acoalition of opposition parties has been formed to oust the current prime ministerfrom power. if it wins support in the knesset, a new government would be led for the next two years by naftali bennett, a hardline former settler. with 50 days left until the delayed olympic games are due to begin in tokyo, there remains a significant abount of debate over whether they should take place in the middle of a fourth wave of covid infections. the international olympic committee insists the event can be held safely. committee insists the event salvage experts are trying to tow a burnt—out cargo ship away from the coast of sri lanka before tonnes of oil from its fuel tanks leak into the ocean. the vessel, the x—press pearl, is sinking after being badly damaged by a huge fire. those are the headlines on bbc news. england's education recovery commissioner

has resigned, saying the government's funding package is not enough. sir kevan collins took on the role february to develop a long—term plan to help pupils make up for lost learning during the pandemic. he says the £11; bilion allocated by the government "falls far short of what is needed". here's our education editor, branwenjeffreys. it is in towns like hartlepool that children have fallen further behind. earlier this year, the prime minister said this was his top priority. it this was his top priority. it is this was his top priority. it is the loss of learning that so many children and young people, thatis many children and young people, that is the thing we have to focus on now as a society. 50 focus on now as a society. so what does — focus on now as a society. so what does the government's catch up promise mean for this primary and secondary school? giving children back their voice. it

giving children back their voice. . , giving children back their voice. ., , ., , voice. it was more his confidence, _ voice. it was more his confidence, being - voice. it was more his i confidence, being around people. he was very quiet anyway, he's a really quite boy, so that side of him was lost again. boy, so that side of him was lost again-— boy, so that side of him was lost again. mum is telling me education _ lost again. mum is telling me education it _ lost again. mum is telling me education it should _ lost again. mum is telling me education it should be - lost again. mum is telling me education it should be top - lost again. mum is telling me education it should be top of| education it should be top of the list. ., ~' ., the list. you know, the financial _ the list. you know, the financial state - the list. you know, the financial state of - the list. you know, the financial state of the i the list. you know, the - financial state of the country is important in terms of how we can prosper, but these are... this— can prosper, but these are... this is— can prosper, but these are... this is the _ can prosper, but these are... this is the future of the country _ this is the future of the country. if we don't invest in their— country. if we don't invest in their education, it'sjust paramount. we owe it to them. there _ paramount. we owe it to them. there was— paramount. we owe it to them. there was a _ paramount. we owe it to them. there was a draft plan to fund more school hours for sport and arts as well as learning, but that got scrapped last week as too expensive. now the education expert and former teacher advising the prime minister has resigned. in a statement, he said he'd asked for a landmark investment, but instead ministers had chosen a plan that was too narrow and too slow. that it falls short of what is needed and a

half—hearted approach risks failing pupils. there is a poured cold water over the promise of i poured cold water over the promise ofi billion p for tutoring. in hartlepool, there is a secondary school asked for 12 tutors that your —— £1 i2 tutors that your —— £1 billion. they got two. the premise said tutoring is the best use of money. what doing now is any biggest and best tutoring programme in the world. , ., , ., world. there is no question that many _ world. there is no question that many kids _ world. there is no question that many kids are - world. there is no question | that many kids are incredibly resilient, they bounce back very well from the pandemic, but a lot of them also need help to catch up, to make good on loss of learning that has taken place. on loss of learning that has taken place-— on loss of learning that has taken place. even before the pandemic. — taken place. even before the pandemic, two _ taken place. even before the pandemic, two things - taken place. even before the pandemic, two things were l pandemic, two things were happening. the gap between better off children and poorer children in how they were doing at school was beginning to widen again. and in hartlepool, and across the north—east, more and across the north—east, more and more children were growing up and more children were growing up infamilies and more children were growing up in families are struggling with money. and we know that it

is those children who have fallen furthest behind in the pandemic. but for schools, this is a slimmed down planet leaving them choosing which pupils are to help. we had a teacher told me she was bitterly disappointed. i was absolutely _ bitterly disappointed. i was absolutely incredulous. - bitterly disappointed. i was absolutely incredulous. i i bitterly disappointed. i was i absolutely incredulous. ijust absolutely incredulous. i just can't absolutely incredulous. ijust can't get my head around how the big plans that we have all been involved in the discussion have a boiled down to what is in effect 15 hours of duration for identified children. i'm left thinking, where is the rest of there's big plan? schools our onlyjourney out of the pandemic, travelling with the pandemic, travelling with the hope and promise there is more to come. the government said it will continue to work on helping education recover and are making sure no child is left behind. brandonjefferies, left behind. brandon jefferies, bbc left behind. brandonjefferies, bbc news. —— branwen

geoffrey's. now on bbc news — the travel show. coming up on this week's show... my very own spacesuit. i look ready, ifeel ready, i'm ready. you hear the echoing gunshots. door creaks. tonight is supposed to be the coldest night of the year, so that's good, as i head into my unheated church room for the night. this is an incredible . experience on an old, disused railway line, very shuddery, - but exhilarating!

