this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm ben bland. talks about a post—brexit trade deal are extended, with the uk and eu promising to "go the extra mile" to reach an agreement. one of the best—selling authors in popularfiction — the spy novelist, john le carre — dies aged 89. more than 300 nigerian school children are thought to be still missing after gunmen abducted them on friday. the first pfizer's covid vaccine is being shipped around the us. the first mass immunisation starts on monday.

hello, welcome to the programme. the brexit trade talks are continuing beyond sunday's deadline, after the uk and the eu agreed their negotiators should keep talking. major issues are still unresolved, but after a telephone call, borisjohnson and ursula von der leyen they said they would "go the extra mile". the british prime minister has repeated that a no deal scenario was most likely, but that the two sides would be as creative as possible. our political correspondent, iain watson, reports. 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're still very far apart on some key things. but where there's life, there's hope. we are going to keep talking to see what we can do. the uk certainly won't be walking away from the talks. and the eu commission president said both sides will 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. so, why does a tangible gap remain between the two sides? well, there is still squabbling over what access eu fishing fleets would have to uk waters. and over how any wider trade deal would be policed, if the two sides adopt different rules in the future. as well as talking to the eu commission president today, borisjohnson spoke to his cabinet colleagues. despite agreeing to more talks in brussels, he told them that no—deal was still the more likely outcome. we have to get ready for wto terms. there is a clarity and a simplicity in that approach that, you know, 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. but this could be avoided if a deal is struck soon. now 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 across judicial, 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 at all. 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. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. so what are the obstacles to reaching a deal and can they be overcome? our europe editor, katya adler. well, of course, of the three main sticking point still on the table, it's still about eu fishing rights in waters after that make the uk can't have

reference to the single market u nless reference to the single market unless it knows that the market and the eu businesses in it are protected against what could be unfair competition. and then there's the governance of the deal. so if either side don't keep to their part of the deal, what punitive action could be taken? so what punitive action could be ta ken? so that's what punitive action could be taken? so that's where they are still stuck. there's enough for the two sides to keep talking, we hear that the talks are constructive, but the big political decisions need to be taken. how easy is it to get a sense of what's going on in these negotiations? because normally european discussions like this, there are whispers and monitors. but are they keeping it quite under wraps? they are trying to leak as little as possible out of the talks, for the simple reason that as soon as the press or opposition politicians for example get a hold of those details, they could try to rip apart proposals before they actually become agreements. so as much as possible, they want to keep a tight wrap on things.

but the parameters remain the same. for the eu, but the parameters remain the same. forthe eu, it once but the parameters remain the same. for the eu, it once this deal but its priority is protecting its single market. and for the uk, it wants this deal, but its priority is protecting national sovereignty after brexit. that is a difficult circle to square, if you like. and what sort of reaction has there been to the comments from the british prime minister that it's looking more likely there will be no deal? how has not gone down in the eu? the eu isn't surprised at the prime minister's comments, andi the prime minister's comments, and i think one has to bear in mind that it's part of a wider context, what is said in front of television cameras is one thing, but then there's behind—the—scenes. there's negotiators behind closed doors, private conversations at the prime minister has with the european commission president, and we aren't privy to all of that. and of course, the prime minister will also if he wanted to reassure the public,

reassure ardent supporters of brexit as well, and also to be putting as much pressure as possible on the other side in these negotiations, the eu. one of britain's best—known novelists, john le carre, who shaped many people's view of cold war espionage, has died. he was 89. a former secret agent, le carre drew on his own experiences to create hard—edged thrillers without the glamour ofjames bond, but which proved to bejust as popular. our correspondent lizo mzimba looks back at his life. so are you polyakov‘s agent? if polyakov‘s cover for meeting you people is that he is spying on the circus, then he must have a man on the inside, mustn't he? alec guinness in the television version of tinker tailor soldier spy, playing george smiley. the spy master as sharp as he was shy, wasjohn le carre's most enduring and celebrated creation. please, i don't deserve this. who gave the message forjim prideaux to forget about tinker tailor? a 2011 film of tinker tailor

