expectations we have for those who wield the power in this nation. welcome to the programme. starting with the political developments in venezuela now where nicolas maduro has accused his opponents of trying to mount a coup following widespread claims that his re—election as president was a fraud. within the last couple of hours, security forces used tear gas to disperse anti—maduro protesters in caracas and armed soldiers are heading for the presidential palace in caracas. nine latin american countries have requested an emergency meeting of the organisation of american states to discuss venezuela's presidential election. the venezuelan opposition has rejected the outcome as fraudulent.

the us, brazil and spain are among the countries to ask for full transparency over the vote count and results. us secretary of state anthony blinken had this to say after the result was announced. blinken had this to say after we blinken had this to say after have serious concerns the we have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the venezuelan people. it is critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently, that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay and that the electoral authorities publish the detailed tabulation of votes. the international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly. our south america correspondent ione wells sent us the latest from caracas:

this afternoon in caracas, thousands of people have started walking towards the presidential palace to protest the disputed election results. all day today, there have been people on the streets and in their homes banging pots and pans in protest against the results that president maduro, his government, and electoral council announced on sunday night after the presidential election. i spoke to some people on the street who are out protesting, not deterred by the huge thunderstorm taking place in the city at the time — when i asked them why they were protesting and what they made of the result that had been announced, they said quite bluntly, they believed it was a fraud. they said that president maduro had no right to be in power, they said that they and loads of others that they knew had all turned out to vote for change, that they believed it was necessary for the country, that they needed a better economy, better employment and better opportunities for young people. today, those voices of protest are growing. there are, as i say, thousands of people descending on the presidential palace to protest this result. president maduro himself has accused the opposition of attempting to instigate an accempted coup by disputing

the results of this election. but it isn'tjust the opposition disputing the results — there are a growing number of governments abroad refusing to recognise the results of this election unless the government can provide proof of the numbers they published overnight. andre masuko is venezuela research analyst at the economist intelligence unit. he told me about the options open to the opposition parties, if they want to challenge the election result. the opposition will probably declare victory based on their own exit polls. they won the election by a huge margin. the main opposition candidate, maria corina machado, said that, based on their own vote counting, they won by 70%, against maduro�*s 30%. and she will also take advantage of the fact that the most recent and credible research surveys were indicating that the main opposition candidate, edmundo gonzalez, was leading by — was also

leading by a huge margin. the opposition will probably declare victory based leading by a huge margin. so the opposition will declare victory and they will push for regime change. we expect increased episodes of violence, social unrest, and massive protests, and they will continue to push for regime change to destabilise the regime. they will attempt to demonstrate that the scale of fraud was so huge, that even high—ranking officials of the government could eventually defect. however, despite efforts to overthrow the regime, we think that maduro will hold on to power. he will take advantage of venezuela's established patronage structure that rewards high—ranking officials and punishes dissent. maduro also has strict control over the security forces, the national electoral council, and most of the media. all of this indicates that he will remain in power,

despite growing pressure for him to step aside. right, and a lot of eyes on the developments taking place in venezuela — and nine south american countries, as we said, have called for a complete review of the results and an emergency meeting of the organisation of american states. what can the international community do in the circumstances? well, the international community should pressure the regime for a full recount, especially well—established democracies like uruguay, brazil, chile, and also colombia, and also brazil, which are long—time allies of lula. we think that it will continue to pressure for a full recount of the votes and to increase transparency. however, the maduro regime has already accustomed to operating under diplomatic isolation. for example, we think that, given that the results will will not be considered

free and fair, we think that maduro�*s credibility on the global stage will take a further knock, that will further deepen venezuela's isolation in the global stage. it will also undermine maduro�*s efforts to secure broad—based sanctions relief, especially because there is a very high risk that donald trump will win the us presidency later this year. a 17—year—old boy has been arrested in connection with a deadly mass stabbing in northern england. two children were killed and nine others hurt — six of them critically — in what police described as a ferocious attack. two adults were also seriously hurt. police are trying to establish a motive for the attack on a taylor swift—themed children's dance class. they say they're not treating

the incident as terror—related. king charles said he was profoundly shocked by what he called an utterly horrific incident. a sunny day in the school holidays, and children who had been dancing moments earlier are lying on the street. where there had been in music, there was now the sound of screaming. paramedics and police raced to them, local people too, including an off duty nurse. i checked on my girls and ijust ran to the crowd because you put your nhs head on, don't you? and the mother there, i was consoling, the look on herface, because she knew something had happened to her child. it was like, oh, my gosh, how do you even comprehend? there's nothing you can do. the children were dancing to taylor swift when a man with a knife walked

