to flee their homes. the so—called park fire — which started after a suspected arson attack — has consumed over 350,000 acres of land. it's day two of the paris olympics — and one of the most decorated gymnasts in history, simone biles, has returned to competition to try to add to herfour gold medals. let's return to one of our main stories today — the olympics — and day two of the paris games is well under way. my colleague maryam moshiri is following events in paris. welcome to paris. day two at the olympic games after days of torrential rain affecting the opening ceremony, the sun is finally shining. the beautiful weather has brought out the visitors but it's been a bit late for the triathlon athletes. the

training session in the rivers and had to be cancelled because of pollution levels in the river sand. the organisers said that their level should be back to normal by the time for the event on tuesday. some of the top stories from the sports here —— lots of sporting legend in action. pt qualified for tonight's final as he chases a third consecutive gold in paris. he is aiming to become the second man after the us star michael phelps to win the same individual event three times in a row. 0ne win the same individual event three times in a row. one of the biggest 0lympic hopefuls, comfortably qualified in the individual medley and energised the crowd at the arena. in tennis, andy murray begins the final tournament of his career as he competes againstjapan. cameron norrie has pulled out.

meanwhile setting up a second—round match with novak djokovic. gymnastics staff simone biles has been can competing today. the most decorated gymnast in history bounced back after a difficult time at the tokyo 0lympics. if you like a bit of star spotting, you will love the gymnastics menu today. it is a who's who were celebrities. mission impossible and set star tom cruise was in the crowd as well as the stars of the musical, ariana grande. the head of vogue was also there to cheer on the stars. as well as the superstar snoop dog. they are in for

a big day in gymnastics at the arena. this arena for those of you don't know was built with a distinctive design. it's been used by stars such as paul mccartney. there is one woman taking the main stage today, thatis woman taking the main stage today, that is simone biles. returning to the game is in fantastic form after pulling out an event in tokyo with a mental block that she called the twisties. she produced an impressive performance. we will find out which final she has made later on today want everyone is completed. you can see the interest in her from this picture alone. have a look at this, a packed photography pen as she competed. you can see how many are there. have a look what it's like when she isn't competing. this is what it looks like when there are other gymnast competing. you can

feel the pressure almost on her there. team gb took bronze at the 2020 games, they are awaiting the result after their efforts today. there was controversy at the men's beach volleyball after the dutch player, stephen van der velden, the child rapist made his 0lympic debut. he was sentenced to prison but was selected nonetheless for the dutch team. fans get their reaction to his inclusion. can i ask about stephen vande velde? i'm not going to comment. yeah, well, i don't want| to answer that question. sorry. will you support him today? i will support matthew immers. i'm very astonished that a raper, as a supporter, is playing the beach volleyball tournament. he should not be allowed to play. are you aware of the story? yes. i think it's no longer an issue. do you think it's right he was selected for the olympics? of course because he has been

punished and now it is over and he can continue with his life. we heard from our reporters who are there that there were some boos among the applause as he came out. more on that on the website. the games here in paris are the 33rd modern 0lympiad which have produced countless numbers of ups and downs which have become engrained in the memories of generations across the globe. david kohn is an author who's written about some of those moments at the olympics through the years. as the games here in paris get into full swing — he's been telling me about his top three all time best. we picked number one moscow 1980, british athletes ruled the world probably for the first time in history and these two absolute titans of running were competing against each other, they had a fantastic competition in the 800, won by 0vett and then 1500 was

surprisingly won by coe. that comes in at number one in the book. tell me about the other ones because there are a few more, including one involving usain bolt. indeed. he comes in at number two. you have to pick bolt, the biggest superstar in the history of the games. certainly surpassed any other athlete that has left. athlete that has lived. his record was extraordinary, but when he burst onto the scene in beijing with that incredible 100 metres, where he almost stopped running with 15 metres to spare and still smashed the world record. bolt is just a bigger figure than anybody and over those three 0lympics, when he won nine gold medals — i know it was reduced to eight — he was just fantastic

and brilliant to watch. and finally, the 1936 games in germany feature very highly in your book. tell me more about that. yes, indeed. i actually feature the story twice because i think the very fact that the games were held in berlin was a travesty, really. they should never have been there in the midst of nazi germany under the eyes of adolf hitler. but one guy who really gave him a slap in the face was the american athlete jesse owens. 0wens was already the world's greatest athlete at the time, but really demonstrated that any idea of aryan supremacy was utter nonsense. he won the 100, 200, long jump and then the 4x100, four gold medals, and really that was a big slap in the face for hitler. we love a bit of history.

