we are being pelted with rain, you can see palm trees are being bent over, we've already seen a couple fall down. we're hunkering down because it is just too unsafe to be on the ground in this ferocious storm. this is the size of a tree — taller than me — that was yanked out of the earth from the sheer ferocity of the winds brought by beryl. overnight thursday night into friday morning, - we have a hurricane warning that | in effect from puerto costa maya we have a hurricane warning that i | in effect from puerto costa maya's up to cancun, a hurricane watch in effect down to chetumal - and north cabo catoche. tonight — israel's prime minister says he'll send a negotiating team to resume talks aimed at securing the release of hostages held by hamas in gaza. also on the programme — hundreds of thousands of homes injamaica are without power, after hurricane beryl thunders along

the island's southern coast. after six weeks of campaigning, the uk general election draws to a close. voting ends in two hours. us presidentjoe biden admits he "screwed up" in last week's debate against donald trump, but vows to fight on in the election race. and banking on barbie — london's design museum marks the 65th birthday of the world's most famous doll with her own exhibition. we'll look at her cultural impact through the decades. first tonight, millions of voters have been casting their votes in the uk general election. this is live looking across at westminster the bbc, like other broadcasters, isn't allowed to report details of campaigning or election issues while polls are open. you have just a few hours left to cast your ballot — and photo id is needed to vote in person. here's iain watson.

democracy in action. at seven o'clock this morning, 40,000 polling stations opened across the uk. some in unlikely places, from a hair salon to a launderette to someone�*s house. if you haven't voted yet, don't forget — for the first time at a general election, you'll need to produce a form of id. this electoral commission video demonstrates how it works. driving licence, passport, bus passes for older or disabled people are all accepted ways of proving your identity. 150,000 staff are on duty to enable you to cast your vote in the privacy of the polling booth, while pets faithfully wait outside. but from leeds to leaders... in yorkshire, rishi sunak chose to vote early, the labour leader, sir keir starmer, voted in north london. while today, another knight, sir ed davey, the lib dem leader, voted in south—west london. the snp leader, john swinney, made his way to his polling place, a village hall in perthshire.

the co—leader of the greens in england and wales, carla denyer, cast her ballot in the west of england. the plaid cymru leader, rhun ap iorwerth, cast his vote in north wales. but many people have already voted by post, and that includes reform uk's nigel farage. global media has descended on westminster to cover the election result. 650 mps will be elected, so a party needs 326 of them to form a majority. but whatever the result, there will be lots of new faces in there, because one in five mps in the last parliament chose step down. votes will be counted overnight, and if you are able to stay up overnight, seat by seat, the bbc election programme will bring you the results. iain watson, bbc news. there's still a little while left for people

to cast their vote. all the latest including how the bbc reports polling day on the bbc news website and app. and a reminder, you can watch our special programme covering all the results as they come in, with interviews, reaction and analysis — live, here on bbc news. that's from 9.55pm — that's 2055 gmt. president biden has welcomed an announcement by israel's prime minister that he's sending a negotiating team to resume talks aimed at securing the release of hostages held in gaza. the two men talked over the phone earlier. but benjamin netanyahu's office also made clear that he wouldn't end the war before achieving all its objectives — as he put it. these include the destruction of hamas and the return of all hostages. his announcement follows new proposals put forward by hamas. it's not yet known what new ideas the group's offer contains.

more details now on this, and the dangers posed by continued action across israel's northern border, our middle east correspondent yolande knell. as the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu says he is going to be sending a negotiating team to a new round of indirect talks via mediators on this ceasefire and hostage release deal. what i think is important is that he is saying that he's going to be putting the head of the mossad intelligence service as the head of that team. that shows a sign of seriousness on israel's part. and it comes as we are getting reports of a real kind of shift in the hamas position, that it's showing more flexibility in its approach to this three phase deal that is currently on the table. so, at the same time, as things are moving in a more positive so, at the same time as things are moving in a more positive direction there, things are going more negatively across the israel—lebanon border. amid more fears that this could lead to a full scale war there. amid more fears that this could lead to a full—scale war there. and we've had more than 200 rockets

