this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. france re—opens its border to britain, after a two—day closure to prevent the spread of a new strain of coronavirus leaves thousands of lorries stuck in kent. freight drivers and eu citizens will be allowed in — but only if they can provide a negative coronavirus test. this will take two or three days for things to be cleared, and before that, the hauliers should not move themselves to kent. it won't speeded up for you, you are better off waiting for further instructions. as the 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. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first... france has re—opened its borders to britain, allowing thousands of stranded drivers the chance to cross the english channel to the continent — 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, will 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. let's get more from our reporter mark lobel— spoke to a truck driver earlier, i spoke to a truck driver earlier, people down and kent are still trying to work out what france and britain have agreed. give us more details, please come about what france has said. separate to that situation with the lorry drivers, france has now lifted the ban on flights, ferry services and the euro star.

that's for french nationals, foreign residents and eu nationals crossing france. the rules are that you have to have a pcr test or a lateral flow test that contains enough material so they can detect this viral change that everyone's so this viral change that everyone's so concerned this viral change that everyone's so concerned about within three days of travelling. now, that is potentially good news, but it could really ruin some christmas plans or new year plans. they've got to book a flight, plans. they've got to book a flight, they've got to find the tests, and also come if they tests, and also come if they test positive for covid—i9, they obviously can't travel, and that's in place until the 6th of january. and that's in place until the 6th of january. what and that's in place until the 6th ofjanuary. what about and that's in place until the 6th of january. what about the rest of the eu? well, other than greece and cyprus which by last count were the only two countries in the eu had that haven't got a flight ban on. he was ready many that for all essential workers that flight ban orferry essential workers that flight ban or ferry ban essential workers that flight ban orferry ban is essential workers that flight ban or ferry ban is lifted now, oi’ ban or ferry ban is lifted now, or rail bans are left, so that medical staff can now make it to those countries. they are saying that they should be taking a test again, the same as we discussed with france

within three days of travelling and prove that they haven't got covid—19 in order to travel. there was returning home, they are recommending or advising that people quarantine when they get home. now, those are decisions to be made by the countries themselves cannot be you, they are preliminary recommendations, butjust you, they are preliminary recommendations, but just to give you a flavour, dutch media are now reporting that the band that they put in place, the first to put in a flight ban with the uk and south africa which will be in place until the 1st of january, they have lifted that ban in order to allow people to return home, and also asking specifically for pcr test, the test that ta kes for pcr test, the test that takes longer to do and a bit more accurate in order to do that. they might also be expanding their pcr test to anyone arriving in dutch airspace in the future and advising again that people quarantine. this has been a very tricky few days for a lot of people who got stuck in the uk, including this passenger who we will hear from now who was stuck at stansted airport.

my mother has cancer and now i'm trying to change my flight... i'm trying to change my flight... i'm very worried, i'm very angry because this coronavirus, and i wish all the tourists to get home for christmas. you can imagine there are an awful lot more stories like that. what about travel bans for the rest of the world? well, that's right. that was one example. there are around 50 countries where our travel bans in place, and it's affecting people's lives. 0n the countries where it's not in place as america, the head of the centre of disease and control, doctor found she was saying that he thought it was an overreaction to put a man in place. —— fauci. he suggested that test take place before you get on a plane and are allowed in the country, and that is something that new york has taken up, some airlines in new york at the advice of the governor. the opposite and and of the scale is switzerland where they do retrospective

testing of people who have arrived since the middle of december and also have a flight ban in place. i think countries arejust ban in place. i think countries are just trying to get a grip on will how they should react to this alarming news from britain will stop thank you so much forjoining us. the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier says fishing remains the biggest obstacle as the bloc continues negotiations with the uk on a free trade deal. with just days remaining in the post—brexit transition period, our europe editor katya adler has the latst 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, 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 opioid crisis. the government alleges the firm has made the crisis worse by unlawfully distributing controlled su bsta nces to its in—store pharmacies. 0piod use and deaths in america have risen sharply over the last few decades. thousands of anti—government protesters in armenia have rallied in the capital yerevan, demanding that the prime minister — resigns over the peace deal he signed with azerbaijan. the deal provoked fury as armenia and its allies in the disputed enclave, nagorno—karabakh, were forced to cede significant amounts of territory to azerbaijan.

