you're watching bbc news broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we begin with israel's strike in beirut on the hezbollah commander it says was responsible for an attack that killed 12 young people in the israeli—occupied golan heights on saturday. at least one person was killed and a number of others wounded in the blast that hit the southern suburbs of the lebanese capital, where hezbollah has its main stronghold. israeli sources said the strike was in response to the attack this past weekend, on the town of majdal shams, in the israeli—occupied golan heights. the fate of the targeted

commander, who's been named as fuad shukr, is not yet clear — although israel claims he's been killed. he's been a top hezbollah military leader for many years. this report from the bbc�*s quentin sommerville. israel's response came just before sunset — a drone attack, three strikes on a building in beirut�*s southern suburb of dahiyeh. explosions could be heard across the city, an attack that lebanon has been bracing itself against the days. the target, a hezbollah commander israel blames for the attack on majdal shams, in the occupied golan heights. emergency services here are still working to rescue the injured — at least one woman died and dozens have been left wounded. it's not known if the commander was killed. this is the building that was struck by an israeli drone, we believe, three

rockets hit the building — as you can see, this is a heavily built—up civilian area, but israel says it had a hezbollah commander it holds responsible for the attack on its sites. there are mixed reports about whether he actually made it out alive, but we know there's been at least one woman killed and a number of people injured here tonight. this area of southern beirut was the same area in which a hamas official was targeted and killed by israel back injanuary this year — the big question now though is, what comes next? because israel has said its response will be severe, and it would take a number of days. so this strike may not be the end of it. a new footage has emerged tonight of saturday's attack in the golan — children playing quietly, then an air raid siren. there was no time to take cover. it left 12 dead, all children and young adults, watching a nearby football match.

hezbollah, which has fired thousands of rockets and missiles into israel in the last ten months, denies it was behind the attack. the iranian—backed group stands shoulder—to—shoulder with hamas, but it's far better armed and its fighters more formidable. the conflict here was mainly contained to border areas and military targets — the unwritten rules of this almost—war. but saturday's attack on the golan on civilians has pushed lebanon and israel to the brink. the united states and others have been working to contain things. how hezbollah responds to tonight's assassination attempt, and what israel does next, will determine whether war here is inevitable. quentin somerville, bbc news, beirut. daniel hagari, a spokesman for the israeli defence forces, said the strike was in direct retaliation to saturday's attack in the golan heights. the idf carried out

a targeted strike in beirut on fuad shukr — also known as said mohsen — hezbollah's most senior military commander, and the head of its strategic unit. while we prefer to resolve hostilities without a wider war, _ hostilities without a wider war. the _ hostilities without a wider war, the idf is fully prepared for any— war, the idf is fully prepared for any scenario. i have been speaking to middle east security expert behnam ben taleblu, in washington dc, and asked him whether he thought this was the start of something more concerning. well, it's a pleasure to be with you. there is a great potential — there's a great chance, one should say — that this may not be the end of israel's response to the gruesome attack that you mentioned, that killed 12, that killed 12 children in majdal shams in the north. but make no mistake, if you're looking at the trend lines in 2024 alone, every time a commander

is killed by the israelis, lebanese hezbollah, like much of the rest of the iran—backed axis of resistance, doubles down. so you're likely going to see more escalation, rather than absorption by this iran—backed terror group in the next few days. we've heard from the lebanese foreign minister, abdullah abou habib, who said that he hopes any response from hezbollah would not trigger an escalation. but how real really is the fear that this could turn into a full—scale, wider war? the fear is indeed real, and that fear is certainly began once that artillery rocket was launched, killing those 12 children. but make no mistake, authorities in beirut have been unable or unwilling — depending on the word that you wish to use — to contain hezbollah�*s increasing military escalation against israel. i mean, if you look at what hezbollah has been doing since october 8th, they've been moving along three different vectors — one, new targets, two, new geographies, and three, and perhaps most importantly, new weapons.

