The power behind the electric car revoulution. The battery we speak to one manufacturer whos benefitting from our urge to go green. European nations have begun to impose travel bans on the uk after it reported a more infectious and out of co ntrol coronavirus variant. Ireland, germany, france, italy, the netherlands and belgium are all halting flights. The measures vary and are initially short term but the french rules also affect channel freight. An eu meeting on monday morning will discuss a more co ordinated response. The seriousness of the situation is already having economic consequences. All freight transportation between the uk and france is now halted for two days. Joining me now is alex veitch, head of Public Policy at logistics uk. This came in with very short notice and it is a ready having a huge impact, isnt it . Well, we are very concerned about this. We have been in touch with transport since yesterday afternoon and been briefing our members to make them aware of the disruption and to get them to avoid travelling to the ports kent, dover and eurotunnel and we are urgently seeking further information and calling on the eu, the french authorities and uk authorities to ta ke authorities and uk authorities to take action to reduce the disruption immediately. The government already had contingency plans in place because of disruption to freight over brexit, deal or no deal. Is any of that swinging into action now . Yes, we understand that the Traffic Management measures that have been planned in the case of the expected traffic delays in kent, particularly if there is no deal, are being implemented this morning. We are very worried about the impact of those mitigations and traffic delays on drivers who will be stuck for several hours in rather unpleasant conditions at times so we are calling on the uk government to provide facilities to ensure the well being of drivers were caught up in these delays. Obviously very difficult for them there is also the huge issue of supplies and whats happening to those and what impact it will have on goods coming into the country and trying to get out into europe. Well, yes, but it is important to remember whats going on and to remember whats going on and to keep a cool head. So this is only affect ring outbound cargo to france which of course is very, in a very, very important artery to flow out of this country. There is no impact on inbound flows but we accept their could be some issues created by delays on the outbound journey. It is also important to note that other eu countries with whom we do a substantial amount of trade by this route have not introduced the same link it band on all transport in the way the french authorities have and finally, ifi authorities have and finally, if i may, the french rules are only applicable to a truck being driven by a driver so there are other ways to move what we call unaccompanied trait or trailer iced fleet freight and that is an important mode by which we both important mode by which we both importand important mode by which we both import and exported all the goods that the communities need. Tighter restrictions have come into force in australias largest city, sydney, to control a coronavirus outbreak affecting the northern beaches area. Thousands of residents have crossed borders in a rush to leave before christmas. Lets go to Sharanjit Leyl in our Asia Business hub. Bring us up to date on the situation in sydney and how it is affecting people . It is 5 million residents in sydney and they may be feeling like christmas could be cancelled and that is after those tighter restrictions came into force today. People living in sydney are essentially being encouraged to forego end of Year Celebrations and anything else that might sand the coronavirus outbreak that has closed state borders. A new health order today will limit gatherings in homes and Entertainment Venues across the city for at least three days. Health officials are working to contain this growing cluster involving at least 66 people and some of these potential coronavirus carriers visited dozens coronavirus carriers visited d oze ns of coronavirus carriers visited dozens of sites across sydney and that is raising alarm that the virus may be widely distributed across australia post most populous city. The really, no surprise then that western australia, tasmania, queensland, victoria and South Australia have all imposed border restrictions and quarantine measures to prevent travellers from spreading the virus. Australias most populous city. Stay at home orders in the place that is most badly affected, the northern beaches area, will continue up to midnight wednesday. This is a region that includes a popular seaside suburbs where for instance the Australian Television soap opera home and away is filmed. The metropolitan sydney, household gatherings are going to be limited to ten visitors until at least 11 59pm on wednesday, according to the States Health department, after which a decision will be made about what residents can do on christmas day, so it may be that christmas wont be cancelled but it could well be curtailed this year. After months of wrangling, republicans and democrats in the us congress have finalised agreement on a 900 billion dollar Coronavirus Relief package. The measure includes increased Unemployment Benefits and stimulus payments for millions of workers who lost their jobs because of the pandemic. It will also provide funding for the Mass Vaccination Campaign and to help schools reopen. Joining me now is russ mould, investment director, aj bell they have been fighting and wrangling over this for months, the second largest stimulus package ever. Take us through some of the details. You have all you mentioned the Vaccine