this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the uk registers another record—breaking surge in coronavirus cases, up by more than 53,000 in a single day. if the virus is allowed to continue to transmit and increase, particularly with the new strain of the virus, there could be catastrophic consequences in terms of the numbers of hospitalisations and deaths. the us president electjoe biden has said he'll use the defence production act to boost production of the coronavirus vaccine. croatia is hit by its strongest earthquake for decades. latest reports suggest seven people have died, as one local mayor says half his town has been destroyed. anti—abortion protestors march in argentina, as the senate prepares to hold an historic vote on legalising terminations.

another leader in the fashion world and paris, pierre cardin, takes the town by storm... and one of the biggest names in fashion design, pierre cardin, has died at the age of 98. as coronavirus surges worldwide, the uk has set another record for the number of infections reported in 2a hours. 0ne senior medical officer has expressed ‘extreme concern‘ at the situation. official data puts the figure at 53,135 new coronavirus cases in the latest 24—hour period, and a14 deaths were reported. these figures come ahead of any changes to england's lockdown restrictions, which could be announced tomorrow. this report from our health correspondent catherine burns

includes flash photography. we all wanted to have a few days off over christmas, but instead we've been asked to come back to work. this time, it's a wave. this time, we've seen a massive increase. if we continue with the current rate of admissions, we're very close to being overwhelmed. it is affecting anyone and everyone. people are just exhausted, it's been such a long year. doctors and nurses from the nhs front line telling us what it's like to deal with a pandemic that, after months of hard work is getting worse. queens hospital in romford in essex today — 20 ambulances waiting outside. some on double yellow lines because the parking bays were full. at one stage, you can see staff bring hot drinks out to patients waiting in the ambulances. the hospital says that they were being cared for safely, but that it is under considerable pressure and is asking staff to take extra shifts.

the pressure is intense across london and the south—east. i would say this is the most challenging extended period that i have ever seen, and i would like to just take the opportunity to pay tribute to the staff who have worked phenomenally hard and well. more than 21,000 people are being treated in hospital for covid across the uk. in wales, they're dealing with the highest level of patience now. the patients coming now to intensive are a degree sicker and many of them desperately unwell, and we have seen a real reflection of that in the amount of patients that have died. in northern ireland, hospitals say they're under pressure but coping. in scotland, people are being asked to stay at home over the new year as cases hit a record high. this new surge in cases could not come at a worse time of year for the nhs. winter always brings extra pressures, with more respiratory illnesses as well as slips, trips and falls in icy weather.

this year, on top of that and the pandemic, social distancing means hospitals need to keep patients further apart, and the nhs in england is operating with around 10% fewer beds than usual. in england, 2a million people are already living under tier 4 restrictions, the highest level. the government is about to decide if that is enough and this morning if that is enough and this warning from a scientific adviser — "act now to avoid catastrophe in the new year." in my view, if we do not introduce tougher restrictions in areas in the north and areas not currently in tier 4, they will rise to very high levels of disease and hospitalisations similar to those seen in london. the nhs chief executives annual thank—you message to staff acknowledges that this year has been the toughest that most can remember. but there is hope, too. by late spring, we think that with vaccine supply

continuing to come on stream, we will be offering all vulnerable people across the country this covid vaccination. three weeks ago, margaret keenan became the first person to have a covid vaccine outside of clinical trials. today, she's had her second booster dose. catherine burns, bbc news. in scotland, the public have been urged to stay at home on new year's eve and not celebrate hogmanay with other households. the advice from the first minister nicola sturgeon follows a record number of covid cases reported on a single day in scotland. my main message to people really is to make sure that you are not visiting other people's houses right now. that is the most important thing of all, and unfortunately that includes hogmanay and new year. this year i know we are all desperate to kick 2020 into touch, but we must do that safely and the safest way to do that this year is to be in our own homes with your own households. let's look at some more

developments on the coronavirus story elsewhere in the world. in germany, the health authorities have approved a new rapid coronavirus test that can give results within a0 minutes. the company behind it say it's based on highly reliable pcr technology. spain says it will set up a registry of people who've refused to be vaccinated against coronavirus. the list will be shared with other european union nations, but it won't be made public. russia's deputy prime minister has revealed more than 80% of excess deaths this year are linked to covid—i9, which would mean its death toll is three times higher than previously reported. official figures say 55,827 people have died with covid—i9 in russia. australia says it could deport british backpackers who flout covid rules after hundreds were seen partying at a sydney beach on christmas day. videos of the gathering showed crowds of young people at bronte beach. local health officials called it ‘absolutely appalling‘ behaviour.

