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

people will be able to make the journey to midnight mass at the central nativity church in this time of coronavirus? hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. the uk and the european union are on the brink of an historic post—brexit trade and security deal, ending nearly a year of bitter wrangling. an announcement that the two sides have secured an agreement on their future relationship, which will avoid import taxes on each other‘s goods, is expected this morning. but yet again, fishing is the issue they're stuck on and a news conference, which was initially expected first thing this morning, is being delayed.

negotiators from both sides talked through the night in brussels and are continuing to hammer out the details. 0ur political correspondent, iain watson is at westminster. we hope to get an announcement soon. the press conference has been delayed, we were expecting it earlier this morning. we were told that boris johnson earlier this morning. we were told that borisjohnson is talking to the european commission president. we have had to wait for this announcement. it should still be a historic day. we are one week away from when we leave the eu rules and regulations behind, the so—called transition period will conclude. it is uncertain what will replace it. we don't know what the trade relationship will be between the eu and the uk but we should get that today in a 2000 page document. we

are expecting borisjohnson to tell the nation's media to tell us his promises on sovereignty, bring back control to the united kingdom, but also going through some of the details of the document to see where compromises have been made. we know that with fishing, compromises have been made there. sources have said that any changes made to the fishing rules will be made over a five and a half year period. that is longer than the uk wanted but less than the eu wanted. trade negotiations have been sorted out at the last minute. for example, a new generation of battery—operated cars could be travelling without tariffs charged to the continent. burris said he is seeking a free—trade agreement and he has got one. it will largely deliver goods without tariffs and

without quotas, again not putting goods on the amount of —— not putting limits on the amount of goods that can be sold in the eu. there are still technical details being ironed out. the end of the negotiations should be signalled. the key conversation that will sign it off verbally, that will open the door to the parliament next week and the eu parliament will retrospectively confirm it after. 0ur europe correspondent gavin lee is at the eu commisison in brussels. what might any signs of white smoke that? we got a sign of white smoke

this morning but since then we have heard that talks on fish are still continuing. it's been 4645 days since the referendum. i was here and they were coming out completely shocked. all that time on, negotiators have been on that highest floor of the european commission building. they have been going through it fish by flesh, to work out who will get access in future. eu countries will slowly have less and less access to uk waters. they are still on a press conference with a von the lion. i won't give you any timings because we will probably go back on that. ——

a press c0 nfe re nce we will probably go back on that. —— a press conference with ursula von der leyen. parra all sorts of fish that needs to be discussed which are all in the channel. there are all sorts of sand eels which the danish use for protein powders for feeding their mink. that is a cross story for what the danish have had with the issues with coronavirus and minx. this is not just about the british waters, it's about the channel and what quotas will be set up for the next few years. beyond fishing, people are listening and thinking, what about the ordinary person outside of businesses? what do i need? to anything international driving

licence? and what about pat's? my niece has two hamsters and she is asking if she can bring them into europe. as we've been hearing, the uk and eu have locked horns over a number of issues during negotiations. but there were a number of key sticking points that proved particularly difficult to navigate over the past few weeks. for more on this, i'm joined by our reality check correspondent, chris morris. i spoke earlier to former uk trade negotiator, 0dds took a bite to eat from nicola sturgeon —— i want to look to tweet from nicola sturgeon which said it

could be a disaster. yes, scotland voted against brexit. 0ne could be a disaster. yes, scotland voted against brexit. one thing we will hear in a constant drumbeat the snp is that, if northern ireland can have full access to the eu single market, why can't we? i expect this issueis market, why can't we? i expect this issue is driven by seed potatoes. many farmers in scotland will not have the access to this as they hoped they would. 0ne implication for brexit is what implication will have the uk and moving into 2021, i expect that will be discussed several times. are you still hearing that this will all happen today? as far as we know, but there are many people who thought it would happen last night. they probably want to be

home for christmas and i would not underestimate that as a power full factor. but there is a political sign off which has to come and is crucial. it needs to come from downing street but also 27 capitals on the other side. sometimes, it's the infuriating details which can hold up what is a much broader deal. when you look at what has been achieved, in fact, when you look at what has been achieved, infact, over when you look at what has been achieved, in fact, over nine months, many people said it would not be possible. but this is a deal not just about trade, but security, and other issues. the entirety of the uk and its nearest neighbours stretching for years i had, and it has been done in nine months. the majority of trade deals have been donein majority of trade deals have been done in incredibly quick time, which is incredible by the negotiating teams on both sides.

