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, mar a lago, 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". he is not participating in any of the congressional efforts to govern. but he comes in at the last minute and issues pardons, then heads down to mar—a—lago for his christmas vacation. it is very disruptive. in the meantime he is not participating with the biden administration to achieve a smooth transition. this is

something unprecedented in our history. with less than a month less than office mr trump seems intent on flexing the powers he still has. he is due back at the white house and 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, los angeles. hello, this is bbc news with geeta guru—murthy. the headlines... a brexit announcement is expected in the coming hours as signs from london suggest a deal is close. the remaining differences between the camps have been narrowed, but remained deep, especially over fishing rights. more than 6000 lorries spend another night stranded outside the port of dover with drivers waiting to be tested for covid—i9 before they are allowed into france. stay at home from boxing day. the message to another 6

million people in england is the toughest level of covid restrictions are widened. president trump has issued another round of pardons among them to two key allies who we re among them to two key allies who were convicted over the russia inquiry. 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. aruna iyengar has this report. remember this? boxing day 2019 and shoppers flocked to the sales. it's a very different picture this year. 2a million people will be living under the toughest tier 4 coronavirus restrictions. these shoppers in huntingdon, cambridgeshire are taking the new measures in their stride. if it's going to keep us safe in the end,

that's really good and i'm quite happy. i think it's a good thing if we have gone into a higher tier and i think we should go into another lockdown. it worked last time. matt hancock said the former tiering system was not strong enough to control the new variant of the virus and revealed that another variant from south africa had been revealed in the uk. this new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant discovered in the uk. all flights arriving in the uk from south africa are banned from this morning. also, anyone who has been in south africa or who has been in close contact with someone who has been there in the past fortnight is asked to quarantine immediately. across the uk, people will be celebrating christmas in limited ways. in scotland, christmas bubbles will be allowed on christmas day with a maximum of eight people from three households.

in northern ireland, a six week lockdown starts on boxing day — the first week will have stricter restrictions though people can form a christmas bubble for one day between the 23rd and 27th of december. and wales is in a new national lockdown after a large spike in cases. the health secretary had this christmas message. we mustn't give up now. we know that we can control this virus. we know we can get through this together. we are going to get through it by suppressing the virus until a vaccine can make us safe. all hopes now rest with the vaccine roll—out. aruna iyengar, bbc news. with me now isjeremy christophers from st andrews care home in devon, which is currently a tier 2 area. thank you forjoining us this christmas eve. how are you going to be affected by these changes? we still haven't had the vaccine yet,

in spite of being in a priority groupi. in spite of being in a priority group 1. which is a big disappointment. it's ten days on since that first announcement was made. that would really help confidence, not just made. that would really help confidence, notjust for our residents, and we've got 2a elderly residents, and we've got 2a elderly residents here. but for the staff tea m residents here. but for the staff team who have worked very diligently over the last nine months to protect the residents as best we can. have you had any cases amongst staff or residents? no, we haven't, we have had some false positives along the way so had some false positives along the way so we had some false positives along the way so we completely understand what it would feel like to have covid into the home. but we really have tried to defend the gateway rather than bedroom door throughout all of this and with resources, residential care, health and social, the viability of homes is very

questionable these days. you know, there's that other concern as well. there's not a lot of resources that are spare to be dedicated to this. it's come from people going that extra mile and thinking about how they would live their lives away from the home. how are you managing christmas day, a big day for everyone? is there going to be family contact, how are you making it special for everyone? it's totally different to any other christmas we have seen. normally, the place is buzzing with relatives coming and collecting their resident to go home for at least lunch, normally, but sometimes they stay away overnight. so that's completely changed, there will be no visitors here tomorrow. a big feast, the turkey is on at the moment, christmas cake, christmas puddings, lots of music. a lot of gifts, look

like they are in bodily form so i am sure we will have as nice a day as we possibly can. i won't ask what the contents of those bottles is but it all sounds very good. and we hope that you all stay safe and have a great christmas. thank you so much. thank you very much. shares in ali babbar have plunged after an investigation was launched into the company. it's been asked previously about products and rival platforms. joining us as a partner ata platforms. joining us as a partner at a full stunt ventures. what has prompted the investigation? loss of sound

