this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lukwesa burak. a $2 trillion shot against coronavirus — president biden pledges to push through his pandemic relief package warning americans are at breaking point. i believe the american people are looking right now to their government for help to do our job, to not let them down, so i'm going to act and i'm going to act fast. as the new us administration backs the effort to return to the moon, we look at nasa's plan to make it happen. the uk government says it's on track to offer a vaccine to everyone over 50 by may. # edelweiss... christopher plummer, who shot

to fame as captain von trapp in the sound of music, dies at the age of 91. hello and welcome, whether you're watching in the uk or around the world. stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. we start in the us, where president biden has warned that america's economy remains in trouble after weak monthly jobs figures highlighted the economic toll the pandemic is still taking. he said the data underscored the need for congress to act on his $1.9 trillion stimulus package, which would alleviate americans�* suffering. speaking with the treasury secretary, janet yellen, and vice president kamala

harris by his side, mr biden appealed to republicans to act urgently to turn his coronavirus relief measures into law. i see enormous pain in this country — a lot of folks out of work, a lot of folks going hungry, staring at the ceiling at night wondering "what am i going to do tomorrow?" a lot of folks trying to figure out how to keep theirjobs and take care of their children, a lot of folks reaching the breaking point. suicides are up, mental health needs are increasing, violence against women and children is increasing. a lot of folks are losing hope. and i believe the american people are looking right now to their government for help, to do ourjob, to not let them down. so, i'm going to act and i'm going to act fast. our north america correspondent, peter bowes, explained how the president could put his plans into action.

the congressional procedure that we've seen unfold over the last 2a hours, both in the senate and the house, means that the president can at least move forward with the prospect of not necessarily needing the republican support to see the stimulus bill passed. almost $2 trillion. he is making some compromises. he would like to see that also from the public —— republicans, but as far as the procedure is concerned, and is complicated, but it means the bill now goes off into the committees. it'll come back to the house and then the president reflects he would like to see things move as quickly as possible. it will be immediate but at least it's on course to eventually being passed and in a large part, the president getting what he wants. he sticking to this $1400, the wants. he sticking to this $1a00, the checks he would like to see most americans, at least the lower income threshold,

that he like to see americans receive. ., , ., , receive. the house has given approval _ receive. the house has given approval for _ receive. the house has given approval for this _ receive. the house has given approval for this blueprint. i approvalfor this blueprint. when is that money actually likely to enter the economy? well, it could be several weeks because it goes into the committee stage and that could be 15 days before the final consolidated bill comes to the house. but let's assume perhaps by march, americans are receiving those checks and of course there's a big debate from economists as to the best way for that money to get back into the economy. certainly, many democrats believe that by giving people these checks, $1400, putting it into the hands in pockets of people, thatis hands in pockets of people, that is a good way to get back into at least the local retail economy and give some small business owners, large business owners as well that were shot in the arm —— the shot in the arm that they need. in the arm -- the shot in the

arm that they need.- arm that they need. many republicans _ arm that they need. many republicans have - arm that they need. many republicans have made i arm that they need. many l republicans have made that case. how are americans reacting to this? businesses will be happy, but americans? 1 think americans are perhaps cautious about this. certainly, if you look at opinion polls, their significant support for what the president is doing now, but i think a lot of americans today might be saying, "we didn't need the januaryjobs report to tell us how bad things are." i was driving up around the freeways, remarkably quiet, and that is often a good indicator as to how the local economy is doing. it really is in dire straits, and people are just hoping that this bill will eventually see the light of day and it will put money into the pockets of people who desperately need it. that was peter bowes. a row between the european union and russia over the treatment of the prominent opposition leader, alexei navalny, has escalated. russia has expelled three

