countries to keep using the astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine — france, italy, germany and spainjoined the list of countries who have halted injections. concerns were initially raised by norway — when a small number of people suffered blood clots. astrazeneca insists the vaccine is safe. the influential sister of north korea's leader — kimjong—un — has warned the us not to "cause a stink" — as the biden administration prepares to set out its korean policy. her comments come hours before america's top diplomat, anthony blinken, is due to visit the region. the us senate has voted to confirm deb haaland to head the department of the interior — making her the first native american cabinet secretary. the congresswoman from new mexico is expected to have a key role in efforts to move the united states towards carbon neutrality.

now on bbc news, the travel show. this week on the show — the surfers making waves in fukushima, ten years after the nuclear disaster. the hunt for the priceless royal russian room stolen by the nazis. and we get a taste of sustainable sake. cheers to that! kanpai! we start this week in the fukushima region in north—eastern japan. now, as the world learns to cope with one disaster —

a global pandemic — here, they're marking another. it's exactly ten years since an earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear catastrophe. the region has sadly become synonymous with those tragic events. a decade on, i'm here to find out how people are still battling to move on from the past. this is kitaizumi beach, some 70km from the centre of fu kushima city. while it's hard to believe now, this beach was once one of the most popular surfing destinations injapan.

surfing was popularised injapan in the 1960s, when american gis stationed here headed for the beaches, armed with their boards, and the surf scene has been growing ever since. but at 2:a6pm on march 11, 2011, everything changed when,100km up the coast, disaster struck. a nine magnitude earthquake triggered the most devastating tsunami injapanese history. person wails. deadly 14—metre waves engulfed entire communities, breaking down the walls of the daiichi nuclear power station, triggering four days of catastrophic failures to the reactor�*s cooling systems, releasing radioactivity and leading to an evacuation order covering a 12—mile radius.

this man's home was washed away. in total, the disaster claimed over 18,000 lives. sadly, events organised to commemorate the 10th anniversary of this horrific moment have been cancelled or scaled back,

due to the pandemic. today, a decade on, after a $20 billion clean—up operation, the government says as much as 97% of the prefecture is safe to visit. locals are returning to live and domestic tourism is on the up, partly thanks to these surfers. suzuki—san was one of the first people back in the water.

and they did return. kitaizumi officially opened in 2019 after the community pulled together by cleaning up the beach and hiring lifeguards. and today, despite the water being about six degrees, there are plenty of surfers out. so how long have

you been surfing? it's about five years. five years? i'm just a beginner. yeah. so why did you start surfing? you started after the earthquake — were you not worried about radiation in the water? i'm not so much scared to go because many, many people surfing out there, so... is it safe? yes, i think so, yeah. i'll test the wet sand. and it's 0.4, 0.5... still safe ?

yes. levels have returned to where they were before the disaster, and despite a recent earthquake nearby, authorities say the water is completely safe.

now, there are positive signs with the vaccine starting to be rolled out in many countries, but travel is still some way off for most of us so here's what is happening online around the world this coming month —

something to keep us going until we can hit the road again. windmills overlooking endless fields of colourful tulips have been the traditional postcard of the netherlands for centuries. every year at the end of march, millions of tourists usually flock to this flat country to admire the flowers blooming. but in 2020, the pandemic hit and the festival of colour transferred online. this year again, you can catch keukenhof, and the largest flower park in the world, virtually. speaks dutch. from march 20, head to their website to watch two videos posted each week, with some of their 7 million flower bulbs putting on a show of colour. and although the wild parties usually held to celebrate the king's birthday on april 27 are on hold this year, you can still tour amsterdam's most famous museums online. they have joined forces with google to offer virtual

tours of their collection. you can wander through the exhibition rooms of the van gogh museum and look at the painter�*s self—portraits on your own, without the crowds. if you miss nature, there are plenty of options to explore the wildlife from your couch. for example, twice a day on wildearth.tv, you can take part in a live safari in africa and interact with a guide while being filmed on the lookout for the big five. hey, girl! wow! what a stunner! you see that? scent marking as she goes. now, if anybody wonders what a fresh track looks like, that is it. grunts. webcams are everywhere, too. explore.org features hundreds of livestreams from all around the world. just choose the animal you're interested in. for those who'd like to celebrate world penguin day

on april 25, you've got four live webcams to choose from, including one located underwater at the aquarium of the pacific in california. and finally, if you want to regain your fitness after lockdown, virtual marathons are now all the rage. you sign up to complete a full marathon wherever you live and register your timings using a running app. you can find a full range of virtual marathons on different websites. and if you need an extra incentive to take part, some of the proceeds for the next virtual marathon in mexico will go towards supporting local indigenous communities. well, still to come on the travel show — it's not as easy as it looks. i learn the craft and graft of creating prizeworthy sake. it's like sweeping treacle! so don't go away. next up, a tale of

missing royal treasures. the opulent amber room was a stunningly intricate and ornate chamber built inside a russian palace near saint petersburg in the 18th century. but during the turmoil of world war ii, it was dismantled and shipped to germany, where it simply disappeared. elgar: salut d'amour, op 12 plays.

