welcome to bbc news, i'm mike embley. our top stories: supporters of the jailed russian activist alexei navalny have been arrested after he urged people to protest against president putin's government. outgoing us president donald trump orders covid travel bans to be lifted, only for president elect joe biden to say he will maintain the restrictions. the fbi vets all 25,000 national guard troops on duty in washington for wednesday's inauguration, looking for possible right wing extremists. the covid pandemic leaves some uk hospitals at breaking point. we have a special report from london where staff are stretched to the limit. i wasn't convinced we were going to have a second wave at all, and the huge numbers that havejust, absolutely slammed us, it's just... i never thought it

would be possible. and risking temperatures down to —70 to scale the world's second highest mountain — the nepalese mountaineers tell the bbc about their historic ascent. more than 70 protesters have been detained in russia as they demanded the release of the opposition leader, alexei navalny, who was arrested on his return to moscow on sunday. mr navalny, who'd been recovering in germany from a nerve agent attack, had called for demonstrations. he'll be detained for 30 days and another hearing at the end of the month could result in a lengthy prison sentence. from moscow, our correspondent steve rosenberg.

chanting. "we're for navalny," it says. "alexei, alexei" they shout. mr navalny�*s supporters came to the police station where he was being held. a makeshift court room had been set up inside. it would rule on whether the kremlin critic should be sent to jail. in a freezing cold russian winter, piping hot tea was a welcome relief. it's bitterly cold here. it's -20. but supporters of mr navalny are waiting for the result of the court hearing and shouting, "let him go." in a video message from the court room, mr navalny denounced the hearing as a mockery of justice. after he was ordered to be kept in custody for 30 days, he called on russians to take to the streets and not stay silent.

alexei navalny is the russian opposition leader most capable of organising large—scale anti—government protests. it's why the kremlin sees him as a threat. navalny was and is danger number one for vladimir putin in russia. it's very difficult to fight against massive public protests. mr navalny is convinced it was the kremlin that ordered his poisoning by nerve agent. the russian authorities deny any connection. but the decision to detain him will have been taken at the very top. for now, he's going to jailfor a month. that could turn into years. and if it does, the authorities risk turning alexei navalny into a political martyr. something the kremlin always wanted to avoid. steve rosenberg,

bbc news, moscow. earlier i spoke to vladimir kara—murza, a russian opposition politician who was himself poisoned twice. i asked him what he made of this situation. for the past several weeks the kremlin has done everything possible to try to prevent alexei navalny from coming back to russia, they made all of these announcements that he will be detained, arrested, that there is a search warrant issued against him and they are trying to do this to every major opposition leader in our country, to make people stay away, because they understand that when a russian politician is outside of russia, he or she ceases to be a russian politician, you can't do politics outside of the country, so the most effective way for putin's regime to fight its opponents is to try to drive them abroad. so for example, both times after i was poisoned, as you mentioned, after i concluded my medical rehabilitation abroad, there was no question on my mind that i am returning home to russia, which i did both times, because those of us

who oppose the putin regime, there is nothing we can do for the kremlin, no bigger gift we could give to them, if we all just ran away and stayed away, and alexei navalny was never going to do that — he announced immediately after he came out of the coma, after his own poisoning last year, that he will get back to russia and he kept his word, he went back this past weekend and was arrested just as the kremlin promised. are there genuine legal reasons to hold him, and what are the chances of the feared lengthy prison sentence at the end of this 30 days? there are no legal reasons to hold him, and in fact this is turning really into kafka—esque proceedings, this absurdity, this is exactly what it is, because formally speaking, alexei navalny was detained because of a sentence dating back to 2014,

which the european court of human rights, which is the highest judicial authority in russia because russia is a member of the council of europe, just as the united kingdom is, the european court of human rights had already essentially overturned the verdict, saying it contradicted all the intervals of fairness and justice, so this is an illegal verdict and to add on top of that absurdity, alexei navalny, who had a suspended sentence under that 2014 conviction, is now having a suspended sentence turned into a real prison term because he failed to come to register with the authorities periodically, and of course the reason he failed to register was that he was poisoned by the russian authorities with a deadly chemical agent last august, and he was in a coma and recovering in germany for the past several months before returning back home, this past weekend. it cannot be more absurd, it cannot be more kafka—esque in its appearance, but at the bottom of all of this is a fear that vladimir putin has for the opposition, for the alternative. it is astonishing that so many people in the west still believe this lie that vladimir putin is still popular among russian citizens. if he were really that popular, as he claims he is, he would not be so frightened, he would not be so terrified of allowing any kind of competition at the ballot box,