Distribution bailout, airlines, 600 dollars per adult, down from 1200 earlier on this year but still nevertheless a direct cash injection and support for welfare programmes so it is broad ranging and worth around 496 broad ranging and worth around 4 of american gdp. Broad ranging and worth around 496 of american gdp. Very welcome by millions of americans are struggling right now but it is only for the next few months, isnt it . That is correct and interesting, mitch mcconnell, the leader of the senate, the Republican Committee s he says he doesnt think it is the perfect solution. President electjoe biden, the democrats didnt get all the money they wanted so they are not entirely happy either. You may well see further attempts to prevent stimulus going forward. That is the key question with the rollout of the vaccines coming m, rollout of the vaccines coming in, it could take many, many months before a large enough population, section of the population, section of the population, are vaccinated to bring the economy back on track, couldnt it . It could. If you look at what the americans have done, they provided over 3 trillion of stimulus. It is only forecast to lose around one trillion dollars in gdp so they put three chilean dollars into fillet 1 trillion hole they have done an awful lot already was i suppose the one thing that hasnt been discussed is where does the money come from. People will be thinking about how the bills get paid further down the road and that is one of the reasons why gold is back in 1900 an ounce. Bitcoin continues its remarkable rise. I think it is reaching nearly 24,000. Joe biden has been talking about how he will stimulate the economy. Yes and i think that is one of the things the us market is looking for. The american stock market is atan for. The american stock market is at an all time high and a lot of people will be looking at it thinking why on earth are share prices so high when the economic backdrop is so serious and the pandemic as yet to come under control in america and this is one of the reasons why, the 3 trillion of support provided by fiscal or Government Spending this year you also have the Us Federal Reserve bringing Interest Rates at record lows and providing quantitative easing. So an awful lot of economic support is being provided to try and get the wild boars biggest economy through the offset of that, american debt is now climbing and we still have to work out how that hole will be filled going forward. Lets get some of the days other news. Christmas trees and glittery ornaments are for sale at a saudi gift shop, a once unthinkable sight in the cradle of islam where all public non muslim worship is banned. In recent years, festive sales have gradually crept into the capital riyadh, a sign of loosening social restrictions after Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman pledged to steer the conservative gulf kingdom towards an open, moderate islam. Tesla is poised tojoin americas benchmark s p 500 stock index on monday, giving millions more investors a stake in the electric car maker. Analysts say the Financial Milestone is a validation of a string of good news for elon musks firm this year. Demand for its cars was resilient this year despite the coronavirus pandemic. Brexit trade negotiations continue in brussels today, despite a warning by the European Parliament that it would not vote on a deal this year if it had not been agreed by sunday night. Last night the government said talks with the eu were difficult and that significant differences remain. After months of negotiations including over this past weekend, the vast majority of the eu uk trade and security deal has been agreed. While there remain a number of loose ends, the main focus now in talks is fish. Both sides say theyre committed to trying to reach a deal. But time really is running out now. Joining me now is bernardine adkins, head of eu, trade and competition law, gowling wlg. We set it so many times, time is running out, it is radically fed real that it is ten days, it is time for deal or no deal was up fishing is the key sticking point. Do you actually believe they can be a way forward through this, that both sides can agree on at this late stage . It is very much a good question of political will. One could argue it is about fish but it is a numbers game. It is access to the uks territorial waters. It is aquatic real estate. It is who is going to blink in terms of how much the eu quota goes back to the uk and the difficulty is, obviously expectations of reason in the uk that the uk is expecting to get its sovereignty back, get its territorial waters back and who knows, the uk government had clearly realised that fisheries, when they have the overall negotiations, they are leaving it to the last minute because in fact under the political declaration, it is not just about fish. We understand they are still negotiating state aid, level Playing Field and a strip dispute resolution so there are other aspects that arent entirely dealt with either, it is not just fish. And entirely dealt with either, it is notjust fish. And as entirely dealt with either, it is not just fish. And as you say it is really about politics and the eu and borisjohnson being able to sell this to the parties involved and to the electorate as a win. And how did they kind of see a way through that then . How do they paint this is a picture of success on both sides . |j paint this is a picture of success on both sides . I would say fisheries is largely politics. Level Playing Field, i think it is actually more philosophical difference in terms of how the eu is nervous that the uk, as it said, it is going to deregulate. It is nervous that the uk will deregulate and have unfair access, complete