this is bbc news, these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. us lawmakers vote for a big increase in government pay—outs to people suffering in the pandemic, but will the republican—controllled senate back it? the uk registers another record breaking surge in coronavirus cases — up by more than 53,000 in a single day. croatia is hit by its strongest earthquake for decades. a local major says half his town has been destroyed. tributes to the fashion designer pierre cardin — who brought designer clothes to the masses.

hello, and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. the us senate will begin debating later whether to increase payments to americans reeling from the covid—19 pandemic. it's the latest stage in a bitter political battle that's dominating in the final weeks of donald trump's presidency. congress has already passed a $900 billion coronavirus relief package — reluctantly signed into law by donald trump. he was reluctant because the bill only gave lower paid americans $600 each. mr trump says he wants the hand—out to be $2,000 — this put him into rare alliance with the democrats. and the us house voted to raise the pay—out figure on monday. now we'll see if the us senate decides to vote the same way. it'll need a big change of mind from republicans — their leader will speak shortly. here's our north america

business correspondent, michelle fleury, on how likely it is the senate republicans will vote to increase the payment. i think if you look back over the last few months, one of the sticking points has been about the size of the cheques that would be sent to americans who have suffered disproportionately during the pandemic. there was concern expressed by the republicans about what this would do to the deficit, what incentives they would send out, whether people will be discouraged from looking forjobs — although obviously it's hard to imagine there aren't that many jobs out there, with so many restrictions in place to control coronavirus. but that has been the source of contention during these negotiations which led to this $900 billion coronavirus package that landed on mr trump's desk to be signed, and he held up basically calling for lawmakers to rethink this and cut bigger cheques. what we have seen based on the house vote is that many republicans are opposed.

130 voted against, only 3a republicans voted for it. it took most of the democrats to get it across the line, so it's hard to see what chances it has in the senate. i think that is why you are seeing this huge focus. it really boxes republicans into a corner because they don't necessarily want to do this, but on the other hand, you have the georgia senate race which is seen as so crucial about the future control of congress. what pressure, what signal does it send to the american people that you're voting against helping them during a time of need? or some will see it as giving away too much, and it could hinder the government going forward in terms of the size of the deficit. what will happen if it doesn't get through the senate? well, i think it's hard to see beyond that. the symbolic thing is, what does it tell you about republicans? what picture does it paint, what does it tell you about the relationship between senate republicans and the outgoing president donald trump?

that is the significance of this, the outcome, people are not entirely sure, but given the noise that republicans have made in the past, it would not be surprising if they voted against it. but because of the pressure on them, we could all be surprised. that's michelle flory. in the past hour, the american vice—president—elect kamala harris has received a vaccination for covid—19 on live tv. ms harris and her husband, douglas emhoff, received the vaccine after high profile figures in the us such as presient—elect, joe biden and dr antony fauci also received the jab, to boost public confidence in the vaccine. this is about saving lives. it's literally about saving lives. i trust the scientists, and it is the scientists who've created and approved of this vaccine. so i urge everyone, when it is your turn, get vaccinated. it's about saving your life,

the lives of your family members, and the lives of your communities. so thank you, let's all do what we need to do to stay healthy and safe this holiday season, and every day of the year. thank you all. kamala harris after getting her vaccination. cases of covid—19 are soaring across united states and europe. these are the latest developments. total infections in the us have now surged past 19 million — which means one in 17 people in america are known to have had the virus. in spain, the government says it will set up a registry of people who refuse a vaccine. a jab isn't mandatory, but the government says it will share the register with other eu countries. india and pakistan have become the latest countries to detect the new, more transmissible coronavirus variant. and the uk has just reported a record number of cases in a 24—hour period, 53,135 — that's up from 41,000 yesterday.

