to abide by lockdown rules. a boeing 737, believed to be carrying 62 people on board, has gone missing after take—off in indonesia. donald trump is banned permanently from twitter because of concerns his tweets could incite more violence. democrats reveal the draft of a new impeachment resolution against donald trump — the president elect accuses him of inciting an insurrection and endangering the security of the us. he has been an embarrassment to the country. embarrassed us around the world. not worthy to hold that office. and snow storm in spain have killed three people, and left hundreds of drivers trapped in their cars as roads are blocked and madrid airport remains closed. now on bbc news, witness history. in this edition we look back at some of our most memorable recent stories. we hear from the man who invented the polio vaccine and how

hiroshima's trees became a symbol of survival. hello and welcome to witness history. with more remarkable moments from the past as told by the people who were there. today, we present five of our most memorable recent stories. coming up, how hiroshima's trees became a symbol of survival. plus, revealing the truth about a civil war trustee in el salvador. the algerians who fought with france against independence. and the man who invented the revolutionary prosthetic leg. but first, with a remarkable global effort to create coronavirus vaccines, we look back at a previous world changing vaccination breakthrough. in 1955, a group of scientists led by doctorjonas salk announced the discovery of the first polio vaccine that saved millions from death and disability.

his son, doctor peter salk, spoke to us about his father's extraordinary achievement. back in the 1950s, people were overjoyed at the fact that here isa vaccine that is going to protect us from this terrible, frightening illness. polio is a disease that is caused by a virus that gets into a person's mouth, the virus grows in the intestinal tract and then gets into the bloodstream from which it moves to the brain and the spinal—cord, kills the nerve cells that signalled the muscles when to move, and because of that causes paralysis in the muscles. my father, when he was young, just knew that he wanted to do something

to help humanity. the vision that she had at that point was that he would then go into medicine. he got a knock on the door from the national foundation for infantile paralysis, would you be willing to participate in a typing programme to determine how many different immunological types of polio virus there are? my father leapt at the opportunity. this would be drudgery, in terms of the kind of work that was done, but it was an opportunity of creating a vaccine against polio. the worst year was 1952. there were 58,000 cases of polio. nobody would ever know when was the epidemic and to come? when was it going to strike? this disease caused a huge amount of fear. there was a lot of pressure. every year there were these devastating epidemics. first there were the studies that

were done in animals in the lavatory — the labratory. that all printed in the right direction. then my father undertook some preliminary tests in children who were at a home for crippled children outside of pittsburgh. these were kids who had already been affected by polio. the early studies had gotten far enough that he knew that this vaccine was going to work. the day that he came home from his office bearing syringes and needles which he boiled on the stove in one of our kitchen pots to sterilise, loaded up the experimental polio vaccine that he was working on and then lined us kids up and administered the injections. i'm going to say to you, i have no words in which adequately to express the thanks of myself, all of the people i know, and all 164 million americans, to say nothing of all the other people in the world,

who will profit from your discovery. i am very very happy. there was absolute jubilation. church bells rang, factory whistles blew. it was such a relief. the polio vaccine had a huge impact on society. we have moved into a situation where people are feeling what dangers vaccines might have in and of their own right. it's important to be aware of the problems that can take place with vaccines, but it is disadvantageous teaches to be so hyper reactive to the whole notion of vaccination that the baby gets thrown out with the bath water. doctor peter salk on a vaccine that change the world. now, 75 years ago in 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on the

japanese city of hiroshima. hundreds of thousands of people were killed and injured, yet, amid the devastation, remarkably, some trees in the city survived and they have since become a symbol of hope and recovery around the world. translation: these are the real witnesses. these trees have seen everything. explosion. translation: at 8:15am on august the 6th 1945, an american bomber plane dropped an atomic bomb on hiroshima. it exploded 600 metres above the hospital. it didn't explode on the

ground, but in the air. i've heard that the bomb was dropped from this height to kill as many people as possible. the radiation burnt all living things in hiroshima, particularly in the two kilometre radius of the epicentre. people were burnt alive. this garden is about 1.5 kilometres from the epicentre of the bomb. i heard from many people that at the time there was no colour in hiroshima. there was only black, white, or grey. some people said that no plants would grow here for the next 75 years. everybody believed that rumour. they thought this town was dead.

at the time, the trees looked like charcoal. a stick of charcoal, like this. but on some of the trees, buds emerged. when people saw that the green birds had come out, they thought they could survive as well. it was comforting. i can just imagine the vividness of the tiny green bud in that colourless world. it must have given people some comfort and hope. my friend and i established the green legacy hiroshima project as co—founders. green legacy hiroshima tries to plant the seedlings of these trees in places with nuclear

power, places and the nuclear umbrella, and those places who have experienced various natural disasters. we hope the trees and deliver the message that we as people have the power to recover and survive. trees have a magical power to tell each person what they need to hear. they speak to each human being as well as the whole of humankind across the world. that was the co—founder of green legacy hiroshima. what a remarkable story. and now a story about the daring to speak the truth to power. in the 1980s, el salvador was in the grip of a civil war. rebels were fighting against a us backed military regime.

