Hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. The first two vaccines against coronavirus could be given to americans before christmas, thats according to the Us Health Secretary alex ayzar. It comes, as a second us company, moderna, applied for emergency use approval for its Coronavirus Vaccine in the United States and eu. Mr ayzar said that the latest vaccine breakthroughs offered cause for optimism. Pfizer submitted their application for emergency authorisation and then moderna today is going to be submitting with pfizer. We at the fda announced an Advisory Committee for december the 10th, and if everything is on track, everything proves out what it appears to be, we could be looking at approval within days after that. Moderna is basically one week behind that, and general perna has said from operation warp speed that well ship within 2a hours of fda authorisation. So, we could be seeing both these vaccines out and getting into peoples arms before christmas. Meanwhile, the most populous county in the United States, los angeles county, which has over 10 Million People living there, has now entered whats being called a safer at home lockdown which will last for three weeks. Earlier, the tv personality Sharon Osborne told bbc world news what the city of los angeles is like now. You know, la is. You wouldnt recognise it if you came here. All the shops are boarded up, theres more homeless than ever. Its not very fun here at all. Its quite depressing to see what has happened to the city. Honestly, you wouldnt recognise it. Lets head to la now and speak with our north america correspondent peter bowes. Is Sharon Osbournes description right . Our shops and things like that still open or closed . Its certainly a vivid description and he is a absolutely right she is right. Its a depression in los angeles. There is a huge homeless problem here at normal times and surely hasnt been normal times for many, many months now. And the coronavirus has only made the situation worse and of course, many of the boarding up buildings we see are a result of Small Businesses going out boarded up businesses going out boarded up buildings. So, its a pretty depressing outlook and if you look at the number of covid 19 cases, theyve been soaring in the last few weeks, quadrupling in numbers. A number of people in hospital and a number of people dying on a daily basis has tripled, about 75 of california, not just los angeles county, but californias intensive care beds are occupied. Not all with covid 19 cases, but its close to maximum occupancy and thats why Governor Newsom has said the next two weeks have been crucial and he may well implement more severe restrictions. That hasnt factored in the last thing stephen weekend . Last thanksgiving weekend. Lots of people of been returning home, really visiting loved ones around the country against the advice of Health Officials who would have preferred everyone to stay at home over the last few days. The numbers have been dramatically lowered and than usual, but nevertheless, people have been going out of their homes and Health Efforts are saying you should just assume youve been in contact with someone youve been in contact with someone with the coronavirus and self isolate when you get home. Its difficult to exaggerate the seriousness with which officials here are taking the Current Situation as we move toward just another holiday and just a few weeks time. Thank you very much indeed. A second vaccine is looking for regular to yearly approval in the us and the eu. Regulatory approval. Ive been speaking to paul duprex, virologist and director for the center for Vaccine Research at university of pittsburgh. He says despite the Moderna Vaccine being developed quickly, it has gone through the same types of checks that other vaccines in the past have had to go through. Whats really important is to separate the word efficacy from safety. Efficacy basically is, does it work . But before in the phase three trials that have been taking place, before he asked does it work, in earlier studies, we ask personally, is it safe . Then we go on and ask is it safe and does it create an immune response, whenever the person is vaccinated . The third stage, is it safe . Does it create an immune response and doesnt work . These are the a nalyses and doesnt work . These are the analyses that were getting at the moment, these efficacy studies. Thats why youre hearing percentages like 90 and 9a. 1 and 95 and all of these different percentages based on efficacy. Lets separate efficacy from safety. Safety is different. Safety is checked out Everything Else that age during the process and the two things are different. And if these vaccines, as we heard, some could be ready to be put in use before christmas. That is something that the public, the world can trust, obviously . Yes, even though this has happened fast, it has gone through the same types of safety checks, immunogenicity checks and advocacy checks that a standard vaccine would undergo. Remember that the fda are reviewing thousands of pages of documents and thats not just pages of documents and thats notjust in america, theres other agencies in the united kingdom, canada, switzerland, throughout the rest of the world. There are lots of trawling through these data to actually be certain that these trials are conducted rigorously, carefully, and the data says is it safe, immunogenic and effective. Pfizer and majora are using a new technology and moderna. Astrazeneca is not. But does that new Technology Offer hope for other diseases that you dont even know about in the future, the mrna . Absolutely, the mrna approach is really brand new. We havent got enough mrna vaccine licenses as of yet. Looks as