welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is nkem ifejika. these are our top stories: the venezuelan government says there's been an assassination attempt on president maduro, involving explosive drones at a military parade. shortly after the attack, mr maduro told the nation he was well, and that neighbouring colombia was behind the attack. nominated from a cell. brazil's former president — injailfor corruption — is chosen to make another run for the presidency. and lebron james gets the backing of the first lady, hours after the president makes insulting remarks about the us basketball star. hello and welcome to bbc news. the venezuelan president, nicolas maduro, believes that

an attempt has been made on his life. officials said drones loaded with explosives were flown towards a military parade, which he was attending. they exploded, injuring seven national guards. the president, who was in the middle of a speech, was unharmed. shortly afterwards, he spoke of a right—wing conspiracy against him, involving domestic enemies and neighbouring colombia. lebo diseko reports. president maduro was in the middle of his televised speech when this happened. the camera shakes, his wife looks up, then he does. the pictures then cut to soldiers at the event, we see it running. —— who we can see running. officials say two drones had been packed with explosives and flown towards the president. seven soldiers were injured. in the aftermath, have come recriminations.

the venezuelan prime minister has said the opposition are behing out the attack. it is not hard to see why mr maduro might feel embattled. police and anti—government activists clash regularly. protests continue after what opponents say is maduro‘s increasingly authoritarian rule. the country has the largest oil reserves in the world, but its economy is on its knees. hyper inflation and food shortages mean shelves are often bare and families go hungry. mr maduro says the current crisis is the result of a western plot to crush his socialist government, and says the opposition is in on it. speaking after the attack, he claimed it was engineered by colombia and financed from florida. so while his detractors, both at home and abroad, may beg to differ, for mr maduro and his supporters, these latest events prove that they are the ones under attack. lebo diseko, bbc news. otto reich is a former us ambassador to venezuela and was also

assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs under george w bush. hejoins us now. thank you so much forjoining us, ambassador. does president nicolas maduro‘s comments about financiers in the united states, does that mean credible tu? no. it is something that maduro has always claimed whenever something goes wrong. there had been a number of riots and assassination attempts and assassinations in venezuela in the last three years under the maduro administration, and maduro, like all strongman, who are increasingly unpopular, blame the foreign devils. it is always the united states or some neighbouring country or some a right—wing conspiracy or the business community, or anybody except of course the cause of the

nation's problems, and that is his own government. use a foreign devils as they sometimes refer to the united states, but president trump has entertained the idea of a military solution in venezuela. —— you say. well, he has talked about it, nothing has been done. this is not unlike, for example, what happened with the british and the falkland islands, when the argentine generals were having serious domestic problems and their economy was collapsing in the early 1980s, they sought a good version and they invaded the falklands in order to generate nationalistic fervour in the population. obviously, it backfired. i would not put past the maduro government and its given allies to have organised something like this in order to justify a crackdown against the remaining

opposition in venezuela. do you really think so? i mean even or opponents of mr maduro within venezuela might consider that to be a bit ofa venezuela might consider that to be a bit of a stretch, would least slightly incendiary. well, i don't know what opponents of mr maduro have talked to, but i have and i have talked to, but i have and i have seen things already on the internet tonight about the opposition in venezuela speculating that the government may very well have done this. i mean it is not unusual. again, among right—wing or left—wing dictatorships and authoritarian governments to organise a self true. or an incident that would justify a crack down, and even what happened in turkey a year ago, a lot of people suspect may have been organised by the are the one administration in order to justify the enormous civil rights,

civil liberties crackdown that followed. —— erdogan administration. it is not unusual as it is certainly not incendiary. i was nudging a little bit there. what are the avenues available now for the maduro administration, because clearly he will not be able to carry on with any kind of support or semblance of legitimacy from the opposition in venezuela? so legitimacy from the opposition in venezuela ? so how legitimacy from the opposition in venezuela? so how does the country move forward, because of course there is still the huge crisis? well, exactly. and in fact, iam not sure that anything is going to change. maduro has a popularity rating of about 25%, and has had for a long time. he certainly could not wina a long time. he certainly could not win a free and fair election, and thatis win a free and fair election, and that is why they have not been free and fair elections for many years, there have been fraudulent elections and they have been called fraudulent elections by almost every neighbouring country and even, i believe, by the european union,

certainly by the united states and canada and others. the economy is in com plete colla pse canada and others. the economy is in complete collapse because of corruption, the corruption in venezuela is unprecedented. the billions and billions of dollars that were stolen by maduro, his wife, his ministers, his generals, and frankly by chavez's before him, it is estimated in the billions of dollars. at the same time, people are venezuela are eating out of garbage cans because there is no food. there was a video or photographed this week of a woman giving birth on a sidewalk because there was no hospital, there was no delivery room that could deliver her. all the emergency services have com pletely her. all the emergency services have completely fallen apart, and this

