this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. these are the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. millions in the uk faced tougher covid restrictions of roche just come into force. as the uk grapples with the new strain of coronavirus, there are now confirmed cases in more countries, including france, spain and sweden. some eu countries begin vaccinations against covid—19 a day ahead of the planned, coordinated roll—out across the bloc. us federal agents search a house 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 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. first, 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. 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 restrictions. meanwhile, countries including canada, france, spain and sweden have confirmed their first cases of the coronavirus variant recently identified in the uk. and across the eu, some countries, including germany, slovakia and hungary, have begun vaccinations against covid—19 a day ahead of the planned coordinated roll—out across the bloc. our first report this hour 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 is unusual at this time of the year. it will be nice if it can all come

to an end and we can all be back to normal. 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. i don't like doing online and 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 is all a bit eerie but we have got what we needed and it was nice. the staff all looked a little bit, not as festive, as well, so, yeah, 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 isjust addictive, it is just something that, for your mental health, to keep you sort of balance and a reset from, like,

a busyjob, it is just 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, unfortunately. but 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 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 it's 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 coronavirus 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. meanwhile, germany has administered its first coronavirus vaccine a day earlier than planned, with medics saying they weren't prepared to wait for sunday's coordinated eu roll—out. a ioi—year—old woman from a care home in saxony anhalt 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. the first eu shipments are limited to about 10,000 per country, with mass vaccination programmes not expected to start untiljanuary. earlier, the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, hailed the roll—out, calling it a touching moment of unity. as we've been reporting, candidate is the newest country to report

cases of the newest —— canada. jason is assistant professor of viruses at the university of manitoba in canada and asked him how he felt about new strain. i live in a state of worry because of the nature that i do, but at the way they have generated these vaccines, . .. at the way they have generated these vaccines,... the hope essentially is you have mutations that you will, you have mutations that you will, you have mutations that you will, you have the antibodies that develop a get the entirety of the protein rather just a simple a get the entirety of the protein ratherjust a simple region, so i think you're seeing a lot of people seven back and say, listen, we think there's gonna be a benefit, but we need the data to validate that. and one of the other factors people discusses the impact on severity of disease. could this have something to do with the age groups that it has been detected in and that is the under 60s? certainly, when we see

the transmission rates, it starts to give a little of the question whether the transmission is purely because we see this age groups avoiding social dissing measures more frequently. we do not have data, until we have that data in hand, we need to focus on things most important, and that is... professor, very quickly and finally, i was looking through 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 are talking about mutations, there has been concerns raised about the virus going back to an animal host. it has happened in the mixed population in denmark and the netherlands, where the new variant was re—detected back

in humans —— mink population. how concern is this shallow is always concerning when we deal with united viruses. —— zoonotic. we need to consider that fact in the back of the data and trainers that we can about transmission before it is too late. —— and try and understand what we can. storm bella has brought heavy rain and winds of more than 80 miles an hour to large parts of the uk. official forecasters have issued warnings for parts of england, wales, northern ireland and southern scotland, with coastal areas expected to be worst hit. more than 1,000 people in bedfordshire have already been advised to leave their homes due to flooding. the bbc‘s anisa kadri reports. a rise in the river levels here caused rising anxiety. 1,300 households were told to evacuate. police said the flooding situation overrides the requirement to stay in your own home, according to tier 4 coronavirus restrictions.

we've ended up doing what we've kind of done in the past few years anyway, so oddly enough, it has ended up being a more sociable christmas than we were planning on. debbie ward had police turn up at the door late on christmas eve telling her she should evacuate, but she chose not to. you worry, you panic, you know, it was rising quite fast and has come up but luckily, it has not reached the top of our step and coming in the house. bedford international athletics stadium was one of the emergency assistance centres set up for people who had nowhere else to go. we have had all of the measures in place to protect people from the spread of the virus. it was christmas day yesterday, boxing day today, obviously. and our hearts just go out to people that have now, with all that going on, have now had some of the highest level floods for over 20 years thrown at them.

here in bedford town centre, the levels of the river great ouse peaked in the early hours of this morning. it is now, the authorities say, receding. more rain is expected, as different parts of the country prepare for storm bella. anisa kadri, bbc news. authorities have searched a house in the nashville area on saturday as they investigated a large blast that ripped through the downtown area of the southern us city on christmas morning. the operation in the antioch neighbourhood came as us media reports sent a 63—year—old person of interest had been identified in connection with the explosion. the blast came from a parked motorhome that had broadcast a warning minutes before it blew up. no deaths have been confirmed, but authorities were examining tissue found at the blast site that they believe could be human remains. 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 was smuggled to east germany and spent the rest of his life in moscow cocking a snook at the brits who had not succeeded in keeping 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 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. let's ta ke let's take you through the latest headline here on bbc news. millions of people in the uk face tougher covid restrictions as rule changes come into force. as the uk grapples with the new strain of coronavirus, there are now confirmed cases in more countries including france, spain and sweden. some eu countries begin vaccinations against covid—19 a day ahead of the planned coordinated roll—out across the bloc. 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 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 will be dissecting 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 divert from where it once, but it will come at a price and we've seen that through the agreement. there's a lot of things that businesses in great britain will have 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 those rules. they will have to fill in custom decorations which will be checked along the borders and there may be some health and safety checks as well. all of those delays and extra paperwork will be costly and it might be something we see producers 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 many measures in the deal, how do you resolve the dispute, how do you manage that divergence, which was a key concern for the eu. that was georgina wright there. 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 has helped control the spread of covid—19. but there's now a brutal winter wave. our 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. officials 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 bicker, bbc news, seoul. in iran, at least eight climbers have died in mountains to the north of tehran following a blizzard. the red crescent in the area has had 20 search and rescue teams out on the mountains, looking for other climbers who are still missing. heavy snow and strong winds in the past few days have forced many roads to close in several parts of iran. at least two security personnel have been killed in a series