india have won their first medal of the games but the first olympic medal ever won by a female shooter, she has won but the first olympic medal ever won by an indian female shooter, she has won bronze in that event. well done to india. and we will have more live reports from paris throughout the olympic games. let's return to venezuela where voting is under way, in what's being seen as the most consequential presidential election in a generation. president nicolas maduro, who's been in office since 2013, is seeking a third consecutive term. he told voters they have a choice between war and peace — and warned of a bloodbath if he loses. 0pposition candidate, edmundo gonzalez, said it's time to re—establish democracy and prosperity in the country after a quarter of a century of socialist rule. tensions across the country are high — there have been clashes at polling stations as people wait in long queues to cast their votes. 0ur south america

correspondent, ione wells, has the latest from caracas. there have been huge queues up and down the country already at the selection in venezuela. some people even queueing through the night to try and vote early. president nicolas maduro is seeking his third real action into office. he said this morning that he wants the international community to respect the result and he doesn't want them to in his words, medal as a result of this election. there are concerns whether he will respect the result himself. the last elections were dismissed as being fair. and there are already concerns about how they have attempted to suppress the opposition result. candidates were banned from running, opposition aids being detained in the lead up to the election. the fact that millions of

venezuelans who live abroad have struggled to register to vote. you election observers have been this invited from monitoring the elections a day. so there are concerns about whether this vote will be fair. the reason for that is because the opposition campaign and a selection has had huge momentum and, even at the opposition leader was banned from running. there has been a lot of momentum behind the campaign and the opposition candidate edmundo gonzalez who is backed by the opposition leader, who herself was banned from running. certainly, some people we have spoken to today have already said that they are feeling, for the first time in years, optimistic that change could be on the way. a devastating wildfire has ripped through bushland in northern california, forcing around 4,000 residents to flee their homes. it's been described as the biggest blaze to hit the state this year and is thought to have been started deliberately. duncan kennedy reports. it's california's biggest wildfire this year, already burning through more than 300,000 acres of land. and it looks like some of it was started deliberately. a lot of our crews are what's

doing called prepping, basically getting out ahead of the fire, um, finding those structures, communities, making sure those areas are more survivable should the fire go through. the centre of the fire is in northern california, in places like butte county, leaving homes and cars burning. . .and burned out. the same county was hit by another fire in 2018 that killed 80 people. agh! your house down there, too? and even when vehicles can move around in this cauldron of flames and smoke, the very sides of the roads are themselves on fire. in chico, brian is now sleeping out in the open, just his dog rescued from the inferno. right about the time i go out the door, i got two city pd officers at the door telling me i needed to get out. and, uh, well, i packed up what i could pack up in the car — me and the dog — and i got out.

sherry made sure she got out with all of her 12 dogs, her most precious companions, amid the other physical loss. as long as i have the dogs and they're safe, i don't really care about many material things, you know. a 42—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of starting the butte blaze by rolling a burning car into a gully. it's already too late for many properties — here, just the brick chimney is left standing. elsewhere, rows of homes are evacuated, their owners in shelters. i want to go home right now, but, uh, those things can be replaced. lives can't, pets can't. you know what i mean? that structure will be replaced eventually. a state of emergency has been declared, as around 2,500 fire crews and emergency workers try to contain what they can, when they can. in some places, that means creating fire breaks and hosing down the ground to try to stop embers building back into fires. but wind and very dry shrub

are making this another summer of destruction. duncan kennedy, bbc news. now to politics here in the uk. chancellor, rachel reeves, will make a statement to mps tomorrow where she will set out what she claims is the financial black hole in the public finances. it has been reported that ms reeves is set to officially delay a raft of road and hospital schemes as the chancellor seeks to fill an estimated £20 billion fiscal hole she claims was left by the last conservative government. 0ur political correpondent, helen catt, told us what can we expect from the chancellor's statement to mps tomorrow. when she went into the treasury, one of the first thing she did one of the first things she did was to commission what she's calling a spending audit — looking at all the plans, all the spending plans that the last government had put in place. because she said that as soon as she got in and opened the books there were some nasty surprises

