welcome to bbc news. i'm freya cole. our top stories: a deal is done — the european union and united kingdom finally reach a post—brexit trade deal, after heated negotiations. both sides hail the agreement a "big success". we have completed the biggest trade deal yet, worth £660 billion a year. a comprehensive ca nada—style free trade deal. it is fair, it is a balanced deal, and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides. stalled over christmas — a covid stimulus package, designed to revive the us economy, struggles to make progress in congress.

and celebrated israeli violinist, ivry gitlis, has died at the age of 98. we'll look back on a remarkable career. hello and welcome to bbc news. four and a half years after britain voted to leave the eu, a post—brexit trade deal has finally been agreed. the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, said britain had achieved a £660 billion per year trade agreement which would protectjobs. but the opposition labour party said the deal was thin and didn't protect workers. our political editor, laura kuenssberg, reports. time is finally up.

a deal at last agreed that number ten believes will pull power back to this building from brussels. a vast trade and security agreement, the prime minister and brexiteers promised. until a matter of hours ago, it wasn't guaranteed, but look, the optimist really did have something to cheer. his ubiquitous thumbs up, achievement, relief written all over his face. i'm very pleased to tell you this afternoon that we have completed the biggest trade deal yet, worth £660 billion a year, a comprehensive ca nada—style free trade deal between the uk and the eu. and we have also today resolved a question that has bedevilled our politics for decades. and it is up to us altogether, as a newly and truly independent nation, to realise the immensity

of this moment and to make the most of it. can you tell the public honestly, where did the uk give the most ground and where did the eu compromise the most, do you think? we wanted to make sure, for instance, that we got access to, got complete control of our fisheries from the get go. the eu began with, i think, wanting a transition period of 1a years, we wanted three years, we have ended up at five years. i think that was a reasonable transition period. the tally of losses and wins may take years to settle. talks through the early hours in brussels sustained by pizza tangled over the specific quotas of different species of fish. but getting this far was never a question

ofjust minor detail, but settling, or smudging, perhaps, profound differences of view. so we have finally found an agreement. it was a long and winding road, but we have got a good deal to show for it. it is fair, it is a balanced deal, and it is the right and responsible thing to do for both sides. on both sides of the channel, the agreement has to be approved by parliaments, but given the exhaustion with and enthusiasm for brexit in the commons, that's not likely to be a block. even the labour leader, who fought the notion, is likely to come on board. when the deal comes before parliament, labour will accept it and vote for it. but let me be absolutely clear, and say directly to the government, up against no deal, we accept this deal. but the consequences of it are yours. and yours alone. and we will hold you

to account for it. what's been achieved is a truly vast trade deal that will set a vital relationship for a long time to come. there will be some new barriers to doing business, but the uk will be free from european law, despite warnings at the start. it's genuinely a landmark moment in the country and the tory party's tricky relationship with the european union. and what has been avoided is potentially profound disruption, and the political embarrassment of failing to agree. yet within more than 1,000 pages of tightly written texts could yet be some hidden pain. and the scales that will balance the cost and opportunity of brexit won't be settled for many years to come. for the inhabitants of number ten, this has been a long wait. borisjohnson‘s tenure may be defined by what's grabbed and gained... ..and what slipped from grasp. but the prime minister's

reputation is the least of it. the very nature of the country poised to change. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. business leaders have welcomed the trade deal, saying it comes as a "huge relief". the details of the nearly 2,000 page document will be poured over in the days to come. the deal does finally give businesses some certainty but big challenges remain, with just days to go before the transition period ends. here's our business editor, simonjack. it's been tough to land, but after a titanic struggle overfish, which will see domestic boats get 25% more of the uk water's catch over the next five years, a trade deal was netted — a perfect last—minute christmas present for businesses that feared the damaging consequences of cutting the uk adrift from the eu. this is a huge relief to british industry.

our economy has suffered an awful lot of damage this year and we couldn't really take any more. so, yes, we've still to see the details, but i think a tariff— and quota—free deal means that our factories and farmers stay in business. we now have 2,000 pages and seven days to be ready, so we're going to need immediate guidance for businesses. we're going to need to agree with the europeans a period of adjustment so that all of this doesn't come into play overnight in seven days‘ time. without a deal, cheddar cheese from the uk could have faced tariffs of up to 50%. wyke farms exports 4,000 tons of it to the eu every year. we're hugely relieved that we've got certainty and we know we've got tariff—free access to europe. the tariffs for our business at wyke farms would have amounted to over £4 million per year. and then we would've had all the complication about, "how do we pass that on to the customers?"

