denounce the official result of sunday's residential election. one person has now died according to reporters at the right place clashed with protesters. the government says it will temporarily suspend commercial flights with panama in the dominican republic by wednesday. in the capital, caracas, protesters set fire to cars and threw stones at riot police, who responded with tear gas. the demonstrators say president nicolas maduro�*s re—election was fraudulent and they're demanding that he leave office. groups of mr maduro�*s supporters, as well as paramilitaries are also gathering in the capital. the crowd was cheering and throwing their hands in the air. in a live address to the nation... venezuela's electoral authority formally declared mr maduro the winner despite

exit polling that suggested the opposition party won. mr maduro accused the opposition of trying to stage a coup. the venezuelan opposition dismissed the electoral council's announcement as fraudulent, and candidate edmundo gonzales says his campaign has the proof it needs to show that he was the winner. world leaders are also questioning the results of the election. regional governments will hold an emergency meeting of the organization of american states permanent council on wednesday due to "profound concerns" over sunday election�*s outcome. peru's foreign ministry ordered venezuelan diplomats to leave the country in response to rising tensions in no more than 72 hours. us secretary of state antony blinken had this to say after the result was announced. 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 detail of votes. the international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly. the bbc�*s ione wells has this report from caracas. protests broke out around caracas the day after the presidential elections. thousands of venezuela ns descended thousands of venezuelans descended towards the presidential palace to protest that disputed election result and protest against president maduro claiming he had won the election. the protests started relatively peaceful this morning as people around the streets were banging pots and pans, chanting things like �*freedom' and hoping maduro would step down as president.

later in the day, these turned more violent, people were burning rubbish and car tyres in the streets, clashing with armed police and military who were patrolling the streets. tear gas was fired at protesters and we saw many paramilitaries and police on the streets, some with riot shields trying to stop protesters getting too close to the presidential palace. this is something that will worry president majuro. these on the opposition parties disputing a result, these are not foreign governments, they are normal working people from poorer neighbourhoods in the city, places that would have previously voted for president majuro and his party, protesting against his claim to victory in the election. that could spell trouble for him. he has, on the other hand, accused the opposition of trying to initiate a coup by disputing the results, but the opposition stand firm and believe they have won the election and are determined to prove it.

joining me live is benjamin gedan, director of the wilson center's latin america program. first of all, what do you make of what we are seeing in venezuela tonight? all those protesters out on the streets after what many there believe was a fraudulent election. it doesn't surprise me. i think the campaign has awakened a sense of optimism and hope in venezuela that we've not seen for many years, and to see the government simply steal the election with a comical result that it announced with absoluely no evidence was clearly going to enrage many people in venezuela from the opposition and those who support the government. so you are of the view that this was indeed a win for the opposition? it seems pretty clear. polling before the election showed that the opposition was ahead by a minimum of 30 percentage points, some polls showed a lead of 40% and the data from

the opposition collected from certain precincts show that venezuela overwhelmingly voted for change. we see the protests there. is there a way for the opposition group to challenge these results and is there a legal process that can play out in venezuela? unfortunately, there is not, which is why there is a risk of the fight taking place on the streets of caracas and this fundamentally is a dictatorship and the supreme court and the military, the security forces are all controlled by the authoritarian regime and it leaves the opposition with very few peaceful avenues to promote change, which is why the election was so important. there have been claims of fraud surrounding majuro and the elections he's been in all the way back to 2013 when he was in newly elected president to succeed hugo chavez. do you think the protests will be successful this time and will we see him step down? i think the scale of the fraud this time around is very different. we haven't seen such a lopsided

result both in terms of turnout and energy in the campaigns, it's very clear that even in working—class parts of venezuela and rural parts there is a great desire for change. even if there wasn't enthusiasm for the opposition ticket, there are very few people in venezuelans who'd support another six year of nicolas maduro who's been in power for a decade and 25 years of rule by the chavez regime. at this point, it is different than past elections where there were accounts of fraud, but never this egregious. we hear now that the organisation of american states will be holding a meeting on wednesday. what do you make of that, and what kind of impact do you think that group could have and some of the other international pressure we have seen? international pressure is an essential complement to see what we see taking place on the streets of venezuela post election. the government really miscalculated in bringing this election forward. there was a sense in the corridors of power that if the playing field

