this is bbc news. my name's mike embley with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the us president—electjoe biden criticises his predecessor's vaccine rollout and pledges 100 million jabs in his first 100 days. turning this around is going to ta ke turning this around is going to take time. we might not see improvement until we are well into march as it will take time for our covid response plan to begin to produce visible progress. another record breaking surge in uk cases — up by more than 53,000 in a single day. anti—abortion protests in argentina, before the senate holds an historic vote on legalising terminations. we've a special report from iraq — and the british army interpreters facing death threats from

pro—iranian militia. another leader of the fashion world in paris p0 cardin takes the world by storm and reveals. . . and tributes to one of the biggest names in fashion — pierre cardin — who's died aged 98. —— pierre. hello and welcome. us president—electjoe biden has been further outlining us efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic under his forthcoming presidency. while congratulating president trump for finally signing the covid relief stimulus package, mr biden criticised him for what he described as a slow roll—out of the vaccination programme. the president—elect once again pledged to deliver 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office. i'm going to move heaven and earth to get us going in the right direction. i'm going to use my power under

the defence production act when i'm sworn in and order private industry to accelerate the making of the materials needed for the vaccines, as well as protective gear. vice president harris and i have been speaking with county officials, mayors, governors of both parties to speed up the distribution of the vaccines across the nation. president—elect the vaccines across the nation. biden there. in addition to his vaccination rollout target, mr biden outlined a number of other new measures in his covid response plan. he promised to invoke the defence production act to boost vaccine supply. introduce a mask manadate forfederal buildings and areas under federal jusidiction, such as airplnes, and said he would fight for congressional funding for schools to improve covid safety and allow them to reopen. meanwhile, the vice—president—elect kamala harris has received her 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 joe biden — and doctor anthony fauci —

also received the jab. their vaccinations have been televised in an effort to boost public confidence in the vaccine. let's talk to dan diamond, health policy reporter for politico. thank you very much for your time. to be fair to the trump administration, much of what mr biden is announcing seems to be built on what the trump administration has already done. i think that is fair, mike. i spoke today to biden‘s incoming coronavirus coordinator geoff, and we talked about the efforts that the trump administration had done, that the team biden was putting together thinks they can build on. and the gaps they think they can plug. the rolling out vaccines, they don't think trump has done a good job on that but developing the vaccines and getting some things in place, they think that that will be an area where they can pick up the baton and keep running. and yet, even building and expanding on what is already in place, mr biden‘s

plan is pretty ambitious isn't it? can he do it? i think there are things that are not as hard as they might sound. the 100 millionjobs in 100 days is not so millionjobs in 100 days is not so different than what the trump administration was aiming for. i think what has been tough is the number so far, numbers of vaccinations in the states are much lower than what the trump administration had promised. they had said 20 million shots by the end of the year. as of tuesday morning, the us centres for disease control said only 2 million americans had gotten shots. but is broadly a little low, probably an undercount as more numbers are coming in, but regardless, there is a gap between where the trump administration thought they would be and where they wanted to be. so biden will have some ground to make up and that is an area where he absolutely wa nts to an area where he absolutely wants to focus. so, clearly, vaccine rollout could have been faster than it has been. could mr biden had gone forever, could he have even gone further with a national mask mandate? the national masked man it is

interesting. i know the biden tea m interesting. i know the biden team was trying to figure out what they could do legally versus what they could do by asking americans to wear masks. and this is the compromise they came down on. there are lots of federal buildings, lots of places where americans will be taking public transportation there. they will be a mask mandate in other places. the president—elect is planning to ask americans to voluntarily wear a mask. in ask americans to voluntarily weara mask. in my ask americans to voluntarily wear a mask. in my coverage these past weeks and months, i won't be surprised if we see more legal challenges now to biden‘s mask mandate. we have seen local mask mandate already be challenged in court. you know of course that the biden tea m know of course that the biden team has been complaining about a lack of cooperation from the outgoing administration. has this also impacted the efforts to combat the virus, the pandemic? that is my question also. i asked them that today and they said that there are some areas where they are still getting some pushback and barriers that. they wouldn't get more specific than that on the record with me. other areas where they are getting access

