Authority. So how will the Incoming Administration deal with beijing . Plus how turkmenistans president has bestowed his favourite dog breed with the highest honour of the ball. A giant gold statue. Hello, im a laura in washington and james is in london. Nine days as america went to the polls and five days since joe america went to the polls and five days sincejoe biden was due to the winter and donald trump still when not concede any subpoenas failed to wina not concede any subpoenas failed to win a second term. Today the pope became the latest global figure to congratulate joe became the latest global figure to congratulatejoe biden became the latest global figure to congratulate joe biden on became the latest global figure to congratulatejoe biden on his victory and to talk to the new president elect. Throughout his presidency, donald trump redefined the role america plays in the world his refusal so far to accept the peaceful transition of power to his opponent, he risked creating a new legacy and eroding potentially americas credibility is a champion of democracy. For years to come the job of marketable mets promoting respect for free and Fair Elections brought may prove to challenging. Lets speak now to the chief of the elders organisation, the former president of ireland mary robinson. Shejoins us from president of ireland mary robinson. She joins us from dublin. President of ireland mary robinson. Shejoins us from dublin. Thank president of ireland mary robinson. She joins us from dublin. Thank you for being with us. By refusing to recognise joe bidens victory, for being with us. By refusing to recognisejoe bidens victory, what m essa 9 es recognisejoe bidens victory, what messages the president sending to autocratic leaders around the world . That is our deep concern as elders that because President Trump is not adhering to the normal protocols and processes for a transition of power, he is giving such a bad example. And the tragedy is that the us has always been a supporter of and a strong advocate for democracy and adherence to the will of people. When the votes are counted, you acce pt when the votes are counted, you accept that. And so we do see as being serious for the us in the short term but also very worrying internationally because it is him as something that autocrats and bad leaders are rejoicing in. They must be laughing and saying who talks about democracy, look at the us. So it is very serious and we fell as elders because we know and ella brought together into thousand seven he told us to be independent he also said we must be prepared to bring and support courage where there is fear and to foster agreement where there is conflict and to inspire hope where there is despair. That means that you speak truth to power. Did you ever think that you would see an american president attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power . Im going to answer that a little bit personally. I studied law at the Harvard Law School in the class of 1968. In that year, Martin Luther king was assassinated in april and Robert F Kennedy died just after i graduated. But i remember the idealism of the people. We learned the strength of the constitution of the us and i would never ever have thought that we would reach this point. And that is a humbling lesson and i hope it will bea a humbling lesson and i hope it will be a humbling lesson for the people of the us that democracy is more fragile than you think. It needs more reinforcement than you think. I am glad that some republicans are coming around. I urge all republicans now to encourage their leader who must be going through some sort of personal trauma. Understand that a little bit. Encourage him because this is too important. It is very important for the us and its very important for the us and its very important for the world. In other countries, would you be sending a delegation to tell the leader its over . Would you consider doing this in america . We certainly would make statements and i set myself in relation to sri la nka i set myself in relation to sri lanka and in kenya and its time but would not of expected it. Now there we re would not of expected it. Now there were election observers and good thing is they observed a very peaceful, good, well organised, well managed peaceful, good, well organised, well managed election. And peaceful, good, well organised, well managed election. And that is important because that means there is no substance to the idea that there would not be a peaceful transfer. And it is important now for the world because president elect biden should be seen access to intelligence. That is important for the world. We will be safer if we know that there is a proper transition taking place and we woiiy proper transition taking place and we worry that some bad people might be taking advantage of the fact that there is not. A coherent peaceful transition of power, he is not getting access to intelligence which he should and i would really urge Republican Leaders in the us for goodness sake, urge President Trump to accept that he has lost and there will be a peaceful transition. Looking back to 1974, the last time a president appear to be reluctant to give up the white house, richard nixon. Theres a speculation that his Vice President , gerald ford said i will pardon you if you leave office. Our pardons or amnesties sometimes a useful tool in general terms and you are trying to get rid ofa terms and you are trying to get rid of a leader . Im not sure im the best person to comment on that but i understand that you can pardon at the federal level but some of the problems may be at the state level and those cannot be pardoned. Sol dont think its possible to do that kind of pressure but im not an expert on that. Just looking about theissue expert on that. Just looking about the issue of leaders obeying constitutional norms and protocols, you recall a few months ago Boris Johnson in britain here threatened to break International Law when it came to the brexit Withdrawal Agreement of the irish border. That threat was only criticised by the man who was about to take office in january. What is done the best way to preserve peace in ireland . welcome the fact that president elect biden before the election spoke quite a lot about the importance of adhering fully to the good friday agreement. And it is so important on the island of ireland. It is part of the whole way forward for both parts of the island. And it is sort of art lodestar, you cannot get away from the good friday agreement. In seeking to undermine it because it is an International Agreement is not a good idea and i was very pleased that the house of lords affirmatively throughout and rejected that because it is not good for britain. Which is also in global terms a great champion of the rule of law. I have worked as high commissioner of human rights with the us and uk in other European Countries and canada and new zealand etc. They were my champions. They we re etc. They were my champions. They were my friends. They supported the office of high