live from washington, this is bbc news. eight people have taken to hospital —— been taken to hospital. plus the middle east raises for a possible uranian police after the killing of hamas chief and us president joe biden says he will press after another —— another russian imprisoned after yesterday's historic prisoner swap. hello. welcome to this hour. we come on air as police in england say eight people have been arrested and three police officers taken to hospital following riots police officers taken to hospitalfollowing riots in the

north—eastern city over sunderland. a police building there was attacked and the property next to it set on fire. police have been trying to contain several hundred demonstrators in what has been a lease —— latest in violent protests in a number of english towns and cities this week. it follows the fatal stabbing of three children in southport in the north—west of england on monday. dozens more protests are planned for this weekend in the wake of those stabbings. our correspondent mark easton was on the ground in sunderland as protesters caused chaos. as darkness began to —— large numbers of police have been deployed across the city to deal with a wave of criminality. the police car in a side street vandalised. around the next corner, a taxi overturned and satellite. about four or 500

protesters here in the city of sunderland. a police helicopter overhead. you can probably see the right squads getting out of their van with police on horseback charging through the crowd to disperse them but it is a strange scene, to be honest, because you have the hard right mustjobs hurling bricks at the police lines and then you've got families all wearing england tops, cheering them along. i have seen babies in pushchairs, very small children on the march and scores of teenagers, young boys and girls, all dressed up to the nines, out on a friday night, just looking for a bit of excitement. there were some well—known figures from far right groups in attendance as he tried to co—ordinate youngsters in balaclavas to throw missiles at police officers. head to the mosque, said one. hundreds were guarding the central mosque tonight as fears grew that none might descend into major public disorder. mark easton, bbc news, sunderland. and in the

last couple of hours or so we have heard from the mp representing the area who is also the education secretary bridget phillipson, in a state —— in a statement on eggs she said scenes in our city centre tonight are shocking and we have seen unforgivable violence and thuggery". that is it from the statement from the mp representing sunderland. well, we can now go live to our newsroom in london and join my colleague simon jones who has been monitoring developments. ring us up to date on what more we have heard from the police following the unrest tonight.— from the police following the unrest tonight. we've had an u date unrest tonight. we've had an update from _ unrest tonight. we've had an update from northumbria - unrest tonight. we've had an - update from northumbria police. their offices were out on the street in numbers trying to quell the violence but certainly they were having trouble keeping the situation under control. officers coming under control. officers coming under attack, people in masks

throwing bottles, fire extinguishers, at them, because being set on fire. police say their officers came under serious and sustained levels of violence. the police have described what happened in sunderland as being utterly deplorable. we know that three police officers have been taken to hospital. one have been sublet —— one has been subsequently released but eight remain in hospital and eight people have been arrested for things like violent disorder and burglary. given hundreds of people were taking part in these protests, the police in these protests, the police in the coming hours will no doubt be trying to track down others that were involved. though some of them were wearing masks so that made proved to be tricky. but certainly the police condemning what has happened and they say the protesters taking part in the demonstrations, that they are trying to sew unrest in society rather than trying to bring people together. find rather than trying to bring people together. rather than trying to bring --eole touether. �* ,, ., people together. and simon, we are hearing _ people together. and simon, we are hearing that _ people together. and simon, we are hearing that more _

people together. and simon, we are hearing that more protests l are hearing that more protests and demonstrations are planned across the weekend. just tell us more about what we know about those so far and who are the people behind these violent protests. i the people behind these violent rotests. ~ protests. i think the difficulty _ protests. i think the difficulty is - protests. i think the difficulty is that - protests. i think the difficulty is that it i protests. i think the difficulty is that it is j difficulty is that it is difficulty is that it is difficult for the police to know just difficult for the police to knowjust how big these protests are going to be because certainly it's been advertised on social media that there are going to be gatherings in several cities across england during the course of the weekend and often those are being organised by far right protesters but sometimes we are also seeing counter demonstrations, for example in liverpool in the past few hours, around 200 people surrounded a mosque saying they wanted to protect it from far right protesters. there are around 100 far right co— protesters. it is difficult to know how big it is going to be, for example, we were told there was going to be one that took place on friday morning in dover but that never

