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, the book 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. new research shows the arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet over

the last a0 years. and scientists in china are tracking a new animal—based virus that's infected at least several dozen people, but say there's no need to worry. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 8am in singapore and 8:00 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 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 correspondent, john sudworth, has more. well, in the week we have had that use of the resident in search of a former president's

home by the fbi, another highly unusual intervention, the press conference by the attorney general merrick garland taking place in the building behind me and in which he made it clear he was going against long established precedent by speaking out on an ongoing legal issues. is motivation? donald trump's own public statements and that full barrelled assault by the former president's supporters in which they are accusing the fbi and merrick garland's own department of engaging in politicised justice. merrick garland said he was seeking to have the search warrant and the list of violent —— items taken from mr trump's home made public, something that will put the ball firmly back in mr trump's court because if he were to oppose that motion it would look like he has something to hide. there has been no real response from donald trump yet other than a few social media posts in which he has 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. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. 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 rollercoaster trains collided with each other. an investigation into the cause of the collision has begun. police in the us state of ohio say they have shot dead a gunman who tried to break into an fbi office in cincinnati. the suspect fled the building after setting off an alarm, and was cornered after a car chase and an exchange of fire. police say they tried to negotiate with him, but shot him after he raised his gun. thousands of brazilians have joined protests in defence of democracy, amid fears that

presidentjair bolsonaro will try to remain in power if he loses october's election. mr bolsonaro has repeatedly cast doubt on the electronic voting system. he's also attacked supreme courtjudges who will supervise the vote. the number of people charged with last month's gang rape of eight south african women at an abandoned mine has risen to fourteen. 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 shockwaves across south africa, sparking violent protests that targeted men suspected of being illegal miners. heatwaves, wildfires and drought — are continuing to affect large parts of europe. in the south—west of france, a thousand firefighters have been mobilised. 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 too, 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 wasteland, 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. mark lowen, bbc news, paris. new research says the arctic is warming at four times the rate of the rest of the world. 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. tom ballinger is a researcher at the university of alaska fairbanks — he joins us now from wisconsin. it's great to get you on the

first question to ask you is, were you surprised by the findings of this report? yes and no. it's— findings of this report? yes and no. it's an _ and no. it's an interesting report from the standpoint of it really highlights how much the arctic ocean has warmed, so from 75 degrees latitude north to the north pole, we've seen warming summer in the order of five times that of the lower latitudes. but as you consider more and more land area to the south, that warming rate subsides a bit and that's what we've been seeing in some of the observational analyses in recent years. the observational analyses in recent yew-— the observational analyses in recent veere— the observational analyses in recent years. tom, you sort of able to map — recent years. tom, you sort of able to map out _ recent years. tom, you sort of able to map out what - recent years. tom, you sort of able to map out what this - recent years. tom, you sort of. able to map out what this means for the planet, given the drastic data we are seeing from that area?— that area? yeah, everything is connected- — that area? yeah, everything is connected. so _ that area? yeah, everything is connected. so the _ that area? yeah, everything is connected. so the changes - that area? yeah, everything is| connected. so the changes that we are seeing in the arc don't

just stay in the arctic. i think the most clear—cut example of this is the glaciation that is taking place of the greenland ice sheet and ice caps and how that has driven sea level rises in our lifetimes. beyond that, there is emerging research that's come out which has shown the warming arctic is having impacts on weather systems that actually traverse into lower latitudes where we live so it's a very fascinating time to study this region but it's also one that calls for our attention going forward. and are ou attention going forward. and are you getting _ attention going forward. and are you getting enough of that attention, do you think? are we paying enough attention to what's happening there, the changes in their impact across the planet? i changes in their impact across the planet?— the planet? i certainly think these extreme _ the planet? i certainly think these extreme events - the planet? i certainly think i these extreme events certainly garner attention when they

happen. this summer has been very active in terms of wildfires across alaska and the news has projected some of that out and there have been studies that are starting to look at where that smoke actually goes in the arctic and how does it darken the ice to further promote melt but otherwise when there are fairly quiet periods in the arc, perhaps when sea ice melting as fast as some extreme summers, we don't see as much attention so to answer the question, we'd certainly like to see more attention given to this very sensitive region as it relates to the warming that is going on. tom, i 'ust warming that is going on. tom, i just want _ warming that is going on. tom, ijust want to — warming that is going on. tom, i just want to get _ warming that is going on. tom, i just want to get your - i just want to get your thoughts, we do talk a fair amount about the effects on the planet in terms of warming temperatures butjust deeply, is there anything we can do at

this point to reverse the damage that we've seen so far? yeah, that is the thousand dollar question. so the greenhouse gases have various times from several years on up and they keep rising. i looked at the carbon dioxide numbers before coming on here and at mauna loa observatory in hawaii where there is an official record that's been kept since 1958, they've gone up substantially, something in the order of 420 ppm. i think there is hope but we need to take action sooner rather than later, to curb our emissions in order to dampen some of this warming and the impacts that are taking place.— are taking place. tom ballinger, _

are taking place. tom ballinger, researcher| are taking place. tom l ballinger, researcher at are taking place. tom - ballinger, researcher at the university of alaska fairbanks, thank you so much forjoining us on the programme. mr; us on the programme. my pleasure. _ us on the programme. iji pleasure, thanks. 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 hugejob 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 millennium. it began its journey 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 vaswan in singapore. our 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. the united nations secretary general antonio guterres has urged both russia and ukraine to cease all military

