The world shuts its doors on the uk more than a0 countries ban arrivals amid fears of the new variant of covid. The eu tries to work out a joint strategy as some freight across the channel to france and into the uk is still blocked. We believe the risks of transmission by a solitary driver, sitting alone in the cab, are really very low and so we hope to make progress as fast as we possibly can. It has been branded tonight in westminster as a real emergency. The government grappling with a covid crisis on several fronts. The governments chief scientific adviser says the new variant is growing
across the country and restrictions may need to be increased. Two men are found guilty of the manslaughter of 39 british vietnamese migrants who died, smuggled inside a lorry last year. 32 years after the lockerbie disaster, america charges a libyan man with making the bomb which blew up pam am 103. And how covid has changed so many Christmas Plans. And coming up on bbc news. Fears that sport will be heavily impacted by the variant of the virus, as the efl cup final is rescheduled from february to the end of april. Good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. The world is closing its borders to the uk more than a0 countries have banned
arrivals or imposed greater restrictions and france has stopped human handled freight for 48 hours, leading to huge queues in kent as lorries are stranded. The eu is currently meeting to try to agree a joint strategy to get goods moving again. Unaccompanied freight or cargo is still allowed to move freely, and were all being urged not to panic buy as retailers say there is plenty of food in the supermarkets for christmas. More from our political editor, laura kuenssberg. You shall not pass. Travel is blocked. Instead of trucks flowing stuffed with christmas parcels and supplies, the motorway is a car park with truckers stuck. This is my home, my bed. White goldens cab will be his bedroom, living room and kitchen for the next couple of days. Just have to sit it out. Hopefully, they will get their act together and let us go home. Colin got stuck at
dover but has now made it back to the depot. I will be able to get home for christmas, but a lot of these people sitting on the m20 are not going to get home for christmas. The French Border closed late last night. Dozens of other countries are telling brits to stay at home. And ministers here are grappling with the new variant of the coronavirus thatis the new variant of the coronavirus that is hitting our health, businesses and trade with the outside world. Emergency meetings have been taking place all day. We in the uk fully understand the anxieties of our friends about covid, their anxieties about the new variant, but its also true that we believe the risk of transmission by a solitary driver sitting alone in the cab are really very low. How confident can you be tonight that you can get the delays and disruption under control . You said you just spoke to Emmanuel Macron did he give any commitment on when
he would open the border . Did he give any commitment on when he would open the border7m did he give any commitment on when he would open the border . It was an excellent conversation with the french president. He stressed he was keen to sort it out in the next few hours if we can, and our teams will be working on it flat out. France and the rest of the eu want to take and the rest of the eu want to take a decision about a travel ban together, but spain, denmark and the Czech Republic have all already banned our rivals. President micron, himself in isolation, told his cabinet a problematic mutation of the virus meant exceptional measures we re the virus meant exceptional measures were needed to control the border for 48 our is. The longer the ban goes on, the more damage and disruption it does. The government has spent months rehearsing for this kind of emergency, but not because of the pandemic but because of what might happen with brexit. A Border Control centre had already been set up control centre had already been set up to manage the possible chaos, because in ten days time, how we trade with the rest of the continent
will change dramatically anyway. Just because officials have practised in theory, doesnt make the practice any less painful. This is now a real emergency. We can have fio is now a real emergency. We can have no more overpromising and false hope, no more confused messages and slow decision making. We need strong, clear and decisive leadership. Avoiding conflict in an emergency may be impossible, but as the disease tightens its grip, and the disease tightens its grip, and the very end of the year approaches, political and practical problems now collide. The Prime Minister was keen in that press conference to emphasise that most freight has been moving as normal today, but this is a situation that is much more grave than that one particular element. In that same press conference, sir Patrick Vallance suggested the new, more aggressive variant of coronavirus is already everywhere in the country, and he also jested that before too long there will be more