and she wants to get it all out there and see what they're dealing with. so we're expecting her to give a statement tomorrow in which she will set out, area by area, what she says is different to what was anticipated. here is what the environment secretary steve reed had to say about this earlier. we knew the inheritance was going to be bad, and that was being flagged up through the election. but we've got into our offices now, we've seen what's really been going on, and it's catastrophic. it's worse? but there were things that we could not have known during the election, because the conservatives had not only not released the information, but in some cases they'd deliberately covered it up. now, the conservatives say this just isn't the case — they say that everything about the state of the economy had been publicly available all along. they say this is labour rolling the pitch — to use that awful phrase — for what they say are to inevitably raise taxes. and during the election campaign, there was some talk from economists about the state of the economy, that they said at the time that

neither labour nor the conservatives were really giving a full picture on the state of the economy going forward, and that there would have to be tough decisions made. what steve reed is saying is that there have been surprises in areas like, for example, prisons. now, of course, there was a lot of information about the state of prisons before the election — the weekly capacity numbers are published, and we knew that they were very full, we knew that there had been — there was reporting of conversations that had been happening in government. but steve reed was saying, look, still when we got in, there were things we still didn't know about that which meant that prisons would have been full by august if they hadn't taken steps. so that's the argument they're making. when we get the speech tomorrow from rachel reeves, then we'll be able to look at some of the detail of that and look at some of those claims about what they are saying they have found, and be able to examine those more fully. but there is always a degree of framing going on here. we have had a consistent message from the government since they took over — virtually in every department — saying "things are worse than we thought". that is in some part a bit

of framing, that will allow them to, if they have to do unpopular things down the line, say this is what the conservatives left us. we should say, that is what the conservatives did in 2010 when they took over from labour. we'll be watching for rachel reeves�* statement to mps tomorrow. we will also be watching for the final cast list of candidates in the conservative leadership election because the nominations close tomorrow. just remind our viewers who is officially throwing their hat in the ring and then we might go through who hasn't but might do. well, yes, nominations close at 2:30pm tomorrow afternoon, and so far we have five declared contenders for the conservative leadership. the first to come out of the traps was james cleverly, the former home secretary. he announced pretty early on, earlier this week. there's also the former security minister tom tugendhat, the former immigration minister robertjenrick, and the former work and pensions secretary mel stride. and then most recently — just last night — another

former home secretary, priti patel has announced that she will put herself forward, too. they say they have all secured the ten mps that they need to get on the ballot. what's interesting, actually, is that, listening to all of their pitches, each of them really has been talking about the need to unite the conservative party. so it will be interesting to see, going forward, how they will paint themselves as the person to do that, as opposed to all the others. and, as you said, there are some names that we don't know about. the two that most people are talking about — kemi badenoch and suella braverman. kemi badenoch has been touted as the favourite. she has not yet thrown her hat in the ring, nor has suella braverman. so where are we standing with those two? kemi badenoch, we are anticipating, will. we understand she has got the signatures and is intending to come forward. she is the former business secretary, currently the shadow housing secretary. we are expecting to hear from her fairly shortly — nominations close tomorrow. suella braverman had long been

touted as a leadership contender — she ran in the race to replace borisjohnson — but we haven't heard anything from her in recent days. so it's unclear at this stage whether or not she will put herself forward. before we let you go, just remind us of the process. leadership elections in the uk take some time because then they go out to the party memberships. so just take us through the diaries of the next few months. each one is different. every time they have one of these leadership contests, it's up to the party to set the rules. this particular time, they have gone for a much longer contest than what we saw, for example, when the conservatives replaced borisjohnson. that was a much shorter, truncated contest. this time, nominations close tomorrow to get on the ballot. then the candidates will have all summer, really, to make their pitch to their colleagues, to members. when parliament returns in september, mps will whittle down the candidates to just four. those four will then have what is described as a sort of beauty pageant at the conservative party conference

— which takes place in the last week of september, first week of october — then they'll get whittled down to another two. the membership will then vote on it in an online vote, and we'll finally find out who the new leader is on november second, so quite a way to go. we will of course have full coverage of the conservative leadership contest once nominations close at 2:30pm tomorrow. the television presenter laura whitmore has alleged she was subjected to inappropriate behaviour while taking part in strictly come dancing eight years ago. she didn't name who was involved in her case, but she was paired with professional dancer giovanni pernice, who's previously denied threatening or abusive behaviour — and since left the programme. in a statement on social media, laura said...

