the trump administration. the president—elect claimed that at the present pace it would take years not months, to vaccinate the entire american population. he once again pledged to deliver 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office. large crowds of campaigners both for and against abortion have gathered outside the argentine congress in the capital, buenos aires, as the senate debates a bill to legalise terminations. it would allow voluntary abortions up to the fourteenth week and has already been approved by the lower house. a group of interpreters who worked with the british army in iraq say their lives have become unbearable since their unit left the country injuly. they say they're facing death threats from pro—iranian militia. more than 100,000 iraqi soldiers received british training in the last six years.

it is just about half past two in the morning. now on bbc news — three years in wuhan. wuhan, china's economic heartland. and the epicentre of a global pandemic. the city at the heart of a public health crisis in china is shutting its public transport network to try to prevent the spread of a virus. in the spring of 2017, we set out to follow the fortunes of two companies as they fought to establish themselves in the city's 0ptics valley. a dedicated zone for new technology enterprises, it's part of the move to transform the city's economy. this is the story of some of the people who live and work in the city.

and the story of wuhan before and after the arrival of the coronavirus that would change all of our lives. previously on three years in wuhan, robotics ceo xujishui and his business partner, zhang zepang, clashed over the direction of their company. and a start—up founder, huang tiesen, struggled to raise more capital to support his struggling tech business. summer in wuhan is

intense and oppressive. the scorching heat and high humidity can continue from may to october and it's often difficult to be outside. xu zishui has bearly three weeks to deliver the distillery project. his trials into robotics have been financilly crippling and if his present project goes wrong, it could mean the end of the business.

in beijing, tiesen continues to meet with potential investors. the $300,000 he received from an angel investor a year ago is almost gone. without another source of funding, they'll struggle to keep going. tiesen makes one final stop, beijing's start—up street in zhongguancun, where all dot companies aspire to be. for tiesen, that dream seems out of reach.

spirits are low, the only person tiesen can turn to is his girlfriend and colleague, ying menghua.

always in search of ideas and inspiration, xu jishui and a colleague go shanghai to attend an international robotics exhibition.

tiesen is also in shanghai. he's come to give his angel investor, mrwan, an update on his company. but mrwan is becoming impatient.

mrwan is unimpressed. tiesen comes under renewed pressure to deliver. xu has returned to wuhan and is visiting his father, a retired mechanical engineer. his father's geveration grew up in the aftermath of world war ii and watched wuhan become china's largest industrial centre. but the shift towards high—tech has brought new and unexpected challenges.

as their time in shanghai draws

to a close, tiesen and menghua make their way to the city's famous riverside.

before they leave shanghai, they go and check out the competition at a fruit and vegetable industry fair.

after the initial shock, they continue looking at what other software companies have to offer.

the argument doesn't end there.

the fracture in tiesen‘s and menghua's relationship will have lasting repercussions. wuhan‘s high—tech 0ptics valley is home to 90,000 companies, spanning a range of

emerging industries. competition is fierce and many start—ups won't make it to their second year. robotics is one of the lucky ones and is marking its second anniversary with a party. but not all are in celebratory mood. xujishui and his business partner zhang zipeng, previously clashed over the direction of their company.

tiesen and menghua have returned to wuhan and tensions are still high. emotions at crisis point, menghua needs a change of air.

in the next episode, the team at robotics works flat—out to try and meet their deadline. tiesen and his menghua fight to take their company to the next level. and wuhan becomes the epicentre of a global pandemic. this is the moment a city of 11 million people was effectively shut off. an event which will change everything.

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, with that risk of disruption. 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.

welcome to bbc news — i'm mike embley. our top stories: the us president—electjoe biden criticises his predecessor's vaccine rollout and pledges 100 millio jabs in his first one hundred days. this is going to take more time than anybody would like and more than the promises from the trump administration have suggested. anti and pro—abortion protests in argentina before the senate holds an historic and controversial vote. we've a special report from iraq, and the british army interpreters facing death threats from pro—iranian militia. takes the town by storm. and tributes to one of the biggest names in fashion — pierre cardin — who's died aged 98.