this is bbc news. i'm ben bland with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. britain and the european union decide not to pull the plug on the brexit negotiations, after a phone call between the two leaders. despite deadlines being missed over and over we both think it is responsible at this point in time to go the extra mile. there is a deal to be done if our partners want to do it, but we remain very farapart partners want to do it, but we remain very far apart on these key issues. the first consignments of pfizer's covid vaccine are being shipped around the us, ahead of a mass immunisation programme starting on monday. we'll be asking how quickly the us can start to bring

down its sky—high rate of infection. also in the programme... a row erupts in the us after an opinion writer suggests the next first ladyjill biden should stop referring to herself as "doctor". and how the humble garden pea may hold the secret to controlling blood sugar levels, and avoiding type two diabetes. 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 eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, will brief e—u michel barnier, will brief eu ambassadors on monday after britain and the european union agreed to extend talks on a post—brexit trade deal. sunday was to have been the final deadline for the talks

but as before, both sides have agreed an extension. the british prime minister and the head of the european commission spoke on the phone on sunday, saying they would "go the extra mile" to try to find a solution. our political correspondent iain watson has this report. are there still barriers in the way of a trade deal with brussels? today the latest deadline was discarded. but the prime minister says some distance still remains between the two sides. as things stand, i'm afraid we are still very far apart on some key things. but where there is life, there is hope. we are going to see what we can do. the uk certainly won't be walking away from the talks. so why the cause for gloom? well, there are some familiar sticking points. what access will eu fishing fleets have to uk waters? and how will any wider trade deal be policed if the two sides adopt different rules in future?

as well as talking to the eu today, borisjohnson spoke to his cabinet colleagues and told them that no deal was still the more likely outcome. we have to get ready for wto terms. there is a clarity and simplicity in that approach that has its own advantages. so what are wto, or world trade, terms? well, it means tariffs or taxes would be imposed from january the 1st on goods going from our shores to the eu and vice versa. pushing up some prices in the process. to avoid this, the eu commission president said both sides would make a last—gasp effort to reach agreement. despite the exhaustion after almost one year of negotiations and despite the fact that deadlines have been missed over and over, we both think that it is responsible at this point in time to go the extra mile. neither downing street nor brussels have set themselves

yet another deadline. these tend to come and go in any case. but i'm told informally that the question of deal or no deal needs to be settled in the next few days. despite the apparent pessimism in there, it's important to note that detailed discussions are still continuing, so the prospect of a deal can't be completely ruled out. in fact, the irish government believes a deal is within reach if both sides show willing. 97% of this deal has been negotiated acrossjudicial, security, research, a whole range of areas. and it seems to me that the remaining 3% should not be beyond the capacity of both sides to bridge. and labour argues that there is no logic to no deal. what the government seems to be saying is we are willing to accept no deal, which would mean tariffs across the board, because some future theoretical threat, maybe some time in the future, to have tariffs in relation to some products.

that makes no sense. that's like saying i'm worried my roof is going to leak in five years' time so let's bulldoze the house now. today the negotiating teams have been given the green light to continue. but the direction of travel remains uncertain. for more on the brexit negotiations, i'm joined from brussels by sophie pornschlegel, a policy analyst at the european policy center in brussels. in your view, are there any positive signs to be taken from lee once again failure to reach a deal this weekend? i wouldn't put too much hope into the phone call between borisjohnson hope into the phone call between boris johnson and ursula hope into the phone call between borisjohnson and ursula bonder line this morning. because of course there are contentious points in the level playing field in the governance issues but i think it is mostly the political world that is missing at the moment and the danger is that we are sleepwalking into an accidental brexit. —— ursula von der leyen. there are only three weeks left and from the eu side, you still

need to ratify the deal provide the eu parliament and some issues by national parliaments so that is very little time left and i would say the risk of a no deal is extremely high and so use disruptions on the ist of january. the uk government seems much more at ease with the idea of a no deal scenario, talking about it i shall get option, like getting to the way i'll show good trades with the way i'll show good trades with the eu. -- the way i'll show good trades with the eu. —— australia option. what do you see as the possible fallout that is causing concern on the eu side of things? we are in a bad situation in any case. brexit when not bring any kind of advantages to both sides. the no deal will have a much bigger effect of the uk then the eu because the eu which is a bigger trading block. 27 member states against one member state. the consequences will be felt much harder on the uk side. what is clear is that the eu is used to negotiating and compromises is in its dna in a sense and at the same