operations around the main nuclear plant. at a meeting of the un security council, the united states and china have both called for un experts to be allowed urgently to visit the nuclear power plant at zaporizhzhia in russian—occupied southern ukraine. both kyiv and moscow have blamed each other for the facility being shelled. 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 what international institutions like the un and iaea can do in this situation. 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. to bringing them in due to security concerns. but i think that the diplomacy needs to continue because, quite frankly, there is not a palatable military solution to this current stand—off, 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. 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 very hard to put it into measured terms, it is hard to know what exactly is going on. 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 an opportunity to do diplomacy, one 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. that was elizabeth shackelford, a former official of the us department of state and now a senior fellow at the council on global affairs. 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. but don't panic — yet, say researchers, they haven't seen any very serious cases so far and there is no evidence the virus can transmit among humans. 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. so should we be worried? 0k,

ok, the virus was found continuous genomic, in a surveillance study in china for those patients who have fever, cough, and went to hospital. but the traditional test could not find the reason. from the results we found this new animal virus, we isolated the virus from the patients. so the illness of the certified patients is relatively mild. some display severe symptoms like pneumonia or low platelet counts, but all recovered. so unlike handre and others, which are highly pathogenic retroviruses, from the same terms, from this new virus infection, definitely not like those patients. so far there are no deaths or icu hospitalisations. so are no deaths or icu hospitalisations. are no deaths or icu hositalisations. , ., hospitalisations. so can you help exnlain _ hospitalisations. so can you help explain how _ hospitalisations. so can you help explain how this - hospitalisations. so can you help explain how this virus. help explain how this virus work 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 continuous - how it evolves? ok, the virus - was found in continuous genomic zoological surveillance study in china for patients with fever, but we found by contact tracing of the patients we found no evidence of human to human transmission, but most of them had a history of animal contact. then we did a zoological investigation on the domestic animals living in the same village of the patients and we found about 2% or 5% of the guards had prior exposure to this hendra virus or another virus, lately we performed a field investigation of small animals and bigger areas in china and we found some shrews and a few rodents carry the same virus. so this suggested that the shrews may be the natural carrier of the virus. so when you go from here,

professor, in terms of how you try to map out the path of this virus to see whether it is potentially dangerous for humans? 50 potentially dangerous for humans?— potentially dangerous for humans? so the cases are detected _ humans? so the cases are detected sporadically - humans? so the cases are - detected sporadically between 2018 and 2020 one, so it's not happening in a short time, but in a three—year period. so based on the epidemiological data we have found there is no evidence of human to human transmission is, but, as the case is limited, we need to have continuous and active genomic and zoological surveillance on this virus, but also in a transparent and internationally collaborative way. internationally collaborative wa . , ., way. dr zhu feng there from the emer: in: way. dr zhu feng there from the emerging infectious _ way. dr zhu feng there from the emerging infectious diseases - emerging infectious diseases programme at duke and us medical schools because earlier. john gilroy, a post—world war ii artist, liked a drink or two, and this unique mural in the bar of a hotel in england's county durham is an indirect result. gilroy was one of the most popular artists of the last

century and now this work has been restored by specialists. and the mural, in case you were wondering, was his way of paying the bill. danny savage has the story. in a traditional english bar in the hills of county durham is a unique work of art. a mural of dickensian frivolity, created by an artist who liked a drink. why did he do it? legend has it that he'd run up a bar bill, basically for the gin that he'd drunk while he was here. and he can't even remember painting the spider that's on the wall. the man with the brushes back in 1946 wasjohn gilroy, famed for turning toucans into the instantly recognisable brand of guinness. the animals are not caricature to much, but they were, i thought, always happy. there's nothing... they were very british. he even caricatured

himself as the zoo keeper. to think this is his first mural, it's incredible. in the last few weeks, we were given special access to its restoration so it can last another century. i would absolutely love it if he was just to walk in, you know, order a drink and look up and go, "oh, it lasted quite well." and you know, that to me would be perfect, job well done. do you think there's that feelgood factor in a room where you should be feeling good? yeah, definitely, like, especially the wall behind us. it's kind of people up dancing, they're drinking. it's kind of a pub environment, but a veryjolly one. once you see other people having fun, even if it is in a painting, you kind of feel happier yourself. gilroy didn'tjust make up the characters in the mural, they were all staff, customers or regulars at the time, and they've had quite the makeover. who's the ancestor on the wall then? my grandpa. which one? this one here, with his top hat and his cane. but we didn't know he had

a cane until it was restored. and the man who pushed for the restoration has been added to the scene. people no longer say to me, "you're no oil painting," because now i can say, "oh, yes, iam." years of cigarette smoke had damaged the original. that will no longer be a problem in this lovely old bar. danny savage, bbc news, greta bridge, county durham. quite a story to end the programme with. you have been watching newsday. a reminder of our top story. the us attorney—general merrick garland has been defending the decision to search donald trump's florida home — and the agents who carried it out. there are some media reports now that the fbi were looking for documents related

to nuclear weapons — that's according to the washington post. that's all for now. stay with bbc world 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.

this is bbc news. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. 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