this is bbc news. the headlines: this is bbc news. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. eu ambassadors unanimously back the post—brexit trade deal that was agreed between the uk and the eu on christmas eve. president trump signs a coronavirus relief and spending package, after previously threatening to block the bill, saying parts of it were ‘wasteful‘. it's taken forever, however the bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated. it really is a disgrace. more signs of growing pressure on uk hospitals from the new coronavirus variant. three ambulance services in the south—east of england are asking people not to call unless it's a genuine emergency. a chinese journalist who reported on the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in the city of wuhan has

been sentenced to four years injail. and coming up, it's the most watched scripted limited series of all time on netflix, we'll be speaking to the screen writer and producer of the queen's gambit. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. all 27 eu ambassadors have unanimously approved the provisional application of the eu—uk post—brexit trade deal that was agreed last week. on wednesday the president of the eu council, charles michel, and president of the eu commission ursula von der leyen are expected to officially sign off on the trade agreement. but this has to be ratified in a european parliament vote early next year. also on 30th december,

uk mps at will vote on the deal —— on the 20th of december. in a special sitting of parliament. it all means that tariff—free trade will be provisionally allowed after britain leaves the eu single market at the new year. borisjohnson has described the trade deal as "a new starting point for our relationship" with the eu. our europe correspondent kevin connolly is in brussels. he spelled out the next steps for the deal. the ambassadors approved it today. it has to be signed formally by member state governments in their respective capitals, probably tomorrow, i think there is a deadline of tomorrow afternoon. then it will be signed off by the european council and european commission presidents, that is charles michel and ursula von der leyen. probably the day after that. then at some point in the new year it will be approved by the european parliament. so my apologies for that very long list, but you did ask. essentially, this has been done with no fanfare today and the truth of the matter is that all of the politics of brexit

on this side of the english channel, they're pretty much settled. so these are steps to be gone through. you will see them probably in the headlines from time to time, but essentially it is a done deal and these are procedural steps, so, you know, there were no television pictures today, for example, to match the festive pictures of the ambassadors gathering on christmas day done without fanfare, i would say. kevin, remind us then what has provisionally been agreed to today and what has been left out? well, it is a 1200 page agreement, so an enormous number of things have been agreed to, covering everything from what happens when you take your pet on holiday in the european union from the united kingdom to how trade will be executed. that of course is the really big headline. there will be no tariffs and no quotas on trade. that is the essence of the free trade agreement.

that's goods. now, from the british perspective, there are lots of important areas of economic activity which are either still to be negotiated or which do not currently form part of that agreement. that would include financial services, that is a huge motor in the british economy, actually, and it includes various other areas, including rules on data. the government here in the uk has warned there'll be some "bumpy moments" for british businesses as they get to grips with new eu trading rules in the new year. ministers are urging companies to use the short time remaining to prepare for the practical and procedural changes that are about to happen. uk fishermen continue to insist they will be "absolutely worse off" as a result of the post—brexit trade deal. the chairman of the national federation of fishermen‘s organisations, andrew locker, said he was "angry" and "disappointed" that the industry had been — as he put it — "betrayed"

by prime minister borisjohnson. that's been rejected by cabinet office minister, michael gove, who said the uk is "in a stronger position than we were in the eu and in the common fisheries policy." our reality check correspondent, chris morris, is with us now. who is right, chris? if there is to be an improvement, it is extremely marginal. the detail says there is going to be a 25% cut in the amount of fish that eu boats can catch in uk waters and for an 80% cut, so it's been bargained down to 25. a lot of eu fish still being caught. that cut will be phased in over five and a half years.

overall, it is a very gradual process with the uk government saying, there is no point in taking back control of all of it to start with because we don't have the boats and the people to fish all of the fish that is there and we need to build up our fleet. fish that is there and we need to build up ourfleet. what fish that is there and we need to build up our fleet. what happens at the end of five and a half years? so this is properly the key thing, really. what begins is... in theory, the uk could say no more access to eu boats or it could say we're going to cut the number of fish you can catch dramatically. the problem is, if it does that, there are mechanisms within the agreement which means the eu can retaliate. if you cut access for boats, we can impose import tariffs. so it is sovereignty in theory but that has a

price. for many fishermen, that's a problem. others say, look, we do need to sell our fish to the eu market because there is this awkward fa ct market because there is this awkward fact that most of the fish the uk catch is sold in europe and a lot of the fish the eu boats catch is sold in the uk. so there is a two—way trade that needs to continue. tell us more trade that needs to continue. tell us more about why some fishermen are so us more about why some fishermen are so unhappy. fishermen on small boats wa nted so unhappy. fishermen on small boats wanted an exclusion of 12 miles which they have not got. some of them can fish between six and i2 miles from the british coastline. that means that the benefits that are there to go with —— to begin with are going to go to the big trollers. many of them are part of the british fleet but are owned by

