this is bbc news — welcome to our viewers in the uk and around the globe. twitter says it has now permanently suspended president trump's account, after the assault on the us capitol building by his supporters. following a review of mr trump's recent tweets, twitter said there were concerns about the risk of further incitements of violence. soon after the unrest, twitter had blocked access to mr trump for 12 hours.

he came back onto the site and decided to make that than permanent. twitter has also taken action against some of his allies as well. the explanation given by twitter, saying let's get more from our correspondent david willis in los angeles: thatis that is now it. he's been permanently banned from his preferred blood form of communication. mr trump has long said he missed trusts the mainstream or, as he calls it,

‘lamestream' media, preferring to talk over its head directly to talk over its head directly to his supporters. —— platform. there are 88 million people who follow him on the form. twitter. a short while ago, the authorities are twitter said he was being permanent band after close review of recent tweets from his account in the context surrounding them. they go on to say: of course, there was a 12— hour block placed on mr trump's account earlier in the week following that mass brilliant the violence on the capital, around the capital, and now it seems the preferred platform for seems the preferred platform foertrump is seems the preferred platform for mr trump is permanently closed to him. we normally of course hear from closed to him. we normally of course hearfrom him on twitter so course hearfrom him on twitter so how are we going to hear from him? is hejust going to

borrow someone else's phone on their account or migrate everything to tiktok? that is a very interesting question indeed. he does have for the 12 days of beast, the resources of the white house and the presidency, so he can issue press statements and go on television more or less at the drop of a hat. should he choose to do so. but he will not be able to tweet. the official presidential and governmental twitter sites remain in place but donald trump's individual account is being closed down and twitter is clearly very keen, james, to prevent the president himself from gaining access to its platform. it is extraordinary to think a man who is currently not allowed to even post a cat video to twitter can, if he so chooses, still launch nuclear weapons.

it is, and it's disconcerting to a lot of people in this country, not lease the house speaker nancy pelosi who has been talking to the chairman of thejoint chiefs of staff, saying that she is very anxious about this man having access to the nuclear codes. meanwhile, there are attempt by democrats to get rid of mr trump before his term in office comes to an end, just 12 days from now. they are considering a variety of options, the 25th amendment, unable to carry out the functions of the presidency or impeachment, are more likely perhaps respect but time is running out. there arejust 12 days left of this presidency and joe biden himself is very keen to avoid any more division in this country. david willis, thank you so much.

earlier three democratic members of congress said they'd bring articles of impeachment against president trump on monday. the lawmakers began drafting the measure as they sheltered in place during the riots on wednesday. the white house says any moves towards impeachment would ‘only serve to further divide our great country'. for his part, president trump says he won't attend joe biden‘s inauguration injust 12 days' time. mr biden said he's fine with that, calling the current president is an ‘embarrasment‘ to the office. here's our north america editorjon sopel. you can see already that the democrats are planning to draw up articles of impeachment, to impeach him a second time in the house. apparently, this is being planned when the raid on the congress was taking place. and they are going to accuse donald trump of intention to cause an insurrection. so that's that. there is also nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house, she has been in touch with the commander of the us military to say that the president should be stripped of the nuclear codes because he is not a reliable person. you have got the white house

saying that this is going to sow further division. there are republicans saying he ought to go. so that is the next 12 days. we don't know what donald might do or say next. last night, he was on ottawa queue, he might let rip if not. so there's a lot of uncertainty. so let's look at where we are right now. because this has been a week of turbulence in a way that american history has not seen before. yesterday, 4000 people died and one day of covid—19, the highest single total. today, the jobless totals have gone up all stop as well as that's, we have seen the assault on congress, americans are divided. they are angry. this is donald trump's legacy. but it's alsojoe biden‘s inheritance. that report byjon sopel. the european union has reached a deal with pfizer and biontech for 300 million additional doses of its covid—19 vaccine, doubling the amount of doses

