this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. health leaders urge people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the uk — as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates. it comes as northern ireland announces a new six week lockdown beginning on boxing day — including supermarkets being told to close at 8pm for the first few days. more than 300 schoolboys kidnapped by gunmen in northern nigeria a week ago have arrived back in the state capital after their release. as brexit trade talks continue, the eu's chief negotiator says there are just "a few hours left", for the two sides to agree a deal.

translation: it is the moment of truth. we have very little time remaining, just a few hours. a quarter of a million new south wales residents are urged to remain in their homes — as the australian state sees a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. with just a week to go until christmas, couriers across the uk are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels — thanks to the rise in online shopping. 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. health leaders in the uk have urged people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the country this month, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates.

northern ireland and wales have announced post—christmas lockdowns, while millions more people in england are set to move to tier 3 rules tomorrow. ministers in scotland have refused to rule out futher measures. doctor katherine henderson is president of the royal college of emergency medicine in the uk. she said it was everyone's responsibility over the festive period for protecting the nhs. we are now at a really dangerous point where we could tip into finding it incredibly difficult to manage. if you look back, the stories of crowded departments, emergency departments, happens every winter, but now we have crowded departments with covid as the additional burden, which is a really scary and challenging place to be. you can see this as we are increasingly getting ambulances queueing outside departments, that is a situation

we do not want, but we have looked at members and fellows and what they are experiencing and they find it very difficult to get ambulances off—loaded, they have no cubicles for patients, no cubicles because there are no beds on the wards, there are no beds because we have too few, we have staff off sick so we cannot manage them, we have covid and non—covid wards and we are still trying to do the other work, we cannot get patients back into the community. all that cycles back to an ambulance outside the ed which cannot go to the next patient who needs it, which is an awful situation. as you describe it, it is an over predicament for everybody involved in health care. —— and also predicament. how close are health services to being overwhelmed, based on what you describe?

throughout the year we have heard from the government that action must be taken to stop the nhs from being overwhelmed. the sad thing is that you stop the overwhelming, which i am sure we will do, we have to stop the other work, and in itself that is heartbreaking because people who have been —— heartbreaking because people who have been hoping with the end of the first wave they might get the procedures they have been waiting for, the non—covid work, the elective backlog work which is not very elective, it is often very urgent, it is really hard to keep that going and people have been trying to keep that going, but if you had to have something done that would need an itu bed at the end of it because it is a complex procedure, at the moment it will be so tight on itu beds, it will be very difficult to say we can carry on doing that sort of work so we have to get a grip of the virus, get the suppressed or we just will not be able to do those other vulnerable patients procedures. we need to hang on, get suppressed, get the vaccine

into people and get it going again but if we let it run riot now, we will suffer. a lockdown from the 28th of december in wales, northern ireland, a six—week lockdown from boxing day, do you still hope scotland and england will follow suit? yes, as a royal college of doctors we do not want to say whether we have a lockdown for christmas or not. but we have to get a grip of the virus. we cannot carry on like this, so we need to do whatever it takes a different means for lockdown, it means full lockdown, to stop the community transmission rates we have at the moment. —— do whatever it takes, and if that means full lockdown, it means full lockdown. as your correspondent said, everyone is pretty tired and it is really difficult to keep this going and reality in increasing members of staff off sick or because they are self—isolating, so what effects the community,

the nhs as a community, everybody working in the nhs is part of a family, their local town, the people wanting to celebrate the 70th birthday, we are all part of this together together and have to get it suppressed together. that said, what is your message to boris johnson today, what is your message to the front line health workers? the front line health workers, thank you, you have been doing an amazing job but you will have to carry on doing it. to everybody else, please think really carefully about what you are doing, think about your messaging, think about the people you don't know that you might affect by going out and about — you might be young, fit and healthy and an asymptomatic carrier that you might give it to somebody else who wants to go and see their elderly relative and ends up passing it on, so whatever we do, we have to make sure we do not cause more harm by our actions over the next three days.

dr katherine henderson, president of the royal college of emergency medicine. we arejust seeing we are just seeing that austria will go into lockdown after christmas untiljanuary go into lockdown after christmas until january the 18th. go into lockdown after christmas untiljanuary the 18th. austria going into like —— lockdown after christmas until january 18. we going into like —— lockdown after christmas untiljanuary 18. we do not know specifically if that means boxing day or a date after that, we will find out more detail but it is interesting the decisions being taken in different places about how quickly to get back into a lockdown situation if there is a slight relaxation for christmas itself. let's look more closely at the situation in northern ireland now, its executive said

there were very difficult times ahead, and without drastic new measures , the health service new measures, the health service would be overwhelmed. non—essential shops in ni will close from the end of trading on christmas eve in a bid to stop the spread of covid—i9. ministers will review the measures after four weeks. close—contact services, such as hair salons, will have to shut and pubs, cafes and restaurants will be restricted to takeaway services. announcing the lockdown — deputy first minister michelle o'neill said ‘the health service would be completely crushed injanuary‘ if there wasn't an intervention now. in short — the message from boxing day in northern ireland is back to ‘stay at home'. glyn roberts is the chief executive of retail northern ireland. good morning. your reaction to this new six—week lockdown?” good morning. your reaction to this new six-week lockdown? i think it is profoundly disappointing, we are very clear that the blame lies with those irresponsible people who believe the rules do not apply to them, to those households who think they can have house parties. that is why it has a0 executive to instigate a six—week lockdown but it has also

halted our economy, closing down many independent retailers and hospitality businesses in northern ireland. we are clear whether blame lies but that said we believe this lockdown will cause huge economic damage to high street, many independent retailers, and many independent retailers, and many independent retailers, and many independent retailers have not got through the damage caused by the second circuit breaker, lockdown. more businesses., we will see more job losses and i think it is profoundly disappointing —— more businesses will suffer. profoundly disappointing —— more businesses will sufferlj profoundly disappointing —— more businesses will suffer. i spoke earlier to a representative from hospitality ulster and he felt that food and drink businesses in that sector were being effectively shutdown apart from takeaway services, because he called them a co ntrolla ble services, because he called them a controllable part of the make—up of northern ireland. other areas cannot

be controlled. do you think that is what is happening with retail, the government and the executive is deciding we can closely six doesn't ta ke deciding we can closely six doesn't take away some of the risk?|j deciding we can closely six doesn't take away some of the risk? i think it is fairto take away some of the risk? i think it is fair to point out that we had spent £15 million making sure shops are safe for staff and customers. we have nature there are covid marshals and public and sanitising, we have produced a five—point plan for responsible shopping, we are making sure that shoppers are fully aware of their responsibility to stateside —— we have nature there are covid marshals. i do not think nonessential retailers responsible for this, they are not the bad guy and they have worked hard to make sure that businesses are safe for shoppers and staff. retail has played its part and will continue

to, but make no mistake, the impact it is having on many members will be severe, and it is particularly galling because if you are an independent retailer selling clothes, books or toys, you will be forced to shut, but if you are a large supermarket you can continue to sell all of those products with very little restrictions, and i think it is particularly cruel on many small businesses when the executive remove the click and collect option, those retailers do not even have that option. we believe the executive could have done things differently, we could have had a different response, but we are where we are... sorry to interrupt, how many of the businesses you represent, throughout the course of this year, how many have been adapting successfully to deliver online services? perhaps many already dead? in order to compete with large supermarkets who

can stay open selling clothes, books, toys, whatever. for those who do not have that capability, what support is there to see them through the lockdown? i think you have seen many independent retailers embrace online where they had not pre—pandemic. they have been working very ha rd pre—pandemic. they have been working very hard in that respect but many arejust very hard in that respect but many are just not very hard in that respect but many arejust not equipped very hard in that respect but many are just not equipped to even do is click and collect all large—scale online sales and deliveries because they are part of the high street, bricks and mortar is who they are and what they do, it will be very difficult for them to adapt. i was talking in the last few weeks to one long—standing independent retailer in northern ireland who had come to the troubles and various recessions, who told me they do not think they will survive this. that is the case for thousands of independent

retailers and small businesses, they may not survive this. we are worried that it will do structural damage to many of our local high street in northern ireland. but if it works in terms of getting control of the virus and getting everyone out of this cycle of opening and closing, will it be worth it? i desperately hope it works, certainly the second lockdown that we had, it didn't work, so i desperately hope it does, but i think more could have been turning terms of getting that message to individuals that it is your personal responsibility to obey the regulations, and we need to reinforce that message to people who think they will do not apply, who think they will do not apply, who think they will do not apply, who think they can have house parties, think they can have house parties, think that they can walk into shops not wearing a mask, we need to have a home the individual responsibility to obey those laws for us to get

through this. the virus is in the community and we need to act as a community and we need to act as a community to tackle it. i desperately hope the lockdown will work, we have hope on the horizon with the vaccine and i hope this will get us through to that, but it will get us through to that, but it will be a very, very severe economic cost to this. glyn roberts, chief executive of retail northern ireland, thank you for your time. more than 300 schoolboys kidnapped by gunmen in northern nigeria a week ago have arrived back in the state capital after their release. pictures have been shown of them seated in the state capital where they were taken after they were located by security forces in za mfa ra located by security forces in za mfara forest. 0ur correspondent ishaq khalid is in the capital, abuja good news. what conditions are the poison and are we sure they are all

back home? that was different in the number of boys being reported kidnapped? —— what conditions are boys in? 344 boys have been freed, according to the officials. the governor of the state and the neighbouring governor of zamfara state is saying all the boys have been freed, nobody had been left behind, even though there were conflicting figures of exactly how many children were abducted by the gunman. the condition of these children at the moment, they look exhausted, very tired, some have bad feet, they have been taken to the state government house where the governor addressed them, tried to pacfiy governor addressed them, tried to pacify them and talk about the medical examination they will undergo before being reunited with theirfamily. this undergo before being reunited with their family. this is undergo before being reunited with theirfamily. this is the undergo before being reunited with their family. this is the situation at the moment but the children look

so exhausted, confused and bewildered but overall the big news that many people are focusing on is they are back, they are no longer in captivity, the parents are happy and the country is happy. people will think back to the chip hawkes school girls, many of whom have never returned home. —— the chibok schoolgirls. people will wonder what was the motive behind the kidnappers taking the boys but then returning home so quickly. the incident happened in north—western nigeria in katsina state, four years in this area criminal gangs have kidnapped people for ransom and they attack communities, they are different from the boko haram militants who are mainly operating in the north—east of the country. at wendy's boys who we re of the country. at wendy's boys who were kidnapped, a message purportedly from boko haram emerged

saying the terror group was behind the kidnapping, even yesterday a video surfaced which claims it was from boko haram and they are holding the boys, presenting demands, but hours later we got the news that the children were freed. the officials are saying boko haram was not behind this particular kidnapping, criminal gangs looking for money abducted them, but the state government says no ransom was paid, even though there are questions as to exactly what you really compelled the kidnappers to free these boys. there are more questions than answers but the fact is that they are no more in captivity. it is mediated news that they are home, thank you very much, our correspondent in abuja.

health leaders urge people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the uk, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates. it comes as northern ireland announces a new six week lockdown beginning on boxing day — including supermarkets being told to close at 8pm for the first few days. more than 300 schoolboys kidnapped by gunmen in northern nigeria a week ago have arrived back in the state capital after their release. the british prime minister, borisjohnson says talks to reach a post—brexit trade agreement are in a "serious situation" — with a no—deal scenario now "very likely" unless the eu's position changes substantially. mrjohnson's comments came following a call with the european commission president, ursula von der leyen, last night. speaking in the last hour, the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier said the next few hours would be crucial in deciding whether a deal is possible before the end of the year.( he said there were nowjust a few

alice schlesinger securing agreement and the eu should be prepared for all eventualities. —— just a steve elliot slessor to secure an agreement. translation: it's the moment of truth. we have very little time remaining, just a few hours, to work through these negotiations in a useful fashion if we want this agreement to enter into force on 1st january. as you were informed by our president, ursula von der leyen, a few days ago in this very room, there is a chance of getting an agreement, but the path to such an agreement is very narrow. the time when the decisions need to be taken, that will also be the time for each and everyone to assume their responsibilities. well let's just remind ourselves of what the three sticking points have been in these negotiations. the first and biggest issue is over fishing rights. it's just a small part of the uk's economic activity — but a symbolic one — with disagreement over the level

of access the eu will get to fish in uk waters. the uk government argues it would be the only country in the world without full sovereignty over its waters. another issue is fair competition, also known as the ‘level playing field'. the eu says the uk must stick to agreed rules on government aid to british firms, so that there's no unfair advantage. and then there's what's known as the governance of the deal — if an agreement is reached, who will police it? 0ur europe correspondent nick beake said fishing rights was now the biggest obstacle between the two sides they are in the middle of a really intense negotiation so public proclamations may not always reflect what is happening around the negotiating table, but the european side have been quite keen to stress the positives. they are talking about largely one issue, fishing, being the real stumbling block preventing a deal from being reached.

in his statement last night, borisjohnson said the eu needs a fundamental shift in position, particularly on fish but also when it comes to competition rules and a level playing field, and echoing what michael gove, one of his senior ministers, had said earlier, putting the chances of a deal at less than 50%, so quite a gloomy assessment from downing street. this morning we heard from the eu chief negotiator michel barnier, time was his big theme. he said there are only hours left to do a deal and he said basically it is the fault of the british that we are in this position because the uk side had an option in the summer to extend the transition period, which they declined, and he lamented the lack of time they had to do a deal and that is why he said the next hours, not days or weeks any more, hours, are crucial. nick beake in brussels.

hundreds of thousands of residents in sydney, australia, have been told to stay home after a new outbreak of coronavirus ended a two—week run of no local cases. australian officials are trying to trace the source of the infection, afterfinding dozens of cases across the city's northern beaches region. the new cluster has sparked national concern and cast uncertainty over many australians' plans for a relatively normal christmas. so everybody in greater sydney needs to be on high alert. if you have the mildest symptoms, please get tested and isolated. also, can everybody please think about their activity? nobody should be getting on public transport without wearing a mask. nobody in greater sydney should be going to a supermarket or place of worship or other high—risk areas without wearing a mask. it would just be crazy if people are undertaking those activities without wearing a mask. the harder all of us work together, the better christmas we will have. 0ur correspondent in sydney, phil mercer, has been giving us more details. there have been four key pillars

to australia's coronavirus strategy — mass testing, sophisticated contact tracing, strict lockdown and the closure of international borders to foreign travellers. it is that sophisticated contact tracing that is now in full swing in sydney as the authorities raised to try to find a source of 28 infections in the northern beaches district of the city. —— as the authorities race. 28 infections might not seem a large number compared to other countries, for example, but in the australian context it is significant, the authorities here are urging residents to be on high alert and, as you say, 230,000 people living on monday.

