this is bbc news. the headlines — g7 leaders meeting injapan are expected to issue a statement on a shared approach on china on the second day of their summit in hiroshima. the us national security advisorjake sullivan said the statement would reflect the desire for stable relations and not be hostile. meanwhile, european allies have welcomed the decision by the united states to allow ukrainian pilots to train on american—made f—16 fighterjets. 1a people have died and thousands have been left homeless after heavy rains and flooding in parts of northern italy. the mayor of the city of ravenna has told the bbc that it's the worst disaster in a century. the formula 1 grand prix, due to take place at imola in the affected area,

has now had to be cancelled. normal life is returning to some neighbourhoods in el salvador after years spent under heavy gang control. now on bbc news, the travel show. this week on the show — we're saving seals in vancouver... aw, there she is! oh, my gosh! they're so adorable! hey, buddy! ..saving money in warsaw... ..and heading to what might not be the cheapest but is certainly the rudest restaurant in sydney. messy! i don't want your leftovers!

this week, i'm on canada's pacific coast, where vancouver lies in the shadow of a mountain range that is the only barrier between the city and one of the world's most vast wildernesses. surrounded by water, every year, thousands of people travel here to marvel at the whales as they dance along the coastline, returning after a long winter away. british columbia is the most biodiverse territory in all of canada. it's got seals, it's got sea lions, and hundreds of other species living in these very waters. but it's also home to the biggest port in the entire country, vancouver. and when you bring animals and humans and you put them in such close quarters,

problems can arise. more boats means more underwater noise, which can confuse animals, leading them into trouble. last year alone, the local marine mammal rescue centre, funded by the aquarium, helped over 100 animals to safety. some were injured, others simply distressed and confused. two of them ended up here. aw, there she is! oh, my gosh — they're so adorable! hey, buddy! hey, pym! how did they end up here? yeah, so, they were rescued this past summer by our marine mammal rescue centre. they were found in different areas and they kind of didn't look like they were doing too well. pym had a couple of injuries. skeena was looking really dehydrated and skinny. and then, upon them kind of getting nursed back to health, it was found out that pym had cataracts and the injuries to skeena's eyes were too severe, so they both have

lost their vision. clearly, the ocean can be a cruel place, and there are currently nine other marine mammals at the aquarium who, just like these two, were rescued from near death but, sadly, after rehabilitation, weren't well enough to be released back into the wild. their neighbour, senor cinco, was also blinded after sustaining a gunshot to the face. he's quite the character and now acts as an ambassador for the work of the rescue team. so, when people come through and, you know, visit the aquarium, come say hi to the seals and the sea lions, what do you hope that they come away with from that visit? i hope theyjust come away with a bit more of a stronger connection to the ocean. i think that's the really cool thing about aquariums is sometimes, the creatures in the ocean or even just the ecosystem of the ocean is not a tangible thing because you're watching it on tv or you're reading a book, but i think when you get to come and see it in person and make that emotional connection,

you can really understand what is out there and maybe have a stronger pull to take action in their lives — to help with climate change or protect the oceans. that's one of my hopes for the visitors that come to the aquarium. and maybe now, more than ever, that inspiration is important. this is how much rubbish ends up on 110 metres of coastline every single day. -- 100m. with that amount of plastic bobbing around, it's no wonder a big part of the rescue centre's work is disentangling curious animals that get caught up in it. down in horseshoe bay, vancouver's busiest passenger ferry port... hi, eva! hi! great to see you! ..lindsaye and her team are getting ready to go out on one of these disentanglement trips, and i'm hoping to help. my name is meghan. i'm going to be your driver today. and we also have tom, who's riding along with us, as well as our deck hand. so, when we give you the thumbs

up, we're just going to walk from the nice hard surface, which is the dock... ooh! i haven't got great sea legs, so i'm really hoping the weather stays like this. the giant ferries looming alongside our tiny boat remind me of the scale of the human impact here. and what we're heading into is howe sound, and it's rich in marine life. howe sound — or atl�*ka7tsem, as it's called in the local squamish language — lies just north of the city in the salish sea. in the summertime, when it's seal pupping season, we get lots of calls from animals around here. but will we find any today that need our help? it doesn't take us long to come across some sunbathing sea lions. they're so cute! oh, my gosh! they're right there! so far, we can see they all look to be in pretty decent

condition. no entanglements. there's some young ones in there, which is really cool to see mums and pups, and there's some older animals but, body condition—wise, i'd say they're doing 0k. sadly, this isn't always the case. recently, lindsaye and her team found this sea lion struggling with a wire wrapped around its neck. thanks to the skill of the team, they were able to tranquillise it to set it free. luckily, this lot are ok. but trips like this aren't wasted — counting the sea lions is still a crucial part of the wider conservation effort in the area. only a couple of years ago, this coastalfjord was designated a unesco biosphere zone, recognising the effort being made to boost the biodiversity here — a pretty impressive achievement when you consider that, for decades, coastal industry left the water here heavily polluted. how would you say the numbers have changed throughout the years?