what they fired was an iranian piece of artillery that can go about ten kilometres with a 50—pound warhead. the hezbollah forces have used more advanced versions of this, including improvised rocket assisted munitions with much heavier warheads starting in the winter of last year. so there are already cycles of escalation built in that the authorities in beirut have been unable or, again, unwilling to stop. you're in washington, and we heard from the white house just a short while back. president biden believes that an all—out war between israel and hezbollah can be avoided. how much pressure would the us, israel's top ally, put now, to try and de—escalate? there's actually been significant diplomatic pressure and even diplomatic engagement, perhaps more importantly, by the biden administration here in washington, as well as by french sources to try to mediate moderate between israel and hezbollah — much to no avail thus far within the us. as you may know, amos hochstein, the special envoy,

has taken several trips to the region, i think almostjust a little bit less than a dozen now, in the past ten months, trying to basically stave off what many analysts fear could be a third lebanon war. and make no mistake, the administration has conflicting goals in this part of the world. it seeks, on the one hand, to restore deterrence and to basically enable its allies, like israel, to bolster their deterrence. but at the same time, it's also seeking de—escalation. and when you succeed in one of these goals, you basically underwrite failure in the other. there's widespread concern about the increasing tension and violence in venezuela. demonstrations erupted after nicolas maduro was declared the winner of sunday's presidential election. the military and police have remained loyal to maduro, and have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters. ngos say several people have died, and dozens have been injured. local officials say around 750 people have been arrested.

our south america correspondent ione wells is in caracas, and sent us this update. more protests broke out today around the city of caracas. thousands and thousands of people turned out to demonstrate against president maduro and his claim to victory in sunday's presidential elections. some of those that we spoke to said they believe the election was a fraud, they believe that people needed to keep fighting, and they hoped that pressure from the streets would help to change the situation. some, though, argued that it would only be if the military or police decided to join the opposition that anything would change. now the opposition leader, maria corina machado, has asked for her side to remain peaceful. she said that people shouldn't give in to provocations set by the government, in her words, and said that they had proof that their side had won this election, after gathering more physical receipts from some of the country's

electronic voting machines. the government, on the other hand, has accused the opposition of instigating, in their words, a coup, with both president maduro and his defence minister saying that this is a coup that is trying to destabilise the country of venezuela — and they argue this is backed by, in their words, "us imperialism". they have also accused foreign governments around the world of interfering with the election — and this is a reference to the fact that many, many countries and governments around the world have said that they want proof from the president of his electoral win if they are to recognise the election results, arguing that there is significant evidence that these results are not credible. nicolas maduro, in response, has cut diplomatic ties with some countries, including some in latin america, also cutting off international flights from wednesday to panama.

raul stolk is the director of caracas chronicles — i asked him for his assesment of the situation on the ground. the situation on the ground... the days before the election were very much calm, i would say, — by ground, i mean caracas, i was in caracas. and the day of the election went normal. there were some concerns during the day that were actually raised — that in the night where the government, the cne, the elections authority, was blocking transmission from the voting machines to the voting totalising centres. that concern connects directly with kind of the crux of what maria corina machado is saying regarding,

the evidence that that they have, showing that edmundo gonzalez won, because, something that needs to be known about the venezuelan voting system is that the machines are very much ironclad, and they are easy to audit. the way that they work is that, once a voting table is closed, each voting table issues a voting tally that's physical proof of the results of that voting centre. that same voting tally is sent electronically to the voting centre, in the cne. so, you could say that you have physical proof and electronic proof that the government has. the government hasn't

published for — well, many say that because they don't have the votes — they haven't published online the electronic proof, and machado uploaded the physical proof to a website that you can check and sort of corroborate what they are saying, which is that gonzalez won with a landslide. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

violence has broken out in southport, close to where a mass stabbing took place in which three girls were killed. a police van has been set on fire and officers attacked, as hundreds of people gathered, in what merseyside police called "sickening violence". the uk prime minister, sir keir starmer, said anyone involved in the disorder