the state government in new south wales says the outbreak cannot be contained in the next two or three days, there could be more stringent measures in place at christmas. a second coronavirus vaccine is on the verge of approval in the united states. the head of the food and drugs administration has said he'll move quickly to authorise the moderna vaccine, allowing the company to begin shipping millions of doses. the us — which has just begun rolling out the pfizer—biontech jab — has recorded more coronavirus deaths than any other country. ministers have been defending plans for secondary school pupils in england to return to school on a staggered basis after the christmas break. 0nly teenagers in years 11 and 13 will go back as normal everyone else will have their lessons online for the first week of the new year — allowing headteachers time to set up mass covid testing for pupils and staff. it came a day before a lot of schools break up for christmas. but the start of the new term will be different depending on where you are in the uk. let's take a look: so in england, only those who have exams will go

back in the first week along with key workers' children and youngsters considered vulnerable. in wales, there will also be a staggered start — with a full return to the classroom by the 18th of january. in scotland, there are no changes and pupils will be expected to return to school between the fifth and seventh of january, as normal. and in northern ireland there are currently no changes to the return to school plans — but with a six—week national lockdown starting from boxing day, health officials are urging a limited re—opening. the changes in england have been described by one teaching union as "a shambles". but the schools minister, nick gibb has been defending the plans. education is a national priority. we want schools to remain open. we wanted schools to remain open right till the end of term. that was why we took the action we did a few days ago. injanuary, we want to break the cycle, break the chain of transmission. we want to test 5.5 million secondary school students. we've been piloting these testing arrangements in schools

for the last few weeks. to enable us to do that, other than those exam year groups who'll be going to school on ath january, the first five days injanuary, we want children to be learning at home through remote education while schools prepare to test 5.5 million students first, followed three days later by a second test, 11 million tests. but our priority is to ensure that we have as many children as possible in the classroom. that's what this testing is all about. if you test negative, it means you can stay in the classroom. simon uttley is the head of a high school in reading which has 850 pupils. he says the staggered return announcement came as a surprise and is too short notice. we are still making sense of this whole thing at the moment. the rhetoric is very much battle of britain. the reality of it feels more like dad's army. we're trying to make sense

of this this morning. we're hoping to make progress today and to make sure first and foremost that our families understand what's going to happen because again, this didn't need to happen this way. if we had worked together over a period of time, i think we could have done this an awful lot better and been an awful lot more successful. we believe in the idea of testing. many of us also believe in the idea of looking at vaccination of school staff as a separate point, but this approach at the moment means that we are going to have potentially a lot of uncertainty, which we are going to have to work out over the next few days and weeks, in other words the christmas holidays, to make sure we can deliver on this project after christmas. some really interesting data from the office for national which is essentially about whether people have effectively been obeying the rules, this is a says agent in

england only. one in five people said they met indoors with someone outside the bubble last week, figures for the statistic —— statistics for the office of national statistics suggests one in five people met up with somebody outside the household bubble in the week to the 13th of december. it does not include full work or education, it might include some exemptions like caring responsibilities but, from that, there is some people are breaking there is some people are breaking the rules as they stand. compliance with other parts of the restrictions we re with other parts of the restrictions were higher, 90% reported always a rotten were higher, 90% reported always a rotte n ha nd were higher, 90% reported always a rotten hand washing after returning home, 97% using a face covering and 87% avoiding physical contact when outside the home. people are reporting they had scaled back business plans compared to last year. for example, visiting family and friends are not staying overnight, 26% compared with 52% last year, staying overnight with

family and friends, 11% compared to 28% last year, meeting other restau ra nts, 28% last year, meeting other restaurants, cafes or bars is obviously very limited anyway with the new rules, a% compared to aa% last year, the new rules, a% compared to aa% last yea r, lots the new rules, a% compared to aa% last year, lots of people will say that because they simply can't, if restau ra nts that because they simply can't, if restaurants had cetera can only offer ta keaway restaurants had cetera can only offer takeaway services, but the headline from the 0ns, one in five people said they met indoors with someone outside the bubble last week in england so people are breaking the rules, breaking the guidelines. a couple of your comments about the lockdowns and restrictions, stephanie says leicester and partick leicestershi re stephanie says leicester and partick leicestershire had been a tier 3 from the beginning but nobody talks about it, better be safe than sorry, it will be better soon so just hang in there. nick says what is absolutely wrong about yesterday's enhancements, the tiers in england, is keeping many parts of the north and tier 3 despite a continuing drop

in rates, if it was the other way around the south would be in tier 2. thank you for those comments, keep sending them in, we will try to read more if we can. patients in hospital with coronavirus should be offered a follow—up after six weeks to check for so—called "long covid" symptoms, doctors in the uk have been told. it's thought that around one in ten of them could be struggling to shake off the symptoms — including shortness of breath, joint pain and dizziness — for more than three months. 0ur reporter, jim reed has more. who like thousands, tess wareing fell sick in the first wave of coronavirus. i was taken in at the end of march. it was just as lockdown was going on. and i was taken straight into intensive care, straight into a&e, and then onto intensive care. and i spent several days on intensive care, and another about four days on an ordinary ward. it took three months for tess to get her strength back.

even now, she sometimes struggles for breath. ifeel a different person. i think the whole experience for a lot of people has changed you. and it'sjust, i'm... one of the challenges is, yes, you know, it's eight months since i caught this, and you're always thinking, well, things always change anyway. so sometimes you're thinking, is this just part of growing older? but fundamentally, no, ifeel changed in that, like, my breathing is much more of an issue than it used to be. the tiredness is much more intense. it's thought around one in ten patients with the virus may develop what's known as long covid, lasting for more than 12 weeks. new guidance for doctors today from the health watchdog nice and the royal college of gps, lists 28 possible symptoms from fatigue and nausea through to chest pain and dizziness. it seems to hit all age groups, including young people, people who sometimes even get just a mild infection with covid or know people who have a more severe infection and are more likely to get it.

we know it happens more often in people who have got pre—existing health conditions like diabetes or heart disease. but we don't really understand why some people seem to get it and some people don't. the new guidance says patients should now be offered a follow up consultation if they've either been in hospital, or have symptoms lasting longer than eight weeks, and then referred on to specialists if necessary. it comes as the nhs said it has spent £10 million on more than 60 dedicated long covid clinics in england. doctors, though, say more funding is likely to be needed to deal with the long term impact of the disease. jim reed, bbc news. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: health leaders urge people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the uk, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates. it comes as northern ireland announces a new six week lockdown

beginning on boxing day — including supermarkets being told to close at 8pm for the first few days. more than 300 schoolboys kidnapped by gunmen in northern nigeria a week ago have arrived back in the state capital after their release. as brexit trade talks continue, the eu's chief negotiator says there are just "a few hours left" for the two sides to agree a deal. translation: it the moment of truth. we have very little time remaining, just a few hours. a quarter of a million new south wales residents are urged to remain in their homes as the australian state sees a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. with just a week to go until christmas, couriers across the uk are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels, thanks to the rise in online shopping. us officials have warned that a sophisticated hacking campaign

uncovered this week poses a "grave risk" to the government, critical infrastructure and the private sector. hackers are known to have at least monitored data within us departments including state, defence, homeland security, treasury and commerce, reuters news agency reports. the us cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency said thwarting the attack would be "highly complex and challenging". many suspect the russian government is responsible. in a statement on thursday, cisa said government agencies, critical infrastructure entities and private sector organisations had been targeted by what it called an "advanced persistent threat actor", beginning in at least march 2020. i'm joined now by gary hibberd, a cybersecurity and data protection expert at sheffield hallam university, and director at cyberfort group. why do you think this attack has

been going on for so long and we are just hearing about it now and who do you think might be responsible? it's always a difficult thing to say why it has been going on for so long. why it hasn't been recognised is, in typicalfashion long. why it hasn't been recognised is, in typical fashion when it's an advanced threat, this isn't a smash and grab. this is a highly sophisticated group of individuals who have specific targets. and they are looking for particular information. so they are going to remain hidden inside systems for some time until perhaps there is a trip wire or somebody performs some testing which then identifies that those individuals are there. so it's about the hackers being subtle and patient so that they don't trigger

any red flags and gather the information they are trying to get? absolutely. they will even go as far as covering their tracks. so if they have created the back door that allowed them into these systems, they will often close that back door so that people don't know they are in your systems, and i will cover their tracks by removing their footprints, if you like, in log files, which normally alert people to their presence. so it is a very sophisticated attack and it is alarming. does anything point to russia? this is one of those things where it's probable that it is russia. they have carried out this kind of attack in the past. earlier this year, they were targeting covid—19 research centres and such. the group that we suspect, but

again, there is no hard evidence, but we suspect apt29, but there is no smoking gun at this point in time. that is their usual approach. and what about the us response? 0ne would imagine they have incredibly sophisticated means to look out for this kind of hack. how quickly, now that they know it is there, might they shut it all down and try to figure out what information has been taken? that will take time. imagine the enormity of the networks and the systems that are out there and used by government and private sector as well. you are looking for a needle ina well. you are looking for a needle in a haystack and it's a needle that keeps moving. so these hackers are

very adept at covering their tracks, asi very adept at covering their tracks, as i have said. so to know you have removed the ghost from the machine, you will have to do considerable digging and testing of your systems and continual monitoring and looking for adverse effects and activity. gary, thank you for your thoughts. gary, thank you for your thoughts. gary hibberd there. with just a week to go until christmas, couriers across the uk are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels — thanks to the rise in online shopping. with christmas fast approaching, governments around europe are having to make tough decisions on whether to ease coronavirus restrictions in time for the holiday period. some european countries are tightening restrictions, while others are relaxing them for christmas. the world health organization has urged europeans to wear masks during family gatherings over the festive period. it said europe was at high risk of a new wave of coronavirus infections in the new year,

as transmission remains high. daniel lopez—acu na is an epidemiologist based in gijon, spain. and ernst kuipers is the ceo of erasmus university medical centre in rotterdam, in the netherlands. i'm alsojoined by dr martin balik, who's the head of intensive care at the general university hospital in prague. daniel, we have heard that austria is planning a lockdown immediately after christmas until the 18th of january. what is the situation in spain? well, i think all european countries need to continue... if we do not want to get into a third wave. spain took some... daniel, i don't know if you can hear me, we

are having some problems with your line. we will try to see if we can improve the situation. let's go to ernst kuipers in rotterdam. perhaps i could put that first point to you. the austrians have decided to go into lockdown immediately after christmas. what is happening in the netherlands? a similar situation. what we saw of the past two weeks was a rapid increase first in new infections, increasing currently to an order of 10,000 per day compared with the uk at a level of a0,000. following that, we also saw in the past few weeks, a more than 50% increase in new hospital admissions. and this is further accelerating. so it requires very tight measures, which have been in place since last tuesday. and they are badly needed because we expect further increase

in the coming two weeks. so what will christmas look like in the netherlands? will people be allowed to gather with family and friends? no, they will be allowed only to see ata no, they will be allowed only to see at a maximum per household, two visitors. and no overnight stays. no. pretty tight. let's go to martin, head of intensive care at the general university hospital in prague. everywhere in the world, the focus is to ensure that hospitals are not overwhelmed, certainly not intensive care beds. what is the situation like that? the situation is so far pretty stable. i can speak only for the branch of critical care medicine. we have been filled up to 90% since september. you may recall that the czech republic was badly

hit in autumn. it started in mid—septemberand we saw hit in autumn. it started in mid—september and we saw plenty of incoming patients since early october, november. nowa bit incoming patients since early october, november. now a bit of easing at the beginning of december, but i expect the numbers to rise after christmas. so what are the restrictions like? well, there was a lockdown which was eased after the 1st of december. unfortunately, it's going to be tightened again today. and today, the shops will be limited for the next couple of days. and public gatherings are of course prohibited. there are precautions for christmas celebrations as well. and i'm afraid numbers will rise after christmas because with every easing, after two weeks we get a rise in hospitals. sol easing, after two weeks we get a rise in hospitals. so i expect this for the festive period. you see a clear period between any easing and

the impact on your colleagues. let me see if i can go back to spain, to daniel lopez—acu na . me see if i can go back to spain, to daniel lopez—acuna . daniel, i hope we can hear you. with the best will in the world and people behaving how they ought to, people covering their faces and keeping a distance, with this virus, if there is any easing, is it inevitable that there will be a follow—up rise in cases? i'm afraid the line is frozen. it is a shame we can't get through to daniel. let's return to ernst kuipers in rotterdam. ernst, even if people are obeying the rules, if there is any easing, even if it is brief, is it inevitable that a rise in infections will follow? i'm

afraid it is. particularly at the current infection rate. when infection rates in a population are low, people can relax and we don't see much. we saw that over the summer. but currently, firstly, it is wintertime and this is a respiratory virus. and secondly, evenif respiratory virus. and secondly, even if you relax a little, the chance of you coming into contact with somebody who is infected is high. and dr martin balik, as i listen to what you and ernst are saying, is there any good news ahead? can you see a way out of this? obviously there are vaccination programmes and we hope thatis vaccination programmes and we hope that is the way we get out of this situation but until then, i'll be in a cycle of easing of restrictions and tightening of restrictions?” guess we should focus on the high risk groups. we should test people

before entering facilities for the elderly and protect the high—risk groups which can be well addicted from medical records, rather than restricting the normal population —— the high—risk groups which can be predicted. let's focus on those populations and wait for the vaccine. that is how to survive the winter. that is my point of view. then if we make it, it is likely that the vaccine will be a crucial break point in the coronavirus season. we wish you and your collea g u es season. we wish you and your colleagues well. dr martin balik at the general university hospital in prague, and thanks also to ernst kuipers. good luck to you and your collea g u es kuipers. good luck to you and your colleagues at the erasmus university medical centre in rotterdam. and apologies that we were not able to get back to our guest in problems

with the line but the better of us. with just a week to go until christmas, couriers across the uk are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels — thanks to the rise in online shopping. according to one online retail trade body, sales for the first two weeks of decemberjumped by more than 50% compared to the previous year. some royal mail customers have been experiencing delays. a parcel mountain at a royal mail sorting office in bristol. stacks of mail ready to be sorted here in manchester too. and parcels to be dispatched in essex. on the road the vans are full, a glimpse of how posties are grappling with an unprecedented increase in parcels this year. it has meant some delays for customers. last week i managed to send some christmas presents abroad to ireland and a few to my partner's family in kent. both haven't arrived, despite me putting a first class stamp and sticker on it.