parts of the uk living under those tighter limits on our lives. Laura at westminster, thank you. With hundreds of lorries waiting to get into the port of dover, the eu is meeting to try and work out a joint strategy after france imposed a 48 hour ban on lorries crossing the channel from britain. Currently no lorries, vans or passengers are being permitted to sail from dover, and flights and eurostar trains have been suspended. 0ther non accompanied freight is travelling in and out of the uk as usual. 0ur transport correspondent Caroline Davies is in dover whats the situation there now . The port of dover is still very much close this evening for uk outbound traffic with passengers. Standing here today, there has been a lot of angerfrom drivers here today, there has been a lot of anger from drivers that have been told they had to be diverted. Away from lorries, ive been speaking to smaller operators, people who turned up smaller operators, people who turned up here in their vans and are now looking at another night sleeping in them while they wait for news of the border to open. Frustration, confusion, anger. Not eve ryo ne frustration, confusion, anger. Not everyone at dover this morning had heard that lorries from the uk were not allowed to cross into france. He wasnt the only angry driver. This man arrived in his van last night. |j had to take it at 11 oclock. At seven oclock, the french say closed. It is not even one days, two days ago, say closed tomorrow at 11 oclock, say i come in quickly, you know, it is not make very good. Four days we have seen queues of lorries stretching back from dover as businesses prepare both for christmas but also for the end of the transition period, butjust take a look at dover this morning, com pletely a look at dover this morning, completely empty. The port of dover usually handles 9000 lorries a day. While goods are allowed in from france, that number has been substantially reduced today. Its a pretty significant event, yes, so we
would certainly be encouraging governments on both sides of the channel to to what it takes to get these guys moving. If there is goes on for a period of time, it will have an Economic Impact on both sides of the channel. While the port stayed closed, many waited. Divine had been in his van for more than 14 hours and he was heading home to france with his sister. Where did you sleep . In the van. One car park in dover began to fill up. It is just a two minute drive over that way, but here is where many people have popped up. Ive spoken to people who had to spend the night here in their cars and vans, and you can see there are Registration Plates from across the eu. This man is not a commercial driver, just trying to get home to his family in lithuania for christmas. My kids are waiting for their christmas presents and im stuck here in the uk. I dont know, if they get the
christmas time, may be at new year, but hopefully at christmas time we will get there. For now, he is stranded in a car park. Hopefully the government will fix this bad situation. We will wait. We can wait a little bit, but not too much, you know. Christmas is coming. In drizzly and mist covered dover, many would like to know when the way ahead will be clear. Caroline davies, bbc news. With much of the world closing its borders to the uk, there is an inevitable knock on effect on business. British supermarkets are reassuring customers they have enough food for christmas though sainsburys have warned there could be shortages of some Fresh Produce afterwards, if freight routes between france and the uk are not quickly reopened. The British Retail Consortium says any prolonged Border Closure will be a problem in the final ten days before the uk leaves the eu. Heres our Business Editor simonjack. Scottish seafood, one of the crown jewels of uk exports, highly prized, highly perishable, which makes any delay to the ports very bad for
businesses like this aberdeen based exporter. Today i had to phone the customer early this morning to say he wasnt going to get the product, therefore he didnt place another order for goods today. So i was unable to buy on the market today to supply my customer tomorrow, so it has a rolling effect. The uk exports £15 billion worth of food and drink to the eu annually, a third of which is perishable meat, fish and Fresh Produce. We import £35 billion worth, again the majority of which has a short shelf life and so is vulnerable to delays. So, does this mean we are facing Food Shortages . Today, sainsbury said that while we have all the food we need for christmas, if nothing changes, we will stop to see gaps over the we will start to see gaps over the coming days on letters,
some salad leaves, cauliflowers, broccoli and citrus fruit, all of which are imported from the continent at this time of year. However, retail groups reassured shoppers that the uk larder is full. Well, we shouldnt be worried, because at this time of year, supermarkets are as well stocked as they are at any other point in the year, so if they raise ongoing disruption, that will have an impact on limited availability and shelf life, but focused very specifically on fresh food. Everything we need for our customers dinner is sourced from this country, and retailers have got plenty of stock in their warehouses. However, this wholesaler that supplies 80,000 food businesses, 30 of their products are from the eu. Mushtaq ahmed said the timing was terrible. Timing could not be any worse than this. While we were just about getting ready for the 315t of December Brexit preparation, and also with the recent tier 4 lockdown situation within the london area, suddenly the port closes for 48 hours didnt help the situation at all. It takes everything out of proportion, all the preparation, all the measures we put in place has been seriously shaken, and this is the extra headache to deal with. While some may find this has disrupted their brexit preparations, sources close to the government tonight told the bbc it could be seen in some ways as a dress rehearsal for potential disruption in ten days time. Simon jack, bbc news. The latest government figures show there were 33,364 new Coronavirus Infections recorded in the latest 24 hour period. The average number of new cases reported per day in the last week is now 29,121. 