david willis, bbc news, los angeles.he canadian fashion designer peter nygard has been charged in the united states with trafficking women and girls for sex. mr nygard has been taken into custody by canadian police, and us authorities are seeking his extradition. his lawyer said his client, "vehemently denies "these allegations".

david willis, bbc news.ter nygard, has been charged in the united states with trafficking women and girls for sex. prosecutors say the designer lured dozens of women to venues in the us, the bahamas and canada over a period of decades. mr nygard has been taken into custody by canadian police and us authorities are seeking his extradition. his lawyer said his client "vehemently denies these allegations and he expects to be vindicated in court". caroline barghout is an investigative reporter for cbc and was at the courthouse in winnipeg where mr nygard appeared. what exactly are the accusations? peter nygard is facing nine count indictment in the us on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, related crimes. the fbi have been investigating some time. in february they raided his new york offices as well as his california residents on allegations that he sexually assaulted women and girls. some of the allegations date back to the 1990s, some of the women or girls say they were as young as 14-17 girls say they w

david willis, bbc news, los angeles.illions christians from around the world usually flock to the west bank town of bethlehem for christmas eve. but with high coronavirus rates it's not clear how many people will make the journey to midnight mass at the central nativity church this year. we can speak to our middle east correspondent yolande knell, who's in bethlehem. normally, i always seem to work christmas eve and we see beautiful images there from the square and it's always magical to watch but what is happening there today? festivities are very muted, as they are all around the world for christmas. this is usually the busiest night of the year for bethlehem. last year, tens of thousands of people came here, they we re thousands of people came here, they were packed into manger square behind me watching the procession that takes place during the day when church leaders come from nearby jerusalem, along the start street just behind me, make their way into the square, accompanied by all the palestinian scout bands stop

let's speak now to our north america correspondent david willis: david the, is this donald trump and days of his presidency trying to create a bit of mischief? i think it is probably exactly that. the president and very miffed that senior republicans have failed to back his claims that the result of the last presidential election was stolen from him and so he has vetoed the defence bill and he has also raised objections to another very important piece of legislation here, the new coronavirus a relief package, which also contains provisions that will keep the us government running from monday next when funding effectively runs out. now there is a lot of concern over the future not only of stimulus money here but what will happen if there is no kind of resolution reached on that one bite monday next but to go back to the defence bill you talked about, that has been vetoed by the president, it is been more or less accepted every year for the last nearly 60 years, so this is highly unusual and the president objects to the renaming of military bases that were named after confederate gener

we can now speak to our north america correspondent, david willis, who is in los angeles. ing to be to get that vaccine across the country? well, the army general whojust poked the country? well, the army general who just poked there, drew ona general who just poked there, drew on a wartime analogy and said that the authorisation of the day, as he put it, in other words, the beginning of the end, but by no means the end itself. these are tough times lie ahead and it's a considerable operation logistically getting the vaccine out to 330 million people! it has never been done on this scale before ever in the history of this country. they are saying they will start rolling it out tomorrow, the first shots will be administered on monday and then throughout next week and take until probably the end of january or so before the healthcare workers, frontline workers and people in residential elderly home care facilities and so on have had their jibes before it facilities and so on have had theirjibes before it is available to members of the general public, and that could ta ke gene

david willis, bbc news, los angeles.ngland and wales in the week ending december 4 mentioned covid—i9 on the death certificate, that's according to new data from the office for national statistics. this is down from 3,040 deaths in the week to november 27, the first week—on—week drop since the week to september 4. the bbc‘s head of statistics, robert cuffe, has been looking at the latest data and joins me now. some relatively good news in the biggest to? covert matt gohdes dam, total debt down and excess deaths down, not a lot but starting to turn, hopefully. ithink down, not a lot but starting to turn, hopefully. i think we can show the figures to the audience now. you can see in the week up into the 4th of december, we saw a slight full in the total number of covid deaths across the uk, down from just under 3400, to 3200 and you can see that in the red area, so slightly down as isaid in the red area, so slightly down as i said but not moving very far at this point. that drives the total number of deaths down as well. n

we can now speak to our north america correspondent, david willis, who is in los angeles. w official. and recognised by the outgoing president, david? not at all. and probably will never be, in fact. not at all. and probably will never be, infact. donald not at all. and probably will never be, in fact. donald trump distracting attention away from that with other news that we will get onto ina with other news that we will get onto in a 2nd. but those 55 california electoral college votes, enough to putjoe biden over the top as far is the 270 needed in the electoral college is concerned. it deals another blow to donald trump whose mounted of course, so many legal challenges trying to overturn the outcome of the presidential election by claiming voter fraud. those are unsubstantiated allegations of course. there's been 59 legal challenges so far. according to one persons count of theirs. and the trump campaign is saying that the legal challenges will continue. the electoral college votes now sent to washington well they will be counted onjanuary votes now sent to washington we