one night in 1989, sixjesuit priests were dragged from their beds and murdered, along with a housekeeper and her teenage daughter. the government blamed the rebels, but one woman risked her life to tell the world what really happened. the priests‘ funeral took place at the university where they were murdered. they were el salvador‘s leading left—wing intellectuals. thousands came to mourn, not just for the dead men, but because they symbolise the hope that el salvador might become a country one day where power came from the ballot box and not from the barrel of a gun. translation: the priests were always on the side of the poor. that's how they were. it still hurts to remember them and to rememberwhat happened. i will keep telling this story until my dying days. i can never forget it.

the government troops are fighting the biggest guerrilla offensive since 1981. the rebels appear to have moved into the capital in force and have held positions for more than 12 hours. translation: there were soldiers and rebels shooting all over the place. we couldn't go out and food and water were running low. i was very nervous. i worked as a cleaner at the jesuit university. i called one of the priests and asked if we could come and shelter on the campus with my husband and daughter. he said, yes, of course, come. it all happened just after midnight. we were awoken by the sound of gunfire near the entrance to the university.

i got up and went to an open window to look out. i could see the shadows of men at the entrances of the rooms where the priests slept. they were soldiers. i heard one of the priests calling out that it was an injustice, a disgrace. then i heard shouting and more shooting. after that, there was just silence. the killing that has caused the greatest outrage is the murder of the six catholic priests dragged from their beds and shot yesterday morning. translation: in the morning, we went to see what had happened. even from a distance, you could see the bodies of the priests laid out on the grass. in a small side room, there were two women lying dead in an embrace, full of bullets. they were the housekeeper

and her daughter. the soldiers didn't want to leave any witnesses. the government said it was the guerrillas who killed them. but i said, no, it was the army, and that i had seen the soldiers. they didn't like me saying that. after that, i was taken with my husband and daughter to the airport and put on a plane. the jesuits said that they couldn't protect me in el salvador. when i got to miami, i was interviewed for a week by the fbi. they wanted me to change my story. eventually, i told them, you can believe me or not. i really don't care.

i guess that i was there for a reason that night. another person might have kept quiet and not spoken out. but as god says, you have to do something in this life. and i did something. what a remarkable woman. two soldiers were eventually prosecuted for the murder, but were later released under an amnesty law. remember you can watch witness history every month on the bbc news channel or you can catch up on our online archive. just search for bbc witness history. next, a part of african history that is often overlooked. in the 1950s and 60s during algeria's bitter war of independence against france, thousands of algerians actually fought on the french side. for that, after the war, many would pay a high price. this person was one of them. translation: the harki

local forces on the side of the french army algeria's independence war. we gave everything for france but what we didn't know was that france would abandon us. as tension rises in french north africa, france arms her algerian supporters fought defence against rebel raids. weapons are being handed out personally to muslim recruits where hundreds are being enrolled daly. are being enrolled daily. translation: i was about 17 and a half, 18 years old at the time. you had to choose between france and the rebels. my father had been in the french army and had fought in world war i. my brothers were also in the french army. so i chose france.

translation: i was proud of what we did. proud of saving france. we were a lwa ys did. proud of saving france. we were always sent out in front of the french troops. if there was an attack, the harki would be the first to die. we had to get of the fighters who are terrorising the population. translation: we always knew that one day algeria would gain its independence. what general de gaulle

should have done was take all the harki and their families to safety in france. but in 1962, the french disarmed the harki and left us defenceless. the other side took advantage of this and began to round us advantage of this and began to round us all up. they took me to a barracks where there were about 50 other harki prisoners. there was blood everywhere. they stripped me naked and started torturing me with electric shocks. each time a new group of soldiers came on shift, they began again. the same thing every day. the f l and even made us date our own graves. some people we re date our own graves. some people were thrown in our lives. some were thrown into the river. i was

arrested on july the 8th 1962. thrown into the river. i was arrested onjuly the 8th1962. i escaped in september to tenth 1962. it took me a long time to feel welcome here in france. i decided to change my name and to convert to catholicism. i wanted to make a fresh start. i could say that i was born under a lucky star and that i am lucky. but not all the harki were so am lucky. but not all the harki were so lucky and that is the fault of france. finally, a story about a remarkable extension but out of adversity. —— remarkable invention.

