the use of two covid—19 vaccines. the country's medicines regulator gave the go—ahead for the oxford astrazeneca vaccine, signalling a landmark moment in the fight against coronavirus. half a million doses will be made available next week. four and a half years after britain voted in a referendum to leave the european union, both chambers of parliament in london have approved the new free trade deal that was finalised last week. borisjohnson said britain was marking a new beginning in its relationship with the eu. ten people have been injured — one critically — in a landslide that buried houses in a norwegian municipality north—east of the capital, oslo. police say 11 people are unaccounted for and it's not clear if some were caught up in the landslide or were away when it occurred.

here in the uk, for the second day in a row more than 50,000 tested positive for coronavirus. the surge in the virus has prompted the government to move more parts of england into the highest level of restrictions. another 20 million people will be hit by the change, with all areas shown in dark red here now in tier 4, it means the closure of non—essential retail, food venues moving to takeaway only and the closure of gyms and hairdressers. dominic hughes reports. in birmingham, just time for a last trim before tier 4 restrictions come in at midnight. after a tough year, it's another bitter setback for owner dale sampey. absolutely devastated again that we've just got going after reopening on 2 december. we're just getting back on ourfeet again. how many more times can we be locked down? the bills keep rolling. it is really difficult to keep coming back. in england, more than three quarters of the population will be in tier 4, the highest level of restrictions. health secretary matt hancock told mps the new, more contagious covid variant

was driving infections up. unfortunately, this new variant is now spreading across most of england and cases are doubling fast. it is therefore necessary to apply tier 4 measures to a wider area, including the remaining parts of the south east, as well as large parts of the midlands, the north—west, the north east and the south—west. this is a global crisis, but let us be clear, this is a national emergency. our national health service is becoming overwhelmed. i hope the tier 4 restrictions are enough but many believe even tougher restrictions are now inevitable. but public health experts warn that restrictions and lockdowns can only do so much. the effect of any escalation in tiers lasts for maybe three orfour weeks, and then it wears off, so it is doubly important that, regardless of which tiers we go in, we continue to come forward for vaccines and take the test and, more importantly, maintain that social distancing and hand washing

and two metre rules. rising case numbers are hitting the health service. already buckling under pressure in the south and east, infections are now growing in the north and west. burnley has already been hit hard by the pandemic this year but has again seen a rapid growth in cases, and it's not just businesses that will be affected by the new restrictions. the local hospice depends on the £650,000 raised each year by its charity shops. it has been a huge hit for us this year. we have been full throughout the whole of the pandemic. 0ur hospice at home services are also caring for more patients in the community. to then close our shops is a real sort of kick to us. parts of england that have seen relatively low case numbers in recent months, like taunton in somerset, now find themselves in tier 4. it's clear we're heading into the new year in the middle of a second wave that has yet to show any signs of subsiding. it's a place no—one wanted to be. dominic hughes, bbc news.

now on bbc news — survival: to the brink and back. veteran explorer robin hanbury—tenison talks about his battle with covid—19. robin was one of the first covid—19 patients into derriford hospital. he may be a veteran of 30 expeditions, but surviving coronavirus would prove to be one of robin hanbury—tenison‘s toughest experiences yet. you know, every day was pretty brutal and we were pretty broken. the doctors called us to say that actually, he is deteriorating further. his chances of ever recovering have now gone down to about 5%. i opened my eyes, saw the sunshine, saw the flowers and that was the moment when my life was saved by the healing power of nature. it's a long road back from something like that. essentially, his body was failing and i think having a goal, something to work towards, is vitally important

because it gives you a target to aim for. and that goal can be as trivial or as ambitious as you want it to be. so this has been as big a challenge as any that i've done in my life, to get to the point where i could climb this mountain. i will make it to the top because i believe everyone should have access to the same thing that saved my life.

it must be lovely to have all this old footage of your dad sort ofjust lying around the house. it's incredible. we've got reels from pretty much every expedition he's been on from the late ‘50s through to just a couple of years ago. everything from the orinoco, the sahara, the siberian steps and everything in between and i'm so lucky to have been travelling with him on a number of those expeditions. it is an amazing bit of video. so i've been coming down here a lot recently to look through the old footage and it's really helped to feel like he's not in hospital at the moment, that he is still on the farm with us. it's incredible to see how much he has achieved throughout his life. 84—year—old robin hanbury—tenison is widely recognised as one of the world's greatest living explorers. he's crossed continents by foot, boat and jeep,

