I wanted to inform you that i arrived to madrid today in the morning. In the morning. My departure from caracas was surrounded by episodes of pressure, coercion of pressure, coercion and threats that i would not be and threats that i would not be allowed to leave. Allowed to leave. I trust that we will soon continue the fight for liberty and the return to and the return to democracy in venezuela. A big hug for everyone. Democracy in venezuela. A big hug for everyone. Venezuela's opposition says its candidate, venezuela's opposition says its candidate, mr gonzalez, won the mr gonzalez, won the presidential election held on the 28th ofjuly. Presidential election held on the 28th ofjuly. The us, the eu and other the us, the eu and other nations backed those voting nations backed those voting figures. Figures. Us secretary of state us secretary of state antony blinken said that antony blinken said that nicolas maduro must nicolas maduro must not be allowed to cling not be allowed to cling to power by force. To power by force. But mr maduro — a socialist but mr maduro — a socialist who's been in power 11 years — who's been in power 11 years — says he won the election. Says he won the election. He moved to crush protests he moved to crush protests and legal challenges and legal challenges to the results, ultimately to the results, ultimately forcing mr gonzalez to seek protection. Forcing mr gonzalez to seek protection. Before fleeing the country, before fleeing the country, he took refuge in the spanish he took refuge in the spanish embassy in caracas. Embassy in caracas. Crackdown before and after these very contended, disputed elections back in july. His life is at risk — this was something that opposition leaders said last week, saying one of the main challenges — both for herself and mr gonzales — was to stay alive and free, and their lives are basically at risk. These intimidation campaigns launched by the maduro government object against the opposition have cultivated with the un have called a climate of fear, and they've used tractors and kidnapping and multiple detentions creating what the inter—american court of human rights described as state terrorism. It's not only ngos, the press, opposition figures, journalists who are at risk here, but also civilians, with nearly 2000 individuals being detained since the 29th ofjuly when those election results — highly contended election results — were announced. Mimi, given there was an arrest warrant out for mr gonzalez, why do you think they let him leave? an arrest warrant was issued against him and if he was arrested, he would've faced up to life in prison. They're saying that — well, the opposition are saying that he was granted a safe passage from venezuela to spain, where he is now been granted political asylum. He arrived on there sunday with his wife in madrid, the capital. But he was given this safe passage by the maduro government — this is something that nicolas maduro is keen to make evident, make it known wide and clear. His vice president said they gave him the safe passage for him to leave for the sake of tranquillity and for political peace in the country. Now, the attorney general, maduro�*s government as well, went further, saying that he has been given the opportunity to abandon the national territory and that spain would receive him happily. Now, spain have really stood firmly in their position against maduro, not recognising him as the valid winner of those elections and really backing the opposition. The opposition are now split geographically but united nonetheless — that's the message they have been loud and clear about today. Israel has closed all its land border crossings with jordan after three israeli civilians were killed in a shooting at the border crossing betweenjordan and the occupied west bank. Israel's prime minister said it was a hard day and sent his condolences to the victims�* families. Israeli security forces shot dead the attacker after the incident at the king hussein—allenby bridge crossing. Jordan's interior ministry later identified the attacker as a jordanian citizen. The victims are thought to have been private security personnel. Jordan has launched an investigation into the shootings. Jordan and israel signed a peace treaty in 1994 and have close security and economic ties butjordan has been critical of israel's actions in gaza and the occupied west bank. 0ur correspondent mike thomson reports from jerusalem. The day started with a deluge of 50 rockets fired into northern israel by lebanon's hezbollah. Then, maherjazi, a 39—year—old jordanian truck driver, is said to have left his lorry at the allenby bridge border crossing before opening fire on civilian border staff, killing three before being shot himself. Israel's prime minister had this to say. Translation: in recent days, loathsome terrorists have murdered six of our hostages in cold blood and three israeli police officers. The killers do not distinguish between us — they want to murder us all. The gunman�*s motives are unclear, though israel's actions in gaza are widely criticised in jordan, which is home to many palestinian refugees. Mr netanyahu also called for unity, but that's something that is going to be hard to achieve in this deeply divided country. Although many agree with his repeated insistence that defeating hamas is the best way to get the hostages back from gaza, these people aren't among them. Late on saturday, an estimated 750,000 protesters poured onto the streets of israel, demanding that their government agrees a ceasefire and hostage release deal. But with no such agreement yet in sight, the unrest here looks likely to continue. Mike thomson, bbc news, jerusalem. In gaza, a deputy director of the civil emergency service was killed in an israeli strike on a house in jabalia on sunday. Health officials said four other members of mohammad morsi's family were killed in the raid. Earlier on sunday, the palestinian ministry of health said at least 33 palestinians were killed in israeli attacks across gaza over the preceding 2a hours. A number of bodies were trapped beneath the rubble of destroyed buildings. Syria's state news agency says multiple israeli strikes have killed at least three people across the country. It says five sites were targeted, including a scientific research centre. There's been no response from