for viewers in the uk and around the world. a brexit deal within striking distance — the signs from london and brussels point to an agreement now on the table. british cabinet ministers were summoned for a conference call with the prime minister to discuss what is on the verge of being agreed. president trump issues full pardons to his former campaign manager paul manafort convicted of lying during the russia investigation. he has also pardoned longtime fixer roger stone who was convicted of lying under oath to congress. six million more people in england face the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions, as hospital admissions surge to their highest levels since april. from december 26, the government is extending to four restrictions across much of the south and east of england.

one main reason for the decision to push millions more into tierfour in england is the rate of new infections. their affairs this is being driven by the new variant the virus. health secretary revealed the two cases of yet another variant have been detected in the uk. this one discovered in south africa. south africa, where another new variant of coronavirus is causing alarm. scientists say initial evidence suggests it's more infectious than other versions of the virus, and doctors are reporting more young people who are seriously ill. this new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that's been discovered in the uk. the two people found in the uk with this variant are being quarantined along with close contacts. the government's brought in immediate travel restrictions with south africa and says anyone who has been there in the past two

weeks must self—isolate, along with their close contacts. and all of this on top of a new variant believed to have originated in the uk. today the government released these graphs, showing its rapid growth in different parts of england. the dark lines are the new variant, the lighter lines the pre—existing strains. and mps were told today the uk variant believed to have emerged in kent has probably spread further. the fact they have picked up ten cases with sequencing of this new variant in a country as small as denmark, with a relatively low infection rate, would suggest in my view that this virus has been introduced into the great majority, if not all of european countries at the current time. whenever viruses mutate into new strains, like the one that spread so fast here in london, there is inevitably concern about whether vaccines will still work. the developers behind the coronavirus vaccines are now checking that, but scientists are confident

that vaccines will be able to adapt. one of the beauties, really, of this novel technology is its simplicity and in theory its adaptability, its agility to respond. the developers of the pfizer—biontech vaccine, which is being used by the nhs, believe it will still be effective, reassuring those who were relying on it as a way out of this pandemic. sophie hutchinson, bbc news. coming up at 6am it is brea kfast coming up at 6am it is breakfast with charlie and rachel but first, the travel show. let's be honest, it hasn't been the best year for travel stop amid the gloom, we have still found moments of inspiration and seen parts of the world's albeit sometimes virtually. that would take your breath away. laughs

. i can't do it! welcome to our look back at 2020. what a year it's been and it all what a year it's been and it a ll started what a year it's been and it all started so well. wow! lucy took a trip to a simulated martian outpost in the caves of northern spain. in argentina, mike went to the well‘s second—biggest wetland and took a dunking. 0h well‘s second—biggest wetland and took a dunking. oh and we are away!

laughs and i went underwater to swim with sharks in the maldives. they are so close! but then, disaster struck. lockdowns, border closures and holiday cancellations for the foreseeable future, leaving some of us still out of pocket. but back in those early days in march, simplyjust but back in those early days in march, simply just finding but back in those early days in march, simplyjust finding a way back home was the main problem facing many. my situation is, i'm, i'm stranded. version cancelled my flight stranded. version cancelled my flight yesterday due to leave at 6:25pm from miami and i was told the day before that of the cancellation. the advice we've been given has been quite confusing. i mean, i'm obviously not a fluent italian speaker so that's partly my fault, but generally the advice given has changed every few days and it varies by region quite a lot. now it is not

possible to travel to neighbouring islands or into the city unless you have a reason to do so. we also have curfew in place here between 10pm and 5am. we just want to get back to friends and family. i have got a new grandson who is going to be six months old tomorrow stop i haven't seen him six weeks now. i am being told i can book an alternative flight told i can book an alternative flight but i don't know if that is with the same provider. can igo is with the same provider. can i go with a different airline or will they be reimbursed for doing that? it is unsettling, there is so much happening everywhere. it is really easy to get caught up in the panic when you speak to people. to get caught up in the panic when you speak to peopleli would when you speak to people.” would love to get home, yeah. well thankfully, the vast majority of people did manage to find their way home. but as the health crisis deepened, most of us forgot all about travel and went into some form of lockdown. key workers around the world so stayed on the