access to the e you market eu market. The uk says, we are softer now, we have independence, we will not permit the eu to tell us how we are going to produce our rules and there i think there is a bit of a marketing need from the uk perspective because as everin the uk perspective because as ever in this area, the devil is in the detail because if you look at the areas in the Playing Field, what is a level Playing Field, what is a level Playing Field . It isnt all the uk rules, it is areas such as competition, state aid, taxation. And environmental, social, employment terms, so there is a whole gamut of areas which are simply not within the level Playing Field. So there is some room for compromise but we make it to a situation where philosophically that gap cannot be reproached and we are looking at a no deal. Be reproached and we are looking at a nodeal. Do you feel that given the uncertainty of that we have had over the past few years, that businesses are now more prepared for whatever may come onjanuary one or do you envisage a scenario of major disruption . Ido i do think it does depend very much on the business, financial services, pharmaceuticals, rearrange marketing organisations to other countries stopping other factors, small and medium size i think they always hope that Something Else would happen, head in the sand and also it is very difficult for people because a lot of people are working from the back bedrooms. Firms simply do not have the bandwidth given covid 19 also to get ready for either a deal or no deal, so i think it would bea or no deal, so i think it would be a very next bag of who is ready and who is not ready. Whatever happens come the end of the year, how much can be pushed down the road . How much room for manoeuvre is there given this hard deadline on december 31 . The room for manoeuvre is, it is imperative we get a deal before december 31 so it is possible that the eu could decide to have a provisional agreement in place, provisional agreement in place, provisional parts of the agreement in place by the European Parliament would be very, very unhappy about and then there is a danger that we have a constitutional crisis with the eu, Parliament Saying you have ignored direct democratic oversight and you shouldnt be doing that. So we may have a period of no deal to give the European Parliament and also dont forget weve got National Parliaments who will wa nt to National Parliaments who will want to have a review agreement, some 38 of them. If we do not get a deal by 11 oclock uk time december 31 we could be in for a sticky period. 0k, thank you very much for joining period. 0k, thank you very much forjoining us. Is boeings 737 max really a safe aircraft . The plane was grounded in march last year after two accidents in which 346 people died. Us regulators now say that with certain modifications it can get back in the air and in brazil one airline has already resumed flights. Here in europe, approval from the Aviation Safety Agency easa is expected in a couple of weeks. Our reporter theo leggett asked easas executive director if he was truly confident in the safety of the aircraft im very confident that the max isa im very confident that the max is a very safe aircraft to fly. We have left no stone unturned, we reviewed not only the changes which were made by boeing on the architecture of the max, and on the systems which caused the two accidents but also we went further and reviewed all the flight controls, all the machinery of the aircraft to make sure that we we re the aircraft to make sure that we were not only solving the issues which created the accidents but also looked at everything which could be resulting in a criticalfailure of the system, so we are very confident that it is now a very safe aircraft. When the 737 max was originally certified the primary role was taken by the faa, i understand that, but after the lion air crash, the faa allowed the 737 max to continue playing and he went along with that. In retrospect, do you think easa could have stepped in and said no we want this aircraft checked out before it continues carrying passengers . And retrospect you wish you had done something different, of course. But in retrospect when you look at what happened after the first accident, the way in which people were understanding what happened, i dont think that we had, at that stage, sufficient grounds to doubt that the analysis made by boeing and by the faa on what were the root causes of the accident could be put into any kind of doubt. You think the credibility of regulators around the world has been damaged here . Regulators around the world has been damaged here . |j regulators around the world has been damaged here . I hope not. Our industry is the safest industry for transport in the world. We were very good, i think, at learning from these tragedies. It is awful that we have to learn from tragedies after it has happened but i think we made a lot of promise in assessing what went wrong. I hope that the public has trust in us when we say, look, we think we are certain that the aircraft is safe to fly. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come travelling the world online how Virtual Tours could save indias travel industry. Music and chanting. Saddam hussein is finished because he killed our people, our women, our children. The signatures took only a few minutes but they brought a formal end to 3. 