this is bbc news. the headlines: russia's responded to the expulsion of 23 of its diplomats from the uk by giving the same number of british officials a week to leave moscow. it is also closing a british consulate and the british council in russia, as the row over the chemical attack on a former russian double agent and his daughter continues. this week's fighting in syria has driven up to 250,000 people from their homes. 150,000 are reported to have fled a turkish military offensive in afrin, in the north, while tens of thousands have escaped the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta in the south. us officials are investigating claims that a political consultancy misused facebook users‘ data in order to support president trump's election. an ex—employee of cambridge analytica claims 50 million profiles were accessed. the companies deny wrongdoing. facebook has suspended cambridge analytica. now, if you are a competitor

at the paralympic winter games in pyeongchang, what happens if your wheelchair breaks or your prosthetic limb needs adjusting? well, as you would expect, the paralympic repair centre has been very busy. here is a look at their work. i'm maddie and i'm a phd student, and i'm here to help out in the repairs workshop at the paralympic games. one of the most surprising things that i've seen is the fact that there's sewing involved. quite a few wheelchairs come in with complaints that the wheels aren't turning quite like they should, and we think it's to do with the different salts and stuff that are coming from the snow. you're constantly worried

about something not working, so then how are you going to get to the venue, how are you going to get to eat, and your recovery? all of those that start to add up and build up against you. you really have to trust your equipment to make sure it works. you feel proud a little bit, because you help the athletes, the people to do the sports they are trained for, for years. i'm used to working in a lab by myself, but if you've met with the patient and have seen what their needs are, and have a better understanding of what's going on, you can then go into the workshop with that in mind. we had in sochi 260 repairs, and now we're on 300 repairs, and the games are not over, so we are still working. now on bbc news, the travel show. coming up on this weeks travel show: i dress up and hit the road here in japan.

we are going through the most fashionable part of tokyo and i am dressed as a fat plumber. lucy gets the lowdown on travelling without too much plastic. cheers! and we meet a woman who was all alone in america's smallest town. everybody else has either passed away or moved away and this is where i chose to stay. we are starting this week injapan, the home of video gaming.

it is hard to believe that it's a full a0 years since the space invaders game was invented here and recently, tokyo's celebrated that anniversary of a special exhibition and giant video wall, where today's generation of gamers can test their retro skills. but space invaders isn't the only iconic game to have been created here in japan. tucked away in the backstreets of sibuya, just five minutes from the famous crossing, i have come to find a guided tour with a difference. i guess the best way to describe what i am about to experience is a self—drive videogame simulation with some sightseeing thrown in. welcome to maricar, nice to meet you! this brings back memories from my childhood. yoshi, luigi and mario.

it has got to be mario. how do i look? i feel like michelin mario. we have the key that starts the engine. maricar have been running these go—kart tours have been run, taking in the many tourist attractions for several years now and to take part you firstly to show your id and drivers licence from your home country. then there is a compulsory safety briefing. when driving, always one straight line guys, 0k? always one straight line. if the tour guide does one, it means it you just stop in one straight line. 0k? if the tour guide does two. you simply come up behind, same lane, always the same lane, side by side. see the two go—karts behind me back there?

they are side—by—side and nice and close, that is the stopping formation we want to see when the tour guide does two. it's going to look like this. two, four, six. is it possible to stall it? it is impossible. it is automatic. at the beginning the engine can be a bit cold so before we depart it might cut out, you just start it again. there is lots to think about, like how to drive the car for a start and i feel exposed being so low, then i have to think about formations? oh my gosh. i'm not the best driver, you know, right now this costume is the least of my worries. i have got my foot on the brake. where is the key? john, where is the key? laughter. this is ridiculous!

