now while millions of indians have been told to stay at home, there are some beneficiaries of the lockdown. the less polluted air and cleaner water have attracted tens of thousands of flamingos to a lake in mumbai, turning it pink. the migration of the birds is an annual phenomenon but not usually on such a scale. flamingo numbers in the mumbai metropolitan region are reported to have topped 150,000 in the first week of april. some benefits. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. hello, rather couple of showery days, good for the gardens. some beautiful images from our weather watchers. in terms of weather for going out in the garden and for exercising today, a lot of fine conditions found across the uk through the afternoon, a rushed view shopper shows for the south east of

scotla nd shopper shows for the south east of scotland and the north—east of them through the afternoon, it could catch them out. chilly along the north sea coast thanks to the brecel. elsewhere, temperatures in the mid—teams. the showers clear overnight, but what the south—west, more cloud starting to push in and that will mean quite a hazy start to the day for southern england and south wales. maybe a bit of patchy rainfor south wales. maybe a bit of patchy rain for devon and, for a time, the cloud dress further north through the day. i cloudy day than today some sharper showers for the time. scotland, once again, parts of easter and —— east angular a touch cooler too. —— east anglia.

hello this is bbc news with carrie gracie. the headlines: an experimental drug developed to treat ebola has been approved by us officials for emergency use on severely ill coronavirus patients. a trial shows remdesivir helps

shorten recovery time. meanwhile doctors in the uk are to trial treating critically ill patients with blood plasma from covid—i9 survivors. donors have so far given enough plasma — the liquid part of the blood — to treat 150 people. commuters could be asked to check their temperature before leaving home, in post—lockdown britain. it's understood to be one of several options being considered to ease restrictions on public transport. adults are flocking outdoors to exercise in spain, as one of the countries worst affected by coronavirus further eases its strict lockdown rules. the measures will be carefully monitored to prevent a resurgence of the disease. and the north korean leader kim jong—un has reappeared in public after a three week absence, which prompted rumours about his health.

now, you know we can do sports news without a sport, but now it is time for travel news without any travel. this week's show looks at how you can still enjoy the world while staying at home. hello, and welcome to the travel show. it's a chill one for me this week, as we're coming from my gaff right here in london. it's a lockdown special with a look at how some of the world's biggest events and festivals are moving the fun online. we've got news about offers of free holiday accommodation for key workers. we go on lockdown with the

beefeaters at the tower of london. and with so many flights and holidays cancelled, we've got an update on how companies are doing on giving our money back. spoiler alert: not very well. it's a frustrating time for those of us who are itching to get back on the road again, but we're actually quite lucky that we can stay at home right now, because there are millions of key workers around the world, doctors, nurses, the people we buy ourfood from, the people who empty our bins, who don't have that luxury. but in recent weeks, there's been an outpouring of support for them. notjust in weekly claps like these, but with the tantalising offer of free holidays once bans are lifted. here in the uk, a campaign under the hashtag #treat0urnhs now has hundreds of giveaways

on social media. we have a holiday let in devon, and i put it out there on instagram for a giveaway, two nights to an nhs member of staff, and very quickly, i had lots of nominations coming in, and ijust thought, only one person is going to win this. so she decided to spearhead the campaign and made this video to help spread the word on social media. some people with large accounts shared it and very quickly that message got across and the restjust followed, basically. we have over 700 giveaways on board now, which is amazing. we've got such a breadth of accommodation on offer, it ranges from a shepherd's hut in dorset to an amazing chateau in the south of france. there's just amazing acts

of generosity all across the board. sarah decided to open the offer up again for her own property and got sent 2,000 nominations. the winner, picked at random. is it a two—night stay? so, it's two nights stay when you get down here, and the lovely cafe down the road is giving you a meal and you got breakfast... oh, my god! i'm going to cry! 0h, love. who nominated you 7 one of the girls who i worked with the other day, she nominated me. that was really sweet. i can't believe it. 0h, bless. you're making me cry! it's so nice to win something! it's hoped that once the lockdown eases here in the uk, it won't be too long before nurse rachel gets that much—deserved break. but this idea is notjust limited

to health workers here in the uk. the international campaign under the hashtag #mytravelpledge has been gaining serious traction abroad, with properties and hotel rooms on offer to health workers and also low income key workers such as hospital cleaners. avery and tiffany nominated each other. they are both nurses at saint pauls hospital in vancouver, canada. we just made a plan to nominate each other, but her nomination for me got selected, and, yeah. within a couple of days she texted me and was like, "oh my gosh, your nomination was selected!" of course my first thing was, i'm going to take you! and she was like no, it's for you and your husband. it is because avery was supposed to go to spain this year for her ten year