is incredible by the negotiating teams on both sideslj is incredible by the negotiating teams on both sides. i am nowjoined byjail. teams on both sides. i am nowjoined by jail. what teams on both sides. i am nowjoined byjail. what do you think, ideal in the next hour? what do you think?” the next hour? what do you think?|j am the next hour? what do you think?” am waiting just as you are. i am wondering whether i can nip out for a coffee. should i go and buy my danish pastry? i waiting for that. as chris was saying, we have been waiting for some time now. initial stories sat 7p and last night. we have run over that quite a long way. i think there is a bit of a christmas imperative. there doesn't seem to be that much outstanding now. what you think is holding them 7 is now. what you think is holding them 7isa now. what you think is holding them up? is a details on fish, getting

sign—ups from all the eu members?” haven't heard. i am speculating as much as you are. it looks as though... remember, those individual fish quotas have big implications for specific member states. you are saying, sand eels are big for the danes, channel card is big for the french. it could be about what the british are prepared to accept for those individual member states. that was i was going to be the complexity. unlike the withdrawal agreement, theyjust needed a qualified majority to agree. this needs each member state to sign up. they probably know, this is actually the time they can press for a bit more. just in terms of the overall

shape of the deal, it's not a soft brexit deal, it's what we used to call a hard exit. it is quite a long way from what theresa may was promising. how much is this now due to remain as wanting a second referendum? if people campaign for a second referendum, if they had accepted theresa may's deal and if theresa may had been able to stay in government, she had faced a lot of opposition from the backbenches, she did want quite a different deal. the big area is on trading goods. theresa may was not asking for much on services but she wanted to take the uk out of the eu's regulatory services on orbit. she had her red line of any concessions on food. this deal won't give the eu much on

services. theresa may wants to go beyond tariff free and quota free trade on goods. she was very keen to make trade as a friction free as possible, which was her way of solving the northern ireland problem long term. she offered... the key thing the brexit voters hated was the idea that the uk would stick with a common rule book on goods to avoid the need for regulatory checks at the border and to make that trade much more friction free. probably wait until there was a fix on customs and then the uk would stay ina customs and then the uk would stay in a customs area with the eu. when we see the cost to coming towards businesses now to give the uk the right to diverge in regulation, that is what theresa may's deal would

have invited. they have taken the view in the cabinet that that fiction was a price worth paying for areas where they thought we actually we re areas where they thought we actually were pretty unlikely to diverge anyway. what we haven't seen from the government is its plans and how it wants to use its new regulatory freedom. that's the big difference between the two. this is not as hard eight brexit as a new deal brexit would be, but it is definitely on the hard end of the spectrum. would be, but it is definitely on the hard end of the spectrumm would be, but it is definitely on the hard end of the spectrum. is it possible that having not seen the details of the deal or not having unconfirmed, overall, from a uk point of view, what do we gain from where we were four and a half years ago and want to we potentially lose? most mainstream communists thinks that the uk will lose in a first round by putting up barriers to

trade —— most mainstream economists. but what do we get? we get control of our borders. free movement and we a different immigration regime. eu citizens will have to come piqued, if you like, with citizens from anywhere else. 0bviously, uk citizens who want to move to the eu will also lose their free movement rights. that was a was part of the deal. we won't be making contributions to the eu budget. you can argue whether the impact fiscal effect is again or a loss when you ta ke effect is again or a loss when you take into account the effect on the economy. but we won't be there. we won't be part of the eu court of justice, apart from some aspects of the citizens' rights agreement and the citizens' rights agreement and the northern ireland protocol. we are the northern ireland protocol. we a re pretty the northern ireland protocol. we are pretty much outside the jurisdiction of the ecj. that was a

big ask. we avoid a scene that our government is moving away from the common agriculture policy. they want a new regime for their farmers. talking to the us, australia, about more uk focused trade deals. if you look at what the people who wanted brexit were asking for back then, i think they ought to be pretty happy with what they have got. what might we look at some reaction when it is announced. craig mckinley is to be a member of you keep an eye asked him for his input. we will be looking at the

text when we see it, it is likely to bea text when we see it, it is likely to be a 2000 page text. that will be what we put out to the star chamber of lawyers, who will be poring over that document once it emerges to give us their analysis of it. i will be reading it myself if there is sufficient time between now and next week when parliament is likely to re—gather to consider it. i want to support this. this is the end of a very long game. it has been over 1600 days since the referendum. we have been in the eu for over 40 yea rs. have been in the eu for over 40 years. i have a personal battle of sta ke years. i have a personal battle of stake in this game for 29 years. i wa nt to stake in this game for 29 years. i want to support the final chapter of britain leaving the european union. we left on 31st of january. we've beenin we left on 31st of january. we've been ina we left on 31st of january. we've been in a transition period. i am really hopeful that this will be to

the satisfaction of returning sovereignty and allowing britain to bea sovereignty and allowing britain to be a normal independent country and being good friends and neighbours with our eu friends and partners. being good friends and neighbours with our eu friends and partnersm doesn't really matter if your group of mps doesn't back it in the house of mps doesn't back it in the house of commons because of the labour party bucket, it will go through anyway? element that may be the reality of the politics of this, of course. if they support a document that they haven't seen yet, that's fine. it's better than no dealfrom a labour point of view. if that's good for them, that's good. i'm more interested in what is good for the nation. we need to know what the deal is on fishing, and if there is involvement of a foreign court under the ecj. the ecj will probably not