diplomats who it says took part in unauthorised protests in support of mr navalny who has beenjailed for two and a half years for fraud. he was back in court today on a separate charge. from moscow, steve rosenberg reports. it's becoming a familiar sight — president putin's nemesis on trial. alexei navalny had already been sentenced to two and a half years in prison this week, for a parole violation. years in prison this week for a parole violation. slander was the charge now. he insists it's political persecution. i appeal for his release. across town, the eu's foreign policy chief was calling for mr navalny�*s release. it didn't go down well. first, russia's foreign minister called the eu an unreliable partner and accused courts in the west of political verdicts. then his ministry expelled three eu diplomats, claiming

they'd attended rallies in support of mr navalny. the eu condemned the move. moscow expected international outrage over the jailing of alexei navalny. there's talk in the west of possible measures that would target vladimir putin's inner circle. the kremlin though has long taken the view that sticks and stones may break its bones, but sanctions will never hurt it. meanwhile, mr navalny�*s supporters have decided to pause their protests until the spring. in the last two weeks across russia, thousands of protesters have been detained. with police cells full in moscow, hundreds have been locked up in this deportation centre. like dmitri and sergei, who we managed to contact. sergei, on the left, is a journalist.

he wasn't at the protests, but he retweeted a post about them and was jailed for 25 days. "the authorities see journalists as part "of the protest movement now," sergei says. "we're coming under pressure." outside the makeshiftjail people have been queueing for hours in the cold to deliver food parcels to their loved ones. "i used to vote for putin," says yulia, whose husband was arrested. "i never will again." the russian authorities can crack down on dissent. what they can't do is force people to stay loyal to the kremlin. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. let's get some of the day's other news. the international criminal court has ruled that it has jurisdiction in the palestinian territories. the ruling paves the way for a possible investigation

of alleged war crimes by israel, hamas and other armed palestinian groups. the us said it's concerned about the move, while israeli officials called it "fundamentally flawed". the us, france, germany, italy and britain have welcomed a vote at a un—led forum on libya for an interim government of unity, intended to help prepare the war—torn country for elections later this year. it's the latest step forward under united nations—sponsored moves to try to bring stability to a country devastated by years of chaos and violence. the lawyer for myanmar�*s former leader, aung san suu kyi, has confirmed that she is being held under house arrest after a military coup. he said he's seeking her unconditional release because she hasn't broken the law. the lawyer, who has not been able to see her, says he hopes for the best but is prepared for the worst. the spanish health authorities have limited

the use of the oxford— astrazeneca vaccine to those under the age of 55. the move echoes earlier decisions by a growing number of countries which have restricted its distribution. that's despite the european medicines agency approving its use late last week for all adults. lawmakers in the us state of virginia have voted to abolish the death penalty, paving the way for the state governor to sign the repeal into law. the decision means virginia will become the first southern us state to abolish capital punishment. our reporter gareth barlow is across this story for us. you've been following the story, why are they doing this now? ~ ., �* , now? what we're seeing in vir: inia now? what we're seeing in virginia is _ now? what we're seeing in virginia is what _ now? what we're seeing in virginia is what we're - now? what we're seeing in i virginia is what we're seeing across the us in the —— as a

country. if you look in the courts, fewer and fewer and fewer death sentences are being handed out byjudges, so this national picture of a producing support for the death penalty, we look at virginia itself. if the democrat—controlled state, joe biden won their last year by ten points. the governors are democrats, they're also controlled by the democrats. democrats are more likely to oppose the death penalty. if the first southern state to do so and traditionally, there been greater proponent of capital punishment. virginia since 1976 has executed 113 people, that's second only to texas. what we're seeing now across america as a whole is changing social trends that is translating into changing laws. this follows the debate around

