live from washington. this is bbc news. israel's prime minister warns that �*challenging days lie ahead' after the killing of a hamas leader and a hezbollah commander. pressure mounts on nicolas maduro as more countries urge him to verify the results of venezuela's presidential election. and donald trump draws criticism after questioning kamala harris�* racial identity. hello, i'm carl nasman. the middle east is on edge after a series of air strikes killed senior leaders of the iran—backed groups hamas and hezbollah. the political leader of hamas — ismail haniyeh — was killed in an air strike early wednesday morning in iran's

capital, tehran. it's widely believed to have been carried out by israel, though it has not claimed responsibility. his assassination came the day after an israeli air raid killed senior hezbollah commander, fuad shukr near the lebanese capital, beirut. this followed a rocket attack on the israeli—occupied golan heights, which killed 12 children on a soccer field. israel blames hezbollah for that attack while hezbollah denies responsibility. in a televised address wednesday, the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu called mr. shukr one of the world's most—wanted terrorists, and said israel had "settled an account". translation: anyone - who slaughters our children, anyone who murders our citizens, anyone who hits our country will have blood on his own head. citizens of israel, challenging days lie ahead. since the strike on beirut there are threats from all directions. we are prepared for any scenario and will stand united and determined against any threat. protests have erupted

in iran and in gaza, as well as in lebanon, jordan, pakistan, the occupied west bank, and other areas in the region. major airlines have reportedly suspended flights to tel aviv after a slew of flights to beirut were cancelled in the past several days. the un security council held a meeting on wednesday to discuss the situation. separately, the un secretary—general is said to have called the strikes on beirut and tehran a "dangerous escalation" at a time when the focus should be on achieving a ceasefire in gaza. international community must work with civilians, the way to do so is advancing complimentary diplomatic action for deescalation. the white house addressed concerns over the risk of escalation, but said the us will continue to support israel

in the face of iranian threats. we don't believe an escalation is inevitable. and there are no signs an escalation is imminent. we have and will maintain readiness to preserve our national security interest in the region. we won't have a blind eye to what iran are doing or have shown to be capable of doing in the region. we have not demonstrated an unwillingness to defend israel from threats in the region including from iran if that happens. we maintain that capability and readiness to do so now. our correspondent paul adams has more on fallout from the killing of hamas leader, ismail haniyeh. across the west bank this morning, a furious reaction to the news from tehran. they knew ismail haniyeh had a target on his back. and israel has assassinated many palestinian leaders before. but that doesn't lessen the shock. in ramallah, seat of the palestinian government, they gathered at noon. the palestinian authority

declaring this a day of mourning. condemnation here from supporters, and opponents of hamas. israel has just committed a terrible, criminal political act by assassinating a political leader. they have assassinated the person they were negotiating with about a ceasefire. so this sends a very clear message to palestinians. israel doesn't want peace, israel doesn't want a ceasefire. all israel understands is only the language of force. this city, ramallah, is not exactly a stronghold of hamas, and today's demonstration isn't huge, a few hundred people at most. but no—one should underestimate the strength of feeling, of dismay and anger, generated by the killing of ismail haniyeh. the hamas leader, seen here on the left, was in tehran for the new president's inauguration. iran backs hamas as well as the houthis in yemen

and hezbollah in lebanon. for one former israeli national security adviser, this was a perfect opportunity. in a way, it's the best place to kill him because it shows a connection between tehran and hamas. and in tehran, no—one can complain about it because they made hamas, and now hamas is paying the price. but is there another price? has the torturous business of bringing israeli hostages home just got that much harder? daniel's elderly grandfather was taken by hamas gunmen on october 7. it might hurt from one side of negotiations, from the other side, ismail haniyeh is responsible for the attacks of october 7. i think that assassinating someone like ismail haniyeh should not bother the negotiations. in gaza, the house where ismail haniyeh once lived, lies, like so much else, in ruins. but the war he watched from exile goes on.