frontline in the battle against the virus and in april, we heard about an inspirational international push to recognise the amazing efforts and give them something back. in recent weeks, there has been an outpouring of support for them, not just outpouring of support for them, notjust in weekly claps like these... but with the tantalising offer of free holidays once bands are lifted. here in the uk, a campaign under the # treat our nhs now has hundreds of giveaways and social media. we have a holiday let in devon and i put it out there on instagram for a giveaway, two nights to an nhs member of staff, and very quickly i had lots of nominations coming in. and i just thought, only one person is going to win this. so she decided to spearhead the campaign and made this video to

help spread the word on social media. some people with larger accou nts some people with larger accounts shouted and very quickly that message got across and the rest of us followed basically. we have over 700 people with giveaways on board now which is amazing. we have got such a breath of accommodation on offer. we have got, it ranges from a shepherd's heart in dorset to amazing shutters in the south of france. it is just amazing acts of generosity all across the board. sarah decided to open the offer up again or her own property and was sent 2000 nominations. the winner picked at random. is at a two night stay? to night stay and when you get down here, then a close

walk to a lovely cafe down the road when you get a free meal. when you get back first. spend a way to your heart. i feel like crying. 0h, love. who nominated you? one of like crying. oh, love. who nominated you? one of the girls who i worked with the other day, she nominated me. that was really sweet. i can't believe it. oh, bless. you're making me cry. it's so nice to get something. let's hope once the lockdown eases here in the uk, it won't be too long before nurse rachel gets that much deserved break. but this idea is not just limited to deserved break. but this idea is notjust limited to health workers here in the uk. the international campaign under the # my travel pledge has been gaining a serious traction abroad, with properties and hotel rooms on offer to health workers and also to low income key workers such as hospital cleaners. avery and tiffany

nominated each other. they are both nurses at saint pauls hospital in vancouver canada. we just hospital in vancouver canada. wejust made a hospital in vancouver canada. we just made a plan to nominate each other but her nomination for me was select did and within a couple of days, she texted me and was like, oh my god, your nomination was selected. of course my first thing was, i'm going to take unity is like, no, no, it is for you and your husband. it is because avery was supposed to go to spain this year for her 10 year anniversary and of course that got cancelled, that got cancelled, so hopefully this can be her 10 year anniversary. vacation. avery has got a free stay here in the dominican republic when travel restrictions finally ease for a well earned rest. working in the healthcare sector right now is really scary. we are both

psychiatric nurses so we serve really the most marginalised and vulnerable population. with over two, we are really afraid it is going to read into the populations every time we going to work, we feel uncertain, we are scared, we are scared to bring it back to our families. so it is difficult, it is uncertain, it is definitely a really challenging time to be working in health. ian and andrew set up the campaign to recognise and reward key workers but for them, an important side effect has been to help out the tourism industry in spain where they runa b&b industry in spain where they run a b&b stop the pair have had quite a response. they received more than 2000 nominations in the past month from around the world with a fast growing portfolio of international properties on offer. the key word for me hope

and support. they are just waiting for long, if they are not working, they are sleeping. so this isjust something not working, they are sleeping. so this is just something they can actually nominate, act on and they know that somebody out there is actually looking out for them and there is a light at the end of the tunnel and a free stay would make their lives so much more bearable at the moment. and to be honest, this situation we are in is the very least we can do. what a truly inspirational idea. hats off to all of those hotel and b&b owners around the world that signed up to those schemes. ok, make sure you stay with us because still to come, my people! my travel show people! we will catch up with oui’ people! we will catch up with our travel show family and find out how they have navigated through this difficult year on the road. as well as meeting again the people who got caught up again the people who got caught up by again the people who got caught

