this is bbc news. the headlines: rescue workers in indonesia are continuing to search for survivors, after major earthquake in west java that killed over 260 people, and injured hundreds more. many of the deaths were children whose schools collapsed around them. more than a hundred and 50 people are still missing. the us supreme court has denied a request by donald trump to withold his tax returns from a congressional investigation. the former republican president — who claims the probe was politically motivated — will now be required to hand over his accounts to the democrat—led house of representatives.

the american owners of manchester united — say they are considering selling the english premier league football club. in an unrelated development, the club's portuguese striker, cristiano ronaldo, is leaving — with immediate effect — there's 12 days of misery in store for rail passengers over christmas and new year with walk outs scheduled for december 13th — 14th - 16th and 17th - then again onjanuary 3rd — 4th - 6th and 7th. the last round of industrial action was cancelled, but negotiations have so far failed to reach a resolution. the rmt says staff deserve a better deal on pay, working conditions and job security. the bbc�*s transport correspondent, katy austin has the details. christmas is coming, but so are more train strikes. this latest round of strikes will show how important our members are to the running of the country and will send

a clear message that we want a good deal onjob security, pay and conditions for our people. we have been reasonable, but it is impossible to find a negotiated settlement when the dead hand of the government is presiding over and blocking a resolution in these talks. two and a half weeks ago, the rmt called off three strike dates and unions and rail employees went into intensive negotiations. today, instead of a breakthrough, the dispute has intensified. the strike days announced will come at a crucial time of year for retailers and hospitality venues and disrupt the festive plans of millions of passengers. the government does have final sign—off on what's agreed, but says it is not holding up negotiations and is for the employers and unions to come to an agreement between them that is fair to workers, taxpayers and passengers. the rail industry argues reforms need to be agreed

to afford pay rises, after the pandemic left the railway in a precarious financial hole. the rail delivery group speaks for train companies. i think there's frustrations on both sides. rmt are looking to get a pay offer. we are looking still to try and manage the final details of any reform deal. mick lynch said today that he'd spoken to you and you had said you couldn't make an offer because the government wouldn't let you. is that correct? i don't get into the details of what we said and what we didn't say. at the end of the day, what we are trying to do is to work with rmt to ensure that we stop these strikes. and that's the important thing. we have to stop the strikes. businesses which depend on people coming to visit, like those in blackpool, see today's news as a blow to their festive season. we are feeling the effects of the cost of living. every time we go out buying food, the costs have gone up and up and up. all our bills are increasing. anything, again, that is going to knock us back at that time

is going to have a huge detrimental impact financially. the transport secretary is expected to meet the rmt�*s mick lynch later this week — but as things stand, more travel misery lies ahead. now on bbc news: the travel show. coming up this week... taking the sting out of mexico's creepy crawlies. so, he's about to milk the snake? yes. huge fangs! that's the venom? yes, that's the venom. rediscovering scotland's mysterious past. we don't have a name for the tribes of people that lived here, and that's perhaps part of the mystery. and we check out the latest wines erupting onto the scene in the volcanic azores. you can taste the sea. the texture of the wine — yes, you can taste the sea. 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 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.

still to come on the travel show, we enter the world of ancient scottish architecture. the current academic thinking is that they were houses. houses with five metres thick walls and 13 metres high. cheers. and try a volcanic tipple in the azores. wow, that's intense. so don't go away. while i was around mexico city, there was one place ijust had to check out. within the waterways of sochimilco 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. standing in the midst of the stunning scottish wilderness for the past 2,000 years, these mysterious stone structures are a symbol of scotland's unique archaeological past. known as a broch, the exact purpose of these iconic iron

age ruins is still unknown. however, a group of experimental archaeologists believe that an ambitious project to build a broch from scratch could finally help us to better understand their past. a broch is a huge iron age structure made completely of dry stone with walls five metres thick. we don't have a name for the tribes of people that lived here, and that's perhaps part of the mystery of what a broch was used for. the current academic thinking is that they were houses, houses with five metres thick walls and 13 metres high. still, after hundreds of years of archaeology, we're not entirely sure we have a modern perception of what buildings are the most complete. broch still standing is mousa. mousa broch is the most intact broch that we have. it does, of course, have a secondary structure from a later occupation phase

built inside it. but we do have a good sense of what a broch may have been in its completed form. dry stone towers of that size, and you especially see it with mousa, it's a difficult endeavour to begin with to build one. the fact that they have lasted as long as they have, the fact that they go through several phases of occupation spanning somewhere around 1,000 years is attractive to a heritage tourist. the caithness broch project is an experimental archaeological initiative aiming to build a full—scale broch from scratch using traditional methods. it's a hugely ambitious undertaking as so little is known about these mysterious buildings. i think it's a very adventurous idea to build a broch. it will teach us an incredible amount about how to go about building and dry stone to build a structure so large. and the design of our broch, we've tried to base it as much as we can on archaeological evidence.

i think what we really hope to achieve is a more thorough understanding of brochs, and how they were built might kind of play into ideas of why they were built as well. so as we go through the process of constructing a broch then maybe we'll get a better insight into the minds of broch builders in the past as well, because there are so many unanswered questions about the iron age, how iron age societies work, how did they kind of revolve around the brochs or how two brochs revolved around iron age societies? the building of the broch will be as much of an attraction as it as a complete structure. the most broch store found right here in caithness. so we like to think that caithness is the home of the broch. the caithness broch project is currently searching for the ideal site to begin the construction of their broch and they estimate it could be between three and five years before they finally achieve their goal of bringing this enigmatic building back to the scottish countryside. next up, we're off to the azores where new wine routes are being developed across six of the nine major islands following a renaissance in the unique practice of growing grapes across lava fields. we sent cat moh to find out more.