1,821 people have been admitted to hospital on average each day. 215 deaths were reported thats people who died within 28 days of a positive covid 19 test. The figures are usually lower after the weekend. It means on average in the past week, 459 deaths were announced every day. It takes the total number of deaths so far across the uk to 67,616. Pressure on our hospitals is increasing as a result of the rising numbers of coronavirus cases and the spread of a new variant. 0ur Health Editor hugh pym is here. Eight areas in england and wales now have an infection rate of one in 100, how is the nhs coping . With difficulty, fiona. Some hospitals in different parts of the uk are now even busier than they we re uk are now even busier than they were back in april with coronavirus patients. Lets take one example from the official charts, the east of england, where you can see, this is total patient numbers with coronavirus in hospital, that very dramatic increase in the last few weeks to take the number above the peak back in april and march before that, and thats solid line is the seven day rolling average. Its not the case in every region. Lets look at another one, the north east and yorkshire, and you can see there
that it reached its peak back in november because of infections spreading there earlier than the south east, that was above the peak backin south east, that was above the peak back in april but has come back down since then and does appear to be levelling off. There are some local Authority Areas with more than one in100 Authority Areas with more than one in 100 people with coronavirus, and at least two in wales. Trying to find a good among the bad is difficult. Weve got more news about this new variant of covid today. Yes, we heard a lot about it last week and then at the weekend as the Prime Minister announced new measures for england. We have learnt today from the scientists that they are even more confident that it is highly transmissible, moves very quickly, so sir Patrick Vallance has said it is now being found in all regions of the uk, that it will continue to spread, and in his view, more measures may be needed to hold it back, but they emphasise, it does not make you more sick than the original virus, it doesnt make you
more ill, it spreads more rapidly. In other developments around the country. In wales, the first minister said he wished he could have given more notice before cutting back plans to allow families to mix over christmas. But Mark Drakeford went on to say that some parts of wales actually ran out of intensive care beds yesterday, and that the nhs and its staff are now being stretched to the limit. And scotlands first mininster has called on Boris Johnson to request an extension to the brexit transition period. Nicola sturgeon says that the new strain of the virus and the ongoing transport disruption mean were already facing a profoundly serious situation ministers in Northern Ireland have agreed that covid restrictions can only be eased for one day over christmas, rather than five. There is some flexibility about which day people come together between the 23rd and the 27th of december, to take into account those who are working. Two men have been found guilty of the manslaughter of 39 vietnamese men, women and children who suffocated inside a lorry trailer as they were smuggled
into britain last october. The jury at the old bailey also found george nica and Eamonn Harrison guilty of conspiracy to assist illegal immigration. Heres our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford. Hello caller, is the patient breathing . Hello, no, im a lorry driver, and ijust lifted a trailer from the port. One of the people smugglers on the phone to the 999 operator. Theres immigrants in the back but theyre all lying on the ground. Tell me how many approximately how many patients. Er, 25. But mo robinson was lying. Police officers found the bodies of 39 vietnamese people. Robinson pleaded guilty to manslaughter, as did his boss ronan hughes. Today, another ringleader, gheorghe nica, and another lorry driver, Eamonn Harrison, were also found guilty. The criminals involved in this case
made their money from misery. They knew what they were doing was dangerous, but they did it any way. Their 39 victims had boarded what they had been promised was a vip service among them two cousins, Nguyen Van Hung and 18 year old hoang van tiep. In vietnam, the teenagers father still prays for him daily. His mother told us they thought they were paying £10,000 for a safe route to england. Translation nobody knew that the journey to the uk was going to be like that. If they had known, nobody would have let their children risk their lives on such a dangerous journey. The older cousins father thinks he was tricked. Translation i dont know what happened. But something must have changed in their plan. Either that, or he was scammed. Pham thi tra my died trying repeatedly to call her family. She had only left vietnam a few days earlier, travelling via china. 0thers came through countries as diverse as russia, germany and portugal. For most, the last stage of theirjourney began in paris. First, a taxi ride to northern france. But there they were transferred into an airtight trailer towed by Eamonn Harrison, who took them to zeebrugge to travel unaccompanied to essex. But there were too many migrants in the airtight box, and slowly the oxygen ran out. Nguyen tho tuan left a message for his children. Police found dents on the ceiling of the trailer left by those inside trying desperately to escape. Mo robinson, who collected it from purfleet docks, had received an urgent message from his boss, ronan hughes. Give them air quickly,