in southport will "feel the full force of the law", adding, "those who have hijacked the vigil for the victims with violence and thuggery have insulted the community as it grieves." monday's attack on a taylor swift—inspired dance class left three children dead — and five more, along with two adults, in a critical condition in hospital. earlier, thousands attended a vigil in the centre of the town to pay their respects. judith moritz with this report on the victims of the attack. alice aguiar, only nine years old, whose parents said today she will always be their princess and told her, "keep smiling and dancing like you love to do." elsie dot stancombe, age seven, smiling proudly for her school photograph. the head remembers how she used to love to be carried to lessons on her father's shoulders. and bebe king, just six years old, with her milk teeth missing, whose school says it has lost one of the shining stars, and whose family says it

has no words to describe the devastation that has hit them. how can you find the words? three children who were just dancing, now they're gone. tonight, thousands turned up to a vigil in the town to gain collective strength as a community, each person struggling to take all of this in. the firefighters of green watch, who went to help the children yesterday, are numb. the ambulance crews who raced to save them and treat their wounds feel the same. all anyone can do now is show their sorrow and offer their support. my daughter goes to a drama club, so it hits very close to home. obviously, if she went to a holiday club, you think your child is going to be safe, and something like this happens, it's absolutely awful. it's a place we would all go as mummies and mummies—to—be, to feel safe, and to be with our children there.

it is the most gorgeous place. you would never, ever think anything like that would happen. emotions have been near the surface all day. the prime minister brought flowers and came to pay his respects, but found that, for some, feelings were riding high. the person i've held as a child, and you can't do come here, sweetheart. he can't do bleep - the prime minister! | i came here to pay my respects to the victims and families who are going through raw pain and grief that most of us can't imagine. i can't imagine it as a dad myself. to get a briefing from the chief constable and emergency services about the ongoing investigation, but also, importantly, to have the opportunity to say to those that were responding yesterday from the emergency services, to say a personal thank you to them and to shake their hand, and to say that, as prime minister, on behalf

of the country, we are grateful for what they did. more information has been emerging about the heroes of this tragedy. this is leanne lucas, who's understood to have been running the children's dance class, and who is thought to have been stabbed whilst trying to protect them. her condition is not currently known. and this isjoel verity, a window cleaner who went to confront the knifeman before waiting for police to arrive, and then carried a child away from the scene. his friends have been speaking about his bravery. in that situation, you know, no one knows how they are going to react, no one knows if theirfight orflight is going to kick in, and which one will kick in, and in that second, being a father himself, i thinkjoel... he heard kids and thought he had to help out. he went straightaway. he was truly fearless, and i am personally so proud of him. the children had been at a taylor swift—themed dance workshop. today, the star posted her

thoughts on instagram, saying the horror of the attack is washing over her, and she's completely in shock. fans of the singer have raised a quarter of a million pounds to support the families involved. some were at the vigil in the town centre, determined to keep positive against these odds. especially, southport is our holiday resort, and unfortunately, we find ourselves in a situation where we are now on the map for all the wrong reasons, and it's so, so sad to be in that situation. there are many still waiting anxiously for news and praying for those who remain critically hurt. and tonight, three families are devastated — unable to believe that their little girls aren't here any more. judith moritz, bbc news, southport. let's turn to the paris olympics now — let's take you to georgia for a

moment— let's take you to georgia for a moment where kamala let's take you to georgia for a moment where kamala harris, the presidential _ moment where kamala harris, the presidential hopeful, _ moment where kamala harris, the presidential hopeful, is _ presidential hopeful, is addressing a crowd. . put our investments _ addressing a crowd. . put our investments in _ addressing a crowd. . put our investments in clean - addressing a crowd. . put our investments in clean energy i investments in clean energy jobs... investments in clean energy “obs. .. �* , jobs... booing he intends - jobs... booing he intends to i jobs... booing | he intends to end jobs... booing - he intends to end the affordable care act... booing to take us back to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with pre—existing conditions. you guys remember what that was? children with asthma, breast cancer survivors, grandparents with diabetes. georgia, america has tried these failed policies before — and we are not going back! before - and we are not going back! , back! cheering we are - back! cheering we are not - back! cheeringl we are not going back! cheering - we are not going back. back! cheering _ we are not going back. not going back.