and attack drones, some 20 attack drones launched by hezbollah at northern israel. most of those intercepted. israel says although one soldier was killed. now, hezbollah�*s action was taken in response to the killing of a seniorfigure in his brother commander. he was killed in an israeli air strike a day ago. and as much as we've got both sides saying they want to avoid a full scale war, we've got a lot of international diplomacy going on to try to avoid that. but the actions that are taking place are leading us potentially in the other direction. —— hezbollah commander. we're starting to get a few details in that phone call. netanyahu talking mr biden through the

agreement. they said they would try to find an opportunity to bring an end to the war. mr netanyahu said his teams have began those talks once again. from the us, we hear an official saying there was a breakthrough on a critical impasse in those talks. there is caution that they will not be resolved within a matter of days. they say there is still significant work to be done on the implantation of the deal. they do say talks between israel and hamas could take place once again. those are lines coming between the president and the prime minister. our state department correspondent tom bateman joins us from washington. nothing significant and of itself, but it's important that the stocks are happening, and mr netanyahu

saying that he is willing to send his teams —— those. it saying that he is willing to send his teams -- those.— saying that he is willing to send his teams -- those. it shows that there is progress _ his teams -- those. it shows that there is progress and _ his teams -- those. it shows that there is progress and they - his teams -- those. it shows that there is progress and they talk i there is progress and they talk relatively infrequently. i think it is a sign of momentum now and the cease—fire of hostage release process. 0r cease—fire of hostage release process. or this proposal. the americans say the israelis put out a fair bit of back—and—forth between israel and hamas. fair bit of back—and—forth between israeland hamas. i fair bit of back—and—forth between israel and hamas. ithink fair bit of back—and—forth between israel and hamas. i think the critical moment was yesterday, when we had a statement saying that they had responded in their words positively to the american backed proposal. they reiterated they wanted to see a withdrawal of israeli forces from rafah from the so—called philadelphia corridor. ——

we had an announcement from the israelis from sending the leader of massod back to... my sense is that from a senior administration official that this was very much about the nuts and bolts of implementation of this deal. the sticking point has always been that the american backed proposal has beenin the american backed proposal has been in phases. the first phase was a temporary cease—fire in return for the release of the elderly and wounded hostages and the release of palestinian prisoners by the israelis. but that second phase would be subject to a negotiation that carries on during phase one. then you would get a permanent cease—fire and a full withdrawal of israeli forces. i always been the point. i'm offset from the start that they have an end to the war. my

senseis that they have an end to the war. my sense is from what the americans are saying now is that hamas have conceded on that, that they would now accept negotiation phase into full israeli withdrawal form and it end to the war. it is only a breakthrough around getting mediated talks back up and running between the israelis and hamas indo hall. that looks like it's going to happen within the next two days. —— in doha. within the next two days. -- in doha. ., �* ., , , ., doha. you're absolutely right, and as if to underline _ doha. you're absolutely right, and as if to underline that, _ doha. you're absolutely right, and as if to underline that, further - as if to underline that, further details from the senior us administration official. not something you just talking about. —— that's it. israel hoped it would lead to a pack to a permanent

cease—fire. this will take a significant amount of time to resolve. . �* , ., ., resolve. that's right, and i would also sort of _ resolve. that's right, and i would also sort of caveat _ resolve. that's right, and i would also sort of caveat that _ resolve. that's right, and i would also sort of caveat that with - also sort of caveat that with remember that briefings coming from the american side are always going to highlight what they see as i hamas. they never talk about potential concessions by the israelis. i think there have been in this process, even within the last week, for example, over the weekend, americo was proposing some new language to go to the agreement. it would effectively entice hamas. there's a huge amount of detail in this. particularly around things like the extent to which the israelis in populated areas. along

the border with egypt, there's the issue about the israelis wanting full daily military station. —— demilitarisation. still, a vast amount of really fundamental things that need to be worked through, but i think with the americans are saying is they think they have a framework in place now that at least gets two size mediated by qatar. tom, good to get your analysis on that. thank you. all this comes as the us president faces continued uncertainty about his own political future. joe biden has insisted — again — that he won't pull out of the presidential race. that's despite appeals from a growing number of fellow democrats. there have been calls from within the president's own party to abandon a bid for a second presidential