president trump trying to rush through, carry out federal executions. put that into context for a.— executions. put that into context for a. he really stood as a law _ context for a. he really stood as a law and _ context for a. he really stood as a law and order— context for a. he really stood as a law and order president | as a law and order president and he carried out 13 federal executions, carried out by the federal government, separate to state. he ended a 17 year hiatus. you change all of that and was accused of rushing through somebody�*s executions —— he changed —— some of these executions. trying to get those executions. trying to get those executions delayed untiljoe executions delayed until joe biden executions delayed untiljoe biden came into office. that's because joe biden came into office. that's becausejoe biden opposes the death penalty. he doesn't want the federal death penalty, he also called on states to follow suit. i think we will see more states follow virginia. there's not a national trend for social trends declining, but also it's getting harder. it's been hard for them to get the drugs to carry out lethal injections. ——

there is a national trend. in texas, it's about three times more expensive than putting someone in prison without any chance of parole. so a combination of factors, i think virginia we are talking about will be talking about other states in due course.- will be talking about other states in due course. that was m next states in due course. that was my next question. _ states in due course. that was my next question. under - states in due course. that was my next question. under the l my next question. under the bonnet administration, or be likely to see more of this happening, more states if they do carry the death penalty looking at that —— biden administration? looking at that -- biden administration?- looking at that -- biden administration? �* , ., ., administration? it's also worth notin: administration? it's also worth noting there — administration? it's also worth noting there are _ administration? it's also worth noting there are states - administration? it's also worth noting there are states who i noting there are states who have had more... i think we will see this trend continuing because of the way american is governed. it's down to say to the side. they might follow the federal line. but i think we will see it change, and i think the argument we saw from some republicans in virginia who opposed this was there's no need to oppose this because it's not been a death penalty pass for the last 20 odd years.

gareth barlow, thank you very much. stay with us on bbc news. you should, because coming up and excited chris has to build tells me he backed joe biden �*s's plan to put humans back on the moon. this is the moment that millions in iran have been waiting for. after his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of ayatollah khomeini on iranian soil. south africa's white government has offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid. and the anc leader, nelson mandela, is to be set free unconditionally. three, two, one... a countdown - to a critical moment. the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 - of its engines at once. and, apart from its power, it's the recycling of the rocket, - slashing the cost of a launch, that makes this _ a breakthrough in the .

business of space travel. two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship. one of them called it "a piece of cake". thousands of people have given the yachtswoman ellen macarthur a spectacular homecoming in the cornish port of falmouth, after she smashed the world record for sailing solo around the world nonstop. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines... president biden has warned that the us economy is still in trouble, but it's promising to act fast on covid or a leak at as american reach what he calls breaking point —— covid relief. almost half the uk population — 32 million people — should receive their first dose of coronavirus vaccine by may. the government says it expects all adults over the age of 50, as well as the clinically

vulnerable and those working in health and social care, to be offered their first jab by then. almost 11 million people have now had their firstjab. the uk's medicines regulator says the latest research shows side effects from all the approved vaccines are minor and don't last long. here's our medical editor fergus walsh. this is an immunisation production line. at epsom racecourse in surrey, they're doing 1,000 covid jabs a day. the government is so confident it'll reach its target of giving a first dose to the over—70s and front line health workers by mid—february it's now looking to the future. my goal is i want us to be able to offer a vaccine to all over—50s — that's priority groups one to nine — by may. there's a lot of things we have to get right

in order to hit that goal, and obviously supply is the most difficult of all of those, but we're currently on track for that. you might get a sore arm for a couple of days. new data confirms that side effects from covid vaccines are mostly mild, which should reinforce public confidence. it will take about three weeks from today for your body to build up the immune response. the 70 and 80—somethings in epsom were taking it all in their stride. they said there may be some side effects, but i've never, i ever had side—effects . with any vaccines so i'm not expecting any. my wife has had hers already, and she just had a 24—hour soreness but that's all, and she was perfectly 0k afterwards, so i'm not concerned, no. it doesn't hurt and i feel so secure now. medical regulators are constantly monitoring covid vaccine safety. they've analysed 6.9 million doses given up to the 24th of january. there were 22,820 reports of suspected adverse reactions,

which equates to about three per 1000 doses. the vast majority were mild and included sore arms, headache, tiredness or fever, that generally lasted a couple of days. there were no unexpected serious adverse reactions, so the benefits of the covid—19 vaccines far outweigh the risks, and anyone who gets that invitation to go along for a jab should not hesitate. you can be confident that these are very safe vaccines. all medicines, including vaccines, can cause side effects, so the results of this safety monitoring are very reassuring — for those who've had their covid jab and for the tens of millions of us yet to get our invite. new research shows the oxford astrazeneca vaccine protects well against the more contagious kent variant, but new variants are inevitable.

