Next, after brinkley will locally to the Prime Minister asa locally to the Prime Minister as a £60 million support package for Greater Manchester will be distributed to local councils in the region effectively bypassing the mayor and talk to us when the government and local leaders ended and no agreement. At Prime Ministers questions, the labour leader sir keir starmer accused the government pitting regions against each other in a bargaining with peoples lives. It is our deputy Political Editor vicki young. For months, life has not been normal anywhere in the uk. But slowly more and more of us are being told to live once again under very tight restrictions, telling us who we can see, where we can travel, what stays open and what must close. Borisjohnson insisted today that the sacrifices are paying off, that the coronavirus isnt spreading as fast as it did in the spring. Why is it so chaotic . But hes been accused of reducing the amount of help going to workers whose businesses are ordered to shut. There is no other country in europe, mr speaker, where so much support, so much help is beginning to the population get through this crisis, and we will continue do that. But thats not how the mayor of Greater Manchester sees it. Negotiations over Financial Support for his area descended into mudslinging. After days of uncertainty, the Prime Minister announced that £60 million would now be given directly to councils. People working in betting shops. But the labour leader says workers will be short changed because the newjob support scheme pays less than the furlough scheme it is replacing. Their rent and their mortgage wont be lower, their food and their heating bills wont be lower and that could last for months. Why cant the Prime Minister and the chancellor understand this, stop bargaining with peoples lives, stop dividing communities and provide the support thats needed in manchester . Mr speaker, i am very proud that this government has already given Greater Manchester £1. 1 billion in support for business. And theres another row brewing about money with another labour mayor. Sadiq khan says londons transport network tfl needs a second bailout from the government. Ministers say that will only happen if the mayor puts up fares and taxes. Rather than punishing londoners, playing Party Political games, lets get around a table and do a deal thats right for tfl, thats right for london and thats right for our country. As this pandemic drags on, the bills rack up and the arguments about how much the government should fork out will continue for months. Now im bbc news it is the travel show. This week on the travel show. Rajans looking for a knees up in rome. Wow. Face to face with the neanderthals in gibraltar. And im braving the elements in japan. This is great lively theme music. Welcome to the land of the trees. This is wakayama, in central japan, a short train ride south of osaka. And this is where many of japans urban population have been coming to escape the congested cities during the pandemic. And ive come to try a style of rafting that you can only do right here. Before that, we are off to europe and italys eternal city. Rajan rome. A city that plays to its own tune. Trumpets play. With iconic ancient history punctuating the landscape of this modern metropolis. Italy itself, though, is a relatively young country. For its nation builders, there was only one city that could be the capital, and this year is a special anniversary. Because over the next year, rome is supposed to be celebrating its 150th anniversary as the capital city of italy. But looking around me now, i get the feeling there is not going to be quite the fanfare they were hoping for. Since its initial big outbreak here, italy has suppressed the spread of the coronavirus better than many other countries. But cases are on the rise and International Tourism is still way down. Tour guide desiree has said she has seen demand from International Travellers drop by as much as 90 . Now we are in front of the coliseum. This is the colosseum and it is still incredible. So who are the tourists you have been showing around 7 where are they from . 0nly italian tourists. So, theres good and bad . Good and bad . Good and bad. What i see here looks like ancient rome, ancient history. Yeah. Do you want to take a look . Shall we have a look . Yeah. Fantastic. The forum was once a place where romans gathered togetherfor big processions, speeches and markets. Rain pattering. To understand how rome was, you have to come here in this place. With this weather, too. Laughter. But what is the connection between this, thousands of years ago, and you and your friends today . What is the connection . I feel the connection today as well. Im roman. When i am here and when i walk around the ruins i can feel the people that were here. And 150 years ago, it was that historical connection that made rome an obvious choice to be capital. Back then, the country that we now know as italy was a separated collection of states with rome at the heart of the pope governed papal state. But italy was in the process of becoming unified and all roads in this effort led to rome. Why was it so important, do you think, that rome had to be the capital of this newly formed italy . For italy to become a unified country, it was decided that rome had to be taken from the pope by force, starting right here at the city walls next to the porta pia monument which now holds a museum for the military unit called the bersaglieri who broke through the city walls first. So this is the document that marks the creation of the bersaglieri. Hard to believe im actually touching the document. And allowed to touch a document that was so essential to italian history. Bersaglieri means sharpshooters in english, and they were famed for their mobility. This is fascinating. Thats porta pia, where we are right now, and just along the city wall there is the actual invasion opening where they actually went through. This is proper history. History of this country. Today, many hold them with deep affection here, and not just for their military accomplishments. At national events, the bersaglieri have long been known for a unique style of parade, displaying their historic speed