chanting: not going back! i , speaking at a rally in georgia, we hear her speaking to rapturous crowd as she carries out that campaign to secure that nomination —— kamala harris speaking at a rally in georgia. let's turn to the paris olympics now — and to an olympic legend. the us women's gymnastics team, led by simone biles, has won gold in the team event in paris. italy secured silver, while brazil won the bronze. great britain were placed fourth. after a stellar turn at the 2016 olympics, biles pulled out of several events at the tokyo games in 2020, citing a mental block. the 27—year—old went into the event as the world's most decorated gymnast, with 37 world and olympic medals, before adding to her total with a show—stopping performance across each appartaus. meanwhile, team gb�*s andy murray and dan evans are into the quarterfinals in the men's doubles at the paris olympics,

with a nail—biting win over belgian pair sander gille and joran vliegen. 37—year—old murray is set to retire after the games. also on day four of the games — medals were won for rugby sevens and swimming races. the bbc�*s hugh ferris has all the details. the defending champion beat the world record holder in the final of the 100m backstroke for women. australia's kaylee mckeown retained the title that she won in tokyo, despite not being in the top three at the turn. but mckeown registered a new olympic record after powering past america's regan smith, who took the silver ahead of her team—mate, katherine birkhoff. the men's 800m freestyle brought a first gold of the games for ireland — daniel wiffen winning in olympic record time after the world champion hauled in italy's gregorio paltrinieri, who eventually finished third, with defending champion bobby finke of the usa getting the silver. wiffen is the first athlete from northern ireland to win an olympic gold since 1988.

new zealand have retained their women's rugby sevens olympic title — but they were made to work for it against canada in the gold medal match. at half—time, it was the underdogs who led, but two second—half tries saw the reigning champions fight back to take the gold again, with a 19—12 win. the usa secured bronze, their first olympic rugby sevens medal, after they beat australia. olympic organisers say the men's and women's triathlons only have a 60% chance of going ahead on wednesday, after the men's event was postponed on tuesday. testing in the river seine in the early hours of the morning revealed the water was not clean enough for the swimming part of the race to take place. heavy rain in the french capital over the weekend had caused the water quality to diminish, and two training sessions had already been cancelled. the decision was taken to postpone after a meeting early on tuesday morning, with the men's event now scheduled to take place following the conclusion of the women's.

dozens of surfers have travelled almost 10,000 miles away from paris to compete off the coast of teahupo'o — a small village in the french—polynesian island of tahiti. organisers say the decision to hold the competition there is helping to fulfil their goal of spreading the games across as many french territories as possible. and the contest there has produced one of the best images of the olympics so far. this photo of gabriel medina emerging from a wave was taken by a french photographer. for more on teahupo'o, let's speak to tim mckenna, a photographer based in tahiti for 20 years who's heading to the event site to take photos of the olympics surfing competition. thanks very much for your time here on newsday. for starters, help us understand that tahiti is nearly 10,000 miles from paris — why has this location been chosen? paris - why has this location been chosen?— paris - why has this location been chosen? simply because teahum'o _ been chosen? simply because teahum'o is _ been chosen? simply because teahupo'o is the _ been chosen? simply because teahupo'o is the best - been chosen? simply because teahupo'o is the best waves l been chosen? simply because | teahupo'o is the best waves in the world, and it's part of