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. despite plans for more testing and higher production of protective equipment, the president—elect says 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 around. well today, anthony fauci, received a vaccine jab during a live streamed event at the national institutes of health.

he received the moderna vaccine which was the second vaccine to be authorised for emergency use in the us. here's what he had to say just before receiving his first dose... when you are dealing with a pandemic that is involving the entire country, i believe it would've been better to have a more uniformity of response rather than have different states doing things in different ways. and you have surges in one part of a country followed by surges in another pa rt followed by surges in another part of the country. we are a very large country, we have 330 plus million people in the country, and i believe it would've been better if we did things ina would've been better if we did things in a more uniform, consistent way when you are thinking about the implementation of public health practices. that's just one of the things that i think were a problem. the other is mixed messaging that we had. it's been very politcised. there has been very politcised. there has beenin been very politcised. there has been in this situation that i think everybody realises, there

isa is a great deal of divisiveness in this country, and there are people that take sides as to what kind of implementation or public health measures they should or should not do. the bottom line is, rather inconsistent in our response. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: and — how to sing safely this holiday season, with a little bit of help from scientists. saddam hussein is finished, he killed our people, our women. that has conflict that is claimed —— bringing it into three and half years of conflict that is way more than 200,000 lives.

the president of bosnia and 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 from leaking out. from sex at the white house, trial for his political life, the affair guaranteed from sex to the white house. bill clinton and his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. this is bbc news, the latest headlines the uk and france reach an agreement — to resolve the border crisis amid concerns about the new variant of coronavirus — but thousands of lorries are still stuck in southeast england.

florian catana is a driverfrom romania. he's been stuck in dover since saturday night and says he'll have to stay at least one more night. i'm tired. iam waiting i'm tired. i am waiting because i heard they will open the border tonight, but they say we need a covid test, and i have to wait to see where can i get the test now. 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 waiting. has anybody spoken to you? know. ijust asked 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 make it 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 the test. and they say it's better if i try to go to canterbury to try to make a test there. i don't know what to do. i have to wait tonight, i will see tomorrow in the morning. where you sleep? in the car now, i am in the car now. so you are in the van? i will, in the car now. so you are in the van? iwill, i hope, iwill find something, because i have some other colleagues here and they say they will look for some rooms. i will call them to my will see if they have found something. if that's, i will go to them. if not, i will stay here. breaking news from

washington now. president trump hasissued washington now. president trump has issued full pardons to 15 people, we're just income including three former republican lawmakers, and he has commuted all or part of the sentences of five others, among those receiving these pardons are george papadopoulos, a former campaign aide who pleaded guilty as part of the investigation into russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, which was won by mr trump, and also alexander swan, 36, the dutch son—in—law of a russian billionaire. and her son was sentenced to 30 days in prison and fined $20,000 to line two contacts and fined $20,000 to line two co nta cts for and fined $20,000 to line two contacts for the investigation. a member, pardon powers by president are absolute, and in the waning days of each administration of an outgoing president, much attention is paid on who those presidents choose to pardon, and president trump is following the example of his predecessors and pardoning people, in this case, it looks like his pardoning people close to him. well, we

will bring you more on that as it develops. australian authorities have made small changes to coronavirus restrictions in place in sydney ahead of christmas following the recent northern beaches outbreak. a five day lockdown in place in the northern beaches will be extended — with the region split into two zones — and small exceptions made for christmas. meanwhile, greater sydney residents have been told they can have ten people plus kids for three days only before reverting back to old rules. professor marylouise mclaws is an epidemiologist at the university of new south wales in sydney. professor, thank you so much for joining professor, thank you so much forjoining us. are these measures the right measures? from an outbreak manager perspective, no. sadly, no. the northern beaches have had a number of cases, they seem to be declining, but from an outbreak management perspective, you would expect zero cases for at least twice

in incubation period, because this is a very large cluster, and you would suggest that no one visits you at home if you live in the northern beaches, evenin live in the northern beaches, even in the northern focused area because what will happen is people will visit and of course there may well be increases in clusters, and i know this is a difficult time, christmas is a difficult time, but we have had ede and hanukkah where those celebrations also have been disturbed, and this is 2020. this is a terrible —— terrible year, andi this is a terrible —— terrible year, and i understand that our premier does not want to disappoint, because nostra christmas is very important for eve ryo ne a cross christmas is very important for everyone across our wide ethical and cultural groups, but from an outbreak perspective, sadly, iwould've been a little tougher. what more do you know about the cluster on the northern beaches? well, we know that

