this is bbc news. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. millions of people face tougher covid restrictions as rule changes come into force. as the uk grapples with a new strain of coronavirus, there are now confirmed cases in france, spain and sweden. millions of americans face losing unemployment benefits as the standoff between donald trump and congress over a coronavirus stimulus package continues. former mi6 officer and soviet spy george blake has died aged 98 in moscow.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. 6 million people in the east and south—east of england have joined those living under the strictest coronavirus restrictions in tier 4. those restrictions now affect around 2a million people in england — more than 40% of the population. the toughest measures mean the closure of all nonessential shops as well as hairdressers, swimming pools and gyms. a national lockdown has also started in northern ireland and measures have been reimposed in wales after being eased for christmas. all of mainland scotland has moved into the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions with the rest of scotland in tier 3 restrictions. and france, spain and sweden have confirmed their first cases of the coronavirus variant recently identified in the uk. meanwhile, millions of americans face going without unemployment benefits after saturday amid a political standoff over a $900 billion

coronavirus stimulus package. our first report is on the millions entering the toughest set of restrictions in england. here's daniela relph. harsher restrictions have returned, and it shows. with christmas day done, the centre of southampton is empty as new areas of southern and eastern england now find their lives restricted by even tighter rules. it's very, very quiet. it's unusual at this time of the year. so, yeah, it's strange and different. some people are totally not seeing their family. it's caused frictions in families. it would be nice if it could all come to an end and we could all be back to normal. the blue areas on the map are all now in tier 4, where you must stay at home unless you need to travel for work or education. you may only meet one person at a time outside. nonessential retail closes, and you shouldn't leave a tier 4 area.

but elsewhere, there is a familiar look to boxing day. the prime minister had warned people to think carefully and avoid sales crowds. in leeds, though, still in tier 3, the prospect of a bargain drew some people out. i always go to the sales on boxing day for bargains and i don't like doing it online, so i wanted to support the shops as well. enjoying it so far, just a shame we can't have a coffee somewhere or perhaps a glass of wine. it's a lot quieter than we were expecting, it's all a bit eerie, but we got what we needed and it was nice, but the staff all looked a bit not as festive as well. it's a different feeling. there is one activity the hardiest can still do despite restrictions. open water swimming here in somerset has been a lockdown comfort for many. it'sjust addictive, it'sjust something for your mental health, to keep you sort of balanced and a reset from a busyjob. it'sjust perfect.

across the uk, harsher rules are now in force. mainland scotland has moved into its toughest level of restrictions, and northern ireland, along with wales, is now in full lockdown. daniela relph, bbc news. as we've been hearing, in northern ireland, a six—week lockdown has begun with nonessential shops forced to close. hair salons must also shut while pubs, cafes and restaurants are restricted to takeaway and delivery services. the measures will be reviewed in four weeks' time. here's our ireland correspondent, chris page. as soon as christmas day ended, the lockdown began. there are no seasonal sporting events in northern ireland on this 26th of december. racecourses and stadiums are silent. shoppers and sales are absent too. instead, belfast city centre is shuttered down. one festive tradition that is allowed, though, is a brisk and breezy boxing day walk. people said tighter

restrictions were for the best. oh, i think it's very necessary. it's a good thing and anything to keep us safe. i think it'sjust best everybody stays safe. had to happen. but we just have to do it. i think it's ok. lockdowns are in place from today until early february. shops which sell essential items and supermarkets would have to search up to 8pm. between that time and 6am members of different households cannot meet anywhere for social reasons inside or outside, police have been given extra powers to enforce the state her message. pubs and restaurants have been hit particularly hard at what is usually a popular time of year to eat out. i that know the health of people is just paramount and it protects the nhs, but we were given very, very short notice on some of the lockdowns and a lot of stock had been bought in,

staff had to be organised, and it has a very big financial impact on all of the hospitality trade. the devolved government has said it had no option but to take strong action because infections, hospitalisations and deaths have been rising throughout this month. everyone in this part of the uk is hoping this lockdown will be the last. chris page, bbc news, belfast. mainland scotland has moved into its highest level of coronavirus restrictions and, in wales, tough restrictions have been reimposed after yesterday's relaxation of the rules which allowed two households to mix for christmas day only. all but essential shops are closed and people have been told to stay at home to save lives. the new variant, which was first found in the uk in september, carries a genetic fingerprint that makes it easy to track, and it happens to be one that is now common. with france being the latest country on saturday to disclose a case, in the last several days, the world health organization has reported that nine cases have been detected in denmark,