i think largely how powerful the company has become over the last three years, you saw the suspension of trading on the shanghai exchange happening about a month ago, less than a month ago. all part of this wider look at how big the tech companies have become. this feels political to you? it has definite lyrical undertones. the chinese government passing draft regulations suggesting they would be exerting more controls over the technology giants and ali babbar has tried to be as conciliatory as possible but action from the chinese communist party again against the tech companies and this company is more susceptible. give us a sense of how big the company is. it's like the

amazon of china. it's almost like the visa, mastercard of china. it's one of the biggest payment gateways for the chinese economy. these are big companies, growing superfast. it was nearly $1 trillion in value over the last couple of weeks. this particular action has knocked off about 150 billion. thank you. near city authorities have

introduced quarantine rules for countries like the uk and south africa. the mary bill de blasio said all visitors would be ordered to stay a pre—arranged accommodation for 1h days. those who breach the rules could face a $1000 per day fine. france has accused the former president of the central african republic of trying to block presidential and parliamentary elections. french fighter planes have flown over the country to highlight what the presidents office has described as france's condemnation of attempts to destabilise the country. grant shapps has urged lorry drivers stranded in kent to be patient as they waited to cross the channel following the reopening of the french border. more than 6000 lorries are being held in the county with drivers being tested for covid—19 before they are allowed into france. the french government has sent a team of firefighters and 10,000 tests to help speed up the

process. simonjones 10,000 tests to help speed up the process. simon jones is 10,000 tests to help speed up the process. simonjones is near dover. thousands of lorries are parked there. he's been looking at the latest. huge amount of disruption, especially in the dover area, rhodes remaining clogged. here we have seen a steady stream of lorries emerging in the gate behind me, one coming out now. drivers who have tested negative for coronavirus. they will head down to the port of dover. they will be allowed to get on a ferry, and return home. sounding their horns, some drivers winding down their windows, waving, relief for them to have the prospect of going home. despite the fact 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, another 2000 lorries parked up on the m25. more

hauliers have been heading towards kent, hearing of the border with france is open now but they are getting told tojoin france is open now but they are getting told to join the back of the queue and for them, it's unlikely they will be home in time for christmas. do you know anything more about how the testing process is happening? it is a lateralflow test. you get the results within about 40 minutes. the tests are being handed to drivers in their cabs, they get a text message, if they are negative they will be allowed to leave the site. if it's positive, they are asked to have a pcr test, one of those more accurate tests but it takes maybe a couple of days to get the result. in the meantime they will be asked to isolate in their cabs, if that second test turns out to be positive, they will be taken to a local hotel and asked to isolate. you can hear from local hotel and asked to isolate. you can hearfrom the horns sounding, relief from those who have got negative tests, still a long way

the people on this site who are desperate to get out and go home. the people on this site who are desperate to get out and go homeli don't know if you've been able to speak to any of them in the last few hours, i imagine relief and fury at the build of that has happened. lot of frustration, anger. we saw tempers boiling over yesterday when a large group of hauliers marched out of this site, down the roads, some of them brandishing cones. the police kept their distance. they say they have been sleeping in their ca bs they have been sleeping in their cabs night after night and there has been a lack of information. we heard from one haulier earlier this morning who were stuck in the m 20 and he said he was simply 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 part of thejob but i think delays and disruption, it's part of the job but i think this delays and disruption, it's part of thejob but i think this is unlike anything they have seen before and it's the fact if the uncertainty of

how long it's still going to go on for, even though the border has reopened. in the last couple of hours the chinese government has announced the suspension of all flights between the uk and mainland china, its over concerns about the new coronavirus mutation that said to be 70% were transmissible, it was identified in the uk. china joins a growing list of at least four other countries limiting travel from the uk over the mutation. stephen mcdonnell has the latest. the announcement has come from beijing. it will follow other countries and banning all flights to and from the uk indefinitely. according to the chinese government, they will be closely monitoring the situation in britain, augmenting the control measures as the situation changes. right now, up until the ban, we had at least eight flights to and from

the uk, including two from british airways in this has been ramping up from the time that there were no flights but they are all to be cancelled indefinitely. the announcement came from the foreign ministry spokesman said 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 had been studying 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 as soon as possible, resuming the flight connections. stephen mcdonnell in beijing. canadian health officials have approved the moderna vaccine.