paul adams, bbc news, jerusalem. the killing of such senior hamas and hezbollah figures has implications for the wider middle east region, as correspondent azadeh moshiri explains. you can barely see gaza on this map, yet as we have seen over the course of this war, what happens on this small strip of land has far—reaching implications across the entire region. and that is because of hamas, a prescribed terrorist organisation by the united states and uk as well several other countries. it has long—standing ties with iran. which is known to provide financing, military support, weapons, training, and because of that, in implications of actions, anything that happens with hamas also has implications in terms of what iran will do. yet hamas is not

the only one with these ties to iran, there is also hezbollah and islamist military and political organisation in lebanon on, which has considerable power. we also know one of their representatives was also in iran during that high profile event, where ismail haniyeh was assassinated afterwards. they were not the only ones, palestinian islamichhad the second biggest group in gaza had a representative that day on iranian soil mayor also known to receive and financial support from iran and that is not all, they are also the rebels in yemen, the houthi rebels in yemen, the houthi rebels known to have strong ties to iran. all of this is why you keep hearing that word escalation. why there are so many concerns that a war that has largely taken place in gaza will escalate further on the border with lebanon on as well

as involve other fronts, including militias in syria also have ties to iran. all of this is also why israel has been trying to disrupt supply chains from iran to hamas. in other parts of the map you are looking at right now, whether it is from sudan, the red sea, yemen or by smugglers in the sinai peninsula. this is not going to quell any of those fears from the international community. the reaction from iran is supreme leader said we consider it... that is referring to the assassination of ismail haniyeh. because this was an attack on their own soil. during the presidential inauguration of the new president. it is a blow to their security apparatus in the region. that is why there are

so many concerns that we could see an escalation in the war that has seen so much death and destruction. the television network aljazeera says two of its journalists working in gaza were killed in an israeli strike. the journalists were reportedly killed while filming near the house of hamas�*s ismail haniyeh in the shati refugee camp, west of gaza city. israel hasn't commented on the deaths. the united states has reached plea agreements with three of the men accused of plotting the september 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. among them is khalid sheikh mohammed, a us—educated engineer, who is widely considered the mastermind of the attack. nearly 3,000 people in new york, virginia and pennsylvania were killed in the al-qaeda attacks. they were the deadliest assault on us soil since i9ai. the pentagon said in a statement on wednesday, a us national security council spokesperson said the white house learned

of the plea deal on wednesday — and that the us president and the white house did not play any role in the process. the deal includes guilty pleas on conspiracy charges in exchange for a life sentence, rather than the death penalty, according to the new york times. mr mohammed and the two other men have been held at the us navy base guantanamo bay in cuba, for years without going to trial. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the bbc says it is �*shocked' by what it calls the �*abhorrent behaviour�* of former presenter huw edwards — who on wednesday pleaded guilty over images that show child sex abuse. the images were sent to him by a man police say is a convicted paedophile. edwards will next appear in court on september the 16th. police have made a third arrest in connection with the murder of a woman in suffolk. anita rose had been walking her dog in the village of brantham before she found unconscious with head injuries onjuly 24. she died in hospital on sunday. police confirmed a man in his 20s was arrested wednesday on suspicion of murder and remains in custody.

west yorkshire police ae treatng a house fire that killed a woman and an eight—year—old girl as suspicious. firefightters rescued the woman and two children from the property in huddersfield early on wednesday morning. the woman and one of the girls died later in hospital. police ae appealing to people who may have seen something to come forward with information you�*re live with bbc news. us republican presidential nominee donald trump returned to the battleground state of pennsylvania on wednesday to hold his first campaign rally in the state since the failed assassination attempt in butler, pennsylvania earlier this month. the rally was held indoors and came hours after the ex—president was in chicago at a conference for the national association of blackjournalists where he faced widespread criticism for questioning the racial identity of vice president kamala

harris. during an interview, mr trump was asked if vice president harris was only the presumptive democratic presidential nominee because she�*s a black woman. here�*s what he said: i have known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much. she was always of indian heritage and only promoting indian heritage. i did not know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now wants to be known as black. laughter. i don�*t know, is she indian or black? she has always identified as a black woman, and went to an historically black college. i respect either one. but she offers me doesn�*t because she was indian all the way and made a turn and became a black president. to be clear... somebody should look into that if you ask in that very nasty tone. kamala harris responded directly to those remarks at a historically black sorority event in texas wednesday night. let�*s take a listen. donald trump spoke at the