so, the government has signed up with a german biotech to develop future covid vaccines to try to keep pace in the arms race against the virus. fergus walsh, bbc news. presidentjoe biden has endorsed the effort to return to the moon, which was initiated under his predecessor, donald trump. the �*artemis' programme, plans to land the first woman the �*artemis' programme plans to land the first woman and next man on the moon by 2024. chris hadfield, former astronaut and commander of the international space station gave me his reaction to president biden�*s announcement. i'm delighted and relieved. i think it was absolutely the right decision to make. there's support right through us politics for that programme, and there's huge international support, including canada, where i'm from. crews have been announced already to go to the moon, including two canadian astronauts who are slated to go to the moon, so i'm really pleased to see this

new administration of the united states not drop this particular ball but support it. it's really going to open up a future for a lot of different people all around the world. yeah, 2024 is the date slated, hopefully, for mission three, artemis three. how long does it take to train? because you have first—hand experience. what's involved? well, gosh, it's huge. the challenges on the crew and all the engineers that are involved are enormous, but it's 2021. when kennedy made his announcement we'll be on the moon by the end of the decade, here we are at the start of another decade and we're talking about not just trying to see if we can get there, but using all the latest technology and everything we've learned to actually get there and start to stay, and that's a pretty exciting development. but the number of things the astronauts have to train for, the women and men that are in the different astronaut courses, it's huge, but there's time to do that. we have to invent a few things, there's a lot of private

companies involved. it's a really different time but i think it's a really exciting time. wow, that's a little tease there, isn't it? "we have to invent a few things." what are you alluding to there? that sounds exciting. well, the ability to stay on the surface of the moon, the technology you need in order to be able to extract water that exists. we think there's 400 billion l of water on the moon, how are we going to extract that from the super—cold places it's in? just all the little problems that we're going to have to solve. it's sort of like they had to face back in the apollo programme — so many big problems to solve, but they did it then with much less capability, and now we can do it to stay and use that to go further on to mars eventually. to me, it's a wonderful, natural progression. i'm really pleased to see the recent support for it. now, i know that you were inspired by apollo 11. i believe i was around ten years old. what do you make of the progress from when you saw

that to where we are now? —— i believe at around 20 years old. —— ten years old. you know, it wasn'tjust me butjeff bezos and elon musk were both usually inspired by that, and they have created these two rocket companies that are going to be a big part of this. so, to me, that's been a huge continuum of it, is how people are inspired to then invent and organise and then do something that pushes the very edge of human capability. and we've gotten so much further than when i was a kid watching apollo 11, we could just barely do that. apollo 13, they barely limped home and save their lives. we've learned so much. tributes have been paid to the actor christopher plummer who has died aged 91. born in canada, he was best known for his role as captain von trapp in the oscar—winning film �*the sound of music'. our arts editor will gompertz looks back at his career which spanned six decades. # these are a few of my favourite things

# when the dog bites...# christopher plummer in 1965, as the fine, upstanding captain von trapp, playing oppositejulie andrews�* maria in the sound of music. hello. fraulein, did i not tell you that bedtime is to be strictly observed in this house? the versatile, charismatic actor said he only did the movie so he could sing, and therefore wasn't pleased when he found out his voice would be overdubbed. # edelweiss # every morning, you greet me...# it is the role for which he will always be remembered, but for such a long time, wished people would forget, making his disdain for the film clear by renaming it the sound of mucus. yes, i did say that, but so did we all. we alljoked about the sound of music. you have to, when you do something very delicate and sentimental and coy, in order to avoid being sentimental and coy, you have to joke about it and see the funny side of it.

