moscow for poisoning the former spy sergei skripal and his daughter yulia in the english city of salisbury last month. the russian ambassador to the united nations said the uk was playing with fire and would be sorry. a court in south korea is due to deliver its verdict on the former president park geun—hye, who was forced from office in a corruption scandal last year. prosecutors are seeking a 30—year prison term and a fine equivalent to more than $100 million. the doctor at the head of the us public health system says more americans need to carry a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses. surgeon generaljerome adams said 115 americans die from an overdose every day, and the drug epidemic is now killing more people than the hiv crisis did at its peak. the government's tax on sugary drinks comes into force today. the cost of some drinks goes up by as much as 24p a litre. but a number of companies have reduced the sugar content of their recipes to escape

the new levy, as our health editor hugh pym explains. it's part of a government plan to tackle obesity, and supermarkets are already getting the message out there. some soft drinks prices will go up tomorrow, some won't, depending on how much sugar they contain. shoppers we spoke to were in favour. i look at every ingredient on anything i give my son, so sugar needs to be taxed, it needs to be out of our diets. i'll allow my kids not to have more sugar, to be honest, because it's spoiling them. and it's more about obesity. but even before the introduction of the sugar tax, some manufacturers and retailers have started cutting sugar in their products, so they fall below the level at which the tax kicks in. that means they won't have to increase prices. here's how the new levy will work from tomorrow. a two—litre bottle of full sugar cola will cost 48p more. companies who want to avoid it

will have to remove at least half the sugar, equivalent to 23 cubes. this slightly less sugary drink will cost 36p more. to get below the tax threshold, it would need eight cubes removed. tesco and robinsons are among brands to have taken products out of the sugar tax net, so to lucozade ribena, whose factory was visited by a minister today, promising more action. the government have published a comments if obesity strategy, of which the soft drinks is levy was an important element. and we've said that that isn't the end of the process, it's the beginning. and we're looking at all options, including advertising. some argue the whole idea of a sugar tax is wrong. taxes should be there to help the functioning and running of governments. they shouldn't be there to be dictating people's choices. it's kind of straying into a sort of government overreach to some degree. reduced sugar drinks may not appeal to everyone‘s taste, some customers said

that about irn—bru. others argued the tax will hit low income families hardest. from tomorrow, the full impact will start becoming clear. hugh pym, bbc news. now it's time for the travel show. my name is tony giles. i'm from england. i'm totally blind and severely deaf in both ears. and i'm travelling around the world trying to visit every country. we're in the old city! israel is country 124. i see a place with my senses — i see a place by the sounds, by the smells, by the textures. the hustle and bustle of people shouting, buy this, buy this, come and look at this! i feel the atmosphere,

the energy, the buzz. i was born with my eye condition, so i don't have any vision apart from sunlight sensitivity. and i've gradually gone deaf as i've got older and i am now 80% or severely deaf in both ears but i use digital hearing aids. i travel alone, because it's the biggest challenge i can get. and the travelling by myself... excuse me! ..i get to interact with more people. if i travel with someone, particularly someone sighted, they would be doing all the work, they'd be doing all the guiding, and i would not get to touch and find as many things as i do by myself. today i'm going to catch a bus into the old city to go

to the western wall. western wall? western wall, yeah. ok, let's go. i will help you. 0k. let me hold your arm like that. where are you from? i'm from england. huh? england! i was lucky that the bus driver was nearby waiting, so it was really easy to find the bus. yeah, i've got it... let go, let go. new orleans was the first place i went to by myself — a foreign city by myself. didn't know where i was going, i was blind, and ijust froze. and then i took a couple of deep breaths and said to myself, "tony, this is what you want — if you don't want it go home." a couple more deep breaths, turn left, walk down the street, and the rest is history. excuse me, are you hear me...? this is your stop station.

my stop? yes. you can get off. 0k, thank you. you want any help? i'm good. just trying to get my bearings, trying to work out which way the traffic is going, and if i can use the sunlight, but i can't sense any sun at all. i have to be careful going down the steps, because they're all marble and slippery and worn so i have to go slowly and take care. no, no, it's ok. yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah. all right, thank you. two people came to try and help me but they were a bit aggressive, theyjust grabbed me, which is not the correct way to help, it's a bit frightening. if people want to help, and many people do, ideally you would want them to speak to you and say, "hello,

can i help?" but obviously not everyone speaks english. so if they don't, then touch you gently on the hand, on the arm, but not pull and not grab, ideally. you have to be patient, you get lost all the time. it's very difficult if you're looking for something specific when you can't see. because obviously you can't pinpoint it. excuse me? you might get ten people walk past and then someone will stop, "are you lost, do you need help?" and then you can interact with them, that's how it works. excuse me, is this damascus gate? yeah. straight in front of me, no? 0k. want to help? yeah. i like this!

