welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. the republican—controlled us senate has overturned president 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. mr trump had criticised a clause that would lead —— yes r 81, two—thirds of the senators voting. having voted in the affirmative the bill on reconsideration is passed, the objections of the president of the united states to the contrary 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. next, 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 johns hopkins university, there are now 20,007,119 cases 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 public health officials confirmed three more cases of the new, more infectious strain of coronavirus discovered in the uk, bringing the total to four. they say this means the new variant could be widespread there. paul sisson, healthcare reporter at the san diego union—tribune told us earlier. we found out from our local

public health officials late yesterday that they have been able to confirm three additional cases after this case was confirmed on inaudible they are using what they call they are using what they call the s drop technique, first discovered there in the uk, that gives kind of a smoke signal to let them know that they need to dig a little deeper genetically on some of the positive test that are coming back so the lab here at scripps institute has been able to quickly start sequencing the genome is of these tests that come back with the s drop present. they have been able to interview three of the four and none of them had any recent travel so it really does look like this strain, being 117, is all over the place. they interviewed the ones that have been tested inaudible and they found that they are spread out

all over our community. they are not clustered in one place and none of them know each other at all. so that gives our local epidemiologists a fair bit of reckoning that this thing is widespread, like you say, in the community. let's get some of the day's other news. 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 give final approval to the vaccine produced by astrazeneca and oxford university. iran has told the un's atomic watchdog that it plans to start enriching uranium to a level far higher than allowed under the international nuclear deal. it's the most significant breach of the agreement since the us withdrew from the accord in 2018. french police have been attacked as they try to shut down an illegal new year

rave in brittany. the underground party has been attended by some 2,500 party—goers, despite a strict coronavirus curfew. the new york stock exchange says it will delist 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. rescuers in norway have found a body in the debris of homes swallowed up by a landslip near 0slo 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, including children, 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 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. an australian pro server has been praised for running into rough seas in hawaii to save a woman from drowning. here you can see mr white sprinting towards the waves after realising someone was being swept away in a strong current. he then entered the water, which was full of sharp rocks, to reach the woman and had to

battle to keep hold of her as the waves crashed over them and swept them off their feet but eventually got her to safety. new analysis has confirmed that the new variant of coronavirus has a much quicker transmission rate than the original strain. researchers at imperial college london say that even with a lockdown similar to that in england in november, the number of cases would still triple and that this was "the most serious change in the virus that we've seen". it comes as the government reported another 53,285 new infections. the surge in cases, particularly in london and the south east, has left nhs emergency staff at battle stations, according to medical leaders, with health workers exhausted and struggling to cope. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes reports. it might be a new year but there's no let—up 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're 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 that 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 in the way you want to, and you feel

helpless when you know there's a sick patient in an ambulance which 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've 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're 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 it's affecting more younger people, and it's having an impact not just 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've 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 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 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 that 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. police forces across england issued hundreds of fines last night on new year's eve for breaching coronavirus rules. several forces handed out the maximum penalty of £10,000 to organisers of large unauthorised events. breaches were also reported in wales, scotland and northern ireland. sarah campbell's report

contains flashing images. the message to stay at home had been clear and unambiguous, and some chose to ignore it as they welcomed in 2021. in edinburgh, a lone piper replaced the traditional street party and the fireworks were cancelled, but that didn't deter revellers who wanted to celebrate hogmanay together. in london, a midnight fireworks display was kept secret in the hope that people would stay away from the capital. numbers were down, but flare—ups in tourist areas like piccadilly circus kept the police busy throughout the night. we've had sporadic gatherings of people who just won't take note of what's being said and my colleagues have dealt with that very quickly last night. we didn't have large music events that we thought we would. the smaller gatherings were put out very quickly. elsewhere across the country, lancashire police described a party near blackburn attended

by 80 youngsters as a "shocker" and fined the organiser £10,000. leicestershire police said 75 fixed penalty notices had been handed out, totalling almost £74,000. and in essex, three people were arrested at an unlicensed music event. dj equipment was seized and damage caused to the venue, a 500—year—old church. by morning, the parties were over and the streets were quiet once again. the hope that any flouting of covid regulations won't lead to any further increase in infections. sarah campbell, 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 health secretary matt hancock has said:

