to china and russia as global powers challenging the us on the world stage. he broke with several of his advisers — and previous american policy under president obama — by not mentioning the threat posed by climate change. several people are confirmed dead after a high speed train derailed and plunged off a bridge — and onto a motorway, in washington state. about 100 people were taken to hospital, most of them passengers. the train was on its first run on a new, faster route from seattle to portland. cyril ramaphosa, former trade union leader — now a wealthy businessman — has been elected leader of south africa's governing anc. he's 65, a veteran of the anti—apartheid struggle, and has been the party's deputy president since 2012. he's promised to fight corruption and revive the economy. police in lebanon on have arrested and do the taxi driver in connection with the murder of a dish female diplomat. her body was found beside

a motorway over the weekend there was a final night out before she returned home for christmas. collea g u es returned home for christmas. colleagues leaving this far. around midnight she called a taxi to take her home. she was never seen alive again. she was driven out of beirut. her body was found by a highway the next day. she had been strangled and sexually assaulted. 35—year—old lebanese man in police custody. the suspect is believed to be an luba driver who has worked for the company for a short period of time. here in beirut, if is normally seen asa here in beirut, if is normally seen as a safe way of adding about, especially by solo women. the

company responded by saying it was horrified by the senseless act of violence and it is cooperating with the police investigation. dark days of love and online at past. in these neighbourhoods, there is now a relaxed approach to personal safe if. dark days of lebanon on are in its past. we'll go out in this neighbourhood and it is normally quite safe. i think we are deeply saddened that one of our friends was left by herself and did not come back. at the british embassy, staff are heartbroken. the ambassador took to social media and said that the entire embassy was shocked. it was a tragic loss. embassy staff are now providing consular assistance to the family of one of their own. she had not been in love and an for long but she had already made a big difference. herfriends say she had already made a big difference. her friends say that is how they wish to remember her, someone

how they wish to remember her, someone who cared, a bright star beginning her career. and a woman who had helped improve the lives of the most vulnerable here in lebanon on. it hasjust the most vulnerable here in lebanon on. it has just gone the most vulnerable here in lebanon on. it hasjust gone half the most vulnerable here in lebanon on. it has just gone half past three and it is time for the travel show. coming up on this week's show... we travel to georgia to pay a visit to a town that's the birthplace of one of the 20th century's most controversial figures. rajan meets an artist in dubai creating a unique fusion of traditional arabic calligraphy and street style graffiti. i always try to bring a message of peace and tolerance and try to bring people together. we are all connected and this is what i'm trying to do with arabic calligraphy, to connect people. yeah, baby! and i discover that santa makes it look easy when i hop on a sleigh for an early slice of christmas in finnish lapland. let's go, son, let's go!

but first, this week, we're going to georgia. with its black sea coastline, forested landscape and world—famous wine, it's not hard to see why tourism is booming in the once soviet state. but one city there is attracting tourists for a very different reason. in many ways, gori is an unremarkable post—soviet town.

if it wasn't for a former resident, it might not be so firmly on the tourist trail. but tourists do come and in their tens of thousands every year, and today that includes me. in 1939, my great—grandfather, a polish official, was arrested as the soviets invaded under the leadership ofjosef stalin. like so many other poles, my great—grandfather was sent to a forced labour camp and died, leaving my family to flee, eventually reaching the uk. today, in gori, a flower bed lies in the place where a statue to the city's most famous son once towered in front of the government building. but i've heard some locals want it put back up.

so i came here, to the former hometown of stalin, where he remains such an important but controversial figure. for many in the former soviet union, stalin was a great leader. 0ver his 30 year rule, he established an industrial and military superpower, brought victory against the nazis and respect on the international stage. but he also oversaw the starvation, imprisonment, execution and ethnic

persecution of millions of people across the ussr. for lia zautashvili's guest house, stalin is good for business. but for many here, stalin represents far more than potential profit. he's still an icon. 100,000 visitors came to gori's stalin museum last year. you can see here originalfurniture from stalin's first office in the kremlin. given my family history,

i have mixed feelings when i walk around the museum. for me, its interpretation of stalin's life feels far too positive. apparently the guides in this museum do tell their tour groups about stalin's victims, but i'm sat right now in a room dedicated to his victory in world war two and there's no similar room in this museum talking about his political oppression or mass famines. but museum officials maintain that they're fair in their representation of how many suffered under stalin. this is supposed to be a museum, but particularly in this death mask

room, it feels more like a shrine. it's actually quite reminiscent of the lenin museum in the red square. in 2008, a long—running dispute with neighbouring russia over south 0ssetia spilled into war. gori suffered russian bombardment. following the war, the pro—western georgian government began removing soviet symbols from public spaces. in 2010, the statue of stalin was removed from outside gori's government building, but many of the locals are proud of stalin and nostalgic for the old days and they want the statue put back up. for some of the younger generation, however, stalin should be consigned to history, not lauded. i'd heard that a local taxi driver

knew where the stalin statue had been dumped, facing the elements in a scrapyard next to a military base. he agreed to take me. in many ways, georgia has yet to decide for itself how to remember stalin.

