to make sure coronavirus vaccines are affordable and available for all. the meeting is being hosted by saudi arabia but is being held virtually because of the pandemic. the british government has announced a tougher three—tiered system of local restrictions will come into force in england when the current lockdown ends on december 2nd. the prime minister boris johnson is expected to set out his plan on monday. the government has confirmed it will make major changes to the way it assesses the value of big spending projects — a move which would benefit northern england and other regions. the chancellor, rishi sunak, said the changes were part of the government's levelling up agenda. they'll be announced in the spending review next week, as our business correspondent katy austin reports.

major public projects like new transport links can provide a tangible, long lasting boost to the economy. historically some areas feel they haven't had their fair share. this business in hull says that better connections to other cities like york would really help. i feel that the north has often served second fiddle to the south. i appreciate it's where the capital is, where a lot of businesses . but the playing field is getting more and more lopsided. it needs to be levelled. the question looms of how to put the public finances back on a sustainable footing after the huge cost of coronavirus but the government still wants to be talking about investing, too, across the whole of the uk. next week in the spending review the chancellor, rishi sunak, is expected to announce tens of billions of pounds for infrastructure, including road improvements. the delayed national infrastructure strategy will be published, covering flagship programmes such as fibre broadband and investment in green projects. the rules the treasury uses to assess the value for money of big investments will change in an effort to remove

a long—standing bias towards london and the south—east and focus on the possible regional benefits of schemes. and to replace money previously allocated to poorer regions by the eu, a fund will be unveiled targeted at in areas including coastal communities and former industrial heartlands. an independent group representing business and civic leaders across the north of england welcomed the plans saying that projects like transport were crucial to improve productivity and prosperity. we will not close the north—south divide if we don't build the full high—speed north network, meaning hs2 on the east and west of the country and a new line across the pennines. labour's shadow chancellor anneliese dodds called for the spending review to set the country on the right path, saying that communities didn't want more empty rhetoric. katy austin, bbc news. now it's time for the travel show. coming up on this week's show: ade pumps some iron.

rajan hits the floor. and iforget the rules. there you go, run, run. let go of the bat! laughs. theme music plays. hello and welcome to the travel show with me, lucy hedges, coming to you this week from the heart of a very low—key locked—down london. now this year has seen a whole host of events cancelled or postponed all across the world — from the tokyo olympics to the annual wimbledon championships, so we thought what better reason to take a look back at some of our favourite sporting adventures from the travel show archive, where, although we may not have

championship potential, we certainly make up for it with enthusiasm. first up, back in 2017, ade headed to washington to take part in the working wounded games, which sees adaptive athletes compete against each other in a series of weightlifting and body—building challenges. and being the only person on the travel show who has actually won an olympic medal, ade certainly had a reputation to keep up. so let's see how he got on. most para sports categorise by ability, but the working wounded games are different. by modifying the rules for each individual athlete, they encourage people with a range of capabilities to compete together. it is called the working wounded games. who is allowed to compete in these games?

anybody that has some sort of permanent adaptive need that effects them physically. so you are really inclusive and open to everybody? yes, we actually really get excited when we have first—time athletes, first—time competitors. this is the calm before the storm. everyone is all chilled out but then the madness begins when they start competing. music playing. come on! come on, you are a beast! music playing. you did some extra reps there. i did do extra reps. are you just trying to show off? i am always trying to show off. he's saying it's too easy now. since sports people of all

abilities take part, wesley challenges me to a light workout. i've got to use that skiing machines, burn up calories, then i've got to toe this sled and then i have a kettle bell i've got to lift up and down. i've got to keep doing that for 12 minutes. it is going to be sheer hell. wesley, you know what time it is, brother. i am going to give you the travel show whooping. music playing. that is hard, really hard. i see that sweat, bro. it is what you need, right on. have they unstrapped me? right, it is your turn. do some work.