to senior health officials like anthony fauci here in the united states. i know this has been a major priority across the transition, getting the government to open up to the biden team. so far on the health side, it seems like more ofa health side, it seems like more of a mixed picture but biden has gotten some access to some important officials and some planning. dan diamond, i know you are planning. dan diamond, i know you are a planning. dan diamond, i know you are a busy man. thank you very much for your time. dan diamond a health policy reported that. thank you, mike. the us has recorded its first case of the new variant of coronavirus first identified in the uk. the governor of the state of colorado —jared polis — tweeted, the person who tested positive is a man in his 20s who has no recent travel history that would link him to the uk. the number of infections in the united kingdom reported in 2a hours has risen steeply to another record. 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. this report from our health correspondent catherine burns includes flash photography. we all wanted to have a few days off over christmas but instead have 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 are very, very close to becoming overwhelmed. so it is affecting anyone and everyone. people are just beginning to be 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 and months of hard work, is getting worse. queens hospital in romford today — 20 ambulances waiting outside, some on double yellow lines because the parking bays are all full.

at one stage, you can see staff bringing hot drinks out to patients waiting in the ambulances. the hospital says they were being cared for safely but that it's under considerable pressure and is asking staff to take extra shifts. it's a similar picture across london and the south—east of england. i'd say this is the most challenging extended period that i've ever seen, and i'd 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 their highest level of patients now. the patients coming to itu now are a degree sicker, a lot of them are desperately unwell, and we've seen a real reflection of that in the amount of patients that have died. in northern ireland, hospitals say they are under pressure but coping.

and in scotland, people are being asked to stay at home over new year as cases hit a record high. this new surge in cases couldn't 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 four restrictions, the highest level. the government is about to decide if that's enough, and this warning from a scientific adviser — act now to avoid catastrophe in the new year. in my view, if we don't introduce tougher restrictions in areas in the north and areas that are 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 executive's annual thank—you message to staff acknowledges that this year has been the toughest that most can remember, but there's hope, too. by late spring, we think that with vaccine supply continuing to come on stream, we will have been able to offer all vulnerable people across this 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. a real piece of good news. but now millions more need to be vaccinated, too. catherine burns, bbc news. 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—19, which would mean its death toll is three times higher than previously reported. official figures say 55,827 people have died with covid—19 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. 0ur correspondent

keith doyle reports. a man is rescued from a crushed car. he is reunited with his child, who had already been pulled free. it was a little after midday when the 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit, the strongest to hit croatia in decades. the town of petrinja took the full force. half of its buildings have been destroyed, according to the mayor, who was talking to reporters when the quake struck. a 12—year—old girl died. these women were able to walk away from the collapsed town hall. others were moved to safety however they could be.

rescuers from all across croatia searched amongst the rubble for survivors. this man said, "i don't have anything left. " everything crumbled." in the nearby city of sisak, the mayor was holding a news conference when the tremors started. the main hospital here was badly damaged. it was also felt hundreds of miles away in the slovenian parliament building. the town of petrinja was almost destroyed during the brutal civil war in the 1990s. today's outbreak has brought devastation once again. keith doyle, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we'll take you live to argentina where both anti and pro—abortion protests are taking place outside the senate where a controversial vote is expected soon.

the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland, we're going to use money we picked up in belgium today, and then we'll be in france, and again, it'll be the same money. it's just got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his oxfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it was good. just good? no, fantastic! that's better! bells toll.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the us president—electjoe biden criticises the vaccine rollout and pledges 100 million jabs in his first 100 days. the uk registers another record—breaking surge in coronavirus cases, up by more than 53,000 in a single day. the argentine senate is debating a bill legalizing abortion, despite objections from the country's influential roman catholic church. it would allow women to end pregnancies up the vote has polarised the country and, if it does pass, its expected only to do so by a slim majority. campaigners for and against the bill have gathered in a square near the congress building in the capital, buenos aires. this woman explained why she was demonstrating against legalising abortion.