after, as you mentioned in your introduction, the country that has the largest proven oil reserves in the largest proven oil reserves in the world. —— and this in b. it is the world. —— and this in b. it is the failure of a nation, the government, and i think that something has to be done by the international community because maduro is certainly not giving any indication that he is going to change. thank you very much. it really appreciate your time, thank you. you're welcome. -- lilia pelissier to. —— really appreciate. the former brazilian president, luiz inacio lula da silva, has been nominated by the workers party to run in october's presidential elections. he's leading in opinion polls, but there's a bit of a snag: he's currently serving a jail sentence for corruption. gail maclellan reports. some 2,000 members of the workers party gathered in sao paulo and declared

lula their presidential candidate, cheering as a message from the man was read out. "brazil needs to restore its democracy", he said. the former president is leading most opinion polls and is appealing his conviction for corruption, but it's uncertain whether the electoral court will allow him to stand. he has denied taking bribes from a construction company and said his conviction was part of a right—wing plot to prevent him from returning to power. if he loses the appeal, his party will be able to nominate another candidate. meanwhile, the establishment heavyweight geraldo alckmin secured his nomination from the centre—right psdb, in coalition with a number of influential conservative parties. they reject all that lula and his workers party stand for, accusing them of corruption and nepotism. official campaigning starts in two weeks' time. gail maclellan, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. sporadic protests have continued for the fifth successive day in several iranian cities, despite heavy security measures and riot police presence.

videos of the protests have been shared on social media. the fars news agency says one protester was shot dead and at least 20 have been detained. a new outbreak of the ebola virus in the east of the democratic republic of congo is thought to have killed more than 30 people. the area, which is near the ugandan border, includes a trading hub and a crowded refugee camp, making the outbreak difficult to control if it takes hold. the trump administration has overturned bans on the use of pesticides linked to the declining population of bees. neonicotinoids, a common insecticide used to fight off a variety of pests, will now be allowed in some protected areas. environmentalists have expressed anger about the decision. bee populations in america are currently declining for several species. police in portland, oregon, have been trying to separate a rally by two far—right groups from counter—protesters. police used stun grenades to disperse the protesters, saying rocks and bottles had been thrown at them.

the far—right groups said they were marching in support of the patriot prayer founder, joey gibson, who is running as a republican candidate in senate elections. the first lady of the united states, melania trump, has come out in support of the basketball star lebronjames, just a day after her husband, the president, questioned the nba player's intelligence on twitter. during an interview about his latest project — opening a school for at—risk children in akron, ohio — he criticised the president, calling him "divisive", and it's not the first time he's spoken out about mr trump. chris buckler reports from washington. lebronjames is without any doubt one of the biggest stars in american sports. when he recently signed for the la lakers, it made the headlines, but he's found himself in the news

again because of his criticism of donald trump. on cnn, he accused the president of using sport to split the us apart, and it's not the first time he's spoken out against mr trump. i'm not going to let — while i have this platform — to let one individual, no matter the power, no matter the impact that he should have, or she should have, ever use sport as a platform to divide us. in an angry tweet, donald trump fired back at both the basketball star and the news network, saying... it's far from the first time that athletes, or cnn, have angered the american president. holding the trophy...

earlier this year, mr trump cancelled a traditional visit to the white house by the super bowl winners, after most of the philadelphia eagles's players said they did not want to go. and after some american football players kneeled during the national anthem to protest against police brutality against african—america ns, he demanded they were fined. but lebronjames has a surprising ally in this latest fight — mr trump's own wife. a statement by the first lady's spokeswoman said melania trump was impressed by lebronjames's work to do good things on behalf of the next generation. he's just opened a new school for at risk students in his hometown in ohio. the i promise school offers a range of extra support for children from low income families. and mrs trump made clear that she was open to the idea of going to visit it. i love you too, man, i really do. that's a sign of support from lebronjames, even as he feuds

with her husband. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. stay with us on bbc world news. still to come: what appears to have happened to a studio in beijing owned by the dissident chinese artist, ai weiwei? the question was whether we want to save our people, and japanese as well, and win the war and taking a chance to win the war by killing our young men. the invasion began at 2am. mr bush, like most other people, was clearly caught by surprise. we call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all the iraqi forces. 100 years old and still full of vigor, vitality

and enjoyment of life. no other king or queen in british history has lived so long, and the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she's achieved this landmark anniversary. this is a pivotal moment for the church as an international movement. the question now is whether the american vote will lead to a split in the anglican community. this is bbc news. the latest headlines — the venezuelan government says there's been an unsuccessful drone attack on president maduro at a military parade. and, shortly after the attack, president maduro broadcast to the nation to say he was well and that neighbouring colombia's president was behind the attack. there has been no reponse so far from bogota. 18 people have died in a helicopter crash in north—western siberia, russia.

