this is bbc news. i'm ben bland and these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. britain's borisjohnson promises big changes following his brexit trade deal, as his finance minister rishi sunak says the deal will reassure those worried about the impact on businesses. for those who were anxious about the economic implications of leaving, they should be enormously reassured by the comprehensive nature of this free—trade agreement. the rollout of the pfizer biontech covid vaccine begins for millions of people across the eu — starting with italy and the czech republic. millions of americans lose their unemployment benefits after president trump refuses to sign the covid economic relief bill into law. storm bella brings gusts of more than 100 mph — with roads in parts of wales,

and devon and cornwall blocked by falling trees. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. prime minister, boris johnson, is promising "big" changes are on the way for the uk following his brexit trade deal with the european union. in an interview with the sunday telegraph newspaper, he says he wants to focus on "leveling up the country" and "spreading opportunity" across the uk. mrjohnson said the brexit trade deal would provide new regulatory freedoms to "deliver for people who felt left behind". but some fishing industry leaders have accused him of "caving in" to the eu and sacrificing their interests. mps will vote on the deal in parliament on the 30th of december. our business correspondent

vivienne nunis has more. glad tidings of greatjoy. 1,200 pages of detail spelling out britain's new trading relationship with the eu. mps and others are pouring over the fine print. this morning, the chancellor tried to dispel any fears the uk might be worse off under this new trade agreement. for those who were anxious about the economic implications of leaving, they should be enormously reassured. the free trade deal means that when it comes to the price of french cheese or spanish tomatoes, there should be little change, according to the chair of the uk's largest supermarket chain. the administrative cost associated with have thing to make a customs declarations for people sending goods into the uk will be there, but they're very modest. i don't think it will make any material difference to the prices consumers pay. but the future isn't so clear

cut on other important aspects of uk—eu trade. today, the prime minister told the sunday telegraph, "0n financial services, the deal does not go as far as we would like". obviously, we would have loved to have had more in there on financial services and professional services and services in general. it's 80% of the uk economy and 70% of the eu. but it's the norm for deals such as this, a free trade agreement, that they are focused on goods. the chancellor says the uk will remain in close dialogue with the eu on how things will work moving forward, including financial services. this is, though, the largest free trade agreement in history. it rules out added taxes on imports known as tariffs, and quotas limiting how much can be bought and sold. but there will be more checks, red tape and delays when goods move across borders. that's better than no deal

but not ideal, says labour. this is a thin deal, it's not the deal that the government promised, and there are large areas of our economy, for example, financial services, that employs one in m people in our country, where there aren't clear elements within this deal where much more work will need to be done. despite criticism, the labour leadership will urge their mps to support the deal in the commons on wednesday. but as scrutiny of the document continues over the coming days, more questions will inevitably arise about what exactly this new trading relationship will mean. the deal itself comes into force in just five days' time. anand menon is the director of the think tank uk in a changing europe. he says it's important businesses can start to look forward. and given what the chancellor was saying, for businesses, yes, this is far more reassuring, it provides exporters with tariff and quota free access to the european market and it allows businesses, finally at long, long,

last to sit down and plan for the year ahead knowing what our trading relationship with the european union is going to look like. with all that in mind, what do you think are the biggest impacts that businesses will feel even though this deal has been agreed? well, i think for that you need to think through what sort of business you are talking about. so if you take manufacturers, manufacturers will be delighted by the lack of tariffs. car manufacturers will be delighted by the agreement on electric vehicles and rules of origin. but as you were hearing in your vt a minute ago, they will still have to fill out customs declarations to export to the european union. trading with the european union will become slower and more expensive as a result of the checks and controls that will be in place. and for services, there is relatively little on services in this deal. we were hearing about financial services earlier, for financial services there is very little in this deal, we are still waiting to see if the european union gives us what's called an equivalence decision, which will allow some financial services to be traded

from the uk into the european union. anyone looking for a glimmer of hope might conclude that the fact a deal has been done as far as goods are concerned bodes well for the prospects of a deal on services? it would have been a lot more precarious if they weren't able to do a deal on goods? absolutely, if the talks had broken up in acrimony, that would have set the uk and the eu at loggerheads for a significant amount of time. it would have made it hard for us to work with the european union on anything, whether that's trade or security, or climate change or any of those big issues that confront us in common. that being said, there are severe limits as to how far we can go in the future in signing a deal on services, because services requires regulatory alignment. and the bottom line of our government was, we want to be out of the regulatory orbit of the european union, we don't want to have rules that the european union has any oversight over and that immediately limit your ability to work together on services.

