Efiggflzuzr euer efir band of showers across england and wales, swirling across Northern Ireland and into southern scotland, brightness following to the south, but gales for the south coast are a risk, and some heavy showers in the south west we as get into the late afternoon. Conservative mps urge the Prime Minister to reset his government after the departure of his top adviser Dominic Cummings. Several states in the us bring in new restrictions to try to curb the surge in covid i9. The us president elect, joe biden, strongly criticises Donald Trumps handling of the crisis. President trump has insisted he wont put the us into lockdown and comes close to admitting he could leave the white house next year. I will not go. This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the. Whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, i guess time will tell. Ethiopias government warns that fighting with local forces in the Tigray Region appears to be
spreading into neighbouring areas. A ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in the uk is expected to be brought foward to 2030, a decade earlier than originally planned. And diwali with a difference the festival of lights is celebrated in a socially distanced way by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Everybody, in their mind, they are scared about coronavirus, but at the same time, they are kind of adjusting to the new normal. The Prime Minister is being urged by conservative mps to use the departure of his chief adviser
Dominic Cummings to reset government. Mr cummings left downing street for the final time last night after internal battles about his role. A warning this report from our Political CorrespondentJonathan Blake contains flashing images. Stepping out of number ten but staying in the spotlight until the last possible moment. Dominic cummings left downing street for the final time last night at the end of a torrid week. After a meeting yesterday afternoon at which the Prime Minister, were told, wanted to clear the air and move on, mr cummings, already due out by christmas, was gone for good by the end the day. With that, say many, comes a chance for change. It does give the government the chance to reset all sorts of things. Its relationship with parliament, the way it deals with the press, im told its relationship with cabinet. So that in one respect is an advantage for the Prime Minister, but i do hope in doing it he doesnt forget the things where mrcummings was right, which is many of the failures of the last nine months have not
been mr cummings fault but have been intrinsic in the system. Seen here with the Prime Minister last night, lee cain, another close aide, resigned in a tussle over becoming Boris Johnsons chief of staff. All smiles by the end, perhaps, but he didnt go without a fight. With his two closest aides gone, borisjohnson must now decide who to put in place. Yourjob as chief of staff, i think, is to make sure the Prime Minister is getting advice from all the different voices that he or she needs to hear from, and to try to build an Effective Team in downing street that unites the political advisers, who will often come from a range of views within their political party, and the Civil Service team that works there as well. Friends of both men continue to blame carrie symonds, Boris Johnsons fiancee and former party official, for their downfall. She is said to have been unhappy with some of the team at number ten. As the drama of the past week subsides, there are pressing issues for the Prime Minister,
and he cant afford for downing street to stay in limbo for long. Jonathan told us earlier that the departure of mr cummings represented a watershed moment for the government. The departure of these two crucial aids to borisjohnson, whether they we re aids to borisjohnson, whether they were let go reluctantly or forced out in anger doesnt matter much, but the tussle for control at number ten had become such a distraction, the Prime Minister needed to do something to draw a line and, as you say, move on. This is definitely an attempt to do that. But it does raise questions about the future of Boris Johnsons raise questions about the future of borisjohnsons premiership. Raise questions about the future of Boris Johnsons premiership. Those who support Dominic Cummings say that you cant argue with his achievements, not least the vote lead campaign, the relentless pursuit of delivering brexit, working for borisjohnson in government, and the general election which led to a huge majority for the Prime Minister. Perhaps a period of calm will be welcomed by those who