israel, which rarely admits conducting raids in syria. Former us president donald trump and vice president kamala harris are about even in the polls just two days before their upcoming televised presidential debate. With fewer than 60 days left before election day, republican presidential nominee mr trump leads his democratic rival ms harris a8—a7% in the latest new york times and siena college poll of likely voters. The race is also very tight races among likely voters in us battleground states, according to a cbs news and yougov poll. Harris leads by one point in michigan and by two points in wisconsin — within the poll's margin of error. The two are tied among likely voters in pennsylvania. Both presidential candidates will participate in tuesday's 90—minute debate. They will each be given two minutes to answer questions and make rebuttals. Trump will deliver the final statement of the debate after winning a virtual coin toss earlier this week. I spoke with kadia goba, a politics reporter for semafor. All the momentum seemed to be with kamala harris in august, why do you think that momentum has stalled? what's going on? i think she was making up a gap from where president biden was. Many people blamed him for dragging down the ticket, and i think shejust — part of that enthusiasm was just heard essentially catching up. A lot of the polling is very similar to where she was when she first entered the race. And when we look ahead to the debate that is taking place, would you say it's more important for ms harris to perform well? i think the burden is on her. She still is largely — she is the underdog here. So, for one, people need to understand who she is and hopefully, for her and her team, that comes out across — comes across in her debate. But she also has to make a distinction from the administration that she's been a part of for the past four years, and both of them have to answer a lot about what they are going to do to improve the economy. She's going to be well prepared but mr trump, we know, is unpredictable. How on earth should she prepare, do you think, for the unexpected ? i can tell you what she's been doing. She's been practising with a faux trump, the same person who practised with hillary clinton in 2016. She also had some other advisors. I think, again, her burden is for her to tell her story as well as make a distinction about — from this last administration. I have heard so many different views and opinions on this and i'd be very interesting to hear yours — what tactic do you think that she should pursue it when it comes to the debate? should she tackle him head—on, should she make it personal, or talk about policy orjust address the moderators? what do you think? i wouldn't dare to tell the campaign what they're doing. But i can say what people are thinking. When i talk to democratic members of congress, many of them say that they want her to be on the defence — or on the attack, rather. She wants to be the prosecutor that they saw her being during her senatorial run and when she was, you know, talking or cross—examining some of the prospective supreme court candidates. They want her to be that person. But there are also some people who think that strategy could provoke donald trump into, you know, doing something or being perceived as more aggressive, so, i don't know. It's interesting about how she will — it's interesting how she will approach this and it's not clear what is going to be the winning recipe, other than telling people what they need to understand or what they need to hear about the economy. The economy is one thing but you also mentioned that she has a need to continue to introduce herself to the american people. How important do you think that is still at this stage? i think it is. One thing i hear people say is they don't know who kamala harris is. I also hear that they are not clear on what her policy strategies are. That was a big part of the new york times poll recently, where people werejust, you know, they kind of wanted a reason to vote for her but they are just not clear on where she stands. So, articulating her policy and who she is is going to be, i think, very important for kamala harris if she wants to gain any advantage in this race. And we all can't wait, of course, but how high do you think the interest is here in the us in this debate? oh, it is very — i mean, we saw a very similar interest when donald trump faced biden a couple of months ago and see how that turned out. So, people are very interested. They want to know how the former president is going to react and again, they — i think they are very interested and i think this could be a defining factor for many people, especially independents out there. So, you think this could really help swing opinion when there are those — quite a few still — who are undecided? it's not going to change the mind of either one of their bases. We see a groundswell of support for both candidates. But i think people who are, again, trying to understand what the specific policies each candidate offers, this will be a big moment for each one of them. And of course, we will all be looking for those highlight moments where, you know, one person gets a good talking point in but again, i think the american people are making a decision about who to vote for are going to be very interested in what they are saying to move forward, away from the biden administration, away from the, you know, high tax — high grocery store prices and gas prices. I think that is very important. They want to hear that articulated. And here on bbc news, you'll be able to watch rolling coverage of the abc news presidential debate simulcast between the two candidates. 0ur coverage will start from 8pm us east coast time on tuesday — that's iam wednesday if you're in the uk. The mother of the suspect in last week's deadly shooting in georgia is reported to have contacted her son's school before the attack, asking them to check on him. Us media obtained text messages between the 14—year—old boy's mother and her sister. Colt grey is accused of killing four people and injuring nine others in an attack at apalachee high school. 