a very warm welcome to bbc news, our top stories: this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. my name is mike embley. a brexit deal within striking distance — the signs from london and brussels point to an agreement now on the table. president trump issues full pardons to his former campaign manager paul manafort convicted of lying during the russia investigation. he has also pardoned longtime fixer roger stone who was convicted of lying under oath to congress. and the designer stella mccartney leads tributes to stella tennant who has passed away suddenly at the age of 50. we will hear why she had such an impact on the industry. chinese investigators are investigating alibaba for allegations of monopoly practices. some children are a little bit worried about becoming christmas. and father

christmas is reassuring people gci’oss christmas is reassuring people across the world his essential journey will not be stopped by a virus. hello to you. after years of to and fro and nine months of actual tour, the uk and the european union seem to be close finally to striking a post—brexit trade deal. british cabinet ministers were summoned for a conference call with the primer so late on wednesday evening and any announcement is likely to be held over to a thursday morning press conference. talks have continued for the night. the final text is said to be about 2000 pages. with the view from london and brussels, here are our correspondents nick eardley and kevin connolly. the talks are going to go on for a few hours yet. we know they are into the nitty—gritty. it is really crossing tees and dotting the eyes.

the latest we heard is that it is likely to be included in the next few hours and it looks like it will be the morning before we know for sure that the deal is done. it seems to be going that way and i don't think anything has happened that necessarily makes us think that there's not going to be a deal agreed between the eu and the uk in the next few hours. but if you are holding your breath for a deal tonight i think you will be disappointed. it looks like the morning rather than a late one tonight. it's been a rather strange day here not for the first time when that historic agreement has really seemed within touching distance all day but has not quite been touched yet. our understanding is that the small hours of the morning here and that the talking will continue through the night, perhaps, on the vexed question of fisheries but it sums up the state of the negotiations, the rather febrile

atmosphere around them that when those pizzas were delivered there was genuine speculation as to whether that was to keep the negotiators going through the night or whether it was for some kind of celebration because a deal had then done. the sense is that it is that close but with the caveat that this is brussels and nothing is done until every point of detail is done, and that is not yet done. gavin connelly and nick ea rdlyey gavin connelly and nick eardlyey there for us. i know your company provides data and analytics for international trade. thank you for being a forest so early. everyone of course will be claiming victory. can we tell it what significant concessions, with significant concessions, with significant gains there are so far? it is very, very early to say. as your correspondence have said, we really don't know what is coming up. there are a lot of rumours swirling around. it does look like the big thing

which was the fisheries steel, it looks like the uk has conceded on the timeframe of the transition period so looks like that will be slightly longer. and it looks as well like the eu might have conceded on the amount of fish that could actually be finished by about 25%. that is one big thing out of the way. the other big thing than talking about dispute settlement mechanisms. it looks like they have agreed an independent arbitration body which is a way the uk contingent saying we are independent. and the eu saying, well, actually we have got a dispute process and we can keep the integrity of the single market. those are two big things and it means there is a legal framework for discussing further and settling things now. so much talk about fishing as you say, small in economic terms as an industry but politically, culturally significant. the uk does seem to have seeded more rights than

it ever suggested it would. well, yes, buti it ever suggested it would. well, yes, but i think, i mean we don't know yet and we have to caveat everything with we don't know yet but the important thing is that they had to be an agreement on fishing. the whole deal could not collapse on the basis of what is actually a fairly tiny proportion of the total trade we do with the eu. it is less than want %. in fact it is only 2.296. than want %. in fact it is only 2.2%. --1%. the than want %. in fact it is only 2.2%. ——i%. the negotiators we re 2.2%. ——i%. the negotiators were ina 2.2%. ——i%. the negotiators were in a position where on both sides, we have seen the chaos recently, there is a very febrile atmosphere and damage on both sides economic reason we couldn't actually see a deal com pletely we couldn't actually see a deal completely collapsing until they could really push the boat out on that one, pardon the pun. companies trading across borders may not face tariffs, that seems pretty clear, but they will surely have to deal with a lot more bureaucracy. yes, and that is the big thing. i'm here, this is really a thin

deal, assuming what we know already, but it won't be a full deal or anything like that and we know that already because we have to preserve that independence. what we are going to see is an increase in paperwork, vat rules changing, rules of origin changing, a lot of things are going to change and it is still going to be a lot of work that businesses need to do between now and the first of january. need to do between now and the first ofjanuary. doctor rebecca harding of coriolis technologies. thank you very much. thank you, happy christmas. and to you. president trump has issued full pardons to his former campaign chairman paul manafort, associate roger stone are among the lesser 26 people to benefit. both were jailed as a result of the miller enquiry into the russian election that my russian interference into the 26 election.

