this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. caught up in a covid crisis: thousands of lorries are stuck in kent, after france bans arrivals from the uk to try to prevent the spread of a new strain of the virus the french are due to begin accepting some arrivals from the uk around now, but only if they can provide a valid negative coronavirus test. it will take 2—3 days for things to be cleared, they should not move themselves to cans, it won't speeded up themselves to cans, it won't speeded upforyou, themselves to cans, it won't speeded up for you, you're better off where you are and waiting further instructions. as us congress passes a coronavirus relief package, president electjoe biden warns the worst is yet to come.

our darkest days in the battle against covid are ahead of us, not behind us. europe's chief brexit negotiator says talks are at a crucial stage , but with just nine days to go until britain's transition period ends, there's still no agreement on fishing singing. and — how to sing safely this holiday season, with a little bit of help from scientists. france has re—opened its borders to britain, allowing thousands of stranded drivers the chance to cross from dover to calais — but — conditions apply. only eu citizens or residents, freight drivers, fishing crews and some others will be allowed in. and drivers must produce a negative coronavirus certificate issued in the past 72—hours.that‘s led to angry scenes in dover, where drivers argued with police. france imposed a two—day ban after a new highly—infectious variant of coronavirus

was identified in britain. in addition, more than a0 countries worldwide have stopped flights coming in from the uk. from dover, caroline davies has more parked nose to bumper, almost 3,000 lorries stranded in kent. this is 0peration brock in action, a way of keeping kent's roads moving by diverting lorries to an empty airstrip. this is manston airfield and as you can see, there's just been a steady stream of lorries coming past me since i've been standing here. it is looking like over there, it's already filling up. some in the industry worried that as many as 6000—7000 lorries were heading to dover today. along the route in, miles from the port, lorries tucked into lay—bys or parking lots. by the side of the road, we meet hameed from turkey. he showed us his bread, yoghurt, eggs and tea he carries with him to keep them going. with a few words of english,

he told us he's come from leeds and got stuck here on his way home. many of the drivers here now have empty lorries after dropping their food and goods off for christmas. everything was ok. .. these drivers arrived on sunday. they are trying to get home to bosnia and italy. we were hoping to go back to our homes for new year with our family, to celebrate, but now, it's not going to happen, not this year. we don't have a bathroom, we don't have anything, you know? we are stuck here, maybe for days. shouting. by this evening, frustrations were starting to show, with a spontaneous protest outside the port's entrance, and then a breakthrough. any passengers going to france, and at the moment, i'm afraid that's mostly french citizens returning and one or two other exceptions. they will need a lateral flow test or a pcr test, but a test within the 72 hour period before they go to france. of course, anyone coming this way,

and again, we are not encouraging anyone to travel right now, we'll need to follow our rules, which are self isolation for ten days or a test to release after five days. and further news on lorry drivers... from 6am tomorrow morning, the army and nhs staff will begin the process of testing hauliers at masten airport. they will be using the lateral flow test rather than the pcr test, which is much faster, around half an hour. if the driver tests negative, they will then be free to go across to france, regardless of their nationality. beeping and shouting. tonight in dover, there was still anger and confusion. this is not good. that is horrible things. and now they say they need a pcr test, how? is it possible? you can see, the queue is too big. and these people... if they say anything, we have our test because we were thinking about this when we were thinking about going to romania. we had our test already, but they didn't say anything about it.

many in the industry were hoping for a deal but know this will be a logistical challenge. if it is the way it has to be done, they will have to find a way but it will be very slow, and it will have a long—term impact on our ability to move our fresh and chilled food. this evening, the government are asking hauliers not to travel to kent. many will spend a third night here in their vehicles. and they are still not certain if they will get back for christmas. caroline davies, bbc news. i'm joined now by florian catana, a driver from romania. he has been stuck in dover — since saturday night. what is going on where you are? i'm still here. yeah. i'm still here. how are you? i feel more tired and i am waiting now because i hear they will open the border tonight, but

