welcome to bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: dozens of countries ban travel to and from britain as it battles to contain a new, more infectious strain of coronavirus. it leads to a recording daily confirmed cases. we will explain how the virus has mutated. a $900 billion shot against coronavirus: republicans and democrats end months of wrangling to agree on a financial relief package for americans. make no mistake about it, this agreement is far from perfect. but it will deliver emergency relief to a nation in the throes of a genuine emergency. we're with italy's drugs squad as they burn a record haul of an amphetamine from syria. earlier this summer, they

seized 1 billion euros of amphetamines. tonight, they are taking those drugs to be incinerated. european nations have begun to apply travel bans with the uk after it reported a more infectious and "out—of—control" coronavirus variant. eu ambassadors are to meet for emergency talks on monday to work out a common strategy. do not, italy have already detected the strain. —— denmark. france's band arrivals and freight. ireland, italy, the netherlands, belgium and germany, canada the latest to impose restrictions. mark lobel reports. lorries isolated, passengers grounded, many in the uk now

stuck as european nations try to protect themselves from this fast—spreading covid—19 variant. the netherlands was the first to ban all passenger flights from the uk until january 1, and now ferry passengers too. belgium has suspended flights and train arrivals from the uk for 2h hours. ireland's announced a 48—hour ban on flights arriving from the uk. france has suspended all travel links — that's air, sea, rail or road — for 48 hours, including freight. germany has banned planes landing from the uk, as has switzerland. the czech republic and bulgaria has suspended flights to and from the uk untiljanuary 31. in a breathless and ever—growing list, turkey has too, as well as banning flights from denmark, the netherlands and south africa. for the travel industry, this is devastating.

european countries are looking at their own health systems and the potential threat to those health systems. the uk government has got to build confidence — notjust with these countries, our neighbours, but also with the travelling public and, indeed, the travel industry. and there are even more countries likely to follow suit. italy's foreign minister says it is about to suspend flights from the uk. austria is planning a travel ban. the swedish government says it will introduce one as soon as possible, with estonia set to follow and lithuania. with norway considering restrictions on uk arrivals, too. madrid says it's strengthening tests at airports and ports for uk arrivals. further afield, kuwait has banned flights arriving from the united kingdom, and officials and scientists

—— from the united kingdom, as has canada. since the new virus variant was detected in the uk in september, it has also been detected in the netherlands, denmark, italy and australia. this all comes at a bad time — notjust for britain, days away from the end of its transition period with the eu — but for the wider world, days after getting on the front foot with a vaccine roll—out. now days later, battling to contain this in the tail. —— now days later, battling to contain this string in the tail. mark lobel, bbc news. later we will look at how the restrictions are having a devastating impact on travellers around the world. after months of wrangling, republicans and democrats in the us congress have reached agreement on a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. the deal includes increased unemployment benefits and stimulus payments for millions of workers who lost their jobs because of the pandemic. announcing the agreement, the republican leader in the us senate mitch mcconnell said the american people should know they would not now be battling the crisis alone. we can finally report what our nation has needed to hearfor a very long time.

more help is on the way. moments ago, in consultation with our committees, the four leaders of the senate and the house finalised an agreement. it would be another major rescue package for the american people. chuck schumer, who leads the democrats in the senate, said this was a start — but only a start. this bill is a good bill. tonight is a good night. but it is not the end of the story, it is not the end of thejob. anyone who thinks this bill is enough does not know what's going on in america, does not look into the eyes of a small business owner who's losing his business. 0ur north america correspondent peter bowes has more. this is desperately needed by so many americans. it is the second largest stimulus bill in american history — second only to the one you just mentioned, that one that was passed