canada is the second country — after the united states — to do so. it will receive more than 160—thousand doses by the end of the year — as sylvia lennan—spence reports. in laboratories like these, scientists have worked tirelessly to create a coronavirus vaccine. their work and the jab, now approved by canadian health authorities. a country ‘s prime ministerjustin trudeau hailed the key step in the fight against the pandemic. now that health canada has approved the more general vaccine, we had the green light to start rolling it out across the country. —— at the moderna vaccine. the first doses guaranteed audit from moderna will arrive in the coming days. south of the border in new york, emergency services personnel were given the jab as part of efforts to raise the profile and public confidence of covid vaccines. there's a sense that after months of waiting, in countries across the world, a brighter future waiting, in countries across the world, a brighterfuture is on the

horizon. in mexico, soldiers escorted the first delivery of inoculations to arrive in the capital. vital consignments also arriving in argentina and costa rica. distributing covid vaccines will not be easy but as a torrid year comes to a close, there is hope that the key tools in the fight against the pandemic are becoming available. the next challenge convincing the public to take them. 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. 0ur middle east correspondent is in bethlehem. festivities are very muted as they are all around the world. this is usually the busiest night of the year for bethlehem. last year, tens of thousands of

people came here, they were packed into manger squarejust people came here, they were packed into manger square just behind people came here, they were packed into manger squarejust behind me, watching the procession takes place during the day when the church leaders come from nearbyjerusalem, along the stark street, just behind me, make their way into the square, accompanied by all the palestinian scout bands. and they are playing the bagpipes and drums. we saw them a little bit this morning. then midnight mass, usually that would be packed, foreign dignitas, the palestinian president will be there. this year, he has said he is not going to come, he's 85 and it's not really considered safe for him to move around. people are being asked to watch midnight mass on television this year. and also, we have coronavirus restriction still in place because there has been a surge in coronavirus in the west bank, in recent weeks. 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 their usual get—togethers. christian families to have their usual get-togethers. how badly hit are all the hotels, 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 so this has been really badly hit, foreign travel virtually impossible at the moment, there certainly no tourists coming at the moment. normally the hotel owners like to say do as they have no room at the end, just like the nativity story, but that isn't the case, all the hotels here are empty, and that means no business for souvenir sellers, for the restaurants as well. it's that time of the year when millions of families are gathering around their christmas trees. in europe more than half of the 80m trees sold this year started out as seeds harvested from the forests of the republic of georgia.

its nordmann firs are sought after for their pleasant aroma and needles that don't drop off quickly. but the annual harvest is not for the faint—hearted. the bbc‘s rayhan demytrie travelled to the alpine forests of western georgia to find out more. in the forests of western georgia is a job that requires a head for heights. and calculated risks. out of 80 million trees sold annually in europe, more than half begin theirjourney here. the seeds are harvested from nordmann fir cones in trees 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 fair trees.

its 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 to think about it. safety is an important issue in companies operating here in the forests of racha are making sure that their 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 i fell. i grasped for another branch, it 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 not be so poor that he is forced to climb a tree to earn a living. elsewhere in the forest, harvesters working for another danish company, levensen, were not using safety ropes to climb. only a harness at the top. the company says it is working on improving its safety standards. the decision has been made and we are introducing increased level of safety in the tree climbing simply to avoid any accidents at all. we don't want accidents. this team uses safety ropes which slows them down but their company pays them 1.2 euros per kilo. 0ther harvesters are paid just

40 cents a kilo, they try to gather as much and as quickly as they can to maximise their earnings. it's a fraction of what is a multi—billion euro industry but a vital income in the land where christmas trees grow wild. will borisjohnson will boris johnson be will borisjohnson be able to put a brexit deal under the christmas tree? joining me is craig mckinley, conservative mp, formerly of you keep and a member of the arg group of enthusiastic brexiteers. what is your take of what we are hearing at the moment. have you been briefed by the moment. have you been briefed by the prime minister? there's been a number of briefings floating around. arg have already had an initial meeting, we will be putting the text and we see it, likely to be 2000