local media in croatia are reporting that the earthquake there has killed seven people. seismologists say the tremor of magnitude 6.4 had its epicentre about 50 kilometres from 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 and 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, quickly on the scene. zoran milanovic described the destruction as a "horror", while local people pressed him to provide support for their families. 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, its kind the year started, it 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. returning to coronavirus now, and president electjoe biden has been speaking in the past few minutes about us efforts to combat the pandemic. he pledged to put plans in place that would administeri million shots before the end of his first 100 days in office. i will move heaven and earth to get us i will move heaven and earth to get us going in the right direction and use my power under the defence production act to order private industry to accelerate making the materials needed for the vaccines as well as protecting gear —— protective gear. vice president harris and i have been speaking with officials, mayors and governors of

both parties to speed up the distribution of the vaccine across the nation. the republican leader in the senate appears to have blocked consideration of a measure to increase payments to americans reeling from the covid—i9 pandemic. congress has already passed ace $900 billion relief package signed into law by president trump. mr trump says he wants the hand—out to be 2000 dollars. this put him into rare alliance with the democrats. the us house voted to raise the pay—out figure on monday. but as we said, mitch mcconnell, the republican senate leader, has prevented debate on the measure. that was despite this plea to approve the payouts immediately from chuck schumer, the democratic leader in the senate. a vast majority of the public, republican and democrat, strongly support $2,000 checks.

an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the house supports 2000 checks. senate democrats strongly support $2,000 checks. even president trump supports $2,000 checks. there is one question left today — do senate republicans join with the rest of america in supporting $2,000 checks? now, some of my republican colleagues have said they support the checks, but there‘s a major difference in saying you support $2,000 checks and fighting to put them into law. julia manchester writes for politics website the hill. i spoke with her about the latest developments. well, we already know that mitch mcconnell today essentially blocked an effort from senate democrats bernie sanders and chuck schumer to bring forth an up or down vote on that $2000 stimulus check. mitch mcconnell did not indicate exactly why he voted to block that initiative, however

he did say that president trump in calling for the $2000 stimulus check also called on a greater regulation on tech companies, as well as other initiatives in terms of investigating the 2020 presidential election, with president trump saying without evidence that there was evidence of voter fraud. so, we know that is playing into mitch mcconnell's decision today. however, lots of drama on capitol hill because we know senator bernie sanders, the progressive senator from vermont, said he will block the senate's moved to override the senate's move to override a defence spending bill from that veto that president trump put forth on that spending bill in the senate if they do not vote on a $2000 stimulus check. let‘s ask the question that many americans will be thinking — if it‘s $600, how quickly will they get it? well, we are expecting americans will start to get them by the very end of the year,

so in the next couple of days and next month. we know the government will definitely be hastily trying to get that to americans, considering we're starting off the year in a very dire economic stage. some americans over the holiday season did not have the normal holiday season that they normally have due to this economic downturn. so, there will definitely be a rush, but we are seeing that lawmakers on capitol hill, as this congress wraps up, is really trying to get that $2000 stimulus check out to americans. next week is all changed, there‘s a new congress? there's a new congress and, in addition to a new congress, you also have a major election happening in georgia, those two senate runoffs happening where two republican incumbents, kelly loeffler and david perdue, are up for re—election — again, they are facing off against democrats raphael warnock and jon 0ssoff. we do know that kelly loeffler and david perdue were among the republicans today who signalled their support for that

$2000 stimulus check after very much going against it until president trump came out in favour of it last week. so, it kind of shows how all of these events in american politics are really coming together around the stimulus checks and georgia's senate runoffs. here in the uk, lawmakers appear set to back the compromise brexit trade deal hammered out at great length with the european union. hardline conservatives, most sceptical of ties with europe, have indicated they will support the agreement on wednesday. the opposition leader sir keir starmer, who opposed brexit, is trying to persuade all his labour mps to vote in favour too, on the grounds that a slim deal is better than no deal. here‘s our political correspondentjessica parker. it‘s important to point out — boris johnson is likely to get his trade deal through parliament tomorrow. he has a majority, he today won the backing of a group of eurosceptic conservative mps in parliament. but things are looking a bit more

complicated, as you say, for the labour party. sir keir starmer has ordered his mps to back the agreement. he describes that agreement as thin, but says it‘s better than a no—deal outcome, and he doesn‘t feel that labour should be, as he put it, "sitting on the sidelines by abstaining". but at least a handful of his own mps do look set to defy him. some of them argue the deal will pass anyway, they shouldn‘t put their names, they say, to an agreement they think is bad for the country. but regardless, a deal does look set to race through parliament as parliament is recalled here tomorrow. now of course, the uk did actually leave the eu back injanuary, but it‘s in two days‘ time that it actually extracts itself from the european union at the end of the transition period. so, on issues of trade and immigration, that is when the relationship fundamentally changes — that‘s when we begin to find out what brexit really means. the argentine senate is debating a bill legalising abortion, despite objections from the country‘s influential roman catholic church. the bill would allow women to end pregnancies up to the fourteenth week.