5 years of conflict conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. Before an audience of world leaders, the president s of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. The romanian border was sealed and silent today. Romania has cut itself off from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. From sex at the white house to a trial for his political life, the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history as only the second president ever to be impeached. This is bbc world news, the latest headlines. Dozens of countries ban travel to and from britain as it battles to contain a new, more infectious variant of coronavirus. The Pfizer Biontech vaccine against the virus is set to get the green light by eu regulators. As the world continues to grapple with the coronavirus and travel remains restricted, the Global Tourism industry is piling up losses. But entrepreneurs are finding alternative ways to travel the world. The bbcs Arunoday Mukharji reports from delhi. This is the dome of the ambassadors home. This is the dome of the ambassadors home. This house is at least 150 years old. Tesla will enter the s p 500 on monday 21 december following months of speculation and one setback in september when it failed to make the index. Tesla expects to deliver up to 500,000 vehicles this year, compared with toyotas annual production of about ten million. That must be good news for the ev market, and the businesses that make all the components that make up evs, the biggest being the battery. Joining me now is kevin brundish, ceo of amte power. Good brundish, ceo of amte power. To see you. Tell us more good to see you. Tell us a bit more about what tesla joining the s p 500 is going to mean for you . Good morning. Tesla entering the s p 500 is really looking at taking what has originally looked like something by specialist market into the mainstream, and as you have said, it is a huge growth for that company in particular but more over the whole sector, and an ev company now topping the table of value for vehicle manufacturers, which is something that ten years ago would probably not have been thought possible. And are you managing to keep up with demand for your batteries . There is a huge growth in the supply chain, just looking at europe alone, there is Something Like 20 factories planned and our expansion is included and that but even that is looking like, around 2025, the demand will still outstrip the supplier base, so it is a very fast growing market. Base, so it is a very fast growing marketlj base, so it is a very fastgrowing market. Ijust wa nt to fastgrowing market. Ijust want to quickly know the answer to this, is there enough investment in your industry, do you think with yellow i think tesla and others are investing heavily in this but of course you can always use more investment in this arena. Kevin, very good to talk to you, sorry it was so brief. Thanks very much for watching, we will be back a little later. Goodbye for now. Hello. For most of us, the chances of a White Christmas look pretty slim, but its probably not going to be a particularly wet christmas either. Drier, Colder Weather on the way by the end of this week. There is some more rain to get out of the way first, and on the earlier satellite picture, you can see this big hook of cloud. This is really going to provide wet weather across southern areas, particularly through the first half of this week. This first frontal system bringing rain, particularly across england and wales, up into Northern Ireland as well. Something a little bit clearer but still with some showers further north. Chilly air across Northern Areas with a wedge of really mild air working in towards the south. A very, very mild start to wednesday in southern areas, but a cloudy, wet start with outbreaks of rain pushing northwards across england, wales. Some heavy rain moving through Northern Ireland, getting into southern scotland for a time as well. Something a little bit drier following on behind, but probably still quite cloudy. Some further rain into southern counties of england. Northern scotland will see some sunny spells, yes, but some showers, too, and some of these will be turning wintry at times over high ground through the afternoon. A rather chilly day in Northern Areas, a very mild one in the south with highs perhaps 15 degrees. As we go through monday night, you can see further pulses of rain pushing across southern areas up into wales, the midlands. Further north, clear spells, still a few showers into northwest scotland. Pretty mild down towards the south, a much colder night for the north there could even be a touch of frost here and there. Then into tuesday, cloudy, damp weather will continue across southern counties of england, maybe into south wales at times. Further north, well see more in the way of sunshine, but again, a scattering of showers, especially across the northwest of scotland, some of these showers wintry over the hills and the mountains. Temperatures, again, six or 7 degrees in the north, 12, maybe 13 down towards the south. Now, an area of low pressure is set to bring more rain on wednesday, especially across southern areas, but as we head towards the end of the week, this area of High Pressure is going to start to build its way in. So, through Christmas Eve and into christmas day, High Pressure will take charge, but with that, some colder air working its way southwards. So, yes, temperatures dropping away by thursday and friday, Christmas Eve and christmas day, but by this stage, it should be mostly dry with just a few showers. Good morning. Welcome to breakfast withjon kay and louise minchin. Our headlines today europe shuts its doors to the uk as fears grow over the spread of a new variant of coronavirus. Its the latest blow to festive travel plans. What are your rights if youre caught up in christmas chaos . Lewis hamilton is named bbc Sports Personality of the year. He wins for a second time, after securing a record equalling seventh formula one world title. Overcast in the south today with some rain, but very mild,