format thought is a former senior aid to donald trump. data by the special counsel, robert mueller, he was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison after being convicted of multiple crimes. also convicted isa multiple crimes. also convicted is a result of the miller investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election was roger stone, a long—time political ally of mr trump. having refused to co—operate with the miller enquiry, both men now find themselves rewarded for their loyalty a nd themselves rewarded for their loyalty and basking in the glow ofa loyalty and basking in the glow of a presidential pardon. pardoned with them was charles kushner, the father of mr trump's senior advisorjared kushner, a real estate developer. kushner was convicted of multiple crimes in 2004, including setting his brother—in—law up with a prostitute and then trying to blackmail him. news of the pardons came after the president had left the white

house to spend the holidays at his florida retreat mara largo. and after he had thrown the future of three important pieces of legislation into doubt. chief among them was a $900 billion coronavirus relief deal which in a video address on twitter, the president branded a disgrace. congress started negotiations on a new package to get urgently needed help to the american people. it has taken for ever. however, the bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated. tied to the coronavirus relief deal is legislation to keep the federal government funded once money runs out on monday, as well as calling on congress to amend that legislation, the president also announced he is vetoing the defence policy bill which funds the troops and is deemed vital to us national security. although he is not participating in any of the

congressional efforts to govern, he comes in at the last minute, issues pardons or threatens pardons and then add sound to mara largo for his christmas vacation. it is very disruptive. in the meantime, he is not participating with the biden administration to try to achieve a smooth transition. this is something really unprecedented in our history. with less than a month left in office, mrtrump with less than a month left in office, mr trump seems intent on flexing the powers he still has and is due back at the white house in the first week of january, and anyone who thinks he will be packing his bags and leaving quietly would appear to be mistaken. david willis, bbc news sandals. a further six million people in england will find themselves living under highest level of covid restrictions within the next few days, as coronavirus levels rise again. from december 26th, the government has said it's extending tierfour restrictions across much

of the south and east of england. that means staying at home, unless you're travelling to work orfor education. this report from our political correspondent laila nathoo. shares of alibaba plunged in hong kong of chinese investigators launched an investigation into the world's largest e—commerce company. it is really sabine want requiring sellers to a deal preventing the products from being sold on rival platforms. with me in the studio now is news reporter gareth barlow. what is really going on here? we learned a little bit through a one sentence statement put out by the state administration for market regulation and in that statement they violated alibaba's policy of choose one of to make it is like you say an exclusivity clause it requires its trading partners to sign up to, preventing them from dealing with other companies. now alibaba is huge, the world's largest e—commerce company, the largest retailer, one of the largest online companies on the planet. so they are looking specifically but ina

they are looking specifically but in a single sentence statement, we were given no insight into the possible outcomes but we do know that alibaba say they will actively co—operate. we do know that their shares didn't fare very well at all in early trading, something ghastly. interestingly, the move has been backed by the people's daily newspaper, aligned with the communist party and said it is an important step in oversight. are getting any insight into why authorities have chosen to investigate now? it seems to think back to events november. alibaba was founded by the billionaire jack ma, and always two also founded a firm called and group which owns ali pay, the biggest online paying thing in china. it was going to be floated with an ipo, the largest ever seen but had consulted by regulators and hold that. jack ma criticise that move and obviously that didn't go to

well with the authorities. they have great control over the economy and sectors and businesses within it but of course, digital retailers and e—commerce firms are booming and a relatively new in the grand scheme of things. and so they have managed to operate for a good while now without the same control that other sectors have scene. it seems as though now, they getting bigger and bigger and more and though now, they getting bigger and biggerand more and more chinese citizens are going online and accessing them, that the chinese government is putting its focus onto these firms. it's interesting to see they are now already overhauling the legislation that governs them. it's also interesting to note that we haven't heard much of jack ma since november. very interesting, want to watch. thank you. three police officers have been shot dead after responding to reports of domestic violence. the fourth of officer was wounded in a small village in central france. they tried to rescue a woman who was trapped on the roof of a home. the french interior ministry says the suspected government has also been found dead. france

have accused the former president of the central african republic of trying to block residential and parliamentary elections due on sunday. french fighter planes of ovine the country. they have said france is condemning attem pts said france is condemning atte m pts to said france is condemning attempts to destabilise the country. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: ican i can tell you that santa claus is immune to this virus. global effo rts is immune to this virus. global efforts under way to reassure people that santa's international triple go ahead. —— trip will go. 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. welcome back and very glad to have you with us on bbc news. the latest headlines: a brexit deal is finally in striking distance and an announcement between london and brussels is