definitely noticing an increase in numbers of the sea lions and specifically in different areas. a little bit closer to vancouver area, ten years ago we weren't seeing steller sea lions in some of these areas. now, we're seeing both california and steller sea lions. and only a couple of months ago, plans were announced to protect a swathe of marine coastline the size of iceland near british columbia. it's hugely important. we live in an amazing part of the world. it brings in a lot of tourism, a lot of ecotourism. we almost have to pinch ourselves once in a while. right now, we're sitting in a boat, we've got ioo—plus sea lions 100 feet from us and we're just having a conversation, like... ..it�*s insane to think about that, and there could be whales around the corner. there's just so much that british columbia offers. preserving that — obviously, it's going to be helpful for years. and with humans encroaching ever further into mother nature's territory, these animals are going to continue to need all the help

we can give them. it can be really easy to take for granted the wildlife in places like this but what i've learned today is just how much effort goes into protecting these waters and the animals that live in them. it's definitely a careful balance but it seems like things are moving in the right direction. as for me, i think i'm ready to head back to dry land. and if you're planning to visit vancouver any time soon, here's some things you should know. there are several walking tours, museums and exhibitions here that will help you understand a bit more about vancouver's indigenous people. the city is built on land belonging to the musqueam, squamish and tsleil—waututh nations. and if you start to feel peckish, why not track down some bannock, a sort of indigenous bread you can pick up in several spots around the city. it's sometimes used in cakes, waffles or just eaten

on its own. mmm! that is so delicious! the best way to explore vancouver is on foot. the vancouver seawall is a 17.5 mile—long walk that exposes you to the best of the city, from artwork and sculptures to mountains and wildlife. seals are often spotted and the endangered great blue heron has made a home next to the tennis courts. just watch out for the coyotes! and if you're heading here over the winter, the city's got three popular ski resorts, all accessible by public transport. cypress is the biggest and most expensive, but grouse and seymour are both well set up forfamilies. the big deal here, though, is the world—famous whistler mountain, a two—hour bus ride away. it's pricey. a day pass this season started at cad$143 canadian, or about us$105. but for that, you get access to north america's biggest ski

resort with 200 different runs, reliable snow and some of the most beautiful mountain scenery on earth. still to come on the travel show... albania's beginning to emerge as a destination in its own right. ..simon�*s got tips on how to save money in europe... thank you. you're welcome. menus, together. ..and we certainly won't be leaving any at sydney's rudest restau ra nt. the what? the tropical karen. you don't need to shout. so, don't go away. welcome back to vancouver on canada's west coast. believe it or not but this lovely beach right here is smack—bang in the middle of the city. no complaints from me. up next, here's simon with some great money—saving tips if you're planning on visiting europe any time soon. hello from brighton!

this english seaside city has been attracting visitors in search of fun, frolics and sea air for centuries. it's got me all excited about the imminent prospects of summer, and i've been doing some maths to calculate the most cost—effective locations in europe this year. first, though, the united states has dropped its insistence that all international travellers should be fully vaccinated against covid. the change, ordered by the white house after 18 months of the rule, means that new york, florida, california and the rest of the us are now open for visitors this summer. it's been a long, wet winter in the uk, but at least the sun is out today in brighton and i wanted to try to bring a ray of light to all the people who want to get away but are really feeling the high cost of living.

with that in mind, i've created a price index. prices in rome are above average for every aspect — particularly fast food and budget accommodation. london and paris have the most expensive airport to city transport. a large beer in the french capital will cost you more than twice as much as the cheapest — which, like every item i surveyed, is in warsaw. so, i applied my holiday price index to the albanian capital tirana and found that costs are around half of those in warsaw. albania, tucked on the adriatic coast, for decades has been in the shadow of more illustrious neighbours like greece, montenegro, and croatia. but now, it's beginning to emerge as a destination in its own right. i led something of a pioneering tour there in 1989 to see england play a world cup qualifying match against albania.