asa adversity. —— remarkable invention. as a young man, this man lost his footin as a young man, this man lost his foot in an accident and designed a prosthetic leg to allow him to keep running. the invention revolutionised parrot sports. 0r when you lose body part, is different from any other experience because it is gone. it is just gone. that was the hardest part. knowing that was irreversible. i had my accident in the spring of 1976 when i was 21. winter had just broke and it was now time for spring water skiing. i havejust taken a big cut to the left. then over my right shoulder about came right at me. the propeller hit my ankle. major arteries were cut. but monique was

bent, the wet suit was tight, it just stopped blood flow. —— my knee was bent. they put a cast on the stump. 0n the bottom was a pink, rubber foot. i was sitting there looking at my pink foot and ijust felt like my life was gone. artificial lens, especially if it is a leg, is very important. hopefully one day they will get the best that technological modern skills can provide. the question is, when?” knew that there was a better way. several years prior they had just put a man on the moon. so my early attem pts put a man on the moon. so my early attempts at creating something that would spring and push off was, you know those insoles on the side of your shoe? that was my first concept. let's build one of those. there is ones weren't too bad. i had

a block of foam in the toe and heel. but then i got blessed. 0ne a block of foam in the toe and heel. but then i got blessed. one of the world's leading aerospace graphite engineers helped me. that night, we drew up the drawing of what the leg was to look like and within two, maybe three weeks, i built a leg and i attached it to my sock. i ran down his hallway, i mean, fast. that was freedom. that was a real inner freedom. that was a real inner freedom. i probably built 50, maybe 60 more legs. different types, different arrangements come broke them, fell down. we finally launched oui’ them, fell down. we finally launched our first foot. the first carbon graphite energy storing running pathetic ever. so, if you look at the structure, it is millions of

tiny little heart like fibres. those fibres stretch just like our tendons do. so that energy can be stored in those fibres. that's how it came up with the c shape foot. my foundation name is called second wind. i'm involved in developing a foot foot landmine survivors. they have to go to work. they are labourers. they don't have the luxury of sitting down. for asia, a lot of people work with rice. you can't wear a standard footin with rice. you can't wear a standard foot in water, they wrote. in afghanistan, iraq, they are on rocky hillsides going up and down mountains. we built a design that has increased functions, decreased weight, and increased strength. the foot has to be able to endure all kinds of different climates. we are calling it the world foot. the world

foot for all countries, all peoples, everywhere. i think of all the amputees in the world, that i can actually share that, there was never actually share that, there was never a greaterjoy actually share that, there was never a greater joy than actually share that, there was never a greaterjoy than that actually share that, there was never a greater joy than that for actually share that, there was never a greaterjoy than that for me. that is all for this episode here in nairobi. you'll be back next time with extraordinary moments in history. but for now from me and the rest of the team, goodbye. some of the freezing fog we have seen this morning could linger all day once again. it was bitterly cold where we saw this sunshine first thing. that resulted in the coldest night for nearly a decade for parts

of northern ireland and northern england. resulting in some sunshine. as well as the freezing fog in southern areas, still a few wintry showers close to the south coast, the channel islands. cloudier skies will invade across northern ireland this afternoon, as well as northern and western scotland, where we have got some rain falling onto frozen surfaces, some snow over the hills, still icy. that will be a risk throughout the day. where we see the sunshine, although temperatures will not rise very high, where we had the snow yesterday, much brighter, staying bright east of the grampians. actually, temperatures are recovering a bit in scotland. that is because we have got the atlantic influence. staying bitterly cold where the fog lingers. that atlantic influence with its cloud, rain and hill snow will drift southwards and tend to weaken through the night. cold airfollows in behind, with snow showers returning and frosty conditions. even where we have got the weather front, remember the ground is frozen so still icy conditions, and rain falling onto frozen surfaces is not good. it will be cold and frosty in the south with some freezing fog again under this ridge of high pressure. that at least will keep

a lot of fine and settled weather in southern areas. like we are seeing today, more breeze in the north, blowing in some further patches of rain, perhaps some fog will be still with us for a while in southern areas. as you can see, it will be rather showery in nature, the rain, but still some snow over the hills, perhaps the cloud starting to break elsewhere across england and wales and northern ireland into the second half of the day. by that stage, we are getting heavier rain back into the north and west. the temperatures tomorrow are slightly elevated, slightly less cold than it has been in recent days. with a brisk breeze, which will continue to the start of next week as well, so even though we have got higher temperatures, i do not think it will feel particularly warm. we are bringing in atlantic air, bringing in further weather fronts to the north and west. we are also bringing in this milder air. as that comes in, that milder air, we are going to see two things happening. the rain on the weather fronts, but then after that, or with that, the snow thaw as well, there could well be some localised flooding. we are keeping an eye on that very closely.

as ever, the warnings are on the website. as we are looking into next week, we are looking at things being not as cold as we have been, still some snow on the hills. goodbye for now.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines "act like you have the virus." that's the advice in a new campaign in the uk urging people to abide by lockdown rules. a boeing 737, believed to be carrying more than 50 people, has gone missing after take—off in indonesia. donald trump is banned permanently from twitter because of concerns his tweets could incite more violence. us democrats reveal the draft of a new impeachment resolution against donald trump — the president elect accuses him of inciting an insurrection and endangering the security of the united states. he has been an embarrassment to the country.