christopher plummer was born into a wealthy canadian family, his great—grandfather was the country's third prime minister. he considered becoming a concert pianist, but chose acting instead, making his name first on stage playing lead roles such as shakespeare's henry v, for which he gained comparisons to laurence olivier. and upon this charge, cry... "god for harry! england!" "and st george!" he brought weight and humanity to the role of rudyard kipling in the man who would be king. a character actor of rare skill, he reached new heights when he entered his 80s. where did you get these? and he became the oldest oscar acting nominee when he replaced kevin spacey asjohn paul getty in ridley scott's film all the money in the world. he won and oscar for a role coming out as gay at the end of his life. the great struggle in

life is coming to grips with what that price is. christopher comes with this inordinate charm, a smile and his twinkle, the twinkle and smile somehow make him that much more effective. it makes him quite lethal, but in a charming way. julie andrews said of christopher plummer tonight, "the world has lost a consummate actor today, and i have lost a cherished friend." the actor christopher plummer, who's died at the age of 91. that was our news this hour. don't forget there's plenty more coming and lewis vaughan jones will be with you at the top of the hour. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @lukwesaburak.

hello there. for some parts of england, and probably felt more like spring on friday. but don't be fooled because winter is returning to all of us this weekend. with a bitterly cold easterly wind picking up in the air getting colder, there'll be some more snow more widely. now at the moment as we head into saturday morning, most of the snow is falling in scotland, especially in the hills where we have this amber warning from the met office. but snow is dropping to lower levels across northern parts of scotland already, and we will have some wet weather elsewhere across the uk with clear skies by the morning for wales and the southwest, may be some icy patches here too. slippery sort of day though, i think, for much of scotland with that rain, sleet and snow continuing, and turning to snow, lower levels in scotland throughout the day. we've got wetter weather across northern and eastern parts of england, some heavy bursts of rain — that'll turn to snow over the pennines and

the north york moors later on. out to the west, it'll always be drier and brighter. those temperatures will be lower than they were on friday, and it will feel colder in scotland and northern england as that wind starts to pick up. now it'll get colder as the weekend goes on. the originating all the way from the arctic coming down across the baltic sea, over the north sea into the uk, and engaging with storm darcy — it's been named by the dutch met institute. now, the biggest impacts of that will be felt in the southeast of england and parts of east anglia. this is where attention turns overnight and into sunday, with some heavy falls of snow mainly to the east of london. there'll be some snow widely though across the southeast of england and east anglia. there will be drifting and blizzards, as well, because this will be very windy here with gusts of over 50 mph. it'll be a windy day everywhere, though, on sunday — or feel cold, as well. there may well be some sunshine away from southeastern areas, and there will be further snow showers blown in off the north sea as well. those temperatures continuing to drop, only getting a few degrees above freezing on

sunday, feeling colder still. now, we've got high—pressure to the north of the uk, lower pressure to the south — hence that run of easterly winds continues through sunday and into the beginning of next week. sunday and into the that means more snow showers getting fed in off the north sea, mainly affecting some central and eastern parts of scotland down the eastern side of england — more snow and ice warnings continue into the early part of next week with temperatures barely getting above freezing. given the strength of the wind, it will feel much, much colder.

now on bbc news: can you train for a 55—mile race in just over a month? reece parkinson from bbc radio 1xtra wants to, but everything is against him — including a life—changing trip to hospital. 55 miles. 37 days. sounds crazy. stupidity. that's what i'm really interested in — how far can i push my body? how far can i push my mind? reece's not going to do it. i would not be in the least bit disappointed if he decided against running this whole turn.

this whole turn? i have to complete it, and i will complete it.