and agility. And i have been granted a private performance by the distinctive marching band. And here they come. Trumpets play. Wow. Bravissimo thats fantastic tell me, how easy is it to run and play . It must be really difficult . What is it like when you are out there in the streets under normal conditions and people are watching you . How does it feel . So can i have the honour then of giving that command before you start your march . Si, prego. Thank you. Posto fa nfa re bersaglieri, attenti di corso, march this year there was due to be a large street parade for the 150th anniversary with the bersaglieri taking a starring role. The event became significantly low key thanks to coronavirus, but fingers crossed look out in 2021 for heartier celebrations. Trumpets play. Rajan reporting from rome. Now, over to america where we are meeting the woman in alabama putting the sparkle into mardi gras. The culture of mardi gras is so much fun. We have a good time. I mean, its fun, fun, fun. Mardi gras here was the first. Its done before ash wednesday. Everything ceases at 12 oclock, tuesday midnight. And then they go into lent. In mobile, were more family orientated. People here come home for mardi gras, rather than come home for christmas, just to party and have a good time and reunite a lot. I grew up in mobile so ive grown up with mardi gras in my blood and i am a mardi gras designer for royalty. Emcee ladies and gentlemen, royalty, definitely in the house tonight. The queen and king are selected as the royal ambassador for the city. Now, there are a lot of different organisations, but there are two that rules the city, and that is mamga the mobile area mardi gras association, is predominately African American association and the mobile Carnival Association is caucasian, mostly of european descent but overall we blend and we enjoy each other and just have a good time. I would not want there to be one big mardi gras association. I think the cultural differences and the beauty of the difference in the cultures make it so nice. I started sewing when i was 12. My mother was a seamstress, she loved sewing and i would watch her. She would make all of my clothes, all kinds of pretty dresses. When i was 12 i said, i need some new clothes. And she said, you have to make them. I started to make trains for the ladies of the court. My niece was in the court and i made hertrain. And from there i started making other people trains. A train is around 18 feet long and about nine feet wide so they are very large and they weigh up to 75 pounds depending on the amount ofjewels on the train. And we will get a chance to see this tonight. Mamca, which is the African American version of it all, they had their first coronation back in 1940. The queen and kings coronation is where the queen is crowned. The king is already king, but he has now selected his queen, but she is not queen until she is crowned so the coronation is the crowning of the kings new queen. Ladies and gentlemen. Her gracious majesty Queen Rosemary elaine dunning. We look at them as role models and you have to kind of have a leader mentality and strength to make the right decisions in life. And what we are doing, when we showcase in the trains in their coronation, we are showing how that person grew in their life to be a role model. Still to come on the travel show christa is back in gibraltar to find out why the rock was home to the biggest concentration of some of our distant ancestors anywhere in the world. Wow. And i am injapan to try out a distinctive style of rafting that dates back over 600 years. I am totally soaked from my waist down. So dont go away. Now over to gibraltar where christa has been to find out what its hidden secrets have been revealing about some of our closest human relatives. 0n the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula lies gibraltar, a small british 0verseas territory tucked between europe and africa. Thousands of years ago, this was home to the highest concentration of neanderthals anywhere in the world. Clive finlayson has been excavating these caves for many yea rs now, slowly uncovering its secrets. A friend of mine calls them neanderthal city. They really are unique in the world and the two main ones are, on the left you have gorhams cave next to those steps, and on the right vanguard cave. Also evidence suggests they lived here till about 24,00033,000 years ago, making it one of the last known places they occupied before extinction. This wasnt open water when the neanderthals lived here. In fact, the beach and the water was miles that way. This was an open plain, like a mediterranean serengeti where you had wild creatures roaming, ready for the hunt. Taking a boat trip here is the easiest way to view the caves but occasionally you can apply for special access to go into them as it is a unesco World Heritage site and also an active dig area. Wow. It was here that the first fully adult neanderthal skull was discovered back in 1848 and then later on, the bones of seven other individuals. Big, arent they . Incredible. It is amazing to think that these people were standing exactly where we are now and they would look out at this fantastic view and instead of the sea that would have had the plains out there, herds of animals roaming right across and they would plan exactly where they wanted to go and do the hunt from here but of course they could also come back, retreat here, into the safety of the cave afterwards. Come and have a look. What you have here a re different events. For example, a limpet shell there. Wed have to excavate here but there may be a place where they were living and eating and then moving along. Each of these layers is an event. There are hundreds of stories still waiting to be told just in this one cave. Most of the discoveries from the caves can be seen at the Gibraltar National museum. While neanderthals are a different human species, researchers have identified a combined total of 20 neanderthal dna on modern humans today. A result of interbreeding thousands of years ago. Clive himself has 2. 