0ur education correspondent danjohnson has been giving us the details behind the move. well, this announcement dates back all the way to last year, but actually only two days, when the government said that 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 that 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 had been reached? why isn't there consistency across london? and the government has 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

and 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 be spending learning at home, it means more parents are going to have to find childcare, potentially from monday morning, for a fortnight. and the opposition party, some of the teaching unions are saying this is another chaotic example of decision—making from the government, from the education secretary. danjohnson. this is bbc news, our main story: the us senate has over—ridden donald trump's presidential veto for the first time, just weeks before he leaves office. they voted overwhelmingly to approve a defence bill mr trump had blocked. let's get more on that story 110w. evelyn farkas was a deputy assistant secretary of defense in the 0bama administration. she ran for congress in the 2020 election in new york and shejoins me now from washington. thank you for coming on the programme. thanks for having me. so the republican party have in pretty loyal to donald

trump throughout his presidency, but not today, what do you make of that move? well, i'd think it shows a couple of things. first of all, obviously with the loss of the presidential election donald trump has lost power. he no longer has any real influence, with one exception, of course, there were some people who did vote with him, to hold up his veto and those other people who wa nt veto and those other people who want his political base to support them, so there are some republican politicians over whom he has some influence but he has lost a lot of influence. the other thing it shows us is that this bill is really important, and there are very strong political constituencies that are stronger than president trump that allied to keep this bill on track and have a path. that's interesting, you are someone who knows probably more about this bill than most, why is it so sacrosanct there? yeah, so i

should say there's another part of rhythm may, for seven years they worked on the senate armed services committee essentially helping as a senior staff are put together the spell. at the annual defence authorisation bill, it authorises the 741 billion coming up for next year, dollars, and also provides authority to the department of defence and the department of defence and the department of defence and the department of energy in the case of the nuclear arsenal. why is it important? because it pays the military salaries, the salaries of our military personnel and civilians, included and he was a pay raise. it also covers the cost of running military and elation that bases. practically every state has a base or a military installation, so you can see, there is a lot of political support for this bill and society. given that, why do you think donald trump chose to veto it? well, there was a provision in there that was introduced by senator elizabath warren, one of his political nemeses or enemies, and that

provision called for renaming ten different military facilities, i believe they are all army and relations. these installations have names on them right now of confederate warfighters, so them right now of confederate war fighters, so people them right now of confederate warfighters, so people who lost to the american civil war but have continued somehow, especially in the south, to be respected in a way that's unusual for the losing side. the white nationalists of course, they have rallied to the confederate flag and the cause of the lost confederacy because of course the confederates were fighting to maintain slavery which of course is white supremacy, and president trump was pandering to the white supremacists and frankly speaking he is, for all intents and purposes, himself a white nationalists so he was opposed to that provision introduced by senator warren but that provision was in the bell and receive the support of the majority of the republicans on the committee and in the chamber as well, and the senate and the house. mr trump clearly

had his reasons to veto it and republicans have their very strong reasons to defy president trump. do you think we can learn anything from this outside of this particular bill or was thisjust outside of this particular bill or was this just an issue that actually republicans couldn't possibly turn their back on, or does it signify a slipping away of influence of donald trump? yes, it shows us the letter. it shows us that there is a limit to this president's influence, that his influence is slipping. i would venture to say that if he had vetoed or tried to veto the defence authorisation act in its entirety in the past he would have also had a problem although i know he did manage to have his veto prevail and other instances. there are other instances. there are other provisions in this bill that he also did like that make it harderfor us that he also did like that make it harder for us forces to be removed, overnight from places like afghanistan and syria but i think it shows demonstrably that the president's power has

weakened substantially and if it weren't for the fact that he still has this hard core far—right base, constituency, he wouldn't have had any of the senators standing up for his interests and his prerogatives. all right, great to have on, thank you so much. 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‘s in order. european truck drivers heading to the continent seemed sanguine about all the extra hassle. i have the permission to go in england, yes. was that difficult or was that 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 supplies. 1,651 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 of last year, but, of course, we've just gone through the transitional period. and now that's 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 customs facilities,

but the largest is still not fully ready to open. fingers are being firmly crossed. what the government is trying to do is essentially buy itself more time in quite a few areas. we know they'll 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. wham's last christmas has topped the uk singles chart for the first time, 36 years after it was first released. the festive classic was streamed 9 million times over the last week. let's have a listen: # last christmas i gave you my heart, but the very next day... first released in december 1984, george michael and andrew ridgeley‘s song was famously held off the top spot by band aid's do they know it's