wa nt calm will be welcomed by those who want a less confrontational style of government from now on, but there is no doubt this has been a watershed week for boris johnson. The us president elect, joe biden, has won the state of georgia, the bbc projects, the first time a democratic candidate has done so since 1992. The win strengthens bidens victory, giving him a total of 306 Electoral College votes, well over the 270 he needed. Since election night, President Trump has tweeted more than 90 times, promoting claims of voter fraud without providing any evidence. Experts now fear disinformation has undermined faith in democracy for millions, as Marianna Spring reports. Even beforejoe biden was declared the us president elect, people took to the streets to claim the vote was rigged. This is why. This is a case where they are trying to steal an election. They are trying to rig an election, and we cant let that happen. Stopthesteal went viral after unsubstantiated allegations that the democrats had rigged and stolen the election. But seeds of mistrust in the democratic process were sown long before election night. Trump tweeted allegations of voter fraud and election rigging over 70 times in the build up to polling day. Its not a new theme he made claims about fraud back in 2016 too. The difference this time is that lots more people have been seeing it all over their social media feeds for weeks and joining big facebook groups. Im an admin of the stop the steal group on facebook. 0ur movement believes that fraud has occurred, and we are angry. Ijust think the voter fraud in this election, just with the mail in ballots, those have been a concern. President trump will be the winner after there is an honest recount in the states, and fraudulent votes are thrown out. The democrats have said since
the beginning of all this covid stuff that they are going to do whatever it takes to get trump out, and i believe that they think theyd succeeded. The experts are worried about its imminent and lasting impact. There were all of these breadcrumbs and a whole narrative framework that it was a forgone conclusion that the democrats were going to steal the election, and now we just have to watch the ways they are trying to do it. So people were primed to accept this narrative, to then propagate this narrative well before any votes were even cast. Back at the source, social media sites have been trying to stamp out false and misleading posts, but they are struggling to keep pace. This weekend, more stop the steal protests are happening in the us. 0ne worry going forwards is that this Online Movement could provoke unrest, as disinformation risks seriously undermining the faith of millions in democracy. Talks on a post brexit trade agreement have made less progress in the past week than the eu had hoped for. An eu source said one of the meetings was short and brutal. One of the uk contingent said big gaps still remained between the two sides, with sticking points around fishing quotas and trading standards on goods. There are just seven weeks for any deal to be agreed and ratified, before the end of the transition period on january 1st. The bakery chain greggs has announced plans to cut more than 800 jobs because of a fall in sales due to the coronavirus restrictions. Managers have warned staff the firm may not be profitable if sales continue at lockdown levels. The governments expected to announce that a ban on selling new petrol and diesel cars is being brought forward to 2030. Its understood the sale of new hybrid cars that have electric motors as well as engines
will be banned from 2035. The car industry has warned it faces a momumental challenge to meet the goal. Heres our chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt, whose report was filmed prior to the current lockdown. Cars have changed surprisingly little over the years. Yes, the design and the performance have improved. But what happens under the bonnet hasnt. I cant believe it, racing at brooklands engine roars. Listen to that she sounds and she looks magnificent but, remember, the basic principle of the internal Combustion Engine hasnt changed since this car was built 110 years ago and, remember, it relies on blowing up explosive gases. And we know that produces Carbon Dioxide and other pollutants. It really does accelerate fast which is why the government isnt
saying get rid of cars. Just the engines. This is the race version ofjaguars latest electric offering, proving the performance of Electric Vehicles, even at the top end, is at least the equal of petrol. Most of the big Car Companies now have at least one Electric Vehicle in their range, but they say the 2030 target is very ambitious. We have been an industry built on petrol, diesel engines for over a century. Shifting that, with all the embedded investment, to a Brand New Technology in the space of what is a few years is an incredible challenge. There are lots of questions. Will Electric Vehicles be affordable . Will they have the range we need, and where will we charge them . We really do need more charge points on city streets and in towns to cater for the people who dont have off Street Parking opportunities. They need to be around, where people can see them, to give them confidence they are going to be able to charge their vehicles, and they also need to work. Back at the museum, theyre putting the cars away for the night. It now looks like, from 2030, our petrol and diesel cars will be on their way to being museum pieces, too. The World Health Organization has expressed concern that some young people appear to be unsure whether to have a coronavirus vaccine. Experts say a vaccine is the only way to stop the pandemic but misinformation online may hamper the vaccination programme. 