annual meeting of the national association of blackjournalists. and it was the same old show. the divisiveness, and the disrespect. and let mejust say, the american people deserve better. the american people deserve better. cheering and applause. the american people deserve a leader who tells the truth. a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts. we deserve a leader who understands that our differences do not divide us. they are an essential source of our strength. people across venezuela are staying at home amid tensions over a disputed presidential election and reports of arrests targeting the opposition. venezuelan president nicolas

maduro said his political rivals have �*blood on their hands�* after they questioned his victory in sunday�*s election. he vowed that they would �*never, ever�* gain power. but one of the parties within the opposition alliance led by presidential candidate edmundo gonzalez said its national coordinator was detained on tuesday. a senior official of a separate party led by prominent opposition leader maria corina machado was also arrested. mr maduro asked venezuela�*s supreme court to audit the election results on wednesday. it�*s his first concession after international outcry for election transparency. with pressure mounting, mr maduro promised to provide a breakdown of the ballots. us national security communications adviser john kirby said that patience is �*running out�* for venezuela�*s electoral officials to release voting data. thousands of people this weekjoined demonstrations in support of opposition leader ms machado and presidential candidate gonzalez. at least 16 people have been killed in unrest across the country, and more than 1,000 arrested. 0ur south america correspondent ione wells sent this

update from caracas. 0n on wednesday president maduro asked the supreme court to take action against those who he accused of instigating violence in the breach, reference to some of protests that have broken out since the disputed election result on sunday night. this is certainly paving the way for more arrest more detention to take place, the government prosecutor has said more than a thousand people have already been arrested as a result of some of these protests, the government figures including the president himself is not only accuse the opposition of instigating a coup but said the opposition leader and opposition candidate should be arrested. it is not clear if that is something that will happen but the rhetoric is something that has concerned opposition figures. the opposition figures. the opposition say they would more than 70% of the comet receipts from the electronic voting machines around the country can prove they not the government won the election. they have

said some members of their teams, some supporters of the opposition have faced attention and said one of theirfigures has potentially face torture which is something i have called on the un to help them investigate. in response president maduro has held the opposition figures directly responsible for some of the protests taking place, which is certainly something has raised concern. they along with many otherforeign concern. they along with many other foreign governments have demanded president maduro release proof of the election results which he says that he won. president maduro has said now they will release proof, question though still on lots of people �*s minds is when — how will they release it and also why has it taken them so long. venezuelan opposition leader and former mayor of the venezuelan municipality of el hatillo, david smolansky spoke to us earlier. we hope you change because such a huge margin could not happen,

a huge margin could not happen, a lot of soldiers and families who have not voted for it gonzales. they are suffering from the same problem —— problems. 8 million have fled the country. the largest migration across the world. 9.2 million people can�*t eat three times a day. the gdp of venezuelan the last decade has reduced 75% only compared with countries affected by war. they are suffering the same problems as venezuela, we need them not to be with one political party but institutional to obey the constitution because nicolas maduro is keeping power, using force. you didn�*t go to the elections, you boycott the elections, you boycott the elections, we went and we won and now nicolas maduro is trying to scrub it. earlier i spoke withjohn feeley , executive director at the center for media integrity of the americas and former us

ambassador to panama. round thousand people now according to reports of been arrested venezuela, 11 people killed in the protesting, what you make of the way the government is going about dealing with these demonstrations? , , , demonstrations? pretty typical for a dictatorship, _ demonstrations? pretty typical for a dictatorship, anybody - demonstrations? pretty typical| for a dictatorship, anybody who has use of critical observation skills and reasoning skills, by now recognises that nicolas maduro did not win this there is no question about that. if you take a look at the track record of how nicolas maduro has handled elections in the past it has a lwa ys always been to double down on the chicanery, defraud, and then to double down on the repression, that is what you are seeing with people being arrested. it are seeing with people being arrested. , ., , arrested. it should be said, nicolas maduro _ arrested. it should be said, nicolas maduro has - arrested. it should be said, nicolas maduro has said . arrested. it should be said, nicolas maduro has said hej arrested. it should be said, l nicolas maduro has said he is ready to present 100% of the electoral tallies, this is something many nations have been urging him to do. why do you think it is taking so long,

