this is bbc news, the headlines... william lai, from taiwan's ruling party, wins the presidential election and vows to defend the island from china's intimidation and maintain its democratic way of life. but china said "reunification" with taiwan is still "inevitable" after the election on the self—ruled island that beijing claims as its own. the us military says it has carried out a new strike on a houthi target in yemen,

a day after dozens of similar us—british air strikes across the country. in what the us calls a "follow—up action" to thursday night's attacks, a us ship fired missiles at a radar site. the israeli prime minister says that nothing will deter israel's determination to pursue the war in gaza — including the international court ofjustice in the hague. now on bbc news — the travel show. europe by train — for generations of backpackers into rail, as well as for me, it is what travel is all about. and in germany, the railways are booming, partly because of this. it's called the deutschlandticket. it costs me a0 euros a month, and it allows me almost unlimited use of the country's regional

public transport network. —— 49 euros a month. it was a cost—of—living measure introduced in 2023, initially atjust nine euros each. i do love a train — who doesn't? so i'm planning to take them to criss—cross the country and get a better look at the close relationship between germans and their railways. from berlin's iconic u—bahn, to the incredible hanging overhead railway of the industrial west, to the makeshift island trains of the northern coast... you've got the birds flying, the water, the lights — this is stunning. ..i'm here to see how engineering and a bit of imagination have led to a network like no other. with almost 40,000 km of track, germany's rail network is the longest in europe,

which makes it the perfect place to explore by train. but from berlin's vast central station, i'm taking an even cheaper form of transport for a spot of sightseeing. alright, we're doing it. we are crossing the tramway. fabulous. oh, it's beautiful. i can see the tv tower on my left, and it's so cloudy, the tip of it is just about unseen. alexanderplatz is these days the touristic heart of the capital. until 1989, it was the main public square in communist east berlin. i was born in 1990, which is a year after the berlin wall came down, so for myself and i'm sure for a generation younger, there is no recollection of those news events, so being able to be here and just

get a sense of what it might have been like is still quite special. by 1989, the berlin wall had forcibly divided the city for 28 years, with the communists controlling the eastern part of the city, while the capitalist west controlled the west of berlin. travel between the two was strictly controlled, and in most cases forbidden. but i'm heading down into the u—bahn, berlin's underground rail network, which i can access with the deutschlandticket. 0k, u8 this way. now, alexanderplatz was in the east, so anybody getting on the u—bahn, three stops in that direction, had to wait on board while they got safely four stops down that way.

this was effectively a ghost station. they were manned, guarded — you definitely could notjust get off. athena kerins leads tours for a group called berlin underworld, which explores the tunnels and passageways underneath the city. so alexanderplatz would have been a ghost station — pretty eerie. what would that have been like? for the west berliners coming through, it would have been dark, a little bit eerie, withjust the glowing emergency exit signs, maybe a bit of light creeping in from the tunnel itself. for the east berliners, it would have been completely different, because they weren't allowed to know about this at all. if they knew that it was coming through here then they might be tempted to get into the train station or the tunnels and use them to escape. but even before those 28 years of division, the tunnels down here harboured secrets. athena is taking me to one

of the world war ii bomb shelters built into the u—bahn network. oh, wow. welcome to pankstrasse. welcome to our bunker. when and how long would they have stayed down here? as the war progressed, and especially as the americans joined the war, the americans bombed by day, the british bombed by night, and towards the battle of berlin there was also street fighting. people were down here days on end. it's quite interesting because you can hear rumbling going past. you get that big rumbling, passing noise all the time. would they have been aware that this bunker was here? you mean the... the passengers, yes. yes, because this was used primarily by people who were in the transport system and had to come somewhere. the people in here were lucky. as we go a few stops up the u8 line, athena takes me forward

in time to a later shelter, a symptom of berlin's position on the fault line of the historic tensions between east and west. so this is the bunker, or there is a bunker nearby? there's actually — we're in the bunker already, because this entire station is the bunker. it was originally opened in 1977 to a multipurpose facility. so it's both a train station, as you just saw, but also, in a 48—hour preparation period, it can be turned into an atomic fallout shelter. so this is some of our many, many dormitories. a big luxury here is that we actually all get our own bed, which is not standard for bunkers like this. we have several dormitories, but on top of that, about 2,000 people would have to be sleeping on the train platform itself.

this is the pillow. that's the blanket and the pillow. they are quite literally paper. oh, wow. so this is a kitchen, essentially for everybody. this is not a kitchen, this is the kitchen. this place is going to feed 3,339 people two meals a day. thankfully we're not eating anything too glamorous. it's mostly going to be soups, assorted soups out of the cans. in this can is actually a dehydrated, jellified soup concentrate, rather than normal soup. this is giving me sort of 1970s lab. yes, already a step above the last one. there is in fact a ventilation system here. so this place isn't going to protect us from a direct hit from a bomb, but in theory, if the rest of the world goes to war, this place can protect us from the radioactive fallout. 0k.