the union representing postal workers said its members were doing their very best. there's no doubt we could not possibly have anticipated this level of packages and parcels. it seems to be intensifying every day. and that, coupled with the arrangements that have got to be in place to keep key workers safe because of covid, and the spread of covid and the figures going up again, all of those are complicating what is already a strategical nightmare, really. all our big couriers are up against it right now. the royal mail has taken on around 33,000 seasonal workers to help out, way more than normal. in a statement, royal mail said some areas were experiencing a reduction in service levels due to covid—related absences and social distancing measures. but the majority of the network was now running as usual for this time of the year. the pressure is now on. a business that is flat out trying to deliver christmas mail

as quickly as it can. emma simpson, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... health leaders urge people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the uk, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates. it comes as northern ireland announces a new six week lockdown beginning on boxing day — including supermarkets being told to close at 8pm for the first few days. more than 300 schoolboys kidnapped by gunmen in northern nigeria a week ago have arrived back in the state capital after their release. tens of millions of people have been affected after a powerful snowstorm swept through the north—east of the united states, breaking records in massachusetts, pennsylvania and new york. it created a lot of extra work — but also brought smiles to plenty of faces. tanya dendrinos has the details. a dusting of magic.

the sound of heavy snowfall, music to the ears of anyone dreaming of a white christmas. the snowstorm was record—breaking. new york city received the same amount as it did throughout the whole of last year, central park, a winter wonderland. pure joy as families took a snow day, swapping school for sleds and snowflakes. i love it so much, it's just so great to get out and have time to get away from the city and come into this park and have fun. a much—needed distraction from the challenges faced this year in a city and country so hard—hit by covid—19. oh, it's been so necessary after what we've been going through here in the city and around the world. it's a really nice break right before the holidays. it's been terrific. but beautiful as it is, the snow, which was around

a metre deep in some areas, also caused havoc on the roads and even on the runway, with flights cancelled and delayed. this spirit airlines plane slid off the taxiway after landing in baltimore. passengers all safe and accounted for, bussed to the terminal. just another reminder that nothing trumps mother nature. this is amazing. smile! laughter. under normal circumstances you might be looking forward to your work's christmas party this weekend. sadly, as we know too well, this is not a normal year. with most traditional parties cancelled because of covid restrictions, some companies are trying to find alternative ways to bring colleagues together. our correspondent jayne mccubbin has been joining in with the festive fun. ah, the work christmas party cancelled because of covid, but let's just cross over

to party poopers anonymous. raise a hand if you are actually really relieved the office party isn't happening this year? and not everyone is disappointed. because it's just stressful when you have to go to a christmas party with work people, pretend you like them, pretend you're interested! you don't want to be sat around making small talk with your boss, do you? no. oh, they're just terrible, aren't they? i mean, you get dragged around pubs you don't want to go to, with people you don't want to be with. if you leave too early, you're a party pooper, and if you leave too late, you're looking on whatsapp the next day to see what happened the night before. admit it, we've all been there. but not this year. cheers! this year, if we're doing the works do, we're doing it online.

can ijust ask, is everybody having a good time? yeah. yay! bless the lovely volunteers from macmillans, who've let us crash their christmas party. they, and party hosts likejohnny and helen, are trying to keep the fun going, virtually. flipping hell, i don't have a drink! nobody wants to do this. i'd like to be on stage. i was on tour when this happened. i was playing to real people in a real room on a tour. and, you know, i've ended up doing zoom parties. but what i would say is that we're good at giving it a go, and we're good at — it's the blitz spirit thing of saying, "come on, it's not what we want, but let's make it work". we are dealing with anything from 30 to 400, and we have had an inquiry this morning for 600. i cannot imagine a virtual party online with 600 people?! yeah, it's interactive as well. so, we'll see. i'll let you know. good luck with that! is it as good as a face to face party?

no. the one thing i'll miss when i go back to the live circuit is the ability to mute people. you can even eject them yourself without getting bouncers involved. it's fantastic. what we're going to do is, we're going tojust have our private party. we're having a little get together here. but if you're a virtual party isn't, well, virtual enough, this liverpool company will create an avatar for you and take your party anywhere in the world, or beyond. hi! hello. i've got vertigo. we've seen a real surge in inquiries, really, this year in particular, of course, you know. people are looking for new ways of getting together. and, you know, what we offer is something that really goes beyond a traditional sort of video call, if you like. can we dance at this party? yes! clemence is our, eh... clemence? yeah, he can bust a few moves. there we go. where's your famous robot dance, clem ? there you go. yay! we think it definitely has a lot

of a lot of potential. can we go somewhere where there's wine at this party? beach. look at that. and we have some virtual drinks here. u nfortu nately, they're just out of... ..argh! out of reach! for goodness' sake, oh! it's estimated that all of this could cost the hospitality sector over £700 million. and many remember the good old days of real cocktails with real work mates in real time with a real sense of loss. paul, were they gorgeous dos? magnificent. absolutely glorious. marvellous. and this year? and this year is very different indeed. they are ditching the do altogether. in its place, good deeds. instead of handing out golden tickets for a guest list, they are blowing their budget on books for children in need in their city. each of our guests who would normally come to one of our parties will be getting a book donated in their name. it's such a nice idea! are you going to miss the party, though?

we'll miss the party. we'll make up. we'll have a post—covid party. we'll do it in the summer. fingers crossed. fingers crossed! so for now, let's enjoy the safety of socialising while staying apart. and just imagine how messy it's all going to get this time next year. chin—chin! jayne mccubbin, bbc news. and finally — a romantic interlude at a train station that would make any hollywood scriptwriter proud. this is the view from the cab of the irish rail passenger train being driven by paula carbo zea, as she pulled into dublin's pearse station. keep your eye on the left of the screen. you can see a carefully placed series of placards spelling out the phrase will you marry me — and waiting at the end of the platform, paula's boyfriend conor o'sullivan, flowers in hand. as you can see, the answer was yes.

and her colleagues were waiting to drive the train so she could enjoy the moment. you're watching bbc news. geeta guru—murthy will be here with you next. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. after the sunshine yesterday, the rain is back today. a windy day as well, strong winds, especially in the south and west. but it is a mild day. some of the higher rain totals will be in wales, where the met office has an amber warning in place, so flooding is likely as conditions deteriorate through the day. the rain is putting it in the uk. east anglia will get a lot of cloud this afternoon. the heaviest rain will be across wales and south—west england. strong and gusty winds as well, so some difficult

travel conditions here this afternoon as the day goes on. some rain across northern england, especially west of the pennines. and northern ireland is getting behind the rents afternoon. there will be a few showers here. very windy, but very mild. it stays very wet, particularly through wales and western parts of england this evening, allowing those rain totals to mount. the range and clears as it pushes east overnight to those parts of eastern england that were dry today. showers followed to the west, leaving a mild start the weekend. low pressure is still sitting to the rest of us, but instead of the persistent rain, we have these weatherfronts going from west to east. but these are bands of showers. in between the showers it will not just be showers. in between the showers it will notjust be drier, it will be sunnier as well. so there will be some sunshine this weekend. but it isa some sunshine this weekend. but it is a cloudy and damp start to

saturday and for all of us, the bans of showers will move through, some heavy and possibly thundery, but with showers in between. some gusts could reach 60 mph, temperatures a little down on the but it still. sunday, not as windy. still showers, especially to the south and west. they will keep coming into the north—west of scotland. and then more rain approaching from the south—west. not one but two areas of low pressure with more wind and rain into the start of next week, but then look what happens to the temperature, first for scotland and northern ireland and then for england and wales. as we get to christmas, it is colder. maybe with a few wintry showers, but mainly just colder.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 11. health leaders urge people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the uk, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates. it comes as northern ireland announces a new six week lockdown beginning on boxing day — including supermarkets being told to close at 8pm for the first few days. as brexit trade talks continue, the eu's chief negotiator says there are just "a few hours left" for the two sides to agree a deal. translation: it is the moment of truth. we have very little time remaining, just a few hours. a quarter of a million new south wales residents are urged to remain in their homes, as the australian state sees a sharp

rise in coronavirus cases. with just a week to go until christmas, couriers across the uk are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels — thanks to the rise in online shopping. health leaders in the uk have urged people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the country this month, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates — saying the pandemic has reached a "really dangerous point. northern ireland and wales have announced post—christmas lockdowns, while millions more people in england are set to move to tier 3 rules tomorrow. ministers in scotland have refused to rule out further measures. dr katherine henderson is president of the royal college of emergency medicine in the uk. she said it was everyone's

responsibility over the festive period to protect the nhs. we are now at a really dangerous point where we could tip into finding it incredibly difficult to manage. if you look back, the stories of crowded emergency departments is something that happens every winter, but now we've got crowded departments with covid as the additional burden, which is a really scary and challenging place to be. and you can see this as we are increasingly getting ambulances queueing outside departments — that is a situation we do not want to be in, but we've looked at our members and fellows and what they are experiencing, and they are finding it really difficult to get ambulances off—loaded because they've got no cubicles to put patients, they've got no cubicles to put patients into because there are no beds on the wards, and there are no beds on the wards because we have too few, we've got staff off sick so we can't manage them,

we've got covid wards and non—covid wards and we're still trying to do other work, we can't get patients back out into the community, and all of that cycles back to there's an ambulance outside an ed that can't go out to the next patient who needs it. and that is a really awful situation to be in. the president of the royal college of emergency medicine in the uk there with that stark warning. and you can find out what the rules are in your area of the uk, by entering your postcode in our interactive tool — you can find it online at the bbc news website or on our app. northern ireland will go into a new lockdown on the 26th of december, lasting for six weeks. the northern ireland executive said there were very difficult times ahead, and without the drastic new measures the health service would be overwhelmed. non—essential shops in northern ireland will close from the end of trading

on christmas eve in a bid to stop the spread of covid—19. ministers will review the measures after four weeks. close—contact services, such as hair salons, will have to shut, and pubs, cafes and restaurants will be restricted to takeaway services. announcing the lockdown, deputy minister michelle o'neill said the health service would be completely crushed injanuary if there wasn't an intervention now. in short — the message from boxing day in northern ireland is back to "stay at home". dr tom black is the chair of the british medical association in northern ireland. thank you forjoining us. we had a really stark warning from the chair for the royal college of emergency medicine across the uk. would you echo that in northern ireland? how bad is it at the moment? well, what the chair of the emergency medicine association described has already happened in northern ireland. over the last week we have seen queues of ambulances outside emergency departments, we have seen one

hospital emergency department with 17 ambulances outside all with patients in the back waiting for admission. the ed was overflowing with patients waiting, more than a0, waiting for admission to wards. the works were full. we have had this pattern through northern ireland where the whole system is 10a% overca pacity where the whole system is 10a% overcapacity and that has been consistent for the last few weeks. we failed over the last eight weeks to make the hard decisions, bringing in severe restrictions we needed, and asa in severe restrictions we needed, and as a result the health service has been overwhelmed as we speak. tha nkfully has been overwhelmed as we speak. thankfully now we have this lockdown coming into place but it will take three orfour coming into place but it will take three or four weeks before that has an effect and takes pressure off the health service quite we keep hearing about the pressure on the health service. that basically means people cannot get at the age at treatment they need to save their lives or prevent them from deliver her from becoming even more unwell. 17 ambulances outside an ed in doctors and nurses having to go into the

back of ambulances to try to triage patients, treat patients, diagnose them and in an environment where there is probably covid, as well, thatis there is probably covid, as well, that is putting health workers at risk and with so many of them off with covid, with isolation, it is a system which is backed up through general practice, covid centres, covid wards, the emergency department. intensive care units have had not had that pressure to the same extent but inevitably they will see that in the next few weeks. do you think the lockdown is coming soon enough? should there be any lifting of restrictions even for christmas day? it's been clear northern ireland through the last two months that there has been too little, too late. it is wishful thinking. you need to make pre—emptive decisions. you have to have decisions. unfortunately our

executive was too slow and, as a result, this is what has happened to us. we need this firm lockdown that we are going to catch up with the needs of our patients. would you bring that in immediately, today, tomorrow? when would you bring it in? i would bring it in eight weeks ago, that's when we should have and when we didn't bring it in. we have to be predictive in your decisions and actions and we have been reactive, reacting to what has already happened. that is just the mistake we have made and if you compare us mistake we have made and if you compare us to the republic of ireland, where the rates of infections one third or one quarter of ours, where the system is coping, that's what we should have been doing, proper lockdown is at the right time and instead we did go to. so do you think now there should be a lockdown tomorrow, and do you think that the public will follow advice to be restrained on christmas

day, over the christmas period, without very clear rules set by government? if you want to bring in the restrictions, the government has to be very clear about what is happening, it has to be fair and rational decisions, and we went back and forth on opening, closing, and the public lost confidence in that and asa the public lost confidence in that and as a result the public in the last two weeks of lockdown that we had, a moderate lockdown, pretty much ignored instructions. this lockdown is much more severe, much more clear, it has a clear view of hpn for the first week and closing down nonessential businesses. the public are seeing those number of patients in the ambulances understand this is not the time to get sick in northern ireland, this isa time get sick in northern ireland, this is a time to stay in and protect yourself and stay safe. this is the question that everyone is now really looking at, for christmas itself,

not only in northern ireland but everywhere, that we have been given a certain level of liberty, should we ta ke a certain level of liberty, should we take that or should the governments across the uk have the confidence to say, look, the numbers are bad, they are worse than where they wanted to be, let's change the guidance, let's change the restriction level? talking to a doctor, and a doctor in a system under such pressure, yes, the lockdown should happen immediately and it should be severe. that is a doctor talking, representing health ca re doctor talking, representing health care workers who are stressed, burnt out, trying to cope in a system which is not coping. so, yes, the sooner the lockdown comes, the better. you can talk about the head of the politicians and speak to them directly through the media and say to them clearly, this is not the time to get sick. you need to stay safe and reorganise your christmas social life, celebrations, hospitality, and christmas dinner and make sure you stay safe during

this period because, for the next three orfour this period because, for the next three or four weeks this period because, for the next three orfour weeks in northern ireland, the service will be under severe pressure. you need to protect yourself, your family and severe pressure. you need to protect yourself, yourfamily and granny. severe pressure. you need to protect yourself, your family and granny. dr tom black, thank you very much for your time. ministers have been defending plans for secondary school pupils in england to return to school on a staggered basis after the christmas break. only teenagers in years 11 and 13 will go back as normal. everyone else will have their lessons online for the first week of the new year — allowing headteachers time to set up mass covid testing for pupils and staff. it came a day before a lot of schools break up for christmas. but the start of the new term will be different depending on where you are in the uk. let's take a look. so in england, only those who have exams will go back in the first week along with key workers' children and youngsters along with key workers' children considered vulnerable. in wales there will also be a staggered start, with a full return to the classroom by the 18th of january. in scotland there are no changes and pupils will be expected to return to school between the 5th and 7th of january, as normal.

