of separating children from their parents when they cross the border illegally from mexico. there is widespread criticism, including from melania trump and the former republican first lady laura bush. the president has again tried to blame the democratic party. germany's chancellor, angela merkel, has been given until the end of the month, by her own interior minister, to secure a europe—wide deal on migration. he has threatened to implement tighter border controls if she fails. president trump and italy's new prime minister have also criticised her approach. in football england have beaten tunisia 2—1 at the world cup in russia. both england goals were scored by harry kane. earlier belgium beat panama by three goals to nil. in the other match of the day sweden beat south korea 1—0. an independent train company has started running services on a railway line in cumbria where northern rail trains have been suspended for a month.

there was widespread anger from businesses and residents in the lake district when trains between oxenholme and windermere were replaced by buses. danny savage reports the train arriving at platform three is the unexpected service can windermere. passengers had resigned themselves to no trains on this line for months but people had taken things into their own hands and found a private operator to provide a service. northern railfailed to run trains on this line. the bus services are fine and continue but what you have here is a fair, free service between oxenholme and windermere whichjust service between oxenholme and windermere which just gives people confidence in this line that maybe they had lost. on-board, passengers seemed delighted that the rail replacement bus service had been changed to a bus replacement rail service. a good thing? a really good thing. a quickerjourney, nicer than

being stuck on a bus which we really didn't want to do in the first place and yet, nice. a nice old train. —— yeah. everybody seemed to appreciate a ride through the countryside behind heritage diesel. this is good as far as we are concerned because we are offering back a public service to the people of the lakes who have been without it. for me, it is an honour to be able to do that. this new train service basically only runs between core hours in the day, from 10am — six pm. running alongside it is a rail replacement bus service. the signs are here. you have choice now on this very well resourced line. traynor boss. —— train or bus. the department of —— transport will pick up the bill for this service which is expected to run. now on bbc news, the travel show. coming up on this week's show: i meet the new robot helping to keep beaches clean here in thailand.

i'm cleaning the beach! we travel to the most crowded island in the world. you asked for a seven—storey bronze statue of yourself. ade tries his hand at comedy improv in new york. it's beautiful, man. and we go behind the scenes at the lab that looks after priceless old masters in florence. we are starting this week in thailand, a country with over 2000 kilometres of coastline, and every year, millions of tourists come here to enjoy its tropical sandy beaches. —— we are starting this week in thailand, a country with over 2000 kilometres of coastline, and every year, millions of tourists

come here to enjoy its tropical sandy beaches. but some of those tourists are having an impact on the marine environment. they are the ones who leave their rubbish behind when they've finished their day at the beach. and it seems that smokers are among some of the worst offenders. so much so that thai authorities have now introduced a smoking ban at some of the country's most popular beaches. it is now illegal to smoke at 2a beaches across the country, and if you're caught smoking or dropping cigarette butts, you risk a fine of up to 100,000 thai baht - that's over £2000 — and a year in prison. i have come to songkhla in the south of thailand to find outjust how big the problem with cigarette butts is. yupa was part of a team which sampled different beaches around thailand to count the number of cigarettes. this beach in songkhla was found to have more than anywhere else

in the country. wow, that's a lot. is that normal? normal. almost all cigarette butts contain plastic and take years to decompose. 0n the beaches where smoking is banned, there are designated areas where people can smoke and dispose of their cigarette ends responsibly. anybody caught smoking or dropping cigarettes outside

of the zones risks punishment. cleaning up thailand's beaches has become a priority for a network of volunteers called trash heroes. the group operates in 35 cities across the country. yupa started a branch here in songkhla after she was shocked by the rubbish problem, following some time working away. the first time that i came back to my home i said, "what happened with my hometown? why is it like this? everywhere is full of the trash." itjust made me think, i must do something for my hometown. so much plastic!

yupin runs weekly cleanup sessions, and people of all ages and tourists are encouraged tojoin in. a cigarette lighter! cleaning the beaches of trash and tiny pieces of cigarettes seems an unending task. but the trash heroes here could soon have some help. why do we need a beach robot here? because there is too much trash. this place, where i grew up, so many tourists come to this beach, but if the beach gets dirty, no—one will want to come. so i started this project. how does it actually work? the robot is digging in the sand about five centimetres deep. shaking to separate the sand and move the trash into the back.

how much rubbish do you actually collect? if we do about 80 metres we get about four kilograms of trash. four kilograms in 80 metres! ok, i'm dying to have a go, to control it. sure. easy to control. forward and backwards, 0k. turn left and right. this is the controller speed. if you push this down, it is digging in the sand. this is great. i'm cleaning the beach! dr a and his team are working on a second prototype that will separate the shells out from the trash. at the moment that has to be done by hand. it is so satisfying to see so much rubbish coming in. so many children come and watch it.

