welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: a group of latin american countries, along with canada, call for a change of government in venezuela as its crippled economy teeters on the brink. if you buyjust this much, you've spent a third of the average monthly wage, and prices are skyrocketing. they've doubled in a month. as theresa may heads to northern ireland she says she's determined to find a way to deliver brexit and avoid a hard border with ireland. countdown to nigeria's presidential elections. we investigate the so—called godfathers behind the candidates, who can make or break the outcome. and the outrageous heist through the sewers of antwerp‘s diamond district. a group of latin american

countries, along with canada, have urged the venezuelan military to support opposition leader juan guaido as interim president. the lima group is calling for a peaceful change of government, and immediate deliveries of humanitarian aid. it's reaffirmed its support for venezuela's national assembly, which is led by the opposition — and says the rest of the world should follow the us in preventing president maduro‘s government conducting financial transactions abroad. i want it address the issue of outside military intervention and oui’ outside military intervention and our other point where we have agreed andi our other point where we have agreed and i quote, finally, vague, this is the countries of the lima group, redirect the support through peaceful transition through

political and diplomatic means without the use of force. mr maduro has suggested the political and economic crisis could lead to civil war, depending, he said, on the "madness" of washington and its allies. mr guaido has dismissed that. orla guerin reports from caracas: all eyes now on venezuela, where it's not hard to find scenes like this. the embattled president, nicolas maduro, insists his people are not paupers. 19—year—old anders would beg to differ. he only eats what he can find. translation: people don't throw things away anymore. before, they threw out everything — food, clothes, shoes. sometimes i don't find a thing. so i don't eat. right across the street, at the neighbourhood fruit and veg stall, plenty on display, but few customers. they talk here about the maduro

diet, enforced weight loss due to hyperinflation. what can you not afford to buy any more, what things did you eat before that you can't eat now? "meat, chicken, milk," says irene. "thank god there are no toddlers in my house. anyone who can is leaving the country. " i've got a handful of potatoes here. if you buyjust this much, you've spent a third of the average monthly wage. and prices are skyrocketing — they've doubled in a month. food is a key battleground here for president maduro and for the opposition. it's a top priority for the opposition leader, juan guaido, swarmed by cameras and looking like a head of state. the european union, the latest to recognise him as such.

he is promising to bring in food aid if the venezuelan military will allow it through the border. "lives are at stake," he says. this would be the gateway, the border with colombia. today, as every day, venezuela ns streaming out. more than three million have fled. but president maduro is refusing all offers of aid, angering some of his countryman. translation: i think it's really bad that the government won't accept help. "they are scared that people will realise the hospitals aren't working, that nothing is working in venezuela. thank god the border is open so that we can buy food". but on venezuelan state tv, no hunger in sight, just military theatrics. president maduro making almost daily

appearances now with his troops. front and centre, as commander—in—chief. he needs to keep them onside. so far, it seems he has. he's sending a none too subtle message to opponents at home and abroad — i've got the big guns, remember that. orla guerin, bbc news, caracas. live now to caracas, and the venezuelan journalist, victor amaya. good to talk to you. how would you describe the situation at the moment? the situation is pretty tense right here in caracas. in northern venezuela. we have in place to president. one is nicolas maduro who is claiming he is a legitimate president. he has reduced his power and support of the military of

venezuela and other institutions. they are controlled by the official parties. on the other hand, you have juan guaido, as you say, the head of the parliament, explaining the executive branch of power because more than 60 countries of the world at our saying last year there was no re—election for a maduro. those elections were rigged. they are not recognising him as a legitimate president so the constitution and the law says that when you have no president, no elected president, the head of the parliament should take ca re of head of the parliament should take care of the government and that is the idea thatjuan guaido is claiming right now and he is being backed by the us government, a lot of twentysomething countries of the european union and also the big countries and economies of latin america. also all the academies in venezuela, most of the universities

and the syndicate people. you know, there is a lot of support for these kinds of decisions made byjuan guaido. briefly if you can, the military is crucial in all this. which way do you think they will jump, ultimately? for now, the high command of the military is backing nicolas maduro. with the troops, maybe the story is otherwise. we have been seeing discontent within the soldiers and the troops because of the economic crisis that is affecting them also like everyone else here in venezuela. and also, we have been seeing some statements made by the officials and two active officials, recognising the authority officials, recognising the authority ofjuan guaido as the president of venezuela and also commander—in—chief. and not

supporting maduro. but for now, maduro has control of the military and that is like the only pillar left that he has two backing. victor, hope will be talking to you again. you very much indeed for the moment. —— thank you. the head of the un mission in yemen has warned that the 7—week ceasefire, in the key port city of hudaydah, is fragile. there have been more talks between the two sides in yemen's civil war, president hadi's government, internationally—recognised and backed by a saudi—led coalition, and houthi rebels, who are accused of being allied with iran. but un officials says yemen is still the world's worst humanitarian crisis. it's estimated 10 million people are suffering from extreme hunger. our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, has been speaking to people in khokha, in hudaydah province. in yemen, even the sea is a war zone. the morning's catch in kokha. shark for sale at the main fish market, as big as abdu, the littlest fishermen.

