This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Still no final result in the us president ial election as counting continues in a handful of Battle Ground states. But Democratjoe Biden is inching closer to the white house after winning michigan. Im not here to declare that weve won, but i am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners. Meanwhile, the Trump Campaign launches multiple legal challenges to try to stop the counting in four states and wants a recount in wisconsin. Protestors have been gathering outside election centres in phoenix in arizona, and detroit in michigan, claiming some votes werent counted properly. A month long lockdown begins today in england to combat the spread of coronavirus. More plans to boost the uk economy. An extra £150 billion is available to help with the pandemic and the chancellor will give details later of extending the furlough scheme. Supemarket sainsburys announces it is cutting 3,500 jobs in the uk. Hello and welcome if youre watching in the uk or around the world and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. The result of the us election remains in the balance, as votes continue to be counted in key Battle Ground states. Joe biden is inching closer to victory after claiming michigan overnight, with reports suggesting
he will take more key states today. But the Trump Campaign is taking legal action in several areas, calling for counts to be stopped. So far, 43 of the 50 states have declared their results, with the democratic candidate joe biden on 215 Electoral College votes, and the Republican Donald Trump on 214. The number needed to win overall, and to occupy the white house, is 270. Georgia is an important Battle Ground state where the president s lead overjoe biden continues to narrow. With 95 of the vote counted, Donald Trump Holds 49. 6 of the vote, butjoe biden with 49. 1 isnt far behind. Arizona is another one of those states. With 86 of the vote counted, joe biden is ahead there with 50. 5 of the vote. 0ur north america correspondent ben wright reports. There are still millions of votes to count, and this president ial race is not decided. In georgia, donald trump kept the narrowest of leads over joe biden as ballots were tallied late in the night. It was a scene repeated in the handful of states that will now decide this election. At the moment, it isjoe biden sounding confident. He currently has more Electoral College votes than his rival and chalked up vital wins in the midwest, michigan, a democratic gain, and wisconsin looks to have gone the same way. Here, the people rule. Power cant be taken or asserted. It flows from the people. It is their will that determines who will be the president of the United States, and their will alone. In nevada, the two candidates
are neck and neck and the state will release more results on thursday. In arizona, once a republican stronghold, joe biden stayed slightly ahead while Election Officials counted the remaining postal ballots. After President Trump prematurely declared victory and erroneously claimed in a tweet to have won states he hadnt, republicans filed a string of lawsuits and complaints. Were going to win pennsylvania, but theyre going to try and cheat us out of it because they know its their only path to victory. They know its the only path to victory. We came here today and met with all our lawyers and we are going to file a suit in pennsylvania. After an attempt by the Trump Campaign to stop the count in michigan, the states chief election officer called the lawsuit meritless. Were focused on getting this right in a way that can withstand any Court Challenges. Ill also mention weve seen this not just in michigan but in other states. A lot of times Court Challenges or allegations are thrown around to further political agendas, as opposed to actual legal claims. We could still be waiting
a while to discover who the next president will be as an unprecedented volume of postal votes are counted. But its the current occupant of the white house who is trying to catch up. Let mejust explain let me just explain that you might see different numbers and percentages because some new sites are adding on prospective wins to respective candidates tallies. 0ther respective candidates tallies. Other sites, including others, are waiting for confirmed wins, so i hope that explains why you might be seeing different tallies. Lets take a look at how some of the other key states are doing. In pennsylvania, with 89
of the vote counted President Donald Trump is slightly ahead of his rival joe biden with 50. 7 . Joe biden is in the lead in nevada, another key state, hes got 49. 3 of the vote there so far. And were expecting a result from wisconsin soon. 99 of the vote has been counted, with democratic Candidatejoe Biden looking on track to win the state. Very fine margins everywhere. 0ur north america correspondent david willis joins us from los angeles. The numbers are tight, tighter than anyone expected in the days and weeks immediately ahead of this vote. Who is looking the likely winner at this stage . Joe bidens campaign have said they are confident they will get the keys to the white house . You are absolutely right. There is a lot going on here
and a lot of vote counting still to ta ke and a lot of vote counting still to take place in several of the key Battle Ground states. The race very tight indeed in many of those states. Particularly, for example, pennsylvania, where around 90 of the votes have already been counted and donald trump was leading joe biden, but with more than 700,000 votes still to be counted, they are in pennsylvania, most are from the heavily democrat city of philadelphia, hence it is very difficult to know what sort of outcome there is going to be in that state. Pennsylvania ditto. Georgia, thatis state. Pennsylvania ditto. Georgia, that is now a must win state for donald trump, reports suggest that his lead is shrinking in the state of georgia as more and more postal ballots are counted. So the latest figures show about 90,000 votes still to be counted in the state of
