tonight at ten, the number of patients being treated for covid in england's hospitals is now higher than it was at the previous the than it was at the previous uk reports a record 40, infections the uk reports a record 40,000 new infections in the past 24 hours. doctors say some services are stretched to the limit. we see patients coming in with covid symptoms but others with other problems to turn out to be covid positive and, between that, there is a great deal of difficulty getting those patients through into the wards. after president trump signs a coronavirus relief bill, democrats in the house of representatives are trying to increase the pay—out to americans. a chinese journalist who reported on the early days of the pandemic has been sentenced to four

yea rs pandemic has been sentenced to four years injail for top also, a major study of the atla ntic for top also, a major study of the atlantic ocean at discovered species previously unknown to science. hello and welcome. there have been a record number of cases of coronavirus in the uk over the past 24 hours. the figure, more than 41,000, may include cases not recorded over the christmas period, but this underlines the worsening situation, is a new more infectious variant of the virus appears to be gaining ground. there was a stark message today

from this east london hospital. nurses and doctors are incredibly stretched caring for very sick patients. no one should underestimate the impact the infection can have. 0ne hospital in east london has declared an internal incident. the queen elizabeth hospital in greenwich said it was working with health partners and patients were getting the care they needed. elsewhere, patient numbers continue to rise, with the variant of the virus that initially in south—east england spreading more rapidly. a&e departments reported intense pressure. i was on on christmas day and it was wall to wall covid so we see patients who are coming in who have covid symptoms but we also see other patients coming in with other problems who turn out to be covid positive and between that there is a great deal of difficulty getting those patients through into the wards. the medical director at one big hospital trust spelt out what they were facing. things have been really challenging over the last few days. i suppose the best illustration for that is on christmas eve we had

about 170 patients with covid across our hospital sites and today we have around 242 so a very large increase has occurred over the last few days. the number of covid patients in hospitals in england reached a peak in the first wave of nearly 19,000 in april. then it fell away during the summer before picking up again from september and it is now only just short of that previous peak. -- it is —— it is now above the level of the previous peak. so what does that mean in practice? hospitals need more beds for covid patients and in some cases are moving staff from other areas to care for them. already some less urgent work is being cancelled. health leaders say the postponement of more routine operations and procedures will become more widespread. sadly, it is inevitable that the infections rise and the admissions rise but actually we see disruption to all services. we are desperate, our members are desperate to keep that disruption as low as possible but unfortunately, some of our elective and planned

services will be disrupted, both in hospitals and in other settings as well. doctors in scotland have warned that their health system is severely stretched and are concerned that the limited household mixing on christmas day will have spread infections. inevitably, there will be a cost for this. one of the things we are particular concerns about here in scotland is that the new year festivities will shortly be upon us. of course, there is no relaxation for those festivities and it is extremely important that households don't mix. an official at public health wales has said that health services are under enormous pressure in an incredibly challenging situation. a significant proportion of the nhs workforce in wales is said to be off sick — a familiar story in other parts of the uk. hugh pym, bbc news.

in washington, members of the house of representatives are getting back to work after president trump finally signed a long—awaited coronavirus relief bill. markets rose on the news, following days of uncertainty as mr trump threatened to block it. let's remind ourselves what's in the us coronavirus relief bill. the relief package approved by congress and now the president is worth over 900 billion dollars. it includes a payment of 600 dollars to americans earning less than 75 thousand dollars a year. mr trump said he wanted americans to receive more then three times that. about 14 million americans faced a lapse in unemployment benefit payments — they will now be restored. now in a new twist, democrats in the us congress are trying to increase the relief payments to 2 thousand dollars — which puts them in rare alignment with donald trump. speaker nancy pelosi has just said she believes the house will pass a bill to that end today — however it's unlikely the republican

controlled senate will concur. taylor griffin is a republican strategist who worked in the white house under president george w bush — i asked him about republican reactions to president trump's attempt to derail the bill. it was a big surprise. these are provisions that the president's own negotiators and republicans, especially in the senate, had been opposing all along because of the high price tag of a $2000 check. president trump did not raise objections at the time of the $600 check, so it was surprising, after the bill was passed, and the president's advisers and cabinet members were celebrating it as a huge triumph, that president trump turned around and said, no, he was opposed to it and was going to veto it. it's hard to reach donald trump's mind, but what do you think was behind it? on the surface, i think president trump is asserting

himself as a populist. that is ultimately what got him into office in the first place. donald trump is more of a populist than a republican ora more of a populist than a republican or a conservative. he wants to be the guy handing out the checks. if you remember, the last time we had cheques that went out, president trump was insisting that he himself assigned them, rather than the secretary of the treasury and the control of the currency as is normally done. also, on a tactical level, president trump wants congress to be his last resort to try to litigate his case that the election should be overturned. i think that's highly unlikely. there isn't a lot of appetite for that in congress, but i think maybe he saw this as a tactical way that he could hold up the covid bill in exchange for some concessions there, and we did see that, with him claiming there would be some considerations for what he sees as election fraud.

