. -- i am laura trevelyan in new york city. this is "bbc world news america." covid hospitalizations are reaching a new high. >> [chanting] anchor: pro-democracy lawmakers resign in protest after four members resign in china after being unpatriotic. plus, meeting santa in the age of social distancing. how st. nick and his helpers are making sure that christmas does not get canceled. laura: welcome to "bbc world news america." until them vaccine hits the market, we face with a u.s. president elect because a dark winter, trying to contain the virus. the red dots on this map show more than 50 million cases of coronavirus recorded worldwide. here and the u.s., more than 10 million americans have been infected. in a troubling record, more than 60,000 people are in the hospital fighting the virus in u.s.. doctors are warning the icus are close to being overrun. we are seeing a rise in cases as the cold weather drives and indoor. the difference in case numbers, those red dot, that is striking. this doctor is a cardiologist in montreal and joins us now. why is it that

. ♪ laura: i'm laura trevelyan and washington, d.c. and this is announcer: -- "bbc world news america." the number of coronavirus around the world passes 55 million. states impose new restrictions. 30,000 ethiopians have fd to ighboring sudan. almost half are thought to be children. the u.n. wants to know more about what's happening on the ground. >> they are needing desperately to he access unhindered, enconditional access to refues.laura: plus, the taxis rd its destination as space x brings for astronauts safely to the internationaspace station. welcome to "bbc world news america." the u.s. is facing -- as the covid pandemic reeks further havoc aceass the nation. day the tracking of covid case gets darker and darker. more than 138,000 new cases on monday. to put that into perspective, one in every 378 americans tested positive for coronavirus in t last week. in the seven-day average now there are still 14 states that don't have mask mandates. the republican led ones like iowa and north dakota have joined the call. 10 states have rest

laura: i am laura trevelyan in washington, d.c., and this is "bbc world news america." joe biden's policy team is taking effect, and we have more on his top picks in what they bring to the global stage. .sas the faces a record number of hospitalizations, positive news in the u.k. about their trial shows it is up to 90% effective. plus, pending disaster in afghanistan, as the pandemic and increasing violence affects ♪ millions this winter. ♪ -- affects millions this winter. ♪ welcome to "world news america" on pbs and around the globe. foreign policy is where american presidents have the most freedom to act, sousas president trump took the u.s. out of the paris climate accord and the iranian nuclear deal, president biden willo try reassemble global alliances and give america a different role. antony blinken is his pick for secretary of state. mr. blinken: hi, i am antony blinken. reporter: someone with a touch, able to reestablish relationships. >> nations or countries from all over the world come together. it is a great pleasure to welcome all of you oday. reporte

. ♪ >> i am laura trevelyan. this is bbc america. president trump touts progress on a vaccine and says he will not impose new administration -- new pres. trump: hopefully whatever happens in the future, who knows what administration it will be. i guess time will tell. >> the u.s. is shattering records on coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. as the pandemic accelerates, west coast governors and says the people avoid travel. how the president is more popular than you might think in one town of brazil as local elections are held this weekend. laura: welcome to world news america on pbs and around the world. for 10 days after the u.s. election, the final states have been called, and the president will not concede that he lost. the number of people hospitalized from covid-19 breaks records here in the u.s. and mr. trump broke his silence this afternoon. he said that millions of doses of the corona virus will be available. pres. trump: as soon as april, the vaccine will be available to the entire operation with exception of places like

. ♪ laura: i am laura trevelyan in washington, d.c., and this is "bbc world news america." the president relents on the transition of power to joe biden isnderway, but donald trump i not conceding. even as biden introduces his cabinet picks. that america is ba.en: a team once again sit at the head of laura: stay home toave grandma is the message urom t.s. health officials who warn there will be tragic consequences if americans traveled this thanksgiving. north dakota has one of the highest coronavirus mortality rates in the world. is starting t still question regulations.ople plus, we go behind the scenes withnd fin's prime minister a the bbc finds 100 consequential pushing for equali in her firs year. ♪ laura: welcome to "bbc world news america." the u.s. president-elect joe biden has been introducing his first choices for theabinet. guny of them are mr. bidens coll from his years in the obama administration. state. secretary of president trump accepted a formal transition of power should begin, tweeting it was in the best interest of the country, but he has not conceded