i like the atmosphere and the smells. and it's all close, and compact. it feels authentic. i'm going to the western wall, and on the way i'm going to hopefully explore some of the via dolorosa, which is stages of the cross thatjesus walked. good morning, how are you? good, good, how are you? you want to see my shop souvenir? i could have a brief look, why not? yes? come on. what do you sell? very good! laughs beautiful! yeah. this is coffee.

coffee yea h ? ok, i get this. about $3. that's five? that's two five, yeah? i probably write a blog once a week, so i document myjourneys, and my travels, and i want to share it with the world, really, and try and inspire people to believe in themselves, and they can overcome whatever their challenges are. and i also add pictures i've taken. originally i did it because i thought it would just be funny, someone seeing a blind person take photos. it's an extra way of sharing, i can show my family and friends and stuff,

that's the idea, to try and share with everyone. thank you. excuse me! take the hand! people... don't leave him! over here... ok, thank you. someone on a motorbike coming through, that's not very clever. hello. looking for the station of the cross... this way, this way... this is the station of the cross? come back. 0k... then to the left... this is where he put his hand, here. this is where christ... up, up, up, up... to the right... yes, exactly. 0h, 0k! thank you! welcome. apparently i'm at one of the stages of the cross, wherejesus put his hand on the wall

and leant against a wall. defined handprint, very smooth, also quite rigid, quite bumpy. it's a lovely texture. right, this is some barrier, i presume. is this the way in? hello? sorry, machine? womans. woman? yeah, it's not man. the wall is sort of separated, male and female, and the guy took me into the male section and took me up to the wall. 0k.

there's all these notes in it. massive blocks, very smooth. the texture, the shape of the wall, the bricks, from a historical and a spiritual point of view, it's worth visiting. tony at the western wall. so, i'm heading to bethlehem, which is in palestinian territory. and it's separated by a dividing wall and a checkpoint. so, i'm going to have to get off the bus, get through the checkpoint, and somehow meet my host. i e—mailed him using my laptop with speech software, and he sent me his phone number,

and i memorised it, and i'm trying to call him with my phone now. i can use the phone because the buttons are tactile. i couldn't travel without my memory, my memory is my biggest asset. i'm using my memory constantly, i'm exercising it all the time — i have to remember phone numbers, i have to remember directions. it allows me to find things. my memory gives me my independence, along with my cane. i'm now at the checkpoint betweenjerusalem and bethlehem. i've got to walk across the checkpoint and go past the dividing wall. railings... getting through the checkpoint is a little bit complicated. slightly more complicated than i thought, slightly more confusing. and then we'd just have to sort

of try and follow other people, people sort of pushing me from one way to the other. have to get past this... looks like we're on the palestinian side, the palestinian territories. it's quite exhilarating. as you come out of the tunnel into the taxi area, and where the wall is, you can hear all the people as you come out of the tunnel into the taxi area, and where the wall is, you can hear all the people talking and smell the food and coffee and stuff. that's quite lively, that's quite interesting. can you show me to a taxi? taxi cab.

i'm looking for a taxi. where? church of the nativity. 0k. maybe you want, i'll take you for photo at the wall, we stop and take photo. ok, cool. you happy? yeah, always! how big is the wall? it's very big. 30... tony... yeah? welcome to bethlehem, you're going to church? yeah, the church of the nativity. all this way... yes, wall. behind the wall you have hotel banksy behind the wall, you have hotel. i'm feeling excited to be

in bethlehem, it's a new city, driving through bethlehem, along the wall, has sort of given me a brief sense of how long the wall could be. it certainly feels quite long travelling along it. in my mind it would seem quite impressive. and i guess quite scary to a lot of people. here the church, tony. yes, this the church. ijust called my host to let him know i'm still coming. adam, we're at the church. hello?! hello... ? adam? give me, i call him...

hello? i call him, he's coming, one minute he coming here. thanks, mohammed. thank you. hi, tony, how are you? hi, adam, good to meet you, looking forward to seeing your place. how many country you visit before? i've visited 124 countries. oh, my god, that's nice! yeah. yeah! you're like ali baba. i'm very lucky! i love to travel!

have you done much travelling? just here, it's not easy to go move, or to travelling another country. so you get travellers to come to you? you have steps here... this is actually couch surfing, so in theory you stay for free. ok, have steps, five... you live in a castle! yeah. it's a website and you can find people on it, they have profiles, and they want to travel or they want to meet travellers, and that's how it works. now, come here, the lift. oh, this is home! we've landed, thank you! shukran. i have had a wide range of couch experiences, i've slept on floors, on mattresses like this, i've slept on couches, and also i have couch slept in africa where the toilet‘s outside, and it's a hole in the ground.

