welcome to bbc news — i'm mark lobel — our top stories: president trump is recorded on tape asking an election official to ‘find' him extra votes in the state of georgia. the recording comes as some senators in the republican party say they support donald trump in questioning the results. democrats have called the phone call a disgrace. and it was a bald—faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the united states. in other news, borisjohnson warns that covid restrictions in england are "probably about to get tougher" — as the uk records another 50,000 new cases in a single day. could julian assange finally be heading to the us to face

charges of espionage? a judge is set to rule on his case later. # walk on, walk on... and tributes to gerry marsden, the singer of ‘you'll never walk alone‘ who's died at the age of 78. hello and welcome to our viewers in the uk and around the globe. a recording has been released which appears to show president trump trying to persuade a senior republican official to "find" enough votes to overturn joe biden‘s victory in georgia. the washington post says the audio is from an hour—long phone call with georgia's secretary of state. according to the newspaper mr trump went from flattering to berating and threatening brad raffensperger to get him to recalculate the vote in his favour. 0ur reporter paul hawkins has the details

impeachment, the russia scandal and catching covid in the middle of a pandemic. the trump presidency has been a rollercoaster ride, so on one level, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. after all, donald trump himself said... losing is never easy. not for me, it's not. but, on another level, no—one could have foreseen that the president of the united states would ask georgia's top election official to find enough votes to overturn november's results. the call lasted an hour. a lawyer for the state refuting the president's unsubstantiated claim that ballots had been shredded and voting machinery had been removed. the secretary of state added...

the president then called him a child and threatened him with possible legal consequences, adding on twitter, "he has no clue." mr raffensperger tweeted back: condemnation of the call has been swift. well, it was, yes, certainly the voice of desperation. and it was a bald—faced, bold abuse of power. the president's refusal to accept the result has split his own party, with the former republican leader of the house of representatives saying it was difficult to conceive of a more anti—democratic and anti—conservative act. well, it's tough to be shocked anymore by what the president does, but this was truly shocking. i wouldn't say he's committed a criminal offence, i think he's done what he's done for so long which is he's attempted to bully

the secretary of state. but 11 republican senators, led by ted cruz, are still planning to challenge the election result when it's officially certified on wednesday. donald trump is holding an election rally on monday night in georgia where two republican—held senate seats are up for grabs in tuesday's election. polling suggests both races are tight, with the outcome deciding who controls the upper house of congress. but with donald trump questioning the voting process in georgia, will republicans still turn out to vote? paul hawkins, bbc news. earlier i spoke to republican, peter wehner, who previously served in the bush and reagan administrations. he's vice president and senior fellow at the ethics and public policy centre.. i asked him about his reaction to the leaked recording of president trump. well, shocked and not shocked. shocked because a president of the united states would pull something like this, which is a flagrant abuse of power, maybe a criminal act. not shocked because it's

donald trump who did it. this is parfor the course, coin of the realm for donald trump. he is, as i've said for a long time, a person with sociopathic tendencies. he is a person who is fundamentally immoral, nihilistic, a pathological liar, and he will do anything to stay in own power and advance his own interests, including this call. but this is not a surprise. this is what he's been doing since virtually day one or some version of what he's been doing. and we'll see how republicans react to it. in the call, donald trump said it's risky, possible criminal activity for the secretary of state not to act to find these votes. but is there legally questionable behaviour in what donald trump's been saying? well, i'm not a lawyer so i'll defer to them. i imagine he's skating up to the line if he's not actually crossed it.

