A leading breastfeeding charity in the UK says it is in "a desperate situation" trying to support mothers who have given birth in lockdown.

Between April and September, the National Breastfeeding Helpline answered 125% more calls than they did in the same period last year.

Due to coronavirus restrictions, face-to-face professional and peer support was cancelled, and simple procedures like tongue-tie operations were severely restricted.

The situation has left many new mothers feeling like failures, as Ellie Costello reports.

Image source, Reuters

A senior politician from Hungary's ruling party has apologised after admitting being present at a house party broken up by Belgian police for breaching lockdown rules.

Jozsef Szajer, an MEP with Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, resigned suddenly on Sunday, offering little explanation.

But Belgian media reported on the breaking up of what it called a "sex party" in a gay district of Brussels, while prosecutors said a man with the MEP's initials was arrested after.

In his statement Szajer said he had been there at the "house party" and apologised to his family, colleagues and constituents for what he called a personal failing.

Szajer helped write Hungary's socially conservative constitution, which campaigners say is hostile to gay rights.

Today we've been hearing about the closure of Debenhams, with thousands of jobs now at risk in the UK.

Shoppers have been speaking about its departure from the High Street after it emerged the chain is due to close all of its stores.

"We won't have any shopping centres left, we'll have no town centres left if everyone shops online," said one shopper in Leeds.

"It's been a long time coming, really," said another. "It's been a long slow decline for Debenhams - it's not really changed with the times."

In Edinburgh, one shopper said it was "a shame", adding: "People are losing their jobs, It's a shop that's been there since I was born. All the girls bought their prom dresses there."

Read more of our coverage here.

Alistair Coleman
BBC Monitoring

Image source, SOPA

With a vaccine for Covid-19 expected to be approved before Christmas in the UK, online misinformation may be fuelling public fears about immunisation.

One recent study in the UK and US claimed that only 54% of people said they definitely would be vaccinated.

As a vaccine rollout approaches, more people have been making false claims about vaccines and peddling conspiracy theories that they are a plot to “control” the population.

One major claim is that Covid-19 vaccines may be dangerous because they have not been adequately tested. This is not true.

The Covid vaccine trials have happened at breakneck speed, but they haven't skipped any of the necessary steps to ensure patient safety.

While Facebook has tried to crack down recently on Covid-19 disinformation, dangerous claims are still being made on local, parenting and political groups on the site.

Another claim being widely shared is that vaccines will be mandatory, and people will be forced to carry a “vaccine passport”.

While some companies say they won’t serve customers unless they are vaccinated, the UK government says it has no plans for passports nor mandatory vaccination.

Image source, PA Media

Here's the latest from across the continent:

• The EU medicines regulator is to decide by 29 December whether to approve the Covid-19 vaccine made by Germany's BioNTech and US partner Pfizer. If approved it will be the first vaccine available for EU citizens
• Italy reported 785 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday, up from 672 on Monday
• France is aiming to launch a widespread Covid-19 vaccination campaign between April and June next year, its President Emmanuel Macron said
• The Netherlands has made it compulsory to wear a face mask in indoor public spaces. The country is one of the last in Europe to introduce the measure

• Ireland has ended its second partial lockdown, with non-essential retail reopening after six weeks shut

Image source, Getty Images

Newcastle United's game at Premier League rivals Aston Villa on Friday has been postponed following a "significant increase" in Covid-19 cases at the Magpies' training ground.

Several Newcastle players and staff members are self-isolating at home after returning positive test results

The club's training ground at Darsley Park was closed on Monday and Tuesday.

All players and training ground staff will be re-tested this week, the Premier League said in a statement.

Read more here.

Dozens of nuns at a convent in Germany have tested positive for coronavirus, church authorities said.

The convent's Mother Superior, Maria Cordis Reiker, said there had been 76 positive cases while another 85 had tested negative.

"Nobody has had to go to the hospital, and we are grateful for that," said Reiker, quoted by German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

The convent, in the northwestern town of Thuine, also runs day schools and a boys' boarding school.

Image source, UK Parliament

Senior Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh tells the Commons a humorous anecdote of how coronavirus restrictions are being imposed within Parliament as he confirms he will vote "reluctantly" for the new measures.