were sufficiently tilted in favour of the government, it might win this election, and instead, it is standing worldwide and especially in latin america has really been damaged by this and i'm not sure it can recover. the conversation that will take place with the organisation of american states will show unanimity in the region at least in terms of concern and disbelief about the announced results. what kind of leveraged do you think the us has and the white house when it comes to pressure on venezuela? there are still obviously massive sanctions on the country. we saw in 2019 under the trump administration, they backed juan guaido to the legitimacy of majuro and had to backtrack on it. could that complicate anything here? i don't want to exaggerate the capacity for the us to shake political outcomes in venezuela and we've learned the hard way over the last few years that even with an extraordinarily aggressive sanctions campaign the venezuelan regime

was able to maintain control by repressing the people and chasing a quarter of venezuelans into exile and by getting critical support from russia, china, iran and other actors outside the western hemisphere. but i will say this — it's not irrelevant. the sanctions that the us still has and can impose on venezuela are meaningful and damage the economy and one of the reasons the election was held in the first place, the desire to free themselves from the sanctions and the regional isolation that venezuela will face is not irrelevant to the calculations of the government. even natural allies like the leftist presidents of colombia and brazil are now distancing themselves from the venezuelan regime. we are seeing those fault lines playing out across latin america. about ten seconds left, but what do you see happening next in the country? we will see. i fear it will play out in the streets of venezuela and provoke a brutal crackdown on dissent. we've seen that level

of repression before. it echoes will be a human tragedy and paralyse the process of political transition. i hope i will be wrong but unfortunately that has been the pattern in recent years. israel's prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, says his country will deliver a severe response to saturday's strike on the israeli—occupied golan heights. the rocket attack struck an soccer field in the town majdal shams, killing 12 young people. mr netanyahu cut short a tour of the united stated to visit the site of the attack on monday. he conveyed his condolences to the local community, which is mostly made up of the arab druze minority. but the prime minister was forced to leave after being heckled by locals who accused his government of failing to protect them. on sunday, israel fired on sites in south lebanon it says belong to the militant group hezbollah. israel blames hezbollah for the attack, an accusation that the group denies. as fears of large—scale israeli retaliation in lebanon grow, several international airlines, including air france and lufthansa, are suspending flights to the capital city, beirut.

countries including germany, britain and the netherlands are calling on their citizens to leave lebanon urgently. our correspondent mark lowen has more now from jerusalem. this region is braced forjust how israel is going to 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 this situation is, and indications, reports in 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 and 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 wait to see just the nature of the israeli response. the israeli security cabinet has passed a resolution allowing the defense minister and prime minister to make a response, to choose the timing and nature of that response. we wait to see exactly what shape that will take. mark lowen their reporting from jerusalem. now to lebanon, where our middle east correspondent, hugo bachega gave us this update. lebanon is still waiting for the israeli reaction after saturday's attack and is really prime minister benjamin netanyahu said that hezbollah would be a heavy price, the israeli authorities accused

hezbollah of being behind this attack, something that the group has rejected. the fact the retaliation has not happened yet could be seen as a good sign because it helps lower the temperature here, and it also gives more time for diplomacy to work. we've seen that there's been a lot of diplomatic activity to try to limit the israeli reaction, to try and avoid an escalation of tensions here and to avoid putting hezbollah in a position where they feel they have to respond. i think hezbollah is prepared perhaps to accept an attack that is considered to be within what the group describes as the rules of engagement, in other words, military positions used by hezbollah and facilities used by hezbollah. so any kind of attack on the lebanese capital,

beirut, also on lebanese civilian infrastructure could be seen as a major provocation, as a major escalation by israel and could trigger a response from hezbollah. but we still don't know, we are still waiting to see this israeli reaction. but we are seeing signs from israel and hezbollah that they're not interested in a major confrontation, that could have catastrophic consequences for both israel and lebanon. let's turn to some other important news around the world. the chancellor, rachel reeves, has announced spending cuts on road and hospital building projects, as well as winter fuel payments. she told parliament this was because of a massive shortfall in funds that her labour government had inherited. around 10 million pensioners will lose their winter fuel payments under the new plans. former bbc news presenter huw edwards has been charged with three counts of making indecent images of children. in a statement,

the metropolitan police said the offences relate to images shared on a whatsapp chat. they are alleged to have taken place between december 2020 and april 2022. mr edwards will appear in court on wednesday. the government and the bma trade union have struck an improved pay deal forjunior doctors in england worth 22% on average over two years. the bma's junior doctors�* committee has agreed to put the offer to its members. if accepted, it would spell an end to long—running strike action, which has led to the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of appointments since march 2023. you are live with bbc news. us presidentjoe biden is proposing unprecedented changes to the us supreme court. it's part of a plan he says will " restore trust and accountability" to the nation's highest court. he laid it out the three—part plan in an opinion column in the washington post on monday. he proposes a constitutional amendment that he says would "make clear that there

