spread of the new coronavirus variant. spread of the new coronavirus variant. and 36 hours after it started, french police have finally shut down an illegal rave, despite threats of a riot and three officers getting injured. more than 1,200 fines were issued to revellers after more than 2,000 of them filled a warehouse near brittany for two days. employers in all sectors have been cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs, as the economy struggles against covid—19, leaving an estimated 1.7 million people out of work. our business correspondent sarah corker caught up with some of them. three people who all lost theirjobs because of the pandemic. 0lympia, rebecca, and heather were facing the toughestjobs market for a generation. we've got no money coming in, so we'll survive as long as we can.

i first met 0lympia and herfamily back in may. she was touring as part of a circus troupe when the first lockdown restrictions came in and they were stranded on morecambe seafront for months. with no money coming in, it was a real struggle. it's fear. fear that... that i might not ever be able to do what i love again, which is perform, in the circus, because we might not recover. since then, things have got better. 0lympia's moved in with her mum in rotherham to save money, and wait until they‘ re allowed to perform again. financially it's been a big strain. it's been massive. like i say, we normally work from february to november, so about 85—90% of our shows were just cancelled. 0r postponed until next year. five months on morecambe prom, relying on the foodbank

to feed you guys — what was that experience like? it was really hard. coming to terms with the fact that i had to rely on other people to eat and to live. in west yorkshire, rebecca was finding competition forjobs fierce. how many roles have you applied for? i don't think i could possibly tell you. she'd worked in communications at a high street bank for a decade when she was made redundant in the summer. with every application that goes out the door, it does kind of chip away at your confidence and how you feel. it's already dog eat dog. it's only going to get worse. three months on, she's now working for a shed company. and it's been really busy, hasn't it? it's completely booming at the minute, is the shed industry, yeah, believe it or not. it's a completely new world for me. it's a million miles away from banking. what's it like after, you know, so many months not working, finally having a regular wage again? it was a massive confidence boost. there's no shame in saying that, although, yes, you've got your friends and family and things,

when you've got a job, you feel like you've got purpose, so it felt like i had purpose again. financially, things were going to get better for me. some of those in their 50s and 60s, like heatherfrom prestwich near manchester, felt they were being overlooked. the best one is "you're overqualified," which doesn't make any sense to me, because, you know, if you're qualified to this level, then you can do anyjob up until that level. so, being overqualified doesn't mean a thing, except it's another way of saying you're too old. heather is still on the job hunt but is enjoying having more time exercising in the local park. did you think it would take this long and that it would be this hard? um, yeah, basically. you know, i've been here before, in much better times, so. there are obviously a lot more people unemployed, and because there's more people unemployed, but then there's fewer jobs at the moment because a lot of people are on furlough still.

but she is determined to get back into work. i don't relax. i'm not a relaxed sort of person, i can't do nothing. so for some, the search for work continues, but the arrival of an effective vaccine has brought renewed optimism for 2021. sarah corker, bbc news. now on bbc news — the travel show. this week, we're in kazakhstan... the view from the top! ..a vast country in the middle of central asia full of stunning landscapes and nomadic traditions. you can feel the fish tugging on the net. nature and the great outdoors have always been central to the kazakh people's way of life... birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting — i get it. ..and i'm here to explore how they are now combining both

ancient and modern ways to stay in touch with their wild side. grunts it feels good to make the sound, i don't know what to say. woo! this is a lot of fun! i've arrived in kazakhstan‘s biggest city of almaty. once, back when the country was still part of the ussr, and long before that,

it was the capital city. now things have changed here. back in 1991, it was the last soviet republic to declare independence, ten days before the collapse of the union. since then, it has been under the rule of president nazarbayev, who moved the capital north to the purpose—built city of astana. one thing is clear, however — this country has undergone a tumultuous period. but through it all, nature has continued to play a vital role for the once nomadic people here, and for travellers who visit. you start to get a sense of that at the green bazaar. there's been a market here since before soviet times. this is fermented horse milk, which has been around since the nomadic times, and they say it is a cure for tuberculosis. it's a strong taste. the aftertaste is almost like you're smoking a cigar.