european companies. the implications of the rhetoric from the referendum campaign about taking back control of fishing waters, you can see why some people if they were expecting it to be immediate and absolute are going to be disappointed. chris, thanks so much. there are furt her warnings today of the pressures there are further warnings today of the pressures faced by hospitals, as the number of covid infections continues to rise across the uk. london's particularly affected, with the president of the royal college of emergency medicine warning of the difficulty of getting patients into wards, while the head of one of the capital's leading hospitals said her nurses and doctors are incredibly stretched. sangita myska has the latest. across the uk, the nhs is under pressure. in the south—east of england, the new variant of covid—i9 is spreading faster than anywhere else, accounting for more than 60% of positive tests. in london, that's pushed some covid hospital wards to capacity. there are large numbers of patients coming in with covid.

i was on on christmas day and it was wall to wall covid. at the moment, the level of patient need is incredibly high. on boxing day, the london ambulance service received 7,918 calls. that is up 50% on last year. the government says it is aware of the situation and keeping it under review. i think we are pursuing the right strategy, but we have to take into account the medical evidence to keep people safe to protect to keep people safe, to protect the nhs and save lives. in wales, nhs services say the services have been stretched to the limit. one hospital tweeted for trained volunteers to help its critical care unit. with much more mixing over christmas and the high transmissibility

of covid would result in many more infections and therefore many more hospital admissions and, necessarily then, more admissions to intensive care unit and more deaths. meanwhile, in scotland, clinicians are issuing another warning — that the nhs could be overwhelmed and are appealing to the public to adhere to tier 4 restrictions after they were eased on christmas day. i think it was absolutely right that the restrictions were only flexed for that day. but there will be a cost for this. one of the things that we are particularly concerned about here in scotland is that the new year festivities will be upon us and there is no relaxation for that and it is extremely important that

households don't mix. there is however some hope on the horizon. there are indications that the uk's oxford vaccine may be approved by regulators this week. the uk government has 100 million doses on order. sangita myska, bbc news. the uk cabinet office minister michael gove has said the government hopes the staggered reopening of schools in england will go ahead in january as planned. speaking to the bbc he said the government is confident primary school pupils, along with those due to sit exams in the summer — would be able to return in the first week of january, with other secondary pupils going back later in the month. president trump has signed the covid relief bill that means lapsed payments to millions of americans who are unemployed can be resumed.

he had refused to sign the $2.3 trillion package because he wanted cheques to individual americans to be increased from $600 to 2,000, which congress rejected. larry sabato is the director of the center for politics at the university of virginia — he gave me his view on why president trump decided to sign the bill. because he had to. this was turning into a massive disaster for him on his way out. just about everybody was angry with him, his own party was furious. this bill was negotiated over six months and was mainly shaped by trump's own administration, by his own treasury secretary. what we've learned is he wasn't in touch with what the secretary was doing and so was unaware of much of what was in the bill. in other words, he wasn't doing his job. why did he believe, then, that it was... or is still calling it a disgrace, larry? well, he has to say something, doesn't he? at this point, he has signed it, it is a done deal. he has backed off without getting anything. they have come up with a fig leaf here and there,

but essentially he got nothing for all of this turmoil, which put millions of americans in great distress and even worse than that, for four days, we have seen nothing of him, except on the golf course. the worst possible image. larry, there is another month left of his presidency. are you concerned about other ways in which he could wield his executive authority? well, it's 23 days, let's not expand it beyond that. i would simply tell you thatjust about everybody in both parties is looking forward to january 20 at noon whenjoe biden becomes president. and, believe it or not, that includes a lot of republicans. they won't say it publicly, but privately they are going to be greatly relieved because they expect other tricks from donald trump on his way out. they expect other things that donald trump will do to attract attention to himself.

