stephen mcdonell, bbc news. 0ne unexpected benefit of lockdown has been some truly stunning views ofn levels of light pollution. 0ur chief environment correspondentjustin rowlatt reports. this is what a truly dark sky looks like. billions of stars wheel above the kielder 0bservatory in northumberland. set deep in a forest, the observatory enjoys the darkest skies in england. and throughout lockdown senior astronomer dan monk has been filming the incredible views. people often do get emotional when they sit underneath this amazing dark sky and they realise how small they are in the universe. it can actually make people cry at times. it's estimated 85% of us have never seen a truly dark sky. it means we are missing out because it gives us a sense of our place in the universe, the awesome vastness of space. but look at this. even a tiny light is enough to extinguish the stars and bring us right back down to earth. the reduction in light pollution this year is an exception. satellite images show the night sky has been getting steadily lighter across the world. changes in light have been

stephen mcdonell, bbc news. now it's time for the latest sport from the bbc sports centre.nners real madrid have shown their class in the champions league again after beating liverpool 3—1 in the first leg of their quarterfinal in the spanish capital. vinciusjunior opened the scoring just before the half—hour mark with a well—taken goal and real doubled their lead nine minutes later after some poor defending allowed marco asensio to score. liverpool were better in the second half, mo salah scoring what they hope will prove to be a crucial away goal but real re—established their two—goal cushion with vinicius' second of the night, leaving liverpool with a tough job to turn things around in the second leg at an empty anfield next week. if you want to go to the semifinals, that's absolutely ok semifinals, that's absolutely 0k and fair but you have to deserve it with the performance on the beach. we are under pressure now, of course, and we have to show that we can meet that. it was a night of contrasting fortunes for the two english teams, because in the other quarterfinal fir

stephen mcdonell, bbc news.ccording to new research, that's because of a dramatic drop in levels of light pollution. such a decline can affect human health and wildlife by disturbing biological cycles and behaviours, as our chief environment correspondent justin rowlatt reports. this is what a truly dark sky looks like. billions of stars wheel above the kielder observatory in northumberland. set deep in a forest, the observatory enjoys the darkest skies in england. and, throughout lockdown, senior astronomer dan monk has been filming the incredible views. people often do get emotional when they sit underneath this amazing dark sky and they realise how small they are in the universe. it can actually make people cry, at times. it's estimated 85% of us have never seen a truly dark sky. it means we are missing out because it gives us a sense of our place in the universe, the awesome vastness of space. but look at this. even a tiny light is enough to extinguish the stars and bring us right back down to earth. the red

stephen mcdonell, bbc news.site and on our twitter feeds. the bbc website and on our twitterfeeds. thank the bbc website and on our twitter feeds. thank you very much for watching. well, it's certainly been cold in the last couple of days. we've snow, particularly across northern parts of the uk. but here's the good news if you don't like the cold. it is going to feel a lot better on wednesday. we won't have that cold northerly wind. we won't have that windchill, which we've been experiencing for a couple of days now. but the arctic air has spread right across the continent into northern parts of the mediterranean as well, so it's quite a widespread outbreak of cold arctic air. now, through the early hours you can see clear skies across much of the country. still a few wintry showers there across parts of scotland. but lighter winds, clear skies, a frost as well. temperatures in some cities down to around —2 or —3 celsius early on wednesday morning. so wednesday's looking something like this, lots of bright, spa

stephen mcdonell, bbc news, changchun.e most vulnerable people, leaving women and migrants further marginalised in some parts of the world. aru na iyengar reports. the global pandemic has affected everyone, but the impact is far from evenly spread. amnesty international is scathing in its report. it says women and refugees, like these in congo, have suffered the most. it points to domestic violence figures, which have risen in many countries, fuelled by victims being isolated with their abusers. women were largely the primary victims, in gender terms, of covid—19. throughout the world, groups that were vulnerable, individuals that were vulnerable, because of years of neglect, because of austerity measures that had wilfully neglected investment in health care, these individuals were hit the hardest. they had the least and they received the least. the report also says governments have used covid—19 to repress dissent. the philippines, nigeria, brazil and india are accused of using the pandemic as an excuse for tougher polici

