this is bbc news. i am lukwesa burak. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. millions of people in the uk face tougher covid restrictions, as rule changes come into force. and canada confirms its first cases. some eu countries begin vaccinations against covid—19, one day ahead of the planned co—ordinated rollout across the bloc. us federal agents searched the house on the outskirts of nashville as pa rt on the outskirts of nashville as part of their investigation into the christmas day explosion in the city. former mi6 officer and soviet spy george blake has died, aged 98, in moscow. a fast—food joint, roman—style — archaeologists unearth

an ancient takeaway restaurant in pompeii. hello and welcome, if you're watching in the uk or around the world. six million people in the east and south east of england have joined those living under the strictest coronavirus restrictions, in tier 4. around 2a million people in england — more than 40% of the population — are now living under the toughest measures, which mean the closure of all non—essential shops, as well as hairdressers, swimming pools and gyms. and a national lockdown has begun in northern ireland,

and strict measures have been reimposed in wales, after being eased for christmas. all of mainland scotland has moved into the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions, tier 4, with the rest of scotland in tier 3. meanwhile, countries including canada, france, spain and sweden have confirmed their first cases of the coronavirus variant recently identified in the uk. across the eu, some countries including germany, slovakia and hungary have begun vaccinations against covid—19, that is a day ahead of the planned coordinated roll—out across the bloc. ourfirst report this hour is on the millions entering this tough 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. it'd be nice if it could all come to an end and we could all be back to normal. but elsewhere, there is a familiar look to boxing day. the prime minister warned people to think carefully a nd minister warned people to think carefully and avoid sales crowds. in leeds, still in tier 3, the prospect ofa bargain leeds, still in tier 3, the prospect of a bargain to some people out. i always go to the sales on boxing day for the 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 go and sit and have a coffee somewhere, or perhaps a glass of wine. i think it's a lot quieter than we were expecting, it's all a bit eerie, but we've got what we needed and it was nice, but the staff all looked a little bit not as festive as well. so, yeah, it's definitely 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. well, as we've been hearing, in northern ireland, a six—week lockdown has begun, with non—essential 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 that everybody stays safe. had to happen, unfortunately. but, yeah, we just have to do it. i think it's ok. the lockdown‘s in place from today until early—february. and for the first week, the rules will be more strict. shops which sell essential items, like supermarkets, will have to shut at 8pm. between that time and 6am, members of different households can't meet up anywhere for social reasons, inside or outside. police have been given extra powers to enforce the stay—at—home message. pubs and restaurants have been hit particularly hard, at what's usually a popular time of year to eat out. i that know that the health of people is paramount and the protection of the nhs, but we were given very,

very short notice on some of the lockdowns. and basically, 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 uk government has

released its latest figures, citing partial data. 34,693 confirmed cases were recorded in the past 2a hours. a further 210 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for covid—i9, taking the total number of deaths to 70,405. germany has administered its first coronavirus vaccine — a day earlier than planned — with medics saying they were not prepared to wait for sunday's coordinated eu roll—out. a ioi—year—old woman from a care home in saxony was the first german to receive the pfizer/biontech vaccine. other eu countries are also not waiting for sunday, with slovakia and hungary beginning their roll—outs today as well. the first eu shipments are limited to about 10,000 per country, with mass vaccination programmes not expected to start untiljanuary. the president of the eu commission, ursula von der leyen, hailed the roll—out, calling it "a touching moment of unity". as we've heard, canada is the latest country to report cases of the new variant of coronavirus.

we can speak now to jason kindrachuk, assistant professor of emerging viruses, at the university of manitoba, in canada. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. so, the first cases have now been identified in canada. does this come as a surprise? no, it was no surprise these cases have shown up. they have been watching the data. i think we need that this new variant was there from the uk data and there have been sequencing data particularly in america. so i think we all knew it was a matter of time. but now is the time to think about the fact that at the end of the day, the fact that at the end of the day, the transmission rates are still the same, wejust the transmission rates are still the same, we just have to the transmission rates are still the same, wejust have to be more stringent in what we do on a daily basis. it is interesting you mention the sequencing. the uk has been hailed for having very good

