hello, this is bbc news. get out and do it and raise let's get out and do it and raise the headlines... some money with this boat hasjust been fantastic. the tint and it will uk government ministers meet to decide how to manage rising been fantastic. the tint and it will coronavirus cases in england, be auctioned to raise more funds for amid warnings that a "new variant" of the virus is causing their hospice, but will there be faster transmission. it comes as more than two—thirds of those another campaign for major mick. living in england — i've got a book on history which i'm 38 million people — writing at the moment. i will finish are now subject to the toughest that and then perhaps a project in restrictions in tier 3. the early next year. as i say, there switzerland has approved is life in the old dog yet. so, lots the pfizer/biontech vaccine for use, making it the first country in continental europe to give of money raised and spirits too. the jab the green light. americans are set to get a second mission accomplished. what a coronavirus vaccine, as the moderna injection is approved in the us. meanwhile, italy imposes brilliant story. the good news is a nationwide lockdown over christmas and new year, that that one really is unsinkable. as it tries to halt the sharp rise in coronavirus infections. now, the weather with matt taylor. hello. a lot more sunshine around at times more news at the top of the hour. this weekend, but it will be punctuated by some now on bbc news, the travel show. pretty nasty downpours. some very heavy showers around this week on the show...

today, we seen them already. continuing to push their way northwards and eastwards on a gusty santa locked down in lapland. wind, most frequent in the west and fewer showers in the east where we we try to offer all spend the bulk of the day dry. the visitors that christmas a little bit cooler than less yesterday. around nine to 12 celsius, spirit and joy, despite of but some gusty wind could the challenging times. accompany those showers, as could the odd rumble of thunder and flash of lightning too. fixing the world's longest wall as we go into this evening and overnight, showers keep with the help of technology. on going, particularly across some is it true that 30% of southern and western areas, most the original wall has vanished? frequent in western scotland. still, a marked i think so, yeah. breeze pushes those a little bit further eastwards, but still starry skies between them, and a little warm holiday glow and it is under those starry skies as months of enforced it is going to be another cool separation comes to night, cooler than recent nights in fact, an end for one couple. down to around three or four celsius into the morning in rural parts. tomorrow, on the face of it, another story of sunshine and showers, but if anything, fewer showers around, a bit more in the way of sunshine. showers and the windiest conditions towards the west of scotland, cloud wind and rain gathering later in the day on sunday night across the south. 00:01:47,864 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 take care.

hello, and welcome to the programme, coming to you this week from a rather rainy norfolk in the east of england. well, christmas is most definitely on its way, and so many of us love to travel during december — but unfortunately this year isn't quite the same. still, sit tight, stay patient and let us bring the world to you. first up — traditionally, many of us love to travel around this time of year, but with so many restrictions currently, what's happening in those places where christmas is a year—round obsession? well, it feels like a long time ago now, but around this time last year i was in the village of thursford for the uk's biggest annual christmas show. for over a0 years, people have been flocking here to see a traditional all—singing, all—dancing seasonal spectacular that's broken records and become a regular fixture in the christmas calendar of many people

here in the uk. 150 artists take part each year, and last year, for one night only, i was lucky enough to be one of them. of course, this year, things will be different. but christmas is far from cancelled. sadly there is no show — instead the vast performance spaces and grounds have been transformed into a huge, dazzling light trail for people to explore. since first opening back in 1977, the cushing family have run the site and put on the annual christmas extravaganza. this is your baby, you've built this up from nothing, this business. yes. how hard was it personally for you to take the decision not to have the performers here? well, it was rather like a bereavement to stop it, so yes you're right, i have worked on christmas

here for over a0 years. it starts almost as soon as one show is finished, and to produce it, write it, and direct it has been a major part of my life. so it's notjust me, it's the team i had around me, which have all, a lot of them have been living in the area for 20 years or more, the production team. so that emotional loss was difficult to cope with. in theory, you could have shut down entirely, kept hold of those pennies and waited until 2021, but you didn't, looking around you really took steps to do something different. really a new business. i was confident that it would work, and confident it'd be a success because of the loyalty we have had from so many people, i have had literally hundreds of letters to say "we are coming to yourjourney of light because we have been coming to thursford for years," and i think that when they get here they won't be

