this is bbc news, the headlines: senior us republicans have condemned the fbi's unprecedented search of donald trump's florida home on monday as an abuse of power. the former president was not at mar—a—lago at the time. the white house insists it only learned about the raid from media reports. south korea has experienced its heaviest rainfall in 80 years, with floodwaters submerging roads in the capital seoul. at least eight people have died, including three who were living in a basement apartment. the south korean president has called an emergency meeting to discuss our national strategy for emergency relief and flooding counted measures.

one of the greatest ever tennis players, serena williams, has said, she's planning to bring down the curtain on her illustrious career. the 23—time grand slam champion, said she didn't like the word retirement, but would be evolving away from tennis after the us open. now on bbc news, the travel show. in the past few decades, the skyline of doha, qatar's capital city, has changed beyond recognition. the discovery of oil in the 1930s, and then natural gas in the early 1970s, marked a seismic change in the fortunes of qatar. and at a turbocharged pace, qatar's hopes, dreams and buildings have risen high above the desert sands.

since this small, but mighty gulf nation won the right to host the fifa world cup back in 2010, it has spent billions on state—of—the—art stadia and infrastructure. and with the first match set to kick off this november, all eyes will be on qatar as it makes history, becoming the first ever middle eastern country to host the world cup. and i am here to meet some real players, both on and off the pitch. i asked someone here how much each of these were worth, and his answer was "priceless". this is the perspective that

players will have as they walk out onto the game for the first match of the tournament here at the al bayt stadium. and this may be historic, but for some it is also a controversial world cup. what we sometimes suffer from as a country, that people actually would makejudgements without actually listening to the other side, or actually try to search for the truth before they make their own opinion.

it's hard to believe how far and how fast qatar has developed. but this is a place that has always relished defying expectations. roughly the same size as yorkshire in the united kingdom, qatar is a mainly desert landscape, surrounded by the gulf on three sides. it hasn't been the easiest of places to prosper. historically it was the arduous task of pearl—diving that was qatar's main economy — until, that is, the discovery of oil and gas. oil workers arriving in the 1940s brought with them a game to play in their spare time. that sport has now brought the focus of the world to qatar. and that game was the beautiful game — football. as hosts, qatar qualified automatically for the world cup. they will make their first ever

appearance at the tournament. almoez ali is a striker for the qatar national team, and he hopes to become a household name when the competition kicks off this november. he says qatar may be seen as underdogs, but thinks this is a side who should not be written off just yet.

in december 2021, qatar hosted the fifa arab cup. using the new world cup stadia, this competition acted as a warm—up for this year's big tournament. and the qatar national team actually won the third—place play—off. from a personal level, what was it like to play in the arab cup? when qatar first won the world cup bid, critics pointed to its lack of footballing tradition. but almoez ali believes the dream of playing in a world cup is a universal

dream for every footballer across the world. but what else does qatar have to offer? well, you don't have to drive far out of the city of doha for the roads to end and the sands to begin. explorers from across time talk about the arabian desert as a place of hardship.

some, like the 1930s adventurer bertram thomas, even went as far as to call it the "abode of death". qatar had a long and proud history before discovering oil and gas, and it was learning to cope with this hot and harsh environment that helped to shape the country for those who call the desert home. living here, they carved out their culture, instilled their traditions and created the nomad lifestyle. people who would come to be known as the bedouin.

temperatures can reach as high as 50 degrees celsius in qatar during the summer months. in the winter, when the weather is cooler, mohammad al—ghethani and his family build traditional bedouin tents in the desert to get back to their roots. why is it important for you to do this? so, qatar today is very different to how it was when the bedouins were, like you were talking, were in the desert. how can bedouin culture connect with modern qatar?

if it's a real taste of bedouin culture you want to experience, thenjanuary hosts a month—long falcon festival called marmi. if you had to compare being a spectator at a football match and a spectator here, how similar are they?

this is more exciting than football? yes.