let's go to washington now and to my colleague laura trevelyan. hi, laura. yes, 253 votes. that is how many joe hi, laura. yes, 253 votes. that is how manyjoe biden has in the electoral college. the great state as pennsylvania, known as the keystone state has 20 bouts in the electoral college, joe biden is narrowing the gap there. president trump is slightly ahead there. let us trump is slightly ahead there. let us go to philadelphia in pennsylvania. michelle, we havejust heard from pennsylvania secretary of state that there could be a result later today. she had started to indicate that they were ahead of where they thought they would be la st where they thought they would be last night. remember, before election day, she said the goal was to try and get the majority of votes counted by friday. the fact that things are moving faster than the expected raised the question of whether or not that timeline would change and she has, as you pointed out, confirmed that. there was questions of whether some of the legal challenges taking place i'd also add to a calculation because a

he's been speaking to my colleagues christian fraser and laura trevelyan about the pandemic. it's a very serious situation because there are lagging indicators. for example, when you see cases, then a couple of weeks later you see hospitalisation, then a few weeks later you see deaths. so when you see the massive increase in cases that we're seeing now, particularly as more and more people will be doing things indoors, which we know makes the risk even greaterfor surges, we're in a very difficult situation. we have to turn this around. you mentioned appropriately that there's light at the end of the tunnel in that we have at least two and likely more effective vaccines, but we've got to get people in united states, and i'm sure in the rest of the world including the uk, to continue to double down on some of the fundamental public health measures that we know work in mitigating against these type of surges. the universal wearing of masks, the physical distancing, the avoiding congregated or crowded sessions, particularly indoors, doing things outdoors preferentially over indoo

laura: am laura trevelyan in washington, d.c., in this is "bbc world news america." pfizer says its new vaccine is almost 95% effective. we are not at theh f line yet. yroughl 250,000 americans have died from the virus.. thony fauci he would like -- says the timing could not be worse for a slowdown. dr. fauci: we are going in, obviously, a wrong direction at a very precarious time. laura: the boeing 737 max has been cleared for takeoffsearly 18 mon after it was grounded following two deadly crashes. plus, the lost whaling station is a beacon of hope as the whales return ande thriv the antarctic. ♪ welcome to "world news america" pbs and around the globe. there is yet more reason to be optimistic about the coronavirus vaccineop being dev by pfizer and biontech. it has passed safety checks, making it ready for approval by authorities aroundhe world. our medical editor, fergus, has more. reporter: more good news on vaccines. last week, pfizer and biontech t announced abouir vaccine, now we have more detail. over 95% effective over the 65 age, and there are cases acros

i am laura trevelyan. ucthank you so mh for watching narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... language specialists teaching spanish, french d more. raymond james. the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you thank you. [bmusic] - s american portrait is... - a platform where anyone can come and share their stories. - there's a whole great list of prompts to get you started. - when i was 18 and joined the marine corps. - when i decided to accept myself and excel. - and it's been an amazing journey ever since. - this project can help bring us together. - to listen to each other. - to understand what it really means to be an america - you should bana part of pbs am portrait... - because your story is powerful. - because it may inspire a change in life for others. - and the american story wouldn't be comple without your story. to join, go to pbs..

laura trevelyan, they q for watching "bbc world news america." narr esentation of this program is provided by... language specialists teaching spanish, french and more. raymond james. the frman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing sns for america's neglected needs. and byibutions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. nat the height of the conflict. into vietnam he became a unngle parent of two yochildren. we mov a lot. we slept in rest areas. i didn't realize that we were actually homeless.our. it makesworld really small. if we happened to st in a motel that happened to have a tv, it was really special. we loved nova. especially when it would be about space. we would talk for hours about the universe watching nova, i felt big, like, my mind was big, my ideas were big. the trajectory of my life changed. i could see a world outside of our poverty and i felt like things were going to get better. ♪ pbs opened up a world i didn't know existed. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, ll >> woodruff: goo