anniversary, and of course that got cancelled, so hopefully this can be her ten year anniversary vacation. avery has got a free stay here in the dominican republic when travel restrictions finally ease for a well—earned rest. working in the healthcare sector right now is really scary. we are both psychiatric nurses, so we serve really the most marginalised and vulnerable population. with covid, we're really afraid it is going to spread within that population, so every time we go to work, we feel uncertain, we're scared, we're scared to bring it back to our families. so it is difficult, it's uncertain, it is definitely a really challenging time to be working and healthcare. ian and andrew set up the campaign to recognise and reward key workers,

but for them an important side effect is to help out the tourism industry in spain, where they run a b&b. the pair have had quite a response. they received more than 3,000 nominations in april alone. people assume it's a competition or it's a prize draw, and we are trying to make it clear that it is actually not a prize draw. either they can nominate themselves, a colleague, a friend, or be nominated by somebody, by a friend of theirs, and it comes through to us here, this central database, and we will then try to help allocate them something sensible and suitable for their requirements. some people have already specified they would quite like something in the uk because they can't afford a flight. some people are looking forward to a break in the sun so we try to match it as best we can. the pair have received more than 3,000 nominations in the past month, from around the world with a fast growing

portfolio of international properties on offer. the key word for me is hope, hope and support. they are just working full on. if they're not working, they're sleeping. so this is something that they can actually just nominate, they can act on, and they know that someone out there is actually looking out for them and there is a light at the end of the tunnel and a free stay would make their lives so much more bearable at the moment, and to be honest, this situation we are in, it is the very least that we can do. what a brilliant campaign, and a richly deserved reward for those people around the world who are doing so much for us at the moment. for the last few weeks, we have been getting loads of messages from people who are still trying to get their money back from cancelled holidays without much success. now, it's probably the biggest issue

in travel at the moment. our global guru, simon calder, is across town and hopefully he can bring some clarity to a very confusing situation. simon, how are you, first of all? i am well and happy, but i have never been busier! with just thousands of travel show viewers getting in touch, saying help, what are my rights? what can i do? so simon, tell us, what are people's rights when it comes to getting money back with cancelled holidays? under european passenger rights rules and also the rules which pertain in the united states, airlines, if they do not operate your flight, have to give you a full refund. however, there have been cases right across europe and the us and the world of airlines saying, "we can't refund you, "we will give you a credit note", in other words, you are allowed

to travel on that airline sometime in the next six months, year, two years, but your money is tied up with them. now, if you are covered by consumer rules that entitle you to a refund and that is the european union, the uk, the united states and some other places, then just keep fighting for a refund, you should get the money back eventually. elsewhere, it might be a matter between you and your credit card company. it feels like a really frustrating situation but i guess the idea is to just not give up and keep trying to get that money back? just keep going, you should get your money back, but i am one of many, many people who've got a ticket, in fact in my case from saudi arabia to egypt for a flight which never took off, and i am having really tough times trying to get my money back from that. if simon calder is struggling to get his money back, what are we going to do?! keep trying. it sounds like we are not going to be getting back

to normality any time soon, simon. we have still got hundreds of flight bans in place, so it's a matter unfortunately, as it has been pretty much throughout this crisis, of wait and see. what i foresee happening is that we will be asked, for example, to have some kind of vaccination certificate. this is my old vaccination certificate, it hasn't seen much action recently but it will possibly include something to show, when there is a working vaccine against covid—i9, that you have had that vaccination and, more to the point, that you have perhaps had the infection and that you are now immune, but of course that is all against a whole backdrop of what the health authorities regard as giving you immunity. all right, cheers simon. hopefully i will get to see you soon in person once this is all over. take care, mate. alright, now it is time for us to jump across the world to japan to meet another member of the travel show family, it's carmen!