i don't know why, but that's exactly what it tastes like. very sharp, though. very intense taste. ah! 0h! some russian influences have remained, but some of the old kazakh traditions that had been suppressed under the soviets are once again bubbling to the surface — like faith in tengriism, calling on nature through shamans, known as baksys. arman, my friend! i wanted to find a baksy, so i'm meeting up with someone who says he can get me an introduction. can you tell me a bit about what exactly a baksy is? ba ksy are spiritual servants who are create by nature to help people. these days, in modern culture, do people still go see a baksy? yes, of course. it is part of our life. if official medicine, european medicine, don't helps,

people go to baksy. well, arman, i can't say i know what to expect, but i feel ready. arman takes me to a far corner of the city and an old, unmarked apartment block. let's go. so we're on our way up to the baksy‘s apartment, should will be waiting for us outside the door. not entirely what i expected. are we here? this. come in. welcome. bells ring chanting we have just arrived here in the baksy‘s apartment and we've arrived in the middle of some kind of ceremony. there are two ladies who are getting their souls cleaned, i guess — it's hard to know what's going on. chanting and grunting

bells ring this is extremely intense. can you explain to me a bit of what is happening right now? like an exorcism? yes, yes. each baksy is different, and this one incorporates elements of islam, kazakhstan‘s most followed religion. drums beat there is a power in this room i can't describe right now. i have never experienced anything like this.

so now, it's my turn. having witnessed the devotion vera had to the process, i feel it wouldn't be right to go through it all without the same belief, so we agree on just a blessing for my journey. but then, unexpectedly, i seem to be getting the full treatment. growling and grunting bell rings it feels good to make the sound, i don't know what to say. he is coaxing. as an experience alone, it is very powerful. as the process continues, the baksy calls on the totem animals, as they did many years ago here.

growls hisses i might not believe in everything that is happening here, but i do like to open myself to the experience as a traveller. all i can say is i know i feel something. although many muslims here frown on these ancient ceremonies, for some kazakhs, they are a direct link to their nomadic past.

it's the world's ninth largest country, but kazakhstan is also one of the most sparsely populated. its people were traditionally nomadic, with their lives tied to their environment. today, travellers come to explore its relatively untouched landscapes. i want to find out more of the kazakhstani people's relationship with nature today, so i'm heading east to the aral sea, the world's fourth—largest lake — or at least that's what it was. welcome to the dusty streets of zhalanash. if you can believe it, this used to be a bustling fishing village. but if you come over here and you look down at the ground, you can see what used to be the bottom of the aral sea.

there's not much fishing going on now. it's been called one of the world's biggest environmental disasters. the sea which stretches the border between kazakhstan and uzbekistan was once about the size of ireland. back in the 1960s, the immense stretch of water began to dry up. around 90% of it was wiped off the map and with it, the livelihoods of many of the people who lived on the sea's produce. i'd heard that here in kazakhstan, the sea was actually coming back, and it was bringing travellers too, so off i go in search of the aral sea, across miles of the old seabed. i've arranged to meet a guide in this region.

he wanted me to see the full extent of what the sea, which was actually a large lake, once was, thousands of years before it dried up in the 20th century. the view from the top! what caused it to recede so far? the flow of water was diverted to feed the soviet cotton industry. uzbekistan still remains one of the world's top producers of cotton, but while the uzbek side of the sea remains mostly

lost, recent interventions have meant the north aral sea in kazakhstan is returning. approaching the shore, one of the biggest draws for travellers has been the eerie sight of shipwrecks scattered across the old sea bed. spiderwebs everywhere. here we are. the aral sea. at one time, it was the fourth largest inland lake in the world and soon, it will reclaim that title.

i made it. birds chirping, fish jumping, sun setting — i get it. i get it now. it's a beautiful place. good morning! this is where we spent the night last night. it might look like we're in the desert but it's actually — it's very cold this morning. the bedding was just a simple roll—out pillow mat on the ground with some blankets. but this is a fisherman‘s house and we're up so early this morning because they're going to take us this morning to catch some fish. they are quite chipper. myself, i'm working on it. but it should be a good day. chuckles.

my hosts tell me that i am not the first traveller to stay with them following the sea's return, though not all of them choose the early morning fishing run. the sun has not yet crested over the horizon of the kazakh steppe. today we are fishing and on the fishing team we have one sleepy, inexperienced travel show presenter. we have edige... hello. ..who you know already. we have 0mirserik, our fisherman, and his father in the back. these are our boats. 0ut there, there's a lot of fish and the plan is today to catch ‘em and bring them back to shore. engine roars. 0k, we're maybe 100 metres offshore. we've encountered the first net. so from what i understand, the net was put out last night, right before sunset and it stays out until sunrise and they come and they pull it back in and every day is quite

a surprise, but it seems that over the years, there's been more and more in the nets almost every single day. ok, so it's my turn to give this a shot — pulling in the net. it's — it's not too hard, actually. it's interesting because it's like when you are fishing with a reel, you can feel the fish tugging on the net. you must love it out here.