these are apparently available right after the election is over. ., , ., , right after the election is over. ., ,., , ., ~ over. the reason it is taking so long. _ over. the reason it is taking so long, there _ over. the reason it is taking so long, there supreme - so long, there supreme electoral authority, obviously had a tabulation that was false and fraudulent. so in order to actually really invite people who would not be biased in to observe the counting of these act �*s which table tally, they don�*t have, they can�*t do that right away because that would reveal the fraud they perpetrated behind the scenes. the difference i would say about this time is, i think the uniformity of the world observation on this. take a look at the countries who have lined up in latin america, we know russia, china iran, they will all support the duo. nicaragua and honduras disappointingly. take a look at all the other countries in latin america who almost

immediately lined up and said hey, these are fraudulent elections. he has kicked out nine countries diplomatically, that shows he is scared, i�*m not saying he is going anywhere but it shows he is not as confident in his people and is people are not as confident as they once were. the insistence that these table tallies be counted as something i would recommend, the liberal democrats of the world continue to urge him to do. you democrats of the world continue to urge him to do.— all to urge him to do. you mention all those countries, _ to urge him to do. you mention all those countries, what - all those countries, what should they be doing and what can they do including the united states to exert pressure?— united states to exert pressure? united states to exert ressure? , , pressure? there is very little i not to pressure? there is very little i got to be — pressure? there is very little i got to be honest. _ pressure? there is very little i got to be honest. you - pressure? there is very little i got to be honest. you lookl pressure? there is very little i i got to be honest. you look at what president trump in his administration maximum pressure, at the time it seemed like a good idea to sanction, sanctions have not worked, if anything we learn from five years of sanctions, it did hurt the economy, every individual can be sanctioned has been sanctioned, we have run out of

people to unilaterally sanction in the individual capacity. when you sanction the oil sector you actually did hurt nicolas maduro but guess what? figured out could survive, india still buys the oil, russia buys the oil ghost fleets turn off transponders and go into take the oil production fell seriously and have no doubt they will hurt and most —— observers will say the regime did not have the flexibility of some of the dollars they have now but he can survive sanctions, what he cannot survive as an honest election and i think what we saw on sunday shows that is precisely what he was most afraid of. what should countries do now? one, it is important that nicolas maduro hear messages from several countries in particular that he has not heard yet, that is brazil, colombia and mexico. why? because those three countries are ideal logically

more in tune with chavez... leftist leaders leaders like lewis desilva from brazil and the new president and mexico, stop still obligor. traditional allies. it appears there are worries for the safety of the opposition leaders right now in venezuela, we are hearing about the rest of some members of the opposition party, how safety people like edmundo gonzales are or matt chahda?— people like edmundo gonzales are or matt chahda? there is a real chance — are or matt chahda? there is a real chance they _ are or matt chahda? there is a real chance they could - are or matt chahda? there is a real chance they could be - real chance they could be arrested, i think they are arrested, i think they are arrested those people and especially machado has become the heart and seoul, the face the heart and seoul, the face the democratic opposition, you will see further violence in the streets. a 17—year—old has been charged with the murder of three girls at a dance class in the northern english town of southport. the teenager cannot be named because of his age. the defendant, who is due to appear at a court in liverpool on thursday,

has also been charged with 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a bladed object. alice aguiar adgeiar, 6 —year—old bebe king, and elsie dot stancombe who was 7, died after the knife attack at a taylor swift—themed event on monday. eight other children and two adults, who were at the event in the hart space centre were injured , with some still believed to be in a critical condition. on wednesday evening, a demonstration held in central london in response to the attack saw violent clashes with police, with bottles and cans thrown at officers and several people arrested. this follows separate unrest in southport on tuesday, leading to dozens of police injuries. four men have since been arrested over the violence. local authorities blame online disinformation that suggested an islamist connection to the stabbings. the 17—year—old boy charged with murder has no known links to islam. let�*s turn to some other important news around the world.

