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your passions and the way you enrich your community. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" s is bbc "world news america." s tens of thousands of people gather along the river send for the opening ceremony of the paris olympics. there was sabotage to high-speed rail lines into paris. benjamin netanyahu meets donald trump for the first time in nearly four years. two top leaders of a mexico

cartel, one of the world's most powerful drug cartels, are arrested in texas. welcome to "world news america." the opening ceremony for the 2024 paris olympics are underway. athletes travel down a six kilometers stretch of the river -- river seine. national flags over nearby balconies. the first star to perform was lady gaga, who sang a french cabaret song. the day of the opening ceremony was marred by a wave of coordinated sabotage attacks on france's high-speed rail way network.

cable signals and boxes were burned and vandalized, strangling travelers. we begin our coverage with this report from your schofield. >> during the night there were arson attacks on cables running alongside the fast train track network in three different places that brought much of the network to a standstill. not only were thousands of people coming to the paris for the ceremony but thousds of people were leaving. the news is things are under control and gradually returning to normal. it will not be until monday the train services are running properly. it has been a bit of a damper on the day because it is all we have talked about all day and that no doubt was what the perpetrators had in mind, overshadow the ceremony, and

france on this day. this evening, it looks like attention is focing back where it should be, at the ceremony. various surprises we are in told in-store as it all unfolds. michelle: despite that disruption with security measures, the opening ceremony is carried on as planned. clouds of smoke echoing the french flag over the river seine . there was a procession along the river. all of this taking place in the pouring rain. conditions are not dampening enthusiasm. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu met the former u.s. president and republican presidential candidate donald trump in florida. the israeli leader did not give details but said israel would be dispatching a negotiating team to gaza cease-fire talks next week.

it was the first meeting between mr. trump and mr. netanyahu in nearly four years and follow talks between mr. netanyahu and presumptive democratic presidential nominee kamala harris on thursday after which she says she could not stay silent about the suffering of civilians in gaza. we go to a former u.s. diplomat aaron david miller. thank you for joining us. we have this image of donald trump and benjamin netanyahu meeting. it comes a day after he was in washington meeting with joe biden and kamala harris. what is the sense in the difference of messages or is it consistent from the israeli prime minister? >> this has been a political trick. the speech was pitical, the meeting seven political. i'm not sure the prime minister anticipated he would be meeting a former president with who he

identifies strongly. kamala harris and a current president, joe biden, all against the backdrop of opportunity, perhaps, in coming weeks, to actually get an israeli-hamas agreement on a cease-fire. i think netanyahu is hedging his bets. he had a cordial meeting with the president. he expressed dismay that the vice president spoke so clearly and empathetically and in some respects critically about israeli policies in gaza. he was interested in an apology tour, mending fences with a former president who holds him responsible for sending a video message to joe biden, congratulating him on his inauguration back in 2021. i think mr. netanyahu probably feels given how fraught the circumstances were for him that he came out of this pretty well.

michelle: were you surprised -- there had been a lot of talk going into this about blood between donald trump and benjamin netanyahu. they had fallen out after he had been quick to congratulate joe biden on his win. you think it is political expediency on both sides? aaron: absolutely. you can be a bright, shiny object to donald trump one day and be cast aside the next. if the republican party of donald trump, which it clearly is, then the party of benjamin netanyahu, what he identifies more closely with in the united states, is the republicans. he has often used republicans as a weapon to past democratic administrations he has not agreed with. see 2015 when he was invited by

republican speaker john boehner to address congress and a time when the bl -- he is hedging his bets. if you ask me -- you are not but i will offer -- if donald trump -- excuse me, if benjamin netanyahu could vote on november 5, he would be voting for donald trump. michelle: you said he is trying to hedge his bets. is that why we saw the announcement of negotiators being sent to rome next week? aaron: i think he is under significant pressure from hostage families and israeli defense forces who truly believed that if they do not strike again now to get hostages out, 115 the estimate remain, 44 are no longer alive, either killed on october 7 or died in captivity. its needs a rest -- idf needs a rest.

he is on the hook now. there has been great pressure. not coincidentally from donald trump. who i think today oresterday said netanyahu has to get this gaza stuff done and it has to be done very quickly. unpredictable in some respects. if he were president now, i guarantee you he would be incredibly critical of the fact the israelis are still doing what they are doing. michelle: if the israeli leaders trying to obviously balance a lot of competing interests appealing to both potential presidential candidates, what about the domestic audience back home? do you think he delivered something that israelis wanted to hear? aaron: the only number that counts in benjamin netanyahu's mind is 64. that is the number of seats he has in his coalition.

