this is bbc news i'm david eades — the headlines... russia has said it will drastically reduce its military activity in the kyiv and chernihiv regions of northern ukraine — following peace talks in turkey. ukraine's armed forces said some russian units had moved from those regions — but they added forces were regrouping to focus on the east. president zelensky has hailed what he called the positive signals from the day's talks — but insisted kyiv would only trust any concrete results that emerged from the meeting. mr zelensky stressed that the situation had not become easier and the ukraine military would not slacken its defensive efforts. israel's prime minister has warned his country is facing a new wave of terror after a third knife or gun attack in a week. at least five people were killed in the town of bnei brak on the outskirts of tel aviv.

the gunman was also shot dead. police in london say there could be more fines issued, on top of the 20 announced on tuesday after covid laws were broken during lockdown in the british government. police say they won't reveal who's to be fined, though prime minister borisjohnson was at some of the events. mrjohnson attended the memorial service for queen elizabeth's husband prince philip, as our political editor, laura kuenssberg reports. a moment to stand on ceremony. the prime minister on the list for a grand gathering that would have been forbidden under the covid laws he set. laws that meant the queen mourned her husband alone. today, arriving for this major memorial quietly,

through a side door. borisjohnson�*s already had to apologise to the monarch for rules being flouted under his own roof. diagonally opposite each other today, the queen, frail, tucked at the end of a row, but ministers were trying to avoid the subject. when people are dying in ukraine and there's a cost—of—living crisis/challenge, i think we should be focused on that. how damaging is all this? fines are being issued. there's a war in europe, if you hadn't noticed. not so long ago, claims of rule breaking in downing street were a full—blown political emergency. now, today, the police have concluded that the law was broken at least 20 times. we don't know who is receiving fixed penalty notices, but we do know they're issuing 20 fines, and this is just the first batch,

with more likely to come. fines are expected to be £100 or £200, but don't come with a criminal record. and the individuals will not be named by the police, although number ten has vowed to reveal if mrjohnson is one of them. so far, that hasn't happened. it's important thatjustice is done without fear or favour in cases of this nature, and we all want to see people held to account if they've done wrong. but we live in a world where very, very serious things are happening. we cannot afford to be indefinitely lost in this conversation. this may all be hard to dismiss. evidence emerged over many weeks of gathering during lockdown. e—mail invites, loud music, staff laughing about what happened. is cheese and wine all right? claims, denials, of parties, even in the downing street flat. we know now some laws were broken, even though this was what the prime minister used to say. all guidance was followed completely during number ten. some number ten staff already paid with theirjobs when a senior civil servant found there were serious failures in leadership. with the first fines now

emerging, the opposition says mrjohnson�*s handling of this means he should go. first of all, he said there wasn't any, then he said it was outrageous that there'd been some parties. and then, when he found out that he was at them, he says — i didn't know that they were a party. i mean, the prime minister has completely lied about this situation. the police have issued fines so, therefore, lockdown rules have been breached and the prime minister has to go. borisjohnson denies misleading anyone, but spin back a couple of months and some tory mps were so dumbfounded by the mess, they believed he would have to quit. a few of them were publicly prepared to say so. privately, more of them were plotting to make it happen. but russia's invasion of ukraine upended priorities round here. the upset faded, but it was never forgotten. tonight, the prime minister invited all of his mps for what you might term a party. i'm off to dinner, whether it's with the pm or not, it's up to him. as ever in politics, the timing of coincidence awkward indeed. the first fines bring the downing street saga back to life with a vengeance. and if borisjohnson is found to broken the law himself, he may find keeping his tribe in step an almost impossiblejob. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, downing street.

coming up on this week's show:. news, downing street. 0n thin ice in the alps. news, downing street. if we see something, it's not as we wish, then we either shorten the race or we cancel the races. the best kid for a covid—free break. admittedly, i do feel a bit silly doing this, but i know how effective uvc light is, so i'd like to think it's working. and eating our way around azerbaijan. that is so creamy. it's really delicious.