i think you will agree that was a pretty impressive effort from ade and he did us proud at that truly amazing event which usually happens every year but what with 2020 definitely not being a year like any other, let's find out what happened by talking to sara olsen. nice to meet you, even though it's virtually. so you are not in the united states, you are in afghanistan — why is that? so i am a reservist in the us military, and i get called up to support the nato special operations component command. with everything that's been going on, what happened this year? it's been — like everybody else — trying to juggle and figure out what it means to support our community and support people with disabilities virtually, as much as possible. all of our training seminars were in person, all of our competitions were in person,

a lot of the support we provided to communities were in person and so really, it was a bit of a reset and rebuild year. this event must be a real focus for a lot of the athletes. when we were back there filming in 2017, we kept hearing about this real sense of community among athletes taking part in the championships. what stories have you heard from them about the event not going ahead this year? obviously a lot of disappointment. with people with disabilities been really impacted by covid, to a higher degree, we were not going to risk the health and safety of our athletes by trying to do it in person, no matter what the demand was. so the fact that we are starting to do seminars online and we're starting to come up with our own platforms to do these competitions online has really been very positive. the other thing we have done is there is a fitness app, called burnalong, that

enables people to — let's say you and i wanted to do a workout together, but obviously i am in afghanistan and you are in the uk — this app would allow us to pick the same workout, log on at the same time and be able to essentially facetime and do the workout together. so we have adapted yoga, we have adapted weightlifting, we have how to as well as more functional fitness, and so that has been sort of our stopgap, if you will, between actually developing our platform and not providing the face—to—face interactions. let's talk next year, is it going to be back bigger and better than ever? so i think we're still going to do virtual next year. i think we're going to play it safe and just plan for a virtual competition and then come back in 2022 which would be year 10, from 2012, and make that the big event. hopefully vaccines will allow us to do face—to—face. right now the plan is virtual in 21 and bigger and better than ever in 22. thanks, sara.

fingers crossed the event is back again in 2022. following on from ade‘s pretty impressive performance in washington, here's rajan who did not cover himself in quite as much glory when he took on a traditional wrestler during a travel show trip to mongolia in 2015. i wonder if you can guess who won? and now down to the nitty—gritty — the art of combat, mongolian style, where there are no weight divisions so the biggest are often the best. before that you have to faster... my translator helps me to get to grips with the strategy. pushing that down. get this one down and do this one second. am i swinging him? use you elbows... like that?

this goes down, this goes up and i go for which leg? this leg? after several hours of quite intensive training, it feels like i am suddenly getting it. but i am still under no illusion it is going to be easy. after all that, how do you feel about tomorrow? my main worry is that i fall really awkwardly and injure myself, if i am being absolutely honest, because i am not going to get anywhere near average, even basic standard. so he's last advice was very important — relax your body today, have a really good relax, then your body will be loosened up. so here we go. naadam is an annual festival which takes place every year right across mongolia. participants compete

in the three manly sports — horse racing, archery and wrestling. the biggest and most popular with tourists is, of course, in the capital but this is the real deal and to begin the pomp of the opening ceremony. i spot my mentor. how are you? good luck. he is one of the first to compete. the match is won when someone falls to the ground or anything but the souls of the feet or hands touch the floor. that could be you. i'm just about to go on.

i was ok untiljust now but the guy before dislocated his arm which freaked me out a little bit. minutes to go before my bout and this is my opponent. the one tactic i was taught does not really work. and from that moment on, i am in a bit of trouble. good luck. thank you. rajan obviously itching for a rematch there in mongolia, back in 2015. stay with us, because still to come on this week's look—back: christa braves the waves as she goes wild—swimming off the scottish coast.

and i have trouble picking up the rules when i try my hand at a traditional street game over in new york. let go of the bat! now, one of the best things about working on the travel show is that you sometimes get to do some of the craziest things in the most unexpected places. that's one of the things i really, really miss at the moment, and this next one is definitely filed under that category. in 2018 mike travelled to kazakhstan to get cleansed by local shaman, as you do, before trying a spot of snowboarding on sand. i was so jealous he got to do that one. the dune stretches for 3km and reaches a height of 150 metres and, let me tell you, it might look placid from a distance, but it is an entirely other story once you're up there. it's a little bit windy today, but we're on the singing sands.

