the us food and drug administration has authorised the pfizer biontech coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. the agency had come under intense pressure from the trump administration to approve the vaccine's use. mr trump said the firstjab would be administered in the united states in less than 2a hours. president trump's attempts of overturning the election result have potentially been dealt a final legal blow. the us supreme court has rejected a legal application by the state of texas seeking to invalidate voting results in georgia, michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin, which were won by the democratic president—electjoe borisjohnson has chaired a meeting with senior ministers to assess the uk's readiness for a no—deal brexit. mrjohnson‘s attempts to hold direct talks with the leaders of germany and france have reportedly been rebuffed — ahead of the deadline this sunday for a significant development in trade negotiations. secondary schools are gearing

up for mass testing in areas where coronavirus cases are rising — that's london, kent and essex — regardless of whether pupils have symptoms. the health secretary matt hancock has said the biggest rise in cases in these areas was among 11 to 18 year olds. sarah campbell reports from dagenham in east london. year eight, can i ask you to open up... making the best of learning during a pandemic. the pupils are in school, the teacher is at home self isolating. down the corridor, the english teacher is the only person in the classroom. more than a third of the pupils at this school are currently remote learning. it's a real challenge, every day is a covid day at the school at the moment. will testing help? i certainly hope so. insofar as, i think the situation

will then start to stabilise. details as to exactly how the testing will be rolled out are still being finalised. what we do know is that testing in secondary schools will be increased in seven london boroughs and parts of essex and kent. mobile testing units will be deployed in or near schools for staff, pupils and their families. and in london, an extra a4,000 home tests will be made available to school staff. although community testing, including in schools, has taken place in other parts of england, this involves so many schools, it's such a large area, there's so many resources, that other parts of the country are already asking, why isn't it happening there as well? i think it's really important that this should be a nationwide policy, notjust in some geographical locations. and we know now that there are places where cases are higher than in kent, london and essex, that aren't in this programme. the government really does need to roll this out.

these pupils are in year 11, and will be taking their mock gcses in january. we can't be affording to miss lessons, when there isn't a valid reason. so if testing will help them, help track it better and sending people home only when they need to be, then it's going to be more efficient in the future and it'll really help us. get tested, if you don't have it, then you can come in, if you do have it, then self—isolate so you're not... so we don't send everyone back. testing is expected to start here on monday with the hope it will be a big step towards bringing infection rates under control. sarah campbell, bbc news, dagenham. now it's time for the travel show. on the show this week... the pa nto on the show this week... the panto survivors keeping the show on the road. the native american woman making waves in the grand canyon. the roman empire's sunken party talent.

and how to run up a sand dune. it's tough. i just it's tough. ijust keep thinking, relentless forward motion, just one step in front of the other. hello, and welcome to the travel show, coming to you from the festive windsor. now in spite of the glimmers of hope we are hearing on the news, for many of us, travel is still impractical but never fear, we are travel is still impractical but neverfear, we are here travel is still impractical but never fear, we are here to bring you inspiration amid all these dark and gloomy nights. first, though... for britain's theatres, christmas can only mean one thing. panto. singing,

dancing, comedy, romance and belting catchphrases. all based ina belting catchphrases. all based in a traditional fairy setting. pantomime has every ingredient needed for a one family night out. except in 2020, many of oui’ out. except in 2020, many of our much loved pantomimes don't have a stage to perform on. with only a limited number of shows still running across the country this year, panto, like the majority of the arts, has been dealt a heavy blow by covid. data from play association uk theatre revealed ticket income from its members productions grossed £60 million last year, the highest amount ever. this winter, however, things couldn't be more different and the many much loved regional theatres, it's had a devastating impact. lincoln, for instance, is normally rooming with christmas

magic in december. not this year, though. it's hugely devastating, and when we took on the debtor in 2016, it was com pletely on the debtor in 2016, it was completely on its knees. it was in desperate need of some tlc, its reputation was dreadful, so we had a real hard slog and a battle to win the hearts and minds of the community, never minds of the community, never mind the industry, and throughout our 4— yearjourney, we got several awards. 0ur pantomime that we just did last year, namib —— robin hood, was nominated in the top five pantomimes in the country for the british pa nto pantomimes in the country for the british panto awards for best pantomime which was huge, it was brilliant. and we really worked hard to get to that stage and then fruit to celebrate the stop and be just cold instantly was just like, yeah, i can't even put into words our soul destroying that

