as she got older, as she get older, i think talent. as she got older, i think she started to realise that body of work was so good and that people loved her. she was a wonderful woman and wonderful talent. loved her. she was a wonderful woman and wonderfultalent. les loved her. she was a wonderful woman and wonderful talent. les dennis, talking about bella emberg whose death has been announced just now. now the weather with sarah. there is an east west split today. that theme stays through the weekend. it's mostly cloudy. we have got the rain towards the west today and it's slow—moving for the south—west of england, central and western wales, northern ireland and western wales, northern ireland and western scotland. this stays wet and windy throughout the day, although the winds will ease. further east you are more likely to stay dry. a few intervals breaking through the cloud. temperatures up to seven or eight. into the evening hours, this front slowly dies away. the rain will fizzle out. the winds fall later overnight too. with lighter winds and clear spells, that bit

colder tonight than last night. mist and fog to start the day on sunday. a lot of cloud around still. rain into the far north—west. many of us having a largely dry day with a few brighter intervals and top temperatures of four to nine. bye for now. this is bbc news, our latest headlines. the african union demands an apology from president trump for reportedly using a vulgar and disparaging term to describe nations on the continent. the union said the trump administration misunderstood africans. we were quite appalled and infuriated, outraged, by the comments. dentists warn a crisis on tooth decay in children in england. a record 43,000 operations to remove rotting teeth were carried out last year. a ban on credit and debit surcharges comes into force today. but there are concerns companies could raise their prices in response.

tributes are paid to bella emberg, who has died at the age of 80. the comedy actress who became a household name on the russ abbot show is described as "a huge comedy talent" les dennis said she was a "funny, lovely friend". now on bbc news, it's time for the travel show. this week on the travel show, we catch up with our blind backpacker tony giles as he arrives in bethlehem. this is the place wherejesus was born. here is the star where he was born. simon is here with his top tips for travelling by train across europe and i am in paris seeing the city of light turning into an all—night art party. the number of people going to nuit blanche is just crazy, we are talking about 800,000 people, you know? first up this week, we are on the road with a backpacker who has clocked up more than 120

countries on his travels and has done all that without being able to see. my name is tony giles, i am from england, i am totally blind and severely deaf in both ears and i travel around the world, trying to visit every country. previously wejoined him as he explored jerusalem. massive blocks. very smooth. but today he heads into palestinian territories to make his way to the holy town of bethlehem. i am now at the checkpoint betweenjerusalem and bethlehem. i've got to across the checkpoint and go past the dividing wall. railing...

getting through the checkpoint is a little bit complicated. slightly more complicated and confusing than i thought. and then sort of trying to follow other people and people pushing me from one way to the other. i would say we are in the palestinian side, the palestinian territories. it is quite exhilarating. as you come out the tunnel into the taxi area, where the wall is, you can hear all the people talking, you can smell different food and coffee and that it is quite

lively and interesting. can you show me to a taxi? where? church of the nativity. 0k. i will take you for a photograph on the wall. i will take it with my camera. 0k, cool. are you happy? always. how big is the wall. it is big maybe 30... 30 metres? it is far. tony, welcome to bethlehem. you want to go to the church? the church of the nativity. 0k. all this way behind the wall, you have hotel banksy, behind the wall. you have hotel.

i am feeling excited to be in bethlehem, a new city, a new town, new experiences. driving through bethlehem, along the wall, it has given me a sort of brief glimpse of how long the wall could be. it certainly feels quite long, driving along here. in my mind it seemed quite impressive. i guess it is quite scary to a lot of people. here is the church, tony. ijust called my host to let them know i am still coming. adam, we are at the church. hello?

give me, iwill callthem. hello. one minute and they will come here. thanks, mohamed. hi, tony. hi, adam. how are you? good to meet you. looking forward to seeing your place. yes, my place. how many countries have you visited before ? i have visited 124 countries. oh, my god, yes, nice. you are like ali baba. i like to travel. have you done much travelling? no, just here. it is not easy to move

or to travel in another country. so you get travellers to come to you. yes. you have steps here. this is actually couchsurfing, so in theory, you stay for free. you have steps, 5. you live in a castle. yes. it's a website. you find people on it, they have profiles. and if they want to meet travellers or want to travel, that is how it works. in the left. this is home. we have landed. thanks, shukran. i have had a wide range of couch surfing experiences. i have slept on floors, mattresses like these, i've slept couches,

and i counchsurfed in africa, where the toilet is outside and it is a hole in the ground. i think it probably helps, not seeing. i don't see the dirt, the danger, or the holes and rocks — ijust get on with it. you are meeting the people, the local hosts and they are sharing theirfood, culture and knowledge, whatever they can offer you and hopefully you make friends at the end of it. good night and good dreams. shukran, shukran. and to you. people think, oh, being blind must be terrible, poor you. but they do not understand it, they do not know what they are talking about. i am so lucky. i am leading a fantastic life. i go from country to country when i want, where i want, with very few restrictions

on what i want to photograph or do. you come here and you see people, yeah they can see and they can walk but they cannot go places. it's just sad. you want directions to the church? can you give me directions? you go directly this way, no left and no right. just straight. 0k. this is the entrance to the church? yes. yes, you can go in there, straight.