he is also deeply angry that he lost the election and of course is putting forth this charade about vote fraud. so 23 long days to go. at least 200 british tourists are reported to have fled the swiss ski resort of verbier to avoid quarantine, because of the coronavirus. a ten—day isolation period was ordered by the swiss government after the discovery in england of the new, more contagious variant of covid—i9. the latest headlines on bbc news.... eu ambassadors unanimously back the post—brexit trade deal that was agreed between the uk and the eu on christmas eve. president trump signs a coronavirus relief and spending package, after previously threatening to block the bill — saying parts of it were ‘wasteful‘. more signs of growing pressure on uk hospitals from the new coronavirus variant. three ambulance services in the south—east of england are asking people not to call

unless it's a genuine emergency. the lawyer for a chinese citizen—journalist who reported on the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in wuhan says his client has been sentenced to four years injail. live reports and essays — criticising the chinese authorities‘ initial response to the virus — were widely shared on social media. our china correspondent stephen mcdonell reports from beijing. access to the hearing was prohibited to journalists and members of the public. i feel extremely sad. to journalists and members of the public. ifeel extremely sad. how long can this tragedy carry on for? in february this year, she travelled to wuhan to report on the at times chaotic response to the coronavirus

outbreak. it wasn't the first time she had come into conflict with the authorities and knew it was potentially risky. she has now been sentenced to four yea rs she has now been sentenced to four years in prison for provoking trouble. lawyers say they are worried she will now resume a hunger strike behind bars. translation: after we left the her mother was crying uncontrollably. translation: she is probably more determined than

ever to carry out her hunger strike. coronavirus. .. it has ever to carry out her hunger strike. coronavirus... it has a good story to tell in this regard. it doesn't mean that all the responses have been without problems, especially in the beginning. so perhaps because of because —— because of this, the communist party has decided to silence the likes of zhang zhan, and her harsh sentence is to serve a lesson for all. since its arrival on netflix, the queen's gambit has attracted a staggering 62 million viewers — making it the streaming service's most—watched scripted limited series ever. the drama is based on the 1983 novel by walter tevis, and tells the fictional story of chess prodigy beth harmon, who's played by anya taylor—joy. online chess playing sites, retailers and grandmasters say it's sparked a boom in people playing the game around the world.

allan scott is the screen writer and producer of the queen's gambit and joins me now. congratulations. 62 million viewers is enormous. it has taken you a long time to get the series to air. is enormous. it has taken you a long time to get the series to airlj a lwa ys time to get the series to airlj always believed this was something that people would want to see, always. but no matter how distinguish as a director is attached, every studio said it wouldn't work. bill hallberg, my producing partner, produced a programme about bobby fischer and that did well. did you believe it would be mesmerising because of all the other things, apart from the chest? you mean the sex and the

costu mes chest? you mean the sex and the costumes and all of that? it's about addiction and romance as well. costumes and all of that? it's about addiction and romance as weltm costumes and all of that? it's about addiction and romance as well. it is addiction and romance as well. it is a wonderful book. we have been extremely faithful to the book. we have added a few flourishes, but not very much. it's mainly taken straight from walter tevis' imagination, to a screen near you. how wonderful was it for you to write about beth in such a way? such a strong and complex female character? that's a combination of the script and director and a wonderful actress, anya. one of the difficulties we had at last minute, we hired garry kasparov, the former world chess champion for a decade and asked him to read the script and give us any comments. in the first committee gave, he came into town on the monday, read it overnight and we met on the tuesday. he said, there

is one thing you absolutely can't do. you cannot have your players say check or checkmate. and we said, but how are we going to tell the audience she is in trouble. he said, you will have to find another way. at that level, the players don't need to say that because they can see what is happening. need to say that because they can see what is happeninglj need to say that because they can see what is happening. i have to say, my sons paused the programme to check all of the chess moves. they wa nted check all of the chess moves. they wanted to catch you out. we had a chess master on set every day to monitor what was happening. you have young men who have made chess cool again in some respects. how important is it we have this female character and the game has become a lot more appealing to women through beth? i hope it has. from your list of star chess players, you missed

out a very high ranking female chess player. i guess she was the one who really broke the mould. walter tevis was writing about the 1950s and 19605. what was writing about the 1950s and 1960s. what we have shown in the movie was true. there were no chess —— women chess players in any chess clu b —— women chess players in any chess club or at —— women chess players in any chess club oratany —— women chess players in any chess club or at any level. and i can't think why because women are as capable of playing chess as men. it's a very mysterious thing, that. the other mystery as i was told that if the grand master who is a brilliant chess player, once he reaches the ceiling, once he or she reaches the ceiling, once he or she reaches the ceiling, they often retire. and my interlocutor told me that they always took up bridge, which they played for the rest of their lives. so there is something going on in that world of games. their lives. so there is something going on in that world of gameslj think a lot of them play go as well

when they get older. you mentioned the sets and costumes, so important, and so much praise has been heaped on the creations in the series. did you have that in your mind when you are writing, that every outfit that beth moore would represent chess in some way? that amazing last scene where she is the queen at the end in moscow, the white queen? do you know, one of the only conflicts i had was a director, not scott, over the ending. i wanted a rocky ending and he wanted something much quieter than that. that was at a time when heath ledger was attached to direct. we went to and fro and he died before we ever came to a conclusion on it, but i wanted it to be rocky because essentially that's what it is. two people slugging it out in front of other witnesses. so i'm