translation: the solution is there, the solution is always on the side of life. there are plenty of wonderful institutions that collaborate, that are willing to help. the problem is this bill prohibits help and offers abortion is the only solution. tamara tenenbaum is a writer and pro—choice activist and shejoins me now from buenos aires. thank you very much for talking to us. what do you think is likely to happen here? if it does pass it is likely to be tight isn't it? it is tight but not as tight as we thought. it is going to be, going to pass. right now it is only the it is going to pass. the only chance the entire choice have now is to leave the room so that we don't have the numbers so that the decision is invalid. they don't have the votes to overturn it now. theyjust don't have it. so what do you think is changed. we were hearing five senators were undecided and they have gone

towards the pro—choice side have they? yes, enough of them. two of them and that is all we needed. that is what changed. i think the most important change since 2018 which was the last time we voted for this and we lost in the senate is that this time it was the government to start of the project. it is not the same, the last government allowed the project to get to the senate. this government opt the senate. this government opt the project —— draft of the project itself. the president works towards the bill. how does the split in the senate reflects the country as a whole would you say? is it possible to generalise about the country and where opinion lies? yes. i think, in argentina like many other countries in latin america, there is a lot of hypocrisy. a lot of people who are allegedly against abortion have had abortions or abortions in theirfamily or paid have had abortions or abortions in their family or paid for abortions for their friends or lovers or whatever. so i think

it reflects the 50—50 split in the country but even that 50% which supposedly opposes abortions in argentina, usually they don't oppose abortions in their real life, they only do it verbally. and of course, as abortion campaigners say, even if abortion is banned, you never really ban abortion, just make it more illegal, difficult, dangerous — it still goes on. absolutely. in argentina, we know that almost 500,000 abortions get performed a year in this situation, legal abortions. so, it is very clear that they are not stopping abortions now. ok, thank you very much indeed. we will be back there of course as soon as it looks likely to be a definite result. many thanks tomorrow. we will be back there as soon as we have a result.

a group of interpreters who worked with the british army in iraq say their lives have become unbearable since the uk unit they worked for left the country in july. they say they're facing death threats from powerful militia which back iran, as nafiseh kohnavard reports from iraq. over the past six years, the british army has trained more than 100,000 soldiers in iraq, as part of its mission to defeat so—called islamic state. such work is impossible without iraqi interpreters. but now eight of them live in fear. atany time, someone would knock on the door of my house and fire five bullets — one bullet for me, one bullet for my wife and three bullets for my three daughters. the security situation collapsed after the killing of top iranian general qasem soleimani. he was assassinated in a us drone attack in baghdad almost a year ago, angering pro—iran

paramilitaries. they released a statement calling on all iraqis working with coalition forces to co—operate with them. there was a hidden message. "if you don't co—operate with us, we will consider you an enemy." as coronavirus hit iraq, the country went into lockdown. the coalition gave a list of the interpreters‘ names and id numbers to the iraqi security forces. this was supposed to help them pass through government checkpoints. but some armed groups linked to iran are also part of the iraqi security forces. the groups, which had already threatened the interpreters, now knew their names. i raised their case with the coalition. we protect their personal data, we do not pass that to checkpoints, we do not pass that to other organisations, including the iraqi security forces or government services. but the document i have seen

is coming from the us embassy. it looks genuine, i checked. then i would have to look into that further. in a statement, the british ministry of defence said it takes any breach of personal security extremely seriously and it is investigating the allegations. western troops, including the british army, then began leaving iraq. the interpreters were left, unemployed and unprotected. the last time the british left iraq in 2009, at least a0 interpreters were killed by militia groups. ahmed and ali say they don't want their names added to that list. nafiseh kohnavard, bbc news, iraq. tributes have been paid to the french fashion designer pierre cardin, who's died at the age of 98.