up by closing borders and grounded flights during their once—in—a—lifetime around the world adventure. now, as you can imagine, trying to make a weekly travel program in this year has been extremely tricky. but what of the things that has made it a lot easier is having an amazing travel show family spread quite literally across the globe. so we decided to catch up with the team and find out how 2020 has been for them. my out how 2020 has been for them. my people! my travel show people! let's have a chat about this year because it has been an odd year for travel hasn't it. for travel show presenters, eight of you, why don't you start of first ride john? eight of you, why don't you start of first ridejohn? tell us start of first ridejohn? tell us what do you has been like, highs and lows. i think it's been really weird. i have travelled less than i have ever travelled less than i have ever travelled since childhood and thatis travelled since childhood and that is weird. so i have missed it. i think we have all missed

that haven't we? it is almost like we have had our wings clipped. in the beginning, it was a little bit 0k, well i'll ta ke was a little bit 0k, well i'll take a break but after a few months when you realise that travel is so much more than just seeing places, it is howl found happiness in my life at least. that is howl found happiness in my life at least. that is how i felt alive so least. that is how i felt alive so that was taken away. i was allowed to travel to the eu in the beginning ofjuly and i we nt the beginning ofjuly and i went and had been travelling since. travel is really different and what of the big things i realised was i always thought i loved animals and mountains and waterfalls but when you take away faces, you realise that people in faces are really important travelling. i say what i found really strange, i don't know whether you guys have done it, the few times i have managed to travel overseas, is how am the airports are. christer and lucy, what do you think, it's so lucy, what do you think, it's so weird isn't it? i'm in dubai at the moment and ijust found the latest episode of the travel show. this is the first international trip we have done, i have done for eight

months. this being the airport, i don't know what i was expecting but i definitely wasn't expecting that. just airy silence, couldn't sit in a lot of places and obviously i know, the use of this experiencing lockdown in a kind of thing, but it was really surreal, the entire experience. does the fact i got on a plane and was able to step off and get into any country. like mike said, meeting people, the smells, the food and the buyers, really drive off the kind of thing and this has reignited my passion for travelling and made me realise how much i hate my makeshift desk in my living room. what about you, what has it been like they're injapan? fortunately, japan is pretty big so i travel quite a lot in japan this year more so than any other year. it has been great from that perspective. i spent time with my family. but i have missed my family overseas, right, and i've had so overseas, right, and i've had so many trips cancelled and

i've had my trip to chile cancelled three times and then i was meant to go to singapore and then they cancelled and i had a green zone michael gove without quarantining an overnight that was rescinded and the chippies. - - and the trip was off. chris, you are a seasoned traveller, have you found any highs or pluses in this crazy year? i was lucky enough, i think it was august, when i went to germany and not only got to track down some wild boar in berlin but we went down and got a taste of o kto be rfest down and got a taste of oktoberfest that wasn't! which was great because it gave us an opportunity to see really what a beer festival was like for locals because the visitors didn't come from overseas because it wasn't on for 2020 but for me, this year, for the first time in my life, i have

not been able to go home to australia and carmine, i know you live injapan but grew up in australia but the distance have never seemed wider for me. i miss my family and want to go home is at the moment australia opens orders i will be booking the ticket, i promise you that. and talking about booking your plane ticket once the borders are open, what are your hopes for the future? what will happen in 2021 in regards to travel? i think number one, for all the people who work in the travel industry around the world, especially countries where they are dependent on tourism, this'll be a massive relief, they can get some work, for gods sake, so that is really important but number two, i want to moderate some conferences and there is a notion that our people going to reset? think differently about travel? will there be more conscience travel and sustainability, thinking about

