hello. this is bbc news with ben bland. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow morning's papers in a moment. first, the headlines. borisjohnson warns covid restrictions in england could get tougher in the coming weeks — but labour says action this is bbc news, with the latest is needed immediately. headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. it may be that we need to do things president trump is recorded on tape in the next few weeks that will be asking an election official to ‘find' him extra votes tougher in many parts in the state of georgia. it's comes as some republicans are vowing to challenge of the country. the results of the us election. we hear from former republican senatorjeff flake about the civil iam i am fully reconciled to that. it is war breaking out in his party. no good hinting that further restrictions are coming into place borisjohnson warns that covid restrictions in england ina week are "probably about to get tougher" restrictions are coming into place in a week or two, that delay has beena in a week or two, that delay has as the uk records more been a source of so many problems so than 50,000 new cases. 0pposition politicians in india i say, bring those restrictions in question the approval of a locally nova, national restrictions within 24 hours. made coronavirus vaccine, saying it's premature and could be dangerous. president trump is recorded on tape asking an election official to find him extra votes in georgia. # walk on... and gerry marsden, singer of you'll never walk alone, gerry marsden, singer of you'll never walk alone,

has died at the age of 78 has died at the age of 78 after a short illness. after a short illness. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. there's a new revelation aboutjust how far president trump is prepared to go to try to overturn the election. it's reported that he phoned georgia's top election official on saturday and tried to persuade him to "find" enough votes to reverse the outcome in the state. a recording of the conversation has been published by the washington post. here's what mr trump said to georgia's secretary of state, brad raffensperger...

mr trump goes on to say: "so, look, all i want to do is this... you can't let it happen and you aren't letting it happen. i'm notifying you that you're letting it happen. so look, all i want to do is this, ijust happen. so look, all i want to do is this, i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one of more than we have. because we won the state. because we won the state. lebo diseko is in washington and told us more about the phone call. it is just extraordinary. i didn't think that i could have any more shock when it came

to the outcome of what's happened since the election but this is really, ifound it very shocking indeed. donald trump, it's actually a cutdown of an hour—long conversation four and have minutes or so. you hear donald trump at some point bringing incredibly threatening kind of, implying that they might be criminal consequences. if he doesn't overturn the result of the elections. asking for one more vote thanjoe biden got in the state. and you well know, ben, that the result in georgia was fully recounted twice, was that was my hand, was my machine and both timed it was found thatjoe biden won that state. ijust wonder how much president trump may have been enboldened by the fact that a growing number of republican senators are saying they will challenge the electoral college vote tally when congress meets to what normally is a ceremonial approval of the results. donald trump has been

pressuring his party to take such steps for quite some time. i'm not sure if he was emboldened or it's just the fact that we've had access to this audio. which is quite unusual. the attempt by those lawmakers to try and challenge the electoral college results when they come to congress in thatjoint session is likely to fail. it will essentially take the democrats voting to object to their candidates win which is not can happen. former republican senatorjeff flake gave his response to the president's phone call. it's tough to be shocked any more by what the president does. but this was truly shocking. extraordinary, to put pressure on the republican secretary of state to find the votes. i mean, that's awful stuff. i just don't know what defence he'll come back with other than probably say it was a perfect call. you've

encountered the anger and the pressure from the president in the past. what is it like when you get that call and you hair senator, this is the white house mr president is on the line for you? well, it's that 01’ on the line for you? well, it's that or you read the other end of a tweet. he knows how to bully and he has. but gratefully, the secretary of state and the governor in georgia aren't being bullied. and i wish more in washington, more of my former colleagues would do the same. it's a terrible thing to give the president more at least to do this kind of thing. i'm afraid that's what my former colleagues are doing. i suppose some of those colleagues will feel that 70 vermilion americans voted for president trump and they would want to see the results challenged robustly by their senators. what do you say to those

who may put that forward as an argument for doing what they're doing? i would say this is why we have representative democracy. this is why they are to represent the constituents in washington and know that the hallmark of our democracy is the respect for elections. when you lose you lose and you do it gracefully. but to pretend that you're representing constituents when it's really is just a constituency of one. they want to please the president because they know he has a pretty good control of the base. that is no excuse. and gratefully, the majority of the late night republican senators aren't going along with this. but if you are and that's shameful, frankly for oui’ are and that's shameful, frankly for our party. what is the mood among senior republicans? i know you're no longer a senator but i assume you're so longer a senator but i assume you're so plugged in, friends, colleagues at work within that sphere. what are senior republican saying, feeling about all that's going on right now?