is no immunity for crimes "a former president committed while in office." he also supports changes to the way the court's judges are appointed, with the president nominating a justice every two years to serve 18 years on the court. and he also wants to impose a binding ethics code on the justices following a series of controversies around conflicts of interest involving several members of the court. the president spoke about his proposed sweeping changes during a speech marking the 60th anniversary of the civil rights act. based on my experience i am certain we need these reforms, reforms restore trust in the core, preserve the system of checks and balances vital to our democracy and they are also common reforms that the vast majority of american people support as well as law scholars, progressives and conservatives. i look forward to working with congress to implement

these reforms and members of congress not here today. more now with a senior politico reporter. how significant would these reforms be?— these reforms be? these... if these reforms be? these... if these reforms _ these reforms be? these... if these reforms were _ these reforms be? these... if these reforms were enacted, | these reforms were enacted, they would be very significant. the biggest changes to the way the supreme court operates and perhaps a century. the problem here is a very formidable obstacles to any of these reforms implemented in the way president biden has proposed, issues like the filibuster in the senate, overturning the decision on immunity requires an actual constitutional amendment full. even, frankly milder reform type proposals that have been put forward in the last few years, have failed due to those hurdles in these

more significant ones we would honestly at the moment have to say have almost no chance of enactment. say have almost no chance of enactment-— enactment. we heard the republican _ enactment. we heard the republican house - enactment. we heard the | republican house speaker enactment. we heard the - republican house speaker say these reforms were dead on arrival. what is behind the significance of the opposition from republicans? republicans have been suspicious _ from republicans? republicans have been suspicious about - have been suspicious about these reforms for some time. they think it is mainly a backlash against the supreme court decisions, partially a backlash against former president trumps success in getting three nominees onto the supreme court, so fully one third the supreme court are now nominees of former president trump, fully two—thirds of the supreme court are republican nominees. and that disadvantage if you look at that in crude artisan terms, republicans would prefer to preserve that rather than restrictions and encumbrances put on to those justices but, in general they

have viewed the attacks on the justices in the last year or two, which are notjust over their decisions but over their ethics to be partisan nature and intentionally directed at the more conservative members of the court. the more conservative members of the court-— of the court. the president was re of the court. the president was pretty critical — of the court. the president was pretty critical of _ of the court. the president was pretty critical of the _ of the court. the president was pretty critical of the supreme l pretty critical of the supreme court and the address in texas, he said extremism is undermining the public confidence in the courts decision. as the president right, what do you make of those comments? president is ri . ht the those comments? president is right the courts _ those comments? president is right the courts approval - right the courts approval numbers have been going down steadily, there are some other institutions in washington they have declined in the wake of the decision to years ago, overturning the federal constitutional right to abortion in the us. which had beenin abortion in the us. which had been in place for almost half a century and a few weeks ago the decision on presidential immunity seems to have been largely unpopular and it is not surprising then the court �*s overall ratings go down. i do

think the reason the president is stressing what he views as the extremism of the court is in part to explain his reversal on these sorts of proposals during the 2020 campaign, then candidate president pride was explicit he was exposed to —— opposed to any efforts to impose term limits on the supreme court now he is making it about this so trying to offer an explanation for a significant shift in stance. we don't often — significant shift in stance. we don't often hear a lot from any of these justices sitting on the supreme court but do we have a sense of what they might make of some of these proposals, specifically a hard and fast rule about ethics? well, we do have a sense, the court has been moving to implement some reforms on the ethics issue in the last year or so, ethics issue in the last year orso, chiefjusticejohn or so, chiefjustice john roberts dragged orso, chiefjusticejohn roberts dragged the conservative members who have been the focus of some of the negative press reports about

ethics, that would bejustices clarendon thomas and samuel alito to enforce a non—binding ethics code or an ethics code the court has adopted for the first time but it has no enforcement mechanism which is what president biden is talking about. we did have a significant eventjust about. we did have a significant event just last week, which is one of the liberaljustices elena kagan liberal justices elena kagan came liberaljustices elena kagan came out publicly and said she supports the idea of an enforcement mechanism for the ethics code, the court has adopted. so we do see some signs of movement on the high court, among thejustices, who do have at least under the current arrangement, life tenure with theirjobs. interesting and obviously as you said this could be a big change for the court but very unlikely we will see any of this come. josh always great to see get your perspective. former president donald trump