into the room. people working nearby heard the sounds of their distress. it was like a bomb had gone off, girls' bodies all over the place. me and one of my colleagues who worked with me, james, he brought one of the girls out of the building. she didn't look good at all, poor kid. the dance class had just been about to end. there were a few parents around. i have heard wailing and screaming pretty much all afternoon of parents coming later to pick kids up, and only really finding out what has gone on. 13 people were stabbed altogether, including 11 children. they were taken to hospitals all over the region, some by air. many are critical. two children have been killed and details are still emerging about exactly what happened in the room. it is understood that the children were attending a taylor swift event at a dance school where the offender,

armed with a knife, walked into the premises and starting to attack inside, the children. we believe the adults who were injured were bravely trying to protect the children who were being attacked. as a mum and a nana, i can't begin to imagine the pain and suffering the families of the victims are going through at this moment in time and i wish to send my heartfelt condolences to them. roads running the scene were closed off and this afternoon, the police arrested a teenager at a house in a village three miles north of southport, and seized a knife. the 17—year—old was born in cardiff and is now being questioned by detectives. condolences have been offered by the king and the prime minister. the events today are just truly awful, and i know the whole country is deeply shocked

at what they have seen and what they have heard. i know i speak for everybody and the whole country in saying our thoughts and condolences are with the victims, their families, their friends and the wider community. it's almost impossible to imagine the grief that they are going through and the trauma they are going through. this is an area full of families, and everyone either know someone affected or knows of children who could have been there instead. you don't even hear about this kind of stuff on netflix. this is, like, the worst thing you can ever imagine. my daughter was there on saturday. our friends' kids were here and they have just got slain, massacred. i have been in this community for many years, and i would say i have ever heard of maybe one or two stabbings, but nothing of this nature. so it's worrying. southport is a happy holiday resort which always

shows its best side in summer. not today. this has been the darkest of days, and unspeakable horror has happened here instead. judith moritz, bbc news, southport. president biden has announced plans for major reforms to the us supreme court, including term limits forjustices and a new code of conduct. currently, judges can serve on the court for life. mr biden�*s proposals face little chance of getting through the deeply—divided congress. lets have a listen to what president biden has been saying. in recent years extreme opinions on the court handed down have undermined long established civilised predictions and projections. in 2022 a court overruled roe versus wade, the right to choose, at that had been the law of the land for 50 years

will stop 50 years. the following years the same court eviscerated affirmative action which had been upheld and reaffirmed for nearly 50 years as well, and now there is an extreme movement and agenda called project 2025, by the way, this is serious, man, they are planning another onslaught attacking civil rights in america. peter bowes our la correspondent has the latest it'll be extremely difficult, verging on impossible for president biden to see any of these reforms passed by the congress, at least before the next election. he has what's known as a lame duck president — now we know he will only serve one term, there will be a new president after the inauguration injanuary of next year. so i think what is more relevant to what he's saying now is the current state of politics in this country, the remaining few weeks and months of the election campaign, he's raising

this issue — which is in —— isn't a new issue, it's been discussed in washington for some years now, the possible reform of the supreme court — but he's raising it now at this extremely sensitive time because there are certain aspects of what he's been talking about, and especially the introduction of term limits for the supreme court justices — in other words, stopping them from serving for life — that has a certain popularity amongst the electorate in this country, that it could become an election issue and benefit kamala harris, the presumed nominee for the democrats. is that what it boils down to, peter, given that it's election season, it'll be about political mileage the democrats will be looking to draw this? and having said that, how are other republicans likely to counter this? certainly the republicans already countering this, suggesting this is simply

a move too far, as far as supreme court justices are confirmed. and at least some republicans i've heard talking about this saying, "look, if the roles were reversed and perhaps there was a different majority on the supreme court, perhaps there was a liberal majority and decisions had been made in favour of the liberal politics, would the democratic president of the day be talking about such changes?" so it's clearly a hotbed of discussion in terms of politics — but clearly that does seem to be at least the deep—rooted motive to make it an issue now that there are certain areas of what he's talking about, he's also introducing or suggesting that the congress pick up the possibility of a constitutional amendment to overturn that decision earlier this year of immunity for donald trump and other former presidents from prosecution. that is a hugely controversial issue, and of course it has relevance for donald trump

with the criminal charges he's still currently facing. so all of this reallyjust goes to the heart of american politics at the moment and some of these key issues in the weeks and months. peter, we leave it there, thank you forjoining us. let's speak now to gabe roth, executive director at fix the court, an advocacy group seeking reform of the us federeal court system. thank you for your time. you've been a leading campaignerfor reform, so how are you viewing these proposals and how close do you think you are close to success? this is a big deal, no question about it, supreme court reform has been bandied about since the founding of our democracy nearly 250 years ago, there was a debate about the constitutional convention about how long judges and justices should serve, so it's not a new debate. it is the first time in modern history that a us president has supported a reform like this. eight years ago during the 2016 election,