and after i take the robot into the truck, they started to pick up trash by themselves. that's a good result. there's a big focus here on getting the next generation to think differently about how they treat the country's beaches, to protect this beautiful landscape for the future. time now to leave the wide open beaches of thailand behind and head somewhere a little more crowded. we are off to the island of santa cruz del islote, off colombia, where space really is at a premium. still to come on this week's travel show, we head to italy to find out what it takes to keep priceless old masters in tip—top shape. they told me, you're totally crazy, it's impossible to do something. this week i'm exploring songkhla in the south of thailand.

it's nicknamed the city on two seas because it sits on both the gulf of thailand and an enormous lake. although close to the malaysian border, songkhla has been largely unaffected by the unrest that has been seen in some of the areas in thailand's deep south, and its location means its cuisine and architecture are a blend of thai, chinese and islamic influences. a lot of tourists come here. ah runs an art gallery in the city and has agreed to give me a tour. i will show you the most unique ice cream shop of songkhla. 0k! mrs yu's father came here from china 85 years ago. 0n the way, he stopped in singapore and learnt the art of making ice cream. this is the vanilla ice cream? vanilla ice cream.

some here say this was thailand's first ice cream shop. why egg yolk? because egg yolk is creamy. and a sprinkle of chocolate. tastes much better with it. it looks good. here goes. it's really creamy, almost like a coconut flavour. who would have thought it was so good? now, if you're a fan of comedy, then there's a long list of improvised comedy festivals taking place all over the world this year, from edinburgh to singapore, and cape town to copenhagen. but what's it like to actually stand in the spotlight and try and make people laugh with no idea what's coming next? awhile back, we sent ade

to a theatre in new york, where tourists can do just that. improvisation in its simplest form is the art of creating a scene or play with absolutely no preplanning. you allare in unfamiliar territory... i've come along to the pit in manhattan to give it a go myself. the venue offers classes for first—time tourists, as well as a place for more experienced comedians to hone their craft. leslie collins, an improv veteran, led the class. i think i did see a ghost, not recently but like a few years ago. to kick off, we did some warmup exercises. um, boxes. five. boxer briefs. six... everyone was given a category and had to list seven things in quick succession. seven types of hairstyles. the bob. 0ne. bang. two. short haircut. three. long hair. four. pigtails. five. longtail. six. tail. seven. ok, i'm really nervous. i'm about to get a category and i've got to name seven different types.

what's going on, while patting my legs and rubbing my stomach. they're coming, they're coming. trust me, with the pressure on, it's not as easy as is. seven creatures that make bad house pets. k. rooster. 0ne. uh, a gremlin with one toe. two. right, game's over. time for the comedy to start. i let the pros go first. now, all you're given is a word or a song, and where the skit goes from there is totally up to you. my fists are always right, bro. good. you're gonna need to keep them there. i like your attitude. i like your game face. of course, this is — it's sort of like trying to release your inhibitions in a place where people are so uninhibited. a key part of improv is supporting your scene partner and building on their ideas — something these guys have down to a tee.

you probably know that too, right? i do. you must be joan. joan, yes. joan collins, future president of the pta. nice to meet you. nice to meet you too. i'm sorry the book career didn't work out. these guys are really good. it'sjust like — it's great to watch them at work. this isjust like, this is too much. and before long, it was my turn. with knots in my stomach, i took to the stage. you asked for a seven story bronze statue of yourself. i mean you had a school and hospital levelled so you could put this here. it's beautiful, though. it is beautiful, don't get me wrong. no, no, i'm coming around to it. yeah, i would think you would, i mean it will take you a long time just to get around it.

uh... good job. all right, so the other guy definitely put in most of the work but i gave it my best shot. so verdict time, how did i do? ade did great. i know he was so concerned before the class, he was very worried. this is too much. what? this is too much. i think most people are scared at improvising because they don't actually know what it is or how much fun it is. they are also very concerned about being funny and the pressure to be funny, but improv isn't really about that, it's about being honest and having fun. if you're on a budget in new york, improv gigs are a great way to pack in some entertainment. a lot of places put on free nights and if not, tickets are usually cheap. or, if you're brave enough, why not try it out for yourself? we'll end this week in the historic

city of florence, birthplace of the renaissance and home to some of the most famous old masters in history, from rafael to giotto and da vinci, but all those fragile historic works don't look after themselves. we sent keith wallace for peak a behind the scenes at one of the world's most important art restoration labs. sometimes on warm summer afternoons, it feels like half of europe has come to florence. here, here's the view. and why not? the whole city centre is a giant open air art gallery. this is what happens when you've got a really lovely bridge, it's full of lots of people taking selfies. and here's one of its stars, the ponte vecchio bridge, built in the 13th century. it's not exactly off

