hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. the european union is facing mounting criticism for its short—lived attempt to override part of the brexit deal relating to northern ireland. we were told that under no circumstances could the european commission countenance a border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland and yet 29 days into the protocol they are quite happy to invoke it, when it is in their interests and the interests of the european bloc. in the past hour, the cabinet office minister michael gove said that a reset is now needed, with the eu. i think the european union recognises that they made a mistake in triggering article 15, which would have meant the reimposition of a border on the island of ireland. but now, the european union

have stepped back. the world health organisation has criticised the eu's announcement of export controls on vaccines, saying such measures risked prolonging the pandemic. it is morally wrong, in terms of arresting the pandemic it wouldn't help, and it wouldn't also bring livelihoods back. the prime minister publishes an open letter to parents, saying he's "in awe" of the way they're coping with home schooling. confusion over coronavirus rules in maternity wards — midwives warn a lack of clarity means some staff are being abused. five men have been arrested following a �*disturbance�* at a former military barracks in kent, being used to house hundreds of asylum seekers. now on bbc news, the travel show. rajan datar finds out how alpine ski resorts are dealing with a winter season of closures and lockdowns and visits the italian hilltop village that's

fighting for its future. coming up on this week's show: an uphill struggle for europe's ski resorts. the lift closures changed a lot things so people came here for cross—country skiing. gorgeous view. the italian village trying to stay on its hilltop. and the show that must go on in dubai. i have no safety, i have no harness. i cannot have mistakes.

hello and welcome to the show where it's pretty safe to say, 11 months on from the start of the pandemic, travel to and from the uk has pretty much ground to a halt. laughs and if you're like me and you just can't wait for the opportunity to get back on the road again and see more of the world than your own front garden, then why not stick with us? we will be updating you with how the travel industry is trying to cope with the pandemic, plus, a bit of inspiration for things to see and do once those travel corridors are reinstalled and we can perhaps start exploring again. but first, it's that time of the year when some of us start packing our ski suits and get ready to hit the slopes. but with an ongoing global pandemic and travel restrictions all across the world, travelling to the mountains is an uphill struggle. in the uk, all the ski

resorts in scotland have closed their ski lifts until the current lockdown is lifted. elsewhere, in europe, many ski stations have simply shut down for the season or remain open only for the locals. chamonix is one of the oldest and most famous ski resorts in the french alps where this year there's a lot of snow but very few tourists. this the l'aiguille du midi lift station, it is the highest lift in western europe. normally this platform area would be absolutely buzzing with people waiting to take the lift, with alpinists, with ropes people with their skis, every nationality you could imagine. they'd be waiting here to take the lift. this is an extremely lively place in normal times. since october, like of a ski lifts across france, this cable car has remained closed by government order in an effort to stop

the spread of covid—i9. perhaps the danger is not so much in the outdoor activity of skiing, which is considered pretty safe, but it's more the gathering of groups of people and when you have ski, you inevitably have apres ski and that's something the government wants to avoid. i live and work in chamonix. i've been here for 35 years now. the situation now with very few tourists is extremely strange. it's one that i have never experienced. yes, it's a very sad situation for all of the people who depend on tourism for their livelihoods. like other european countries, france has decided to shut its restaurants and bars, and a curfew now moved to 6pm means all apres ski activities are curtailed. it's a major blow for

the people working here in the valley. there's no talk of reopening yet though, the government has confirmed that ski lifts will remain shut in february. i'm sure the season is dead, i'm sure about that. compared to december last year, our turnover is down by 62%, which is enormous. and because of this, i have been employing only four seasonals instead of 21 normally. at the moment, our clients are the locals and we have also

people coming from switzerland — a few of them. but there is no more foreigners in chamonix and this is how we live normally with the foreigners and for the moment, we don't have any. although we found one group of foreigners who seem to enjoy their time here. we're from australia but we live in lyon. we don't get much snow in australia so this is my first time seeing snow. it's pretty beautiful. it's a shame we can't go up on the mountain and ski but we are making the most of it with our snowman and everything. we'll have to come back next year hopefully when things i are a little bit more normal hopefully. i for others, the closure of ski lifts has been a way of rediscovering other things to do in the snow, like sledging.

because the alpine skiing is not possible, we have had customers who have been asking for the new things, and the new thing is touring skis. this is a touring skis with a proper binding. you have got pins on the front which helps the boots to go like this when you're climbing. and then you put the skins on the skis like this, and like this it's going to help you climb the mountains. ski touring, snowshoeing, cross—country, normally the people who would have been skiing are doing those activities instead.