while this now looks like a relic of a bygone era, the german government has recently been investigating the possibility of restoring bunkers like these for use in the future. i know immediately following the russian invasion of ukraine, the topic came up a lot in germany. and the ministry for the interior did do a preliminary survey, because in the height of the cold war, there were quite literally thousands of these places around all of germany. most of the experts in the areas of civil defence have agreed that it's not really a productive use of money. it costs an insane amount of money to even just repair the ones that they've let fall into disrepair. i'm surfacing for some fresh air now, and back to the capital's modern main station, hauptbahnhof, in search of trains bound for germany's industrial west.

so i've been able to use my deutschlandticket for this, but the big restriction is that you can't use it on the high—speed trains, so it's going to take probably twice the amount of time to actually travel around. you do need a bit of patience for this. you can buy a more expensive ticket and travel direct, but the cut—price method means changing trains five times. so i may have missed this one. wait, it's also late, so that means that i'll be fine? add to that the uncharacteristic delays and disruption that have dogged the german railway network in recent times, and you'll need to leave plenty of time to make your connections. five—minute delay — that means we're good, right? oh, so i have missed it. we've missed it.

it's also quite fiddly to buy. you need to subscribe to a deutschlandticket, which means a monthly direct debit. so if you're only here for a couple of weeks, you'll need to remember to cancel that as soon as your trip is over. otherwise you continue paying after you've headed home. my next stop is in the west of the country, not far from the industrial giants that have made this part of the world such an economic force. so this is wuppertal, sandwiched between cologne and dortmund. it is much smaller in comparison, but it has one thing going for it that has made it world—famous, and it's right there. the schwebebahn is a suspended monorail, the carriages hanging from a track about 12 metres above the streets and

the rivers of wuppertal. hello. i'm meeting inge, who grew up riding the schwebebahn and even got married on it back in 2006. it was built in 1893 01’1894, but only in 1901 it was ready. and then you could go from one town to the other. that's over 120 years that this has been standing here. yes. what do you think was the impression of the residents when they first saw this? they were impressed, i think. they said, what is this? excited. they feared it, because they thought they could come and take them away. they didn't want the schwebebahn.

shall we stand? i kind of want to feel it move. yes, hold on. it's going to move a lot? ok, you hold on as well. it does feel like it's sort of hovering, levitating. a little bit bumpy, but it's ok, it's pretty smooth. so what are some of your memories of being on here? it was very funny, my grandma — she came to wuppertal for the first time in 1953. she stood at the street and looked up and said, how can you come into the schwebebahn? because you can't see that there was a platform. what do you think it represents for the people here? i think they like it, because it's the only one in the world.

but i think they like to go from one place to the other in a short time. i think about 85,000 people a day take it. given all that history, it's a bit of a surprise there's been no proper museum to the schwebebahn. but, just as i arrived, all that is about to change. tomorrow the schwebedrome opens, and i'm here to meet its managing director as he makes the final few preparations. come in. hello, tom. how are you doing? fine. it's great that you are coming here. do you have anything left that you need to do today before tomorrow? we have to clean up a little bit, but 95—98% we are ready, and it's great you are coming here to our schwebebahn experience. please enter the first projection room. here we tell the story of mobility — why it was necessary

to build the schwebebahn, because the population increased massively in the middle of the 19th century as industrialisation came. as well as the projection, there are reminders of what the carriages looked like through the ages. and then, of course, this is like this, but you can't lean back. a diorama, but the piece de resistance is at the end. emily, let'sjust enter carriage number 11. here you see that you can still open the windows, for example. just put them on. the brain really — after five seconds, you are in the world of 1929, and you really think you're making a left or right turn. a lot of people thought that it was against god, that it is too speedy, that it is too much metal over

the river, that it looks ugly — other people who didn't have the vision that this will change the mobility in the valley completely. the next day, and the grand opening attracts quite a crowd. applause singing how was that for you? how are you feeling? it was very emotional. and i am really happy that it is now open. all of your hard work! i can feel the emotion! i think people that come here and they will see what a history wuppertal has to tell and what a lovely town it is. to go back to their home town and we had a really

good day in wuppertal. i am using the deutschlandticket to head north out of germany's cities and to its coast. in the summer, the trains up here get busy with beach lovers. but the sunshine and crowds have thinned a little by the time i arrived. oh wow, very windy! this is schleswig holstein, in the north—west of germany, any further north and i'd be arriving in denmark.

from here i'm heading out over the sea. but it is not a boat i'll be taking. this is amazing! fabulous! pleasure to meet you! hello! this is the lorenbahn? the lorenbahn trains service the hallig islands, which are cut off by the mainland from flooding, up to 50 times a year. people living here use the little trains to get around. each family has its own, and every one is unique. claudia has offered to give me a ride on hers. you have to be very physically fit to do this, don't you? she's changing the rails across! right!