commissioner and they support the values of democracy, rule of law, human rights. And any cracks and you know this internal market bill is a crack in that because it is actually admitted that it is prepared to breach International Law in certain circumstances but thats no excuse. Some things are more valuable than short term gain. And they are the values that we adhere to. And we have covid to address in the Climate Crisis to address and the need for Nuclear Disarmament to address. We needed this is what the elders are so needed this is what the elders are so keen on, we need multilateral cooperation and we wrote a paper re ce ntly cooperation and we wrote a paper recently almost a National Cooperation in the hope for a sea change. Why multilateralism must reshape the world after covid 19. Anything that fractures that kind of cooperation is very worrying and thats why we expressed our our objections and sadly. Thank you so much, mary robison. A love affair between President Trump and fox news began going sour on Election Night and even before that when the network called arizona forjoe biden. Judging by the president s twitter feed cameras and ship biden. Judging by the president s twitterfeed cameras and ship is now well and truly over. The president posted that the fox news ratings had collapsed and they have forgotten what made them successful. He then retweeted in rapid fire his followers agreement. One said fox was pandering to the left and another said moving to another station called news. Lets get our correspondents take on the last week in general. Speaking of concessions evidencing the book is refusing to acknowledgejoe biden path to victory at a rate of one per day . The resistance dusted to be crumbling slow though it is. Senators like marco rubio rebo has come out and said joe biden has one and he has a future as potentially a positional nominee. Some of the biggest advocates early on were those who had a eye on it a future domination like ted cruz from texas or Lindsey Graham from South Carolina or like nikki haley former governor of South Carolina. So that is significant. Also we have seen a numberof is significant. Also we have seen a number of Senior Republicans like john thune for south dakota and Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham has said thatjoe biden should receive intelligence briefing. And the governor of ohio who is also highly recognised in the Relevant Party has also recognised joe bidens status today. You do since a bit of a sea change now in the party. A sort of resistance starting to crumble. We should acknowledge that the president had one Court Victory today in pennsylvania but is it going to be enough to prove his theory that the election was stolen from him . This is his problem. He has suffered legal defeats up until fiow. Has suffered legal defeats up until now. And it really you wonder where the cases for this massive fraud. We are a week on it, more a week on now from the election. They have produced nothing. To validate their claims to underscore this idea and the trump resistance seems fairly halfhearted i have to say. If you really believe this election had been stolen from him, if he really believed that a massive fraud of a committed, i wouldve thought we wouldve seen donald trump in front of the cameras more. What is it now almost a week since we have seen him before the cameras in the white house. I think thats an indication of perhaps an acknowledgement in the we st of perhaps an acknowledgement in the west wing and the executive mansion that things simply are not going their way. There have been unable to produce any evidence for the civil reason that the evidence just is not there. I wonder what is going on between President Trump and fox news. To me on the outside it looks a bit like pope francis picking a fight with the official vatican newspaper. So says a former rome correspondent. Busted. Carry on. I love that analogy. Fox news is a split screen beast. There is a new division that reports things pretty straight and there are anchors that report things very straight. Then there is the opinionated fox news with a commentary and it starts with fox and friends in the morning which is been very slavishly little to donald trump to the extent of syco p ha ncy donald trump to the extent of sycophancy really. Then you have his champions like sean hannity in prime who is sometimes described as the unofficial chief of staff and he speaks to donald trump so frequently. He is the prime time makerand the same frequently. He is the prime time maker and the same with Tucker Carlson and those like laura ingraham. And they are very different and donald trump has been watching the news output of fox news, they have been reporting the news and the news is that the administration has been able to find any evidence to back up their claim ofa any evidence to back up their claim of a massive fraud. So that would obviously annoy him. Nick bryant, thank you so much. Sufficient to the vatican if favourite for that man. Speaking of books and papers, extracts of the barack obama memoirs are out. Normally for my own experience and ive read so many of them, they are bone dull. They are just platitudes and diary events but i dont know if you had a chance to look at any of the extracts, what is it tell us about how we got to where we are today through his eyes . M you think were talking about obstructionism at the moment. President trump refusing to recognise that joe President Trump refusing to recognise thatjoe biden has one, in his new memoir, barack obama talks about how his election in 2008, how he feels that it really was his presence triggered eight deep seated panic amongst some americans that donald trump then exploited. And he is some ways gives donald trump credit for understanding that and then paddling the myth that barack obama was not even born in the us. So it is a very effective memoir and getting rave reviews for his purple prose. No surprise, he was a writer before. Absolutely. Shifting demographics here in the us, those played a role in the result of the election. Joe biden won the popular vote by more than 5 million but drilling into the figures gives us insight into how he won. Voter turnout was 65. 