this is bbc news. the headlines: after a chinese observation balloon was detected over the united states, a second has been reported — this time over latin america. earlier, the us secretary of state said china was acting irresponsibly and violating international law. antony blinken has cancelled a planned visit to beijing this weekend. ajury in the united states has found elon musk not guilty of fraud over a tweet. mr musk was being sued by tesla shareholders who claim they lost billions of dollars after he tweeted he was taking the company back into private ownership. pope francis is in south sudan, the latest stop on what the vatican is calling a pilgrimage of peace.

he was joined by the leaders of the churches of england and scotland. together, they're seeking to promote reconciliation in a largely christian country that's been ravaged by tribal conflict. to the uk and believe in the north—west of england say they believe that nicula bully who went missing while walking her dog operably fell into the river why in lancashire. the fortified mother of two was last seen a week ago. police divers and dogs have all been used in the search. danny savage has the details. exactly a week on from when nicole bulley vanished, her friends held a roadside appeal, hoping to catch anyone who was buzzing last friday. her pictures are everywhere, but there is no

transfer anywhere. everywhere, but there is no transferanywhere. it everywhere, but there is no transfer anywhere. it has been an agonising week for her partner and their two daughters.— partner and their two daughters. partner and their two dau:hters. g , partner and their two dau:hters. y , ., daughters. my focus is our two giris- just being _ daughters. my focus is our two girls. just being as _ daughters. my focus is our two girls. just being as strong - daughters. my focus is our two girls. just being as strong as l girls. just being as strong as they can for them. i am scared that if i put focus into anything else it will take my focus off that. right now it is as though she has vanished into thin air. that's just it. it is insane. thin air. that's “ust it. it is insane. . ., insane. in the river close to where she _ insane. in the river close to where she vanished, - insane. in the river close to | where she vanished, please insane. in the river close to - where she vanished, please have again been searching. today a senior officer spelt out the reality of the situation. fiur reality of the situation. our main working _ reality of the situation. oi" main working hypothesis, therefore, is that nicola has suddenly fallen into the river and there is no third—party or criminal involvement and that this is not suspicious. but a tragic case of missing person. nicola was seen by a villa dog

walker on friday morning shortly before nine a.m.. she was last seen at ten past nine in a field further along the riverbank. at 920 police have now had established her phone became stationary at a riverside bench. 30 minutes later, her phone is found, along with her dogs harness. she is nowhere to be seen, but her spaniel, willow, is found at the same spot. this is the river wyre. nicola's phone was found on the bench. it is not a very ride with her, but it is very deep and murky. which means much of the searching has been done by touch rather than sight. friends who are being so key at raising the profile of the missing 45—year—old are feeling the strain. nikki is the most beautiful person. you will see the pictures. she's beautiful on the outside, but she is also the kindest soul on the inside.

she's thoughtful, she's caring. and then you add her and paul together, these two beautiful humans, you just want to know where their mummy is. after examining cctv and an extensive land search, detectives have effectively ruled out attack or objection involving nicola. the sad reality is that police say all evidence suggests she accidentally fell into the river here and couldn't get out. danny savage, bbc news, st michael's on wyre. now on bbc news, the travel show. coming up on this week's show... nigeria's looted treasures and the battle to get them back. they will not have any other choice than to release what belongs to all, because the whole world knows they are stolen properties. we get the lowdown on europe's sleeper trains. the private companies that are now embracing this new passion for sleeper travel are getting people back onto trains and away

from short—haul budget flights. and we head to south america and what's officially the most electrifying place on earth. hello and welcome to the travel show, coming to you this week from the historic university city of cambridge in the uk. now, it's the beginning of term and students are coming back, and like many generations before them, they'll be

benefiting from some of the best educational resources in the world. and that includes valuable treasures looted from afar on colonial expeditions. but we're here because the university has recently announced it's actually returning some of those, specifically benin bronzes, to nigeria. and it's there, in what was once known as the kingdom of benin, that i want to start this story. for centuries, this street, igun—eronmwon, has been famous for one particular craft — bronze casting. its name literally translates to "the place where bronze works are made". just five minutes from the palace, traditionally, it was the royal family and dignitaries who'd commission pieces to mark historical events. aigbe anthony spent 15 years

mastering his craft. i've been into bronze casting from childhood. i was taught by my father, which my father was taught by the forefathers, and it has been a family business, family work. so we've grown into it as a living. he's part of an exclusive guild of bronze casters, which has 120 members that mostly work on this street, all practising a centuries—old technique where wax models are used to create a detailed mould for the bronze to be cast in. it will take up to two weeks to make a piece and it'll take up to a month, depends on the size of the job, for the artwork. whenever a tourist come to nigeria, they want to visit this place, so they buy

and they commission works. whilst the technique has remained the same, most are working off printed images, with little access to their ancestors' original works. we have few ones that is still left, which is in family houses here, and we still have them in catalogues. yes, there are a few, not much. we don't have much access to it because much of them is stolen. ifeel bad, and i'm not too happy because this is our treasure. it's what our forefathers laboured to do. it's reckoned around 10,000 pieces were looted by the british when they sacked benin in 1897, burning down the city's palace