was. wright pantomime's origins can be traced back to italian street theatre in the early 16th century. from there, they spread across europe from italy to france before becoming popular in the uk. i've got to say. —— i've got to say i've a lwa ys say. —— i've got to say i've always had a really action the pantomime when i was a child and then i took my children to the theatre but you know what? i've got a cease —— sneaking sympathy affection for the bad quy sympathy affection for the bad guy in pantomime because the bad guy, everyone boos and hisses them actually, they are really important. hang on hang on hang on a minute. it's not just the bad guys who are important in panto, it's the good guys and i happen to be one of them as well. why are you important, but still brush? really, when you are in pantomime it's about good winning over evil, it's a very moral story nowadays you see andi moral story nowadays you see and i think that's very important, you have the bad quys important, you have the bad guys everybody boos and the good guys who get the cheer. basil, i've got to say you are a veteran of pantomime, you've

been doing it for decades and decades. this year has been tough. what effect has it had on you and your colleagues in better land? i've got to tell you, it's been one of the most toughest years since ever. i would benefit the load box since march. i was supposed to be at the glastonbury festival in edinburgh festival and i had a very full diary and it was pulled like most other entertainers but actors and musicians and performers are a very versatile bunch, they are good at getting otherjobs because unemployment is part of being an abbot this year was particularly terrible because those of the jobs didn't exist. they couldn't go and work in restau ra nts a nd they couldn't go and work in restaurants and shops and all of that so the most active friends of mine and musicians, this has been a terrible year. while there have clearly been a lot of covid related panto closures this year, there is a glimmer of hope. some productions are still happening like this one, cinderella at theatre royal windsor. like this one, cinderella at theatre royal windsorlj like this one, cinderella at theatre royalwindsor. i better go start pampering myself on getting ready for the royal

ball. later is, losers. the theatre, and our director, had just on the most amazing job. i can't imagine the hours that we re can't imagine the hours that were put in, so that we are all safe, the audience is safe and staging it, because as you do your lines, wherever someone moves to, you've got to keep that distance so if there are other lines you move around to out of the corner of the eye, you just have to see that you are in line. tell me about how bad the impact is on a theatre that has had to cancel pantomime this year? economically, it's incredibly important to theatres, so those that can't do anything this christmas, unless they been able to replace that income in some way. they are finding that incredibly difficult. but the other thing is pantomime is the lifeblood of audience development but theatres as well. at the time of year when children experience theatre often for the first time in their lives. it was the case for me in the wooden theatre many, for me in the wooden theatre any for me in the wooden theatre many, many years ago with

similar black in aladdin, i can remember it years ago but pantomime is incredibly important for the theatre world on multiple levels. economically, they are going to miss it in terms of develop and, they are going to miss it in terms of outreach into their community. one, two, three, four, five, six. the irun are to royal in windsor the running costs of staging cinderella are £50,000 a week. they said it reduced capacity because of coded —— with the restrictions, they pretty much need to sell out to make it all financially viable. maybe being a prince isn't all it's cracked up to be. in terms of the kind of compromises you had to make, what are they? and where are they obvious? well, big obvious one is social distancing in the auditorium, so we are limited to 50%, so it's every other row of seats and with had to make changes to ventilation system as well, we are spraying the auditorium with antiviral disinfect and before every

performance, and staging the show, we've had to work carefully to make sure to fix cheam fix and manage social distancing backstage and also things like audience participation, we don't want singing and cheering along because it can lead to aerosol transmission, so we have to twea k transmission, so we have to tweak the way we do things, to keep the magic of pantomime but make sure we're doing it in a secure way. it's clear to see that because of covid, many regional air panto ‘s have had a severe knockback this year but in 2021, you can tell it's such a big part of british tradition, it'll be back even stronger. well, let's hope over the atla ntic well, let's hope over the atlantic now and had like 6 million others every year to the grand canyon. until recently, no number ho woman had been given a licence to run

tours of the site. well, we've been over there to meet the guide who is changing all that. my guide who is changing all that. my name is nikki cooley and i'm from the towering house plan plan born of the clan. my paternal grandparents are of the many goats clan and i come from blue gap arizona and this is how i always introduce myself to anyone as another woman. “— myself to anyone as another woman. —— navajo. when commercial river guiding started in the grand canyon, it was primarily dominated by men and women were only allowed to be helpers, or the cooks, or spouses of the mail river guides and so when i received this invitation from my friend, it was an invitation i took up

very quickly. i grew up on the navajo reservation with my paternal grandparents, as my pa rents were paternal grandparents, as my parents were out working. i grew up in shanto and blue gap arizona we had no running water and electricity but i also grow up and electricity but i also grow up herding sheep, i grew up raising corn and squash and other crops of my grandparents. i rode horses and really, living off the land. i was very fortu nate to living off the land. i was very fortunate to grow up with my elders who taught me to respect and key earth. when i was a river guide, i would get a lot of people saying tribes are extinct, i didn't know that tribes still existed when, in fa ct, tribes still existed when, in fact, we are alive, we are prospering, wejust fact, we are alive, we are prospering, we just want to be

acknowledged. the point overlooked provides that opportunity. it teaches them and shows them that the tribes are still here and living and they are not extinct, and this place is a place of spiritual and cultural significance of the tribes. my heritage, my culture is very important to me because the environment, mother earth and father sky are very much intertwined with my daily life. my plans are all related to the earth. my life ‘s work in working with tribes on climate change is very much intertwined with the waters, the sky, and the animals. for native and indigenous people, we have a long and rooted history with the environment and the sky, the waters, in the sense that we still honour those relationships each day.