the coronavirus vaccine will be given to millions of people across europe from today, as countries including france, spain and italy begin the rollout of their vaccination programmes. more than 14 million people have been infected and strict lockdown measures are currently in place in nearly all the eu member states. damien mcguinness reports now from berlin. the european vaccine roll—out has begun. in berlin, mobile teams are taking the first vaccines from this distribution centre to those who need it most. the elderly in nursing homes. this airport once provided a lifeline for west berlin at the height of the cold war. it was closed down in november to make way for a larger airport, and now it's been turned into a mass vaccination centre, providing yet again a lifeline for berliners, but this time in the fight against the pandemic. the first person in berlin to get the vaccine this morning was gertrude

haase, 101 years old. translation: i told myself that i didn't have to be among the first. i wanted to see what it was like for the others. but a little later i thought, come on, i'll do it, too. in italy, where fatalities among health care workers have been particularly high, there was relief, as doctors and nurses were among the first to get the jab. in denmark, a moment of vaccine humour. "let's hope it works," says the doctor. "if it doesn't, i'll come back to haunt you," replies a 79—year—old. in some countries there are worries that not enough people will want the vaccine, so to boost support some european leaders have also gone first, including the czech prime minister and, in greece, both the president and the prime minister. translation: i believe that every greek today is smiling underneath their mask. in getting vaccinated first, greece's political and state leaders want to send the message that the vaccine is

safe and effective. across europe, elderly people have been isolated, afraid and vulnerable. now, they are the first to be protected. damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin. several countries have reported cases of the new variant of coronavirus — which was first detected in the united kingdom. norway's institute of public health says its traced the new variant back to two travellers from the uk who entered the country in early december. the portuguese island of madeira has also blamed travellers from the uk for an outbreak — but has not specified how many people are infected. and, it's a similar story injordan, which has reported its first two cases of the variant. canada, australia, italy and the netherlands have also confirmed cases of the new variant, which scientists say is up to 70% more transmissible. in other news: south africa has registered more than a million cases of covid—19

since the outbreak began in march. it comes just a few days after the south african authorities confirmed that a new faster—spreading coronavirus variant had been detected. some hospitals and medical centres have reported a severe rise in admissions, placing a heavy strain on resources. afghan officials say the next round of peace talks with the taliban will resume in qatar on the 5th of january. president ghani had previously insisted that the next round of negotiations should be held in afghanistan itself. the talks began in september but were suspended earlier this month. insecurity has prevented many from voting in the general election in the central african republic, with rebels warning people in some areas not to vote. officials said violence meant thousands of people did not receive their voter cards. security was tight in the capital bangui with armoured vehicles on standby outside some polling stations. millions of americans have lost

unemployment benefits because president trump failed to sign a massive covid relief bill into law by a deadline of midnight. president—elect, joe biden, has warned of devastating consequences for the people who would have been helped by the bill, which passed overwhelmingly in congress. the relief package aimed to provide a $1.1; trillion federal budget, agreed by both sides of the house. it also proposed one—off payments of $600 to most americans, but despite his administration negotiating the deal, president trump changed his mind, saying he wants to give $2,000 instead. he also wants to cut foreign aid. legislators could pass a stop—gap by monday to prevent a partial government shutdown looming a day later, but it would not include coronavirus aid. renard beaty is a small business owner in the us. he owns kickstart martial arts in atlanta, georgia. it in atlanta, georgia. is good to have you with us on

the it is good to have you with us on the programme. how important was this relief bill to you and how urgently did you need the help? very important to me. thank you for allowing me to tell my story. without this money my business cannot thrive. but the president, presumably is doing this because he thinks you and businesses like you and individuals like you need more than the $600 and he is fighting to get you $2000 each, is that how you seeit? get you $2000 each, is that how you see it? i see it that way and more. i need a certain income and so do my business neighbours. if people don't have the morning to spend on us, we won't survive. a strong economy makes a strong business for us.“ it comes down to it, what would be

your preference? to have $600 immediately or wait a little longer and get 2000? we need the morning 110w. and get 2000? we need the morning now. we cannot wait. we will take this as a down payment and hopefully with the next administration he will ta ke with the next administration he will take it more seriously and understand we are more fragile. we depend on each other to grow. we need more, buti depend on each other to grow. we need more, but i will take that now. what effect are you seeing on your local community in terms of the effect of the pandemic right now?” am seeing my local stores that i know the owners by name, who my daughters went to when they were younger, they were terrified. we are all terrified. some say it is selfish to keep businesses open during this time, but they don't make money... they could cooperate

