The us in the uk have expressed deep concern that russia has amassed Tens Of Thousands of troops at the border with the ukraine. The Foreign Secretary discussed the threat in liverpool. Here is our Diplomatic Correspondent james langdale. Russian forces on manoeuvre near the border with the ukraine, at least according to the russian government, which says this is alljust regular training. But western governments are not so sure. They estimate more than 100,000 Russian Troops are now massed on the border, enough, they claim, for an invasion. That is something these ministers say they are determined to prevent. The Foreign Secretary and g7 counterparts want to act together and put on a show of unity that russian aggression would be wrong and would come at a high price. It would be wrong and would come at a high price at a high price. It would be extremely at a high price. It would be extremely serious at a high price. It would be extremely serious if at a high price. It would bei extremely serious if russia were to take that action. It would be a strategic mistake, and there would be severe consequences for russia. And what were doing this weekend working with like minded allies to spell that out. The options these ministers are considering are mainly economic sanctions against russia, sanctions diplomats describe as being of a completely different order. So could they threaten to stop this, the new gas pipeline between russia and germany . Fully laid, but yet to open. Abandoning this would hit russia hard, but europes economy would suffer too. Tomorrow the g7 Foreign Ministers are expected to issue what is described as a forceful statement warning against russian aggression. They wont spell out specific sanctions, but diplomats say all options are on the table. Certainly today, the message was as united as the greeting was safe. Today, the great democracies that have been gathering here have sent a strong message of support to ukraine. Well, of course were all very concerned with the military build up at the ukrainian border. Thats why were calling for de escalation. They are all, one minister said, in deterrent mode. The question is whether the messages being heard in moscow. On that, much depends. James landale, news, liverpool. Now on bbc news, it is time for The Travel Show with Christa Larwood. This week on The Travel Show heading back for the first time in over two years. Lets go to gate this aussie girl is finally going home. Laying on a Special Treat as a thank you to thailands monkeys. And how the aftermath of the Second World War helped to create one of berlins most famous takeaway snacks. But first, with the Christmas Holiday season beginning, many will be Crossing Theirfingers for a return to something more like normality when compared to this time last year. Particularly those expats heading home to family. And for australians who have been abroad during the pandemic, which includes myself, reuniting with the family back home this year will be especially significant. There are few things you have to do to go to australia. First of all you need to be eligible to go to australia, it is not completely open, you have to be double vaccinated and be able to prove it, and then you get proof of that, you get an australia travel declaration, very similar to the Arrival Document you have to do the most places across the world now, and you have to do. One of these lovely pcr tests. So i will be dealing with that soon, youre not recording it. Laughs. I dont mind it at all, this is like an extra bit of my passport at the moment as far as i am concerned. So it went from a situation where you could easily travel around the world at the drop of a hat, to. You need to have a Long Term Plan and a lot of money to get into your own home country as an australian. I think the first reaction was shock, like everyone around the world when the pandemic hit, and also feeling quite grateful when australia did shut its borders initially, because it felt like, well, everything is being done to keep my family and friends safe, and surely this is a sensible precaution. But it was this low lying kind of stress because it meant that if something happened to someone at home, instead of being 2a hours away, 36 hours away maximum, now you just couldnt get home. It wasnt possible unless you had very deep pockets. I am originally from the uk but i have lived in australia now for a number of years, i am married to an australian, we are all australian citizens, we have four kids. We came on holiday initially in early march for a three week holiday to visit family in the uk, and we have been trapped here ever since, stranded. The main challenge is that we have a small house and there are six of us, so we are filming this, where we actually sleep, this is my dads study in the shed in the garden. And the uncertainty of not knowing when that would stop has been particularly difficult. When the australians decided to put limitations on the number of people arriving because it put pressures on quarantine, the airlines have actually been forced to discriminate against the economy passengers, and so we have actually been removed from a couple of flights. We have done everything in our financial means to get home, but werejust not able to. Well, we did actually get back home eventually, here in tasmania. We had a three week holiday to the uk, which actually became a 6 month extended stay. We feel so blessed to be home, even here a year on, to be back here in hobart after such a time. We had instances in australia where some Passenger Planes were carrying maybe two, four or five passengers into australia. Thats how bad it got. Surprisingly, it usually supported, and for a long, long time, there is polling that shows consistently around two thirds or three quarters of the australian public actually did support these very, very strict International Border bans, even when it meant locking out their compatriots. Thankfully after a late start, australia really did a fantasticjob in terms of getting vaccinated. A bit of a heart. Kind of. I wont be working as a barista anytime soon. Victoria, My Home State has already reached 90 vaccination, which. It is quite emotional for me because. It has meant i can go home. So. Theres going to be a lot of tears over the next few days. This is very exciting, very exciting. Although i have completely lost the knack of how to pack. I used to be like pow, pow, i could be packed in 15 minutes, and now it is like, what is the weather going to be like . Hot is the answer to that. I have