pages, no mean token, that will be put to what we have set up as the star chamber of lawyers, led by sir bill cash, who will be poring over the document, once it emerges. to give us their opinion and analysis of it. i will doubtless be reading it myself if there is sufficient time between now and the middle of next week in parliament is likely to regather to consider it but i am minded, iwant regather to consider it but i am minded, i want to support this. this is the end of a very long day, it's been over 1600 days since the referendum, we've been in the eu for over 40 yea rs, referendum, we've been in the eu for over 40 years, i've had a personal battle and stake in this game for 29 yea rs. battle and stake in this game for 29 years. can ijust comic battle and stake in this game for 29 years. can i just comic your minded to support it, we don't have very much time. i want to support the final chapter of britain leaving the european union, we left on the 31st of january, we've been european union, we left on the 31st ofjanuary, we've been in the transition period. i am really helpful that this will be the

satisfactory ending and returning sovereignty, allowing britain to be a normal, independent country, trading with the world and being good friends and neighbours with our eu friends and partners. have you heard from borisjohnson directly and have any of your colleagues for and have any of your colleagues for and if so, what's he said?|j and have any of your colleagues for and if so, what's he said? i haven't had a call within this morning. no. i think is probably very busy. currently, the delays this morning our final currently, the delays this morning ourfinal haggling over currently, the delays this morning our final haggling over at mackerel and herring. has he been in touch with other members of the e or g?|j with other members of the e or g?” don't know. we had heard that perhaps he had. in terms of your star chamber of lawyers, you will examine it but you are all minded to support it? as i say, you are asking me, i'd like to buy a new house but you're not telling me for it is, what a cost, how many bedrooms it has. we have to wait for that. let's pour over it in a very calm manner, analyse what it means, and see, i

mean, there's one satisfaction that has to be satisfied with this, does it restore sovereignty to the uk? to be just it restore sovereignty to the uk? to bejust a normal it restore sovereignty to the uk? to be just a normal independent trading nation. free to make our way in the world. but being friendly with our eu partners and neighbours with whom we had a very, very long relationship. before we come on to what you define and mean how will you decide admits the serving t—test. does it matter if your group of mps does not pack it in the house of mps does not pack it in the house of commons because of the labour party back if given the majority it will go through anyway. that may be the reality of the politics of this. of course. if labour minded to support a document they've not even seen, that is fine. it'sjust it's better than no deal from a seen, that is fine. it'sjust it's better than no dealfrom a labour party perspective. that is a matter for them to decide what is good for them. i'm more interested in what is good for the nation, frankly end of this is a good dealfor the nation, i will be supporting it. there are fundamentalfactors, i will be supporting it. there are fundamental factors, what do level playing field provisions look like, what's the deal on fishing, is there

any ongoing involvement of a foreign court under the ecj? initial indications are european court of justice isn't involved with very much at all. the initial indications are we are getting many of those facets of sovereignty are being returned, we can get on with a decent relationship with our european allies and friends that we have been with for so long but we have been with for so long but we have parted company, hopefully very good terms. we can't on with the new history for both the eu, they get on with whatever they want to do in their pursuit of further federalism, that's what they want, we know britain was not ever really an enthusiastic member of the partnership. we are going our own way. best of luck to both sides. let's be friends and say thank you. is there anything in particular that would mean you would not vote for this deal? of course. if it meant rejoining the eu, of course i would not support it but as i say, you're asking me to comment in the void on

something that hasn't even been published. for example, if the uk has compromised more than you like on fishing or on the level playing field provisions, is that a deal breaker as far as your concern? you are asking me to guess. i am not going to guess. that would be rather daft at this stage. we are going to pour over this document, soberly, sensibly over the next few days. taking advice from specialists, led by sir bill cash who i've got the most enormous respect for. just very quickly, can i ask you, we are coming off the air, what are you now free to do? free to do? why are you happy about the deal? i've not seen it. i'm hoping to be happy. at the christmas feeling i've got. hoping to be happy. hoping to satisfy all the facets of sovereignty that i've been fighting for for so long. that 17.4 million people in the country voted for over 1600 days ago. thank

you very much. craig mckinley, sorry to cut you off, we are out of time but thank you so much. you are watching bbc news.

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, as the signs from london and brussels suggest a trade 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. another six million people in england are told to stay at home from boxing day 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. the sun has risen in bethlehem on christmas eve, but how many