we're starting this week 1800 metres above sea level, in the shadow of an alpine valley. this is st moritz, in the swiss alps — it's the place, so they say, where the concept of the winter holiday was born. it also occupies a unique place in sporting history — it's where the bobsleigh was created. but skijoring is an even stranger sporting event than that. the race is a wild mix of horses, skiing, all done over this frozen lake. the white turf event has happened every year since 1907, pausing only for covid in 2021. it sees three days of racing on ice, with the skijoring

event as its climax. 10,000 people have turned up to see it, but this year there were question marks hanging over its comeback year. races at the first weekend had to be shortened after water came through what's normally reliably thick ice. 0rganisers say they were forced to impose limits on the weight of some of the attractions. the drilling of the holes, that's the very traditional way to check the track. because you drill through the snow to the very compact snow until you get to the ice and then you see whether there is some water somewhere. the water comes from fissures in the lake, and then some water can come up. in the morning, there's shadow, so it's really cold, sun comes up — it can change very quickly. and if we see something is not as we wish then we either shorten the race or we cancel the races. it's always those weather changes which make the ice work. so we had some water around the winning post, so we had to take the winning

post a little further back, and we only had 800m. they did some measurements to see the level when the crowd comes on sunday, and i think it's about half a metre that it all goes down. 0k. people have expectations. it's not a normal race course. on any other race course, if it's raining and it's very wet, then you can say "it's going to be wet on sunday" or "we'll cancel the races". here, it can look perfect and then on sunday morning, i have to say "i'm sorry, security goes first, we cannot do the races". horses come from germany, they come from england, they come from france.

thoroughbreds are brought here from all over europe and fitted with specially adapted race shoes made with added grooves to grip the snow and ice. i want to please the expectations of the people, which is not always easy. but safety comes first, right? safety comes first. i mean, i have my own horses, i'm very much into animal welfare. and safety of the horses and for the jockeys as well, it's just not negotiable. yes. luckily, they were able to run a full schedule, allowing the crowds to see races all afternoon in the below—freezing temperatures. before the main event, the skijoring, i caught up with valeria, who's been crowned overall winner here twice in past years. before the first race, i always said "wow, why i'm doing that", and after the race, i say "yeah, i know why". in 2009, i was the first

woman to do skijoring. it was really special, because everyone was looking on me. "can she do it?" "is she strong enough?" "is she not scared?" and everything. but it was really nice because i had directly a third place in my first race. can you control the horse with the reins, and how different is it for the horse? we definitely can control them — we have to control them, because if there is something next to you, you have to go left, or you have to go right, you have to stop the horse, if something happened. after the starting sound they normally say "ok, where is my boss, oh, ok, it's six metres behind me" and they sometimes really looking for you and try to connect you with — with the reins. and some horses, they love to do it, they say "wow, there is nobody on it, i go".

so the big race is coming up and i've placed a small bet on valeria, so watch out for the lady in pink. she's not the favourite, but fingers crossed. (cheering).

at one point, valeria was in the lead and looking good. (cheering). come on, come on! go, go! for the riders, the sheer amount of snow and ice kicked up by the horses�* grooves mean face protection is pretty important. but the final lap, you could see the horses beginning to tire, and she was desperately trying to hang on. so our rider came forth, unfortunately, but it did look like a really tough race. they came around three times and gosh, these horses were going so fast — it was really thrilling. switzerland's some of the most beautiful train journeys in the world, especially

in spring, when you can see greenery re—emerge on the alpine hillsides. the bernina express is among the steepest railways to operate without gears or aids and the stretch from thusis to tirano is on the unesco world heritage list for outstanding designs of its tunnels, viaducts, and bridges. the trummelbach falls reopen for summer this month, and they're well worth a look. they carry the mouthwaters from thejungfrau mountain down to the valley below. 20,000 litres pour over the edge every second, along with tons of boulders, the force of which causes the entire mountainside to shudder. switzerland's known for being quite pricey, but has an excellent network of youth hostels if you're on a budget. there's around 50 dotted around the country, and there's plenty of variety — from one

in castles and stately homes to something a bit more modern and urban. expect to pay an average of around 90 euros a night for a double room. and finally, your lunch could help fund dinner for someone who really needs it. the recently reopened refettorio geneva calls itself a "solidarity kitchen". go along for a 30 euro three—course lunch and they'll reinvest that money on feeding some of the poorest in geneva. the philosophy is that social good can still be delivered in a fine dining setting. still to come on this week's show, lucy's here to roadtest the kit that aims to keep you covid—free on your travels. in fact, it's not really that different to any mask i've been wearing in the past couple of years. the difference is this is loaded with tech and connects to an app. and kate hardy buckley takes her tastebuds on a tour of azerbaijan. so juicy and tart. it's going all over the place. so don't go away.