to find out how things are in 2023, i've called up francesca masotti of albaniainsider.com. when i first visited albania in the 1980s, i was struck by how friendly it is. is that still the case? in my opinion, it's the friendliest country i've ever been. if you need help, albanians are here to help you. if you need everything, they are very, very happy to help you. i also love lake 0hrid. lake 0hrid is one of the most spectacular places you will see — notjust in albania, but in the balkans. it is nestled between albania and north macedonia. it's an amazing place off the radar. you will not find crowds there, not even in summertime. i'm also interested in durres. the most interesting thing about durres is its archaeological history.

durres is one of the oldest settlements along the adriatic coast, so you can visit the amphitheatre of durres, which is the largest in the balkan peninsula. 0n the subject of fresh travel experiences, we've had a question from a viewer, who asks very simply: the answer has to be a high—end safari lodge in kenya's masai mara, but you will be paying upwards of $1,000 per person per night. at the other end of the price spectrum, for the cost ofjust a few nights at such a safari lodge, you could get a couple of weeks on an overland truck going through botswana and namibia. that's all from brighton, but do get in touch with any

travel questions you might have and i'll do my best to help you. till next time, i'll hand you back to eva. goodbye. thanks, simon. well, to finish this week, we're heading to australia, a place known for its culinary innovation where foodies claim that trends like smashed avocado and flat whites first started. but the latest food fad to come out of sydney might not be to everybody�*s taste. we sent jacqui wakefield to a place where service definitely doesn't come with a smile. in sydney, on a warm evening, the streets are buzzing. post—covid rules to help cafes and restaurants have been swelling the numbers of people eating and drinking outside all summer. it's part of an effort to support those businesses who still need a bit of help getting back on their feet

after the country's long, punishing lockdowns. but one institution doesn't need any of the help. it opened up temporarily during lockdown, became a viral sensation and now, they're opened permanently and they're expanding branches across the world — and that's despite having some of the worst service you've ever seen. what do we want? let's go. i'm not getting any younger. is your name chad?! urgh! it's called karen's diner and my mum, dad and family friend agreed to come with me to brave the onslaught. oh, my god! did you make that shirt yourself? but first, some rules. no racist, sexist, homophobic, ableist comments. no body shaming. no sexual harassment. any damage or vandalism, you'll be removed. keep food and drink on your tables and don't throw them. all right, we're good. there. thank you very much. word spread fast on social media about the service

here and queues began to form as people decided they'd like a piece of the action. to some diners, it's lots of fun. and to others, totally baffling. you're welcome. thank you. but, of course, it's all make—believe. why would you get a vegan burger and then get real. cheese? cos she's vegetarian... the staff are actors and it's part of the new wave of theatrical dining experiences that have seen restaurants opening themed around british sitcoms or broadway shows in recent years. yes, drink? a mocktail. the special. what is this? i'm not playing charades right now. use your big girl words. here, though, you need skin like a rhino. i mean, it was fun but tense. how did you feel when they came up and you had to order?

nervous. especially when they called you something rude. what did they call you? b1. what else? santa claus. grandpa. and, mum, what did you get? they criticised my clothes! are we done? so, what do you say? thank you. you're welcome. menus, together. nicely, neatly, - quickly and quietly. i'm not going to do yourjob for you... what do you think is the appeal of the rudeness for customers who come in here? i think people really enjoy having a laugh. like, some families just have a really, really good time. it's not a venue for everyone but the people that do enjoy it, like, it definitely is the space for them. the what?! the tropical karen. right, you don't need to shout. do you encourage that rudeness back, or...? absolutely. it's so fun when people banter back. it's not very fun when you sit there and theyjust, like, take it. it's really fun when they banter back, especially if they're a good table that you get along with and you're able to, like, establish, like,

some kind of rapport with them, you can keep coming back and you can keep harassing them. it's always really fun. i've escaped across sydney for a few moments of sanity and seek out a much friendlierface. hi, alannah. hi. nice to meet you. alannah's written about the phenomenon for time out. one of the waiters we had, he was quite bitchy — if i can say that on the bbc. he would kind ofjust come over and kind of give me up and downs and be, like, "is that box—dyed hair? "do you even know how to blend your eyeshadow?" like, "oh, look at your nail beds. "urgh!" like, ripping on my cuticles. and i was like, "honey, we're alljust out of lockdown. "we're still on waiting lists for our usual nails "and hair people. " i was a little bit, like, "0oh," but i can say i have worked on my eyeshadow blending technique since that day, so maybe he was doing me a favour. so many people have worked in some service job where they've wanted to kind of talk to customers this way occasionally. is there something kind of cathartic in being able to see the wait staff act how maybe we wanted to act back

in that time? i think 100%. like, as a fan of the arts and theatre, like, my favourite kind of stuff out there is cabaret, is really funny burlesque, is drag queens doing stupid parodies. and i think sometimes the most surreal, ridiculous, hilarious, cathartic entertainment experiences we can have tap into something in reality, and i think that there is some kind of great pleasure in seeing that acted out. not always when you're on the receiving end of it — that can be quite comfortable — but, you know, if i had to go back to waiting tables tomorrow, i think maybe i'd rather work at karen's diner than some stuffy high—end restau ra nt. who got the burger with fries? of course, the staff need special training to work here. who got the salad? that kind of breathtaking rudeness doesn't always come easy.