four in spain, one case each in the netherlands, germany, italy and australia. switzerland is also saying the variant is most likely present in the country, and it has been recorded in sweden. japan also confirmed its first five cases, leading it to ban all foregin non—resident nationals from entering the country. meanwhile, researchers say that the virus found in south africa, while having similar properties to the uk variant, has developed independently. millions of americans face going without unemployment benefits after saturday amid a political standoff over a $900 billion coronavirus stimulus package. direct payments of up to $600 per person, eviction protection measures and a paycheck protection programme were all approved by congress on monday, but president trump has refused to sign the bill into law. aaron safir reports. the 60—vote threshold having been achieved, the motion to concur is agreed to. in a year where the deep

divisions in american politics were laid bare... today is a good day. ..monday saw a moment of hope. democrats and republicans passed a $892 billion coronavirus relief bill and funded the federal government until september 2021. the measures are a lifeline to america's battered economy and its millions of struggling people. two unemployment programmes — a $300 weekly federal boost for the jobless until mid—march and direct payments of up to $600 per person. after months of difficult negotiations and compromise, all that's needed now is president trump's signature. mr president, what do you say to those who are waiting for covid aid? but so far, he's refused, saying that he has holding out for bigger direct payments. and while he went to florida for christmas, democrats in washington tried to amend the bill so that most americans would receive $2,000.

republicans countered with proposals to cut the foreign aid bill. it is christmas eve, but it is not a silent night. all is not calm. for too many, nothing is bright and, for too many, they are not sleeping peacefully. president trump returned to the topic on christmas day, tweeting... the bill has even been flown to florida for the president to sign, but he's not budging, and time is running out. the last of the jobless benefits will go out tomorrow to individuals who've been on unemployment for many weeks already and for those who had the eligibility because of the carers act, because of the earlier relief package, so those two groups,

tomorrow's the last day, and the president absolutely has to sign it to get those back on track and all of the rest that's in the relief package. the democrats have promised another attempt at upping the stimulus cheques on monday, meaning republican lawmakers will have to decide whether or not to defy their president. but the wheels of government can move slowly and, even if the president does sign the bill on the weekend, many americans will likely suffer a break in payments of several weeks. aaron safir, bbc news. the former mi6 officer george blake, who became one of the cold war‘s most infamous double agents, has died, according to russian media reports. he was 98. as as a soviet spy, blake handed over information that betrayed at least a0 british agents in eastern europe. our moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg, reports. he had a russian home, a russian wife, even a russian name — giorgi ivanovich.

but george blake was a british intelligence officer who became one of the most notorious double agents of the cold war. he spied for the soviets for nearly a decade. blake had spent three years in captivity in north korea and, by the time he returned to britain in 1953, he was a committed communist. posted to berlin by mi6, he became a kgb mole. he would take the train to the soviet sector, hand over data on western intelligence operations and western agents, and then drink champagne with his kgb handler. maybe 500, 600. agents, you betrayed 500, 600 agents? maybe. blake convinced himself that what he was doing was morally right. i looked upon it like a sort of voluntaryjob. you know, like people... oxfam? something like that.

he was eventuallyjailed in britain for 42 years. he then was able to escape and smuggled to germany and spent the rest of his life in moscow cocking a snook at the brits who had not succeeded in catching him. in 2012, he told a russian tv channel that he had not changed sides because of blackmail or torture. he had offered his services voluntarily. in a message of condolence, president putin described him as courageous, an outstanding professional, adding that his memory it would remain in russian hearts for ever. russia gave him medals and much praise but, to britain, he is the cold war traitor who escaped justice. richard journalist and wrote about

george blake. thank you forjoining us. george blake. thank you forjoining us. wejust george blake. thank you forjoining us. we just heard george blake. thank you forjoining us. wejust heard him saying in his own words he probably betrayed about 500-600 british own words he probably betrayed about 500—600 british agents and described it as being like a voluntaryjob. how would you describe him? he is clearly one of the greatest traitors of the cold war. he had quite a lot of the cold war. he had quite a lot of competition when you think about the cambridge spy ring of philby, burgess, plante the cambridge spy ring of philby, burgess, pla nte and the cambridge spy ring of philby, burgess, plante and mcclane in the 19505, burgess, plante and mcclane in the 1950s, but between 1953, when he came back to korea, to 1960 when he was eventually a must, in his own words, he would photograph with his tiny camera virtually every document that came across his desk in london and berlin, where he was based. so the quantity of material he gave to the quantity of material he gave to the soviets was extraordinary, but

the soviets was extraordinary, but the quality is encapsulated in one of the biggest spy operations of the cold war called the berlin tunnel, which was a big eavesdropping operation conducted by the british and americans to dig a tunnel under the soviet sector in berlin and to eavesdrop on all the telephone conversations at the soviet high command, and blake. the committee that organised this in london when he was an mi6 and a few days after the first paper was drawn up he sat ona the first paper was drawn up he sat on a bus with his soviet controller and handed over all the plans, so this multi—million pound technical operation was betrayed even before the first soil had been dug. he was an absolutely committed ideologue, and he said in his lifetime to in order to betray you first have to belong, i never belonged. tell us more about the motivation and what