expected on thursday morning. donald trump has issued a full pardon to former campaign manager paul manafort, and roger stone, who was convicted of lying under oath to congress. tributes have poured in from across the fashion world for the model stella tenna nt, who has died suddenly at the age of 50. she made a name as one of the defining faces of cool britannia when britain seems to dominate popular culture. she was photographed by richard avedon and appeared on the front of vogue numerous times. she was featured by popular brands in high—profile campaigns. i spoke to a fashion journalist earlier about what made stella tennant so unique. fashion is an industry as we know, in one day and at the next and really trend—driven, breakneck speed trends and same with models, same with the way someone looks and stella tennant managed

to have a 30—year career and her look really did transcend trends and transcended fads and what designers and retailers flocked to over time. she always seemed relevant to one designer or another over multiple seasons. she was constantly cast in shows, campaigns, numerous magazine covers all around the world, decade after decade. we are seeing some of the pictures on screen, how would you describe that look and how much does an individual model have to do with their own look?

how much they do they have over it? generally, not so much, especially in the ‘90s, when stella tenna nt was discovered and started her career. today, we see more models who are personalities, so their persona, their personal style have a lot more to do with it and they are more expected to express that and flaunt that and stella tenna nt always had her own look. she was always, you know, it was always her signature. she is best described as androgynous, a mix of aristocratic elegance but a rebellious punk attitude, i think that juxtaposition, many described that and there was a lot of allure in that. because you could not quite put yourfinger on it. and i think it always eluded people and may be designers who counted her as a muse were always chasing it.

she looked as beautiful in a suit as she did closing the chanel in tulle and she was a well—known news to karl lagerfeld. in europe, more than half of the 80 million christmas trees this year started out as seeds from georgia. they are sought—after for their aroma and the needles do not drop quickly. it is not fainthearted though. 0urjournalist travelled to western georgia to find out more. in the forest of western georgia is a job that requires a head full heights and calculated risks. 0ut requires a head full heights and calculated risks. out of 80 million trees sold annually in europe, more than half begin their journey europe, more than half begin theirjourney here. europe, more than half begin

their journey here. the europe, more than half begin theirjourney here. the seeds are theirjourney here. the seeds a re harvested theirjourney here. the seeds are harvested from nordman fir cones, injuries up to 50 metres tall. they will be grown in commercial plantations in europe and sold as christmas trees in about 12 years time. this man works for a danish company called fir trees. if harvesters climb with safety ropes, which takes time and patience. translation: i would not advise anyone to climb a tree without the right equipment because many people died, including my friend, my heart aches think about it. safety is an important issue and companies operating here in the forest of georgia are making sure there pickers are well—equipped and well trained to carry out what is quite a risky business. accidents can happen. this man

was a cone harvester until he fractured his spine last year. translation: the branch betrayed me and ifell. i grasped for another branch and that also broke and i fell about ten metres. i survived by the grace of god. i will never let my son be a tree climber. god willing he will never be so poor that he will be forced to climba poor that he will be forced to climb a tree to earn a living. elsewhere in the forest, harvesters working for another danish company, levinson, were not using safety rates decline. 0nly not using safety rates decline. only a harness at the top. the company says it is working on improving its safety standards. a decision has been made and we are introducing increased level

of safety injury climbing, simply to avoid any accidents at all. we do not want accidents. this team uses safety ropes which slows them down but their company pays them 1.2 euros per kilo. 0ther harvesters are them 1.2 euros per kilo. 0ther harvesters a re pa id them 1.2 euros per kilo. 0ther harvesters are paid just 40 cents a kilogram. they tried to gather as much and quickly as they can to maximise earnings. it isa they can to maximise earnings. it is a fraction of what is a multibillion euro dollar industry but a vital income in the land where christmas trees grow wild. the trip of father christmas is deemed essential and there are effo rts deemed essential and there are efforts to any reassure people that santa claus's efforts will

not be stopped by coronavirus. christmas will go on. it is official. it is, for millions, an exciting night but there are worries about father christmas. some children have been a little worried about becoming christmas during this very special situation in the world. so, around the world, efforts have been made to reassure eve ryo ne have been made to reassure everyone that social distancing and travel restrictions will not interfere with one particular reindeer powered journey. i understand the concern for santa claus because he is of an older age and in an older age group that i can tell you that santa claus is immune to the virus. we regard santa claus's travels as essential for essential purposes and he is exempt from the need to self quarantine for 14 days. i'm

