this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm victoria fritz. donald trump finally issues a statement saying he condemns the storming of the us capitol by his supporters. to those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. and to those who broke the law, you will pay. the president's education secretary, betsy devos, joins a growing list of officials quitting the administration in protest. in other news, the islamic cleric believed to be the mastermind behind the bali bombings is released from prison in indonesia. france begins to roll out its coronavirus vaccination programme, but at a slower rate

than its neighbours. hello and welcome. a new video from president trump expressing what he says is his outrage at wednesday's attack on the capitol building in washington has failed to calm down many of his political friends and enemies alike. two cabinet members have resigned, as have a raft of white house aides, and house speaker nancy pelosi is among top democrats calling on vice president mike pence to invoke the 25th amendment, which declares the president unfit for office. here is peter bowes. the clean—up continues in washington, but this is a mess that won't be brushed under the carpet. the country has been

shaken to the core, mob violence at the heart of american government. condemnation of the violence was slow to come from one branch of government, the white house. but more than 2a hours after the capitol building was ransacked, donald trump's tone has changed. in a new video, the president condemns what he calls the heinous attack, saying he is outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem. the demonstrators who infiltrated the capital have defiled the seat of american democracy. to those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. and to those who broke the law, you will pay. the president defends his decision to challenge the election results, but he does not repeat his unfounded claims that the process was read. two members of the cabinet have now resigned, blaming mrtrump members of the cabinet have now resigned, blaming mr trump for the violence. the latest was the violence. the latest was the education secretary, betsy

devos, who said there was no mistaking the impact the president's rhetoric has had on the situation. mr trump's comments will do little to persuade his opponents, including some republicans, that he is still fit to hold office. leading democrats in congress have urged mike pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment and remove him from the white house, but according to an advisor, the vice president opposes the idea. politicians from both the major parties have said, if the president can't be removed, he could be impeached for a second time. the president's abuse of power, his incitement of a mob against the duly elected representative body of the united states, is a manifestly impeachable offence. if there ever was an impeachable offence, what the president did with it. but the clock is ticking on donald trump's presidency. he will be out in 12 days whenjoe biden takes

over. mr trump has pledged that it will be a smooth and orderly transition of power, but many americans are nervous about what could happen between now and then. the tension in the country is palpable. and we can speak to peter now. what purpose do these resignations serve? well, i think in practical terms, these resignations will have little effect, of course, coming so close to the end of the trump administration. coming from two members of the cabinet, two women who have been very close to the president, they have been very loyal to donald trump over the past few years, i think they may — they just past few years, i think they may — theyjust may — influence his behaviour and some of his words over the next few days, the next couple of weeks, leading up to the transfer of power. now, we don't know that for certain, how the president

is going to be affected by resignations like this, because they really don't have any bearing on what he does next. but we are in this very, very tense situation, this window between president trump and joe biden taking over from the white house. and there is a lot of tension around the country, people concerned about what is going to happen over the next few days. so i think that the resignations, and it is not just members of the cavernous, it is others in the administration as well, who are making a point that they don't side with the president. they believe that he has been wrong. some of the language that he has used, the rhetoric he has used, which seems to have encouraged his supporters to go on that violent spree and break into the capitol building. strange, tense, and of course, quite a lot of this unfolding amid an odd, strange silent, amid an odd, strange silent, amid an odd, strange silent, amid a twitter free trump, although he is now back on twitter. yes, and it is interesting of course that this video that we have just seen pa rt video that we have just seen

part of was released through twitter by the president. this is his first tweet since being banned for about 12 hours and what is interesting is the fact that he does not repeat any of those unfounded claims about electoral fraud in the election being rigged against him. that is the very reason why he was thrown off twitter in the forest four first place, for making false claims, and as the social network site, perhaps inciting a riot. he has toned it down a little bit, he is back on the social network, he is not back on facebook and instagram. it will be interesting as the days move forward what kind of attitude he had a when he tweets, whether he will go back to his old ways or whether this is a new donald trump. now, as you say, the days are taking on. we have 12 days now until the inauguration. president trump is vowing to adhere to an orderly transition. is he likely to remain president long enough to witness it? well,

thatis enough to witness it? well, that is the key question, isn't it? if the democrats get their way, no, he won't. but it is a long shot, i think. there are a couple of mechanisms, at least a couple of mechanisms, whereby he could be removed from office. there is the 25th amendment, where he would be declared unfit to hold office. the vice president, mike pence, would take over. mike pence has said he does not want to go down that road. the other method is impeachment. he has been impeached before. he wasn't found guilty but was impeached in the house of representatives and leading democrats say they want to do that again. they believe that they have strong grounds to do that. it would have to be a very quick process and it wouldn't really make a huge amount of difference to donald trump except for the fact that he would become the first president to be impeached twice. that would be part of history. it would go down with history. it would go down with his record. peter, we will have to leave it there. thank you very much forjoining us. abu bakar ba'asyir, a radical

