this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. 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 it. 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. a chinese journalist who reported on the early days of the coronavirus outbreak has been sentenced to four years injail.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. the post—brexit trade deal between britain and the european union has taken another big step to being implemented. all 27 eu ambassadors have approved agreement that was announced 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 sign off on the trade agreement. but this has to be ratified by the european parliament next year. also on 30th december, uk mps at will vote on the deal in a special sitting of parliament. it all means that tariff—free trade will provisionally be allowed

after britain leaves the eu single market at the new year. the uk prime minister borisjohnson has described the trade deal as "a new starting point for our relationship" with the eu. our europe correspondent kevin connolly spells out the next steps for the deal. 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 a 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. brexit, the end of the transition period is at the end of the year, but it's not the end of the process. this is a relationship that will involve a lot of talking over a lot of time. despite the brexit trade deal, the british cabinet minister michael gove has warned there'll be "some disruption" and "practical changes" which everyone needed to prepare for. we're doing everything we can to provide the information necessary in order to enable people to recognise what we

are being faced with. but inevitably, as we leave the european union, we are outside the customs union, those requirements will mean that in particular when people arrive at the french border, they do need to have the paperwork in order. joining me now is craig beaumont, the chief of external affairs for the federation of small businesses. what do you make of the deal so far? what do you make of the deal so far? what are your thoughts? in principle terms, the positive impact of having a deal is enormous. that means that small businesses that move goods, people and data across borders now have confidence for the first time that there will be a framework. so definitely no concerns about that. the threat of a non—negative outcome was really scary for a number of small businesses. we are now going through the agreement. the small

business chapter is brilliant. it's quite short in the text, but it sets out how both sides will set out functions to look after how small businesses will trade and it sets out targets and mechanisms which we we re out targets and mechanisms which we were keen to get into the text. it wasn't there initially. for any other business looking at this agreement, they should go straight to the area thatjumps out at them. if you are a car manufacturer, go to the agreement on things like rules of origin. there's still a lot of work to be done. as a reporter said, things financial services, there are annexes, there is a political declaration that basically says we will agree something by march. so there's a lot more to come. we are having some problems on the line, but we will persist. i'm looking at

a statement made by mike cherry, the chairman, the national chairman, he talks about the need for transition vouchers. so this is very short—term, but what has the government said to you about the likelihood of this happening? we have been speaking to the cabinet office and the treasury about this. £3000 to help with tech training or advice. michael gove is right that there will be big changes to prepare for. we don't want any small business not preparing because they can't afford to. we're still to hear. i think there is a big announcement coming in a few hours' time on the new guidance from cabinet office for business, probably tomorrow. we would like to see that in there as an additional feature. the government needs to put their money where their mouth is. you referred to the small business chapter. what i would like to know

is, our business is ready? you see all the signs on the motorway about getting paperwork ready. we have had a few false starts. realistically, oui’ a few false starts. realistically, our businesses ready? only 1896 of those who think you will be affected by the deal and the transition said that they were ready. one in five. the biggest barrier was actually the future of the relationship. 68% of those said that was the unknown. neither is gone, businesses can prepare. whether they will prepare for next week is obviously going to be very difficult for every business. but the fact is there is an agreement there. a lot of this information is going to keep coming out. negotiations will continue, decisions were made by committees this agreement sets up. things like the 10,000 euros limit of taking cash into northern ireland, that needs to be discussed. vat, lots of

things need to be agreed. this will bea things need to be agreed. this will be a process for months of 2021, not just next week. craig, thank you very much indeed. thank you. in the uk, there are further warnings of the pressures faced by uk hospitals, as the number of covid infections continues to rise. the latest figures in the uk have just been published. a record 41,385 new cases were recorded in the past 2a hours — although this may include additional cases not recorded over the christmas period. a further 357 deaths were announced. london has been particularly affected — the head of one of the leading hospitals said her nurses and doctors sangita myska has the latest. across the uk, the nhs is under mounting pressure. in the south—east of england, the new variant of covid—19 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 emerging medical evidence 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, sadly. 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. us markets have risen sharply after president trump signed a long—awaited coronavirus stimulus bill. he backed down from his threat to block the hard—fought plan, restoring unemployment benefits to millions of americans and averting a federal government shutdown. from washington, nomia iqbal reports. the yeas are 359, the nays are 53. this was a deal that had support by both republicans and democrats, but not by the president. a few months ago, congress started negotiations

on a new package to get urgently needed help to the american people. 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. as he played golf over the last few days, he was pressured by both parties to sign the bill. the consequences of his inaction were immense. what do we want...? up to a0 million americans face losing their unemployment benefits temporarily, and being evicted from their homes. the bill now changes that. it's very exciting and i hope that it's true so that a lot of families can get stimulus and relief and all the people who are still struggling with unemployment don't have to face such grim news at the holidays, at the beginning of a new year. the government also faced being shut down, as a lot of money was needed for funding