an extraordinary tale of stolen gems there. and to end this week's show from fukushima,

i am visiting one of the oldest sake breweries injapan. some say it's the fresh water that runs down from the surrounding mountains that makes fukushima sake so good. others say it's the extreme weather in the region. either way, the brewers are doing something right, as the region's world—famous sake has won a record—breaking amount of awards. sake is a rice liquor that's over 2000 years old. it used to be made by chewing grains of rice and splitting it into a vat, so that the saliva enzymes would ferment with the yeast to produce alcohol. needless to say, methods have moved on since then! there are over 60 breweries in fukushima, but this is one of the oldest. yauemon sato is the seventh generation owner.

evolving technology means the quality of sake is higher than it's ever been. but the industry is at a crossroads and domestic sales here injapan are falling because younger people have developed a taste for beer and imported wines instead. so breweries like this one are turning to tourism and the international market, and it's paying off. exports are at a record high and innovation and sustainability are helping to fuel this growing craft sake movement. winter is the busiest time of year for sake breweries.

colder winter temperatures make for a higher quality sake. the head brewer, or koji, still completes much of the project by hand. so this smells just like rice. so it's been washed, then it's been dried, and now it's in here? i'm assuming there's yeast inside here to ferment? yes. the rice mash stays in the vat for a week. 0h! 0k. it's not as easy as it looks, actually. it's quite heavy. groans. it's like sweeping treacle. the whole process is incredibly labour—intensive. ten years ago, the brewery was left fighting for its survival.

contamination from the nearby nuclear disaster meant all food and drink exports from fukushima had to be tested. after seeing the damage nuclear power can cause, sato—san founded a renewable energy company and now, much of the nearby land that was devastated by the nuclear fallout is home

to long rows of solar panels. the local government says that by 20110, the entire region will be powered 100% by renewable energy. 100 kilometres away on the coast, another local is rebuilding her town's image with the help of sake. until a year ago, this area was a no—go zone. makiko—san returned home as soon as the evacuation orders were lifted. she was only 13 when the disaster struck. to break the stigma attached to her home town and to mark ten years since the disaster, she crowdfunded to launch the 0kuma sake project.

cheers to that. kanpai! well, it was great to get a little taste of some fukushima sake. that's all we've got

time for this week. coming up next time — whilst we all wait to start travelling again, we've got some more inspiration for you — this time from thailand, as we look back at some of our favourite adventures there. i'm about to step in the ring with momo. he looks really mean! in the meantime, you can catch up with more of our trips on social media — we're in all the usual places — and you can see more of our recent programmes on the bbc iplayer. but until next time, from all of us here in fukushima, injapan, keep planning your next adventure and we'll see you very soon. hello there.

in comparison to this time last week, it is a much quieter weather story to tell. but i suspect we will be chasing cloud amounts around over the next few days, just like we had on monday. in cornwall, it was a beautiful day with blue sky and sunshine, similar story for northern ireland. but further north and west, cloud gathered as we went through the day, rather threatening looking skies, indication of what's to come. yes, we have some weather fronts bringing some rain into the far northwest. high—pressure is trying to build in from the southwest, but some of this rain will be heavy through the night. isobars squeezing together as well, strengthening winds particularly in the far north of scotland. now, the rain will sink its way south and east, a lot of cloud across the country, so a relatively mild night for many. so as we start off tuesday, there will still be some heavy rain to come, particularly across scotland accompanied by some strong gusty winds from the northwest. widely, we could see gusts in excess of 30 mph first thing, but in the far north, 40—115 mph not out of the question.

that strong wind will help push the rain south and east as we go through the day, quite a clearance, the winds will fall light, the sunshine will come through. the only exception, perhaps, across east anglia, essex and kent, it may well stay cloudy for much of the day. top temperatures though through the afternoon, generally around 10—15 celsius — not bad. now, high—pressure will anchor itself across northern ireland. a little bit more of a breeze always around the periphery of the high, and that is going to continue to drag in cloud amounts, hence the reason that we will be chasing cloud from time to time. so on wednesday, there will be quite cloudy skies with the odd light shower into the far north and some cloud coming in off the north sea, so sheltered westerns parts in off the north sea, so sheltered western parts of england and wales seeing the best of the sunshine potentially. now, as we move into the end of the week, the high—pressure just moves a little bit further west again, and that allows more of a northeasterly flow, a cooler source, particularly across east anglia and southeast england. so what that will do is it

potentially breaks up the cloud to allow more sunshine to come through, but it means that it might feel just that little bit cooler the further south and east you are by the end of the week. further west, it stays largely dry, but there is always the risk of a little more cloud. that's it, take care.

this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories. the world health organization urges countries to keep using the astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine — as a growing list of european nations suspend injections. the influential sister of north korea's leader says the us must avoid causing a stink if it wants peace — as america's top diplomat heads to the region. the un's secretary general says he's appalled by the escalating violence in myanmar at the hands of the military. making history — deb haaland is confirmed as us secretary of the interior — becoming the first native american to lead a cabinet agency. it's a moment that each of these nominees will never forget. and the nominations are out for

this year's delayed 0scars —