so we've been pulling the net for about 30 minutes now. the basket‘s almost full so i think we're probably getting near to the end. we've caught a lot of fish. and besides the amount, they're — they're big fish. myself, being a traveller, connecting with people is always very special and here, you can tell that there's a lot ofjoy in the job this morning. it's not my normal life, being out here covered in fish scales in a boat but for them, it is, and you can tell that they absolutely love it — especially when they can bring in a haul like this. i wanted to see how kazakhstan‘s relationship

with nature is changing, so i'm meeting up with a mountain guide back in almaty. she's agreed to take me out to some of the places she likes to explore. we begin at the location of one of the country's most impressive historical sites. oh, wow! they look almost like paintings! actually, it's a petroglyphs of the bronze age, which is 3,500 years old. and these cliffs are covered with petroglyphs, right? this isn't the only site? yeah, exactly. there are many sites. it's many sites. it's about 5000 carvings here. wow. it was discovered in 1957 by archaeologist maksimova and it's more than 5,000 carvings on the rocks in this area. and this is the central part which is very significant and very important at that date, because people were speaking from here and it was a — served as a pantheon.

so you can clearly hear what they were talking about, like, down in the valley, where the people and crowds were standing and listening. so here we see the 12 dancing men which is doing the ritual dance, and here, it's a woman which is giving birth to a child. as you walk around the site, it's amazing how many carvings you see here. this here is the club? yeah. karla tells me it's thought they believed the more animals they carved into the rocks, the more animals they would successfully hunt. it adds so much to the experience here today, being able to come just in touching distance of things that are so old. i'm used to multiple layers of security — men standing there, making sure that you don't breathe on art like this. but being able to see every little chip out of the stone really makes it special.

but what karla really wanted to show me was how some people are mixing old kazakhstan with the new — sandboarding on kazakhstan‘s most famous singing sand dune. famous because under the right conditions, the dune makes a humming sound, almost like an organ. humming. wow! it's huge! i can see the little dust devils twisting up the sides. it almost looks alive. the skin of the dune, sweeping back and forth like a snake. and i heard that it almost is — it actually moves. in the past 150 years, it has moved three metres. slowly, but it is moving. it really is incredible.

chuckles. i don't know how we're going to snowboard down it! laughs. along for the ride was karla's friend and olympic kazakhstan snowboard trainer yelena. the dune stretches for 3km and reaches a height of 150 metres and let me tell you, it might look placid from a distance but it is an entirely other story once you're up there. it's a little bit windy today but we're on the singing sands and i guess that's always how it is here. for myself, i have gone snowboarding before. what are some differences with sandboarding ? 0k. lean back, yeah? that being said, it was comforting knowing that i'll be going slower than on snow.

and also the cool thing about a sand dune is there's no trees! so, i mean, i guess it's safer, right? no doubt, though, this is definitely the definition of an extreme sport. and here i am, strapped in. ok, you ready? i — i think i'm ready. woo! great start! playful music. this way, yeah? like this? oh, and then the board comes — oh! playful music continues. laughs. woo! this is a lot of fun! though i promise you that you get sand in a lot of places

you do not want sand. one of those places is your mouth. i've got — i've got a bit of a crunch in my teeth right now. but woo, it is a rush! karla's about to come down. she's standing up. she looks excited but a little bit nervous. you got it, karla! yeah! but before long, we're starting to get the hang of it. surfing music plays. this is a lot of work. pants. what's incredible, though, is when you come down, as the sand starts to avalanche, you can feel it shaking and reverberating underneath the board.

it's very cool — it sings as you come down. we've got our final round from the very, very top — if — if i can — i can make it! let's stay here and take a break for a sec. yeah! and with that, my trip to kazakhstan is at an end. and what a ride it was.

hello. the weekend continues on a wintry note with temperatures still below average for this time of year. we've had quite a bit of snow fall with light snow and icy stretches around first thing sunday morning quite a sharp frost for most of us. temperatures as low as —5 or —6 degrees. across the west of scotland. through the day on sunday there will be some sunshine around for the particular across the northwest of the uk. some scattered showers elsewhere especially towards the east. falling as sleet and snow mainly over higher ground for the east anglia or crescent southeast will see some rain showers as will the channel islands through the day too. four to six but feeling colder.

a brisk northeasterly wind is going to be developing. moving through into monday and high pressure sits to the north of the uk. that's driving our weather so quite a bit of dry weather especially in the north. some scattered wintry flurries around mainly over higher ground. some rain showers in the southeast on monday another cold day, 4 to 6 degrees but feeling colder with the wind chill. bye for now.

welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: a group of republican senators say they will support president trump and refuse to accept the official result of the us presidential election. in india, tens of thousands of health workers take part in a one—day mass immunisation rehearsal. meanwhile, in the uk — as coronavirus cases surge — teaching unions in england demand a two—week closure of schools. the regime in iran marks one year since a us drone strike killed the country's top military commander, qasem soleimani.