1 . That is the highest in more than 100 years. Early voting this time soared with democrats using the ease of casting ballots to garner more support for joe biden. While donald trump one more counties, racking up support in rural areas were fewer people actually live. Joe biden though carried more votes in urban areas and that is why he won the popular vote. People who call themselves moderates voted in favour ofjoe biden by 30 points this year. Suburban voters selectively swung towards the former Vice President in the suburbs are growing and becoming more racially and ethnically diverse and exit poll suggested joe biden won black voters by 87 . Join now by ashley from newjersey the director of the eagleton centre for Public Interest polling at rutgers university. Thank you for being back with us. The suburbs began shifting away from donald trump in 2018. In the midterm. But at 2020 just accelerate that trend . Certainly. The suburban vote was a key demographic to have for we saw it starting to shift away to democrats in 2018 and really completing that shift more so in 2020. And the president knew this. Back at the convention, he made this theme of law and or to try and get back suburban voters especially white suburban voters especially white suburban women voters and it really did not work. It was an antiquated to my more archaic message given how diverse and suburbs are racially and ethnically and it just simply did not work as the suburban voters who are a key voting block moves more towards joe are a key voting block moves more towardsjoe biden are a key voting block moves more towards joe biden in are a key voting block moves more towardsjoe biden in 2020. Are a key voting block moves more towards joe biden in 2020. The polls picked up that shift in the suburban vote pretty well but they really did not pick up this make it turn donald trump supporters, especially non College Educated supporters. As someone non College Educated supporters. As someone who studies polls for a living, how did we get over this polling miss . This is the big question ever since last tuesday. We saw a polling miss in 2016 and posters went back to 2016 data and attempted to fix this by using tools like waiting on education so that we represented more of the non College Educated vote, especially among white voters. Trying to pull more in battleground states and more frequently and more credible pollsters closer to election to capture those undecided vote rs election to capture those undecided voters and it looks like it a lot of these battleground states, we are right but we were in 2016 even with the fixes of that year. Number one we are in numbers and a territory with the voting systems that were in place because the pandemic and number two it really looks like there was a large underestimation of donald trump support once again which could possibly be a looting to the people that we are getting polls evenif the people that we are getting polls even if they are republicans are not aligned with the supporters of donald trump actually out there. If people are defiantly not answering the phone or telling the truth, something is happening where we are seeing a bias emerged when those who we re seeing a bias emerged when those who were answering seeing a bias emerged when those who were answering us seeing a bias emerged when those who were answering us and those who were not. As any will consider doing a campaign without polls then . Honestly campaigns without polls is an interesting subject but we have to know what polls should not should not be used for. There is too much focus and concentration in the horse race and entreating these poll numbers like absolutes when really they are survey estimates. That is by definition exactly of staff and portability estimates that represent a range of possibilities. We also have to factor in the margin of error and the price we pay for not talking to an entire population silly because we cannot. Sol talking to an entire population silly because we cannot. So i think there needs to be more education on both sides of the posters, the media and the public of knowing how to do it read polls and also knowing how to know this is one of the best democratic tools we have to represent every voice and a population. Im so sorry to cut you off. Our time is up but thank you so much, ashley. Thank you. For those watching on bbc world news, well be right back. The olympic boxer nicola adams and her dancing partner because your gels are been forced to pull out of strip become dancing after the professional dancer tested positive for coronavirus. Here is sarah campbell. Well, the good news is that katya is asympomatic but the new rules state that any couple which tests positive does have to withdraw from the competition. So for nicola who is currently self isolating, her time on the dance floor is done and she says she is devastated. They were of course the first same sex couple to dance in strictlys history so it is disappointing on that front. But this comes despite the fact as viewers will know as they are told every week that they are have been huge efforts to adhere to covid 19 guidelines. The dancers are in bubbles and they are social distancing and according to the executive producer today, the rest of the cast is unaffected. The show will continue as normal on saturday. But for them and the millions of people who are watching every week, they will be hoping that nicola and katya wil be the first and last couple who have to exit due to covid. China has condemned the mass resignation of pro democracy lawmakers in hong kong is a blatant challenge to their authority. If nearly all pro democracy lawmakers quit in protest of your four of the colours were deemed threats to National Security and dismissed. For the First Time Since the handover of hong kong and 97, the Legislative Council is now without any effective opposition. The British Government has summoned the Chinese Ambassador in order to express its concern about these developments and remember that when britain handed over hong kong in 97 there was an agreement that for the next 50 years there would be a discussion between there would be a discussion between the two. We do hope to have a guest with us in a little while. Some developments there and this summer Russian Politicians declared victory over coronavirus with the infection rate is surging again. Russia has recorded 439 deaths on thursday, the highest daily number for the country. This time its the remote provinces which are being hit ha rd est. Provinces which are being hit hardest. While the wealthy and well resourced moscow is opening vast temporary hospitals, without a clue mark lumberto temporary hospitals, without a clue mark lumber to the north, theyre running out of beds and a blues clues crews are struggling to cope. Saracens at this report. Tell them to stop calling for ambulances, a russian paramedic pleads. She says theres no one left here to respond. Just back from picking up one patient with covid, her team has already been called out again. They are taking precautions, but many colleagues have fallen sick, piling even more pressure on the rest. Up in kotlas, this doesnt look like the victory over the virus russias politicians once claimed. A record surge in infections is now hitting remote regions like this one hard. Another ambulance has just arrived with medics in full ppe, so presumably more Covid Patients on board. And in fact, theres a lot of activity here at this hospital. A senior official recently said they were very few beds left here. They re operating under extreme pressure and the number of Covid Patients, new cases in this region, is still rising. These were the scenes inside recently after a sudden increase in admissions. The sick left in corridors, even on benches. A medic says shes caring for 100 patients on her own. Meanwhile in moscow, theyre treating covid patient on an ice rink. A giant Field Hospital where the screens now show films for the sick instead of the hockey scores. Cases are rising here, too, but there are far more resources. And the chief doctor is insistently upbeat. Translation weve fully prepared for this surge in infections. You can see we have plenty of reserves. I think it shows that no access restrictions or lockdown will happen. 