live from washington, this is bbc news. an israeli team says it is cautiously optimistic about gaza ceasefire talks while hamas describes suggestions of progress as an illusion. we can see live shots that of antony blinken on his way to those talks over a ceasefire agreement continue. opposition supporters rally across venezuela and the world against the president's claim he won last month's election. and kyiv claims to have taken more over 80 russian settlements now in its incursion over the past two weeks. hello. i'm carl nasman. welcome to the programme. israel says it has killed two senior hamas militants in an air strike in the

occupied west bank on saturday. israeli officials claim the militants were involved in the recent killing of an israeli man in thejordan valley. meanwhile, tensions continue to rise between hezbollah and israel. hezbollah fired more than 50 rockets into northern israel on saturday after an israeli air strike on a residential building in southern lebanon killed ten people. israel said it was targeting a hezbollah weapons depot. the lebanese health ministry said those killed were syrian refugees. israeli forces also struck central gaza on saturday. officials say an air strike killed at least 18 people, including women and children, in buildings where displaced people were sheltering. the israeli military said it hit targets where militants had fired rockets and that it's reviewing the incident. meanwhile, israeli officials say its negotiators are cautiously optimistic about a possible ceasefire and hostage deal but a senior hamas official told the bbc there had been no progress in the indirect talks. our middle east correspondent wyre davies sent this report from jerusalem.

images and reports from across the region show there are still huge obstacles to peace, despite the positive messages coming from talks in qatar. in gaza, an overnight israeli air strike reportedly killed 15 people in the central area of the palestinian territory. although israel said it had eliminated a number of armed fighters, several women and children were also reportedly killed. translation: what happened is that around one o'clock- in the morning, three rockets hit directly the house of this man and his family. there were many children and women inside — mainly women — around 20 in total. to the north, deep inside lebanon, the israeli air force said it had also struck hezbollah targets, including a weapons storage facility, but reports from the scene said that at least ten people were killed, many of them syrian refugees, including a woman and her two children.

translation: this is - an industrial area, a brick factory, slaughterhouse, metal factory, aluminium factory and cow farm. it's an industrial and civilian area. there's an urgency for the next round of talks to succeed amid fears that the conflicts in gaza and either side of israel's northern border could escalate into a much wider regional war, but hamas officials have already dismissed american optimism as an illusion. president biden has welcomed the reported progress in the qatar talks. i'm optimistic. not far from over — just a couple more issues. i think we've got a shot. are you more optimistic now than you have been in months past? yes. why? if i told you that, i'd give away what's going on. his secretary of state, antony blinken, is heading to the region to promote what is being called a final bridging proposal, hopefully leading to a ceasefire in gaza and the release of hostages in exchange for palestinian prisoners being held

in israeli jails. wyre davies, bbc news, jerusalem. we saw the shot early of the secretary of state taking off for the troop to israel. —— the trip to israel. i've been speaking with david hale, former ambassador to pakistan, lebanon and jordan. i started by asking him about the recent israeli air strike in lebanon. every loss of life and every escalation is serious and tragic, but we've seen this before and i don't believe that we have reached a new threshold of the tit—for—tat exchanges between hezbollah and israel. i also know — and we all know — that hezbollah often uses civilians as shields for their own fighters and for their weaponry, so the court's still out, i think, on what really provoked this attack. what do you think these strikes mean for the ceasefire talks that are due to restart next week in cairo? i don't really see a direct connection between them. the administration — us administration and our arab friends have been very persistent, as they should be,

in trying to explore every opportunity for a ceasefire to bring this to an end. what i'm struck by is that our european and arab friends seem more motivated to do this than the actual parties of the conflict, hamas and israel. while i take the president of the united states seriously, and they have information to suggest the talks have made some progress and are very close, we've been hearing that for a while. so, i'm somewhat sceptical. so, this war will come to an end — there wil be a ceasefire eventually — but i'm not confident. —— this war will come to an end — there will be a ceasefire sooner or later. it doesn't sound like you share the optimism they're close. we've heard this before but they do sound optimistic this time. they do and, again, i'm not trying to be discouraging, but we've just heard this so many times and i don't really see what has changed the calculation on the part of hamas and the israelis that