i am laura trevelyan. thank you for watching hav narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... language specialists teaching spanis french and more. the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutionsglor america's ted needs. and by contribations to this pbs n from viewers like you. thank you. yuyi: i came to the united stateshen i was 24 years old. i did not speak any english. i felt very, very lost, really not knowing what to do with my life. one day on tv there was sesame street. ernie and grover and cookie monster. and it's not only that i learned to speak in english, now i know how to live in the united states. so this is how you do it! now i'm powerful. now i know i can do anything i want. will make myself learn how to do it. and i got that from pbs. i bought my first set of paints and brushes my path is children's books. and i have found who i wanted to be... ich is that person who has something to say. pbs and sesame street, they opened a

laura trevelyan's outside the white house. laura, which states are they watching most closely? where are the most hopeful at the moment in the trump campaign? they are hoping that possibly arizona is the one place where the president has gained some votes, but the math means he needs to be winning slightly more of the votes that are coming and then he should. they are pleased because maricopa county, that's key county, isn't a complete biden blitz, but nonetheless, they acknowledge that pennsylvania has called forjoe biden, and it seems out of reach for them. that's very problematic. georgia has gone to a recount, which at least is something, because of georgia had definitely been called for biden, than it would've been very ha rd for biden, than it would've been very hard to see them power forward. but it's a moment of immense nervousness, and people who are close to the presidents, the question is how do they manage him? he is so famously volatile, and he is determined to fight this in the courts. these appointed someone one of his advisers to lead this legal battle, but he's

hello, i'm laura trevelyan in new york. christian fraser is in london. the last thursday in november is the day americans come together to give thanks, and this year, the gratitude goes mostly to the doctors, the nurses, the ancillary staff, who tomorrow will be on duty in hospitals that are creaking under the pressure of the coronavirus pandemic. the united states is now averaging 165,000 new cases a day, and yesterday, over 2,000 people died. but despite all the warnings from health officials, millions have travelled this holiday period to re—unite with families. it has been dubbed ‘the mother‘ of superspreader events. not everybody is ignoring the advice. just a short time ago, the president—elect spoke to the nation about the shared sacrifices americans will be making this thanksgiving. he paid tribute to those who will be staying home. the bidens he said will forego their own big family, thanksgiving, their own big family thanksgiving, sharing it this year with just his daughter and son in law. "we find ourselves facing a long, hard winter,"

i'm laura trevelyan in new york city. christian fraser is in london. donald trump re—emerged today. the president was at arlington cemetery to mark veteran's day. he still hasn't conceded that joe biden won, and he claims that myriad legal challenges will show the election was stolen. some senior republicans are still standing by stand by him, even though they haven't produced actual evidence of electoral fraud. 0thers others are keeping pretty quiet. but the president is busy, sacking and replacing those who've not been loyal enough. on monday, defense secretary mark esper was "terminated". yesterday, three other senior pentagon officials resigned, only to be swiftly replaced by trump loyalists. why? there are reports the president has not had an intelligence briefing since october 6. where is the covid task force? and why so little focus on the pandemic? in delaware, joe biden portrays a picture of calm. but there are those in washington who are deeply unerved. before we came on air, we spoke to the former cia director, former defence secretary leon panetta, who served as bill cli

laura trevelyan is in washington. so it's now two weeks and counting since the presidential elections, and donald trump is still nowhere near conceding victory tojoe biden. in a series of tweets today, he's still complaining about voter fraud, still declaring he won the election. the trump campaign has put some of its money where its mouth is, stumping up $3 million for a partial recount in two heavily—democratic areas of wisconsin. mr trump trailsjoe biden byjust over 20,000 votes in the state. a new opinion poll suggests 61% of republicans are not confident in the fairness of the election. 0ur correspondent aleem maqbool has been to the panhandle of florida, tojudge the mood of the president's supporters. cheering veterans for trump and america! it's not over! the whole world is watching us! right now they're watching us to see if we have a democracy! in the trump—supporting heartlands, they're keeping the faith — and almost daily taking their passion for their president to the streets, in sheer disbelief he c