that notjust sustainability, thinking about that not just about the environment but what we do with the time we spend? certainly a time to value a trip more. what i think about non—stop is in 2021, if we do choose to travel and we can travel, whether we have a vaccination or risk tolerance, there will be a once—in—a—lifetime opportunity to seek mount fuji, machu picchu, the angkor wat temples in cambodia without any tourists, and when will that happen again? i think there is an opportunity if people do choose to travel. i think people will have one big holiday next year. if anything, they will play just holiday next year. if anything, they will playjust one big holiday and not just they will playjust one big holiday and notjust nip over to paris for the weekend, you know, a lot of effort and time put into it, and you may even have to consult with a travel agent! as opposed to buying it

online. it's like we have gone back 30 years. and the grand master of travel, come on, tell us, what does the future hold? i would say that every second, value every second because i think we dojust rushed through stuff and don't appreciate everything. do not undervalue how much the travel experience can change everyone. that was amazing... . hang on a minute, because we have been talking about our experiences and hopes the next year but we have not asked you! what do you think is coming up? it is a bit of hope we can take from you? do you know what, you guys have summed up know what, you guys have summed upa lot know what, you guys have summed up a lot of this but i think for me, i have learnt we should not take it for granted. for many years, travel has been so easy for everybody. and i like the idea of next year being

that one, rather than going for lots of small trips and weekends, we look for the one big life changing experience because you don't know when this can happen again and we don't know when it can happen again and as someone who, travel has changed my life so much, yeah, i want to hold onto every second so i think, for me next year, it is all about that big life changing trip. bring on 2021 and the travel show will be bigger, stronger and better! lovely chatting to you all! take care. merry christmas, everyone. merry christmas. merry christmas. right, for some, 2020 was going to be the year that they embarked on an adventure of a lifetime and there are not many who can say they are part of

that exclusive carb of people who have set foot in all of the countries in the world but there are people who attempts at all the time. this is what happens to people who are trying when travel came to a halt. i have been to every country in the world, it took me 17 years and five passports to do so! it was a huge personal challenge and a very long process. lots of focus and time and effort but it makes me really ha p py time and effort but it makes me really happy and proud every single day. of the people that have done it, women only make up have done it, women only make up aboutio— 15% have done it, women only make up about 10— 15% so we are quite the minority. i don't think having this goal is com pletely think having this goal is completely impossible place coronavirus, just that you have to understand it may take a little bit more time and effort and patience. i'm julia. i'm chantelle. i'm chloe and i'm

angelique and we did a mad dash to get here. we were in cambodia and we saw things closing and we all things are getting an easy tourists except us getting an easy tourists except us and we were like, what is going on? so we did the mad dash to new zealand and got here literally before they got into their lockdown. we wanted to achieve our goal in the next two years of visiting every country so we two years of visiting every country so we were moving country so we were moving pretty fast until covid hit but the big question is if it lasts for another year, what will we do? where will we go? but i'm sure things will start to progress and eventually the world has to open up again.” am sam and i been to 183 countries and covid were starting to be talked about more and more people got worried and i had been seeing people wearing more masks and i figured while i only have 20 countries left and i was meant to finish in april and i flew to finish in april and i flew to fiji to tonga and then

tonga, two days later the borders closed and that no—one can leave and we were stuck there andl can leave and we were stuck there and i waited for five months and then i was hearing from government from other pacific islands that i would not be able to visit the other countries for 18 months, two years, andl countries for 18 months, two years, and i decided after that that i would just leave. many people say can i do it? just do it and make it work so we a lwa ys it and make it work so we always reverse engineer what we wa nt to always reverse engineer what we want to do. we say this is our goal and how can i make it happen? i did it because it was my dream since i was young and my dream since i was young and my dream since i was young and my dream was to see as much of the world as possible, to travel, see loads of different countries and i did a pretty good job with that so i'm definitely not disappointed! you have to understand your reasons for doing this. for some people, it is escapism, they want to get out of a rut and they think travel is like a holiday, an escape, but you and