time since 2016, michel barnier and his team has started to negotiate the medicine clear that there is the integrity of the single market that has to be safeguarded. it is like the rules of the game come if you wa nt to the rules of the game come if you want tojoin the rules of the game come if you want to join the rules of the single market, you have to accept the rules and you cannot change them because you want to be part of the single market. cherry picking is the biggest contention point and the second issue is also the breach of trust that you can see with the uk internal market bill that there is a sentiment from the brussels perspective that there is no good faith and that the uk government really does not want this to come to a good and in a sense because if you break international law before finishing the negotiations on the trade deal it is not really a good thing. i suppose they will counter your point by saying the eu that is not moving far enough to meet them

in the middle. i wonder how much of this you put down to the theatrics of negotiations. is it that both sides want to be able to go back and say look how hard we fought for a deal, this is a success and they both have to be able to go back and say that? i completely agree there. nobody wants to take the blame for no deal. that is for sure. went to theissues no deal. that is for sure. went to the issues we see is that it is a difference in the style of negotiations. 0n the eu site it is very legalistic and process oriented and boris johnson prefers very legalistic and process oriented and borisjohnson prefers backroom deals and also why he tries to go back to emmanuel macron angela merkel except for there is a clear understanding of the eu that the commission that is in charge of the negotiations that trade is there are no backroom deals that will be possible so from the uk perspective i would maybe rethink my tactics here and think that the strategy they try to put forward and maybe have some kind of confession because of the time pressured that i make out and i think unfortunately there will not work out at all. thank you,

sophie. the first shipments of coronavirus vaccine have left pfizer's factory in michigan as the us prepares to start its mass immunisation program. here's a batch arriving in louisville, kentucky. the aim is to vaccinate 200—million people by the end of march. the roll—out will be challenging because the vaccine has to be stored at extemely low temperatures. the ups workers who unloaded the vaccine say they're proud to be part of the effort to control the pandemic. they just came up theyjust came up and said hey, you're going to be one of the few people unloading the vaccines for us and, that is pretty monumentalfor us, soi and, that is pretty monumentalfor us, so i was pretty excited and happy to be helping out.|j us, so i was pretty excited and happy to be helping out. i feel like we are breaking the essential tool to life, for essential workers, it is crazy people have been quarantining and we are on the front line contributing to such a good

cause. dr leora horwitz is an associate professor of population health and medicine at the nyu grossman school of medicine. in your view, how quickly can this mass immunisation programme began and start to take effect and we see the benefits? it will take a few months. i think as we get the vaccines, will distribute them and administer them very quickly but we just don't have be supplied yet. there are not enough vaccine doses available. so this first run of pfizer vaccines that went out is about 3 million or so doses. that is about 3 million or so doses. that is about enough or one and a half million people. less than half a percent of the population of the united states. it will take time. and when we look at the numbers, they are particularly alarming in they are particularly alarming in the us. within the last few days and recorded in one day 3000 deaths from the virus, the highest single death

toll of any country anywhere in the world. what in your view is the most urgent thing that needs to be done if indeed immunisation programme is going to take months to start seeing benefits? it is urgent that we do the things we have been talking about for months and have been doing for months, wearing mask all the time. not socialising outside of our household. avoiding big crowds, keeping social distance think of other things we have been talking about are even more now because the light is there at the end of the tunnel. it would be tragic to let our guard down now and have family members and friends get sick and perhaps die when there is a solution coming, so now more than ever we have to do what we have been doing and talking about for months, which is sacrificing and difficult but essential. i suppose the challenge with the vaccination programme is many fold, not just the logistics and the temperatures these particular ones have to be sorted out. there is also i suppose the

winning hearts and minds campaigns because there are people who have concerns about the speed at which they have been developed. yes. i think it is reasonable to be concerned about anything that is new. but quickly, the majority of the time that has a lapse has been in testing on real people. each of these vaccines has been tested in over 40,000 people in this country and elsewhere. and the adverse event rate, the side effects are very minimalso far. rate, the side effects are very minimal so far. really trivial. so the actual science development was very fast within a month or two and i'll the rest of the time has been testing, so although it is very normal and reasonable to worry, the data are very good. this has been the most good and i set a vaccines that we had in a long time, so i would take it as soon as it becomes available to me. —— most good and

