this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lucy grey. police in the us city of nashville say a huge explosion in the city center was a deliberate act. at least three people are injured. tougher covid restrictions have come into force in many parts of the uk — millions more people are now under lockdown. european union ambassadors receive hard copies of the post—brexit trade deal in a christmas day briefing led by michel barnier. queen elizabeth reflects on the hardships of the pandemic in her christmas speech, as she and prince philip break tradition by staying at windsor castle. and joining the ranks of pop legends like the beatles and the spice girls — a couple who sing about sausage rolls become the third act in uk chart history to score three consecutive

christmas number ones. possible human remains have been found near the debris of a large explosion in the center of the us city of nashville. the area has been sealed off and a large police investigation is now under way into what the authorities have confirmed was an intentional act. tanya dendrinos reports. blackened smoke and a street ablaze. as families woke on christmas morning, sinister scene unfolded in downtown nashville. officers come first responding to a call shots had been fired. as officers

responded, they encountered an rv that had a recording, saying that a potential bomb was detonated within 15 minutes. officers, upon hearing that, decided to evacuate the buildings nearby, so they began knocking on doors, making announcements, having emergency communications to community it would never want to give people safe. the chilling recording ringing true. this aerial footage showing the scale of the destruction, time a saving grace. it is grateful there we re grace. it is grateful there were not more people around. it would be different message if it was 5pm on a friday. police have labelled the disclosure and —— explosion a liberte act, with a plea to public... please tell us what you know. we need your leads, we need your help. officers now coming through the

extensive crime scene with fbi experts being brought in from across the country. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. yihyunjeong is a reporter for the daily newspaper the tennessean. she told me more about what happened. we all in nashville either woke up to the sound of the explosion or quickly finding out about it on social media. police responded to the area early this morning to reports of shots fired, but as we heard police chief drake say, there was no evidence of that. instead, there was this rv parked along this popular street in downtown nashville, and suddenly a recording started going off that warned nearby folks to evacuate now, this is a bomb, and then it started counting down 15 minutes until it exploded. that is extraordinary, isn't it, to hear a warning that this vehicle was about to explode? and the police chief there was talking about how they evacuated the buildings nearby. it sounds like it was quite a strong explosion.

it is remarkable that not more people were injured, isn't it? it really is. had this not been christmas morning, just any other morning, it could've been a lot worse. again, that's a really popular street here in downtown, right next to a tourist district, and it's an historic district itself, and had it been a different day... but that sound went across the city. i live about five miles from that location and woke up to that, to my walls shaking. and i think a lot of folks have been on edge all day. yeah, and i hear that it also knocked out the police emergency systems in much of tennessee. and also, it had an impact on the airport, didn't it? it did. especially folks who have at&t wireless. so i, for example, have internet and phone carrier for that, which is why i'm here in the newsroom despite the covid protocols, because i couldn't work from home. and so 911 lines for a lot of the surrounding counties are down currently and they had

to halt flights temporarily out of the airport here as well. so have the investigators said anything about a possible motive for this? no, we aren't hearing anything about that now. there is another update coming for media shortly, where we're hoping to find out more information, but at this time, we don't really know the person or persons involved or any sort of motive at this time. and what, if anything, has been said about the injured? we are hearing three people were taken to the hospital with some injuries. we're not hearing that it's too serious, but we know at least one police officer who was responding to the area got knocked down because of the explosion and another, police are hoping, is just temporary hearing loss at this time. yihyunjeong yihyun jeong there from yihyunjeong there from the newspaper tennessean. france has confirmed its first case of the variant of coronavirus which first originated in the uk. the country's health ministry says the patient arrived on french soilfrom london on the 19th of december. last sunday, president macron shut the country's border with britain after the new, more transmissible variant was found to be spreading in large parts of the south east of england and in london.

because the new strain is spreading fast, the uk has introduced tougher restrictions that came into force at midnight, just a few minutes ago. with me is our news reporter aaron safir. tell us a bit more about these new restrictions. they are essentially for millions of people, a lockdown in all but name. some parts of the uk is not calling them a lot done, but that is what they are. 6 million here in the south and southeast of england moving into tier 4, so this is oxfordshire, cambridgeshire, sussex, surrey, those parts of the country, tier 4 means do not leave your home and that you have a reason. it means nonessential retail, gyms, hairdressers are all closed. you can exercise. you can leave your house to exercise, quite important to do, but essentially you need a good reason to leave your house. to

