this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the united states has passed a grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, recording more than 20 million cases. research confirms the the new coronavirus variant discovered in the uk has a much quicker rate of transmission. if the new variant is now present, with this increase in the r number, all of a sudden instead of this decrease of 30%, we get a massive increase, the number of cases over the all primary schools in london are to remain closed for the start of term, after a u—turn by the british government. the us senate has delivered a rebuke to donald trump in the dying days of his presidency, overriding his veto of a defence bill. a new era begins, as the brexit transition period ends and the uk completes its formal separation from the european union. and it goes without saying 2020

was difficult for all of us. how did we do? we'll talk to columnist who says we did surprisingly well. hello and welcome if you're watching on pbs in the us or around the world, and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. the united states has passed a grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, recording more than 20 million cases. that's more than any other country in the world. according to the latest figures from johns hopkins university, there are now 20,007,149 cases of coronavirus in the us. 346,408 people have lost their lives during the pandemic. on wednesday alone, more than 3,900 people died of covid—19 in the us, a new daily record.

in california, san diego county public health officals confirmed three more cases of the new, more infectious strain on thursday, bringing the total to four. they say this means the new variant could be widespread. let's speak to paul sisson, health care reporter at the san diego union—tribune. paul, tell us more about the discovery, these three patients. we found out from our local health officials yesterday that they've been able to confirm three additional cases after the first case was confirmed using what they call ds drop technique first discovered in the uk. it gives kind ofa discovered in the uk. it gives kind of a smoke technical to some of the tests that have come back —— smoke signal. has been able to quickly start sequencing the genomes of

these tests that come back with the drop president. do we know if any of these people had been to the united kingdom or is it pretty widespread where you are already? the people interviewed as of yesterday, three of the four had no recent travel. so, it really does look like the strain is all over the place. they've interviewed, they found they are spread out all over our community. they‘ re are spread out all over our community. they're not clustered in one place and none of them know each other at all. that gives our local epidemiologists a bit of a reckoning. paul, county health officials say they believe this is widespread in the area. what does

that mean in terms of precautions that mean in terms of precautions that are going to have to be followed 7 that are going to have to be followed? it means they're down on the message, which is where a mask, wash her hands as much as you can and avoid large gatherings —— wash your hands. if you're most of the united states, gathering around holidays more than public health would like them too. we've seen big increases in cases in san diego, quite significant and the number of people being hospitalised. so, without a widespread vaccine, there's nothing to do than to stay home under a general stay—at—home orderfrom the home under a general stay—at—home order from the state. itjust reemphasizes the idea that people really need to stay at home, especially last night.” really need to stay at home, especially last night. i wanted to ask about the vaccine because the us

failed in its target by 20 million at the end of the year. what is the picture where you are? we do have a fairamount of picture where you are? we do have a fair amount of vaccines trickling in. san diego has about 20 or so hospitals, so many have already begun vaccinating their front line staff. we' re begun vaccinating their front line staff. we're starting to get into nursing homes this week. we're not yet with enough vaccines to be able to vaccinate primary care workers out in community. paul sisson, thank you for your time and happy new year to you. thank you. well, as we've heard, there are growing concerns about a new variant of the coronavirus after more analysis confirmed it has a much quicker rate of transmission than the original strain. the variant has now been identified in at least 18 countries around the world after it was originally found here in the uk. it's putting enormous stress

on british hospitals. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. it might be a new year, but there's no letup in the pressure on hospitals in london and the south—east. a surge in seriously ill covid patients mean staff are being pushed to the limit. intensive care beds are a real pinch point. some patients are being moved from kent to bristol and plymouth where there's spare capacity. that in itself is not unheard of but doctors say it shows the pressures they are working under. if the number of cases don't begin to reduce fairly soon, and indeed reduce sharply, we would be in a situation where the health care infrastructure, notjust in london but across the entire country, is overwhelmed. and it's not just rising patient numbers. staff themselves are falling ill, meaning resources are getting stretched. everybody's reporting a lot of pressure. everybody is saying it's really difficult to off—load ambulances because our departments are full, because in turn our hospitals are full.

