this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak with the headlines. ukraine's military are reporting significant progress in their counter—offensive against russia's invasion. they say they have managed to break

through key russian defences near the southeastern city of zaporizhzhia. one general has told a british newspaper that extensive minefields had blocked advancing troops for several weeks. president zelensky announces he's replacing his defence minister oleksii reznikov, saying a new approach is needed, 18 months after russia invaded. the chancellor says the government will "spend what it takes" to keep england's schoolchildren safe from crumbling concrete. more than 100 schools have been forced to close buildings because they contain a type of concrete that has a lifespan of about 30 years. the labour leader sir keir starmer is expected to reshuffle his shadow cabinet tomorrow as mps return to westminster from their summer break. there is much speculation over what role sir keir may give his deputy leader angela rayner.

now on bbc news, the travel show. from tiny fairy penguins to taking the show on the road — one of the world's most spectacular ecosystems, and maybe the worst customer service experience you might ever endure, all in the name of fun. what is this? i'm not playing charades right now. use your big girl words. this week, we're in australia. it's been a while now since australia officially reopened its borders to tourists

and it's been so good to see so many people heading there. and today, we'll be looking back at some of my favourite travel show moments from the country i still call home. of course, australia is a vast country and we can't possibly attempt to cover the whole nation injust this one programme, but hopefully, we'll give you a flavour. one of my favourite stories saw me back in my home state of victoria way back in 2016, when i headed to phillip island to see the efforts that were being made to look after what were undoubtedly some of the cutest penguins i've ever seen. it's a place that attracts millions of tourists every year and this year marks the 185th anniversary of a sea voyage that changed the world. it was december 1831 when charles darwin set off on the hms beagle to see sights that would lead to his radical

theory of evolution. and a key moment came when he visited australia, when he was struck by the oddness of the country's animals. kookaburra laughs. at the time darwin was exploring australia, there were ten penguin colonies all around phillip island, but by the early 1980s, there was only one left — here on the beautiful and very blustery summerland peninsula. a radical conservation effort was required, so, in 1985, the victorian state government began a mass buyback of land from people who were living on the peninsula, demolishing their houses and creating a largely human—free habitat for the penguins. it's a conservation effort that has continued to this day, thanks to phillip island nature parks — a not—for—profit organisation that carefully monitors the health of the penguin colony.

penguin squeaks. each day, researchers come outjust after dawn to check on the birds. morning, ladies! good morning! what are we doing here? we're checking penguin boxes to see who's home and how healthy they are. ok, so what's the process? so, i'll be taking the bird out, giving them a scan for a microchip, putting them in a bag and getting their weight. fantastic! do you want me to show you? yes! 0h! 0k, there we go. she seems pretty placid, pretty calm. you see, she's been shoved in the bag. some of them can be. oh, no. there you go. most of the time they are quite aggressive. they are wild animals, so they can be very aggressive. 0k. so, she is 1150, so she is a very good weight. there you go. growls. 0h, go ahead. they even offered me the chance to help. i was not going to pass up an opportunity to get up close

and personal with a penguin. so, scan him... squeaks. oh, well, i'll hold on to him. thanks to the penguin attack. squeaks. great. oh, i'm sorry. i'm sorry. we'll be really quick. and i can report that these little guys are not as light as they look. he's a big boy! oh, look at him! look at him go! all of this cutting edge research doesn't come cheap all of this cutting—edge research doesn't come cheap, but luckily, these penguins have some powerfulfriends when it comes to funding — tourists. not surprisingly, a lot of people want to come and see this very cute penguin species and each year, just under 700,000 tourists come to the centre here, contributing around $400 million to the state economy. now, while attracting so many visitors no doubt provides an economic boost, but it also presents a challenge. how do you host thousands of people

here every night without making life unbearable for the little penguins? certainly, there are some challenges with an attraction such as this. the penguins are our number one priority, of course. without the penguins, we don't have an attraction, so there's no point in not looking after them. some of the measures include these boardwalks, which allow the birds to walk freely beneath, and no photography at all as flashes can damage sensitive penguin eyes. and no photography at all, as flashes can damage sensitive penguin eyes. to light the way, there are soft yellow led lights — just the right colour for minimal impact. the time to see penguins is at dusk, when scores of them come out from the sea and make their way to burrows on the hillside. this penguin parade draws most of the visitors here, and it's not hard to see why.