leading expeditions of more than 120 scientists into the heart of remotejungles. i've been here for nearly 12 months now and the expedition has grown enormously since its original conception. what we are doing is to examine the rainforest, which is a vital and very little understood environment. probably the richest environment in the world and one which is disappearing with terrifying speed. robin has chronicled his life of adventure through a series of more than 20 books. his most recent book explores the major threats facing the world today, including pandemics. robin was one of the first covid—i9 patients into derriford hospital, having caught the virus whilst skiing prior to the lockdown. 36 hours after he was in hospital, he was heavily sedated and put

on a ventilator. so one of the ways that i've been keeping in touch with the family is with a family group chat. my son says he is "praying and thinking of him". i can't really read them. "sounds like he's getting the best possible care and lots of attention." "you are so brave as well, louella." "robin is a tough old nut." i can't really read... "we know he'll pull through." "being in first means he has their full attention. he is in the right place. stay strong. " "sending huge love, he'll pull through." "we love him", etc. yeah, "there's lots of wonderful messages from people and he's still deep in the woods, but at least it's not worsening. that's so encouraging. sleep well. "

yeah, just lots of similar sorts of messages. yeah, he'll get there. robin and louella's farm on bodmin moor, one of cornwall‘s designated areas of outstanding natural beauty, is overlooked by cornwall‘s highest peak, brown willy. their shared love of nature drew the couple to the moor over 30 years ago. this is such a special place because we come here often together. robin's travelled all his life to the most wonderful places and, of course, yourfavourite place has got to be home, in the woods here on our farm. and it's very comforting

and reassuring to visit it and think about being here with him. after two weeks in hospital, robin's kidneys fail. he is unconscious. the family can do nothing but wait as robin clings to life. the doctors tell them to begin to come to terms with a life without him. you never know how you are going to react when somebody that you care about is so unbelievably ill and on death's door. and, you know, every day was pretty brutal and we were pretty broken. the doctor says to him "your lungs are filling up with fluid. we have two options. 0ption one is we leave you and hope that you get better naturally — but the chances are at your age, you're almost certainly are going to die if we do that. 0ption two is, we sedate you, probably for ten days, try and drain your lungs but at your age you have

about a 20% chance of survival. " at this point, the doctors call us and say that actually, he's deteriorating further. his lungs are still filling with fluid and they want to put a tracheotomy in. normally, this is a relatively simple procedure but because of his age, there is a strong chance he'll die in surgery. and the doctors want to make it really clear to us that even if he does survive that, his chances of ever recovering have now gone down to about 5%. and even if he does recover, he may well be bedbound, have severe cognitive impairment, and never be the man that we knew who went into hospital about a month before. and they say that we have some difficult conversations ahead of us when we may have to decide whether it's even worth continuing with treatment. i believe i'm alive. you are alive. you are definitely alive.

after five weeks in intensive care, robin was wheeled into derriford hospital's healing garden with icu nurse kate tantam by his side. i remember the first times he went outside and you feel fresh air and they see sun and they see flowers and it's like they kind of start to emerge out of — out of this dream. you could see he was looking at things and thinking, "this is real. this is tangible. i feel safe." and that was a real breakthrough for him in his recovery. my name is robin hanbury—tenison. i'm an 84—year—old explorer and i survived five weeks in intensive care with coronavirus. the moment when i actually woke up and i knew i was going to live was the moment when i was wheeled out by four nurses in a big bed with tubes coming out of everywhere and i arrived in the healing garden they've got at derriford.

i opened my eyes, saw the sunshine, saw the flowers and that was the moment when my life was saved by the healing power of nature. he may be a veteran of 30 expeditions, but surviving coronavirus would prove to be one of robin hanbury—tenison's toughest experiences yet. but here he is leaving hospital to the cheers of the nhs staff who cared for him. during the darkest days of his illness, robin's family had been told if he did survive, the impact of the virus would very likely be severe and long—lasting. it was quite a shock to be told that i might never walk properly again. recovery after intensive care is like a marathon and every step feels hard and feels challenging and it's made up of a million different components. so even learning how to swallow again is a big journey. sitting independently is a big journey. but robin had a goal — unthinkable, perhaps, to those around him —