dont let them out. But when he opened the doors, there was a puff of vapour and a trailer full of bodies. The vip service had been a death trap. Ronan hughes and gheorghe nica, seen here handing over a large bag of money, led the people smuggling gang, and there had been an opportunity to stop them. A previous run on the same route just days before was caught on cctv and reported to the police. A couple whose home overlooks the site saw around 15 people getting out of the truck and into a group of waiting cars. They called the police, but the people smuggling gang wasnt identified until after the 39 deaths 12 days later. The bodies of those who died on the fatal run were flown home to vietnam, and the two cousins were buried side by side. Daniel sandford, bbc news. Our top story this evening some uk freight bound for france is still banned and more than 40 countries have stopped arrivals from from britain following fears of a new form of covid. Coming up. And follow that star or rather two planets, as jupiter and saturn align in the night sky for the first time in four centuries. Coming up on sportsday on bbc news. Mikel arteta says he has no plans to walk away from his job as arsenal manager. Thats despite the club dropping to 15th in the premier league table. It was the rapid spread of a new variant of coronavirus that helped convince ministers to tighten the mixing rules for millions of people over christmas. It was first detected in october and some scientists have suggested it could be up to 70 more infectious. The usual guidance for avoiding infections remains the same
including keeping your distance and covering your face. But more and more is being learnt about how the virus is transmitted. 0ur science editor David Shukman has been looking at the research. The virus may be changing but its still spreading from the same ways. Either someone infected contaminates an object that someone else touches, or a cough sprays out droplets containing the virus that reach people nearby. 0r tiny virus particles emitted just by talking linger in the air and get breathed in. The result is that infections happen most easily indoors. Weve known that for a while, and Scientists Say that even original forms of the virus can reach further and faster than expected. One study shows the critical importance of timing. In many countries the guidance is to limit close contacts to 15 minutes, to reduce the risks of becoming infected. Well, a guard in vermont was in charge of six prisoners who had the virus, and during the course of the day
he met each of them repeatedly, but never for more than one minute at a time. Even so, he became infected, and as a result the us authorities have changed their advice to warn that even very short periods of exposure when you are close to someone can be risky. Things like this that we didnt know could happen before is really important to document and share with others, so, you know, others can learn from it. So thats kind of been the theme of this pandemic is, is just new and surprising. And what was discovered in a restaurant in south korea is revealing. Someone who was infected was finishing a meal when a student sat down more than six metres away. And another person found a place more than four metres away. Scientists later established that both became infected in a matter of minutes. They say the air conditioning must have spread the virus,
pushing it around even over those long distances, something many thought wasnt possible. And on top of that, there is now concern about one of many new variants of the virus. It has 17 key differences in its genetic make up, the result of random mutations. And roughly half of those changes are in the spike protein thats the part that binds to human cells, possibly doing that more effectively. It is likely to be more transmissable because its a dominant strainjust now, but that is not only dependent on the virus, it is also dependent on peoples behaviour, and so we need to see whether it is the behaviour that is accounting for all of these new infections now, or whether its really the strain thats easier to transmit from person to person. 0ne worry about the new variant here in the uk is that it may replicate more quickly, which means more of it can be released to reach other people. All this means that social distancing, wearing masks, hand hygiene and fresh air are more important than ever. Theyre simple measures,
but they remain the best defence until most of us get the vaccines. David shukman, bbc news. 0n the 32nd anniversary of the lockerbie bombing, the Us Justice Department has charged a man with making the bomb which blew up pan am flight 103, killing 270 people. Adu agila masud is injail in libya and prosecutors claim he has confessed to his role in the bombing. They are hopeful libya will allow his extradition to face trial. From washington Aleem Maqbool reports. The images will be seared on the minds of those who saw news of the atrocity unfolding. The massive scar on the earth where homes had been. 11 people on the ground and all 259 on board pan am 103 flying from london to new york were killed. The worst terrorist attack in british history, though one that was seen