sequencing technology. when you look at the figures and what they are telling us, there is a time delay considering how long it takes to sequence considering how long it takes to sequence them and analysis. ijust wa nt to sequence them and analysis. ijust want to know, is each test for covid—i9 a test for the new variant? and if not, does that imply this new variant has been spreading around the world for weeks undetected?” think we are going to see it is spreading for quite a while. certainly in the uk, this variant has been spreading for a few months. so the likelihood is the more we look for it, the more we are going to find it. a lot of people have been talking about the effectiveness of the vaccines currently being rolled out. i understand that this new variant is based on multiple spike protein mutations. now, the vaccines being used are also based on the spike protein sequences. should we be worried? yes, it is an

interesting question, right? at the end of the day, we can't live in a perpetual state of worry because of —— i live in a perpetual state of worry because of the week we do but if we look at the way we have produced the two vaccines, they use the higher spike protein itself so the higher spike protein itself so the hope is if you have a few mutations that show up, you still have the antibodies rather than... i think you are seeing a lot of people stepping back and saying we think there will still be a benefit. we can certainly see the data to validate that. one other factor people discuss is the impact on the severity of disease, could this have something to do with the age groups it has been detected in and that is the over—60s? it has been detected in and that is the over-60s? yes, we certainly see the over-60s? yes, we certainly see the transmission rates which give us a question as to whether or not the

transmission of those age groups is because we see those age groups avoiding physical distancing much more frequently. so far, we have no data to suggest that and i think we need to again consider that factor. from an infection control standpoint, we don't have data to suggest that and until we have that at hand, we just need to really focus on the things that are most important and try to limit the amount of spread we initiate. in our communities. quickly and finally, professor, i was looking for the european cdc document and one of the discussion points was the origins of the new variant. as a general question, i am the new variant. as a general question, iam not the new variant. as a general question, i am not talking about this particular variant, when we talk about mutations, there has been concerns raised about the virus going back to an animal host. now,

it has happened in the minke population in denmark and the netherlands, where the new variant was re—detected back in humans, how concerning is this? it is always concerning is this? it is always concerning when we deal with these viruses. the spread of movement back into the wildlife from the standpoint of conservation should a lwa ys standpoint of conservation should always have is concerned, it is not just about us, it is us living in the community and of animals and we need to look at that and look back at the data and understand what we can about transmission before it is too late. professorjason kindrachuk, thank you very much indeed, thank you. thank you. us officials say they are investigating more than 500 leads in the camper van blast in nashville, in tennessee, on christmas day. the explosion injured three people and damaged dozens of buildings. the van had been broadcasting a warning that a blast was imminent.

no motive has yet been established for the explosion. local businesses have offered more than $300,000 to catch those responsible. federal agents have been searching a home ina federal agents have been searching a home in a neighbourhood in nashville and the search team apparently entered the residence and cleared the home around half past two in the afternoon local time. fbi personnel at the scene say that the bomb squad confirms that no one was inside and an evidence team entered the residence around that time to conduct a search. speaking at a news conference, fbi special agent doug korenski said that authorities are trying to find the reason behind this deliberate explosion. we have no indication of additional explosive threats. no other explosive devices were discovered during the area, during our secondary sweep yesterday. we can't confirm any individuals,

or anybody we have identified again, as we've mentioned. we have over 500 investigative leads and we're following up on every one of those. so, there are a number of individuals that we're looking at. so, at this point, we're not prepared to identify any single individual. 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 a soviet spy, blake handed over information that betrayed at least a0 british agents in eastern europe. 0ur moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg, reports. he had a russian home, a russian wife, even a russian name — georgy 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. 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. i don't know, but maybe 500, 600. agents? yes. 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... 0xfam? yes, something like that, yes. he was eventuallyjailed in britain for 42 years. he then was able to escape and was smuggled to east germany, and then spent the rest of his life in moscow, cocking a snook at the brits who had succeeded in catching him, but failed to keep him. in 2012, he told a russian tv

