this is bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: 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. the world health organization warns we're on the brink of a �*catastrophic moral failure�* as poorer countries are forced to wait for covid—19 vaccines. supporters of the jailed russian activist alexei navalny have been arrested after he urged people to protest against president putin's government the outgoing us president orders covid travel bans to be lifted, only for the president—elect to say his new administration will

maintain the restrictions. and risking temperatures down to —70 to reach the top of the world's second highest mountain — nepalese mountaineers tell the bbc about their historic ascent. hello to you. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the head of the world health organization 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. the who director—general explained that more than 39 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have now been administered in higher—income 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—19 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. to illustrate the reality of what's happening on the front line, clive myrie visited the royal london hospital to see how staff and families of patients are coping. you may find some of his report distressing. 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—19 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 sam, 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. soon, he'lljoin so many others here — oblivious to night and day. cared for by strangers like carleen, who we spoke to in the first wave of the virus, back in may. i've felt broken on many occasion and i think a lot of my colleagues have.

now, the intensity of the second wave is even more frightening. i see how i feel about this time, like i'm trapped in a cave and the water is slowly rising, and i'm barely keeping my head above water. it's scarier, it's bigger. i was so naive the first time. i wasn't convinced we were going to have the second wave at all, and the huge numbers that have just absolutely slammed us, erm, it'sjust... i never thought it would be possible to have this many intensive care patients, not at all. nick bunker checks on carleen and all the staff as he helps monitor around 130 icu covid patients, spread all over the hospital. there were little more than a0 intensive care beds before the pandemic... yeah, let me know if i need to know. ..and he still needs

more tonight. a few minutes later, we find a porter with a priceless possession. we soon find out how he sadly came upon it. martin freeborn said he wanted to speak to us. er, my wife lost her fight for life. - erm... it was a mixture of covid . and an infection that finally finished her off. and this is literally in the last few minutes? yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah, in the last half hour, i've lost her. . her name was helen and she was 64. what's your message to people watching this who perhaps feel that there is no covid, there is no battle that everyone is fighting? it makes me really angry. nobody wants to go

through this. - i wouldn't wish this on anybody. - this really is horrible. it's real, and people really do| need to look after themselves and take care, because you don't want this to happen. i i wouldn't wish this on anybody. - yeah, please wake up, - and please be over—careful. you can't do enough i to keep yourself safe. don't end up like us. please. that's the three grandchildren and my three daughters, - and my wife in the - background, looking on. she loved being a grandmother. this letter's from my daughter but, unfortunately, she went i on the ventilator before she could see it. - "dearest mum, helen, grandma. "we love you so much. "we miss you more than we can say. i "you are so strong and have

been through so much... i you are our hero, our inspiration. our light in this darkness. until we see you again, and we will... you stay strong, as always... "all our love, and forever. "laura, lindsay and megan." it's a sad story, isn't it? that is for sure. clive myrie reporting. and we'll have more reports from clive, cameraman david mcilveen, and producer sam piranty at the royal london hospital over the course of the week. i spoke earlier to professor lawrence gostin, director of the who's centre on public health and human rights. he believes the way vaccines are distributed globally is not fair. basically, healthy people in richer nations are getting injections before vulnerable

people in poorer countries. we do call on countries to join covax and to give up some of their vaccine stocks, and we can't expect countries to just give it all away, but it really is, as doctor tatro 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. 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.

he had been recovering in germany from a nerve agent attack —— 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. that story will be back, of course. much more to come. 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 world news. the latest headlines: the second wave of the covid pandemic has left uk hospitals at breaking point. medical staff are facing rising admissions and a shortage of critical care beds. supporters of the jailed russian activist alexei navalny have been arrested after he urged people to protest against president putin's government

president—electjoe biden�*s spokeswoman says the us will maintain travel bans on the uk, much of the eu and brazil, despite an order from 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. our north america correspondent, david willis has the latest. 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 6january, when the capitol was stormed by a pro—trump mob. brette steele specialises in preventing targeted violence. she works at the mccain institute of international leadership. among many senior roles, i know you also worked at the department of homeland security, and with the countering violent extremism task force. do you think there will be trouble on wednesday, in washington, or elsewhere in the country?