hi, carmen! hi adi, how are you? not bad, considering the circumstances. tell me about what's happening over there, is it the whole of japan in lockdown or just tokyo? the whole of japan is in a state of emergency now but it is more of a soft lockdown, because the government doesn't really have powers to fine you if you leave your home or have a big social gathering, they can just request that you do so. so it is really mixed, the public transport is still operating, but my local supermarket insists you wear a mask if you go inside. small businesses are still open, albeit with limited hours. there are some izakayas, which are smalljapanese eateries, they're still open, but they have to shut at 8:00pm, so it's really, really mixed here. it's such a strange new world that we are living in, isn't it? and another thing forjapan is the paralympics and 0lympics being postponed. that must have been a really huge blow for you

guys out there. yeah, definitely. it was a huge blow and as you would know, in any city in the lead up to the olympics there is a real buzz about the place and 2020 was meant to be tokyo's big year, so many are saying that is why it was so late to declare a state of emergency because they were really hanging on and hoping that the olympics and the paralympics would still go ahead, but once it was finally cancelled, or postponed actually, to next year, that is when they invoked a state of emergency. but the ioc are confident that it is going to happen next year and the olympic flame is burning in fukushima as we speak. it is a symbol of hope and recovery. as well as the olympics, live events across the board have all been cancelled or postponed as the race to contain the virus continues. and whether it is sports, music or art, a lot of these

gatherings rely on a shared physical experience that is no longer allowed in over a third of the world's countries. for the first time in 70 years the edinburgh festival has been cancelled. a plug has been pulled on glastonbury‘s 50th anniversary. and dubai has rescheduled the world expo, resulting in a loss of tourism income from over 20 million people who were due to attend what was likely to be the uae‘s biggest event in its history. well, this hasn't stopped organisers looking for new ways to connect audiences, with many exploring exciting projects to move the fun online. here is my simulator setup, so you can see we have got the wheel. formula i has launched a virtual grand prix series, a live stream during which professional drivers compete against each other in a specially adapted video game. but the race is strictly for entertainment‘s sake, with no official points to be won.

the champagne antics might have to wait until next year. another institution trying to capture the spirit of their event online is burning man, a festival usually held deep in the black rock desert of nevada. so for us it really almost wasn't a question. why cancel burning man and leave this opening, this vacancy, this sadness? but why not take it and turn it towards the opportunity that we have right now and lean in towards what burning man does best and bring people together? 0riginal tickets will still be valid for the online event, with newcomers welcome as well. the experience will be spread across different platforms, which is fitting, considering the theme for this year's festival was the multi—verse. we are really going to be looking at imagining that members of the community will help participate so that the best parts of what you get at burning man, the inspiration to be with other people, the trust, the playfulness, the creativity...

that we can create an environment that is like that. i think there is an irony right now where we are all more isolated, i am seeing more interesting content coming out of the internet than we have ever seen before. another highlight of the cultural calendar that is planning to move online is pride. san francisco cancelled its 50th anniversary celebration. the parade is usually one of the largest in the world and this year over! million people were expected to attend. instead they will be joining hundreds of other cities in the virtual celebration. 0n the 27th ofjune, global pride will take the form of a 24—hour live stream event, featuring performances, speeches, and messages from activists all over the world. so into pride has done a fantastic job at engaging and connecting over 250 pride organisations globally to feel a sense of togetherness, to bring hope to all lgbtiq communities in the face of adversity.

you might remember tony and the adventures we joined him on when he visited jerusalem and more recently ethiopian. now, tony calls himself the blind backpacker, but not only does he have almost no vision, he is also partially deaf. it is his ambition to travel to every country in the world. he is on the road pretty much all of the time, but not any more. hi, tony. so where are you calling us from this time? yeah, i'm actually in my own apartment at the moment in a small town called teignmouth in devon. in exotic devon! very exotic! so i hear you were travelling around africa when the virus hit? yes, that is right. i was in southern africa, at the beginning of march i visited

johannesburg and then across to zimbabwe and zambia. i had visited those countries before and wanted to get some videos of the victoria falls, really. the sound is absolutely unbelievable. at this time of year, march, april, it is the rainy season so it is full of water, so when you walk through it get an absolute trenching. when did you find out that you had to stop your trip and come home, tony? it was starting to get more and more difficult from the end of march. i was planning to go to a place down at the border and they basically wouldn't let me in, they said no. so i thought ok, that is that then. and i got an underlying health condition. i had a kidney transplant back in 2008, so i needed medication, and it was getting more and more difficult to try to arrange to get that sent out to

zambia, so i thought my best option might be coming as sad as that was. i eventually managed to find a flight for an extortionate price and then i have been in lockdown more or less ever since. my goal is to visit every country in the world and that is what gets me up in the morning and gets me out of the house in the morning. where am i going next? so yeah, i am planning the next check. sort of looking for the end of the year for the actual travelling, about november, december. it depends on the situation here and do so and in those other countries. tony, thank you so much. stay well and looking forward to hearing more about some of your adventures in the future. take care, be safe yourself. now, just a few miles away from here, there is one place that has never had a problem people in isolation. it is the tower of london. welcome to the tower of london, where kings and queens have walked for 500 years.