from these producers. each recipient of the vaccine needs two doses for maximum efficacy. portugal and ukraine have become the latest european countries to tighten coronavirus restrictions. portugal has begun a 15—day state of emergency, banning domestic travel on weekends and extending a curfew to most of the country. the uk has recorded the highest daily coronavirus death toll since the start of the pandemic. 1,325 more people have lost their lives. to add to that figure — a record number of new cases — more than 68,000 positive tests were recorded in the past 2a hours. hospitals across the uk are now under severe pressure — with some treating many more patients than during the first peak in april. here's our health editor, hugh pym. two brothers enjoying a swim on a foreign holiday. exactly a year later,

one of them died with covid—19. he was a big chap, there's no denying that but he could swim all day long. you know, he was running on christmas day. james remembers his brother david, who was 36. they both tested positive and were isolating but david's condition worsened overnight and he didn't survive. we were going to sit there and rough it out. my advice would be, i don't want to scaremonger people and i don't want to be dramatic but i think people, if you are in that situation, if you are sat at home and you are starting to really struggle for breath, ring 111. a postmortem will try to establish whether there were other factors in david's death. as more lives are lost and case numbers increase, london's mayor has declared a major incident, with a call for financial support from the government. hospitals are so busy that ambulances are delayed

handing over patients, with waiting times up 36% in the south—east in december, according to data leaked to bbc news. covid patient numbers are rising in other regions. extra staff have been drafted into this intensive care unit in wolverhampton, including dental specialists. i didn't really think about how hard it would be, in patient roles, to end—of—life. it's somebody‘s loved one. and this nottinghamshire hospital says the pressure is intensifying. we are beginning to see that huge increase that london has seen. so we have got 160 patients with covid in our organisation, nearly double the number we saw in the first wave. critical care is exceptionally busy and the colleagues who work here are tired, they're fatigued and they are worn out. the latest survey of community infections by the office for national statistics suggests that last week in northern ireland, one in 200 people had the virus, with case rates no

longer decreasing. in scotland, it was one in 115, with case numbers on the increase. in wales, one in 70, although case rates were coming down. in england, one in 50 had the virus, with case numbers on the increase. the worst affected area was london with one in 30. the latest r number range, 1—1.li, was higher than the previous estimate. anything above one suggests the virus is accelerating. vaccinations continue, though there was a long queue and waits in the cold for people in priority groups invited to this clinic for theirjabs. it was confirmed that a third vaccine has been approved by regulators. it is made by the us company moderna, and the government has ordered 17 million doses, although they are unlikely to be available before the spring. right now, senior health officials are focused on the spread of the virus. they are worried there are more people out and about than during the first lockdown,

and they think there could be more than 100,000 new infections per day, including those who have not been tested. hugh pym, bbc news. for the most sick, those whose lungs have not been helped by a ventilator, there is another alternative. it's called ecmo. they're specialist intensive care life support machines which pump oxygen into the patients blood allowing the lungs to rest. there are only six nhs centres in the uk that offer the treatment to a few dozen patients. but now they're under pressure to take on more. our health correspondent sophie hutchinson has been given rare access to an ecmo unit at the royal papworth hospital in cambridge. they are the sickest patients we've ever seen, even for patients on ecmo. is everybody ready? the patients are very poorly and in bigger numbers than we have ever had them. these are among the very sickest patients with covid—19 in the country. and this ward is their last hope.

their lungs are so damaged by the disease that even ventilators haven't helped, and they've come here for the rarest form of life support from a machine known as ecmo. ecmo stands for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. it allows these patients to breathe without using their lungs, giving their lungs a vital rest, so that they can recover. this ecmo centre was set up following the swine flu outbreak in 2009, but the coronavirus pandemic is now stretching it almost to the limit. normally on this ward, they have three patients on ecmo, but because of the pandemic and the damage that covid—19 does to the lungs, they have many more. in fact, each of these rooms has a patient on ecmo in it.