people will argue with that from congress, and i don't know that anything much will come from that. there is also a personal flavour to this. this comes pretty soon after you have the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, republican, recognising joe biden as the president—elect of the united states, and making it very clear, and a number of members of congress made it very clear, that they were not interested in re—litigating the election in the congress and, as a result, i think trump was fairly infuriated. we are running out of time, buti infuriated. we are running out of time, but i want to ask you very briefly, how much of a political heavyweight do you think donald trump continues to be after the 20th of january? trump continues to be after the 20th ofjanuary? i think it is donald trump's republican party. most republicans think he has done a very

good job for top if the party is going to move on without donald trump, it's going to have to significantly realign itself and, as a result, ithink significantly realign itself and, as a result, i think trump will continue to be a force in republican politics for many years. with just over three weeks until he takes over at the white house, the us president electjoe biden has complained that his team is not getting the co—operation it needs from the outgoing trump administration. he says that many national security agencies have been damaged and hollowed out during donald trump's time in office. my team needs a clear picture of our force posture around the world and our operations to deter enemies. we need full visibility and, with the budget planning under way, through the defence department and other agencies, in order to avoid any wind of confusion or catch up that our adversaries might try and exploit. i said from the beginning that we have encountered roadblocks from the political leadership of the department of defence and the office of management and budget.

right now, we are not getting the information that we need for the outgoing administration in key national security areas in my view, it is nothing short of irresponsibility. let's look at some of the day's other news. on monday, the health ministry in spain announced the country's death toll from covid—19 has topped 50,000. spain has been hit hard by the second wave of the virus, and introduced a 6—month ‘state of emergency‘ in october. all 27 european union member states are embarking upon a mass vaccination programme. a total of 446 million people will need to be vaccinated across the continent. these pictures are from belgium, where residents of care homes were among the first to receive the vaccine. ajudge in the united states has denied bail to ghislaine maxwell, saying she might be a flight risk.

the british socialite is accused of helping the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epsteen groom young girls. she has beenjailed since her arrest injuly, and had proposed a 28 million dollar bail package, which included electronic monitoring. south africa has announced it's tightening covid restrictions to try to contain a surge in infections. president cyril ramaphosa has warned that hospitals are close to capacity as a new more infectious strain of the virus appears to be well established throughout the country. the adjusted level three regulations will make every individual, meaning everyone, responsible legally for wearing a mask in public. from now on, it is compulsory for every person to wear a mask in a public space.

they are severely under strain, particularly in two provinces, where hospitals are at full capacity, some by up to 140%. it's notjust covid patients that are filling up those beds, but also trauma cases, which are fuelled by crime and alcohol and road traffic accidents. the sale of alcohol will be banned with immediate effect in south africa until the middle ofjanuary next year. and that's happened before, hasn't it? indeed, and it really helped to free up beds that were much needed by covid—19 patients when the pandemic was first announced in march here in south africa. the news has been widely accepted by many south africans, who are obviously shocked that the country has reached 1 million covid—19 cases, south africa being the hardest—hit on the african continent. have south africans done more to keep their distance over the

christmas period? if you look at the fact that, since christmas eve, 50,000 cases were reported, it means that there have been a lot of people who have not been complying with these covid—19 restrictions, and that there have been a lot of gatherings, where people have not been keeping a safe social distance, have not been wearing masks, have been partying, which is what the president has been worried about. when people have consumed alcohol, there is a lack ofjudgment in ensuring that they comply with lockdown regulations. briefly, what about schools? our children still planning to go back to school? indeed, the president has not said anything about schools being shut down or opening. we do know that schools in south africa are only expected to open on the 27th of january.