and in northern ireland there are currently no changes to the return—to—school plans — but with a six—week national lockdown starting from boxing day, health officials are urging a limited re—opening. head teachers and unions have criticised the government's plans to carry out mass covid testing in schools in england. they say yesterday's announcement that most secondary pupils will study online for the first week of next term, while schools set up a testing scheme, had come too late. only teenagers in years 11 and 13 — who have exams next summer — will go back as normal, along with key workers' children and youngsters considered vulnerable. the changes in england have been described by one teaching union as "a shambles". but the schools minister, nick gibb, has been defending the plans education is a national priority. we want schools to remain open. we wanted schools to remain open right till the end of term. that was why we took the action we did a few days ago. injanuary, we want to break the cycle, break the chain of transmission. we want to test 5.5 million

secondary school students. we've been piloting these testing arrangements in schools for the last few weeks. to enable us to do that, other than those exam year groups who'll be going to school on ath january, the first five days injanuary, we want children to be learning at home through remote education while schools prepare to test 5.5 million students first, followed three days later by a second test, 11 million tests. but our priority is to ensure that we have as many children as possible in the classroom. that's what this testing is all about. if you test negative, it means you can stay in the classroom. i am joined now by kevin courtney, who is the joint general secretary of the national education union — the largest teachers' trade union for england and wales. thanks forjoining us. we know these

instructions have come very late, do you think schools will be able to roll these tests out? just before answering that can i say we are a union of teachers and support staff? on the substantive question you raised there, we think it is going to be almost impossible to make this work forjanuary. we agreed with the ambition, we have been calling for a mass of asymptomatic testing, and we also agree with what the minister just sat there, they need to break the chains of transmission in the new year, because we are really worried, like everybody else is, that's just like the us after thanksgiving had a huge surge in cases, we are worried about a pick—up in cases over christmas and the new year. we support the principle, we support the need, but head teachers around the country are contacting my union, we have heads in membership, and other unions and saying this is completely impractical. it is so last minute

and advice has changed on practically every day this week. we get a handbook issued on tuesday, which says that we are not testing every child, we are just testing the close contacts. then on thursday, in a briefing with civil servants, we are told we are testing every child twice in the first week. then we we re twice in the first week. then we were told on both of those occasions that staff would be involved in it. then today may stick give up talking to sky news says teachers will not be involved because they are teaching, then there is teachers saying one to skilled staff involved and let her get —— yet that handbook suggest if you are doing testing on a few hundred people you would need 90 staff. the average secondary school has 1000 children. 100 needs nine staff. we have 100 children —— iooo nine staff. we have 100 children —— 1000 children who all testing twice in the first week. where will we get those stats from? are they going to

be... just where will we find them by the ath of january, given that we arejust by the ath of january, given that we are just starting the christmas holiday? it doesn't feel practical, a practical possibility. there are other concerns about the late nature of this. they have piloted it, but they have exclusively, as we understand it, all the pilots have been using army personnel to do the testing will stop the british medical journey days if testing will stop the british medicaljourney days if you use people who are not trained then there can be a high miss rate, missing half the positive cases in testing if you are not properly trained. the question of whether we can get enough who are trained, and that has not been piloted, doing it ina that has not been piloted, doing it in a school in this situation. so we are very worried that this cannot work for the ath of january, but we do agree with the minister that we have to find a way of breaking the chains of transmission in those first weeks back because if there are increases of cases, you have children coming into school, passing it to other children and back to

theirfamilies. we it to other children and back to their families. we have it to other children and back to theirfamilies. we have to do something about that. given that, would you suggest one way to make it work is to use the army nationally? the army trained medical corps, i would you want volunteers or would you want nurses from the health service are people who are retired, you might come back in? i am sure nick gibb mentioned volunteers but there are safeguarding issues with children, as well. there are. we would be in favour of the army providing this service. i'm not sure they have the scale of staff required for it but we would be in favour of that. i think nurses are fully occupied with other work at the moment. so the possibility that you could use volunteers and train them is a possibility that is worth investigating. they have to be trained well enough that you don't miss the positive cases, but there is the other side to volunteers. schools are required, if somebody works our volunteers in a school,

they have to have disclosures and barring service check to check they don't have an offence against them. if you have people in your school who are not in that position and offset find out, they come down on you very hard with a safeguarding inspection. minister gibb has said this morning that the staff will not have these —— the volunteers will not have to have these checks is they are properly supervised. the question of how you organise that supervision, because these people will be working very closely with children, obviously administering the tests. that question of supervision, we think, needs to be taught through. we are urging —— top three. we are urging the government to talk with all of their unions and employer organisations who have similar concerns to us, but we just don't see that this can work for the ath of january. don't see that this can work for the ath ofjanuary. sounds like a busy christmas for teaching staff across the uk. kevin courtney, thank you very much indeed. thank you.

the british prime minister, borisjohnson, says talks to reach a post—brexit trade agreement are in a "serious situation" — with a no—deal scenario now "very likely" unless the eu's position changes substantially. the prime minister's comments came following a call with the european commission president, ursula von der leyen, last night. speaking earlier this morning, the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier said the next few hours would be crucial in deciding whether a deal is possible before the end of the year. translation: it's the moment of truth. we have very little time remaining, just a few hours, to work through these negotiations in a useful fashion if we want this agreement to enter into force on 1st january. as you were informed by our president, ursula von der leyen, a few days ago in this very room, there is a chance of getting an agreement, but the path to such an agreement is very narrow.

the time when the decisions need to be taken, that will also be the time for each and everyone to assume their responsibilities. well, let's just remind ourselves of what the three sticking points have been in these negotiations. the first and biggest issue is over fishing rights. it's just a small part of the uk's economic activity — but a symbolic one — with disagreement over the level of access the eu will get to fish in uk waters. the uk government argues it would be the only country in the world without full sovereignty over its waters. another issue is fair competition, also known as the level playing field. the eu says the uk must stick to agreed rules on government aid to british firms, so that there's no unfair advantage. and then there's what's known as the governance of the deal — if an agreement is reached, who will police it? nick gutteridge is the sun's brussels correspondent. there are all sorts of statements and rumours, as ever with these talks. what is your best guess as to whether there is going to be a deal,

and when? it's such a roller-coaster ride that it really is difficult to predict. i mean, it looks like, certainly people on the eu side feel, anyway, that we are probably on course for a deal. the hope is this weekend. yesterday the european parliament to set a deadline of sunday. that is if you want to get the deal ratified properly this year to be in place for the start of next year. to be honest, i think we could probably go beyond the sun day but then you have to go to provisional ratification, which is a bit more risky and slightly more unknown territory. we seem to be at the point now in the negotiations where there are some outstanding issues on a level playing field, there are issues of state aid, as you mentioned, to overcome. fisheries now is the really big blockage. it is one of those things where in a way it is tough to overcome because it is politically very difficult

and, as you mentioned in your remarks, for the uk it is about sovereignty. but it is also on those issues that nobody is ever really expected to block the deal simply because in the grand scheme of trade between the uk and the eu it is a relatively small septic. exactly, so why are both —— a small sect or. do most people think the huge loss to gdp that has been predicted by the obr and the bank of england is worth this row over however you define sovereignty? privately i suspect probably not. certainly on the european side there has been, even among fishing states, a recognition that it will be a pretty tough sell for them to tell all of the eu countries that don't have coastal waters with britain that the whole deal will fall over this. it is difficult. for the uk it is an ideological point. it is about

sovereignty. but the government has made it is not set in stone that it has to be. true, but it was a big issue in the referendum, back in 2016, it was something the league campaign really played upon. also the european side, especially for emanuel macron but also leaders in belgium and denmark, on the face of it they have relatively small but very vocal fishing communities, it they have relatively small but very vocalfishing communities, and if they come back with a deal that doesn't look like it has delivered by those communities, and whatever deal they come back with will be worse than status quo, then they will face all kinds questions, as well. so it is not an easy thing to overcome. i mean, that said, at the end of the day, it does also come down to a numbers game in terms of presentation. you know, can boris johnson get a good enough result, a

big increase in british catches and can beat european side mitigate the extent to which they are going to lose out? on the technical timetable, the 31st is a hard deadline, although there has been all sorts of suggestions about whether you then have smaller deals if there is no deal injanuary. what about the eu side in terms of its being provisionally agreed, could that happen on the 30th or even the 31st? yeah. i mean, that can happen very, very quickly because that can just be authorised by the member states. the provisional application. to be honest, i think a lot of european capitals now are of the opinion that is probably going to be the best way to go. it is difficult. the european parliament is really not happy about that idea because obviously it means they don't get a vote on it until next year when it is already in place, and they feel that will really be tying their hands. the european commission, as

well, at the moment is very much on the side of parliament that that is not the route they want to go down because they worry it will threaten european unity in parts, and also they feel that the uk set this short deadline, so why, to a certain extent, should they dance to that tune by changing their own procedures? but, yes, theoretically there really isn't any limit up until the end of the year. nick gutteridge, brussels correspondent for the sun, good to speak to you, thank you. england's second largest police force has been placed in special measures after an investigation found that it had failed to record more than 80,000 crimes in the space of a year. her majesty's inspectorate of constabulary said it was "deeply troubled" at how greater manchester police had closed cases without a proper investigation. it also found that a higher proportion of violent crime was not recorded, including domestic abuse. let's return to northern ireland announcing a new six week lockdown beginning on boxing day. stephen magorrian is the director

of the horation hospitality group, which owns four bars in belfast, newtownards and downpatrick. thank you for your time. this new lockdown due to start on boxing day, thatis lockdown due to start on boxing day, that is going to be very tough. yes, it is. there is understanding here that something is needed but there is also frustration that we only opened a week ago after being closed for eight weeks in a partial lockdown. with hindsight it should have been a full lockdown then. it is coming on boxing day. we expected it, we probably expected on the 28 and not on boxing day. that is a problem in itself because we have a lot of bookings we now need to cancel. it is at least four weeks, and probably six. difficult times ahead. are you open in the run up to that lockdown? yeah. pubs that serve food are allowed to open, but that

don't serve food are closed. all of our boys do food so we have been up for a week. that will give us some cash to hopefully get us through january but then we are reliant on grants, if they come. we were promised a grants when we were closed, we got some of them but not all of it. it is not sufficient to cover the total cost of our overheads because furlough changes have meant for us, it has cost £3000 per weekjust to keep our staff on when we are closed. we need better grant support. do you feel co mforta ble grant support. do you feel comfortable that the bars are open now, given the very severe comfortable that the bars are open now, given the very severe concerns that we are hearing from health officials in northern ireland? even though you can open, do you think you should be open, do you think people should be coming in? we have taken a lot of precautions. we are

not open the way we used to be. a lot of seats have been taken out so we are maintaining social distancing, we have screens between tables. all staff are wearing masks. customers must wear them when they are moving around. hand sanitiser is in various places. we don't hand out menus. we have taken a lot of precautions. we were open from july through to october. we have no cases amongst any of our staff when we we re amongst any of our staff when we were open because of the precautions were open because of the precautions we are taking. i feel we are safe but if there is to be a lockdown then this is the right way to do it, everything should be locked down the way it was before i was just ourselves lockdown and a few other smaller businesses and most thing still open didn't work. ok, stephen magorrian, director of the horation hospitality group, thank you very much. thank you. hundreds of thousands of residents in sydney, australia, have been told to stay home after a new outbreak of coronavirus ended a two—week run of no local cases.

australian officials are trying to trace the source of the infection, afterfinding dozens of cases across the city's northern beaches region. the new cluster has sparked national concern and cast uncertainty over many australians' plans for a relatively normal christmas. so everybody in greater sydney needs to be on high alert. if you have the mildest symptoms, please get tested and isolated. also, can everybody please think about their activity? nobody should be getting on public transport without wearing a mask. nobody in greater sydney should be going to a supermarket or place of worship or other high—risk areas without wearing a mask. it would just be crazy if people are undertaking those activities without wearing a mask. the harder all of us work together, the better christmas we will have. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. hello. some heavy rain for some of us today, flooding and disruption. the greatest likelihood of flooding will be in south wales as rain totals mount as the day goes on —

particularly into the brecon beacons. there is a met office amber warning for up to 100mm of rain falling in a few spots before the day is done. rain across much of the uk this afternoon. east anglia, south east england — here, well, the odd spot of light rain or drizzle but, despite the cloud, it'll be mainly dry. northern ireland brightening up. it's very mild, it's very windy — some gusts around southwest england up to around 60mph or so, with further heavy rain here and into wales and parts of northwest england, southern scotland, into the first part of the night before that rain pushes further east to eastern england as we start saturday, and a blustery but mild night. wet start, eastern england, the rain clearing for saturday. then it brightens up — all parts getting to see some sunshine but bands of heavy and possibly thundery showers moving through. it will be another windy but mild day. further sunshine and showers on sunday.

hello this is bbc news. the headlines: health leaders urge people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the uk, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates. it comes as northern ireland announces a new six—week lockdown beginning on boxing day — including supermarkets being told to close at 8pm for the first few days. as brexit trade talks continue, the eu's chief negotiator says there are just "a few hours left", for the two sides to agree a deal. translation: it is the moment of truth. we have very little time

remaining, just a few hours. a quarter of a million new south wales residents are urged to remain in their homes, as the australian state sees a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. with just a week to go until christmas, couriers across the uk are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels — thanks to the rise in online shopping. sport now, and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. good morning. england's 201a world cup winning captain katy daley—mclean has retired from international rugby. the 3a—year—old played in four world cups — leading the team to victory in paris six years ago. she also won nine 6 nations titles. mclean will continue in her player/coach role at sale sharks. she said the decision will let her spend more time with her family, including her 16—month—old daughter.