in march — which eventually was worth more than $2 trillion, so not quite as much money involved this time, but it does mean there will be extra payments to the unemployed, there will be fixed sums sent out to many, many americans, there will be help for students who can't pay their loans, there'll be assistance for farmers and for schools and the list goes on. it really is quite wide in terms of the institutions, the small businesses and, of course, individuals that this is designed to help. this comes after weeks and months of back and forth. what's the roll—out pattern for this stimulus package? it could be very quick. initially, of course, this is a bill, it has to be passed in the house under the senate. that could happen in the next 2a hours. it has to be signed by the president — and we know that donald trump had been urging congress to reach an agreement, so there is no indication that he would hold up things as far as signing the bill is concerned. and once it comes into law, it could just be a matter of days, perhaps as early as next week, before some of those payments actually go

out to people who really desperately need them. and of course, we're going through christmas, we're going through a very difficult time as far as the pandemic is concerned right across the country it is getting worse, and i'm in los angeles in california where some hospitals are reporting that they have no intensive care beds available. so problems on many fronts for americans but this is some positive news. and peter, this comes as the news that president—elect joe biden and drjill biden, his wife, are due to receive the coronavirus vaccine on monday. yeah,, we've seen in the last few days a number of high—profile politicians having the jab. we had mike pence, the vice president, on friday, and, as you say, joe biden and his wife this week will do the same. and it's felt that this is necessary because there is still a significant number of americans who are sceptical, who are nervous about taking the vaccine, having the vaccine, many on principle — they oppose all vaccines.

and many people, including mr biden, trying to get the message out that this is absolutely essential. if america can reach what's known as herd immunity where enough people are immune to the virus to eventually stop it. north america correspondent peter bowes. us republican senator mitt romney has accused president trump of having a blind spot about russia. mr trump on saturday ignored the conclusions of his top spies and even his secretary of state, and suggested that china — not russia — was behind a major hacking attack on us government agencies. mr romney said the data breach was "extraordinarily damaging" and demanded a response. the authorities in afghanistan say at least eight people have been killed and 15 injured in a car bombing in the capital kabul. the interior ministry says women and children are among the victims. the blast targeted the convoy of a member of the afghan parliament, who survived. the explosion was so powerful it caused significant damage in nearby buildings.

several rockets have been fired into the heavily fortified green zone in baghdad, where several embassies —— green zone in baghdad, where several embassies and government buildings are located, causing minor damage to residential buildings at the us embassy. the iraqi military has blamed what it called an outlaw group for the attack, and said that one iraqi soldier was injured. pope francis has complained that consumerism has "kidnapped" christmas. in his last sunday blessing before 25 december, he told a crowd in st peter's square that there was no consumerism in the manger in bethlehem, only reality, poverty and love. the italian authorities have destroyed hundreds of millions of pounds‘ worth of the amphetamine captagon, —— of dollars‘ worth of the amphetamine captagon, seized when shipments from syria were intercepted. it was part of a coordinated effort against a trade in lucrative narcotics likely to be run by the syrian regime and its allies. captagon is used recreationally across the middle east but is also taken by militants fighting on the frontlines. 0ur correspondent quentin sommerville, gained exclusive

access to the operation in naples. syria's war can seem a million miles away from europe but tonight in naples, it intrudes once again. italy's financial crimes police are on a night—time mission that has been months in the making. earlier this summer, they seized 1 billion euros of amphetamines. initially, they thought they came from the islamic state group. well, they weren't right about that. but tonight, they're taking those drugs to be incinerated. the drugs, which came from the syrian port of latakia, are under heavy guard, on a nine—hour journey to destruction. inside, an unprecedented haul — 85 million pills. syria's criminal regime and its ally hezbollah

are deep in the drugs trade. but these drugs weren't meant for european streets. italy was only a stopover on the pills‘ long journey to libya. captagon, the amphetamine, is wildly popular in the arab world. it‘s used recreationally and by fighters too. colonel danilo tommo tells me "this is the biggest haul we‘ve ever found. the biggest in the world of captagon. looking at the amount, we think it would have flooded the entire market." i‘ve seen this drug on the battlefields of iraq, syria, libya, but i‘ve never seen it in these quantities before. captagon is produced