but a goal that drove him through his recovery. exactly five months from may the 3rd is october the 3rd, so i decided that on that day i would climb cornwall‘s highest mountain, brown willy, and try and raise £100,000 towards a garden at cornwall‘s hospital, treliske, because i think every hospital in the country should have a healing garden in it, and let's start with cornwall. it was exciting to have him home but it was also quite nerve—racking as well. we were in lockdown for two weeks once he got home, so no one came near us. and that's quite scary. i'm not a nurse and i didn't know whether i was going to have to do major nursing or not. he was very thin and had lost about 1.5 stones. so we had a lot of work to get him back on his feet again. he could hardly walk a few yards when he got home

ona zimmerframe. it just takes a bossy woman and a certain amount of threats and he would do what i had told him. so we borrowed a mobility scooter, we borrowed an exercise bike and we have done a lot of exercises and short walks. it hasjust been really amazing watching his strength come back, his muscle come back. he was very thin and a bag of bones when he got home. he gets very breathless still and even though his lungs are clear, i am not sure everyone quite gets back to where they were after this, but he is fantastic and he is strong and determined man and he has worked hard. what would you say to any other patient who is having to fight

off this infection from the outset because they are quite literally climbing a mountain when it comes to the impact this infection is having on the lungs or the oxygen content of their blood and the overall impact physically of this infection. everybody has to have a goal when they are rehabilitating and when they are recovering. the journey that robin is going through at the moment in terms of his recovery following on from an infection like this is going to be no different to the journey that many patients across the country, indeed across the world, are going to be making at the moment. we are ecstatic to have him home and it is great to see him getting stronger and stronger.

the weather is getting worse and he is a bit weaker than he was before and we are worried he might have bitten off a bit more than he can chew. my wife louella has been marvellous at encouraging me to do my exercises. and now that i am pretty well done with physio, we are concentrating walking long distances every day. throughout his life, robin has set himself tough challenges. for his 80th birthday, he ran his first marathon. but the charity he is most proud of is international which he established 50 years ago. the organisation fights for the rights of these once voiceless people. anywhere in the world where a new dam, high—speed road or vast mining operation is planned and the blueprints cover land occupied for centuries by tribal people, commerce comes before

conscience and the indians are swept aside in the name of progress. survival international exists to temper that race for progress with patience and understanding. his friend and contemporary, sir ranulph fiennes, is proud of what he has achieved. in my opinion, robin is one of the greatest explorers alive today and his legacy is one that does more for conservation and human rights. in addition to the sheer volume of his great adventures his far—reaching successes for various forms of conservation, includes sterling work for the preservation of threatened rainforests. i am truly proud to have known my friend robin down the long years, and i seize this opportunity to thank him for all his great works.

it is the day of the climb. robin and the family are getting themselves ready for the journey from their home to the base of the highest point in cornwall, 1,378 feet above sea level. get these boots on. absolutely, what a weather forecast. it's going to be quite a day. the ascent to the top of brown willy is a seven—mile round trip and the terrain is difficult on the best of days. he is always pretty relaxed about this kind of thing and when the stakes are higher, he just gets more excited. so, a number of people have been phoning up saying, perhaps it shouldn't do it and he should postpone because of this storm alex that is coming in. the met office have issued amber weather warnings that will come into force later. the met office reminds us how wet it was on the 3rd of october, that was the wettest on record, records going back to 1891.

it is making me quite nervous and i am going to make sure that we're well prepared and lizzie and i will make sure we will take survival gear we didn't consider taking before, so we will have exposure blankets, warm kit, hot drinks and snacks. so if the weather does turn on the top, then we can get him warm and dry and get him off the mountain quite quickly. over the hills we could see as much as 120 millimetres, so a very wet spell of weather. we are likely to see some flooding building in through the weekend across these areas. here we are at the base of brown willy, the weather is horrible. my family is with me and of course we're going to make it. well, it has been a roller—coaster ride and with covid recovery, it is a difficult thing for people to get over. they feel very tired and breathless and he does feel

tired and breathless still. well, storm alex has definitely come in and look at it — the weather is blowing and the rain is heavy but it is as good as we thought it might be. he is already heading up the hill like a schoolboy. he has raced ahead of me. he is full of beans and very excited. but obviously, we are taking it sensibly, because the weather is making this even trickier. when i first started exploring, it was all about showing off, about going further and more bravely than other people.

and a lot of explorers today still do just that. but i was lucky enough to discover causes, tribal people and rainforests. and i now realise it is much more important for adventurers, people doing exciting things, to have a purpose which helps to save the world. make it a better place, because we haven't got time to do anything else. it is quite steep, steeper than i expected, there's been quite a lot of rain and wind. we have had to shelter occasionally. we are getting near the top now and all my training is being taxed to the limit now. but i think i will make it. robin and his family have now passed the halfway point and have reached the steepest part of the climb. robin's training so far has never been further than a few miles at a time and never more than a stone's throw away from home.