1000 kilometres north, theres no lockdown in kotlas either. But there are lots of facemasks. This babushka does worry about getting coronavirus, but she says she needs to come out to sell her cabbages. Sarah rainsford remote reporting there. Countries around the world put up statues to celebrity achievements of their countrymen. We spoke yesterday about the controversial statue in london of mary wollstonecraft. Ort slovenias wooden tribute to maloney a truck. Todayit wooden tribute to maloney a truck. Today it is the president of turkmenistans turn. He is revealed to the world this new statue in his capital city and there is, the favourite dog breed of the president which is a turkmen variety of a Central Asian shepherd dog. A golden statue has been measured of a six metres tall and there is the president. It features an led screen with the dogs in action and it is the president. It features an led screen with dogs in action and because of the screen there. For the ultimate viewing experience. It is not clear how much it cost. Looks like it would eat my lab or doodle ally. Here is a real life version of thisjob being gifted to russian president putin rather us are mostly backin president putin rather us are mostly back in 2017. As you can see, she does not seem to be bothered and she is quite cute and very and not scared. So james is interesting as donald trump as a first president in yea rs not donald trump as a first president in years not to have a pet of any description. Butjoe biden is going to going to come to the white house with german shepherds and rescue dogs no less. I recall was it portuguese water dog for president obama. Fdr had his dog. Very untrue to have a hypoallergenic dog. But now we are going to have rescue dogs, not fancy dawson breeders but a good Old Fashioned dogs, not fancy dawson breeders but a good Old Fashioned pooch. Dogs, not fancy dawson breeders but a good oldfashioned pooch. First dogs. Exciting dogs news here in washington. Most of us saw some sunshine today but the clouds has been gathering more recently across the north west of the country. That was how the weather looked around cumbria through the afternoon. The cloud you can see spilling in here is associated with this area of low pressure, cold front set to move in through the night and this front will have some strong winds on and just ahead of the front, as well, so it will become quite gusty for all of us for a time through the next few hours with the rain really quite heavy as well as it moves across from Northern Ireland into scotland, england and wales. Those gusts of wind could reach 40 45 in places, so it is going to be pretty blowy and the rain will be intense for a short time. One of those weather fronts that might wake you up for a time overnight. Following the front, fresher air works into Northern Ireland and as we head into tomorrow morning the cold front pushes eastward, so rain for a time across the midlands, central and southern england on into east anglia and south east england. Then there will be some sunshine so the weather improving, it will get brighter and drier for most of us, but there will be showers across northern and Western Areas and the showers will be accompanied by blustery winds across the north west of the uk. The winds falling lighter across the south east later in the afternoon. This weekend sees low pressure in charge, a whole tangle of weather fronts crossing the uk, each of these bringing zones of heavy rain, so heavy rain both saturday and sunday and strong winds at times as well. On saturday, the strongest winds will be blowing through the irish sea, so wales, Western Areas of england picking up the strongest gusts, 40 50 mph, outbreaks of rain driving northwards through the day, so it might start off bright across the north of scotland, we will all see a soaking at some point. Maybe brighter spells at times across Eastern England, it is going to be mild with the temperature of 11 in edinburgh and glasgow to around 16 in london. More wet and windy weather to come on sunday, our main band of rain clears through Eastern England, but rain at times for scotland and Northern Ireland still quite heavy. Strongest winds through the english channel, and those gusts could reach around 50 or even 60 mph. So particularly blustery here, fresher air eventually working in for most of us as we head through sunday afternoon. Thats your latest weather. Bye for now. This is bbc news. Our top stories. Barack obamas former adviser joins our top stories. Barack obamas former adviserjoins us live to talk about a president ial transition like no other. Something drawing criticism from some World Leaders, irelands former chair of the elders had this message for his gop colleagues. Democracy is more fragile than you think, it needs more reinforcement than you think. Im glad that some republicans are coming around. I urge all republicans now. New york has more students in classrooms than any other city in the country, but as the number of cova cases rises, the mayor could be on the brink of shutting down schools again. Also in the programme. How the Vice President husband is how the first ever to become the stuff the next second gentleman. And pretty much from Management Level males in the bbc news room, but what is at about this particular pair of khakis that has got american men or maybe women so overexcited . Laura, we will come back to those trousers later on. Cant wait. Republicans willing to openly acknowledge joe republicans willing to openly acknowledgejoe bidens victory is growing but only as a snail pace. As of today, four of the 53 sitting senators have publicly congratulated the president elect, joining every living former president s, the leaders of americas allies and acknowledging mr bidens victory. Today, republican who sits on one of the senates key oversight committees became the first to promise action if preparations for a transition of power didnt begin soon. James la ngford power didnt begin soon. James langford of oklahoma told local Radio Station that he would take steps himself if mr biden did not begin to receive Intelligence Briefings by the end of the week. Well, one person who has first hand experience of president ial handovers is valerie, she served as co chair of the Obama Biden Transition Team backin of the Obama Biden Transition Team back in 2008 and was also a Senior Adviser to barack obama. Shes written a book, finding my voice. And you so much for being with us. With your experience, what impact do you think its having onjoe bidens transition team, not being formally recognised and of the president not conceding . We are having a little bit of a sound issue there with