straight, sir. 0k, thank you. i can roughly hear a voice but it is a bit disconcerting, the echo. the echo splits the sound so it takes away the direction. we'll get there. it can't be far. 0oh! a big metal thing with studs which could be... yes, it is a gate. oh, there is oil, candles. it has a waxy smell. polish. finding the entrance is like reaching my goal, it's like reaching my target and anything else after this is a bonus. i think they have started singing, it is louder so i need to get closer to this,

because there will be a lot of energy involved and i will try to get closer and closer and eventually use the cane to pick out the steps. and then a guide helped me down. singing. realising i was the only person to get close to hear that, feel that, makes me feel very privileged, very warm inside. i am absolutely buzzing after that. the energy is incredible. that was cool just to be here for that if nothing else. it is quite crowded going down the steps,

and they're quite slippery. it is very deep. my goodness. from the fire into the furnace. it is very hot in here. i guess that's from candles and more people coming in. this is my hand. this is the place where jesus was born. here is the star where he was born. kneel down, on your knees, more, more, more. kneel down. you can touch the place where jesus was born. this is the star, feel, it has 14 points. a flower? no, it's a star. it is the star of david. marble? no, it is silver. marble is the ground. the ground where jesus was born is down here..

you feel it? the stone? this is the grotto. yes, he was born here. it is not ok like this. let me help you a little bit. like this, you can take a photograph. a very humbling experience. being in a place where one might argue history occurred 2000 years or so ago. so visiting the church, the smells, the sounds, that is what makes travelling for me special. i travel by myself

because it is my challenge. it is like climbing a mountain. you think it is difficult, it is a struggle but you get to the top and, yes, i have made it. it is magical. and that is what it is all about, it broadens my horizons and helps me become a better person hopefully. still to come on the travel show. i'm in the french capital, paris, for its dazzling festival of light. welcome to manchester airport and the slice of the show that

tackles your questions about getting the best out of travel. coming up, the merits of a trip to sri lanka during monsoon season and how to get from north—west england to south—east europe by train. first, work is beginning on southeast asia's leading high—speed rail project, a link from kuala lumpur to singapore. when it opens in 2026 it should reduce the journey time to just 90 minutes. at present trains from the malaysian capital take up to seven hours to reachjohor baru on the singapore border, from where you have to catch a bus. at this time of year, many people are heading south from europe to australia and facing this problem. like many european visitors to australia, they plan a holiday,

a business trip or a family visit and all they need is an evisitor. that's an electronically stored travel authority. the application process to visit australia is quick and easy and confirmation is normally given within a few minutes. the evisitor is valid for one year for stays of up to three months and it is free unless you inadvertently go through a website that seeks to divert visitors from the official government side and charges fees while adding no value. so look for border.gov.au to be certain it is the official site. a question about sri lanka in may. while it is perfectly possible to enjoy sri lanka in may, i would recommend you choose another time of year to visit this lovely indian ocean island. may is when the south—west monsoon begins, bringing heavy rain and humidity.

agreed, it also coincides with the dry season in the north and east of the island but i prefer to be in sri lanka between december and march when the highlights, which are concentrated in the south—west quadrant, are relatively cool and dry. besides, may is a wonderful time to be in the mediterranean, particularly on a greek island. and speaking of greece, we have this question: from manchester you can happily reach belgrade in serbia by train, going via london, paris, munich and zagreb in croatia. from here, however it gets problematic. you can get as far as the greek border by train but from there you are likely be transferred

via bus to thessaloniki, a city which i strongly recommend you explore. from thessaloniki to athens, trains are fast and cheap. whether you are contemplating a trip to the nation next door or the ends of the earth, i am here to help. e—mail your question to the address on the screen. i will do my best to find you an answer. from me, simon calder, the global guru, bye for now and see you next time. finally this week, i am in paris where the city has been celebrating. the 15th anniversary of the spectacular nuit blanche. each year the city of lights gets even brighter as artists and performers light up paris with free events from sunset to sunrise for one night only. the festival takes over the whole city.