they say they have 18 patients here today, and they've described it as a super surge. i know there is a limit that we will reach. i have no idea when that limit will be there. by continuing, extending, extending, there will be a cracking point. hello, how can i help? and as well as treating patients, staff are working around the clock, fielding calls from other hospitals. there are a maximum of around 100 ecmo beds in the uk, but there have been 3,000 requests for patient referrals. it is relentless. patient after patient after patient. they take a long time to get better. they are the sickest patients we've ever seen, even for patients on ecmo. you know, they're not old patients, they are a younger cohort. and so it is... it is really, really difficult. and we are all, at times, finding it quite overwhelming. is everybody ready? yeah. ready, steady, roll. some patients are in their 20s and 30s. most are older.

they have to be strong enough to withstand ecmo and the work looking after them is gruelling. it's very difficult, it's very difficult, things are very intense. the patients are very poorly, poorlier than we've probably ever seen them and in bigger numbers than we've ever had them. it is a lot to deal with. we haven't got the staffing numbers to cope with the amount of patients that we have but we are doing what we can for the patients that we have with the time that we have. towards the end of our filming, another two patients staff are proud that everyone who meets the criteria for ecmo has, so far, been offered a bed here. but this extra pressure was hard to handle. we are not as resilient this time as we were last time, because we've really had no downtime, so to speak. but we still do it, because that's what we do. and what they're doing is saving lives. through their dedication and determination, perhaps more than half of these patients will eventually awake and go home to their loved ones. sophie hutchinson, bbc news.

from next week, anyone entering the uk — whether you live here or not — will have to have tested negative for covid—19 no more than three days before arriving here. children under 11, lorry drivers and travel from ireland will be exempt but passengers from countries not on the uk's approved list will still have have to quarantine when they arrive. the lockdown in wales is to remain in place for at least another three weeks. the first minister, mark drakeford, has also warned some measures may need to be strengthened. he said that, unless there was a significant drop in cases soon, school and college students were likely to continue their education online until the february half term. officials say the number of people with coronavirus in hospital in scotland is now higher than it was at the peak of the first wave in april. the total is 1,530, compared with 1,520 last spring. the number of deaths registered yesterday is 93, the highest daily total during the second wave of the virus.

in northern ireland, new lockdown restrictions have come into force forbidding people from leaving home for non—essential reasons. people can be ordered home by the police if they do not have a reasonable excuse for being out. the law's in place until six february but will be reviewed later this month. this is bbc news, the headlines: twitter has permanently suspended president donald trump days before the end of his presidency, saying that allowing him to continue would risk further incitement to violence. democrats in the us house of representatives have drawn up an article of impeachment against president trump which accuses him of inciting insurrection. two women have been describing how they were surrounded by police in derbyshire, read their rights and fined 200 pounds after they drove five miles for a walk by a reservoir. current guidance says you can travel for exercise in england as long as it is in your local area.

derbyshire police said they are reviewing the fines issued in this period. phil mackie reports. eliza moore and jessica allen, friends whose businesses have shot because a lockdown, decided to brave the cold and go for a socially distance walked to try to keep their spirits up. unfortunately, their trip to a nearby reservoir has earned them each a £200 fine. derbyshire police have been stopping people who were driving to beauty spots because they say it is a breach of government regulations. jessica says she thought they we re jessica says she thought they were following the rules to the letter. we take these guidelines really seriously. my brother is a doctor who works ona brother is a doctor who works on a covid ward. my parents have both had it was not we are trying to follow the rules, we haven't come out wanting to break the law. not having a party, there is in five of us. we simply came to what we thought was the safest place. go to police were accused in the first lockdown of being too heavy and it after flying drones over walkers in the peak district. today, officers have

been out again, telling people to go home. we've been coming to go home. we've been coming to this part for most of my life. just out for daily exercise and i've been turned away by the police. the difficulty is in the interpretation of the rules. derbyshire police have released a statement which seems to say that if you have to drive somewhere to take exercise and thatis somewhere to take exercise and that is not local. and they've also said that it is very much at the discretion of individual officers as to issue fines or not. that can't be a grey area when it comes to what people are allowed to do because this really is a lifeline for some people. you know, for people who are struggling, they do need to be thinking when the going out am i going to be approached by the police were doing this. we need to know in black and white what is allowed, what is accepted. eliza and jessica say they will contest the fines with the outlook weak, mental and physical health remain critically important. phil mackie, bbc news. access to broadband is more important than ever now with millions working from home or schooling online. but a report by mps has