valerie. We hope to get her back with you, thats a real shame. Shes back valerie, thank you so much for joining us. You arejust muted there. But can you tell us, now that we have a pandemic, you have the president not recognising the legitimacy ofjoe biden as president elect, what impact does that have on the transmission of power . Hello, sorry about this technical difficulties. I take power . Hello, sorry about this technical difficulties. Itake heart and what President Biden said earlier in the week when he said, look, my transition is moving forward. I have assembled a team just yesterday he announced the selection of an extraordinary person to be his chief of staff. He has put together a Coronavirus Task force to advise him on how to contain the virus and make sure that we distribute the vaccine and a fair and reasonable way. So he is moving forward and because he was a sitting Vice President for eight years, just four years ago, and Vice President for eight years, just fouryears ago, and his Vice President for eight years, just four years ago, and his team, Vice President for eight years, just fouryears ago, and his team, many of them were part of the Obama Biden Administration are they served with him on the hill. He has got a strong team around him and frankly, many of the people who left the Trump Administration have been quite helpful as well. So hes moving forward. Now, having been the chair of the biden obama transition from ican of the biden obama transition from i can say, would it be helpful to have the resources that should be flowing by now . Most certainly. That way he could pay his staff. Would be hopeful to have access to all the agencies of the federal government sharing nonpublic information so that he can get up to speed and hit the ground running on hit the ground running because mike would be helpful to see the of daily briefing, the security briefing, the you but you. But in our country, we have one president at a time. Even with all that information from he wouldnt be acting as president now its heartening to see World Leaders who recognise his election and we are beginning to see members of congress and those who are speaking publicly. There are many more who are whispering quietly there congratulations, so i think its just a matter of time before we trigger that important document that will provide for the peaceful and smooth transition. But Vice President elect biden is not missing, he is moving forward elaborately. We just saw there some pictures of ron kleen, joe bidens pictures of ron kleen, joe bidens picture chief of staff. Just house about what kind of a job you think hes going to do. Its going to be very challenging with the pandemic and an economic emergency. 0h, he is more than up to it. He is smart as a whip, hard working public servant. Hes had years of experience serving in the Clinton Administration and the Obama Biden Administration. Hes worked on the hill. He was a Supreme Court clerk. And my experience working with them both as the chief of staff to the then Vice President biden and then heading up our ebola efforts is that he was really the point person for the Vice President on the recovery act. President obama asked Vice President to oversee the recovery act which was 800 billion that was appropriated early in their term to help the us economy and ron kleen executed that masterfully. And he is the person who principally i give credit to to ensuring that the e bowl epidemic was contained and did not venture onto our shores. So he has had experience that is so essential right now. He is well respected by everyone i know. He certainly well respected by both sides of the aisle up on the hill, and most important the president elect trusts him completely. And so i think ron will lead a very competent, experienced team and we two will serve the Vice President president elect quite well, once he sworn in, quite well. Valerie come as you know, extracts of former president obamas memoirs have been published. It turns out he had a secret device, he was still smoking. Did you know thats . Yes, it wasnt a very well kept smoking. Did you know thats . Yes, it wasnt a very well kept secrets. I had never seen him smoke most of the public had never seen him smoke a cigarette. He was a quiet smoker. He quit right in the middle of our efforts to get the affordable ca re of our efforts to get the Affordable Care act passed. I said he sure picked the hardest possible time when there was so much stress in your life, but thats how he rolls. It was great can i encourage everyone to read it as soon as its available, i lived it, and still read every page, i was riveted and couldnt wait to turn the page. There is another passage that a lot of people are looking up really personal passage about the pressure that the presidency put on his marriage with michelle. You know them both better than anyone else, what do you think a personal passage like that adds to our understanding of what he was going through in those years . Yeah, so thats a very good question from actually, james. It was important to president obama to be honest and candid in the book, notjust to be honest and candid in the book, not just about his to be honest and candid in the book, notjust about his responsibilities as president in the book takes you to the situation room in the oval office and all around the world and all around our country, but it was also important to send a message about how hard it was on your family. And he struggled with that mightily. He knew that michelle has no interest in politics, although shes devoted her life to Public Service, but she had no appetite for any of this, and she did it because it was so important to him and he knew it took its toll. And so part of being honest and authentic is telling the whole story. Even the parts of the story that might be painful. Its i think it will be a learning document for those who wa nt a learning document for those who want to go into Public Service to recognise that its not your life alone that you are affecting, its those you love as well. Valerie, thank you so much. Youre welcome. Good night everybody. She was off mute, in the end. Right Donald Trumps refusal to concede, we are back to that. Its raising concerns among American Security asked. Experts. Nearly 150 former administrations have put their names toa administrations have put their names to a letter warning that mr trump oz my failure to recognise joe to a letter warning that mr trump oz my failure to recognisejoe biden as president elect poses what they say isa president elect poses what they say is a serious risk to National Security. Us representative, adam smith, is the democratic chairman of the House Armed Services committee. We spoke to him a short time ago from seattle. Congressman smith, thanks for being with us. So what kind of a relationship will you have with the new defence secretary, christopher miller, given hes only in place for 70 days and his predecessor was fired in this fashion. Yes, i know its a difficult situation. There was no reason to fire secretary