in syrian regime and here, in rebel—held areas. abu abdu, a fighter—turned—smuggler, explains the drug‘s effects. translation: fighters use it. if you have doubts, it brings courage and helps detach you from reality. the pills give you power, make you feel like a hero, so you can enter battle and fight, and not be scared. it‘s been a bad year for syria‘s drug smugglers. there‘s been a succession of seizures of their cargo. millions of pills in the last month alone. these pictures are from egypt. there, they were hidden in waterfilters. captagon fuels conflict, but it also fills the coffers of bashar al—assad‘s heavily sanctioned state. the growing number of seizures from the narcos of the middle east is another front in an effort to stop the flow of illegal riches reaching the syrian regime. quentin somerville, bbc news, naples. stay with us on bbc news.

still to come: not so slick business, how olive oil producers are struggling for workers to help with the harvest. music and 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 3.5 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: dozens of governments around the globe ban travel to and from the uk, after the country announced cases of a new more infectious strain of coronavirus. in the us, congress and is meant of wrangling to agree on a $900 billion financial relief package for those hit hardest by the pandemic. to sharply increase in number of increases in the spread in the uk has

been linked to a new strain of the covid—19 virus. since the pandemic started, we‘ve learnt a lot about coronavirus, but it‘s been learning about us too. it‘s had practice at dealing with our immune systems and has developed an extra way of fighting us — this new variant. it‘s changed 23 times. many differences are linked to the all—important spike protein, the part of the virus that lets it bind onto human cells. so, the worry is that this mutation could make it easier for the virus to infect us. doctors think this new variant could spread up to 70% faster, although that figure is just an estimate. scientists advising the government also say it could increase the r number, which shows how the virus can spread, by between 0.4 and 0.9. when we find the virus, we‘re finding the virus in the nose and throat. the higher amount of virus means that people are likely to be more infectious than they would otherwise be, and this means that we need to reiterate the social—distancing measures, keep your distance, reduce your contacts.

one key question is, will vaccines still work against this? well, the vaccine trains our immune systems to recognise and react to the spike protein in the virus, and it has changed. but we‘re talking about tweaks, rather than huge differences. it‘s early days, but scientists think the vaccines are now, more than ever, the key to getting this under control. another question is, are people more likely to become very sick, or even die, if they get infected with this? well, so far, there is no evidence to show that this variant causes more severe illness in any one single person, but it‘s thought that somewhere between one in 100 and one in 150 people who get coronavirus will die from it. and if this variant is more infectious, it could cause more cases, and so more deaths. we‘ve already seen ambulances queueing outside of hospitals and some trusts cancelling routine surgery, as they struggle to cope with the pandemic and winter pressures.

now, this too. we‘re 11,000 beds fewer than we were last year because of infection control. and of the remaining beds, 16,000 of them are occupied by covid patients. that‘s 2,000 more than eight days ago. so, what chief executives are saying to us is, it‘s going to be a nail—biting week to ten days for them while they see whether these new measures will have the desired impact. until enough of us have been vaccinated, the best way to stop this virus spreading is to stick to social distancing, wear our masks, wash our hands, and to cut contact with other people. catherine burns, bbc news. contact tracing across australia‘s bigger city has detected more than 80 venues visited by people from a new cluster of coronavirus cases are. health officials in the state of new south wales say anyone who visited the bars, cavities and gems must get a

virus test immediately and self isolate. the cluster on syd ney‘s isolate. the cluster on sydney‘s northern beaches has grown to 83, coming after a record 38,000 people came forward for testing across the state new restrictions are in place across greatest in the in an attempt to contain the new outbreak while state borders have closed once again. here is what some of what the prime minister had to say in a press conference the short time ago. as we look around the world we know what is happening, and we know what is happening, and we know we have to be cautious, and the great gains that have been made, the great sacrifice and cost, over the course of this year, we intend to maintain them, and that means in circumstances like this, as we have done so now on many occasions, we need to act swiftly as this is occurring, as the authorities get on top of this, and ensure we can preserve the gains and go into 2021 in a good state. meanwhile, as australia does its best to get on top of this,