give you an idea of the numbers involved in england, that additional 6 million people going into tier 4 means the number of people in england under this toughest restrictions is about 2k million, so that is nearly 43% of the population, and in addition, we have another 25 million people now moving into the next highest tier, tier 3, bristol, gloucestershire, somerset, lots of england moving into tougher research and after relaxing on christmas day. the whole of mainland scotla nd day. the whole of mainland scotland going into the toughest of the restrictions. it is not being called a lockdown there, but for five and half million people, travel being restricted, non—essential retail closing, and schools are going to move towards learning from home when school is to return. northern ireland has just entered a six week lockdown, similar measures to

the rest of the uk, although there, there is going to be a cu rfew there, there is going to be a curfew and there is talk of the government trying to essentially make that curfew enforcea ble essentially make that curfew enforceable when it comes into effect. and finally, wells, just over 3 billion people there, it is already under lockdown with the kind of research as we have all come to know and loathe —— finally, wales. 0k, know and loathe —— finally, wales. ok, thanks for the update. that is aaron safir, oui’ update. that is aaron safir, our news reporter. thank you. more than 3,000 lorry drivers have spent christmas day in their cabs near the uk port of dover. france re—opened its border to arrivals through calais on wednesday, as long as people tested negative for coronavirus before travelling. more than 10,000 tests have been carried out in the past 2a hours, but extra military personnel have been deployed to help clear the backlog of lorries waiting to cross the channel. frankie mccamley reports. this is not the christmas thousands of drivers

here were expecting. some have been stuck here at manston airfield for up to four days with no access to washing facilities and just portaloos dotted around the side of the airfield. we have heard a beeping protest as drivers are getting more and more frustrated. i have spoken to some who say theyjust want to be at home. some say they feel like this is a political protest and they are caught in the middle. you can see just behind me some local people are coming here, rallying together, trying to provide hot food and drinks to give these drivers just something on christmas day. every half an hour, we are seeing around a dozen lorries leave this site, take the ito—minute journey over to the port of dover. each have been tested negative, have tested negative for coronavirus and each will be carrying a letter, signed by uk and french authorities, allowing them access to mainland europe.

last night, we saw around 800 troops deployed to try and speed up this testing process — that does seem to have worked because a lot of the roads in the area surrounding dover have cleared and residents are now able to travel. but this is not back to normal — there are still thousands of drivers stuck here. they may be getting water, drinks and food, but this is not where they were hoping to be, especially on christmas day. frankie mccamley there. eu ambassadors have been given a briefing about the post—brexit trade deal reached with the uk by the bloc‘s chief negotiator, michel barnier. here, mps will vote on the deal in parliament next week, before the existing trade rules expire on 31st december. here's our political correspondent leila nathoo.

glad tidings of greatjoy, because this is a deal... some light reading. the post—brexit deal agreed yesterday between britain and the eu runs to more than 1,200 pages. this morning, the man who negotiated for the eu side, michel barnier, briefed ambassadors of eu member states on its detail. mission accomplished! what's in that blue folder sets out how the eu and uk will trade and co—operate from the new year. to finally have something on paper is a success for both sides. the deal was done in the nick of time, with the uk already out of the eu and transition arrangements expiring within days. mps and peers will have until wednesday to digest the detail before being called back to parliament for a debate. there are unlikely to be any hold—ups in westminster, though — labour is set to back it. we will certainly be better off with this deal, and we have to make it work. no—deal would have terrible consequences for our country, and the labour party could not enable that to happen. during the long months of negotiations, both sides

seemed determined not to give ground. what's now on the table is a compromise, but those who campaigned for brexit have broadly given the deal a thumbs up. if the contents are as described by the prime minister, then i think it is a very satisfactory outcome and actually an extraordinarily good one, given the rather bum hand he had been dealt when he took over from theresa may. britain's new relationship with brussels is now more defined. eu ambassadors are weighing up how the future looks with the uk on the outside. the deal will need time to play out in practice, but both sides will be relieved it was, against the odds, done. leila nathoo, bbc news. india's prime minister, narendra modi, has announced around $2.11 billion worth of benefits for farmers amid mounting pressure on his government

to scrap controversial reforms. mr modi has today been addressing millions of farmers across the country virtually, accusing his political opposition of misleading them over contentious new laws that will loosen the rules around the sale, pricing and storage of farm products. our south asia editor, anbarasan ethirajan, is in delhi. the government here of prime minister modi has been trying to reach out to various sections of the farmers, highlighting points regarding the new agrarian reforms which were passed in september this year. one of them has been inviting more foreign investment, private investment in agriculture and second thing is they want to abolish antiquated procedures, like people are using some of the agents to sell their produce, which means the farmers, they have to pay money. so these agents will be removed from the system, and then the farmers are allowed to sell their produce,

