this is bbc news. the headlines... amongst international evacuation efforts in sudan, conflicting reports that a french embassy convoy was hit with gunfire, leading to their return and the operation being disrupted. it comes as special forces airlift us diplomats from the country. ethnic—serb parties are boycotting an election in north kosovo because of the capital pristina's refusal to grant limited autonomy to kosovo serbs. voters are choosing new mayors in four municipalities where serbs are in the majority. the dutch siffan hassan and the kenyan kelvin kiptum have won the race for female and male categories in the london marathon, while sir mo farah has finished in ninth position.

now it's time for the travel show. coming up this week: the canadian dog race in —30 degrees celsius. the dogs are so excited. it's utter chaos! they're literally trying to pull the sled now. just one second! wait, wait! the first arab woman to scale one of the world's toughest mountains. taking a little break on this very awkward rock formation. never give up. and the former notorious mexican prison that's now been given over to nature.

bordering alaska and the arctic ocean, the yukon territory in northern canada is wild, sparsely populated and unrelenting. this must be one of the most remote places i have ever been to. it's just snow and mountains and forest as far as the eye can see. this year marks 125 years since one of the most frantic gold rushes in history

reached its peak. when gold was discovered here, over 100,000 prospectors travelled north, hoping to get lucky, but the extreme conditions caused many to turn back. many of those who did make it settled here in dawson city, building a new life for themselves and their families, whilst first nations people who had lived here for generations had to move up river in an effort to protect their way of life. so the population of this town exploded from 1,500 to 30,000 people during the three—year rush. roughly $29 million worth of gold was pulled from the ground around here during the three—year rush, but only a few made theirfortune. many who missed out found other reasons to stay, like bonnie's grandfather. by the time he made it here,

all the claims were taken and all of that, you know, and that's what happened to a lot of people, you know? and so then they've come this far, they may as well stay and make a living. a local legend, percy dewolfe risked his life delivering mail along the yukon river. his commitment to providing a lifeline between isolated communities in this frozen wilderness earned him the title iron man of the north. to honour him, the town now hosts an annual dog—sledding race. the gruelling route follows percy's 210—mile mail trail from dawson city across the border into the american state of alaska. he was that type of person. if he could come across canada for the gold rush, he could do anything! what do you think he would make of all this? i'm not sure! but i think it's great,

because it keeps his story alive, and he was part of the fabric of dawson city. it's not only the miners and the gold. there were people that did other things. there are dogs everywhere as the town gears up for tomorrow's race. what kinds of things are you checking for? um, a little bit of everything. just kind of your standard, like, physical exam on a dog, make sure that they don't have any signs of infection or, like, any wounds or anything, but mainly because they're going to be running for hundreds of miles. these checks are compulsory, and if a dog isn't considered fit, it won't be allowed to race. we focus a lot on the orthopaedic, so checking all theirjoints, make sure that their muscles are not painful. but it's notjust the dogs that are at risk. travelling through the night in unpredictable weather conditions means the race can very quickly turn deadly. two weeks ago tonight, we had a major blizzard event.

it could be 30 below, so, you know, just prepare for that, right. whispers sounds really intense! the river was particularly high this year, and so the ice on the trail is worse than it's been in 100 years. we need to be able to communicate if stuff goes sideways, and i'll be the base comms for this. as the temperature drops, the competitors make their final preparations for tomorrow's brutal endeavour. you're used to it after you've done it many times, you know. you're used to going without sleep. you're getting better at the cold, you know. you're better at dog care when it's a0 below. you learn all those things. it's just an incredible feeling. yeah? yeah. hanging out with your best friends. how do the dogs feel about dog—sledding? they're driven. they do it quite easily, much easier than us. we're definitely the weak link. well, can we see you guys in action? sure. let's go hook up. all right.

let's take you for a ride. yeah! you're gonna sit in here. this is my spot? yeah. you're gonna sit in there and then we'll hook the dogs up. 0h, hey, buddy! 0h! laughs well, i guess you're coming along for the ride, aren't you? this is on another level. the dogs are so excited. it's utter chaos! they're literally trying to pull the sled now. i hope they don't manage, because michelle is not here yet to drive it, so... just one second! wait! don't go anywhere! and we're off! just a tiny little taster of what it must be like to do a race out in the wilderness with your dogs, and i can definitely see the appeal.

it's just so peaceful, so beautiful, it's just you and the nature and the animals and... it's amazing. i think i understand it. i think i get it! back in town, there's one more tradition that's an important part of the race. part of what we do to commemorate percy's life is to actually send mail, and so, people actually have letters. we actually deliver them legally to the post office. you do? oh, yeah! and they put them in a package and we send them with the first musher to leave the starting line. oh, my gosh. so, i'm going to steal a moment and write this letter right here in front of percy himself. right. "in the spirit of percy, keep on adventuring.

