this is bbc news. the headlines: a congressional committee in the united states has voted to release a summary of the tax returns of the former president donald trump who has long fought to keep them secret. the documents are likely to be released in the coming days after sensitive information is redacted. us media say the ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky is expected to visit washington on wednesday. it would be his first trip abroad since the war in ukraine began. reports say the white house is preparing for his visit. he will also meet congressional leaders at the capitol. a 97—year—old german woman has been given a two—year suspended sentence for complicity in the murder of more than 10,000 people during the holocaust. irmgard furchner had worked as a secretary at a concentration camp. it was one of germany's

last trials of criminals from the nazi era. those are our top stories this hour. here in the uk, around 700 members of the military have been deployed to help mitigate against the impact of a walkout by ambulance service staff, the latest public sector industry hit by industrial action. but the figure�*s dwarfed by the thousands of emergency responders in england and wales who've gone on strike over pay and conditions. it's led to warnings that people should think about the risk of activities they carry out. the strike began at midnight and will last for 12 hours. the bbc�*s huw edwards has more details. each ambulance trust has agreed something different so the level of provision will depend on where you live. now, when you call 999 ambulance staff in england put the calls into a

category. category one is for life—threatening injuries or illnesses, like cardiac arrest. you then have category to which is for emergency calls such as strokes. category 3 is classed as urgent and includes the later stages of labour. category four is less urgent calls and for example could be an attack of vomiting. we asked each ambulance trust affected by strike action which of these calls union members would respond to. now, not all of them replied in some .net give specific details but we have a few examples from those who did. so, let's take east midlands ambulance service. they told us that their striking members would respond to all life—threatening category one calls. in some circumstances they would respond to the most serious category to calls including

strokes or gynaecological emergencies, road collisions where someone is trapped or young children who are unwell. now, in the north—east of england, another example, the responsibility depends on union that staff belong to so gmb members will respond to life—threatening calls and unison will respond to some category to calls and if we look at the welsh ambulance service they categorise calls differently and say that union members will be responding to all immediately life—threatening red calls. that is how they categorise their own calls. and are selected and one calls for particular complaints which are described as, for example, chest pains or gynaecology emergencies. they also say that they will be responding to road traffic accidents. so, as you can see it varies on where people live, and it is not a uniform picture by any means.

and there are more details on that strike and the other sectors affected by industrial action in the coming days including the rail network on our website or, of course, on the bbc news app where there is also a calendar of what walkouts are taking place on what dates. i will be back with a full bulletin at three o'clock. now the travel show. this week on the show — a centenary fit for a pharaoh. this is very exciting, because i've been given permission to actually go down these steps to ground level and get a closer look. the christmas tradition that will scare the stockings off you. and why glaswegian panto crowds are not to be messed with. if the act on that stage was not good enough, believe me, they knew about it.

egypt's valley of the kings — perhaps the most famous archaeological site in the world, and this has been a landmark year at the burial chamber many people make a beeline for. exactly 100 years ago, the tomb of the boy king tutankhamun was discovered underneath the desert close to the town of luxor. the team had been digging for years and were right on the verge of giving up when the top of a set of ancient steps appeared

in the sand and, lo and behold, this is what they saw. i mean, look at it — incredible, absolutely astonishing. and when the archaeologists did come here, they didn'tjust find his remains. they found ornaments, jewellery, paintings, bits of chariots, trumpets, perfume, and even wine. tutankhamun wasn't the most influential or best known of the pharaohs, and his tomb isn't the biggest or the most spectacular, but the find was a sensation in 1922 and made headlines around the world. now, then, this is very exciting, because i've been given permission to actually go down these steps to ground level and get a closer look.

this mural is incredible. it actually depicts the afterlife of tutankhamun. it's incredible that it's all so well preserved. it looks astonishing. i'm not going to touch it, but wow. for this corner of egypt, the discovery meant more treasure in the form of tourism and the sales opportunities that came with it. mo salah, the liverpool football player. thank you. a century on and souvenirs in his image still bring in the money. thank you very much. greece? greece — no, from london. you have tutankhamun here,

so much tutankhamun. it has been a landmark year for egypt's antiquities, with new and restored discoveries opening and a huge, glittering parade as the mummies of 22 pharaohs were moved to their new home — the national museum of egyptian civilisation. also newly opened after restoration work is the home of the man widely credited with finding tutankhamun�*s burial chamber, howard carter. however, many say the egyptian contribution to all this has been overlooked, and i'm on my way to hear some of that story and meet a family very well known in these parts, although sadly not

outside this country. it's interesting with the two sides of the nile. i've just come from the east side, which is where there's all the shops, and life bustles on and people live there and stuff. but i'm heading now back to the emptier, less developed west side, where you'll find the tombs and burial chambers of the valley of the kings, and they call that the side of the dead. the abdel rassoul family run a cafe these days. but generations of them farmed along the banks of the nile, and as such have an intimate knowledge of what lies on — and underneath — the dust and sand. so this is the 12—year—old boy that they said really discovered the tomb. he claims it was actually his father who first found the tomb of tutankhamun.

