lee anderson said "islamists" had "got control" of the mayor of london. but the deputy prime minister won't say whether he considered the comments to be islamophobic. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has told us television that his country's forces are "weeks" away from a total victory in gaza president zelensky reveals 31,000 ukrainian soldiers — and tens of thousands of civilians — have been killed in the two years of war with russia. the former brazilian president, jair bolsonaro, is addressing tens of thousands of his supporters, in the biggest opposition rally since leaving office just over a year ago. now on bbc news.. the travel show look at this. simply stunning.

i'm in sri lanka, an island that charms you with its warmth... ready? yes! engine hums. here we go! ..a tiny nation of dramatic extremes... ..and unique wildlife. we know each and every one of them. it's just like family. but it's been through decades of struggle, from a brutal civil war... this became one of the most heavily mined areas in the world. explosion. ..to one of the greatest natural disasters of our time. and now... those are buttermilk chillies. they're not spicy. ..it�*s recovering from its worst ever economic crisis. 0h!

aftertaste. yeah. whoa! i first came here in the year 2000, and i was struck by the laidback island mentality. but sri lanka's been through a lot since then, and i want to find out how it's changed. keep it going. hold on! in this second part of my adventure, i'll be searching for a side of sri lanka i've never experienced before. being out in the nature, it's like one of the best feelings in the world. 0oh! and i find out how this sri lankan staple might help the island's economic recovery. so here's to the jackfruit. i'm starting myjourney three hours' drive away from the capital colombo, by sri lanka's fourth—longest river, the kelani. traditionally, people have

passed through this area on their way to visit the world—famous tea plantations. but nowadays, they're stopping because of natural scenery like this. sri lankan tourism has been decimated in recent years, and not just because of the pandemic. a terrorist attack in 2019 and the economic meltdown dissuaded people from coming too. tourist numbers are gradually now recovering, with 1.5 million visiting in 2023. 0k, rajan, do you want to get in the boat? and this is the way the country wants to boost figures in the future — by attracting travellers who love adventure. here we go. now let's paddle forwards. all right! listen, i love an adrenaline buzz, but... ..there�*s something a little bit nerve—racking about rapids and being on the riverfor me. so wish me the best of luck. here we go!

so just paddle easy, don't waste all your energy because you're going to need it down there. you ready to go? right. stop, forward! stop. bleep. i can't swear! keep it going, keep going. lean right, lean right. 0k, forward. rajan laughs. i think we've negotiated two rapids. there's harder stuff to come down the way. here goes. keep it going. hold on.

all right! now we go through it again. forward. and hold on. yee, hoo—hoo! you ready? all right. yee, hoo—hoo! rajan laughs. did i do it? idid it. you did it, you did it. idid it! that... that was rough. there were waves coming towards me. thank goodness i listened to the instructions of kandy about holding on. and it's just exhilarating, and you just go. adventure tourism in sri lanka is in its infancy, but now the government is investing in it. their thinking is that thrill seekers will spend more than regular travellers and boost the local economy.

for rafting guide kandy, this river has provided both a living and a lifestyle. when you're going down the river and you're going through the rapids, just tell me how that feels to you. for me, it's like one of the best feelings in the world. being out in the nature, basically, ifeel alive, you know? i mean, we grow up next to the river. we used to, like, spend most of the free time just out here in the canyons. there is lots of people involved with this, notjust the guides, you know. pretty much the whole village is involved in this thing. so it's like a mini economy all based around... yeah, exactly. ..the river. and people are talking about adventure sports like this becoming a real attraction in terms of tourism for sri lanka. there is a big potential in sri lanka for especially adventure tourism. so it's a good thing that the government is ready to invest and this kind of things. but there should be some law, like, respecting nature — because without nature, there is no life.

like so many sri lankans, kandy recognises that his country's biggest asset is its unique biodiversity. and away from the river banks, i've heard of a surprising new pathway to prosperity. in a country that is so bountiful in nature, one of sri lanka's staple fruits is now acquiring global superfood status — so much so, that it's a big hope to boost the country's ailing economy. i'm here to meet amaronata. hello. she's in the catering business, and she's a big cheerleader for her country's national fruit. this is the jackfruit. wow! 0k? mm—hm. strength, yeah.