more if there was more relief and $0011 more if there was more relief and soon so we more if there was more relief and soon so we could afford to stay closed and wait this thing out. 0k, thank you very much. the line is slightly precarious and we are having some slight glitches but we got the sense of what he was saying, thank you for telling a story to us on bbc news. the latest headlines on bbc news... borisjohnson promises big changes following his brexit trade deal, as his chancellor rishi sunak says the deal brings reassurance to those worried about the impact on businesses. the rollout of the pfizer biontech covid vaccine begins for millions of people across the eu — starting with italy and the czech republic. people in niger have voted to choose a successor to president mahamadou issoufou, who's stepping down after completing the permitted two terms in office. this contrasts with presidents in ivory coast and guinea, who have won third terms earlier this year despite violent protests and concerns about a slide

in democratic gains. issoufou said the election marked a special day for the country. translation: a special day for niger, which will experience, for the first time in its history, a democratic change over. i hope this change will be the first step towards other changes that will enable niger to solidify its reputation as a democratic country in africa. bbc africa's lalla sy has been following the election for us from abidjan. how did the voting go? good evening. no major incident was reported so far. the polling stations opened at eight o'clock local time. of course, there were delays, but nothing too serious. what people noticed, it was a good turnout until seven o'clock when

polling stations closed. the electoral commission has started compiling the results. but united nations have been deployed in the country as observers. there was a lack of a materials in some polling stations or they witness some exchanges of votes for food or for money. how important was it that this was a smooth, democratic tra nsfer of this was a smooth, democratic transfer of power in niger? as he said earlier, this is going to be a democratic transition for niger. it is the first time there is a handover from an elected president to another one. that is why i think people in niger were very enthusiastic to vote. who is the

favourite to win and who are the other contenders? the former interior and the former foreign minister is seen as a favourite to win. he is a loyal ally of the incumbent president and a favourite among the 29 candidates who participated. he can rely on a presidential party with solid bases but he lacks the support from a specific region or community since he is from a smaller tribe compared to other candidates. what will be the challenges that await him or whoever wins when they take office? insecurity is one of the main challenges for the next president. this month only, already two attacks took place and they were deadly. they happened in the midst of this

electoral process. niger has been under threat of recurring attacks since 2010, attacks that have caused hundreds of deaths and pushed half a million people to be displaced or become refugees. so outside the insecurity, there is also poverty and a situation that could be exacerbated by an important population growth. ok, thank you very much for the update. bangladeshi authorities are planning to move a second group of rohingya refugees to a remote, flood—prone island in the south of the country. officials say up to one thousand of the refugees, orignally from myanmar, will be moved from camps in to a specially built housing complex. farah kabir is the bangladesh country director of action aid and says there has been mixed reaction to the relocation of the refugees.

the rohingya would like to go back to their own state, to myanmar. and the relocation was not necessarily the preferred choice. so this has had a mixed response from them. and we should all be concerned because this is an island off the mainland. from the bay of bengal. but where the camps are is congested. the new camp is excellent compared to the cox's bazar camp. its brick walls, brick houses, it's customised. the problem was that it's off the mainland and it's an island that has been formed over 20 years. but bangladesh is a delta, so many parts of the country are already vulnerable and prone to cyclones and flooding. this camp was an issue because we all wanted the rohingya refugees to make an informed choice. and theirfirst choice

is to go back to myanmar, but that is not happening with the myanmar authorities not making it happen. so this relocation seems to be one of the options. at least 10 climbers are now known to have died during an avalanche in iran. more than a dozen others were rescued from the alborz mountain range, north of tehran. the victims include a mountaineering instructor. a search operation is continuing for other survivors. gusts of more than 100mph have been recorded as storm bella continues to bring heavy rain to large parts of the uk. the needles, on the isle of wight, saw winds that reached 106 mph with a number of train operators reporting delays across the south of england. the met office has also issued yellow warnings for snow and ice — meaning disruption is likely for parts of wales, north—west england, scotland and the whole of northern ireland. chi chi izundu reports.

storm bella making her presence known on british shores. winds of up to 106 miles an hour have been recorded on the isle of wight, bringing down trees, including on this car, and huts alongside brighton beachfront. train operators have issued warnings about delays and cancellations because of debris and flooding on the railway lines. but parts of the uk are still reeling from heavy rains over christmas, like cirencester in gloucestershire. residents trying to adapt. more than 70 homes were without power and the environment agency has warned some river levels are still rising. this is ducklington farm in 0xfordshire, where farmer helen's priority has been the safety of her animals. the amount of rain we've had in the last few days has made it very difficult for us. we have over 3000 sheep and we've

had to move 1200 of them in the last three days, so the whole of christmas we've been moving sheep. they‘ re all pregnant, and their welfare is our priority at the moment, but finding dry ground is almost impossible because it's just completely saturated. the met office has issued three yellow weather warnings about snow and ice in parts of scotland in particular and the north—east. officials say they're working hard to help those in need but have added there may be at least another day of harsh weather to come. chi chi izundu, bbc news. lots of different coronavirus restrictions remain in place across the world, as countries try to keep the pandemic under control. cases are rising in russia, but president vladimir putin says he won't impose a new national lockdown as he tries to protect the economy. 0ur moscow correspondent sarah rainsford reports. red square is at its picture—postcard best.

