live from washington, this is bbc news. president biden holds a series of election campaign fundraisers as he seeks to put a lacklustre debate performance behind him. uk labour leader sir keir starmer urges voters to give his party a clear mandate for change on the final weekend of the campaign. and iran will hold a run—off presidential vote after the country's lowest turnout in decades. president biden is ramping up his campaign efforts this weekend after a faltering performance in a televised debate against donald trump fuelled concern about his candidacy.

the president spent saturday attending back—to—back fundraising events in two democratic stronghold states, in new york and new jersey. it all comes as his campaign says it has raised more than $27 million between debate day and friday evening. these fundraisers and donation drives could help mr biden put his campaign back on track, as some democratic lawmakers and party officials are actively considering working to replace him at the top of the ticket. on saturday, a chicago tribune editorial urged mr biden to step down. that is a day after the new york times editorial board said that he should leave the race for the presidency. but campaign officials and the president himself say that he is not going anywhere. to hear more about those calls for mr biden to drop out of the race, i spoke to hugo lowell, a senior political correspondent for the guardian. let's first of all start with these newspaper editorials.

the new york times editorial board — i mean, that is incredibly influential, calling for president biden to drop out of the race. what kind of effect do you think this will have? that kind of newspaper will certainly end up on the desk of the oval office at some point. it will, and i just don't think it's going to have the effect that the times wants it to. i think biden very famously — insiders in his circle and democratic congressional campaign aides don't like listening to the new york times and the major media. they think they're always naysayers and have always been questioning his ability. i think, if anything, the times running an editorial like this, based on conversations over the weekend, will probably encourage him to stay in more. the people who have influence with biden and his thinking are his family and his closest advisers. and the moment any of them, like president obama, come in and say, "joe, you need to step down," that is the sort of thing that's going to have an influence, but not the new york times. what do you think comes next? i mean, we're still kind

of sorting through the fallout of this debate, the president attending a couple of fundraisers today. what does he need to do to start to move ahead and really prove to his own party that he is the man to take on and to defeat donald trump? look, president biden needs a reset. that is abundantly clear. i cannot tell you the number of millionaires, billionaires — the people who are big—dollar donors to biden�*s campaign — who had a collective freak—out after the debate. and the one thing that president biden had to do is to convince people that his age is not going to be an issue, and he struggled and frankly just failed at that at the debate. and the other point that he has to make — and this is one that he is doing well, and so i think he should get credit for this — is democracy is on the ballot in this election. his campaign and kind of biden surrogates have always been making the case that it's a contest between an authoritarian—like figure in donald trump, who wants to reset the way the us government works

to his own benefit, and biden as the guy who's going to keep democracy as it is. that is the point that he has to stress to donors to keep them onside. lets actually talk about donald trump for a second. his performance was filled with a number of falsehoods. do you think that, on the other hand, donald trump might be let off the hook a little bit here for a performance that maybe wasn't as strong as some people think it was? i think that's fair. trump had so many falsehoods and lies in every response he gave during that debate, and yet it got overshadowed by biden�*s performance, and that's just not the place that biden needs to be or wants to be. and the fact of the matter is trump is going to lie all the way through this, and it ended up being incumbent on biden to fact—check him, because the moderators weren't going to do that. this wasn't a debate where the moderators were going to fact—check him, and biden struggled on that front as well. we're seeing some reports, some calls in the media among republicans, calling on the president's cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment of the constitution. this would basically declare

joe biden unfit to serve and would remove him from office now, not even talking about the election. is this just a political ploy, do you think, on behalf of the republicans? oh, yeah. i mean, look, this is pressure from the republicans to try and cause chaos in the democratic ranks and inside the west wing. it is abundantly clear that we're nowhere near that point where the president has to be removed. at worst, he had a bad debate night where he struggled to finish some answers, he struggled to recollect some things late at night. he is old. they're actually both similarly close in age, and the fact of the matter is biden has been pretty good at legislating and governing. he's got a pretty good team around him. he's been in this game a long time. he's been doing the nuts and bolts of government for a long time. so i don't think there's a competency question, but i think there is an age question, and whether he were to return to the white house next year for a second term, whether that would be continual