0ur health correspondent jim reed is here. that is a stunning jump. that's right, wejust that is a stunning jump. that's right, we just had the latest figures there from the uk. 53,135 cases reported in the last 2a hours. that's the first time the number has gone above 50,000 in the uk. i should say there is some issues as a lwa ys should say there is some issues as always with the data over the christmas period, some lags in recording and reporting some of this data which can make it a bit difficult to draw comparisons. but we can also tell you there's been 414 deaths reported in the uk in the last 24 hours, within 28 days of a positive covid test. as you say, very sobering figures as we head into the new year at the moment. as these figures climb, what's the picture with hospitals? lots of pressure on the hospitals. the uk is

very much focused on the southeast of england, the area around london and south wales, as well, some hospitals we've been speaking to today in those areas have been putting out requests to staff that have been taking a very well—earned break over christmas day, asking if they can come in now, they need their help. there's also talk that their help. there's also talk that the nightingale hospitals, which we re the nightingale hospitals, which were insurance hospitals set up during the first wave but have never really been fully used, they can now be put on standby to take covid patients if the level of bed occupancy in some of these areas, especially in london, gets too high and they're just especially in london, gets too high and they‘ re just enough especially in london, gets too high and they're just enough spaces to put covid patients in. the government will announce the extension of restrictions tomorrow. what's likely to happen? that's right, we will have a cabinet meeting tonight chaired by the prime minister borisjohnson meeting tonight chaired by the prime minister boris johnson in meeting tonight chaired by the prime minister borisjohnson in around about an hour's time at 6pm. an

announcement in the house of commons tomorrow by pat hancock. some areas that are in tier 2 and tier 3 will be moved up to this new tier 4 level, meaning greater restriction levels, nonessential shops in those areas will have to close. as to what areas, we aren't sure, but some areas, we aren't sure, but some areas around cumbria in the west of england, and around the mess woodlands —— west midlands... infection rates that could come on paper, move up the ranking to tear for. there is the talk of tier 5 as well, what's the word on that? at the moment, schools are due to return in england next week. there's some talk of a staggered return to schooling, especially among secondary school children. so someone go back a week later on 11 january, if they have exams this year to contend with, but others might come back later, there's talk of delaying it a week or even

further into february for students to come back. that's all to drive down the infection rates, the latter number, which is the rate at which the virus is spreading in the uk. it's been going up and which has been blamed on this new variant being found in the southeast of england in that area. thank you, jim. margaret keenan, the first person in the world to receive the pfizer—biontech vaccine, has received her second jab. there is some flash photography coming up in these next pictures. the 90—year—old grandmother received her first injection on 8 december — as we're seeing here. today, 21 days later, she had her boosterjab at coventry‘s university hospital. 0fficialfigures say more than 520,000 people in the uk have now received their first dose of the vaccine. meanwhile, eu countries are in line for another 100 million doses of the pfizer vaccine. eu commission president ursula von der leyen tweeted...

as we mentioned, the government has announced plans for a register of people who have refused a coronavirus vaccine. it says the register won't be made public, but will be shared with other european countries. james badcock is a journalist from madrid. the health minister, salvador illa, yesterday mentioned this registry, and i think it has taken people somewhat by surprise because he was quick to point out that it doesn't mean that the vaccine is mandatory, people are free to choose. but still, the idea that central government is talking about keeping a registry, especially when health is a regional, you know, competence in spain, has surprised many people in a country which is riven by political controversy over the handling of the crisis, where the second and third—largest parties day in, day out say

the government is lying and misleading people about its handling of the coronavirus crisis, about the number of deaths, about the number of infected. i mean, this will... you know, i have looked at social media, this is already playing into those kind of divisions that we have seen throughout the crisis. other major politicians have not yet reacted to the idea. it is not really clear what the registry is for. the minister talked about it, so that we know why someone has not had it but one thing would be the health authority noting down, "ok, this person said no," but another thing seems to be keeping a separate registry of names. he also said that this information, perhaps not the names, but this information of people who are rejecting the vaccine would be shared with other european countries. ahead of the uk parliament debating

