to help curb a variant of the coronavirus that spreads very quickly, though it's not thought to be more deadly. the prime minister said he made the decision with a heavy heart so close to christmas. a uk government source has warned there won't be a post—brexit trade deal unless there's a "substantial shift" from the eu. a senior brussels source insisted it was in both sides‘ interests to reach a fair deal. there are less than two weeks welcome to bbc news. until the transition i'm lewis vaughan jones. period ends. our top stories: president trump has new covid restrictions dismissed allegations that are now in place in london russia was behind a major cyber and surrounding areas — espionage attack that nearly 18 million penetrated several us government agencies, as well as organisations people are affected. around the world. with a very heavy mr trump alleged on twitter heart i must tell you that the attack we cannot continue wasn't as bad as reported with christmas as planned. in what he called in england, those living the "fake news media". in tier 4 areas should not mix with anyone outside their own household at christmas. well among the italy will go into a full restrictions announced national lockdown, by the prime minister, to slow the rising number of are new limits on travel. coronavirus infections there. boris johnson announced if a general "stay at home order" for all of the new areas president trump

in tier 4 within england. plays down the scale of a major cyber attack on us simon calder, travel editor government agencies, for the independent newspaper, and questions whether explains what that means russia was responsible. and the uk government insists there'll be for international travel. no brexit trade deal without a substantial shift in position from the eu. u nfortu nately, if unfortunately, if you are to travel imminently and you are one of the one third of the english population, about 18 million people, who are in this new area which is largely london, east of england and south—east england, you are not, from midnight, allowed to travel abroad. having said that, of course, if you have a pressing reason, if it is for work, for example, that will be able to go ahead and crucially if you live somewhere outside of this tierfour zone if you live somewhere outside of this tier four zone i believe you will still be able to travel into tier four in order to take a flight because of course three of the uk's three biggest apples are

located within that area so, many millions of people, i estimate we are into the tens of thousands of people in the affected area due to travel in the next week before christmas it is an extremely stressful time. there is no certainty at this stage. i have contacted all the big holiday companies and big airlines and no—one has got back to me to explain what they will be doing but my prediction is if you book to a holiday, one of the few destinations in europe without any restrictions, spain's ca nary island, the any restrictions, spain's canary island, the portuguese island of madeira or gibraltar 01’ on island of madeira or gibraltar orona island of madeira or gibraltar or on a longer trip, maybe to dubai, maybe to the maldives, that trip in that tier four will not be able to go ahead although there is just some talk that may only be advised.

—— advice. more news for travellers now — it's time for the travel show. this week on the show: santa locked down in lapland. we try to offer all the visitors that christmas spirit and joy, despite of the challenging times. fixing the world's longest wall with the help of technology. is it true that 30% of the original wall has vanished? i think so, yeah. and a little warm holiday glow as months of enforced separation comes to an end for one couple.

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 is 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 your journey 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 to 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. so 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 is like santa claus sends those, although it is 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 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. so santa, tell me a bit about your year this year. of course it is difficult 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 is 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 1200 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?

how bad was it? 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 1990s. 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. 0ther 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 process actually worked? 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 it start maybe next year.

0oh! 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, i — 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 just go for it!" so 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 — 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 "well, 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 is 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 date came, it was just like a regular travel day. once i finally got in, it was just 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 will 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. and can't wait! 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 are 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.

hello. there's some more rain in the forecast over the next few days. that rain coming on top of what we already had over the last week or so. we've had so much rain that in some places flood warnings are in force. you can check the bbc websites to see if flood warnings are affecting your area. we've got low pressure in charge at the moment, sitting up to the north and feeding showers in from the west. some of these showers continue to be pretty heavy through the day on sunday, really focusing in across western areas. further east through eastern scotland and england, not as many showers. showers will become fewer

and further in between for a time during sunday afternoon. at the same time this band of heavy rain will swing into northern ireland and into the far west of scotland. it will be quite blustery here as well, with gusts of 40, maybe 50 miles an hour or more in the most exposed spots. temperatures just a touch down on saturday's values for some of us. highs between 8 and 11. during sunday night we will see these heavy showers pushing across northern areas down towards the south. loud and persistent rain will push into southern england, wales, the midlands and east anglia by the end of the night. in the southern parts, temperatures were declining as night wears on, 11 degrees in plymouth by 1:00 in the morning. a bit chillier further north. that sets us up for monday. as this frontal system continues to bring rain across parts of england and wales, some of that rain will get into southern scotland, but to the south of it, we will be feeding in some pretty mild air,

whereas further north, some chilly air working its way in. so some temperature contrasts through the day on monday. rain pushing east out of eastern england, i think quite early on on monday, but some continuing across northern england, up into scotland. something a little bit brighter into northern ireland but you can see that temperature contrast, 6 degrees in glasgow, 1a in london, well above the norm for this time of year. as we head deep into the week, another area of low pressure will bring more rain for some on wednesday. that will then start to slide away south, high pressure will build in, it will be drierjust in time for christmas, but it will also start to feel quite chilly for all of us. single digit temperatures by thursday and friday, and in most places it will be drier, with some 00:28:35,699 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 spells of sunshine.