and also, there have been so many people in the mountain making sledging tracks and building snowmen and people who normally ski don't have time for those activities. so it is a little bit more of a back to nature and resourcing. and just enjoying the peace and quiet of the mountain as well. my name is danielle, i have been a ski instructor in chamonix for 20 years now. so the lift closures have changed a lot of things in the valley, you can imagine, because chamonix valley is very, very famous for downhill ski. so people came here in the holidays for the last christmas holidays here in chamonix, and the change of ski came here with the cross—country ski. it was incredible. we had so many people here on loop, many, many skiers in chamonix.

i have never seen that, never. we had so many people trying to have some lessons. we didn't have enough ski instructors in the valley. that was incredible. some people will come back to cross—country skiing next year too because they enjoy it. see where we are, look at the snow, the snow on the trees. it is much more quiet than downhill skiing. you have always got the noise of the chairlifts, it's very noisy. here it's, it's a totally different atmosphere so i think they enjoy this a lot.

well, stay with us because still to come on the show... we have got the italian village clinging to its hilltop. you have to be like very very focused and concentrated on what you're going to do. and we find out how the show can go on in dubai. welcome back to london, a city in lockdown where we are now getting used to seeing virtually deserted streets. well, imagine living in a place that's acustomised to being empty thanks to a constantly falling population. last year, before the current travel restrictions were in place, i went to italy to a hilltop village that's in exactly that situation. civita, today they call it the dying town but it was once

home to more than 3,000 people. now they reckon there are just seven permanent residents here. and they are heavily outnumbered by tourists — up to 10,000 a day. as you approach the town, you can see just why. gorgeous view. this bridge by the way is the only way up to the village, and back for that matter. you can only walk, you can't drive. it's about 300 metres, it gets pretty steep. it's a pretty stunning entrance as well, isn't it? civita dates back more than a thousand years but over the centuries, its population has dwindled and notjust for economic reasons. because this town is actually physically collapsing itself. in fact, it was once three orfour times the size it is now.

wow, so luca, this is a really steep drop in the rock face. what caused this? and this is a problem that is continuing today, even up to today there is still a big danger that this will collapse even more.

ironically, although there are hardly any local amenities, no supermarkets, no post office, no police station, some businesses are booming because of increasing visitor numbers. like this cantina, a restaurant owned by one of civita's few remaining residents. she grew up here as a child and watched the town change around her.

rosanna, tell me, what was it like here when you were growing up as a child? was it sad for you to see so many of your friends leave and just you left behind?

indeed, now in civita, some young locals are seeing opportunities to stay. like daniela and her brother, who set up a business here. in the olive fields overlooked by civita, where she played as a child, daniela got the inspiration to create cosmetics that evoke the unique landscape.

the basic fact is, for civita as a whole to survive, it will need money. to cross the bridge you now have to pay five euros, and it's in the running to become a unesco world heritage site which would bring with it funding to help secure its future. luca, the geologist, had one more thing to show me. he thinks that through monitoring long—term planning and by reinforcing the base of the valley, civita can be saved for the benefit of the all. in the meantime, innovations are helping to secure this precious town. hand on heart, luca,

do you really think that civita can be saved ? fingers crossed. grazie. now back here in london, the capital's world famous theatreland took a huge hit during the pandemic with virtually all forms of live entertainment being forced to shut down. entertainment is a huge draw for tourist destinations and a few years ago... i visited dubai to meet the cast of a new theatrical extravaganza called la perle. we are talking 65 world—class artists, athletes and performers.

we're talking motorcycles circling around in a bowl in mid air, and best of all, in the middle of a desert, you can even get rain. like venues all over the world, they too were forced to shut down when the pandemic hit but now they're up and running again. and last month, lucy got a behind—the—scenes look at how they managed to reopen. it's about five o'clock so there are two hours before showtime and i have been lucky enough to get a sneak preview of the technical rehearsal that these guys do every night. it looks incredible and i cannot wait for showtime. bring it on. la perle is a mixture ofjaw—dropping acrobatics, visual effects, music and dance, performed here nightly in a specially built theatre inside a hotel complex

in the heart of dubai. bringing a touch of las vegas spectacle to an audience who in normal times is usually made up of tourists from around the world. carlos is one of the highlights of the nightly show, performing amazing and daring feats of agility on his giant rotating wheels. where one false move could spell potential disaster. so carlos, i have been watching you with equal measures of dread and awe on the wheel of life or the wheel of death as it was formerly known, how do you do that? you must be physically strong because it is heavy and then mentally strong and you have to be very focused and concentrate on what you're going to do. i have no safety, i have no harness. i cannot have a mistake. the show closed down on march 15 last year as a lockdown was announced in dubai and international tourism here ground to a halt. but four month later,

