have relief for them, finally, to have the prospect of going home. despite the prospect of going home. despite the fact that some are leaving this site and testing is under way, yesterday the backlog of lorries actually got higher, because this site became totally full, almost 4000 lorries here, another 2000 lorries parked up on the m20. so, more hauliers have been heading towards kent, hearing that the border towards france is open now but they are being told to join the back of the queue and for them it is unlikely they will be home in time for christmas. do you know any more about how this testing is happening? well, what happens is it is a lateral flow test, so you get the results within about 40 minutes. tests are being handed out to drivers in their cabs. they then get a text message and if it is negative, they will be allowed to leave the site. if they get a positive test result, they are asked to have a pcr test, which is one of

those more accurate tests, but it ta kes those more accurate tests, but it takes maybe a couple of days to get the results. in the meantime they will be asked to isolate in their ca bs will be asked to isolate in their cabs and if that second test turns out positive, they will be taken to a local hotel and asked to isolate there. you can hearfrom the horn sounding, relief from those who have got negative tests, but still a long way for the people on this site who are desperate to get out and go home. i don't know if you have been able to speak to any of them in the past few hours, i'd imagine relief but also fury at the build—up that has happened this week. a lot of frustration, a lot of anger we saw tension boiling over yesterday, some hauliers marched out of this site, marched down the road, brandishing guns. they were frustrated. they say they have been sleeping in their cabs for night after night and there has simply been a lack of information. we heard

from one haulier earlier this morning he was stuck in the m 20 and he said he was sitting there, hoping an official would come past and give him a test but he didn't know whether that would happen and i think it's the uncertainty because hauliers, to be honest, are used to sitting in delays and disruption, it's really poured the job. but i think this is unlike anything they have before and it's the fact, it is the uncertainty of how long it will go on for, even though the border has reopened. simon, thank you, down in dover. hello, this is bbc news with geeta guru—murthy. the headlines... a brexit announcement is expected in the coming hours, as the signs from london and brussels suggest a deal is close the remaining differences between the two camps have been narrow but deep — in particular over fishing rights. more than 6000 lorries spend another night stranded outside the port of dover —

with drivers waiting to be tested for covid 19 before they're allowed into france stay at home from boxing day. the message to another 6 million people in england as the toughest level of covid restrictions are widened. president trump has issued another round of pardons — among them two key allies who were convicted over the russia inquiry back now to brexit. we are expecting a historic trade deal to be announced this morning. both sides working through the night to finalise an agreement. key critical issues needing to be resolved, including fishing rights and how a deal would be enforced. damian grammaticas is here. what are the sticking points as far as we know, what have they been? we know the

ones everyone was focusing on in the run—up to the last few days were fish, that seems to have been the thing that has held things up overnight. that final haggling over the final details. and that amounts to basically dividing up the access to basically dividing up the access to the fish stocks, how much fish, how many boats, how long into the future any sort of transition from the current situation to future arrangements would take. that has been one really tricky area. it's a tiny overall part of the value of the exchanges. but it's enormously politically sensitive because there are very vocal and visible constituencies, coastal ports, different countries on both sides, so that's been one. on fish, before we move on, i was reading some of the details on this. certain species of fish, first by different fishermen, scottish fishermen don't

get a ccess fishermen, scottish fishermen don't get access to what they need, politically, that has an impact, although if they are snp nicola sturgeon held seats, rather than seats the conservatives think they could gain, how much of that very local politics might be affecting what the negotiators are trying to agree on? the local politics obviously plays a part and you can drill down right into the very local politics. the whole unity of the uk has been one fallout, some people say, of brexit, brexit will drive a division of the uk and therefore decisions on fish can impact all of that? they can. on this particular issue, you can see a situation where you have a uk government in london pointing to the deal, a deal, saying it's gained fishing concessions from the eu, regained control over uk waters, access to that, which