i think it probably helps not seeing, i don't see the dirt or the danger or the holes, ijust get on with it. the main thing is you're meeting the people, the local hosts and sharing their food and their culture and their knowledge and whatever they can offer you. and hopefully you make friends at the end of it. good night and good dreams. shukran, and to you. people think being blind must be terrible, poor you, they don't understand, they don't know what they're talking about. i'm so lucky and i'm leading a fantastic life, to be able to go country to country when i want, where i want... this is the way to travel! with very few restrictions

on what i want to photograph or do, and you come here and you see people, yeah, they can see and they can walk but they can't go places, it's just sad. you know for directions to go trains? ok, so can you give me directions? just a straight, not left, not right. so, just straight? yeah. and i wish you be happy and lucky in your life. 0k. shukran. bye—bye, good to meet you, adam. bye — bye. bye— bye. is this the entrance to the church? you can go in straight now. ok, thank you. i can roughly hear a voice but it's a bit disconcerting. the echo splits the sound, so it takes away the direction. we'll get there, it can't be far.

there is a big metal thing with studs which could be... yes, that's a gate! oh, yes! yes, oil, candles... it's got a waxy smell... polish. finding the entrance is like reaching my goal, it's like reaching my target, and everything else after this is a bonus. once they've started singing, isuppose, louder, and i thought i've got to get close to this, because there's going to be a lot of energy involved,

and then i've got to try and get closer and closer, eventually using my cane and picking out the steps, then a guy helped me down. realising that i was the only person to get close to hear that, feel that, makes me feel very privileged, very warm inside. i'm absolutely buzzing after that. energy is incredible! that was cool, just to be here for that if nothing else. it was quite crowded going down those steps, and they're quite slippery, very deep.

oh, my goodness! from the fire into the furnace. very hot in here, and i guess it's from candles and more people coming in. this is my hand, yeah? this is the place where jesus was born, here is the star where he was born. kneel down on your knees. kneel down... more, more, more, more, more, more, more... you can touch the place wherejesus was born. this is the star, it has 1a... it's a flower, or? no, it's a star. the star of david, yeah. marble? no, it's silver. this is marble. yeah, this is marble. the ground wherejesus was born is down here, you feel it, he was born here. so this is the grotto. yes, he was born here.

0k. about there? yeah, it's not ok like this, let me help you a little bit, it's like this, you can take a photo now... definitely an experience, a very humbling experience, to sort of be in a place where one might argue history occurred 2000 years or so ago. visiting the church, the smells, the sounds, that's what makes travelling, for me, special. i travel by myself because it's my challenge, it's like climbing a mountain,

you feel, oh, this is difficult, it's a struggle, and then you get to the top, and you're like, yeah, i've made it, this is magical. that's what it's all about. broadens my horizons. and makes me become, hopefully, a better person. hello. excellent to get the joining me. thursday always did not like it was going to be a superb david is part of the british isles and our weather watchers captured that all the way from scotland down towards the south coast and indeed... from scotland down towards the south coastand indeed... i from scotland down towards the south coast and indeed... i suspect. that is really rather cool to show you the picture and bring you the message that friday is going to be another decent day for most areas because belfast and indeed much of northern ireland, it isn't going to

bea northern ireland, it isn't going to be a fine day and you will know that right from the word go. milder than some, yes, but certainly wetter than most. this is the big picture. we have a low pressure out of the atlantic, 1 million miles away, and it's drawing this weather front into the northern and western parts of the northern and western parts of the british isles. the other crucial factor about the feel of the day is that the breezes coming from the south. on the eastern flank that big area of low pressure, we are sucking up area of low pressure, we are sucking up quitea area of low pressure, we are sucking up quite a bit of mild airfrom the western mad, across france and iberia across the british isles sue if you can stay dry and many central and eastern parts will, and you get and eastern parts will, and you get a bit of sunshine, and many south—eastern parts will do. the south—eastern parts will do. the south—eastern side of the pennines very nicely. temperatures will respond. there is no getting away from the fact that northern and western parts of scotland, northern ireland into late in the day, western wales, you will all see rain. this is the prospect as we ta ke rain. this is the prospect as we

take you out into friday and saturday. pushing that area of rain for the most part away from the north of scotland but in fact, there isa north of scotland but in fact, there is a bit ofa north of scotland but in fact, there is a bit of a linkage back to what we suspect is going to happen across the greater part of england as we get on through saturday. don't take the area to literally but i think many parts of central and eastern england will, at some point, see some rain during the course of the day. temperatures with a bit of brightness could well be pushing up around 16, 17, depending on where you see the sunshine but because of that southerly flow, all of us will keep the temperatures in double figures and again, there is some uncertainty about whether rain is going to fall over south—eastern parts. elsewhere, a scattering of showers, but again, many of those temperatures will be in double figures. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: "horrific and unsubsta ntiated", russia once again denies any involvement in the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter.

south korea's ousted president awaits her fate, a court is due to deliver its verdict on corruption charges. tackling america's opioid crisis, the us surgeon general urges new measures to fight the deadly epidemic. and one of bollywood's favourite bad boys is behind bars, a court finds salman khan guilty of poaching.