they say we need covert tests, and i have to wait to see where can i get the test now. —— covid test. have to wait to see where can i get the test now. -- covid test. what we understand is that the government and the armed forces and the health authorities will organise those tests for drivers who are waiting. has anybody spoken to you? know. i just ask the police people hear about that because i heard that, but they say they will not do the test here. they told me i have to drive to man's dinner canterbury to try to get a test there. they say they will not do the test here. so you will have to do a short drive, but you still don't know where to go? yes, they told me i have to go to man's stand, but there are too many lorries already and i will wait too long for a test, and they say it's

better if i try to go to canterbury to try and make a test there. i don't know what to do. i have to wait the nights come i will see tomorrow in the morning. where do you sleep? in the car now. i'm in the car now. so you sleep in the van? i will come i hope i find something, because i have some other collea g u es something, because i have some other colleagues here and they say they will look for some rooms. i will call them come i will see if they have found something. if that's come i will go to them, if not, i will stay here. are you able to get any interesting information from other truck drivers and band drivers? yes. i've spoken with so many people here, and everybody, they are feeling like me, angry, nervous, upset. everyone. they only want to

go home. it so difficult because we are so many here, we are so it so difficult because we are so many here, we are so many, and nobody has come to speak with us, we just... i understand that your wife and your seven—year—old daughter are waiting at home in romania. what do you tell them when you speak to them? what i tell them all day long, yesterday to, i told them they have to wait. i can't go home. does your daughter... maybe they have to make christmas without me. my wife is tough. she understands that's, that's my daughter, she's too small and she doesn't understand. so when you say you might not be home for christmas, what does she say to you? no problem with my wife, because she understands, but my small daughter, she says, ijust

understands, but my small daughter, she says, i just spoke with understands, but my small daughter, she says, ijust spoke with her couple of minutes ago, and she told me, she gave me ten minutes to get home, because she doesn't understand. my last question, did you get her a good christmas present? yes, i have. she's going to have to wait for that now. of course she does. it's been really good to speak to you. i hope you get home safely. you might thank you. have a nice evening. thank you, and you. let's get more from our reporter mark lobel— it's been really good to speak to you. i hope you get home safely. you might thank you. have a talk about more details about what france has said. welcome other than good to speak to you. i hope you get home safely. you might thank you. have a nice evening. thank you, and you. you have been studying this. so let's talk about more details about what france has said. welcome other than good news, potential good news for our guest and other colliers, potential good news, france for will be lifting bans on ferry services, planes and boats as well. and that will apply for french nationals returning home, you nationals are going to be traversing france and also for

british residents, british nationals who are resident in france, but they all need to take a test, either a pcr test or a lateral flow test, commemorative the quicker longer test, if you like, as long as that test, if you like, as long as that test ca n test, if you like, as long as that test can pick up the new variant of covid come there will be a list of tests published for those people. france really wanting to see the return of these people, but on their terms and protecting the health of the french people. what about the rest of the eu? welcome other than cyprus and greece, pretty much as far as cyprus and greece, pretty much as farasi cyprus and greece, pretty much as faras i can cyprus and greece, pretty much as far as i can see, the rest of it you, there is a flight ban in place. that you is recommending a set of recommendations that there will be signed off by eu ambassadors, but they are been doing at essentially sink that essential workers should be allowed to return. so they went all essential workers like medical staff to be able to travel between the eu countries and britain. now, they say that they should also have a test within three days of travelling, and for nonessential residents such as people who want to return home, they should also be able to return to about quarantining when they get there. but they don't

recommend quenching for essential workers so that they can happen quickly. they went freight and code vaccines to be going back and forth as you would expect. no committees oi’ as you would expect. no committees or decisions that mende states may come as only recommendations from the u, but essentially the message from them is lift the bans on flights, lift the bans on boats, let's get to limited travel going but with safeguard. what about the other travel plan that meant bans in other travel plan that meant bans in other countries outside the eu?|j think other countries outside the eu?” think there are around 50 now around the world. america isn't one of them. the head of the centre of disease and control said it would be an overreaction to have abandoned the stage. he does recommending testing on all arrivals, that something that's been voluntarily taken up in new york at the request of the governor there. the other spectrum is in switzerland where they do retrospective quarantining for anyone who has arrived since the middle of december, anyone who's arrived from britain and some people arejust turning arrived from britain and some people are just turning around and arrived from britain and some people arejust turning around and giving up arejust turning around and giving up on their ski holidays and heading home. but otherwise the band spreads right around the world can attune