nice. how concerned are you about christmas and people getting together? i'm very concerned. -- most scrutinised. i said before, we cannot let our guard down. the vaccine, we don't have it all they get. it is still risky to gather for holidays. we have to think about all the christmases is yet to come. christmas is so important to be with ourfamilies christmas is so important to be with our families and get together and people really rely on it and so what we have to think about is notjust this christmas when all the subsequent ones and we want to enjoy this year and have an another one for yea rs this year and have an another one for years to come. thank you very much. germany will begin a tighter coronavirus lockdown on wednesday, with restrictions in place over the festive period. schools and nonessential shops will close until at least the tenth of january, while new year's eve parties and fireworks will be banned. restrictions on meeting indoors will be eased slightly for three days over christmas. here's the german

chancellor angela merkel. translation: we will be closing the shops from wednesday, the 16th of december, and will only keep open those selling essential daily products. we will also take care not to extend the sale of nonfood products in the shops that remain open, and the sale of pyrotechnic products will be prohibited before new year's eve. let's hearfrom our berlin correspondentjenny hill. angela merkel has been fighting for this for some time. she has been urging them to get a tighter hold on this pandemic. germany came very successfully through the first wave but is really struggling with the second, infections, deaths are reaching record numbers and they are still rising, so angela merkel has been trying to bang heads together and finally those regional leaders seem to be going into panic mode themselves. they agree to these new measures and in fact some states will be imposing harsher restrictions including night—time curfews in some

parts of the country. in effect, germany is all but cancelling christmas and celebrations will be restricted to very small family gatherings. there is now a ban on alcohol consumption outside so that is the mulled wine stalls and new year's eve parties will be cancelled, a ban on the sale of fireworks with which german traditionally celebrate every year, and numbers again very much restricted, so it is the lockdown that angela merkel wanted all along and i think that most scientists would say it is very late in coming and they will be looking carefully at those numbers to see if it has an impact. the headlines on bbc news... britain and the european union have decided not to pull the plug on the brexit negotiations, after a phone call between the two leaders. the first consignments of pfizer's covid vaccine are being shipped around the us, ahead of a mass immunisation programme starting on monday

sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's lizzie greenwood hughes. hello. thank you. the top two in the premier league have both dropped points in surprising results with liverpool drawing 1—1 at struggling fulham while tottenham were held by the same scoreline by crystal palace.

in surprising results with liverpool drawing 1—1 at struggling fulham while tottenham were held by the same scoreline by crystal palace. while tottenham were held by the same scoreline by crystal palace. spurs had taken the lead — when captain and leading goal—scorer harry kane linked up with son again. but a late equaliser byjeffrey schlupp ended tottenham's while tottenham were held by the same scoreline by crystal palace. spurs had taken the lead — when captain and leading goal—scorer harry kane linked up with son again. but a late equaliser byjeffrey schlupp ended tottenham's run of clean sheets. that result meant liverpool had the chance to move clear with a win over fulham at craven cottage. but a clearly frustrated jurgen klopp saw his side go behind in the first half to a bobby reid goal, with fulham the better side for much of the game until they conceded a penalty with only 11 minutes remaining. mo salah converting for his 13th goal of the season with only 11 minutes remaining. mo salah converting for his 13th goal of the season all the teams have the same schedule and everyday place every three days. that is it. we will fight. here's a look at what else happened on sunday and leicester are nowjust a point behind spurs and liverpool following their 3—0 win over brighton, sheffield united remain rooted to the bottom of the table with just one point after a 3—0 defeat at southampton while arsenal were beaten 1—0 at home to burnley, with captain pierre emerick aubamayang scoring an own goal. max verstappen finished the f1 season on a high. by winning the abu dhabi grand prix. the red bull driver led from start to finish.