government agencies. there will now be help for small businesses and money for vaccine distribution amongst other things. well, some key elements, you know, in addition to the $600 stimulus, there is up to $8,000 perjobless worker in unemployment benefits, including a top up that expired injuly. there's also an eviction moratorium. there's money to get schools open, protective equipment, so really vital aid. in a statement, president trump didn't say why he changed his mind. he said more still needed to be done, including increasing the individual payments to americans. mr trump also pushed the one thing he remains focussed on — claims of election fraud, which are unsubstantiated, and demanded action on that too. but he is only president for less than a month and his requests are likely to be ignored. this last minute turmoil he created has now been averted and instead provided much needed help for a country

that continues to suffer under the pandemic. nomia iqbal, bbc news, washington. diane yentel is director of the national low income housing coalition. she joins us from washington. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. there has been a lot of what has been described as unnecessary emotional and psychological stress, and it sounds like it might not be over yet because there is going to be some sort of delay before this falls into place? it's been tremendously stressful for tens of millions of renters on the verge of losing their homes when the eviction moratorium expired on thursday. people have been left really write up people have been left really write up to the last moment wondering whether or not they were going to lose their homes next weekend in the weeks to come. the good news is that

while it will take some time get the emergency rental assistance out to renters and two small landlords, the extension of the federal eviction moratorium takes effect immediately, so moratorium takes effect immediately, so there is a reprieve there, there is time now for states and localities to get that money out the door and potentially for president—elect biden, when he comes into office, to take further action. the moratorium is now extended through the end of january. the moratorium is now extended through the end ofjanuary. our landlords aware of this and sensitive to this? has the eviction moratorium been adhered to?m sensitive to this? has the eviction moratorium been adhered to? in some cases, yes. generally speaking, the federal eviction moratorium has done what it was intended to do, which is to keep tens of millions of people would otherwise lose their homes housed during this pandemic. but the order itself is flawed and it has holes through which some renters are falling and in some places evictions have proceeded, despite the order,

despite the eviction moratorium. so there have been at least 150,000 evictions that have taken place during the pandemic. so some landlords, yes, are working with te na nts to landlords, yes, are working with tenants to work out payment plans, other kind of concessions to make sure people say housed. some landlords are proceeding and working to try to evict tenants, despite the pandemic and the protections under the order. the figures on the back rent debts essentially are astounding. we are looking at around $70 billion. any indication from president—elect biden... this new deadline should take us up to when he is sitting in the white house, is there an indication from him as to how he will handle the problem? this isa how he will handle the problem? this is a stop gap and there will be a lot of work to do. that's absolutely right. the estimates are that low income renters will owe anywhere

between 30 billion and $70 billion in back rent by the end of this year, in back rent by the end of this yea r, clearly more in back rent by the end of this year, clearly more than they can ever pay off in their lifetimes and $25 billion that will be provided in this covid relief package is a significant set of resources that will help many renters, but clearly not enough. having the eviction moratorium go through the end of january provide some relief now, but that's not long enough to keep low income renters stably housed during the pandemic. we are urging president—elect biden on his first day, his first hour in office, as one of a set emergency actions we expect him to take, to sign a new executive order and implement a new strengthened and enforced eviction moratorium for the duration of the pandemic. very quickly, i was looking at your twitter timeline and there are some sad stories there. a story of a lady surfing dumpsters

for cancer. she said she didn't know where to get the information. she didn't know there was an eviction moratorium. what has gone wrong? what's gone wrong with the eviction moratorium is that the federal government has done little to nothing to educate renters and landlords about their responsibilities and the protections under the order. it's good the order was put in place, but if renters don't know about it, it's not actually protecting them. so we've done all we can to get the word out to low—income renters about these detections, but much more needs to be done by the incoming administration, to ensure that people know about the protections, to ensure that landlords have an obligation to inform tenants about evictions and to get the funds out as quickly as possible. diane yentel, i'm afraid we have run out of time. thank you very much for joining us. 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". 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. tense scenes preceded zhang zhan's brief court appearance in shanghai. access to the hearing was prohibited forjournalists, and members of the general public, including her friends. translation: i feel extremely sad. how long can this country, these people, this tragedy, carry on for?

in february this year, zhang zhan travelled to wuhan to report on the,, at times to wuhan to report on the, at times chaotic, early stages of the coronavirus outbreak. blending activism with journalism, she focused on the failings of the government's response to the pandemic. officers shout. it wasn't the first time she had come into conflict with authorities and she knew it was potentially risky. she has now been sentenced to four years in prison for picking quarrels and provoking trouble. a crime often used to silence dissidents in china. lawyers say they are worried she will now resume a hunger strike behind bars. translation: after we left the courtroom we saw her mother, she was crying uncontrollably.