provides benefit to fishing communities in north—eastern scotland, areas that might be more amenable to voting or less amenable to snp votes, there might be votes they could win but this is the minutiae of detail that we get into. the fishing issue is a difficult one but a small one and it's always been left until the last minute. it has been left until the last minute. there is much bigger, overarching questions that have been in their which are about the whole by this relationship between the uk and the eu was going to work in future and this is what people called the level playing field, the governance of the deal, essentially comes down to the very basic terms that these sides will trade on and have all exchanges on in future and how that will evolve over time. does the uk want to change its competition rules, it's a system of state subsidies, what about environmental rules? what

about labour standards? the uk or eu side want to change those in future, how will that affect the balance of the relationship and under this deal, can't they, each sign, have remedies against the other if they say in future, affected our terms of trade, you've given yourself an unfair advantage by, the environment isa unfair advantage by, the environment is a clear example, climate change. the desire to implement climate change policies in the coming years. i've asked all countries go? but one i'd say to the other, if you are lagging behind, your industry will undercut ours. can't they take measures, how are they going to sign up measures, how are they going to sign up to taking measures across the whole trade agreement to remedy things like that, that is the big governance and level playing field issue, there been critical in this. before we come onto who arbitrates on that, part of the debate happening this year was wooed the uk if necessary move to a far east model? becoming a low regulation.

becoming singapore, hong kong, however you want to describe it. if you are also going to have access with closest and biggest trading partners? this has been raised again asa partners? this has been raised again as a bit of an issue behind these, singapore on thames, could the uk deregulate, with the eu be defensive, protected single market from such competition and build that into the deal? the flip side is you could say that might be an ambition that had been expressed on the side of the uk but there was never really any individual measures the uk site has been able to point to to say that's where we would cut regulations and standards because that ultimately is quite a difficult thing, what labour standards are you cutting, what environmental standards, how much opposition will you have that in the uk so the view of that is more aspirational. one of the key sticking point we think has been who decides if both sides

disagree and not being banned by the european courts? one of the fundamental demands of many brexiteers. this has been one of the tricky, those little stones in the shoe of this negotiation. it seems like, difficult political question for the uk side. what may be coming out of this is they may create some sort of arbitration system where you might have a panel say of eminent people, judges, whatever, who look at the issues on the sides can bring issues there from binding arbitration but that may not in have any link to eu law so you've got a judging panel to oversee disputes in future but not one that binds the uk to eu law, that might be a way they have been able to resolve this to the satisfaction of both sides. does it undercut european law? or go over the top of it, how have europeans reacted ? the top of it, how have europeans reacted? we will see what comes out of the deal but they've had a very

clear principle in this, just as the uk has, which is the defence of their own single market and the single market rules. i'm sure what we will see in this is if the eu agrees to it, something they do not believe in a way undermines eu law and there may be, the question will be, is there a body that has to reference eu law, does it have to call to the european court of justice to say, what is the interpretation of this particular question that we are trying to wrestle with here in our committee. ask for an interpretation, bring it back. then make their decision or deliberation in their final decision in the light of whatever the european court might say. that is one model. sort of slightly arm's—length model, but there still isa arm's—length model, but there still is a relationship with eu law. it might be the panel itself takes its own view on things. but the eu certainly has made a big principle of protecting its own sort of legal

sovereignty, if you like, its own ability to make its own decisions for its own market and protect its own market. finalthought. you were obviously in europe, across all those nations for a long time. has covid really swamped and drowned out the interest in brexit or are people going to be looking and thinking, as people will hear, how will this affect my daily life, business, future holiday plans, work, opportunities for my children?” think the reality is in the eu, that is limited to very specific constituencies, you have very specific links and interest to the uk, danish fishermen, if you want one example, it will be producers and manufacturers in countries that are linked with business links to the uk, exporters in belgium, france, germany, netherlands, countries close by, spanish exporting fruit and vegetables here. those people, yes, pay an interest, broadly, not nearly so much as of

