live from london, this is bbc news. us secretary of state antony blinken jets off to the middle east, hoping to heap on pressure for a gaza ceasefire deal as talks press on this week. venezuela's opposition leader insists protesters will not leave the streets until president nicolas maduro is out of office amid widespread demonstrations against his disputed re—election. as mpox cases climb, southern african leaders hold a summit and call on the international community to assist in securing vaccines. and prince harry and meghan�*s do—it—yourself royal tour of colombia continues. hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones.

welcome to the programme. the us secretary of state is travelling to israel as cautious optimism grows amongst israeli negotiators about the possibility of reaching a deal on gaza. antony blinken is heading to the region this weekend after president biden also said that a ceasefire deal was closer than ever. but senior hamas figures have dismissed such optimism as an illusion. there have been more israeli air strikes in gaza and israel also said it had struck targets inside neighbouring lebanon which belong to hezbollah, the group which supports hamas in gaza. greg mckenzie has this report. images from across the region over the weekend show there are still home huge obstacle to peace, despite two days of us—backed talks in qatar. on friday night, and israeli air strike reportedly killed 15

people on this central area of gaza, although israel said it had eliminated a number of armed fighters. several women and children were also reportedly killed. us secretary of state antony blinken will arrive in the region to promote what is being called a final bridging proposal aimed at overcoming the differences between hamas and israel. which would hopefully lead to a ceasefire and the release of hostages in exchange for palestinian prisoners being held in israeli jails. in tel aviv, thousands took to the streets, including anti—government protesters, as some of the relatives of hostages still in gaza who are calling the current negotiations as the last chance to get some of them out alive. offer the other 140 hostages are paying a political price because they could have come

already with a deal such a long time ago. so many people could have come alive, instead of they are going to come dead, bodies, dad.— bodies, dad. there is an urgency _ bodies, dad. there is an urgency for— bodies, dad. there is an urgency for the - bodies, dad. there is an urgency for the next - bodies, dad. there is an i urgency for the next round bodies, dad. there is an - urgency for the next round of talks to succeed —— dead. with fears the conflicts in garda —— gaza and the northern border could escalate into a wider regional war but hamas officials have already dismissed american optimism as an illusion. greg mckenzie, bbc news. as we've been hearing, the us secretary of state antony blinken is expected to land in israel today and meet the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu on monday. former us ambassador david hale told us what he thinks can be expected from the meeting. the question is whether it will produce. and i suspect that if they are as close as the president has said, they'll be trying to hammer

out the last details. and my own experience with negotiating with benjamin netanyahu and other israelis is that there's probably a lot that will come up in those final minutes and horus before a deal is done that will require answers. and then, the question will be what happens on the northern front of israel after this. that was a key question. with me is mohamed taha from bbc arabic. good to see you. let's reflect firstly on what difference this makes — antony blinken arriving in the region. it makes - antony blinken arriving in the region-— in the region. it gives some momentum _ in the region. it gives some momentum to _ in the region. it gives some momentum to the - in the region. it gives some - momentum to the negotiations thatis momentum to the negotiations that is going to be resumed in cairo, so blinken in israel trying to find a way for this deal to happen. the united states is really keen for this deal to be finished by the end of this week, the coming week. the united states want to avoid an escalation in the region by iran retaliating on the killing

of ismail haniyeh on their soil or the killing of the hezbollah leader in southern lebanon, so all of these efforts are really focused on making sure that this deal will happen.- this deal will happen. much more cautious _ this deal will happen. much more cautious words - this deal will happen. much more cautious words from i this deal will happen. much - more cautious words from hamas when it comes to the state of the negotiations?— the negotiations? indeed. hamas's _ the negotiations? indeed. hamas's position - the negotiations? indeed. hamas's position is - the negotiations? indeed. hamas's position is clear. the negotiations? indeed. | hamas's position is clear - hamas's position is clear — should be a full israeli withdrawal from gaza and they should not be any military presence after the deal, and that the deal should be based on the un security council 735 which is, it came after the biden proposal but apparently, israel want to include some new conditions or new thoughts, like israel should stay in the

philadelphia corridor of the borders between gaza and egypt and they should have military access all the time but at the end of the day, they are trying to see these deals happen to move their —— remove their agony and suffering and on top of that, there are diseases in gaza like polio —— philadelphi corridor. they want to vaccinate 600,000 children in gaza and a truce for them to make this happen. just remind us while all — make this happen. just remind us while all of _ make this happen. just remind us while all of this _ make this happen. just remind us while all of this goes - make this happen. just remind us while all of this goes on, i us while all of this goes on, those conditions of course as you mentioned but there is still the fighting? the fi . htin . still the fighting? the fighting is _ still the fighting? the fighting is still - still the fighting? the fighting is still indeed happening. 17 people were killed in gaza in the aisles a wider area in the city of gaza and there are 50 50 projectiles