bite it with my mouth? yes. wow, so i put my mouth here... close it, yes. and same one, right hand... laughs. 0k, again, again. after the birds retire from competition, they are kept by their falconer or released into the wild to breed. during their career, a top falcon can be worth up to1 million qatari riyals, which works out roughly at £200,000.

bite, bite, more, more! 0k. finished. done it! i am a successful falcon handler! how do you know that the falcon is happy and healthy? this one, same as my son. this one is the same one from my family. i like this one, i give him everything, i take care about this falcon. when he is sick i take him to the emergency hospital or something, to be checked this one, what has happened. because i take care about this falcon, the same i take care about my children.

after arriving back at the city of doha, it was as if i had spent too long in the hot desert sun. i was greeted with what seemed to be a mirage. a herd of almost identical white arabian horses running around in front of me. i asked someone here how much each of these were worth, and his answer was "priceless". established by the ruling royal family, this world—class equestrian centre, al shaqab, is built on the site of a battle which took place in 1893 between the bedouins and the ottomans. the battle would eventually lead to qatar's independence and was won thanks to the speed and bravery

the vision of this place is simple — to breed and train arabian horses in their homeland to win a whole host of equestrian competitions across the globe. these purebreds, like al sakr here, are essentially treated like sporting superstars. nothing but the best for them! across the water from the corniche�*s towering skyscrapers is the souq waqif. its mud—rendered buildings and labyrinthine streets act as a juxtaposition to the state—of—the—art construction projects happening around it. but this is the beating heart of doha. over the centuries, merchants would sail straight into this place where the sea lapped at its stone streets, or they crossed miles of desert to meet others and sell their wares, and that's the role it still plays today. and even the camels have stuck around!

this place is as traditional as it gets in qatar. in a conservative and somewhat male—dominated society, chef shams al-qassabi is a trailblazer. shams is the souq waqif�*s first ever businesswoman and she made her mark by opening her restaurant, shay al—shoomos, selling authentic qatari cuisine.

0h! you can taste the lemon. mmm. mmm! spicy! mmm! wow! strong! it has a tang. oh, i like this! oh, if you're giving me some more, i will have some more! thank you. the taste is so distinctive. her food's pretty tasty, but don't just take my word for it — the walls of her restaurant are a who's who notjust of qatari culture, but international supermodels... gisele. ah, gisele, the supermodel? yes! ..hollywood stars... she is saying that this is my qatari mother. wow. ..and football legends. david beckham. this is number one! very good. he very, very nice. very good, yes. and friendly. is he handsome?

gentleman. is he handsome? you would think he's handsome? nice! his manners. yes, this is very... she is like, "why are you asking about this?" i'm very shallow! i'm like this. i just care about looks! the world cup stadia are a perfect example of where old meets new, from designs inspired by boats from qatar's pearl fishing days to a whole stadium made to look like a giant traditional headdress. and the opening match of the competition will be played here, at the 60,000—seater

al bayt stadium. this is the perspective the players will have as they walk out onto the game for the first match of the tournament here at the al bayt stadium. perfect, pristine conditions. it is inspired by the bedouin tent, and, like in the past, i mean, like, this is, i mean, usually people who are living in the desert, when they welcome their guest, you can see, i mean, they would host them, they would have, like, the bonfire and, you know, welcome them, and for us, i mean, like, choosing it to be the opening of the world cup, it has this symbolic, because this is where the arab usually would be welcoming their guest. the stadium has almost everything a fan or player could hope for. temperatures may be cooler when things kick off here in november, but in case it gets a bit too hot, there's air conditioning, notjust in the stands, but on the pitch itself. meaning that

the temperature on the pitch will be a very comfortable 19 to 21 degrees. one of the first things the players will see when they arrive here is this mural. look closely and you'll see it's made up of faces of workers who helped to build this stadium. qatari nationals make up less than 15% of the country's population, so the economy relies heavily on workers from abroad. and one dark cloud hanging over the build—up to this event has been press reports about the deaths of migrant workers involved in the construction of the world cup sites. and although the qatari authorities strongly dispute the figures, they say that the world cup has been a catalyst to push through reforms. looking at a young country, and even when you want to change policy and procedures, and even when you put the policy and procedures, the implementation of it,

