welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: the us attorney general comes out fighting — defending the decision to search donald trump's florida home and the agents who carried it out. every day, they protect the american people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights. firefighters from across europe offer to help france — as it struggles to tackle "monster" wildfires near bordeaux. amid more shelling around the zaporizhzhia nuclear plant — the un security council meets on the crisis and calls for urgent access to the site.

and scientists in china are tracking a new animal—based virus that's infected at least several dozen people. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 7am in singapore and 7pm in the evening in washington, where the us attorney general, merrick garland, has defended thejustice department's decision to seek a search warrant for donald trump's residence at mar—a—lago earlier this week. mr garland said he had personally approved the move,

noting that upholding the rule of law meant applying the law evenly without fear or favour. he said the department ofjustice would make the warrant public, because of the substantial public interest. let me address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the fbi and justice department agents and prosecutors. i will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked. the men and women of the fbi and thejustice department are and the justice department are dedicated, patriotic public servants. every day, they protect the american people from violent crime, terrorism and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights. they do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. i am honoured to work alongside them. from the us department ofjustice, our north america correspondentjohn sudworth has more. well, in the week that we have had that news of the unprecedented search of a former president's home by the fbi, another highly

unusual intervention, a press conference by the attorney general merrick garland taking place in the building behind me, and in which he made it clear that he was going against long—established precedent by speaking out on an ongoing legal issue. his motivation — donald trump's own public statements and that full—barreled assault by the former president's supporters, in which they are accusing the fbi and mr garland's own department of engaging in politcised justice. mr garland said he was seeking to have the search warrant and the list of items taken from mr trump's home made public, something that will, in a way, put the ball firmly back in mr trump's court, because were he to oppose that motion, of course, it may look as if he has something to hide. there's been no real response from donald trump yet, other than a few social media posts in which he has, for example, accused the fbi of going through the former first lady's clothes during their search, but nothing engaging

with the substance itself and merrick garland's main point, which, far from an attack on the principles ofjustice, the search represented justice taking its true and rightful course. john sudworth reporting on that story for us. well, in the last hour, i spoke to donald ayer, who is a former united states deputy attorney general. he told me it is not standard practice for the us justice department to publicly and comment on ongoing investigations. we have a tradition which i think the british certainly understand, where we have great respect for the rights of the potentially accused, and so the practice that's almost completely uniform is that government investigators, fbi, people involved in investigating criminality, don't comment on the ongoing process.

the time comes, if it comes, when they are ready to bring charges, and then there's a public announcement, but generally speaking, there's not a discussion as it goes forward. the sense is, it's really quite unfair to people when the government isn't ready to step up and say, "we're going to charge you, we're going to prosecute you, we'll take you to trial if we need to," it's unfair to be talking about things you've heard and evidence you may be able to rely on, but you're not ready to go ahead. the usual practice is not to talk, but here we ran into — not surprisingly — an amazing situation of a huge amount of commentary and really misleading information as a result of this search. and republican politicians, in large numbers, were complaining, they were demanding an explanation, and lots of people who have tended over the years to believe things that

donald trump said, whether they were true or not, no doubt are influenced by that. so the response here was not the response of, "i'm going to tell you about what we know," the response was essentially a very quick statement indicating how the process works, something that would give reasonable people comfort, and then as you indicate, bottom line is, we're at a point here with this particular search that we're ready to let it be released if the court is willing, and... i'm so sorry tojump in, donald, butjust on that, what do you think that tells us, the fact that they are ready to make this public, in terms of the evidence that they might have? well, it only tells you something, i think, about the particular instance involving the search warrant. sometimes when you have an investigation going on, it's important to keep stuff quiet because it's secret and people would be disclosed, and there's bad things that might happen if

it were disclosed. obviously, this is not one of those situations, and so i think the department made thejudgment that the public�*s interest here in knowing what's going on outweighs any other considerations. so it essentially said, "look, we are happy to disclose this," which includes the warrants, the affidavit and the list of materials that were released, so i don't think it tells you, "oh, the government is ready to file charges against donald trump," i think it simply means that with regard to this particular search, they're perfectly happy to have the public see what went on. that was donald ayer there, former united states deputy attorney general, speaking to us a little earlier. heatwaves, wildfires and drought are continuing to affect large parts of europe. in the south—west of france, a thousand firefighters have been mobilized. rescue workers have described the blaze as a monster.

a number of european countries are sending equipment and help. it's prompted increasing concern about the effects of climate change, as our correspondent mark lowen reports. a cloak of fire shrouding south—west france. a landscape of beauty turned to horror... ..as flames tear through the gironde, destroying almost 7,000 hectares, fanned by winds, searing heat and france's worst drought on record. a tranquil village last week, a ghost town this one, with 10,000 people evacuated. firefighters and planes have come from across europe to help france manage a nightmare that keeps recurring. translation: we must continue more than ever to fight _ against climate change, and we must continue to adapt to it. we will begin debates on a new climate change plan this autumn. elsewhere in europe, two fires rage.