they are highly mobile, they visited many areas notjust in that northern beach area, but outside the northern beach area as well, so, we potentially have two cases outside that northern district completely, potentially five cases in the northern suburbs which is quite some distance from the northern beaches. we have people who have known cases visiting multiple areas, so there still is the potential for increased, evenif is the potential for increased, even if you take, you know, the first day of this outbreak when people started to move around the area. we still had time for more cases. so it has the potential for increasing. 0utside this vulgar area of the northern beaches, you are allowed to have ten people,

plus children under the age of 12, that's quite a large group. i would have restricted that to the immediate family or the immediate germ bubble, because we we re immediate germ bubble, because we were at elimination across australia, and we have had this terrible leak from the corn tea travellers and we need to get control of this again because it's very, potentially very widespread. professor louise, thank you very much forjoining us. stay well. we will. throughout the pandemic we've brought you lots of bad news, but also some good — and we couldn't resist bringing you this story of a nurse who's left hospital after a 9—month coronavirus ordeal. applause this is merlin pambuan walking out of the hospital where she's worked for a0 years, and was admitted with coronavirus in march. she was on a ventilator for 4 months, and her doctors say she came close to death on several occasions.

she's faced months of physical therapy to regain her mobility. i'm thankful this is my second life. i've been here for nine months. the experience that i'm the one taking care of cricket patients and stuff like that, and now they are taking care of me, and it's just hard, very hard, but they are very professional. they really care about me. i like those people that have covid or something that don't lose hope, just fight, fight. because, look at me, you know? i'm going home, and i'm 0k. church services will be much quieter than usual this christmas — not just 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 cannotjoin 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 help 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. a giant iceberg drifting through the south atlantic looks to have experienced a major break—up. the latest satellite images reveal major fissures in the tabular berg known as a68a. it broke away originaly from anatartica in 2017. scientists have been watching to see if it might ground in shallow water. were that to happen — and parts

of the iceberg still could — it might cause problems for the british 0verseas territory‘s penguins and seals as they go about foraging for fish and krill. hello there. it's going to settle down as we move into the christmas period with high—pressure dominating. we should see quite a bit of sunshine but also some frost. before we reach that point, quite a bit of rain in the forecast for wednesday, particularly across the southern half of the country. all tied in with this area of low pressure. this is the high—pressure that's going to a node for the christmas period. we have to contend with this first. it's going to bring a lot of cloud across much of england and wales through the day today. some of it will be heavy, and particularly from wales through the midlands across into east anglia, there isa across into east anglia, there is a chance of flooding in places as the ground is saturated from other recent rain. rain everywhere, there will be drier, brighter spells around, very mild in the south, but in scotland and northern ireland, they will see the best and the brightest, but it will be called with some wintry showers over the north. as that

area of low pressure pulls away, we will start to see northerly gales develop across parts of wales, western england around the channel for a time, and then we will see further showers across the northern half of the country. these will be wintry over the high ground. much colder air starts to sink southwards as we move through wednesday night. you can see a widespread frost across central and northern areas. so this area of high pressure eventually topples in from the west for christmas eve. quite a few isobars in the charts across the eastern part of the country. so it will be windy here and that's going to dragon a few showers for christmas eve here. mainly rain and lower levels, we could see some wintryness over the high ground from a one or two dotted around western coasts, but for it's a cold start but a brighter day, plenty of sunshine across england and wales. a bit of thought across the far north of scotland. those temperatures for— seven degrees, at on the wind, it will feel pretty cold. then for christmas day itself, we continue with our area of high—pressure commode start to see this weather front arriving

later on in the day. we start christmas morning off on a cold know to under clear skies, we will see a widespread frost to greet us for christmas morning. there will be plenty of sparkling sunshine as well, especially for england and wales as we start to see more cloud across the north and west as that weather front i showed you begins to bring some wetter and windier weather certainly to western scotland. and cold day for christmas day four to 7 degrees. as we head on into boxing day, much more u nsettled, boxing day, much more unsettled, very windy, widespread gales outbreaks of rain, that is also lasting into sunday with sunshine and showers.

this is bbc news. the headlines:

france has reopened its borders to traffic from britain after a two—day closure which left thousands of trucks stranded in south—east england. freight drivers and citizens will be allowed in, but only if they have a negative coronavirus test. 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. the us president—elect joe biden has warned the american people that the darkest days of the battle against covid—19 still lie ahead. he has outlined plans to transform the country's response to the pandemic when he takes office next month. he has already had his first most of the vaccine and now doctor anthony fauci has also had his vaccine. —— his first dose of the vaccine. now on bbc news...