0k. mmm! very neat. very precise. as well as being versatile, they provide a good yield. their harvesting, though, demands expert dexterity. so she's just now producing this long stick, with a knife at the end. so... whoops, just make sure... this takes a lot of skill, if you ask me. so you want me to...? wow, this is not easy. yeah, thank you for helping. ok, this is a joint international effort. ready? yeah. oh, you want to go in between the gap? got it. ah, good place. yeah? ok, here we go. ready? one, two, three. yes! amazing. well done. so this one is much, much smaller.

how is it different, then, to the one we previously brought down? it was an independence activist called arthur v dias who drew attention to the jackfruit�*s ability to feed the nation. yeah! in the early 20th century, he campaigned to plant a million trees, making these a common sight in people's back gardens. 0oh! it's fantastic to watch how skilful she is doing something that has been passed on through generations. when the pandemic hit and many

people lost their wages, they turned to what was growing on their doorstep. have you ever hurt yourself with these sharp knives? whoa! 0oh! oh, dear. right, rinsing all the water out. now, recognising their importance, the president of sri lanka wants to plant three million new jackfruit trees. 0k. yep. next. if there's anything wrong with this food, blame me. it's my fault. 0k. yep. same again. the chef's apprentice. turmeric. it's one of my favourites. excellent. chilli. really? what? we've got chillies and chilli powder and curry? ok, on to the stove. the curry needs at least an hour to cook. mmm.

that is already very, very tasty. and spicy. although abroad, fresh jackfruits can be pricey, here, well, they grow on trees. 0k. thank you so much. ok, here we go. so, some rice... ..jackfruit. well, look at that. visually, a feast. and i haven't even tasted it. mmm. so nice, so tasty.

all the flavours that you put in to the mixture, you can taste every single thing. so good. thank you. in many ways, the jackfruit is actually a really good illustration of sri lankan resilience. it comes to the rescue in times of hardship. it's got many diverse uses and it can generate income. so here's to the jackfruit. my next stop is an area that until now has remained off the beaten track. i've come to the railway station at anuradhapura, which for 1,500 years was the capital of sri lanka. i always say you don't really know a country until you use its public transport.

this is sri lanka's longest train line, going across the country from colombo to its northern city, jaffna. here it comes. it was built by the british more than 100 years ago. just how i imagined it. it's got that kind of authentic flavour. love it. so i'm looking for aft. do you know where aft is? amt. aft. ah! it's down there. thank you very much. thank you. helps if you know where you're going. aft? please come. here we go. it's that way. thank you very much. 0h, wrong carriage. thank you, my friend.

these two, yeah? the best thing about travelling by train is that you see everyday life, you see every aspect of life just smoothly going past, the whole fabric of society. i love it. now, when i first visited in the year 2000, these trains weren't running. last time i came here, this country was in the middle of civil war, so the north was a kind of no—go zone for tourists. the war between the sri lankan government and the tamil tigers lasted for 26 years, ending in 2009. the united nations estimate 80,000—100,000 people lost their lives and the country

was ripped apart. you are travelling to jaffna? so i never visited jaffna. it's your first time? yeah, it's my first time. the reason was there was a big war. the war is still a sensitive subject. can you explain what it was like when the country was divided like that? yeah, that was... actually, i don't like to comment on that. the one thing that keeps coming up in my conversations is the state of the economy. currently, we can't see a lot of educated people living in the country because of this financial and economic situation. so, yes, we are facing so many problems, but we are trying to fight and go. according to the most recent figures, more than 300,000 people left sri lanka injust 12 months.

so it's really interesting, i'm talking to some people on the train here and they're clearly worried about the state of the economy and the way that this country is managed. but at the same time, they're also really proud of the sri lankan spirit. this is jaffna, the cultural capital of the tamil people, and it's known for its historic fort, temples and spicy cuisine. but i'm off to about an hour's drive away to see something completely different. one of the tragic legacies of the war was the 1.6 million land mines left behind after the ceasefire was called in 2009.

rooted in the destabilising rule of the british, the war was a clash between two groups — the sri lankan government, dominated by the sinhalese, and the tamil tigers, who hoped to establish a separate state for the tamil minority. i've come to muhamalai, which used to be the front line. this was where some of the most intense fighting of the civil war took place. where i'm standing right now was a bunker where the tamil tigers were based, and they would have been firing across there towards the sri lankan army. and as the war continued over decades, this became one of the most heavily mined areas in the world. together, the two sides created a minefield three times the size of new york's central park. you see these yellow sticks here, these markers? well, they denote where mines were actually found. and you can see how densely packed they are and how

systematically laid out in a line. and it's quite horrific to think that somebody could have just innocently walked across here. the halo trust is one of four de—mining organisations. they've been in sri lanka for more than 20 years. philomena karunakaran is a task supervisor. philomena, what's happening right here?