easier, sudan, singapore, pakistan, countries in south and central america, so there are still heightened concerns at this new variant of a covert fare... —— new variant of a covert fare... —— new variant of a covert fare... —— new variant of cuba by respondent breck two britain. —— new variant of covid. us president electjoe biden has outlined plans to transform america's coronavirus response as soon as he takes office. he said his administration would reorganise vaccine distribution and ask congress to pass another relief bill. but he said in spite of plans for more testing, and higher production of protective equipment, americans need to step up and do their part to control the spread of the virus. 0ur darkest days in the battle against covid are ahead of us, not behind us. so we need to prepare ourselves, to steel our spines. as frustrating as it is to hear, it's going to take patience, persistence and determination to beat this virus. there'll be no time to waste in taking the steps we need to turn this crisis

the european union's chief negotiator michel barnier has told eu ambassadors that fishing remains the biggest obstacle to a post—brexit deal with the uk. mr barnier said earlier the talks were at a really crucial point, adding that he was giving it the final push to reach agreement. 0ur europe editor katya adler is in brussels. the overarching, sort of, motto or memo, if you like, for these negotiations has that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. and i can tell you where there is no agreement, and that is on fishing. that eu demand to maintain fishing rights in uk waters after brexit and the government says there are other outstanding issues as well. so if you say to me, 0k, talk to you, baring 0k, katya, baring all of that in mind, can there still be a deal this side orjust the other side of christmas? i'd have to say to you, hugh, yes, very possibly, but absolutely not definitely. let's get some of the day's other news... israel heads towards its fourth election in just two years

after the government missed a midnight deadline to pass a budget in parliament. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is likely to face his main governing partner, benny gantz in the next poll, which will be scheduled for march. the usjustice department has launched a lawsuit against the retail giant walmart, over the american opiod crisis. the government alleges the firm has made the crisis worse by unlawfully distributing controlled substances to its in—store pharmacies. 0piod use and deaths in america have risen sharply over the last few decades. thousands of antigovernment protesters have meg rallied in armenia's capital, demanding that the prime minister resigned over the peace deal. this provoked fury as armenia and his allies were forced to seed sick it don't not significant amounts of territory. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: what lessons can the rest of the world learn from one tiny asian country which appears to have beaten the coronavirus into submission?

the prince of wales has sent a christmas message to the armed forces, thanking them for their "service, "dedication to duty and sacrifice", and paid tribute to the service personnel who've supported the fight against covid—i9. there are currently 1300 military personnel deployed with the uk vaccine task force. let's hear what he said.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines... the uk and france reach agreement, to resolve the border crisis amid concerns about the new variant of coronavirus, but almost 3,000 lorries are still stuck in southeast england. president—elect biden pledges a new strategy to beat the pandemic when he takes office but warns the darkest days are ahead. leading scientists say they have "high" confidence that the new variant of the virus is easier to transmit, than other variants. but there are many unanswered questions about the characteristics of the new variant, and how it's managed to become the dominant strain within a matter of months, as our science editor david shukman explains. it takes scientific detective work to discover the genetic clues about how the virus is changing.

the uk does more of this than any other country. maybe that's why the new variant was spotted here first. in any event, scientists say it does seem to cause infection more easily, and it is now spreading. this map, based on the latest data, shows how the new variant has been found across most of the uk, and it's got to other countries, too — confirmed in the netherlands, denmark and italy — and it's probably in germany and further afield. australia has found it as well. researchers say the new variant may become the dominant form of the virus. at the moment, the trajectory is clearly that this is increasing extremely rapidly, and we have seen this before, so we saw a variant which emerged injanuary becoming the dominant form in the earlier part of this year, and what we are seeing with this new variant is that it's actually increasing far more rapidly than that previous variant ever did.