he must preserve himself in power. he is on trial for breach of trust in a jerusalem district court. he is due to testify in that trial in december. if he loses power, the options for him are not good. a possible conviction. went to jail for 16 months on one of the charges mr. netanyahu 's is accused of. or he gets a plea bargain and has to leave politics. staying in power is what he needs. his core constituency is not trump, biden or kamala harris, it is his right-wing coalition he has to satisfy. michelle: aaron david miller, we will have to leave it there, thank you very much. we turned back to the olympics.

we have the opening ceremony getting underway in a very rainy france. we join our correspondent to get a sense of what the mood is like on the ground. >> i tell you what the mood is like, it is wet. it is damp at the moment. it has been raining solidly from the beginning of the ceremony. the eiffel tower is looking splendid despite the rain. things are taking off. an amazing light show that has started. this whole ceremony began six kilometers down the river seine and made its way up along the river. a beautiful ceremony filled with different elements, athletes, dancers, models, fashion shows. it was a tapestry of all the arts, culture, sports and love of life. i am happy to cim joint by -- i am happy to say i am joined by a

guest. we have a lovely view behind us. i am sure at some point there will be fireworks. for now we await the grand finale, the lighting of the cauldron. how has it been for you? you have been to quite a few of these ceremonies. i think it was a brilliant representation of paris, its history and france, its diversity, all in the pouring rain. >> [laughter] >> there was a danger at one point with athletes going down the river and waving in the rain but they punctuated it very well. it started off with a bang with lady gaga. i think this sort of jumped into a lot of things. th have managed to divert away from athletes. >> later on we saw a few wet athletes.

one making his way with the torch. we sell rafael nadal, the spanish tennis star, who is a big celebrity, "the king of clay." they are taking the olympic torch to be lit at some point, the big cauldron. it is the big secret, how they will do it. how important is the opening ceremony for the olympic games? how important is it to set the tone? >> it is important because as you said it sets the tone and tells everyone around the world exactly what the country is all about. i think france and paris have put their faith forward. we had drag queen performers performing to 1990's euro bang ers. they showed what they were all about. it is a city steeped in history. it is all about the modern facebook france. >> as we stand here and watch

the beautiful eiffel tower being lit in 1000 different ways, tell me about the sport coming up? what should i watch out for? >> some amazing things coming away. this is always the best part. we let the sport begin. particularly with regards to the u.s. the big thing that starts tomorrow, katie ledecky in the swimming, in the 400 meters. this is important because she is a seven-time olympic gold medalist. she will be up against a australian swimmer. katie ledecky is the olympic record holder. her oppone is the world record holder. they face-off in the same heat. that will be tomorrow. we also have lebron james. he needs no introduction. he was the flag bearer for the u.s. team along with coco gauff. the men's u.s. team will play

basketball against serbia on sunday. they have won the last four olympic gold that have been available to them. we will get a look at simone biles in gymnastics. look at what happened in tokyo. no one expected what happened. she got a case of the twisties, mental distort -- 37 metals and she is still going. she is 27 now. would you believe, she has come here with a new skill on bars. bars have been seen as are least good apparatus, if you can put it that way. if she successfully lands the new skill in the olympics it will be the sixth skill named after her. when we talk about the greatest of all time, no one is getting

close to this woman. >> i go back to the studio and a second, let's take a look and reflect on that beautiful, iconic eiffel tower and the ceremony we have seen today. the thing that upset me earlier, it is raining now, it will be desperately sad for all the people who have come to watch this but it has not taken away from t excitement at all. >> this is always an olympic ceremony geared toward the tv audience. if you were on the banks of the river seine, at one point there was a mechanical horse gliding. >> what was that about? >> it was beautiful. in paris they put all the lights down. everyone on the riverbank could only see that one image floating through the water. it was beautiful to see. what they have done, usually ambitious -- high risk, high

reward -- i think people will be talking about this for a long time. >> the ceremony is still happening and we are waiting for the cauldron to be lit, the big fire behind us. we will stay here and watch it for you guys. i will be here covering sports throughout the next few weeks as well as the stories behind the sports. stay with us on bbc news for the latest on the olympics. michelle: many wishing they were in your shoes right now. u.s. vice president kamala harris received an endorsement from former u.s. president barack obama. the most high-profile backing since she announced her decision to join the u.s. presidential race. the harris campaign released a video of the endorsement message on friday in which the obamas valid everything they -- vowed to do everything they can to get her in office. ms. harris haseceived enough pledges to become the likely

