this is bbc news. the headlines: a ukrainian presidential advisor has warned of heavy losses as fighting with russia intensifies in the east of the country. in the us, the pentagon's spokesman was visibly upset, saying it was hard to look at some of the images of what he called president putin's brutality and cruelty. here in the uk, the six—time tennis grand slam champion boris becker has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison, after being found guilty of lying about $3 million of assets during bankruptcy proceedings. ajudge in london said he showed no remorse. a british mp for the governing conservative party has been suspended over allegations he watched pornography in the house of commons chamber.

neil parish has referred himself to the parliamentary standards commissioner, and says he'll cooperate fully with any investigation. a very good saturday morning to you. this weekend, april takes into may, seeing the end of ramadan on sunday evening, the most important month in them was in calendar. ——in the muslim calendar. each night people come together at sunset to eat after fasting during the day, called iftar. but the social side of that was lost over the past two years because of the pandemic. but now it's back. the bbc was invited to join the celebrations in scunthorpe in north lincolnshire. iftar is an important time of the day because you get to break your fast after 15 hours of fasting, long days with no water and no food. it of fasting, long days with no water and no food.— water and no food. it is amazing _ water and no food. it is amazing the _ water and no food. it is amazing the fact - water and no food. it is amazing the fact that i water and no food. it is. amazing the fact that we water and no food. it is amazing the fact that we were able _ amazing the fact that we were able to — amazing the fact that we were able to do this now, once

again. _ able to do this now, once again, after maybe two years of not being — again, after maybe two years of not being able to do it. it is breaking _ not being able to do it. it is breaking the fast. all the food we get — breaking the fast. all the food we get to have. meeting people that we — we get to have. meeting people that we haven't seen for awhile _ that we haven't seen for awhile. it that we haven't seen for awhile. . , , ., ., that we haven't seen for awhile. . , , . . ., awhile. it has been amazing to have been _ awhile. it has been amazing to have been able _ awhile. it has been amazing to have been able to _ awhile. it has been amazing to have been able to get - awhile. it has been amazing to have been able to get along i have been able to get along this year— have been able to get along this year and _ have been able to get along this year and break- have been able to get along this year and break the - have been able to get along this year and break the fast| this year and break the fast together, _ this year and break the fast together, bring _ this year and break the fast together, bring friends - this year and break the fast together, bring friends and| together, bring friends and family— together, bring friends and family and _ together, bring friends and family and community - together, bring friends and - family and community together again — family and community together again it— family and community together aaain. , family and community together aain, , ., ., family and community together aaain. , . ., ., again. it is hannah, and arabic. _ again. it is hannah, and arabic, we _ again. it is hannah, and arabic, we call- again. it is hannah, and arabic, we call it - again. it is hannah, and i arabic, we call it mehndi. again. it is hannah, and - arabic, we call it mehndi. the past two years i haven't been able to have hannah painted on. during covid, we lost a lot of blood — during covid, we lost a lot of blood lines. we weren't able to participate in the funeral prayers. participate in the funeral ra ers. ., , participate in the funeral wavere— participate in the funeral ra ers. , ., ., participate in the funeral ra ers. , . ., , ., prayers. last year and the year before we _ prayers. last year and the year before we weren't _ prayers. last year and the year before we weren't able - prayers. last year and the year before we weren't able to - prayers. last year and the year before we weren't able to do . prayers. last year and the year before we weren't able to do it i before we weren't able to do it as often — before we weren't able to do it as often it _ before we weren't able to do it as often. it makes _ before we weren't able to do it as often. it makes me - before we weren't able to do it as often. it makes me feel- as often. it makes me feel happy— as often. it makes me feel happy that— as often. it makes me feel happy that people - as often. it makes me feel happy that people have - as often. it makes me feel| happy that people have the opportunity— happy that people have the opportunity to— happy that people have the opportunity to come. - happy that people have the opportunity to come. i’m“ . opportunity to come. i'm lookin: opportunity to come. i'm looking forward - opportunity to come. i'm looking forward to - opportunity to come.“ looking forward to having the desert and, for example, cupcakes. desert and, for example, cuncakes-_