won multiple oscar nominations, including one for gary oldman‘s portrayal of the retired intelligence chief. you're just the messenger. running between them all. like smiley, le carre was something of an outsider, and like smiley he'd been a spy. he had been fascinated by lies and duplicity since childhood. his mother walked out when he was five, his father a conman who had affairs with a string of women. he was first recruited for intelligence work at university in switzerland, then at oxford he spied on left—wing contemporaries. when the option was presented to me, it was immensely attractive. it really was as if the whole of my life had prepared me for this moment. it was entering the priesthood. the spy who came in from the cold, later filmed with richard burton, was le carre's breakthrough novel. it was written while he was working for mi6 at the british embassy in bonn, at the time the berlin wall went up and when the cold war

was at its iciest. what the hell do you think spies are? moral philosophers measuring everything they do against the word of god or karl marx? they're not. so many of his stories explored the battles between the eastern and western blocs, but he wasn't deterred by the fall of the iron curtain. his first post—cold war novel... the night manager. ..another best—seller. 20 years later, for its tv adaptation, key locations were changed and a major male character became a woman. we've not been introduced. my name is angela burr. its themes of secrecy and betrayal remained. it was a global hit, the author even playing a rare cameo. i must apologise for my friend's misbehaviour. you bloody well should. le carre tried other types of book, but spy novels were what he did best. he believed authors and spies had much in common — both hiding their real selves in characters of their own creation. lizo mzimbo, bbc news.

john le carre, who's died at the age of 89. our security correspondent, frank gardner, gave us his thoughts about the death ofjohn le carre. david cornwall, to give his real name, was always adamant that what he was writing about was fiction. but he was considered by some to be quite anti—establishment in that he tore away the mask of glamour, i think, from the world of espionage. he portrayed it as being a pretty seedy, treacherous, and rather grubby place. but he did it in such a clever way that his novels — and later, the film adaptations of them — were so incredibly successful. he survived the end of the cold war in 1990. a lot of people said to him, "what will you write about now? the cold war is over, the soviet union doesn't exist any more.

there's no longer an enemy." but he went on to write about big pharma, for example, in the constant gardener. he wrote the night manager in 1993 after the gulf war — although that didn't come to our screens until 23 years later. and actually he was ahead of his time, i think, in the sense that he stripped away that glamour. he was writing at a time when ian fleming was writing james bond novels, and bond was the quintessential glamourous secret agent rolling around in fast cars and dating women. but the world thatjohn le carre wrote was very different. and if you look at the remake of tinker tailor soldier spy, where i first metjohn le carre at the prescreening of that, it was a world of incredibly dreary browns and grays. mi6 at the time was headquartered in a place called sentry house, which overlooked the railway lines of waterloo station.

and there was a petrol station right beneath it, and there was a bus that used to stop and people would say, "all right, all spies get out here." but it was a place where people were brown suits with brown ties in a brown suite in a beige canteen. they didn't sing the soviet anthem at christmas, that was made up. but a lot of the rest of it was very accurate. let's get some of the day's other news... one person is reported to have been shot after a gunman opened fire outside the stjohn the divine cathedral in harlem on the upper west side of manhattan in new york. law enforcement sources said the shooter has died. anti—government protestors have marched through the polish capital, warsaw, on the 39th anniversary of the communist authorities declaring martial law. around 1,000 demonstrators avoided several police cordons, but were eventually blocked from reaching the home of the country's most

powerful politician, the right—wing nationalist, jaroslaw kazinkski the afghan defence ministry says more than 60 taliban fighters have been killed in fierce fighting with security forces in kandahar province. it's also reported from kandahar that at least seven members of one family, including four children, were killed in air strikes. an official in katsina state says that 321 school children are still missing after gunmen abducted them in northern nigeria on friday night. security agencies are searching a vast forest area outside the town of kankara to try to locate them. at least ten children are reported to be held hostage by bandits. the school is talking to parents to establish how many students have returned home, and how many others could still be in hiding. let's hear from some of the parents. i had a call from somebody intimidating me, that there was a problem in the school.