she is such a determined person. she believes she is innocent. she is probably more determined than ever to continue her hunger strike. i am worried about her health, her life. the chinese government has been pushing the line that here, unlike so many other countries, the coronavirus has been brought under control. and it certainly does have a good story to tell in this regard. but it doesn't mean all its responses have been without problems, especially in the beginning. so, perhaps because of this, the communist party has decided to silence the likes of zhang zhan and her harsh sentence is to serve as a lesson for all. stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing. reporting the facts about coronavirus and countering misinformation has been a huge challenge over the past year. and with the need to vaccinate hundreds of millions of people, it will continue to be a major issue in 2021. imran ahmed is the head

of the ngo, the centre for countering digital hate. how bad is the problem of misinformation? we've seen it flowing throughout this crisis, whether it's about covid itself or the vaccine. my centre has been tracking the growth of the spaces in which that misinformation is spread, but also the impunity with which the key spreaders, the super spreaders of misinformation, have been able to operate, particularly on social media platforms. just give us an idea how it has manifested and what form it takes? we're not seeing key actors, so the key bad guys who have been plotting and in fact our most recent report was a report based on watching them spend three days in a

conference discussing how they would exploit the covid crisis, but also the spaces in which they spread that misinformation have been allowed to grow unchecked, so we've seen now around 59 million followers across the us and uk of individuals and spacesin the us and uk of individuals and spaces in which this misinformation is being deliberately spread, to misinform people and to raise doubts as to the efficacy of the vaccine, the dangers of covid and whether or not we can trust the experts. why are they doing this? do they believe it orare are they doing this? do they believe it or are theyjust disruptors?” get asked this all the time. some are true believers. a significant majority are essentially hucksters, spivs, trying to make a buck out of it. people are suggesting that instead of taking the vaccine you should use nebulised bleach and inhale that instead. and they happen

to have nebulised bleach to sell to you. all sorts of people. as the head of an organisation, my view is i don't really care what their purposes, what they are doing is spreading information that could cause enormous human harm. just to jump cause enormous human harm. just to jump in very quickly, let's look closely at what can be done. social media companies play a large role in this. facebook say they do remove misinformation that could lead to physical harm. including false information about approved vaccines and they have been working with the uk government. is that enough for you? iam on uk government. is that enough for you? i am on the task force that the department for culture, media and sport put together to look at misinformation. one of the things i've put to the government and social media companies is that when we actually check up on them, when

we actually check up on them, when we check what you're doing in practice, we took 1000 bits of misinformation and got some volu nteers misinformation and got some volunteers to report it using the social media's own systems, less than 5% was taken down. that's what happens when you check on them. the truth is we are being gas lit by them. they say they are doing their utmost but in reality are doing nothing. goodness. imran ahmed, thank you very much indeed. tonight's premier league fixture between everton and manchester city has been cancelled due to city's squad being hit by coronavirus. in a tweet, everton said that following a premier league board meeting this afternoon, they were informed that the fixture had been postponed on medical grounds. it said it's due to an increase in cases of covid—19 in the manchester city squad.

hello, it's a cold and bright day for many of you, but for others it really has been a winter wonderland today. we have seen snow as far south as the cotswolds and even in the downs this afternoon, and we are going to continue to see some further bouts of snow across the country. in different areas from one day to the next, but it is always going to be a fine balance for some between snow, rain and sleet. but either way it is going to be cold, frosty and icy by night. now, today it is cold out there, strong winds down the western flank, rain, but a little bit of sleet and snow mixed in over the higher ground towards pembrokeshire and cornwall. rain, sleet, snow mix clearing away from southern counties of england through the rest of today, but more showers down the eastern coast. rain on the coastal strip, a little bit of sleet and snow inland. and by the time we hit this evening, already temperatures close to freezing. now, tonight the showers become more abundant through parts of scotland and northern england.

rain along the coast, turning to sleet and snow inland, even the uphill parts. sheffield, manchester, leeds, bradford could see a covering of snow again as we head into tomorrow morning. away from that, though, it is going to be icy with temperatures widely below freezing. so another cold day in store. still breezy down western areas, but we could see a rain, sleet, snow mix move through the peak district, staffordshire, shropshire, the midlands, towards parts of wales and eventually the south—west. so another coating of snow possible for some of you. notice though through the afternoon showers mainly around coastal districts, most inland will be dry and clear with some sunshine. some of you will be dry all day long, but it will stay cold. cold because we have got low pressure sitting to the east of us, dragging down airfrom the north. but watch what happens tuesday night into wednesday. we see this weather feature push its way in. now, to the south of that, there will be some milder air, so could be some rain, but the northern edge of it pushing into colder air so a greater likelihood of some snow which could in itself cause disruption. the uncertainty is where that snow will track.

at the moment, it could just fringe into northern ireland. it looks like it could go through wales, the midlands, towards east anglia. rain along southern coastal counties, but bear in mind, if that system is a bit further south, it will be snow rather than rain in the south. the north of it staying dry and bright. that system, though, either way, once it clears out the way could give some snow for a time in east anglia and the south—east. and then into new year's eve, more in the way of batches of showers coming down, which could give us a covering of snow to take us into the new year's day across some eastern counties of england. a lot to play for, but certainly for new year's day at the moment, many will be dry and bright but still cold.

this is bbc news. the headlines: eu ambassadors have unanimously backed 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 has signed 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. the daily number of coronavirus cases in the uk has passed 40,000 for the first time. there were 41,385 new cases — with 357 more deaths — as the new variant puts pressure on hospitals. a chinese journalist, zhang zhan, who reported on the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in the city of wuhan has been sentenced to four years in jail. she was convicted of provoking trouble with her reports that criticised the authorities‘ initial response to the pandemic.