Sir Edward says: "My wife had to come for a bit of House of Commons work today and we sat down at the same table... we were immediately told to sit at separate tables. It seems in Covid Britain you can sleep with a woman for 37 years but you can't have lunch with her."

"This raises a more serious point - that we don't want to return to the controls of wartime Britain. People romanticise it, but there is a deep attack on civil liberties throughout our country."

The MP for Gainsborough adds that the PM has acknowledged the need for a more granular approach to local rules in future.

He describes the proposed new tiers as a "compromise - it's not ideal". "How can I vote against this measure tonight when there is no alternative plan and when the result of my vote tonight is that frail and vulnerable people will die?" he asks.

Image source, UK Parliament

MPs are still debating the proposed new tier restrictions for England in the House of Commons - we are expecting a vote in the early evening.

Conservative MP Jeremy Wright, a former cabinet minister, has said he will vote against the proposals - his first rebellion on policy matters for 10 years.

The ex-attorney general said he believed the county of Warwickshire should not be subjected to blanket tier three rules when the case rate there is now lower than before the current lockdown - when it was in tier one.

"It is profoundly damaging to hospitality businesses in particular," he says, adding much of the crucial pre-Christmas economy will be lost due to the timing of a potential review on 16 December.

"If the government imposes restrictions when they are not justified, people are less likely to obey them when they are justified," he adds.

Image source, EPA

The opening of a new coronavirus hospital in the Spanish capital Madrid has been met with protests.

The Isabel Zendal hospital was built in three months at a cost of nearly 100 million euros ($120m; £89m).

Madrid's government said the hospital will eventually have a capacity of 1,056 beds, which will ease pressure on the region's health-care system during the pandemic.

But the cost of the hospital and concerns over the lack of doctors and nurses to staff it have stirred anger, leading to protests as the hospital was inaugurated on Tuesday.

Madrid's regional President Isabel Diaz Ayuso officially inaugurated the unfinished building, to chants from demonstrators demanding her resignation.

At the moment there are only 240 beds available in the hospital, where the first patients are expected to arrive next week.

Critics say the money used to build the facility could have been better spent elsewhere, but Ms Diaz said no one should view a new public hospital as "bad news".

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

A further 603 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Tuesday, bringing the UK total to 59,051.

Government figures also show that as of 9am on Tuesday, there have been a further 13,430 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK.

BBC Radio 5 Live

Image source, Abigail Ahern

Debenhams stores are set to close, putting 12,000 employees at risk of losing their jobs.

Abigail Ahern's homeware designs have been sold in Debenhams for ten years.

She told BBC Radio 5 Live that it is a really sad day.

"When I joined Debenhams ten years ago, I was a little independent store, no-one knew me from Adam, and suddenly my products were in 148 of their stores," she said.

"They gave us an incredible leap, for which I will always be grateful."

Debenhams were producing Abigail's latest collection to be sold next season.

"It's a real shame because it was going to be an incredible collection, and now it's unfortunately going to cease.

"I kind of expected it, but it's a very sad day for the high street," she said.

Listen to BBC Radio 5 Live on the free BBC Sounds app.

Coronavirus restrictions mean everyone has been forced to rethink their normal Christmas plans this year.

That includes the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh - who will be spending Christmas at Windsor Castle rather than Sandringham, Buckingham Palace has said.

They normally spend Christmas with other members of the Royal Family at Sandringham.

A palace spokesperson said: "Having considered all the appropriate advice, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have decided that this year they will spend Christmas quietly in Windsor."

"Like everyone they hope things will get back to normal in 2021," the spokesperson added.

Image source, Getty Images

Let’s take a look at the coronavirus situation in the US, which has the highest number of infections and deaths of any country in the world.