sure the elves are busily working to doing their magic working to doing their magic work to ensure the christmas stockings will be filled for children across the world and that, i think, children across the world and that, ithink, count children across the world and that, i think, count as essential workers, they need to go and do theirjob. in the era of social distancing, it is extra reason to keep well back and keeping an eye not all, as usual, is the global santa tracker, run by global air defence. christmas eve, many restrictions around the world, is everything looking good? everything looks great so far so we are tracking the progress of sa nta so we are tracking the progress of santa as he proceeds from the eastern hemisphere back to the eastern hemisphere back to the western hemisphere and sa nta the western hemisphere and santa has been doing this for a very long time through a number of years and we only get concerned from a control perspective when it comes to the us and we track the progress as he tracked through japan, australia and through europe as well. no virus is

going to stop him and in a christmas of safe spaces and sanitised hands and homes! stay safe, santa! just in case you didn't get one early, we can reveal the christmas card from the duke and duchess of sussex, sitting with their son archie and their pet dogs in front of a playhouse or to be in front of their californian home. it has been shared by an animal welfare charity. the original photo was taken by megan's mother, and the christmas tree and ornaments were selected we are told by archie. this is an image of two penguins appearing to have comfort each other and this is one time the award for

best photography and we were told that the penguins recently lost their partners and often appeared in this post, a p pa re ntly appeared in this post, apparently comforting each other. just briefly the main yea rs, after yea rs of other. just briefly the main years, after years of to—ing and fro—ing and nine months of actual talks, negotiators from the uk and european union have been working through the night, it seems, to finalise the deals ofa it seems, to finalise the deals of a post—brexit trade agreement and the deal is expected to be announced on thursday morning. boris johnson held a call with his cabinet late on wednesday to brief them of the progress. the final text is about to be 2000 pages. a deal would end the prospect of both sides imposing tariffs on each other‘s goods from january the first and any agreement still faces a race to be signed off by that european union's 27 member states and still needs to be translated and tidied up by lawyers and could be approved provisionallyjust before the cut—off date and scrutinised by lawmakers in the

new year to avoid it another cliff edge. the british pound surged against the dollar on the optimism that a deal could finally be reached. that is it for now. thank you so much for watching. hello there. wednesday brought another wet day, particularly to england and wales. and at one point, we had over 50 flood warnings in force. now, i'm sure as the rain eases off, the number of flood warnings through christmas eve will gradually begin to drop away, but still the potential for a few problems. there is the rain bearing cloud, then, we had across england and wales, but my attention right now is being drawn to this area of cloud just running in across the north of scotland, because this is going to bring some of you snow. yes, there could be a few centimetres lying on the ground in places, along with the risk of icy stretches as we head into the first part of christmas eve. a few showers also running down north sea coast, the irish seacoast, as our main band of rain continues to edge out—of—the—way.

it will be cold, mind you, a cold start to christmas eve, a widespread frost certainly for scotland, northern england, probably northern ireland, and perhaps into the north midlands and north wales as well. now, it will be a cold day for christmas eve, these chilly northerly winds diving their way southwards and bringing showers down north sea coasts. they will continue to fall as snow in land across parts of scotland, perhaps over the north york moors, might even see an odd flake mixed in with these showers across eastern england at times. but away from the east coast where it will be windy and cold, should be plenty of sunshine, but those temperatures way lower than they have been for a number of days now, 3—4 in scotland, may be 4—5 for parts of eastern england. and as we head into christmas day, there will be a widespread and sharp frost, so certainly a chilly start to the big day. that might be quite a nice sunrise to start the day. best of the sunshine across england and wales, but cloud will quickly building across the north west, and ultimately, we will see some rain move its way into northwest scotland, where it will be turning milder, as south—westerly winds eventually pushing in, highs of 9 in stornoway. best of the sunshine, then, hanging on across parts of southern and eastern england, but cold, 4—5 degrees celsius. beyond that, boxing day,

and sunday, the second half of the weekend, we've got this area of rain pushing southwards across the country. given that the ground is saturated, that rain is likely to lead to further localised flooding with wintry showers following the main band of rain through. it's notjust rain that could cause issues, it's also going to become very windy, gusts could reach 50—70 mph, maybe even stronger than that. so there is the potential for some disruptive winds as well this weekend, and beyond that into monday, still windy for northern ireland. further east, a mixture of rain, sleet and maybe some snow.

a very warm welcome to bbc news, our top stories:

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a brexit deal within striking distance — the signs from london and brussels point to an agreement now on the table. british cabinet ministers were summoned for a conference call with the prime minister to discuss what is on the verge of being agreed. president trump issues full pardons to his former campaign manager paul manafort convicted of lying during the russia investigation. he has also pardoned longtime fixer roger stone who was convicted of lying under oath to congress. six million more people in england face the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions, as hospital admissions surge to their highest levels since april. from december 26, the government is extending to four restrictions across much of the south and east of england.

0ne main reason