but this call actually, people should listen to it. i've listened to parts of it, but it really is an embodiment of trump — the effort to flatter, to pressure, to intimidate, to threaten with legal sanctions and all of the rest. this is a desperate man trying to do anything that he can to get his way, and so it's really a remarkable thing to see. whether he's crossed the line or not, is one of the significant things about the call is that it comes days before this senate run—off on tuesday in georgia. do you think with 3 million voters, possibly more democrat than republican having voted already, this may backfire on the republicans‘ campaign there? 0h sure, it's going to backfire, the question is whether it backfires enough to cost the two republicans the seat. this can't help, i was on a call earlier today with a very prominent republican who was quite pessimistic about both seats, that the democrats

would win both. and trump has made thejob of republicans much harder than it needed to be because of the way he's acted, both in the call and also in just calling into question the voting process and basically saying the entire system is rigged, which of course raises in the minds of trump supporters, why do we even vote if we're voting in rigged elections? and there's a big problem, potentially, for the republican party itself. you've written the book about how the party should heal. has what you've heard today made that task more difficult? yeah, sure, of course. this last, this denouement of the trump presidency has been a nightmare for republicans. but again, this was not unexpected, this has been the arc and trajectory of the entire trump era. and the republican party which became complicit in it very early on is now paying the price. i think a lot of republicans were blind, i think wilfully blind, in not knowing that donald trump would lead them down these very dark alleyways. but it was inevitable that he would do so because he is fundamentally, i would say, a person with sociopathic tendencies,

so he was going to act this way, and and they should have known, they should have been alert to the fact that he would go this direction, he would go down this far. and that if they stayed with him, they would go down with him — many of them have. what's interesting is in the last 48—72 hours, a number of republicans are breaking with trump in his effort to try and steal the election — people like ben sasse, mitch mcconnell and mitt romney who's been a heroic figure in my estimation, a few others. so this is really, i think, the beginning — it's notjust the end of the trump presidency, i think it's the beginning of the post—trump presidency and the fight for the soul of the republican party. it's going to be an intense fight but a lot is at stake. the republican peter wehner

there. a former speechwriter for the bush administration. the british prime minister has warned that coronavirus restrictions in england are "probably about to get tougher" in order to bring the virus under control. there has 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 restrictions 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... you know... i'm fully, fully reconciled to that.

and i bet... so... ..the people of this country are 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. primary schools in england outside london and parts of the south east were expected to reopen this week, but some, at the last minute today, have decided to remain closed. in secondaries in england, there'll be a staggered start to the new term, with pupils expecting exams in the summer going back first. schools are safe. very, very important to stress that. the threat to... 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 have now 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 that national restrictions need to come in, in the next 2a hours. let's not have the prime minister saying, "i'm going to do it, "but not yet", that's the problem he's made so many times. the prospect of further restrictions, shops closed, a slump in demand, staff home—schooling their children, is placing colossal pressures on businesses and a demand for more support. how do we get this bridge across from a really difficult christmas period for small business, through to the spring or through to the easter, which people are now thinking is the recovery and, actually, the government should be throwing everything it's got at helping small businesses to survive the next two to three months. 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. more than half a million doses of the coronavirus vaccine made by oxford university and astrazeneca will begin to be rolled out across the uk in a few hours time. but there are questions over the speed at which those most at risk across the country will receive theirjabs, and concerns over the government's decision to delay offering the public second doses, of both the oxford and pfizer vaccines. here's our science editor, david shukman. it began with a blaze of publicity and now the vaccination programme moves up a gear, to try to protect tens of millions of people now that a second type of vaccine is about to be deployed. i hearfrom particularly my general practice colleagues up and down the country that they are raring to go. they're really, really busy

but they also know that this is the best thing that they can do to protect their patients. so, as supply allows, more sites will be able to offer the vaccine and that's exactly what we need to aim for. the big hope is the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. it's easy to handle. it doesn't need to be stored in extreme cold and the first doses are due to be given tomorrow. so, in the coming months, how will this mass programme take shape? the government's ambition is that by easter, that's april 4th, to have reached something like 30 million people. they're the most at risk — over 50s, health and care workers and adults with vulnerabilities. that involves around two million injections every week and for many people, that will be their first dose only. all of this depends on two key factors. production, can it be ramped up sufficiently? also delivery, will it be smooth in this massive operation? this comes as government

advisers say it's better to delay giving second doses so that more people can quickly get a first dose and at least have some protection. but pfizer says this idea hasn't been tested for its vaccine and some leading scientists want more research. i think it's so important that with this decision that's been made that there are actually scientific studies that go on to look at the effect of delaying the second dose. i personally think that it may well produce as good or better an immune response, but we really need to study it. sites like this offer hope of a way out of the pandemic. the challenge now is making sure the vaccines get used as effectively as possible. david shukman, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: # walk on, walk on... tributes to gerry marsden, the singer of ‘you'll never walk alone', who's died at the age of 78.

the japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. good grief! after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. around the world, people have been paying tribute to the iconic rock star david bowie who sold 140 million albums in a career that spanned half a century. his family announced overnight that he had died of cancer at the age of 69. the world's tallest skyscraper opens later today. the burj dubai, has easily overtaken its nearest rivals.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines: the us president is recorded on a phone call demanding a georgia election official ‘finds‘ votes for him so that he can overturn joe biden‘s win. borisjohnson warns that coronavirus restrictions in england could probably become tougher, as the uk again records more than 50,000 new cases per day. the wikileaks website has called for charges against it's founderjulian assange to be dropped, ahead of a judge's decision on monday on whether to extradite him from the uk to america. he's wanted in the united states in connection with the publication of classified documents ten years ago — he's currently being held at belmarsh prison near london, after breaching his bail conditions two years ago. our world affairs editor,

john simpson has the story. julian assange set up wikileaks as a crusade to reveal corruption and abuses right around the world. light them all up. come on, fire! this, for instance, is a video of american soldiers firing from a helicopter at iraqi civilians in baghdad. the us military tried to keep it secret but assange broke their code and made it public. in 2010, he handed hundreds of thousands of us diplomatic cables and military logs to newspapers around the world, uncovering huge numbers of american intelligence secrets and agents. soon after that, sweden issued an international arrest warrant for assange, alleging sexual assault. when the high court in london decided he should be extradited to sweden, assange broke bail and took refuge in

the ecuadorian embassy. the united states must renounce its witch—hunt against wikileaks. in 2014, i went to see him in the embassy, which was only the size of a large flat. it's a difficult situation. other people are in more difficult situations. before the 2016 us election, wikileaks published secret democratic party e—mails which damaged hillary clinton and may have helped her opponent, donald trump, to become president. it alleged the hacking came from russian agents. sweden's case against assange for rape came to nothing. but finally in 2019 ecuador allowed the british police to arrest him and he was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaking bail. the us government started proceedings to extradite him. there is, say newspaper editors, an attack on press freedom

but one american expert says the true charge against assange is hacking government secrets. i think that the story about assange should be a truthful one. there's a lot of stuff being peddled. the discussion about what wikilea ks is will change significantly and you won't see so many journalism outlets, so many organisations, ngos, to support journalism making what are really unsupportable claims about this being a political prosecution. it's simply not. assange's lawyer disagrees. this means any journalist reporting upon the crimes of a foreign nation, reporting truthful information about human rights abuses, war crimes, can be extradited. the most dangerous aspect of this is that not only can you be extradited but when you return to the united states, as in this case, you will not benefit from constitutional protections which is a terrifying precedent.

even if tomorrow's judgement goes against assange, the appeals process will last a long time. john simpson, bbc news. i've been speaking to chip gibbons from the us civil liberties organisation, defending rights and dissent. he told me what he expects on monday. unfortunately, a lot of observers of the trial have said that the judge will most likely grant extradition to assange to the us and then there will be appeals. i say unfortunately becausejulian assange's case is a case about a political offense. the us government has pursued julian assange for over a decade because he released information about us crimes and us warcrimes, and as the judge heard during the trial, human rights experts testified how they used that information in their own work to get justice for victims of drone strikes in pakistan, to get justice for victims of torture in guantanamo. some of the information that was used in the guantanamo case has been taken up by the icc investigation into us war crimes

in afghanistan. of course, the icc prosecutor has also been sanctioned by the us, and this case, as a us civil liberties activist, is very important to me becausejulian assange is the first person charged under the espionage act for publishing or printing of truthful information. and if you can charge assange, everyone has said, you can charge the new york times which has published the same information which is why the new york times, the guardian and all these newspapers and free—speech groups are against this. but from the perspective of the world, it's even more significant. assange is not a us citizen, he doesn't seek to operate in the us, he is an australian national, he operates abroad and the us is essentially saying, it has the right to apply its espionage act extraterritorially to any publisher, any journalist in the world who publishes information it doesn't like.