and i guess that's always how it is here. for myself, i have gone snowboarding before. what are some differences with sandboarding ? 0k. lean back, yes? that being said, it was comforting knowing that i would be going slower than on snow. and also the cool thing about a sand dune is there's no trees! so i mean, i guess it's safer, right? no doubt though this is definitely the definition of an extreme sport. there are i am strapped in. i think i'm ready. this way, yeah? music playing. like this? ooh — and then

the board comes... music playing. whoo! this is a lot of fun. karla is about to come down, she's standing up. she looks excited but a little bit nervous. you got it karla, yeah! but before long, we're starting to get the hang of it. music playing. this is a lot of work. what's incredible, though, is when you come down,

as the sand starts to avalanche, you can feel it shaking and reverberating underneath the board. it's very cool. it sings as you come down. we've got our final round from the very, very top, if i can — if i can make it. let's stay here and take a break for a sec. and with that, my trip to kazakhstan is at an end. and what a ride it was. yeah! amazing, mike on kazakhstan‘s singing sandunes back in 2018. next up, wild swimming has become pretty fashionable over the last few years and last september we sent krista to dip her toes in the water off the scottish coast to give it a try. right, are you ready for this?

what's the best way, straight in, or... a bit of acclimatisation, hands in first, a little bit of water on the back of the neck and then we can just do a wee bit of floating, get in the water in the wetsuit and then we cam get on with it. you're the expert, let's go. laughs. oh, it's lovely. oh, lovely, you say! do you know what, it's actually not... i mean, no, i'm lying, it's really cold. i was trying to be polite but it's cold. but i think the longer you're in you just get used to it. absolutely. 0k. i can do this. you're doing it! after a few minutes, thanks to my wetsuit, my body did start to warm up and, if you keep moving, it's fine. it is not advisable to come wild swimming unless you're really familiar with the area,

and norma is constantly checking in with me and guiding me to shallow areas where we can take a break. because we are now coming up to a low tide now we have passed slack water so it is a bit of a stronger... it is the tide really, so we were at the stronger middle of the tide so we're going to go with it, the deeper we getjust now you can feel it again. we're going that way so you really need to be familiar with the area. due to the sea conditions we weren't able to go to any of the iron age ruins on the islets, but we did manage to reach this place. we have just come into this absolutely beautiful little cave, and is so different, isn't it? we have just came around the head land which is quite choppy and a really strong current, quite dramatic, and here it is so peaceful and calm. i know it is really dark, but if i look down, i can see my feet really clearly because the water is so clean. this is a relatively unexplored corner of the uk

and it certainly is a unique way to explore it. if it weren't for the cold and the jellyfish, i feel like i could just float here all day. christa enjoying the solitude of a wild swim in scotland. me, i'm much more of a team sportswoman which is why i was slightly worried about letting my side down when i went to new york last year and got roped into playing a sport i had never even heard of. see how you think i got on. and cringe alert — i kind of had a few problems remembering the rules. if you come to the bronx in the spring or summer there is a street called stickball boulevard, where most sundays the emperors stickball league keep this tradition alive.

ok so as far as i can tell each player has three attempts to serve the ball, one attempt to hit it. if they miss the ball they are out. if they hit it, it's about getting to first base, second base, et cetera. to keep the game going the street is closed off to traffic. you'rea bum! you are! there is a lot of smack talk as well, a lot of smack talk. in fact i've been told smack talk accounts for 90% of the game. but there is also a lot of camaraderie, everyone is just having fun. it is just about a bunch of friends getting together, hanging out. how did you get into it? we all are washed up baseball players. laughter. that is part of it but the other thing is it is a tradition, stickball is a tradition that has always happened in new york city and a lot of our parents kind of put us into the game. my family has been playing, wow, over 50 years. i remember a young kid going to see

my uncles play downtown. what about you, little man, what got you into it? nope! all of you have customised your bats, what are they made from? wood, most of them. they are closet poles from the home depot. they are closet rods, poles, whatever you want. new york emperor stickball league was established in the mid—19 805. we have approximately 100 members playing stickball. one of the league's founders was called steve mercado. he was a fireman in engine company a0 who died in the 9/11 attacks. it was his vision to just try to push this and advance this league — he always wanted it to be an olympian event. so on memorial day weekend, we have teams from california come, we have teams from florida, orlando, miami, tampa.