s borough at this point. It the transition in government is always difficult. You wa nt government is always difficult. You want as much stability as possible, you are coming in with a whole bunch of people. Thisjust you are coming in with a whole bunch of people. This just adds another layer of instability. I dont have a particular problem with mr miller. We have spoken. But he is coming and trying to learn a newjob buddies going to be out of very shortly, so i have a decent relationship with him, but does give us greater vulnerability and creating problems that dont need to be created. Do you think that mr miller is going to try to do the president s bidding and withdraw us troops from afghanistan more quickly than secretary esper wouldve liked . Afghanistan more quickly than secretary esper wouldve liked . think there is a risk, absolutely. Now, as the president going to follow through with that . And they get the logistics going . As you said, you know, if we are down to, but i am counting the days when i think were down to 69 now, dont wa nt think were down to 69 now, dont want to make it any longer than it is. There is a huge risk. We see the president do this before. He tweets a policy. We had a pull out of syria, we gotta pull out of afghanistan, and then the department of defence in partnership with our allies, by the way, and thats the pa rt allies, by the way, and thats the part that President Trump always forgets, there are actually more allied troops in afghanistan right now than there are us troops. And what we do impacts them. And we need to work in coordination on that plan, not do it off the cuff based ona plan, not do it off the cuff based on a tweet. Yeah, so there is concern that the president might do Something Like that. Now that he is fired secretary esper. Looking had to president elect, bidens team, which names do you think that which names do you think would be tossed for secretary of defence . Its hard for me, i would certainly not want to predict exactly what the Republican Controlled Senate is going to do. I would say that the name most frequently floated for secretary of defence is michelle, she was the undersecretary for policy in the administration. I worked very closely with her, and i think she would be outstanding, and i also think she has bipartisan support. So i am sure she would be ina support. So i am sure she would be in a strong position on that. There have been a number of different names floated out there for states. Dont have a clear picture on where that would go. And i would tend to think thatjust that would go. And i would tend to think that just about any of them would ultimately get confirmation. We dont have terribly controversial names out there. There are few senators who are thinking about it, susan rice was the former National Security adviser and a un investor, so someone who has been confirmed before. So i think we will be able to get there on that. The big problem right now, of course, is president s froms efforts to block the transition and make it more difficult. Congressman adam smith thank you so much forjoining the bbc. Thanks for the chance. Now, back in the spring, new york city was the epicentre of the covid 19 outbreak in the us, reporting 800 deaths a day at the peak. Those days have now passed, but officials are cautiously eyeing the slow uptake in cases and wondering what actions should be taken and when. One consideration is the closure of schools. Over 300,000 students have been regularly going to class in the city. Thats more than most parts of the nation, but infection rates are rising again so parents, teachers and city officials are weighing up their options. Shejoins and city officials are weighing up their options. She joins us and city officials are weighing up their options. Shejoins us now. Doctor, should schools close . Well, no. Actually, right now no schools in new york city should not be closed. We are in dealing with an increased number of cases in new york city because of the increased numberof york city because of the increased number of cases all over america. We know the standards set by the mayor was a 3 positive test rate, and unfortunately, we see the city hit that rate very very quickly. But what we have also learned is that the transmission from student to student or even student to teacher in new york city is basically nonexistent, and i think that we need to incorporate the data we have learned from the experience of set that weve had over the last few months to try and invest further into keeping our kids in school while also addressing the fact that this virus is spreading throughout our city. Doctor cass, my son has just started ninth grade in new york city. Hes only in school two days a week and he lives for those two days. He checks the test Positivity Rate every day on the computer and he is terrified that those two days are going to go away. How does the mayor of new york city balance the Mental Health of students with what you say is basically a pretty low risk . So i think thats the difficult part. Its notjust the students, but also the teachers and the union and the balanced interest of the economy. There is a lot the mayor has to put into his decision making. I agree with you, i have three students in School Summer between 1 2, even three days a week, and they love going to school. I realised how important it was for them to be in Person School as long as we can do it. Sol them to be in Person School as long as we can do it. So i think its really going to take some collaborative efforts from the mayor and the union leaders, also the parents to really keep our kids in school for as long as possible, because it is important and we have seen itsjust because it is important and we have seen its just not because it is important and we have seen itsjust not the same risk as most of the other things we are doing in the city right now. Most of the other things we are doing in the city right nowm most of the other things we are doing in the city right now. If you look at other countries around the world, they have prioritised putting kids in school. Why do you think that america is different . kids in school. Why do you think that america is different . I think thats a very large question that we can start with. But the truth is that its an investment, writes . The fa ct that its an investment, writes . The fact that we dont prioritise our schools and education in this pandemic. We didnt invest in testing or infrastructure. We didnt send our states resources to keep our schools open safely. So now we are dealing with the consequences of that which is to say that everybody is on their own to make their own decisions and have their own standards. Im optimistic that come january and february, those standards will be common in the investment will be available. But until then, we have to do the hard work on the ground. Doctor cass, do you think we are going to have to wait for a vaccine until we are out of the woods with schooling . No, i dont. I think we can keep schools open safely with investments