channel that he hadn't changed sides because of blackmail or torture, he'd offered his services voluntarily. in a message of condolence, president putin described him as "courageous, an outstanding professional", adding that his memory would remain in russian hearts forever. russia gave him medals and much praise but, to britain, he is the cold war traitor who escaped justice. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. roger hermiston is an author and journalist and wrote a book about george blake called ‘the greatest traitor: the secret lives of agent george blake'. he had this assessment. well, he's clearly one of the greatest traitors of the cold war. he had quite a lot of competition, when you think about the cambridge spy ring of philby, burgess, blunt and mcclane in the 1950s. but between about 1953, when he came back from korea, until 1960 when he was

eventually unmasked, basically, in his own words, he would photograph with his little camera virtually every document that came across his desk both in london and in berlin, where he was based. so, the quantity of material he gave to the soviets was extraordinary. but the quality is encapsulated in one of the biggest spy operations of the cold war called the berlin tunnel — 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 of the soviet high command. and blake was on the committee that organised this in london when he was with mi6, and then a few days after the first paper was drawn up, he went and sat on a bus with his soviet control and handed over the plans. so, this multi—million pound technical operation was betrayed even really before the first soil

had been dug. the latest headlines on bbc news: millions of people in the uk face tougher covid restrictions, as rule changes come into force. tougher covid restrictions, as tougher covid restrictions, the new strain of corona discovered as the new strain of coronavirus is discovered in more european countries, canada confirms its first cases. the uk's new trade deal with the eu marks "the beginning of a moment of national renewal", boris johnson's chief brexit negotiator has said. lord frost said that there is no direct effects of eu law and no alignment of any kind. but under the terms of the deal, if either party acts in a way the other views as anti—competitive, they can take remedial action. pro—brexit lawyers are set to dissect the contents of the agreement between now and pa rliament‘s recall on wednesday. georgina wright is an associate at the institute for government. she explained some of the main

points of the document. clearly, there is the ability now for the uk to diverge when it wants, but that will come at a price and you see that throughout the agreement. there's a lot of things that businesses in great britain will need to do if they wish to continue exporting to the eu. they will have to fill in a lot of paperwork to prove, for example, that the product they are trying to export meets eu rules and has been produced and manufactured according to eu rules. they will have to fill in customs declarations, which will be checked on the borders, and there may be some health and safety checks as well. and all those delays and extra paperwork will be costly and it might be something that we see producersjust passing on in terms of cost to the consumer. but you're right, the uk, if it decides to do things differently, it now has the ability to do that because it's no longer forced to follow eu rules strictly. but like lots of measures

in the deal that show, how do you resolve a dispute, how do you manage that divergence? which, of course, was a key concern for the eu. south korea is facing one of its toughest weeks yet in the fight against coronavirus. the country was held up as a global model for its test, track and trace measures, which have helped control the spread of covid—19, but there's now a brutal winter wave. 0ur correspondent laura bicker looks back on the country's early success and its current battle. for the first time this year, seoul is facing a crisis in critical care. beds in the south korean capital are scarce, after a winter wave of covid—19. testing has been stepped up. south korea was one of the first to mass—test for the virus — one of its strategies to avoid a lockdown.

the number of contact tracers has also increased, as case numbers soar to around 1,000 a day. 0fficials use phone and credit card data to track down potentially infected patients. it prompted fears that privacy was yet another victim of this pandemic. translation: it's not that koreans are more submissive, but the social consensus that i will sacrifice a small part to protect my community that led people to follow government policies. there is one place in south korea where this frantic race to control the infection feels familiar. in february, daegu was a city under siege. doctors were treating over 6,000 people for covid—19. how are you coping? oh, yeah... we have to overcome this situation. there are only a handful of

coronavirus patients in daegu now. how are you? good. it's been a long time! dr cho is back working as a surgeon and feels confident enough to shake my hand. what will you think about the pandemic and your part in it? we can manage, successfully, overcome the covid—19. i told you before. we can do that. yeah, yeah, we can do that. i'm very proud of that. images of scarred daegu nurses filled korean papers, but they too are back on their own wards. translation: if another pandemic hits us again, i know i would not hesitate to carry my share, because i am a nurse. south korea has managed to live with this virus and appears