there is an expectation that the president will perhaps make another announcement around the 15th or 16th ofjanuary to announce whether schools are going to be reopened, and that will be helped by when they have a look at whether or not these infections are going up or they are going to be sustained and go down a bit. the world health organization has said that countries should not be punished for transparently sharing their new scientific findings on covid 19. this comes after a chinese citizen—journalist who reported on the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic in wuhan was sentenced to 4 years in jail. 0ur china correspondent, stephen mcdonell, reports from beijing. tense scenes preceded zhang zhan‘s brief court appearance in shanghai. access to the hearing was prohibited forjournalists, and members of the general

public, including her friends. translation: i feel extremely sad. how long can this country, these people, this tragedy, carry on for? in february this year, zhang zhan travelled to wuhan to report on the, at times chaotic, early stages of the coronavirus outbreak. blending activism with journalism, she focused on the failings of the government's response to the pandemic. officers shout. it wasn't the first time she had come into conflict with authorities and she knew it was potentially risky. she has now been sentenced to four years in prison for picking quarrels and provoking trouble. a crime often used to silence dissidents in china. lawyers say they are worried she will now resume a hunger strike behind bars. translation: after we left the courtroom we

saw her mother, she was crying uncontrollably. she is such a determined person. she believes she is innocent. she is probably more determined than ever to continue her hunger strike. i am worried about her health, her life. the chinese government has been pushing the line that here, unlike so many other countries, the coronavirus has been brought under control. and it certainly does have a good story to tell in this regard. but it doesn't mean all its responses have been without problems, especially in the beginning. so, perhaps because of this, the communist party has decided to silence the likes of zhang zhan and her harsh sentence is to serve as a lesson for all. stephen mcdonell, bbc news, beijing. ten of 12 hong kong activists arrested attempting to flee to taiwan by speedboat have gone on trial in mainland china. the activists left hong kong following the introduction of a new,

wide—ranging, national security law. danny vincent reports. in a small room on the kowloon side of hong kong, the family members of the detained await news from the mainland chinese court with bated breath. they have hidden their identities in fear of reprisals. their demand is to bring back 12 protesters detained in mainland china, attempting to flee to taiwan. it's unknown when they will hear a verdict. across the border in shenzhen, the trial of the young activists began today. critics say that the mainland chinese legal system is opaque, secretive and arbitrary. family members were not allowed to attend the hearing. neither were these foreign diplomats. the fate of the young protesters will be decided behind closed doors. beatrice lee's brother, andy lee, is one of the 12 detained.

he could face life in prison for being in violation of the national security law. it's not about being fair and transparent, it's about silencing people the regime doesn't like. and we in hong kong, we know too many of such cases happening in china, so we don't want our legal system to merge with them. the chinese government has spoken out against criticism from abroad. translation: china urges the us to abide by the international law and basic norms of international relations, and stop taking over the hong kong issue and interfering in china's internal affairs, and immediately stop meddling in china's judicial sovereignty. in august, 12 activists attempted to leave the city, fearing that they would no longer face a fair trial. they fled by speedboat, only to be caught by chinese mainland police.

two of the 12 were under 18. it's been more than 120 days since these activists were arrested at sea. their family members say their detention has been surrounded in secrecy. to many hong kongers, this trial represents and anxieties brought about by the introduction of the new national security law. this case, to many, highlights the differences between hong kong and mainland china's legal systems. there is a fear here that the systems are increasingly merging into one. danny vincent, bbc news, hong kong. a prominent saudi human rights activist who campaigned for rwomen to be allowed to drive cars, has been sentenced to 6 years injail on charges of spying and conspiracy.

lujain al—hadulun was arrested in 2018 with dozens of other female activists. she's already spent nearly 3 years in a maximum security prison. the saudi authorities insist that her detention has nothing to do with her driving campaign. a major study of the atlantic ocean has discovered species previously unknown to science. the project used remote—controlled deep—sea robots to reveal the ocean and its hidden ecosystems in unprecedented detail. it also showed how life in the deep is being threatened by climate change. victoria gill reports. an ocean that covers one fifth of the earth's surface and, from populous industrial coastlines to pristine ice—filled waters, one four and half—year study of the atlantic, exploring and taking samples from 12 regions of this vast ocean has discovered a dozen species, new to science. this creature is a zoantharian, it uses its tentacles to trap food from the water. the researchers also found shellfish and five new species of coral. these static sea bed dwellers provide the food and shelter that's

the foundation of hotspots of life in the deep ocean. you can think of them as underwater cities. the scientists say their atlantic—wide study is just starting to map out where the most important places for life are. we can still say that we know less about the sea floor of the oceans than we do about the surface of the moon or mars. a very percentage small of the sea floor is actually being sampled. that means that pretty much anywhere you go that's new, you're going to find new species, and they might be tiny little worms, nematodes and things like that, but certainly the diversity‘s huge. and just like our natural environment on the land, life in the the oceans is being affected by human activity. as the climate changes, so do our oceans, and the oceans are changing in ways that scientists are still learning about and trying to understand. so some of these whole ecosystems and newly—discovered species could already be under threat.