latest outbreak, and maintain its relative success in dealing with the pandemic of the virus has generated another issue for citizens with more than 30,000 australians are stranded overseas as a result of quarantine requirements and border controls. it has sparked a number of campaigns calling on the government to remove the cap on numbers and allow all australians to return home. here is a snippet from they bring them home campaign. my partner and i are currently in portugal and have been trying to get back to australia since may. my name is derek, i am an australian citizen in paris, stranded here for two months, ten days and counting. we are australian citizens and have been stranded in france for 32 weeks. and australian citizens stranded in saudi arabia. with me now is a news reporter. is a mentioned australia was widely praised for its handling of its pandemic, what did it do back

in march? essentially australia closed its border back in march which meant only repatriating citizens were allowed back into the country, and that has generated this backlog because there is a cap on the number of citizens allowed to come back, thatis citizens allowed to come back, that is currently sitting on six and a half thousand but of course all those people have to go through the hotel quarantine period, which is a period of two weeks, and so the government decided the only way to be able to maintain that was to be able to maintain that was to the number of arrivals coming back and. obviously there is a lot more citizens than that who are wanting to come home, and the situation we have seen unfold since march has been because of this, flights have been cancelled, people who had flights booked have had them cancelled, have rebooked, had them cancelled again, so now they are in this holding pattern of waiting to get back into the country. you mentioned is 30,000 australians stranded abroad. what kind of support is available from the

australian government to the citizens? is a really difficult situation. we have to remember that some of these people were overseas perhaps visiting family or on holiday, they had flights booked, they have now been cancelled, they don‘t have visas, so they don‘t have the ability to work on these countries and therefore no financial assistance available to them, which is really tough. the government obviously recognises that and so there area recognises that and so there are a couple of grants available to them, one for housing in an emergency situation if they need that, u nfortu nately situation if they need that, unfortunately that does not go all the way, anyone knows how expensive it is to live elsewhere and do not have an income, and the other form elsewhere and do not have an income, and the otherform of support that is available as the government is able to cover pa rt the government is able to cover part of the cost of a commercialflight part of the cost of a commercial flight home once that flight becomes available. but again, that is a loan, interest free, but those people still have to pay it back and for people already out of work, it‘s a really tough situation. 0bviously it‘s a really tough situation. obviously the government has provided some repatriation flights during this time, so

they have been citizens able to get home but the problem is this backlog, so we know more than 30,000 people have registered their interest to get back to australia and now it is the government trying to get them to a point of getting them home, and what we know from the government now is what they are trying to do before christmas is to prioritise the return of the most vulnerable australians, but of course, the clock is ticking. the more astute viewers will have noticed your accent. how has it affected you personally? it's been really interesting, i only arrived here at the end of february, is a right before the first lockdown. i was in a very fortu nate first lockdown. i was in a very fortunate position to have work available to me, which is why i decided to stay, with an opportunity i simply cannot pass up, although i hated the government‘s advice, if you are ina government‘s advice, if you are in a situation where you feel you need to come home, you should come home, unfortunately they do not apply to me. but i really feel that these people.

the reality is the situation can change for anybody really quickly, perhaps overnight, and true for me if my work situation changes, i will be added to that backlog of the 30,000 people needing to get home, andi 30,000 people needing to get home, and i think probably something that has been disappointing for me is to see fellow australians back home perhaps taking a bit of a swipe at some of these citizens wanting to come back. 0bviously the government advice early on was if you are a citizen overseas and you want to get back you should do so as quickly as possible, and a lot of people did heed that warning, but others stayed for multiple reasons, some as i said earlier had flights booked, those flights were subsequently cancelled, some people had no choice but to travel during the minutes of the pandemic to perhaps look after an elderly relative, perhaps look after or be with someone who is passing away, so really awful situations that have led to people being overseas and i think there is a perception back in australia from some people that this is contiguous tourist who decided

