this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lukwesa barak. i'm lukwesa burak. us vice president mike pence gets a coronavirus vaccine live on—air at the white house. he calls it "the beginning of the end", but almost 3,000 americans are still dying every day from covid—19. with cases raising across the country, with hospitalisations rising across the country, we have a ways to go. the spread of covid—19 is accelerating in the uk, with the crucial r number now back above 1. doctors and medical leaders warn of significant pressure on the national health service. more than 300 schoolboys freed from their kidnapping ordeal in nigeria are expected to be reunited with their families soon.

and after bugs, glitches and crashes, one of the year's biggest video games — cyberpunk 2077 — is pulled from both the playstation and microsoft stores. hello. the us vice president, mike pence, has become the first senior figure in the trump administration to get a coronavirus vaccine, which he called "a medical miracle". and he did so in a very public way — in front of cameras at the white house — along with his wife and the us surgeon general. the move comes as officials are mounting campaigns to quash scepticism about the record—fast development of the vaccine. mr pence said, he wanted to assure the american people that

while they'd cut red tape — they'd cut no corners. history will record that this week was the beginning of the end of the coronavirus pandemic, but with cases rising across the country, with hospitalisations rising we have a ways to go, and i want to ensure the american people that we are going to continue to make sure that our health care providers have all the support and resources they need to meet this moment. but vigilance and the vaccine is our way through, and building confidence for the vaccine is what brings us here this morning. mike pence there. 0ur correspondent nomia iqbal has more from washington. the vice president wants to build up confidence amongst american people who might be sceptical of the vaccine. that's why he was there alongside his wife, the second lady,

karen pence, who also took the vaccine. also there was the surgeon general, jerome adams, and he explicitly made the point of how he's a black man. as an african—american, he wanted to appeal to ethnic minorities in particular, who have scepticism in vaccines. polls suggest about a third of african—america ns say they wouldn't take the vaccine. but as you say, yes, president trump is notable in his absence. when the pfizer vaccine was rolled out last weekend, he did tweet at the time saying that he would take it when it was appropriate. and he's been tweeting again today, and he mentioned how the moderna vaccine, the second vaccine, had been authorised, but it hasn't so far. we are waiting for the fda to approve that, after it was recommended to do so by an outside adviser body yesterday. and just to add — the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, has received a vaccination as well today, and the president—elect, joe biden, is expected to take it next week.

nomia iqbal. to the uk now — and roughly one in every 100 people in england, scotland and wales had coronvirus last week with the number of cases now rising significantly. the prime minister says he's hoping to avoid a third national lockdown in england. but borisjohnson said rates of infection had increased at lot, and there are fears they'll increase further after the relaxing of the rules over christmas. here's our health editor hugh pym. routine operations were going ahead at this hospital in the south of england today, but increasingly nhs managers across the system are having to consider postponements. more covid patients are coming in and it is more of a challenge to find enough beds. medical leaders say a serious problem could be looming. we are now at a really dangerous point, where we could tip into finding it incredibly difficult to manage. now we have 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. and the prime minister, on a visit to the north west, didn't rule out the possibility of england following northern ireland and wales into a post—christmas lockdown. obviously, we are hoping very much 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. here where i am in the north west, in bolton, they have done a fantasticjob in bringing it down. and the data shows that case numbers are rising in most but not all parts of the uk. the latest survey of community infections by the office for national statistics suggests that in england, one in 95 people had the virus last week, with an increase in case rates. notably in london, the south east, the east and the east midlands. there were declines in other areas.

in wales, with one in 90, and scotland, with one in 100, there were also increases. in northern ireland, one in 215 had the virus, with case rates no longer decreasing. some of those infected will become seriously ill and need hospital treatment, and that is what is putting pressure on the nhs front line. there have been warnings today about the impact of staff. people are still traumatised and fatigued, not only from physical tiredness but the psychological impact of dealing with covid. now we are looking down the barrel of what looks like a third wave, so, you know, we are very concerned, and the impact of five days over christmas is something we are very concerned about as well. most hospitals across london and the south east are under increasing strain. there are reports that some are cancelling all non—urgent work into the new year, as they wait in anticipation of another surge in

covid patient numbers. hugh pym. austria will enter its third coronavirus lockdown from december 26th — tilljanuary 24th — as the country fights to bring down its coronavirus infection rate. for the first three weeks, nonessential stores will close as will services such as hairdressers. a planned series of mass testing will be carried out next month, and from january 18th, stores and restaurants will open again for those who test negative. 0ur correspondent bethany bell is in vienna. austria's second hard lockdown ended just 11 days ago. and the result of that hard lockdown was that they did manage to bring down the infected fingers quite a lot, from 9,000 or so in november to about 3,000 at the moment, but there are concerns that is too high. —— infected figures. there is pressure on hospitals here.