it's a dangerous business here. men of the sea come under attack. "the houthi scared us when they were here", abdu says. he remembers apaches too, the helicopters of the saudi—led coalition. some of these men lost friends. translation: they attacked them with air strikes. they thought they were the enemy. some of them got compensation, 30,000 saudi riyals. and they gave them new boats and engines. 30,000 saudi riyals — that's about £6,000. some say they received much more. for now, the sea is safer with the ceasefire. we're in kokha with emirati forces. they helped yemen's military and its militias recapture this city from the houthis a year ago. families are now fleeing here from front lines nearby.

there's danger here too. a grenade was thrown at a camp for the displaced. seven—year—old hamed among the injured. yemen's war is a war on childhood. hamed lost part of his hand to a landmine, in one of the world's most heavily mined countries. his fingers are shredded. do you think the ceasefire is going to hold? i don't think, because every day, gun shot in the head, shrapnel, explosion, shrapnel from landmine, every day. but if the ceasefire collapses, it will get worse in yemen. is that what you fear? yes. i fear the ceasefire, if it not — if it will stop, it will be catastrophic for the citizens. it's already been catastrophic for so many, caught

between coalition bombing and blockades and houthi abuses. nabia and her two sons are all malnourished. "baby yiyad was vomiting, vomiting", she tells me. he had diarrhoea too. five—year—old hassan has had multiple operations. drinking milk for adults made him severely ill. the baby milk was too expensive to buy. everywhere you go in yemen, you feel the crushing weight of this war, this poverty. in markets like this, there is food to buy, but yemenis can't afford it. they don't have jobs, they don't have money. and you see the evidence of that in every hospital, every clinic you visit. a ceasefire, however imperfect, in this small sliver of yemen, makes a difference, but it's just one piece in a much bigger plan

to try to end this war. all of it so fragile. lyse doucet, bbc news, kokha. here in the uk, mps on both sides of the brexit divide have been meeting for the first time, to discuss ways to try to ensure there'll be no need for border controls between northern ireland and the republic ireland once the uk leaves the european union. last week parliament voted in favour of finding alternative arrangements for the irish border. prime minister theresa may is due to visit northern ireland on tuesday to meet local business owners. our political editor, laura kuenssberg has more. walking the walk, brexiteers determined to make the prime minister talk their talk. i'm confident that, as we work through these proposals, we are going to make our case so that we can rescue the withdrawal agreement and leave successfully. and, look, former tory remainers heading to the same place at the same time, pushing the same plan.

a different way of leaving the eu, but how? this compromise plan would extend the transition or the status quo to 2021, costing an extra £10 billion. but during that time, the government would, in theory, prepare more intensely for leaving with no formal deal, and negotiate a new version of the controversial backstop. this is the government minister, kit malthouse, who is trying to broker the peace between tory factions. there's a lot of hunger in the party for unity to re—emerge, and certainly the bonds of friendship and trust are starting to show again and grow, which is exactly what we need to present a united front. some of your colleagues think it is still a fantasy, though. well, i hope they will engage with it. but tories playing nice won't mean much if the proposal itself can't find enough fans. and one senior member of the government told me it was another unicorn, not realistic at this late stage. so ministers are also working

to try to revise the deal that has already been done. after meetings in brussels, senior mps believe the eu's negotiators won't tear up the deal, but they might be willing to add more legal reassurance on that backstop, the guarantee against a hard border in ireland, whatever happens. they will not reopen the backstop and the withdrawal agreement, but i got the impression that they might be prepared to consider some additional statement or legal protocol. but the big issue in their minds is, will anything get through the house of commons? eu official said almost immediately, nobody on that side of the channel was considering that, but the german leader offered an ear. "to solve the border riddle, we must listen and be creative," she said, "but britain must say how they want to do it." next week, mps will vote once more on the government's brexit plan, but that plan is, again,

a work in progress, to get parliament, brussels, and be public onside. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: 5 decades of sesame street — how the loveable muppets have been helping chidren learn for 50 years. this is the moment that millions in iran had been waiting for. after his long years in exile, the first hesitant steps of ayatollah khomeini on iranian soil. south africa's white government has offered its black opponents concessions unparalleled in the history of apartheid. and the anc leader, nelson mandela, is to be set free unconditionally. four, three, two, one... a countdown to a critical moment. the world's most powerful rocket ignited all 27 of its engines at once. and apart from its power, it's this recycling of the rocket, slashing the cost of a launch, that makes this a breakthrough in the business of space travel.