when you see it in black—and—white, the amount of time away really was the amount of time away really was the first thing that struck me. but i also thought about what a world cup looks like and what it requires, and i've done four world cup cycles, soi and i've done four world cup cycles, so i know you have to be in it. i looked at it and, i don't want to be away from her this long and i don't wa nt to away from her this long and i don't want to do this any more. ban tackling in all school rugby sessions — that's the call this morning from sports and science academics at three universities — oxford brookes, newcastle and winchester. they've written to the uk's chief medical officer, asking for government action to review the evidence that they say links participation in some contact sport to early onset dementia. the rfu say they work hard to manage the risk involved for young people in particular. footballers are "overwhelmingly in support" of continuing to take a knee to highlight racial inequality and fight discrimination. that's the message from the players' union, who asked their members if they wanted to carry on with the gesture following recent protests by fans. millwall, colchester united and cambridge untied supporters had

booed the action before matches in the past fortnight. but players said they wanted to continue with "this act of solidarity". arsenal boss mikel arteta insists everyone at the club knew there would be no "quick fix" to get their season back on track. arsenal head into tomorrow's match against everton down in 15th in the league, winless in six and on their worst start to a top flight season since 197a. it's like anything, this industry, you need results. but after a big shake—up we need to find the stability. we need time, we all knew, at least the people who made the decision with me at the start of the decision with me at the start of the new project, that this wasn't a quick fix and it was going to take time. and when you're shaking things up time. and when you're shaking things up things can take a while. to some big formula 1 news now — mercedes team principle and ceo toto wolff will remain in charge of the team for a

further three years. he's signed a new deal with the world champions and has increased his holding in the team to a third of the comapny. chemical giant ineos have also purchased a one third shareholding within mercedes, which sees daimler reduce its current 60% holding to create three equal partners. and is lewis hamilton also about to sign a new contract? well, mercedes tweeted hinting as much, with hamilton saying he plans and wants to be at the team next year. and finally, there's that saying, "like father like son". well, we've seen wayne rooney's son follow in his dad's footsteps, as 11—year—old kai signed a contract at manchester united. and here's another potential star of the future — charlie woods. he's the 11—year—old son of tiger woods. charlie will be taking part in the "father and son challenge" at the pnc championship in florida this weekend. he's certainly been watching his dad, who's a 15—time major winner.. he's got quite a swing on him — and his dad said to reporters in the us, he'sjust as competitve too!

and a quick cricket update from adelaide where the top two ranked test teams are in action. india's second innings against australia is under way — they're on nine for one. that's after dismissing the hosts for 2aa, a first innings lead of 53. you can follow that and all the other days stories on our website. my my children are banned from anything to do with our business. that is my personal diktat. there's enough of us! 1—in—5 people say they met indoors with someone outside their bubble last week. figures from the office for national statistics suggests that at least 20% of people say they met indoors with someone outside their household or bubble in the week to the 13th of december. our head of statistics, robert cuffe, is here. one way of saying this is that four in five one way of saying this is that four infive did one way of saying this is that four in five did not, i guess. and we're seeing that in a lot of different ways how hard people are working to

keep their social activities under control, you look at plans people say they have a christmas, the number of families visiting, the number of families visiting, the number of families visiting, the number of people staying overnight, with halved both of those, about three quarters of people say they support the guidelines where they live and almost all people say they are following hands, face in space. people have been living with guidelines for nine months, but this clamping down in a watertight way is proving very hard to do with one in five people not doing it in the last week. if one in five are admitting this level of mixing, one assumes it could be higher. with all these surveys , could be higher. with all these surveys, when you asked people how they are behaving, there is an element of social desirability. i might give you the answer you want to hear. but it does illustrate that the problem is at least as big and the problem is at least as big and the idea is to keep the virus down to zero. the guidelines say none of this mixing of doors is permitted u nless this mixing of doors is permitted unless you have caring responsibilities or you are going to

court. but the biggest reason people give these indoor meetings is meeting friends and family. do we know how many people are meeting with each other when they do meet? there is a big difference between meeting one or two people or going toa meeting one or two people or going to a large party with lots of people. and the majority of people say in this survey they are meeting with between one and five people, so it's not that giant raven my next—door neighbour's heights, it's more. i don't know if there is any breakdown of age or geography... there is a bit on age. the narrative we've all been talking about is the increase in students and younger people and less elder people, but when you look at this piece of evidence, this survey, the answers are not very different. similar rates of indoor meetings for 20 to 29—year—olds versus 60 to 70—year—olds. there is a little data from wales and scotland, it is a uk

wide survey, but i think 97% of people who answered live in england. so we have to look at it as referring to england and get no more local than that. thank you. patients in hospital with coronavirus should be offered a follow—up after six weeks to check for so—called "long covid" symptoms, doctors have been told. it's thought that around one in ten of them could be struggling to shake off the symptoms — including shortness of breath, joint pain and dizziness — for more than three months. our reporter, jim reed has more. like thousands, tess wareing fell sick in the first wave of coronavirus. i was taken in at the end of march. it was just as lockdown was going on. and i was taken straight into intensive care, straight into a&e, and then onto intensive care. and i spent several days on intensive care, and another about four days on an ordinary ward. it took three months for tess to get her strength back. even now, she sometimes struggles for breath. ifeel a different person.

i think the whole experience for a lot of people has changed you. and it'sjust, i'm... one of the challenges is, yes, you know, it's eight months since i caught this, and you're always thinking, well, things always change anyway. so sometimes you're thinking, is this just part of growing older? but fundamentally, no, ifeel changed in that, like, my breathing is much more of an issue than it used to be. the tiredness is much more intense. it's thought around one in ten patients with the virus may develop what's known as long covid, lasting for more than 12 weeks. new guidance for doctors today from the health watchdog nice and the royal college of gps, lists 28 possible symptoms from fatigue and nausea through to chest pain and dizziness. it seems to hit all age groups, including young people, people who sometimes even get just a mild infection with covid or know people who have a more severe infection and are more likely to get it. we know it happens more often in people who have got pre—existing

health conditions like diabetes or heart disease. but we don't really understand why some people seem to get it and some people don't. the new guidance says patients should now be offered a follow up consultation if they've either been in hospital, or have symptoms lasting longer than eight weeks, and then referred on to specialists if necessary. it comes as the nhs said it has spent £10 million on more than 60 dedicated long covid clinics in england. doctors, though, say more funding is likely to be needed to deal with the long term impact of the disease. jim reed, bbc news. martin marshall is the chair of the royal college of gps. the question that comes out of this ina way the question that comes out of this in a way is, are the long covid symptoms normally quite mild, that you do get over may be after three

months or so, or should people be worried that there are potentially big, more serious effects underlying conditions that could emerge from this in the lungs or heart from example? long covid is a really distressing and disabling condition for the growing number of people that are experiencing it. i think we need to remember most people who catch the covid virus have a relatively mild illness and most of them will be better after three or four weeks. but we now know about one in five people will still have symptoms which are often have an impact on their lives afterjust four weeks, and probably one in ten still have symptoms after six weeks, and some of those symptoms can be serious and disabling, they can stop someone working, they can result in deterioration of pre—existing conditions like diabetes or heart disease, and in rare cases they can result in serious damage to organs, the hutt lungs, the heart... so it

can bea the hutt lungs, the heart... so it can be a very serious condition in a small proportion of patients. and those serious impacts, they can affect mostly people who have been seriously at the time or are we seeing serious long—term effects evenif seeing serious long—term effects even if you had a mild infection in the first place? that is the strange thing, it seems to be more common in people who have had a serious covid in the first place, particularly people who were in intensive care. but it can affect young, fit people who have had my relatively mild experiences with the covid virus. so these are things we don't understand at the moment, we are expecting more research to come along, but at the moment it seems to affect quite different people. in that case, should we be testing people for clotting problem, should we be giving everyone proper scans on the lungs and heart? the advice in this guidance, which is extremely helpful, particularly to gps like me, is that if somebody has got

persistent symptoms that are lasting as long as four weeks, they should go along and see their gp if they are concerned and their gp might well decide to initiate some usually fairly standard investigations in the first place, simple blood tests, may be a chest x—ray. if the symptoms where serious or persistent might require more significant investigations and perhaps a referral into the specialist clinics which has just been established by nhs england across the country.“ it possible you can have a clotting problem that causes a stroke or heart problem and not have any symptoms as far as you know it? clotting problems are one of the known side effects of the covid virus, they are not generally a significant presentation of long covid. but if there is any propensity towards clotting, particularly in someone who has perhaps a history of thromboses, those are perhaps the tests the gp might want to organise. we are also

seeing some pretty stark warnings from health professionals today on the rate of coronavirus across the uk and real concern about whether there will be a third lockdown in england as we are seeing future lockdown is announced elsewhere in the uk, what is your view of where we are now? we don't seem to be in a very good place, it looks as if we have got a significant resurgence of the virus now. and the release of the virus now. and the release of the restrictions over the christmas period is likely to make that worse in january. so period is likely to make that worse injanuary. so it does look serious. i think we have to try and balance the impact of an unrestrained virus on one side but also the impact of lockdown on people's mental health and physical health as well, and it's not an easy decision for politicians to make, it is a political decision as to whether lockdown should happen or not, but it does look as if we are heading in that direction. however stretched you think the health service is, how overstretched our gp practices, are

they reporting rising concerns at they reporting rising concerns at the moment, and do you think christmas plans should be changed, either voluntarily by the public or by force by the government? general practice has been busy for many yea rs, practice has been busy for many years, but right now we are dealing with our business as usual, we are dealing with winter pressures, we are dealing with an expanded flu vaccination programme and now of course we are playing a very sick and role in delivering the covid vaccination programme as well. so there is pressure on general practice and there is pressure on hospitals as well, different in different parts of the country, some hospitals are really struggling, some have a relatively light workload at the moment. so we have to be very sensitive to the pressure on the nhs, and i'm sure that is one of the factors politicians are taking into account when making decisions about lockdown. on christmas, what are your thoughts there, we are hearing a range of people saying just because we are told you can meet, you don't have to

do. you can just limit told you can meet, you don't have to do. you canjust limit your contacts. i think the advice the chief medical officer chris whitty gave yesterday is spot on. he essentially says keep it short, keep it small, and keep it local. and thatis it small, and keep it local. and that is really good advice to people. there doesn't seem to be any appetite for this government to ban christmas completely, and i'm sure that will go down well with a lot of people, but there are things people can do individually to keep themselves on the left on pots are safe as possible. do you agree we should not ban christmas completely? that is a political decision, not a decision for doctors. our role is to inform government about what we are seeing and then the politicians have to make the tough decisions. are you having christmas in yourfamily? are you meeting other people outside your household? we are not leaving where we live and we are having a very small christmas, very much following the chief medical officer's advice. thank you.

the headlines on bbc news: health leaders urge people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the uk, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates. it comes as northern ireland announces a new six week lockdown beginning on boxing day — including supermarkets being told to close at 8pm for the first few days. as brexit trade talks continue, the eu's chief negotiator says there are just "a few hours left" for the two sides to agree a deal. us officials have warned that a sophisticated hacking campaign uncovered this week poses a "grave risk" to the government, critical infrastructure and the private sector. hackers are known to have at least monitored data within us departments including state, defence, homeland security, treasury and commerce, reuters news agency reports. the us cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency said thwarting the attack would be

"highly complex and challenging". many suspect the russian government is responsible. it has denied the claims. in a statement on thursday, cisa said government agencies, critical infrastructure entities and private sector organisations had been targeted by what it called an "advanced persistent threat actor", beginning in at least march 2020. our washington correspondent, lebo diseko, says this could go even further that we think. cisa, the part of the department of homeland security that deals with cybersecurity, said that the hackers didn'tjust use one method of gaining access, and therefore it could be much larger than we think. and, as you said, this list of agencies that's affected, from the pentagon to the treasury to as you said, probably the agency you'd least want to be impacted by something like this, those in charge of the upkeep of the nuclear stockpile, have all been affected. and this has been going on since march, so for nine months

the hackers have been able to gather data and information and do we don't know what with it, but it is a very, very serious concern, as you said, being called a grave risk to the federal government. a second coronavirus vaccine is on the verge of approval in the united states. the head of the food and drugs administration has said he'll move quickly to authorise the moderna vaccine, allowing the company to begin shipping millions of doses. the us — which has just begun rolling out the pfizer—biontech jab — has recorded more coronavirus deaths than any other country. with just a week to go until christmas, couriers across the uk are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels — thanks to the rise in online shopping. according to one online retail trade body, sales for the first two weeks of decemberjumped by more than 50% compared to the previous year. some royal mail customers have been experiencing delays, as our business correspondent emma simpson reports.

a parcel mountain at a royal mail sorting office in bristol. stacks of mail ready to be sorted here in manchester too. and parcels to be dispatched in essex. on the road the vans are full, a glimpse of how posties are grappling with an unprecedented increase in parcels this year. it has meant some delays for customers. last week i managed to send some christmas presents abroad to ireland and a few to my partner's family in kent. both haven't arrived, despite me putting a first class stamp and sticker on it. the union representing postal workers said its members were doing their very best. there's no doubt we could not possibly have anticipated this level of packages and parcels. it seems to be intensifying every day. and that, coupled with the arrangements that have got to be in place to keep key workers safe because of covid, and the spread of covid and the figures going up again, all of those are complicating

what is already a strategical nightmare, really. all our big couriers are up against it right now. the royal mail has taken on around 33,000 seasonal workers to help out, way more than normal. in a statement, royal mail said some areas were experiencing a reduction in service levels due to covid—related absences and social distancing measures. but the majority of the network was now running as usual for this time of the year. the pressure is now on. a business that is flat out trying to deliver christmas mail as quickly as it can. emma simpson, bbc news. more than 300 schoolboys, kidnapped by gunmen in northern nigeria a week ago, are reported to have arrived back in the state capital after their release. the boys had been located by the security forces in zamfara forest, where they were left by their kidnappers. president muhammadu buhari has

welcomed news of the boys' release unharmed. bulama bukarti — a boko haram expert and analyst at the tony blair institute for global change — gave his reaction to news of their release. it is fantastic news, a sign of relief for all nigerians. but parents will cry with joy after they have been united with the loved ones. it is a happy ending from an awful week, but i am not surprised at the number, because although some government officials have tried to say the number is less than the ones we just had, we have always known from our sources on the ground that there were over 300 children in custody at the hands of the abductors, and therefore 3aa is not a surprise to me. what i would be wanting to know is whether there

are any that have lost their lives, as a video released by boko haram claims, which we hope isn't true, and then the next steps should be for the katsina state government to check these children, mentally and physically, and to ensure that they are treated for any illnesses and the trauma they have gone through, and then make sure that schools are secured and opened again, because there are five states now that have closed down their schools, and closing schools can't solve our security problems. the british actorjeremy bulloch, who played boba fett, the bounty hunter, in the original star wars trilogy, has died aged 75. he'd been living with parkinson's disease for many years. boba fett has become a cult character for die—hard stars wars fans, spawning the recent hit tv series spin off called the mandalorian. paul hawkins reports. bounty hunter boba fett, a peripheral star wars character in two of the original films, didn't appear in many

scenes, and even the rare lines he did have... what if he doesn't survive? he's worth a lot to me. ..were voiced by another actor. butjeremy bulloch still made the character his own, drawing inspiration from clint eastwood's cowboy western character "the man with no name" — making boba fett move slowly and hold his gun in the same way. he's all yours, bounty hunter. showcasing his versatility, he also played another character in the empire strikes back... ..the imperial officer here, who manhandles princess leia. he also appeared twice as smithers in three james bond films. smithers, how's the arm? coming along very nicely, thank you, sir. there were also appearances in bbc sci—fi tv series doctor who, and the 1963 film summer holiday alongside singer sir cliff richard. but it is star wars which jeremy bulloch will always be known for. creator george lucas saying bulloch

brought the perfect combination of mystery and menace to the performance. mark hamill, who played luke skywalker, describing him as the quintessential english gentleman, a fine actor and delightful company, while daniel logan who plays the modern day boba fett in the tv series spin off said, "rip, legend, may the force always be with you." over the years boba fett became a cult figure with star wars fans, and so too did jeremy bulloch, making regular appearances at fan conventions. his family said he had a long and happy career spanning more than a5 years. his devoted wife, three sons and ten grandchildren, they said, will miss him terribly. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. after yesterday's sunshine the rain is back today. heavy rain for some of us, flooding and disruption from that, as well, in some spots.