be involved very much at all. the initial indications we are getting is that many of those facets of sovereignty are being returned. we can get on with a decent relationship with our european allies, france we have been with for so allies, france we have been with for so long. we have parted company, hopefully on very good terms, we can get on with a new history, for the eu, and whatever they want to do in their pursuit of further federalism. we know britain was never really an enthusiastic member of that partnership. we are going our own way, best of luck to both sides, we are going our own way and thank you very much. he was from the eurosceptic branch of the conservative party. we will keep across the details for you and bring it to you as it emerges. the uk

transport secretary, grant sharps, has told lorry drivers to be patient as they wait to cross the channel to the french border. drivers have to be tested for coronavirus before they are allowed into france. they have sent firefighters and 10,000 tests. we've been looking at the latest. there is a huge amount of disruption, particularly in the dover area. here, we see a steady strea m dover area. here, we see a steady stream of lorries behind us. there is one coming out here now. these are drivers who have tested negative for coronavirus. they will now be allowed to the port of dover and allowed to the port of dover and allowed on a ferry. as you hear, sounding their horns, some drivers have been winding their windows down and waving. there is a relief for them at the prospect of finally

going home. despite the fact that some are leaving this site, yesterday, the backlog of lorries actually got higher because this site became totally full. there were 2000 lorries parked up on the m 20. more lorries were heading towards kent, hearing that the border with france was open. they are being told tojoin the back france was open. they are being told to join the back of the queue and it is unlikely they will be home for christmas. do you know more about how the testing process is happening? what happens, it's a lateral flow test, you get the results within 40 minutes. they get a text message and if it is negative, they are allowed to leave the site. if they get a positive test result, they are asked to have a pcr trust, which is a more accurate past, but it takes a couple

of days to get a result. in the meantime, they will be asked to isolate in their cabs. if the second testis isolate in their cabs. if the second test is positive they will be taken toa test is positive they will be taken to a local hotel and asked to isolate there. you can hear the horns sounding, relief from those with negative tests. still a long way for people on this site who are desperate to get out and go home.” don't know if you've been able to speak to any in the last few hours but i imagine there is relief and also fury at what has happened in the past week. a lot of frustration and anger. we saw tempers boiling over yesterday when a large group marched out of this site, down the road, some brandishing clones. they we re road, some brandishing clones. they were just frustrated. they say they have been sleeping in their cabs night after night and there has been a lack of information. we had from one earlier this morning he was

stuck on the m 20. he was sat back, hoping an official would come past and give him a trust, but he didn't know whether that would happen. i think it is the uncertainty. they are used to sitting in delays and disruption, it is part of thejob, but this is unlike anything they have seen before. the uncertainty of how long it will go on for even though the border has reopened. new figures from the office of national statistics estimate that one in 85 people in england have coronavirus currently. that's around... london, the east of england and the south—east now have the highest percentage of people testing positive. the 0ns data because the week up to the 18th of december. another 6 million people in the uk will be facing restrictions from boxing day.

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. 24 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. wright hisses a councillor in east sussex council and he gave me an overview. most of east sussex and the south coast were going to tear for. this time, there is a worrying rate of infection over the past weeks. we were one of the lowest areas in the county and something has changed and all of a sudden, it is out of control. it is important that we all get on top of this. at this time, we think of those who are

trying to come together. let's buckle down now and see if we can put a stop to this. despite at the moment isjust beyond put a stop to this. despite at the moment is just beyond anything we could have expected. and can you give us an idea of how that is affecting health care where you are at the moment? yes, i know from my conversation with my colleagues in the health trust that the hospitals are extremely busy now. they are not at breaking point yet, but we really need to do our bit to maintain the fact that they don't get to that point. and you have any detailed figures at the moment on whether that is the new variant or the existing virus? i don't have a breakdown of what it is, but a good deal of it is the new variant, and we have gone from having sort of under 100, or about 100—200 cases per week, now to 2.5 thousand in the last seven days. it's an enormous challenge so, as i said before, i think the issues for business,

the issues for the residents of east sussex are going to be enormous. but if we can all get on top of this, hopefully we can stop this continuing spread. at this rate, it will overwhelm the nhs in east sussex if we are not careful. and obviously people in the sort of more sparsely populated, rural areas often feel that they are being unfairly punished because a lot of the population spread, one imagines, is still in the cities and towns. what is your take on that? do you think everyone just has to follow the rules because there is so much movement between areas, and accepted for the next couple of months or so? very much so. i live in a rural village and is not a massive amount of covid being detected in the village, but actually, in hastings, which is five miles down the road, and in rye five miles the other way, these people within the villages will still operate and go to these towns for their business, for their shopping, etc. so it is incumbent on all of us to just 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 if you are in difficulty at this time. 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. 0ur north america correspondent david willis has the latest — and a warning his report contains flashing images. 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