and there has been a lot of expectation here that something like this would happen. now, the government has said there will be another hard lockdown from boxing day onwards, and it is going to be coupled with these mass tests. and they are trying to incentivize people to take the mass tests three weeks into january. and also they have got plans to regularly test teachers. people like hairdressers, anybody who works closely with other people will, injanuary, be tested very regularly from now on. the chancellor, austria's leader, has said that he hopes life can return to something like normal by the summer, but he warned that there were hard months ahead. that was bethany bell, and just to update you, we have had, speaking at the moment, italy's pride minister, giuseppe conte, and he is announcing

some much awaited new lockdown instructions —— it's prime minister. italy will be placed under a nationwide lockdown for much of christmas and the new year, during the holiday. under the new rules, nonessential shops will be shuttered between december... 0n those days, italians can only travel to work, for health or emergency reasons, so in european country announcing new lockdown measures as we head over the festive period —— another european country. france meanwhile has become the third european country to have surpassed 60,000 deaths from the coronavirus, after the uk and the worst affected country, italy. earlier, french president emmanuel macron posted a clip on twitter after he tested positive for coronvarius. here's some of it. translation: hi, it's friday.

i wanted to talk to you. yesterday, i tested positive after first getting symptoms. i self—isolated and registered on the test and trace. the elysees called everyone i've been in contact with in the previous 48 hours, including national and political leaders, my friends and family and my security team. thanks for your messages of support. i have the same symptoms as yesterday — headache, tiredness and a dry cough. i will keep you abreast of every development with total transparency. president macron there. to the uk, where the prime minister boris johnson has said things are looking difficult in the talks of a trade deal to take effect once the brexit transition period ends in 13 days‘ time. the eu's chief brexit negotiator says the moment of truth has arrived if a deal is to be struck before a transition period expires at the end of the year. michel barnier told the european parliament he couldn't predict whether

there would be a deal. more than 300 schoolboys abducted in northern nigeria a week ago are expected to be reunited with their families within hours. officials in katsina state said the boys were found in a forest in neighbouring zamfara, where they'd been left by their kidnappers. the circumstances of their release remain unclear. a government spokesman told the bbc that bandits were behind the mass abduction. the islamist group boko haram said it was responsible. victoria uwonkunda reports. these schoolboys were taken by bus to the state capital, katsina. some were still wearing their school uniforms, others clutched blankets and some looked clearly distressed and confused. the boys were flanked by armed police as they walked to meet the governor. 0ne told reporters that the kidnappers had barely fed them. at a news conference, the state governor thanked security forces. i also use this opportunity

to praise and thank the efforts made by the entire security apparatus of the state, of the country, for what they did. more than 340 schoolboys were kidnapped on the 11th of december after an attack on the school in kankara town. the islamist militant group boko haram claimed responsibility. however, authorities say bandits were behind the attack. the government insists no ransom was paid, but that the boys were released after negotiations with the kidnappers. security has been an issue in northeastern nigeria in recent years. and the recent kidnapping has echoes of the attack on a school in chibok in 2014, where almost 300 schoolgirls

were abducted by boko haram. while many questions remain and the circumstances of the boys‘ release is still unclear, their immediate ordeal is over. the next step — reunion with their parents and families. victoria uwonkunda, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: sony pulls one of the year's most anticipated games — cyberpunk 2077 — after gamers complain of bugs and glitches and crashes. chanting saddam hussein is finished because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes, but they brought a formal end to three and a half years of conflict,

conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. before an audience of world leaders, the presidents of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from sex at the white house to a trial for his political life, the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the us vice president, mike pence, has encouraged americans to get vaccinated against coronavirus, as he gets his jab live on tv at the white house. latest estimates suggest

the coronavirus epidemic is growing in the uk — with the reproduction rate above 1.1. plans by the uk government to test more than five million school pupils in england for coronavirus when they return from the christmas break injanuary has been branded undeliverable. the comments come from teaching unions, school governors, the church of england and colleges. ministers announced the plans yesterday along with a staggered return to the classroom. but schools says it will be impossible to recruit and train the thousands of people needed to carry out tests in the next two weeks. 0ur education editor branwenjeffreys has more. think about what has gone well, first of all, this term. the last lessons before christmas, but not all pupils will be back at the start of term. well, we made it. can you believe where we started back in september? doing his best to be