hello i'm christian fraser in london, laura trevelyan is in washington. more than 1 million americans have been infected with covid—19 in the last week. the pandemic is out of control, the trump administration appears to have given up trying to control it, and there is a severe risk in the coming weeks that hospitals across the united states will be overwhelmed by the numbers. and yet today wall street was buoyant. the financial markets soared. and that's because we had news of another stunning breakthrough which could ultimately help control the pandemic. moderna says its coronavirus vaccine is "94.5% effective" against covid—19. this follows news last monday that pfizer's vaccine was ninety per cent effective. moderna's vaccine could be available before the end of the year — though most of us wouldn;t get it until the spring. it can't come soon enough. the covid map here in america is flashing red. she has completed rem does a beer. the united states may be entering the most dangerous period in the coronavirus crisis. and this time, it's affecting

hello and welcome — i'm laura trevelyan in washington, lukwesa burak is in london. joe biden is wasting no time in making preparations for his move to the white house. the president—elect attended church this morning in wilmington, delaware. on saturday night, he said he wanted to ‘restore the soul‘ of america and promised to heal and unify the country. but first, he'll have to address the health of the nation. the covid pandemic has so far claimed 238,000 american lives. he's already announced he will form a coronavirus response committee to ensure it is ready to implement decisions from his inauguration day in january. previously he said he wants to provide free testing for all and hire 100,000 people to set up a national contact—tracing programme. and says that all governors should mandate wearing masks. meanwhile, donald trump has yet to concede the election. his campaign says it will contest the legality of votes in several states but has shown no evidence that anything went wrong. fresh from another round of golf — the president was back on twitter â

hello i'm christian fraser in london, laura trevelyan is in washington. the public statements we get from donald trump, when it comes to coronavirus — and there haven't been many of them of late — are very different to the warnings issued by the white house covid task force. point in case, the sit rep sent out today to state governments: "there is now aggressive, unrelenting, expanding broad community spread across the country" said the memo. in other words, icu beds are in short supply and each day the map tracking covid cases gets darker and darker. there were more than 138,000 new cases on monday. to put that into perspective, 1 in 378 americans tested positive for coronavirus in the last week. and the seven—day average now exceeds 1,000 deaths per day. there are still 1a states that still don't have mask mandates but republican led ones like iowa and north dakota have now joined the call. and 10 states now have restrictions on indoor dining, either limiting opening hours or closing restaurants completely. we're nowjoined by cedric dark an emerge

hello i'm christian fraser is in london, laura trevelyan is in washington. some months ago president trump compared himself to a war time leader, fighting the invisible enemy. but a war team leader understands the threat. mobilisises people to respond. deploys the money and the might of the american government. stands ready to unite a worried nation. if there was ever a moment for a commander in chief this surely is it. yesterday the us surpassed a quarter of a million coronavirus deaths — and today is setting new daily records for and yet president trump is nowhere to be found. the man who conceived of his presidency as a reality show in which he appeared in public at least once a day has gone to ground — and what is he doing instead, he is sending out angry tweets alleging the election was rigged. this was mr trump's schedule in the 7 days leading up to the election. jam packed with events, jetting from one location to the next. and this is it for the two weeks and two days since. apart from a bit of golfing and lunch meetings, there's quite literally

hello and welcome — i'm laura trevelyan in washington, lukwesa burak is in london. joe biden is wasting no time in making preparations for his move to the white house. the president—elect is preparing a series of executive actions reversing mr trump's decisions once he takes office injanuary. these include informing the un that america wants to rejoin global efforts against climate change. (london but first, global efforts against climate change. but first, he'll have to address the health of the nation. the covid pandemic has so far claimed 238,000 american lives. he's already announced he will form a coronavirus response committee to ensure it is ready to implement decisions from his inauguration day injanuary, previously he said he wants to provide free testing for all and hire 100,000 people to set up a national contact—tracing programme. mr trump has still not admitted defeat. he renewed his claims that the election was stolen, without offering evidence. other senior republicans have largely remained silent. fresh from another round of golf — the presiden

hello and welcome — i'm laura trevelyan in washington, christian fraser is in london. joe biden is spending his first full day as the president elect of the united states, and already the work is under way. his advisers have begun discussing who will fill the most important posts in his cabinet. a top priority is expected to be a new national strategy for battling the covid pandemic. joe biden himself attended church this morning in wilmington, delaware. on saturday night, mr biden said he wanted to "restore the soul" of america and promised to heal and unify the country. in the past few hours, the former republican president george w bush issued a statement congratulating joe biden on his election victory. president bush said... the statement will increase pressure on senior republicans to recognise the projected result. in the past couple of hours, the president has tweeted again. he's said... donald trump has yet to concede the election. his campaign says it will contest the legality of the votes in several states but has shown no evidence that anything went wrong.