stephen mcdonell reports from china's rust belt. iron, steel and timber were not neededin steel and timber were not needed in the same volume. enterprises were not able to survive leaving millions of people without work. it is to be the envy of the country but in recent times it has struggled to keep up with the coastal provinces further to the south and in reality industries outdid have to change and that is why policymakers are looking for new ways to boost the local economy. the factories which do remain today have survived with much reduced workforces and less opportunities meant young people leaving. this factory once employed 30,000 workers, now it is less than a third than that. when this 86—year—old was growing up, it provided guaranteed employment for him and his community. retirees who hang out in this park say life is so much better these days in terms of clothing, and housing but it can be tough on the new generation. in the big cities in the north—east, a gleaming version of china draws university graduates to high—tech

stephen mcdonell, bbc news. and that is it. bye—bye.ng to feel a little milder. we're going lose that cold, biting northerly wind, lose the wind—chill, so with a little bit of sunshine, its houldn't feel too bad at all. here's the arctic outbreak. you can see it's quite a large outbreak of cold air, spreading right across the continent and even reaching the continent and even reached the northern mediterranean. this is what it looks like through the early hours. notice the strong northerly winds at the northerly winds are out in the north sea. —4, —5 in rural parts of yorkshire and scotland. the morning starts off cold and crisp and by lunch, it should feel pretty nice because the winds will be light. just a few flurries of snow there in scotland. but come the afternoon, it will cloud over. a beautiful start to the day but a cloudy afternoon for many of us. temperatures around five or six celsius. if anything, towards the end of the afternoon into the evening, the class will be thick enough to bring some rain to places like belfast, gla

our china correspondent stephen mcdonell has more from beijing.ina was locked out of being part of that international space station and, as a result, just decided to build its own, and so now, well, by next year assuming it all goes to plan, it will be the only country with its own space station. we saw the first module go up there today, as you mentioned, two more modules have to be attached to it. 11 missions in total — four, i think, with astronauts on board, fourjust are carrying cargo, and at the end of that, yeah, china will have its own space station orbiting the earth. certainly china's achievements in space play a really important role in the propaganda here but, then again, why wouldn't they? i mean, china launched its first satellite in the �*70s but it wasn't until 2003 that it put the first person into space and then since then it has come along in leaps and bounds. now, people will be drawing conclusions to the cold war space race. given that china was sort of locked out of the international, you know, lab programme, has built its ow

stephen mcdonell, bbc news, changchun. now, a question for you.a and pilates studio, which is where i teach and work. i'd have said probably for 15 years, over and over, "i would love to have my own studio, i would love to have my own studio," and, ta—dah! my husband goes, "hmm, ok." so began a mammoth lockdown project. geraint has spent most of the last year building a yoga studio for his wife, mel, in the back garden. it's been incredibly enjoyable, hugely satisfying to be able to stand in the kitchen window and look down and see something that i've created myself is just fantastic. the finished studio has underfloor heating, wi—fi, sound and vision. it's allowed mel to do her classes online. mel started doing yoga to help her cope with postnatal depression. it's been a huge saviour for me. and if i can help transfer that to others, then fantastic. what would it mean to you if you were to win shed of the year? it would be crazy. to have created this and thenjoin the shed pantheon would be fantastic. it really would. to see it on a computer and d

stephen mcdonell, bbc news, changchun. it is at quarter to three.w minutes to talk about an entirely different story which we have not had a chance to touch on here today. a bicycle which belonged to princess diana is to be sold at auction. before her engagement, diana spencer often rode her 1970s blue raleigh traveller around london, and used it to cycle to work at a nursery school in kensington. the bike was deemed "unfit for a princess" and was sold after her engagement to prince charles. let's hear from the auctioneer mark ellin whojoins me now. hello, good afternoon. good afternoon. hello, good afternoon. good afternoon-— hello, good afternoon. good afternoon. ~ ., , afternoon. what can you tell us about this _ afternoon. what can you tell us about this bike? _ afternoon. what can you tell us about this bike? i _ afternoon. what can you tell us about this bike? i think - afternoon. what can you tell us about this bike? i think this - afternoon. what can you tell us about this bike? i think this is l afternoon. what can you tell us j about this