your rival, the you have. i'm in the mountains of afghanistan and it is super beautiful, so nice. one of my favourite countries was afghanistan. it was a country everyone must scared of it and i was scared of it and then i went there and then i loved it. i love super traditional, you go back in time, people where traditional clothes, old buildings and only the real signs of modernity but people have cellphones and cars. it is not easy, i won't lie, it's not easy when you we re lie, it's not easy when you were always together, you still have to keep a structure and still have your own mental space to get away. there are times and we are travelling i said to the whole family you quys said to the whole family you guys are on said to the whole family you guys are on that side of the street and do not come to my side of the street! i would just walk by myself and within two minutes they were over here andi two minutes they were over here and i said what are you doing, this is my own mental space! everything makes more sense now to me and i find i understand

peoples behaviour, especially when they come from different cultures a lot more. and fingers crossed, they will be back on the road again very soon. back on the road again very soon. that is it for this week. over the new year, you will get the chance to see some great trips from recent times, including my‘s mind blowing journey through kazakhstan and the sea's magical visit to rwanda. in the meantime, don't forget you can follow us on social media in all the usual places, twitter, facebook and instagram. until next time, have a happy, healthy and safe next couple of weeks and we will see you in the new year when, hopefully, we can get back on the road doing what we love the most. but, for now,, from all of the travel show family, all over the world, it's goodbye.

hello there. wednesday brought another wet day, particularly to england and wales. and at one point, we had over 50 flood warnings in force. now, i'm sure as the rain eases off, the number of flood warnings through christmas eve will gradually begin to drop away, but still the potential for a few problems. there is the rain bearing cloud, then, we had across england and wales, but my attention right now is being drawn to this area of cloud just running in across the north of scotland, because this is going to bring some of you snow. yes, there could be a few centimetres lying on the ground in places, along with the risk of icy stretches as we head into the first part of christmas eve.

a few showers also running down north sea coast, the irish seacoast, as our main band of rain continues to edge out—of—the—way. it will be cold, mind you, a cold start to christmas eve, a widespread frost certainly for scotland, northern england, probably northern ireland, and perhaps into the north midlands and north wales as well. now, it will be a cold day for christmas eve, these chilly northerly winds diving their way southwards and bringing showers down north sea coasts. they will continue to fall as snow in land across parts of scotland, perhaps over the north york moors, might even see an odd flake mixed in with these showers across eastern england at times. but away from the east coast where it will be windy and cold, should be plenty of sunshine, but those temperatures way lower than they have been for a number of days now, 3—4 in scotland, may be 11—5 for parts of eastern england. and as we head into christmas day, there will be a widespread and sharp frost, so certainly a chilly start to the big day. that might be quite a nice sunrise to start the day. best of the sunshine across england and wales, but cloud will quickly building across the north west, and ultimately, we will see some rain move its way into northwest scotland, where it will be turning milder, as south—westerly winds eventually pushing in, highs of 9 in stornoway. best of the sunshine, then,

hanging on across parts of southern and eastern england, but cold, 11—5 degrees celsius. beyond that, boxing day, and sunday, the second half of the weekend, we've got this area of rain pushing southwards across the country. given that the ground is saturated, that rain is likely to lead to further localised flooding with wintry showers following the main band of rain through. it's notjust rain that could cause issues, it's also going to become very windy, gusts could reach 50—70 mph, maybe even stronger than that. so there is the potential for some disruptive winds as well this weekend, and beyond that into monday, still windy for northern ireland. further east, a mixture of rain, sleet and maybe some snow.

good morning and welcome to breakfast with withjon kay and rachel burden. our headlines today. on the brink of a brexit deal. after months of talks an agreement between the uk and the eu is expected this morning, with boris johnson preparing to address the nation. we'll bring you all the developments and what it all means throughout the morning. stay at home from boxing day. the message to another 6 million people in england as more tier 4 restrictions are brought in. a plea for calm at the port of dover as lorry drivers are urged to be patient as they wait to cross the channel. manchester united strike late

to reach the league cup