crowd coos. oh, they're so cute! despite all the challenges, the future certainly looks bright for the little penguins. if all of these researchers and tourists have anything to say about it, phillip island's smallest residents will be around and very well protected for a long time to come. well, i really enjoyed spending time with those penguins down in victoria, but there are so many different landscapes and experiences to explore across australia. so, let's set our compass for the dead centre of the country and look back at the time when henry golding headed to alice springs. henry: if you drop the marker right in the middle of australia,

you'd probably land not too far off this point right here. north about 1500km, you're going to reach darwin. head over south same amount, you'll reach adelaide. and in that direction, as the crow flies 2500km, you're going to reach sydney. the remoteness of the town means that it's not a common stop on the australian tourism trail with numbers far below those of rival towns in australia. between 2007 and 2013, visits by international tourists to the northern territory fell quite drastically year on year, down by nearly a quarter. the high cost of internal flights has been blamed, but in the town of alice springs, fear of crime has also been a big factor in putting people off. but numbers are starting to creep back up. part of that fight back here in alice springs is all to do with this.

yes, alice springs has launched a plan to turn itself into a world—class mountain biking hub. the combination of beautiful landscapes and fantastic weather has made the trails around alice springs a local favourite for years, but the town wants to attract more more international visitors. the territory hopes to bring in nearly $70 million a year through biking tourism. ow! clarke petrick from outback cycling leads tours throughout the trails here. there's some of the best riding in australia is here. there's 200km of beautiful, natural single track that you just don't find anywhere else. mountain biking is a key component of the adventure tourism market, which is growing. people are less sedentary and don't want to just view these sites, they really want to interact with them, experience them, and challenge themselves. we have amazing trail already. the environment lends itself to really good single trail — lots of small rides, lots of challenging rock gardens — but now, we're just really going to market that, show people what's available, let people find this undiscovered

mountain biking scene. tourism bosses want alice springs to gain international mountain biking association ride centre status. and they've developed a five—year master plan to try and achieve it. alongside mountain biking, the town is trying to improve its image and reinvent itself for the tourist market. and helping tourists understand more about the unique outback environment is another way the town is shaking up its image. the earth sanctuary was set up by former neighbours star dan falzon and with his family he teaches visitors about the outback. and with his family, he teaches visitors about the outback. dan, what are we up to? what are we doing? ijoined dan to make some damper — a traditional aboriginal bush recipe for bread that's made with their newly created beer — the red centre devil. i hear this is the first craft beer in central australia? it is the first craft beer in central australia at the moment. it's also the only beer that we have in central australia.

so, craft beer is becoming really popular around the world. the difference with this one is that we've infused some of our beautiful fruits that grow here on the property. they�* re called quandong, they're a bit of bush tucker out here. really high in vitamin c, just a really small fruit with a large nut, which we call a brain in there. but we collect the fruits and we can make chutneys out of it. beautiful syrups which you can go and desserts and all sorts of stuff. pour your beer in there. the recipe for making damper is incredibly simple. a bit of beer in first, self—rising flour and some raisins. mine is not too far, and yours is getting there. that looks good. that's perfect. so, as long as there's enough flour in it that saves, it's getting a little bit burnt in there. that's lovely, mate. well done. after 45 minutes in the fire, the damper was ready to eat, and dan and his team prepared a feast of bush tucker for me to enjoy, including camel, kangaroo and croc. i have to say, the damper didn't taste half bad. and what we do is

we just dip that in. and as you've done there, dip it in some beautiful virgin olive oil. and with some wattle seed, some outback wattle seed dukkah. this is amazing. it's fantastic. this is really good. it's lovely to be in a place like central australia, very, very ancient environment that can draw upon the beautiful, rare and exotic foods that come from here. and they can help you along the way and add to a wonderful journey around this great country. for sure. cheers. thank you. great effort. still to come on this week's show, climate change versus conservation along the great barrier reef. and we visit a sydney restaurant where the customer is never right. now, the great barrier reef is the world's largest coral reef, but this magnificent marvel of nature is facing threats from overtourism, pollution

and climate change. mike corey visited the reef back in 2019 to meet a remarkable woman who's dedicated her life to saving this unique ecosystem. mike: around 10% of all fish species live here. as a diver, there aren't many places that can beat it. due to increased water temperatures there's been several mass bleaching events here on the great barrier reef. 2016 and 2017, especially. couple that with a severe tropical cyclone, and up to 80% of the reef was affected. for myself, an ocean lover, it's very worrying. but there are stretches, like here on the southern part, that still thrive. schools of fish, rays, sharks and turtles are all abundant. i'm here to meet some of the people