he would not be terrified of his opponents that he turns moscow airport basically into a place under military siege last weekend as people were trying to greet alexei navalny on his return back to russia. it's a story we will be back to foreshore. for the moment, thank you very much. president—electjoe biden�*s spokeswoman says the us will maintain travel bans on the uk, much of the eu, and brazil, despite an orderfrom president trump to lift them. the white house decreed on monday that the entry ban would end on 26 january, six days after mr biden takes office. 0ur north america correspondent, david willis has the latest. that's right, the travel ban that was brought into effect in the early part of last year mike, and itapplied to travellers from brazil, and from much of europe, coming into the united states, and was imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

today, president trump declared his intention to lift that ban, starting from next week, some six days after he leaves office. not so fast said the incoming biden administration, their spokeswoman said they had no such plans to lift that ban, and of course, combating the coronavirus is the number one priority of the incoming president, joe biden. mr trump of course has been under pressure from the airlines, some of them had lost about 95% of their business, as far as europe was concerned anyway, because of that ban. two days ahead of the inauguration ofjoe biden as the 46th us president, the tightest security measures in recent memory are in place in washington. officials are determined to prevent any repeat of the events of january 6th, when the capitol was stormed by a pro—trump mob.

earlier i spoke to clint van zandt, former fbi hostage negotiator who headed up the behavioral sciences unit, and i asked him if he expected trouble on wednesday. no, i don't expect anything right away that is going to happen. there is 25,000 national guard troops, more troops than we have had deployed in any combat zone around the world as well as fbi and multiple otherfederal agencies. there is fencing, there is cars, there's trucks. no i don't think anything is going to happen, nothing

like happened almost two weeks ago. what i'm afraid will happen is the groups who participated, the individuals who have beliefs along the same lines have long memories and i think well after the national guard goes home and the fence comes down, these groups will still be out there and with the new biden administration, i think there is going to be some challenges that some of these individuals will put up and unfortunately, we are not just talking in the tens and maybe hundreds, we are talking in the thousands. this is a very challenging time for the united states. as you well know, we have the riots that took place last summer. just in minneapolis, minnesota, 700 buildings were burned or destroyed, so this country has a lot of healing and our new president as well as the commander—in—chief has to be the healer in chief.

just briefly if you could, what faith do you have in this vetting of the national guard? presumably anybody with really bad intentions would have covered their tracks by now. they would have been uncovered already by now. again, this is thejob of the fbi, but by vetting, they will take every name, date of birth and social security number in the united states and see if those names come up on any type of list, on any militia individual. i've heard estimates of perhaps, at least for me obviously, if not 75 or 80% of the voting membership of the guard may have voted for president trump but again, i think most people have the ability to set rate their military responsibility from their political viewpoints. we've seen this go wrong in countries around the world but i think every effort is being made right now to make sure it doesn't happen in washington, as well as the 50 different state capitals where there were warnings

perhaps that some type of demonstration could take place on the 20th of this month. the first lady of the united states, melania trump, has delivered a farewell address before her husband leaves office on wednesday. in a video on twitter, she told people across the us that she would remember them. my my fellow americans, it has been the greatest honour of my life to serve as first lady of the united states. i have been inspired by incredible americans across our country, who lift up our communities through their kindness and courage, goodness and grace. the past four years have been unforgettable. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we speak to the former british special forces officer who led nepalese mountaineers to a place in history.

donald trump is now the 45th president of the united states. he was sworn in before several hundred thousand people on the steps of capitol hill in washington. it's going to be only america first. america first. demonstrators waiting for mike gatting and his rebel cricket team were attacked with tear gas and set upon by police dogs. anti—apartheid campaigners say they will carry on the protests throughout the tour. they called him - the butcher of lyon. klaus altman is being held. on a fraud charge in bolivia. the west germans want i to extradite him for crimes committed in wartime france. there, he was the gestapo chief klaus barbie. - millions came to bathe as close as possible to this spot, a tide of humanity that's believed by officials to have

broken all records. this is bbc news, our main headline this hour: supporters of the jailed russian activist alexei navalny have been arrested after he urged people to protest against president putin's government. the head of the world health organisation has said we're on the verge of a catastrophic moral failure over the way covid vaccines are being shared out. tedros adhanom ghebreyesus said the current approach would prolong the pandemic, lead to hoarding and delay the delivery of vaccines to poorer countries. however, only 25 doses have been given in one lowest—income country. not 25 million, just 25. globally, there have now been more than 95 million confirmed covid—i9 cases. the us, india and brazil account for nearly half of coronavirus cases globally. here in the uk, there are now more people being treated