for three or four years. hypothetically — and you can tell me what the odds you think are of this — ifjoe biden were to step down, who might be able to step into that void and actually run on the democratic ticket? yeah, it's a tricky question, and i think the likelihood of that happening is zero, from a logistical standpoint but also from a president biden perspective. for biden to step down, that is a decision that he has got to make himself. and at the moment, as of right now, he is nowhere close to that. we spoke to multiple people close to the president today, and he is not in that frame of mind. he thinks it was just one bad night and he can ride it through to november. and also, with respect to the convention, look, what are democrats going to do? president biden won those primary states. he's got those delegates. you can'tjust take them away from him. you can'tjust put up a new candidate. the only way biden is not the nominee on the democratic ticket is if biden himself steps down, and that's just nowhere close to happening.

with less than five days until the uk general election, prime minister rishi sunak and opposition leader keir starmer have been out campaigning on defence and support for vetera ns. at an event in london earlier, the labour leader warned that nothing had been decided, even though opinion polls do suggest that labour is on course to win. visiting a temple on saturday night, the prime minister said his hindu faith guides him in public service and said he is proud that the united kingdom is the world's most successful multi—ethnic, multifaith community, adding we should all be uplifted by that. meanwhile, reform uk has withdrawn support from three of its candidates because of offensive comments they reportedly made. our political correspondent ben wright reports. the finishing line is in sight. we've had the manifestos, the pitches and promises. now the campaigns are all about persuading supporters to get out and vote. change is possible. most of all, they need to be convinced to vote for it,

because change doesn't happen unless you vote for it. labour's leader, sir keir starmer, has been rallying his party at an event in london this evening. there is a buzz within labour, confident but terrified of complacency too, far ahead in the opinion polls but knowing it still needs to mobilise the party's voters. rishi sunak has been on the stump tonight, too, at a temple in west london. the conservatives have spent the last few weeks defending the seats they currently hold and warning voters not to risk a change of government. education, hard work, family. those are my values, those are your values, those are conservative values. still having more fun than any other leader on the campaign trail, the liberal democrats�* ed davey began his final tour of the country in scotland. we're here to win as many seats as we can, because if we have lots of liberal democrat mps in the next parliament, we will be able to get changes

in our nhs and care system. we will be able to tackle the sewage scandal. meanwhile, the snp leader said only his party would stand up to spending cuts at westminster. people will only get that if they vote for| the scottish national party and elect a strong group . of snp mps. one thing that has united all party leaders today is fierce criticism of reform uk. this was a comedy act, but it was designed to hurt us. and sadly, sadly, some people believe it. i've always been a tory voter, but what annoys me... nigel farage has insisted a reform uk canvasser racially insulting rishi sunak in an undercover report for channel 4 was a setup. channel 4 has again strongly rejected that claim, saying it was rigorous, impartialjournalism. but last night mr farage was also challenged about racist or offensive comments made by three of his candidates. the party now says they've been dropped. you know, we've been running, as it were, to catch up with the electoral timetable. and it seems that we have made

some mistakes, but we've, you know, corrected those mistakes to the extent possible at this stage by dropping those candidates. but, as we speed towards polling day, this is not the sort of scrutiny reform uk wants. iran will hold a run—off presidential election after results released saturday showed the lowest turnout in decades. voters will choose between the conservative candidate saeed jalili and the reformist candidate masoud pezeshkian on 5july. both failed to secure a majority in the first round, which saw only about 40% of iranians vote. that is a record low since the 1979 islamic revolution. the election will decide who replaces ebrahim raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash last month, along with iran's foreign minister and six other people. i talked about the run—off election

with negar mortazavi, an iranian—american journalist and senior fellow at the centre for international policy. what more can you tell us about these two candidates now in this runoff election and the pretty big differences between them? great to be back, carl. as you said, one of them, saeed jalili, a former nuclear negotiator and ultra hardliner and conservative belonging to the core of that hardline faction of the regime, and by many believed to be the favourite or one of the top favourite candidates for the supreme leader on the hardline side of the regime. massoud pezeshkian, a former health minister in the reformist administration of the reformist president, is a reformist five—time member of parliament. and it was a surprise even that he was allowed to run or the that he was qualified for the election as the sole