"love the travel show, bbc." it's the morning of the race and the mushers are all starting to roll in. there's definitely a buzz in the air right now. but it's also absolutely freezing out here. the morning of the race has finally arrived. as the minutes count down, the tension is rising. this morning, i was feeling quite nervous. yeah? gosh! but i think it will be great once we're actually out on the trail. we've got all the dog food, mandatory gear — so axe, fuel, cooker, and a —40 sleeping bag, snowshoes. whenever i'm out on the trail, i do always imagine what it would have been like back in the day. and i would imagine that also, picturing someone who actually had to do this every single week, no fail...

i have no idea it was a loop like that, eight days getting people's mail, taking pregnant women into town by dog sled. that's pretty cool. also, a thank you to the city of dawson for sponsoring the percy dewolfe race. the bag of mail with my letter in it is handed over. cheering dogs barking seven, six, five, four, three, two, one... cheering competing in these races today is a testament of the resilience needed to live in these conditions.

percy's spirit definitely lives on here in the north, and long may it continue to. the mushers could be out there for up to 48 hours, which is more than me and the crew could handle. but aiyana has provided us with a little insight into just what it was like. it's so peaceful out here and it's snowing. it's not quite a white—out. it's not snowing that hard, but... ..yeah, it's kind of eerie in a sense. it's very peaceful. i've heard a few ravens calling, but mainly... ..just the pitter—patter of the dog feet. and the results are in. the winner of this year's percy dewolfe race was our friend michelle, completing it in an impressive 19.5 hours. aiyana came third,

gliding into town around four hours later, a little worse for wear, but looking surprisingly cheery. still to come on the travel show: another example of the lengths humans can push themselves to. i can't believe k2�*s right here! we're so close! and the prison turned tourist attraction on a mexican island. so don't go away. now for the next in our series about the amazing feats of endurance that some people put themselves through in the name of adventure, and this one is pretty awesome. k2 in northern pakistan is one of the world's most dangerous mountains, and we've been talking to the first arab woman to ever reach its summit. here's her remarkable story.

october 31, 2021 was the day i decided i wanted to do k2. it almost marked the one—year mark of my dad passing away. i wanted this year to be my year of climbing — climbing back up through life, climbing through grief, climbing to honour my dad. what better than the savage mountain? especially because it hasn't been done from anyone in the region. more people have been to outer space than have climbed k2. it's a serious, risky climb. one out of four people that attempt k2 die trying. on our fourth day, our fifth day, that's when we saw k2 for the first time. and i can't believe k2�*s right here. we're so close, yet so far. i think that was the moment when i really felt like, "oh, my god. "i can't believe that we're doing this." we had our mustering guides, team of sherpas. nepali climbers. they've climbed everest and k2 several times. and then we have our porters, kitchen staff. so it was an entire army of people. but in terms of the climbers, we were four. singing

there's always a lot of singing and climbing on mountains to keep the morale up. and so, itjust so happened that there were so many celebrations and music and, you know, just, again, like a celebration of different cultures. and i always bring my music with me and i'm always dancing as well. i dance when i feel my lowest. it seems like i'm happy, but usually the times that i'm dancing is when i need that push. today i feel really sick. my stomach bug has accelerated. i took antibiotics. it's nice to have this down time. nelly doing very good today. to be honest, i wasn't doing so good at the beginning... yeah. ..but these guys pushed me. we are close to the chimney, taking a little break on this very awkward rock formation. never give up. we're at camp 2!

woo! the weather has progressively gotten worse since yesterday. the weather on k2 is very turbulent, and that's what k2 is notorious for — it can go from feeling super warm and sunny to having a full—blown blizzard to then an avalanche happening, rock fall. rock fall on k2 was the scariest thing. this is a really dangerous section because there's a lot of loose rocks. rocks come flying in from 1,000 metres above you, and sometimes they're boulders, not just rocks. and you can hear them — they come flying in. and they sound like helicopters...that�*s coming closer and closer, and it felt like a playstation game, honestly. the trail itself changes a lot. you're going from snow to ice to rock. cos the rock can break and there's rolling rocks. you don't want to roll any rocks on people underneath you. and the rope may snap. the most challenging aspect about the trip was i felt like the sense of safety