materialised and the protests we are seeing in sunderland in the past few hours, that has been very large involving hundreds of people. the message from the uk government is clear. we have had a tweet from the british home secretary yvette cooper. i would just read it out. she says, "criminals attacking police and stroking disorder on our streets will pay the price of their islands and thuggery, the police have the full backing of government to take the strongest possible action and ensure they face the full force of the law. they do not represent britain". so you have a new government here. we have the prime minister so keir starmer sending out a message that he supporting the police to take action against protesters when they crossed the line was that the same time trying to facilitate lawful protests. —— while at the same time. certainly a challenge for these new government as these protests seem to be spreading and more to take place in the coming days. and more to take place in the coming dam-— and more to take place in the coming days. simon jones in our newsroom _ coming days. simon jones in our newsroom in _ coming days. simon jones in our newsroom in london, _ coming days. simon jones in our newsroom in london, thank- coming days. simon jones in our newsroom in london, thank you| newsroom in london, thank you for bringing us up—to—date on the very latest. we will stay

across across developments in england and on those riots throughout the course of the evening here on the bbc. the us says it will deploy more defensive military support to the middle east. the department of defence as it aims to strengthen protection for us troops in the region and israel in response to growing threats from iran and iranians back to fighters. —— a ramian back to fighters. —— a ramian back to fighters. hamas —— hamas's leader ismail haniyeh was assassinated. prominent figures from the main rival palestinian faction to hamas. afterfuneral prayers in the state mosque in doha, is mel ania pulse —— ismail haniyeh�*s, was buried. although iran and its allies have blamed israel, the country has not claimed responsibility for his death. from doha, our senior international

correspondent orla guerin reports. doha's largest mosque, the setting for funeral prayers for ismail haniyeh. qatar has been his base for years. and in punishing heat, thousands came to mourn the slain leader of hamas. among the crowd, many had the same demand. we will look for revenge. yes, yes, i'm very honest with you, we will look for revenge. may i ask, do you fear now that there could be all out war in the region, that there could now be a bigger war taking place? yes we are... now it could be very danger and it could be the world war iii. but maybe that's what israel look for? and israel is widely accused of tracking him down in tehran and killing him. here he was on tuesday in the heart of the iranian regime.

he didn't live to see the next morning. in hamas terms, he was viewed as a moderate. in uk and us terms, he led a terrorist organisation. to many here, including these visitors from britain, he defended an oppressed people. i'm actually quite deeply saddened. he was a good man and he stood up for good as well. so it's a hard time for everybody. the palestinian cause is one that moves many, so it's a sad day for everyone. mourners are still arriving here, streaming in to say prayers for ismail haniyeh. his assassination has reverberated around the region. the question is, what comes next? there will be retaliation by iran, but how severe, and will things escalate into all out regional war? for now, the main battlefield is gaza.

israeli troops advancing whatever the cost. palestinian sources say haniyeh was pushing for a ceasefire deal before he was blown to pieces. today he was mourned, soon he'll be replaced. it's not the end of hamas. but it is one more escalation in a region nearing boiling point. orla guerin, bbc news, doha. joining me alive now to discuss that in a bit more detail is docked later hashemi. associate professor of middle east and islamic politics at georgetown university. welcome to the programme. what do you think comes next? i programme. what do you think comes next?— comes next? i think there is auoin comes next? i think there is going to _ comes next? i think there is going to be _ comes next? i think there is going to be retaliation - comes next? i think there is going to be retaliation from| going to be retaliation from iran and its allies, notjust

against israel but against american forces in the region. how big of a retaliation and what form it takes, we don't know, i think if we go back to april when we had a very similar situation, we can get a sense of what is coming. we call back then when israel targeted the uranian consulate, damascus selling revolutionary guard commanders. iran said it had enough of that type of behaviour and roughly two weeks later launched about 300 drones and missiles towards israel, most which were intercepted and they were telegraphed in advance because i think iran wanted to send a message, not expand the war, but i think this time they will have to go above and beyond what we saw in april and i suspect many of its allies in the region will be hitting targets as well and so thatis hitting targets as well and so that is why many of us are worried about where it is headed because we know that israel will respond and it looks like we're headed towards a major regional war.—