it was popular on the right following the same—sex managed decision that permitted same—sex marriage in 50 states and it was the republican saying they wanted to limit the justices in 2020 and it became popular on the democratic side after more conservative leaning in opinions during the trump administration but president biden when he was a candidate was not supportive of these reforms so it's a big idea that has moved to the party where this is the moderate position to support the justices and not too long ago it was the moderate position for the republican party but they have retreated from it since the republicans are clearly in control of what goes on the supreme court.— supreme court. given the political _ supreme court. given the political challenges - supreme court. given the political challenges ahead supreme court. given the - political challenges ahead and we've been speaking about how difficult it will be to pass and enact these, how do you view the challenges and what you do as an advocacy group? my

view is you do as an advocacy group? h view is to you do as an advocacy group? m: view is to start you do as an advocacy group? m; view is to start small and these are big ticket items but i like to advocate for reforms that already exist elsewhere in the government. for example on the government. for example on the code of conduct, that already exists in the lower courts and is enforceable that a lower courtjudge, and there are 2300 in the federal system and only nine supreme court judges, so if one of those fails to hold up the ethical part of theirjob, you and i or anyone can file a complaint against thejudge and anyone can file a complaint against the judge and it will be adjudicated by a panel of their peers and there will be punishment but that framework does not exist for the supreme court so the idea of bringing it to the justices that almost happened when the ethical law was passed 50 years ago but the justices weasel their way out again and hopefully it doesn't happen again so we don't have something where the supreme courtjustices have to something where the supreme court justices have to follow the same rules that lower court judges follow. similarly we talk about the gifts of the supreme court because they have

accepted lavish gifts totalling $4 million in the last 20 years and we won the justices to follow the same gift acceptance rule is that members of congress follow, nothing over $50. so i believe if we can put it to a vote and we brought a bill like that to the floor and said, you members of congress on the left and right, democrats and republicans have a binding code of ethics and a gift acceptance threshold, i think it would be difficult for republicans to vote against that, so that is my hope, to start with proposals that existed elsewhere in the government and go from there. i'm afraid that's all the time we have, but thank you for your time, and giving us those insights. this is bbc news.

there are growing fears of large—scale israeli retaliation to a deadly attack at the weekend it has blamed on hezbollah. germany, britain and the netherlands have called on their citizens in lebanon to leave urgently. several international airlines, including air france and lufthansa, have suspended flights to the capital beirut. hezbollah denies involvement in the strike on majdal shams. our correspondent, mark lowen, is injerusalem with the latest. the region is braced forjust how israel will respond to that rocket attack on saturday that killed 12 young people playing football up in the israeli—occupied golan heights. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, was up at that site today, and he warned that there would be a harsh response. there's pressure on israel to respond, both from of the coalition government here, but also from israelis up at the border with lebanon, who want to neutralise the threat from hezbollah once and for all. but also, there is an awareness of just how serious the situation is — and indications, reports and some media outlets that israel intends to respond, but perhaps falling short

of leading the region into all—out war. there's been a flurry of international activity, diplomatic pressure both on israel and on lebanon, parting messages from washington, from paris, from london and elsewhere warning, calling for restraint, and warning these actors to be measured in their response. the iranian president has warned israel now that it would make a great mistake with heavy consequences if it launched into a significant military incursion into lebanon. so we await to see just the nature of the israeli response — the israeli security cabinet has passed a resolution allowing the defence minister and prime minister to make a response, to choose the timing and nature of that response. we await to see exactly what shape that will take. to north korea now, where over 5000 people isolated by flooding were rescued after record—breaking rain left thousands stranded

over the weekend, prompting leader kimjong un to declare an "emergency", according to the country's state media. photos released show submerged farmland and homes after heavy rain hit areas which border china. separately, there's also been speculation surrounding kimjong un's own health — reports from seoul that north korean officials are seeking medicines for kim's obesity—related health problems. journalist su min hwang has been telling us more. it's actually not the first time his weight has been coming into the issue for a while now. he has assumed power in 2011, and it has been speculated that he suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes since early 30s — he's currently 40 now — and he also comes from a family with a history of heart problems. his father, kim jong—il, and his grandfather, kim il—sung, both died of heart issues. and, although we don't know the exact details of what kind of new medicine his aides are trying to get from abroad, what we do know —

and what the south korean intelligence service is saying, is that his health issues are likely to be stemming from his heavy smoking, drinking, and due to his stress. he's currently expected to be around 140kg, which puts him at the obese category on the nhs bmi chart. his daughter is also gaining a bit more attraction at the moment. she has been at high—profile public events since 2022, and that's highly unusual for north korean leaders to showcase their their offsprings in a public eye. and what we've seen is that the state media calling her "most beloved" or "respected child," and even referring her as a korean term which in english means "the great persons of guidance". and this term is quite special because they don't use this term unless it is referring to the leader himself, or the successor. so that's why you are getting a lot of speculations that she is being groomed for the leader.