0ur correspondent jenny kumah has more. Well, us media are reporting that colt gray's mother marcee gray contacted the school the morning of the shooting and warned them of an extreme emergency and asked them to check on her son. It's not clear, though, what caused her to contact the school. And reports also say there appeared to be some confusion when a school administrator went to look for a boy with a similar name to colt gray. The family also say that his maternal grandmother was at the school the day before the shooting to talk to teachers about problems they'd been having with him going to school. Now, colt gray appeared in court on friday. He didn't enter a plea. And in a rare move, authorities have also charged his father colin. Authorities say he knowingly allowed his son to possess a gun. Colin gray, the father, did not enter a plea. He is charged in connection with ia offences, including second—degree murder, manslaughter and child cruelty. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. Let's look at another story making news in the uk. The internationally renowned specialist children's hospital at great 0rmond street in london says it's reviewing more than 700 patients' cases after concerns were raised about former surgeon yasarjabbar. Nicky schiller has more. Now, he is reported to be an expert in limb reconstruction. Now, so far, of the 39 cases that have been reviewed, more than half were found to have been harmed, and 13 patients severely. Now, lawyers representing some of the families who were treated by yaserjabbar say children as young as four months old were subjected to unnecessary surgery and suffered life—changing injuries, with one child having to undergo an amputation that could possibly have been avoided if different treatment had been followed. Now, great 0rmond street has said it is incredibly sorry for the worry and uncertainty that this has caused and that it has contacted all patients and families affected. Mrjabbar stepped down from his hospital position in september last year. You're live with bbc news. 0rganisers of protests across france on saturday say 300,000 people took part, including 160,000 in paris. The french interior ministry did not provide a figure, but said its estimates are typically much lower than the organisers'. Regardless, saturday's protests show significant public opposition to president emmanuel macron�*s selection of the centre—right politician michel barnier as prime minister. Protesters are angry that mr barnier was chosen by president macron, despite the left—wing bloc wining the most seats in this summer's elections. I discussed this with nicolas tenzer, non—resident senior fellow at the center for european policy analysis. Nicholas, what did you make of the large protests we saw yesterday? is this a sign of a long, extended period of political uncertainty to come? i see that we must of course pay attention to these protests. It does show the state of mind of those on the left in france. I wouldn't say it presents a huge proportion of the french people. We had a survey yesterday that shows 52% of the people basically approved the appointment of him as prime minister, and most of the left parties certainly do not support the protest. Jean—luc melenchon said he has a grievance that they were not allowed to form governments or choose a prime minister, even though the left one the most seats. ~. ,. , ,. , _ seats. What does he mean by that? prepare _ seats. What does he mean by that? prepare for _ seats. What does he mean by that? prepare for battle? that? prepare for battle? basically. _ that? prepare for battle? basically, jeanluc that? prepare for battle? basically, jeanluc melenchon basically, jean—luc melenchon doesn't want to participate to any kind of power, hejust wants basically to create a protest in the streets to inflame the public opinion, basically to create unrest, and certainly it's a kind of loose strategy, a loose strategy for the party itself because many people in the left do not support melenchon and they consider rightly in my view that he must bring the alliance unintelligible but it's not good for france because it could prolong me in certainty. It's one of the big challenges for michel barnier. What do you make of the tall order that is ahead for him? mr macron wants him to form a unified government to announce a new budget in october, by october one, he has to appease the left and the hard right and calm the streets. It's a lot to deal with. ,. . . , , with. Yes, and certainly i think it — with. Yes, and certainly i think it will— with. Yes, and certainly i think it will be _ with. Yes, and certainly i think it will be difficult i think it will be difficult times but i think we have to remind us of this of two things. First, there is basically no party or even no political camp in france as a majority in the house. Basically, you have france parliament divided into the far—right and the far—right basically marine le pen party, national rally, is the most important number of seats in the parliament right now. Then you have of course the alliance of the left but certainly there's a lot of disagreements between the party. When you have the kind of centrist bloc. So the question is with the centrist bloc, with macron�*s party but also others, also the moderate conservatives, would form an alliance and the problem is there is absolutely no way right now because there is no acceptance of the socialist party, not for the moment of the conservative party, which is too tiny, by the way, to form an alliance so basically they will have to seek the votes either of the radical left, which is an issue, orthe radical left, which is an issue, or the radical right which is also another issue. Does this all mean for europe, to see a france that is politically divided and paralysed in this way? does it mean the continent? it’s mean the continent? it's certainly _ mean the continent? it's certainly bad _ mean the continent? it's certainly bad news mean the continent? it�*s certainly bad news for france and certainly for the eu as well, the continent as such, because you know before the elections, emmanuel macron had played a key role in the support of ukraine. He has not allow the possibility of sending an intel drmic dissolution of the national assembly the people send military instructors to ukraine and he also approved to strike the net russian territory with french weapons, which certainly is a good thing, and you know of course, france right now are leading the way could be a huge uncertainty and fortunately in