newly crowned seven—time world champion lewis hamilton was third on his return after missing last weekend's race due to coronavirus. it was a really hard to race for me. physically, failure, physically i've been fine but today i wasn't, so i'm glad it is over. englishman lee westwood has become the oldest player to win ‘the race to dubai' title for europe's most successful golfer. the 47 year finished in second place at the final event of the season to secure the prize for the third time in his career ahead of matt fitzpatrick and former masters champion patrick reed. fitzpatrick did when that particular tournament. ididn't i didn't know what to expect at the side of the year because i did and play a lot. i came out and went. i had them played 8—ball for more than half an hour before this week, i've had a bad back. —— i had not played more than a balls. i only played

practice. i'm a little bit better when there is no kind of goal and anticipation there. the final round of the us women's open will be completed on monday following heavy rain in houston causing play to be suspended. 0vernight leader hinako shibuno of japan was unable to tee off and will resume on monday with a one—shot advantage over american amy 0lson. it will be the first monday finish for the event in nine years. european champions exeter have begun their new campaign in the champions cup in incredible style — with a 42—nil thrashing of glasgow. in the day's other matches, racing 92 — who exeter beat in last season's final, won 26—22 against connacht. lyon scored eight tries against gloucester in their 55—10 victory while harlequins lost 21—7 at munster. that's all the sport for now. thank you. academics and people on social media have hit back angrily at the suggestion by an american

writer that the next us first lady — jill biden — should stop using the title "doctor". in an article in the wall street journal, joseph epstein called jill biden "kiddo". he compared her doctorate in education to an honourary degree. and he said "drjill biden sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic". other doctors say the article reflects sexist attitudes faced by many women in academia. i'm joined now by dr sara becker — associate professor of behavioural and social sciences, and associate professor of psychiatry and human behaviour, at brown university. good to have you with us. what do you make of all of this?” good to have you with us. what do you make of all of this? i think it is currently just shows you make of all of this? i think it is currentlyjust shows i think the typical types of stigma and the micro—aggression is that women in academia experience on a day—to—day basis. it was very shocking to see it in the paper, not because i was shocked that the writer held those views but i was shocked that it was up views but i was shocked that it was up to the genderless extenders to be published in a major publication. interesting you say you are not

surprised the writer held those views. —— genderless integrity standards. this suggests that this is something you have encountered before. that's a journalistic integrity. that is a fair inception to make. i think i speakfrom many women in academia to say these are beliefs that we encounter in a routine basis. both within our own work settings and out of our work settings when speaking about our credentials. i would also save this author is known for unfriendly views towards women, those with sexual minority status and also many different races and so it was not surprising from him in particular. but i was definitely surprised the wall streetjournal thought but i was definitely surprised the wall street journal thought it was up wall street journal thought it was up to the editorial standards. that isa up to the editorial standards. that is a very good point about whether it was right to publish it. but i have sparked a conversation and actually has highlighted an issue that perhaps other people would have been aware of. absolutely. i will say i am somebody who is a presence on social media but i do not have a

particularly large following and so for me i was simply posting out of the sense of personal frustration. i am the sense of personal frustration. i a m followed the sense of personal frustration. i am followed by other women in academia and many of whom will i follow back so i reallyjust marking this for a conversation with my own friends and colleagues. i was really i think surprised by the outpouring of support and the extent to which this resonated with women faculty broadly throughout the country. and also women in other disciplines i think this really resonated with them well. doctor becker, thank you very much. the humble garden pea is often the chosen green veg on our plates — but scientists have discovered that it could be more than just one of our five—a—day. a study has found that the ‘wrinkled super pea' could help to control blood sugar levels. richard westcott reports. stashed away in this room could be one answer to a potentially lethal problem affecting nearly five million uk people, a million of whom do not even realise it.

this is a seed store. it is actually freezing in here so they can preserve everything. and this is a super—pea. we think of it as a pea, it is actually the seed of a pea plant. it's full of something called resistance starch and the researchers suggest that could be really significant in controlling type two diabetes. now, down one of these corridors. working away, is claire. hi, claire. i know it is a bit freezing in here so we won't keep you for long. what have you actually found in these peas? why is it so significant? they contain high amounts of resistance starch. that means the starch is digested more slowly so we do not get that big glucose spike or big sugar spike in our bloodstream shortly after we consume a meal containing those types of seeds. and that is really important for preventing disorders such as type two diabetes, where insulin responses are really out of kilter with the amount of sugar which is in our bloodstream. in the lab, scientists revealed the magic inside the super—pea, which is actuallyjust a type of garden pea that's been allowed