course, it is a much bigger issue here. really, one thing we should not forget in all of this, broad discussion, the people who were also paying a huge interest and will pay a huge interest to this our businesses come on that side and here in the uk who now have very few days to get to grips with what potentially is going to be an enormous change in our relationship from the ist of january, coming enormous change in our relationship from the ist ofjanuary, coming up very, very soon stop a huge shift in the way the two sides relate and there will be barriers to business and exchanges that will change, it's going to get more comic it, certainly. the other thing to remember, northern ireland, this has a big implication for people in northern ireland, businesses, transacting between northern ireland and the rest of great britain and how they will transact across what is going to be a new trade border. effectively down the irish sea. differences in regulation between the science, northern ireland

effectively in many parts under eu regulation, customs rules, what is in this deal is going to affect those exchanges across the border so it has a big impact for people there. the future of the uk is bound to bea there. the future of the uk is bound to be a talking point, the cohesiveness and unity of the uk. damien, thank you. and now took coronavirus and the huge impact that is having. another 6 million people in the uk will be facing tougher restrictions from boxing day, as a large chunk of the south and east of england moves to tier 4 restrictions. the health secretary, matt hancock said it was because the current tier 3 wasn't enough to contain a faster—spreading variant of the virus. councillor keith glazier is the leader of east sussex council. how are you affected by the changes? parts of east sussex since last saturday, from boxing day on, the

rest of the whole of east sussex and most of the south coast goes into tier 4. at this time, it really is asa tier 4. at this time, it really is as a result of the breathing rate of infection over the recent weeks. many of you will know, we were one of the lowest counties in the country and something has changed and all ofa country and something has changed and all of a sudden, this virus is getting out of control. it's important we all get on top of this, as difficult as it will be. as i say, this time, we think about people trying to come together, hopefully those who are still into your two enisa six will be able to enjoy their day tomorrow. but then, let's buckle down and see if we can put a stop to this. the spread at the moment isjust put a stop to this. the spread at the moment is just beyond anything that we could have ever expected. can you give us an idea how that is affecting health care for you are at the moment? i know from a conversation with my colleagues in the health trust that the hospitals are extremely busy now. they are not

at breaking point yet. we really all you need to do our bit to maintain the fact. do you have any detailed figures on whether that is the new variant or the existing virus?” don't have a breakdown. a good deal of it is the new variant. a week on from having under 100 — 2oo of it is the new variant. a week on from having under 100 — 200 cases per week nowt to two thousand in the last seven days, it's an enormous challenge, as i said before, i think theissues challenge, as i said before, i think the issues for business, for the residents of east sussex who are going —— are going to be enormous. if we can get on top of this hopefully we. the continuing spread. at this rate it will overwhelm the nhs in east sussex if we are not careful. people in the more sparsely populated rural areas often feel they are being unfairly punished because a lot of the population spread is still in the cities and

towns. what is your take on that? do you think everyone has to follow the rules because there's so much movement between areas and accept it for the next couple of months or so? very much so. i live in a rural village. there is not a massive of covid being detected in the village but in hastings which is five miles down the road, these people, within the villages, will still operate and go to these towns for business, shopping etc so it is incumbent on all of us to hunker down and get through this. it's going to be, as i say, enormously difficult, we will be working with our borough and district colleagues to signpost businesses to anything that the government in the way of support are providing and so, my message to them is please contact the council, and we are in difficulty at the moment. i'm sorry. sorry, i wasjust

we are in difficulty at the moment. i'm sorry. sorry, i was just going to say thank you so much for your time, sorry to cut you off but we are very grateful to you for your time this morning. thank you. ijust wa nt to time this morning. thank you. ijust want to let you know the neatest numbers coming in from the office for national statistics, one in 85 people in england have the virus, thatis people in england have the virus, that is the estimate, in england, 645,000 people, up from 570,000 people last week. the data covers the week up until the 18th of december. one in 85 people in england have it. in the nations, wales, also the infection figures are up sharply, northern ireland up slightly, scotland falling, apparently. the numbers we are getting at the moment, wales, one in 60, about 52,000 people are with the virus at the moment, up sharply from 33,000 500, one in 90. in scotland, one in 140 people had the infection