says he will sit down with the fbi on thursday for a victim interview to discuss the assassination attempt against him at his pennsylvania rally earlier this month. they are investigating the 20—year old government enters motivation behind the shooting that killed one rally go and seriously wounded to others, federal investigators in pennsylvania said they wanted to get his perspective on the shooting, calling the interview standard procedure. the town of southport is reeling over the killing of two children on monday in what police describe as a �*ferocious' knife attack. nine other children were injured — six are in critical condition. ourjudith mortiz has more. and a warning — you may find some of the details in this report upsetting. a sunny day with children lying on the street. where there had

been dancing, screaming. paramedics raced into them local people to including an off duty nurse. we local people to including an off duty nurse.— off duty nurse. we “ust ran throu~h off duty nurse. we “ust ran through the h off duty nurse. we just ran through the crowd, - off duty nurse. we just ran through the crowd, you - off duty nurse. we just ran| through the crowd, you put off duty nurse. we just ran - through the crowd, you put your nhs had on don't you. the mother i wasjust... nhs had on don't you. the mother i was just... consoling, the look on her face because knew something had happened to her child. oh my gosh how do you even comprehend, there is nothing you can do. the children _ nothing you can do. the children were _ nothing you can do. the children were dancing . 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 working nearby heard the sounds of their distress.— of their distress. it was like a bomb had _ of their distress. it was like a bomb had gone _ of their distress. it was like a bomb had gone off, - of their distress. it was like a bomb had gone off, girls| a bomb had gone off, girls bodies all over the place. one of my colleagues at work suddenlyjames, he brought one of the girls out of the building. she did not look good. at all, poor kid. the dance class _ good. at all, poor kid. the dance class are _ good. at all, poor kid. the dance class are just - good. at all, poor kid. the dance class are just been about to end. dance class are “ust been about to end. . , . dance class are “ust been about to end. ., , ., , to end. there was a few parents around, to end. there was a few parents around. i _ to end. there was a few parents around, i heard _ to end. there was a few parents around, i heard wailing - to end. there was a few parents

around, i heard wailing and - around, i heard wailing and screaming, pretty much all afternoon. with parents coming later to pick kids up and only really finding out what's going on. 13 really finding out what's going on. , really finding out what's going on. 13 people were stabbed altogether— on. 13 people were stabbed altogether including - on. 13 people were stabbed altogether including 11 - altogether including 11 children. they were taken to hospitals over the region some by air. many are critical. two children have been killed. details are emerging about how exactly it happened in the room. it exactly it happened in the room. , , room. it is understood the children — room. it is understood the children were _ room. it is understood the children were attending i room. it is understood the children were attending a | children were attending a taylor swift event at a dance school when the offender armed with a knife, walked into the premises and started to attack inside children. we believe the adults who were injured were bravely trying to protect the children who were being attacked. as a mother, and a nanna, i can't begin to imagine the pain, suffering that the families of the victims are going through at this moment in time. and i wish to send my heartfelt condolences to them.

road surrounding the scene were closed off, this afternoon the police arrested a teenager at a house in a village three miles north of southport and seized a knife. said the 17—year—old was born in cardiff and is now being questioned by detect. condolences have been offered by the king and the prime minister. 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. one more story to bring you from the paris olympics. the men's triathlon postponed after tests on water quality in the river did not meet the required standards, a blow for the organisers who previously said they were confident water quality in the river would improve in time for the race. there has been heavy rain there

on friday and on saturday, apparently they had bought some pollution to the river, the city of paris set aside $1.5 billion to clean up the river seine. for use in the olympics. we hand over to colleagues in london who have more coming up on 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. overnight 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.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. has india's prime minister, narendra modi, lost his midas touch? he expected to win a thumping majority in the country's recent election. instead, his bjp lost seats and is now dependent

on coalition partners to stay in power. so, where does that leave a highly contentious hindu nationalist policy agenda, condemned by opponents as divisive and dangerous? well, my guest is bjp spokesman syed zafar islam, a political rarity, a muslim within the ranks of the bjp. has this electoral setback trimmed modi's sails? syed zafar islam in delhi, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much.

mr islam, you've had a few weeks to reflect now,