to grow to maturity. these strange shapes are grains of that resistance starch, the ingredient that can help us avoid damaging sugar spikes. type two diabetes can increase your risk of heart and liver disease, stroke and amputations. a healthy diet is a key way to control or even avoid it. potentially, then, this is what we could all be eating in the future. the team here has made super—pea hummus. now, they tell me this is a little bit past its sell—by date so they have advised me not to try it. apparently, it's delicious, though. here you go. of course the big question is, claire, what if you don't like peas? a frequently asked question. you can disguise peas in many different ways. you can grind them up into a flour, incorporate that flour into bread or into these biscuits, for example, which we made using pea flour. savoury biscuits? savoury biscuits which you could have with your hummus. poor food and a lack of exercise has

led to a global diabetes epidemic. it's thought one in 11 adults is living with it. more research is needed, but the team here hopes food made from wrinkled super—peas could have a big impact on our health. richard westcott, bbc news, norwich. some breaking news coming into us. a gunman has opened fire during an outdoor choir performance in new york city. at the episcopal cathedral on the upper west side of manhattan, very essentially in new york. —— very essentially. coming from the reuters news agency, a further update as well saying that the shooter themselves was shot by either security or police. no word of any casualties but that news just

breaking in the last few moments that there is a shooter who has been ata that there is a shooter who has been at a cathedral in new york city. you are watching bbc news. and now somthing a little out of this world. within the last hour the spacex company has launched a rocket from cape canaveral in florida. three, two, one, ignition, and we have liftoff. it's delevering a high power broadcasting satellite to orbit. the launch was supposed to happen two days ago but was halted at the very last minuet for some extra system checks. the falcon 9 rocket is making its 7th launch into space. it previously supported crew dragon's first flight to the international space station. the pioneering black country music star, charley pride, has died from coronavirus complications. he was 86.

in the 1970's charley pride became the best selling performer for rca records after elvis presley. he was inducted to the country music hall of fame in 2000. music. singer dolly parton said she was heartbroken at the news, and called him one of her oldest and dearest friends. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. hello there. well, today was certainly a day to forget. lots of cloud around, lots of rain, too. an inch of rain or more in some parts of the country, leaving us with some very soggy scenes today. the weather did change later on across the far west of england and wales, and here in northern ireland, the cloud break, and this is the sort of air that we're moving into tonight and tomorrow. it's a much more showery airstream coming in the base of that area of low pressure that's chasing in behind those weather fronts that have been bringing

the more persistent rain. through tonight, that more persistent rain will move its way out into the north sea, but you can see a whole rash of showers packing in behind that. some of those could be quite heavy, potentially with some thunder in there as well, and we've still got some rather strong and blustery winds overnight, so it's going to be very mild. in actual fact, in scotland and the northeast of england, temperatures will rise as the night goes on to eight or nine degrees by the morning. could be quite a wet start, though, for much of scotland and northern england, showers continuing to run into western areas through the day. some of those showers pushing their way eastwards, but perhaps not many showers for northern ireland and the showers becoming fewer in the afternoon in scotland. those winds still quite strong and blustery near those showers, and the winds are still coming in from the south or southwest so it's still mild air that's heading our way. temperatures could reach 13 degrees this time in the southeast of england, and it's going to be a milder day for scotland and the northeast of england, nine or ten degrees here. those showers continue into the evening, and again, some of them could be heavy, but as we head

further into the evening and overnight, the winds do start to ease down a bit. we've still got the main driver of the weather, that area of low pressure sitting to the northwest, but it's beginning to weaken. we've got the threat of this weather frontjust brushing in to the far south east of england, could potentially bring more cloud and a bit of rain, but it looks like mostly showers will be running into the south coast through the irish sea into some of the western parts of the uk. but in general, fewer showers, i think, on tuesday, more places will be dry with some sunshine and the winds won't be quite as strong either, but temperatures may not be quite as high. 9—11 is still above normal for this time of the year. really, through the rest of the week, it stays mild. we're not looking at any frost overnight, but it stays very unsettled. some windy weather for western areas on wednesday, rain for all parts for a while, and then it goes more showery, perhaps wetter again on friday.