to have been killed by wildfires burning out of control near athens. a spokesman said most died in the coastal area of mati, east of the capital, where many people were trapped in their homes and cars. an american—based monitoring group says it appears north korea has begun dismantling a rocket—engine testing facility — seen as instrumental in the development of the country's ballistic missile programme. the group — 38 north — says satellite images show buildings at the sohae site are being taken down. the uk government is insisting it has not abandoned its opposition to the death penalty — even though it is not objecting to the possible execution of militants from the so—called islamic state group, if they are convicted in the united states. the decision has been questioned by mps from all parties. now on bbc news, it's time for the travel show. coming up on this week's programme: rajan is injordan‘s capital,

amman, getting a flavour of what the city has to offer. so good! in china, we go underground. forest bathing is to feel nature. and i am off forest bathing here in japan. so go slow and take it all in? yes, that's the point. when you think ofjordan, bucket list items usually include petra, floating in the dead sea, or going into the desert,

but how about veering off the beaten track into amman? over the years, it's become a magnet city, attracting people from its neighbouring regions to create a unique arabic culture, as rajan went to explore. it may have once enjoyed a heyday, particularly as a roman city, but in more recent times, safe to say amman has not been amongstjordan‘s most glittering jewels. by the 1940s, its population had dwindled. but an influx of palestinians, then iraqis and syrians over the past few decades has seen it take new shape. now the capital's population stands at 4 million, a third of whom are migrants and refugees. and with that rapid rise in amman‘s population, a new contemporary and cosmopolitan atmosphere is developing here which is very much at odds with the traditional,

understated image of the city. and that cultural hotpot of diverse people is expressed through cuisine. so today, we are making it with cauliflower and eggplants, because they're in season. maria haddad runs cookery classes which recognise the variety of arab influences in the food. this goes here, in the pot. she wastes no time in putting me to work on the farmers‘ dish called maklouba. arabic food in general is arabic food. there is no such thing as syrian, lebanese. i love that you're agreeing with me! yes! maklouba is an arabic dish. 0k. it's not a jordanian or a palestinian. everybody, can you just taste this? it's such a pretty colour. that's the beauty

of amman, you know? you have people who are half—lebanese, half—syrian, half—jordanian, people who are half — and there's always halves, you know? i'm a combination of lebanese, jordanian and palestinian, and this was obviously an influence from all the refugees that came in a long time ago. maklouba literally translated means ‘flipped upside down‘. and remove it very slowly. perfect. all right! this looks fantastic, by the way, maria. it looks great. i cannot believe that we made this! well, you made this, really. yay! so good! maria herself has roots injordan, palestine and lebanon. she restored this family home and calls this cook—and—dine experience beit sitti —

that means ‘grandmother‘s house'. when we were very young, we used to come here and we used to learn how to cook arabic food from my grandmother. but really, what we do here is a social business, so when my grandmother passed away, we decided we wanted to keep her house open and her memory going and to teach guests the dishes that she used to teach us. maria feels amman is going through a renaissance. the parents sort of were too busy and they felt like amman wasn't really worth investing in. but now, the younger generation is really putting their foot down and saying it's time to come to amman, you know? and stay — stay here. maria feels this cultural revolution is driven in part by successive waves of refugees. her house is in the jabal al—weibdeh district, where the community includes brea kdancers and graffiti artists,

giving it a surprisingly street art—y vibe. and then, there's this. the 7hhills skatepark. that is astonishing! that is a girl who had never even touched a skateboard before today, and there's more backgrounds here today experiencing that. brilliant. many of these kids are refugees, practising on borrowed skateboards, and the classes are run by an ngo called make life skate life. i think i mightjust give this a miss! it is all run by mo zakaria, jordan's first prominent skateboarder. there was no space for us as a skateboarding community so we always had to go, like, in street spots and be in trouble with the security guards and stuff like that. the skate park sits in a disused sprawl of scrubland. it's a huge problem with public spaces. you know, all the spaces that we have are either residential or private and so, if you don't have any money, all the kids are gonna

end up on the street and then, this is where problems start. the big vision is, you know, renovating public space in amman. this is the future of your country now. i really think it is. i think amman has never been a place of a single nationality, let's say. you know, amman‘s become the new york of the middle east. amman has become the new york of the middle east! yeah, yeah. it's a nice time to be in amman. that idea of amman will certainly challenge a few preconceptions and so will my next and final stop, because 20km north—west of amman is fuheis, home tojordan‘s first and only microbrewery. right here, this is our packaging line and bottle storage. jordan — yep, that is his first name — the chief brewer here, told me how they started from scratch four years ago. injordan, there's, like, no infrastructure, there's no culture, there's absolutely nothing related to beer making. so everything in the factory had to come from outside of the country. and it's notjust the equipment — which comes mainly from china, italy and germany — but the ingredients too. this is what's called pilsner malt,