the vote has polarised the country and, if it does pass, it‘s expected only to do so by a slim majority. activists on both sides of the debate are holding rallies today. two years ago a similar bill was approved by the lower house but was narrowly rejected by the more conservative senate. drjulieta ireizo is from the network of health professionals for the right to decide in buenos aires, and earlier, i asked how she was feeling ahead of this historic vote. well, we are really hopeful that the senate will vote in favour for this law. we are really hopeful for that, we are really anxious and this is a day of fight and ofjoy, we say here. what has the effect of the band been for women with unwanted pregnancies? what has the effect of the ban been for women with unwanted pregnancies? well, what happens is that when the senate in 2018 rejected the bill, on that year, 35 people, 35 women died

from abortion—related causes. and what happens is that, as we don‘t have official statistics because we don‘t have a law — what we have is that in 40,000 women have been committed into hospitals related to dangerous and unsafe abortion complications. and this is an issue that everybody is watching in argentina. tell me about what it was like when the bill went through the lower house. well, it was a great day, we were all on the streets and there were many people with all the safe care, because we are in the pandemic. but it was great. but we are hopeful that this time, the senate will vote in favour because we don‘t want to be disappointed like 2018.

and yet there are many conservative voices in the senate who say they oppose this, and they speak for the moral majority in argentina. yes, but we have is that in our country and the senate, i want to say the majority — there is a high percentage of legislators with conservative thoughts and perspectives, and their arguments against women‘s rights and pregnant people‘s rights are more or less moral and religious. so, we hope this year will be the time to reject it again. so, we hope this year won‘t be the time to reject it again. when you say rejected again, this is the ninth time that i bill to legalise abortion has been presented to congress. so, you‘re used to this fight. if you win this time, do you think it will have an impact

elsewhere in south america? yes, of course, and we are hopeful that happens. because you know in latin america, there are only a few countries that have legal abortion. most of them are restricted or have restrictions, or they are even prohibited. so, we hope that this will be a nice example in latin america and the other countries. and do you think that this particular battle over abortion, a woman‘s right to choose, has energised women politically and abroad ? yes, the trans—feminist movement here in argentina and latin america is historical. yes, the fight to choose, the abortion fight is a particular one because it means that women and pregnant people can choose our lives and our own health. so, it is really important.

drjulieta ireizo, and we‘ll be following that vote over the next few hours. legendary french fashion designer pierre cardin has died at the age of 98. he was hailed for his visionary creations but also for being a pioneer of stylish, ready—to—wear clothes for the masses. during his more than seven decades in fashion, pierre cardin brought geometric shapes to haute couture and took the pioneering route of licensing his name for a wide range of products from perfume to pens, ties and cars. in a moment, i‘ll bejoined by todd hughes and david ebersole, who directed a documentary about pierre cardin. but first, let‘s give you a flavour of their film. pierre cardin. pierre.

a control freak. a label, a logo, a controlfreak. a label, a logo, a legend. that was house of cardin, and the people behind the film join me from palm springs, california. todd and david, hello. welcome to bbc news. hello. thank you for having us. this is obviously a passion project of yours. what drove you to it? we only say it's divine providence, because wejust love the man. we didn‘t know he was alive. we just collected love the man. we didn‘t know he was alive. wejust collected his furniture and we had his car. he had a record label, so we werejust furniture and we had his car. he had a record label, so we were just avid collectors and we happened to be in paris in 2016 and discovered he was a real person and he was alive. and

we met him, not with the intention of making a documentary, just to get a picture and meet him because we thought he was extraordinary. then for the. we are film-makers so we assumed we would approach him about assumed we would approach him about a documentary, so after we left our meeting with him, just like in our film, we basically said, when you wa nt film, we basically said, when you want to get started?|j film, we basically said, when you want to get started? i love the idea that you knew him from his creations and then you go to paris and bump into him. what did you say to him? how did you say you‘d like to get to know him? you know, we didn't even have to say that because... we just sort of enter the conversation running and just started talking about a movie and what it could be. we initially wanted to make it 3d, which he loved. then we got to know

