the pandemic, 2020 has seen a dramatic increase in palestinian homes demolished by the israeli authorities. some 900 people lost their place to live — the biggest number in years. palestinians often build

in eastjerusalem and parts of the west bank under full israeli control without permits — saying these are almost impossible for them to get. among the buildings still facing demolition orders there are many palestinian schools. 0ur middle east correspondent, yolande knell reports. within seconds, a home is gone. and here, another. this has been a record year for israeli demolitions. with all the misery they bring. but in this bedouin village, they're rebuilding. last month, bulldozers arrived and more than 70 people had just ten minutes to grab what they could. even the sheep lost their pens. this man believes israel wants to drive them out of the jordan valley, which palestinians want as part of their own independent state.

translation: this turned our lives into hell. we had a two—day—old baby. even that family's shelter was demolished. they spent a night under the rain, and it's all because of the israeli occupation. this mother of three won't speak on camera, but tells me life is harder than ever. it's notjust people here. hundreds of palestinians have lost their homes this year because the israeli authorities say they built illegally. and what they all have in common is that they live in areas that are especially sensitive in the israel—palestinian conflict. the israeli military says this land is a firing range that it uses for training so it's not safe for palestinians to live here. in another village we visit, there are tensions with nearbyjewish settlers. its new school is the best chance local children have to study, and they're keen learners.

this class is about the struggle for palestinian statehood. but the school itself could soon be history. it has a demolition order, as it was built without an israeli permit. translation: we were worried about the future of the school from the start. but if we dwelled on that, we'd never have made progress. we carried on so that we could give these children the chance of an education, which is a basic right. many countries say destroying this school would violate international law. but israeli defence officials say demolitions are carried out because of planning and building violations as part of its commitment to maintain public order and the rule of law. at its heart, the conflict here is over land, and so long as it's unresolved, palestinians

in the most bitterly contested areas live with constant uncertainty. yolande knell, bbc news, on the west bank. several rockets have hit various parts of the afghan capital, kabul, killing one person and injuring two others. a civil aviation official said that one rocket landed in the main airport, disrupting and diverting air services into the region. it's the second such attack on kabul in less than a month. no group has claimed responsibility so far. archaeologists have unearthed more sections of an extraordinary aztec tower under the centre of mexico city. it's been described as one of the most impressive historical sites in the country, as gail maclellan reports. behind this nondescript door in the center of mexico city lies a building as historic as it is gruesome. it was built when the city was called tenochtitlan, and ruled by aztecs over 500 years ago. it is made of skulls.

the tower was first discovered five years ago. now more than 119 skulls have been found. archaeologist raul barreras describes how they were made out. translation: this is the external facade of the skull tower on the east side. these skulls were mounted on a fence—like structure, and set in place with mortar. archaeologists were surprised to find skulls of women and children, suggesting that some of the remains were of people killed in ritual sacrifices aimed at appeasing the gods. the majority, though, were young men, possibly captured warriors. these skulls are placed facing outwards on the tower in an effort to terrify enemies. but their power didn't last. the spanish conquistadors captured the city in 1521. gail mclennan, bbc news.

a rare macabre site. more online. thank you for watching. this is bbc news. it should be a bumper time of yearfor taxi cabs — but industry bodies say the sector is on the verge of collapse after business shrank to about a fifth of normal levels. the gmb union is calling on the chancellor to provide more help for self—employed drivers. our business correspondent katy austin has more. this is selfridge's on the right. i've started to do christmas light tours. london black cab driver dale is trying to salvage something from what she sees as her worst year ever. pubs, restaurants, nightclubs all closed. festivals. even people going to work, we don't even have that as people working from home so that was bad as well. we literally only had supermarkets

and hospitals to hang around to try to get work. she has had a self employment grant but still had to take a job at a supermarket. i got this brand—new electric taxi which is costing me £70,000. we got it during lockdown time having to work several days a week, in the supermarket and my taxi work, just to make ends meet. is notjust cabbies in london suffering from a huge block in business, it is a national problem. here in reading, taxi drivers have also had a tough time. when the lockdown came, we were down to zero. normally at this time, it would be very busy with commuters in this year we won't have that. we will not have christmas eve, new year's eve.

it's thought nly around one fifth are still out with most taking delivery jobs instead. there should be money made available. a taxi association say last year more than half a million people we re working in the industry across england, scotland and wales with many being self—employed. it estimates the sector lost £85 million per week during the first national lockdown. 0ne industry group worries many drivers will be forced out for good, leaving customers with fewer options. it is such an important and integral part ofjob support infrastructure. without it, you will have ghost towns around the uk. taxi businesses and individual drivers are suffering. partition in the middle. as is a private firm here which specialises in corporate accounts and conferences and transfer is just not happening. right now should be

the busiest time of the year. evenings really booked out with the parties, but they are not going anywhere. this man cannot get a grant for the business. we had to sell a few cars to make up the difference. a government spokesperson said a generous and wide—ranging package of support has been provided including for the taxi sector. it said as well as grants for the self—employed, there were lows, tax deferral is and mortgage holidays with drivers like this one trying to stay optimistic, hoping their fortunes will turn around. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav. hello there. so far, december has been cold and relatively quiet but the weather is all set to change this weekend. today, looking fairly quiet, sunshine across western areas in workload for the east and feeling wet and windy for part two of the weekend. some cloud holding on across much of scotland,

particularly eastern scotland and eastern england, lots of sunshine out west, may be the odd shower here in temperatures reaching highs of 9-10 c, 7-8 c in the in temperatures reaching highs of 9—10 c, 7—8 c in the north and east. as we head through the night, this area of low pressure sweeps in and we have some wind and rain, too much of the rest of the uk, this could start dry and bright across the north and east with rain and wind spreading as well, so when quite heavy across the western hills and it could be windy for all, particularly across southern and western coast where we could see gusts in excess of 45 mph inland. milder, particularly across the southern half of the