it's a journey and you can see like there is progress happening when it comes to their accommodation, to their wage — protection of their wages, as well as, like, i mean now, i mean with the abolishing of the kafala law, people can actually change jobs and we have introduced like a new minimum wage in the country, so there has been progress. always actually take constructive criticism on board. there is more room to actually progress, but i mean, like, i do believe this is — will be one of the biggest social legacies of the world cup. they're expecting over a million fans to attend this year's world cup, but some people ask — will everybody be welcome? for us, i mean, like, everyone is welcome and what we actually ask people is to respect our culture and our tradition. i mean, public displays of affection, whether it's heterosexual or it was — or homosexual, it's something people frown upon here in qatar, so what we will ask people going to come and enjoy the game, and at the same time, actually respect the local custom and tradition of the country.

last year's arab cup proved that qatar knew how to host a major sporting event. but what about the fans who like to cheer on their team with a drink in hand? first, i mean, alcohol is not a part of our culture, but hospitality is. alcohol is available in a licensed hotel and during the tournament, there will be a designated area where people can — who would want to actually consume alcohol — can actually watch a football match and have a drink. away from the news reports is a whole nation of people waiting in anticipation to see what will happen when the biggest football tournament on earth arrives on qatar's shores later this year. and i, for one, want to know what it means

to those who call this country home.

hello. 0ur spell of largely dry and increasingly hot weather is set to continue for the rest of this week. over the next few days, we see those heatwave conditions building and hardly any rain in the forecast. just the far northwest of scotland, where we see a weather front close by, we'll see a little bit of rain, but for the rest of us, high pressure dominates. as that high pressure shifts its way slightly more towards the east, that will draw in this really hot air from the near continent, so particularly by the time we get

to thursday and friday, we'll see those temperatures soaring, particularly across a good part of england and wales. temperatures to start your wednesday morning between about 11—15 in our towns and cities, a touch lower in the countryside first thing. lots of hot sunshine on the cards for wednesday, that weather front bringing a bit more cloud to the far northwest, bit of rain for the western isles, perhaps. but temperatures in england, scotland and northern ireland in the mid—20s, but down towards the south and southeast, 30—31 degrees pretty widely. then, from thursday onwards, that's when that amber extreme heat warning kicks in across a good part of england and into eastern wales as well. but wherever you are, you can feel the heat and disruption due to the those high temperatures in terms of health problems, potentially transport problems as well. so, thursday, another hot, dry day away from the northwest of scotland, and temperatures widely in the mid—to—high 20s in the north, mid—30s in the south. 3a, possibly 35 degrees on thursday, could be even a degree or so hotter than that as we head on into friday. again, a bit more cloud and rain for the western isles, highlands, northern isles as well where it's a little bit cooler, but most of us baking in that hot sunshine, so the mid—20s to mid—30s during the course of friday. if we zoom into

the hottest spots — probably across parts of central and southern england, just into wales as well — somewhere here could see 36 degrees on friday. and looking towards the weekend, perhaps a degree or so hotter than that into saturday. so, warm sunshine once again lasting for many of us through the course of the weekend. we are hopeful that things will start to change a little bit later on sunday, particularly overnight into monday. a few thunderstorms developing across france, which could really do with the rainfall, and then they look like they will develop more widely across the uk, but still quite a lot of uncertainty at this stage about exactly when and if those thunderstorms are coming. but we're hopeful that, into next week, things will start to turn cooler with an increasing chance of rain. bye— bye.

welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: senior republicans condemn the fbi search of donald trump's florida home. the white house insists it only learned about it from media reports. moscow plays down a series of explosions which have shaken a russian military airfield in western crimea. president zelensky predicts ukraine will eventually recapture the peninsula. torrential rainfall leaves homes and roads submerged in the south korean capital — at least eight people were killed. away from the glitzy and upmarket neighbourhoods, nearby, there are still hundreds of koreans who are living in these basement apartments that are not safe. the dramatic effect

climate change is having on migration patterns, in the pacific rim —