democratic nominee. under new rules the dnc adopt the party will select its nominee as soon as august 1. the party's presidential candidate will have until august 7 to select a running break that would serve as u.s. vice president if elected. our correspondent has the latest. >> obama's backing matters. some analysts feel it matters to attracting key members and fundraising. very poignant in seeing the first black president endorsing the first black woman and first person of salvation dissent -- south asian dissent if she were to win. harris trailing 47% to donald trump's 48% and some polls are showing harris is trailing in key battleground states, too. this week the vice president's team are launching a weekend of

action around campaigning. thousands of events and volunteers. sunday marks 100 days until november's election. michelle: one of the world's most powerful drug cartel leaders appeared in federal court in texas. the leader of a mexican cartel plead not guilty on all charges after being arrested by u.s. federal agents in texas on thursday. the 70 old founded the criminal organization. also arrested thursday alongside him was the son of the notorious el choapo. america -- the cartel is the biggest supplier of drugs to the u.s. merrick garland spoke earlier about the cartel leaders' arrest saying they were responsible for america's -- academic. >> the justice department will

not rest until every single cartel leader, member and associate responsible for poisoning our communities is held accountable. michelle: u.s. media reports one cartel leader taken in this photo was tricked by a high-ranking cartel member into boarding a plane he thought was going to southern mexico. the plane instead flew t el paso, texas where they were arrested when it landed. it followed an investigation mexico said it was unaware of until the arrests were made. mexico's president is calling on full transparency from the u.s. the former chief of staff international operations for the drug enforcement association. how consequential are thes arrests >> they are very consequential in terms of the rule of law.

i do not think they will have any significant impact on the inner workings of the cartel. as an example, i will give to you exactly what happened when the leader of the cartel was extradited to the united states. it had no impact. someone else had been running the court -- cartel for a number of years. very good leaders. the cartel has been in existence since 1989. it is currently the most powerful drug cartel in the world. the operate in six of the seven continents in the world. he was very much the mexican version of gambino of italian organized crime that he had

never spent one hour in a jail cell until yesterday. other than that, hopefully the united states and mexico will put aside differences and work together to basically decapitate the cartel because they need to impact on the infrastructure. i am talking about corrupt politicians, money laundering cells, enforcement cells, logistical cells to really have an impact. michelle: if i can jump in, he is said to have been one of the leaders of the sinaloa cartel who had very strong political collections. will that help go after some of the political collections that have help the cartel survive so long? >> it is true. if mayo and chapo guzman's son

can operate with u.s. authorities, they can provide a lot of information on high-ranking government officials in mexico to include governors, mayors, members of the security forces. apart from that, there will have to be a collection of evidence. it cannot just be there testimony alone. michelle: in your experience, how unusual is it for mexican officials to be kept out of the loop of this operation? >> it is rare but it does happen on occasion. i think the decisions made if they advised the mexican government, because of corruption in that country, it could easily get compromised. michelle: one thing that caught my attention, or news partner cbs says the son of el chapo was

somehow in on the operation or might have voluntarily handed himself in. can you tell us more about what might be going on? >> there are several versions. the one you are talking about is the fact that mayo was leeward not to -- was lured, you mentioned el paso, texas, it is not your follow-up because the attorney general of the united states mentioned texas. it was actually new mexico, the southern part of new mexico where the aircraft landed yesterday. it is a situation where there is a possibility -- it could have been the pilot, it could have been lopez who actually did it. mayo, one of his greatest fears

was being apprehended and then sent to the united states. michelle: now it has come to pass. you mentioned in some ways it is a game of whack a mole. these two leaders have been apprehended and will have their day in court, do you think the other cartel leaders will be looking to fill their place and will bca reduction in the fe ntanyl? >> i don't think so because the cartel remains intact. you have a very powerful and violent drug organization. you have other cartels. many others producing fentanyl. also, methamphetamines. synthetic drugs. the cartels are moving into

synthetic drugs. it is much cheaper to manufacture, they make much more money. if they have plant-based products, they can be eradicated and have to wait until the next growing cycle. michelle: we will have to leave it there. thank you for joining us. >> it is a pleasure. michelle: i am michel announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it, "arguably the best bargain in streaming." that's because the free pbs ap lets you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. ♪ >> good evening. tonight, an arson attack disrupts train lines in paris on the opening day of the olympics despite unprecedented security at this year's games. >> you are never going to have 100% security. there were always be a vulnerability. for some malign actor to exploit. >>