but they produce so let's have a do but they produce so let's have a bit of world cup victory plays thank you very much. bit of world cup victory plays thank you very much-— you very much. let's play the whistle, let's _ you very much. let's play the whistle, let's get _ you very much. let's play the whistle, let's get on - you very much. let's play the whistle, let's get on with - you very much. let's play the whistle, let's get on with it. i you very much. let's play the - whistle, let's get on with it. thank you to you both it has been an absolute blast and have a great week. thank you forjoining us here on the papers, back again tomorrow evening. the papers will be back again tomorrow evening with alfie stirling from the new economics foundation and david bond, deputy political editor at the evening standard. next its' time for the travel show. but for now goodnight. for generations, snakes, scorpions, and spiders have been important

mystical and religious figures here in mexico. and travelling around the country, you can't escape being reminded of that. but in reality some are very dangerous. around 4.5 million people are bitten by snakes alone around the world every year, and over half of those bites can lead to serious injuries or worse. and climate change, combined with accelerated urban development means that more and more people are coming into contact with things that can bite, with scientists predicting that the number of cases can rise even higher. to get an idea of what's out there here in mexico, i've come to a park near the capital to meet diego barrales, who's become a twitter sensation. he's the go—to guy when it comes to identifying potential danger. every day, hundreds of pictures are sent to him from worried

travellers looking for reassurance after a close encounter or bite from a spider, scorpion or snake. hi, diego. hi, eva. hey. how are you? i'm great. what deadly creature are we looking for here? 0h, we are looking for spiders and scorpions. they are quite common in this part of mexico. and it doesn't take long to find a scorpion. even though it's dark, they show up with a uv light, which is far more effective than using a traditional torch. and even though the scorpions you'll find here in mexico aren't as deadly as some that you might find across the middle east, they can still give you a very painful sting. wow! we put it in there. in he goes. diego, you've become quite a bit of a social media celebrity. how did that happen? it's because people want to know more about these animals. of course, people are afraid of this animal, so they're looking for help.

these animals are, most of them, seen as horrible creatures. but i think that through the work i have been doing in the twitter account and the instagram account, people are starting to see these creatures in a different way. despite diego's best efforts, more people are bitten here in mexico than anywhere else in the world. which is part of the reason why the country has developed one of the most advanced antivenom programmes anywhere. so i'm off to meet dr alagon, one of the world's leading authorities on antivenom, who has promised me a date with a potentially deadly rattlesnake. so, so scary looking! antivenom is made up from antibodies that can neutralize a potentially harmful or lethal sting or bite.

and the only way to create it is to start by collecting the venom in the first place. so he's about to milk the snake? yes, yeah, yeah. look. huge fangs! you see the the yellow venom. that's the venom? yeah, that's the venom. that snake does not look happy. dr alagon�*s team regularly extract venom from some of the world's most dangerous snakes and scorpions in a process called milking. the venom will then be used to create antibodies which will counter the poison, but more on that in a moment. so that's not very much, is it? well, actually, for us it's quite a bit, you know? and it's very concentrated and potent. ten years ago, dr alagon bought this

ranch on the outskirts of mexico city, where he keeps the animals that have the key to the success of the antivenom process. and they are these horses. what's the link between horses and antivenom? because as you can see, horses, they behave well. you know, they are large animals. so they can produce lots of blood. and then you can purify the antibodies that make the antivenom from the horse blood. the process is a slow but very controlled one. over a period of six months, a horse is injected with a small but increasing amount of snake, scorpion or spider venom that allows the horse to build venom neutralizing antibodies in its blood, which means they become immune to that particular venom. these antibodies are then extracted by dr alagon�*s cowboys—turned—scientists,

which they then use to create life—saving serum. the blood will be collected in a bag, and then it will be hung so that the cells, the blood cells, deposit in the bottom. and the plasma that contains the antibodies from which antivenoms are made remains on the top. how much antivenom do these horses actually produce? well, it will produce an average of 2,000 vials of antivenom, one donation, that's as far as scorpions. for snakes, you only get 200 vials. those are still pretty powerful numbers. yes. so what would you say to people who, you know, think that this might not be the right thing to do to horses, to these beautiful animals? well, i will say that these horses

have been used for antivenom production for more than 130 years. and as you can see, they are well treated, well fed. and i will say that that is more suffering — saving lives. and so far, there is not an alternative for that. if you think about it, each of these horses could potentially save thousands of lives. thousands of lives, literally. yes. if you do get bitten, the best advice is to not attempt to remove the venom yourself by sucking the site of the wound, but seek medical help immediately. don't drink caffeine or alcohol, both of which could speed up the rate at which your body absorbs the poison. and try to remember the colour and shape of the creature that's bitten you, as that will help medical staff to treat you quickly and effectively. so, since the use of antivenom has become more widespread in mexico,