0livia le poidevin reports. I would definitely take it. I would not get vaccinated. Im on the fence. Vaccination is the only thing that can get us out of this situation. The Covid Vaccine is looking more like a reality, with some trials showing promising results. Its the only thing that can rapidly stop this pandemic. Vulnerable and older people will be first in line. But young people will need vaccinating eventually to stop covid spreading. But some are questioning whether they would want one. This Kings College london study suggest 16 to 34 year olds in the uk are twice as likely as 55 to 75 year olds not to want a covid vaccination. Meanwhile, in the us, one poll by pew Research Found only 56 of 18 to 29 year olds they asked said they would definitely get a vaccine. Some young people question why they would need to get a vaccine if theyre low risk. And this has got the World Health Organization worried. Young people are an incredibly important part of ending this pandemic. It will be really important for young people to be vaccinated because we know from whats going on now is lots of transmission is going on among young people. So where is this concern coming from . Well, partly its about the volume of misinformation were being exposed to. Hashtags like vaccinesaredangerous and tiktok videos are wrongly suggesting the vaccine could be dangerous to us. And some people are worried about the speed at which things are moving. I believe in the power of vaccines, but im having some trouble right now trusting the federal government, and believing that anything pushed out in the short timeframe has had rigorous tests applied to it to make sure that its safe long term. We are concerned that there are some people who are questioning whether the vaccines are safe. There is absolutely no compromising on Scientific Evidence thats being collected and is being scrutinized around the safety of these vaccines. Even at this speed . We get speed because theres so much support and funding that we can move quite quickly from one stage to the next without having to pause for several years and search for additional
support and funding. So here are the key points if youre under 35, dont forget, you can still get covid and become very ill. Even if youre not worried about getting the virus yourself, you can still spread it by not getting a vaccine, and that would stop herd immunity from developing. And finally, all Covid Vaccines would have been tested on tens of thousands of people and gone through tough safety checks before you even get one. The headlines on bbc news. Conservative mps urge the Prime Minister to reset his government after the departure of his top adviser, Dominic Cummings. Several states in the us bring in new restrictions to try to curb the surge in covid 19. The us president elect, joe biden, strongly criticises Donald Trumps handling of the crisis. President trump has insisted he wont put the us into lockdown and comes close to admitting he could leave the
white house next year. Typhoon vamco has caused extensive damage in the philippines, flooding many parts of luzon the largest and most populated island. The storm, known locally as ulysses, made landfall in the bicol region. The same area was battered by the super typhoon goni just over a week ago. Howard johnson reports from manila. Vamco is the 21st cyclone to hit the philippines this year and the most deadly. It made landfall on wednesday but we are only beginning to see the full extent of the devastation. It comes two weeks after typhoon goni hit the philippines. Hitting the bicol region. But at the moment we are seeing the province of cagayan hit badly. The magat dam has been opened up,
overwhelmed by a lot of water. Rain has been dumped on the main island, the most populous island, luzon. Even though the storms doesnt have as high winds as goni, it has brought more rain. 0ne official has described the Cagayan Province as like the pacific ocean. Lots of search and rescue efforts going on. The Un Childrens Fund are appealing for money to support the thousands of children in need of help at the moment. We have seen on social media, families on the roofs of their homes trying to avoid the rising water levels. Because of the covid 19 pandemic and lockdown issues, any reporter who wants to travel from manila to go to the Cagayan Province has to quarantine for 1h days, so reporters are asking for that to be waived to allow them to do their work. 0ur philippines correspondent Howard Johnson with that report. Ethnic armenians in regions surrounding Nagorno Karabakh are leaving their homes as a deal to end six weeks of fighting comes into force. As part of the ceasefire, several territories will now be returned to azerbaijan. They were part of the country until the karabakh war in the early 1990s, when they were taken by armenians forces. Yuri vendik reports from kelbajar, the first region to be returned on sunday. A priest mourns before his final mass. This ministry lies on land sacred to both armenians and azerbaijanis. In a few days time, it will be handed back to azerbaijan. Translation i feel pain. This was built by the armenian christians. Those religious artefacts have been here for 800 years. Tomorrow i will take
them away with me. Kelbajar region has been controlled by Ethnic Armenians for nearly 30 years. A whole new generation considers it their home. And it is now not only artefacts the fleeing armenians are taking with them. We are stuck on the border in a huge queue of hundreds and hundreds of cars. In many of those cars there are whole families who have tried to fit all their possessions in those tiny cars. They are taking their furniture, their fridges, even their cattle. And in many places, the road is lit by huge fires. Armenians are setting fire to their own homes before they leave. Why do you burn your own homes . Translation we burn then so that azeris will not live in them. Let them build new ones. This land along to our ancestors. What happens now is an injustice and the whole world