drove him, and what led to him actually becoming a spy in the first place. but with the mechanics of that? i think that is a misquote, it may have come from philby. it is very much the same with blake, he had a problem with identity, he was dutch by birth, his mother was a dutch by birth, his mother was a dutch calvinist, his father was an egyptian jewish man, dutch calvinist, his father was an egyptianjewish man, and he worked in the dutch resistance, made a dramatic escape, came to britain to join his family in 1942. so he was dutch and he became british, his father had british citizenship which he inherited, but had a problem with identity and that made it easier for him, when he decided to work with the soviet union, he had no real roots in britain and british identity and it made it easier for him to betray. what impact did that

betrayal actually have on britain in terms of what it came to the?|j think terms of what it came to the?” think you can gauge that by the extraordinary prison sentence he was given in may 1961, he was given a 42 year sentence, the longest criminal justice sentence in british history up justice sentence in british history up until then. and thejudge said, to have committed a crime which is akin to something in war, so the range and scale of what he had done resulted in that sentence, and he had betrayed, he claims, 5—600 agents, that may have been a bit of show for the television interview at the time but certainly many hundreds. he always said he took to his soviet controllers and said, i'm happy to give you the names of all these mi6 agents, but what i don't wa nt these mi6 agents, but what i don't want you to do is to liquidate them,

kill them. no one really believes that. people believe there were casualties. no one has been able to quite quantify the deaths, but scores of agents were betrayed, certainly agents killed, and an enormous amount of damage done to the whole fabric of the british intelligence system. and that 42 year sentence you mentioned was the longest at that time that had ever been imposed on the british courts other than life sentences. but he never actually served it because he escaped in an incredible escape. how embarrassing was that for the british at that time? extraordinarily embarrassing, he was a lwa ys extraordinarily embarrassing, he was always keen to escape and five years and eventually he got together a party of inside and outside the jail at wormwood scrubs. he scaled a 20 foot wall on a ladder made out of knitting needles, hit in safe houses in london for a couple of weeks, and

then with the help of one of his cnd collea g u es then with the help of one of his cnd colleagues and former prison mates jumped into the back of a camper van, settle down a secret compartment and michael randle and his family drew him across europe and ushered him behind the iron curtain to east berlin, so you just have to think of that story of the consequences, it was extraordinarily embarrassing to the british government that one of their most vital and valued prisons... prisoners had managed to get out of the high securityjail prisoners had managed to get out of the high security jail and prisoners had managed to get out of the high securityjail and get his way to moscow. fascinating to talk to you, thank you very much. 6 million people in the east and south—east of england have joined those living under the strictest coronavirus restrictions in tier 4. 40% of the country under the highest

level of restrictions but is only a matter of time before the whole of england goes entertain for? sadly, i think it is. with this new variant that seems to be spreading faster and taking over from all of the other virus types and the pandemic in the uk, the only move is for harsher restrictions. so could those restrictions be in place basically until there is a critical mass of people having received the vaccination? i think that will take a long time. i think we need to use any further restrictions to increase surveillance so we need to get as far as is possible the testing, tracing and isolating working properly. and we also need people to ta ke properly. and we also need people to take seriously the restrictions. this virus variant is like all other viruses we have had to deal with to this pandemic, there have been a lot of variations from the beginning, and they are all the same in terms

of how they are transmitted, so we just have to be very careful in avoiding indoor areas, just have to be very careful in avoiding indoorareas, poorly ventilated areas, and sticking to hands, face in space. how much has this new variant now changed what we are dealing with? i think it has changed because all the indications are that it is spreading more rapidly and it looks like it is more infectious, there's still work to do to fully understand the level of infectivity of this variant but it seems take hold rapidly, and there is this other feature which is disturbing which is it looks like it might be more infectious for children. that doesn't mean that children. that doesn't mean that children will get sick because we know they fortunately don't tend to get ill but they will become transmitters in the way things will happen when schools go back and universities return, we will have to think very seriously over the next few weeks about whether that is in sensible thing to do injanuary.

eating potentially closed a lot longer, and universities?” eating potentially closed a lot longer, and universities? ithink so, testing needs to get sorted out in schools and we need to think about staggered return. i work in a university and is the last thing we wa nt to university and is the last thing we want to do, to stop our students returning, but given where we are at the moment, the number of cases reported every day and the number of deaths we are seeing, the number of hospitalisations, i think there are few choices now and we just need to have more severe restrictions in january while we get our act together and indeed get the vaccine rolled out so that more vulnerable people. —— to the more vulnerable people. —— to the more vulnerable people in our population. scrutiny of the brexit trade agreement with the european union has begun after the full document was published less than a week before it is due to be implemented.