so you can see from the light colour it's not been roasted very much, so this actually makes up the base of all of our beers. but what's quintessential about the beer are the distinctive jordanian flavours from local produce, like date molasses, grapefruit from the jordan river valley, and even sea salt from the dead sea. honestly, every step of the way, putting this brewery together, selling the beer, making the beer, it's been an exercise in educating the authorities as to what craft beer is. let's not forget that 85% ofjordan‘s population is muslim and therefore, in principle, largely teetotal. the company are banking on export sales to compensate for the limited market that they have in jordan and this particular brew, dead serious,

is their next big hope. and i am going to get a preview. 0h! a real tang to it, and you can taste the salt and you can taste the grapefruitjuice. really unique flavour. excellent. and do you know what? it's craft beers like this that are gonna help create new aspects to this city and also, i think, break the stereotypes that people might have of bothjordan and the middle east. rajan reporting there from amman, and if you're thinking of heading tojordan any time soon, here are some travel show tips to help you in your way. first off, it's important to be culturally sensitive and dress accordingly. jordan is primarily a muslim country and if you are travelling off the beaten tourist track, you will need to dress accordingly. for men, the key thing to note is that shorts in certain religious places are discouraged. when it comes to foreign female visitors, the general advice is not to show too much skin.

strangely enough, it doesn't matter how fitting the outfit is, but bare shoulders, short skirts and cleavage are a realfaux pas. foreign women do not have to wear a veil to hide their hair, unless visiting a mosque. a traditional and very authentic way to explore this gem in the middle east is to embark on a homestay experience. baraka destinations is one organisation that arranges community—owned travel experiences. you can stay in a local‘s home and set off on a season—specific activity such as beekeeping orforaging in thejordanian hills. another environmentally sustainable project, but something at the other end of the spectrum, is the newly built resort of ayla. situated along the beautiful coast of aqaba, ayla is a diverse

development complex withjordan‘s one and only golf course, designed by golfing legend greg norman. well, stay with us here on the travel show because coming up of forest bathing. well, next up, we're off to china, a country that is becoming just as well—known for its skyscrapers it much as is for its temples and terracotta warriors. but not everybody there is keen on high—rise living. in fact, some people would prefer to stay firmly underground. techno music plays. well, from the rural tranquillity of china to the urban madness of tokyo, and you'rejoining me here at the shibuya crossing injapan, one of the most urban societies in the world. and in recent years, tokyo's become known as the biggest city on the planet. but believe it or not,

in amongst all this hustle and bustle, people here are finding ways to reconnect with nature. and for travellers, taking part in this could be a distinctly japanese way to experience culture and the countryside. more than 38 million people cram into the streets and public transport system here, making tokyo the largest city in the world. according to the un, just over half the world's population lives in urban areas. but injapan, it's a whopping 92%. so how do tokyoites and tourists de—stress and decompress? to try and tap into my inner calm, i'm hitting the road and heading to okutama, a couple of hours‘ drive from the centre of tokyo, to indulge in a spot of forest bathing, or what the japanese call shinrinyoku. it's basically about drawing on the therapeutic benefits of being in nature. leaving on tour, i follow my guide, masuzawa—san. you are spending a very stressful life. who knew so much nature could be found, you know, in tokyo? i know, right?

this is okutama! tokyo! this is still part of tokyo? yes. you would never guess. i want you to taste one plant. just one leaf. it helps your digestion. you can eat this? yes. it's awful. it's awful! awful. how awful? so bitter! it's really, really bitter. 0h, bitter, yeah. good medicine tastes bitter. these leaves are dried for medicine for stomach. it's really, really bitter. forest bathing tours like this are becoming hugely popular with stressed—out japanese office workers. the forest therapy society has certified 62 forest therapy sites across japan. it's beautiful.

yeah, beautiful. masuzawa—san‘s tour includes meditation and deep breathing exercises. so, ok, let's practice breathing methods. inhale from nose and exhale mouth. calming music plays. so, this isjust like hiking, isn't it? no! it's not hiking. it's completely different. so, uh, forest bathing is to feel nature. if you walk first, you can feel anything from nature. so, observing everything in the forests, plants and listening to the sounds of the brook and birds and the smelling. so go slow and take it all in?