desert and, for example, cuncakes-— desert and, for example, cupcakes. for me, it's the desert that _ cupcakes. for me, it's the desert that is _ cupcakes. for me, it's the desert that is really, - cupcakes. for me, it's the | desert that is really, really yummx _ desert that is really, really yummy. | desert that is really, really umm . ~' , yummy. i like the desert the most. probably _ yummy. i like the desert the most. probably rice - yummy. i like the desert the most. probably rice and - most. probably rice and chicken _ most. probably rice and chicken-— most. probably rice and chicken. �* ., ., ., chicken. i'm looking forward to that. chicken. i'm looking forward to that- the _ chicken. i'm looking forward to that. the desert _ chicken. i'm looking forward to that. the desert is _ chicken. i'm looking forward to that. the desert is the - chicken. i'm looking forward to that. the desert is the best - that. the desert is the best art of that. the desert is the best part of the _ that. the desert is the best part of the food. _ that. the desert is the best part of the food. because l that. the desert is the best| part of the food. because at first you _ part of the food. because at first you open _ part of the food. because at first you open your- part of the food. because at first you open your meal, i part of the food. because at first you open your meal, at the — first you open your meal, at the start— first you open your meal, at the start of— first you open your meal, at the start of the _ first you open your meal, at the start of the prayer, - first you open your meal, at the start of the prayer, and| the start of the prayer, and you — the start of the prayer, and you basically— the start of the prayer, and you basically eat. _ now on bbc news, the travel show. this week on the travel show. centennial celebrations in a city of stories.— centennial celebrations in a city of stories. the beauty of james city of stories. the beauty of james joyce's _ city of stories. the beauty of james joyce's language, - city of stories. the beauty of james joyce's language, the | city of stories. the beauty of. james joyce's language, the way jamesjoyce's language, the way that he relates to the common man and woman is incredible. how to make your holiday budget travel further. the how to make your holiday budget travel further.— travel further. the simplest wa to travel further. the simplest way to cut _ travel further. the simplest way to cut costs? _ travel further. the simplest way to cut costs? don't - travel further. the simplest l way to cut costs? don't travel when everybody else's. band when everybody else's. and closinu when everybody else's. and closing in — when everybody else's. and closing in on _ when everybody else's. and closing in on colombo. heading for the finish line.— for the finish line. that's it,

bab ! for the finish line. that's it, baby! this _ for the finish line. that's it, baby! this week, _ for the finish line. that's it, baby! this week, i - for the finish line. that's it, baby! this week, i am - for the finish line. that's it, baby! this week, i am in i baby! this week, i am in dublin, _ baby! this week, i am in dublin. a _ baby! this week, i am in dublin, a unesco - baby! this week, i am in dublin, a unesco city i baby! this week, i am in i dublin, a unesco city of literature that has produced a host of famous writers from samuel beckett to oscar wilde. but i'm here puzzling over one particular novel that has made the irish capital a must visit destination for any book lover. and i will that this year celebrates its 100th birthday. and that book is ulysses byjamesjoyce. now, even though it's widely regarded as being one of the finest pieces

of literature of the 20th century, it's also notoriously difficult to read. now, i've tried, and i must admit, i've failed, too, but i am told that if you invest in it, if you flow with its stream of consciousness, it's extremely rewarding. set over a single day, ulysses follows two characters, leopold bloom and stephen dedalus, on theirjourneys across dublin. today, there are guided tours that follow their footsteps and help readers make sense of it all. this is davy byrne's pub, it's like one of the set pieces in ulysses. bloom goes in there and ends up getting a gorgonzola cheese sandwich — which even now is fairly sort of hip to the groove — and a glass of burgundy. like, you know, you're not dealing with muck here. jack's an actor who's been running these tours for about five years.

"men, men, men, perched on high stools by the bar, "hats shoved back at the tables, "calling for more bread, swirling, "half—masticated gristle, no teeth to chew, chomp, "chomp from the grill, bolting to get it over, "sad boozers' eyes..." it is a famously hard to read book, but do you think as an actor, you are helping it to come alive? well, i hope so. it's like waves washing over you. the beauty ofjoyce's language, the way he relates to the common man and woman is incredible. many of you might note that these are examples of stream of consciousness, which is a technique thatjoyce used and it's basically how you think yourself. i'll start off a thought in my head and then i know where i am going with it, so he will have to finish sentences. so you have to keep up.

withoutjoyce, you know, we'd be missing one of the main planks of attraction to dublin. his works are all about notjust dublin life, but about life. so, what is it about this city that inspired joyce and other great writers? to try and answer that, i've come to the old library at trinity college dublin, home to one of europe's most famous literary treasures, the book of kells, a ninth—century religious manuscript. so, here we are, early in the morning, about an hour or so before the public arrive, to see the famous long room, which is just beyond these doors. whoa! look at this. it's known as �*the front room of the nation', hosting foreign dignitaries, as well as around 1 million tourists each year. the ceiling is incredible. and it goes on and on.