disappointed, because we have been working on this sincejuly. but of course, it's notjust thursford that's had to adapt this christmas. even for santa claus himself and his helpers up in santa's village in finnish lapland, things are a little different this year. i am antti nikander, the busy elf. my position is head of development in this village. santa claus village is an international tourism centre in the middle of the official hometown of santa claus, rovaniemi. we have normally more than 500,000 visitors in a year, they are coming from more than 100 countries. christmastime is the busiest time in our village, and we will receive during the busiest days, more than 5,000 people, and now we will receive maximum one third of that amount.

2,260 kilometres from here is london! finland has imposed strict measures on incoming visitors, effectively closing the borders for international tourists, which means that almost all of the visitors this year are from finland. we try to offer all the visitors that christmas spirit and joy, despite of these challenging times. the most valuable christmas present is that vaccination. after that, we are able to focus and plan for the future. santa receives around half a million letters each year from children around the world. the elves sort them for santa in the post room, and this year they have been as inundated as ever. i am riitta, riitta the elf, and i am working here in santa claus's main post office at the arctic circle.

this is a real post office, but also i am helping santa claus with his letters. $0, children write to santa claus, they make wish lists, also they tell about their families. and the letters, they are a little bit different when they come from western countries, then they have a little story about themselves, about the children's life and hobbies, but they have bigger lists. because of coronavirus, the post office was forced to close this year for seven months, for the first time in its history. people, they cannot receive now, theirfamilies, but they can send a parcel. it's like santa claus sends those, although it's them. but of course the real magic happens in santa's office. in grottos around the world, children traditionally meet santa and reel off their wish lists for presents. but this year, social distancing means that santa has to do most of this virtually.

although on the plus side, this does mean that a chat with santa is now open to anyone, like me earlier on today. 0h, hello, christa! hello, santa. how are you today? very well on this dark morning in london. christa, what do you think — are you on the nice the naughty list? you know what, i think given this year as i have been stuck at home, i haven't had many opportunities to be naughty, santa, so i would like to think i am always on the nice list, but i think especially in 2020 i am on the nice list. 50, santa, tell me a bit about your year this year. of course it is different because we are doing it

like this, people aren't so close, but this is the new way to do things and everybody should think about this way to do things, because you have to be close with people, and at the moment it's not possible in the normal way, so it is a very good way to do it. so i like it, actually. and have you noticed any difference in the kinds of gifts that kids are wanting from santa this year? small changes — of course, the toys and those things, but quite many children want to have time with their parents, and that's quite heart—warming, i think, and this is the christmas to do that. and so this year, i imagine you have lots of questions about what your activities are going to be on christmas eve — it is your big night of the year, how is covid going to affect you this year, santa? not too much, because that is the magic of christmas. yes. i'm going to deliver all of those presents normally, don't worry, they are going to come there, but for social distancing, please stay in bed and sleep.

back here in thursford, christmas celebrations are already in full swing. i guess it can't match the energy of the big show we saw last year but there is plenty of noise and the set is spectacular, and the people here seem to be really enjoying themselves. and there are people, on a rainy night in the middle of a pandemic, which is in itself quite incredible. still to come on the travel show... we are in china, watching the cutting edge science being used to restore parts of the great wall. and the couples forced apart by border closures getting back together for christmas. up next, the latest in our series about the brand—new tech

being used to restore and protect our most ancient treasures. the question is this week, how do you protect a monument that is 20,000 kilometres long? amanda headed to china to find out. this part of the great wall of china, located a two—hour drive from beijing, is not where tourists normally go. thejiankou section is perched on a mountain ridge at 1,200 metres above sea level. you have to hike up a mountain to get here. this didn'tjust make it less accessible to tourists, it also made it very difficult to repair. so give me a sense — what kind of shape was this section in before the repairs started, because we are sitting on a part that has been repaired. yeah. what did it look like before?