a ma'or regionalwar. indeed, it a major regionalwar. indeed, it feels like — a major regionalwar. indeed, it feels like the _ a major regionalwar. indeed, it feels like the region - a major regionalwar. indeed, it feels like the region is - a major regionalwar. indeed, it feels like the region is on . it feels like the region is on edge at the moment and as we were saying just earlier, the us says it will deploy more defensive military support for the middle east. what is your take on that? i the middle east. what is your take on that?— take on that? i think it represents _ take on that? i think it represents a _ take on that? i think it represents a colossal i take on that? l think it - represents a colossal failure of us middle east policy. i recall when president biden came into power, he wanted to, "reduce the american foot print in the middle east". he pulled out of afghanistan, he wanted to focus on china and other more important global challenges, but as a direct result of the failure of us middle east policy, specifically the refusal or inability of the united states to put constraints on israel to rein it in, to establish redlines, it is being dragged back into the middle east and of course it is going to be american truth two troops and perhaps american citizens that will pay the price so this makes no sense from american national security perspective. and so it remains to be seen

exactly how this is going to play out but i think the redeployment of forces by the united states into the region is essentially there to protect israel, does not bode well for stated american policy in the region and it recalls other moments and i'm thinking about of course the iraq war when the united states entered this region hoping that it would be a short intervention but we saw the catastrophe that that ensued these other things that i'm thinking about and i think, you know, the sad thing is that in the united states where i live, none of this is really being debated. us policy, particularly with respect israel, and of course all this has to do with the crisis in gaza when us is implicated and so that is why i am very worried. so that is why i am very worried-— so that is why i am very worried. ., ., worried. let me ask you about the situation _ worried. let me ask you about the situation in _ worried. let me ask you about the situation in gaza _ worried. let me ask you about the situation in gaza then. - the situation in gaza then. tens of thousands have been killed and the war continues on as we saw in all the report

there. —— in orla's report. what is your thoughts on a ceasefire materialising now that ismail haniyeh is dead? i think that ship has sailed already. it is very difficult to think about serious negotiations when one side assassinate the lead negotiator on the other side. again, i lay this at the doorstep of the biden administration stop if they knew this was happening, if israel was going to hit the hamas leader in iran, they are implicated in the attack. if they didn't know, that is an even bigger problem because it shows they have no control over one of their allies in the region. the implications being that the united states is being drawn in to the middle east again so what this means for gaza, it means the possibility of a much—needed ceasefire deal, release of the hostages, humanitarian aid, that has been pushed down the road. it will be tough to see if this can be

revived again. the colossal suffering of the palestinians will continue with no end in sight and it looks like the war from gaza is now going to engulf the entire region. fiifi engulf the entire region. 0k, thank you- — after the largest prisoner exchange between russia and the west since the cold war, presidentjoe biden told reporters that the white house will continue to pressure russia. it comes after criticism from mark fogel�*s family, in english to school teacher from family, in english to school teacherfrom pennsylvania. you teacher from pennsylvania. you can teacherfrom pennsylvania. you can see that they were detained in a russian airport in 2021 when he was found to be carrying a small amount of medical marijuana. he is now carrying a 1k year sentence. his family said... they said they feel mark fogel�*s been

abandoned to die in prison. three americans released in the deal landed in the us late thursday night and met their families along with president joe biden and vice president kamala harris. evan gershkovich, paul whelan and they were then flown to san antonio, texas for medical and psychological evaluations. our chief international editor jeremy bowen leads up to their homecoming. president biden invited the families of the released americans to the oval office and they were counting the minutes to their return. miss you so much. when they landed just outside washington, evan gershkovich appeared when vice president harris was distracted. this was a good day for president biden. he hasn't had many lately. and an even better

one for the families. the wall street journal reporter hadn't forgotten the prisoners he left behind in russia. ijust spent a i just spent a month ijust spent a month in prison and basically everybody i sat with... inaudible. paul whelan was held for spying, which he denies, during a two—week trip to russia in 2018. feel good, it is a long time coming. glad to be back. alsu kurmasheva, a russian—american journalist was arrested injune last year. her husband said she was sentenced to 6.5 years because she'd written a book about russians opposed to the war in ukraine. : this one for other countries. i asked them to do some things they were a guest —— against self interests. very difficult thing to do, particularly in germany and slovenia. slovenia released a russian couple who'd spied masquerading as argentinians. in moscow, president putin greeted their children in spanish.