muslim cleric and the alleged mastermind of the 2002 bali bombings, has been freed from prison. his family picked him up from a jail on the outskirts of jakarta. the 82—year—old is widely considered to be the spiritual leader of an al-qaeda—inspired group that was blamed for the attack that killed 202 people. the bbc‘s shaimaa khalil is in sydney and joins me now. what happens now? do we know? well, we know that his son spoke to local media and reportedly said that after abu bakar and reportedly said that after abu ba kar ba'asyir was and reportedly said that after abu bakar ba'asyir was picked up abu bakar ba'asyir was picked up by abu bakar ba'asyir was picked up by his family, reportedly taken back home to central java, that he was going to go back to school which is an islamic boarding school that he himself had founded back in the 19705. himself had founded back in the 1970s. the graduates of the school were linked to militant groups and two attacks. whether that will happen or not we

still do not know. whether the indonesian authorities will allow that to happen, we still do not know. but as you say, abu bakar ba'asyir, one of indonesia's most will most notorious extremists, really, the former spiritual leader of the former spiritual leader of the al-qaeda affiliated jemaah islamiah, responsible for the bali bombings but also responsible for the jw attack injakarta in responsible for the jw attack in jakarta in 2003. responsible for the jw attack injakarta in 2003. important to note, though, that even though abu bakar ba'asyir was strongly linked to those two attacks, he was never really convicted for them. he received a prison sentence of 15 years in 2011 linked to a jihad he militant training camp. that is what he went to prison for. we also know that now that he has been released, after many reductions to his jail sentence. but as we have heard from the indonesian government and the indonesian officials, he has now completed his jail term. yes, he always denied any wrongdoing, didn't he? you are speaking to us from sydney. many of those killed and

injured in those bombings in 2002 were australians. what reaction has there been from family and friends to ba'asyir‘s release? well, the decision to free abu bakar ba'asyir well, the decision to free abu ba kar ba'asyir has well, the decision to free abu bakar ba'asyir has really received mixed reactions, not just in indonesia but in australia, where most of the victims were from. we heard from many families who have said that in addition to the raw emotions that this brought, that there was a real fear that the radical cleric would preach hate again. we heard from a mother who lost her son who said that not only should he be freed, but that he should receive a life sentence for every life lost in those bombings. we also heard from jan laczynski, who lost five friends in this attack. he said that this was distressing news and that he did not really expect him to be freed. i thought this was going to be ultimate closure from me. because i thought, oh, yeah, 15 years.

we're not going to see him walk out of jail. now we can see him walk out ofjail, and i am thinking uh—oh — not just of the horror and the memories coming back, but it is the fear factor. he is going to walk out with a hero's welcome. abu bakar abu ba kar ba'asyir abu bakar ba'asyir pledged allegiance to the so—called islamic state in 2014 from prison. the real concern is now, even though he does not wield much power over the jemaah islamiah, he is senior enough to influence other militants, that is really what many are concerned about. we will leave it there. thank you very much. brazil has surpassed 200,000 deaths from covid—19, with no signs of the virus slowing down. the country registered 1,524 deaths on thursday, the highest number in more than five months. brazil is the second—worst—affected country in the world when it comes to fatalities, as our south america correspondent katy watson now reports from sao paulo.

history is repeating itself in the amazon. nine months after the biggest city in the rainforest was overrun by cases, manaus is once again struggling to cope with covid—19. it is a picture that is being repeated throughout brazil. hospital beds filling up, medical teams working relentlessly. 0n the very day brazil registered 200,000 deaths, it also clocked another unwelcome record — nearly 88,000 new cases in 24 hours, the highest number since the pandemic began. in total, nearly 8 million people in south america's largest economy have been infected. translation: since the first death in brazil that happen in march 2020, it has only taken

ten months for brazil to reach the 200,000 mark for coronavirus deaths. but it feels like the pandemic has been forgotten here. it is peak summer, holiday season — people are relaxing and dropping their guard. translation: they are not taking it seriously. the beaches— the coast was crowded, and this proved that people still need to have more awareness and take this virus more seriously. it doesn't help that the country's leader refuses to take it seriously. this was president bolsonaro on new year's day, doing what he has always done — very little when it comes to setting an example to try and curb the spread of the virus. translation: we mourn today. we are surpassing 200,000 deaths. but life goes on. we are deeply sorry. i'm worried about my mother, who is 93 years old. if she contracts the virus, she will have difficulty due