there it is. on a map, pico island is pretty much a dot in the middle of the atlantic ocean. formed 300,000 years ago, it's the youngest volcanic island in the azores archipelago. pico last erupted 300 years ago, and it explains why the land is so rugged. tourists come to hike its unique landscape alongside whale watching and dolphin spotting. but i'm here for its volcanic wines. in fact, unesco has granted pico world heritage status for its vineyard culture. and i'm starting to see why. let's see.

wejust pick a grape. fortunato is always last to harvest on the island because he needs to wait till his grapes reach a higher sugar level. almost like raisins. what does that tell you? it tells me the probably alcohol that i'm going to have. so now it's around 13, so i need to be at least 18. so it needs a bit more sunshine? yes. now we're going to go all the way up to the windmills. so you grew up in and around these beautiful vineyards? well, beautiful. at that time, it didn't look that beautiful because we were working around here and it's crazy. and yeah, sometimes i would do what are we doing right now. hide? hide. he makes a very old type of wine, which almost disappeared entirely after a plague decimated the vineyards across the island

in the late 19th century. if it wasn't for my dad to continue this, we would not have pasada wine today. the pasada wine, like in the old days and starting 1460, it's definitely the most iconic wine of pico. that's the wine that used to go to popes and the emperors and kings — and the czars. and just run me through the mechanics of of how these grapes even thrive to begin with. each corral, which is these four stone walls that we have around us, this creates a micro perfect microclimate. and if you touch this rock, you can see that it's warm. this is really warm! you're going to have during the day the sun hitting the grapes, and then during the night you're going to have heat coming from the rocks up. and that's why it's possible to us to produce pasada wine. most winemakers have an adega like a winery, but more

homely that acts as a spot for social gatherings. so something i hadn't mentioned yet. this has been dubbed the impossible wine because of its very, very high alcohol content, all naturally achieved. wow, that's intense. walking around the island, it's easy to see its rich winemaking history. but there is the role of people. so, the wine barrels, they came along in the carts, along the rocks. then they rolled it all the way down into it. then they pick it and put it on the ships. and if you venture inland, you'll find miles of abandoned vineyards and crumbling lava walls. so we recovered 120 hectors. it took us three years with 30 guys every day. because you wanted to grow the almost extinct grapes in the environment that they were originally grown in? exactly, 15 years ago, pico's vineyards were a museum,

an open air museum. and today, it's an industry. there's wine tourism coming to the island. so i think there's there's a whole new era forfor pico wines. ten years ago, this was all forest. nearly all the restored vineyards are now successfully bearing fruit. and lucky for me, they're harvesting. a little bit of adding to the... so this is a unique grape varietal in the world. 0nly exists here. perfect. good. they look lovely. that's it. unlike fortunato's, the azores wine company's adega is modern, built to blend in with the landscape. you can taste the sea.

signature of the of the wine. yes, you can taste the sea. the essence of the sea. and that's a very particular, uh... and that's why these wines are unique. with so many people now growing grapes locally on the island, a new generation of winemakers are rising up and doing things a little differently. katja rents space at awc to make wine until she can build her own adega. so what do you do differently that perhaps the others don't do? ok, so maybe for me it's work with small quantities, not big quantities. so i try to do a little bit work with barrels, with steel tanks, a little bit of maceration, carbonic maceration. you're doing it your way. yes. now there's just one last thing

to do before i call it a night. best experience that you can have in our time. you sit at the table with your friends. you have the barrel right behind you. well, it's very nice that you have a bed if you want to drink it. right. that's it for now. coming up next week... ade is in rome, hunting down italy's stolen art. wow. this is... it's beautiful. and checks out a new museum showcasing the latest recoveries. until then, you can catch up with some of our more recent adventures on the bbc iplayer. we're on social media, too. just search bbc travel show on facebook and instagram and you'll find us there. in the meantime, from me and my little friend here in mexico, safe travels and i'll see you back on the road soon. bye.

yet another day of lively weather to come across the uk this wednesday. irate weather to come across the uk this wednesday.— this wednesday. we start the da with this wednesday. we start the day with a — this wednesday. we start the day with a band _ this wednesday. we start the day with a band of _ this wednesday. we start the day with a band of rain - day with a band of rain sweeping its way and from the south—west. it should quickly move through but then as the sun comes out, anticipate some lively showers as well. here is the rainforest thing out towards the south—west and so the morning it sweeps across england and wales and comes out to northern ireland and settles across central scotland by lunchtime and it was though the work northwards to the afternoon. brighter skies following on from double stay windy throughout the day. gail is possible around the irish

sea coast and overwinter going to carry on punchy showers so we could see showers almost anywhere. that front as out of the way in the position of this front might be slightly different to weight and stay. we could get higher totals to the west and we could get relatively drier in the east. at the moment are predicted rainfall totals for some part are around 50 millimetres of rain, around two inches particularly across many western counties. that whole system, though, does move away for friday. a brief ridge of high pressure here but you can

see the next low is not too far away in the atlantic. i can't unfortunately promise an entirely dry day providing either. it looks like there could be showers for western scotland. the winds will be lighter. temperatures around average for the time of year. the next low is going to tapas some air. actually, saturday and sunday will see the temperatures bolstered. we are looking at a couple of very windy days and some further rain to fall during the week ahead.

welcome to bbc news — i'm vishala sri—pathma. our top stories... rescue workers in indonesia continue to search for survivors, after a major earthquake in west java that killed more than 260 people. the closer to the epicentre of the earthquake, the more visible the damage, some beyond repair. people are too afraid to go back to their houses. the us supreme court denies a request by donald trump to withold his tax returns from a congressional investigation. we have a special report on the somalian forces fighting al shabaab as the country is facing a drought and on the brink of famine. these troops have captured vast amounts of territory here