the decision was made to try and reopen the show. the performers and crew still in dubai agreed to form bubbles, a strict covid—safe seating plan was introduced and once local authorities were happy, tickets went on sale again. when we came back to the theatre on august first, we came three weeks advance to perform, to practise, to get back into shape, to bring back the show together. this show requires a lot of training. so they say we're going to open but it depends on you guys if we're going to keep open the theatre. so you have to take measures. i sacrifice myself but at the same point, at the same time, i am grateful because i am allowed to, despite all these problems, i can still perform what i like. live theatrical entertainment around the world has been

decimated by the pandemic. and here at la perle they practically reinvented their shows so that performers, crews and audience members could stay as safe as possible. and that has meant pretty much rebuilding the entire production from the ground up. how about the choreography, how have you redesigned that to ensure there is enough distance between performers and the audience? 0riginally we had a lot of changes because we normally have people flying all over the audience, coming very much into audience interaction. there are even artists coming onto the stage from within the audience. a lot of that was going through the whole show on day one, going to do that, not gonna do that, cannot do that. so we're just running a lot of contingencies right now and one day, hopefully we will be able to bring those segments of the show back in. for now, we will still give the audience the same feeling without coming into contact with them. the audience is beginning to filter in, the seats have

been sanitised and i can see people in their bubbles, safely socially distancing. if i'm being honest, it feels a little weird being here after ten months of absolutely no live entertainment but it's amazing we're going to see a show and i cannot wait. with all the restrictions in place and fewer performers on stage, rob describes the new show as a more intimate experience and reduced audience capacity means less revenue from ticket sales. but while international tourism will not return to pre—covid levels for some time, local audiences here in dubai have remained loyal, with many of them coming to see the show for the very first time. i play more with the audience because i feel they are shy and afraid sometimes, especially, not many shows in the world are open the show must go on. we're going to survive.

and that is it for this week. coming up next time: grab your coat — we're revisiting some of our favourite snowbound adventures. from ade�*s stay at sweden's iconic ice hotel. what is the temperature in this place? -5. to entering an endangered glazier. it is beautiufl. wish me luck. and christa's head—first ride down a bobsled run. and in the meantime, don't forget you can follow us on facebook and instagram. here's to the time we can get back on the road and travel again. we will see you next week. goodbye.

hello. lots of different weather has been happening across the uk today. we had heavy rain, lots of flood warnings still in force and some snow as well, particularly across parts of wales and the midlands. here is the picture in powys. that will cause some disruption as we head into the evening. things are much quieter further north, high pressure is holding on here, but it's this area of low pressure that has been a bit of a troublemaker, pushing in that mix of rain, sleet and snow, mainly over higher ground. so, over the next few hours, particularly across parts of central and northern wales, into the higher ground of the midlands, that is where we will see more sleet and snow. it will be falling as rain for the likes of london and kent, and also for the south—west of england, over the next few hours we are expecting some

heavy bursts of rainfall. so, where you do see that snow and ice developing, particularly across wales, parts of the midlands and into southern and eastern england, there could be disruption to travel. certainly icy stretches developing is that rain, sleet and snow cleared away towards the south, with lighter winds, it could be a cold night, so any untreated surfaces will be slippery first thing sunday morning. widely getting down a few degrees below freezing for many of us, perhaps as —12 for the sheltered glens of scotland, one of the coldest nights of the winter so far. in sunday morning, a relatively quiet start to the day but the next area of low pressure will move into western parts later on, so cold, bright with some wintry sunshine and that rain as it meets the cold air could bring some fairly heavy snowfall across the likes of dartmoor, the cotswolds and into wales, the mourne mountains as well. down towards the far south—west, it will be falling as heavy rain. for the rest of the uk away from that corner, certainly seeing a lot of dry weather with some sunshine,

although a little bit hazy and some wintry flurries across the north of scotland. heading into monday, a quieter day, we still have the a lot of cloud across many central and southern parts of england and wales, perhaps clouding over to their northern ireland. the best of any sunshine to parts of northern england and eastern scotland as well. temperatures still a little below average for the time of year, but just about touching double figures in the far south—west on monday. as we look further ahead, turning milder particularly in the south, through the course of next week. remaining pretty chilly and unsettled though across parts of scotland, northern ireland and northern england as well. goodbye for now.

this is bbc news. the headlines at five. the government calls for a reset in relations with northern ireland — following a row with the european union over the supply of vaccines there. i think the eu recognise they made a mistake in triggering article 16 which would have meant the imposition of a border on the island of ireland. the prime minister publishes an open letter to parents, saying he's "in awe" of the way they're coping with home schooling. a four—year—girl has discovered a rare dinosaur footprint on a beach in south wales. and in half an hour here on bbc news — after social media suspended donald trump, �*global questions asks — has big tech gone too far?