oh my god. even though it is a sunday morning and the traffic is lighter, it takes a while to get used to driving a vehicle that feels so low and exposed. slightly vulnerable, but i think i am getting the hang of driving this car now. oh my gosh. do you see how close i came to a taxi? we are going through the most fashionable part of tokyo and i am dressed as a fat plumber. little chance of anyone wanting to copy my outfit here in harajuku, but nintendo are reportedly unhappy with their trademark super mario dungarees and cap being used by the tours. there has been talk of legal action,

but the subtle name change from mario kart to maricar and the inclusion of other characters seems to be keeping the lawyers at bay. we are coming up to the crossing. oh my goodness. oh my gosh, i can't believe we are going through shibuya crossing! although some of tokyo's taxidrivers say that they can be disruptive and dangerous. johnny tells me that he has supervised over 200 tours without any serious accidents. but several cab drivers we met still had concerns. last year, a record number of almost

29 million people came to japan and as tokyo gears up to host the olympic games in two years time, the authorities are keen to see the maricar tours continue, but they are looking into how safe they are. new regulations now mean that modifications will have to be made

to the go—karts and it is hoped that repositioning tail lights and better back and head protection and mudguards will provide safety for other drivers and road users and pedestrians. tokyo is such a hotbed of trends and innovation and as the birthplace of video games, it would be a shame to see an end to these tours. let's hope the new safety regulations will help keep them on the road here. that was so much fun! i really had a good time. once i started to relax and got used to driving this car it was crazy, i can't believe they let you drive this on the streets of tokyo. i really felt like i was in a video game most of the time. it was crazy and i was so close to cars, so low down.

it was really fun and i felt like a celebrity, everyone was waving at you, it was a great way to see the city. and if you're thinking of heading to tokyo any time soon, here is the travel show guide of some other things you can see or do. public transport here in tokyo is clean, efficient and easy to use, with signs in japanese and english on all trains, stations and buses. but if you find the language barrier an issue, there are now plenty of reliable translation apps that you can download to your smartphone. if you are flying to or from narita, one tip worth remembering is not to take a cab because the cost can be eye—watering, sojump on board one of the regular

trains that run between the airport and the city centre instead. the end of march and the start of april are peak times for travel injapan as locals and tourists flock to see the start of spring and the burst of colour brought in by the annual cherry blossom season. here in tokyo, one of the best places to take in the spectacle is at shinjuku gyoen — a national garden which isjust a short walk away from shinjuku station. one piece of good news for travellers is that nobody here injapan expects you to leave a tip. providing good service injapan is all part of the code of hospitality called 0motenashi. so there is no need to give your waiter, taxi driver or porter anything other than what it says on the bill. if you do there is every chance that they might run

after you to return their tip. and if you are looking for something a little different when it comes to taking travel pics, once you have visited all the usual tourist sites here in tokyo, why not head to nearby yokohama or kawaski, to jump on board an industrial photography night cruise. you'll be in good company, because this craze for taking atmospheric stills of towering smoke stacks, factories and treatment plants — called "kojo moe" — which translates into "factory passion", is growing here injapana. join in and you'll go home with some striking pictures that are a world away from the usual cherry blossoms and kimono snaps. stay tuned to the travel show because coming up after the break: lucy is here with some tips on how to travel the planet without using too much plastic. and we meet the woman in america who has a town all to herself. i am the mayor and i am

the town board basically, but then i don't worry about elections because there is not much competition. so don't go away. we have been hearing a lot in the news lately about sustainability — from coffee cup recycling schemes to carrier bags, but being green when you travel can be tricky. disposable water bottles like this are easy to fill at home without a second thought, but what if you are in a new and unfamiliar city? where do you go to get clean and free water? some places around the world are trying to tackle the issue by providing more drinking water with the hope of cutting down on single use bottles thrown away. but if you are travelling internationally it is worth firing up the wetap app, that provides a map of nearby drinking fountains to keep you hydrated on the move.