ahmed abdel rasoul was just a child at the time. now, egyptian perspectives like these are being

acknowledged more widely, and one of the ways that's happening is by huge landmark public projects like the brand—new grant egyptian museum, due to open in 2023. it'll be the largest archaeological museum complex in the world. and this, too — the avenue of the sphinx, buried under sand for hundreds of years and last year opened to the public for the first time. it runs from luxor temple to karnak, this magnificent complex. what do you think about the fact that it is so crowded? it is so crowded. it's extremely crowded. i have to tell you, this is the busiest it could have got in ancient egypt, because the people who were ordinary were not allowed here. this is an exclusive area. it's only for the priests, only for the members of the royal court, only for the select few. people like ourselves

would have never had any glimpse of the inside of the temple. she is an amazing storyteller, and i ask her about the story of the abdel rassouls and who really discovered the tomb. she believes there is a wider issue. i think to focus on this is to miss the point. the whole point is the contribution of the whole abdel rassoul family and the many egyptian families who were involved in the archaeological excavations, without whom howard and many of the foreign excavators could not have made any of these discoveries altogether. and this is kind of connected to how egyptians are portrayed in this world of archaeology. we are not even portrayed, we are totally written out. we are written out from the whole process of knowledge production. whenever it's an egyptian, he would have stumbled on a step, as you said, or been stumbling riding a donkey, etc. it could never be out of real knowledge, it has to be a mistake. while the egyptians clearly played a huge part in the discovery, the

persistence of howard carter and the money of his wealthy, aristocratic backer were also vitally important to the success. now, the desire is for both parts of that story to be recognised and told. all these tourists here, all the people who are here, what do you think they believe? do you think they still believe the old version, or do you think they are gradually being told something which is more in tune with what you think? no, i think they carry the same old beliefs. because all of their programmes would only focus on ancient egypt, nothing on the many other layers of egyptian heritage. that's one thing, and the other thing is that the whole — what brought them in here is this colonial narrative. it's the narrative that we need to reshape. are you at least hopeful in the future that might change, that small children across the world will get a better understanding of all of this? yes, i hope so. this can only come when acknowledging the colonial history that made ancient egypt the way it is in egypt today.

we need to acknowledge this first and then move on from there. for the rest of his life, ahmed abdel rassoul told visitors to luxor about his adventures with howard carter — an account, like so many others, rarely told in the west. but what's good is that the egyptians are now reclaiming their story, and the rest of us are beginning to take notice. well away from the big archaeological sites, there are a whole bundle of things to do in egypt, and here are some of the highlights. for beach breaks, the red sea coast has got a string of well—developed resort towns that have been popular for years. sharm el—sheikh is probably the best known, especially after recently hosting the cop climate talks. for something quieter, though, you could try makadi bay —

long, white, sandy beaches, without the crowds and clubs. the whole stretch of coastline has crystal—clear seas and thriving coral reefs, so divers love it. turtles, spinner dolphins, manta rays and dugongs are the big stars here. one of the other highlights is the sunken british cargo steamship ss thistlegorm. it was sunk by german bombers in i9ai. 200 divers a day now explore the wreck near the town of ras muhammad. the holy month of ramadan begins in march next year. during the day it might mean shorter opening hours and disrupted transport. however, iftar, the breaking of the fast at sunset,

means loads happening in the evenings. hotels will lay on entertainment, but the real celebrations are around the neighbourhood iftar tables, made out on the street. you'll need a local to invite you, but this is where party is. still to come on the travel show: the other christmas visitor that could come knocking this december, and this one's not quite so jolly. and the glasgow theatre tradition you need nerves of steel to take part in. you have men in the back of the auditorium throwing shipyard rivets, nails, punches, screws. so don't go away. this week i'm exploring some of egypt's most famous antiquities, and i thought it might be worth lingering a little at karnak temple. at its peak, around 3,500 to 4,000 years ago, this was the largest and most important religious complex in ancient egypt,

and the description of some of the detail here has me hooked. you were talking about obelisks. yes. and that is a very, very tall one. it is, it is. and this takes us to the god ra, the god of the sun, again, one of the most important gods. and that is how you see that pyramid shape at the end of the obelisks. that's your way to the sky, where you get tojoin god ra up in the sky and come back again. just the sheer feat of creating that high a structure. yes, of course. and then doing all the engravings on the side. is that appreciated enough? i don't think it is. we tend to appreciate the beauty but not the labour, not the hard work that went into bringing something like this, not only up, but the carving, the making, the carving of the actual stone to take the shape of an obelisk, and then moving it all the way to here. so it came from down the river, right. and what about this little step here?

yes, it is like the strong bull, discussing how the king is horos, and has huge great physical features, that he is equated to the bull, being as strong as a bull. this was also one of the most important titles that any ancient egyptian king would have acquired. the complex opens from 6:00 in the morning. and now, mass tourism is back with us once again, it is worth attempting to avoid the crowds — and the heat — by arriving early. to tirol in austria next, which is right in the middle of a busy christmas run—up. but in that part of the world, santa claus isn't the only one who comes knocking. krampus is part goat and part devil, and hisjob is to punish naughty children. masks of his face are made by craftspeople, like norbert.