a windy day, as well, strong, gusty winds, especially in the south and west. but it is a mild day. some of the higher rain totals will be in south wales, where the met office has an amber warning in force here, so some flooding likely as conditions deteriorate as we go through the day. the rain pushing into most of the uk. east anglia and the south—east of england keeping the cloud this afternoon, maybe the odd spot of light rain and drizzle. but the heaviest rain will be across wales and south—west england. strong, gusty winds with this, as well, so some difficult travel conditions this afternoon here as conditions get worse as the day goes on. some rain pushing on across northern england, especially west of the pennines, and northwards through scotland. still a few brighter breaks, though, at times around the moray firth in between bands of rain. and northern ireland getting behind the rain this afternoon, so brightening up, though there will be a few showers arriving here. it's windy, yes, but it's also very mild — temperatures in one or two spots may be up to 15 celsius. it stays very wet, particularly through wales, western parts of england this evening, allowing those rain totals to mount and the chance

of flooding to increase. the rain then clearing here as it pushes east overnight to those parts of eastern england dry through the day today. showers follow to the west. it is a mild start to the weekend. low pressure is still setting to the west of us, but instead of the persistent rain just pushing in these weather fronts from west to east, and these are bands of showers and in between the showers, notjust be drier — it'll be sunnier, as well. so there will be some sunshine this weekend. cloudy, damp start, though, to saturday across eastern parts of england as the overnight rain then clears away and it brightens up. and for all of us, these bands of showers move on through — some heavy, possibly thundery — but with the sunshine in between. winds pick up again, particularly some western coasts gusting towards 60 miles per hour. temperatures a little down on today, but it's still mild. sunday, not as windy. still showers, especially to the south and west. many for england and wales will fade during the afternoon, but will keep on coming into north—west scotland. a little bit cooler again. and then look at this — more rain approaching from the south west. not one, but two areas of low pressure with more wind and rain

into the start of next week. but then look what happens to the temperature first — for scotland and northern ireland, then for england and wales. as we get to christmas, it is colder. maybe a few wintry showers, but reallyjust colder.

this is bbc news. the headlines. health leaders urge people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the uk, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates. it comes as northern ireland announces a new six week lockdown beginning on boxing day — including supermarkets being told to close at 8pm for the first few days. as brexit trade talks continue, the eu's chief negotiator says there are just "a few hours left", for the two sides to agree a deal. translation: it is the moment of truth. we have very little time remaining, just a few hours. a quarter of a million new south wales residents are urged to remain in their homes — as the australian state sees a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.

with just a week to go until christmas, couriers across the uk are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels — thanks to the rise in online shopping. health leaders in the uk have urged people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the country this month, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates — warning the pandemic has reached a "really dangerous point". northern ireland and wales have announced post—christmas lockdowns, while millions more people in england are set to move to tier 3 rules tomorrow. ministers in scotland have refused to rule out further measures. dr katherine henderson is president of the royal college of emergency medicine in the uk. she said it was everyone's responsibility over the festive period to protect the nhs.

we are now at a really dangerous point where we could tip into finding it incredibly difficult to manage. if you look back, the stories of crowded emergency departments is something that happens every winter, but now we've got crowded departments with covid as the additional burden, which is a really scary and challenging place to be. and you can see this as we are increasingly getting ambulances queueing outside departments — that is a situation we do not want to be in, but we've looked at our members and fellows and what they are experiencing, and they are finding it really difficult to get ambulances off—loaded because they've got no cubicles to put patients, they've got no cubicles to put patients into because there are no beds on the wards, and there are no beds on the wards because we have too few, we've got staff off sick so we can't manage them, we've got covid wards and non—covid wards and we're

still trying to do other work, we can't get patients back out into the community, and all of that cycles back to there's an ambulance outside an ed that can't go out to the next patient who needs it. and that is a really awful situation to be in. does the latest concerns. the brexit talks are still trying to reach a deal as the end of the year deadline draws closer. borisjohnson is in greater manchester today and has given this interview talking about brexit vegetable. well, obviously, the uk's position is always that we wa nt to the uk's position is always that we want to keep talking if there is any chance of a deal but we also have to recognise that the uk has to control

its own laws, that's what people voted for, and we also have to be able to control our waters and our fishing, obviously also what people voted for. no sensible government will agree to a treaty that doesn't have those two basic things in it, as well as everything else. i door is open, we will keep talking, but i have to say that things are looking difficult and there is a gap that needs to be breached, the uk has done, we have done a lot, i think, to try to help and i hope that our eu friends will see sense and come to the table with something themselves, because that's really where we are. and if that doesn't happen, then, well... comejanuary the 1st, we will be trading on wto

terms, an event that has been a.5 yea rs terms, an event that has been a.5 years in the making, a.5 years in the preparation. yes, it may be difficult at first, but this country will prosper mightily, as i've said many, will prosper mightily, as i've said any will prosper mightily, as i've said many, many times, on any terms and under any arrangement, and i think we've just got to get through this period, look at all the opportunities that will open up to this country in 2021. northern ireland has joined wales this country in 2021. northern ireland hasjoined wales in this country in 2021. northern ireland has joined wales in saying it's having another lockdown after christmas. yes. will england follow? well, obviously, we are hoping very much that we will be able to avoid anything like that but the reality is that the rates of infection have increased very much in the last few weeks. yet where i am in the north—west, in bolton, they have actually done a fantasticjob in bringing it down. if you look at what people have done in greater manchester, really heroic efforts to get the disease under control, so

what we are saying to people now, over this christmas period, is, you know, think of those... those rules about the three households that you can bubble up with, the five days. that is very much a maximum, that is not a target people should aim for, andi not a target people should aim for, and i think people really get this, people do get this. all the things i've seen, all the evidence i've seen, people really understand. this is the time to look after... think about our elderly relatives, avoid spreading the disease, keep it short, keep it small, you know, have yourselves a very little christmas, asi yourselves a very little christmas, as i said the other night. that is, i'm afraid, the way through this year. next year, i've no doubt, as we roll out the vaccine and all the other... all the other things we are doing, it will be very, very different indeed. and finally, schools. are you guaranteeing that all pupils will be tested in the first week back? well, what we want

to do is to make sure that kids are in school, pupils are in school. i think that everybody in our country agrees that is a massive priority. if you listen to the chief medical officer, for the health, the well—being of kids, young people, they've got to receive education. in spite of basic socialjustice, fairness. everybody should have an education. so as a society we make a huge effort to make that possible. what we want to do injanuary, as pupils come back into school, we wa nt to pupils come back into school, we want to use that as an opportunity to test them, particularly in the high infection areas, and that's where we will really be focusing most. test them so that they can go back to school and stay back into school safely. that's the idea. and it also has the additional advantage of greatly helping us to reduce the rates of infection in the community asa rates of infection in the community

as a whole. boris johnson addressing three big questions with that interview. he is in bolton in the greater manchester area. our political correspondent nick eardley is at westminster. we have had that played to us. i wa nt to we have had that played to us. i want to go backwards. on the schools front, i spoke to a union leader who said it would be incredibly difficult to get kids tested in schools in time because theyjust had this announcement about it being needed, they have no arrangements, don't know how it will work. what we are seeing, as we have had massive warnings on front from doctors and medical professionals. we will see a listing in restrictions at christmas. and we are going to have to pay for it heavily injanuary. yeah, look, first, on the schools front, i think the government view is that it needed to do this, it needed to stagger the return of pupils in secondary schools in january to try to get this testing rolled out. there's clearly a lot of concern about the number of children who are having to self at the moment

because somebody in the idea has tested positive. a lot of people will have heard anecdotally about cases, and i think that is the strategy here, to try to address that as quickly as possible, but you are absolutely right. the fact that this waited until the end of the term is not idealfor teachers, and we heard a number of stories from people in schools are saying this is going to be a big ask, not least, by the way, because some of the detailed guidance on this isn't actually coming until next week when eve ryo ne actually coming until next week when everyone is off for christmas. more broadly on christmas, i think you can hear the caution in boris johnson's voice, although they don't wa nt to johnson's voice, although they don't want to rip up the rules and tell people you definitely cannot travel for christmas, you definitely can't see yourfamily, for christmas, you definitely can't see your family, there for christmas, you definitely can't see yourfamily, there is for christmas, you definitely can't see your family, there is clearly a message that if you can avoid it, don't do it. but i also think we are looking at a pretty bleakjanuary as things stand, because we have wales going to lock immediately after christmas stop it looks like northern ireland will go into lockdown immediately after

christmas. scotland has failed to rule out going into lockdown over christmas and you heard boris johnson say there that he wants to avoid it in england, but not ruling it out either. it seems to me that we are heading for a period where, yes, there is a five day relaxation over the christmas period, but after that there is going to be a pretty lengthy period where people are either in lockdown or something pretty close to it. i want to bring in the ons infection survey results. the percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus in england has increased. one in 95 people testing positive, up from one in 115. 575 people in homes in england, which excludes the other settings. that is just confirming all the trends we have been seeing this week. this whole question of third england lockdown, what are you hearing about that? do you think they will keep that under review, as we've seen in the past, so not

necessarily any announcement on that before christmas, we cannot say?” think the government is trying to hold onto the tear system. much stricter rules in the top ten hole, tier 3. that's only been in place for a couple of weeks since the second lockdown. i think ministers will do whatever they can to try to stay on that path. the problem they haveis stay on that path. the problem they have is exactly what you are talking about, the increased number of people testing positive for the virus, the real concern that there we re virus, the real concern that there were a number of infections is going up, the number in hospital is going up, the number in hospital is going up, and as we've learned over the course of this pandemic, that eventually leads to more people in intensive care and sadly dying, too. so although you won't hear ministers entertain the prospect of a third lockdown in england at the moment, i don't think it could be discounted, and that is reflecting what is going on across the uk, where the devolved

administrations, as well as ministers in london, are all talking about restrictions being in place for a fairly long period of time. so anybody who was expecting a fairly relaxed january, i don't think we are going to get one. the christmas hangover this year will be worse than normal. the prime minister might want to hide under the duvet if there is no deal on top of that on the 1st of january because that poses a lot of extra challenges. we heard borisjohnson say poses a lot of extra challenges. we heard boris johnson say this poses a lot of extra challenges. we heard borisjohnson say this has been a.5 years in the planning. does their position on getting a brexit deal suggest that, actually, maybe they are more relaxed than we thought about no deal preparations? they have had a long time to try to mitigate the worst effects.” they have had a long time to try to mitigate the worst effects. i think thatis mitigate the worst effects. i think that is certainly what borisjohnson wa nts that is certainly what borisjohnson wants the eu to think today, that he is pretty relaxed about no deal. there are a couple of things that are still big issues in those trade talks. one is competition rules, in particular state aid. that is the money the government can give to businesses to help them with certain

things. there was a big row over that because the eu wants to make sure the uk cannot subsidise companies that could earn ten flood the single market. uk wants to make sure the eu cannot subsidise companies to flood the uk market. it is hard to solve, one of the outstanding issues. the other is the fish. how many times have we sat here and talked about fish? it is a difficult issue. many european boats fishing uk waters, many uk businesses selfish to europe. again, different views on both sides. i think if you are a pessimist today you would say they are really difficult issues, they are absolutely ideological problems, as they have not been solved so far because they are so hard. if you are an optimist you would say, well, you know what? in the game of negotiations everyone always plays hardball. there are two issues where both sides have acknowledged there isa both sides have acknowledged there is a path to a deal, albeit a narrow

one. michel barnier saying that again this morning, only a few hours left but there is a narrow path towards a deal. will there be one? i'll be perfectly honest with you and say i don't know. i think over the next few days these issues potentially will be flushed out. it is not —— thrashed out. it is not impossible that we will get a deal just before christmas or between christmas and new year. we are sitting here talking about parliament trying to rush a deal through but not guaranteed. so no christmas break for our colleagues at westminster, not that phenomenon! laughter thank you very much indeed. northern ireland will go into a new lockdown on the 26th december, lasting for six weeks. the northern ireland executive said there were very difficult times ahead, and without the drastic new measures the health service would be overwhelmed. non—essential shops in northern ireland will close from the end of trading on christmas eve in a bid to stop the spread of covid—19. ministers will review the measures after four weeks.

close—contact services, such as hair salons, will have to shut and pubs, cafes and restaurants will be restricted to takeaway services. announcing the lockdown, deputy minister michelle o'neill said the health service would be completely crushed injanuary if there wasn't an intervention now. in short, the message from boxing day in northern ireland is back to "stay at home". tina mckenzie chairs the federation of small businesses in northern ireland. thank you forjoining us. it's obviously really tough to hear that these many small businesses will be affected again now. yeah, it's more bad news. maybe not unexpected but certainly more bad news for small businesses. we understand that in our hospitals in northern ireland we already have a situation where ambulances are backing up and people are being held in ambulances, in some places the 2a—hour is. so we do understand that they are not coping well and they are being overwhelmed at this time. for us it's just such

at this time. for us it's just such a shame that we didn't have more support of our nhs before we got into this pandemic because we were already short—staffed, we already didn't have enough skilled people within our hospitals in northern ireland, so that makes this all the more difficult to manage. do you think there is enough financial support to keep these small businesses going? we have heard that rishi sunak will extend the furlough scheme. the furlough scheme is interesting but no good if the company have to shut down. there will be nobody paid if these businesses close we have called for the executive executive to give immediate and generous response in order that businesses can survive. you and i know we will get our salary cheque at the end of the month. businesses havejust been told they will not. working across country, waking up, imagine you are told you won't get paid for the next week, christmas, and the whole of january. a difficult month for most,

and with no pay. it is not a cce pta ble and with no pay. it is not acceptable and already we have had to delay after delay with the grants that have been in place for previous shutdowns. people need to work over the next number of days in order that we get funds out to small businesses so they can survive the. if they don't survive, what happens? do you think that overall there could be a long—term switch in terms of who owns some of these, that multinationals will step in a way that people become unemployed? what are you worried will happen in the next few months? the services small businesses provide cannot be provided by multinationals. small businesses in northern ireland, they employ 90% of the people here. they employ 90% of the people here. they employ more people than the whole of the public sector and big business put together. that cannot be fulfilled by not multinationals. it was not businesses that got northern ireland through the troubles. they

did not walk away when multinationals chose to walk away. small businesses are part of our community as well as our economy and we need to ensure that we protect them into the future and we are talking about the decline of high street. we just don't want to see small businesses close up and see a huge spike in unemployment coming into next year. we have already seen a huge spike across the uk and with the six week lockdown we expect more to be unemployed which is a problem for all of us. it is indeed. tina mckenzie, federation of small business in northern ireland, thank you very much indeed. thank you. and you can find out what the rules are in your area of the uk, by entering your postcode in our interactive tool — you can find it online at the bbc news website or on our app. a secure centre for children accused of crimes has been holding them in near solitary confinement — despite having been previously told to stop.