this must be at least 60 metres or something. you're a librarian here, helen. tell me about this city, dublin — what it is that inspires so much great literature? i think it comes down to an aural tradition and a nation of storytellers. dublin itself, you will see not just oscar wilde's statue or beckett bridge, but you look down and see that there's an inscription of ulysses in the pavement, in the sidewall. it's in the bones of the city. the old library has some 350,000 books and more than half of them line the shelves of the long room. the collection is a vital piece of dublin's literary heritage, but it's under threat. so, with so many books, i mean, hundreds of thousands, storage must be a huge problem? absolutely. these volumes in here are our most valuable, our most valued, they're

also our most vulnerable. this is this beautiful library, as you see, but in effect, we are an inner city ring road, and all that particulate pollution from all the traffic is coming through the windows and coming and landing on the books. so, there is a restoration project going on to deal with exactly that, right? absolutely. this year, the library has launched an ambitious 90 million euro restoration to improve the building's environmental controls and help protect the collection. during the project, every single one of these books will be cleaned, catalogued and moved off site. if you didn't do it, what would happen? well, the books would deteriorate more, the building already, we know there are structural issues with it, we've got to do it. actually, there isn't a choice. we absolutely have to do this project!

the more damaged or vulnerable items will be treated here at the conservation laboratory. so, this is an example from the manuscripts collection, it's a map, and here it is, being surface cleaned, and clodagh is using what we call a smoke sponge, you see the kind of muck that we get off, and then a very fine brush to make sure no debris is left. so, over here, this book had suffered from the boards separating from the text block, and it has been re—backed with this new piece of leather, and the next stage is to look at the pages of the book. oh, wow. and in this case, there is a running tear, so in situ tear repair will happen now just to prevent that from extending through use. yeah, so, researchers who are going to be reading this a lot, will be turning pages, which leads to wear and tear? that's right. so, in our treatment,

we have that in mind, and what we are looking to do is stabilise the item, we can't leave this collection just sitting on the shelf as some kind of backdrop, it's an incredibly valuable resource, you know, it's telling us about our past, it needs to be enjoyed, it needs to be used, it needs to be celebrated. the restoration will provide researchers and tourists with a refreshed experience when it opens in 2026 with new exhibits and a redesigned long room. and who knows — just maybe it'll inspire the next james joyce! the collection here at trinity college dublin is due to close some time next year, but even if you don't make it in time, there's plenty to do and see around this city. around 70 million people across the world trace their ancestry back to ireland, and the emigration museum celebrates this small country's

far—reaching impacts. it features the stories of more than 300 irishmen and women and even offers genealogy appointments to help tourists explore their own family history. for a refreshment, you could stop off at the country's most visited tourist attraction, the guinness storehouse, which produces 880 million pints of the black stuff every single year. i popped over a few months ago to check out their exhibits and sample their new alcohol—free stout. you genuinely wouldn't know. well, i genuinely wouldn't know. and if you're a budding joyce fan, you cannot miss the bloomsday celebrations onjune 16, the annual festival taking place on the date depicted in ulysses, and there are events inspired by the novel all over dublin, including street performances and fancy dress. stay tuned, because later in the programme, i'll pop into one of the festival's most famous landmarks.

still to come on the travel show, holidays for the hard up, simon is here with tips on travelling for less. tuesdays and wednesdays _ travelling for less. tuesdays and wednesdays tend i travelling for less. tuesdays and wednesdays tend to i travelling for less. tuesdays and wednesdays tend to be | travelling for less. tuesdays i and wednesdays tend to be the cheapest days to fly on. stand and wednesdays tend to be the cheapest days to fly on.- cheapest days to fly on. and a man, a cheapest days to fly on. and a man. a plan. _ cheapest days to fly on. and a man. a plan. a _ cheapest days to fly on. and a man, a plan, a canal: - cheapest days to fly on. and a man, a plan, a canal: karolisl man, a plan, a canal: karolis spots the finish line in sri lanka. �* . spots the finish line in sri lanka. . . ., ., lanka. an exciting moment, i am approaching _ lanka. an exciting moment, i am approaching the _ lanka. an exciting moment, i am approaching the river. _ lanka. an exciting moment, i am approaching the river. ulysses i approaching the river. ulysses b james approaching the river. ulysses by james joyce _ approaching the river. ulysses by james joyce is _ approaching the river. ulysses by james joyce is 100 - approaching the river. ulysses by james joyce is 100 years i approaching the river. ulysses| by james joyce is 100 years old byjamesjoyce is 100 years old this year stop many people find it impenetrable, but there are a bunch of folks who meet every year here in dublin to discuss the book's merits and james joyce's genius. i'm here to