reformist candidate. the expectation was nobody would be able to run but he essentially brought this upset result, the surprise result and is leading. he is not the winner, not the president yet. they have to go to a runoff, but he came out with the highest number of votes. you said you were surprised that massoud pezeshkian did as well as he did. he seen as a reformist what does that actually mean in iran? i've heard he is someone who's actually spoken out against the against the way the regime has treated some of those protesters seen in recent years. yes, if we look at what is allowed within the system, the regime of the islamic republic, what's considered legal opposition, these reformist factions within the regime or the relative moderates have different economic, political, social and cultural policies and views when it comes to the comparison with the hardliners. and obviously the conservatives. they're seen as the more liberal faction within

the islamic republic. and massoud pezeshkian is one of those without the economic policies he promotes, foreign policy, as far as relations with the world, talking to the world, not fighting everyone, not sort of having conflict with everyone, with our neighbours, as he says, and as he says, critical of the social and cultural policies including the morality police. as he says, the way women and girls are being treated on the street, which is also a reference to the death of a protester nearly two years ago. the turnout for this preliminary round was not very high. there seems to be a big movement to boycott this election. do you think people might come off the sidelines if they have a chance to vote for somebody who they see as a reformist? well, dealing with hybrid apathy for all these reasons with a lot of grievances that the state is not

responding. they've also closed the space for what were relatively competitive elections in the past by eliminating an disqualifying reformist and moderate candidates, and reallyjust giving very few options to the constituents to choose. and also, protest after protest has been met with violent crackdowns and really brutality by the state. so this high level of apathy is seen in the low turnout at this presidential election and the one before. but the run—off usually has a specific feel to it. maybe part of the constituency of the voters of the reformists will realise that their vote is really critical right now — that massoud pezeshkian was indeed able to pass through that filtering, that he was able to deliver this leading vote within that framework, and that if they don't come to the ballots, they would have to live with someone like saeed jalili, an ultraconservative, very hardline candidate, for the next four to eight years of their lives.

there is potential that massoud pezeshkian can pull this off and even come off as the winner in the runoff next week. negar, we have about a minute left, but if you could just remind us — it has been an interesting time for iran, just embroiled in all kinds of turmoil. just remind us about the background of what iran is going through in these elections. well, as i said, coming out of about a year of protest, the freedom of the young woman by the morality police two years ago. iran is indirectly involved in the middle east war and what's going on between israel and notjust hamas but the so—called axis of resistance to our allies and supported by iran. also economic sanctions — very strict economic sanctions have been impacting the country's economy, combined with corruption and mismanagement. all themes that have been discussed in debates

but nevertheless not able to bring a big majority of voters to the polls. palestinian health officials say israeli strikes have killed at least 35 people on saturday. two soldiers were killed in fighting in a neighbourhood on friday. both hamas and islamichhad say they are fighting israeli forces. the united nations humanitarian agency estimates that 60,000 to 80,000 palestinians were displaced this week and people are living in, quote, "unbearable conditions". one senior official based in neighbouring lebanon said on saturday that negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal with israel have not made any progress. a report by the us media outlet axios says us officials now drafted new language in the ceasefire proposals to try to bridge the gap between israel and hamas. un aid workers have begun to move tons of food

and essential supplies have piled up at the us pier on the gaza coast to warehouses. the temporary pier, which was designed to provide aid access to gaza, was once again removed because of high seas. it is the third time since it became operational in mid—may that weather conditions have forced the pier to be detached from the gaza coast. if there's not enough room on the marshalling area than it doesn't make sense to put our men and women out there when there is nothing to move. there is still room. i don't want to give the impression that it is at capacity. it is certainly full, but we do need to see that marshalling yard open up to allow for aid groups to continue that distribution so that we can get more aid in as we get it from cyprus.

officials in kenya are calling for more protests. kenya's defence minister says the army will remain on the streets until calm is restored, following weeks of unrest and political turmoil. but human rights groups warn that using force could worsen the situation on the ground. at least 23 protesters were killed at the peak of the demonstrations on tuesday, when activists broke into the parliament building and set part of it on fire. the law society of kenya says an intelligence police unit abducted an estimated 35 people suspected of leading the protests. on wednesday, president william ruto said all of them have been released, but the law society believes at least ten activists are still reportedly missing. the bbc is working to verify those reports. at least 18 people were killed and 30 others injured after a series of attacks in nigeria's north—eastern