they're actually going to do this but, you know, we'll see. hopefully, that will happen. but, you know, the next question then is what — there will be a ceasefire at some stage — what happens then? and particularly what happens in lebanon after that is a critical, i think, uncertainty. secretary of state antony blinken, he'll be there. he'll be meeting, we believe on monday, with the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu. do you think it may come up with these discussions? what do you think the two will be discussing? of course, this is not the first time that blinken has visited the region, either. no, he's been tireless, as have bill burns, the director of the cia and other american diplomats and officials — as they should be, and they should be applauded for their instinting efforts. the question is whether it will produce. and i suspect that if they are as close as they have said, they'll be trying to hammer

out the last details. and my own experience with negotiating with benjamin netanyahu and other israelis is that there's probably a lot that will come up in those final minutes before a deal is done that will require answers. then, the question will be what happens on the northern front of israel after this. that was a key question. it should be said as well, the humanitarian situation in gaza continues to worsen. we heard more people killed over the past 2a hours by israeli strikes. there's also now a threat of a polio outbreak. what more can be done, rather than wait for a ceasefire? is too much emphasis, do you think, being placed on that? can more be done to limit civilian harm and, potentially, get some vaccinations to the children of gaza, where they believe they're on the verge of a polio outbreak now? well, i think that's a very important point and i don't see any reason why there should be hesitation to do the maximum

on the humanitarian front, and it raises, i think, an even broader question. while the day after a ceasefire is of critical importance, there's also the question what do you do in the days in between — between now and when you get a ceasefire? how do you shape the outcome? what are the security arrangements you're beginning to discuss with critical partners like egypt? what are the political arrangements going to look like after a ceasefire is implemented? and what are the humanitarian and economic reconstruction measures that will be taken after that? again, we don't have insight into this but i don't hear a lot in the media about a discussion of that, which does cause some concern. venezuela's opposition leader maria corina machado on saturday led both national and international protests against president nicolas maduro's disputed election victory last month. addressing supporters from the back of a truck in caracas, she vowed not to abandon the effort against mr maduro. she has spent most of the time since the election in hiding. the opposition candidate edmundo gonzalez called for an orderly transition and condemned the lack of transparency around

the election results. the country's national electoral council is under scrutiny after it declared mr maduro the winner of the election held on 28 july. the organization of american states is urging the electoral council to publish detailed voting results. i've been speaking to maximo zaldivar, the regional director for latin america in the caribbean at the international foundation for electoral systems. this is unbelievable. more than 150 cities worldwide, as you said, and — but listen, this is the natural action that the opposition had to do to show their public force to the world. when you have government and the election authorities just looking the other way and don't taking into consideration all the requests, domestic and international, to show the proofs and the voting — vote tallies that he has won, then what other choice do

they have than to go out to the streets and do this? and let me point out maria corina machado's leadership. it has been valiant, it has been consistent and she has definitely made the difference in this election. there has been important opposition leadership in the past, some opposition governors, some opposition mayors and the last, more public face one guaido. but what maria corina machado had done and is doing is remarkable and i think this is going to change definitely what we're seeing in venezuela. do you think there's a sense of concern among the opposition that time could be running short, that international eyes might begin to look elsewhere, that they have to keep the pressure up now if they do want to force maduro out? exactly, carl. this is the moment. i mean, there has been some important signs. there was a resolution by the oas inter—american human rights committee — resolution 51 — this week which points us to respect of human rights in venezuela, based on the repression we're seeing by the regime, so that is important. that definitely was a big, big step. and, yes, and there are other