it's very frustrating because you can't look after patients the way you want to, and you feel helpless when you know there is a sick patient in an ambulance that you just can't get into a department because there isn't space. in order to provide some relief, the nightingale hospital in london is being made ready for non—covid patients, but still hospitals report the situation remains very difficult. when we are seeing major london trusts, as we have seen in the media today, basically saying they are under real pressure, they are at more than double the normal rate of icu admissions, then we see they are turning whole floors into additional icu space, that's when we know we are in a very, very challenging place. this surge in patient numbers is being driven by the new variant of the coronavirus. it's more contagious and is affecting more younger people. it's having an impact notjust on hospitals in london and the south—east, but right across the country. new research highlights the impact

the new variant of the virus is having on the r number — the rate at which it spreads. under the lockdown, maybe over the course of two to three weeks, the cases would have decreased by something like 30%. but if the new variant is now present, with this increase in the r number, all of a sudden instead of this decrease of 30%, we get a massive increase, the number of cases over the same period could triple. so, this is more or less the most serious change in the virus we have seen since the epidemic began. the best defence against the virus remains maintaining social distance, good hand hygiene and wearing face coverings, but the big concern is as this new variant spreads, the extreme pressures now evident in london and the south—east will soon be seen across the country. dominic hughes, bbc news. all primary schools in london are to remain closed for the start of the new term, after the uk government bowed to pressure from councils. schools in ten areas were due to open on monday after the christmas break, despite having higher rates

of infection than other areas where learning would be remote. the education secretary, gavin williamson, said the move was a "last resort". the health secretary matt hancock has said: 0ur education correspondent dan johnson has been giving us the details behind the move. well, this announcement dates back all the way to last year. actually, only two days that the government said from monday, primary schools in most of london and some of the surrounding areas— essex, kent — needed to close for two weeks, that primary school children wouldn't be able to go in on monday. but not all the london boroughs — ten were left out, and it wasn't even consistent in terms of which ones. it was a bit of a patchwork the government painted across the capital, and there wasn't even any sense between which areas had high virus rates and which weren't. so, very quickly, people were questioning how have these decisions been reached, why is there not consistency across london. and the government's been challenged by council

leaders, by london's mayor, and this evening, it's announced a reversal, another u—turn. and from monday, all the primary schools across london will be closed for at least two weeks. that is, as you said, to try and get the virus numbers down because the rates are high in these areas. so, for at least two weeks, that's more time that children are going to spend learning at home, it's more parents who have to find childcare potentially from monday morning for a fortnight. and the opposition party, some of the teacher unions are saying this is another chaotic example of decision—making from the government from the education sector. it's confusing and giving him a couple weeks ago, but education ‘s accurate area was threatening legal action against one of the capitals if they refuse to closed. that's right, just before christmas, some of these very buroughs were saying let us close to schools, we think this a problem. the government were saying they could not and if they tried, they would take them to court. they fought these buroughs over the same thing. it was some of the same buroughs being told

although their numbers were high, they should open on monday. those buroughs have pushed back and it seems like they've won. the government says it's reviewed the data and there is a lot of different things to consider here. it's not just a transmission rate in that area, because we're talking about protecting the community. it means looking at the dynamics, the demographics in that area. it also means looking at the pressure on the nhs. the government says and needed a bit of time to go back over that to reach the right decision, and in fairness, they said their priority throughout has been at that all possible, to try and keep schools open. they say that's what happened. they were just trying to close schools if they didn't have to because they know remote learning, children learning at home is ineffective. it's difficult and causes problems for parents. 0thers would say the late decision—making causes those problems anyway. the government apparently wants people to agree to get to the right place