him and the more time we spent with him... we were able to become friends. i can see you multitasking. we canjust friends. i can see you multitasking. we can just see a glimpse of your home behind you, and i‘m thinking clea n home behind you, and i‘m thinking clean lines, dutiful geometry, and i can see what it appealed to you —— beautiful geometry. when you think of his space age obsession, he led the way. there‘s a lot we take for granted now, but he kind of had that vision first. one thing about his particular space age obsession is that it was extremely positive. we think about futurism today. the walking dead and... the visions of the future where everything has falle n the future where everything has fallen apart, and pierre cardin was

especially essential as someone who was looking at the future with an incredible amount of positivity, which is really helpful at the moment. with an eye to internationalism. what you say really strikes me because here i am reporting, and we‘re all thinking about the pandemic and difficulties and medical devastation, and you‘re talking about someone who tried to make horizons whiter and brighter. so true. through colour, through design to try to improve the world, one thing we can ask... the thing is that there's always an idea underneath what he did. so, yes, he diversified the runway. yes, he invented... but his idea was that self—expression should be for

everybody, that beauty was something we can all participate in and that kind of positivity brings all these incredible things to your life. so, when you watch the film, we feel you really do get to see and know mr cardin and be inspired by him. he's really quite a man. we really thought we‘d film his 100 birthday party. we are are shocked. thought we‘d film his 100 birthday party. we are are shockedlj thought we‘d film his 100 birthday party. we are are shocked. ijust wa nt to party. we are are shocked. ijust want to say, if there are youngsters who didn‘t know pierre cardin was a real person, what single simple thing sums him up for you?” real person, what single simple thing sums him up for you? i mean, i guess the thing most people respond about is futurism and the space age, but i think what he told us that really resonated with us is a very

simple french line which means everything is possible. the idea that as you go forward into life, if you can carry that philosophy...” have to cut you off. todd and david, thank you so much. hello there. parts of the uk have seen quite a bit of snowfall over the last few days, mainly north and western parts of england into wales, northern scotland and parts of northern ireland. the south—east corner, though, still hasn‘t seen that much, you could see some over the next few days, and likely to see further bouts of rain, sleet and snow. of course, ice will be an issue pretty much wherever you are over the coming few days. this cold northerly wind blowing right down across the country will be with us for the rest of this week and into the start of 2021. it‘ll be pushing in lots of showers around coastal areas overnight, but through the night, it looks like we could see winds turning a little bit more northwesterly via the showers into western coasts of scotland, northern ireland, into western england and wales. could see some lengthy clear spells further east. it‘ll be a cold night wherever

you are, could see temperatures of —8, —9 celsius in some of the snowy glens of scotland. so for wednesday, then, we continue with the coastal wintry showers. this feature running into the south west could bring cloud and outbreaks of rain and, as it bumps into the cold air into southern england and south wales, it could turn into sleet and snow, certainly over the high ground, with rain closer to the coast. but there‘s still some uncertainty to the northwards or southwards extent of this. a cold day for many, but there will be some sunshine particularly across central and eastern areas. now it could be through wednesday night, this feature runs across southern england into the south east to bring some rain, sleet and snow over the high ground — again, this is one system to watch. and this feature running south across central and southern scotland, northern england could bring some substantial snow certainly to the high ground here, so we could be looking at some disruption to start new year‘s eve here. and a cold night to come, again, subzero values for most of us. now this is the pressure chart for new year‘s eve — for thursday, low pressure over the north sea, higher pressure out west, fairly breezy conditions out west, a strong northerly here,

that will just accentuate the cold. it does look like new year‘s eve could be quite disruptive across central and southern scotland, northern england, this mixture of rain, sleet and a hill snow will push southwards into western england, perhaps wales as we head through the day. could start to weaken, though, as it moves southwards — there‘s some uncertainty on this, you‘ll have to stay tuned to the forecast. there will be some sunshine around again, but it won‘t do much for the temperatures, it‘ll stay cold. and then for new year‘s day and the first weekend of january 2021, it looks cold with further rain, sleet and snow in places.

this is bbc world news. the headlines —

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. us president—electjoe biden has said he‘ll use the defense production act to speed up the coronavirus vaccine. he said 2 million americans have had the jab, well short of president trump‘s pledge of 20 million by the end of the year. croatia has been hit by its strongest earthquake for decades. latest reports say seven people died in the quake, which had a magnitude of 6.4. and tributes are paid to legendary french fashion designer pierre cardin, who‘s died at the age of 98. now on bbc news, a special programme from the our world team. on september 8, 2020, the moria refugee camp on the greek island