was it dangerous before? yeah. every year, maybe one or two people are dead on this period of the wall. hiking? hiking, yeah. some — some hiking and fallen — falling down. for years, thejiankou section of the wall was considered so dilapidated, it's even been given a special name, part of the wild wall. so 25 years ago, i came up with this term wild wall to differentiate it from the tourist wall. the tourist wall are the places

where the wall is being rebuilt, you buy a ticket, there's often a cable car. but the wilderness wall, which is, you know, there are thousands of kilometres of it, actually constitutes the world's greatest open air museum. william lindsay is a historian who fell so in love with thejiankou section of the wall, he moved here in the 19905. is it true that 30% of the original wall — or walls, i should say — has vanished? i think so, yeah.

but repairing a section of the wall like this is not easy. you cannotjust drive up here, so getting machinery to the wall is almost impossible, too. that means this repair project has had to incorporate both cutting—edge technology and tradition. you can see the mountains here. the machines can't come here. we have to use people. but we should use technologies to help these people to do this work better. you have seen that even in nowadays, people rebuild the walls using ancient ways —

they use animals to carry the bricks and they use people to carry all the bricks. other bricks! yeah, all the bricks on the wall! we can't use any machines or mechanic ways to rebuild the wall. we use people to do this. people whose work is now being helped by cutting—edge technology. so can you take me through, step by step, how this 800 photos? and how long does it take? and if you did not have drone own footage and people had

to go up and do all of this just themselves — so looking at things, taking photos themselves, measuring — how does that compare to this process? that drone footage was used with an algorithm to create a 3d model of the wall. it meant that every stage could be closely monitored. if, for example, 100 stones were taken off part of the wall and then had to be replaced, the engineers could refer to the 3d model of the original wall to know exactly how they needed to be put back. the project has been so successful, they are now repairing a different part of the wall at xifengkou, 300 kilometres, or 185 miles, from beijing, using the same software and the same

principles. this is the second project of the rebuilding ofjiankou great wall. the third one will start maybe next year. ooh! yeah. that's exciting! yeah. drones? hmm, of course! laughs. yeah, of course! amanda, reporting there from the great wall of china. and there will be more from our future of the past series next year. this christmas, many of us will be spending less time with our loved ones than we would like and there are some couples who have been separated because of border closures and travel bans who are desperate to see their partners. well, tens of thousands of people in this situation have rallied together to share tips and advice, as well as their own sweet successes, and we have met one of them. ryan ejezie ended up making the longest layover of his life when he was desperate to see

his partner elena in america. and the only way he could get there was to fly to croatia and spend two weeks in quarantine before heading first to istanbul, and then finally onto the us. all i was seeing, all year, was just news. you'rejust bombarded with covid news. it's just like this travel is not happening. lockdown is getting worse. cases are rising. so when i started to see other people, real human beings, in the same situation, tackling the same challenges and being able to ask them just straight up on facebook and get a response, then that planted the seed and then i could think "yes, this is possible". love is not tourism is a grassroots global movement dedicated to reuniting binational couples and families who have been separated by travel bans and border

closures, shutting down of the visa processes due to the pandemic. it was very meaningful to meet people, even just online, and to hear their stories. also, to hear our successes and to collaborate. i wake up in the morning and then i'm like "let's do it! let's just commit! let's go for it!" 50 friday morning, book a flight to croatia, booked two weeks airbnb. saturday, i'm in croatia. stewardess over pa: on behalf of the captain and the entire crew, i'd like to welcome you here to zagreb. i'm too deep! i'm too committed to this! i'm either going to go all the way and get there or it's not going to work. phew! i was worried! for sure, i was worried. i think, when i initially booked