well they are sick. you've heard some of the statements from mitt romney in particular, ben sass, paul ryan made a very good statement today, former speaker of the house. no, everyone of us sickened by it. knowing that this shouldn't represent our party. in the long haul back as a party to have some respectful stop and it's notjust around the country, its globally. if this were happening in zimbabwe or someone this were happening in zimbabwe or someone else we would roundly condemn it. but when it happens here you have some in our party going along with it. frankly, it shameful. i saw along with it. frankly, it shameful. isawa along with it. frankly, it shameful. i saw a recent tweet from using fellow republicans before you commit to try and overcome certified election results please take a moment to consider this as long term damage to the country and the party. what's omitted damage and how deep do you think that runs, potentially? you will have the trump base along with you but that's just not enough

to when nation wide elections or for my state in arizona we now have two democratic senators representing the state. so while the trump base is large in terms of a party base, it's diminishing. gratefully. and independence aren't going there and if you cats government from the centre which i think they will likely do withjoe biden in the white house then republicans are going to have a long haul back. it does tremendous damage to the party in the long term. just the reputation, the brand of the party, it's just not good. reputation, the brand of the party, it'sjust not good. state election officials, statejudges, federal judges, the department ofjustice, none of them have found any evidence of voterfraud. and none of them have found any evidence of voter fraud. and yet the president persist with these accusations without substantiating them. where and how does this all and? it's going to end january 20 whenjoe biden and? it's going to end january 20 when joe biden takes and? it's going to end january 20 whenjoe biden takes the white house. fully. if the president thinks he's going to have the same

influence that he has now when he is out of the white house he is simply wrong. when you lose the trappings of power in the levers of power the trappings of office, and you know trump is it requires a certain amount of swagger. it requires winning. and he lost. so i think his influence will be diminished but it isa influence will be diminished but it is a big problem for the party going forward when so many in the party believe that the president actually won the election. we are going to have a hard time as a party getting them back. i believe. joining me now is philip bump from the washington post. quite an extraordinary school for the paper then. yes, it's hard to deny full really one of the most remarkable documents of the trump presidency which in itself is saying something to stop that we have these president making these charges. i don't think anyone, yes it's a shocking revelation. i don't think

anybody‘s surprise that this is how donald trump puts pressure on people behind the scenes. that it's a merge, it is the culmination of the watergate scandal was when these tapes are finally released with richard nixon saying what he said about the watergate probe. this is donald trump having saying something yesterday which is already in the public domain. and i think it's remarkable for a broad range of reasons in including historical. that said, and any other presidency it might shake things up, it might cause a massive reaction or huge fallout. we've seen tapes of the president saying quite outrageous things emerge before. and it all just kind of drift away into the background eventually. do you think this will be any different?” background eventually. do you think this will be any different? i think there are a couple of reasons why that's likely at this point. 0ne obviously at that present in trouble has about two weeks left in office making it less urgent or it to be dealt with as an act. there are

certainly questions to be raised about legality. it's hard to imagine that other politicians would be able to say things like that and not face some sort of criminal charges. 0bviously, some sort of criminal charges. obviously, the circumstances are very different. but the other thing is what the former senator from arizona was speaking of is the unity of the republican party around presidential people. people remember that one year ago we were debating presidents call with the president of you train. the charging republican said this was only simply donald trumps attempt to combat corruption. 0bviously that wasn't the case then. that makes it very clear that this is not. the response to that impeachment and then the trial in the senate was the republicans essentially look the other way with the exception of mitt romney in utah. there is nothing to suggest that anything is changed and anything republicans are more united around trump more than they were then. with that in mind how nasty do you think things could get this coming week when congress meets to vote to certify the results?|j