in spain, galicia is one of a dozen regions battling them. while in portugal, flames have destroyed more than 10,000 hectares of forests, scarring the night sky. how quickly our earth is drying up. this was france a year ago. and now look — lush land turned to waste land, forests and fields barren. paris may be looking glorious in the sunshine, delighting its tourists, but we are, of course, facing a very serious situation. crops across europe are dying, worsening the global food crisis linked to the war in ukraine. extreme droughts and heatwaves that were freak events are now becoming more common and progressively worse. france's fourth successive heatwave is being lapped up by some, but despite the pleasure, they know the pain is deepening. i think if this summer has taught people anything, it's that this is happening and it is happening now. these temperatures are extreme, and if people don't start to act, it's only going to get worse, by the looks of it. because we are the new generation, we have to live on this planet.

it is going really bad. we are a little worried about our future. france is taking the heat of what we are doing to our world. the postcard beauty may look stuck in time, but the planet is changing, and there is fear of what is to come. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. the arctic is warming four times the rate of the rest of the world according to new research. scientists say it is much faster than previously thought. some parts of the region are warming up to seven times faster, including the ocean near svalbard, in northern norway. scientists have been examining satellite data gathered over the past four decades. the number of people charged with last month's gang rape of eight south african women at an abandoned mine has risen to 14.

one of the suspects is a 16—year—old who's been placed in a juvenile facility. the assault happened when the women were filming a music video. news of the gang rape sent shock waves across south africa, sparking violent protests that targeted men suspected of being illegal miners. more than 30 people have been hurt in an accident at a legoland theme park in southern germany. one person has serious injuries. a statement from the park says two roller—coaster trains collided with each other. an investigation into the cause of the collision has begun. the united nations secretary general antonio guterres has urged both russia and ukraine to cease all military operations around the main nuclear plant. the nuclear complex was reportedly struck by artillery shells five times on thursday, including near the site where radioactive materials are stored. the head of the un nuclear watchdog, rafael grossi, said the agency must be allowed to inspect the plant —

which is the largest in europe. he warned fighting near the site has sparked a "grave" crisis. russian forces currently occupy the plant, and it has been the subject of a number of artillery strikes throughout the war. so just how serious is the situation at the nuclear power plant? i've been speaking to elizabeth shackelford, a former official at the us department of state and now senior fellow at the chicago council on global affairs. i asked her if there's anything that international institutions like the un and iaea can do. the question is how effective it is going to be is in the hands of people we don't control, like president putin of russia, but we need to continue to put multilateral pressure on russia to allow inspectors in. we need to ensure that the un puts those inspectors there as well. russia has been claiming that the united nations and the iaea have been the block. but i think that the diplomacy

needs to continue because, quite frankly, there is not a palatable military solution to this current standoff, so we all need to, every country need to do what he can to put pressure on russia to pull back and allow us an independent observers in and to the militarise this area —— to d militarise this area —— to d militarise this area —— to d militarise this area. how big is the risk right now, in your view, of some sort of accident happening at that zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant or something even worse? it is hard to put it into measured terms, but the longer this continues and the longer there is shelling happening in that vicinity, the higher risks are there could be an accident. the risk of anyone intentionally blowing up the plant is exceedingly low, because the costs are so high to all sides, but i think the risks of an accident, or some form of radiation, leakage, is getting higher by the day. the sad truth is, though,

that risk does not need to be high for it to be exceedingly serious. so where do we go from here, elizabeth? how do you see this playing out? i think we need to use all the diplomatic tools at our disposal. that means engaging through the united nations, but also the united states has opportunity to do diplomacy, i degree removed. we're not going to do anything at this stage to persuade putin or russia directly. we just don't have that kind of leverage and we have already thrown a lot on the table, in terms of the leverage that we have, with sanctions and our military support to ukraine, so at this stage, we need to look at who we have leverage over, who has some leverage over putin? there have been some indications that china, for example, does not feel particularly comfortable with the situation either, and that is the kind of nation that could have influence on putin. it needs to be a full court press by all nations who do not want to see a nuclear disaster. as you have described, elizabeth, we have had so many

competing narratives up to this point. is it possible to say who has the upper hand in the conflict right now? i think that's very hard to say at this stage, and i would hate to predict anything, but we do anticipate that this is going to continue to be long and drawn out. i think morale is going to play a very big part. seeing the vulnerabilities of crimea, for example, with what's been happening this week, certainly is not quite to help russian morale any, and it might really help boost ukrainian morale, but it is going to be a question of who has the support, the materials that they need to continue for the longer period of time, unfortunately, so i think we are dug in for a long conflict. elizabeth shackelford, former official at the us department official at the us department of state, speaking to us a little earlier on newsday. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: we'll tell you about the restored mural in an english pub — painted as payment by a local artist and drinker.