europe right now even outside the eu we have the uk with the true leadership of the government, in my view. We have a very weak and also germany. So it would be very difficult to replace france, who has been with germany and poland the true engine, you know, of the eu for economic terms but france is also weakening by the budgetary deficit which is huge, so there were some warnings also by the eu commission. France has to reduce the military deficit and the debt. We know the rating by the debt. We know the rating by the rating agencies also are diminished, coming from double 82a, diminished, coming from double 82a—, which is also a key problem for france, so there is a period of instability and we don't know what at the end of the day the winner will be ——aa to a—. The day the winner will be ——aa to a. It the day the winner will be ——aa to a—. It could be very unfortunate the national rally who you see have disorder with the leftists, with the centrists not able to form a government, with macron this vote certainly by the voters, you have both of the possibility to create something new to the new party and i think basically we can feel for the presidential elections that will happen in 2027, certainly, marine le pen and unintelligible has not said unintelligible. The paralympics have drawn to a close with a lavish three—hour ceremony in paris, and what a games it's been for athletes representing great britain and the united states. The us men's wheelchair basketball team won a historic third straight gold medal against great britain and the us women's sitting volleyball team won its third straight gold with a 3—1 win over china. The us team finished third overall with 105 medals. Great britain finished runners—up in the medals table with 124, including 49 golds, behind china. Ff 0n the final day, charlotte henshaw and laura sugar won para—canoeing golds. Let's turn to some other important news around the world. At least 48 people were killed on sunday when a fuel tanker truck exploded after colliding with another truck carrying passengers and cattle in north central nigeria. The state emergency management agency said the crash sparked a powerful blast that engulfed both vehicles, as well as several others nearby. Police in the us state of kentucky are continuing to search for a gunman who injured five people when he opened fire on vehicles travelling a rural stretch of highway on saturday, about nine miles outside the city of london. Police have named a suspect in the shooting as as 32 year—old joseph a couch. And a british world war two veteran who landed in france on d—day has died, aged 104. Royal engineer donald �*don�* sheppard was among the troops who fought their way ontojuno beach on the morning of june 6th 1944. He later advanced through belgium, the netherlands and eventually on to nazi germany, where he helped liberate bergen—belsen concentration camp. A remarkable man. Do stay with us here on bbc news. Low pressure and early warmth in september have brought flooding rains to some this weekend. A month's worth of rain fell in parts of the west midlands on this slow—moving weather front on sunday, which is only slowly easing its way eastwards through the remainder of the night, so the heaviest rain does ease. The thunderstorms ease away as well but there'll be misty low cloud and hill fog with this weather system in the east. Further west, the skies start to clear and it will be chillier for scotland and northern ireland in particular — and, in fact, in these areas, it was chillier on sunday as well. Still warm and muggy in the south and still with a lot of murky weather. First thing on monday, quite grey, quite damp on that weather front initially but compared with sunday for wales, for north west england, for the southwest of england, it's a much picture, eastern scotland as well, but the rain does roll back in to the west of scotland, northern ireland later and this cloud — murky low cloud — could just hang on in east anglia and the southeast for much of the day. Where we see the sunshine 17 or 18, but that's considerably down. And as we saw on sunday, temperatures are lower anyway in the north now. And then, that rain rushes eastwards as we go through monday night. On a developing area of low pressure actually got a sting in its tail, i think, by the time we get to tuesday. A fresher night in the south, despite quite a bit of cloud and quite a bit of breeze as well. We'lljust notice it won't feel as close. But this weather system will slowly meander its way southwards and then, behind it, we open the doors to thisnorthwesterly air flow. Hence, it will feel chilly midweek. And the northwesterly wind is a chilly direction at any time of year, so we will notice that particularly tuesday and wednesday when the winds are strongest. Lots of showers around. Strong winds as well — notjust by day, but by night. By the end of the night — the end of the week, rather — we could have a touch of grass frost in the north. But that's the end of the week. However, from midweek onwards, these showers coming in thick and fast as scotland could be a little bit wintry over the top of the munros. This rainjust dragging its heels in the south. But a windier day for all of us. Gales possibly in the north and the east. And it's here where the rain hangs around and it could give some significant rainfall across the likes of 0rkney and shetland as well through tuesday and into wednesday. So, although we'll see 12—18, i think those temperatures, tempered by the strength of the wind — particularly so on wednesday — does look as if southern areas may see a ridge of high pressure building towards the end of the week, but we will firm up on the details as the time goes on. More online. Voiceover: 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, from lake como in northern italy. I'm stephen sackur. This is the venue for the ambrosetti forum, a gathering of international politicians, where this year, the conversation keeps returning to one simple question — who will win the us presidential election in november, and what will it mean for global geopolitics? well, my guest today has strong opinions on that matter. He is republican us senator lindsey graham, one of donald trump's closest allies on capitol hill. He is all in for team trump. But are america's voters growing weary of the former president?