for covid in hospitals than at any point in the pandemic. ten hospital trusts across england have reported having no spare critical care beds. to illustrate the distressing reality of what's happening on the front line, the bbc�*s clive myrie visited the royal london hospital to see how staff and families of patients are coping. there are those who must look into the abyss — to spare all of us. how many floors are taken up by covid patients here? we've got patients on the third floor, fourth floor, sixth floor, seventh floor, eighth floor... of 548 beds at the royal london hospital, 420 have covid patients. for ten days, we joined staff in one of the uk's biggest intensive care units... yes, still coming. go, go, go. ..at the peak of the second wave... he could die from this, -

by the way, i'm sorry to have to say that. ..as a new variant of covid—i9 forces a reckoning for our health service... sorry! so we're now going to run into a problem because we haven't got any beds. ..and a reckoning for us. nobody wants to go through this. - i wouldn't wish this on anybody. - this really is horrible. as london sleeps, the night shift begins at the royal london hospital. nursing sister carleen kelly makes her way to a job that's crushing her, in the middle of the covid nightmare. sleep isn't what it used to be. there's anxiety when you wake up and you remember what you have to go into. we're fragile and, erm, angry. in the emergency department, consultant nick bunker is up

to his neck in problems. so, he's got covid and he's had a stroke. a new covid patient has been admitted for every hour he's been on shift. by 3am, eight. so we're now going to run into a problem because we haven't got any beds. no beds? so, i had five beds to start the night. we've got two patients next door who need to come in. just down there. thank you. all right. and here's another. where will he go? just bring the back of the bed up. see if that helps. and is he on 100% now? yeah. in pressurised rooms, the patients receive oxygen through masks, their condition monitored, but who may need more sustained help from a ventilator. sats below 96. one man's breathing

badly falters. just do it, just do it, just do it. he must be intubated, fast. and we watch, as medics put him to sleep and push a long plastic tube down his throat, hooking him up to his new breathing machine. when he'll wake up, no—one knows. earlier i spoke to professor lawrence gostin, who is the director of the who center on public health and human rights. he believes the way vaccines are being distributed globally is not fair, as healthy people in richer nations are getting injections before vulnerable people in poorer states. we do call on countries to join kovacs and give up some of the vaccine stock. we cannot expect

countries to just give it all the way, but it really is, as doctor tedros said, a catastrophic moral failure when a country buys advanced doses because it is rich. and enough doses that it can cover its full population, in some cases twice its population, while a low income country might have 25 doses — not 25 million, not 20,500, 25 doses. everybody is worth the same. we all have equal worth, and there is no reason why the uk or europe or the united states should hoard vaccines while others die. some live, some die depending on how rich you are. and yet all governments are under such pressure from their voters, from their own populations to get the vaccines out of those populations, let alone give it away. talking about that, i have to ask you whether you feel that the who is really

in a position to lecture on best practice. there has been so much criticism of the failure to declare an international emergency earlier, a failure criticised specifically by the independent panel for pandemic preparedness and response. yeah, i mean, ithink the who made some errors, very early in the pandemic, mostly because they amplified china's incorrect information, saying that this was not a serious problem, there was very little community spread. but the truth is actually that under the international health regulations, the who did declare the public health emergency quite early actually, and i am absolutely confident, i don't know anybody who isn't, who knows the situation, that that would have changed the course of the pandemic. they should have acted earlier, i am one of the who's closest friends and closest friends tell the hard truths. around the world, they care a lot. they have a lot of passion, they do have a lot of moral they are speaking the truth. this is a moralfailure on the part of high income

governments. professor, thank you very much. thank you for having me. let's get some of the day's other news. the mexican president, andres manuel lopez 0brador, has made an appeal to the incoming biden administration in the us, asking washington to make major changes to its immigration policy. he was speaking as thousands of migrants clashed for a second day with police in guatemala. they're planning to walk to the us via mexico. the brazilian government has begun distributing thousands of doses of the chinese—made coronavirus vaccine to all states, a day after health regulators gave emergency approval for its use. the health minister said a nationwide inoculation programme would start on monday. save the children says there's been an alarming drop in aid

to afghanistan, where new figures show half the population needs humanitarian support. according to the charity, there were inadequate pledges at an international donor conference last november. a team of nepalese climbers has safely descended after becoming the first ever to reach the top of the world's second—highest mountain, k2, in winter. k2, along the pakistan—china border, is notoriously challenging with hurricane—strong winds and sub—zero temperatures. one of the leading members of the team is a former gurkha and british special forces soldier, and he's been speaking to our correspondent, secunder kermani. conquering the so—called savage mountain in the depth of winter. for decades, it defied the world's toughest climbers. now, this former gurkha and british special forces soldier... this is my team here in the tent, hello! ..along with a team of other nepalese mountaineers has made history.