across london, but the confusion and getting here is not earning gavin williamson any stars on the first day of the year. a new era has begun for the united kingdom, after completing its formal separation from the european union. there will be changes to many aspects of life, from travel to security, migration and business. 0n the first day of the separation, there's been no reported disruption to freight across the channel between england and france. 0ur correspondent mark easton reports from the dover port. the dawn of the new year, and at the uk border in dover, the start of a new chapter for cross—channel relations. bonjour, monsieur! merci, my love. brexit is now a reality. these lorries needing to navigate a tangle of red tape, customs checks and regulatory inspections, plus, of course, covid tests, before being permitted to cross the border. 25 miles outside the port, hgvs reach a police checkpoint on the m20. they need to have a kent access permit, nicknamed a kermit, to demonstrate their paperwork is in order. european truck drivers heading

to the continent seemed sanguine about all the extra hassle. i have the permission to go, yes. was that difficult or was it an extra? no, no. has it been difficult for you today? no. it's ok. ilike england! good for you! traffic's usually light on new year's day but with details of the trading deal with the eu published less than a week ago, many import—export companies are delaying journeys, with fears of widespread disruption to freight in the next weeks and months. many shipments that we had booked for next week have been cancelled and they‘ re choosing to get their supplies from europe rather than coming from the united kingdom. so, i do see that there is going to be some problems, obviously, with suppliers. 1651 days since the uk voted to leave the european union, and finally brexit has become a reality. now we shall see what that choice

means for our relationship with our nearest neighbours, and for britain's standing around the globe. today is the first day of our complete independence from the european union. technically, we were independent on the 31st of january last year, but of course we have just gone through the transitional period and now that is completed, so we can say absolutely clearly that britain is a sovereign, independent state. taking control of our borders has meant new infrastructure, new it systems to speed up customs processing, but they remain largely untested. new inland borderfacilities — but the largest is still not ready to open. fingers are being firmly crossed. what the government is trying to do is essentially buy itself more time in a few more areas. they will be waiving import controls on goods coming into the uk to allow them to get the necessary systems and infrastructure in place to be able to manage that. the government accepts there will be bumpy moments as people adapt

to the new post—brexit environment, but insists that today marks the moment when the united kingdom takes back control of its destiny. mark easton, bbc news, dover. in the us, the republican—controlled senate has overturned donald trump's veto of a $740 billion defence bill, handing the republican president the first veto defeat of his presidency weeks before he leaves office. two thirds of the senators voting having voted in the affirmative, the bill on reconsideration is passed. the infection to the president of the united states to the contracting —— objection notwithstanding. mr trump had criticised a clause that would lead to the removal of the names of confederate generals from us military bases. the move is seen as a humiliating rebuke of the president. let's look at some of the day's other news. the new york stock exchange says it will de—list three chinese telecommunications firms because of their alleged links

with china's military. the move comes after president trump signed an executive order in november barring us investments in chinese companies that were seen as a threat to national security. iran has told the un's atomic watchdog that it plans to start enriching uranium to a level far higher than that allowed under the international nuclear deal. the country intends to enrich to a purity of up to 20%. this remains well short of the 90% required to make an atomic bomb. but under the international nuclear accord, iran was supposed to stay below 4%. a panel of indian medical experts has recommended the emergency use of a coronavirus vaccine, a key step towards starting a nationwide immunisation programme. india's drug regulator is expected to follow the committee's advice and give final approval to the jab produced by astrazeneca and oxford university. a nationwide mock drill of what will be the world's largest immunisation drive is scheduled to begin on saturday. rescuers in norway have found a body in the debris of homes swallowed up by a landslip near oslo on wednesday.