to wait while my test gets checked, but im like i just want to go. There has been a bit of a curveball in the last few hours. Concern mounts as countries around the world ban flights from southern africa. A third case of the omicron variant. A confirmed case of omicron variant. I have received notification that the quarantine has been reimposed to some extent, so it was quarantine free travel, now it is 72 hours of quarantine upon arrival, and having to be isolated from my family, so the joyous reunion is maybe off the cards. I dont really know what is going to happen, how i will be isolated within my family home, if thats possible, do i need to get a hotel. I also need to get a permit to enter the state of victoria, which despite my research i have just found out about. So it is getting a bit complicated. I guess, thejoys of travelling during covid. Well, lets go to gate. Oh man, i am so excited i dont even care if i have to quarantine, i dont care. Thats me, of course. I havejust checked in, and i havejust seen the melbourne on the sign. Welcome aboard qantas flight 10 down to darwin and onwards to melbourne. Just about to head off, and i am so excited. Jackpot on a long haulflight, three seats to myself yes to date, the overall death toll in australia from coronavirus is just above 2,000. So they have done extraordinarily well in protecting life. Technically, the issue of stranded australians, or stranded aussies as it became known colloquially, that should have abated by now. Although there are still government repatriation flights being put on by the australian government, because there are some places in the world where people didnt get vaccines that will be authorised or recognised by australia. It makes it very challenging for them to get on commercial flights. I havent left russia in two years coming up to february. I have given up on christmas, i think i will be lucky to get back by february next year if things go well for me. I have just been living this Limbo Existence where i dont know what next month is going to bring. I have been living with a constant dagger over my head of the russian government just saying your visa is up, and i dont know what the hell i will do them, where do i go if that is the situation . Because what country wants me at the current moment with everyone having covid, i am not properly vaccinated, and i have a status where i dont know when my own government will let me back into my country. About 15 minutes away from landing now. After a very long flight. And a quick stop in darwin. We hope you have enjoyed your service on board today, we do look forward to seeing you on board our aircraft again very soon. Laughs. Guess whos out of quarantine yay iam out iam free i am out of quarantine at long last, and it has given me a bit of a chance to reflect on what has meant to come home. I missed you guys my word, we are lucky to live in a time where, in usual circumstances, you canjump on a plane, and 2a hours later be on the other side of the world, in my case i can be home. And i think the pandemic has sort of shown me that in past years i have really taken that for granted, it feels normal to be able to do that. And it is not necessarily something to be taken for granted, and i think Going Forward i will feel fortunate every time i get on that plane. Aunty christa you are so big still to come on the show. We are on the hunt for berlins best currywurst. Eaten by everyone from Homeless People to the chancellor. And we are in thailand to see a Monkey Festival that has been helping bring back tourists to the region. What can i say . It is great to be home. But now were turning around and heading straight back to europe where sausages and curry sauce may not seem the most natural flavour combination but in berlin, currywurst, as it is known, has become a street food favourite. So we headed to the german capital to find out more about this dish and its surprising origins. In the � 50s and the � 60s, currywurst was one of the fast foods easily available and everyone grew up with currywurst. Napoli has a pizza of spanish descent, paella, its literally part of the culture of the city. Voila. Hello, My Name Is Laszlo and welcome to curry 36, the most famous currywurst stall in berlin. It is easy. You just get a sausage, cut it in six or eight pieces. And then you add tomato sauce on top. And top it with curry powder and spices and that is it. You also need a fork. It is that simple. Grazie mille. Bon appetito, ciao. We have customers from all over europe from asia, from the states, basically from everywhere. Thank you for your patience and sorry for the inconvenience. Enjoy it, have a nice day, youre welcome. Luna e l� autre is con carne. I am actually only able to sell currywurst in a lot of different languages. Im not fluent in italian or spanish or whatever. Every region claims to have invented currywurst. The only true story is how it happened in berlin. After the Second World War herta heuwer had a small food store and she always saw the gis eating out, having steak and ketchup. She wanted to replicate that but it was not possible to have a steak. It was really expensive after the war. And so she just tried it with local ingredients and one day she mixed up curry and ketchup by accident and tried to refine it with more spices, she put on a sausage, customers tried it, they loved it and that was the birth of currywurst. There is currywurst with casing. It is a smoked sausage, a bit more salty, a bit more on the savoury side. And the local thing is currywurst without casing. It is a boiled sausage that is fried afterwards and just a little more softer and tender. Currywurst without casing, it was born out of necessity because after the Second World War, berlin was isolated, it was in eastern germany, so we did not have enough casing for sausages. There was no way to get the casing into berlin. It was just too expensive. One of the things that stands out is the purity of the ingredients, the tomato sauce is as important as the sausages. Basically, it is what we are famous for. This is only about 200 litres of it and on a regular day we go through a ton of it in all three restaurants. It is 87 tomato, some salt, sugar, spices, that is it. Some curry sauces have less than 50 tomato. That is not a standard that we try to achieve. Currywurst in berlin is eaten by everyone from Homeless People to the chancellor. I think it is important. I think it is pretty important, it transcends social classes. Everyone eats cu rrywu rst. And that is a taste of berlin. I