although his statue remains hidden away, the museum which seemingly venerates him is actively promoted as a tourist destination. but while the nature of stalin's future in the city remains unclear, what does seems certain is that for better or worse he will continue to bring travellers to gori for some time to come. stay with us, because coming up... rajan meets the man making his artistic mark on dubai. and i take a magical reindeer safari through finnish lapland. now, if you were watching our special show from dubai a few weeks ago, you might remember we featured an artist called el seed,

who's based there. he's displayed his unique form of art all over the world. so rajan has been back to ask him about his travels and where he gets his inspiration from. calligraffiti is the art of beautifying script and it is an art that has been mastered by a master calligrapher. i am not a calligrapher because i did not learn from a master. i was born and raised in france and i had this kind of idea. this is how i started to learn to write arabic. i was looking for a teacher who could teach me arabic calligraphy but i could not find anyone.

so i started twisting the letters or extending them and creating my own style. and that style is el seed's mix of arabic graffiti, bright colours and street style lettering, dubbed calligraffiti. and he believes his work is the most powerful on the street, bringing his message of tolerance to streets around the world from new york to south africa, to the favelas in brazil. i always try to bring a message of peace and tolerance and bring people together. we are all connected and this is what i am trying to do with arabic calligraphy, to connect people. i was lucky enough to experience this. in all the projects around the world we have seen people and created relationships and links with people. to date, this is his

biggest project. an immense peace of art painted on 50 walls in an area of cairo where a marginalised and poor community of coptic christians make their living collecting and sorting the city's rubbish. it took over one month to complete and gives a different perspective to an area many locals feared or ignored. when you go to a place to create art, then you realise that art is a pretext to create a human experience. we went to a place people from cairo are scared to go and the people welcomed us like we were family. i saw those people living in the garbage. but they live from the garbage.

they taught us how to be tolerant and to be human, because it is not the easiest way to live. could we go through how you approach your calligraffiti? the only rule i have is from right to left. and then i play with the words and the letters. so let's write your name. this is the letter r, this is the alif, jim, and nun. in arabic there is no capital. but what i do is i consider every letter as a capital so i separate everything. so rajan in calligraphy you can do it like this. this is the ra. and now the alif like that. and then this letter, the jim, takes the same shape here and then this is the letter nun.

this is typography, this is calligraphy. and someone who reads arabic can read that? yes. they can decipher it. arabic calligraphy is what made me realise that identity is not unique. iam french, tunisian and ironically, arabic calligraphy made me accept my french identity. i would not do what i do today if i were not french. if i had learnt arabic from a young age i would not have this freedom to play with the letters like i did with it today. finnish lapland is as close as it gets to a winter wonderland. over half a million people come here each year in search of father christmas and his reindeer. you can't say you have truly experienced the delights of lapland

until you have been on a reindeer safari. and that is what i'm about to do. i have been told that if i am good, i may be able to ride my own sleigh with my own reindeer. before i can do that, i need to learn how to use one of these. eric is my instructor today. is there anything specific i should know? do you have easy tips? just be careful. move slowly, not quickly. the reindeer are scared about that. how do we start? take a seat. who is your number one reindeer? this guy is 11 years old. he knows the place. he knows where he is going? that's what i need. how are you? before my lesson, eric takes me on a ride.

oh, my days! like many herdsmen here in lapland, eric supplements his income with tourism. he takes small groups of tourists into the forest on a reindeer safari. this is a proper winter wonderland. it is so beautiful out here. everywhere you look it is just a postcard. it is getting close... 0h, he shook me off. he does not like me. he is staying away. there are more reindeer in lapland than people. around 200,000 of these animals and most of them roam free. some of them, like these ones, are tamed and specially trained for the reindeer safaris.