it's the first confirmed fatality. emergency workers managed to get into the crater on foot for the first time, but nine people are still unaccounted for. vince soodin reports. it's a race against time. rescuers are accelerating the search for children, women and men hidden in a huge, dark crater filled with clay. but it's a high—risk operation, as the ground is still not safe and workers are surrounded by precarious clay walls. emergency workers have managed to get into the crater on foot for the first time. they have to carry styrofoam boards to spread their weight in areas where ground remains unstable. today, the first body was recovered. translation: we found one person. unfortunately, they've been confirmed dead. we're working intensively to search the area, and it's a risky search. many are affected by this tragedy. there are people who have lost their houses, everything they own, and now,

also family members. this father is one of those waiting for news. his girlfriend and 13—year—old daughter are missing. translation: i wish i could switch places with my daughter. she could be here and i could be missing. it is unreal. i never thought this could happen. a giant army vehicle, called a paver, has been sent. it's equipped with a steel bridge in which rescuers can move along, but the ground is still to shaky for the 50—tonne but the ground is still too shaky for the 50—tonne machine to be deployed. a vigil was held for those missing on new year's eve. police have said the search will continue during the night. heavy rainfall is believed to have made the soil under the homes unstable. there will now be questions as to why the construction was permitted in the first place. vince soodin, bbc news.

the once popular computer software, adobe flash player, that was used to stream videos and play games online during the early days of the internet has officially been discontinued by its maker after 24 years of service. at its height, the technology was installed on almost all computers. but it was plagued with security problems and failed to transition to the smartphone era, as our technology reporter chris fox explained. (sot) these transition to mobile was something it struggled with. they we re something it struggled with. they were focusing on a lighter version that could be used on feature phones. back when we were all using things like nokias. but it was very intensive on the battery and obviously, when you are using a mobile device, battery life is important. the full version on flash wasn't very good for the battery. steve jo bs wasn't very good for the battery. steve jobs in wasn't very good for the battery. stevejobs in 2010 wrote an open letter which was absolutely blistering on flash. he said he didn't want on the iphone or the ipad because it was too intensive on the battery. it was a security risk and he also accused them of making

ita and he also accused them of making it a closed internet. a lot of people said how it turned out is that apple did that. it's got its own close ecosystem. but that letter was was scathing on adobe. it never made it onto the iplayer. what happens to all those old animations and games now? there's work to make and games now? there's work to make an open source flash player called russell which can do most things that flash used to do. it can play the sounds and cartoons. the internet archive which is known for that way back machine, if you look up that way back machine, if you look up an old website, they try to preserve some flash animation. they have a collection of about 2000 flash animations, famous ones that went viral back in the ordering days of the internet. so there is a project to be able to play these animations —— but the early days. but a lot of things will be lost, which a lot of people think is a shame. there's no doubt 2020 was a brutal year. but trying to be positive, has the pandemic given us a chance, however unwelcome, to discover what we value and who we really are?

richard friedman has been looking at what 2020 has taught us. he is a professor of clinical psychiatry at weill cornell medical college in new york. hejoins me now. thank you very much for your time. hgppy thank you very much for your time. happy new year to you. with great respect, we don't need a psychiatrist to tell us we had a difficult year, but what has it taught you about us? well, it taught me that humans are actually pretty resilient. i'm used to seeing people who suffer with depression and anxiety, and it showed me that although i know what surveys have shown americans, more anxious and depressed and we were a year ago, most of us are not clinically depressed or anxious. we're stressed, we're emotionally, economically stressed, but we did make it through 2020. the vast

majority. this is not to belittle the tremendous loss and loss of life and the tremendous grief of this country and other countries that withstood, but we managed to get through a very, very difficult time and humans are more resilient than they often give themselves credit for. you wrote recently that we've undergone a big psychosocial stress test. what does that mean? undergone a big psychosocial stress test. what does that mean7m undergone a big psychosocial stress test. what does that mean? it means that when you're placed in a situation with a certain amount of adversity and you discover how do you respond to stress. some people get anxious, some get distressed. people discover and themselves when they're cut off from other people ways that they can get by that they didn't know that they had access to. being able to tolerate your own company, being able to maintain and nourish your friendships virtually,