cheerful in assembly, but the head expects to work through christmas and testing. i feel absolutely physically and emotionally exhausted after what has definitely been the toughest term ever in 20 years in teaching. when i heard this news two days ago, i actually felt rather broken, because i just thought, how are we going to get all of this done in the time frames that we have been given? it just feels overwhelming. to set up school testing means finding a large, well—ventilated room. separate swabbing and processing areas. staff to test, process, record and clean. these could be volunteers or agency staff. 0nline training before testing starts. and getting consent from parents. it's a massive logistical exercise. we are testing, as i said, 5.5 million secondary school students. this is a very good news story. it's all about making sure we can

keep the school open. this afternoon, the government was warned it might not be possible. school governors, teaching unions, the church of england and colleges, all saying this is rushed and chaotic, and telling schools that if they can't manage it, they don't have to have testing in place for the beginning of term. parents now face some teenagers being at home, not in school, when term starts. it was sprung on us yesterday, so it is childcare in the new year if both of them go back, or if only one of them goes back. we don't know yet. goodbye, chaps. happy christmas. term is over, but not for all teachers. government advice on testing is due to arrive just before christmas. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. around 200,000 people in the uk are thought to be suffering from so—called long covid — persistent health problems up

to three months after they were infected with the virus. for some like 38—year—old natalie, the effects of long covid on her body have been devastating. today there were calls from more research into this emerging problem as new guidelines were published for doctors on how to diagnose and treat long covid. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh reports. natalie has worked as a front line doctor during several deadly epidemics, including ebola in africa. but it's covid which has left its mark on her. just over a year ago, i biked up the hill, and now, now i can't even get on a bike. the 38—year—old was never admitted to hospital, but now has long covid, and is so physically weak she can't go to work. i was fit, i was active, i could run, i could walk any distance i wanted to, really, and now, i can walk 200 metres. i've asked my contractor to put

a bannister on my stairs because i can't get up to the top of my stairs sometimes. so you're fitting out your home for someone with disabilities? at my age, yes. i thought this is what i would be doing, when i was, you know, in my 70s or 805. mri scans have revealed damage to nathalie‘s spinal cord. you 0k, natalie? butjust how a covid infection has done this is not fully understood. uclh trust in london has opened a long covid clinic for patients with neurological problems. they come from all over the uk, with a wide variety of symptoms. they may complain of fatigue or dizziness, light—headedness, palpitations or a fast heart rate. sometimes patients complain of pins and needles or numbness. they often describe memory problems, so they may have difficulty focussing or concentrating.

they may have difficulty remembering words, or getting words out. there i was, ten weeks ago, i couldn't get out of bed. eli, who is sa, has lost nearly all his strength. covid has affected his memory, brain function, even his vision. but after enduring five months in hospital, and being so close to death, he feels fortunate. i call myself the miracle boy. i've been through something which i've survived. i survived by a very thin line. god flicked the switch and decided, 0k, give him another chance, he's got something do in this world, come back. what about those legs? how fatigued do they feel? one in ten people with covid still has lingering symptoms after 12 weeks. most make a gradual recovery. natalie says the disease won't hold her back and she is determined to see patients face to face once more. fergus walsh, bbc news.

the world health organization says it has now secured two billion doses of coronavirus vaccine for poorer countries and that deliveries will begin in the first three months of next year. the agency's covax initiative aims to ensure fair and equitable access to covid—19 vaccines worldwide. markjit is professor of vaccine epidemiology at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine and he spoke to me earlier. almost every country in the world is part of the covax initiative. it's a real coming together of all the nations in the world. so these 2 billion doses are going to be essential. they will be used for the highest—risk people around the world, but it won't be enough to vaccinate everyone in the world. could you just remind us which vaccines are in this portfolio? because there are a few well—known names that aren't in there.