previously, we have been seeing that his sister was being named as a successor. but, after this public appearance of the daughter, who is around ten years old, that speculation is now leaning towards the sister. and also, the statistics are showing that the daughter's public activities, at least 60% of them are involving military events with her father — which boosts the claim that she is being groomed for the leadership role. scientists say they have new evidence to back up their theory that the first life on earth began 1.5 billion years earlier than previously thought. they say they detected an explosion of the nutrients needed to support life, including oxygen and phosphorous, 2.1 billon years ago. the single—cell organisms would have been similar to slime mould. not all scientists agree — they say more evidence is needed. you have been watching newsday.

a reminder of our top story, thousands of venezuelans protested in the streets of the caracas on monday night to protest against president nicolas maduro's claim of victory in the country's disputed elections. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello there. we'll see some contrast in temperature across the uk over the next few days. slightly fresher conditions for scotland and northern ireland, but england and wales certainly holding onto the heat and the humidity for another few days. for most of us, it is looking pretty dry and pretty sunny, as well. but will we see a heat wave? it depends where you are. these are the threshold temperatures which we need to hit for at least three consecutive days. now, that's 28 celsius for parts of london and southeast england, 27 for much of england and wales — we've already seen one day above that — and actually, over the next few days across parts of the midlands, southern, southeast england, we could well see those threshold temperatures exceeded for a heat wave. now, through the day

on tuesday, lots of dry, sunny weather. areas of cloud just floating around across parts of northern england, northern ireland, and at times of scotland — so you could just see a light passing shower here, i think. further south — long, clear spells, blue skies, lifting temperatures to between about 28—32 in the southeast. typically the high teens or the low—20s, though, as we head further north. 0vernight tuesday night and on into wednesday, largely dry, settled, humid again — so another muggy, sticky night. just a chance of the odd shower cropping up perhaps towards the south. but look at those overnight temperatures — 18 celsius in london, but we're looking at glasgow and edinburgh around about 7—8 celsius. so a real contrast as we head into the early hours of wednesday. but again, for wednesday, lots of sunshine, it'll feel hot and humid again for england and wales in particular, where temperatures could reach 30 celsius or higher. typically again, the high teens or low—20s as we head through scotland and northern ireland. but a bit of a change into thursday, because we'll start to see this frontal system moving its way

in from the west, bumping into the high pressure, bumping into the hot, humid air — that could well spark off some heavy showers and some thunderstorms. so a bit of a breakdown in the weather possible for thursday, especially so for england and wales, but some uncertainty about the positioning of any of those thunderstorms. if you do catch one, torrential downpours could bring some localised flooding. with the threat of showers, it's not quite as hot by this stage in the south, but still could get close to 30 celsius. and then, as we head through friday into the weekend, eventually weather fronts will start to move their way eastwards, introducing something a little bit fresher coming in from the west. so, after a hot, humid few days, it is looking a little bit cooler and more unsettled as we head towards the end of the week and into the weekend. bye— bye.

mcdonald's sales fall, prompting everything from the fast food giant.

meal deals sent shares up by over 3%. with the latest, al bbc north america business correspondent. h0 bbc north america business correspondent.— bbc north america business correspondent. no amount of secial correspondent. no amount of special sauce _ correspondent. no amount of special sauce can _ correspondent. no amount of special sauce can make - correspondent. no amount of| special sauce can make higher prices more palatable, as mcdonald's has found out. sales at the burger giant spluttered, consumers around the world shying away from the higher cost of burgers and fries and soft drinks. even the ceo admitted it was too expensive. last year we warned of a more discriminating consumer, particularly among lower income households. as the year progressed, those pressures have — progressed, those pressures have deepened and broadened. gn have deepened and broadened. on a have deepened and broadened. (jim a call have deepened and broadened. a call with have deepened and broadened. q�*i a call with investors, mcdonald's said food, labour and paper cost has risen as much as 40%, forcing it to raise prices. but one analyst we spoke to noted that the golden arches had been fast on the draw with price hikes than

its rivals. n ., �*, the draw with price hikes than itsrivals. n ., k, . its rivals. mcdonald's pricing increases — its rivals. mcdonald's pricing increases have _ its rivals. mcdonald's pricing increases have been - its rivals. mcdonald's pricing increases have been faster l