in recent years, travelling has taken on a whole new dimension. since covid emerged, we've all been forced to think about the health of us and of those around us more than ever before. some travel health paraphernalia that we've come to know during covid may be here for good and as always, tech is here with a helping hand. so let's start with this. depending on where you're travelling to, masks still might be needed — and even if not, this thing is future—proofed. the airpop active+ smartmask uses disposable filters for you to swap out once you've been using it for too long, housed in a design that stands out from the crowd. so, after seeing many, many pictures of this thing, i am pleasantly surprised byjust how lightweight and comfortable it is, it's unobtrusive — in fact, it's not really that different to any mask that i've been wearing over the past couple of years. the only difference being

that this is loaded with tech and it connects to an app. the clever tech in here will actually monitor how long you've used it for and even the number of breaths you've taken. it sends the data to an app on your phone and, using your location data, tells you just how much harmful pollution that it's been filtering out, wherever you are in the world. with covid fears lingering, something that's designed to filter out airborne nasties can provide real peace of mind. plus, i think it's really useful that something like this takes things a step further to tell you what you could be putting into your lungs, wherever it is in the world that you're travelling to. now, one thing to be aware of, though, is that the accuracy of information depends on how close you are to an air pollution monitor — plus, it's not the cheapest of masks, if you're thinking of having something to just fling into your back pocket. but, saying that, this is far from your bog standard mask. next up, it's the cleanpod uvc sterilizer from monos. in a gadget small enough to toss in your hand luggage,

this thing mightjust help to put people who are worried about what they're touching at ease. with a push of a button, a high—energy beam of ultraviolet c light comes out from the leds, which the makers say effectively sanitises surfaces without the use of chemicals. to zap the nasties, you position the wand about three centimetres above what you want sanitised. admittedly, i do feel a little bit silly doing this, but i know how effective uvc light is, so i'd like to think it's working. uvc works by scrambling bacteria's genetic code so they can no longer function. so, i guess the real burning question here is does something like this provide more peace of mind than, say,

a disposable wipe that's more tangible and actually makes you feel like you're cleaning something? of course, i think it depends on the user, but this really is a nifty way to sanitises surfaces and objects without chemicals or liquid. it's fantastic for door handles, keyboards, telephones, toilet seats — basically anything you can wave this thing over. now to world of the apps, which have come to the aid of the travellers during the pandemic who need somewhere to put their covid vaccine certificates. but with so many around now, which ones should you consider using? the problem that these apps are trying to solve is that there's no common way to upload certification to airlines. and some airlines have decided to trial the iata travel pass. you upload the certification for your tests, vaccines and so on to it and that's then transmitted to the airline. it's still basically in trial form at this stage, but it's really promising. so, having it in one centralised system, which you would hold on your phone like any other app, would be sensible. i think this will become a part of — a part of travel life, in the way that perhaps, ten or 15 years ago, it would have been completely unthinkable that we all use mobile check—in, right? and show boarding passes on our phones or watches, and a computer in your phone that's powerful enough to do

so, it's a fairly new innovation. as with so much else in aviation, covid has proven a real accelerator here. last but not least, i have i have the thermo smart temporal thermometer from withings. so, once you switch this on, it measures your temperature using your temporal artery which runs across your forehead to your temple. it's all over very quickly, in around two seconds, and it vibrates to let you know it's done. there's my temperature. i then scroll to my profile —

lucy, that's me. click the button and it tells me i'm fever—free because it's green — something i'm sure my cameraman is very pleased to hear — and pressing that button also means it syncs your data to a dedicated app on your smartphone. this is no ordinary thermometer — it uses 16 infrared sensors to take 4,000 measurements in just a couple of seconds. and maybe best of all, there's no contact involved. so what you're looking at here is a really non—invasive way to record your temperature. it's personalised and i think it's a really nice touch that you're able to keep touch of your fever over time. the fact that you can store up to eight user profiles as well makes it ideal for families or when travelling with a big group, for example. and, yes, it's pricey. it's a little costlier than traditional thermometers or non—connected thermometers, but during these covid times, being able to keep tabs on your temperature will certainly make you feel a lot better when travelling. finally, this week, we're back on the road with kate hardie—buckley as she tours the markets, farms kitchens and restaurants of some of the world's most exciting cities. this week, she's in azerbaijan. they call this country the land of fire, thanks to its huge oil and gas reserves.

but this fiery place is also known for its hospitality. people here show their love through their food. and while baku is renowned for its luxurious products, such as caviar, chef ehtiram farzalibayov has built his reputation showcasing wholesome, hearty dishes. welcome to baku. thank you. thank you so much. this is a beautiful view. what are the ingredients you would like me to get you? 0k. caviar? yes, yes! oh, my goodness!