find out what is the story. welcome everyone. this is sweeney's pharmacy. it welcome everyone. this is sweeney's pharmacy.- welcome everyone. this is sweeney's pharmacy. it is one ofthe sweeney's pharmacy. it is one of the landmarks _ sweeney's pharmacy. it is one of the landmarks in _ sweeney's pharmacy. it is one of the landmarks in ulysses, l of the landmarks in ulysses, and is run today by volunteers as a tribute to jamesjoyce. "it was darker now, and there were stones and bits of wood on the strand." "a fair, unsullied soul had called to him." i "now is then. no reasonable stumbles over word offer refused." these readings moved online during the pandemic but even though the shop's open again, they continue to have people tune in from all over the world. "the chemist turned back, page after page, living "all the day amongst herbs, ointments, disinfectants, "all his alabaster lily pots." no idea how i read that, but thanks for listening! chuckles. that's what we do here — we read it out loud. you know, we have people here from different nationalities, different parts of ireland and you hear it all sorts of music, if you like, butjoyce would have loved

that. does it make it easy to understand and get into it? yeah. because it's a book you grow up hearing about and ulysses is supposedly so difficult, it's a really nice feeling to suddenly be sitting here, and it is accessible. and if you want tojoin in, you can find more information on the sweny�*s website. goes cold, winter months are almost over in the uk, but, of course, events elsewhere in europe are rightly taking our focus. i wanted to look at how things are affecting the wider world of travel at a time when we are all feeling the pinch, and look ahead to what the effects might be in the next few months. the most obvious

impact on aviation is the closure of large amounts of airspace, notjust about airspace, not just about ukraine, airspace, notjust about ukraine, which is more than twice the size of the uk, but also russia, the world's biggest country. for decades, flights from europe to east asia have traversed russia. it is the shortest route between hundreds of cities. as a result, some airlines are rooting flights north of russia, such as benair is sending some flights to japan, directly over the north pole. others are rooting them south of ukraine, adding thousands of miles and extra hours in the air. links between asia and north america are also affected, where the cathay pacific saying it's hong kong to new york flood could be reduced to flying over the middle east and europe rather than directly over russia and

arctic canada, turning into the world's longest flight. longer flight times plus higherfuel prices spell sharply increased costs for airlines, and while they can't pass that on to the passenger immediately because of strong competition, within a few months i fear you could be looking at higher fares and less choice as a airlines card unprofitable routes. and, with all that happening, i wanted to show a ray of light for those who still want to get away, so here are my tips to help your money travel further. the simplest way to cut costs — don't travel when everybody else is. on a recent friday night, i paid £200 for a one—hour hop from london to northern ireland, but then on a monday lunchtime three hour flight to let the wanyi the fair was just £7. flight to let the wanyi the fair wasjust £7. in particular, you don't have to

travel in a school holidays? avoid them. tuesdays and wednesdays tend to be the cheapest days to fly, and you can also find good deals on a saturday evening and sunday morning. unsurprisingly, fares are often low for flights very early or very late, but apart from the antisocial hours you might end up spending more on the ground transport or a hotel stay. travel with minimum luggage. this is my cabin bag and it meets all known free hand luggage allowances. also, ignore those constant invitations to pay for a seat invitations to pay for a seat in advance. there is one for you on—board, you don't know which one it is yet though. that is all we have fought this guide. let's hope for brighter times ahead for all of us. join me again next time for the latest in the world of travel, and in particular we will be

looking at the joys ofjourney by rail, as into the rail celebrates 50 years this summer. see you soon. and, to end this way, we returned to sri lanka where our tourist, karolis mieliauskas, is paddling down the hammered on canal. but, when we left at last week his catamaran was gaining water and night was approaching bars. wejoin him for the final instalment as he crosses the lagoon over to a localjudge. still a few kilometres to go and the sun is down already. now is absolutely the time to get out of here and reach the shore... i can see lights. we will probably not be able to manage reaching the place with

any luck. it is now not too far from the all saints church. google maps shows that. hopefully, somebody is waiting for me. i cannot really see you, but thank you, god, i am approaching the shore. can i park my boat somewhere here? thank you, guys. good evening, sir. after 1a hours on water, i am finally here in at the all saints church, and, yes, first, i want to thank the gods for possibility to be on the ground. drumming hey! looks like a party here.