the bbc‘s david willis reports.d anti—trump supporters clashed close to the white house. tensions rose after dark as members of the right—wing group the proud boys fought with black lives matter sympathisers and members of the left—wing group antifa. reports suggest some were treated for stab wounds. the stop the steal rally have been called to support president trump substantiated claims of voter fraud. just before joe biden substantiated claims of voter fraud. just beforejoe biden is formally elected as the next us president, it brought thousands onto the streets in support. we have a republic to save and constitution to stand up for, and we cannot let individual states act lawless lee in a land built on laws. the event had been planned for weeks but president trump expressed surprise on twitter and delight... early to pass over the rally a short while later on his way to a football game in new york. all this is the president—elect was attending church and then hospital, where he is being treated for a foot injury

mueller inquiry into russian interference in the 2016 election. 0ur north america correspondent david willishing images. paul manafort is a seasoned republican party campaign consultant and donald trump's former campaign manager. indicted by the special counsel, robert mueller he was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison after being convicted of multiple crimes. also convicted as a result of the mueller investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election was roger stone, a long time political ally of mr trump. having refused to cooperate with the mueller inquiry both men now find themselves rewarded for their loyalty and basking in the glow of a presidential pardon. pardoned with them was charles kushner, the father of mr. trump's senior adviser, jared kushner. a real estate developer, charles kushner was convicted of multiple crimes in 2004, including setting his brother in law up with a prostitute and then trying to blackmail him. news of the pardons came after the president had left

with more on the significance of this development here's our north america correspondent david williss a very senior republican basically urging members of his own party to draw a line under this very contentious election cycle and sign off on the fact that joe biden is in fact the victor. the electoral college has spoken, mitch mcconnell said today and he also went on to congratulatejoe biden and kamala harris on their victory. it does seem as though those remarks have made the dam burst in a sense anyway. we have had senior republicans, senate republicans coming out since than to offer their congratulations tojoe biden. as far as donald trump though is concerned, the white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany said today that they were continuing to pursue litigation, although what that litigation might actually entail following the fact that so many lawsuits have been dismissed already really is something of a mystery. and david, we were saying before thatjoe biden, much is made of his reputation as a dealmaker, a guy who can work across the aisle in congress, but mitch mcconnell

the bbc‘s david willis reports. again, as pro—and anti—trump supporters clashed close to the white house. tensions rose after dark, as members of the right—wing group the proud boys fought with black lives matter sympathisers and members of the left—wing group antifa. police used pepper spray. more than 20 people are thought to have been arrested and reports suggest some were treated for stab wounds. the stop the steal rally had been called to support president trump's substantiated claims of voter fraud. intended as a show of force just two days before the electoral college meets to formally electjoe biden as the next us president, it brought thousands onto the streets of the nation's capital in support. we have a republic to save and a constitution to stand up for, and we cannot let individual states act lawlessly in a land built on laws. although the event had been planned for weeks, mr trump expressed surprise on twitter and his delight... only to pass over the rally a short while later on his way to a football

we can now speak to our north america correspondent, david willis, who is in los angeles.ficially. that is it officially. those electoral couege it officially. those electoral college votes from california pushing joe biden over the edge as far as the electoral college is concerned for the given him the 270 electoral college votes that he needs in order to nail this down. of course it's been nailed down for some while. those six weeks since the election have been taken up with legal challenges on the pa rt with legal challenges on the part of donald trump and his supporters. 59 legal challenges all of which have come to nothing. including one to the us supreme court. nonetheless, the term campaign is insisting that it will continue to file legal challenges in the days ahead. it's a rather strange process , ahead. it's a rather strange process, isn't it? the elect oral college signing off seven copies have to be signed and then posted to washington. then counted in washington. could trump and his lawyers try and question that? it's possible. that will be a joint session of

our north america correspondent david willis says mitch mcconnell‘s statement is hugely significant.n sending his congratulations tojoe biden and kamala harris, mitch mcconnell is saying to the republican party, a party that's been reluctant to fall out of line or out of favour with donald trump, that the time has come now to move on and to accept the result of the election following its endorsement by the electoral college yesterday. and mitch mcconnell went further than that. he actually urged in a private meeting senators, republican senators, not to back any moves that might come from house members in challenging the electoral college outcome when there is thatjoint session of congress in just about three weeks' time, that session to formally count the votes of the electoral college and sign off on the outcome. so mitch mcconnell very much sending this message the time has come to move on. it's not a message, of course, that's palatable even now to donald trump. well, no, and despite what mitch mcconnell might be saying to other senators, donald trump still has quite significant