wow. 0k. my culinary adventure begins south of baku at a sustainable caviar fish farm, located in the historical sturgeon spawning area between the karuah river and the caspian sea. there's thousands of them! the earliest chance to get the caviar is three years but, for example, beluga, it matures for 12—15 years... wow! ..before it's ready to bring the caviar. there has been a worldwide ban on wild sturgeon caviar since 2006, so the caviar you can buy comes from places like here. rufat tells me baku caviar is on a mission to replenish the fish stock in the caspian sea. for every jar that you purchase, we will release 10 fishes into the wild. they keep bobbing up and down.

they are kids and they want to play. laughs. he was particularly friendly! rufat shows me the fish they're processing today for the caviar and the fish meat. this is a blond beluga and it's very valuable caviar that they will produce. so the caviar has just been extracted from the sturgeon and here, the caviar master, they're responsible for panning it to make sure that what you're left with here is the beautiful caviar. that is so creamy! it's kind of a nutty taste. it's really delicious! i travel to the greater caucasus mountains, north of baku, to a pomegranate orchard as pickers harvest the fruit to turn into wine. we are locating between two mountains chains and the soil is super fertile, and that gives the richness and the uniqueness to the pomegranate. we start harvesting late autumn, like first week of october, and it lasts beginning of the december.

mmm. so juicy and tart. it's going all over the place. it's a delicious but a messy fruit! every delicious thing is messy. chuckles. that's very true! az—granata is a leading producer of pomegranate wine, created using a similar process as wine from grapes, with sugars, fermentation and barrelling. before returning to baku, i stop to pick up what people often call red gold — saffron. the expensive part of the saffron is this, three stigmas. we get one kilogram saffron from 117,000 flowers. the absheron peninsula

is perfect for the very best saffron, thanks to its sandy soil. it's been hand—picked here for over 1,000 years. there is 300 types of saffron, but the most beneficial and most expensive is this. in fact, absheron saffron is said to be the fourth most expensive ingredient in the world. it only flowers 25 days a year. i'm now all set for chef ehtiram. hello! so, we're are now adding two chestnuts and the saffron. piti was traditionally a worker's dish, as one serving provides enough nourishment for the day. accompanied by our pomegranate wine. you think it's going to be very sweet but it's actually

like a grape wine — it's very smooth, gentle taste. there's actually two stages to the piti — there's a lovely soup, which we'll eat with bread, and then, there's the mashed—up contents of the stew. mmm. bravo! kate hardie—buckley, getting a taste of some delicious, hearty food in azerbaijan — which i could do with right now, standing out here in the cold! anyway, that's it for this week. coming up next week — christa is looking over some of our best bits from the past few months, from her emotional trip home to australia as borders began to open. to lucy's sizzling encounter with a full english breakfast. this is a lot of food! i'm gonna try my hardest. and you can follow more of our recent adventures on the bbc iplayer.

and don't forget, we're on social media, too. you can find us on facebook and instagram. just search bbc travel show and look for that blue logo. so it's auf wiedersehen from the swiss alps, and i'll see you next time. hello there. the weather has been turning colder, and on tuesday, it was certainly cold enough for snow in the far north of the uk. that was the wintry—looking scene for a weather watcher in shetland. those colder conditions continue to sink southwards behind this weather front, the front bringing some outbreaks of rain, but with some sleet and snow mixing in, especially over high ground. and to the north of that weather front, a very cold start to wednesday.

particularly in northern scotland, a widespread frost. further snow showers giving some accumulations in places and the risk of ice, but there will be some spells of sunshine to start off wednesday, whereas southern scotland will start off cloudy. a bit of sleet and snow in places, some patchy rain to start off in northern ireland, some wet weather in northern england, some snow mixing in up over the pennines, bit of rain into north wales and the north midlands. but to the south of that, a mainly dry start with some areas of low cloud, mist and fog, but equally some spells of sunshine. now, our band of cloud, rain, sleet and snow

welcome to bbc news, i'm david eades. our top stories. a glimmer of hope for ukraine — in peace talks russia says it'll scale back military operations around the capital kyiv. translation: the ministry of defence of the russian . federation has taken the decision to drastically reduce combat operations in the kyiv and chernihiv areas in order to boost mutual trust. western leaders express doubts about russia's intentions. the us secretary of state says moscow continues to brutalise ukraine. at least five people have been killed in a shooting in israel — the third such attack in the past week. and queen elizabeth —

out in public for the first time in weeks to commemorate the life of the duke