today is our first day in proper lockdown. don't worry though, we have got security here and the jewels are under no threat at all. we are locking downjust for safety with the virus. it is very unusual. there is nobody here, just the people that live here. there is 37 of us that guard the tower. we are all former sergeant majors, all spent over 20 years in the military. if we get the job, this is where we have got to live with our families. the tower of london is one of the most iconic sights in the world that we are very proud to keep it, maintain it and look after it. the crown jewels are here and obviously we have our ravens as well. the ravens have been here since time began at the tower of london. an old legend says that

if the ravens ever leave the tower, the white towere will crumble and it will be a great disaster. so that there is the watchtower. queens and kings of england have lived in that tower over 500 years. this is where the dungeons and the torture chambers were once located. i have been asked by my social media adviser, my 23 son, that i have got to ask you to like and subscribe to this channel. i have absolutely no idea what that means, but if that means anything to you do that. i would say that in the 1000 year history of the tower of london this is completely unprecedented because there is no one here. normally this site would be packed. an average of 10,000 — 12,000 people per day. when you think about what has happened in the past, yes, we have had wars and bombs dropping on the tower. things were still going on. it's a big crisis across the world, but here in the tower we are trying to make things as normal as possible. you know, we have got

to get on as a community. it is a community and there are about 45 families and the children and all the rest of it. we all know each other very, very well and all find it an honour to live within the walls of the tower. within the tower we actually have a few key workers, we have got nhs workers, nurses, lifeboats, crewmen, border false, special constables, so force, special constables, so tonight they are in it now and hopefully we should have lately ——lit the tower blue, which will be showing our appreciation. thank you to the nhs. personally, i know quite a bit about coronavirus because my wife actually was tested positive and spent two weeks in hospital. she fought for her life, but it is a success story because she is now out and she is really, really doing well.

i personally do miss the buzz of having visitors here and engaging with them and having a good time, really. we didn't like the words of when they were raising the drawbridge. that is former sergeant majors because we tend not to want to give in. but we did. we can't wait for the drawbridge to be lowered and start inviting our visitors from all over the world to come and see this absolutely fantastic, iconic site. well, that's it from us for this week. wherever you are, though, stay safe, keep dreaming those dreams of travel and we will be back with you for a brand—new episode in a few weeks‘ time. bye— bye.

hello there. well, you probably noticed over the last couple of days the weather has been a bit unsettled with lots of showers. certainly friday no exception to that. you can see the extent of all those showers moving across the uk and they brought with it some dramatic skies. a double rainbow spotted around the south end on sea area of essex and further south in sussex we have this dramatic bolt of lightning with some hail mixed in as well. over the next few hours, showers moving eastwards across england, only slowly clearing here. the showers will then tend to be confined to the northeast of scotland where it will stay cloudy all night. temperatures 3—7 degrees and now as far as the weekend

goes, we are going to see an improvement in the weather. spells of sunshine and for quite a few of us, it will stay dry. showers around, particularly across the north and east but with lighter winds, it will feel a little bit warmer. the area of low pressure that has been bringing the showery weather over the last couple of days that is tending to move its way further eastwards, but we start off with an area of cloud and a bit of rain and with a weak low. as we go into the afternoon we start to see some cloud develop and the cloud will tend to develop where we see northwesterly winds bashed together with more northerly winds. this is a convergent zone and across eastern areas of scotland and england, that is the area you are most likely to see showers popping up during the afternoon but elsewhere it is a largely dry picture. with lighter winds and more sunshine to go around, it will feel warmer. temperatures for most of us around 1a and 18 celsius. in many respects sunday looks like a similar kind of day.

age drier morning for most with some sunshine. perhaps cloudier towards the southwest and in the afternoon we could start to see some showers developing and if they do pop up they can be slow—moving in nature and some can be on the heavy side as well. temperatures between 1a and 18 celsius. heading into next week, high pressure is to take up residence northeast of the british isles but the low pressure lurks and we will have a northeast southwest split of whether. cloud increasing probably rain as well. but the further it northeast the dryer the weather stays.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. adults flock outdoors to exercise in spain, as one of the countries worst affected by coronavirus further eases its strict lockdown rules. an experimental drug developed to treat ebola is approved for emergency use by us officials for emergency use on severely—ill coronavirus patients. meanwhile, uk doctors are to trial treating critically—ill patients with blood plasma from covid—19 survivors. could temperature checks be the key for uk commuters to get back on public transport? it's thought to be one post—lockdown option under consideration. the uk lockdown puts the heat on warehouses,