over 20 25,000 people gathered in edinburgh to asset viking ship on fire. accompanied by pipe bands, torch carriers burn up the ceremonial ship. the event kicks off a four-day celebration of the new year. >>> japan is also gearing up for the holiday. chefs across the country are working carefully to prepare a favorite delicacy. blowfish which locals refer to as loch is notoriously lethal. the winter dish is in high demand so specially trained chefs are taking care to remove the toxic poison. they're slicing up blowfish in time to deliver to families. i don't know if i would trust anyone to take out toxic poison from my food. >> here's what we'll do. we'll order it. you eat it first. five minutes later, i'll sample it. >> i don't know if i like that idea, bill. i'm a beef eater. >>> time now for an early look at some of the stories we'll follow throughout the day here on nbc. today is the deadline for people with medicare to decide how they wish to get their medicare health benefits for next year. and whether to choose or change medicare drug plan. >>> rio d

and snow and ice socked in hundreds of flights at gatwick airport outside london and edinburgh in scotland. we have a report from damon green of "independent television news." >> the cold weather comes and everything stops. snow in december and great britain grinds to a halt. while some were struggling in to work this morning, there were some still struggling to get home on a journey that began at 10:00 last night. platform five, albingdon, trains going nowhere for five hours. trains have been very hard hit by the snowfall especially near sheffield. passengers when had to sleep on train ended up by their own admission stir-crazy. >> my season ticket is 3,500 pound a year and this is how we're treated. >> the airport at edinburgh is shut and the same at gatwick. heavy snow is on the runway, poor visibility in the air, no guarantee that things will be any better tomorrow. >> sreenivasan: a severe weather system in the u.s. caused widespread damage today, as it moved from the south up the east coast. it spawned a host of suspected tornados starting in louisiana and georgia, and tornado watche

. >> flights resumed in edinburgh late this afternoon, but airports are warning that disruption is likely to continue. >> we will drop through the conditions. and it will be cancelled. >> in kent, platforms were deserted. trains were in mobile. the trap was virtually invisible. as of this afternoon, more than a quarter of services were not running. passengers trapped overnight on a commuter service in at sussex filled these images of their chilly flight. >> there is no question as to whether we would get out, what their plan was, what the were going to do with the passengers. i think that was the most distressing thing. we had no indication of when or how we were going to make it back. >> this is the a-57 at a workshop. two cab drivers spent the night here. there are still hazards on the roads. the man reviewing our preparations for winter travel says long-term travel plans are complicated by the unpredictability of the weather. >> in north america, canada, they knew almost to the week when winter is going to come. they know how long it is going to last. they know how much snow it they ar

. >> flights resumed in edinburgh. but with destruction around the u.k. in moremainland europe are likely to continue. real passengers have seen their patients tried. in kent, platforms were deserted, and the track was virtually invisible. train operators around the u.k. this set that have -- more than one such for their services were not running. passengers trapped overnight on a commuter service inurface in x filmed these images. >> there was no decision as to what to do with our passengers. that was the most frightening thing -- we had no indication of when we would make it back. >> this is the a-57. 200 drivers spent a second night in their cabins here. the man charged with reviewing our preparations for winter travel says the u.k.'s unpredictable weather -- >> in scandinavia, canada, east coast of north america, they know almost to the week when their winter will come. they know how severe it will be, how much snow they will get. here it is completely different. >> roads did allow the first delivery for three weeks, into supermarkets. some shortages

the queen and duke of edinburgh have already met mike tindall and said they were delighted with the news. smiles at this pulp where the couple regular they spends time socializing -- smiles at this pub. >> they conduct themselves as a friendly locals. >> any wedding receptions here? no >>. >> either no wedding date has been set, but it definitely will not be april 29. she will not want to clash with her cousin. >> before we go, a reminder of our headlines. the senate voted to end debate on the strategic nuclear arms treaty with russia. they move on to final approval later this week. the treaty would cut nuclear weapons. the south korean army will hold its largest ever live fire drill near the border with the north on thursday in a show of force in the wake of the island attack last month. >> hello and welcome. >> see the news unfold, get the top stories from around the globe and click to play video reports. go to bbc.com/news to experience the in-depth, expert reporting of "bbc world news" online. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and hon

gatwick in edinburgh airports are closed, and new castle has been experiencing disruption.irports are closed in france and' switzerland. traffic came to a virtual standstill. >> it to me three hours to go 500 meters. >> poland was also affected by the adverse conditions. in the north of the country, temperatures fell to -20. and there's little hope of warmer weather sen. more snow is forecast. >> back in a minute with "in starting december 4 on dw-tv. >> welcome back. december 1 is world aids day. it first took place in 1988 when the united nations dedicated the day to raising awareness of the aids pandemic. the syndrome is estimated to have killed around 30 million people since it was first in the fight in 1981. and it continues to spread. hiv infection rates in china and in india have increased dramatically. but sub-saharan africa remains the region's worst affected. significantly more than half of all the people in the world living with aids. the disease is the single largest cause of mortality in the region. and it sent life expectancy plummeting. it is no longer the im

the former chancellor, the right honorable member for edinburgh south west said vat would have allowedou to pay off a sizeable chunk of the deficit. that is the policy that the last chancellor supported. if we had followed over the last six months the advice of the leader of the opposition, we would be linked with portugal, with ireland -- yes. we would not be standing here today discussing how we will get faster growth and lower unemployment; we would be sitting around discussing how to rescue and bail out britain. >> okay, mr. speaker, you can rewrite history for only so long. let us be- let us be absolutely clear about this- >> order. we are wasting the time of back-bench members. let us hear the leader of the opposition. >> the deficit was 2.5% of national income before the crisis-the recession-hit all around the world. it went up all around the world; it was a global economic recession. the question is, should we cut too far and too fast, which is what the prime minister is doing, so that there are four years of sluggish recovery-the most sluggish recovery from recession in 40 yea