three watchdogs have used their legal powers for the first time to order the ministry ofjustice to take urgent action against the rainsbrook secure training centre. boys and girls have been locked in their rooms for almost 2a hours a day as a quarantine measure. our home affairs correspondent dominic casciani joins me now who are in this training centre?“ one of three in the country and these centres, you could call them basically a children's prison but they are supposed to be a world away from that. they are a secure environment where children who are in very vulnerable situations, often self harming, potentially at risk to others, with deep psychological traumas in their own life as well as crimes they are accused of committing, are held securely but also give lots of therapy and support and, also give lots of therapy and supportand, in also give lots of therapy and support and, in theory, a full education during their time in the centre. it is a key pipe of the strategy of trying to prevent these very damaged children ending up in prison for the rest of their lives.

the children at this centre, it can hold up to 87, during the coronavirus pandemic, they have been held up to 23.5 hours in their rooms after their arrival, so a newly arriving child, or one coming back from a court appearance, would be effectively locked up for 1a days. when inspectors, this is ofsted, the chief inspector of prisons, and the ca re chief inspector of prisons, and the care quality commission, when they discovered at this in october, they said to rainsbrook, which is run by a private contractor, and the ministry ofjustice, this has to stop, it is unacceptable, doesn't ta ke stop, it is unacceptable, doesn't take into account the well—being of children. steps were supposed to have been taken then. they went back this month and it turns out that they feel little has changed. one girl was locked in her room for so long that she effectively had no time—outs at all on two macros every day. another boy got four hours out of his room over a 1a day period.

they have real concerns about the damage these children and the chief inspector of prisons, charlie taylor, said he found it. he is it should stop. this is a very challenging situation. this morning the ministry ofjustice said that they put new management in to act on what is called an agent notification from the inspectors. this is the first time they have used this legal power to telljustice secretary robert buckland that this must stop, you must come back with an action plan to actually deal with this. new management are supposed to be in. we are not quite clear whether or not any more children will be sent. they are saying they will not send them but there is a possibility they may have to do, so it is a very difficult situation. inspectors are promising they will go back into the new year and find out exactly what is going on. dominic, thank you very much indeed. england's second largest police force has been placed in special measures after an investigation found that it had failed to record more than 80,000 crimes in the space of a year.

her majesty's inspectorate of constabulary said it was "deeply troubled" at how greater manchester police had closed cases without a proper investigation. it also found that a higher proportion of violent crime was not recorded, including domestic abuse. sport — and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. good afternoon. england's 201a world cup winning captain katy daley—mclean has retired from international rugby. the 3a—year—old played in four world cups — leading the team to victory in paris six years ago. she also won nine 6 nations titles. mclean will continue in her player/coach role at sale sharks. she said the decision will let her spend more time with her family, including her 16—month—old daughter. when you see it in black—and—white, the amount of time away really was the first thing that struck me. but i also thought about what a world cup looks like and what it requires, and i've done four world cup cycles, so i know you have to be in it.

i looked at it, and i don't want to be away from her this long, and i don't want to do this any more. ban tackling in all school rugby sessions — that's the call this morning from sports and science academics at three universities — oxford brookes, newcastle and winchester. they've written to the uk's chief medical officer, asking for government action to review the evidence that they say links participation in some contact sport to early onset dementia. the rfu say they work hard to manage the risk involved for young people in particular. footballers are "overwhelmingly in support" of continuing to take a knee — to highlight racial inequality and fight discrimination. that's the message from the players union, who asked their members if they wanted to carry on with the gesture following recent protests by fans. millwall, colchester united and cambridge untied supporters had booed the action before matches in the past fortnight. but players said they wanted to continue with "this act of solidarity". arsenal boss mikel arteta insists everyone at the club knew there would be no "quick fix"

to get their season back on track. arsenal head into tomorrow's match against everton down in 15th in the league, winless in six and on their worst start to a top flight season since 197a. it's like anything, this industry, you need results. but after a big shake—up we need to find the stability. we need time, we all knew — at least the people who made the decision with me at the start of the new project — that this wasn't a quick fix and it was going to take time. and when you're shaking things up, things can take a while. to some big formula 1 news now — mercedes team principle and ceo toto wolff will remain in charge of the team for a further three years. he's signed a new deal with the world champions and has increased his holding in the team to a third of the comapny. chemical giant ineos have also purchased a one third shareholding within mercedes which sees daimler reduce its current 60% holding

to create three equal partners. and is lewis hamilton also about to sign a new contract? well, mercedes tweeted hinting as much, with hamilton saying he plans and wants to be at the team next year. to adelaide now, where 15 wickets fell on day two of the first test between australia and india as the world's top two sides go head to head. early in the day india were all out for 2aa in their first innings, but australia didn't fare much better with the bat. ravi ashwin with four wickets including steve smith for! as they were dismissed for 191. india were back in the middle before close but lost prithvi shaw for four, bowled by pat cummins. they'll resume day three on 9—1, a lead of 62. and finally, there's that saying, "like father, like son". well, we've seen wayne rooney's son follow in his dad's footsteps as 11—year—old kai signed a contract at manchester united. and here's another potential star of the future — charlie woods. he's the 11—year—old son of tiger woods. charlie will be taking part in the "father and son challenge" at the pnc championship in florida this weekend. he's certainly been watching his dad, who's a 15—time major winner. he's got quite a swing on him —

and his dad said to reporters in the us, he'sjust as competitve too! that is a star of the future in the making there. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. i'm sure, thanks very much. thank you. it's estimated more than half a million people in private households in england had covid—19 between december 6 and 12 — that's according to the office for national statistics. this is the equivalent of around 1.0a% of the population, or around one in 95 people. our head of statistics, robert cuffe, is here. that is the latest data. what can we read into this? we have seen increases in england and the rates are increases in england and the rates a re pretty increases in england and the rates are pretty much similar in wales, scotla nd are pretty much similar in wales, scotland and england. all around one in 95, one in 100. in all the nations they are rising. those infection rates are rising. this survey swa bs

infection rates are rising. this survey swabs people at random, so it is not driven by who comes forward testing. it is a clear picture of what is going on with the virus. in england, the big thing out of the release today is that london has overta ken release today is that london has overtaken the northwest as one of highest areas for infections in england, so we see those long—term trends, the north of england coming down and, in recent weeks, london coming up. about 1.a% of people in london are estimated to have the virus compared to about 1.2% in the north west and yorkshire, where rates are still falling. finally we are seeing london overtake the north in the infection capital. we saw the government mentioning this new mutation, potentially, with high case rates in kent and the south—east. do we know whether that has played a part in the larger numbers? they don't show any information on exactly the viral code whether mutations within the particular sample. they are just testing for people who give a positive test and the evidence so

far is that whatever strange mutations we see, they have not affected the likelihood of someone testing positive. we are hopefully picking up those infections but not able to determine from these figures are mix across the country. in terms of trying to quantify where we are as we look ahead to potential future lockdown in england as well as we are seeing in other parts of the uk injanuary, are seeing in other parts of the uk in january, or immediately are seeing in other parts of the uk injanuary, or immediately after christmas, what can you tell us about where we are relative to other really high levels we have seen? in england we are not quite at the levels we were running into the lockdown in november but it is worth seeing doing or saying it is not about infection rates. northern ireland has won in 200, half the rate. they are implementing a lockdown straight after christmas, what have been called draconian measures, because of the impact on the health system. it is starting to

creak. not just about the health system. it is starting to creak. notjust about how many infections there are, who gets affected a re infections there are, who gets affected are infected, who gets sick, and the pressures on the health service. it is hard to see where we are heading in the run—up to christmas. thank you. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. hello. some heavy rain for some of us today, flooding and disruption. the greatest likelihood of flooding will be in south wales as rain totals mount as the day goes on — particularly into the brecon beacons. there is a met office amber warning for up to 100mm of rain falling in a few spots before the day is done. rain across much of the uk this afternoon. east anglia, south east england — here, well, the odd spot of light rain or drizzle but, despite the cloud, it'll be mainly dry. northern ireland brightening up. it's very mild, it's very windy — some gusts around southwest england up to around 60mph or so, with further heavy rain here and into wales and parts of northwest england, southern scotland, into the first part of the night before that rain pushes further east to eastern england as we start saturday, and a blustery but mild night. wet start, eastern england, the rain clearing for saturday. then it brightens up — all parts getting to see some

sunshine but bands of heavy and possibly thundery showers moving through. it will be another windy but mild day. further sunshine and showers on sunday. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: borisjohnson has declined to rule out a third national lockdown after christmas. the reality is the rate of infection and increase in the last few weeks. health leaders urge people to follow the tougher coronavirus restrictions due to come into force across much of the uk, as concern continues to grow about rising infection rates. it comes as northern ireland announces a new six week lockdown beginning on boxing day — including supermarkets being told to close at 8pm for the first few days.

as brexit trade talks continue, the eu's chief negotiator says there are just "a few hours left", for the two sides to agree a deal. translation: it is the moment of truth. we have very little time remaining, just a few hours. a quarter of a million new south wales residents are urged to remain in their homes, as the australian state sees a sharp rise in coronavirus cases. ministers have been defending plans for secondary school pupils in england to return to school on a staggered basis after the christmas break. only teenagers in years 11 and 13 will go back as normal. everyone else will have their lessons online for the first week of the new year — allowing headteachers time to set up mass covid testing for pupils and staff. it came a day before a lot of schools break up for christmas. but the start of the new term will be different depending on where you are in the uk. let's take a look. so, in england, only those who have exams will go

back in the first week, along with key workers' children and youngsters considered vulnerable. in wales, there will also be a staggered start — with a full return to the classroom by the 18th of january. in scotland, there are no changes and pupils will be expected to return to school between the fifth and seventh of january, as normal. and in northern ireland there are currently no changes to the return to school plans — but with a six—week national lockdown starting from boxing day, health officials are urging a limited re—opening. the changes in england have been described by one teaching union as "a shambles". but the schools minister, nick gibb has been defending the plans. education is a national priority. we want schools to remain open. we wanted schools to remain open right till the end of term. that was why we took the action we did a few days ago. injanuary, we want to break the cycle, break the chain of transmission. we want to test 5.5 million secondary school students. we've been piloting these testing arrangements in schools for the last few weeks.

to enable us to do that, other than those exam year groups who'll be going to school on ath january, the first five days injanuary, we want children to be learning at home through remote education while schools prepare to test 5.5 million students first, followed three days later by a second test, 11 million tests. but our priority is to ensure that we have as many children as possible in the classroom. that's what this testing is all about. if you test negative, it means you can stay in the classroom. earlier i spoke to kevin courtney who is the joint general secretary of the national education union, and asked him about the plans. we think it's going to be almost impossible to make this work forjanuary. we agree with the ambition, we have been calling for mass asymptomatic testing, and we also agree with what minister gibb just said

there of the need to break the chains of transmission in the new year, because we are really worried, like everybody else's, thatjust like the united states after thanksgiving had a huge surge in cases, we are worried about a pick—up in cases over christmas and the new year. so we support the principle, we support the need, but head teachers around the country are contacting my union, we've got heads in membership, and other unions and saying this is completely impractical. it is so last minute. and advice has changed on practically every day this week. we get a handbook issued on tuesday which says that we are not testing every child, that we are just testing the close contacts, then on thursday in a briefing with civil servants we are told we are testing every child, twice in the first week. then we were told on both those occasions that staff would be involved in it, then today minister gibb talking

to sky news says teachers won't be involved in it because they are teaching, and then there's guidance today saying it's just one to two school staff involved, and yet the handbook suggests that if you are doing mass testing on 100 people, that you need nine staff. now, an average secondary school has got 1000 children — so 100 needs nine staff, we've got 1000 children and they all have to be tested twice in the first week — where are we going to get those staff from? are they going to be...? just where are we going to find them by the ath of january, given that we are just starting the christmas holidays? it doesn't feel a practical possibility. and there are other concerns about the late nature of this. they have piloted it, but they have exclusively, as we understand it, all the pilots have been using army personnel to do the testing. the british medicaljournal says

if you use people who aren't trained, then there can be a high miss rate — you can miss half the positive cases in testing it if you are not properly trained. so the question of whether we can get enough staff who are trained, and that hasn't been piloted doing it in a school in this situation, so we are very worried that this can't work for the ath of january. but we do agree with the minister, we have to find a way of breaking the chains of transmission in those first weeks back, because if there are increases of cases, you've got children coming into school, passing it to other children and then back to their families — we have to do something about that. so, given that, would you suggest one way to make it work is to use the army nationally, the army trained medical corps? or would you want volunteers, or would you want nurses from the health service or, you know, people who have retired who might come back in? i'm sure nick gibb mentioned volunteers this morning. but there's a whole load of safeguarding issues with children, too, aren't there? there are. i mean, we would be in favour

of the army providing this service. i'm not sure that they've got the scale of staff that is required for it either. but we would be in favour of that. i think nurses are fully occupied with other work at the moment. so the possibility that you could use volunteers and train them is a possibility that is worth investigating. kevin courtney there. hundreds of thousands of residents in sydney, australia, have been told to stay home after a new outbreak of coronavirus ended a two—week run of no local cases. australian officials are trying to trace the source of the infection, afterfinding dozens of cases across the city's northern beaches region. the new cluster has sparked national concern and cast uncertainty over many australians' plans for a relatively normal christmas. so everybody in greater sydney needs to be on high alert. if you have the mildest symptoms, please get tested and isolated. also, can everybody please think about their activity?