as libyan revenge against the united states. The only man ever convicted of involvement was an alleged libyan intelligence officer, abdel baset almegrahi, though he was released by scottish officials on compassionate grounds because of the cancer that ultimately killed him. But now the us says its charging this man, abu agila masud, for making the bomb that was detonated over lockerbie, alleging he confessed in an interview in libya after the fall of the regime of colonel gaddafi. The affidavit also alleges that the operation had been ordered by the leadership of libyan intelligence, and that after the downing of the aircraft, gaddafi had personally thanked masud for the successful attack on the united states. Relatives of some of the 189 american victims welcomed the news. We feel very vindicated, a sense ofjustice that there is another
co conspirator that has been named and will be hopefully brought to prosecution. But others say they are highly sceptical of such an announcement on the 32nd anniversary of the tragedy. Very thoughtless, very ill conceived. We have become extremely cynical and suspicious of those in authority, suspicious of their integrity. These people are not to be trusted in general. And thats been the frustration thats meant many feel they cant fully move on the lack of answers about what could have been done to stop the attack. Aleem maqbool, bbc news, in washington. Most of the growing Coronavirus Infection in the uk is in london and the south east of england, where the new variant is believed to be particularly prevalent. Millions of people have had to change their Christmas Plans at the last minute or abandon them completely. Our home editor mark easton has been to thurrock in essex to talk to some of them. Thursday,s thursday, s thurrocks thursday,s thurrocks christmas wonder land is closed by law. The vast Shopping Centre deserted on what should have been one of the busiest days and santa clauss grotto, another sign of the times. This part of essex appears to be the current sceptre of the outbreak with fastest rising rate of infection anywhere in tier 4. Plans have been thrown into chaos, people are making the best of it but the joy and good will of christmas have been replaced by fear, frustration, and in some cases fury. Now, yes i am saving christmas and now, no. Youre not having christmas. How do you feel about that . Im really angry. What the Prime Minister is offering is doolally. Who is . The pm. He should have locked it before now. |j
doolally. Who is . The pm. He should have locked it before now. I cant see my daughter, my son, nephew, nice, brother, it was all planned for. We have to change everything, you know, we have already bought food, made preparation for toed and everything, but now, it would have been nice to not make those plans, and then have the disappointment. Boris should have shut us down sooner. Boris should have shut us down sooner. The schools should be shut. Its a breeding ground for germ, it shouldnt be open. Led to bury someone on shouldnt be open. Led to bury someone on wednesday, we found out we we re someone on wednesday, we found out we were going into tier 3, and then four, i was in a state all weekend. It is not very nice having to cancel christmas. I was meant to be going to the mother in laws, but i aint going now so it was a right touch. While dad was isolating after being in hospital, the come page family determined they would decorate their home for christmas like never before. It hasjust been a horrendously awful year, so, i think
the lights help everyone. Even when we are driving round, looking round at other peoples lights it cheers you up. On this, the darkest day of the year, people are looking for light. Finding Christmas Joy the year, people are looking for light. Finding christmasjoy where they can. Mark easton, bbc news, thurrock in essex. Mark easton, bbc news, thurrock in essex. For the first time in nearly 400 years, the Solar Systems two biggest planets, jupiter and saturn, are crossing paths in the night sky, appearing to the naked eye as a double planet. The timing of the event has caused some to suggest it may have been the source of a bright light in the sky 2,000 years ago that became known as the star of bethlehem. Your best chance of seeing it for yourself tonight is around about now in the skies to the west just above the horizon. Time for a look at the weather heres louise lear. It. It has been too cloud dry see the star of bethlehem, but there is greater chance christmas eve, believe it or not because we should have clear sky, we are under a blanket of cloud at the moment. We have seen rain, the first batch
easing away from scotland, but we have some wet weather across wales and South West England and that is going to gradually drift steadily east through the night. Now we have this real north south divide at the moment. Temperatures falling away just below freezing in rural areas in scotland, but look at this, 11, 12 degrees perhaps across southern england but its a drab, dreary, drizzly start to tuesday, and it may well stay like that for much of the day with more more i have rain in the south west. By contrast, northern england, Northern Ireland, scotland, lovely spells of sunshine, a few scatters showers but cooler with it, five to seven degrees, the overall high. More rain to come across central and southern parts of england, with this area of low pressure. Its the dividing line between this moist air coming up from the south but that u nfortu nately mea ns from the south but that unfortunately means some of that rain once again could be heavy and it may lead to localised flooding in the south west. But we have the clearer sky, the sunshine in
scotland, northern