washington, or elsewhere in the count ? ., ., , washington, or elsewhere in the count? ., ., ,, , ~ country? unfortunately yes. a larae country? unfortunately yes. a large share — country? unfortunately yes. a large share of— country? unfortunately yes. a large share of the _ country? unfortunately yes. a large share of the american i large share of the american electorate believes that the election was stolen. i was at the capital —— violence at the capitol demonstrates that at least some people think violence is justified. least some people think violence isjustified. there is a very real risk that violence will continue, whether in co—ordinated plots, or loan actor attacked, co—ordinated plots, or loan actorattacked, it co—ordinated plots, or loan actor attacked, it doesn't necessarily mean there will be violence on wednesday at the united states capitol, there is quite a bit of security measures in place, but it does present an ongoing risk of violence for the country. there is a huge _ violence for the country. there is a huge amount _ violence for the country. there is a huge amount of— violence for the country. there is a huge amount of security i violence for the country. there is a huge amount of security in place we are told. you don't think that is enough to stop it? how could it be stopped? what i am saying is i'm not saying there will not necessarily be violence at the united states capitol, i think there is a greater risk of continued violence in the

united states as a whole, not just on wednesday, but continuing well past the inauguration.— continuing well past the inauguration. continuing well past the inau:uration. �* ., ., ., inauguration. and how to deal with that? _ inauguration. and how to deal with that? how _ inauguration. and how to deal with that? how would - inauguration. and how to deal with that? how would you - with that? how would you suggest�*s i know you work with at least one former white supremacist.— at least one former white suremacist. ~ , supremacist. multiple actually. how do we _ supremacist. multiple actually. how do we address _ supremacist. multiple actually. how do we address this - supremacist. multiple actually. | how do we address this problem writ large? we need to invest in local prevention and intervention programmes across the united states, family members need to know where they can go, where they can turn for help, and you are right, i chair the board of white factor hate, i have worked with former white supremacist, nearly all of them said that they left the movement when they experience compassion from someone who they thought deserved at least. so we really need to empower these local programmes to do this prevention work at the local level, build those relationships, and the more we demonise and polarise, the more we escalate this conflict, rather than the deescalation we

really need right now. so that's really _ really need right now. so that's really long—term worker, a lot more than fact checking and arguing with people. has it helped to remove a lot of people from social media, presumably, you could argue it has helped the public discourse if that is not too fancy a turn. it must have made it harder for intelligence to keep track of extreme opinion. it certainly can make it harder, especially as the extreme activity moves to more and more encrypted platforms over time, but the reality is, when social media companies take the actions they are taking, in some ways they are limiting the audience that is consuming this content, they are limiting the audience that is in that echo chamber, and that can at least have temporary impacts, and right now, they are really trying to take down the temperature of this escalation to violence we are experiencing. really

interesting - experiencing. really interesting to - experiencing. really interesting to talk i experiencing. really| interesting to talk to experiencing. really - interesting to talk to you, thank you very much. let's get some of the day's other news. the mexican president, andres manuel lopez obrador, 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. the charity save the children so there has been an alarming drop in aid to afghanistan when there is evidence that half the population needs support. inadequate pledges were made last year at a donor

convention. 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 lit 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 minuscule number of times, this chef has had a greeting past 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 crop after culinary visits to peru, japan, thailand and nepal. for

some food critics, that is hard to digester. some food critics, that is hard to digester-— to digester. translation: i find it very — to digester. translation: i 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.

obviously mark has already used all available puns. thank you so much 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 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 1t0 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: the rate of coronavirus infection is beginning to fall in the united kingdom. in the past 21t 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 world health organization has warned that we're on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure over the way vaccines are shared out. it says the current approach will delay the delivery of vaccines to poorer countries. one nation, guinea, has received just 25 doses. at least 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.

it has