countries who are actually calling upon for the elections to be repeated, and that would be a big mistake, carl. i don't think repeating the elections will do anybody good. it willjust... why is that? that's something the opposition has said they will not support. why do you think that is? because i think it falls into the plan of the government, right, of the current regime, which is just to debilitate the opposition, for them to lose the momentum, for them to disintegrate, and it falls into their plan. and what can you do? if you look at the reports of the entities that were allowed to be in venezuela during the elections, like the carter center and an expert panel of the un, they have clearly pointed out all the irregularities that were conducted during the election and the complete lack of international standards on electoral integrity. so with that, why would you do a repeat for the same outcome and same situation when you have the same people managing the elections? it should be said there

were also hundreds of maduro supporters out on the streets of caracas today. how much support do you think the current president still has in venezuela? that's a great question. listen, venezuela was always divided, right? even during hugo chavez's time. he had a huge support, but — and the opposition had its support — but there was always this sector that was undecided and i think that undecided group is now completely falling in favour of supporting the opposition. but listen — the government should look into the mirror, carl. they should remember when hugo chavez raced to power, he raced because there was a system that was not any longer sustainable. that the citizens were tired of that political system back then, and that was part of his success to rise to power, and they should look and acknowledge that this is the same situation that is happening now. the system is unsustainable, people are not happy and they're looking for a change — an urgent change. ms machado has been warning of another mass exodus, another wave of migration if this situation is not resolved. do you think that she is right?

yes, absolutely. venezuelans are desperate. if you go to the region and you see colombia, ecuador, panama, even in central america, in costa rica, in other places, in mexico, of course, we are seeing huge amounts of migrants from venezuela and how are you going to stop that if the situation is just going to get worse for them? so, this is definitely a turning point politically, but also for human rights and the future for all venezuelans. maximo zaldivar. donald trump has held a rally in the battleground state of pennsylvania. in a speech that lasted longer than 90 minutes, mr trump responded to vice president kamala harris�*s economic plans, which she unveiled friday. harris is proposing giving $25,000 to first—time home buyers to help with down payments, increasing tax breaks forfamilies with kids, wiping out medical debt for millions of people, and driving down costs by banning what she called

corporate "price—gouging". some of harris�*s proposals are facing pushback from certain economists. washington post editorial board called the proposal a populist gimmick, writing: the post also critiqued harris�*s housing proposal, saying the assistance for first—time buyers risks putting upward pressure on prices. at the rally, donald trump criticised the plan and mentioned the washington post's opinion. yonah freemark is a principal research associate at the urban institute and an expert on affordable housing. he gave me his reaction to harris�*s housing plans, and how effective they could be if implemented. yeah, you know, ithink one thing that's been really fascinating about this campaign is that for the first time in living memory, we're taking

housing seriously as a national problem and that reflects the reality that americans are facing really high costs of housing — both renters and homeowners. so, the first thing i'd like to say is simply that even having this discussion about housing policy is really a big deal in this presidential campaign. and for the most part, we're getting it from the harris campaign. trump has primarily been reacting to that. i think the proposals that harris has put together reflect the reality out there that we're not building enough new homes in the united states. unfortunately, we've seen a decline in new housing starts over the past two years or so and harris is actually proposing a large increase in new housing supply which would actually go up to levels that we've not seen since the 1970s if they were to be applied. so, that's a big deal. she's calling for, what, the construction of three million new homes. why, as you say, are not enough homes being built? is there a simple answer for that? well, there's a number of reasons why inadequate new housing is being built across the country. the first is that we don't

have the financing available to actually get those new homes built because mortgage interest rates are quite high and other parts of the economy have been sort ofjuiced up by inflation. but another problem that we're seeing across the country is that a number of state and local policies have made it quite difficult for developers to go in and build new apartment buildings in different parts of the community. so, it's going to be interesting to see if harris actually is able to push through ideas that would change those rules at the state and local level to get more housing built. yeah, that's really the next question, isn't it? i mean, how much control does any president actually have over these sorts of issues — the price of housing or the construction of new homes? well, you know, ithink we should be honest — the biggest moves that we're talking about here would be changes that have to be implemented by the us congress. when you're talking about giving people $25,000 in down payment assistance, when you're talking about creating a new $40 billion programme for housing