in the process. the bronzes were then sold to institutions around the world. now, there's no law in the uk which forces museums or other places to return stolen artefacts, but some institutions are doing it independently, like jesus college, cambridge. they were the first institution in the world to return a benin bronze in 2021. more recently, germany handed back 22 bronzes and agreed to release over 1,000 items from their collections. the horniman in london has also sent pieces back to nigeria, and soon cambridge university's museum of archaeology and anthropology will follow suit. we've identified 116 objects that were taken during the punitive

expedition of 1897, and those are the objects that we will be transferring ownership of. i think it's impossible to overstate just how severe an act of vandalism and cultural violence this was. the heads that we see before us here were several of the objects that graced ancestral altars throughout the palace, and the purpose of those altars was very much to maintain the lineage, to maintain the kingdom. the plaques that had been removed from the walls throughout the city were visualisations of the benin kingdom's history and heritage, and those were all taken away in a wholesale export of this material, leaving very, very little behind. tell me, why are you now and only now returning some of the pieces? i think it's the right time for these collections to go back.

one might say it's long overdue. i think the main reason, the most recent reason, is that there has been a request from the nigerian government, and i think fundamentally for us it's the right thing to do. these were stolen, these were looted. there are many, many different ways in which objects came to museums like this. there's such an awareness both within the uk and internationally of museums, colonial legacies, but also of the cultural heritage that is represented in museum collections. and we want the future retelling and care of these collections to be something that's really, really collaborative. now, this is not a sentiment shared by all. currently, the british museum in london has more than 900 items from the historic kingdom of benin, the largest collection of bronzes in the world, with no current plans to return any. the british museum sent the travel show a statement, where they say that the collections offer an important opportunity for audiences to understand the history of the british conquest of benin city, and to reflect on the impact of that

period of colonialism. they're in dialogue with the nigerian government about this, but also cite the british museum act of 1963, that it's their founding responsibility to care for the collection on behalf of the world — notjust the bronzes, but all the objects kept here. now, undoubtedly, that's not something that sits too well back in nigeria. the national museum in benin has the most accessible collection of bronzes for tourists to see, though a fraction of what it perhaps should be. the time is coming for the british, for london in particular, when they see neighbouring countries around them bringing the objects, they will not have any other choice than to release what belongs to us,

because the whole world knows they are stolen properties. there is no place like home. by the time this object comes home, it is going to do a lot of things. it will heal the wounds, it will create more jobs for our people. it will create more tourists to visit our museums. and on that note, plans are under way to build a brand—new museum to house their returning heritage. the edo museum of west african art is scheduled to open in 2026, and they're optimistic it will be filled with their missing bronzes. fingers crossed the museum project goes smoothly. but if you can't wait that long, here are some alternatives from around the world that you could consider. starting in asia, the national museum of cambodia in phnom penh is filled

with reclaimed stolen statues. a lot of the items here were looted from temples across the country, including from the famous angkor wat. a team is constantly working on tracing and bringing back their antiquities from museums and private collectors around the world. over in canada, the winnipeg art gallery has recently opened a centre showcasing the world's largest collection of inuit art. it's called qaumajuq, which means, "it's bright, it is lit," with a building very much inspired by being in the arctic landscape. more than 27,000 artworks are on display, including a large portion which is on loan from the northern

communities. travelling south into the us, why not check out the first american national museum designed and run by indigenous peoples? it's part of the smithsonian institution group, this one based in washington. the building is made out of materials closely connected to the native communities across the continent. inside, you'll find more than 800,000 objects, along with regular workshops and talks. over to morocco next, where you may remember we sent ade to the newly opened modern african art museum in marrakech. there you'll find lots of artworks from around the country. its whole thing is about making art accessible, and the first sunday of every month, you pay whatever you want or can afford to enter. finally to papua new guinea, where its national museum in port moresby has the task of protecting and preserving the country's cultural, military and natural heritage. some locals see it as a spiritual home due to its heritage inside. alongside its archaeological objects, it also has natural history specimens and

contemporary local artworks. ok, so stick around, because there is loads more still to come in the programme. simon's got his top tips for booking onto europe's sleeper trains, and the place where lightning almost certainly strikes twice. hello and welcome to london st pancras international, britain's european train terminal and one of the most beautiful rail stations in the world. in east asia, covid travel restrictions are finally unwinding in 2023.