it was super cold, and every step we climbed was an effort. so, you know, when we got to the summit, what we did was just ten metres before the summit, the whole team stopped together and, yeah, we sing the national anthem of nepal, and we made it to the summit together. some of the, obviously, team members were very emotional as well, including myself. there are 14 mountains in the world higher than 8,000 metres. k2 was the only one yet to be scaled in winter, because it's so challenging. dozens have lost their lives on the mountain. k2 is super steep, you know. either you have to go through, you know, blue ice or rock, so it's very technical. on top of that, if you add, you know, the temperature, up to —65 degrees, you know, even —70. what kept everyone going was, everybody wanted this to their bone. the men began as members of different teams but banded

together to reach the summit. a huge success for nepal, whose mountaineers have often worked out of the spotlight supporting western climbers. secunder kermani, bbc news, islamabad. michelin stars have been awarded to restaurants this year despite many being closed for most of the pandemic, including the first star for a vegan restaurant. the organisers insisted the awards were credible and that it would have been unfair not to reward those that struggled on creatively. mark lobel reports. preparing his signature starter of cauliflower in cream and vanilla dressing a miniscule number of times, sylvain has had a grating year.

translation: people are messing up takeaways _ and delivery guys are not getting paid well. these dark kitchens are dirty but booming. meanwhile, restaurants with high standards remain closed. it's a detriment to our culture and morale. hejoined the he joined the cream of the proper culinary visits to peru, thailand, japan and lebanon. he hopes michelin recognition will help restaurants bloom again, but for some food critics that is hard to do just. translation: | find it very curious. - with restaurants closed for more than six months and feverish because of curfews and sanitary rules, how michelin was able to investigate and hand out stars. but organisers of this year's socially distanced award ceremony held in the eiffel tower insist the show had to go on. translation: of course, this has been a _ complicated year. our inspectors have had to adapt. international colleagues helped. in the end, our inspectors were able to have as many meals this year as in previous years.

it's the organisers' hope that when empty restaurants like fleur de pave reopen, their stars will once again connect them to their customers, and maintain that mouthwatering desire for a truly delicious night out. mark lobel, bbc news. much more news for you anytime on the bbc news website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @bbcmikeembley. thanks for watching. hello there. storm christoph has been named by the met office and it will bring a double whammy of severe weather and disruption in the next few days. first up is the rain and flooding. this is rain accumulating in the next three days, and the bright colours show where we are expecting the heaviest of the rain. it will be very wet

in the welsh hills, but the main concern is the amount of rain expected in the southern pennines and northern peak district. we have an amber rain warning here that has been extended into the midlands, and parts of eastern england as well. river levels already very high, and the ground is very wet as well. we've got rain developing at the moment across much of england and wales. keeping it mild as the wind picks up. further north, though, it's much colder. frost and some icy patches in northern scotland. but the rain is still around during tuesday, and it will rain all day, pretty much, across northern england and northern ireland. further south across england and wales, after the overnight rain it should be drier for a while but we will see more rain coming in, especially across wales and the south west. some of that rain pushing into southern scotland bringing the threat of sleet and snow in the southern uplands. it is certainly colder across scotland with a few showers and some

sunshine in the north. much milderfor much of england and wales. ii or 12 degrees with some wind and, of course, some rain. that rain continues, actually, on tuesday evening, tuesday night and into wednesday as well. particularly across england and wales. it should dry off a bit across northern ireland. more wet weather coming into some southern and south eastern parts of scotland threatening some more snow over the high ground as well. again, it's quite cold across scotland and northern ireland, much milderfor england and wales with more rain on the way. that rain coming from storm christoph, that's the centre of the storm there. it is actually going to strengthen during wednesday night. the winds are really going to pick up as it moves northwards into the colder air there will be more snow falling overnight and into thursday morning. especially in scotland, could be a0 cm of snow and perhaps as much as that over the high ground, some snow over other hills of scotland and the northern pennines. drier further south, but it will be colder, and it will feel colder in the wind as well. so two main areas of concern, really, the wet weather in the next few days bringing flooding. especially across parts

of northern england, the midlands and eastern england. and then as if that was not enough we've got this increasing risk of snow, particularly in scotland with some blizzards and drifting of the snow in the hills.

this is bbc news. the headlines: more than 70 protesters have been detained in russia as they demanded the release of the opposition leader, alexei navalny. he was arrested just hours after he returned to moscow for the first time since being poisoned last year. he had called for demonstrations against president putin's government. joe biden�*s administration has said the united states will maintain covid travel restrictions which have banned visitors from the uk, most of europe, and brazil. earlier, mr trump, the outgoing president, had ordered the measures lifted

from next week. the rate of coronavirus infection is beginning to fall in the united kingdom. in the past 24 hours there have been fewer than 40,000 new cases — the first time that has happened this year. but hospitals are still battling against rising admissions and a shortage of critical care beds. the inquiry into the manchester arena terror attack in 2017