no sign here of covid—19 cancelling christmas, despite the spiralling infection rate. there are precautions and many things have been scaled back this year, but there's no lockdown, and people told me they are fine with that. translation: i think there is enough restrictions. lots of people wear masks and gloves. i don't think we need anything stricter. translation: we don't need a lockdown, that would stop people earning wages and feeding their families. that happened in spring, and it was really bad. meanwhile, on another ice rink not far away, this is how moscow is dealing with covid. in october, we visited one of multiple giant temporary hospitals. there were free beds back then, but hospitals now across the country are close to capacity, and the death rate from covid is rising.

vladimir putin is taking his own precautions. this year's press conference was by video link. the chosen few allowed close to him had to quarantine for two weeks first. but even loyal reporters told him things had never been this tough in russia. and mr putin promised he wouldn't make things worse with another lockdown. russia's doing its best to look festive, to lift people's moods despite the covid pandemic, but this crisis hasn't only pushed russia's health care system to the very limit, it's hurting the economy, too, and that's an issue for vladimir putin, who has always presented himself as the president of stability. this club was closed for months after the pandemic first hit. the dancers are back on stage now, but their clients have far less money to spend. and covid rules mean closing at 11pm

— not ideal for a striptease show. all in all, this man tells me business is down 60%. translation: we are hardly making ends meet. i had to get a bank loan to pay wages. if there is another lockdown and we have to shut, then that's it — we'll go bankrupt and people will lose theirjobs. so, russians are bracing for another tough year once the festive lights go out. the covid vaccine has brought a flicker of hope, but this virus is one thing the kremlin is struggling to control. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. a pilot in germany has traced an image of a syringe in the sky to mark the launch of vaccination campaigns across the european union. flight tracking data showed the small plane flew the outline of a syringe above a town in southern germany.

pilot says he thought it was a fun way to raise awareness on such an historic day. you're watching bbc news. a chilly and wintry flavour to the weather in the final days of 2020, but we are going to lose the very heavy and persistent rain some of us have had recently. still some flood warnings in force across parts of england and wales. we have had very brisk winds thanks to storm bella. this band of cloud, that is where we had the very wet and windy weather. behind it, you can see speckled cloud working down from the north, and we are going to stick with a northerly airflow through this week. that means it's going to feel pretty cold out there. temperatures will be below average by day, some frosty nights with the risk of ice. some rain and also some sleet and snow. amongst all of that, some spells of sunshine. heading through tonight,

some showers around and across western areas, through western scotland, northern ireland, north—west england, wales, perhaps the midlands and the west country, some rain and some snow over high round and perhaps even at quite low levels at times. it's going to be a very chilly night indeed. temperatures down to —8 in parts of scotland and some icy stretches tomorrow morning. this slow—moving area of rain, sleet and snow could give some accumulating snow, even at quite low levels, most likely across parts of wales, the midlands, central southern england and the west country. that will slowly pivot away and we will see another area of rain with some snow across northern ireland and western scotland. some showers in eastern areas. brisk winds in the west, lighter winds further east. there will be some spells of sunshine on what will be a decidedly chilly day. temperatures between two and maybe seven. low pressure still in charge of the scene for tuesday.

still a northerly wind. you can see these frontal systems across western areas, where showers are likely to join into longer spells of rain and some snow over high ground, much of what falls from the sky at low levels will be rain. a few showers still in eastern counties. pretty chilly, two to seven. we stick with a chilly theme as we head towards the end of the week. there will be a lot of dry weather around but some showers, too, and they will be wintry in places.

hello — this is bbc news. the headlines... british prime minister boris johnson is promising big changes

following his brexit trade deal. but his finance minister rishi sunak has sought to reassure the city of london that the post—brexit trade deal will not damage the financial services industry. a mass coronavirus vaccination campaign is underway in the european union. the new covid variant caused several countries to begin inoculations a day ahead of the planned rollout. millions of americans have temporarily lost their unemployment benefits after president trump refused to sign the covid economic relief bill into law. president—electjoe biden has warned of devastating consequences if the bill remains unsigned. now on bbc news... the killing of george floyd, caught on camera by eyewitnesses, has led to an outpouring of anger in america. but what happens when the cameras are turned off — or if there are no cameras at all? our world tells the stories of witnesses to police brutality who say they've been intimidated and even threatened