"who's going to pay it?" because we certainly didn't have the financial resource to pay it, so it would have been hugely complicated and really damaging to what amounts to about 30% of our business. but there is an elephant not in the room, and barely mentioned in the deal, which is services. finance alone is 100 times more economically important than fishing and there is no automatic access to a market that to the uk was worth £35 billion last year alone. any champagne should probably stay on ice. uk traders will still need to complete over 200 million additional customs forms at a cost of over £7 billion a year. haulage companies warn many businesses are not ready for this new normal. a huge relief? yes. but celebration will and must quickly give way to preparation for a very different future. simon jack, bbc news.

the full text of the agreement hasn't been released yet, though some details are beginning to emerge. 0ur deputy political editor vicki young looks at what we know about it so far. after months of talks, a deal‘s been done which will shape a new relationship between the uk and the eu. the uk is no longer in the single market or customs union, which means there will be restrictions on trade that we didn't have before. the deal agrees that there won't be quotas or taxes known as tariffs on wholly british goods exported to the eu and vice versa. but there will be new paperwork and checks. now, what about resolving disputes and making sure that both sides stick to the rules? well, they have agreed not to water down the existing standards on things like the environment and workers‘ rights. but if one side wants to change that in the future or complain about how it's all working, they can go to an independent panel.

special arrangements have already been agreed for northern ireland. it stays in the eu single market for goods and will continue to enforce eu customs rules at its ports. when it comes to security and policing, there will still be substantial cooperation, but the uk will lose access to some databases, which could make investigations more difficult. of course, there are many things changing which aren't part of this trade deal. payments to the eu will be vastly reduced and only go towards specific projects. and the free movement of people will end. a new immigration system comes into force at the beginning ofjanuary. when it comes to holidays, visas won't be required when we travel to eu countries, but visits will be limited to 90 days in any six—month period. british drivers won't need extra documents and can continue to use their uk driving licences. european health insurance cards, which guarantee medical care for travellers,

will be valid until their expiry date and will be replaced by a similar scheme. the trade deal now needs to be approved by both sides. mps will vote on the legislation on december 30th. the next chapter in our relationship with the rest of europe is about to begin. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. democrats and republicans are blocking each other‘s attempts to amend a vital coronavirus stimulus package. attempts to amend a vital coronavirus stimulus package. president donald trump has urged congress to increase direct covid relief payments to americans from $600 to $2,000. republicans, however, are refusing the increase. but democrats in the house of representatives are against republican attempts to cut foreign aid from the federal spending bill. so what's the future for this bill? julia manchester, a political reporter at the hill, explained why so many republicans seem to be against president

trump's demands. it was a very surprising turn of events earlier this week. president trump, it would seem — before he made that announcement, calling the legislation a disgrace — it appeared that he was on board and that he had his own negotiator, treasury secretary steven mnuchin, negotiating on his behalf. however, i think this all shows that president was in fact very absent—minded from this, now that he's calling for the $2000 increase for those stimulus checks. republicans are not happy with this because they don't want as much money in the stimulus checks at this moment, while at the same time, the bill has so much money going to foreign aid. so there's a conflict actually between president trump and many republican senators and lawmakers on capitol hill, while many democrats, including progressive alexandria 0casio—cortez, find themselves siding with the president on this one. julia, timing is vital at the moment. cases of coronavirus in the us are only going up.

so, just how disastrous could this be for americans if it's delayed any further? it could be very disastrous. if we see president trump veto this bill or this bill is not signed before the deadline on monday, we're going to see unemployment benefits officially run out, renters will no longer have protection from the federal government, we won't see that aid being put into vaccine distribution and such. so even though to many outsiders and many of the lawmakers on capitol hill, the bill was not perfect, if we don't get any piece of legislation passed, it's going to be far more disastrous. so what you're seeing now is house speaker nancy pelosi and democrats in the house, really trying to pass a standalone bill to get those $2,000 stimulus checks out. the chances of that passing through the senate, considering it's controlled by republicans, is relatively slim.