were thrown from southern lebanon into israel as a retaliation of killing of ten people in lebanon and there was the killing of two leaders of hamas at the hands of the israeli forces ——az zawayda. thank you. ukrainian air defence units have been seeking to repel a russian air attack on kyiv in the past few hours, according to the military administration of the capital. it comes after the ukrainian military released a video which it says shows the destruction of a key bridge inside the kursk region of russia. this video shows large explosions on the structure, about 11 kilometres from the border, in an area of kursk that remains under russian control. moscow says a bridge was destroyed on friday. russia says it is pushing back the ukrainian forces which have captured territory in its kursk region, but ukraine's president zelensky has said his forces are strengthening their positions. the un's atomic energy agency

says that the nuclear safety situation at ukraine's zaporizhzhia power plant is continuing to deteriorate. the nuclear station has been occupied by russian forces since shortly after the invasion. it has occasionally been damaged by fighting and a un team says there has been intense military activity in the area over the last week. that includes a drone explosion just outside of the plant, near to the essential cooling water sprinkler ponds. the director general of the international atomic energy agency, rafael grossi, said he was extremely concerned that there had been another escalation of security dangers at zaporizhzhia. demonstrations have been held across venezuela over the disputed result ofjuly's election. in caracas, thousands lined a highway to hear the opposition leader maria corina machado urge them to remain out in force. she addressed supporters from the back of a truck in caracas, saying that she would not abandon her protest. a group of united nations experts said that venezuela's presidential election lacked "basic transparency "and integrity".

ms machado had this message for her supporters. translation: when this regime saw it was defeated and their scheme discovered, they chose the most cruel of all politics. we won't leave the streets! cheering and applause. we will use intelligence, prudence, resilience, boldness, and peacefully, because violence benefits them. —— boldness, and we will do it peacefully, because violence benefits them. we do not attack other venezuelans. let's speak now to venezuelan journalist and political scientist ana milagros parra, who has been taking part in protests in the capital caracas. thank you very much for coming on the programme.— thank you very much for coming on the programme. thank you for havin: on the programme. thank you for having me — on the programme. thank you for having me today. _ on the programme. thank you for having me today. firstly, - on the programme. thank you for having me today. firstly, tell- having me today. firstly, tell us a bit about _ having me today. firstly, tell us a bit about the _ having me today. firstly, tell us a bit about the protests. l us a bit about the protests. the demonstration today was the

second one after the election, the 28th, almost three weeks after the election when the government of venezuela claimed to be the victor of the next presidency without proof. and today was on the 1—hander demonstration, showing the world we are more than 8 million venezuelans all over the world and on one hand, it's raising our hands and showing all of the world that we are still believing in democracy and we want our political right to be respected. right? and here, inside the country, i mean, i'm going to allow myself to say it was really pretty because we are living under the largest and most repressed and most aggressive, repressive wave in our history. i mean, since the election, there have

been more than 2000 detained, people are being arrested only for protesting specifically, and inside those 2000 people are more than ten teenagers. they are accused of terrorism. and when you are living under these circumstances, when you are filled with fear that the fear of thinking that these people can stay in power for more years is bigger than that, so we went to the... more years is bigger than that, so we went to the. . ._ more years is bigger than that, so we went to the... given that the number _ so we went to the... given that the number of _ so we went to the... given that the number of arrests - so we went to the... given that the number of arrests and - so we went to the... given that the number of arrests and the l the number of arrests and the length of time since the election, what are the chances of you being successful? i mean, i think it's successful mean, i think its successful because you are not in a position where you can — i mean, they are not in a position where they can progress massively. the only tool they have is violence and repression and they cannot repression and they cannot repress millions of venezuelans in the street just specifically

going into the street to reclaim their rights. they cannot do that. and i think the fact that this protest is like remember each other, we are a team, we did this and we have to keep fighting and we have to keep compromise with that, with the feeling, with the knowledge that we won an election, and we have the proof and they need to be the ones to recognise that. what's the role here of the international community, of any neighbouring countries of course lending support to your position? what's the role of the international community? the role is those countries that really respect democratic values have to speak up about what's happening here in venezuela because these violations to all of venezuelans. they are not

respecting the peoples will in venezuela. they are not respecting the law here in venezuela and the international community has to keep speaking up community has to keep speaking up about what's happening, keep reminding the world that these are people that have an open investigation in the international criminal court for crimes against humanity. i mean, they have international human rights violations every day in this country and this is the government that stole an election and they cannot prove it. they do not even have to prove the physical proof, the physical proof that they want it, the opposition has this physical proof of machines, the voting machines from the national electoral council that says that one side has won an election. venezuelan knows that. today, we remember that.