and voting on the post—brexit trade deal with the european union, the influential european research group of conservative mps has given it's backing to borisjohnson‘s deal saying it "preserves the uk's sovereignty". the group's legal team have been scrutinising the 1,200—page document since it was agreed on christmas eve. mps are expected to back the deal when it is voted on in parliament tomorrow. sir bernard jenkin is chairman of the erg's steering group — a research support group of eurosceptic conservative members of parliament. hejoins us now, thank you very much for joining hejoins us now, thank you very much forjoining us. so how would you describe this deal, then? well, there are shortcomings in it, their bits and pieces where we've had to compromise that we don't like. but overall, to produce a sovereignty compliant deal, free trade agreement with the eu where we get free access to the eu single market for our

goods without tariffs or quantitative restrictions is what people said we would never be able to achieve. in the eu has, in the end, had to accept that if they want free trade with us, they can't control us. the whole question of governance was a very persistent problem in the negotiations. in the end, while some of the language about governance exists in the agreement and there will be mechanisms for disagreeing about fair competition and state aid and what not, it's fair competition and state aid and whatnot, it's an international agreement between sovereign equals. it's not tying us into the orbit of the european union. and is that what it boils down to for you? sovereignty? very much so, because the eu always attached much more importance to centralisation and control than to democratic

sovereignty and consent. and that's why think a very large number of voters across the eu are unhappy with membership with the eu. it's why the eu commission and the eu court seems such an unaccountable body. they're not interested in accountability and democratic consent, only control. and that's why i fear other members of the european union will be taking up, as time goes on. because whatever the eu is, it's not a democracy. what that centralisation delivered was a streamlining — and obviously rights that will no longer be there. so as of the 1st of january, there will be new rules on imports and exports that will bring paperwork for the businesses and individuals that are sending things between countries. there will be customs declarations, custom text between northern ireland and great britain. if you are travelling, there will be roaming charges on calls abroad. if you want

to travel in europe, you must have six months left on your passport. there will be restrictions on travel and rights. do you welcome all of those as a price worth paying for the sovereignty that your prize highly? well, i think most of the country does. the answer is that we are being treated as a foreign country by the eu, and the uk will treat the rest of the eu as a group of foreign countries. we have got much better arrangements, and some of what we described — for example, none of the mobile phone companies will charge roaming charges — and when you talk about paperwork and compliance checks on customs, this is how we trade with the rest of the world, this is how the rest of the world, this is how the rest of the world trades with each other through customs checks, customs compliance. and when you say paperwork, as this

gets streamlined by technology, nobody is putting wet stamps on bits of paper on ports of entry. most of these will be ports from felixstowe, from out of the eu — they've long been coming into the eu without anyone checking on it because it's all gone through computers in advance. this will make things much cheaper and more streamlined. thank you very much. thank you very much. the latest headlines on bbc news... the us house of representatives has approved a big increase in government pay—outs to people suffering in the pandemic. now it's up to the senate to decide whether to back the change of plan. the uk has registered another record breaking surge in coronavirus cases, up by more than 53,000 in a single day. health officials say they're extremely concerned. a strong earthquake has damaged buildings in towns in central croatia. seismologists say the tremor

measured between 6.2 and 6.4 on the richter scale. the epicentre was about 50 kilometres south—west of the capital, zagreb. here's our balkans correspondent, guy de launey. it was croatia's strongest earthquake in decades, and it reduced much of petrinja to rubble. this town was devastated in croatia's war of independence. now its residents are facing another rebuilding project. but right now, the priority is accounting for all their people, helpers arrived from all over croatia — they include teams from the military and mountain rescue services. the country's president was also quickly on the scene. zoran milanovic described the destruction as a "horror", while local people pressed him to provide support for theirfamilies. translation: i think it's the biggest blow to people, the fear you feel, shaking above you and around you. what has been destroyed and damaged will be rebuilt. it's a problem, but it's

a minor problem in fact. this nearby city was also affected. the main hospital and municipal headquarters were among the buildings which suffered significant damage. the government has promised its support. translation: we came to give support to citizens of these municipalities and other cities affected by this earthquake. unfortunately, the way the year started, it's kind of ends the same way. people in the capital, zagreb, can sympathise. they still haven't finished reconstruction after an earthquake in march, and this latest tremor caused power cuts and further damage to buildings. hundreds of kilometres away, mps in neighbouring slovenia also felt the force of the quake. they abruptly aborted a session in the national assembly as the debating chamber vibrated. but petrinja has undoubtedly suffered the most.