i really like the fact that it is community—based, so if you stubble across a drinking fountain that isn't identified, you simply tap this button here and add it to the platform. in london, a network of drinking points is being rolled out in summer. here in borough market, new fountains are already up and running and rather than a single—use disposable bottle, i have got this to try out. the hidrate spark bottle connects to an app on your phone via bluetooth. once you are connected, a sensor is able to detect how much water you are drinking. you can set daily goals based on information based on the information you tell and it will glow to give you a gentle reminder when it is time to hydrate. however, in orderfor it to keep tabs on how much you are drinking it needs to be placed on a flat surface every time you take a swig. great if you are at a desk all day, not so much if you are at the gym or on the move.

i like that you can tell it where you are in the world, if you are in a hot country it will increase the amount of times it tells you to drink. it is notjust cutting down on plastic bottles that will reduce your carbon footprint. i popped in to see andrew to talk about some friendly apps for my next trip. one i would recommend if you are starting is going on green globe, it has hotels, resorts and attractions that are eco—friendly. it's a pretty extensive list, tap on jamaica. to be injamaica right now! you can see there is a list of all of the different ones here. quite a lot of resorts. quite a lot of different resorts, you tap on the ones you are interested in and you tap on it and also what it does to help the environment. the next one is 0lio. i have heard a lot about this app. tell me more. it is supercool, it is great if you are travelling or not.

it is all about reducing food waste. and so it means that you can give away food that you don't need, but also get food that people are giving away. if you are planning a trip and you look in your fridge and you are like a have got a carton of milk and a fruit bowl of fruit and it will go to waste. put it on the app and somebody will collect it. the other way round is that if you are in a city and you don't really want to pay for a meal or whatever, you look on the app and see who is giving away food. the last one i would recommend is spinlister, think of it as aianb but for bikes in your local area that you can hire. i have searched los angeles and you search your local area and find what is available and so there are road bikes, mountain bikes, they do surf gear, ski gear, all sorts of stuff. so it usually works out less than around $20 a day and it is much cheaper than getting taxis

everywhere and you are eco— friendly because you are riding a bike. and finally, if you can't start the day without a caffeine fix even while away on holiday, then the pakito cup could help. reusable coffee cups are nothing new and some offer a discount if you bring your own. that it can be annoying carrying those around. what is great about the pakito is it swishes down really small and extends to three different sizes. it is a little fiddly to pull out, but once fully extended you've got a full—sized cup. regular americano, please. cheers! to finish this week, we're off to the vast and rolling prairies of america's mid—west to meet a woman in nebraska who pays taxes to herself, runs the only business in town and wins every local election for mayor hands down because she is the only person still living there.

that has made her something of a tourist attraction in her own right. i live here in monowi, nebraska. everyone else has either moved away or passed away. this is where i chose to stay. my parents moved to a farm about a quarter of a mile out of town here when i was about 1.5 years old. i've been here ever since. for 11! years now i have been here by myself. we get to this corner and then over that way... it looks like a rusty building sitting in those trees. that was the town jail at one time. these were just family pictures we had taken. my array of them here is pretty much immediate family.

that's our wedding picture. this is my german grandparents. and my parents. and then this was a family picture we had. that is me. basically all of us lived here in monowi at one time. i have a daughter and a son. they have both lived away more or less ever since they got out of school. people ask if they worry about me and i say they do but they also respect the fact that this is what i want to do. the post office and the little grocery store closed at about the same time we bought this in ‘71. so that put us into the only business. i open the bar at 9. trucks come and salesmen come and customers come and some people come to visit and have a cup of coffee. they leave messages for one another. they call to see if someone is here. it is a meeting place, a hub, and i think everyone feels welcome to come. everyone needs a place like that,

i guess, including myself. i needed this type of vehicle to haul things for work and what have you. being as i am the only one who lives in town i thought it would be great to show it off, i guess. monowii. i don't go anywhere where people don't recognise me, that's for certain. it was a very active church until the middle of the 1960s. i used to go to church and sunday school there. my father's funeral was the last funeral held there in march of 1960. this was broad street in front of my bar. it was laid out, there were houses all around here. this is a new flag. it has not been up for that long. it is beautiful. being as i am the only one