we have worked hard to get up here today because it has been windy, cold and wet and it's not been an easy climb for him and the fact that he is 84 is pretty incredible. as robin nears the final push, he starts to feel the effects of the climb. one of the ironies of having my life saved by waking up in the healing garden in derriford hospital, is that i have spent most of my life campaigning, fighting for rainforests and other wilderness areas in the world, because i believe they were important in their own right.

but in the end it was the healing garden that saved my life. exactly five months after robin was released from hospital with coronavirus, he completed his challenge of climbing brown willy in aid of nhs healing gardens. it is a very, very important achievement for him. it is a challenge, but well worth giving him and he has done it. i am so pleased, i am so proud of him. i am feeling fantastic because we've made it. thanks to louella dragging me up and the weather pushing me, i've done it. couldn't have done it without everyone. it is all in a wonderful cause for the healing garden, which saved my life.

it is massive for robin completing this and here at the hospital. we'll raise money for healing gardens across the south—west. these gardens make a massive difference to patients in intensive care in every hospital every day. it is just phenomenal. when you take people outside after they have been in intensive care for a long time, even for a short length of time, you show them a blue sky or a grey sky or even let them feel drizzle on their hands, it often is incredibly moving. it is moving because it shows people that life is going to go on and there is life waiting for them outside intensive care and outside the hospital bed. it is anything you want it to be from a gym to where somebody spends their last hours of life, to a place where a married couple of a0 years can hold hands for the last time, to a place somebody can bring their dog in, where somebody can play basketball, staff can relax and talk about everything that is going on. it really is just a space

for people to be themselves. since the climb, robin has turned his attention towards helping his son in rewilding theirfarm in bodmin. kate was awarded a queen's birthday honour for her contributions and dedication to the nhs. completely overwhelmed.

hello. snow and ice continue to be hazards for some as we move into the final day of 2020. still very much in the cold air across the uk, temperatures widely well below freezing through the early hours of thursday morning, with the potential for some freezing fog across parts of england and wales. for new year's eve, it's a cold day wherever you are. for most, a mixture of wintry showers with some sunshine, but across scotland through the morning, a more general spell of rain, sleet and snow sliding its way southwards and also into northern ireland as well. as the morning wears on, that snow will tend to become confined to higher ground, just pushing to the far north of england through the afternoon. a few wintry showers for parts of northwest, southwest england, west wales. the further south and east you are, mainly dry with some sunshine once any freezing fog has lifted through the morning. still a cold northerly wind, particularly biting for parts of western scotland and northern ireland. not quite as cold across scotland and northern ireland compared to wednesday, five or six celsius the top temperature here, compared to just two or three celsius further south. through the final hours

of 2020, we see this band of wintry showers just continuing to sink their way southwards, but most of the snow by this stage should be over higher ground. bit of wintry mix across scotland, quite a few showers along the east coast, where temperatures will hold up to around four or five celsius at midnight. head inland, they'll be closer to freezing. a few showers developing across northern england, parts of northwest wales, maybe south—west england through the early hours of new year's day. but also once again, the potential for some freezing fog developing across central, southeastern parts of england and wales as we head through the early hours of 2021. another cold night but not quite as cold as recent nights, but some places still getting a few degrees below freezing. so here's how we start 2021, with still a fairly messy picture, low pressure to the east of the uk and frontal systems still just trying to slide their way across. not much on them, but certainly through new year's day, there will be a fair few showers around, particularly for east and northeast coasts. and a few of those will penetrate their way a little

bit further inland. still the chance they could be wintry, particularly over higher ground. the further south you are across the uk, much more cloud around, and temperatures still not much higher than five or six celsius. looking ahead, then, to the first weekend of 2021, it stays cold, we'll see fewer showers but still the risk of some ice and snow in places. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. welcome to our viewers in the uk, on pbs in america and around the world. my name's mike embley. our top stories: a landmark moment in the fight against coronavirus — the uk becomes the first country in europe to approve two vaccines. but in the us a new daily high in deaths. almost 4,000 people lose their lives to covid—19 in one day. a new beginning in britain's relationship with the eu — prime minister boris johnson's assessment as parliament backs the new post—brexit free trade deal. after the landslide the search for those feared missing among the buried houses in a residential area outside norway's capital. and arise sir lewis. the formula 1 world champion lewis hamilton is knighted