a crucial question is whether the vaccines can handle the new variant. everything so far suggests they will. the scientists behind the pfizer biontech vaccine say tests on other mutations have proved that. we are confident that this will be the case, since in the past we have tested more than 20 virus variants with different types of mutations, and the result was always that the vaccine induces immune response which is so bold and attacks multiple positions in this virus protein. and what does the new variant mean for when we'll get out of this crisis? well, one estimate for the most vulnerable people and health care workers may be immunised by the middle of next april, if everything goes according to plan. and 67% of the entire population by mid—july. that would achieve what is called herd immunity, basically when the virus can't spread much more. but because the new variant seems

to infect people more easily, it could be that 80% of the population has to be vaccinated to achieve that herd immunity, and that would take longer, maybe running into next august. another concern is whether children are more at risk from the new variant. there is no firm evidence of that so far, but scientists are watching closely. and from the labs that found the variant, a message has been relayed by the world health organization to make sure that when every country tests for the virus, they can detect the new version. david shukman, bbc news. by many standards, the south east asian nation of singapore has had an amazingly successful war agains the coronavirus. in april, it was reporting more than a thousand cases a day. now, the daily rate is virtually zero. and over the entire course of the pandemic, there've been just 29 deaths. compare that with more than 68,000 deaths here in the uk. so — what lessons can singapore offer the rest of the world?

sura njana tewari has been finding out. a sea of masks for more than seven months now. singapore seems to have conquered the coronavirus, and yet, the restrictions aren't going away anytime soon. in ready position. behind this mask is british ex—pat fiona 0h. during singapore's circuit breaker, she was unable to run her tennis coaching business. yes! like most of the country, fiona is now back on herfeet, but restrictions continue to change the way she works. we started, obviously, with the full lockdown, then, as everybody was complying to all of that, then they allowed the measures to be relaxed. there are restrictions, but those restrictions become, really, your new normal. these tracing tokens are part of that new normal. they helped track down people who have come into contact with someone who's tested positive for covid—i9. the idea is to get at least 70% of the population into the system

so that contact tracing can be carried out quickly. our strategy right now is to reopen the economy and society, but do so with the presence of intensive contact tracing, regulartesting, especially for groups who are vulnerable, and maintaining the rules on social distancing and mass gathering. targeted testing of specific groups in the community, like taxi drivers and teachers, are a big part of getting back on track. but there are still strict laws around social distancing. this aggressive yet effective approach has largely worked because of consistent communication to the public. but in many ways, singapore's plan has succeeded because of its political and social culture. we enforce the rules, and at the same time, we issue warnings as well as penalties for people who repeatedly flout the rules. so when we implement a rule like mandatory mass clearing,

most of the people — i won't say all — but most of the people understand the rationale and are willing to comply with that. singapore plans to vaccinate the entire adult population living here on a voluntary basis and forfree. that's more than 5 million people. but even with the vaccinations, we will be wearing masks well into next year, possibly longer, and safe distancing rules remain in place. people here are willing to accept those restrictions, though, because opening up slowly and carefully allows them more control over their lives while keeping the virus under control. sura njana tewari, bbc news, singapore. church services will be much quieter than usual this christmas — notjust because of restrictions on movement, but also because worshippers of all religions have been asked not to sing, to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. now scientists from university college london are trying to find ways of making singing safer.

0ur health correspondent catherine burns has more. singing. a sign of the times. the words are more than a thousand years old but with the 2020 twist... ..a facemask. but what does that have to do with this? la. religion and science, two parts of professor lawrence lovett‘s life. he says that most of the evidence on face covering looks at coughing and sneezing. he wants to know what difference they make to singing. i think that singing in communal worship is incredibly important, it's an absolutely central part of worship. and if it's safe to do, then i will be the first person to do it. if it's not safe to do, i'm for certain not going to do it. this is where the choir stands in this synagogue. they are still allowed, but must be socially distanced. so they've limited the amount