would say it is down to earth and easy going. But have a try yourself. Next up we are in thailand where tourists have gradually been returning after the government launched a quarantine free Travel Scheme in november. And it isjust in time for the lopburi Monkey Festival. Once a year the resident macaques get to dine like kings. On the most elaborate displays of fruits and vegetables lovingly crafted by locals behind the scenes. We prepare the fruits. We have many, many kinds of fruits. Tropical food, mostly. Banana, papaya, grape, mangosteen, longan, mango and all kinds of vegetables. And we learn every year what they like most. We just know that they like durian the most. The feast costs over 100,000 baht thats over £2000 and is mainly sponsored by the lopburi inn, a local hotel. The owner started it 33 years ago, offering a fruit buffet to the monkeys as a thank you for bringing in customers. And it has grown in size, taking on different themes each year. The monkey is an important symbol in buddhist tradition and as such they are revered and treated very well. But a word of caution. You will be bargaining for more than just a selfie. These longtailed monkeys are very comfortable around people. That was the first time. It was a bit afraid but it was ok because it was worse for other people than for me so it was ok. And here we are. The moment they have all been waiting for. Because of covid 19 there has been an two year gap since the last festival and in general the pandemic has been hard on locals and these guys. The city is home to thousands of monkeys and during the lockdown a lack of tourists and locals out on the streets resulted in frequent Monkey Battles over scraps of food but things are looking up. They like the traditional dessert this is made from egg and he likes durian the most. More than 100,000 travellers took advantage of the thailand pass in november. It means not seem like a lot but that is as high as the number of arrivals from january to october combined. I can see that tourists are having fun, there are a lot of thai tourists here. Families and little kids. Theyre having fun, but less people because of covid 19 but i think the event brings joy to lots of people. Well, now their bellies are full and locals are free to take the wheelchairs. 2000 kilos of food were prepared for the weekend festivities but nothing is going to waste. The leftovers are ta Ken To Monkeys Living in the Mountain Temples outside the city. Well, that is all we have time for on the programme this week. Join us next week when rajan will be spreading some christmas cheer and revisiting some of our favourite stories from a year that, well, lets face it, has not been the best for travel. I have to be honest with you, that was a little bit frightening. Were in an all electric revamp of an iconic british motor. Did you see that . this is wild. 11 lions. This is wild. Until next time, from me, Christa Larwood at home finally here in australia and the rest of The Travel Show team it is goodbye and we will see you next time. Hello there. The second half of the weekend is going to remain fairly unsettled. A lot of cloud around on sunday but what you will notice, particularly in wales, is it will be very mild indeed. So the north they will be abrasive rain tied in with this area of low pressure, keeping a watch on this area of low pressure, it is going deepen as its guards passed the north west of the uk to bring jails, even severe gales, north west of the uk to bring jails, even severe gates, to the far north west of scotland. But it will bring some rain to the north and west and it will scoop up very mild error across much of the country, particularly for england and wales. We start sunday on a rather cloudy night. Some missed and low cloud, a bit of drizzle as well, some brightness breaking into the afternoon. Particularly across eastern areas, we have but rebound pushing across areas of the rsc and eventually pushing up the rsc and eventually pushing up into central parts of scotland by the end of the day. North of here, the far north east of scotland will be quite cool, but very mild for the time of year further south, could see 1a or 15 degrees. Sunday evening of sunday night, we see this deepening load bring a swath of heavy rain and gales to the far north west of Northern Ireland and certainly for western scotland, especially the hebrides, that is where we will see the strongest of the winds. It will push into the north of scotland by the end of the night, leaving a legacy of blustery showers and slightly cooler air. England and wales will continue to see this Weather Front bringing outbreaks of rain, particularly across wales and in towards the south west. Here is going to be mild, it is looking a bit cooler further north. For monday, we start the new week off on a bright note across the northern half of the country, here we will have some blustery showers, wintry on the hills, england and wales will be played by this Weather Front so it could be quite cloudy and quite wet in parts of wales and into northern england, i think the South East Quadrant could be a bit drier, perhaps a little bit brighter. Very mild here, a bit fresherfurther north. But Weather Front clears away from england and wales on tuesday, we start to see High Pressure building on the south, but you will notice low pressure to the north of the uk. That will bring wet and windy weather for a uk. That will bring wet and windy weatherfor a time, uk. That will bring wet and windy weather for a time, but after wednesday, certainly thursday and friday, it looks like that area of High Pressure will wind out, Push Northwards and clear the wet and windy weather away from the uk, and weather away from the uk, and we will all be in the mild hour. This upcoming week is looking pretty mild for this time of year. We will start off unsettled, particularly in the north, then it will settle down. It is likely to be really cloudy with limited sunshine and some mist and fog overnight. Hello and welcome to bbc news, im simon pusey. President biden has promised federal aid after tornadoes devastated at least five us states, flattening whole towns. The worst hit state is kentucky, where the governor, andy beshear, says at least 70 people have been killed, many of them in a Candle Factory in the town of mayfield. There have been reports of deaths too in arkansas, missouri, tennessee and illinois, where six amazon workers have been confirmed dead after the roof of their warehouse collapsed. Our North America correspondent nomia iqbal reports