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your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" >> i'm in washington and this is "bbc world news america. venezuelan president nicolas maduro claims victory in a disputed election as international calls for transparency grow. a deadly strike on the soccer field on the border escalates violence. and president biden wants ethic rules but are unlikely to pass congress.

>> welcome to "world news america." nicolas maduro has been re-elected for a third term despite exit polling saying the opposition party won the election. the head of the electoral council said with 80% of the ballots counted he had won despite the 44% edmundo gonzalez received. they dismissed it as fraudulent and promised to challenge the result. world leaders are questioning the result of the election and nine governments including argentina, ecuador and uruguay of planning a emergency meeting due to profound concerns over sunday oops election results. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken had this to say after it was announced. >> we have serious concerns the result announced does not

reflect the will or the volts of the venezuelan people. it's critical every vote be counted fairly and transparently, that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay and the electoral parties publish the tabulation of votes. the international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly. >> the bbc has this report from caracas. >> there must be respect for the popular will, which country in the world after receiving 930 criminal sanctions, after having suffered while we have suffered, theirs to call elections, we called them and they were carried out in an exemplary matter and i can say before the people of venezuela and the world, i am nicolas. >> president maduro claiming victory for a third time, asking

people to respect the rule of the people. the questions the opposition is asking, has he? freedom, freedom, emotional cries as the polls closed at one polling station in venezuela. in an election where many were voting for change. >> should they, the people of venezuela, are determined these people leave power immediately. it is outrage after outrage, the violation of human rights as judicial executions, excessive immigration, the largest in latin america without having had a war. >> it has to be fair because the people are already tired. that is why we are all here waiting for a change. we hope justice is done. >> they want to change from president maduro. his party has been in pow fortunately decades. he still has some loyal

supporters. >> there are many things, benefits, help for people like me, and there are advantages no other government has given. >> this man asked, why do we support president nicolas maduro? because he's the president of the people, the one who believes in the working class. the last election win was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair. again, there are questions. this, the president's face lining every street. protests and clashes with authorities after some polling stations didn't open at all. huge cues of people waiting to vote and delays, with few let in at a time. buses paid for, free food handed out and government incentives to come to the president's rallies.

the opposition leader was banned from running. many of her aides were detained. shops that served her closed down but she remained confident her replacement edmundo gonzalez could win. the opposition claimed fraud before the results, saying many of their observers were not allowed into election counts. today we want to sell venezuelans and the entire world that they have a new president-elect and it is edmundo gonzalez. everyone knows it. we have won in all sectors. we saw it in the streets. the regime knows what happened. in theext few days, we will announce the actions to defend the truth. long life. free venezuela. >> much was at stake in this election. the economy has been in freefall for more than a decade. more than half the cunliffs in poverty.

millions of venezuelans have fled the country, many to the u.s., fueling a migration crisis. the question now is whether any of that will change. bbc news, caracas. >> for more analysis we have michael shifter, former president of the u.s. think tank, the enter american dialogue and professor of international studies at georgetown university. michael, very good to have you with us. we saw the policy chief say there is some evidence of flaws in what happened in this election. at this point what proof is there the votes themselves were tampered with? what do we actually know? michael: the record of the ballots are being collected by the opposition because there's an electronic system of voting but produce tangible ballots which the opposition has collected and they claim that about 40% of total of the country they've claimed and clearly those ballot records

they have show a very different result than the results announced by the electoral council. there seems to be a discrepancy which announced the results without any evidence at all and just ce up with some numbers but didn't present ballot records. and according to law, the venezuelan law, you need to present ballot records and the government hasn't come up with those. >> the international community, as we mentioned, is calling for that transparency. the opposition said they won't back down. maria says we demand the truth. if those ballots aren't provided, what do you think the opposition will do? michael: the opposition has go to the streets. the task is to remain united. one of the impressive aspects of this phase is a united opposition. it hasn't always been that way in the last 25 years and i think the focus has to be on remaining

united and mobilizing in the streets peacefully and calling on other governments and the international community to support them to help facilitate a transition towards democracy and recognize that the opposition, edmundo gonzalez, the candidate, actually won this election. >> as we're speaking we're looking at images in the streets in caracas where security forces have gathered. are you concerned if there are protests we could see the type of violence and unrest that followed the previous presidential election in 2018? michael: i'm very concerned about violence in venezuela. the passions are high. the national guard and armed forces are largely with the government but there are factions that have been some reports of insurrections. within the military, i think some of the military are not happy. there were a lot of reports of disagreements and discord among the armed forces. so i think there are lots of different scenarios, several of

which i think are very troubling of increasing violence. hopefully the calm will be kept but i think we have to remain vigilant and very, very concerned about what's happening and what could happen. >> we've seen expressions of concern from the u.s., the secretary of state. what do you think is the appropriate response right now as a lot of information is of course still moving on the ground in vezuela? michael: i think the response should be to try to calm things down, to try to communicate very clearly that you have a country that's divided where there's a lot of hate and animosity and it's spilling into the streets in violence and needs to be a negotiation and both sides need to come together and figure out how to move out of the current situation which is not viable or sustainable. maduro cannot crack down and repress the vast majority of venezuelans who want a change and who voted for a change. it's just not possible.