of music during the services here. across england, government guidelines for churches, mosques and temples say that the rest of worshippers cannot join in singing or chanting. i don't think any church leader ever thought they'd be in the position of standing in front of their congregation and saying, "don'tjoin in, please don't sing". sarah hunter is a church of england lay minister and choir director and one of the volunteers taking part in this study. coronavirus is mostly spread through droplets from coughs, sneezes and people talking. so, sarah has to breathe, speak and sing... la. ..with and without a facemask. it's normally filmed in the dark with a high—speed camera and a laser to show up the droplets. hello. these pictures are slowed down 100 times less than reality. a volunteer singing a note without a mask. you can see lots of droplets swirling around. but the researchers say when someone wears a surgical—type facemask,

either singing or speaking, there are almost no droplets at all and any that do get through travel more slowly and so can't spread as far. most of the volunteers so far have been christian and jewish, but the team wants other faiths to take part, too. i'm hoping that we can get as many people as possible to get involved in the trial. especially when i think there's been such an emphasis on physical health, but spiritual health has been largely ignored. the study hopes to influence government policy on worship and will also look at how volume effects droplets. so maybe worshippers will be able to sing together, but quietly. catherine burns, bbc news. if you can't sing, i guess he can probably still hum, but that's not as much fun. more on our website, let me know if you'll be singing,

humming, anything else. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @jamesbbcnews. do stay with us. good evening. we'll all be in chilly air by the time we hit christmas, but for the time being tonight, bit of a north—south split continuing. where we saw the best of the brightness today across parts of scotland, northern ireland, this is where we'll see a frost develop for a while. head further south, the grey skies we saw in southern parts of england and wales, though cloudy conditions develop more widely, bringing rain. and it's rain which could become a problem again over the next 36 hours, particularly for england and wales, and in these areas marked in darker blue on our rainfall accumulation charts, maybe 40—70 mm of rain possible falling on saturated ground. river levels high. keep up—to—date with the latest flood and weather warnings on our website. and the rain will be hit and miss tonight for england and wales. certainly a lot of cloud could fringe into the borders and the south east of northern ireland, but much of scotland and northern ireland will be dry, partly clear skies and the chance of a frost. frost—free for england and wales and a mild night the further south you are.

but the rain that we see on wednesday will come courtesy of this area of low pressure. that's going to intensify the rain for some and make it more persistent for others. light winds to begin with across england and wales, rain coming and going, heavier bursts developing through the day. the odd rumble of thunder, too, but there will be gaps in the rain, as you can see, even a little bit of brightness at times. 13 degrees possible with that around the english channel. scotland, northern ireland by comparison, hazy sunshine to begin with. gradually will turn a bit sunnier through the day, but a cold day here. winds not too much of an issue to begin with across the country, but they will start to pick up across northern england, wales, the south west, and it's here where we could see gales develop as we head into the evening and overnight as our rain gradually starts to clear its way eastwards as that low pressure departs towards the east of us. as it does, follow the isobars back. they'll be coming down from the north. it's northerly winds which will then introduce much colder air for christmas eve and christmas day. now, we will even see a bit of snow, particularly on christmas eve, mixed in with some showers, they'll be very much hit and miss. snow mainly over the hills,

a lot of dry and bright weather. big improvement for england and wales as far as sunshine's concerned on thursday, but down those eastern coasts, 4 degrees, gale—force winds. it's going to feel subzero, a really raw feeling day down the eastern half of the country. and then, to take us into christmas morning, the sparkle of a widespread frost rather than snow on the ground. a lot of dry and bright weather to come, too, early showers in eastern england clearing, lots of sunshine. bright start in northern ireland and scotland, but wet and windy weather arriving in the north west later. see you soon.

this is bbc world news.

the headlines: france says it's lifting its blanket cross—channel travel ban from midnight local time. french nationals and european citizens will be allowed entry, with an up to date coronavirus test. the new rules will also cover lorry drivers. nearly 3000 lorries are stuck in kent and waiting to cross the channel. france has confirmed it'll open up to traffic from england tonight, provided drivers produce a recent negative coronavirus test certificate. eu diplomats say progress has been made in post brexit trade talks, but differences on fisheries still remain. britain's transition period ends in just over a week from now, but europe says it's prepared to negotiate beyond december 31. america's top medical adviser anthony fauci has been given the coronavirus vaccine live on television. he said he wanted to encourage americans to get theirjab too.