krampus is an ancient pagan character, but when christianity spread throughout europe, he became part of the christmas tradition — despite opposition from the catholic church.

now, with the festive season well under way, there's one british pastime that keeps the lights burning during those long winter nights — and that's the christmas panto. cat moh has more. we're in glasgow, where scotland's premium pantomime dame is treading the boards in her 25th panto season. growling oh, just quit that moaning, will you? _ it's basically a good night out, which is the most important thing — or a good afternoon out — full of laughs and joy, sort of hitched on to a traditional fairytale love story. it's usually kids' first experience of theatre, so we are the sort of gateway, if you like _

there's hundreds of years of tradition in panto, from audience participation... those folks will believe everything, i tell you. oh, yes, they will! crowd: oh, no, they won't! oh, yes, they will! ..to a host of stock characters. the panto dame is generally a man dressed as a woman, and that allowed men to come out and do really outrageous impersonations of women. it's quite unusual to be a woman playing it — i'm one of very few allowed to. maybe in the past, women have been forced into being the more glamorous type, and my thing is it's not about whether you're a man or a woman, it is the type of performer you are. if you can break through to the audience, and say, "i'm about to make a fool of myself here. "come with me." couldn't find a petrol station. we ended up wandering

through this barren, desolate wasteland. where was that? i think it was paisley. laughter it's a great quote by a wonderful panto performer, gerry kelly, who i worked with here many times — "pantomime is a celebration of local culture." we have set this on clydeside, which is obviously in glasgow, but making it local, having all the references in it and making it of the place that generally the audience are from. it is a big business across the uk. pre—pandemic theatres sold around 3 million panto tickets a year, and glasgow has a special affection for it. among the dozens of venues staging a production is this wee treasure, hidden above an amusement arcade. you are in the britannia panopticon music hall. it's the oldest original surviving music hall

in the world. music halls are basically places where the working classes used to go when they finished their working day, to be entertained by dancers, singers, novelty acts, contortionists, high—wire acts — you name it. you know, music halls were one of the places where you would see a pantomime. pantomime was the only sort of theatre that was like variety all in the one production. glasgow has a long—standing theatre tradition. a recent poll found it was one of the british cities with the most theatres outside london. and back when the panopticon opened in the 1850s, working class glaswegian theatres were already developing a bit of a reputation. stanley baxter actually wrote about the music hall in his own bedside book, and he actually said that they "left no turn unstoned." they had spent money to get in here. if the act on that stage was not good enough, believe me, they knew about it. boys used to urinate from the front of the balcony

onto the stage to hit the act on the stage below, you had men in the back of the auditorium throwing shipyard rivets, nails, punches, screws. it became popular with famous acts because if they could get away with it on the stages in glasgow, they could get away with their routine anywhere in the world. luckily, things have quietened down a bit since then, but glasgow audiences are still a famously lively bunch. for me, if i was going to go and see panto, i would come here, because of the audience. in glasgow, there is a great tradition of audiences joining in — sometimes whether you want it or not! laughs i do question myself, "why am i keep doing it? "i'm a granny, i'm 64! "why would you go out?" so, for me, it allows me to walk in the light and push the light out. it gives people a good night out. it's a great leveller, as well,

because you've got people who work for the government and you've got people who are cleaners. they're all experiencing the same thing, and there are so few places we can go now where 2,000 people can gather. so to be part of that still, after all these years, makes it all worth it. cheering and applause right, sadly, that's us done here in luxor. butjoin me next week, when we look back at the best bits of 2022 on the travel show — a year when we can finally say we hit the road again. and what a year it's been. if you want another chance to see ade on a roll with some italian cheese, karolis�*s human—powered odyssey along sri lanka's canal network, or even my very special night in the home of a boyhood hero,

do give us a watch in a week's time. hello there. staying unsettled for the rest of this week. some pretty wet weather at times thanks to low pressure but with the air source coming in from the south—west for most days it will be on the mild side. we move out of tuesday, this area will push into the north sea. we will have blustery showers across northern areas. a new area of low pressure will arrive on friday. we start this

morning of quite wet across the south—east corner of the country but only brightens up much of england and wales, stays blustery for scotland, northern ireland, the far north of england with a view showers at times. thursday it says quite cloudy across england and wales, further ripples of rain running into the south—west, could be localised flooding in places, the ground pretty saturated across the south—west. sunshine, blustery showers in the north.

welcome to bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: a congressional committee in the united states has voted to release the tax returns of former president donald trump. ukraine's president goes to washington. us media reports volodymyr zelensky is to pay an official trip to america. a 97—year—old german woman is found guilty for her part in the deaths of more than 10,000 people during the holocaust. in a further erosion of women's rights in afghanistan, the taliban government bans women from university education. a sea of celebration. hundreds of thousands take to the streets to welcome home argentina's world cup winners.