at the moment, according to estimates, about 37,000 people, down from 52,500. down now to one in 100. northern ireland, one in 180, 10,000 people, slightly up from 8500, all from our head of statistics. we will get you more on that as soon we can. the numbers have gone up, as i said, in england. the chinese government has announced the suspension of all flights between the uk and mainland china. this comes over concerns about a new coronavirus mutation said to be 70% more transmissible, which was identified in the uk. china joins a growing list of at least 40 countries in limiting travel from the uk over the mutation. i'm joined now by our china correspondent, stephen mcdonell, in beijing.

stephen, we know here in the uk, what it must have felt like in china at the beginning of this year. why has china made this decision? yes, the announcement has come from beijing that it will follow other countries in banning all flights to and from the uk indefinitely. according to the chinese government, they will be closely monitoring the situation in britain and augmenting the control measures as the situation changes. but right now, up until the ban, we had at least eight flights to and from the uk including two from british airways and this has been ramping up from the time there were virtually no flights but now they are all to be cancelled indefinitely. the announcement came from the foreign ministry spokesman and what was said was due to the exceptional nature of the virus

mutation in britain and its potential impact, the chinese government will be making this decision. they said they'd been studying the responses from other countries and thought it seemed like the right thing to do. but, i think they were also trying to calm nerves, if you like, by saying they will be closely monitoring what is happening in the uk and then as soon as possible, resuming those flight connections. stephen, for now, thank you, live in beijing for us. donald trump has issued another round of highly controversial pardons as his term in office draws to a close. mr trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, and his long—time adviser, roger stone, are among the latest 26 people to benefit. both were jailed as a result of the mueller inquiry into russian interference in the 2016 election. our north america correspondent david willis reports. paul manafort is a seasoned republican party campaign

consultant and donald trump's former campaign manager. indicted by the special counsel, robert mueller, he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after being convicted of multiple crimes. also convicted as a result of the mueller investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election was roger stone, a long time political ally of mr trump. having refused to cooperate with the mueller inquiry both men now find themselves rewarded for their loyalty and basking in the glow of a presidential pardon. pardoned with them was charles kushner, the father of mr. trump's senior adviser, jared kushner. a real estate developer, charles 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,

maralago, and after he'd thrown the future of three important pieces of legislation into doubt. chief among them, a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill, which, in a video address on twitter, the president branded a disgrace. although he's not participating in any of the congressional efforts to govern he comes in at the last minute issues pardons or threatens pardons and then heads down to maralago for his christmas vacation. it's very disruptive. in the meantime, he's not participating with the biden administration to try and achieve a smooth transition. this is something really unprecedented in our history. with less than a month left in office, mr. trump seems intent on flexing the powers he still has. he's due back at the white house in the first week of january. and anyone who thinks he'll be packing his bags or leaving quietly would appear to be mistaken. david willis, bbc news, los angeles.

it's that time of the year when millions christians from around the world usually flock to the west bank town of bethlehem for christmas eve. but with high coronavirus rates it's not clear how many people will make the journey to midnight mass at the central nativity church this year. we can speak to our middle east correspondent yolande knell, who's in bethlehem. normally, i always seem to work christmas eve and we see beautiful images there from the square and it's always magical to watch but what is happening there today? festivities are very muted, as they are all around the world for christmas. this is usually the busiest night of the year for bethlehem. last year, tens of thousands of people came here, they