0ur oceans have absorbed nearly a third of the carbon dioxide that has been released into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution, and this has shifted the chemistry of the sea water that these animals have evolved in. we have this really terrifying prospect that, right across the global ocean, the sea is becoming slightly more acid. so we face the prospect that the corals of the deep sea are changing, their skeletons are getting more porous, as that slightly acidic sea water corrodes and damages their skeletons. it is almost like an osteoporosis, they're becoming more brittle, more vulnerable to breaking. and it's those coral skeletons that form the structures that are the buildings, the architecture of those cities of the deep sea. this research is unravelling how diverse and interconnected life in the deep ocean is. and as our world changes quickly, these insights could be key to making sure that species don't disappear before they're even discovered.

if there's one thing we're all looking forward to it's welcoming a new year. in new york, they're saying good riddance to 2020, with a paper shredder. freya cole explains. it's the countdown to the new year, and many new yorkers are ready to say good riddance to 2020.|j and many new yorkers are ready to say good riddance to 2020. i want to say good riddance to 2020. i want to say goodbye to covid—19. say good riddance to 2020. i want to say goodbye to covid-19. and violence on the streets. goodbye! times square new year's eve host jonathan bennett loves a gimmick. three, two, one! and his promised next year will be better. everyone chokes with me thatjonathan bennett, you ruined 2020 because you

we re bennett, you ruined 2020 because you were standing there, bringing in the new year, and you were the one that kicked off with the ball drop. you know what, it's not my fault and this year we are going to have a better year by bringing 2021. what better year by bringing 2021. what better way to say goodbye to the year than by shredding the worst parts on good riddance day, an unofficial december 28 holiday which is needed this year more than others. we are saying good riddance to the fact we had to cancel our honeymoon. being broke. covid, bad vibes and stress. and one we can all agree with. i want to get rid of covid—19. hopefully we'll get vaccinated and we don't miss the smell and touch and goodbye to all people. goodbye, covid-19! you can reach me on twitter — i'm @philippabbc.

a frosty night out there. in the glens of scotland, temperatures not far off glens of scotland, temperatures not faroff10 glens of scotland, temperatures not far off 10 celsius and in the next few days it will be cold enough about the wintry weather. there will probably be some sleet around. the cold air has spread across many parts of the continent, and the point is it is here to stay, so we are not going to see a wave of milderairof are not going to see a wave of milder air of the atlantic any time soon. through the early hours, we expect snow showers across parts of scotla nd expect snow showers across parts of scotland and also across the pennines. you can see sub zero temperatures, icy conditions in some areas. to the south, hit and miss showers. this is what happened

through the morning. the wintry weather for some of us spreads from the north into the north—west of england, through parts of the midlands, parts of wales and possibly the south—west. snow showers continue across parts of scotland. elsewhere on tuesday, it's going to be a mixture of sunny spells and just the odd fleeting shower, perhaps wintry. through the course of tuesday evening, you can see snow and wintry showers continuing in scotland. elsewhere, largely clear. here is the forecast for tuesday night into wednesday, and we expect the next spell of wintry weather coming in from the north—west, moving across ireland and eventually into wales. again, a lot of cold air across the uk. hints of something a bit milder in the south—west, but that's pretty much it. on wednesday, the next spell of wintry weather moves across ireland in the early hours, and then we think it will move into wales, with a lot of cold air sitting on top of

the uk, and then that wintry weather spreads possibly into the midlands, the south—west, and the south. north of that, it's clearer, some snow across scotland, and temperatures around freezing. 0ver across scotland, and temperatures around freezing. over the next few days, heading towards the end of the week, we see certain areas of rain and snow mixed in, circling in areas, so there could be some substantial snow towards the end of the week. a covering. this is what it looks like, a sneak peek of new year's day, chilly and drive for now. goodbye.

this is bbc world news.

the headlines... the daily number of coronavirus cases in the uk has passed 40,000 for the first time. there were 41,385 new cases with 357 more deaths, increasing pressure on hospitals still further. a chinese journalist, zhang zhan, who reported on the early days of the coronavirus outbreak in the city of wuhan, has been sentenced to four years in jail over reports that criticised the authorities‘ response to the pandemic. the british government warns travellers and business people to expect bumpy moments in the months ahead as they get to grips with the uk‘s new relationship with the eu. president trump has signed a coronavirus relief and spending package. he‘d previously threatened to block the bill, saying parts of it were ‘wasteful‘. democrats have urged the president to follow up the bill with more help for struggling workers.