nobody should be getting on public transport without wearing a mask. nobody in greater sydney should be going to a supermarket or place of worship or other high—risk areas without wearing a mask. it would just be crazy if people are undertaking those activities without wearing a mask. the harder all of us work together, the better christmas we will have. patients in hospital with coronavirus should be offered a follow—up after six weeks to check for so—called "long covid" symptoms, doctors have been told. it's thought that around one in ten of them could be struggling to shake off the symptoms — including shortness of breath, joint pain and dizziness — for more than three months. our reporter, jim reed has more. like thousands, tess wareing fell sick in the first wave of coronavirus. i was taken in at the end of march. it was just as lockdown was going on. and i was taken straight into intensive care, straight into a&e, and then onto intensive care.

and i spent several days on intensive care, and another about four days on an ordinary ward. it took three months for tess to get her strength back. even now, she sometimes struggles for breath. ifeel a different person. i think the whole experience for a lot of people has changed you. and it'sjust, i'm... one of the challenges is, yes, you know, it's eight months since i caught this, and you're always thinking, well, things always change anyway. so sometimes you're thinking, is this just part of growing older? but fundamentally, no, ifeel changed in that, like, my breathing is much more of an issue than it used to be. the tiredness is much more intense. it's thought around one in ten patients with the virus may develop what's known as long covid, lasting for more than 12 weeks. new guidance for doctors today from the health watchdog nice and the royal college of gps, lists 28 possible symptoms from fatigue and nausea through to chest pain and dizziness. it seems to hit all age groups, including young people,

people who sometimes even get just a mild infection with covid or know people who have a more severe infection and are more likely to get it. we know it happens more often in people who have got pre—existing health conditions like diabetes or heart disease. but we don't really understand why some people seem to get it and some people don't. the new guidance says patients should now be offered a follow up consultation if they've either been in hospital, or have symptoms lasting longer than eight weeks, and then referred on to specialists if necessary. it comes as the nhs said it has spent £10 million on more than 60 dedicated long covid clinics in england. doctors, though, say more funding is likely to be needed to deal with the long term impact of the disease. jim reed, bbc news. with just a week to go until christmas, couriers across the uk are dealing with an unprecedented volume of parcels — thanks to the rise in online shopping.

according to one online retail trade body sales for the first two weeks of december jumped by more than 50% compared to the previous year. some royal mail customers have been experiencing delays, as our business correspondent emma simpson reports. a parcel mountain at a royal mail sorting office in bristol. stacks of mail ready to be sorted here in manchester too. and parcels to be dispatched in essex. on the road the vans are full, a glimpse of how posties are grappling with an unprecedented increase in parcels this year. it has meant some delays for customers. last week i managed to send some christmas presents abroad to ireland and a few to my partner's family in kent. both haven't arrived, despite me putting a first class stamp and sticker on it. the union representing postal workers said its members were doing their very best. there's no doubt we could not possibly have anticipated this level of packages and parcels.

it seems to be intensifying every day. and that, coupled with the arrangements that have got to be in place to keep key workers safe because of covid, and the spread of covid and the figures going up again, all of those are complicating what is already a strategical nightmare, really. all our big couriers are up against it right now. the royal mail has taken on around 33,000 seasonal workers to help out, way more than normal. in a statement, royal mail said some areas were experiencing a reduction in service levels due to covid—related absences and social distancing measures, but the majority of the network was now running as usual for this time of the year. the pressure is now on. a business that is flat out trying to deliver christmas mail as quickly as it can. emma simpson, bbc news.

the scotland daily briefing. the health secretary there has refused herfor health secretary there has refused her for lockdown after christmas. she said a decision about what to do after the facilities would be announced in the scottish parliament on tuesday. she said at this point nothing could be sensibly ruled out, they had been 36 deaths with coronavirus in the last 2a hours, 7aa people tested positive since yesterday which is a a.2% of the total number of tests. so another big number of cases there in scotland. and a decision on tuesday about whether there is going to be another lockdown after christmas. six months after a court ruled the practice unlawful, a bbc investigation has found that tens of thousands of adverts for rental properties are putting a blanket ban on accepting people who receive benefits. the vast majority of places on websites such as spareroom and openrent said recipients

of housing benefit need not bid for the property. michael buchanan reports. this is the kitchen, the living room and my bedroom all in one. so there is a little bathroom and then my son's room. it is small and uncomfortable, but despite her best efforts, emma can't find a new home. for two years, the teaching assistant has tried to move herself and charlie to somewhere bigger. charlie, eat your dinner, please. but she has been repeatedly refused a new place because she is on benefits. if i have got references to show that i pay my rent every month on time, and i have done that for seven years, there shouldn't be any reason why someone isn't renting to me and the fact that they will still use housing benefit... you know, it is very clear stigmatisation. it is very a clear discriminatory measure. bbc analysis of these popular websites shows that tens of thousands of properties are being denied to benefit claimants, despite a court injuly ruling such blanket bans are unlawful and discriminatory.

on both spareroom and openrent, over 80% of ads say they won't accept tenants on housing benefit. and if you are a landlord with a place to rent, the websites will allow you to explicitly say that you don't want anybody on benefits. the charity shelter has campaigned for years to end housing discrimination and instigated the court action this summer. i think people like openrent and spa reroom really need to wake up to this. this is unlawful. they need to be refusing to carry adverts that are badged as "no dss" on their websites and that is it. there's no excuses for it. theyjust need to clean up their act now. in a statement, openrent say that they let more than 25,000 properties to people on benefits this year, and are trying to combat prejudice by educating its users. spareroom told us it was in the process of removing the option for landlords to list properties as being unavailable

to benefit claimants. for emma and charlie, the long search for a new home has brought stress and frustration, with seemingly no end in sight. it is very demoralising and dehumanising. i will go through phases of trying to kind of find somewhere and then obviously, i will stop trying because i will feel upset about the whole thing. you know, it is a massive rejection, like, a rejection of your whole self and position in society. the law is clearly on their side. theyjust need a landlord who is willing to give them a chance. michael buchanan, bbc news. a second coronavirus vaccine is on the verge of approval in the united states. the head of the food and drugs administration has said he'll move quickly to authorise the moderna vaccine, allowing the company to begin shipping millions of doses. the us — which has just begun rolling out the pfizer—biontech jab — has recorded more coronavirus deaths than any other country.

the british actorjeremy bulloch, who played boba fett, the bounty hunter in the original star wars trilogy, has died aged 75. he'd been living with parkinson's disease for many years. boba fett has become a cult character for die—hard stars wars fans, spawning the recent hit tv series spin off called — the mandalorian. paul hawkins reports. bounty hunter boba fett, a peripheral star wars character in two of the original films, didn't appear in many scenes, and even the rare lines he did have... what if he doesn't survive? he's worth a lot to me. ..were voiced by another actor. butjeremy bulloch still made the character his own, drawing inspiration from clint eastwood's cowboy western character "the man with no name" — making boba fett move slowly and hold his gun in the same way. he's all yours, bounty hunter. showcasing his versatility, he also played another character in the empire strikes back...

..the imperial officer here, who manhandles princess leia. he also appeared twice as smithers in three james bond films. smithers, how's the arm? coming along very nicely, thank you, sir. there were also appearances in bbc sci—fi tv series doctor who, and the 1963 film summer holiday alongside singer sir cliff richard. but it is star wars which jeremy bulloch will always be known for. creator george lucas saying bulloch brought the perfect combination of mystery and menace to the performance. mark hamill, who played luke skywalker, describing him as the quintessential english gentleman, a fine actor and delightful company, while daniel logan who plays the modern day boba fett in the tv series spin off said, "rip, legend, may the force always be with you." over the years boba fett became a cult figure with star wars fans, and so too did jeremy bulloch, making regular appearances at fan conventions.

his family said he had a long and happy career spanning more than a5 years. his devoted wife, three sons and ten grandchildren, they said, will miss him terribly. jeremy bellot being remembered there. tens of millions of people have been affected after a powerful snowstorm swept through the north—east of the united states, breaking records in massachusetts, pennsylvania and new york. it created a lot of extra work — but also brought smiles to plenty of faces. tanya dendrinos has the details. a dusting of magic. the sound of heavy snowfall, music to the ears of anyone dreaming of a white christmas. the snowstorm was record—breaking. new york city received the same amount as it did throughout the whole of last year, central park, a winter wonderland. pure joy as families took a snow day, swapping school

for sleds and snowflakes. i love it so much, it'sjust so great to get out and have time to get away from the city and come into this park and have fun. a much—needed distraction from the challenges faced this year in a city and country so hard—hit by covid—19. oh, it's been so necessary after what we've been going through here in the city and around the world. it's a really nice break right before the holidays. it's been terrific. but beautiful as it is, the snow, which was around a metre deep in some areas, also caused havoc on the roads and even on the runway, with flights cancelled and delayed. this spirit airlines plane slid off the taxiway after landing in baltimore. passengers all safe and accounted for, bussed to the terminal. just another reminder that nothing trumps mother nature.

this is amazing. smile! laughter. we mentioned the moderna vaccine about to get approval in the us, looks like that has happened. president trump has tweeted saying my donor vaccine overwhelmingly approved, distribution to start immediately. and he is also said europe and other parts of the well being hit hard by the china virus, as he puts it, germany, france, spain, and italy, vaccines on their way. it looks as though the donor vaccine has been approved. we will get that confirmed because it has been under consideration, we were expecting that announcement at some point very soon anyway. under normal circumstances you might be looking forward to your work's christmas party this weekend. but with most traditional parties

cancelled because of covid restrictions, some companies are trying to find alternative ways to bring colleagues together. jayne mccubbin reports. ah, the work christmas party cancelled because of covid, but let's just cross over to party poopers anonymous. raise a hand if you are actually really relieved the office party isn't happening this year? and not everyone is disappointed. because it's just stressful when you have to go to a christmas party with work people, pretend you like them, pretend you're interested! you don't want to be sat around making small talk with your boss, do you? no. oh, they're just terrible, aren't they? i mean, you get dragged around pubs you don't want to go to, with people you don't want to be with. if you leave too early, you're a party pooper, and if you leave too late, you're looking on whatsapp the next day to see what happened the night before. admit it, we've all been there. but not this year.

cheers! this year, if we're doing the works do, we're doing it online. can ijust ask, is everybody having a good time? yeah. yay! bless the lovely volunteers from macmillans, who've let us crash their christmas party. they, and party hosts likejohnny and helen, are trying to keep the fun going, virtually. flipping hell, i don't have a drink! nobody wants to do this. i'd like to be on stage. i was on tour when this happened. i was playing to real people in a real room on a tour. and, you know, i've ended up doing zoom parties. but what i would say is that we're good at giving it a go, and we're good at — it's the blitz spirit thing of saying, "come on, it's not what we want, but let's make it work". we are dealing with anything from 30 to 400, and we have had an inquiry this morning for 600. i cannot imagine a virtual party online with 600 people?!

yeah, it's interactive as well. so, we'll see. i'll let you know. good luck with that! is it as good as a face to face party? no. the one thing i'll miss when i go back to the live circuit is the ability to mute people. you can even eject them yourself without getting bouncers involved. it's fantastic. what we're going to do is, we're going tojust have our private party. we're having a little get together here. but if you're a virtual party isn't, well, virtual enough, this liverpool company will create an avatar for you and take your party anywhere in the world, or beyond. hi! hello. i've got vertigo. we've seen a real surge in inquiries, really, this year in particular, of course, you know. people are looking for new ways of getting together. and, you know, what we offer is something that really goes beyond a traditional sort of video call, if you like. can we dance at this party? yes! clemence is our, eh... clemence? yeah, he can bust a few moves.

there we go. where's your famous robot dance, clem ? there you go. yay! we think it definitely has a lot of a lot of potential. can we go somewhere where there's wine at this party? beach. look at that. and we have some virtual drinks here. u nfortu nately, they're just out of... ..argh! out of reach! for goodness' sake, oh! it's estimated that all of this could cost the hospitality sector over £700 million. and many remember the good old days of real cocktails with real work mates in real time with a real sense of loss. paul, were they gorgeous dos? magnificent. absolutely glorious. marvellous. and this year? and this year is very different indeed. they are ditching the do altogether. in its place, good deeds. instead of handing out golden tickets for a guest list, they are blowing their budget on books for children in need in their city.

each of our guests who would normally come to one of our parties will be getting a book donated in their name. it's such a nice idea! are you going to miss the party, though? we'll miss the party. we'll make up. we'll have a post—covid party. we'll do it in the summer. fingers crossed. fingers crossed! so for now, let's enjoy the safety of socialising while staying apart. and just imagine how messy it's all going to get this time next year. chin—chin! jayne mccubbin, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. it's very mild today, it's also windy and for some parts of the country very wet as well. this area of cloud has been bringing wet weather into western parts of the uk, the weather front driving it is not moving very far today so it stays wet in scotland, wales and west in england. the focus of the very heavy rain is going to be

across south wales and south—west england, we've got this amber rain warning from the met office, flooding likely, travel disruption as well. these are two main areas of heavy rain, and is over the higher ground, dartmoor, the brecon beacons, that we will see 100 millimetres, four inches, by the end of the day. the wetter weather still around in the same area all the way up around in the same area all the way up into eastern scotland this evening. gradually the rain band pushes more towards eastern england, allowing clear spells and showers not to return notjust in northern ireland but to scotland, wales, and western england. it will still be windy over and mild. western england. it will still be windy overand mild. heading into the weekend, things look a little different. it will be a case of sunny spells and scattered showers this weekend. the very mild air and the heavy, persistent rain we are seeing now will get pushed away and showers will get drawn in around that area of low pressure from the atla ntic that area of low pressure from the atlantic and gradually the air will get cooler as the weekend goes on. we still have rain to clear away

from east and most parts of england by mid—morning tomorrow then its sunshine of shows coming in, the showers more frequent and heavier out the west, but more showers will get blown inland because it is going to be be quite a windy day still, particularly around the heavier showers. but still quite a mile day on saturday, not as mild as today, but still temperatures in a range of nine to 12 degrees. things are starting to cool off is the weekend goes on. early on sunday will be cooler, with temperatures as low as five or 6 degrees. again a case of sunshine and showers on sunday. most of the show was again across western areas, wetter and windier weather in the north west of scotland, elsewhere more in the way of sunshine, the winds these down, it will be cooler on sunday and then we have cloud and rain arriving in the south—west during the evening. one area of low pressure bringing wet and windy weather overnight into monday, another weighting in the wings before it turns drier in most areas, but colder by christmas.

a borisjohnson says he can't rule out a third lockdown in england after christmas because of a rise in coronavirus infections. it comes as the numbers testing positive in london and the east midlands overtake the north of england. the prime minister says it's possible he'll be left with no choice. we are hoping very much we will be able to avoid anything like that but the reality is, the rates of infection have increased very much in the last few weeks. we'll have the latest on restrictions across the uk. also this lunchtime. headteachers say the last—minute demand for testing of secondary school children across england is a shambles. parents say they're confused. it is difficult to know at the moment but it is pretty chaotic