affordability — which harris has proposed — you would need congress to actually pass laws that make those things happen. that said, there are some powers that executive agencies have, and the harris campaign has said it supports the use of fair housing laws to ensure that there's adequate new housing being built, even in the most exclusive parts of the country — and that's something the trump campaign has vehemently been opposed to. well, we heard there some criticism, obviously, from donald trump today, bringing up that washington post article which calls some of her economic ideas gimmicks. are these gimmicks? i mean, they certainly sound good if you're a voter and you say, "hey, $25,000 for a first—time home buyer?" is thatjust designed to appeal to voters or is this something that really could make an impact? well what i think is very clear is that a large share of americans simply cannot afford to buy homes at the moment. there's a number of reasons for that bot one of the big explanations is that mortgage

interest rates are too high and house prices have gone up dramatically. now, i think that probably the best way to address —— there's a number of reasons for that but one of the big explanations is that mortgage interest rates are too high and house prices have gone up dramatically. now, i think that probably the best way to address the average american�*s housing concerns is really to increase the supply of housing, which harris has proposed. but for low income people i think we need support through vouchers although income housing, which harris has alluded to but not proposed directly. now, with respect to the assistance for down payment, i think that can come to help a lot of middle income people who need help actually paying for housing but, it is also true if it were widely applied it may increase the average cost of housing, certainly. ukraine's president volodymyr zelensky says his troops are strengthening positions and expanding further into captured russian territory. he also thanked his soldiers two weeks into their incursion in russia's kursk region. kyiv claims to have taken control of more than 80 settlements in the last two weeks. the kremlin has vowed a worthy response.

russia's foreign ministry claims ukraine used us—made himars rockets destroyed a strategically important bridge in kursk which has been partly taken over by ukrainian forces. russian authorities say more than 3,000 people have been moved away from the fighting to safer areas in the past day alone. our ukraine correspondent james waterhouse has more. well, it seems that what ukraine is looking to do, alongside drawing in russian troops, is also control its logistics or frustrate supply lines. so, we saw — as you saw there, in quite spectacular fashion — a major bridge crossing in the north of the kursk region. it goes over a river that flows into belarus, and that had been used by russia's military to previously feed its invasion of ukraine. but ukrainian forces also control a number of major highways from north to south, connecting to the belgorod region of russia further south, which had been used by russian

forces as well. and notjust that — the town of sudzha, which ukraine has captured, is on a hill, so it is allowing ukrainian forces to control the battlefield in that respect and force russian forces to react, and that is costing them men and machinery. ukraine will be suffering losses as well but, at the moment, it's ukraine doing the dictating. and while its advances are slowing, what kyiv will point out is, look, we might be making a kilometre a day — that is still more than what the russian forces are making in a day in eastern ukraine. but, crucially, those russian forces are still moving forward. it's not going to be easy and i think we just need to look at recent history as to why. the un's nuclear watchdog says the safety situation at zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in russian—occupied ukraine is deteriorating following a drone strike near its perimeter last saturday. it said the impact was close to essential cooling water sprinkler ponds and about 100m from the only remaining high—voltage line supplying the plant with power. the international atomic energy

agency did not say who carried out the strike, but its mission to zaporizhzhia said the damage seemed to have been caused by a drone with an explosive payload. it reported that military activity in the area, which is close to the front line, had been intense for the last week. russian forces took control of the nuclear plant shortly after it launched its invasion of ukraine in february 2022. india's health ministry is urging doctors to return to work after a 24—hour strike shut down non—emergency hospital services nationwide. it has promised to form an emerging committee to look into the safety of healthcare professionals. the industrial action was part of ongoing protests following the rape and murder ofjunior doctor in kolkata a week ago. it is seen emergency services and operations stopped across private and public hospitals in india. the government is urging the strike be over. let's look