we were remembering and we remember we are not alone because we are millions of venezuelans all over country venezuela ns all over country and more venezuelans all over country and more than 300 cities all over the world.— and more than 300 cities all over the world. ana milagros parra, thank _ over the world. ana milagros parra, thank you _ over the world. ana milagros parra, thank you for - over the world. ana milagros parra, thank you for coming l over the world. ana milagros l parra, thank you for coming on the programme.— donald trump has held a rally in the battleground state of pennsylvania. in a speech that lasted about 90 minutes, mrtrump responded to vp kamala harris�*s economic plans, which she laid out on friday. donald trump accused kamala harris of unleashing devastating inflation on the united states before veering off—script to repeat personal attacks on his democratic presidential rival. mr trump described kamala harris as "a communist "and a lu natic". who is not going to vote to get some money for housing? it's never going to happen. it's trillions of dollars. never gonna happen. but who's gonna vote? i mean, people will maybe vote for this. i said before it may be good politics but it's going to destroy — it's going to destroy our country. the washington post, one of the most evil print journalism — it's —

i mean, they lost a lot of — a lot of people over the last couple of years, it's nasty — they came out with an editorial excoriating her. yonah freemark is a principle research associate at the urban institute and expert on affordable housing. he gave his take on harris�*s housing plans and how effective they could be if implemented. yeah, you know, ithink one thing that's been really fascinating about this campaign is that for the first time in living memory, we're taking housing seriously as a national problem and that reflects the reality that americans are facing really high costs of housing — both renters and homeowners. so, the first thing i'd like to say is simply that even having this discussion about housing policy is really a big deal in this presidential campaign. and for the most part, we're getting it from the harris campaign. trump has primarily been reacting to that. i think the proposals that harris has put together reflect the reality out there that we're not building enough

new homes in the united states. unfortunately, we've seen a decline in new housing starts over the past two years or so and harris is actually proposing a large increase in new housing supply which would actually go up to levels that we've not seen since the 19705 if they were to be applied. so, that's a big deal. there's a number of reasons why inadequate new housing is being built across the country. the first is that we don't have the financing available to actually get those new homes built because mortgage interest rates are quite high and other parts of the economy have been sort ofjuiced up by inflation. but another problem that we're seeing across the country is that a number of state and local policies have made it quite difficult for developers to go in and build new apartment buildings in different parts of the community. so, it's going to be interesting to see if harris actually is able to push through ideas that would change those rules at the state and local level to get more housing built.

two cases of the disease known as mpox have been identified in sweden and pakistan. it comes as an outbreak of the new strain of the virus spreads across 16 countries in africa, where more than 500 people have died. aid agencies are warning of a shortage of vaccines and are asking wealthy countries to share supplies. the nhs says it has contingency plans in place and anyone travelling to the affected areas is advised to get vaccinated. here's our heath correspondent sharon barbour. the nhs says it's getting ready should a worrying new strain of mpox be confirmed here. hospitals are preparing to manage patients safely and plans are being put in place to test and isolate patients and trace any contacts. health workers in the democratic republic of congo are treating an increasing number of patients, many of them children. mpox has now spread to 16 countries in africa with 18,000 cases confirmed.

travellers are being advised to get vaccinated before going to affected areas. but health experts say with the global shortage of vaccines, priority should be given to the countries with serious outbreaks. if we're actually able to help the countries where most cases are — which is west africa and central africa — to get that under control through vaccinating people routinely there, that would actually stop the spread of the virus in those countries and then protect them. the world health organization is calling on western nations not to stockpile vaccines. one pharmaceutical company, bavarian nordic, says it's ready to ramp up production. outside of africa, mpox has now been found in a patient in pakistan, but it's not clear what strain it is. it follows a case of the more contagious and dangerous

variant called clade i being announced by authorities in sweden. scientists around the world are concerned. it is very controllable but it does need resources being delivered to those african countries where this infection is endemic and currently causing a major outbreak. the department of health says there is a supply of vaccines in the uk with planning under way as to how that would be rolled out. sharon barbour, bbc news. the king of thailand has endorsed paetongtarn shinawatra as the country's new prime minister. the formal notice of approval was read out in a televised ceremony held in the capital, bangkok. while the royal endorsement is a formality after the 37—year—old was elected by parliament on friday, it paves the way for ms paetongtarn to form a cabinet. shinawatra took office just days after her predecessor was ousted by a shock court ruling. prince harry and meghan's tour of colombia continues as the pair visited a music school on the penultimate day