if the mrna vaccines will be licensed. So, what does this teach us . We really have a renaissance and vaccine development, and what were learning at the moment because of all of these creative ways to develop new vaccines will be useful in the future because what you must remember is Infectious Diseases are always our adversary. Its been stars in the past, mers in the middle east and now its ours too. What we know in the future is these viruses will continue to emerge, i will continue to emerge, i will continue to emerge, i will continue to come and we will continue to come and we will continue to come and we will continue to need to be ready to defeat them with good vaccines stars in the past. Here in the uk, a major study has found the number of cases in england has fallen by about a third during the Current National lockdown. Some of the worst affected areas, such as the north west, have seen the biggest improvements, but cases remain relatively high. The governments former chief medical officer, dame sally davies, said Poor Public Health and obesity have led to a much increased covid death rate in the uk. Our Health Editor hugh pym has more details. Swab the back of your throat, your tonsil region, about three times. A massive programme of rapid result testing for students is under way at many uk universities, part of the plan to get them safely home for the festive break. Two negative results and theyre urged to head straight home. If positive, theres still time to self isolate for ten days and then get back for the holiday period. I think it was a really important thing for a lot of students in uni to kind of lobby for the fact that students need a breakaway from university overwinter break, and im really glad that theyre getting it. I think the take up shows that students are such active parts of our communities. Testing for students is voluntary and is not available to every student at every university, so how effective can that programme be . I think it will make a good difference, a good positive difference, but as i say, we havent made it mandatory because that brings in all sorts of other considerations and we think that it is therefore best done on a voluntary basis. With more than a Million Students in england likely to be on the move, there have been concerns about the potential spread of the virus, though there was news today that infections were receding. The latest survey of virus case rates in england by Imperial College london suggests there has been a decline of 30 since the end of october, just before the lockdown. The biggest falls were seen in the north east of england, down 62 , and the north west, down 57 . There was a fall of 35 in the yorkshire and humber region and other parts of england also saw a decline, apart from the east and west midlands, where there was little change. Everyone wants to know what further progress can be made, but questions are also being asked about how we got to where we are in this pandemic. We need to put health at the top of our agenda. The uks covid death rate remains higher than many others, and dame sally davies, former government chief medical adviser, told me that Underlying Health problems left people here more vulnerable to the virus. I think our Poor Public Health, whether its deprivation, overweight or other chronic illnesses, alongside crowding in urban areas, have led to a much increased death rate over what we could have had if we had a healthier basic population and less deprivation. Ministers Say Community testing with rapid results offers a way forward, but there are continuing questions about how realistic this might be given the resources and staffing required to deliver it. Hugh pym, bbc news. Some call it the newspaper with the smallest circulation in the world. The us president Electjoe Biden will be receiving his first president ial daily brief today, a highly classified, detailed look at National Security issues, carefully selected across the Us Intelligence community. The outgoing President Donald Trump approved the briefings for mr biden last week as part of the formal transition process. The president s daily brief is a tradition that goes back decades. We can now speak to david priess, whos author of the book the president s book of secrets, the history of the president s daily brief. David is also a former Intelligence Officer at the cia and is currently the chief operating officer at the Lawfare Institute in washington dc. Youve done this, david. Does joe biden, the president elect, get exa ctly joe biden, the president elect, get exactly the same briefing as the president and in what format . By tradition, the president elect gets the same copy of the president s daily brief as the president , but it isa brief as the president , but it is a president ial prerogative. If President Trump order to do were to decide to limit that, he could. It is not a statute that the president elect receive it, it is merely a custom, a tradition. We have no indication as of now that biden is receiving anything other than the president s daily brief that trump himself is getting. Is this raw data, which is complicated . In mid history as well, or will teams have been working on this is a narrative so that the context is there and indeed, the sourcing and the numbers . The president s daily brief can include anything, any top secret intelligence and the most sensitive material. But generally, it is assessment of different situations around the world. It can include raw intelligence data, but normally it is finished intelligence or corroborated, coordinated information that presents the president with the best description of whats going on ina description of whats going on in a situation with