we can now speak to our north america correspondent, david willis, who is in los angeles.nt. highly. in saying that the electoral college has spoken and in sending his congratulations to joe has spoken and in sending his congratulations tojoe biden and kamala harris, mitch mcconnell is saying to the republican party, a party that was wanted to fall out of line with donald trump, that the time is now to move on and to ask of the result of the election following its endorsement by the electoral couege its endorsement by the electoral college yesterday. and mitch mcconnell went further than that, he actually urged in a private meeting senators not to back any moves that might come from house of representatives members in challenging the electoral college outcome when there is thatjoint session of congress in just about three weeks' time. that session to formally count the votes of the electoral college and sign off on the outcome. so mitch mcconnell very much sending this message that that time is come to move on and not a message of course that is palatable even now to donal

david willis reports. tensions between black lives matter supporters and a right—wing group. 20 people had been arrested and some treated for stab wounds. the rally had been called to support donald trump's unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud, intended as a show were forced to marry days before the electoral college meets two formally electjoe biden as president. it brought thousands onto the streets in support. we have a republic to save and a constitution to stand up for you cannot let individual states at lawless me in a land built on laws. the event had been planned for weeks. mr trump expressed his surprise on twitter and his delight. did not know about this but i will be seeing them, he wrote. only to pass over the rally a short while later on his way to a football game in new york. all this as the president—elect was attending church and then hospital, where he is being treated for a foot injury incurred while playing with one of his dogs. on friday the us supreme court rejected a challenge to mr biden's victory in four key battleground states. he is due to take up o

we can now speak to our north america correspondent, david willis, who is in los angeles.y what mitch mcconnell is saying is a statement of the obvious but it is significant. highly significant. this is a very senior republican basically urging members of his own party to draw a line under this very contentious election cycle a nd this very contentious election cycle and sign off on the fact thatjoe biden is in fact the vector. the electoral college has spoken, mitch mcconnell said today and he also went on to congratulate joe biden said today and he also went on to congratulatejoe biden and kamala harris on their victory. it does seem as though those remarks have made the dam burst ina remarks have made the dam burst in a sense anyway. we have had senior republicans, senate republicans coming out since than to offer their congratulations to joe than to offer their congratulations tojoe biden. as far as donald trump though is concerned, the white house press secretary said today that they were continuing to pursue litigation, although what that litigation, although what th

david willis, bbc news, los angeles. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... a brexit announcement is expected in the coming hours, as the signs from london and brussels suggest a deal is close. the remaining differences between the two camps have been narrow but deep — in particular over fishing rights. more than 6,000 lorries spend another night stranded outside the port of dover — with drivers waiting to be tested for covid—19 before they're allowed into france. stay at home from boxing day — the message to another 6 million people in england as the toughest level of covid restrictions are widened. president trump has issued another round of pardons — among them two key allies who were convicted over the russia inquiry. now it's time for the business news and ramzan, who has more on the impact of brexit on british business. ido i do indeed. let us have a quick look. the pound is stronger against both the dollar and the euro. it is actually, the ftse 100, is down both the dollar and the euro. it is actually, the ftse100, is down a smidge, but the u k is actu

david willis, bbc news sandals.e in england will find themselves living under highest level of covid restrictions within the next few days, as coronavirus levels rise again. from december 26th, the government has said it's extending tierfour restrictions across much of the south and east of england. that means staying at home, unless you're travelling to work orfor education. this report from our political correspondent laila nathoo. shares of alibaba plunged in hong kong of chinese investigators launched an investigation into the world's largest e—commerce company. it is really sabine want requiring sellers to a deal preventing the products from being sold on rival platforms. with me in the studio now is news reporter gareth barlow. what is really going on here? we learned a little bit through a one sentence statement put out by the state administration for market regulation and in that statement they violated alibaba's policy of choose one of to make it is like you say an exclusivity clause it requires its trading

david willis, bbc news, los angeles. hello, this is bbc news with geeta guru—murthy.ines... a brexit announcement is expected in the coming hours as signs from london suggest a deal is close. the remaining differences between the camps have been narrowed, but remained deep, especially over fishing rights. more than 6000 lorries spend another night stranded outside the port of dover with drivers waiting to be tested for covid—i9 before they are allowed into france. stay at home from boxing day. the message to another 6 million people in england is the toughest level of covid restrictions are widened. president trump has issued another round of pardons among them to two key allies who we re among them to two key allies who were convicted over the russia inquiry. another 6 million people in the uk will be facing tougher restrictions from boxing day, as a large chunk of the south and east of england moves to tier 4 restrictions. the health secretary, matt hancock said it was because the current tier 3 wasn't enough to contain a faster—spreading variant of the virus. aruna