for example, from different states. now they have certain restrictions, like a farmer from southern india can now sell to the farmers or the merchants in northern india. these are the key points of the government's agrarian reforms and that is what the government has been trying to sell to the other farmers. on the other hand, what the farmers are saying is that india is predominantly an agricultural nation, more than 60% of the 1.4 billion population depend on agriculture. many of them are small landowners, so the reforms will benefit only big corporations, and we don't have the power to take on these big corporations in setting the price — when did the market ever give an advantage to poor farmers in the rest of the world? this is a classic case of deregulation of markets and the poor farmers, they are up against it, whereas the typical case of globalisation versus developing countries' problem. do stay with us here on bbc news. still to come: roll with it — why this couple have now achieved a feat matched

only by the beatles and the spice girls. the world of music's 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 said it's failed in its principal 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, nose down in the soft earth. you could see what happens when a plane eight stories 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: police in the us city of nashville say a huge explosion in the city center was a deliberate act. at least three people are injured. tougher covid restrictions have come into force in many parts of the uk — millions more people are now under lockdown. in her traditional christmas day message, queen elizabeth has praised the scientists and medical staff, to whom, she said, we owe a debt of gratitude this year. she said this christmas was tinged with sadness because of the distance between people, many of whom just wanted human contact. nicholas witchell reports. from windsor castle, on a christmas day without the customary companionship of families coming together,

a christmas broadcast in which the queen reflected on a time of exceptional difficulty. for christians, jesus is the light of the world. but we can't celebrate his birth today in quite the usual way. the pandemic had disrupted so much for people of all faiths, and yet, the queen said, it had also brought us closer. in the united kingdom and around the world, people have risen magnificently to the challenges of the year, and i'm so proud and moved by this quiet, indomitable spirit. to our young people in particular, i say thank you for the part you have played. she expressed gratitude to front—line workers and for the amazing achievement of modern science. and she'd found encouragement in the way people had supported each other. we continue to be inspired by the kindness of strangers and draw comfort that even on the darkest nights,

there is hope in the new dawn. she recalled that this year was the centenary of the burial of an unknown serviceman in westminster abbey, an un—named hero of an earlier generation who had become a symbol of selfless duty. he represents millions like him who, throughout our history, have put the lives of others above their own and will be doing so today. for me, this is a source of enduring hope in difficult and unpredictable times. for many, the queen said, christmas would be a particularly difficult time. of course, for many, this time of year will be tinged with sadness, some mourning the loss of those dear to them and others missing friends and family members distanced for safety, when all they really want for christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand.

if you are among them, you are not alone. and let me assure you of my thoughts and prayers. the reference to a hug or a squeeze of the hand was a human touch, the kind of language the queen doesn't often use publicly, deployed today in a christmas day message of hope and reassurance. nicholas witchell, bbc news. meanwhile, the pandemic has also featured in the festive messages from religious leaders. the archbishop of canterbury said that despite what he called this "year of anxiety", there were many gifts of hope — including the vaccine. pope francis called for universal access to inoculation. helena wilkinson reports. st peter's square — empty and eerily quiet. normally, thousands gather for the pope's christmas day message, but not this year. instead, pope francis spoke from inside the vatican.

at the heart of his address was the pandemic. he said the vaccine brought hope at a time of darkness and urged world leaders to ensure that everyone had access. the pandemic has left many places of worship empty this christmas. midnight mass at westminster cathedral in london was held online only. at canterbury cathedral, they did gather today at a social distance. the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby, reflected on what the pandemic had shown us. in this christmas of absence, mourning and restrictions of all kinds, are there any gifts of good news under the tree, any gifts of hope? well, there are many. the vaccine is a gift of hope. our sense of community and mutual care has changed so much.

that is a gift of hope. many churches across the country have held services online this christmas, like st james evangelical church in ca rlisle. others with space were able to invite churchgoers in. at st mary's church in congleton, near cheshire, they were able to book a pew — one per household bubble. well, i think it's wonderful. i think the old place has been going for a thousand years now, so we couldn't let it down and miss a christmas. we had to find a way. christmas this year has been difficult for so many. the messages from religious leaders have been ones of comfort, light and hope in darkness. helena wilkinson, bbc news. as you saw in helena's report, pope francis urged world leaders to share covid vaccines, saying walls of nationalism could not be built to inhibit the fight

against the pandemic. the bbc‘s rome correspondent mark lowen has more. this time last year, there were 50,000 people in st peter's square watching the pope's christmas urbi et orbi — "to the city and the world" — christmas message from the balcony of st peter's basilica. this year, st peter's square is completely cordoned off by police, we are in the middle of a christmas lockdown, and the pope spoke from inside the apostolic palace. the world has changed, and many people's faith has been shaken, and coronavirus was very much at the heart of the pope's christmas message. he called on people to care for and to offer generosity to the victims of the pandemic. he also called on world leaders to co—operate, so that there should be access to vaccines for all countries. he said, "we cannot erect walls", perhaps a message to the outgoing donald trump