here in town, there are other responsibilities besides the bar. i am the mayor. i am the town board, basically. but i don't worry about elections because there is not a lot of competition. i get kidded about it but i say sorry, you're not within the city limits you cannot vote. and here is rudi's library. it's got all the books he accumulated. they got put in here. he couldn't do it, they were put in for him. a wall over there is little plaque that his son made for him. i think it is a great memorium to him because he was such a book person. he was proud of it and he would be so proud of anybody who comes to borrow some. the town of monowi and, i guess, myself to a certain extent, we have become a household word. i think people find it interesting or fascinating or something. i have people who have been here from 47 of the states and i have had from 41 or 42 foreign countries. when you get to be 84 years old there is a comfort in knowing

everybody, and around here somebody is always checking on me and looking after me. you know, doing things for me. so i am kind of spoiled because they keep track of me and look after me. i don't have any desire to live anywhere else. i am perfectly happy right where i am at right now. that is it for the travel show this week. coming up next week... we look back at our travels so far this year including the time henry headed to uluru. and our newbie mike got this gentle introduction to life

here on the travel show. this is intense. there gunshots, there are sirens. the bridge is unstable. there are people crawling on the ground. i don't know what is going on. i hope you can join us for that. don't forget, if you want to follow us on the road in real time you can sign up to us on social media. until next time, from all of us here in tokyo, it is goodbye. hello there. winter has returned with a vengeance this weekend. strong, cold easterly winds have already brought snow in places, our weather watchers have captured the scenes, this one from west yorkshire, this weather watcher picture from essex. and there is some more snow to come. let's look back at how things developed during saturday evening, from the radar picture you can see all of the showers piling in from the east, but then an area of more significant, persistent snow that developed

over the south—east. that continues to drift westwards and so we have three different met office amber warnings in force, one towards the london area, one across parts of eastern england and the north midlands and one for the south—west of england and the south—east of wales. these areas most prone to seeing disruption from significant snowfall. this is how we start off the day, with this area of more persistent snow continuing to drift across england and wales, some snow showers elsewhere, widely down below freezing, so not only frost, but ice to take us into sunday morning. but it is all about the snow across these western and south—western areas during the first part of sunday, let's take a closer look. 9am the morning, you can see the snow falling across devon, dorset, somerset, the bristol area, into east wales and the west

midlands. that snow piling up and blowing around this strong easterly wind, could be some drifting snow in places. all the while, a feed of snow showers across the eastern side of northern england particularly, one or two clipping into the south—east of northern ireland and some showers across the eastern side of scotland aswell. further west, the western side of scotland not seeing as much showers, more sunshine, that is the theme as we go through the day. many of the showers in eastern areas will slowly but surely fade away, could be some brightness towards the south—east later and the snow will pull away from wales but will keep falling across the south—west, 10—20 centimetres over high ground. windy for all and a bitterly cold feel. we will lose this area of snow during sunday night. high—pressure will start to build out from the north and we have a subtle shift in the wind direction as well. the easterly wind from the weekend will become more like northerly winds. northerly winds are never warm by any means, but they will be slightly less cold. so monday sees temperatures rising between 3—7 degrees with some good spells of sunshine. not a bad day. temperatures will continue to climb as head had deeper into the coming week, but after a dry start

to the week things will then turn much more unsettled. hello and welcome to bbc news. i'm gavin grey. russia says it will expel 23 british diplomats in response to britain's decision to throw out the same number of russian officials, following the nerve agent attack in salisbury. the british prime minister, theresa may, says the government had anticipated the kremlin‘s move, and is considering its next steps. 0ur correspondent steve rosenberg reports from moscow. he had been expecting the telephone call, and today it came. britain's ambassador was summoned to the russian foreign ministry, and in the skyscraper that joseph stalin built as a symbol