of explosions in the afghan capital kabul. officials said there were four blasts within the space of three hours. they damaged houses, shops and vehicles nearby. kabul has witnessed several bomb and rocket attacks in recent weeks targeting security forces, politicians, journalists and activists. the chair of the afghanistan indepedent human rights commission, shaharzad akbar, gave us a sense of life under daily violence in kabul. kabul has been really violent, and across afghanistan, there has been a wave of targeted killings, normally targeting journalists, activists, human rights defenders. names, people are familiar with. people who aren't very powerful or have a lot of security, but people who are familiar to afghans because they stand up for rights and freedoms. they're being targeted mercilessly.

last week, we lost a prominent activist who worked on elections and a week before, we lost someone leaving their house. and in kabul, almost every morning starts with news of explosions and attacks on vehicles. the impact is a widespread fear. activists, journalists are either leaving their provinces or, if they can, trying to leave afghanistan. the impact is widespread because these people speak for society and when they decide to leave or when they decide to self—censure, then you have less of a debate about the peace process and the future of afghanistan. so the impact, we can feel the impact on the civic space as a whole, notjust on the individual activists and their families. that was shaharzad akbar there. we tend to think of the fast food restaurant as a 20th—century invention, but it seems the ancient romans were fond of a takeaway too.

archaeologists in pompeii have made the extraordinary discovery of a hot food and drinks shop from around 2000 years ago. though 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. translation: 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. translation: 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. wonderful. we are going to stay with the animal theme now. now before we go, a rags to riches tale for a cat, who went from imminent death to becoming an honourary deputy minister. it sounds like a miracle, but it's true for this feline, who experienced a lucky escape from a russian waste center near moscow. if you look at the man on the right side of the conveyor belt, cutting open a plastic bag, only to find a black cat. the cat has since been adopted by the local region's environment ministry. living the good life now and

unofficially being given the position of deputy environment minister. black cats are lucky cats! stay with us on bbc. hello. after a night of wind and rain, sunday won't be as windy. there will be showers around but also sunshine, too. but right now, it's still very wet and very windy out there for some of us. from this area of low pressure, storm bella as named by the met office to raise awareness of the impacts from the wind and rain but notjust that. in areas that have seen the back of the rain and the strongest winds overnight, the colder air moving — and for some of us in scotland and northern ireland, icy and a few wintry showers around to start the day. damaging winds from storm bella could cause some disruption, particularly into parts of england and wales and there will be more heavy rain in areas already seeing some flooding. so, that's not going to help. the greatest chance of disruption from the wind will be in the areas where the met office has an amber

warning in force, the potential of some gusts up to 80 mph or so, slowly easing as we go on through sunday morning. once this overnight rain will have cleared away, clearing around mid—morning from the east of kent. you can see it's a colder start the day, particularly across scotland and northern ireland, where it will icy in places, potentially parts of northern england. we have these wintry showers moving in. some snow, mainly on hills, but perhaps not exclusively on hills. it's the west that sees most of sunday's showers. it is sunnier and drier the further east you are. it is still windy. these are wind gusts, but we're talking around 30—110 mph, just a little higher around some coasts in the west. and it is going to be a cold day, temperatures in scotland just hovering close to freezing during the day, and a longer spell of snow pushing across parts of scotland, northern ireland, northern england, north wales overnight sunday into monday — notjust on hills, that snow. a few centimetres to lower levels in some spots, too. and even where you don't get that, it could be icy, frosty as monday starts. so, a cold start to monday.

the area of low pressure right across us. if you are close to that, you can expect some cloud. and around that, there will be some bands of rain, sleet, and snow around on monday morning. so, there could be some problems from that. it could well be the further away you are from that low pressure system in scotland and northern ireland by the afternoon, the greater chance for you to see a bit of sunshine. but it's cold, and it's a cold week to come. but a reminderfrom storm bella — damaging winds potentially and also further flooding. there are weather and flood warnings. keep up—to—date online.

this is bbc news. the headlines.

millions of people in the uk face tougher covid restrictions as rule changes come into force. as the new strain of coronavirus is discovered in more european countries, canada confirms its first cases. some eu countries begin vaccinations against covid—19 a day ahead of the planned coordinated roll—out across the bloc. us federal agents are searching a house on the outskirts of nashville as part of their investigation into the christmas day explosion in the city. hello and welcome to our look ahead to what the papers will be bringing us tomorrow. with me are the political commentatorjo phillips and the political editor

the sunday mirror and the sunday