you've got the birds flying, the water, the light. this is stunning! when did the lorenbahn start?

but there is a catch. as a tourist, you are not really supposed to be using these, unless you are staying over on the island. did someone show you how to do this? luckily for me, claudia runs a bed—and—breakfast. do you feel that it is a shame that people cannot come to use it unless they come and stay here? would you want to have more tourists coming?

the lorenbahn was not actually built for the residents to get around. it belongs to and is run by germany's state department, for coastal defence. wow! well, this is definitely a lot bigger than claudia's! nice! how does it start? you can give power. can i try it? yes. wow, claudia did not let me do any of this! then you have to accelerate. the wheel is the accelerator? yes. did you have to learn how

to ride this for the job? yes. was it a lot of fun? much fun. much fun! engineer fabien agreed to let me see their work, and he is picking me up on his lorenbahn. you have to look there. oh yes, of course. so, there are times when all of this is flooded? yes. the climate change means the flood goes up every year, 3—5 millimetres a year. and we have a change

in the times, lot of the floods. the floods stay longer at times. fabien�*s team has a job on its hands. notjust to defend the land, but also to keep the lorenbahn above the encroaching seas. you can see the old railway, before we build up the new railway you could not ride there. because everything was underwater. 0riginally that was the railway down there, and in the last couple of years, you have raised it? yes. in a country better known for its cars and autobahns, people's affection for the trains has been a real eye—opener. now, germans are known for their engineering, but what has surprised me is seeing some of their creativity and flair. engineering and a bit of imagination

have led to a network like no other. and if the deutschlandticket brings more people here to see it for themselves, that can only be a good thing. hello there. although the weekend has started off on a largely fine note with some sunshine around, things are set to turn much colder as we head into sunday. and certainly into the start of next week, it looks very cold as we open the floodgates — these arctic northerlies, which will be feeding plenty of snow showers into northern areas

and around some coastal areas, too. and you can see, as we reach the latter parts of sunday, the dark blue colours will be pretty much across the board. so, through tonight, it'll be mostly dry, a few showers around coastal areas — showers across northern scotland turning increasingly wintry as we start to pick up that cold and strong northerly wind. and there will be a risk of frost and ice where we've had showers. where we hold on to cloud, then it won't be as cold. so sunday's a chilly start, there will be some sunshine around, variable amounts of cloud, too. a few rain showers across wales, southwest england, and some showers draped around the eastern coastal areas, too — but the showers turning increasingly to snow across scotland, as we move through the day, as temperatures start to come down. still 5—6 celsius for england and wales. into monday, though, we're all into that run of very cold, strong northerly winds. winds strongest around coastal areas, where we'll see most of the heavy and frequent snow showers — those snow showers even affecting eastern coastal areas, some down through the irish sea into pembrokeshire, maybe into the high ground

of southwest england, also coastal parts of northern ireland. but inland areas will stay dry with plenty of sunshine, but look at these temperatures — 1—4 celsius. factor in the strong arctic northerly wind, it'll feel more like these temperatures suggest, —6—8 celsius across scotland, so that is very cold. tuesday's another very cold day. plenty of sunshine in southern and eastern areas, snow showers continue across northern scotland. then we could see this feature running into northern ireland, southern scotland, northern england, north wales to bring a spell of sleet and snow — could be some disruption with this, but further south and east, it stays dry, but it's nother very cold day, particularly when you factor in the wind. now, there was some thinking earlier on that this area of low pressure could bring an area of disruptive snow to southern britain — it doesn't look like that'll happen now, it'll stay across france. but it'll stay cold for much of this upcoming week — particularly the first half of the week is looking very cold with a risk of snow across northern areas, which could be disruptive. and nights will be cold, with severe

frost and ice to watch out for.

caucuses live from london, this is bbc news. china labelled him a troublemaker, but william lai wins taiwan's presidential election for the ruling party, and vows to defend the island from beijing's intimidation. translation: thank you to - the taiwanese people for writing a new chapter in our democracy. we have shown the world how much we cherish our democracy. this is our unwavering commitment. but china says "reunification" with taiwan is still "inevitable" after the election.

the candidates vying to become the us republican presidential candidate are on the campiagn trail in iowa. the israeli prime minister says that nothing will deter israel's determination to pursue the war in gaza, including the international court ofjustice in the hague. translation: no-one will stop us, not the hague, i not the axis of evil and no—one else. president biden says he's sent a private message to iran about the houthis in yemen, following us and uk air strikes against the group. we begin in taiwan, where voters have ignored china's repeated warnings not to vote for william lai from the ruling party, the dpp. he will replace tsai ing—wen as president after securing

40% of the vote, though the dpp lost its majority