coming week when congress meets to vote to certify the results? i think there is cause for concern to stop i think a lot of americans are concerned about what happens. there are millions, tens of millions of met americans that have been lied to consistently buy conservative media and the president about what happened in last years presidential election. those people have already expressed multiple times in a number of ways that they are going to object to what happens onjanuary six. which is supposed to be this pro forma six. which is supposed to be this proforma acknowledgement of what the old touro college as washington, dc is hunkering down for top it's not clear what can happen. this can bea not clear what can happen. this can be a large present of both protesters and law enforcement on the street. i think more broadly than that though it is not clear, president trump as hinted at in suites today that they are being some sort of drama around what happens on january six. that's some sort of drama around what happens onjanuary six. that's bad. there is no cause for it. obviously president trump lost the election but also that's not how we deal with things in the united states typically. so it's really hard to predict. i think that in itself is

quite unsettling. president trump is not the biggest fan of the washington post. but undoubtedly he's been making a lot of news for you and presumably been quite good for sales and subscription. when you miss him when he's gone? i mean, i think ourjob is to report the news. as yourjob is to report the news. the old proverb of living an interesting time, yes it helps with the news but i don't think anybody enjoys living an interesting time. i'd be happy to have the pandemic behind us for example. i don't think you're going to miss the pandemic and the amount of news that can be generated once it's gone. not to compare the president to the pandemic but i think the same sort of morality applies. thank you. the uk prime minister borisjohnson has warned that coronavirus restrictions in england are "probably about to get

tougher" in order to bring the virus under control. there've been another 55,000 positive cases recorded in the uk, in the latest 2a hour—period — and a further a54 people have died. it's one of the worst affected countries in the world. here's our political correspondent, chris mason. arriving in a hurry to deliver a difficult message. the prime minister gave his first interview of the year today. he warned that coronavirus restrctions in england are likely to get worse before they get better. it may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher in many parts of the country. i don't... i mean, i'm fully, fully reconciled to that and i bet the people of this country are fully reconciled to that. the prime minister's analysis of this pandemic from the very start has often contained splashes of optimism, but today felt different. vaccines and testing offer hope but borisjohnson struck a sombre tone as he lent on downbeat language about the need to be

realistic about the very difficult period ahead. but most primary schools in england are expected to reopen this week. in secondaries, there'll be a staggered start to the new term, with pupils expecting exams in the summer going back first. mrjohnson insisted schools in england must stay open where ever possible. schools are safe — very, very important to stress that. the threat, the risk to kids, to young people, is really very, very, very small indeed, as the scientists continually attest. the risk to staff is very small. and, of course, the benefits of education are so huge. but the signs of everyday life, like these in high wycombe, in buckinghamshire, are here to stay and labour this afternoon have gone a step further, calling for another england—wide lockdown. it is inevitable that more schools are going to close,

many will be closed tomorrow morning but the more important thing, in a way, is the national restrictions need to come in — in the next 24—hour is. let's not have the prime ministersaying, "i'm going to do it but not yet". that's the problem he's made so many times. and so, 2021 begins as 2020 ended, shrouded in worry and uncertainty. the vaccines will allow us to turn a corner in tackling this pandemic but the rest of winter looks bleak. chris mason, bbc news. india's opposition congress party has warned that the government's decision to approve the emergency use of a locally developed coronavirus vaccine, was premature and could be dangerous. it says data on the safety and effectiveness of covaxin has not been fully reviewed. anbarasan ethirajan reports. this was the moment many in the world's second most populous nation were waiting for. after days of uncertainty over which coronavirus vaccine will be approved for emergency use, a drug regulatorfinally spoke.