and testing and resources and community involvement. I think a vaccine itself is coming but its going to ta ke itself is coming but its going to take a long time, probably upwards of six months to get really into communities enough to decrease the viral load just from the vaccine alone, and we are not reallyjust not discounting the idea that a lot of people are hesitant to take this vaccine. So im not looking to wait for a vaccine to get our kids back in school, i think we can do it without it. Doctor cass, thanks for that. Stay with us, here on bbc news, still to come. We will take a closer look at doug, the man plays to play second fiddle to the countrys first female Vice President , Kamala Harris. A controversial plan to build a tunnel for stonehenge has been given the go ahead by the government. Highway england says the two stretch will remove noise and visual distraction from the landmark, but can pain groups and our galjust worry that the. Is often badly suggest on a single care wage stretch in wiltshire. Our correspondent reports. The a303, gateway to the south west, but routed past the richness of this World Heritage site. For 30 years, theyve debated how to save stonehenge from the roads noise and pollution. Well, now the government says the a303 is to be buried into a tunnel, creating a traffic free landscape. English heritage say it will transform the monument. It makes good on a decades long ambition to remove this noisy and polluting road from this very important prehistoric landscape. The tunnel will be two miles long, and the government insists there wont be any major damage to the archaeology here. Its only when you get here on the ground that you realise just how close the stones are to the a303. Its just a matter of about 150 or 200 yards. And this is a road that attracts between 30,000 and 50,000 cars a day. But some campaigners have fought for years to stop a tunnel, saying it will damage the archaeology of this unique setting. The landscape to each side of the tunnel will be gouged out into deep cuttings, with dual carriageways, huge tunnel entrances, masses of concrete, major road interchanges to each side of the World Heritage site. This is devastation on a major scale. There have been many promises before to put the a303 into a tunnel, but the main work here is finally expected to start in three years time. Duncan kennedy, bbc news, at stonehenge. It has been an election of firsts here in the us. The most votes ever cast, the oldest nominee to ever be elected president and Kamala Harris as the first woman and the first woman of colour to become Vice President. As she makes history, so does her husband. Its the first time that the spouse of a Vice President or indeed a president is a man, leading to confusion about what his official title might be. Second husband . His official title might be. Second husband . Second his official title might be. Second husband . Second gentlemen . And online hashtag, celebrating the first second husband is proving popular. So what can doug expect from his new role, and what can we expect from him . Jessica goldstein profiled doug us now. Jessica, can you clear it up, what is his going to be . That is an excellent question that i not only asked him, i asked every Single Person that i spoke to for my profile, and at that time, they were not yet, they were not yet committed to a title. I believe that the most traditional option would be second gentlemen, but as you both just pointed out, this is benign traditional tickets, so they could go in any direction they choose. Jessica, what is he going to do for the next four years . He wont want to give recipes or open fares, will he . Will he be able to carry on his job . Hes taking leave from his job, i believe they announced yesterday that he was so facially leaving his law firm to focus solely on his duties the second spouse. I think what will be exciting to see is that for better or worse, this is a role that has virtually zero job requirements. Its a totally choose your own adventure situation, and that means that any individual who occupies this role is able to mull it in theirown occupies this role is able to mull it in their own image and they can bring their expertise, their passion, their ideas and its all very dependent on who the person is, what is their relationship with their spouse, and what is the Vice President s elation ship like with the president. Tell us a few more fa cts , the president. Tell us a few more facts, the one that struck me is that his favourite groups is depeche mode. Yes, he told me that he stopped listening to new music rate around the time he graduated from high school. Annette thats about 3540 high school. Annette thats about 35 40 go he has a lot to catch up on its true, its true. And he has young kids, so what is his excuse was meant we dont know. Hes on a fa nta sy was meant we dont know. Hes on a Fantasy Football Team named nirvana, so he is very committed to the theme. He, as i mentioned, hes got two children, he has excellent relationships with his ex wife, kirsten, everybody seems to get along. Its like one big happy extended blended family over there. And he really, i have to say what struck me most about him when we spoke, it was about a month before the election, and i felt like the entire country was curled up in the foetal position hitting refresh on twitter, biting their nails down to knobs and he seemed very calm about the whole thing. So it seems like somebody who is probably good to have in a High Pressure job and in a very intense and overwhelming situation which Vice President elect harris is about to find herself. Jessica, do you think that hes going to be the ultimate symbol of the postfeminist world, and therefore something of a role model . That sounds like a lot of pressure. You know, ithink that sounds like a lot of pressure. You know, i think whats exciting about all of these roles is that they give us the opportunity to imagine things differently and so to your question earlier, will he be making up recipes and planting the easter egg roll . Close but the fact that we even find that funny i think is telling about how limited our imaginations are about what men are supposed to feel comfortable doing, what husbands are supposed to do to support their wives, so i think its exciting to just support their wives, so i think its exciting tojust see support their wives, so i think its exciting to just see as we are seeing with doctor biden keeping her teaching job while assuming the role of first lady, that there are as many different ways to be a husband, to bea many different ways to be a husband, to be a wife, to be a man in this world as there are people. Jessica, thank you so much forjoining us with those insights into the first second gentlemen. Thank you. James, you know its really interesting is that i learned once at a dinner where i was in between some second gentlemen that they told me that when the g7 happens, you know, the World Leaders meet, that there is a special spouse programme, and that the guys who are in the minority