its people will be evacuated, and it's not clear when they will be able to return. it marks a catastrophic end to a difficult year. guy de launey, bbc news. 0llie foster has all the sport. good evening. in the latest round of premier league testing, there were 18 positive coronavirus results, the highest weekly number this season. sheffield united have revealed that they have a number of cases at the club, but their match at burnley goes ahead tonight. manchester city match at everton was postponed just four hours before kick off after "a number of positives" at city. they have restested players and staff today and closed the training ground to try and contain the outbreak. their next game against chelsea on sunday is in doubt as is their league cup semifinal against manchester united three days later. gabrieljesus and kyle walker had already tested positive on christmas day. the southampton manager ralf hasenhuttl will miss tonight's match against west ham.

a member of his family has tested positive for coronavirus so he is having to self—isolate. the club say he will watch from home and will remain in contact with the team and coaching staff at st mary's throughout the game via a video and audio link. that's one of five premier league games this evening. manchester united will move up to second in the table if they beat wolves. edinson cavani could be involved from the start for only the second time in a league game since joining the club. definitely a starter, you don't classify a player of that quality as anything else. we've got plenty of starters, more than 11 starters, and that's the thing when you're at man united. you should believe in yourself, trust yourself. i trust them, i trust my players. we've got good competition for places and he will probably start more games than he will not start. india thrashed australia by eight wickets in melbourne with a day to spare to level their test series

at 1—1 with two to play. after bowling the hosts out for 200, they easily chased down the 70 runs required. it's a remarkable turnaround after they were heavily beaten in the first test having been bowled out for their lowest test score of 36. the third test in sydney starts on the sixth january. i think this will go down in the annals of indian cricket, world cricket, as one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the game. you know, to be rolled overfor 36 and then three days later to get up and be ready to punch, this was outstanding. i think the boys deserve all the credit for the character they showed, real character. australias star batsman steve smith needs to find some form. he's yet to reach double figures in the series but his captain is sure he'll come good. someone like steve in particular hasn't been able to get in yet. 0nce he does, he will find a way like he a lwa ys he does, he will find a way like he always does, and the rest of us will

follow suit. we need to improve, there's no doubt about that. these are not plans we are encountering for the first time. and south africa have completed victory in theirfirst test against sri lanka in centurion. they cruised to the win by an innings and 45 runs. the second and final test starts in johannesburg on 3 january. that's all the sport for now. i'll be back with sportsday at 6:30pm with premier league football and more coronavirus news as well, and more coronavirus news as well, and how it's impacting football at the moment. that's 6:30pm and i'll see you then. legendary french fashion designer pierre cardin has died at the age of 98. he transformed the fashion industry in the 1960s and 70s by successfully licensing his brand name, and introducing futuristic styles. his family says he died in a hospital near paris. 0ur correspondent daniela relph looks back at his life. newsreel: another leader of the fashion world in paris, pierre cardin, takes the town by storm and reveals to breathlessly

excited womanhood what they simply must be wearing by easter. pierre cardin, the fashion world supreme innovator. for decades, his designs ripped up convention and shocked the establishment. his thirst for the new and surprising was never satisfied. born in 1922, he left school at 14 to train in making cloth. a fortune teller told him he'd be famous. he asked if she knew anyone who worked in fashion. she did. he moved to paris, clutching an address. he designed costumes forjean cocteau's film beauty and the beast in 1946, and was soon unnerving the fashion industry itself. his 1950's bubble dress took liberties with the female silhouette. he moved young men out of boxyjackets, creating a new look for the 1960s. the beatles, in their collarless cardin suits, said he was one step ahead of tomorrow.