after adequate examination, the cdsco has decided to accept the recommendations of the expert committee and accordingly vaccines of m/s serum and bharat biotech are being approved for restricted use in emergency situation and permission is being granted to m/s cadila healthcare for conduct of the phase iii clinical trials in india. with the approval of oxford university astrazeneca and the indian—made covaxinjabs, the roll—out can happen within weeks. astrazeneca has tied up with a local partner to produce the vaccine in india. the indian prime minister, narendra modi, expressed hisjoy for the fact that both the vaccines will be produced in india, but within hours of the approval of the two vaccines, controversy has erupted. the opposition raising concerns over the permission given to the locally made covaxin. critics argue that safety

and efficacy of the vaccine has not been reviewed. but the drug regulatory authority said both the vaccines were safe to use. experts say the government needs to allay the fears over the vaccine. i think the way to deal with resistance is to have a very strong communication strategy. that needs to be developed. and also for the government to work very closely with communities, both in the kind of urban setting as well as the rural setting. and understand, for example, working with, you know, opinion leaders within communities, religious, nonreligious social leaders, you know, people who have a lot of influence. approving the vaccine is only the first step. the challenge is a glitch—free campaign in the coming months. the world will watch and learn from how india rolls out one of biggest vaccination exercises.

anbarasan ethirajan, bbc news, delhi. the headlines on bbc news... president trump is recorded on tape asking an election official to ‘find' him extra votes in georgia. borisjohnson warns that covid restrictions in england are "probably about to get tougher" as the uk records more than 50,000 new cases. he's also urging parents to send their children to school on monday. after the festive break, monday is the first full trading day of the uk's new relationship with the european union. after leaving the single market, london is now racing to build new relations with other countries — including asian nations. so what will those ties look like? for more, we'rejoined by angela mancini from control risks — a global risk consulting firm. she's been following the issue closely.

what do you think the priority will be when it comes to the trade deal that that uk will be willing to make beyond the eu ? that that uk will be willing to make beyond the eu? definitely the ee use relationship with asia as we know will be largely unchanged. the real issueis will be largely unchanged. the real issue is the uk. the uk is going to have to go country by country and build up these bilateralfree have to go country by country and build up these bilateral free trade agreements. we heard economist say that uk's economy may shift down up to 6% in the coming decade during that decade due to bracket like my brexit. that growth is to come primarily for that the uk has done a good job in the last couple of months with getting free trade agreements already with vietnam, japan, south korea singapore where i ama japan, south korea singapore where i am a couple of weeks ago. so that's been important. they're going to do more, they're in discussions with australia. the big ones to look out will be india and china because they had not yet on the docket. it's not so straightforward, is it? for example if the uk wanted to do a

trade deal with the us in a trade deal with china, one site or the other may object to some of the compromises that have perhaps been made to do the deal with the other. it's going to be a really hard thing for the uk to novick late not navigate. it's also good to be a challenge of bandwidth. there are so many agreements they are going to have to negotiate so many different compromises. different sides could be upset about certain things wasn't one area we are looking at in asia is potentially with the uk join the cpt pp which is the big newly agreed upon trade agreement that involves a lot of countries in asia. that may be an option as well. it can be very, very difficult. there's a lot of very technical issues as well including the latest want to come to the fore is the digital economy agreement and what can happen with digital taxes. it could be quite technical and time—consuming.” suppose when it comes to trade deals in some ways it's easier to deal with goods. the tricky bit comes to services and how you recognise

qualifications and are they at the same standard? and what you do in terms of regulations for certain types of professions.” terms of regulations for certain types of professions. i think that's exactly right. what's interesting looking from the asia perspective is there is quite a lot of countries here that look to the uk is a big export market. some concerns we see and hearfrom export market. some concerns we see and hear from asia export market. some concerns we see and hearfrom asia is export market. some concerns we see and hear from asia is less on the qualification issues and more on canned the uk be robust export market for countries like india, thailand, vietnam, japan for that matter that produces so many cars for export into the uk. i think they're real issue for the uk is going to be how it's going to navigate the relationship with china. as we know there it's not just trade between the two but it's the uk firms that have a huge growth opportunity in the china market which is really the only one that's come back post covid. that's a huge market for the uk to capture. how did they navigate that while they are navigating all the foreign policy issues as well as the trade issues?

let's look at some of the day's other news. islamist militants have attacked 2 villages in the west african state of niger, killing at least 70 people. reports say the gunmen arrived on motorbikes. special forces have now been sent to the area, in the tilla—beri region. there've been a number ofjihadist attacks there in recent months, by groups based across the border in mali. rescue workers have recovered a fifth body, after a landslide buried homes in a village in southern norway on wednesday. it happened in ask, about 15 miles from the capital oslo. five other people are still missing. the gerry and the pacemakers' singer gerry marsden has died at the age of 78. he's perhaps best known for his hit "you'll never walk alone," which has been sung by liverpool football fans for decades. daniela relph looks back at his life. # walk on, walk on. ..#. gerry marsden.