everything, i got a huge rush. i'm excited, i'm like "wow, i've booked this, i'm flying tomorrow, there's not even time. let me pack everything, let me get to heathrow, let me get to croatia". really empowered, i'm taking control of everything. i have not even told work that i'm going to be working in another country, haven't told work i'm going to be in america, working in another completely different time zone. we are more than willing to quarantine before, after — that's not an issue for any of us, and it never has been. we have always advocated for safe protocols where we prove that we have a real relationship and that we abide by any rules that are in the country and we will go actually above and beyond those rules if need be, because we want people to know that we want you to be safe but at the same time, we understand that love is essential and our relationships are absolutely vital right now. only the night before i actually flew to turkey did i then check on the website just one last time. i did not get much sleep that night because i'm like everything is running

through my head of everything that could go wrong, but when the actual day came, it was just like a regular travel day. once i finally got in, it wasjust, like, finally! finally! it's all come! i have completed it! and it felt like a good accomplishment. a lot of stress was relieved from my shoulders. just for the whole notion of the whole idea of doing a two—week quarantine, or the longest layover i'll ever do in my life, that was filled with a lot of sense of empowerment, of taking control of myself and taking control of my life. but when i got to america, it was just relief! it was just relief that it was done. i think, as a community, we give each other hope every time that we successfully reunite, one partner at a time, one family at a time. that gives us hope. there is light at

the end of the tunnel. i think many of us have seen the successes in various countries, and that has motivated us to ask for the same kinds of protocols and exemptions in our own countries. she's coming here tomorrow for a month, which is amazing. can't wait! she just has to do a quarantine in england, as is the current rules, which is a bit nicer for her — no loneliness in croatia for her. but, yeah, i'm excited. it should be a fun christmas because of it, so... hey, travel show. we're currently at home quarantining and getting ready for christmas. it's been a crazy year but we managed to make it work. we are getting engaged and now spending christmas and new year's together, so from the both of us, merry christmas. well, that's all we have time for on this week's programme

butjoin us next time, when ade's taking a look back at the year that was 2020. a disastrous year for anyone who loves to travel. but among all the gloom, some moments of inspiration that give us hope for the months to come. groans. laughs. i can't do it! until then, you can find all of our recent adventures on the bbc iplayer. we are on social media, too, in all the usual places. but for now, from me christa larwood and the rest of the travel show team, take care and we'll see you in 2021.

flood warnings remain across some parts of england. the persistent rain has gone. they will still be some big downpours around, but it is a case of sunshine and showers. dry and brighter weather across the u can. at the moment, sunny conditions developing again across the east before another batch of showers go through this afternoon. showers keep coming and going in western areas throughout the day for stop it could be heavy and thundery in some places. fairly average wind speeds. overall, it is still a comparatively mild day for the stage of december. down a little bit on yesterday's values. it will be a cooler night. starry skies in between and showers most frequent in western parts of

scotland. single digits tonight, much cooler than the last few nights. a fresh start to tomorrow. a brighter start. if anything, though, fewer showers around. more in the way of drier weather tomorrow. although showers will still be fairly frequent in western scotland and north—west northern ireland. later in the day, we start to see clout, wind and rain gathered toward cornwall and the channel islands. this area of low pressure looks like it will run across most southern areas. we could hold on to rain all day long there. heavy rain to begin with. lots of surface water. brightening up for many throughout the day. brightest of all in northern ireland. scotland turning increasingly wintry over higher ground. that is the start of christmas week. a quiet day on tuesday. they will still be some

rain in the south of the country. will have to keep a close eye on this. potential for low pressure on wednesday. it could bring heavy rain. the christmas eve and christmas day, not a white christmas but a frosty one.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. uk government ministers meet to decide how to manage rising coronavirus cases in england, amid warnings that a ‘new variant‘ of the virus is causing

faster transmission. switzerland has approved the pfizer/biontech vaccine for use, making it the first country in continental europe to give the jab the green light. americans are set to get a second coronavirus vaccine, as the moderna injection is approved in the us. it comes as more than two thirds of those living in england — 38 million people — are now subject to the toughest restrictions in tier 3. meanwhile, italy imposes a nationwide lockdown over