of their four—day trip. the duke and duchess of sussex were greeted by the sound of booming drums as they arrived at the school in cartagena on saturday. our south america correspondent ione wells has more. this may look like a typical sleepy saturday on the beach but this colombian coastal city is preparing for a big vip visit. dozens of soldiers surrounded this traditional percussion school, preparing for the arrival of prince harry and meghan and the country's vice president. the city of cartagena is the second place they have visited on the troop to columbia for the third day of their tour. today was filled with visits like this. —— trip. they hear on the imitation of the vice president, the first black woman to hold the role. she says she views the couple is to vital voices against injustice. prince harry and meghan arejust injustice. prince harry and meghan are just leaving this event now. like the second day

of their visit, journalists were not allowed anywhere near the actual event itself but they say this visit and their plans for the rest of the day are about celebrating african history and heritage in the country. their next stop took them out of the city to a small village with strong connections to its african heritage. they were ushered in to meet some members of the community. organised for them were a few stalls to browse and some local music. vice president onstage that this was in part about showing that colombia is more than the violence it has had a reputation for. the liberating colombia's country and history is what the rest of their tour will focus on. ione wells, bbc news. the london fire brigade is investigating the cause of a fire which damaged part of the roof at somerset house. more than 120 firefighters tackled the blaze, which started at lunchtime on saturday. our culture reporter noor nanji reports. clouds of grey smoke filling the central london skyline on a

busy saturday afternoon. they came from a fire broke out in somerset house, just before midday. staff and visitors were evacuated and 20 fire engines were sent to the scene. this is where efforts to tackle the fire are being focused on — side of the river that faces the river thames. you can see some of the scale of the operation behind me, spraying water onto the building's roof which is where the flames are believed to be located. because of the blaze is currently under investigation. the response was complex and technical due to the age and design of the building. and firefighters will remain at the scene today. aha, remain at the scene today. number of staff and visitors left somerset house before the brigade arrived and there are no reports of any injuries. somerset house is a historic site, dating back centuries. it is now used as an arts venue and is home to the court gary which houses prices artworks

include weight game volf, claude monie and paul cesuliene. those artworks are believed to be safe. it’s cesuliene. those artworks are believed to be safe.— believed to be safe. it's too earl to believed to be safe. it's too early to comment _ believed to be safe. it's too early to comment on - believed to be safe. it's too early to comment on the i early to comment on the building's condition but i think thanks to the efforts of the emergency services, i'm confident the damage is to one small part of the building. the venue will— small part of the building. the venue will remain _ small part of the building. the venue will remain closed until further notice but the gallery will reopen to the public today. noor nanji, bbc news. during the last 150 years, more than 80% of the dunes on the lancashire coastline have been lost. a project to secure them, using discarded christmas trees began in lytham in 2013, is starting to show promising results. our reporterjudy hobson can explain. these dunes once stretched for miles inland but not anymore. they had to make way for housing and roads and now, just 20% of these lancashire genes remain. 2096 of these lancashire genes remain. w 2096 of these lancashire genes remain. ,,., , 2096 of these lancashire genes

remain. , ., , remain. sand dunes are hugely important _ remain. sand dunes are hugely important for— remain. sand dunes are hugely important for many _ remain. sand dunes are hugely important for many reasons - remain. sand dunes are hugely| important for many reasons but first and foremost the act as a sea defence in years gone by there have been people who would hard sea defences and through sewald but i think we finally realised actually nature's solutions play a huge role in defence and sand dunes act as a buffer between land and sea. ., , ., , and sea. removing sand dunes as love towns _ and sea. removing sand dunes as love towns along _ and sea. removing sand dunes as love towns along the _ and sea. removing sand dunes as love towns along the coast - and sea. removing sand dunes as love towns along the coast here i love towns along the coast here vulnerable to flooding. in recent years, there's been a huge effort to widen the dunes once again. huge effort to widen the dunes once again-— huge effort to widen the dunes once again. this whole area has widened by _ once again. this whole area has widened by up _ once again. this whole area has widened by up to _ once again. this whole area has widened by up to 100m. - widened by up to 100m. hopefully we can go out another 10-20 hopefully we can go out another 10—20 metres. the work we're doing is pushing high water back. ., ., , , , , ., back. planting grass helps to bind the sand _ back. planting grass helps to bind the sand together - back. planting grass helps to bind the sand together but . back. planting grass helps to i bind the sand together but over the years volunteers have also placed mysteries here to make the dunes even more secure. it's very effective, so we've been using it since 2013. we are definitely not the first project to use christmas trees but i think we are one of the longest standing now and it's