to stay on their holiday and 110w to stay on their holiday and now want to use government resources to get back home, and that‘s really not the case. it would be nice to see more support for those people. the economic consequences of the pandemic has been felt almost everywhere, restaurants remain closed, planes are not flying, people are not working, and the lack of movement means businesses that rely on casual labour are struggling more than most. that‘s particularly true for the olive farmers of greece who are desperate for whatever help they can get. some call it green gold. olive trees stretching far into the distance in this part of greece. the industry is worth billions of dollars each year. the country, is the fourth biggest producer of olive oil in the world, but then came the pandemic, and all that entailed. translation: because the border is closed, the workers

could not come in time. we tried to sort the paperwork, but they were blocked again blocked again at the borders. in previous years we had at least 100 to 120 foreign labourers. this year, no more than 15. last month, greece closed its border with albania, the main source of its seasonal agricultural labour. a huge blow to these farmers, but some have fallen back on older traditions. translation: there are no workers to harvest the olives, we will do it on our own, we are four siblings, we will pick them by ourselves. but will that be enough? this is an industry very much in crisis, and after all, green gold is not much use when there is no—one left to harvest it. that it from me for the time being, much more on our

website. you can reach me on social media, thanks very much for your company, stay safe and we will see you soon. hello. for most of us, the chances of a white christmas look pretty slim, but it‘s probably not going to be a particularly wet christmas either. drier, colder weather on the way by the end of this week. there is some more rain to get out of the way first, and on the earlier satellite picture, you can see this big hook of cloud. this is really going to provide wet weather across southern areas, particularly through the first half of this week. this first frontal system bringing rain, particularly across england and wales, up into northern ireland as well. something a little bit clearer but still with some showers further north. chilly air across northern areas with a wedge of really mild air working in towards the south. a very, very mild start to wednesday in southern areas, but a cloudy, wet start with outbreaks of rain

pushing northwards across england, wales. some heavy rain moving through northern ireland, getting into southern scotland for a time as well. something a little bit drier following on behind, but probably still quite cloudy. some further rain into southern counties of england. northern scotland will see some sunny spells, yes, but some showers, too, and some of these will be turning wintry at times over high ground through the afternoon. a rather chilly day in northern areas, a very mild one in the south with highs perhaps 15 degrees. as we go through monday night, you can see further pulses of rain pushing across southern areas up into wales, the midlands. further north, clear spells, still a few showers into northwest scotland. pretty mild down towards the south, a much colder night for the north — there could even be a touch of frost here and there. then into tuesday, cloudy, damp weather will continue across southern counties of england, maybe into south wales at times. further north, we‘ll see more in the way of sunshine, but again, a scattering of showers, especially across the northwest of scotland, some of these showers wintry over the hills and the mountains. temperatures, again, six or 7 degrees in the north, 12, maybe 13 down towards the south. now, an area of low pressure

is set to bring more rain on wednesday, especially across southern areas, but as we head towards the end of the week, this area of high pressure is going to start to build its way in. so, through christmas eve and into christmas day, high pressure will take charge, but with that, some colder air working its way southwards. so, yes, temperatures dropping away by thursday and friday, christmas eve and christmas day, but by this stage, it should be mostly dry with just a few showers.

as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc news.

the headlines: dozens of countries are imposing travels bans —— dozens of countries are imposing travel bans to and from britain, where a new, fast—spreading strain of coronavirus has led to the country‘s highest daily number of recorded cases. after months of wrangling, republicans and democrats in the us congress have reached agreement on a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. the measure includes increased unemployment benefits and stimulus payments for millions of workers who lost their jobs because of the pandemic. it will also provide funding for the mass vaccination campaign and to help schools reopen. still caught up on fish — uk and eu negotiators trying to agree the terms of a free trade deal between the two say they‘re still stuck on the issue of eu access to the uk‘s fishing waters. sources close to the talks say a decision on whether it‘s deal or no deal can be expected before christmas. now on bbc news, dateline