he helped revolutionise fashion in the 1950s and 60s by bringing it to the masses, producing ready—to—wear collections and putting his name on everything from underwear to pens. 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's 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 1a 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 19116 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 in10 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. the duke and duchess of sussex have launched their new spotify podcast series by paying tribute to healthcare and frontline workers for their sacrifices in 2020. harry and meghan‘s star—studded podcast debut included chats with elton john, james corden and tennis star naomi 0saka as they remembered those who have lived through uncertainty and unthinkable loss during the coronavirus pandemic. but the limelight was stolen by a very special guest, harry and meghan‘s son, archie, whojoined mum and dad to utter his first words

in public. take a listen. after me, ready, happy. happy. new. new. year! laughter. look away now if you do not like snakes and certainly do not visit here in egypt, which has a massage, using live snakes, or non— venomous has a massage, using live snakes, or non— venomous snake species. it is claimed that it increases blood circulation by releasing endorphins! if, of course, you do not run screaming from the room! more news on our website and twitter

feeds. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm @bbc mike embley. thank you so much for watching. hello. winter is finally turning white for some of us. not all of us going to see the snow over the next few days. the potential is still there for a bit more to come our way, though. it's certainly staying cold enough, but that frosty sharp frost at times overnight, icy conditions where we're seeing some showers of rain, sleet, hail, yes, some snow, notjust on hills but at times to lower levels, there are coming our way some fairly weak weather disturbances, but they're within a flow ofaircoming down from the north, which means the moisture out of these disturbances will be falling as rain but also sleet and snow in places. and we'll have had a few wintry showers overnight, into first thing in the morning. there's a sharp frost out there, maybe —9 in a few spots in scotland, icy conditions around and still some of these showers falling as snow, maybe notjust on hills, into the north, northwest of scotland, northern ireland.

a few of these wintry showers running down towards north wales, north—west england, the northwest midlands, and then we see an area of rain but turning to sleet and snow potentially for south wales, more especially running eastwards across parts of southern england during wednesday. some uncertainty about how far north it'll get, how much sleet and snow there will be within this. it'll be a cold day, yes, but much of the eastern side of the uk will stay dry and get to see a bit of sunshine. what rain, sleet and snow there is will continue to pull across parts of southern england overnight and into thursday morning before clearing. as thursday begins, we're getting some of these snow showers pushing in towards eastern parts of scotland, and it's those that are going to move further south during thursday, again giving the potential for some snow and ice in places, and notjust on hills, and the chance of some disruption as a result. so, this system will take its rain, sleet and snow showers out of scotland and into parts of england and wales as we go through thursday. the tendency for a lot of that to turn back to rain if you are seeing some snow away from hills during thursday, and where you don't get to see any rain, sleet and snow, quite a bit of cloud, maybe a few sunny spells, but it'll be cold.

that weather system still around overnight and into friday, new year's day, the start of 2021. it will tend to die out during friday but still with a good deal of cloud, especially through england and wales, and patchy rain, sleet and hill snow out of that. and little less cold on friday, but temperatures staying below average well into the start of 2021.

this is bbc news,

the headlines: joe biden has criticised vaccine distribution under the trump administration. the president—elect claimed that at the present pace, it will take yea rs the present pace, it will take years to vaccinate the american population. he once again pledged to deliver 100 million shots in his first map every in office. the uk registered another record breaking surge in coronavirus cases — up by more than 53,000 in a single day. english hospitals are now treating more covid patients than at the peak of the first wave. 0ne senior medical officer has expressed ‘extreme concern‘ at the situation. croatia has been hit by its strongest earthquake for decades. latest reports say seven people died in the quake. seismologists say the tremor of magnitude 6.4 had its epicentre about 50 kilometres from the capital, zagreb. hundreds of soldiers have been deployed to help the rescue operation.