he irritated his fellow high—fashion designers, launching ready—to—wear collections for the middle classes. and indulged in futuristic fantasies, inspired by the space age. some of it, impractical to wear. this was his proposed uniform for nurses. he was a savvy businessman, showing this 1970s collection in china, where fashion was set by chairman mao. but he spotted potential. i expect in the future, not for tomorrow, but i'm sure in ten years, china will become the most important country in the world. cardin established licensing agreements, putting his name on everything, from glasses to fancy carpets. it changed the way the industry worked. he bought a castle once owned by the marquis de sade, putting on shows there into his tenth decade. still experimenting, still innovating. pierre cardin, capturing the future before it exists.

fashion designer pierre cardin, who's died at the age of 98. now here's something not for the faint—hearted — look away now if you don't like snakes. a spa in cairo has introduced a massage using live snakes. masseurs start as normal by rubbing oil on their clients' backs, followed by the use of a combination of pythons or 28 other non—venomous snake species. the massage is claimed to relieve muscle pain and improve people's self—confidence by increasing blood circulation and releasing endorphins. just before we go, time to remind you of our breaking news this hour. that is these new covid—19 case numbers in the uk. very high new figures for yesterday, 53,135 people testing positive — a big jump from yesterday and will raise concerns as ministers decide about new

restrictions to be decided tomorrow. you're watching bbc news. hello there. some parts of the uk have got a considerable amount of lying snow. now, of course, that's going to lead to some treacherous conditions regarding ice over the next few days, but also over the next few days, if you haven't got snow where you are, it's likely you could see some as we will see a couple of features moving down from the north to bring a dusting of snow. and, of course, there will be that continued risk of ice. it's all brought in by this very cold air coming down from the north, arctic air, and that's feeding lots of showers into coastal areas as we move through the overnight period. as the winds turn a little bit northwesterly overnight, it looks like we will see most of the showers affecting western coasts through northern ireland, down through a receipt coasts, whereas central eastern areas will generally be dry with some clear spells. it's going to be a cold

night wherever you are, subzero values for most, could see it —8—9 across some of the scottish glens. so, for tomorrow, we start off on a very cold note. watch out for early ice. we will continue with wintry showers across northern and western coasts, and we are keeping an eyeon this feature which is moving in from the southwest. now, that could bring increasing cloud, outbreaks of rain in south wales, southwest england, as it bumps into the cold air. as it moves eastwards inland, it could turn intto sleet and snow, but some uncertainty to its extent, so you have to keep tuned to the forecast. many central and eastern areas will tend to stay dry with some sunshine, but it's going to be a cold day. now, we think through wednesday night, that feature might run across southern england to bring some snow, rain close to the coasts. then we look to the north, this next weather front bringing a mixture of rain, sleet and snow, considerable snow probably falling over the higher ground of central southern scotland with this as we move first thing into thursday morning. now, that's all tied in with this area of low pressure sitting out in the north sea. the weather front spreading southwards is what's bringing the snow. you'll notice quite a few isobars out west, it's going to be quite windy here, making it feel even colder.

so, we could start off with some disruptive snow across central southern parts of scotland, mainly over the hills, but even down to lower levels, that will push into northern, western parts of england, perhaps wales as we go through the course of thursday, which, of course, is new year's eve. the best of any sunshine will tend to be towards eastern areas, but it's going to be cold, particularly factoring the strong northerly winds across western areas. so, as we head on into new year's day and the first weekend of january 2021, it stays cold with some sunshine, further wintry showers particularly around the coasts.

this is bbc news, the headlines... the us senate is to decide whether to back a big increase

in government relief payments for victims of the coronavirus pandemic. the increase was passed by the democrat—controlled house of representatives — but there's a narrow republican majority in the senate. the uk has registered another record breaking surge in coronavirus cases — up by more than 53,000 in a single day. health officials say they're extremely concerned. english hospitals are now treating more covid patients than at the peak of the first wave. spain says it will set up a register of people who refuse to get the covid vaccine — and share it with other eu nations. the list will not be accessible to the public. the legendary french fashion designer pierre cardin has died at the age of 98. he transformed the fashion industry in the 1960s and 70s with his futuristic stules. next, from theatre screenings to sofa screenings, mark kermode takes a look back at the big releases, on both the big and little screens, and how the film industry

has had to adapt this year —