julia, could have an impact on the senate run—off elections. do you think this could potentially harm the republican candidates? it's very possible. it's so ironic because democrats raphael warnock and john 0ssoff, the two democrats who are challenging republican incumbents, kelly loeffler and david perdue, they have been saying for weeks during these negotiations that you know, david perdue and kelly loeffler don't want enough money going into those stimulus checks. we saw raphael warnock say yesterday that kelly loeffler believes that $600 will cover food, rent, groceries, et cetera. so painting them a very negative light, and we did here that senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, reportedly told fellow republican lawmakers on capitol hill that david and kelly were really getting beaten up by this rhetoric in the campaign. so you had them very much pushing for the $600 stimulus check, but now president trump is turning around and saying he wants $2,000, so it very

much makes kelly loeffler and david perdue look like they were almost contradicting themselves, so they are in a very, very difficult situation right now in georgia. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we look back on the life of one of the world's greatest violinists — ivry gitlis, who's died at the age of 98. the world of music has been paying tribute to george michael, who's died from suspected heart failure at the age of 53. he sold well over 100 million albums in a career spanning more than three decades. the united states‘ troops have been trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. the pentagon says it's failed in its principle objective to capture noriega and take him to the united states to face drugs charges. the hammer and sickle was hastily taken away. in its place, the russian flag was hoisted over what is now no

longer the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. day broke slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of pan am's maid of the seas, nosedown in the soft earth. you could see what happens when a plane eight storeys high, a football pitch wide, falls from 30,000 feet. christmas has returned to albania after a communist ban lasting more than 20 years. thousands went to midnight mass in the town of shkoder, where there were anti—communist riots ten days ago. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the european union and united kingdom finally reach a post—brexit trade deal. both sides hail it as a success, despite the fraught talks which preceded it. much of the detail of the agreement is yet to be published. the house of commons will be recalled next week to vote on the deal, with the opposition labour party

indicating it will vote in favour. midnight mass in bethlehem looks a little different this year — thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. but the celebrations still went ahead at the church of the nativity, where christians believe jesus was born. but the service which is normally attended by thousands of local and foreign worshippers was closed to the public this year. 0ur correspondent yolande knell, is in bethlehem. this is a christmas eve unlike any that local people have ever seen before. not even when there have been the flare—ups in violence in the israel—palestinian conflict have the festivities been so muted. typically, this would be the busiest night of the year for bethlehem, with no rooms at its hotels. inevitably, that is not the case this year, and that is just devastating to a place that is so reliant on tourism. meanwhile, in the vatican, pope francis, celebrated christmas eve mass in st peter's basilica in front ofjust 200 worshippers,

who were indeed wearing face masks. in a sign of the times, the mass, traditionally held at midnight, was moved forward by two hours to meet italy's night time curfew. as in bethlehem, thousands would normally fill st peter's square on christmas eve — but this year it was deserted. the pope delivered a message calling on followers to console those who suffer rather than lamenting our own fate. translation: jesus gives us an example. he, the word of god, is a baby. he doesn't speak but he offers his life. we, on the other hand, speak a lot, but we are often incapable of goodness. the controversy around president trump's latest wave of pardons continues to prompt reaction as his term in office draws to a close. on wednesday, mr trump's former campaign manager, paul manafort, and his

long—time adviser, roger stone, were among the latest 26 people to benefit. both were jailed as a result of the mueller inquiry into russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. mr trump also pardoned charles kushner, the father of his son—in—law, jared. mr kushner served a two—year jail sentence for tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign contributions. max kutner is a us political commentator who's been watching the developments over the last day or so. he gave us his thoughts. president trump comes from the world of real estate and construction where doing favours for allies is kind of currency, so we shouldn't be surprised that he's doing these sorts of things, and of course presidents have done these things in the past especially towards the end of their terms. but there is some outcry as this is yet another attempt by president trump, and in this case kind of a successful attempt, to blunt the impact

of that russia investigation. and what's interesting is, we are seeing in the past couple of days president trump pardoned not only people who refused to plead guilty in the investigation and kind of stick with him and have his back in the investigation, but even people who pleaded guilty and cooperated. previously in the week we saw george papadopoulos, we saw alex van der zwaan, so president trump has now pardoned five of the eight non—russians in that investigation and the white house has even said this is an attempt to undo what mueller did, i'm paraphrasing there. to wrong the rights inflicted by mueller, i think that was closer to what the white house said. we are not exactly sure how these pardons came about, i spoke with roger stone last month and he said that he had not spoken to the white house for quite some time but there is a lot of outcry by people who feel like this was an attempt to undo the russia investigation. as you say, every president has their shot to make

their pardons. trump has actually made fewer than others, so how different are his choices, compared to his predecessors — like president nixon for example? that's right. as of the numbers today i believe president trump on thejustice department website said he had only done 28 pardons, that might be excluding the numbers that we saw this week, but previous president have done in the hundreds, the past couple of presidents, especially towards the end of the term. so where the difference is, that we saw president ford pardon richard nixon before nixon went to trial for the watergate scandal. we saw president george hw bush pardon officials from the iran—contra scandal before they went to trial. in both of those cases, while they were white house scandals, they were pardoning people from previous administrations. in this case, president trump is pardoning people from scandals within his own administrations. i should also mention,