how have the numbers changed? yeah. mortality in the case of scorpions has decreased by 86%, and in the case of a snake by 63%. that's a huge difference. huge difference. well, if you're thinking of coming here, don't let the idea of a few creepy crawlies put you off. there are loads of outdoor adventures to consider. here are just a few. history buffs will find exploring the remains of mexico's ancient civilizations irresistible. the mayan ruins of palenque are thought to be well over 1,000 years old, with hundreds of buildings spread over six square miles. or for those with a really adventurous side, how about cave diving in the yucatan peninsula? descend into one of the thousands of naturally formed, flooded sinkholes called cenotes. and there is a world to discover underwater. cenotes often begin with one large chamber which branches off

into vast cave systems. there is thought to be a cenote here for every skill level of diver. and how about mountain climbing in central mexico? at around 20,000 feet altitude, there are spectacular mountains here for expert climbers — but even novices can scale them with an experienced guide. treks to the volcano can also be combined with visits to the stunning pyramids of teotihuacan. while i was around mexico city, there was one place ijust had to check out. within the waterways of xochimilco lies a local legend. step onto an island here and you will find among a few small huts a place which some say is cursed. welcome to the island of dolls.

this strange little place has become a massive tourist attraction, but its origins are actually pretty dark. so, around 70 years ago, a young girl drowned nearby, and so the island's owner started placing dolls around here for her spirit to play with. but the story gets much weirder than that. after filling the entire island with dolls, the owner himself died in the exact same spot as the young girl. it is said he spent 50 years adding to the collection of dolls here before his own mysterious death in 2001. definitely not the kind of place

i'd want to spend the night alone. so it's probably for the best then that you can't actually sleep here, but you can visit the island as part of a day tour of xochimilco's waterways. it's not one for the faint hearted. i've never been to a place like this before. with good reason. it's absolutely terrifying. it's a great natural setting for a horror movie. hello there. over the next few hours, we're going to see some frost and fog forming. it is going to be a chilly start to our monday morning. some of that will be slow to lift away. and then as we go through the day, some wet and windy weather will start to dominate

from the southwest, but temperatures could be as low as minus four or minus five degrees in a few spots first thing this morning. the wet weather, though, starting to show its hand and that will gradually drift its way north and east as we go through the day. not really getting into northern england and scotland, however. gusts of winds in excess of 70 to 80 miles an hour first thing. so a very stormy start to the day in the southwest. some of that rain really torrential as it pushes its way steadily northeast, moving into northern ireland, across parts of wales, the midlands, eventually into southeast england and east anglia as we go through the afternoon. that means northern england and the bulk of scotland after that cold, frosty and foggy start will see some sunshine coming through. a few isolated showers and where it's cool to higher ground, some of these could be wintry in flavour. six or seven degrees the high here, top temperatures of 11 celsius perhaps. but it looks likely that we see the cooler air clinging onto the far north of scotland.

further south, we'll see a few weak weather fronts and producing some milder showery weather first thing on tuesday morning. the showers in the north of scotland still have the tendency perhaps to be of rain, sleet and snow. elsewhere on tuesday not a bad day. dry with some sunshine coming through. a few scattered showers. temperatures around six to 11 celsius. so on the cool side, really. now, as we move out of tuesday into wednesday, the next batch of wet and windy weather starts to push in from the atlantic, the isobars once again squeezing together and the rain could be quite heavy at times. this time it is going to push its way into the north of england and across to scotland. so there will be some more rain potentially for the northeast of scotland, maybe some snow to higher ground here. behind it, we'll see sunny spells and a few scattered showers being driven on along those west coass. again, those temperatures around nine to 12 celsius. it looks likely that we will see slightly drier weather thursday into friday before more wet and windy weather returns into the weekend.

welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: the qatar world cup kicks off with a star—studded lavish opening ceremony in doha — after months of criticisms and controversies surrounding the tournament. qatar is walking a fine line between presenting itself on one of the world's biggest stages as an outward—looking, welcoming country and maintaining its cultural, religious and conservative identity. but it was disappointment on the pitch, with qatar becoming the first host nation ever to lose its opening game — being beaten by ecuador 2—0. rich nations agree to pay poorer countries for the losses caused by climate change, but there's little progress at the cop27 summit on cutting emissions.