anyway, i walked through the village of edinburgh and not particularly pleased to navigate because there'sbout 40 playhouses to where they live and they with a rather large man with his arms close and he said i understand you are a writer. i said yes. is that i imagine here to see emily. i said i'd like to. he said no, absolutely not. that story was so embarrassing to me into her. and he'd emily were the only. so i wrote a book in which there is a big chapter about tristan ciccone are. i quoted those two paragraphs from derek roy's book. is a very tender piece of writing about a young naval officer with his unrequited love affair for the silent girl. so i thought no more about it. and then in the 1990s, i was in the south atlantic, lecturing on various islands like south georgia and tristan, two groups of americans. and eventually we came to tristan and you see this beautiful volcano ahead of us. we sailed up to it with me and sorted telling him about the history of tristan and napoleon now the rest of it. the number dropped anchor or at least we hope to. i'm not from the little harbor cam

gatwick in edinburgh airports are closed, and new castle has been experiencing disruption.irports are closed in france and switzerland. traffic came to a virtual standstill. >> it to me three hours to go 500 meters. >> poland was also affected by the adverse conditions. in the north of the country, temperatures fell to -20. and there's little hope of warmer weather sen. more snow is forecast. >> back in a minute with "in depth." >> stay with us. ♪ >> knew at the dw-tv store, the beethoven project. with -- and -- on dvd, nine world famous symphonies, and the award winning documentary from dw-tv. the beethoven project, the dvd collection at the dw-tv store. >> on his the point of great success, four young students at the world famous school in dresden in to take the world of dance by storm. brimming with passion and ambition. obsess with dancing. starting december 4 on dw-tv. >> welcome back. december 1 is world aids day. it first took place in 1988 when the united nations dedicated the day to raising awareness of the aids pandemic. the syndrome is estimated to have killed ar

great, world-class universities, whereas universities such as moscow where i used to teach at and edinburgh would be in a state of decline. we rejected all those unacceptable options. i will take a scottish out -- i will take a scottish intervention. >> i am grateful to the secretary. does he even begin to understand the potential disastrous impact that trebling tuition fees in england will have on scottish universities? will lead due to mitigate this? >> i most emphatically will not be following the advice of this nationalist government who are starving scottish universities of resources and reallocating priorities to cut -- to cut schools. that is what has happened in scotland. >> i thank my honorable friend for giving way. i am sure we can all agree that all students who would benefit from a university education should be entitled to decide, regardless of their financial situation. my particular concern is that by increasing the tuition cap, participation levels among lower and middle-income students will fall away. what assurance can the government give that the situation will be monito

the palace spokesperson said the queen and duke of edinburgh are delighted with the news. >> jim sciuttos "world news." diane? >> good morning, juju and everyone at "gma." as we head into the holiday travel season, so many questions about the terror warnings at the airports, at the trains, on the road. what does your family need to know? what do america's top insiders on the front lines know? you'll hear on "world news," i sit down with them tonight. >> important information. that's the news at 8:04. >>> time, now, for the weather with sam champion. only in vegas, do you hang out with an elvis dummy. good morning, sweetie. >> i know. good morning, juju. it's not just the glamour of vegas. it's also the stars. terry fator is here this morning. the biggest show in vegas this year, by the way. you're at the mirage. congratulations on all that. thank you for being here. you brought maynard with you. >> maynard tompkins. >> nice to meet you, sir. you have a special family connection to the holidays. >> what's your family connection to the holidays? >> well, my grandfather was christmas tree.

the martha stewart of kiddie parties in england and she saw that her daughter was going to go to edinburghniversity in scotland, kate's mother, carol, said, well, why don't you go to st. andrews. so she enrolled and they met right away. kate and william, and within a very short period of time they were friends. and it grew from there. >> there's also, in your book, a lot about how princess di's death has sort of plagued prince william. and how he has this recurring nightmare about kate. >> william and harry have always blamed the press for their mother's death. a drunk driver behind the wheel but the paparazzi was chasing diana through the streets of paris. so he's always had this recurring nightmare that the same fate would befall kate. there are a number of instances that i recount in the book, really harrowing car chases where the british press and the foreign press are pursuing kate through the streets of london. so that was another factor that he was always worried that she would, you know, die in a car crash or be injured in a car crash. now that she's a member of the royal family, o

nearby edinburgh has 35 inches on the ground. unlike last week, the main thoroughfare, interstate 90 was wide open between buffalo, erie and cleveland. it's not the snow that's getting to us, it's the cold cold air. the jet stream continuing to show that arctic dip all the way down to the gulf coast in florida. it's cold this morning in the sunshine state, but it may be even a bit colder tomorrow morning as temperatures hit the freezing point or below, down to near 40 in miami, and, matt, how about this? 26 here this morning, right now it's also 26 in tallahassee, florida. back to you. >> mike seidel in pennsylvania this morning. mike, stay warm, thank you. and now here's meredith. >>> as mike mentioned, the bitter cold has folks shivering as far south as florida. nbc's kerry sanders is in plant city, just east of tampa. er can rib, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, meredith. it's cold and still getting colder as the sun comes up. in the last hour, it's dropped about a degree, we're at 33 degrees. i'm standing here