so hopefully there will be enough senior people within the governing coalition to recognize that and will begin to pressure for and sit down and negotiate a change. it's going to be difficult. it's going to be complex and may take some time but i think that's the best formula for moving forward. >> can i ask you what the opposition in venezuela, what they're advocating for what they stand for. maria spoke to the bbc in 2019 and said, quote, it's evidence at nicolas maduro's regime will not relinquish power unless faced with a real threat superior to the one that has threatened to kill and destroy venezuela. michael: i think maria has changed the last five years and embraced this time an electoral strategy and realizes that's the only way the opposition could prevail. >> a democratic strategy? michael: a democratic strategy, has pursued a democratic strategy. may not have always been the case previously.

but i think when things fail, you try something else and that other strategy didn't work and was counterproductive and only strengthened maduro. noshe has come to embrace and pursue electoral strategy and has been consistent in that democratic strategy and she also understands the importance of negotiating a transition. the problem is within some figures within the government, there's a lotf distrust because they remember her previous positions. and i think what we need for successful negotiation is a level of mutual confidence on both sides and hopefully that can build and there are other actors within the opposition that play that role. >> michael shifter, thank you for the conversation. on to other news now, israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu will discuss the golan heights. the russian attack struck a

soccer field, killing 12 children. they will visit the site of attack monday and. he discussed what happened. and the prime minister was heckled by those saying he refused to protect them. israel fired on sites which they say belonged to hezblah. as fears of large scale israeli retaliation in lebanon grow, several airlines including air france and left united statessa are -- leftanza are ceasing flights. >> this region is braced for how israel will respond to the rocket attack saturday that killed 12 young people in the

golan heights. benjamin netanyahu was at that site and warned there would be a harsh response. there is pressure on israel to respond both from members of the coalition government here but also from israelis up at the border with lebanon who want to neutralize the threat with hezbollah once and for all but there is also an awareness of how serious this situation is and indications, reports in some media outlets that israel intends to respond but perhaps falling short of leading to all out war. there's been a flury of activity and diplomac pressure both on israel and lebanon, passing messages from washington, from paris and london and elsewhere warning and calling for restraint and warning these actors to be measured in their response. the iranian president has warned israel now it would make a great mistake with heavy consequences if it launched into a

significant military incursion into lebanon. so we wait to see just the nature of the israeli response, the israeli security cabinets has passed a resolution allowing the defense minister and prime minister to make a response, to choose the timing and nature of that response. we wait to see exactly what shape that will take. >> mark reporting there. the english town of southport is reeling after two children were killed on a knife attack that wounded six critically. all before a taylor swift themed dance class. armed police arrested a 17-year-old boy. they say they're not treating the incident as terror-related and added there's no risk to the public. a warning, you may find some of the details in this report upsetting. >> a sunny day in the school holidays and children who had been dancing moments earlier are lying in the street where there

had been music, there was now the sound of screaming. paramedics and police raced to them, local people, too, including an off-duty nurse. >> just wrapped the crowd. the mother i was consoling and the look on her face because she knew something had happened to her child. my gosh, how do you comprehend? there's nothing you can do. >> the police were called by people working next door to where the primary school aged children had been taking part in a taylor swift themed dance and yoga class. they came across a graphic and distressing scene. >> like a bomb had gone off. girls bodies all over the place. one of my colleagues that works for me, james, he brought one of the girls out of the building.

poor kid. there was a few parents around. i heard wailing and screaming pretty much all afternoon of parents coming later to pick kids up and only really finding out what's going on. >> a major incident was declared. 13 ambulances sent and children taken to three hospitals. firefighters raced there, too, to give first aid and trauma support, and police cordoned off a large area near the southport town center. in a fast-moving situation, armed officers arrested a 17-year-old boy at a village three miles north the resort. motor side police also recovered a knife. the incident is not currently being treated as terror-related. >> i know the whole house will be very concerned at the extremely serious incident that's taken place in souport. all of our thoughts will be with the family and loved ones of those who are affected. i have been in contact with the

police and crime commissioner and the mayor to convey my support to the police and our thanks to the police and emergency services for their swift and courageous response. >> southport is known as a happy holiday resort full of families which always shows its best side. today the community is having to come to terms with the fact unspeakable horror has here happened instead. bbc news, southport. >> now the u.s. is sending additionalilitary aid to ukraine. the new security package valued up to $2 million includes air defense and anti-tank weapons along with artillery and mortar rounds. ukrainian leaders have been urging allies to supply more air defense systems to counter more drone attacks by russian forces. the u.s. has made a $1.5 billion commitment to support ukraine's