most of the more advanced vaccine, for example, the astrazeneca 0xford vaccine, is part of covax, the johnson & johnson is in the initiative. the vaccine we're giving in the uk, the pfizer vaccine, is currently not part of covax yet. 0k, we are hearing, i do not know if you are aware of this, but obviously it's something very similar to what we have seen in the united kingdom, south africa has announced that they have spotted, identified, a new variant called 501 version two, which is the sars—cov—2. how worrying is that, when you look at the african continent, in managing things like that? well, this is a worrying development, but we still have to look closely. this strain has just emerged. we have just been able to genetically detect that it is different from the previous strain,

and now we have to really find out more about how fast it spreads, whether people who are immune to existing coronavirus continue to be immune to it. so i would say it is worrying, but we have to watch it closely. to see, really, what the applications are. professor markjit there. sony has halted the worldwide sale of one of the most highly—anticipated video games of all time — just days after its release. customers complained that cyberpunk 2077, which broke sales records with more than eight million pre—orders, kept crashing and freezing, despite developers spending almost ten years working on it. here's what the game is about — as explained by actor keanu reeves, talking to bbc sounds. motion capture, baby!

earlier, i spoke to ali jones, a reporter for gamesradar who's been covering cyberpunk‘s development for the last few years. the developer of cyberpunk 2077 has built up a lot of goodwill over the course of the last five 01’ so years, and over the last seven days, we've seen an awful lot of that goodwill evaporate, basically. it's interesting, isn't it, that they have admitted they did not pay enough attention, a bit of transparency there, because they did not actually show the game on the last generation consoles?

no. review copies didn't go out for ps4 and xbox 0ne until very late on. that is generally not considered a good sign, but, yeah, the last generation consoles already issues really have appeared. reviewers had access to the pc version, and the ps5 and xbox series x version seems to run quite well, but the ps4 and xbox 0ne version suffer from performance issues that don't make the game unplayable by any means but certainly don't live up to the expectations that the developer has set and that the audience has had for the game as well. let's just bring you some breaking news from italy, which is now going into a nationwide lockdown over most of christmas and the new year. prime minister giuseppe conte has ordered bars, restau ra nts a nd giuseppe conte has ordered bars, restaurants and nonessential shops to close for two subperiods. still

be able to be open for a few days. that news came to us a little bit earlier, so it reminded her of what's taking place in other parts of europe. stay with us —— a reminder there. hello there. it's been a mild, wet and windy day today. some parts of the country have been very wet, and we have seen the number of flood warnings increasing, river levels rising across parts of southwest england and into wales as well. this band of cloud hasjust been sat across the uk, bringing the wetter weather across scotland, northern england, wales and western parts of england. the heaviest of rain, though, where we still have this amber rain warning from the met office across southwest and southwest england, more flooding from a more travel disruption. and by the end of the day, there could be as much as 100 mm, four inches of rain having fallen over dartmoor and also the brecon beacons. that wetter weather is still around at the moment, but gradually, overnight, that band of rain, heavy for a while, will push its way more towards eastern parts of england —

allowing clear spells and showers to follow notjust to northern ireland, but further into scotland, wales and western england. it will still be windy overnight, so it's going to be a mild start to the weekend with temperatures of 8—10 celsius. the weekend will probably look a little different, actually, with sunny spells and some scattered showers. that very mild but wet weather that we've seen today is getting pushed away out towards the east, allowing those showers to roll in around that area of low pressure and draw in some cooler weather as the weekend goes on. start of the weekend, though, we have still got some rain affecting easternmost parts of england, that will clear away by mid—morning, and then these bands of showers come packing in fairly quickly, actually. more frequent and heavier showers, perhaps thundery, across more western parts of uk. there will be some sunshine in between the showers, but we have still got the strong and gusty south—south—westerly wind that will blow those showers further east and further inland. it's going to be a windy day, but it will still be a mild day,

not quite as mild as today, but 9—12 celsius. it does turn cooler as the weekend goes on, and early on sunday, temperatures in rural areas could be as low as 11—5 celsius. we've still got some sunshine and some showers on sunday. most of the wet and windy weather will be towards the northwest of scotland, the showers elsewhere, fewer, more in the way of sunshine and gradually, the winds will ease down a bit as well. temperatures will be a shade lower, around 8—10 celsius. signs of cloud and rain arriving in the southwest by the end of the day. and for the first few days of next week, actually, it's going to be wet and windy at times, threatening some more flooding, but it will be drier and colderjust

this is bbc world news, the headlines. the us vice president, mike pence gets his coronavirus vaccine shot on live tv, to encourage people to have the injection. it's confirmed that president—electjoe biden will receive his vaccination on monday. the spread of covid—19 is accelerating in the uk with the crucial r number now back above one. health leaders are warning of significant pressure on the health service in the lead up to christmas. more than 300 schoolboys who were freed after being abducted in northern nigeria a week ago, are being reunited with theirfamilies. as talks continue the eu's chief negotiator tells the european parliament time is running out to reach a brexit trade agreement.