these reindeer are so powerful and that is why i am not allowed to use them on my own yet. they would run off and i would be unable to control them. eric is guiding us at the front and controlling the sleigh. it shows you how hardy these people are. eric tells me that if i am lucky, i may see some wolves or brown bears roaming around. so far, it isjust me and the reindeer. we have travelled around 20 minutes into the woods and come to a clearing. eric will start a fire. we will drink something nice, chill out and he will teach me to use one of the sleighs. i have had a taste of the power of the reindeer so i'm a little worried. do you get more people coming

around christmas time? yes. it is one of the seasons. it is the high week, christmas week. they want to spend their christmas holiday in a winter world. today, reindeer sleigh safaris give tourists like me a taste of what life used to be like here before cars and snowmobiles. finally, it is my turn to have a go. if you want to go you just say go. as simple as that? go! reindeer, go! he is not listening to me. go, reindeer! go! he is not obedient, this reindeer. eric said he has given me the safe one, because he does not want me to have any problems.

i think he has given me the slow reindeer. the lazy one. what is going on?! you will be left behind! you will be billy—no—mates! eric! he is not going anywhere! at the next roundabout, take a right. in 200 yards, make a left. i can't say i didn't try, but this reindeer is just not interested. maybe we will try the next one. 0k. we'll take the next one. before i set off, eric gives me some last few tips. pull it. and he will stop in an emergency. so this is my emergency brake? we're going! look at this.

controlling this powerful beast. oh my god, he is picking up speed. go, go! this is so spectacular. my first—ever sleigh ride. i don't know how much this sleigh weighs. it is probably around half a ton, maybe a little less, but that reindeer is pulling it as well as myself so easily. such a powerful beast. let's go, son, let's go! it still may not be the fastest of rides but it seems to be the smoothest and most magical way to enjoy this landscape. it feels really christmassy. very christmassy. that is it for this week.

join us next week when i take a look back at some of my personal highlights from this year's travel show, including my trip to ghana, where i met some of the country's cheekiest residents. they're not shy. look at him here. so that's next week. if you want to see what we're doing on the road between now and then, sign up to our social media feed. the details should be on your screen right now. but for now from me, ade adepitan, and the travel show team here in finnish lapland. hello.

high pressure can bring a fairly settled spell of weather at any time of year, and certainly we have a high pressure dominating the scene across a good three quarters of the british isles, not doing just enough to keep the fronts at bay from the far north and north—west of scotland, as you will see. what it can mean, that high pressure, is that we start the days on a fairly chilly note. that is not my great concern as we get into the first part of tuesday. it is just how dense the fog is going to be, and how widespread that dense fog could well be. now, i'm highlighting a number of areas there, bbc local radio a good source of local information as to how it is going to affect yourjourney first thing in the morning. but you see there, on the bigger picture, there are islands of fog

that we had quite widely across england and wales, and that is not the only source of poor visibility. 0bviously that frontal system coming in with the rain won't help matters there, high ground helping to lift the temperatures. in fact, down on the shores of the murray firth, it could be 13 or 1a degrees. but going back to that theme of poor visibility, the high ground of the cumbrian fels, the peaks and western side of wales coming to the south—west could all be affected by some hill fog. and, despite the fact that the shield of fog lifts across central southern england, the fog could linger in east anglia and the south—east for the greater part of the day. and it could well be that we see a return of some of that fog as we start the new day on wednesday. more patchy, perhaps, but still the odd pocket of dense fog, and you only need one pocket, of course, to ruin your day.

this frontal system makes slow progress down and across the british isles as we get on through the day on wednesday, bringing with it the possibility of some rain. i don't think there'll be an awful lot, although it may be enhanced. that frontal system waving its way across the heart of the british isles during the day. and to either side, essentially, it is still relatively mild, but i think as the frontal system comes a little bit further south, so the milder airs will tend to be confined across the southern parts of britain, maybe something slightly colderjust making its presence felt across northern parts of scotland and into northern ireland. here, i think single—figure temperatures, but not perishingly cold, by any means at all, with the breezes coming around the top end of a new developing area of high pressure as we close out the week. and then further south, that band of cloud, the old weather front, just tending to dissipate. maybe the odd spot of rain still in the far south. but we close out the week on a relatively dry note. take care. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley —

our top stories: taking on china and russia — president trump sets out a strategy for dealing with america's global rivals. we will stand up for ourselves and we will stand up for our country like we have never stood up before. a high—speed train derails off a bridge in washington state, near seattle. several people have been killed and around a hundred injured. as twitter suspends accounts connected to hate speech and far right parties — british politicians speak out against abuse and threats over brexit. and in an ever—ageing world, we visit california — to see how they're embracing the challenge of an active life in old age.