we can now speak to our north america correspondent, david willis, who is in los angeles. this move from mitch mcconnell, significant? highly significant. a senior member of the republican party, of course, and mitch mcconnell basically saying the electoral couege basically saying the electoral college has spoken sends a message to fellow republicans who, up to now in many cases have been unwilling to accept joe biden‘s victory in this election, to basically give up the fight, and more than that, mitch mcconnell also said, in a private meeting with senate republicans, that they should not endorse any moves by house collea g u es not endorse any moves by house colleagues to try to challenge the electoral college vote when it comes up for consideration by thatjoint it comes up for consideration by that joint meeting it comes up for consideration by thatjoint meeting of congress in three weeks time. so basically the message from mitch mcconnell is that it is over, we must now move on and he offered his congratulations as well to joe he offered his congratulations as well tojo

we can now talk to our north american correspondent, david willis. tical challenge is this? we have talked about what is happening here in the uk but in the us of course it is much, much bigger. 0h, us of course it is much, much bigger. oh, it is a huge challenge, ben, and the army general, the man who is in charge of the logistical effort of rolling out this vaccine to some 330 million people drawn a wartime analogy today. he said that the authorisation of the vaccine on friday was like d—day in the sense that it was the beginning of the end but not the end itself. the general said there was a lot of tough work ahead but this was indeed a good start. there are a lot of challenges, not least because the vaccine has to be kept at —70 fahrenheit temperatures, there is certain shipping requirements and so on but the shipments will go out tomorrow, that is sunday here, and the jabs will be administered on monday and there after, it will be health workers, front—line responders who will be given preference, along with members of elderly and retirement comm

david willis, bbc news, los angeles. for sta rgazers there was a rare treat for stargazers overnight. thankfully, the clouds stayed away meaning stargazers got to enjoy a special treat. don't stare at it, do you need a cardboard box or something?” don't stare at it, do you need a cardboard box or something? i think you are relatively safe to have a quick look on the telly. 0ne slight snag, you had to be in argentina or chile. the moon passed between the sun and the earth forjust over two minutes, darkening the skies. during the one we had here? i was in aberystwyth. i had a cardboard box to look at it. (end of newsbelt)it‘s timecheck good morning, both. the weather is a bit cooler today. some sunny spells and some showers. a more settled day. the strong winds yesterday, using a touch, the isobars are a bit more open today. after a quiet day, the next area of low pressure coming oui’ the next area of low pressure coming our way will liven things up. first thing, there is some dry weather around, some of us will start with

david willis, bbc news, los angeles.o custody by canadian police, and us authorities are seeking his extradition. his lawyer said his client, "vehemently denies "these allegations". a leading humanitarian agency, the international rescue committee, has called on global leaders to urgently address the major conflicts around the world — or risk giving up earlier progress on reducing poverty, hunger, and disease. the irc‘s president said 2020 will be remembered as one of the most turbulent years in history. more than 370 religious leaders from around the world are calling for a ban on "gay conversion therapy". it aims to change a person's sexual orientation. a statement signed by representatives of all the major faiths is being presented to the foreign office later today. we all know that dogs and horses can communicate with humans, but i bet you didn't think kangaroos could too? welljust have a look at this. scientists found kangeroos gazed intently at researchers when they were unable to open a box with food in, and many

show up and that reinforces the normal dynamic and that would be a good outcome for david perdue and kelly loeffler. willie, you cited the in-person early vote numbers they blew the doors off on the first day and it's been going on all week and it looks like the run-up to the november election. but here's the other thing, in the november elections, they did 1.3 million vote by mail absentee votes. okay? 1.3 million. well, about a quarter of the total votes in georgia which is about 5 million. about a quarter were absentee ballots by mail, right? the number that had been requested for the runoff they sent out 1.6 million ballots. so they're up 300,000 over the general election in november which is like unprecedented. and if 1.6 million ballots come in by mail and this in-person early voting continues on this path, if it's really good news for ossoff and warnock. i think smart money says they won't win both of the races but the democrats can try to rebuild sort of the kind of turnout and the kind of constituency model that helped biden win georgia in november. >> you know, before -- well, actually right afte