hello and welcome to the travel show, coming to you this week from tokyo, home to the bullet train, arguably the world's best sushi and capsule hotels, the uniquelyjapanese place to rest your head. but you also might end up bumping it if you wake up in the middle of the night. and whilst we wait to get back on the road again, this week, we thought we'd take a look back at some of the strangest places we've stayed on the show over the years. and while they might not be as cramped as a capsule hotel, they've left their mark and memories in other ways. well, let's kick off this week with a trip that mike made to bosnia back in 2018, to the city of sarajevo, which saw so much fighting and bloodshed in the �*90s as the former yugoslavia tore itself apart. mike met a man there that used memories from that time to create a unique, but traumatic place to stay. lying in a balkan valley, and studded with ancient mosques, synagogues and churches, it's fair to say

that bosnia and herzegovina's stunning capital, sarajevo, is often unjustly overlooked by tourists. gunfire 25 years ago, this was a very different place. bosnian serbs sat in the hills and laid siege to sarajevo, as the break—up of yugoslavia led to nationalism and inter—ethnic violence. 10,000 people died in this city, in some of the most horrific fighting europe's seen in modern times. it's cast a long, distressing shadow and in an attempt to help me understand what it was like being there back then, i've been sent here to a hostel in the city centre. hello. 01, nice to meet you. 01 is your name? yes, it's my father's war codename. and this is the war hostel? yes, it's just this way. welcome. wow.

inside, 01 attempts to simulate the experience of living in sarajevo during the siege. it's quite something different, isn't it? it is definitely something different. there are gunfire sounds that never get switched off. electricity is run from a car battery. the windows are covered, and you sleep on the floor on a rectangule of foam. underneath the hostel, there's a collection of relics from the war — paraphernalia salvaged from 01's walks on what used to be the front line. and there's the bunker, a recreation of the front—line facility once used by 01's father, from fighting up in the hills. we're getting ready for a night in the bunker, 01 is in here preparing the room for us, and he has reinforced the point that it's going to be quite intense. we can hear the echoing

gunshots much louder down here. can see the smoke already. door creaks not many people choose to sleep down here, as the experience is pretty intense. distant echoing gunfire one of the rules that 01 has for the bunker is no timekeeping devices. i had to forfeit my watch and my cell phone before he left. so i have no idea what time it is. they left me in here about ii.30pm, maybe it's been an hour. a couple of the sounds that play, whenever they sound, justjolts me. distant rumbling

explosions and gunfire well, the night's been a blur of pseudo half—rest, where i'm not really quite asleep, not really quite awake. 0k, well, there's some daylight. which i guess is a good sign. don't exactly feel like a fresh daisy right now, but the world seems to be awake. i take my leave of 01 in the morning, but one question has been bothering me overnight. is this all in good taste? well, somebody could think that we're playing games or war games, or something like that. it's not the point. the point is to just

give you a small glimpse of what it was like for people who were forced to live through this, like me and my family, people who were forced to go on the front line, how there was no choice. well, thank you so much. that was a night i will rememberfor the rest of my life. thank you very much for staying here. really appreciate it. thank you for picking us. thanks, 01. mike reporting from bosnia back in 2018. well, the year before that, christa got a slightly more restful night, sleeping inside a church deep in the english countryside. she was trying a spot of champing, or church camping, although something tells me it was the right location, but wrong time of year. let's see how she got on. here, in this barely used norman church,

is my bed for the night. so it's very reassuring, walking through a graveyard to get to your accommodation. i'm here for a spot of champing — church camping. it's available at 12 historic venues around the country, beautiful ancient sites that are rarely, if ever, used as places of mass worship any more. it's a very big hotel room. money raised from letting champers like me stay means the crumbling buildings are spared a slow, inevitable decline. so i'm keen to give this champing a go. where will i be sleeping? yeah? so you'll be sleeping possibly in the executive pews, because it's meant to be the warmest part of the church. i'd expect nothing less! it's good that it's a box pew because it stops the draughts. and so here you are.