defenses over the long term. former president donald trump agreed to a victim interview to discuss the assassination attempt against him at the pennsylvania rally earlier this month. the f.b.i. is investigating the shooting and conducted over 450 interviews and is seeking information from 86 companies in an efforts to find the shooter's motive. the field office in pennsylvania said they wanted mr. trump's perspective on the shooting and called it standard procedure. the house of representatives formed a bipartisan task force to investigate the assassination attempt. secret service acting director ronald rowe and others are set to testify on tuesday. >> a wildfire in northern california 180 miles or 290 kilometers northeast of san francisco is now one of the largest wildfires in the state's history. the park fire burned more than 350,000 acres of land and is 12% contained. nearly 5,000 firefighters are

working to put the blaze out as it continues to spread up steep terrain fueled by wind gusts. the fire started wednesday and a 42-year-old man was arrested on suspicious of pushing a blazing car in a ravine and prompted evacuation orders and warnings to several communities. now, president joe biden is speaking in austin, texas, at the moment. he's just arrived there where he's delivering remarks. you see him speaking there in austin. it comes as the president is proposing unprecedented changes to the supreme court. it is part of a plan he says will restore trust and accountability to the nation's highest court. he is set to lay out a three-part plan in an opinion column he wrote, al, in "the washington post" on monday. mr. biden proposed a constitutional amendment he says would, quote, make sure there's no immunity for crimes the former president committed while in office and proposes changes the way the judges are appointed with the president nominating a

justice every two years to serve 18 years on the court. mr. biden also wants to propose a binding ethics code on the justices following a series of controversies around conflicts of interest. for more, let's speak to a former u.s. prosecutor, now a law professor at loyola university in los angeles. good to see you. let's talk about term limits, a binding code of conduct and how significant would these forms be and what impact would they have? >> they would have tremendous impact on the supreme court which is why the president is proposing them but won't be easy to make em happen because each of these probably require as change in our constitution and to do that you would have to have agreement in our congress, you'd have to have 2/3 agreement and then it would have to go out to the states for 3/4 of them to ratify p. so i think politically it's not likely to happen but it's messaging by president biden there are real

concerns about the court and whether people really believe their opinions are based on the law or basedpon politics. >> one question people might be wondering is why is there at this point no enforceable ethics code for supreme court judges? >> the question is, what do you do to a justice who violates the code? i personally think you could have some type of enforcement but they probably would be more like transparency and reports regarding what the justices have done with other judges who are renowned, saying they do or do not violate the national ethics for judges. but what you cannot do and what is key, is you can't fire a supreme court justice. they have tenure unless they're impeached. so given that, it's really hard to have an enforceable code. you would hope that the justices would want to follow the ethical code. justice kagan called for some type of enforcement but other justices, probably like justice

thomas, are going to say i get to do what i want. >> laurie, you mentioned some of the congressional hurdles but take us through how difficult it actually is to reform some of the structures that govern the supreme court? laurie: it's extremely difficult. and frankly, it's difficult by design. the thought was that we'd have three independent branches of government and the supreme court is one of them. so in order to change how they operate, let's say to overturn one of their major decisions, one on immunity, that's the one that would have to be the constitution telling them they got it wrong, just perhaps on issues of abortion. then when you have the selection process, right now we have the justices sitting until they're no longer on the court and whoever is president at that time gets to nominate somebody and then the senate would confirm. that would change and become an ordinary procedure that every two years, whoever is president,

would appoint someone and a justice would serve an 18-year term. what that would mean, probably, is you wouldn't have these justices who are serving decades on the supreme court, you'd have turnover. and that would be good to reflect what the culture is in the country at that time. so finally, we talked about the ethics code. it would be really hard. we'd have to change the constitution to say if they violate the code, you could have consequences, including perhaps removal. >> the republicans said they wouldn't agree to any reforms. president biden said in the opinion piece what is happening now is not normal and undermines the public's confidence in the court. you see confidence has falling significantly in the supreme court. but does that matter? the court is supposed to operate as an independent body regardless of what the public

opinion is. laurie: i actually think because the only enforcement mechanism the supreme court has for its rulings is the public's trust. and when they start overturning cases that are based upon decades or 50 years of precedent, that trust may no longer be there anymore and then you get the question of what about people say we're not following the supreme court decision? that's a very dangerous situation. >> laurie, what do you expect to see from the court going forward? we know democrats in particular have criticized the court for taking a particularly right-wing turn in its decisions? laurie: it's hard to say how this will affect the court's decisions. i think some justices will say, i'm not listening to any of this, i have tenure. i think other justices would say in order for us to have that positive impact, we should have in mind that we're asking the public to trust us. so we should do our job

correctly. >> great to get your analysis. very good to have you on bbc news. laurie: my pleasure. >> thank for you watching "world news america." find the day's news our website at bbc.com/news. check us out on the social media or on our app. i'm announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglecteneeds. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it, "arguably the best bargain in streaming." that's because the free pbs app lets you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. m. geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the news hour tonight, venezuela becomes embroiled in a political standoff after both nicolas maduro's ruling party and the opposition claim victory in that country's presidential election. president biden proposes major changes to the u.s. supreme court, including term limits. pres. biden: we need these reforms to restore trust in the