georgia. It could take several more days to get all these votes done or even longer, of course, if there are legal challenges, as there have been already in states such as pennsylvania. That could drag this whole process out for quite a lot longer. We have seen protests in the middle of all of this. We have seen protests in arizona and michigan. I think we can show our reviewers pictures of protests happening at various counts. What is the latest youre hearing on that . There have been protests in cities across this country, and eat. You mentioned portland, oregon. Weve seen protests in new york city and in arizona where people at one point took two polling stations. There have been some rather threatening scenes in other places across the country. Emblematic, if you like, of
the sort of tension, the pent up antagonism that we have seen throughout this election, which threatens to boil over the longer this vote counting process and the uncertainty continues. A lot of people are saying that whoever wins, this country is still deeply divided. I might add thatjoe biden has 71 million votes, thats the highest total of any person running for president here, donald trump has 68. That demonstrates how this country is split down the middle. Perhaps the easiest way to phrase this awkward question, to predict
when we will have a definitive answer, but let me ask it this way, how do you think will be the first candidate to get to those 260 270 Electoral College votes . My crystal ball is locked away in the closet right now certain states will determine the outcome, for example, georgia. Donald trump needs to win that state. If he does not, thenjoe biden i think fairly swiftly afterwards might be declaring victory in this election. But its a numbers game. Either of these candidates has to get to that precious 270 Electoral College votes and at the moment neither is anywhere close and this election still has everything to play for. This is what we mean when we hear the candidates talking about a pathway to victory. David, thank you very much. Mail in ballots are still being counted in the state of georgia. 0ur correspondent, larry madowo, spoke to an election official who described the process in Fulton County. Right now, they get a tray of ballots, they will put it through the opener extractors and then once they get them out of the envelopes they will go over to these people that are flattening them and preparing them for the scanners in the back. Once they go through the scanners, we take a thumb drive over over there and that Vote Review Panel will look at any of the ballots that have been flagged by the software where voter intent is in question. What theyll do is determine how the voter, what the voters intent was. They wanted to vote for this candidate or that candidate. So all these ballots that are being counted here, they must have been received by when . 7pm on election day. Is it possible to add any ballots after that to this group . No, we closed all of our drop boxes at 7pm on Election Night and if we didnt receive anything in the mail by 7pm on Election Night, anything that was received after that is rejected. So you say there is 140,000 of these . Yes, about 142,000, yes. So you are down to the last 14,000 or so . Yes. What is the average progress you are making in an hour . We have been doing about 3,500 an hour the last couple of hours and that has actually accelerated as the day has gone by. Hopefully we will be able to push on through and get done with this by 6am, 7am. President trumps team is mounting a legal challenge because they think in some parts of this state that some ballots were introduced after that time, did any of that happen in Fulton County . No, we had teams at all 38 drop boxes lock those boxes right at 7pm and anything that was. We only received ballots up until 7pm through the mail. Anything that would have been after that would have been put in the reject pile. I spoke with you about three weeks ago when you were planning this, what has been more surprising for you now that it is actually happening . We had 25 covid infections in our warehouse since i saw you last, which pretty much devastated about 40 of my workforce. We had a lot of challenges getting ready for election day. Early voting went great for us, election day actually turned out to be pretty slow in turnout. All right, good luck getting it all done. Thank you. Richard baron, director of elections in Fulton County, the largest in the state of georgia and we are expecting an update from the secretary of state of georgia about the whole election in the state, because the whole of america is watching what happens and who will be especially the winner of the president ial race here. Lets show you some live shots of
account going on right now. This is Fulton County in georgia. Final ballots being counted in atlanta, georgia. As we inch closer, and it does feel like inching very slowly, doesnt it, towards the final result of the us president ial election. The status of the count layer, im looking at the very latest, we are on 96 of votes counted there and its really, really tight. Donald trump, 50 . Joe biden, 49 . But they are of course going through a lot of those mail in ballots right now and it is too close to call it right now, with 4 of the ballot still remaining to be counted. The headlines on bbc news. Democratjoe biden inches closer to the white house after winning michigan in the us election