stay with us, because still to come on the travel show, the roman empire's sunken party town. and i wonder if your idea ofafun town. and i wonder if your idea of a fun run involves sound and dunes? well, it does in dubai. it's a great sense of achievement when you get up to the top and run down the other side. so don't go away. the nextin side. so don't go away. the next in our series now exploring the future of our past. amanda has been looking at some of the brand—new tech letting scientists uncover and restore some stunning archaeological treats. this week it's italy, and the sunken treasure not far from the city of naples.

here in italy, in the gulf of naples, the ancient roman city of baide has been explored by archaeologists and travellers for years. what many people come here for actually lives underwater, and this incredibly preserved site cannot last forever. so i have come to see firsthand how a centuries—old problem is finding a 20% resolution. baiae was a luxury resort with incredible architectures connected with the most eminent men of the republican imperial times. the ancient romans wrote a lot about baiae and they described baiae as little rome, as a place for the holiday, i had

place for the holiday, i had place crowded with the aristocracy but also with young people, with people working on the beach, people drinking wine. how much did the water level rise? normally between four and six metres. that is why you can see underwater not only the floors but also the walls. there are no other sites in the world with this concentration of mosaics from roman times. the roman party—goers were drawn to the city's hot springs, but it was the same underground volcanic activity which eventually sank the city's ground—level, leaving its ruins underwater. even today, the roman architecture remains under threat from volcanic activity, but being underwater brings other challenges to the a rtefa cts as other challenges to the artefacts as well. especially places that are not protected

by layers of sound stop if they are on the seabed, open, not covered by the sound, they are attacked by marine organisms. and we call it erosion, for example, this is the reason why some statues which are recovered from the sea are com pletely recovered from the sea are completely destroyed, or partially destroyed by the erosion. i can't wait to hear this one. i was invited to join the team using new technologies to help prevent erosion and help preserve the site in new ways. so which technologies are you testing this week? this week we are testing underwater drones, underwater sensors which gather data on the conservation status of this site, and also images that we can transmit in real—time from the underwater environment. so

finally, it was time to need to go down and see it for myself. under the water, a whole world opens up. these cultures there are replicas. the real ones are safe a bove are replicas. the real ones are safe above ground in the nearby archaeological museum. but the other artefacts, from the bolster mosaics, are original. it is extraordinary to see it all in person, and to learn how these innovations could dramatically improve the way these site is preserved by archaeologists and experienced by travellers. using a new way of communicating underwater information and pictures about any problems in the site, like erosion or even looting, can be communicated much more quickly. and the 3d imagery gives tourists a whole new way to experience the site, letting them imagine what it would have actually looks like. we have developed a way to represent

how this underwater heritage site was in the past, so you can actually have, and experience visiting the site, and you can also chat in a what's up like manner with the rest of the divers and your loved ones on the other side of the planet and exchange managers “— the planet and exchange managers —— images are exchange your feelings even when you are diving. we are supporting the archaeologists and they will be able to find more, faster, and at the same time i think they will be safer in the way they actually excavate the site, and hopefully also common people will be able to enjoy, through the reconstruction what the archaeologists excavate for us. this is going to change, actually, whatever we are able to do in terms of exploring and understanding this environment.

amount ofair amount of air in the sunken city of baiae. —— amanda there. now, there are not many warmer places at this time of yet and it doesn't surround dubai. that is why some locals, after months of restrictions on weight gain, are taking on the dunes ina weight gain, are taking on the dunes in a bid to shake off what has been a pretty tough year. we have been there to meet some of them. you know your table number? four? you are undecided. thank you. —— on this side. i'm tillie johnson, i'm pretty new to ultramarathon running. i've been doing desert running. i've been doing desert running for a running. i've been doing desert running fora numberof running. i've been doing desert running for a number of years. and i'm going to do, for the first doesn't run the race of 2020. my typical race around

the uae has usually been in the mountains or on the road, so this is going to be very interesting today, and running seven dunes, i believe, it is going to be a lot of fun. i've been running for seven years now, and the reason i started running is because it is a great way to stay fit. for the first two years, i absolutely hated it. it was hard, it hurt, and it was boring. but it was also rewarding. i started to lose weight and actually began to enjoy it. running on soft sound as a whole different experience. gravity feels stronger, the sound seems to wa nt stronger, the sound seems to want to drag you down, and you get tired a lot quicker. five kilometres here feels more like

