he was famous for playing big bird and oscar the grouch on the children's tv show sesame street. he voiced the characters from the show‘s beginning in 1969 until he retired last year, aged 84. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. are it's going to be a wind few days ahead, the strongest of the wins overnight towards the south—west of the uk, but there's been a lot of showers around today and it's these two areas of cloud that are squeezing the wind and strengthening them further and we are already seeing that across parts of ireland and for the seeing that across parts of ireland and forthe uk seeing that across parts of ireland and for the uk will be the south and west of wales on the south—west of england that get the strongest of the wind through the evening and overnight together with some big waves there will be heavy bursts of rain as well which will move away.

most rain as well which will move away. m ost pla ces rain as well which will move away. most places will be windy overnight on the wind direction is changing later to more northerly and that will draw down colder air as well. gradually through monday the weather calms down a little bit but it will still be a windy day, particularly down the north sea coast where it will feel cold in the showers and a few showers coming in off the irish sea towards wales but the shower is becoming fewer through the day as the wind gradually becomes lighter and a lot of places will be dry with sunshine, but it will feel colder than today.

hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: campaigning intensifies, as politicians canvass in key battlegrounds with just days until the country goes to the polls. in india, at least a0 people are killed in a fire at a factory making school bags in delhi.

a 13—year—old boy is among three people arrested for involvement in the murder of a woman stabbed to death in northamptonshire. a man is arrested after video emerges of alleged racial abuse of manchester united players during yesterday's derby. now on the bbc news, it's time for the travel show, which this week heads to seoul to explore the booming south korean beauty market. from barren rock to botanical wonderland.

hello, and welcome to the travel show with me, carmen roberts. and this week, we're coming to you from seoul in south korea, where looking good seems to be something of a national obsession. if you've never heard of k—beauty before, than a stroll in seoul's myeong—dong neighbourhood should give you a clue. so there is literally shop after shop here selling skincare and make—up products, and itjust gives you an idea of the sheer size of the korean beauty market. the booming popularity of k—pop stars and the constant search

for innovations means korea's beauty market is now among the world's top 10. exports of cosmetic products have quadrupled in the past five years. there are now about 2,000 different korean brands to choose from, all promising a glowing, youthful skin. here, even the shops are high—tech. wow, this is super weird. it's scanning my face. it's like a magic mirror. and these are the products they recommend. it's quite a long list. the famous south korean beauty routine requires some serious homework. korean women are usually using like five steps on the skincare. so we have a toner, lotion, soothing, and cream. and this is the final cream, another cream. yes.

i think this might take me 30 minutes every night if i did this. no, no, no, if you get used to it, less than 10 minutes, you can finish it. do you think korea is at the top of its field in terms of innovation with beauty? i think the cosmetic brand, yes. i think the korean people really think about our skin and the skincare, and aesthetic as well, so i think that korea is the best in the world for innovation. but the perpetual quest for beauty can come with some dark consequences. yeunji—sun is one of the leading activists of a growing feminist movement taking a stand against it. it's called the anti—corset movement. so the expectation for women in korea to be beautiful, to have the k—beauty look, how big a pressure is it here?

this huge pressure to be beautiful extends beyond skincare and cosmetics. it's also about scalpels. oh, and needles too. welcome to seoul, the world's capital of plastic surgery. so we are in the upmarket gangnam neighbourhood which you may have heard from that famous korean song.

# 0ppan gangnam style!# but it's also known as seoul's ‘beauty belt‘ and there are literally hundreds of plastic surgery clinics here. south korea is the world's champion for the number of cosmetic procedures per capita. between a third and a half of young south korean women are believed to have had some kind of plastic surgery. the experience usually starts with a simple photo shoot. some computer magic is then applied to the photos to transform your face, before the scalpel does it for real.