the king has been speaking to members of the public as he walked to church at sandringham this morning. well—wishers turned out to see charles as he strolled to the service at st mary magdalene. the king — who is continuing to receive treatment following a cancer diagnosis — was greeted by the reverend canon dr paul williams and he also spoke to air cadets. now there's some big news for superhero movie fans. iron man star robert downeer is making a shock return to the marvel cinematic universe after five years away from the multi—billion—dollar franchise. but this time, he'll be playing supervillain doctor doom. he was unmasked at the comic—con event in san diego on saturday. the actor previously played billionaire tony stark, whose iron man alterego was one of the series�* biggest stars, and told fans at the event "new mask, same task".

let's speak to film critic ashanti 0mkar. iam hoping i am hoping that you are a marvel superfan i am hoping that you are a marvel super fan yourself. what do you make of the return of robert downey junior, of course in the new character? i junior, of course in the new character?— junior, of course in the new character? . ~ ., ., character? i am delighted. what an eic character? i am delighted. what an epic moment _ character? i am delighted. what an epic moment. there _ character? i am delighted. what an epic moment. there were - character? i am delighted. what an epic moment. there were many - character? i am delighted. what an. epic moment. there were many fans who actually were chanting even before he unveiled his mask. i guess, people were waiting to see him in some form. robert downey junior is one of the best actors in the world, and it's a very exciting is stage for the marvel cinematic stage and i'm very excited. how do ou think stage and i'm very excited. how do you think fans _ stage and i'm very excited. how do you think fans will _ stage and i'm very excited. how do you think fans will react? _ stage and i'm very excited. how do you think fans will react? it - stage and i'm very excited. how do you think fans will react? it has - you think fans will react? it has been interesting _ you think fans will react? it has been interesting to _ you think fans will react? it has been interesting to see - you think fans will react? it has | been interesting to see because everyone is wondering. iron man was a man who did so good, how will he come back as this evil doctor doom?

how can this be the same actor? 0ne how can this be the same actor? one thing to remember is that doctor doom never reveals his mask. when he says new mask, same task. it is a new mask, he won't be removing it. we might not see his face very much in this. it will be interesting to see how they take us forward because at the moment it is all shrouded in mystery. at the moment it is all shrouded in m ste . , . at the moment it is all shrouded in mste . , ., ., , , mystery. yes, and where does this take the overall _ mystery. yes, and where does this take the overall marvel— mystery. yes, and where does this take the overall marvel franchise i take the overall marvel franchise going forward? this take the overall marvel franchise going forward?— take the overall marvel franchise going forward? this is a very good time for them _ going forward? this is a very good time for them to _ going forward? this is a very good time for them to do _ going forward? this is a very good time for them to do a _ going forward? this is a very good time for them to do a reboot. - going forward? this is a very good time for them to do a reboot. this is phase six as the greeks call it. they have had about 16 years now to bring the marvel cinematic world to where it is now. deadpool only came out on thursday, also rose friday at midnight. that is already shattered records for an r—rated movie and thatis records for an r—rated movie and that is the start of this reboot. the whole reintroduction of x—men

into the marvel cinematic universe. it has taken a while to get to this. and it mainly is because $30 million, this is one of the biggest franchises of all time, especially for superheroes. i franchises of all time, especially for superheroes.— franchises of all time, especially forsuerheroes. ~ ., , , for superheroes. i think many people thou~ht for superheroes. i think many people thought that — for superheroes. i think many people thought that avengers _ for superheroes. i think many people thought that avengers game - for superheroes. i think many people thought that avengers game was - for superheroes. i think many people thought that avengers game was the | thought that avengers game was the end game. you might guess, yes,. people don't quite realise that this could be expanded in such a way. they try to do many cool things, part of it was the fandom who were buying comics, they were usually of a certain demographic, and they were expecting it to stay the same way it ended. and when they tried to beat this universe, bringing in female directors, bringing in young avengers who are multicoloured, bringing in the multi—generational idea to the cinematic universe, it seems to have had if you misfired here and there. but mainly, it has

been hit after hit, really. and now it has been the time to reboot it because they had jonathan major who was going to be the big villain. and with him and their harassment charges and everything that has gone on with him, they have had to change this very much. what they have had to do is give the fans what they want which is robert downeyjunior. the fans really wanted something with him back. so it's a very exciting time. i with him back. so it's a very exciting time.— with him back. so it's a very exciting time. i want to ask you before you _ exciting time. i want to ask you before you go- _ exciting time. i want to ask you before you go. avengers's - exciting time. i want to ask you - before you go. avengers's doomsday is going to be directed by two directors returning to the franchise, they directed four of the films, i believe. big mac that is right, the brothers are coming back, they are the masters in cinema. harrison ford is coming back into them cinematic marvel universe, these are people that the fans really wanted. the way it's these are people that the fans really wanted. the way its planned this universe, the mcu, listening to