for example, which is a new experience for many people who felt that lockdown and quarantine would be unendurable without physically being present with their loved ones. people who might not regard themselves as risk—takers may have found other assets. yes, and i know many people who feel this way. they don't think of themselves as risk—takers, but the feeling of being isolated from friends and loved ones made them choose between safety a nd loved ones made them choose between safety and social connection. and people took a chance, i calculate a chance. wearing masks, going out in new york city for example, you could sit outside with a mask. it's cold now. you can have a drink or coffee 01’ now. you can have a drink or coffee or tea or dinner, and as it's getting colder and colder, those menus are becoming and more limited. so, people have to decide if it's

worth it. at the moment, the governor closed indoor dining, but for a governor closed indoor dining, but fora time, governor closed indoor dining, but for a time, people are able to do that. but it involved a certain amount of risks. richard, do we come out of something like this stronger? notjust out of something like this stronger? not just ourselves out of something like this stronger? notjust ourselves individually, but as a, as fellow human beings. is there a chance we might actually be kinder after this? i think so. in the sense that there's a common level of human awareness of suffering. this has a leveling effect. the virus, the pandemic does not discriminate like humans do. between social class, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, anything we set ourselves apart from. this is a leveling phenomenon. i'm sorry, we are out of time. thank you so much and it's good to end on a positive note. thank you very

much. don't forget you can get in touch with me on twitter. i'm @bbcsimonmccoy. you're watching bbc news. hello, good evening. there is no real sign of things warming up anytime soon. this cold weather certainly with us for the next few days but probably for the next week or more. there will be some wintry showers at times. on the earlier satellite picture, you can see speckled shower clouds being brought down on the northerly wind. some slightly more widespread cloudy weather that's been affecting parts of england and wales today, bringing some spots of rain, some bits and pieces of sleet and snow as well. that will tend to clear away southwards, although it will stay quite misty and murky, i think across parts of the south—east. and some showers still in that northerly wind, northern ireland, northern and eastern scotland. down the east coast of england, some of those showers will be wintry. where you see clear skies for much of the night, it's going to be very cold indeed, —7, maybe —8 in one or two sheltered spots. so, into tomorrow, a bit

cloudy and murky to start off across east anglia and the south—east. then, it is a sunshine and showers day. the showers again being blown in on that northerly wind. so, through northern ireland, west wales, devon and cornwall, parts of northeast scotland, the eastern side of england, but even if you keep sunshine through the day, it will feel chilly. those are the top temperatures through the afternoon — 2—5 celsius. these showers in eastern england are likely to drift further inland through parts of the midlands and into wales. could even get a brief covering of snow in places through saturday night. as we get into sunday, a subtle change. because this area of high pressure to the west shifts up to the north. as the high changes shape, the wind direction change as well. instead of the northerly winds we are going to have a north—easterly wind. a subtle shift but it will focus the showers into eastern areas and provide a bit of shelter out west. so, northern ireland, wales, the south—west should see drier weather was sunshine on sunday. but that the north—easterly wind will be quite wet. it is to feel quite raw

i think with temperatures on the thermometer 4—6 celsius. could feel colder than that. into the start of next week, still high pressure to the north. quite a few white lines here on the chart. quite a few isobars that shows that we will keep that brisk northeasterly wind. the blue colours on the chart, the air is still coming from a fairly cold place. so, low temperatures to take us right through the coming week. and there is the chance of some rain, sleet and snow at times.

this is bbc world news, the headlines.

a u—turn by the british government — as it confirms all primary schools in london are to remain closed for the start of term. the city's mayor said the government had ‘finally seen sense' research confirms the new coronavirus variant discovered in the uk has a much quicker rate of transmission — the variant has now been identified in at least 18 countries around the world. if the new variant is now present, with this increase in the r number, all of a sudden instead of a decrease of 30%, we get a massive increase, the number of cases over the same period could triple. so, this is more or less the most serious change in the virus that we've seen. the us struggles to roll out the covid vaccine — as the number of cases continues to surge to above 20 million — according to thejohn hopkins university. nearly 350,000 americans have died.