is turning a blind eye. The shelling of stepanakert, the capital of Nagorno Karabakh, stopped several days ago, but the city is still devoid of life. Some of its residents hope this once bustling town will come back to life. This is an exodus thousands of refugees are on their way to armenia. They are leaving their homes and they dont know if they will ever come back. Yuri vendik, bbc news, Nagorno Karabakh. Nasa and spacex were due to send astronauts to the International Space station tonight, but even a meticulously planned rocket launch can be delayed by the one thing we cant control the weather the four astronauts are preparing to make the first operational crewed flight,
using a privately owned spacecraft. Simon king has been speaking to those who provide that crucial forecast. Ignition, lift off may 2020, and two nasa astronauts on their way to space in the new spacex crew demo programme. The day before, the launch had been aborted, with just 17 minutes to lift off. All because of the one thing we cant control. We continue to violate a couple different weather rules that we now do not expect to clear in time to allow for a launch today. But who are the weather forecasters that make the critical decisions for a space launch . Our role, the 45th Weather Squadron, is pretty huge in what we do in the space industry. Essentially, at the cape, nothing gets to space without our support. And so were talking launch vehicles, keeping those safe, protecting all of our assets and personnel as well. So safety is kind of the big thing here with us. The 45th Weather Squadron has a number of rules which have to be passed before a mission is go for launch. Most of these involve the type of cloud, lightning, atmospheric electricity and rainfall. Forecasters monitor the conditions around Cape Canaveral and abort sites in the build up to lift off, but its not always as straightforward as it might seem. People look at the conditions that are going on outside and theyre kind of like, i wonder why were not launching today . Its great picnic weather. We have that upper level cloud, but do potentially have electrification and have that mixed space, so punching a rocket through there could condense that electric field a little bit stronger and trigger its own lightning strike. Radio um, unless you can give us another ten minutes, i dont think were going to get there with any of the rules today. That was mike mcaleenan, the launch weather officer on that day in may. I asked him what it feels like to make those important weather decisions. You enter the countdown, kind of mentally no go for all the criteria, and prove that we are go. So on launch day you have a whole team there helping you evaluate. Youre the voice, but you have the team on the radar, and flying the aircraft, and providing the data to you to feed to the launch director. So everybody is well understanding that launching through dangerous conditions is not something anybody is pushing for and we can always stand down and launch another day, and thats always the safest thing to do. The first nasa and spacex operational mission, known as crew one, will carry four astronauts to the International Space station. With lives at stake in a multi Million Pound mission, the go no go decisions of the 45th Weather Squadron will once again be critical. The festival of lights or diwali
is being celebrated today by hundreds of millions of hindus, sikhs and jains around the world but of course its a little bit different this year. I think everybody, in their mind, they are scared about coronavirus, but at the same time, they are kind of adjusting to the new normal maintaining social distancing, sanitising their hands. And to be sane, you have to get. The life goes on, you cant stop your life. A year ago, 160 properties were flooded in the South Yorkshire village of fishla ke. Homes and businesses were evacuated when the nearby river don burst its banks. Residents have spent the last 12 months trying to get back on their feet. Our reporter luxmy gopal is in fishlake for us this morning. A village turned into an island, fishlake was
a village turned into an island, fishla ke was completely a village turned into an island, fishlake was completely cut off by floodwaters when the river don burst its banks last winter. Heavy rain caused massive flooding across the north of england and the midlands. South yorkshire was particularly badly hit. Fishlake, the symbolic centre of it. From prince to Prime Minister on the visitors list. One year on from the floods, and some fishlake residents still havent been able to return home. 73 year old mary is living in a caravan. The ground floor of her home is still uninhabitable due to the flood damage. It was awful watching it because we were sort of trying to block the doors off because at that point we had no sandbags and it was coming up through the floor and the sitting room under the window and, you know, so it was sort of in and we was paddling before we knew where we was. She says she has been passed from pillar to post between her Insurance Company and Loss Adjuster and to this day is yet to receive a penny. Not everyones had that experience, though. Johns home backs onto an embankment and was the first to be