the russian transport ministry says they are investigating allegations of negligence and whether safety guidelines had been violated. the incident took place shortly after take off, near the town of igarka. sarah rainsford reports from moscow. the helicopter was 100 metres off the ground when its propellers hit the external cargo of another helicopter. it lost control, crashed and burst into flames, killing all 18 passengers and crew on board. the helicopter it hit was able to carry out an emergency landing. translation: that there were 15 passengers and 3 crew members on board. we discovered that at 9:48 local time, the helicopter crashed 180km north of the city of igarka. one probably cause of the fault is that the aircraft hit the cargo suspended from a mi—6 helicopter. those who died were workers heading for the start of a shift on a remote siberian oil field run by a subsidiary of the state oil giant rosneft. the company has called the actions

of the crew inexplicable, adding that they had been warned the other helicopter was dangerously close. russia's investigative committee says all causes for the accident are being examined including pilot error and added that the crew's training and flight history would be checked. the bbc‘s sarah rainsford in moscow. soaring temperatures in portugal and southern spain have led to a series of major wildfires. more than 1000 firefighters are trying to bring the flames under control. temperatures reached 46 degrees celsius in some areas. sima kotecha reports from cordoba in spain. there's hot, and then there's really hot, and it is, across the iberian peninsula. in southern portugal, the intensity of the heat led to wildfires. more than 1,000 firefighters tackled the blaze in a popular tourist destination.

here in cordoba, in southern spain, by mid—morning, temperatures had already reached 30 degrees celsius, and then it got hotter. we arrived here yesterday afternoon, when it was about 43 degrees. peter stayed in the hotel. i said, "i'm going out for a walk", and i came back pretty quickly. as this torrid weather continues, the government is frequently reminding people here how to stay cool, and doctors have told us that they're particularly concerned about those who are visiting from colder climates. it's so much warmer here, so much warmer, but we have come to see cordoba and that's what we'll do. i didn't listen to the health warnings, ijust wasn't going to cook my head. there's no sign of this extreme heat subsiding soon. forecasters say it's expected to be like this for at least a few days yet, but determination often prevails, and for some, no heatwave is going to get

in the way of having a good time. sima kotecha, bbc news, cordoba. the dissident chinese artist ai weiwei says the authorities in beijing have demolished his studio there. in a series of clips on instagram showing the former factory being torn down, ai says he was given no notice of the decision. the 66—year—old has lived in germany since leaving china in 2015. he is a strong critic of china's government. georgina smyth reports. as the walls of his studio were torn down, ai weiwei said farewell. a post on social media explaining that the space where he had created and kept some of his most iconic work was being destroyed. workers boxed up what they could but itjust wasn't possible to move everything before the demolition started. they had known they had to leave by the 15th of this month, the lease had come to an end. what they had not expected was the wrecking the machines. translation: someone called me

and said we must move out of the building within three days. in only three days, of course i don't have the ability to move everything out in three days. outside are remnants of works left where it had been standing in the place mr ai had used for 12 years. it's not the first time this has happened. another one of his studios in shanghai was destroyed in 2011. that time, too, he'd said he had no warning. mr ai was a favourite of the chinese government but has since become an outspoken critic and some would say has paid the price. in 2011, he was detained for 81 days on charges he says were politically motivated. he has since moved to berlin. it was not clear if the destruction was targeting ai directly. authorities have been clearing large parts of beijing for redevelopment and demolitions have been taking place in this complex for the past three months but given relations

between the man who may be china's most famous artist, and the authorities, many will be asking why his studio and why now. georgina smyth, bbc news. donald campbell's bluebird has taken to the water for the first time in more than 50 years. the restored hydroplane, which crashed in 1967 killing its famous pilot, was launched in front of cheering crowds on the isle of bute. our correspondent, catriona renton was there. the final checks, after 17 years of painstaking restoration, as bluebird prepares to get back in the water. tense moments, but also exciting. just to be able to touch it is amazing, but to actually be able to be privileged enough to actually get in it and mash it, that is pretty good.

bluebird was salvaged from coniston water in the lake district in 2001. around 90% of her body work has been restored from the original. this is notjust a technical feat for those involved, but a personal one. emily's father has been working on this all her life. this boat has changed his life and made him so proud of his friends and his team and this has really changed our family, and i'm really proud of him. one, two, three. today was the culmination of all that work, a labour of love. bluebird was finally ready to launch — almost. take it back out! but there was a need for some assistance. one last push and she was off. yay. cheering. it's more than 51 years since bluebird was last on the water, and here she is, fully restored, back where she belongs. donald campbell's daughter clutched her father's mascot, that was also rescued from the wreckage. i mean, the lump in my throat and electric shocks travelling through my spine are just