who've devoted their lives to keeping it that way. how perfect is that? billions of little, tinyjewels. they were chromis? blue—green chromis. oh, yeah. like little swirling jewels in the ocean. yeah, it's incredible down there, rachael, wow. rachaeljones has worked in these waters for 18 months now. the marine park authority have rewarded her efforts by giving her master reef guide status. so, tell me what the health of the reef we saw down there today. it's very healthy. it's just so much diversity here. i mean, that up there suggested 900 years old, so it's just coral that's died off and built up over time. wow. what are some of the main threats facing the great barrier reef? so, we're all aware of the threats of the reef, you know, the rising sea surface temperatures, ocean acidification. we're all aware of it. but we need as many people as we can to see the great barrier reef because they're going to fall in love with it, as you have, and then they go home and protect

the great barrier reef and all the reefs in the world. but then if more people are coming here, there's more people flying and therefore more carbon emissions. isn't that bad for the reef? we need as many people as we can to see the reef. and, you know, they can choose sustainable options. and every person that visits the great barrier reef pays an environmental levy. so they're playing a part every time they come. rachael is based on heron island, about 2 hours boat ride from gladstone on the queensland coast. there's a resort and a research station built on the site of an old turtle soup factory. these days, people here want their wildlife protected rather than liquidised. so, andy, exactly how big is the great barrier reef? it's immense. i mean, it's about the same surface area as germany, 2300 kilometres in length, thousands of reefs, hundreds of islands. massive.

it sounds massive. it must be hard to survey the entire thing then. yeah, so they reckon that 40% of the reef hasn't been surveyed. that much? so, from a from a conservation perspective, so massive, and imagine how... the logistics you would require in order to do the whole the whole reef would be, you know, immense. andy's the brains behind earth hour. that's 60 minutes every year when businesses and landmarks turn off their lights to raise awareness of climate change. here we are. now, though, he's turned his attention to the reef, and is convinced education is the key to its survival. so, what we're going to show you now is reef tracks. reef tracks. which is something that we've already launched and started to show the animals that have got satellite tags that are out on the reef. wow. yeah, yeah, yeah. so, this is a... green turtle? yeah, green turtle. tiger shark. whale shark. this is about to show you,

show you a whale shark. this is the first whale shark ever been tagged on the great barrier reef — and it lost its tag after about 4000 kilometres. but it went all the way up the reef, then out into the coral sea and then up into the solomon sea. one night a year, the coral simultaneously release millions of eggs and sperm into the waters. it looks like a massive underwater snowstorm. professor harrison has set about capturing that spawn and relocating it to areas that need it most. ok, what's the plan? 0k, mike. so, what we're going to do is i'm going to ask you to take these calipers. 0k. and just go down and measure the coral. he measures the new coil regularly and has found that it's been thriving. but he's also found that after three years, it's sexually reproductive, triggering a domino effect of regeneration. can you tell us a bit

about the breakthrough you've made? yeah, so what we've been doing is some really exciting research. one of the innovations that we've just trialled in the philippines is using an underwater robot, which we've called luna, the larval bot. and luna is helping us deliver literally millions of coral larvae onto really degraded reef systems. and the really exciting news is that we've got to hectare scales, which means we can start to think about large scale restoration using this larval technique on reefs all around the world, including the great barrier reef. this is just part of the solution. we have to restore coral populations, but we also have to manage climate change. well, that's almost it for this week. but before we go, let's pay a repeat visit to karen's diner, dubbed the rudest restaurant in the world. it's staffed by actors who try their very best to make sure

that you have a terrible time — all in the name of fun. i'll sign off here with a polite goodbye, and leave you with a very hungry jackie wakefield in sydney, who really had no idea what she'd let herself in for. see you next time. what do we want? let's go. i'm not getting any younger. is your name chad?! ugh! _ 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. laughs all right, we're good. 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? 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 do they call you? b1. what else? santa claus, grandpa. and mum, what did you get? they criticised my clothes. 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. it's like some families just have a really, really good time. like, 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 carrot! all right, you don't need to shout. do you encourage that rudeness back? absolutely. it's so fun when people banter back. it's not very fun when you sit there and they're like and theyjust just like, take it. it's really fun when they throw it back, especially if they're like, 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. 0k, who got the burger

with sweet potato fries? of course, the staff needs 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? i'm 11. you look five. don't be smart with me, granddad. back home in ireland, i knew when i was come to australia i was like, i need to get into karen. 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 at the back table. go sit down. quick, quick. talk me through what it feels like when you're about to approach a table. that's so rude of you. you have to almost spot straight away what a table 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 like a little bit nervous because you're almost doing a performance every time. but once you just 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. 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. that's very karen of you. literally, it's like sometimes i have to try to separate the character from myself. you're not even wearing proper shoes! how are you going to pay for this whole meal?