ah, here we go! there are a few nice touches here — that good old staple, the tea tray, and a little basket of goodies with biscuits and wine. i mean, it's only 6pm and it's already cold — safe to say champing is usually more of a summer activity. at least the pub next door looks like it's going to be warm. why would anyone want to go champing? because you get to spend such a lot of time in truly amazing historic buildings. the way people usually visit historic churches, and i've seen it, is that they go to the door, they pop their head round, they go, "ooh, there's a font, "there's an altar, there's a very nice stained glass, "that's very pretty." and then they leave. but what you miss by doing that is you don't get to dwell in the place and really feeling for it. somebody at the pub just told me that tonight is supposed to be the coldest night of the year, so that's

good, as i head into my unheated church room for the night. owl hoots i've got my airbed. sleeping bag. so i'vejust got into bed, and it's quite comfy, actually. quite cosy, given how cold it is, and i can see my breath. i'm going to try to go to sleep now. and try and forget that i'm entirely surrounded by graves. it is quite cold, notably quite cold.

i think there's a jolly good reason that champing is usually only done during the summer. because these old churches don't have nice central heating, but it's oddly peaceful, actually. it's cold, but peaceful. deciding to come champing in the dead of winter was a really terrible idea. birds tweet morning. hi! how are you doing? i thought you might want some coffee. you are my favourite person in the world. brilliant, and some bacon sandwiches as well. you, you... welcome!

how did you get on? oh, yeah, it was great. i mean, it's the middle of winter, when you don't normally run champing! well, i was going to say, there's a reason why we run champing from spring to the end of summer. but how about the atmosphere, the experience? i tell you what, i was surprised, actually, because i'm quite a scaredy cat. but really, the second i sort of actually settled down to sleep... it's really peaceful, it's really lovely. you just sort of, you know, there's no sound from outside, and the atmosphere was surprisingly quiet. sort of calm. and all through the night, i had no moment of being alarmed. the champing season starts around mid—march, a far more sensible time of the year to try this. christa trying a spot of out—of—season champing back in 2017. stay with us, because still to come on the travel show: we look back at the time rajan

spent a night at a station with no passengers, here injapan. so let's see where the night train takes me. goodnight. and lucy got a taste of sleeping on mars, deep in a cave in spain. i've not been in the top bunk since i was eight years old, so i'm not going to lie, i'm actually really excited about getting in the top bunk! now, when it comes to strange places that the travel show team have stayed over the years, there is one particular stand—out. it's that time that lucy went to spain tojoin a group of scientists looking to recreate life on mars deep inside a spanish cave. and it would have beenjust plain rude to turn down an invite to a sleepover. so, clearly, this is not a space shuttle, but mars, for the purpose of this exercise, is going to be in a remote cave in arredondo, and i have a feeling my sci—fi fantasies are about to become unlocked.

the idea is to simulate how hard it will be to survive on another planet, with the barest of tools. this particular expedition is just for the night and is geared towards scientists who'll be doing experiments as if they're on the red planet. wow. oh, my god! down we go. but before any exploration, the team need to change. this is the bit i've actually been waiting for, my very own space suit, although it's a lot thinner than i thought. i thought it was going to be like this giant space suit that i was going to find a little bit unwieldy, but i think i can handle that. in fact, i think i've got an outfit like this. i look ready, ifeel ready, i'm ready.

just one final touch. i'm ready for my ascent into martian land. i'm a little bit scared too! laughter how's this? laughter our aim is to get to ariz, our base, where we will be spending the night. it's anticipated that the first colonists to mars will also have to live underground in caves or lava tubes to avoid interstellar radiation. and there's no time to waste on the experiments. ok, so i'm collecting some samples of the water that's trickling from above, it's really quite cool. so the guys have just made quite an interesting discovery. they've discovered a rock showing signs

of photosynthesis, which is strange because there's no light down here. so this is a pretty incredible breakthrough for these guys. finally, we make it to ariz. and it's a bit of a squeeze in the decompression chamber. but the team are immediately analysing their samples. ah. we have a table... the pod is set up with everything to meet your basic needs. and after all that work, it's time for dinner. couscous with chicken. wild berry yoghurt. they all sound the same. i'm going for one of my favourite dishes — bolognese.