go along with the girls, but its a very female centred kind of g7 programme, but i would think that having you know, un american as a second gentlemen could mean they get some more boy activities there. A different imagination than i go to. It was only once. This election did give newsjunkies a only once. This election did give news junkies a lot of material as it was days of waiting in drilling down into the vote count and individual counties. We had christian here on the bbc helping us understand how key vote tallies and counties like bucks county, maricopa or going. Nbc has its own version of christian. This tireless Statistical Analysis caused a stir, but it wasnt the numbers, the lasting legate doug mag legacy of his work, if hes watching, appears to be his wardrobe. His somewhat nondescript brown trousers have taken on a life of their own. For those wondering, they are Palomino Brown khakis from they are Palomino Brown khakis from the gap, according to the gap, they have been an increase of around 90 in sales for those particular pair of trousers. Very interesting, those trousers. They are not exact the gap exactly the height of fashion, but over here in america, of course, we dont call them chinos, we call them khakis, but are they all the rage in newsrooms in britain, james, do you think . If i went upstairs to the newsroom is, almost everyone from every male person about my age is wearing chinos or khakis, but if you area wearing chinos or khakis, but if you are a presenter, you want to try to stand out, so it. Welcome to court city. Put arrays, you might think yes, sit down, im told. You might think that these are not fashionable. I can assure you, they we re fashionable. I can assure you, they were worn by robert redford, matt damon, fantastic mr fox and byjango injango unchained. Damon, fantastic mr fox and byjango in jango unchained. They damon, fantastic mr fox and byjango injango unchained. They are really cool injango unchained. They are really cool. I thought you were going to give us a tour, james. Im really disappointed. Thank you forjoining us, everyone. Now we know thatjames wears cords. Bye for now. Bye. Hello there. The weather is going to stay unsettled for the next few days, often wet and often windy as well, so make the best of any sunshine when it does come along. Satellite picture then shows an area of low pressure to the northwest of the uk with a squally band of rain pushing its way eastwards. Well, that rain will still be hanging around across parts of Eastern England into friday morning. So, rain for a time across east anglia and southeast england with the rain clearing. What follows is a spell of sunshine, so the weather brightening up and improving. It will stay blustery across the northwest with plenty of showers these could be quite heavy, maybe with the odd rebel of thunder. But towards the southeast, the winds should become a little bit lighter. Temperatures, quite a range from 10 degrees in aberdeen, 14 in london. 14 in london is mild for the time of year, it should be about 11 degrees at the stage of november. The weekends forecast, welcome a low pressure dominates. You can see a whole tangle of weather fronts crossing the uk. Theyll be bringing rain at times. The rain will often be quite heavy. There were also be some strong winds both saturday and sunday. Now, on saturday, it looks like the strongest winds will be working through the irish sea, so wales, Western Areas of england, could get gusts of wind going up to about 50 odd miles per hour. There will be rain extending northwards and eastwards, so we well all see rain at times. Maybe a few brighter spells across Eastern England, but these are quite unreliable, really. Temperatures as high 16 degrees towards the southeast, but perhaps not feeling quite that mild given the strength of the winds. Weve got more strong winds to come on sunday. This time, the strongest winds working through the english channel. Gusts around the south coast could reach around 50 60 mph. The rain clears through, the weather breaks, sunshine and showers, but those showers will merge together to give some lengthier outbreaks of rain across the northern areas. Those temperatures, well, it will start to feel fresher, thats cooler air will begin to edge its way into sunday afternoon. Now, turning to fresher weather, still with us on into monday, monday looks like a quieter day. A little ridge of High Pressure building across the uk for a time. Most of us will see sunshine. Temperatures close to normal for the time of year, but rain returns to the northwest through monday afternoon. Now, looking at the weather charts into tuesday, into next week, well, again, perhaps not so bad a day with some sunshine across england and wales. We will probably see a band of rain, though, extending into Western Areas as we go through the day. I say probably because there is some uncertainty about how quickly this rain will arrive off the atlantic. And into the middle of next week, the forecast becomes very unsettled. To understand why, we have to look at the jet stream, not here in the uk, but actually whats happening over the next when he for hours across the pacific northwest, specifically the size of these troughs and ridges moving in. Because there are different computer simulations, and these differences start off being quite small, but grow to be quite large differences by the time we get into the middle of next week and these differences start off being quite small, but grow to be quite large differences by the time we get into the middle of next week across our part of the world. And this plays a significant factor in what the weather will be up to. So, for example, there are two main scenarios, one is that we see High Pressure buildi in off the atlantic and this would, of course, settle the weather down. However, this looks like a less likely scenario. What looks to be more likely is a continuation of the unsettled weather with spells of rain crossing the uk with strong winds at times, brief windows of brighter weather and fresher air moving in before it turns unsettled with more rain, again, that looks like being the most likely scenario. I think the computers may well become a bit more certain about the forecast tomorrow. Tonight at ten the huge impact of coronavirus on the nhs. Almost 140,000 people have been waiting for more than a year for routine operations in england. Its the highest number for 12 years and looks set to get worse as some hospitals start to cut back even more on non urgent surgery to the distress of many patients. Im in quite a lot of pain. Some days are worse than others. Sometimes i go into a spasm. You are just left in a sort of wasteland, sort of not knowing whats going on. It comes on the day of a Record Number of new infections in the uk thought to be the result of people going out and mixing in the days before this latest lockdown. Reasons to be cautiously optimistic, says the chancellor after a big rebound for the economy over the summer but there are signs of another dip as the second lockdown bites