two americans have become the first humans to walk in space without any lifeline to their spaceship. one of them called it a piece of cake. thousands of people have given the yachtswoman ellen macarthur a spectacular homecoming in the cornish port of falmouth after she smashed the world record for sailing solo around the world non—stop. this is bbc news, our main story: a group of latin american countries and canada have called for a change of government in venezuela without force and have urged the army to end its backing for president maduro. it's just under two weeks to go until nigerians vote in the general election. rich and powerful men known as "political godfathers" play a big part in campaigning. and they can make all the difference to the outcome. mayeni jones traveled the round the country

to meet some of them. political campaigning, nigerian style. central to these events are the real power players in politics. godfathers are political sponsors who use money and influence to win support for their referred candidate. this is a rally, it is a governorship rally and it goes to show how much the big men can bring him. in the largest oil—producing states, one of the big men is godswill akpabio. he is seen as having hand—picked the current government. they have confidence in you, they will go where you go. the same thing happened with the current government in our state. it is

because they knew you and you endorse a candidate. a church meeting that led to an election victory. he is accused of using state forces, to secure that win. godfathers have power and influence from political office or they could have immersed enormous wealth by being a government contract. godfathers are rules to bring numbers to the polls and in this northern state, one man ‘s fanatic followers have made in a force to be reckoned with. they are identified by their hats. they form a sea of red when they come together and they are here to see the man whose movement is named after. he is not even the running for office. just

months ago, this leader moved to the opposition taking the bulk of this crowd. i am happy to say we have the largest chunk of people here and we are always added advantage to win elections in this state. the governorship candidates have one in the last election because of him and they are hoping to have the same level of influence. they know somebody in government to ensure they continue to feed facts to the state. the state is the most important source of revenue and wealth accumulation. will true change really happen if godfathers

continued to play a hand in elections? this election may show. police in belgium are hunting thieves who tunneled into sewers to access a bank vault in the city of antwerp. they're believed to have squeezed through pipes measuring just 40cm across before making their escape. andy beatt reports. in the heart of antwerp, stone's throw from the diamond district, are highest. translation: it is like a movie. in the small hours of sunday, that these are thought to have tunnel through the sewer. in toxic conditions they then crawled 300 metres on their stomachs. another tunnel took them to the bank vaults. inside the force open at least 20 deposit boxes then vanished without trace. one resident said she heard a

lot of banking but the alarm was not raised until nearly 12 hours later. translation: i do not know ifi save has been opened. it cannot cope downstairs. the police are investigating. translation: a lot of people are keeping family pieces. the bank cannot give any information now. the police cannot confirm what was stolen and admit they have no idea who the perpetrators could be. the robbery all the maul remarkable because of the risks. translation: digging this tunnel could have caused a collapse. if it rains, the sewerage caused a collapse. if it rains, the sewerage quickly fills with water, and there are other hazards such as gases. it is not the first time this was the neighbourhood has been targeted. an annual turnover of more than $50 billion in diamonds. 15

yea rs than $50 billion in diamonds. 15 years ago, just a few streets away, $100 million of diamonds, gold and jewellery was stolen in the so—called highest of the century. this is unlikely to be anything like the same scale but while the search is on the way for the criminals, so far police, the bank and its customers remain in the dark. this week sesame street is turning 50 years old. for half a century, this groundbreaking tv show has been educating kids, while entertaining them. whether it's learning your abcs or understanding issues like autism and bullying, generations have grown up with sesame. now, it's helping kids around the world displaced by conflict. the recording of sesame street is a serious business. we're on set in new york city with the cast, where 50 years after the first episode, the mission is the same: learning through play. l-o-v-e. what that say?