i have come down to the river seine for a behind—the—scenes look at rehearsals for one of this year's most eye—catching installations. the theme of the event is ‘working together‘. and it is all about getting parisians and tourists alike involved in the art. when it is up and running, this giant installation, the maree de lettres, or tide of letters will give visitors a chance to send a message across the city. altogether we have 42 letters because it is a bit nerdy — 42 is the answer to everything. people have an app and there they can see a list of topics. for each hour of the night, from 7pm until 7am we have a single topic and people can make suggestions according to this topic. the suggestion with

the most votes wins. and moving these giant letters takes quite a knack, as i discovered when i tried to movejust one. i think i'm picking up a life skill here. make it straight. make it complete straight. completely parallel to the direction. as the sun set on night the letters came to life and i decided to make my own suggestion for the first phase of the evening. you download the maree de lettres app and you can either vote for the next phrase to appear on the bank or you can create your own.

i will go for ‘allons—y‘. hundreds took part in the voting but alas my suggestion, which means ‘let‘s go' in french did not quite make it. paris preferred ‘le quai des mots', or ‘the bank of letters' instead. since it began in paris, the nuit blanche idea has spread to nearly 30 cities around the world. and back in its birthplace it is still as popular as ever. the number of people going to nuit blanche is just crazy. we are talking about 800,000 people, you know? you can feel it. so you have on one side walking and contemplating the city and on the other side you have the artistic project. i think this is why nuit blanche is so famous. and it certainly seems to have worked. there are over 150 events

on throughout the night and every venue we went to was packed. the most popular events are the ones that are more immersive. i enjoyed this quite serene exhibition about european rail travel. it is a soundscape that has been composed to evoke the history of rail. and with the smoke and the dark garden, it is quite atmospheric. the whole of paris seems to come togetherfor this event with restaurants, bars and public transport staying open through the night for those in it for the long haul. if you are hardy you can party until7am. but i am not quite able to make it that far. it is past 1am. and this party is showing no signs of letting up. but it is the end of this week's travel show

and coming up next week... henry's in australia's red centre to find out how a ban on climbing the sacred site of uluru could affect tourism in the area. at the moment, tourist are allowed to go up to the peak. that is about to change. join us then if you can. in the meantime, don't forget you can keep up with us on the road and in real—time by signing up to our social media feeds, details of which are on the screen right now. from me and the rest of the team here in paris, it is goodbye. hello there. the grey and cloudy

theme that has been with us for several days now is sticking around through the course of the week. there will be some glimpses around here and there. this scene sent in by mike on the isle of wight showing the extent of the cloud there. through the rest of the weekend we keep with the largely cloudy conditions. rain around in the north and west later on today. the radar showing that we have the rain working into western parts of the country. the reason we have this east—west split is because high pressure holds on which is sitting across scandinavia, keeping things largely dry. this front bumping into that area of high pressure in the west but it's not making fast progress further east. areas including the south—west, wales northern ireland and western scotland will continue to see rain into the afternoon. pretty cloudy and grey and breezy

wherever you are, particularly where you have the rain too. temperatures up you have the rain too. temperatures up to five to nine degrees. most places staying dry. there will be some rain further west. top temperatures five to serve son still rather cool, especially where you have the breeze. this evening, the breeze dies away and the rain fizzling out towards the west. with a combination of lighter winds and windy spells, temperatures will be down. mist and fog will form sunday morning. the odd frost patch too. sunday another mostly dry day. lots of cloud once again but some brighter spells during sunday afternoon. things will turn wet and windy in the far north—west later in the afternoon. four to knive degrees, still relatively mild during sunday. things change into the new working week. the blue colours return from that. colder conditions gradually moving in through the course of next week.

monday we see the front heading south and east across the country. a speu south and east across the country. a spell of wet and windy weather followed by collider spells with sunshine and showers. temperatures still relatively mild on monday but starting to turn colder from the north—west. we have a different theme to our weather next week. colder and unsettled. 0ften fairly windy and watch out for ice and snow in the forecast next week. bye. this is bbc news. the headlines at 11.00am. the african union demands an apology from president trump for derogatory remarks he reportedly made about the continent. we were quite appalled and infuriated, outraged, by the comments. the lib dems urge the government not to bail out construction company carillion, afterfears it's close to collapse. it currently employs about 20,000 people. it cannot possiblyjust bail out the company because then you have a position where the private sector is allowed to privatise

profits but that the government nationalises the losses, that is a problem we have with the banks. warnings of a tooth decay crisis amongst children in england. a record 43,000 operations to remove rotting teeth were carried out last year. also in the next hour: tributes are paid to bella emberg, who has died at the age of 80.