ryan is a newjoiner and he's come all the way from ireland for the chance to work here. what age are you? back home in ireland, i knew when i was coming to australia, i was like, "i need to go to karen's". i told everyone i was going to do it. everyone said to me, "no, you need to be "an actor, you need to have like a background," and i was like, "i don't care. i'm going to get in." go sit down. the back table, go sit down. quick. talk me through what it feels like when you're about to approach a table. you have to almost spot straight away what table it is. is it a bunch of teenagers? is it a family? is it a bunch of adults? oh, my god! how many pictures do you want of me?! when you first start off, you're a little bit nervous, 'cause you're almost doing a performance every time, but once you become more comfortable with the character, like, you go up, you know what works for you, you know what doesn't work for you. you're comfortable in what you know what to do. messy, messy. i don't want your leftovers!

i think i'm kind of confident enough now that i go up and if they find it funny, don't find it funny, i'm like, "this is my character, i know what works, "like it or leave it, i don't care." like... that's very karen of you! literally, like, sometimes i have to try separate the character from myself! you're not even wearing proper shoes! how are you going to pay for this whole meal? right, sadly, ourtime in vancouver is at an end, but coming up next time... carmen is in the philippines, meeting the cash—strapped pensioners who have decided to supplement their income by discovering their inner diva for tourists in manila. until then, you can find us on the bbc iplayer and on social media, too. we're in all the usual places, along with other great travel content from the bbc. well, from me and senor cinco right here, goodbye!

hello again. whenever we talk about showers, you can get vastly different weather from one place to the next. if we look at friday's weather in redding, we had hazy spells of sunshine coming through this cloud. it was quite a nice day. butjust down the road, 15 miles away in benson in 0xfordshire, got a direct hit from a pretty big shower. it brought 19 millimetres of rain in the space of two hours — that's a third of a month of rain — and instead of it being a nice day, it was a day where you might�*ve needed to paddle to get back to your car. now, over the next few hours, it's essentially dry across england and wales, most places having clear skies. do have some thicker clouds starting to move

in across scotland and northern ireland, the cloud thick enough for an occasional spit of rain but nothing particularly significant. and here are your temperatures as you head into the first part of your weekend. now, the weekend across england and wales, lots of sunshine on the way and it is going to be mostly dry. for scotland and northern ireland, a bit more in the way of cloud but it'll still be bright. however, the cloud at times will be thick enough to give just a little bit of rain. now, any rain that we do see across these north—western areas isn't going to be that heavy because these weather fronts are weak. they're running into an area of high pressure which is tending to squish them. so, saturday morning, we start off perhaps with a nice sunrise for some across scotland, maybe north west england, north—west wales. the thickest cloud across scotland and northern ireland. an odd spit of rain, but not much. england and wales, dry with plenty of sunshine from the word go and we'll keep those sunny skies all day. it is going to feel warm in the sunshine with temperatures widely18—21. a little bit cooler around some of our north sea coasts,

given the developing onshore wind. and a reminder at this time of the year, the may sunshine is a strong sunshine and so, we'll have high levels of uv. so, if you're outside for any length of time, might be worth just thinking about slapping on a bit of sun cream. 0n into sunday's forecast, it's a similar kind of split to the weather, really, with the cloudier skies across scotland and northern ireland. still some bright weather getting through. again, there could bejust a few spits of rain falling from this weather front that's very weak. in fact, this weekend, we could see the warmest day of the year so far — not that temperatures are that high. it says more, really, about the fact that the weather's not been that warm so far this year. but into next week, high pressure�*s in charge and for most, it will stay fine and dry.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. 0ur headlines today — the united states backs supplying fighterjets to ukraine for its war with russia — a significant shift in international policy. the announcement was made at the g7 summit injapan, and welcomed by international leaders including prime minister, rishi sunak. large areas of northern italy remain on high alert, after flooding kills 1a people and thousands are left homeless. dreading the drop — it's a crucial weekend in the premier league, with four teams battling to avoid the final two relegation places.