something almost indescribable. as you say, we've waited a long, long time but everything good is worth waiting for. today was about seeing that bluebird is watertight and checking her buoyancy. tomorrow, it is likely people on the island will hear her as herjet engine is set to be put to the test. at the moment, she is not moving quite so fast. it is hoped she will return next year when she can run at speed. following their two week ordeal trapped in a flooded thai cave, 11 boys and their football coach have completed nine days living as buddist monks. this period of quiet reflection is a tradition in thailand for males who suffer adversity. tom donkin reports. heads shaved and draped in orange robes, thailand's now famous wild boars entered this temple as a football team. they depart as a squad of spiritual enlightenment. 11 of these boys have been ordained as novice buddhist monks and during their short stay, they reflected on their recent ordeal through prayer and meditation. part of a tradition here for young

males who survive adversity. under the care of temple monks, this has been an opportunity to retreat from the at times frenzied international attention. the past nine days have been an important period for honouring those responsible for their rescue. especially the former navy diver who died during the complex operation. nine is a lucky number here in thailand and this period has been very different to the nine days these children and their coach spent trapped in darkness. that was until two british divers found them. it would take a further nine days to complete the risky operation to get them out. this temple stay is the latest in a series of spiritual rites and activities the boys have taken part in.

recently, the team were blessed in a traditional ceremony in a process of religious cleansing which took place at the mouth of the cave. thailand is a deeply spiritual country and the extraordinary escape of this team has captivated the population deeply. many now hope this process will bring an end to their suffering and allow them to embark on a new beginning. to explosive d roves to explosive droves —— drones have exploded in venezuela as the president nicolas maduro was giving a speech. the president was unhurt. --2 a speech. the president was unhurt. ——2 explosives. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ nkem ifejika. hello.

if you had the sunshine on saturday, there is more to come on sunday. like saturday though, there will be more cloud once again across northern ireland and scotland, and at times, that could bring some patchy rain, most will be dry though and for much of england and wales, there will be plenty of sunshine, as this area of high pressure continues to build. clear skies overnight for much of england and wales, will give way to sunshine by day. always more cloud though for scotland and northern ireland, with this front to the north—west actually bringing some rain later in the day — more on that in a moment. could just be some patchy rain fopr a time across the western side of scotland. the best of any breaks in the cloud the further east you are. some brighter sunny spells for northern ireland, even though there is a lot of cloud. but the lion's share of sunshine once again across england and wales. some fairweather cloud developing through the day. highs of 15 to 19 celsius for scotland. 21 for northern ireland. mid to high 20s celsius for much of england and wales, and getting close to 30 celsius for east anglia and south—east england. for many, it is a fine evening to come on sunday, with late spells of sunshine and clear skies overnight. but further north and west, i'm sure you can see, the cloud increasing,

outbreaks of rain coming into scotland, northern ireland and slowly sinking its way south and eastwards. temperatures a little higher than they will have been on sunday night. 13 to 17 celsius the overnight low on monday morning. so this is how we start the new working week, holding on to high pressure. the heat and the sunshine across much of england and wales. further north and west that front really starting to make inroads, increasing the cloud and bringing further rain through monday morning across northern ireland and into scotland. behind that, you can see there is some fresher air trying to sink its way south—eastwards. but it is going to take its time to get across to much of england and wales, probably not until wednesday or thursday that we start to see a noticeable dip in temperature. for monday morning in a little bit more detail — further cloud and rain for northern ireland and scotland. some of that rain just perhaps getting into the far north of england through monday morning. but elsewhere, further south, it's going to stay dry and again, there will be plenty of sunshine. in fact, temperatures even higher again on monday, parts of east anglia and south—east england exceeding 30 celsius. notice the contrast as you head further north and west, the high teens to early 20 celsius so quite some contrast. that theme continues really for scotla nd, northern ireland, and the far north of england. it will be cooler here.

there will be some showery rain at times through tuesday and wednesday but many places largely dry, particularly across northern england. head further south and east and, yes, we are hanging on to the sunshine but slowly you will start to see these temperatures starting to drop away. it stays dry but it will be turning cooler. bye— bye. this is bbc news. these are the headlines: the venezuelan govenment says explosive drones were flown towards a military event attended by president maduro. shortly afterwards, the president broadcast to the nation to say he was well, and that neighbouring colombia's president was behind the attack. there has been no reponse so far from bogota. the former brazilian president, luiz lula da silva, has been nominated by his party to run in october's presidential elections, despite serving a jail sentence for corruption. he's currently leading most opinion polls in brazil, but it's uncertain

whether the electoral court will allow him to stand. the us first lady has come out in support of the basketball star lebron james, a day after her husband, the president, questioned the nba player's intelligence on twitter. james had criticised mr trump, calling him "divisive". melania trump issued a statement saying he is doing good things for the next generation.