Here are the headlines:

• The latest figures show there have been more than 13.5 million infections and 268,000 deaths linked to the coronavirus, a tally by Johns Hopkins University says, external
• Dr Anthony Fauci, the most senior disease expert in the US, told the BBC the country is going through the worst stage of its coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began
• The number of people currently in hospital with Covid-19 reached a record high of 96,039 on Sunday, according to the Covid Tracking Project, external
• A special Covid-19 adviser to US President Donald Trump has resigned, after a controversial four-month tenure in which he was accused of downplaying the threat of coronavirus
• A Covid-19 testing site in Los Angeles has been reopened after it was temporarily closed to allow scenes to be filmed for a remake of a teenage romantic comedy
• In more positive news, US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German firm BioNTech say they are seeking regulatory approval in the EU for their coronavirus vaccine
• Advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have called an emergency meeting to vote on who they recommend should get the first doses of an approved vaccine

A further 15 people have died in Northern Ireland after testing positive for coronavirus, bringing the Department of Health's recorded total to 1,011.

A further 391 people tested positive for the virus in the past 24 hours.

Health Minister Robin Swann said Tuesday's death toll was a "sad milestone" for the country.

The department's daily figure for deaths is based on a positive test result having been recorded in the previous 28 days.

Image source, Getty Images

Social and structural factors provide the greatest opportunity and challenge in tackling racial inequalities, MPs have heard

Prof Kevin Fenton, public health and regional director for London at Public Health England, said issues such as poverty, poor housing, education and employment were key drivers of inequality during Covid-19.

Prof Fenton, author of a report on Covid-19 deaths within the black, Asian and minority ethnic population, said such social factors are "much bigger determinants" of overall health and wellbeing than access to healthcare or a person's genetic profile.

He told a joint hearing of the Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee: "Those social and structural factors is where I would say we're going to have the greatest opportunity but also the greatest challenge."

Helen Catt
Political correspondent

A warning shot from Mark Harper, the chair of the group of Tory backbenchers who oppose the restrictions.

He says to maximise “unity” in the party in the future the government needs to “start treating members of Parliament properly” and provide the necessary information to make decisions.

We know that not enough Conservatives will vote against the government to stop the tiers coming into force this time but they'll get to vote again early next year, if the government wants to keep the tiers in place. Now that Labour has shown its support is not guaranteed, the threat of a bigger Tory rebellion next time could be greater.

Meanwhile, have you been wondering why Scotch Eggs keep being mentioned in the Commons?

It's all because of something the Environment Secretary George Eustice was asked yesterday. For some MPs, it's become a bit of a symbol for rules that, they think, are either confusing, conflicting, or simply show government intervening in the tiny details of everyday life.

Image source, HoC

Back to the Commons debate on the Covid tiers - and the DUP's Sammy Wilson.

The restrictions being debated only apply to England but the MP says measures introduced in England tend to be "replicated and in some case magnified" in Northern Ireland.

He says he will be opposing the tier restrictions arguing that they have "led to a huge incursion into our personal liberties".

"And its being done through project fear," he adds.

He says during last year's Brexit debates ministers condemned "project fear".

"We now have project fear on steroids," he says.

Image source, PA Media

No changes have been made to Scotland's Covid-19 alert levels.

There had been speculation that Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire were likely to move from level two to three following a rise in cases across the NHS Grampian area.

But Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said they would not change, adding that the government would continue to "look carefully" at those areas.

She also confirmed 11 areas would remain in level four - the harshest restrictions - until 11 December.

Read more here.

Reality Check

Top US infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci says the US is experiencing its worst coronavirus spread since the pandemic began, highlighting outbreaks in the Dakotas.

“In North and South Dakota, the weather is such that it allows really for only indoor types of congregating, which is the worst possible thing that you could have when you have a high degree of community spread" Dr Fauci told the BBC.

The two states have had the highest numbers of deaths per person in the US in the last seven days.

South and North Dakota regularly have sub-zero temperatures in winter, making outdoor meetings more or less impossible.

But they also haven’t implemented public health measures seen elsewhere. Neither state entered full lockdown, large-scale events have been permitted and the governors have been reluctant to mandate mask-wearing.

In mid-November, North Dakota did make mask-wearing compulsory in most indoor public places and outdoors where social distancing is not possible.

In South Dakota, the Republican Governor Kristi Noem said of the recent Thanksgiving holiday: “We won’t stop or discourage you from thanking God and spending time together this Thanksgiving.”