i just want to thank stephanie phillips, willie smith, julia pomeroy, amber ray, laura thrift, jason little, david skillman people who have been working with me on this for a decade. i'm proud that we are at this moment and i'm proud that we are going to have an opportunity to approve the more act and for congress to step up and do its job so we catch up to your constituents. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from texas reserves. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. jordan: i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from missouri. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. mrs. hartzler: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in opposition to the more act which legalizes marijuana across the united states. as a mother and a former public school teacher, i am appalled that this -- of this legislation's disregard for the health and safety of our children, schools, and families. and i'm also shocked and appalled by the previous speaker's claim that this legislation is good for children and using children as an excu

hey, willie, i'm fascinated. we saw davidromm tweet the share of votes for the presidential candidates, you probably haven't seen it yet. so we have obviously had 12 candidates, republican and democratic, over the past 20 years. first, obama. 52.9%. second, biden 53.1%. fourth, bush in 2004. 50. %. fifth, gore. sixth, kerry 2004. ten, trump, 2020. '12, mccain, 2008. what's so interesting about this list and the 21st century, six out of the top vote getters are democrats and the bottom five are republicans. if you just look at vote totals, the republicans have been routed by the democrats in the popular votes. the only one hitting the top seven is george w. bush in 2004. he got 50.7%. he got that number because he picked up about 45% of the hispanic vote. i remember george w. bush and jeb telling all of us in the late 1990s that republicans better get right with hispanics. that you can't lose two-thirds of the hispanic vote. and still win the national elections. of course, it's been fascinating since this election. republicans

willie. to help keep us on the road we have columnist for "the washington post" david ignatius and, kasie, "thet was not. my question to you, just what was the point of all that? >> that's a great question, jonathan. and i spent most of the weekend talking to a number of particularly republicans, but also democrats, and that is exactly where they all are. everyone sent this bill to president trump after literally months of all of this fighting, they finally got it to him and he created this, as you said, from nothing. and instead he delivered a week of uncertainty. finally, of course, ending that crisis by signing the bill late last night. it not only provides money to those who need it. it also avoids a government shutdown that otherwise was going to happen tonight. remember congress passed this bill last monday night on a bipartisan basis and sent it to the president to sign on christmas eve. but instead of signing it, he complained that he wanted to raise the stimulus checks to $2,000 a person. that's something he could have advocated for months ago, and trump has been at his mar-a-lago golf

i just want to thank stephanie phillips, willie smith, julia pomeroy, amber ray, laura thrift, jason little, david skillman people who have been working with me on this for a decade. i'm proud that we are at this moment and i'm proud that we are going to have an opportunity to approve the more act and for congress to step up and do its job so we catch up to your constituents. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from texas reserves. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. jordan: i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from missouri. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. mrs. hartzler: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in opposition to the more act which legalizes marijuana across the united states. as a mother and a former public school teacher, i am appalled that this -- of this legislation's disregard for the health and safety of our children, schools, and families. and i'm also shocked and appalled by the previous speaker's claim that this legislation is good for children and using children as an excu

david: which is well laid out. this appears to be the largest issue. this is sort of sovereignty both ways. both want their own standards but this is the part i don't understand. that we willis with the same standards. if they diverge, there is a remedy to adjust the terms of trade. aren't they better off saying we are close to each other, we looking at going as long as we can't and the areas where we stay in harmony rather than blow it all up and go to wto terms for everything? >> the difficulty with making an arrangement is you never know what the future has. the whole idea of an economic trade agreement is it lasts indefinitely. businesses have to make dental investments to develop goods, maybe a year or two or three or four years are now. the rules mean more or less the same four years from now two of the are today, or they will be changed in the harmonious way. if britain decides it will leave , on principle having rules is something basis upon -- something they insist upon, they want to develop the market and britain. british firms want to develop the market in the european union will not know where they stand and have different investing. we want the maximum amount of

over the 270 vote threshold needed to secure the white house. 0ur north america correspondent david willis reports. forjoseph r. biden of delaware, a democrat, ayes 55, noes zero. the moment joe biden formally became this country's president—elect. california's electors awarding him the votes he needed to clear the 270 threshold in america's electoral college. and having held off condemning donald trump's unprecedented attempts to overturn the election result, now was the time to hit back. the flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago, and we now know nothing, not even a pandemic or an abuse of power can extinguish the flame. donald trump had warned that certifying the votes would amount toa certifying the votes would amount to a severely punishable crime in the light of what he claims was widespread voter fraud. but the claims are unsubstantiated, and courts across the country have failed to support them, as has this man, attorney general william barr. it has now been announced mr barr will be stepping down. "?bill said the mr barr will be stepping down. "7 bill said the p