worked extremely well, so much so it is acted as a case study for lots of other dune studies around the uk.— around the uk. they also provide _ around the uk. they also provide a _ around the uk. they also provide a rare _ around the uk. they also provide a rare habitat. i around the uk. they also l provide a rare habitat. the land is owned by the local councils. they recently worked with the conservation group to introduce these creatures. sand lizards, a lot _ introduce these creatures. sand lizards, a lot of _ introduce these creatures. sand lizards, a lot of there _ introduce these creatures. sand lizards, a lot of there were - lizards, a lot of there were not playing ball today. this foota . e not playing ball today. this footage was _ not playing ball today. this footage was filmed - not playing ball today. this footage was filmed by bbc spring watch. we footage was filmed by bbc spring watch.— footage was filmed by bbc s-urin watch. ~ spring watch. we release them over four years, _ spring watch. we release them over four years, 412 _ spring watch. we release them over four years, 412 in - spring watch. we release them over four years, 412 in total, i overfour years, 412 in total, and myjob now is to monitor the population to see where they are spreading and how many we have and if they are breeding. we've seen over 70 this year, which is really good. previous years within about 50, 40—50, so as we have the right habitat here, is the perfect opportunity. we can carry on building the dunes out of the sea and eventually we will hit mean high tide where we will lose more dunes than we make. then we will stop. the sand dunes — make. then we will stop. the sand dunes project _ make. then we will stop. the sand dunes project is currently being funded by the environment agency until 2027 but it is hoped this essential project will be able to continue for many more years after that.

stay with us here on bbc news. hello there. there was a lot of cloud around on saturday for northern and western areas. the best of the sunshine was further east and part two of the weekend looks pretty similar. we start dry with lots of sunshine and then, the cloud amounts will tend to build up into the afternoon, producing just one or two showers. now, the azores highs continuing to nudge northwards across much of england, wales, northern ireland, so light winds here, but fresher across scotland. it will remain breezy throughout the day here. we start off with plenty of sunshine after that fresh start and then, clouds will tend to build up into the afternoon. it could turn quite grey in a few places. the odd shower likely for western scotland, maybe western hills of england and wales. otherwise, it's mostly dry. up to 25 celsius in the southeast, the high teens further north. sunday night, we do it all again. the clouds tend to melt away for many, and with the clear skies, it'll turn quite fresh again with temperatures

of 8—12 degrees. now, some changes taking place to start the new week. the first of a series of low pressure systems will work its way into the country during the day, so we start off with plenty of sunshine but the clouds will tend to build in the west and it'll turn wet and windy through the day. some pretty heavy and persistent rain for northern ireland and it will turn windy with gales perhaps around some irish sea coasts, but lighter winds again in towards the southeast, where it will stay dry and sunny all day. so, temperatures responding — up to 25 degrees or so. that's the high teens further north and west, picking up a little bit more humidity as well from the south. and then monday night, that area of low pressure and its weather fronts crosses the country. it stays quite breezy into tuesday with the low sitting to the north of scotland, and that'll bring a day of sunshine and showers. some of them will be heavy and thundery, particularly in the north and west. some of them merging together to produce longer spells of rain for western scotland. temperatures down a touch. i think 22—23 degrees will be the high. mid—to—high teens further north. and then, we look out to the atlantic. this next area of low pressure contains the remnants of what was hurricane ernesto

and that potentially could bring quite a lot of rainfall to the northwest of the uk around the middle part of the week — certainly so for western scotland. but further south and east, it will tend to stay dry, i think, with some sunny spells and it will turn increasingly humid as we pick up these southwesterly winds. stays pretty unsettled for the end of the week across more northern and western areas. a better chance of staying drier towards the southeast.

this is bbc news. the headlines: us secretary of state antony blinken is travelling to the middle east with plans to meet with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu tomorrow. israel has said its negotiators are cautiously optimistic a deal can be reached for a ceasefire in gaza. hamas has dismissed optimism as an illusion. large rallies have been held across venezuela to denounce the disputed results of the july election which granted victory to president nicolas maduro. the opposition leader maria corina machado has came out of hiding to join crowds in the capital caracas insisting protesters should not leave the streets until mr maduro was out of office. the king of thailand has endorsed paetongtarn shinawatra as the country's new prime minister. her investiture comes on the same day her father —