he was there with my son, who was in, he said, two classes, that was the senior one. so he transferred the phone to a man, and he told me this was the situation. so i quickly took off from the area. since yesterday, i was here. translation: only the government can help us. they have the authority to rescue our children. may allah give them the strength to reunite us. our correspondent mayeni jones is in kano in nigeria. well, it's still a very murky situation on the ground. we're getting conflicting figures from the authorities. the presidential spokesperson spoke to the bbc earlier today and said there could be as little as ten boys still missing. but the state governor is saying there's over 300. regardless of the exact figure, what this illustrates is that insecurity in this part of the country is still a huge issue. you have bandits who often kidnap people for ransom, then target these soft targets like schools in order

to get some sort of money. the president was elected on the fact that he would be able to tackle that insecurity in nigeria. but increasingly, there's been dissatisfaction here amongst many nigerians who feel he's not living up to that promise. still to come: why eating one of the smallest of foods may be one of the biggest benefits to our health. saddam hussein is finished because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes, but they brought a formal end to 3,500 years of conflict — conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. before an audience of world leaders, the presidents of bosnia, serbia, and croatia put their names to

the peace agreement. the romanian border was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from sex at the white house to a trial for his political life, the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... talks about a post—brexit trade deal are extended, with the uk and eu promising to "go the extra mile" to reach an agreement. tributes are paid to one of the best—selling authors in popularfiction — the spy novelist, john le carre — who's died aged 89.

the united states is about to begin its most ambitious vaccination campaign ever as millions of doses of the pzifer biontech vaccine arrive all over the country. the aim is to vaccinate 100 million people against the coronavirus by the end of march. us media are reporting that donald trump and mike pence will be among the first people to receive the jab this week, along with other key white house staff. lebo diseko has more from washington. it's been a long and painful journey, but finally, help is on its way. the first of nearly 300 million doses of the pfizer vaccine leave the firm's plant in michigan. ——3 —— 3 million. packed on dry ice, they'll go out to distribution centers in all 50 states. the first immunisation could take place as early as monday. applause. the government says it's aiming to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of the year, 100 million by

the end of february. i never imagined that we would see a virus show up and have a vaccine available to fight it in less than a year. it truly is an extraordinary accomplishment for all the vaccine developers out there who have been working globally to tackle this problem with unprecedented speed and vigour. but now, the challenge is distribution, because those vaccines don't do anyone any good until they are in the arms of the people who need them. and that's our big job ahead. but tweets like this from donald trump just hours before the fda's approval have heightened concerns about political pressure in this process. in it, mr trump tagged the head of the regulator, saying, "get those vaccines out now." add to that reports that the white house told dr stephen hahn to approve this by the end of friday or resign — reports he told cnn's state of the union show were inaccurate. and what i can say is we've heard from a number of sources, including the white house,

that there was a desire for us to move as quickly as possible. and jake, we have, but our absolute obligation to the american people was to make sure that we did a thorough scientific review. we needed to make sure that our gold standard of assessing the safety and efficacy of the vaccine was done, and done properly. we have to get this right, and i believe we did. that is something he will need americans to believe, too, as the vaccine start to arrive on the next leg of their journey. recent surveys show that willingness to take the vaccine has gone up, but it's still under the levels needed to achieve that all—important herd immunity. lebo diseko, bbc news, washington. germany is bringing in tough additional covid restrictions from this wednesday for at least 25 days — as it battles new infections that are three times that of the peak in the spring. schools and non essential shops will close and people will not be allowed to drink alcohol in public.

from dresden, jenny hill reports. for a country which cherishes christmas, no joyful tidings. germany is struggling to contain the second wave, and the death toll is rising. this morning, angela merkel announced that, in addition to bars and restaurants, schools and shops must now close, too. "case numbers are rising exponentially," she said. "we are mourning a lot of deaths, we need to stop the health system from being overburdened." it's costing the country dear. there'll be more financial help for businesses like astrid's, forced to close at her busiest time of year. it hurts. it hurts, yes. can you survive? i hope, i hope. we will see. we will see if we get some help. we will see. but what's gone wrong for the country which came so successfully through the first wave? many blame regional leaders,

who, until now, have dithered, bickered, and resisted angela merkel‘s calls for a tougher, countrywide response. new years eve and christmas could be a complete nightmare, with increasing numbers and increasing numbers of deaths. i mean, look at the death rate. in one week, we have more deaths due to covid—19 than in one year in 2019 due to accidents. i mean, traffic accidents. i mean, it has to be changed. in the middle of a hard winter, plans for the new year when, if approved, germany hopes to start vaccinations. already, this country's freezers are in demand, purpose—built in south—west germany, to transport and store the german—developed vaccine at the required —70 celsius. we are producing here a quite high, four—digit number of freezers a year. and we are, say, a handful of leading manufacturers in the world making such products.