criticised the huge variations in broadband quality and speed across the uk in towns and the countryside. they say that could lead to the digital divide, exposed during this pandemic, being widened even more. the government says it expects half of all households to have fast broadband by the end of this year. sian lloyd reports. a landscape rich in natural beauty, but when it comes to keeping pace in a digital world, people living here say they are poorly served. high—speed broadband is still out of reach for many rural communities, and with lockdown, the effects are being felt even more. the gimby family are home—schooling, but not at home. with only a slow internet connection where they live, graphic designer lizzie can't work from home, and neither can her teenagers learn there. it's really important that they are able to access

their tutorials and teachers, so we do have to come into the office. it is an absolute pain. we can't home—school at all. and i'm trying to run a business with 20 staff, and i really need to be here. an election promise to give all homes access to superfast gigabit broadband has already had to be scaled back. today's report by mps warns that people living in remote communities could be left with slow broadband for years to come. it calls for the government to set out a clear timetable of what it intends to achieve and by when. in devon, students are having to come in to school because of poor connectivity at home. we are inviting children who are internet vulnerable at the moment on the basis that they can't access some of the work, and that has an enormous impact. it's not right, it's not fair. we wouldn't even be having this argument if it was about dirty water or a lack of electricity. people have an advantage over me because they have better broadband. just because i live on a farm, doesn't mean i should

have bad internet. the government says that half of homes will have access gigabit broadband by the end of the year, but many rural communities are concerned that the divide between town and country will only widen. sian lloyd, bbc news. actors and celebrities have joined dame barbara windsor‘s husband at a private funeral for the actress who died last month. floral tributes spelling out ‘babs', ‘the dame' and ‘saucy‘ were laid on her coffin at a funeral procession in london. dame barbara's close friend christopher biggins and comedians david walliams and matt lucas the mourners at the small service which followed government limits. the actress died in december at the age of 83, suffering from dementia. a week after the uk formally left the eu, the cabinet minister michael gove says he expects "significant additional disruption" in the coming weeks as businesses get used to new export rules after brexit. a number of companies inclduing

marks & spencer and parcel firm dpd say they're experiencing problems with paperwork. seafood exporters say they're also having problems with some catches being left to rot. here's our economics editor faisal islam. the fishing industry is supposed to be one of the great brexit winners but in the first weeks of trade many exporters of fish from every corner of the uk to the eu, say they've been struggling with new rules and red tape. we're not going to get the paperwork done in time. we've been inundated with paperwork. we have the catch certificate, the health certificate, the vat, which is what is holding us up and the reason why we cannot buy this week, plus the import duties. at the moment we're stuffed. this scottish fishing business has stopped sending boats out and started furloughing workers after new red tape and checks halted its european exports. unfortunately we've had

to stop our boats from fishing, so just to save any other exposures to further losses, so we've had to stop that and we're having to actually furlough a lot of staff. it's notjust fish, some courier companies have paused their european road service, saying 20% of parcels have incomplete data, for example new customs forms. that's a problem for this queen's export award—winning popcorn business. well, previously it was really simple. there was no complexity at all with sending our popcorn overseas into europe. now, paperwork requirements are higher, but also there's a lot of uncertainty with the shipping companies that we're using as to what documentation you do and don't need. they don't want to be stuck with any of our parcels in their warehouses or on their lorries. so they're returning some? yeah. we've been getting parcels sent delivered into the local depots, being brought back and dropped off behind me, as part of this process. right now these issues do not amount to a economy—wide disruption seen at major ports, for example, but nor

are theyjust teething problems that are going to go away in the next few days. the government chose to prioritise regulatory freedom from the eu and not the existing free flow of goods with the european union. that has consequences. we are starting to see them. meanwhile big retailers such as m&s said a third of food products were now affected by complex new trade rules. its percy pig sweets, for example, are made in germany and so can't be re—exported without trade taxes or tariffs to stores in ireland, the czech republic and france. the government's acknowledged problems and issues. i expect that there will be additional disruption in the next few weeks, absolutely, but it's important we recognise that if government does everything that it can working with businesses then we can make sure that we do get to a new normal. right now there's only two fifths of normal cross—channel lorry traffic. next week government expects