term after a fumbling performance during that debate with donald trump last week. mr biden, who's 81, says he would not be pushed out of november's election. but speaking to a local radio station in wisconsin, a swing state he needs to win — the president did accept that the tv debate had not gone well. i had a bad night and the fact of the matter is that, you know, it was... i screwed up, i made a mistake. that's 90 minutes on stage — look at what i've done in 3.5 years. let's cross over to alexandria in virginia to speak to brett bruen, former director of global engagement at the white house. good to have you with us. president biden fighting once again. the big question for voters, and those within his own party, the question is whether he can do the next four years. not what he's already done, will he will and will not deliver.

and more worrisome news from cnn that apparently president biden told the democratic governors that he's going to get more sleep. he's not going to get more sleep. he's not going to get more sleep. he's not going to stay up past eight p:m.. i don't understand how you can run for president especially against donald trump, who throws everything in the kitchen sink that you and not stay up kitchen sink that you and not stay up past eight p:m.. this isjust getting worse and worse for the biden campaign each day. i think it's a matter of time. quite frankly, the campaign as well as the presumptive, the next nominee, will be preparing for a smooth transition.— be preparing for a smooth transition. ., ~ ., ., ., transition. talk to me about how that might _ transition. talk to me about how that might unfold _ transition. talk to me about how that might unfold if— transition. talk to me about how that might unfold if indeed - that might unfold if indeed president biden decides — and it will be him, one decides, he will not run again — what happens. how does this work was yellow several scenarios. biden is going to accept,

acknowledge- _ scenarios. biden is going to accept, acknowledge- i _ scenarios. biden is going to accept, acknowledge. ijust _ scenarios. biden is going to accept, acknowledge. i just don't _ scenarios. biden is going to accept, acknowledge. ijust don't have - scenarios. biden is going to accept, acknowledge. ijust don't have any| acknowledge. ijust don't have any need to take this forward for another four and a need to take this forward for anotherfour and a half need to take this forward for another four and a half years. that will likely come not only as a result of these donors like the founder of netflix, who is now publicly saying president biden has to step aside and there are many others who are privately saying it. then you have the democrats in congress as well as opened on the ballot, several of them have come out and said he has to step aside or some version of that by many others. now i think we'll start seeing his poll numbers hugged dipped 8%. you're going to see more democrats saying, joe, we appreciate you, but you've got to go. but saying, joe, we appreciate you, but you've got to go— you've got to go. but no one will come out _ you've got to go. but no one will come out publicly _ you've got to go. but no one will come out publicly and _ you've got to go. but no one will come out publicly and say - you've got to go. but no one will come out publicly and say they l you've got to go. but no one will. come out publicly and say they will run until he decides that he is not going to. talk to me about vice president, harris, because she was not pulling very well. since the

debate, her numbers had been creeping up a little bit.- debate, her numbers had been creeping up a little bit. look, the vice presidency — creeping up a little bit. look, the vice presidency here _ creeping up a little bit. look, the vice presidency here in _ creeping up a little bit. look, the vice presidency here in the - creeping up a little bit. look, the| vice presidency here in the united states is an on position. you don't necessarily get that national spotlight all the time. kamala harris has been a victim of a lot of attention when she missed speaks or when something doesn't go as well as expected. now this is going to be an effort to reintroduce kamala harris to the american people, and let's not forget she also will have a running mate. whenjoe biden was elected by senator barack 0bama back in 2008, it was to try to buttress the political experience that biden brought to the ticket. i think we will see someone like those democratic governors — gretchen whitmer, gavin newsom — added to the ticket, and that will represent a stronger alternative to donald