the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a huge job of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutal former dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979. 2 billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennia. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later, when the sun set over the bay of bengal.

this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines: the us attorney general says he personally approved the decision to search donald trump's florida home and would make the court documents public. firefighters from across europe offer to help france — as it struggles to tackle "monster" wildfires near bordeaux. let's turn to china, where scientists are tracking a new animal—derived virus that has infected at least several dozen people. patients are showing symptoms like fever, fatigue and a cough. researchers say they haven't seen any very serious case so far and there is no evidence the virus can transmit among humans.

i'm joined now by dr zhu feng from the emerging infectious diseases programme at duke—nus medical school. he is one of the researchers involved in the study that identified the new virus. involved in the study that great involved in the study that to get you on the programme, great to get you on the programme, professor. i have to say, a lot of our viewers may well be wondering, another virus? what do we know so far and should we be worried? qm. and should we be worried? ok, the virus was _ and should we be worried? oi, the virus was found, it is jinan make —— genomic... the traditional tests cannot find a reason for the sickness. we found this new virus and isolated the virus in the patients. the symptoms are relatively mild. some display severe symptoms of, like pneumonia or low platelet counts. some, like

retroviruses, show similar symptoms... so far, there is no hospitalisation in the icu. can ou hel hospitalisation in the icu. can you help explain _ hospitalisation in the icu. can you help explain how this virus works, in terms of its transmission, and what are you watching right now in terms of how it evolves?— how it evolves? ok, the virus was found — how it evolves? ok, the virus was found in _ how it evolves? ok, the virus was found in a _ how it evolves? ok, the virus was found in a surveillance i was found in a surveillance study in china, patients got fever, but through context tracing of the patients, we found no evidence of human—to—human transmission, but most of them had a history of animal contact. we did a investigation of domestic and was living in the same village as the patients and we found that about 2% of the goats may

have exposure to this virus. later, we performed a field investigation of small animals investigation of small animals in bigger areas of china and we found some shrews and rodents may carry the same virus, so this suggested the shrews may be the natural carrier of the virus. ,, ., ., be the natural carrier of the virus. ., , ., ., ., virus. so where do you go from here, virus. so where do you go from here. then. _ virus. so where do you go from here, then, in _ virus. so where do you go from here, then, in terms _ virus. so where do you go from here, then, in terms of - virus. so where do you go from here, then, in terms of how- virus. so where do you go from | here, then, in terms of how you try and map out the path of this virus, to see whether it is potentially dangerous for humans? 50 is potentially dangerous for humans?— humans? so the cases are detected _ humans? so the cases are detected sporadically - humans? so the cases are - detected sporadically between 2018 and 2021, so it is not happening in a short time but over a three—year period. so based on the epidemiological data, we found no evidence of human—to—human transmissions, so as the case number is limited, we need to have

continuous surveillance of this virus, but also in a transparent and internationally collaborative way. idr transparent and internationally collaborative way.— collaborative way. dr zhu feng from the emerging _ collaborative way. dr zhu feng from the emerging infectious i from the emerging infectious diseases programme at the duke—nus medical school, thank you so much forjoining us with your thoughts. a special report for you now. it's impossible to accurately know how many people have been killed since russia invaded the country. the challenges in identifying and repatriating soldiers killed, on either side, means that, according to the ukrainian government, only around 400 fallen fighters have been returned home. as wyre davies reports from eastern ukraine, when occupied villages are taken back, its a painfully slow and difficult process to recover the dead. a warning, his report contains some distressing images. at the very start of this war, russian soldiers were filmed entering the suburbs of kharkiv. some of the fiercest

fighting took place in and around this eastern city. while the russian troops were eventually repelled, kharkiv came under relentless shelling and rocket attack. some occupied villages between kharkiv and the nearby russian border have been liberated. there was an unexploded one sticking out of the ground, right in the middle of the road. but the road to momotove, littered with the detritus of war, is still too dangerous for most civilians to return. and before people come back, there is important work to be done. momotove has to be made safe, and bodies, many of them buried at haste in shallow graves, have to be recovered. this village was deep inside russian occupied territory. it's still a live firing zone, as you can probably hear in the background. what with these guys doing now, they're locals, they're digging up the bodies of russian soldiers who have been