a three or four—fold increase at the same time an informal grace period on some checks across the channel also ends. faisal islam, bbc news. 2020 was the joint hottest year on record alongside 2016, according to the european union's climate monitoring service. in the arctic — and parts of siberia especially — abnormally warm conditions lasted most of the year. globally the average temperature was one and a quarter degrees celsius higher than during the pre—industrial period of 1850 to 1900. that's despite a 7% fall in fossil fuel burning due to the pandemic. as if hospitals don't have enough to deal with at the moment — this happeend to one in italy. a huge sinkhole suddenly appeared in a hospital car park in naples. the hole — about the size of two and a half tennis courts and 20 metres deep — swallowed up several cars, and cut power and water supplies. the collapse is being linked

to recent heavy rainfall. patients had to be moved elsewhere but fortunately no one was hurt. do stay here on bbc news. hello. 0ur spell of cold wintry january weather will be gradually easing through the weekend and into next week as things turn a little bit milder. but certainly on friday, we had a lot more snow for some parts of northern england. this was the picture in cumbria. north wales, as well, had a lot of lying snow. into saturday, still the odd flurry of snow around but most places largely dry, very cold and frosty with some freezing fog as well. look at these temperatures, first thing saturday morning at dawn around —11 degrees or so, could be —15 across some of the sheltered glens of scotland. so, widely subzero. we've got the freezing fog to contend with, particularly across parts of the midlands, central southern england and east wales as well. that should slowly tend to break up into low cloud with some sunshine coming

through, but in places, it could linger all day. now, a lot of dry weather through the day on sunday, some sunshine for north wales, northern england, eastern scotland, for instance, as well. but we have a front moving in from the northwest, that will bring some rain and some hill snow for the northwest of scotland. not as cold on saturday as it has been over recent days, with temperatures about 3—5 degrees for most. into saturday night now heading into the early hours of sunday morning, we have got that front bringing a bit more cloud further south, so not as cold across the north and northwest of uk. still, though, getting down to around —3 or “11 across the south of england first thing sunday. so it will start off chilly once again. we have got milder air gradually working in from the northwest. so a bit of a cloudier picture through the day on sunday. the best of any sunshine will be for central and and southern parts of england, eastern scotland should see a bit of sunshine as well. but towards the north and west, we have more cloud, and that will bring some outbreaks of rain, particularly to the west of scotland. it could be quite heavy,

and as things are turning milder, some snowmelt could well lead to a little bit of flooding there. but for most of us, a largely dry picture, turning a bit milder as well. now, as we head through into next week, we will keep low pressure to the north, higher pressure in the south, and this wedge of slightly milder air will work in across the country. still have cold air heading in from the north east. so a bit of a mixed picture as we have through the course of next week. temperatures not as cold as they have been recently, but things are looking little bit unsettled, particularly through the middle part of the week. but all in all, as we head into next week, it won't be as cold as it has been. there will be rain around at times, some snow over the hills, and the driest conditions in south. bye— bye.

clea n clean glad this is bbc news, the headlines: twitter has said it is permanently suspending donald trump's account. in a statement, it said that it took the decision after what it called a close review of recent tweets from mr trump. twitter said there was a risk

of further incitement to violence if they allowed him to continue to use their platform. democratic party members of the us house of representatives have circulated the draft of a new impeachment resolution against president trump. it accuses the outgoing president of high crimes and misdemeanours, including incitement of an insurrection. a white house spokesperson said impeaching the president would only further divide the country. the uk has recorded its highest daily death toll since the pandemic began — more than 13 hundred deaths were reported. and a major incident has been declared in london as hospitals across the uk struggle to cope. all visitors to the uk from next week will have to have proof of a negative covid test before they're allowed to travel. anyone arriving by air, rail orsea — including uk nationals — will have to take a test up to 72 hours before