christmas. it has subsequently returned to the top 10 a further six times. richard blade is a dj with sirius xm. he's in los angeles. thanks for coming on the programme. hey, my pleasure! thank you for having me. so here we go then, 36 times lucky, what was your reaction when you found out?|j lucky, what was your reaction when you found out? i was thrilled, it's a great song. we play it a lot on sirius xm and i was really shocked actually it had never been to number one on the uk chart. 36 attempts, i suppose! it is quite the weight and given what we know of the huge part of the cultural landscape wham! and that song is here in the uk every christmas, what about where you are? same here. it's played on so many channels. sirius xm has been playing it on multiple challenge, on first wave on the big 80s, on our christmas

channels, and it's one of those songs that people request all the time because they love wham and they love george. and you had quite a good close relationship with the band?|j did,i relationship with the band?|j did, i was very, very lucky to know wham! from the earliest days, when they first came over in 1982! head them on my radio show, they did their first—ever live gig with me at the beginning of 1983 and i took them to the 321 club in santa monica, california and that was the first time they played live when they lip synced to young guns and bad boys and then they did it the next night at the clu b did it the next night at the club i was doing in westwood. they've got so many hats of course but this particular song is of course played at this time of year because it is a christmas song but particularly poignant since george's if? absolutely. it is one of those tracks that when you hear it,

you think about george, you think about wham! and you think about the time of year, it is the perfect track. and what happens now, that it has finally made it after 36 years, do you see are going on and on? could it do the same next year? i think so. i have often said on the radio in america and around the world on sirius xm that the uk charts to be number one on the bbc at christmas is so important, and i think it could be starting a tradition because they got the movie behind it, last christmas, they got the song, why not? george michael and wham at number one, it should be a tradition copy and just finally because we are nearly running out of time, but if there were going to be any other songs, what are some of your favourite wham hats that could take a christmas number one? to hit number one at

christmas, i mean, wham has so many songs from the beautiful ballads they have two the up—tempo songs, you name it. is almost throw a dart at the wham catalogue and it should be number one. that is a ringing endorsement! thank you so much for coming on, richard, we really appreciate your time there. right, that's about it from me but do remember there is plenty more, of course, on the bbc news website and if you need to get me, i'm online as well. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones. hello there. this cold weather isn't giving up anytime soon. it will stay for the weekend and most of next week. at least for the weekend there'll be quite a lot of sunshine around. mainly across western areas. it'll be cold and some further wintry showers, most of them across the eastern

side of the country. the blue air mass indicates that cold air very much with us saturday. northerly winds pushing these showers into scotland, northern ireland and wales. plenty of them starting to go to the east coast of england. a few of them also pushing into the midlands. and there will be a covering of snow in places. but many places staying dry with the sunshine, though it will be cold. those showers start to spread a little bit further inland as we move through saturday night. further sleet and snow in places. probably the clearest of the skies in western scotland and northern ireland, so here the coldest to start sunday. elsewhere, cold again but with a risk of ice from all the showers. as we head on into sunday, we see high—pressure in the north of the uk, lower pressure to the south and that'll start to drive in eastern and north easterly winds. some subtle changes for part two of the weekend. that will push most

of the showers into eastern scotland and in eastern england and they will drive their way a little bit further west through the day and there will be some sleet and snow there, not just at higher ground. probably the best of the sun will be across sheltered western areas and it will be a cold day when you factor in the breeze. head on into monday, a similar set up, the breeze feeding in more clouds and showers to much of england and wales and could see rain and sleet across the south—east. further north, lighter winds for scotland and ireland, and quite a bit of sunshine around. we have the stronger winds for england and wales particularly along the sea coast and it will feel pretty raw as these temperatures will struggle to get much above three to six degrees. it will feel colder than it suggests. and the blue colours are still with us as we head into next week and you guessed it, yes it is going to stay cold. it will be rather cloudy in places too. quite windy for a time and i think the winds could ease towards the end of the week, but by the end of the week, we could see rain,

sleet and snow for some of us.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the us senate has over—ridden donald trump's presidential veto for the first time, just weeks before he leaves office. the republican—controlled senate voted overwhelmingly to approve a defence bill mr trump had blocked. the legislation restricts his powers as commander—in—chief and is seen as a rebuke to the president. the united states has now recorded more than 20 million cases of covid—19, doubling the number in less than two months. johns hopkins university says nearly 350,000 americans have died with the virus. vaccination is continuing, with more than three million people said to have received jabs research confirms the new coronavirus variant discovered in the uk has a much quicker rate of transmission. scientists say the variant, now identified in 18 countries around the world, is the "most serious change in the virus