determined to avoid countrywide closures, but this third wave — fuelled, in part, by complacency and over—confidence — is testing that strategy like never before. laura like never before. bicker, bbc news, seoul. now, we tend to think of fast—food restaurants as a 21st—century invention, but it seems the romans were fond of a takeaway too. archaeologists in pompeii have made the extraordinary find of a hot food and drinks shop that served up the ancient equivalent of street food to passersby from thousands of years ago. it will be open to the public next year, but don't expect to be served any food. rachel stanton reports. at first glance, this may look like a building site, but it is so much more than that. archaeologists have been hard at work in pompeii. the discovery of an l—shaped

thermopolium — a sort of ancient fast—food counter from thousands of years ago — is welcome news. partially unearthed in 2019, work was extended to preserve the site. translation: the possibilities are now extraordinary because it's the first time we're excavating an entire thermopolium, and we can carry out different types of analysis, thanks to new technologies. the containers are being analysed and cleaned by an interdisciplinary team. brightly—coloured paintings of animals are still intact after all these years, with upside—down ducks, a chicken and a dog on display. and terracotta jars also led to a surprise. fragments of duck bone and remains of pork, goat, fish and snails were recovered. the discovery could lead to information on cooking and eating habits from the time of the eruption of vesuvius in 79ad. now we can start the analysis of the material inside the containers to know their content. what type of food was sold,

and what passers—by in pompeii could buy. truly extraordinary evidence of the mediterranean diet. human bones were also found, belonging to those caught up in the volcanic eruption. there was someone inside the room. a victim, whose bones were found in the excavation. unfortunately, the skeleton is not intact, because the thermopolium had already been partially looted in the past. the site is set to open to the public from easter, 2021. with this year having been like no other due to the coronavirus pandemic, the unearthing of this site offers some light relief, as well as vital clues to the past. rachel stanton, bbc news. what a fascinating find! you are watching bbc news, plenty more coming up shortly, don't go away.

hello. storm bella is upon us, bringing some very wet and windy weather, southwards across the uk. this area of low pressure, named to raise awareness of the impacts from the rain and wind, with england and wales bearing the brunt as we go through the night. behind it, turning colder in scotland, northern ireland and northern england, the chance of icy patches and increasingly wintry showers as well. so, from storm bella, damaging gusts of wind, with the heavy rain bringing further flooding to areas already dealing with flooding overnight and into the first part of sunday. snow for some and icy conditions to follow. the strongest winds likely to be where the met office has an amber warning in force over the coast

and hills of southern england, south and west wales, up to 80 mph. potentially damaging, certainly disruptive gusts of wind. the heaviest rain moving south overnight over england and wales. elsewhere, gusts of 50—60 mph. so, the rain bringing a risk of further flooding, and in that colder air following it, icy, and turning wintry into the hills. on sunday, behind the band of rain, the strong wind clearing the far south—east of england quickly in the morning. then it's sunshine and showers, very few reaching the east of england or scotland, but across the west, these showers of rain, sleet, snow and hail, and prolonged snow in north—west scotland in the afternoon. not as windy as it will be overnight, but gusty winds making it feel even colder. temperatures in scotland close to freezing during the day. it is scotland, northern ireland, northern england and north wales may see some snow to quite low levels, bringing a few centimetres in places, turning it icy on sunday

night into monday morning. on monday, low—pressure right across us and we expect from that some areas of rain, sleet, and cold enough for some snow, notjust on hills. some uncertainty about where it's going to be sitting on monday, so keep checking the forecast. but certainly cold on monday. starting a cold week. back to storm bella, though, impacts from the wind, rain, snow and ice to follow. flood and weather warnings are in force. check out the details on our website.

this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak.

these are the latest headlines. millions of people in the uk face tougher covid restrictions, as rule changes come into force. as the new strain of the coronavirus is confirmed in canada. some eu countries begin vaccinations against covid—19, one day ahead of the planned co—ordinated rollout across the bloc. us federal agents searched the house on the outskirts of nashville as part of their investigation into the christmas day explosion in the city. in around 15 minutes, viewers on bbc one willjoin us for a round up of the news with clive myrie. and at 11.30, we'll have a full paper review but let's have a quick look at some of the front pages... senior conservative mps are concerned about plans to rush boris johnson's christmassy brexit deal through parliament before the year's end, so says at the observer.