with regards to charles kushner, that president clinton pardoned his brother so that is where you see kind of a history of family—related pardons. president trump has just 10 calendar days left in office — do you think there are any more pardons to come? i think the pace it has been, we will, and given that previous presidents have pardoned people into the year that their term was ending, i do think we will see more. people to be looking out for is rick gates, he was another mueller probe defendent, that was paul manafort‘s deputy and he, like a lot of these other guys, has come out as, has stayed very pro—trump. he released a book called trump won, mueller failed, so i think rick gates is someone we should be looking out for, and then of course we should look out to see if president trump will pardon himself, and there is a precedent of governors doing so, so maybe he will, maybe that would be seen as kind

of an admission of guilt so maybe he wouldn't do that but definitely something to look out for. his address comes days before spain begins its vaccination campaign. that was the king of spain. the celebrated israeli violinist ivry gitlis has died in paris at the age of 98. he's been described as one of the modern greats of classical music. in 1955 gitlis became the first israeli musician to play in the soviet union. the bbc‘s tim allman looks back at his life and career. violin music ivry gitlis didn'tjust have talent, he had charisma.

commanding the stage, consumed by his passion for music. he loved to improvise and experiment. and he didn'tjust confine himself to the world of classical music. here he is performing with members of the beatles and the rolling stones. tributes poured in on social media. fellow violinist itzhak perlman said: german violinist friedemann eichhorn described him as: and british cellist steven isserlis said:

ivry gitlis was born in 1922 in what is now modern day israel. he first started playing the violin when he was six years old. as well as a successful music career, he was a goodwill ambassador for the un and a supporter of the israeli—palestinian peace process. he carried on playing well into his 90s. as one critic said, he had a ravaging intelligence and legendary skill. a huge artist, but he was also a man of the street, close to people and life. the violinist ivry gitlis, who's died at the age of 98. you can reach me on twitter at @freya ? cole. thanks for your company, see you next hour.

hello. the weather is giving us a calm and mostly dry interlude for christmas day, a very chilly start with a touch of frost in places, but a fine day for the most part, with some spells of sunshine. where we have had some showers, particularly across eastern scotland and eastern england, there is the potentialfor some ice on untreated surfaces through the first part of the morning. certainly a chilly start, with temperatures well below freezing, so a frost in many places, but that means a fine and a sunny start for most. still, some of the showers just draped across the eastern side of england, a fairly brisk wind here, and one or two showers, too, for parts of pembrokeshire and the west of cornwall. but for much of england

and wales, we will see some spells of sunshine through the day. just a bit more cloud into the north west later. certainly for northern ireland and scotland, things will be clouding over, and we'll see some rain into western scotland. the winds strengthening here. but that's where we will see the highest temperatures. 9 degrees in stornoway. pretty chilly day elsewhere. and then as we head through christmas day night, into the early hours of boxing day, you can see generally more in the way of cloud. some outbreaks of rain, more of a breeze, so not such a cold start to the day on boxing day, most places well above freezing. but boxing day will generally be a cloudier day. there will be some bits and pieces of rain around and some quite heavy and persistent rain getting going across parts of western scotland, into northern ireland later as well, the winds really starting to pick up here. it is going to be a milder day for most, but this will be taking us into actually quite a rough spell of weather through saturday night. it comes courtesy of this area of low pressure. it has been named by the met office, it has been named storm bella. it is going some really heavy rain, which could cause some flooding but also some really strong winds. a met office amber warning is in force already for parts of southern england and south wales, gusts of 70

to possibly 80 miles an hour, but more generally across england, wales and the far south of scotland, we'll see wind gusts of 60 miles an hour in many spots. a lot of rain through saturday night into the early part of sunday morning. that could cause some flooding. most of that rain will clear during sunday morning, to leave brighter skies behind, but some showers too. and with some colder air digging in, some of those showers will turn wintry, top temperatures between two and 7 degrees. that's all from me. happy christmas.

this is bbc news,

the headlines: the european union and united kingdom have reached a post—brexit trade deal. it follows months of tough and often fraught negotiations. both sides have described the treaty as a success. much of the fine detail of what was agreed is still to be made public. the european commission president ursula von der leyen hailed it as a "good, fair and balanced deal". borisjohnson said the uk had "completed the biggest trade deal yet". the treaty is set to come into force in january and replaces the transition phase. a covid stimulus package, designed to revive the us economy has struggled to make progress in congress. the package is work over a $900 billion. republicans blocked an attempt to increase direct payments to individuals as demanded by president trump. so what's the reaction

to the deal been across the uk?