the water's in, give it a stir, leave for ten minutes... it looks a little bit like plastic! but i'm so hungry. that is actually quite nice. whilst the others finish up dinner, i sneak out to find out more about the project. also, any excuse to get suited up. one of the goals is to extend the stays in the cave to see how people cope. very soon, we'll need teams of scientists and engineers and people from all areas of knowledge and science, spending one month, several months, more than a year in this station. more than a year? wow. yeah.

when you're talking about isolating people for several months, or more than one year, there are so many things that come in that would be so useful for future space exploration. this experience isn't cheap. for non—scientists, it's about £5,000 for the 30—day experience, which includes preparation, training and about three days in the cave... i mean mars. so this is where i'm sleeping tonight. it's the top bunk of a bunk bed. i've not been in the top bunk since i was eight years old, so i'm not going to lie, i'm actually really excited about getting in the top bunk. i've got a sleeping bag, so it's like a really cool sci—fi sleepover with all my scientist buddies! although i'm not sure what time they get up in the morning. i have a feeling it's going to be very, very, very early. in space, they say that

you can't hear anyone scream, so in astroland, i'm really hoping you can't hear anyone snore. lucy trying to get some sleep in that mars mock—up in spain early last year. well, our next film is from right here injapan, where, in 2018, rajan headed north to the island of hokkaido, where he met a man with a lifelong passion for railways. and he got to stay in a station with no passengers and no scheduled trains. i'd arranged to stay in a unique guest house. tomioka worked on trains most of his life.

timetable. when he stopped working on the trains, he restored an old disused station house back to its former glory. so this used to be a railway line here? in contrast to the japanese mainland, much of the urban life in hokkaido first developed around the rail infrastructure. some of the old local train routes closed with the loss of industry. but for some people, like tomioka, this is not the end of the line. this is an incredible experience on an old, disused railway line. very shuddery but exhilarating, absolutely exhilarating! it's great, really good.

it's a world away from this country's high—speed bullet trains. but what a way to experience the nature this island is famous for.

i've got my sleeper carriage berth, so let's see where the night train takes me. goodnight. well, i hope you've enjoyed our look back through the archives, and it's managed to satisfy your wanderlust. let's hope we can all start travelling again soon. in the meantime, keep an eye out for us next time, when... as the uk starts to open up to tourists, we begin an epic journey across the country in an all—electric take on a classic british motor. to kick off, ade's in the scottish highlands where he meets the conservationists who are saving britain's largest national park. what we're trying to do is restore natural processes. so we want to see the forest continue to march right up the hills.

and if we're able to come back in a couple of hundred years, we'd hopefully see some trees on the skyline. and it looks absolutely stunning. it is. it's beautiful. it's a fantastic place to work. well, that one looks like a good one. i hope you canjoin us for that if you can, but until next time, from all of the travel show team here in tokyo, it's goodbye. hello there. wednesday was the hottest day of the year so far but it should be cooling off. they

range and move into northern scotland and fade away. after a cloudy start, we should see the cloudy start, we should see the cloud thinning and breaking and more sunshine in the afternoon. temperatures will be lower because many parts of the country. the remaining heater stuck across east anglia and the south—east, perhaps even into lincoln charter, 26 a may be 27 degrees, still a warm day here. —— lincoln shire. the threat of some showers are longer spells of rain that could be heavy and thunder day coming up on the continent affecting eastern parts of england, mainly east anglia and the south—east. many other parts of the uk, it is likely to be dry with some sunshine, perhaps the odd shower for northern ireland. a cooler day for a some parts of england and temperatures around 18 — 21.

welcome to bbc news. i'm ben boulos. our top stories — after days of frantic negotiations, a coalition of opposition parties signs an historic deal to form a new israeli government. the deal is likely to mean an end to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's 12 years in power. is 12 years in power. this your last week as prime minister? is this your last week as prime minister? i5 is this your last week as prime minister? , ., ., is this your last week as prime minister?— minister? is that a wish or a question? — watching sport injapan — facemasks, temperature checks, and polite applause instead of cheering. is this what the olympics will look like when they open in just 50 days' time? salvage experts try to tow a burnt out cargo ship, away from the coast of sri lanka before tonnes of oil leak into the ocean.

and the grandads from south london