there are many many doctors here, and we saw how we have advanced, and it's also very acceptable, so i felt like i was lucky to get my eyes done here. it seems a long way to come for plastic surgery. is there a big price difference? you get a tax refu nd price difference? you get a tax refund here. in america i was quoted 5000 but in career it was substantially 5000 but in career it was su bsta ntially less, 5000 but in career it was substantially less, maybe 35% less with the tax refund, so it's worth the journey here and i'm flying out today, so you can fly in and fly out.

there is a small museum you can visit about plastic surgery here on the island. wow, these goals are a bit confronting. —— these skulls. this is a long model, with a protruding chin and this is the head garment you need to wear after surgery. garment you need to wear after surgery. of course it's notjust plastic surgery on your face, it's a whole cabinet here dedicated to breast implants. i'm not so sure that i am feeling more reassured after my museum tour. it's now time to get my free consultation with doctor kim, a plastic surgeon. so the moment of truth — what do i need to get done? usually for your age, we make the procedure to make your face look a little bit younger. we make the computer simulation for your face and this

is your appearance before surgery and the right picture is after surgery. in truth, seeing your face transformed and realising the extent of work to be done to achieve it is a pretty brutal process. when you see the front picture, you have some prominent wrinkle, see the fold, and droopy, thick skin. and the cheeks can be lifted. it is facelift. oh, my gosh. i need a facelift? a little lift. so after the faclift, we can make the cheek skin lifted. sometimes we cut the bone and make the chin sharper. that sounds painful. a little pain, not too much. so i could have all this done in a day? of course, in a day, yes. that's amazing. well, thank you, dr kim. you're welcome. ok, i'll think about it. bye— bye. but there's a backlash.

this online video has been viewed more than 8 million times. it has inspired women to give up some simple things like make—up, a new way to take a stand. how is this movement been viewed amongst the young people here in korea?

the anti—corset movement is not alone in raising concerns. after thousands people complained, seoul's metro operator has decided to ban all ads of plastic surgery from 2022. as for me, i think that for the time being, i will try to be happy in my own skin. stay with us. still to come. i set sailfor stay with us. still to come. i set sail for the stay with us. still to come. i set sailfor the wonderful stay with us. still to come. i set sail for the wonderful botanical

area of the coast of south korea and the force of nature who made it happen. so, don't go away. there are dozens of weird places to relax and have a coffee here, and this coffee shop is a perfect example. i will have a latte, please. we found a new way of truly personalising your brew. it's about shots, in more ways than one. 0k, personalising your brew. it's about shots, in more ways than one. ok, i ta ke shots, in more ways than one. ok, i take my selfie. this is my face, selfie smile. and you can even drink your favourite k—pop singer's face. the whole process is fairly simple. fill the paper cup with cold milk. switch the coffee machine on, and press print. the machine and the

food colouring will do the rest. i am putting this straw into my eyes. it's a bit masochistic, isn't it. i feel a bit like a cannibal, really, drinking my own face. it is delicious, like a regular iced coffee. this time, the next business is about travelling differently. this time, taking to the road

without being able to hear. it sounds daunting to many of us, but for one woman it has opened doors and helped build new friendships.

our next journey starts in south korea's southern shores, a land of beaches, shipyards

and many, many islands. in fact, there are dozens of them along this coast. but one in particular has won the hearts of many koreans. so that's where we're headed, over there. it looks like any other island in the area. it's hard to imagine that it's anything more than a bunch of rocks. as the boat gets closer, though, this islet takes on another dimension. welcome to 0edo botania, the garden island. every year, more than i million people come — mainly to see the over 3,000 varieties of exotic plants and trees that grow here, but also to learn about the special love story that is behind the island's success. there are no cars on the island. the only sounds you will hear

are from the wind, birds, and classical music pumped out of loudspeakers hidden in the trees. so we're here. oh, and i can see ice cream up ahead, but also, a really famous part of the island. half a century ago, though, there was no ice cream parlour here, only a few camellia trees crowning a very barren rock. the fate of the island changed when a fisherman took shelter on its shores on a stormy day in 1969. lee chang—ho was ms choi's husband. this is my husband... that's me. choi ho sook and her husband settled on the island in the 1970s. they first tried to grow tangerines and raise pigs, but without much success.