# with hope in your heart. ..#. ..with one unforgettable anthem. # and you'll never walk. ..#. he was as much a part of liverpool's story as the mersey ferry and the anfield kop. # alone. ..#. girls scream. born in toxteth, his career began at the legendary cavern club in the early ‘60s. gerry and his band, the pacemakers, were spotted by beatles manager, brian epstein. he gave them a song that had been turned down by the fab four and adam faith. # how do you do what you to me. ..#. how do you do it was a huge hit on both sides of the atlantic. we'd never heard ourselves on tape before and it got to number one and we were very pleased. the beatles were upset and so was adam, i think. he chuckles. newsreel archive: the girls are at the top of their screaming form, if the reception they give to gerry and the pacemakers

is anything to go by. # i like it, i like it. ..#. more followed, as the mersey beat swept the world. # the funny feeling being here with you. # and i like it more with every day. # and i like it always hearing you say you're liking it too. ..#. # so, ferry, cross the mersey. ..#. but it was as a singer of gentle ballads for which he'll be remembered. ferry across the mersey was a nostalgic expression of his love for liverpool. # walk on, walk on. ..#. and then, with a song from a rodgers and hammerstein musical, gerry marsden struck a chord with fans at his beloved anfield. the band may have split up in 1966, but as he proved nearly half a century later, at the 25th anniversary of the hillsborough disaster, musically and emotionally, he'll always be a part of the heart and soul of the club.

gerry marsden, who's died at the age, of 78. you're watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith lucas. good evening. sunday brought us another wintry—feeling, fairly cold day, but fewer snow showers on sunday compared to what we saw on saturday. nonetheless, there's still quite a bit of lying snow out there. this is the picture in worcestershire a bit earlier on on sunday. there were also some fairly heavy rain showers further south. and through the coming week, no great changes in the general theme to the weather. it's going to be staying cold with a mix of some rain and sleet, some snow and some sunshine thrown into the mix, especially further north. now, as we head through this evening and tonight, we've still got some showers, particularly eastern scotland and eastern england packing in on this brisk breeze. some icy stretches developing in the northeast. further south, rain showers,

for east anglia and the south—east, where it stays quite cloudy overnight. so temperatures here a couple of degrees above freezing, but colder the further north—west you are — minus six or minus seven for the west of scotland. so for monday, high pressure squeezes away most of those showers in the north. but we've got this feature here, which is going to be bringing some rain showers to east anglia and the south—east. particularly down towards the channel islands some of that rain could be quite heavy, and it's blown in on a brisk northeasterly wind as well. but away from the south and the east for the rest of the uk, the day will be brightening up. so a bit of sunshine developing, one or two wintry flurries here and there, cloudiest further south across england and wales. and here, the strongest of the winds too, a0 mile per hour gusts or even higher than that around the coasts of east anglia and through the english channel as well. so temperatures only four to six degrees, but feeling colder, particularly where you are exposed to that brisk northeasterly wind in the south and the east. moving through monday evening, overnight into tuesday, more of these showers coming into eastern scotland and north—east england as well. so some icy stretches likely once again. there'll be sleet and snow over the higher ground. down in the south—east on tuesday,

this area of rain will be really quite stubborn to clear away so wet weather for kent down towards the channel islands as well. some drier weather elsewhere, though. further north, only about three to six degrees. and again, a bit of a wind chill still on tuesday. moving through into wednesday, and this area of high pressure looks like itjust eases away towards the west, i think will be in between a couple of weather systems through into wednesday. so probably quite a bit of dry weather with some sunshine. still some stubborn showers could just linger for the likes of kent and the channel islands as well. sunny spells elsewhere, but some fairly heavy snow into the north—west of scotland later in the day. and it remains cold, only about to three or four degrees. 00:28:39,011 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 bye— bye.