but we have to serve the globe. hope then, perhaps — but for now little cheer. even the traditional german mulled wine is off. there is to be a ban on drinking alcohol outdoors. in normal times, this square would be packed with people enjoying dresden‘s world —famous christmas market. not this year. many assumed those german qualities of efficiency, scientific excellence, strong infrastructure, could carry this country through the second wave of the pandemic. instead, germany, a country which really cherishes its festive traditions, is all but cancelling christmas. jenny hill, bbc news, dresden. 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 and in turn reduce

the risk of developing type two diabetes — a condition currently on the rise worldwide. 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. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @benmbland. plenty more on the stories we've covered in this programme and others as well whenever you want, go to our website or you can find them on the bbc news

app. this is bbc news, thanks for watching. hello there. it was a wet day across the country on sunday, and there's more unsettled weather to come over the week ahead as well. the more persistent rain, that has been sweeping away out into the north sea and instead, we are seeing more showery sort of of airstream filtering into the uk. that's coming in around that area of low pressure, and that's not going to move very far over the next few days. so lots of showers, actually, coming in at the moment, particularly across western areas. but because we've got a blustry southerly wind, it's a very mild start to monday. temperatures have been rising, actually, in scotland and the northeast of england. those temperature probably won't change much through the day. good start though with some wetter weather in scotland, and we will continue to feed in quite a lot of showers, maybe even longer spells of rain into some western areas of the uk. those showers will get pushed

in land, but there will be some sunny spells too. probably not too many showers for northern ireland and showers becoming fewer in scotland. but there will be brisk and gusty south to south—westerly wind, particularly near those heavy showers, but it does mean it's going to be a mild day. temperatures higher in scotland and the northeast of england then they were yesterday, and the highest temperature this time is likely to be in the southeast, 13 degrees here. there will be some heavy showers, though in the southeast and east anglia during the evening, those showers continuing further west as well. overnight, the showers do tend to ease, skies will tend to clear, and we could well start a little cooler on tuesday. still a mixture of sunshine and showers on tuesday, mostly showers around western and southern coasts. more areas will have a dry day, there will be fewer showers, the winds won't be quite as strong and temperatures still above average for the time of year, so 9—11 celsius. things get interesting around the middle part of the week because this area of low pressure arrives. it's going to be deepening, not only will be bringing some wetter weather again on wednesday, it will bring some stronger winds. and by the morning, we could be gusting 50—60 mph

in the southwest approaches, and those gales will push up through the irish sea and across the north channel as well. so western areas in particular will be windy. we will see a spell of rain pushing its way eastwards and we keep some wetter weather going in northern ireland, perhaps into western areas of scotland. some more rain, stronger winds in the west. again, it's a southerly wind, so those temperatures are 9—11 celsius. really, through the rest of the week, it does stay mild, but it does stay unsettled. a quieter day probably on thursday before we see the cloud thickening, the wind and rain, again, pushing infrom the atlantic on friday.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the brexit trade talks are continuing beyond sunday's deadline — after the uk and the eu agreed their negotiators should keep talking. major issues are still unresolved but after a telephone call — boris johnson and ursula von der leyen they said they would ‘go the extra mile'. children are still missing after gunmen abducted them on friday. secure the agencies are searching a forest area outside the town of ken kerr to try to locate them. one of britain's best—known novelists, john le carre, has died. he was eighty—nine. a former secret agent, le carre drew on his own experiences to create hard—edged thrillers without the glamour of james bond —— but which proved to bejust as popular. james bond — but which proved to bejust as popular. many became films and tv series.