administration there. interesting, he singled out among the victims women who had suffered from domestic violence during months of lockdown. he talked about how his thoughts were for families who could not come together and those forced to remain at home, so the pandemic very much at the centre of this urbi et orbi message. he also then called for peace in the world's hotspots, from nagorno—karabakh to yemen, libya to mozambique. but this is a year in which the world as a whole has been fighting a war, and the pope's message was to people to arm themselves with compassion. mark lowen reporting. first, the beatles did it, then the spice girls, but now youtubers known as ladbaby have become the third act in uk history to get three consecutive christmas number ones with a song about sausage rolls. lizo mzimba reports. # just a sausage roll... ladbaby, driving his latest charity single into the charts. a tongue—in—cheek new take

on a popular classic... ..and a third consecutive christmas number one. the first year was actually just completely shocking. i think not only to us but the entire industry. i don't think anyone saw it coming. i think last year was kind of shocking again, a bit unbelievable, nobody thought we would come back. this year is just on another level. hopefully it's really got the message out there about food banks and it's made everyone smile at a time when we all needed it. the last act to produce three christmas chart toppers in a row were the spice girls with 2 become 1... # i need some love like i never needed love before... ..followed by too much... # too much of something... ..and their almost farewell single, goodbye. now, nearly a quarter

of a century later, that achievement has been equalled... # we built this city... ..by ladbaby, with a series of sausage roll—themed charity songs. # i love sausage rolls... the singles have all raised money for the trussell trust charity that supports hundreds of food banks and helps those in greatest need — a christmas message embraced by the thousands who bought the song and helped it to reach the top of the charts. lizo mzimba, bbc news. a reminder of our top story. the mayor of the us city of nashville has said he's amazed that there weren't more casualties after a huge explosion tore through a historic part of the city. three people are known to have been injured — and possible human remains have been found in the debris. i will be back with the headlines shortly. do you stay

with us. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lucyegrey. hello. well, the weather's still fairly quiet out there for the moment, but out in the atlantic looms storm bella. you can see it here on the satellite picture, a conveyor belt of cloud. the bulk of the wind and rain is still out to sea, but you can see on the edge of the screen there, the coast of scotland and ireland. now, already in the morning, the winds will start to freshen in the western isles, the rain will pile in, but you can see that in northern ireland, much of wales and england, apart from a few showers, the weather actually doesn't look too bad at all. yes, it's fairly cloudy, but even a few sunny spells here and there. now, the temperatures in the morning will be a lot higher than they have been in the last couple of days, we're talking around 6—7 degrees. and it is going to be

a relatively mild day, and again, apart from the odd shower here and there, across england, wales, it should be mostly a dry day. but by the middle of the afternoon, it's raining in northern ireland, and the rain and wind would've spread deeper into scotland as well. but it's not until the evening hours when the really nasty weather arrives. so this is storm bella on the weather map. you can see a dartboard low there, lots of isobars and some very nasty winds linked to this cold front, which is going to be sweeping across the country. now, the worst of the weather will arrive during the night, into the early hours of sunday. very heavy rain across parts of western britain, but the strongest of the winds will be further south, and it's prompted the met office to issue an amber warning from the south coast of wales, southwestern parts of england, along the coast, all the way to dover, up to 70—80 mph in gusts. further inland, the gusts right across wales and england will also be around 50—60 mph. that will lead to some damage and disruption. now, into sunday morning,

you can see that cold front, the tail end of it, just clearing the southeast of england, and then the skies clear. we find ourselves in the centre of the low pressure, and here, the weather will be quite changeable. there will be sunny spells, showers, some of them will be wintry, and it will be a good deal colder, temperatures 3—6 degrees, and then cold enough on monday for the potential of some snow there, even across southern parts of the uk. we're keeping a very close eye on this weather here developing in the south come monday. bye— bye.

this is bbc news — the headlines... the mayor of the us city of nashville has said he's amazed that there weren't more casualties after a huge explosion tore through a historic part of the city. three people are known to have been injured — and possible human remains have been found in the debris. tough new covid restrictions have come into effect in more parts of the uk — as the spread of the virus continues. millions more people have now been moved to tier four in england — the highest level. people in wales, scotland and northern ireland are also facing tougher restrictions. eu ambassadors have been given a briefing about the post—brexit trade deal reached with the uk — by the bloc‘s chief negotiator michel barnier. in the uk — mps will vote on the deal in parliament — before the existing trade rules expire at the end of the month. those are your latest headlines. now — the year in film with mark kermode.