french polynesia, it's part of france, and it was pretty obvious for france to choose this location. the athletes want the best way in the world to compete in, and it's right here in tahiti, so that's why they chose teahupo'o. find they chose teahupo'o. and ou've they chose teahupo'o. and you've been _ they chose teahupo'o. and you've been living - they chose teahupo'o. and you've been living there i they chose teahupo'o. and you've been living there over the last 20 years, this event is a first for the area — what's the mood like they're on the ground, what have you seen? it's been pretty incredible because yesterday, the waves picked up and it was really big conditions. so it was probably the best conditions the olympics will ever have, as far as surfing goes, because as the wave is so nice, they got it really in prime condition. so everybody is pretty excited. all right, tim, i think we have to leave it there because we are running out of time, but thanks very much, and i can certainly say we have a lot of people very envious about your job at the moment. but thanks forjoining us on newsday.

that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello. tuesday brought us the warmest day of the year so far. several parts of london saw temperatures up to 32 celsius, including heathrow, kew gardens, saint james' park, as well. and it's notjust been the warmest day of the year — we've also officially seen a heat wave already in some regions, especially kent, east malling, and bramham, in west yorkshire. these areas have seen temperatures exceed their heatwave threshold for sunday, monday, and tuesday. so already, three consecutive days — and we may well see another day or so of heatwave conditions in some areas. so, it's still warm and humid again, but a thunderstorm risk as we head through wednesday in the southeast of england. to start the day, then, we've got the heat and humidity in the south from the word go. it's fresher further north. long spells of sunshine,

lots of dry weather, light winds, really pleasant late—july day — but it is humid towards the south and, as we head through the afternoon, you can see those showers and thunderstorms starting to crop up, particularly so across parts of kent into sussex, as well. they'll be hit—and—miss, so you might not see one, but if you do catch one, could be some localised flooding. top temperatures still 28—29 for central and southern areas. low—20s or high teens though further north. now, heading on into wednesday evening and overnight into thursday, some of those heavy showers and thunderstorms become a little bit more extensive, especially across parts of england and wales. could be a bit of rain across the west of scotland heading on into thursday, as well. it's going to be another really muggy, sticky night in the south — mid—to—high—teens here — a little bit warmer further north than it has been overnight too. now through thursday, we've got this first mass of heavy showers and thunderstorms that clears away, and then, through the day cloud and showers bubble up. so again, some thunderstorms potentially breaking out, especially for england and wales, i think during the afternoon. drier for scotland and northern ireland. temperatures 22—28 — so still above average for most of us. we've still got that

warm air with us as we head through friday. but later on friday and into saturday, a frontal system pushes its way eastwards — and that's going to allow fresher air to start to move in from the west. so, a change in weather—type as we head through friday into saturday. still quite warm and sunny in the south and east, i think, through friday, but the winds pick up in the north and the west with the arrival of some showers, as low pressure starts to move in. so, temperatures around about 16—21 for northern ireland and scotland, still about 28 in the far southeast — but then, eventually, things do turn a little bit fresher and more unsettled as we head into the weekend. bye for now.

microsoft reports a slowdown in sales at its azure cloud service, sending shares sinking in after—hours trade. plus, we take a look at why many major cities are not clamouring to host the olympic games. hello and welcome to business today. i'm arunoday mukharji. we're in the thick of us earnings season, with some of the largest tech companies reporting this week. investors are looking for signs that the tech giants are starting to monetize investments in artificial intelligence, and that anxiety was on full display when microsoft reported after tuesday's closing bell. my colleague erin delmore filed

this report from new york. investors' confidence has sent indexes to record high after record high. some tech giants, especially those working on al, have been duking it out for the title of most valuable company. some including in video and microsoft and apple have hit the $3 trillion mark. now investors want to see us pay off. icrosoft reporting quarterly earnings, there is good news in their — stronger earnings than predicted. another headline overshadowed it — microsoft's service posted a slowdown in growth, and that was enough to send shares down. the ai disappointment factor was not contained one company. the sessions all wider tech well off with a in video