hit by the flooding. We had water nearly up to the worktops, nearly. And it stood in for two weeks plus. So, thats made a mess. And its a bungalow, so everything went. His insurers have offered him £200,000. He continues to live in his static caravan until he decides what exactly to do about his flood damaged home. Like many residents, he fears there will be a repeat of last year. If we get the same water in the same amount of time, itll happen again. Dean wants to see more investment in fishlakes flood defences. It was very disappointing to find when the last budget was done for flood defences across the uk that doncaster wasnt included. All we can get at the moment is the defences put back to where they should have been pre 2019, when we flooded. But with climate change, at some point, theyre going to be overtaken again. The Government Department defra says that particular funding was for Shovel Ready Projects and South Yorkshire will get its fair share of £5. 2 billion of funding being invested in flood defences across england over the next six years. The sofas have moved around inside, the fridge was on its side, everything sort of floated aboutand. For daniel, the flooding was particularly memorable. He heard his home was submerged just hours after his daughter, indi, was born. If she was a boy, we were going to call her noah, as well, which would have been a bit of a coincidence. We went off to hospital on the thursday morning, expecting to come back home with a family to start a family life. And then we never ended up coming home for about six months. For his family and for those still yet to return home, the concern is whether the flood defence schemes will be effective enough to stop scenes like these from happening again. Pantos, like most theatre, wont be staged this year because of the pandemic. With thousands from the arts out of work, the former blue peter tv presenter peter duncan has organised a panto of his own, performed from his garden. Now the idea is being rolled out across cinemas nationwide, as Thomas Magill reports. Nothing could be finer than to be with carolina in the garden. This is panto in 2020. Jack and the beanstalk performed outdoors during lockdown at the bottom of a south london garden. All the brainchild of former blue peter presenter and dame, peter duncan. This is the greenhouse, now, which was used to be. This is the home of buttercup the cow. Buttercup originally, he had the idea back in the summer when theatres
were forced to close. Come the first lockdown, i thought to myself, oh, theres not going to be any pantos this year. And, obviously, i produce pantos, so what am i going to do instead . Itjust tumbled into happening. To be honest, i was going to kind of shoot it on an iphone to begin with. Then, just like a fairy tale, cinema bosses heard about the project and they decided to release the film nationwide into 55 cinemas. I never expected in my wildest dreams. Because, you know, pantomime is always regarded by a lot of people as quite lowbrow. And, actually, ive often thought the opposite. I think its quite. I think its bordering on high art. Its been a tough year for the arts, with many productions, including pa ntos, becoming financially unviable due to social distancing. And thats meant thousands within the sector out of work. So, small one off productions like this, which employed 35 out of work freelancers, has proven invaluable. Sam ebenezer plays jack. I was working here for four years, up until the pandemic and now were back and im going to be on the big screen. I will climb to save my family. Hed been an usher at the everyman cinema in north london before the pandemic and says times have been tough recently and welcomed the chance to get back to work. I didnt think id have the opportunity to be performing in a cinema on the big screen. And, yeah, a Global Pandemic has brought that but, yeah, my face will be filling that screen in a few weeks time. That screen and others across the land, once lockdown ends. Oh, and im assured in true panto tradition, theres still plenty of audience participation to enjoy. Now its time for a look at the weather with susan. Good afternoon, it doesnt get much more colourful than pantomime, and
the weather doesnt get much more grey grey than it has today. Heavy outbreaks of rain and it is windy outbreaks of rain and it is windy out there. That is the story for the entire weekend. This area of low pressure towards the west is the centre of the loan, the cloud is a bit more thin and broken up in places, could be a few glimmers of brightness this afternoon. Some wet weather surging across england and wales, some gales on the irish sea coast. Or wet weather overnight across scotland and Northern Ireland. Showers for england and wales back towards coastal districts by the end of the night. Mild, a sticky day, quite strange when you think about it, wet and windy weather. Temperatures in the mid teens. Tomorrow, heavy rain for the south east, perhaps brighter come the afternoon, the risk of heavy showers for the south west late afternoon, potentially winds of 60 mph and a risk of coastal
flooding as we pick up the