they'd only been told they were russians on the plane. germany freed this man in the tracksuit, an assassin now confirmed as a russian agent by the kremlin. he killed an exiled chechen commander in berlin. vladimir putin has set a precedent. arresting foreign citizens for barter works as a way to exert pressure on an enemy. jeremy bowen, bbc news, washington. panama has joined the panama hasjoined the us in recognising the venezuelan opposition candidate as president—elect. earlier mexico had said they had gone too far by recognising the opposition candidate as the winner of the contested presidential race. speaking at a news conference mexico's president said no country had the right to intervene in an internal matter. he said the biden administration's stance wrist creating instability in the region. venezuela's electoral declared nicolas maduro the

winner. the opposition said it independently collected results from polling stations which showed that their candidate edmundo gonzalez, was far ahead with 67%. on thursday the us secretary of state antony blinken posted on x saying electoral data overwhelmingly demonstrates the will of the venezuelan people. democratic opposition candidate edmundo gonzalez won the most votes in sunday's election stop venezuelans have sunday's election stop venezuela ns have voted venezuelans have voted and their votes must count". that paul was also backed by the government of argentina, uruguay and panama, as we mentioned earlier. more than 1000 anti—government protesters have been arrested since preliminary results were announced on monday. from caracas, here is our south america correspondent ione wells.

these people desperately want answers. where are their families? what is happening to them? are they in here? this woman spots a relative inside. shouting. all of them have relatives who were arrested in anti—government protests. the son of isabella, who didn't want us to use her real name, was one of them. translation: the national guard grabbed my son unjustly _ because he was not harming anyone. my son did not have stones, did not have weapons. - he only protested. they beat him. they accused him of being a terrorist for defending their country, for wanting a change. through tears, she told me she just wanted a better future for their children and the country. translation: i haven't been able to see him i or pass him food. i can't even hand him his clothes. i don't know if he has been beaten.

i don't know if he has bathed, if he has eaten. there is so much misery. many people eating in the streets, many people dying in hospital. my daughter and son left university because there are no teachers. i had a granddaughter who died on sixth december last year because there was no oxygen in the hospitals, no medical supplies in the hospitals. lawyers say people inside aren't allowed private lawyers, in a country where the judiciary and public lawyers are controlled by the government. these public defenders are actually part of the state. so it's the whole state. i mean, the tribunals, the prosecutor, the public defender. so it's totally an imbalance injustice. so it's like the one who accuse you is the one who defends you. thousands turned out for peaceful protests. others turned more tense. tear gas and rubber bullets fired at protesters by armed police and military. cars, tyres,

rubbish set on fire. president maduro accused the opposition of starting a coup. translation: this is all directed - by a perverse and macabre duo that has to take responsibility. edmundo gonzalez and maria corina machado. it's notjust criminal because of the violence, but because they looked for criminals to attack their own people. mass arrests and detentions are nothing new in this country. there were hundreds of political prisoners in venezuela even before the election. but now that the president has asked courts to take action against those protesting, it looks inevitable that that will increase. determination to protest endures. the fear of punishment expanding. ione wells, bbc news, in caracas. it has been a day of records at the paris olympics. team gb great britain continued their most successful start to a summer olympics as they

collected three gold medals on day seven they came in trampolining, showjumping and rowing which means that team gb has nine gold medals after seven days at the games for the first time ever. meanwhile french swimmer leon marshall won his fourth gold medal on friday, setting an olympic record in the 200 individual medley. his time beat the devious record set by michael phelps at the beijing games. and team usa sprinters set a new record in the four x 400 metres mixed relay during the race's opening heat on friday. earlier my colleague carl nasman spoke with my reported grays harbour she was in france. great, great to see you there in paris. it has been a big day for team gb and of course are one of france's biggest stars. it course are one of france's biggest stars.— course are one of france's biggest stars. it has been a ureat biggest stars. it has been a great day — biggest stars. it has been a great day for _ biggest stars. it has been a great day for team - biggest stars. it has been a great day for team gb - biggest stars. it has been a| great day for team gb stock biggest stars. it has been a - great day for team gb stock we must say it. they have seven medals on day seven of these games including three gold medals, three silver medals and a bronze. that is a golden