he's been speaking to my colleagues christian fraser and laura trevelyan about the pandemic. it's a very serious situation because there are lagging indicators. for example, when you see cases, then a couple of weeks later you see hospitalisation, then a few weeks later you see deaths. so when you see the massive increase in cases that we're seeing now, particularly as more and more people will be doing things indoors, which we know makes the risk even greater for surges, we're in a very difficult situation. we have to turn this around. you mentioned appropriately that there's light at the end of the tunnel in that we have at least two and likely more effective vaccines, but we've got to get people in united states, and i'm sure in the rest of the world including the uk, to continue to double down on some of the fundamental public health measures that we know work in mitigating against these type of surges. the universal wearing of masks, the physical distancing, the avoiding congregated or crowded sessions, particularly indoors, doing things outdoors preferentially over indo

hello, i'm laura trevelyan in washington. christian fraser is in london. election day was three weeks ago and it's taken until now for the official transfer of power to begin. and what a different tone joe biden struck today, as he introduced his top foreign policy and national security picks, saying world leaders have been calling to say how they're looking forward to the us reasserting its historic role as a global leader. this as president trump used the annual pardoning of the thanksgiving turkey to reaffirm his belief in america first. all six major networks broke from daily programming to carry joe biden‘s announcement live. and the markets have responded. the dowjones surpassed the 30,000 level for the first time in history today. and in the midst of a perilous economic crisis, mr biden‘s anticipated pick for the treasury, the formerfed chair janet yellen will be seen as a steady hand on the rudder. the epitome of everything mr biden is keen to project. i have long said that america leads not only by the example of our power, but by the power of

the bbc‘s laura trevelyan is outside the white house, and shejoins me now. i heard from a senior member of the donald trump campaign that the mood amongst many of the staff was despondent, they still think there is some path to victory but he described it as an ugly narrow path. what are you hearing about the mood in the white house today? people behind me, they are not supporters of the president, they are joe biden supporters. they are here hoping to be here at the moment that the presidency is declared for mr biden but inside the white house, you know, it is all about pennsylvania. the legal strategy is all about that. the donald trump campaign are encouraged because they had one victory there out of their blizzard of lawsuits and the president, all his adult life, has gone to court to try to change outcomes. and to try to change perceptions. and that is what he is doing now in the hope that... he is still furious of course that fox news, once his favourite network, called arizona for his rival. there is relief in the white house and no one has yet call p

i'm laura trevelyan live in washington at the black lives matter protest camp where there's a mood of celebration already. joe biden has pushed ahead of donald trump in the count in crucial states which could hand him the us presidency. which could hand him mr biden is now in the lead in pennsylvania — where victory would push him over the threshold required to win the white house. as it's worth 20 electoral college votes. joe biden is also ahead in georgia as well as the counts in arizona and nevada. earlier, georgia announced a recount, due to the razor—thin margin there. in nevada, joe biden is leading in the count by over 22,000 votes. 0verall, joe biden needsjust 17 more electoral college votes in order to reach the magic number of 270 — whereas donald trump's potential route to victory is now very slim. well president trump has just tweeted, he said let's get the latest from our north america editorjon sopel. joe biden takes the lead in pennsylvania... donald trump is now trailing... joe biden is winning the overwhelming share... this mightjust be the moment, the whole bal

you're watching bbc news. with me laura trevelyan in washington, christian fraser is in london. our top stories... it's nearly three weeks since the presidential election and still donald trump refuses to concede. today several key letters have been written to the president and government officials, urging them to take part in the transition process. a series of key financial packages helping people hit by the coronavirus are due to expire at the end of the year. talks to extend them have been deadlocked. we'll ask former labor secretary robert reich what can be done. also in the programme... an american child — forced to appear in an is propaganda video after he was taken to syria — speaks to the bbc about his ordeal — and what life is like, now he's back home. it's like being in tight close or tight shoes and tight socks all day and thenjust tight shoes and tight socks all day and then just taking it off, the sweet relief. and the turkeys arrive — for the annual thanksgiving pardon. two years ago president trump scolded a turkey for refusing to concede and demanding re