borno state on saturday by suspected female suicide bombers. that is according to the head of the local state emergency management agency. saturday marks ten years since the so—called islamic state group declared its caliphate. also known as is, isis or daesh, it no longer controls significant amounts of territory but its ideology remains. it carried out most of its attacks in sub—saharan africa but the group is also claimed responsibility for deadly attacks and other parts of the world, including in russia and iran. let's get more with a senior fellow at the washington institute for near east policy where he also directs the islamic state map project. it is an interesting date, this decade since the islamic group proclaimed its caliphate. what

kind of threat do you think the group poses now after those ten years? group poses now after those ten ears? . ., ., years? thanks for having me. it's a different _ years? thanks for having me. it's a different kind _ years? thanks for having me. it's a different kind of - years? thanks for having me. it's a different kind of threat. it's a different kind of threat that it was ten years ago, since they don't control territory the size of the uk between iraq and syria. however, they do have territory to control now and small pockets in four different african countries. and while the external operations capacity is definitely down compared to what we saw with a wave of attacks, especially in europe, from 2014 to 2017, we have seen an increase in attacks coming from is�*s branch in afghanistan in the last few years. that increasingly is coming closer to the west now. what does the group actually look like? you mentioned its centre of power is no longer in iraq and syria. it is now really mostly in africa. what does this group look like? does it have a leadership? what kind of capabilities does it have? yes, it essentiallyjust yes, it essentially just restructured yes, it essentiallyjust restructured itself after the fall of its territorial control

in iraq and syria in 2019, where the iraq and syria branch were kind of at the top of everything. now it's kind of considered equal to the other so—called provinces, which is what they call a different branches all over. and therefore its a bit more integrated in a designation of power spread more across different places. so we see them being involved in governance, still in iraq and syria, but now it is happening in nigeria, somalia and mozambique instead, and instead of operations targeting the west coming from syria, they are now mainly coming out of afghanistan.— are now mainly coming out of afghanistan. yes, and that was the grow). _ afghanistan. yes, and that was the group, wasn't _ afghanistan. yes, and that was the group, wasn't it _ afghanistan. yes, and that was the group, wasn't it - - afghanistan. yes, and that was the group, wasn't it - correct i the group, wasn't it — correct me if i am wrong, but isis—k claimed responsibility for that attack on a concert venue a few months ago that killed a number of people. how dangerous is that group? it seems like it really took russia a bit off guard. really took russia a bit off uuard. , �* , , guard. yes, it's definitely the bi est guard. yes, it's definitely the biggest threat _ guard. yes, it's definitely the biggest threat outside - guard. yes, it's definitely the biggest threat outside of - guard. yes, it's definitely the biggest threat outside of the | biggest threat outside of the warzone. we have seen it increasingly spread its regional global ambitions,

which were previously primarily focused on just afghanistan or pakistan, maybe a cross—border attack against ted yukka stan or is pakistan. in the last two years we have seen increasing attacks notjust as we saw in russia but also in iraq as well as in turkey. there have been a number of plots broken up in western europe as well, especially in germany. so one of the biggest questions right now is if they will actually succeed in doing something in europe. we succeed in doing something in euroe. ~ ii" succeed in doing something in euro e, . ii" ,, europe. we saw in 2019 the us killed its former _ europe. we saw in 2019 the us killed its former leader, - killed its former leader, al—baghdadi. what does the leadership structure of is look like now? is there an actual leader? , , �* like now? is there an actual leader? , , ~ ., , leader? yes, there is. at least -ublicl leader? yes, there is. at least publicly speaking, _ leader? yes, there is. at least publicly speaking, we - leader? yes, there is. at least publicly speaking, we don't - publicly speaking, we don't know who he is or his real name. it's plausible that people within the government or intelligence agencies might know his actual identity, but at least publicly, we don't know who he is and he has now

beenin know who he is and he has now been in charge of the group for about a year and a half or so. it is really interesting. we're sitting here ten years after the proclamation of this caliphate asking questions like who is the leader of isis, when back then it was one of the biggest global threats to peace and stability across the world. i mean, how should we assess the legacy now of the so—called islamic state and the way that this group and kind of the war on terror in general changed the world?— the world? well, i think it changed _ the world? well, i think it changed a _ the world? well, i think it changed a lot _ the world? well, i think it changed a lot of - the world? well, i think it changed a lot of things. i the world? well, i think it. changed a lot of things. one, it inspired a whole new generation of individuals to get involved in the broader jihadi movement. it also split off from al-qaeda, which kind off from al-qaeda, which kind of change the way that we view that jihadist of change the way that we view thatjihadist movement in general. and it has been able to spread to many different parts of the world. so while the threat within iraq and syria is, of course, not as much as it had been five to ten years ago, we've seen it spread