but still no final result as counting continues in just seven key Battle Ground states. Meanwhile, the Trump Campaign launches multiple legal challenges to try to stop the counting in four states, and wants a recount in wisconsin. And a month long lockdown begins today in england, to combat the spread of coronavirus. A new four week lockdown has begun in england, with people told to stay at home, and nonessential shops, pubs and gyms ordered to close. There are strict new rules on mixing with other households too, and the police are warning there will be tough action against anyone who breaks the rules. Anna 0neill reports. Its lights out for blackpool, no more visitors to the famous illuminations for now. The seaside town was already under englands highest tier of restrictions, but now the plug has been pulled on virtually all entertainment. Over in hull last night,
people made the most of their last evening of relative freedom. This might be the last chance until christmas. We just had our anniversary. So, itsjust a reason to come out. To celebrate our anniversary. To be fair, otherwise we probably wouldnt have bothered. And there was also a celebratory atmosphere in londons soho. It kinda feels like new years eve, its got that kind of new years eve, Christmas Eve atmosphere in the air. Its a bit sad that places close at ten. You know, its a bit hard because its like, how are you meant to celebrate, my birthdays coming up, like, it is it cancelled . My birthday, yeah. We dont know, do you know what i mean . Police could be seen, surrounded by crowds as they encouraged people to go home and stay indoors for their own safety. The chair of the National PoliceChiefs Council warned there would be stiff fines for those breaching the new coronavirus regulations coming into effect today. 0ur officers, and others, will be out there, and if people are not abiding by the rules,
then well engage, well explain, we will encourage, but if we have to, we will enforce. So, what are the new regulations . Pubs and restaurants are now closed but takeaways can stay open. Nonessential shops and Entertainment Venues are also closed. People cant mix with other households in homes or gardens, but meeting one person from another household in a public space is allowed. And you should stay at home, unless youre going to work, education, essentialshopping, exercise, or medical reasons. The latest uk figures recorded a further 492 coronavirus deaths yesterday, the highest daily figure since may and 25,177 confirmed cases. Its hoped these new measures, which will stay in place for at least four weeks, will help to bring the deaths, cases and pressure on the nhs, down. Anna 0neill, bbc news. 0ur Political Correspondent nick eardley is at westminster. Interesting watching those scenes in soho last night. 0bviously interesting watching those scenes in soho last night. Obviously the hope is that people will obey those rules and drive the cases of the virus down, but if they dont, what is the enforcement going to be . Weve heard from the police, but what is the government saying about making exa m ples of government saying about making examples of people who dont follow the rules . The answer to that is finds. The government has been pretty clear that it once the police to engage with people that might not be following the rules, to explain them over the next few weeks, but ultimately if it comes to it, they will find them. Those fines can go up will find them. Those fines can go up incrementally so for repeat offenders youre looking at some pretty hefty fines if people consistently flout the rules. Ministers dont necessarily want to get to that stage. We heard from the justice secretary Robert Buckland this morning saying the plan is
still to persuade people to do this in the very much want people to follow the rules voluntarily but ultimately if thats not the case then youre prepared to hand out those fines. Lets talk about the economic side of this then and how the Government Supports people through the lockdown. What are we expecting to your from the uk chancellor in the next couple of hours . Especially with regards to the other nations of the uk, not just england . I think around midday we will hear from the chancellor in the commons. Its interesting because weve got quite used to these economic interventions with these economic interventions with the chancellor appearing before mps to update them on his plan. Its a fast moving picture. The governments plans have changed quite rapidly. They were initially saying they were not going to extend the furlough scheme, we now know it has been extended at least until the 2nd of december. I think quite possibly we are going to get a further extension of that with some caveats, the different nations of
the uk, scotland, wales and Northern Ireland have been pushing for power stem cells to go back into lockdown and get some furlough support. The Prime Minister has given us a broad outline of a pledge will be available in some way or other to parts of the uk if they go back into lockdown. I assume that is going to be the case for parts of england as well, so well be really interesting to see that detail of that from the chancellor. When 80 of your salary will be available and potentially how long it may be available for. It is an expensive scheme and the chancellor wanted to wind it back partly to save money and partly because he was arguing you dont wa nt because he was arguing you dont want people in jobs because he was arguing you dont want people injobs if because he was arguing you dont want people in jobs if those because he was arguing you dont want people injobs if thosejobs are not going to exist in a few weeks or months time. But it now seems that furlough scheme could continue for a wee while longer and the details of that will be very important. Nick, thank you very much. The bank of england is pumping another £150 billion into the economy to ease