we re thousands of people came here, they were packed into manger square behind me watching the procession that takes place during the day when church leaders come from nearby jerusalem, along the start street just behind me, make their way into the square, accompanied by all the palestinian scout bands stop they are playing the bagpipes, their drums, we have seen them a little this morning but then, midnight mass usually that would be packed with foreign dignitas, the palestinian president will be there, this year he says he's not going to come, he is 85 now and it's not really considered safe for him move around. people are being asked to watch midnight mass on television this year and also we have coronavirus restrictions still in place because there has been this surge in cases in the west bank in recent weeks. bethlehem remains under a night—time cu rfew, bethlehem remains under a night—time curfew, there is a weekend curfew on fridays and saturdays here. it's going to make it very difficult for palestinian christian families to

have the usual get—togethers. palestinian christian families to have the usual get-togethers. how badly hit or the families, the tourism trade, incredibly difficult situation for everybody. exactly. this little town has relied on christian pilgrims coming here for centuries. tourism is really the backbone of the local economy. this has been really badly hit, foreign travel virtually impossible at the moment, there's certainly no tourists coming to bethlehem this year, normally the hotel owners like to say to us they have no room at the end, just like in the nativity story, but that isn't the case this year, all of the hotels are empty and that means no business for souvenir sellers, the restaurants. thank you very much. we of course are keeping an eye on downing street, westminster, all events there and of course what is going on in brussels with the final talks on a brexit deal. drawing to a

close. we hope, expectation is a deal to be announced in the coming hours, we will keep you right up to date. you are watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather. here is matt taylor. hello. a festive dusting of snow for some of you today but for others, a case of mopping up after the rain yesterday. plenty of flood warnings in force at the moment, the latest details on the moment, the latest details on the weather website, the good news, things are looking dry for most through the rest of today. some showers around, the showers, a mixture of rain, sleet and snow across england, some flurries in northern scotland, some showers to the west of wales across cornwall. compared with yesterday, more in the way of dry weather, quite if you staying dry all day but in a keen northerly breeze, feeling cold, three to seven celsius in the thermometers, adding on the wind—chill, feeling colder at around

-3 wind—chill, feeling colder at around —3 or —4 in eastern scotland and eastern england this afternoon. chilly christmas eve, showers into the night across eastern england, clear skies elsewhere, wind falling lighter, not going to be snow we wa ke lighter, not going to be snow we wake up to, it will be the sparkle ofa wake up to, it will be the sparkle of a christmas morning frost. temperature slightly below freezing as we start christmas day. icy in places. there will be one or two rain and sleet showers in the east of england. most places dry and sunny for england and wales, cladding from the west, or substantially in scotland and northern ireland, rain into the west of northern ireland, and the highlands and islands later. temperature slipping, elsewhere chili in mid single figures. lovely and crisp, largely dry christmas day for many. boxing day, the wind switches to the west, dry weather across england and wales, increasing amounts of cloud and showers through the day, turning wet, wettest of all scotla nd the day, turning wet, wettest of all scotland and northern ireland through the afternoon, wind starting to up. slightly milder 8—1o , the

wind making it feel cooler, the wind of concern as we go through saturday into sunday, especially across england and wales. widespread gales, severe gales for some as we go into sunday morning. low pressure dominating through saturday into sunday, bringing more rain southwards, watching river levels again, the risk of flooding across england and wales, about an inch of rain possible widely. persistent rain possible widely. persistent rain moves away as we go into sunday, most places see some sunshine, scattering showers, mr rain, hail, sleetand sunshine, scattering showers, mr rain, hail, sleet and snow in the west, even some blunder, back to colder conditions to see out 2020. that is it for me. goodbye for now.

this is bbc news — these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. a brexit announcement is expected in the coming hours, are as the signs from london and brussels suggest a deal is close. the remaining differences between the two camps have been narrow but deep — in particular over fishing rights. more than 6,000 lorries spend another night stranded outside the port of dover — with drivers waiting to be tested for covid—19 before they're allowed into france. stay at home from boxing day. the message to another 6 million people in england as the toughest level of covid restrictions are widened. president trump has issued another round of pardons — among them two key allies who were convicted