in this case, information that was newsworthy, hence why the new york times, the guardian and all of these different outlets covered it, about us human rights abuses and us war crimes. information the us public has a right to know in order to make an informed decision about its own foreign policy and to know what it is the government does in their name, and information that people of the world have a right to know because everyone has a right to know when a human right abuse is committed. if i may, you are saying that you expect he might be extradited, but either way, do you think that there will be an appeal? my understanding is that either way there will be an appeal and it will go on for a while. and if he comes to the us, there will be constitutional challenges to the

charges against him. gerry marsden, the leader of the british band gerry and the pacemakers, has died at the age of 78. he was, perhaps, best known for his version of "you'll never walk alone" — a hit adopted by fans of marsden‘s local football team, liverpool. 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. there has been a successful panda breeding year and footage has been released of them at play. the country's total panda population is now 633. these

we re population is now 633. these were filmed at a nature reserve in sichuan province. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @marklobel. hello. 2021 has certainly started on a cold and wintry note. through the weekend we have seen sleet and snow from many places, not everywhere, this was near sheffield on sunday afternoon. there's also been heavy rain showers around. over the coming few days the story stays the same, staying cold with a mix of rain, sleet and snow, mainly over hills, the snow. some sunshine but often quite windy conditions, particularly through monday and tuesday. we have high pressure sitting to the north of the uk, low pressure down towards the south, south—west and in between those two areas, we're drawing in that cold wind coming in from the north—east of the north sea so that brings showers on monday, rain for east anglia and the south—east and the channel isles and further north, one or two wintry showers over the pennines, southern uplands and one

or two over the higher ground of wales. a good deal of sunshine developing for many areas, it will be a windy day, though, with gusts over 40 mph along the coast of east anglia and through the english channel. temperatures up to about 4—6 degrees, below average for the time of year and feeling colder when you add that wind—chill. moving through monday evening, overnight into tuesday, we've got more showers feeding in from the north sea on the north—easterly wind and it could be ice and snow around for parts of eastern scotland and north—east england as well. temperatures overnight not quite as cold as recent nights but still getting down to freezing or below, the coldest across the north—west. heading into tuesday, a similar day to monday, watch out for ice and snow once again, particularly for eastern scotland, northern england and further rain showers to come for east anglia and the south—east of england and the channel isles, this stubborn area of cloud and rain persisting. another cold day

with some sunshine and around 3—6 degrees and still are wind—chill on tuesday. moving through into wednesday, high pressure tends to move away towards the west so we are in between weather systems heading into wednesday, a quieter day and the breeze turns to a northerly direction for the middle to the end of the week. probably quite a bit of sunshine, still a few showers for eastern england, one or two for the south—east and channel isles as well. and it is staying cold for the time of year with temperatures only about 1—4 degrees on wednesday. bye for now.

this is bbc news, the headlines: donald trump is recorded on tape asking an election official in georgia to find extra votes for him, in an attempt to change the official result of the presidential election in the state that certified joe biden as the winner. one of president—electjoe biden‘s advisors said they now had irrefutable proof of a president pressuring an official from his own party to get him to rescind a state's lawful, certified vote count. the white house has not yet responded to the call being made public. borisjohnson has warned that coronavirus restrictions in england are probably about to get tougher to curb the rise in infections. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, has called for a new national lockdown to be announced within the next 24 hours. and those are your headlines on bbc news.