the war displaced hundreds of thousands of people. philomena got separated from her husband and son and spent a month trying to reunite with them. philomena is one of the lucky ones. her family survived

and was reunited. so far, thanks to this work, over a quarter of a million people have been able to return to their homes. for the land clearing workers, every day here ends with the safe destruction of mines. how much of a sense of achievement do you get from seeing these mines being burned? explosion. loud explosion.

so what you're seeing there is the culmination of really hard work by people clearing the land here of mines. and those bangs, those pops, mean that they're safe from now on. today, 90% of land mines have been cleared and sri lanka aims to be fully free of them by 2028. the civil war and the laying of land mines has obviously been devastating for this region. but there is a flip side to this. the absence of people and the lack of development has meant that nature has flourished. there are more than 430 bird species in sri lanka and the north is one of the best places to spot them. there it is. i've just spotted a sea

eagle looking for food. you just don't get this wealth of wildlife in many places in the world. and albeit as much by accident as design, sri lanka now has a huge opportunity to develop unique eco—tourism projects here. the signs do look good here for the north. the trains from the south are pretty full, the mines have nearly been cleared and there's even a new ferry line coming from india. yep, of course, there'll be hurdles ahead, but it does feel like this region is just waiting to be discovered. i've come to the end of my time here, and i have met some of sri lanka's most inspirational people... it's nice. isn't that lovely? ..from those who are restoring its coastline... amazing sight. ..and finding a way to share space with wildlife...

..to the locals rebuilding the northern province. loud bang. whoa! people here are striving for stability and a brighter future. i've travelled the length and breadth of sri lanka, and it's pretty clear that this country has been through some major crises. but the potential to bounce back is massive. and from a traveller's point of view, this place has virtually everything. hello there. sunday was a fine day for much of the country. some good sunny spells around after that very cold start. it was a chilly afternoon, but at least there was

the sunshine to compensate. southern parts of the uk continued to stay wet and windy as that area of low pressure to the south of the uk continues to push towards france. so it stays at wet and windy here through the night for central, southern and southeastern parts of england. further north, a few showers will drift southwards into central northern scotland, a few along some north sea coast of england. these will be wintry, certainly over any higher ground. but a chilly night to come, northern and western areas, some frost around, once again. less cold in the southeast because of the wind and the rain. now, as we head into monday, we've got a ridge of high pressure toppling overfrom the north, that'll spread southwards. that area of low pressure will continue to pull away to the near continent, taking the wind and rain with it. but we'll be in a colder air mass once again on monday, so another chilly day to come, turns windier later in the day across the north and the west of scotland. so we start off rather windy, grey across the far south east. the rain eventually clearing away from sussex and kent, but it does stay quite cold and windy across large parts of england and wales. a few showers running into the north and the east. otherwise, it's a fine, sunny day thanks to that ridge of high pressure, lighter winds in the north, brisk in the south.

and that really will take the edge off the temperatures. 0n the thermometer, we're looking at around 6—9 celsius, but it'll feel more like 2—3 celsius across the southeast when you factor in the cold northeasterly wind. through monday night, it looks like it turns drier under that ridge of high pressure. many of the showers die off. so, it's going to be a cold one, i think, for england and wales where we have the clear skies, light winds, because the weather front will be pushing into scotland, northern ireland with increasing winds. so not quite as cold here as what we'll have further south. and with light winds, there could be some mist and fog to start tuesday. this weather front will be moving southwards and eastwards on tuesday, but as it bumps into the...moves into the area of high pressure, it will weaken quite rapidly. so some pretty heavy rain for scotland, northern ireland at first, some snow on the hills, then it weakens as it pushes across england and wales, bringing a lot of cloud here. skies will brighten up for scotland, northern ireland into the afternoon, but there will be some blustery showers, wintry on the hills. temperature wise, we're looking around 7—10 celsius. around the middle part of the week,

and to end february, it looks like it's going to turn a little bit milder. it stays very unsettled. and then as we head into the first part of march, it looks like the temperatures cool down again.

live from london. this is bbc news. a party under pressure. conservatives are criticised after suspending an mp in the uk — over claims of racism, but the deputy prime minister

won't say whether the comments were islamophobic. president zelensky reveals 31,000 ukrainian troops have been killed in the two—years of war with russia. thousands of people rally in support of former brazilian president, jair bolsonaro. he's hitting back at claims he plotted a coup to stay in power. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu tells us television they are "weeks" away from "total victory" in gaza. hello. we start in the uk, where the conservative party is finding itself under increasing pressure, after an mp made comments described as �*islamophobic,

anti—muslim and racist�*.