while mainland china is still closed to tourists, hong kong has lifted almost all its pandemic related rules. 0verseas arrivals must simply take a lateral flow test within 2a hours of their flight departing to hong kong. back here in europe, ferry links are being restored after the peak of the pandemic. the fascinating french port of le havre, a unesco world heritage site and gateway to the seine—maritime region, gets reconnected with portsmouth in southern england from march. also restored, international rail services from renfe, the main spanish train operator, from barcelona to lyon in southern france. which brings us on to my tip of the month. improvements in european rail services have made a cross—continentaljourney an increasingly cheap and appetising

prospect this year. for example, on the main high—speed link in spain between the two biggest cities, madrid and barcelona, travellers can now choose from four competing operators. plenty of nine—euro one—way tickets are available, booking several months ahead, and even at short notice, you can typically pay just 35 euros. great news, too, for those of us who believe that the most civilised way to travel across europe is by sleeper train. a new dutch enterprise, european sleeper, is starting an overnight service from brussels, antwerp, rotterdam and amsterdam to berlin. travel writer monisha rajesh, who's about to head off on a trip to istanbul on three separate sleeper services. it can be expensive, but there are plenty of options depending on your budget and what kind ofjourney you're looking for. tickets start at the very lower

end, where you can travel in an upright seat overnight, but you can get seats for starting at around 45 euros, going up to around 270, if you want to be in a private compartment with a lovely big bed and an en—suite bathroom. tell me more about the new brussels to berlin sleeper. is it really significant? i think it is, because i think the private companies that are now embracing this new passion for sleeper travel are getting people back onto trains and away from short—haul budget flights, which is what i think all of us want to see because of climate change. can an overnight train really compete with fast and frequent and generally low—cost flight? i think it's quite hard to get people to come onto a train for 16 hours at a cost which might be double what you would spend on a flight. but i think you will find people at least looking into it more, considering train travel, and if they don't have to be somewhere very fast, i think it's something that people will definitely embrace.

lots of viewers are asking why long—haul airfares, particularly on routes from europe to asia and australia, have increased so much. well, partly the russian invasion of ukraine is to blame. it's greatly increased fuel costs, which are all the more significant on very long flights. also, the closure of russian and ukrainian airspace means that many routes have to travel much further. staying with air travel, what's happening with airport security checks here in the uk? well, byjune next year, the current limits on liquids, aerosols and gels should be lifted, making the security checks much faster and less stressful. that's all for now from here at london st pancras international. wherever your next railjourney takes you, i hope it's a great success. and do keep sending in your travel questions.

for now, from me, goodbye. i'll see you next time. now, here in the uk we are slightly obsessed with the weather, but maybe not quite as much as in the lightning capital of the world. ok, that's not its real title — but in the remote parts of venezuela where the catatumbo river meets lake maracaibo, lightning strikes 140 to 160 nights a yearfor hours on end. cat moh has been finding out more. this is what the earth's capital of lightning looks like.

this is relampago del catatumbo, or catatumbo lightning. it's only found in one remote part of venezuela and only accessible by boat along a route largely populated by wildlife. a three—hour journey from puerto concha, the lightning occurs above an area where the catatumbo river meets lake maracaibo. average temperatures here can hit above 32 degrees celsius all year round. some of the nearest human neighbours to this amazing display are in a village built on stilts, called an 0loga.

locals say catatumbo lightning is a symbol, a symbol of respect from nature. here, they call it ploy, which in english means curiosity.

nasa has since declared it earth's lightning capital. catatumbo's 250 lightning flashes per square kilometre every year equates to a staggering total of 1.6 million bolts of lightning annually. the strikes are often visible for seven to ten hours per night. if the elements could write poetry across the sky, it would surely look like this. well, that's it for this time, butjoin us next week if you can, when...

0h, crafty! look at this. ..christa's in switzerland, finding out about how a vast network of bunkers lying beneath the surface... oh, wow. ..have been adapted over the years. mm. oh, that's lovely. and she heads to a hot—air balloon festival with a unique view of the swiss alps. this word gets used a lot, but there's something quite magical about being up here. but don't forget, until then, you can find a whole load of other amazing travel content from the bbc online by using the tags on your screen right now. until then, from me and the rest of the team here in cambridge, it's goodbye.

hello. there are two parts of our weekend weather story. the first part, a rather cloudy and mild weather for saturday. the second part of the weekend bringing some chillier but brighter conditions with lots of sunshine on sunday. but saturday starting off with extensive cloud cover, the odd spot of drizzle, the cloud breaking a little to give sunny spells across england and wales. northern ireland and scotland will see this band of rain pushing southeastwards with brighter skies eventually following behind. but also some colder airfollowing behind. and as we go through saturday night, a band of cloud and increasingly patchy rain sinks southwards, more and more of us getting into that colder air so a touch of frost in places to start sunday morning. a chillier start to the day then but a much brighter start to the day. lots of sunshine in our forecast for sunday, some cloud in the north of scotland and perhaps the far

south—west of england. temperatures down a little bit, 7—9 degrees, but in the sunshine that won't feel too bad.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. 0ur headlines today: a second chinese surveillance balloon is passing over latin america, according to the pentagon, a day after a similar device was seen in us airspace. the sister of missing nicola bulley says there's no evidence whatsoever that she has gone into the river wyre. police say that's what they believe happened. 0fficial complaints about energy companies rise by more than 50% in two years. good morning. one of the most competitive six nations tournaments in recent years begins today with a two huge matches to get things under way