the beaten track though. so this is the historic centre. it's all unesco world heritage listed. firstly, because it's incredibly beautiful, and secondly because the museums and galleries down there have some of the most important and famous works of art the world's ever seen basically. but you'll notice there's a river cutting right the way through it. as you can imagine, it's very important to make sure that never breaks its banks. but tragically, in 1966, it did. 10! people died and it's estimated around 14,000 artworks were damaged, ma ny lost forever. the fantastic high flood mark is graphically shown by the wrecked jewellers and art shops on the ponte vecchio bridge. whoa! so this is the high watermark from the flood, which is almost five metres. and just over there, you can see the santa croce basilica,

which is stuffed with all sorts of artworks and relics, so you can see that might have caused quite a problem. it's ta ken half a century to restore some of the art inside. only two years ago, work finished on one of the most important masterpieces, giorgio vasari's depiction of the last supper. the damage was so profound that for a0 years, nobody dared touch it. so instead the 0pificio delle pietre dure, now one of the world's foremost restoration labs. at the beginning, i was scared, very scared, because many colleagues told me that you are totally crazy, it's impossible to do something, but i trust in my people and with a long, long work, we found the way. the 0pificio still deals with the aftermath of disasters. it's currently looking after works damaged in italy's recent run of damaging earthquakes.

this is an interesting canvas painting coming from emilia. of course, it remained under the bricks of the church that collapsed. it was made in the beginning of the 17th century. each artwork can have a big meaning for the local community, because if it is the main altar of the church of that little town. so these were by bricks and stone and — i mean it looks lucky that they didn't go right through the painting. it must have happened to a lot of other paintings. yes, the mechanical damage is the most common during an earthquake. it's a painstaking business. as each artwork arrives, the damage is thoroughly assessed and the structure secured. so the back, this is what the back of a renaissance artwork looks like. a lot of the restoration happens here first. the behaviour of the planks

was the first cause of damage, because the radiation of the moisture of the environment, then we have an hydroponic system to measure the micromovements of the planks. considering you've got high—tech in there, you've got someone putting glue onward and poking it it into the painting. yeah, there is high technology and traditional good working technology, because the original, the colours of the front comes from the back. i see. 0oh, don't fall into it. it's only after the back is sorted out that the process of replacing each minuscule brushstroke can begin. caterina here has been working on this 15th century altarpiece since 2012. what's surprising me is that

you seem to be mixing the colours by hand. is that hard? will you have a big party when it's over? the 0pificio isn't normally open to tourists but you can

catch their work all around florence, and of course you can see their highest profile success, the last supper, hanging in the santa croce basilica. well, that's all we've got time for this week. join us next week when... ade heads to cairo to discover the new music craze that's taking the city by storm. i'm about to meet a band who has had a hit that has had 125 million youtube views. and in the meantime, if you want to find out where we are in the world and share your travels, you can find us on social media. but until next time, from all of us here in thailand, it's goodbye. good morning.

cool cool, fresh air into the northern parts, pushing air into southern england and wales separating two and masses. is a weather front which will come to the day bringing rain in the west. patchy drizzle across the west, note the temperature is. your commute will be a bit more fresh the further north you are but a good deal brighter. through the morning into the afternoon, across england and wales the cloud will

break up to the east of high ground, some sunny break up to the east of high ground, some sunny spells. rain or drizzle threatening throughout the day, mainly across the western coast and heals. human air, two bridges into the 20s. fresh further north. 1a, 15 in glasgow and belfast. end of the afternoon, northern ireland and south of scotland turning white. heavy rain through the night also spreading across the far north of england too. to the north of that another fresh night, the england too. to the north of that anotherfresh night, the far north and west of scotland and northern ireland, southern scotland across england and wales, humid conditions to start wednesday. heavy rain is courtesy of the wage. this is out of the north sea to wednesday. there is a push of the fresh air southwards as this cold front works its way across england and wales. starting across england and wales. starting across northern england and north wales, outbreaks of rain. turning showers that works to the rest of the wales into the midlands. to the south of it will some breaks in the morning cloud and into the

afternoon. 0ut morning cloud and into the afternoon. out of which a profile, you can see that contrast from the colours itself, the deep warmth of the red. may be more in the south—east corner. some sunshine away from showers. by thursday, the cold front is near the continent, all into the fresh air a fuchsia hours across shetland and the north—east, cloud building up to the middle part of the day but morning and afternoon should see some sunshine. temperatures where they should be. with high pressure in charge, most places will stay dry. bye for now. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: donald trump again tries to blame the democrats for america's immigration problems, as he defends his zero—tolerance policy at the border. the united states will not be a migrant camp and it will not be

a refugee holding facility. in germany, immigration policy is also divisive. chancellor merkel‘s own interior minister gives her two weeks to find a europe—wide solution. we round up day five at the world cup in russia, including a dramatic england win over tunisia. a controversial rapper who topped the us charts in march is shot and killed in broad daylight in florida.