5 neanderthal dna. Is this an artist interpretation . No, this is a forensic reconstruction and its using as much detailed information on neanderthal metrics and so on that we have at our disposal today. This is as close as youre going to get to seeing a neanderthal or what he or she would look like. Theres a twinkle in the eye. I think that is what makes her human. The female is called nana and it was her skull that was first discovered in 1848. The little one, called flint, was found some years later. Extracted dna from both has meant that we know what their hair and eye colour would have been. Come into one of our laboratories. What is it you are doing here . I am painting with silk. I am painting with silicon. Did you start with this and end up with this . I spent five months. Five months that is incredible, its so detailed. Do you mind if i touch it . You can press. It is like skin. Exactly like skin. This model is based on a male skull found in a cave in france but they now have the skills to forensically reconstruct him here in the museum. So what is the benefit for us to be able to see the flesh of it, rather than just the skull . I think it helps to understand and for us to empathise with these people. You put flesh, you give them names and suddenly youre looking at people and that is what makes the difference. Part of the hard science that we have done over the years has missed the fact that we have not seen them as people. It will be awhile before this one is finished but ijust could not leave without knowing one thing. What is the hairstyle going to be . I think rockstar style. Flowing locks, it was all the rage to finish up this week, i am in thejapanese prefecture of wakayama they call it the land of the trees. Domestic tourism has risen here recently, with the government subsidising japanese getaways, making escapes to remote wildernesses like wa kayama popular. For centuries, the wood here was so sought after that it was used in buildings all around the country but transporting it was no easy task. They came up with a novel solution and today travellers can experience the old journey downstream. It really does look quite strange by todays standards. I do not know what i was expecting but it really is just a bunch of logs strung together. It must float 0k, it has been around long enough. So what is it like to drive and steer such a long raft like this . In the past, once the trees had been felled and strung together, the rafters would ride them down the river to their destination. Today, with travellers on board, the rafts are safer there are lifejackets, handrails and a bench, plus additional measures now for coronavirus, like masks and reduced capacities. But it is still very open to the elements. We are approaching the first rapid and it is meant to be the steepest and the most exciting. Hang on. This is great i am totally soaked from my waist down. This is the slower part of the ride, so to speak, but it is just fascinating to think this is what they would have been doing 600 years ago to transport all the logs down to the city to make the temples and the shrines. And these skills certainly come in handy these days when the temptation for getting away from big city life and all the new restrictions is greater than ever. Not that it is all tranquil relaxation. We are approaching a rapid now and we stand up so we do not get too wet. Here we go so that was our last rapid. So interesting to watch these four guys navigate this seven ton log raft down the river. Just like they would have 600 years ago. It is amazing. That is all we have time for this week. Coming up next week we will be looking back at some of our most memorable trips to africa, like when lucy met the former poachers now responsible for protecting some of rwandas majestic primates. Its very rare that im lost for words but these beautiful creatures have just completely taken my breath away. And dont forget to follow us in all the usual places on twitter and facebook and instagram. In the meantime, from me Carmen Roberts and the rest of the team here in wakayama, it is goodbye. Hello. Its been a soggy first half of the week but it will be a drier day and for some, even a brighter day with some sun spells coming through. More rain and wind on the way for the weekend and into next week too. For now, low pressure is moving away, High Pressure is arriving before the next weather system comes in from the atlantic. So, this gap is not going to last too long. As we start thursday, some heavy rain in the parts of scotland gradually easing after a windy night in Northern Ireland which we will see slowly ease and be a breezy day across the uk and still in scotland in Northern England, a lot of cloud during the morning and some patchy outbreaks of rain, southern counties of Northern England should improve in the afternoon, some sunny spells brightening up in Northern Ireland and many of southern england having a dry afternoon with sunny spells after a chance to see some patchy rain in the morning. And temperatures up to 17 in the southeast of england, the northern parts of Northern England will be a cool day the chance to end in parts of southeast england and some quite heavy showers moving through and the next weather system over night into friday morning through Northern Ireland pushing onto scotland and another spell of rain is heading our way. Moving on, the system continues to push southeast and it is going to weaken. Patchy rain, and its out of the way the morning on friday for western scotland too. Sunny spells and a few showers following behind here and notice how that area of rain really is just disappearing into the afternoon with some cloud in a few spots and thats all that is left in the east and southeast of england. Here, it will be a bit cooler on friday. That takes us into the weekend but the main thing about saturday is how windy its going to be, this area of low pressure passing us to the northwest, but close enough to pick up but wind but rain moving in as well. Some of the rain is going to be quite heavy as it pushes in, windy and quite widely with some gusts of a0 to 50 miles an hour, stronger gusts possible at times in the west, parts of Eastern England staying dry into the evening and on sunday, sunny spells and blustery showers. Bye bye. Welcome to bbc news. Our top stories. 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