firefighters in california are still battling the park wildfire which has expanded to nearly 400—thousand acres and is just 18 percent contained. the fire is believed to have been sparked by a burning car which was pushed into a ravine. the dry conditions are stoking the fire, which is now the fifth largest in the state�*s history. hundreds of homes have been destroyed. at least 167 people are now known to have been killed in monsoon landslides in southern india. scores of people are missing after torrential rains uprooted trees and took down phone lines in kerala state�*s district of wayanad. it is is the worst natural disaster in kerala since 2018. efforts by rescue teams to find those missing are being made more difficult by heavy rain and strong winds. the united states is suspending more than 95 million dollars in aid to the georgian government. it�*s in response to the country�*s new law that requires organizations to register as foreign agents if they receive more than 20 percent of their funding from abroad. the law sparked widespead protests, with critics comparing the measure to similar russian legislation that chills public dissent. us secretary of state antony blinken said he paused the aid

to georgia due to the quote "anti—democratic" actions of its goverment. us media is reporting that ukraine has received its first f—16 fighter jets from nato allies. on wednesday, ukraine reportedly took delivery of an unspecified number ofjets — which are intended to fight back against russian drone and missile attacks. the pentagon has declined to comment on the delivery and ukraine�*s defense ministry has not yet announced the arrival. the olympic triathlons finally got under way on wednesday, 55 female triathletes dove into the seine river near the pont alexandre the third bridge after days of delay and uncertainty over the river�*s water quality. the men�*s triathlon race which was set for tuesday was postponed due to unsafe water pollution levels caused by heavy rains according to the sport�*s governing body. wednesday�*s swim marks a decades—long goal to clean up the seine. stay with us here on bbc news

we are handing over to our colleagues in london. thank you for watching. hello there. humidity levels are beginning to increase now, and we�*re starting to see a thundery breakdown take place across england and wales, certainly after this recent hot spell. so, a thundery day on thursday, some good sunny spells around. yes, it will continue to feel very warm and humid. if you catch some of these torrential downpours, you really will know about it. we�*ll start thursday morning with torrential downpours through central, northern and eastern parts of england. then, into the afternoon as a sunshine comes out, we�*ll see further thunderstorms developing — east wales, the midlands, southern and eastern england. scotland and northern ireland not doing too badly — variable clouds, some sunshine and comfortable conditions there, ranging from 17—23 celsius, but another very warm one across england and wales, 25—29 celsius. as we head through thursday evening, those thunderstorms fade out across central and eastern england. it turns dry with clear spells, but the breeze picks up with more cloud developing across western

scotland and northern ireland. a little bit warmer across scotland and northern ireland to start friday than we�*ve had of late, but it will be another muggy one for england and wales. start to see some changes into friday — this new area of low pressure will bring weather fronts, outbreaks of rain, strengthening winds to western scotland and northern ireland through the day, winds also picking up through the irish sea. large parts of eastern scotland, certainly england and wales will have another sunny afternoon with a few thunderstorms across eastern england — but it�*s going to be another warm one again, 28—29 celsius in the warmest spots in the southeast, low—20s further north and west. and it will be turning fresher here as this weather front starts to cross the country during saturday. eventually, it will reach east and southeastern england during saturday afternoon, clearing through, then allowing fresher air to move in across most areas, with sunny spells, variable cloud, scattered showers for western scotland and northern ireland. here, the high teens at best,

further south, it�*s cooler as well, 21—25 celsius. the fresher air will be across all areas as we move into part two of the weekend. low pressure starts to dominate, bringing our air source from the atlantic. not a bad day in store for sunday — a lot of sunshine through central, southern, and eastern areas, more cloud further north and west. we�*ll start to see more persistent rain moving into northern ireland and western scotland with strengthening winds. high teens celsius again in the north and west, low—to—mid—20s further south.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we�*ll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i�*m stephen sackur. how close are we to a multi—front war in the middle east? with or without formal confirmation, it seems israel has assassinated two key enemies in 2a hours — a hezbollah commander in beirut, a hamas leader in tehran.