trump. i5 stronger alternative to donald trum -. , ., ., stronger alternative to donald trum-. , ., ., , trump. is an element of this where we are judging _ trump. is an element of this where we are judging these _ trump. is an element of this where we are judging these candidates . we are judging these candidates differently? if you look at what former president trump often does, he's rambling and incoherent and doesn't always make sense. yet when president biden, as he said, had a bad night, are a more critical of him? do we expect better than him —— of him was ill though i'm a football fan, so you can compare this in the quarterfinals of the euros. you don't get the flood up quarterfinals of the euros. you don't get the flood— don't get the flood up orifinal. that's exactly _ don't get the flood up orifinal. that's exactly what _ don't get the flood up orifinal. that's exactly what joe - don't get the flood up orifinal. that's exactly what joe biden l don't get the flood up orifinal. . that's exactly what joe biden did. that's exactly whatjoe biden did. it was a major moment. donald trump �*s pizza extemporaneously —— donald trump speaks. i spent a lot of the debate biting my finger alleles because it was so cringe—worthy as biden struggled to follow the train of thought that he had —— fingernails. this was quite frankly

a performance unlike one that has been seen in moderate american political history. as a democrat, i was rooting for biden and wanted him to do well, ijust don't give him a pass on what was such a major moment. pass on what was such a ma'or momentd pass on what was such a ma'or moment. �* ., ., , ., moment. brett, good to have you with us. moment. brett, good to have you with us- grateful— moment. brett, good to have you with us. grateful for— moment. brett, good to have you with us. grateful for your _ moment. brett, good to have you with us. grateful for your time. _ around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

you're with the context. let's turn to the caribbean and get the latest on hurricane beryl. hundreds of thousands of homes have without power injamaica, after the strong system struck the south of the island. winds of 220 kilometres per hour knocked out power lines, downed trees and sparked flash flooding. it has brought destruction across many caribbean islands. this was the aftermath in grenada — and there was damaged reported in st vincent and the grenadines, and haiti.

this is the path of the storm, tracking across the caribbean. it's expected to make landfall in mexico tomorrow. ten people are known to have died so far. nick davis reports from jamaica. the destruction caused by hurricane beryl as it makes its way across the caribbean was felled here injamaica yesterday, the island lashed for 2h hours by storm surges, heavy rain and driving winds, toppling trees, causing power cuts and blocking roads. the country's main airports falls to close, everybody forced to stay indoors, with a nationwide curfew that remains in place. flooding now a real issue, caused by the torrential rain that hammered down for hours. so what we can see here, trees which have fallen down, which in some cases hit power lines, which knocked out electricity for about 65% of the island. it's now about trying to get back to critical to get back

to critical infrastructure. in many cases, that is not going to take days but weeks. barbados was one of the first islands hit by hurricane. the impact is life changing for some. we don't know how big the told us, but we estimate with winds of 113 mph. in its wake, its expected to dump up to six inches of rain on this low—lying island. while the hurricane is expected to weaken on its path over the next 2a hours, residents are getting themselves ready to face its arrival, protecting their homes, their livelihoods and themselves. i'm just trying to keep calm, but i am anxious and a bit scared. and as the storm continues its trek across the region, mexico has also put itself onto alert. there is a hurricane warning across the eastern coast of

the yucatan peninsula, and having seen the destruction that the storm has had across nearly 2,000 miles, people are taking necessary precautions. this is the atlantic season's first hurricane and the earliest storm on record. and the us national oceanic and atmospheric administration is forecasting there will be a large number of major hurricanes this year in what they call an extraordinary season. nick davis, bbc news, kingston. you get a sense of the devastation it caused. we hope to talk to the prime minister ofjamaica. you'll understand communications are tight. as we mentioned that the hurricane is currently on top of the cayman islands.