do you have a room here? you do have? may i have a look? yes. thanks god, i have a room here tonight, just 200 metres from the church. and, yes, very long day but thank you, thank you for today. good morning, the last stretch in front of me. the canal to colombo. i expect to reach it by the late afternoon today and it is another maybe 12 kilometres. a couple of hours of rowing is actually nice to see that the water here isn't actually dirty at all, so that is nice stop

probably closer to colombo it will be worse. for now, it is proper good. may i have one, yes, to drink? thank you very much, thank you. looks amazing, isn't it? wow. mmm. so sweet! 0h! it is rather hot now, it is really refreshing. as i enter colombo, sure enough, the canal water becomes more polluted. unfortunately, most of this letter will end up in the sea.

—— litter. super exciting moment, iam reaching this river, which means three days on water is done! i havejust arrived means three days on water is done! i have just arrived at the temple and today, the people here are celebrating the first visit of buddha into sri lanka, it happened 2500 years ago. looks like there will be

quite a lot of people here. 0ver over three days i have paddled more than 52 kilometres to get to the celebration in sri lanka's capital. i have seen a canal network that at times has been overwhelmed with pollution, but i have also seen hundreds of spots of natural beauty that have given me wonder and hope.

karolis at the end of his mammoth journey there in a triangle. coming up next week, and athens, coming face—to—face with years of history, and learning about the battle to bring the acropolis back up to date. ihave date. i have never been so happy to see concrete. that is amazing. the last time i was here it was all rough, gravelly, and really hard to push along. do try and join us for that. in the meantime, don't forget you can follow us on facebook and instagram, and which past episodes on bbc iplayer. i am now going to go off and shelter from the rain and potentially read another page or two of ulysses. from us here in dublin, goodbye.

hello there. there's some rain in the forecast for this bank holiday weekend. not that much for england and wales, but certainly for scotland and northern ireland, it could be quite heavy at times. for gardeners and growers, that will provide some good news as it's been so dry for this month of april. there'll also be quite a bit of sunshine around, particularly on saturday across england and wales under this area of high pressure, which is slowly declining as this low pressure system continues to sweep into scotland and northern ireland. we start off on a mainly dry and quite chilly note for england and wales, plenty of sunshine here. much brighter day for eastern england after the recent cloudy days. but for scotland, northern ireland, it will be turning windy, cloudy and wet. and some of that rain will be quite heavy at times. certainly western scotland could even hear the odd rumble of thunder there.

that will impact the temperatures. it will be cooler here than the last few days. further south, we could see 17 or 18 degrees and a little bit of fairweather cloud just bubbling up here and there. the cloud will increase across northern and western england and wales as we head into the latter part of the day and into the evening. that area of low pressure will continue to drift its way southwards, tending to weaken as it does so. but there will be a lot of cloud around for saturday night, so that means it will be a mild one, with the temperatures no lower than seven to 10 degrees. so for sunday, then, our area of low pressure will continue to weaken, pushing towards the southern half of britain, so that means it will be the south which will see the thickest of the cloud with outbreaks of rain. so some wet weather for wales, south west england through sunday. some of that light and patchy rain and drizzle will drift its way eastwards. further north, it will be brightening up, the clouds. will tend to break up and we'll see some sunny spells, bar the odd shower around, so it will be a bit warm here, 16, maybe 17 degrees. a little bit cooler further south, low to mid teens. that area of low pressure clears away, so for bank holiday monday,

it's looking a bit drier across the board. there will be quite a bit of cloud around here, one or two showers developing across northern and central areas but also some sunny spells. and where that happens, we will see temperatures reaching highs of around 18 degrees. further north, the low to mid teens. very little change as we move through the new week. it looks like pressure will remain high with very little wind, so again the air will be quite stagnant. we'll have variable amounts of cloud, a bit of sunshine, maybe one or two showers around, and possibly tuesday could see most of the showers through central and northern areas. butjust a hint of it turning perhaps a little bit brighter and warmer across the south by the end of the week.

good morning. welcome to breakfast, with naga munchetty and ben thompson. 0ur headlines today: neil parish, the conservative mp accused of watching pornography in the commons, rejects calls to resign, saying he will stand down if an inquiry finds him guilty. of course it's embarrassing, and it's embarrassing for my wife and family, and so that's my main concern at the moment. boris becker spends his first night in jail after being sentenced to 2.5 years for hiding assets to avoid paying debts. concern grows for two british men volunteering in ukraine who have been captured by the russian military.