hello there. if we look at recent summers, we normally see temperatures reached the mid to high 30s, even higher than last year when we got to 110.3. but this year, we've only had 32.2 degrees celsius as the highest temperature, a figure that was also matched, actually, a couple of years ago. that's not that high, really, for a peak summer temperature and it's going to be challenged over the next few days. we'll probably get quite close to that kind of figure because we've got a september heat wave just around the corner, with temperatures set to reach the low 30s. the hottest day is probably wednesday and thursday. and over the next few days, just like we had sunday morning, there will be some mist and fog patches around. but you can also expect lots of clear blue skies for most of the day, with lots of warm sunshine to come as well, as you'll see in this forecast. now, the change to dry weather with lots of high temperatures and lots of sunshine is all down to this area of high pressure that's overalljust to the east of the uk.

it's this that's really settling our weather down. weather fronts just draped around the far north of the high pressure, pestering shetland, potentially with an odd bit of rain, but otherwise, i think a brighter day for monday across orkney, highland, the hebrides. but the best of the sunshine really across the rest of the uk, where temperatures will reach the mid 20s across parts of scotland and northern ireland and we'll peak at around 27 degrees or so in the warmest parts of england and wales, so very warm weather for september. and as we go through monday night, you'll see the clear skies back, a few mist and fog patches around, weak weather fronts bringing some thicker clouds to the far north of scotland. suppose you could squeeze out an odd bit of drizzle from that, but essentially, it's going to be quite a mild kind of night and a warmish start to the day on tuesday as well. that front, well, probablyjust a lump of cloud really affecting orkney and maybe shetland during tuesday. away from that, it's sunshine across the board and it's going to be another very warm day. temperatures reaching again

in the mid 20s in the warmest parts of scotland and northern ireland. 26s, 27s across england and wales, and in that september sunshine feeling very warm. now, there may well be a little bit more in the way of mist and fog around for wednesday morning, but especially around some of our coastal regions, maybe through the irish sea, maybe a few patches affecting some of the north sea coast as well. but for many of us, it's another hot and sunny day. temperatures continue to rise, could see 30 degrees across parts of east anglia, southeast england and outside chance even of a 31. heading into thursday, i think there's going to be a little bit more in the way of high cloud across the north west of the uk, so there'll be a tendency for any sunshine to become increasingly hazy. and you mightjust squeeze out another shower across western areas. for most, though, it's another dry one on thursday with plenty more sunshine. 2a or so for glasgow and newcastle, 27 in cardiff and birmingham and a 29 in london. by friday, again, there's a tendency for more of that low cloud, mist and fog to fill up some of our irish sea coast,

maybe a few patches of rain working into the hebrides and the highlands as well. temperatures generally coming down an odd degree or so across the northwest of the country, but still very hot across england and wales for the time of year, 26—28 degrees celsius quite widely. and the fine, dry, sunny, warm weather should continue into saturday, it's probably sunday when we start to see a more significant change and a breakdown in our weather pattern as it turns cloudier with some rain around and those temperatures fall back closer to average for the time of year. bye for now.

welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm mariko oi. the headlines... ukrainian generals report significant progress in the counter—offensive against russia's invasion. a powerful typhoon is battering southern taiwan. it's the biggest storm to strike the island for four years. after a deadly summer of wildfires around the world, scientists say climate change is making them more intense and widespread.

and almost a year on from the death of queen elizabeth, we look at how best to commemorate britain's longest reigning monarch. live from our studio in singapore, this is a bbc news. it is newsday. thank you for being with us. we begin in ukraine, where the country's generals are reporting significant progress in the counter—offensive against russia's invasion. they say their troops have breached the first line of russian defences in the south, near zaporizhzhia. general oleksandr tarnavsky told the observer newspaper that extensive minefields had blocked troops for several weeks, leaving them vulnerable to russian shelling and drone attacks. but the general has said that painstaking mine clearance has now allowed his forces to advance, and they expect to face far weaker