despite being downgraded to a category 3 storm, locals say that some areas there have already lost power. earlier, i spoke tojondo 0bi, director for cayman islands red red cross, who told me a little bit more about how the island has prepared for the storm. i ,at , at the moment, hurricane beryl is making out of the cayman islands movement we have —— so we have teams assessing what is going on. how have ou and assessing what is going on. how have you and your — assessing what is going on. how have you and your team's _ assessing what is going on. how have you and your team's been _ assessing what is going on. how have you and your team's been preparing? | you and your team's been preparing? that's why we're there. anyone who lives in the caribbean knows from june to november is hurricane season. as the red cross, we have a responsibility to make sure we not only train our volunteers, but work with the communities. between january and june, it's all about family preparedness. we trained the

volunteers in emergency response. 0ne volunteers in emergency response. one of our biggest tasks when it comes to a hurricane is we send our first aid comes to a hurricane is we send our firstaid train comes to a hurricane is we send our first aid train volunteer into each of the national shelters. these are volunteers and they need to prepare their homes first. the majority is trying to get volunteers into the shelters to make sure people are safe. say the people of the cayman islands took this very seriously and we had quite a number people into the shelters. as people in the uk have just a little while left to cast their vote — you can find all the latest including how the bbc reports polling day on the bbc news website and app. and a reminder — you can watch the general election results programme live on bbc one in the uk and here on bbc news internationally. that's from 9.55pm which is 2055 gmt.

and as we've been saying it's election day here in the uk. guidance for polling day says no selfies, no drinking, and no dogs. so, voters have been taking the opportunity to show off their furry friends making the journey to vote with them. across the nations, these well—behaved dogs have posed outside the polling stations. mavis the cockapoo high—fiving in bury, greater manchester. spaniel sisters liz and meg in flitwick, berdforshire — isla receiving the love from its owner in sunderland, in tyne and "weer". bella was up to no good in salford. joey waiting patiently in its mobile—throne in edinburgh. -- na. —— na. stay with us. hello there. many of us have seen some decent spells ofjuly sunshine today. however, there have been lots of showers, particularly across the northern half of the uk

and especially in western scotland where some of those downpours really quite heavy, gusty winds gusting into the 40s of miles an hour and those temperatures rubbish forjuly. glasgow saw temperatures around ia degrees through the afternoon. the average of this time of the year is 19 degrees. and this coolish run of weather is going to continue through friday and into the weekend, beyond as well. suppose where thejuly sunshine comes out, it is still going to feel 0k. it's just temperatures be a little bit lower than normal. now looking at the weather picture overnight tonight, the rain continues for western scotland, driven in by those blustery winds. further southwards, we've got a new band of rain that starts to push into southern england, perhaps affecting parts of southern wales and temperatures broadly similar to those of last night. now, this area of rain that we have across the south of england friday will actually develop into a new area of low pressure by the time we get to saturday. what all this means is we do have more rain on the way. the rain initially across southern parts of england, maybe the south wales area, and perhaps wriggling into east anglia through the day. further north, it's a much brighter day for scotland, northern ireland, northern england. the winds a good deal lighter. there'll be much more in the way

of sunshine and temperatures a couple of degrees higher. so we are ticking lots of boxes here. however, there is still a risk of a few passing showers affecting northern areas. not as many, though, as we've seen today on into saturday, that low pressure really winds up. and so we've got more general outbreaks of rain across parts of scotland, central and eastern england, cold winds coming down the north sea, probably the best of the driest and sunniest weather, will be across wales and south west england. a few showers this time affecting northern ireland and our temperatures 18 in london. average forjuly is 24. so, again, we are getting short changed, probably starting off the day on sunday. dry with some sunshine, but sunday is a showery day. the showers become quite widespread, some of them turning heavy and thundery come the afternoon and little change with the temperatures. i'm afraid once again it will be relatively cool forjuly, and that kind of pattern of cool and settled weather is set i'm afraid once again it will be relatively cool forjuly, and that kind of pattern of cool and settled weather is set to continue through much of next week as well. that's the latest. bye.

hello, i'm ben thompson. you're watching the context on bbc news. israel is sending a delegation to resume talks aimed at securing the release of hostages held by hamas. sport and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin ra mjaun. hello. it's been another packed day at wimbledon — where the seven time men's champion novak djokovic has been tested, but ultimately survived a scare against a british wild card and iga swiatek, the women's number one, is continuing to show she has the class on grass too this year. let's get some more from chetan pathak who is there for us. know that djokovic tested but ultimately prevailed in the end. he: did like we have seen so many times before, this time that test from jacob friendly, a british wild card outside the world top 100, four know

that djokovic it has been about testing out his knee.