rowing, trampolining and equestrian. that is team gb's firstjumping equestrian gold first jumping equestrian gold since firstjumping equestrian gold since 2012. a silver in rowing and swimming and a bronze in diving. team gb will be pretty happy about today but i want to talk about the main event, it has been 22—year—old leon marchant back in the pool for france. he has added his first —— fourth gold in the 200 metre medley. —— leon marchand. that is his home games. it is quite an amazing statistic and that is all four gold medals has set olympic records. you can imagine the crowd here in france were absolutely loving it. we have been really honoured to witness this incredible moment of watching france's best swimmer get all these medals.— france's best swimmer get all these medals. and grace, you have been _ these medals. and grace, you have been there, _ these medals. and grace, you have been there, you - these medals. and grace, you have been there, you have - these medals. and grace, you l have been there, you have been following so much of these

olympic games. what will you be watching out for this weekend? this weekend is going to get really exciting. we will head to stade de france for the athletics but before we get there, back at the arena is where us superstar gymnast simone biles continues her journey after picking up a gold medal on thursday in the women's all round event so saturday will see her in the vault final going back up against brazil's rebecca andrade who also got the silver medal on the vault. they will be going head—to—head on the vault and it is a good day for team usa, we have team usa looking dominant in the heat coming into the athletics and team gb and france also featuring, but also it is the women's 100 featuring, but also it is the women's100 metre final on saturday evening and all eyes will be on sha'carri richardson. this will be her first olympic games after not making it to togo 2020. she failed a drug test and testing positive for thc, that is the main ingredient in cannabis, a

banned substance at being olympics. she is coming in looking at the favourite so a lot of attention will be on there. it lot of attention will be on there. , ., ., there. it is it for the moment, do stay with — there. it is it for the moment, do stay with us. _ hello there. much of central, southern, and eastern england yet again saw another warm and very humid day. but as we move through the weekend, certainly after saturday, it'll be fresher for all, with pleasant conditions in the south. but there will be rain at times, particularly across northern and western areas, thanks to atlantic low pressure systems. so, we start saturday off with this weather front that's been crossing the country, taking the cloud and any showers with it and the warm air. so, into saturday afternoon, it'll be much fresher across the south and east. a bright day for many with sunshine and blustery showers — these mainly across scotland and northern ireland, where it will be quite windy. mid—to—high—teens here, but much fresher across the south — 21—24 celsius with lower humidity. that takes us then into saturday night, which will be a cooler, fresher one for many.

which will be a cooler, fresher one for many. cloud building out west as the next weather front starts to approach scotland and northern ireland. it'll be a fresher night to come — 8—12 celsius across the south. now, this ridge of high pressure will build in for sunday — that will bring fine weather for england and wales. next low pressure system will start to push into scotland and northern ireland through the day, the winds picking up here, the cloud building, outbreaks of rain pushing into northern ireland and western scotland. but for eastern scotland, much of england and wales will see variable clouds, some good sunny spells — best of the sunshine towards the southeast corner, and it will feel very pleasant, with 23—24 celsius here with lower humidity, high teens further north with the wind and the rain. we tap into some warmth and humidity again into monday — this moving off france into much of the midlands, southern and eastern england. so here, a warm and humid, rather sunny day — further north and west, very different, windy, cloudy outbreaks are pretty heavy and persistent rain for northern ireland, southern and western scotland.

could give rise to some localised flooding in places, but a warmer day to come even further north — we could be up to the mid—to—high—20s again across the southeast. that weather front eventually starts to push across the country on tuesday, eventually reaching the east and southeast with a few showers as it weakens and moves off into the north sea. and then, it introduces fresher air to much of the country once again. a bright day to come for northern and western areas with some sunshine — vast improvement to how monday is looking. 19—24 celsius from northwest to southeast. as we move through the new week, it looks like much of the north and west of the country will see the wind and rain at times — whereas, further south and east you are, tending to stay warmer, drier, and sunnier.

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. this week, we explore the tech powering the olympic games. alasdair examines the engineering behind an elite—level swimming suit. we talk adaptive bikes with a former champion mountain biker.

the main, main thing, is the articulation. another rock comes, so you canjust move it and it