fans and taking a lot of feedback and then tweaking as they go along. that's exciting when the new films are coming out, there's going to be are coming out, there's going to be a new avengers doomsday as you mentioned. so there is a lot of big things happening. spider—man sequel is coming out. so we have a lot to anticipate. forthose is coming out. so we have a lot to anticipate. for those who love going to the cinema and feeling the magic of fans screaming and laughing and just really enjoying it. this what that brings. just really en'oying it. this what that brings.— just really en'oying it. this what that brints. ., , ., , that brings. you sound very 'oyous ourself. that brings. you sound very 'oyous yoursetf. tt-sfi that brings. you sound very 'oyous yourself. it's lovely * that brings. you sound very 'oyous yourself. it's lovely to have h that brings. you sound veryjoyous yourself. it's lovely to have you i that brings. you sound veryjoyous yourself. it's lovely to have you on the show. great to talk to you. a true marvel super fan you are. thank ou so true marvel super fan you are. thank you so much- — now how much would you pay for a bikini? how about $175,000? that's how much a gold bikini worn by carrie fisher in star wars: return of the jedi has been sold for. the star wars costume is one of the most famous outfits in film history. fisher's character princess leia

wore the outfit as she was chained to jabba the hutt�*s throne in the 1983 film. here's the weather now with tomasz schafernaker. hello. sunny skies with temperatures well into the 20s across much of the uk, and whether you like it or not, the first half of the week will be really quite hot — particularly across southern and central areas of the uk. let me show you the satellite picture with the jet stream superimposed. here it is — this big ridge allowing the hot air to come in from the south, and the dip in thejet stream with the weather fronts there — that's the bad weather that recently affected paris and the opening ceremony. here in the uk, admittedly it is not gin—clear everywhere, the blue skies are further south. in scotland and northern ireland here, it's a little more hazy with fair weather clouds, and cooler — around 21 in belfast and glasgow, but the rest of the country, typically inland, in the mid 20s. so after a warm and sunny day, it's going to be a warm and clear night, but just to the north—west this weak weather front is trying to push in, it doesn't make much progress. but maybe some cloudier

skies and damp weather here in the far north—west. the rest of the country — it's a dry and sunny morning. and we do it all over again on monday, with high pressure in charge, and just weak weather fronts trying to move into north—western parts of the uk. so right from the word go, it is blue skies once again across many parts of england and wales. a little bit more cloud here in the north—west of the uk, and just the risk of a shower here and there. so cooler — around 20 or so — but the bulk of england and wales again well into the 20s and the high 20s expected across the south—east and east anglia. and that heat will continue to build. as we head through the course of tuesday, we see that hot air spreading in from france, really quite oppressive for the olympics — in the south of france pushing a0 celsius, paris the mid 30s. here in the uk in the extreme case, we might even get around 31 or 32 in some southern and south—eastern part of the country. now i'm going to speed up the weather forecast — tuesday into wednesday, then wednesday night with the heat, we are going to see some showers and thunderstorms developing, i think more especially by the time we get to thursday.

but trying to pinpoint where they are going to be at this stage is going to be very hard. but here is the summary, then, for the week ahead. this increasing cloud here on the weather apps, that's an indication of those storms starting to build by that stage. bye— bye.

live from london, this is bbc news. funerals are taking place for the victims of a rocket attack in the israeli—occupied golan heights. israel blames lebanese militant group hezbollah, which denies involvement. new video has emerged of the events leading up to a police officer kicking a man in the head as he lay on the floor at manchester airport last week. venezuelans are voting in what's being seen as a pivotal presidential election — with president nicolas maduro trailing his rival in opinion polls. i'm maryam moshiri live from paris. it's day two of the olympics with 13

gold medals up for grabs today. and one of the most decorated gymnasts in history, simone biles, has returned to competition to try to add to her four gold medals. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to bbc news. the israeli airforce says it's carried out strikes against the hezbollah group in lebanon after a rocket hit a football pitch in the israeli—occupied golan heights, killing 12 young people. the rocket struck a druze arab town close to the border with lebanon. the israeli defence minister blamed hezbollah, but the group has denied any involvement. today funerals have been taking place in the town of deal shams. ——of majdal shams. barbara plett usher sent this report. impossible to count the losses when they are measured

in the lives of your children. villagers gathered in their thousands to mourn