to her age, but we will have to face up to it. but it doesn't stop millions of brazilians eager for some good news, and there was a glimmer of hope on thursday. results from late—stage trials showing that the vaccine being jointly developed by chinese biotech company sinovac and sao paulo—based buta ntan research centre was between 78—100% effective against covid—19. translation: it is the only one available today to control the pandemic in brazil. we hope to have more vaccines, but at the moment, this is what we have. it's one of the safest vaccines in the world. we already have data on safety. in china they have vaccinated more than 700,000 people. welcome relief could be around the corner, but this pandemic has become deeply

entrenched in brazil. disinformation, distrust around the vaccine and disgregard for any sort of lockdown. despite the rising numbers, there is little sign of the virus being curbed any time soon. katy watson, bbc news, in sao paulo. the united states has recorded its deadliest single day of the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 4,000 people dying on thursday, according to johns hopkins university. the latest surge has been compounded by the spread of a more infectious coronavirus variant first detected in the united kingdom. from next week, all travellers to england and scotland from international destinations will have to test negative for coronavirus before they can enter the country. passengers arriving in england or scotland by boat, train or plane — including uk nationals — will have to take a test up to 72 hours before leaving the country of departure. failure to comply will lead to an immediate £500 or $678 fine.

australia is also tightening its travel rules to stop the spread of the uk covid—19 variant. all international travellers will have to test negative for the coronavirus before boarding flights to the country. and a snap three—day lockdown has been introduced in the city of brisbane after a cleaner in its hotel quarantine system became infected with coronavirus. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a vote of confidence for the tokyo olympic games, but will the number of spectators be reduced if the event goes ahead? 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 despite 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: donald trump finally issues a statement — saying he condemns the storming of the us capitol by his supporters.

the islamic cleric believed to be the mastermind behind the bali bombings is released from prison in indonesia. france is also rolling out its vaccination programme — but at a much slower rate. only 500 people had been given the jab in the first week. at least 25 thousand were vaccinated today. tonight the french prime ministerjean castex said the vaccine will shortly be offered to all over 75s as he expressed concern that the virus is still spreading too fast in france. 0ur paris correspondent lucy williamson has been to a hospital in the southern city of saint—etienne. for france, this is not a vaccine to be delivered in a hurry. these tiny vials may be endorsed by doctors, but they carry a political risk. at saint—etienne's new vaccination centre, the first doses to arrive are for staff, not patients — a new push to increase vaccinations and public confidence in them.

until now, only residents of elderly care homes were eligible for the jab. this week it is being offered to firefighters, domestic carers and all medical staff over the age of 50. we are dealing with a technocratic system which is not reactive enough and only wants to follow regulatory procedures without any risk, and we all think it is time to take risks. speaks french under pressure over the low number of vaccinations, the prime minister, jean castex, said tonight that everyone over the age of 75 can have the vaccine from 18 january. but he insisted that france was right to begin its campaign in the way it did. the government says it made sense to focus on the most vulnerable first, and to require signed consent

and a doctor's approval before carrying out the vaccination. but there is another reason for this caution around the vaccine. polls suggest that more than half the french population isn't planning to take it. marie is a newspaper publisher in paris. her three children have all have their childhood vaccinations, she says, and she is happy to have most vaccinations herself. but the pfizer vaccine currently on offer in france has her worried because it was developed so quickly, using a new technique. you see the government telling you that it's completely safe. you see doctors telling you it's completely safe, researchers telling you it's completely safe. does that change your mind? maybe they could say i'm sure with 99%, but not 100%. nobody could say 100%, and my concern is about the 1%, 2%, 3%, 5% of risk. distrust of vaccines has a long history here, but france's slow start led to accusations it was becoming a laughing stock.

the government is trying to vaccinate the nation without alienating one set of voters or embarrassing another. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. a south korean court has ruled that tokyo must pay damages to 12 so—called comfort women who were used as sex slaves in japanese brothels during world war ii. japan says the ruling is ‘utterly unacceptable'. courtney bembridge has more. it's a landmark ruling after an eight year court battle. translation: i'm deeply moved by today's ruling. it's the first verdict of its kind for the ones who suffered at the hands of japanese troops. victims and their supporters have been protesting for decades. this is 1993, one of the ends fainted during a protest. the release continued.