yeah. the forest bathing movement is gathering momentum around the world as a hot new wellness trend. clinical studies show it can reduce blood pressure, stress levels, as well as diabetes. shinrinyoku is effective in preventive medicine. it's very effective for anti—ageing. anti—ageing? sure. oh, really? so, what do you think? how old am i? how old are you? oh, dear. um... this is tricky — i don't want to offend. 40, 45? no. no, i'm 62. what?! you're 62? yes. wow! ok, so i should go home, throw away all my creams,

and just come back here. yeah. at the top of the mountains, some of the forest bathing tours include yoga, or you can take a more relaxed approach. i must admit, i was a bit reluctant to lie down in first place, but now that i have, i don't think i want to get up. but for those who can't escape the city, there are other ways to experience nature right here in tokyo, in a uniquelyjapanese way... my goodness, this is spectacular! ..with technology. the newly opened digital art museum is exploring a new relationship between humans and nature, through art. so what happens if i touch the wall here? if you put the hand on the wall, it's like a natural waterfall.

the waterfall changes their movement. and these flowers — look, if i touch them, what would happen? so if you touch the flowers, the flower will be gradually flowing down. if i came here on a different day with different people, this installation would look different, right? yeah, exactly. so now we are only two people here, but if we have many people, the movement, more complex. so every time you come here, the scenery would be different. i love the fact that you're encouraged to interact with the installations here — the animals and the nature — that you could actually touch things. you know, living here injapan, there's so many rules and things that you can and can't do. but here, i felt free. it was really refreshing. well, from the virtual to the real. people here are pretty open—minded

when it comes to the pursuit of inner peace and calm. it has been so relaxing here. i'm really not quite ready to go back to the city just yet. but that's all we've got time for this week. coming up next week... check this out! every little boy's dream! whistle blows. we sent rajan into the desert on the trail of lawrence of arabia, 100 years on from the arab revolt. this is a bit worrying. it's like they're ready for some sort of attack. whoa! i'm in the middle of a battle! whoa! oh, what the hell?! hands up! you're not gonna take me, are you? are we going for a cup of tea? well, i hope you canjoin us for that if you can. and don't forget, we're

on social media too, so why don't you follow us there, and you then can share your travel stories with the rest of the world? but until next time, from me, carmen roberts, and the rest of the travel show team here in okutama, it's goodbye. hello there. well, the heatwave of summer 2018 is certainly set to continue for the next week and possibly beyond that. in fact, monday was the hottest day of the year so far, we had temperatures as high as 33.3 celsius at santon downham in suffolk. thursday, we could see temperatures as high as 3a or 35 degrees. so those temperatures building certainly over the next few days. tuesday, we're still drawing in this southerly flow of warm air, particularly across central and eastern parts of england. further north—west across the british isles, some weatherfronts moving in, some cold fronts, so they're going to be introducing some

slightly fresher conditions, particularly to scotland and northern ireland on tuesday. here's that weak front, a band of cloud producing a few spots of rain across parts of southern scotland, northern england and perhaps into wales as well. hot and humid to the south—east, fresher to the north—west. a few showers pushing into the western isles but the northern isles, largely dry and sunny. lots of sunshine across western parts of scotland. the chance of a shower in the east. temperatures in glasgow and in belfast too, 20 or 2! degrees in the sunshine. slightly cloudier zone across parts of northern england and into wales too. most places dry in the south—east. just a small risk of an isolated shower and temperatures once again getting up to 30 degrees or even a bit higher

than that on tuesday afternoon. into the evening hours, looking dry across the country. tuesday night and wednesday morning, still hot and humid in the south and the east, temperatures here holding up into the mid—teens, slightly fresher further north—west, ii or 12 degrees our overnight lows across scotland and northern ireland too. now, through into wednesday, it looks like a similar day once again. lots of dry weather, so a case of deja vu really with a forecast at the moment. just the odd shower and a bit more cloud in the far north—west and perhaps the chance of an odd isolated shower cropping up across eastern england, but temperatures in the south—east, 3! or 32 degrees, typically into the low to the mid—20s further north and west. now, looking ahead into thursday, we'll start to see an area of low pressure trying to approach from the west, bumps into high pressure sitting out towards the east, but we may well just see a bit of a change in air mass so that hot air that is with us at the moment will get gradually eased away towards the east, and these slightly colder conditions are likely to move in. so a fresher feel to the weather. across england in particular, we will hold onto that heat into the middle of the week, but temperatures you'lljust notice starting to dip down into the weekend. and further north and west across the country, although many places will be dry, there will be

some showers and it will cool down a touch into the weekend. bye— bye. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: officials in greece say at least 20 people have been killed as deadly wildfires burn near the capital, athens. translation: we will do whatever is possible in order to control the fires. i'm very concerned at the outbreaks around athens. north korea appears to de dismantling part of a key rocket testing site in the north—west of the country. the uk government sparks a political row, saying it won't object to the execution of two islamic state suspects if they're convicted in america. in an exclusive interview with the bbc, donald trump's former press secretary denies undermining the importance of truth in politics.