glad you thought the ending had muscle in it. so sad that heath ledger didn't get to see this project through, of course. tragedy. he was so supportive of it. is that because he loved chess?” think i was a big part of it. i think i was a big part of it. i think it was also looking for a project to direct and for the same reason that i've always believed in this project, he thought that was a good starting place because it's a cracking yarn. you simply stand behind the girl and want her to do well, want her to not screw up her life with drugs, etc. do you love chess? i like chess. i'm not very good at it, i've never been good at it, but one of the fringe benefits for me and putting this series together was that gary kasparov came together was that gary kasparov came to my house and i asked him once, what was your favourite endgame? he

not only told me, but we filmed it on my iphone. it was a gorgeous queen sacrifice followed by checkmate. i'm desperately hoping your next project is going to be season your next project is going to be season two? do you know, people have suggested it. i feel season two? do you know, people have suggested it. ifeel it season two? do you know, people have suggested it. i feel it so complete in itself, i guess we can start over and start the story again, we would have to round up the director, round—up anya taylorjoy, would have to round—up me, netflix. but i suspect there is more rounded —— thatis suspect there is more rounded —— that is more rounding up and people are willing to do. the terrible thing about being asked what your next project is as you always have to believe it's going to be better and more exciting than your current project. you couldn't write if you didn't think that. in a way, i'm keeping sturm. i will do a couple of

musicals. they don't count as projects, they count as fun. anya has said she would love to do another series, so there might be a small hint there. are you surprised at how popular the series is amongst all age groups? children are watching this as well. yes, except my son won't let my grandchildren watch it yet. i'm not quite sure what his objection is. to me, it seems very harmless material, but, yes, it is the story of a child essentially. the main part of the story is between age 1a and 17. i can see why kids around that age wa nt to can see why kids around that age want to indulge in that fantasy. briefly, your reaction to the fact that you can't buy a chess set online at the moment. they are all sold out because of your series.” love that, it's wonderful. it's a wonderful game for children in

lockdown to play. i am all for that. i would like to write about everyone winning a gold bar in a billion race. thank you we have seen we have seen snow we have seen snow in the cotswolds and in the downs this afternoon. we will continue to see further bouts of snow. cold, frosty and ice by night. strong winds down the western flank. rain and sleet and snow mixed over the higher ground for pembrokeshire and cornwall. clearing away from southern counties of england during the rest of the day, but more shall rest on the eastern coast. rain on the coastal strip. sleet and snow inland. by the time

we hit the evening, already temperatures close to freezing. tonight, the temperatures become more abundant for scotland and northern england. another covering of snow is possible for yorkshire before tomorrow morning. and temperatures widely below freezing. another cold day in store. breezy and western parts. another coating of snow is possible for some of you. through the afternoon, sure is mainly around coastal districts, most inland will be dry and clear with some sunshine. some of you will be dry and clear all day long. call pressure to the east of us drags down airfrom the pressure to the east of us drags down air from the north. pressure to the east of us drags down airfrom the north. on pressure to the east of us drags down air from the north. on tuesday night and into wednesday, we see this weather feature come in. to the south of that, some milder air. the northern edge of that will push into

colder air. some snow which could cause disruption. the uncertainty is where that noble track. it looks like it could go through wales, the midlands, towards east anglia. if that system is further south, there will be snow rather than rein in the south. north of it, staying dry and bright. that system, once it clears, could give some snow for a time. for new year's eve, more batches of showers coming down which could give us showers coming down which could give usa showers coming down which could give us a covering of snow for new year's day over eastern counties of england. at the moment, the date is looking dry and bright for many, but still cold.

and what has been left out? this is bbc news. the headlines:

eu ambassadors unanimously back the post—brexit trade deal that was agreed between the uk and the eu on christmas eve. the move means the changes can take effect from the 1st of january. president trump signs a coronavirus relief and spending package, after previously threatening to block the bill — saying parts of it were ‘wasteful‘. democrats have urged the president to follow up the bill with more help for struggling workers. more signs of growing pressure on uk hospitals from the new coronavirus variant. three ambulance services in the south—east of england are asking people not to call unless it's a genuine emergency. a chinese journalist who reported on the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in the city of wuhan has been sentenced to four years injail. zhang zhan was convicted of provoking trouble with her reports that criticised the authorities‘ initial response to the pandemic.