the agreement runs to more than 1,200 pages and will be put to an emergency vote in parliament on wednesday. let's speak now to georgina wright, who's an associate at the institute for government. shejoins me from brussels. the document is a lengthy one so as you go through, and we bear in mind the words of the government's chief brexit negotiator when he said this marks the beginning of a moment of national renewal, what are your thoughts on what you have the? obviously, i am still reading through it because it's an exceptionally long and detailed agreement. i think that is worthy of noting. this is about way more than just trade, there are bits there about energy corporation, how police forces can continue to trade information about criminals, it talks about nuclear cooperation, research corporation, and all of that negotiated and finalised in 11 months in a global pandemic which is

remarkable. and it sounds quite different from what was in prospect before. on what an agreement might look like. zero tariffs, zero quotas, a lot of freedom, lord frost saying no more role for the european court ofjustice, no direct effects of eu law, no alignment, out of the single market and customs union. how different do you think this is compared with where we were heading before under theresa may?” compared with where we were heading before under theresa may? i think thatis before under theresa may? i think that is true although clearly there is the ability for the uk to tie the urge but that will come at a price and you see that throughout the whole of the agreement. there are a lot of things that businesses will need to do now if they want to continue exporting to the eu so they will have to fill in a lot of paperwork, the product they are trying to export needs to meet eu rules, it has been produced and manufactured according to eu rules, they will have to fill in customs

declarations which will be checked along the borders, and of course health and safety checks, and all of that puts delays and extra paperwork and that could be costly and might be something we see that will be passed on to the producer in terms of costs. —— consumer. but if it decides to do things differently the uk has the ability to do that because it is no longer forced to follow eu rules strictly but of course like lots of matches in the deal show how you resolve a dispute and manage that divergence which was and manage that divergence which was a key concern for the eu. so much detail, so many areas are covered, and in the end it is people and businesses or when they are travelling that will be getting to grips with different rules in a matter of days. how does the communication process get rolled out swiftly on this, and is there any leeway where people are getting to grips with potentially not been compliant with no? that is an

excellent question and it was always a key concern. you need to think about businesses, about the preparation they need, particularly given that many businesses have been trying to cope with covid and managing that. government communication will be absolutely essential and i expect that they will ramp up clear guidance on what is expected from businesses if they are looking to export to the eu. at the moment there is still a lot of information that is vague. the text is so legally tense and businesses wa nt to is so legally tense and businesses want to know practical measures about what they will need to do. there's a lot they need to get their heads around. there are reports that eu might be a bit more lenient in the first couple of months of next year, saying if you have filled in your paperwork 90%, that is good enough to get through, but those are just reports at this point is that we will have to see over the next couple of days. we are out of time but thank you very much indeed for

joining us. and thank you for your company. see you soon. storm bella will bring problems to parts of the uk. we still have severe flood warnings in force across england, more rainfall not what we need here. we could total up to an inch of rain in some areas before it heads off towards the continent. coder follows before it heads off towards the continent. coderfollows behind it, showers turning wintry to the north to overnight. a windy night across the board but the winds that we have, the greatest concerns, will target and southern coastal reaches of england and wales may in places cost u p of england and wales may in places cost up to 80 mph, the met office

hasissued cost up to 80 mph, the met office has issued an amber warning. but yellow wind warning means gusts of 50-60 yellow wind warning means gusts of 50—60 mass per hour widely inland across england and wales in the night. storm bella is likely to cause disruption and those winds could bring down power lines in some areas and anyone having to travel, these will be challenging conditions. the front. i dove into the continent quite promptly during sunday morning but as it does so we drag on much colder air behind it. that enables to turn increasingly wintry. sunshine for england and wales come sunday afternoon showers of snow and even on lower ground across wales and northern england increasingly frequent particularly for scotland and northern ireland. temperatures barely above freezing at the north. we may well see another little circulation and low centre developing amongst the big load that is bella as we had to sunday evening, and that could mean

heavy snow for time across western scotland, northern ireland and northern england, significant ice risk if the first thing on monday. the main low centre sits to the south—east of the uk on monday. quite a keen northerly wind towards the west, central and eastern areas it should fall lighter but that low centre means a greater chance of seeing wintry showers across central and eastern areas of england on monday. we are not out of the woods for snowy weather for the south across the uk. it will be a cold day, temperatures 2—4 at best, and that leaves us into the start of what is said to be a cold week ahead.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: millions of people face tougher covid—19 restrictions as a rule changes come into force. as the uk battles with their new strain of coronavirus, now there are confirmed cases in france, spain and sweden. millions of americans face losing unemployment benefits as the stand—off between donald trump and congress over a coronavirus stimulus package continues. and the former mi6 officer and soviet spy george blake has died at the age of 98 in moscow. let's ta ke let's take a look now at how coronavirus affected the world of sport. we've got so much to look forward to in 2020. europe's festival

of football begins.