we constantly try and uphold the vision, for him. his two sons, as a matter of fact, play in the league now. it is just a legacy we just want to continue for him. the power of some of these swings, you can hear it. i don't know if i'm going to be able to hit it that hard but i'm going to give it my best shot. all right, let's go. let's grab a stick right here for you — there one right there. ok, alright. let it bounce once, step into the ball. 0k! i feel like the ball clipped the bat. i'm going for a clean hit this time. this time you got to run to first base. alright. now they're going to talk trash though. keep the eye on the ball. laughs. don't say it!

0k. there you go, run it out! let go of the bat! laughs. i think i'm going to leave it to the professionals. i need a bit more practice. laughs. i did warn you. i cannot believe ijust ran off with the bat like that. honestly those guys gave me so much stick for doing that. but you've got to admit though, i kind of had them worried. well, that's it for this week, but do join us next week if you can, when... one year on from their devastating summer bushfires, we visit australia's kangaroo island to see how life is beginning to bounce back. catch that if you can, but in the meantime remember to follow us on social media using the hashtag bbc travel, where hopefully we will give you even more inspiration there for the time when we can all

start travelling again. until next week though, from me, lucy hedges, and everyone else here on the travel show team, it's goodbye. hello there. on saturday the southern half of the uk had mild, cloudy weather. further north things were quite different. it certainly felt colder in the wind. showers as well. in between those different sorts of weather we've got this weather from here. it's not producing much rain but it's going to stall towards the south coast of england. it is heading a little further south. it's allowing that colder air to move further south across more of the country.

as we head into early sunday morning, these are the sort of temperatures we're looking at. they could be down to one or 2 degrees across eastern scotland, northeast england and northern ireland for that much milder in southern england where we still got a lot of cloud. it will brighten up a time but the thicker cloud and pop of rain and drizzle not too far away. could return to south wales as well. elsewhere decent sunshine. showers mainly northern ireland frequent coming into northern and westerner scotland winds release of the day, won't be as windy as it was on saturday. but typically around seven to ten celsius was up those temperatures will fall quickly. across more sheltered eastern areas with those clear skies was up still a few showers continuing towards the west. we need to look to the west to see where our weather is coming from early next week. because atlantic winds south—westerly winds heading ourway in these weather fronts will bring some rain as well. a bright enough start for many eastern parts of the uk but chilly early on monday. some sunshine too. cloud amounts will tend to increase with patchy rain

here and there. most rain setting in over the hills of western scotland, some rain for northern ireland. those temperatures gradually creeping up at around nine to 11 celsius, getting milder. move things on into tuesday and rain is still stuck mainly across scotland and northern ireland. generally dry england and wales and always brighter with more sunshine as you head further east across england and wales where it's going to be dry and with a southerly wind temperatures continuing to rise back up to 12 or 13. quite widely, things will change later in the week, not least because that weather front will take rain into england and wales on wednesday. then we start to see high pressure building in later on in the week. for the early part of the week rain around, most of it around scotland and northern ireland. it will be turning milderfor the second half of the week with high pressure, lighter winds, it will be cold

with some frost and some fog.

this is bbc news, i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: california is beginning a night—time curfew, in an attempt to curb a surge in coronavirus cases — the number of confirmed cases in the us has now exceeded twelve million. a call for coronavirus vaccines to be available for all as leaders from the world's biggest economies meet for an online summit hosted by saudi arabia. the so—called islamic state group says it was behind a rocket attack in the afghan capital, which killed eight people. 5-4-3-2-1, lift off of sentinel—6. blast off for a satellite that will track rising sea levels, improving our understanding of climate change. archaeologists in italy uncover the remains of two men who died