ten kilometres on tarmac, and once you are to be heat here in the desert, it feels pretty brutal. —— add the heat. getting there! i've always been a competitive person, but this is something totally new to me. in terms of technique, the trick is to keep moving stop slow down and you get weighed down. that is when it starts to get really hard. i am about, just touching three kilometres, i think it is. 100 kilometres from three kilometres. it is getting tougher now, we're getting tougher now, we're getting into bigger dunes. i just keep thinking, relentless forward motion. 0ne just keep thinking, relentless forward motion. one step after the other. lockdowns and restrictions have been hard on everybody around the world, but

to be out here in the desert, in the early morning, running and doing what i love again, just feels amazing. in a strange way, maybe because we couldn't get out here, and do things like this during lockdown, it has made us appreciate what we have got on our doorstep here in dubai mall. 50 minutes to do five kilometres over sound isn't bad. i'm really pleased with that stop even if i could cover that stop even if i could cover that distance in half that time on tarmac. for me it was never about winning, ijust wanted to get out here, showing that despite covid and the current restrictions, we can still take pa rt restrictions, we can still take part in sport and do the things we love. maybe a little differently, but we can still do them. it was just a beautiful, beautiful run.

seeing so many people out there, you can see that there are many out there for the very first time, to give their first experience in the desert, it really puts a smile on my face. and i am sure they will be back for more. the hardest part, actually, was last june, for more. the hardest part, actually, was lastjune, it was actually, was lastjune, it was a real tough one. actually, was lastjune, it was a realtough one. it actually, was lastjune, it was a real tough one. it is a great sense of achievement when you get to the top and run down the other side. the indian runners of dubai there. right, that is it for this week. coming up next time... centre in lockdown, and how he and the rest of lapland are missing all the girls and boys who normally pay a christmas eve visit at this time of year. —— santa in lockdown. until then, if this time of year. —— santa in lockdown. untilthen, if you wa nt to lockdown. untilthen, if you want to catch up with more of

our recent shows, you can find us on the bbc iplayer, and we are on social media as well. we are on social media as well. we are in all the usual places. for now, from me and everybody else standing at a safe social distance from me here in windsor, it's goodbye. hello there. friday was another unsettled day, a day that brought many of us outbreaks of rain. the rain was most persistent in aberdeenshire but, equally, there were a few brighter moments — for example, here in cornwall to allow these rather stunning rainbows to develop. we have at the moment a very slow—moving area of low pressure crossing the country. further patches of rain moving generally slowly eastwards and with the winds very light, again, we're starting to see some dense patches of fog form particularly across eastern

england. visibility is already down to 100 metres in places with the foggy weather really from essex northwards into the east midlands, perhaps east anglia, lincolnshire, and yorkshire. that's where the poorest visibility is likely to be. whereas further west, the skies tending to clear. this is where we'll see some of the lowest temperatures early on saturday morning. and saturday itself, it's a day where pressure is going to be rising across the whole of the uk. what that will do is it will squish this area of low pressure. so, in the next 2a hours, it won't exist at all, it willjust be gone. further west we get this ridge building in and that will have quite a big impact on the weather. it means across these western and southern areas, it's an improving weather picture with sunny spells developing but with that slow—moving area of low pressure close by, it stays pretty cloudy and there probably will still be some patches of rain well on into the afternoon across the north—east. so, a mixed bag of weather. for many of us, though, saturday morning will be a rather grey start to the day.

extensive cloud, some patches of light rain and drizzle. very slowly pushing eastwards because there's barely any wind to move those features along. but eventually, we'll get some sunshine. sunshine to start the day in northern ireland, that will tend to spread to south—west scotland, western areas of england, wales, the midlands, and much of the south of england as well. so, an improving weather picture for some of you. now, the second half of the weekend is dominated by this next area of low pressure. there are more isobars on the chart. so, you'll notice the weather certainly turning a lot windier and also a lot wetter as well. yes, outbreaks rain spreading up from the south—west, heavy as well, as it dives in across england and wales, pushes northwards across northern ireland into scotland through the afternoon. so, although it will be a dry start across northern and eastern areas, rain will arrive later in the day and it will be blowy as well. gales developing around our southern and western coasts and hills. the winds, though, coming from a south—westerly direction blowing in mild air. so, temperatures up to 13 in the south—west.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. 0ur headlines today: one day left to secure a trade deal — talks will resume in brussels today with both sides warning they're unlikely to reach a post—brexit agreement by tomorrow's deadline. us drug regulators approve the pfizer covid vaccine. almost 300,000 americans have died with the virus. we have already begun shipping the vaccine to every state and a zip code in the country. the first vaccine will be administered in less than 2a hours. from today, travellers returning to the uk from the canary islands must self—isolate. some fear they won't get back in time to avoid