a trip to the gardens of buckingham palace in the uk gave them the idea of creating a similar botanical garden here, but it was no easyjourney. was it hard work? i can't imagine how much effort would have been put in to make the island to this level.

and results came indeed. 0edo island was open to the public in 1995, and it was an instant success. time is now restricted to accommodate the sheer number of visitors. they are only allowed 1.5 hours on the island. but that is enough for some good shots. this is prime selfie location. boy band photo shoot going on up here. plants and flowers have been carefully selected so there is blossom all year round. but the upkeep of such a vast patch requires more than green fingers. eight gardeners are employed to shave, cut and maintain the vegetation. they are busy bees. this garden reminds me of edward scissorhands. look at this tree with the hole in the middle.

i walk here every day, i think about my husband. 0h, do you miss him? yes. but every day, no answer. lee chang—ho died some 15 years ago. a stone plaque now commemorates the husband who transformed the fate of this rocky island. do you feel emotional when you come here? yeah. what do you feel? some days happy, some days unhappy. ms choi wrote herself the poem inscribed on this stone.

as the sun retreats from the island, my time is up. tomorrow, another boat will bring hundreds more to this little piece of paradise. another day on 0edo botania. that's all we have got time for this week. coming up next week: christa's in london checking out why crumbling stonework, dodgy wiring and leaky pipes are causing headaches at one of the world's most recognisable world heritage sites. this is level 25. so we're 50 metres up. oh, my very word! look at that! i hope you canjoin us for that if you can, and don't forget you can follow us on social media, and maybe you can share some

of your travel stories with the world too. but until then, from me, carmen roberts, and the rest of the travel show team here in south korea, it's goodbye. hello. there will be a lot of weather to look at over the week ahead. for the next few days are dominated by wind and rain. heavy rain or heavy showers accompanied by gales or severe gales, and it's bobby the strength of the wind that will have more of an impact with disruption possible in the strongest winds arrive now towards the south of the uk. we had a lot of showers coming in during today but these two

areas of cloud here are where we see the wind strengthening and already that has been hitting western parts of ireland and as far as the uk is concerned, the strongest winds overnight are going to be across the south and west of wales, perhaps 75 mph, together with big waves and some heavy rain for a while although most of it will clear away and it will be windy everywhere. the direction change to northerly by the end of the night which will drag down colder air as well. during tomorrow, things slowly calmed down from the west because we have the ridge of high pressure starting to build which will fade away most of the showers and post the strongest wind and it will be windy for much of the day down the north sea coast and it will feel cold as well with quite a few showers at first and one or two coming quite a few showers at first and one ortwo coming in quite a few showers at first and one or two coming in off the irish sea into north wales but gradually the showers become fewer and lighter and a lot of places will be dry with decent sunshine, still a windy day but it becomes less windy or it probably will feel colder. briefly

during monday evening as the wind continues to drop, we will have a touch of frost or eastern areas but then the winds will pick up in the night and we draw in weather fronts and pick up some mild air and it brings some rain, cloud and rain on tuesday, a couple of bands of rain pushing east and it's the second one that looks particularly wet and that will be accompanied by squally winds as well. temperatures, double figures for most of us, but it's the wind and rain that is the story. then the milder air get swept away as the rain sweeps clear of eastern england, and then colder air comes in around the area of low pressure in the north—west of the uk. gales are still possible in the north—west of scotland, but not as windy on wednesday. a day of sunshine and showers, some heavy and perhaps thundery again and wintry over the hills in the north and pushing their way into eastern areas and it will be quite a chilly with typical temperatures between six or seven celsius.

this is bbc world news today. our top stories: the fbi says it's treating friday's deadly attack on a us navy base in florida as a presumed terrorist attack. with just four days to go until voters head to the polls in the uk election, the main party leaders drive home their key election pledges. at least 43 people are killed in a factory fire in central delhi. the owner of the building has been arrested. and russia is facing a four year ban from international sports for doping offences, we have a special report from moscow.