this is 2005. 2006. 2012. 2013. and 2020. it's estimated that 200,000 girls were forced to work as so—called comfort women during world war ii. 0nly work as so—called comfort women during world war ii. only a handful are still alive. has won the speaking to the bbc in 2015. translation: won the speaking to the bbc in 2015. translationi won the speaking to the bbc in 2015. translation: i was forced to have sex with many men each day. it was so horrible that some women killed themselves. the issue has strained relations between south korea andjapan. relations between south korea and japan. the japanese government denies responsibility and has reacted angrily to the ruling which awarded the vic is 90,000 us dollars each. translation: reparations are not a major issue for them. rather their wishes to have the japanese government inform its citizens of the atrocities are committed. the same court is

due to rule next week on a similar case brought against tokyo by another 20 women and theirfamilies. time now for the latest sport. hello there. the impact of covid—19 in sport continues to be felt. the international olympic committee says it has full confidence in the japanese authorites to deliver the olympic and paralympic games in late in the year, although potentially with reduced spectators crowds. daily covid infections in tokyo have hit a daily record there and it's resulted in the city being placed into a partial lockdown. spectators would be fun, they add a lot to the atmosphere the stadium, but let's not forget that 99.5% of the people around the world who experience the games don't do it with bombs in chairs. they are doing it through television or some

electronic platform. so that audience will still be there, that audience is hoping that the games will go ahead somehow. sports stars have been speaking out about the events in washington on wednesday evening. wnba star renee montgomery campaigned for the democrats in georgia despite being on the payroll of the atlanta dreams part—owned by the outgoing republican senator kelly loeffler. she took a break from basketball midway through last year but has still found plenty to celebrate. it's definitely not what i expected, this whole last 365 days, but it's welcome and it's definitely one of my biggest wins, you know. this feels like a championship when. if this was a series and we won all three, the presidential election, two senate races, that's a sweep, so i will take it. top seed sofia kenin says she'll have to improve her game to do well at the abu dhabi 0pen as she prepares to face kirsten flipkens in the second round. playing her first match of the new season, kenin admitted it took a while to

find her groove against yang zhoa—xuan but came through in straight sets nonetheless. kenin is also in doubles action later on alongside ajla tomljanovic. the fa cup third round kicks off on friday night. it will be an all premier league clash between aston villa and liverpool, only one team won't have any premier league players in it. villa's training ground is closed and they will be forced to field a team of youngsters after a covid outbreak in the first team squad. final confirmation is expected in a few hours, pending results of further testing of the players now being considered for selection. a close contact of real madrid boss zinedine zidane has tested positive for covid—19 too, meaning he might not be on the touchline for their trip to 0sasuna on saturday. he missed thursday training as a precaution although has tested negative for the virus so far. the website, app and our social media channels will keep you right up to date. that's all from us for now.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @vfritznews. if you would like to talk about any of the stories we are covering today. plenty more business news and just a minute. hello there. thursday was a really cold day in the midlands, where the fog persisted. and it's cold widely at the moment, of course. we've got a widespread frost. and again, for many parts of the country it could be quite icy out there as well, and in some areas we're seeing some more sleet and snow falling. so it's a real mixture, some quite tricky conditions early in the morning, a wintry mixture. we've got most of the patchy fog now across the south—east of england by this stage. but with sleet and snow falling mainly across wales and northern england, there's going to be a covering of snow for many. there could be even more than that over the pennines. a dry but icy start for northern ireland, and indeed for much of scotland, but a covering of snow for northern and eastern areas. the more persistent snow should have moved southwards by this

stage and the wintry showers that we're left with will soon fade away, so it's going to turn dry and sunny for scotland and indeed for northern ireland. more cloud, though, for england and wales. again a mixture of rain, sleet and mainly hill snow for northern england and wales. a few wintry showers around elsewhere and the fog will be lifting through the morning. but a cold day wherever you are, temperatures again only 1—4 celsius. and as we head into the weekend, it's going to be really cold start on saturday morning. a widespread, quite sharp frost as well. some fog around in the morning across southern england to slowly lift, but otherwise england and wales looks dry and sunny. for scotland and northern ireland, the cloud will tend to increase as the winds pick up and we'll see some wetter weather arriving in the north—west of scotland. but another cold day — those temperatures in the afternoon 2—4 degrees for many areas. the wetter weather that's coming into the north—west on that second weather front there, and that will slip its way southwards on saturday night, but weaken. but we're left with more cloud across the northern half of the uk. still some patches of fog in southern england.

southern areas, though, seeing a bright but cold day. more cloud for northern england, northern ireland and scotland in particular. some further damp weather coming back into western areas of scotland. here it should be a bit milder, and generally those temperatures a degree or so higher on sunday. things are going to get milder for many of us as we head into next week as the winds come in from the atlantic. notice that colder air still across parts of scotland, so there is the threat of some snow here. but generally next week looks much milder, but there will be some rain and some stronger winds as well.

this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the crashes and the cover—up — boeing to pay $2.5 billion over charges it hid the truth about the 737 max from safety officials. testing times for tourism. all travellers arriving in england and scotland must present a negative covid test result from next week stimulus cash, a boost for clean energy and a crackdown on big tech. what investors are betting on from bidenomics. and supercharged — elon musk becomes the world's richest person.