hello, iam laura hello, i am laura trevelyan in washington, where a nation waits to find out who has really won. washington, where a nation waits to find out who has really woni washington, where a nation waits to find out who has really won. i am matthew riley waller in london. we will bring you the results and explain what happens next. will bring you the results and explain what happens nextm will bring you the results and explain what happens next. it is 4am here in washington with donald trump and joe biden predicting victory in the us presidential election. it has proved to be an extremely close race with the result still to come in from a number of pivotal states. president trump has confounded expectations by performing more strongly than predicted by the pollsters, taking florida, texas and ohio. joe biden still has a path to the white house if he can secure arizona and rust belt states such as michigan and wisconsin. the final result could take days to be decided. in the past few hours, joe biden urged patience and said every vote needed to be counted and told supporters he

laura trevelyan's outside the white house. for the last couple of days, the president has been saying stop account and has launched several lawsuits in the country to try to stop account and yet here we are friday afternoon in the us on the eastern seaboard and votes are still being counted, even in pennsylvania where the president would have liked to them stop being county. the president's legal strategies are simply not getting anywhere from the white house's point of view. they are hopeful that in pennsylvania where they are seems to be a lot of provisional ballots that they can get somewhere there. the one legal success get somewhere there. the one legal success they have had so far has been pennsylvania, where they were allowed to move closer, the election monitors, to those who were counting the ballots. so they are going all in on pennsylvania and you can hear the drumming starting next to me and by the way the atmosphere here is quite festive. the only anxieties people wondering why pennsylvania has not been called for

laura trevelyan is in the black lives matter plaza near the white house in washington. iimagine i imagine they are still partying outside the white house. oh, my gosh. the party is getting more wild and more people arejoining it by the second. 0ne and more people arejoining it by the second. one person celebrating joe biden's victory is richard rogers. you voted in florida, so you did not get the state but your man one. what is your reaction? relief. a lot of people are excited and full ofjubilee. for a lot of people are excited and full of jubilee. for me a lot of people are excited and full ofjubilee. for me it is relief that people's voices will be heard and we might get policy changes and unite a bit more as a nation and fight polarisation. i know you feel very strongly about social justice, racial justice. it is strongly about social justice, racialjustice. it is one of the reasons he may tear to washington, dc. what changes do you think there will be with a joe biden presidency. i hope the communities that have been disenfranchised over time, i hope they will get

hello, i'm laura trevelyan in washington. joe biden has done it — he will be the next president of the united states— after being projected to win the key states of pennsylvania and nevada. he says he's honoured and humbled. in a couple of hours' time, the president—elect will deliver a victory speech here, in wilmington delaware. his running mate kamala harris, becomes the first ever female vice president. we did the new way is the biden way. mr biden's supporters take to the streets in cities across the us to celebrate, here in times square, new york. president trump returns to the white house after playing a round of golf. he's claimed again — without evidence — that he won the election and his supporters are not losing hope: there is a tremendous amount of fraud based on what we have heard and what we have learned from some rep he did his sources, there was no republican oversight in the county and there is no way possible some of those numbers have had a up in timeframe that they did. —— those numbers could

laura trevelyan is outside the white house in black lives matter plaza. i don't know if they know they're outside the white house that the president... i hope laura can hear me. do they know the president is heading back to the white house? yes, indeed. people have checked their twitter feeds, seeing that the president was playing golf, and wondering exactly when he will get back here. we have not been able to find a single trump supporter here. the crowd has just been growing and growing, and people who voted forjoe biden and kamala harris, including, i have with me, scottish americans david and jun spears. we can see from your masks who you voted for. david, tell me, you have been following american politics closely since he first became citizens. you first voted for barack obama. became citizens. you first voted for ba rack obama. what became citizens. you first voted for barack obama. what does this moment feel like for you? it is a great moment. i am quietly relieved, actually. i think the country was going down a strange path. yes, we came here when