at the statistics for women in the country. the most recent statistics show 445,000 crimes against women in 2022. on average, that's about 51 crimes every hour. among those, there were 31,000 rapes reported, or — on average — one rape is reported every 16 minutes. our correspondent archana shukla has more from mumbai. now, the largest doctors�* grouping, which is the indian medical association, hasjoined into the protest. so, today, 24 hours of nationwide strike — first such where both government as well as private healthcare institutions will stop all non—emergency services. so, all your elective surgeries, as well as outpatient departments in both government and private hospitals, will be closed today and that is a mark of protest and literally amping up the protest to put pressure both on the investigative agency as well as the government to do more about safety. we know that the top crime agency is investigating the incident of the rape and murder of the 31—year—old trainee doctor in kolkata and protesters are trying

to amp up more and demand that a speedy trial and justice is given in that matter, and they're also demanding that the government come up with stricter laws to make it safer at workplace. like we heard from one of the protesters that they spend hours together at the hospital, that's literally like their second home, and if they are not safe even there, then where can women be safe? and, you know, despite laws having come into place, they're not effective on ground. most of the protesters who i have spoken to over the last few days have told me that there are laws but they are not effective and hence, they are demanding that the government come up with one, a central law that can protect doctors against any violence that is levelled at them and secondly, is to also make it more safer for women at workplaces and outside. you know, despite laws, violence against women has only gone up. if we go by the government statistics over the last one year, it has gone up by 4%

and this is something that the politicians, the government and the public all need to sit up and take notice of. let's turn to some other important news around the world. a paramilitary group fighting government forces in sudan has agreed to co—operate on deliveries of humanitarian aid during talks in switzerland. the rapid support forces will allow aid to reach people in the darfur and kordofan regions. it comes after the sudanese government said it will open a border crossing between neighbouring chad and north darfur. aid agencies warn that over six million people displaced by fighting are at risk of dying from hunger. it wants more than 25 million people in sudan are at risk of hunger. the social media platform x has closed its office in brazil following a row with the country's supreme court. the site accused the court's president of censorship after he ordered that several accounts accused of spreading disinformation remain blocked while they were investigated. brazilian users will still

be able to access x. former prime minister of thailand thaksin shinawatra has received a royal pardon, meaning his parole will end on sunday. mr thaksin was sentenced to eight years in prison for abuse of power and conflicts of interests during his time in office from 2001 to 2006. his sentence was commuted to one year by the king of thailand last september. the royal pardon comes just days after his mr taksin�*s daughter was elected prime minister. a cargo spacecraft is finally arrived at the international space station to deliver feud food and fuel to the astronauts that have been stuck for several months. i'm piloted spacecraft successfully tra nsferred spacecraft successfully transferred three tons of supplies to the nasa astronauts. they are currently stuck on the international space station because of safety concerns over the boeing starliner capsule. some bonuses based time for those

astronauts. more coming up from london on bbc news after this. hello there. there was a lot of cloud around on saturday for northern and western areas. the best of the sunshine was further east and part two of the weekend looks pretty similar. we start dry with lots of sunshine and then, the cloud amounts will tend to build up into the afternoon, producing just one or two showers. now, the azores highs continuing to nudge northwards across much of england, wales, northern ireland, so light winds here, but fresher across scotland. it will remain breezy throughout the day here. we start off with plenty of sunshine after that fresh start and then, clouds will tend to build up into the afternoon. it could turn quite grey in a few places. the odd shower likely for western scotland, maybe western hills of england and wales. otherwise, it's mostly dry. up to 25 celsius in the southeast, the high teens further north. sunday night, we do it all again. the clouds tend to melt away for many, and with the clear skies, it'll turn quite fresh again with temperatures of 8—12 degrees. now, some changes taking place to start the new week. the first of a series of low pressure systems will work its way into

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

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

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.

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