on k2 was very minimal. anything that happens to you above base camp, you're on your own. there are choppers that can come, but they may come in five, six days. singing we are moving up to our summit rotation tonight, and they're singing because it's good weather finally. have been waiting for this day for two weeks! final hours of k2, i'm sitting at my tent at camp 4, and we're supposed to be resting. before i move up, ijust can't sleep. i'm so excited, i'm so nervous. i'm preparing for one of the most exciting moments of my life. i'm ready for this. this is why i'm here. the moment we set off, it was pitch black. all you can see is the trail of lights from the people ahead of us. the ice wall was a bit traumatic. i've never done climbing

on an ice wall with just my cramp—ons, and i kept slipping. my heart rate shot up, i had a full—blown panic attack, ifelt like i was gonna die. i had to filter out the noise and everything. i needed to calm myself down and calm my heart rate down. at the end of the wall, there's a body there. it's really terrifying every time you see someone that had passed. cos they're like you — they want to climb the mountain. they hope for the best. that was just a really scary reminder. and once we got to the very last section before you kind of have to walk on the edge and get to the summit, i was like, this is the moment, this is the moment! i was walking on that path, i get to the summit and then ijust drop my bag and for a good 30 minutes i couldn't stop crying. i'm here! at the summit of k2. i couldn't believe that this is it.

this is notjust about me anymore. this is for my family. i've put my family through so much stress doing this. and it's not about my family as well, it's about my country. i made history for my country. i made history for the arab region. that moment... i can't tell you how surreal it felt. never give up! these are happy tears! if there is a perfect moment, that was it. what an unbelievable achievement. now to the sunnier clime of mexico, and what used to be one of the country's most isolated and infamous prisons. islas marias is on its own island 3.5 hours off the pacific coast. it finally closed as a prison back in 2019, and since then, there's been a lot of work put in to transform it into a nature reserve and tourist attraction.

we went to check it out.

right, that's all for this week. coming up next time... rajan is in spain, looking at some of the tech that might be watching you on your next holiday. there's one up there! you are purely using my facial expressions to understand my internal emotions? yeah. until then, you can find us on the bbc iplayer and on social media too. we're in all the usual places, along with lots of other great travel content from across the bbc. well, it's —30 degrees out here in the yukon, so i'm off to find something warm to drink. and i'll see you next time. bye.

hello. there's quite a mixture of weather across the uk at the moment, some areas seeing clearer spells, others with cloud and rain. the remnants of an area of low pressure pulling away eastwards. it's going to get somewhat clearer to start the new week, but it is also going to turn notably chillier. here's the low tracking off towards the continent as we finish up on sunday. behind the low, we're hooking in a northerly breeze and we're going to pull arctic air all the way south across the uk for monday, and it'll stick around for tuesday and wednesday as well. that colder air moving into scotland

even through the evening. strong winds, particularly around the northern and eastern coasts and across the higher ground, and wintry showers developing. the rain pulls away from eastern england, but some wetter weather overnight for northern ireland. a fairly widespread frost for scotland. elsewhere, we should stay frost—free as we start monday. monday daytime, that colder air continuing itsjourney south across the uk. we have to factor in the winds to the way things will feel as well. particularly strong across northern scotland and down many of our north sea coasts. some rain pushing across out of the irish sea into south wales, the south west of england. some showers getting into the south east by the end of the afternoon. and then showers across scotland will be of snow and potentially even down to lower levels. six degrees in aberdeen as you would read the temperature on the thermometer, but don't forget, we do have to add in the effect of that wind. when we step outside. with wind chill, it's going to feel closer to freezing here. and overnight monday into tuesday, speaking of freezing, just look what happens

to our temperatures. clear skies, winds becoming somewhat lighter, a widespread frost developing and a hard frost in some areas. gardeners with any tender young plants out do keep that in mind. the wind becomes lighter because this finger of high pressure extends south across the uk for tuesday. there will be a lot of fine weather around. we will continue to pick up a few snow showers, i think for northern and eastern scotland on the breeze. high cloud tending to cover our skies, turning the sunshine, hazy as the day plays out, the sunshine hazy as the day plays out, but i think if anything, with the wind a little lighter, the perception may be that it doesn't feel quite as bitingly cold as monday. wednesday, a very similar story to tuesday. end of the week, things start to become more unsettled again, but they will also start to turn milder.

live from london ,this is bbc news. sudan, the british prime minister rishi sunak has confirmed that british diplomats and their families have been evacuated in a rapid and complex operation. also today here on bbc news... diane abbott has been suspended from the labour party pending an investigation into a letter she wrote about racism for the observer newspaper.