love! the creators of sesame street, back in 1969, had a radical idea: using puppets and humour to engage parents watching tv with their kids, to make the learning experience deeper. it started, really, as an experiment. sesame street was created to see if less advantaged children could benefit from early education through media, to arrive at school ready to learn. and of course, it was an overnight success. like millions of others, i grew up watching sesame street, and so did my kids. so meeting elmo and abby was quite the moment. now, i know that you two are very good with your words. elmo, what's your favourite word? supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! i like that one, too! that's a good one! abby, do you have a favourite word? yes, it'sjoy! that's good! i'm going to be an artist when i grow up. sesame street has always embraced diversity, which has led to controversy over the years. mississippi's education board tried to ban the show in 1970 because the cast included

black and white actors. the big and difficult issues in life are tackled here head on. big bird, when people die, they don't come back. long before the importance of preschool education was widely recognised, sesame street was teaching kids their abcs. the pioneering puppets have made learning fun, notjust here in america but across the globe. at a refugee camp injordan, elmo is playing with kids who've fled syria's civil war. sesame street is developing a new production in arabic to help families across the region displaced by the conflict. so, who's zeerak? well, zeerak is a little boy in our afghan production, baghch—e—simsim... sherrie westin of the sesame foundation says it's a natural evolution of the show. one of the things that sesame has always done is to look at pressing issues around the world that are affecting young children and see what sesame could do to help.

because we have a unique ability to address tough issues from a child's perspective. so in terms of refugees, the sheer number of children displaced today really made us want to step up. back on set in queens, the tradition of make—believe is alive and well. you are an honorary sesame street chicken! can i have a cuddle? of course! good job! from the bronx to bangladesh, half a century on, the impact of the playful puppets has spread far and wide. laura gets the dream gig! lovely job. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. thank you for watching. hello.

monday saw a transition to much milder weather across much of the uk. tuesday though will start off on a pretty chilly note, at least first thing. this picture was taken on monday evening, by one of our weather watchers, in hertfordshire, showing that the fog's already been forming. so i think we are likely to start with quite a bit of mist and fog around, also some frost here and there first thing tuesday morning. rain will move in from the west later on in the day, so we'll see those skies clouding over. a clear start for many of us. you can see the the blue colours indicating where the lowest of the temperatures and the frost will be. there's also going to be some fog problems, particularly through the vale of york, also through parts of southern england, perhaps east wales as well. through the day, we do start with that sunshine for much of scotland, northern england, eastern england too. but you can see the cloud rolling in from the west, ahead of the arrival of some wet weather. so later in the morning, there'll be some rain for northern ireland, wales, the south—west of england too. that rain pushing its way eastwards through the day. eastern scotland and eastern england

should stay mostly dry, although skies will cloud over and temperature will range between around 6—12 degrees on tuesday afternoon. now, we'll keep all the cloud and the outbreaks of patchy rain overnight tuesday into wednesday. still quite a breeze too. so for many of us it will be a reasonably mild night but where we do see those skies clear, particularly in the north, could just be a touch of frost, but generally a frost—free and a mild start to your wednesday. now, through the day on wednesday, showers from the word go across the north—west of the country. initially some rain in the south—east too and that's down to this weather front that you can see on the map here. it is clearing its way off towards the south—east and then we're all left with this westerly flow of air. so quite a showery scene for northern ireland, western scotland too. and through the day, we'll see some of that rain in the south just pushing back in, so a bit of a soggy afternoon, i think, for south—east england, the london region and east anglia too, but elsewhere actually some sunny spells coming through and temperatures not far off what we'd expect for the time of year. between around about 8—10 degrees for most of us. looking ahead now towards

the end of the week and things will turn increasingly unsettled. we could see a spell of rain, perhaps even a bit of snow over the hills, moving through into the early hours of thursday morning. so overnight wednesday into thursday, chance of seeing a little bit of hill snow here and there. through the day on thursday, then the worst of the rain and hill snow should clear away. and then again we're left with a westerly flow, a mix of sunny spells and a few scattered showers but it could turn quite stormy, quite windy and unsettled as we look towards the end of the week. that's it for now. bye— bye. this is bbc news, the headlines: a group of latin american countries and canada has urged the venezuelan military to support the opposition leaderjuan guaido as interim president. the 1a—nation lima group called for a change of government without the use of force and said president nicolas maduro's administration should lose access to venezuela's international assets. theresa may is heading to northern ireland where she'll tell business leaders that she's determined to find a way to deliver brexit and avoid a hard

border with ireland. on wednesday she'll hold talks with the different political parties. police in belgium are hunting thieves who tunnelled from the sewers into a bank vault in antwerp, close to the city's diamond trading district. they forced open at least twenty deposit boxes. if you thought they squeezed into pipes measuring just a0 centimetres across. a0 centimetres across. now on bbc news, monday in parliament