killed in the fighting. after they have been bagged, they will be taken away for dna sampling, and eventually they will be repatriated to russia itself. piled on top of each other, the bodies of six russian soldiers. yuri, the grave digger, takes this grim work in his stride, and even though these men, when alive, were fighting to defeat ukraine, he feels for theirfamilies. translation: it's not difficult, but it's not i pleasant work either. these men have people waiting for them at home — mothers, fathers and children. i understand that, because i used to serve in the soviet army myself. it's russian police national guard. russian. little giveaways like unit badges help with identification. some of these men fighting for russia may have even come from pro moscow regions of ukraine. it's messy and dangerous work, even as more bodies

are uncovered, reminders that this is an active war zone. loud explosion ukraine says it's meticulously trying to identify those killed, a railway goods yard their resting place for now. the repatriation of war dead does happen, but it is sporadic. "we find plenty of russians", says lieutenant colonel oleksandr kutsenko, from the repatriation unit. "recently we did a 160 for 160 body swap in the south, but most of those were found here, in the kharkiv region." the bodies we saw being dug up have been repatriated, but with no end in sight to this war, the number of dead will inevitably go up, and more bereaved families on both sides will anxiously wait the return of the fallen. wyre davies, bbc news.

before we go, a couple more stories for you. police in brazil have arrested a woman accused of swindling her mother out of more than $140 million worth of fine art, cash and jewellery, in a bizarre scheme involving psychics. the 82—year—old alleged victim is the widow of one of brazil's foremost a rt collectors. her daughter sabine is accused of using people claiming to be psychics to extort much of her fortune. we have been talking about art. how about this for a unique work of art? this mural in a pub in northern england was painted byjohn gilroy, a popular post—world war ii artist. he liked a drink or two — and this unique mural in county durham is an indirect result. all the characters in the mural were staff or customers at the time. he painted it as a way of paying his bill. and now his work has been lovingly restored by specialists after years of cigarette smoke damaged the original. what a way to go. that is it

for us on newsday. thanks so much forjoining us on the programme. do you stay with bbc news. hello. we've seen the heat intensify day by day so far this week, and for many of you, the heat is set to peak, even through friday or indeed saturday. most places on both days sitting under sunny skies yet again. the main risk areas, of course, of the highest of the temperatures, the greatest impacts for health and transport, covered by the met office amber extreme heat warning, still in place all the way through to sunday across a good part of england and east wales, where we start with the highest temperatures on friday morning. a little bit fresher on the countryside, particularly northern england, scotland and northern ireland. and, here, a very pleasant start, a few mist and fog patches dotted around. for most of you, they will clear. and for the vast majority, again, it's going to be another day of blue skies from dawn till dusk. a few exceptions, though. eastern coasts of england, from lincolnshire northwards, we could see some mist and see

fog patches just drift ashore — not many of them. certainly more for eastern coasts of scotland, and in the far north of scotland, our weather front�*s still there. not producing as much rain or drizzle and the better chance of some brightness, so maybe a little bit warmer compared with thursday. but elsewhere, away from these eastern coasts, where the mist and fog rolls its way in every now and again, it's going to be an even warmer day — temperatures 36 celsius potentially through parts of the midlands. and then into the evening, a warm evening in store. most will be under clear skies again, but mist and low cloud becomes more of an issue, eastern scotland and through the central belt, towards the glasgow area. it means temperatures won't drop as much here compared with what we see into friday morning. and a warm night elsewhere, particularly so west wales and parts of west cumbria, to the west of high ground. we'll see really temperatures hold up. could see temperatures above 20 degrees for some. and that sets us off to a very warm start to saturday, lots of sunshine again, but again there's that risk of some mist and low cloud across the eastern coasts. bit more sunshine developing across the north of scotland. temperatures across england and wales peaking at around 35—37 degrees. probably the highest temperature in and around

the london area by this stage. but there are signs of a change. through into sunday, an area of low pressure pushes out of france, which will then sit in place for the start of next week. splotches of blue, yes, they are indeed the chance of rain, potentially some quite nasty thunderstorms as well. and with the ground dry, that could lead to some flooding in one or two spots. but, being thunderstorms, they're going to be very much scattered around, hit—and—miss. most places still dry and sunny until late in the day, still pretty hot. temperatures drop as we go into next week, only slowly. the nights stay warm, but there is that potential here and there of some missing out of some storms.

welcome to hardtalk, i am stephen sackur. a year on from the re—imposition of taliban rule, afghanistan is facing a humanitarian calamity. half the population is facing serious food insecurity, more than 1 million children are at risk from acute malnutrition. as for the taliban, well, they seem focused on snuffing out opposition and imposing strict controls on women and girls. my guest is former first vice

president of afghanistan, now a seniorfigure in the national resistance front,