to other locations and therefore, even if it's not on therefore, even if it's not on the daily news, it's therefore, even if it's not on the daily news, its continuing from its perspective to advance, because for them, their goals aren'tjust for iraq and syria. it's global, so so long as they continue to have any breath, from their perspective, they see themselves as being able to continue on in their vision. really interesting stuff. aaron, seniorfellow really interesting stuff. aaron, senior fellow at the washington institute for near east policy, and also directing the worldwide thalamic state activity project, thank you very much. activity pro'ect, thank you very much.— activity pro'ect, thank you ve much. . ., ., very much. thanks for having me. a police officer was hit in the neck with a crossbow arrow outside the israeli embassy in the serbian capital, belgrade, on saturday morning. the country's interior minister says the official was shot and that the officer then shot and killed the attacker. the country's president called it a terrorist attack.

storm beryl has become a major hurricane in the atlantic ocean. it is forecast to bring life—threatening winds and storm surges to parts of the caribbean. hurricane beryl is moving towards the south—east caribbean and a hurricane warning has been issued for barbados, where officials have warned of flash—flooding and power outages. dozens have joined a dozens havejoined a massive search of the spanish island of tenerife for are missing british man. he was last seen in national park on the remote part of the spanish island. and before we go, let's take a visit to chile where people are marvelling at a frozen pacific ocean. residents say it is an unusual sight in recent winters, but she lay's meteorology agency says june temperatures in the region are the lowest since 1964.

plenty more coming up on bbc news. hello, thanks forjoining me. let's see what the weather's got in store for the rest of the weekend. and here's the headline — for most of us, it's not looking too bad. some sunshine, but at times it will be cloudy. could be a few showers as well. now, recently there was a weather front across northern wales and northern england. it brought some damp weather on saturday. that should be mostly out of the way come sunday, as this ridge of high pressure tries to build across the uk. remnants of that weather front still visible in the morning across east anglia and the south—east, all the way to south—western parts of england. so quite cloudy, with some spits and spots of rain for a time. 16 in london. north of that, i think sunshine to greet us in the morning. through the morning

into the afternoon those cumulus clouds will be developing and then eventually spreading, so i think it is going to be quite a cloudy afternoon for many of us during sunday. some showers as well, possible almost anywhere. your best bet for sunny skies is actually around coastal areas, almost anywhere, especially looking out to sea — blue skies. temperatures 20 in london, high teens further north. nothing spectacular, and actually similar temperatures and weather for the football in germany. ok, onto the forecasts now for monday. another weather front approaches from the west. this is going to bring thick cloud and some outbreaks of rain initially to northern ireland, to scotland, the irish sea, and then eventually that weather front will move eastwards across the country. so i think most of us are in at least for a little bit of rain. a short spell of rain on monday, but come the afternoon, skies all brighten across western areas of the uk, so there will be some clearer skies towards the end of monday. it may take time for that weather front to clear

the east coast. and then the azores high is still here on tuesday and indeed wednesday, but we're just on the edge of that high pressure, and often on the edge of high pressures there's a lot of cloud. good chance of catching a shower, and that's pretty much what we've got on tuesday. i think your best bet for the dry, sunny weather will be further south—west on tuesday, for example in plymouth and in cardiff, whereas in the north—west of england, the chance of a few showers. so here's the week at a glance. if you want really warm weather, it's not so great because temperatures are below the average. if you like cloudy, changeable, cool weather, well, it's perfect for you. bye— bye.

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. i'm just getting home after a long night, but a fascinating night, and in many ways a night that is going to go down in history. we cover the debate right way through, but also plenty of analysis as well. you will hear later on from sarah smith and also from anthony, but we kicked off in the moments that the debate was coming to an end with miles, our presenter�*s friend, and me. stay with us because we have full analysis of this debate.

well, it is over and the anchors are saying goodbye