incomplete information. Anything from the north Korean Nuclear programme to russian political intentions to russian political intentions to Chinese Military developments. And its the best picture they can give the president on any given day on theissues president on any given day on the issues that are likely to hit the president s agenda that day. For example, the recent assassination of the iranian in charge of the nuclear programme, that is likely to be in the briefing today. Indeed, the potential for it. It in the briefing today. Indeed, the potentialfor it. It would be surprising if it were not. At least in terms of the iranian reaction to the event and the potential second and third order of facts of that action. President trump of course is the commander in chief and he is responsible for managing that reaction, whatever may happen untiljanuary 20, reaction, whatever may happen until january 20, but reaction, whatever may happen untiljanuary 20, but the idea is to get the president elect up is to get the president elect up to speed as well because after taking the oath of office onjanuary after taking the oath of office on january 20, those after taking the oath of office onjanuary 20, those problems become his to manage and its a goodidea become his to manage and its a good idea to get him involved in the intelligence flow so he knows what the United States knows what the United States knows and what the United States and does not know about the situation before he has to make an important decision. And can his president elect raise questions to specific officers and departments . Indeed. As pa rt and departments . Indeed. As part of the process, the Intelligence Community in the United States will orally brief the president elect to bring out the highlights of this president s daily brief. But they also realise that for four yea rs, they also realise that for four years, he has not been seeing it every day, so some of the stories that are developing dont have all the back story for the current president , but the president elect certainly will lead that. So, the referrers will supplement it with other information to get the president elect up to speed and they are there to answer his questions the brifers. Thanks very much forjoining us on bbc news. We will tell you how the superstar share step and to help an elephant at the pakistani zoo cher. Its quite clear that the worst victims of this disaster of the poor people of the slums are on the factory. The children are dying in front of me and i cant do anything. Charles manson is the mystical leader of the hippie cult suspected of killing at least six other people. At 11 oclock this morning, just half a metre of rock separated britain from continental europe. It took the drills a few minutes to cut through the final obstacle. A minor from calais was shaking hands with his opposite. Youre watching bbc news. The latest headlines. The Us Health Secretary has said americans could start receiving vaccinations before christmas as drug giant moderna seeks emergency use approval. Englands tough lockdown measures appear to be paying off as new covid cases drop by a third since the beginning of the month. More than 13,000 jobs are at risk after the British Retail Group arcadia went into administration. The group, led by sir philip green, includes high street names like topshop, burton and dorothy perkins. It had been seeking a new injection of cash following lost sales because of the pandemic. Our Business Editor simonjack has the latest. In his palm, a fashion emperor who dominated the high street and didnt mind flaunting the vast wealth it brought him. Parties attended by the rich and famous, a description he felt comfortable with himself. The empire was full of household names that customers of all ages would recognise it. The woman who built the topshop brand explains what went wrong. Philips overriding concern was to buy something as cheaply as he possibly could and sell it for as much as he could get for it. The online players such as. Dont have the cost base of the stores. They dont have to pay for staff in their stores. All they have is their online presence. Theyre much better at it. Theyve had a much better connection with their customer. The there are 444 stores and hundred more concessions within other stores. There are 13,000 workers whose jobs are at risk and an estimated £350 million hole in the pension scheme. This is or was the jewel in the ground and in truth shipped to many years ago. 0nce ground and in truth shipped to many years ago. Once a powerhouse of hash and retail led by the king of the high street fashion retail. Now in ruins led by a street fashion retail. Now in ruins led bya man considered the unacceptable face of capitalism. This is about the 13,000 people who are facing a very uncertain christmas and thousands more in a very troubled high Street Retail sector. Thanks so much for talking to us today. I spoke to one arcadian worker who didnt want to be identified who said the uncertainty had came a at the worst possible time had come. A lot of us are anxious because they dont know the full extent about whats happening ourselves. For us, its about money around christmas time. Bill has to go out, we can afford some for christmas. Worried about what will happen to our pension scheme. Will he still be paid . Tonight, sir philip is here on his £100 million yacht in monaco, where his wife is resident and he received a £1. 2 billion tax free dividends in 2005. There is another twist, devon adams makes money by renting sports to base, arcadias collapse could scupper over rescue of the store. The pandemic has been brutal to businesses with Underlying Health issues. Suddenly, cho voted