in washington with a speech and news conference running nearly an hour. he touched on a number of world issues, including china. mr biden says he and chinese president xijinping have had an open line of communication since the chinese balloon incident over the us last year. speaking about vladimir putin, president biden said he had no good reason to speak to putin until the russian president changes his behaviour. he also spoke about his own prospects for re—election, saying he was prepared to deal with world leaders for years to come. now, a future american policy is up to the american people. this is much more than a political question. it's more than that. it's a national security issue. don't reduce this to the usual testament that people talk about — issues of being a political campaign, it's far too important. it's about the world we live in for decades to come. every american must ask herself

or himself, "is the world "safer with nato?" are you safer? is your family safer? i believe the american people know the answer to all those questions is yes. and i believe the american people understand that america is stronger — stronger because of our alliances. i believe the american consensus from truman to reagan to me still holds today — america cannot retreat from the world. we must lead the world. we're an indispensable nation. president biden�*s speeches are being closely watched after concerns arose about his mental fitness after his performance at the recent presidential debate. he delivered a scripted remarks where he praised nato and the work being done but during questioning from reporters, he mistakenly misnamed his vice president kamala harris. reporter: my question for you is how are you incorporating these developments into your decision to stay? and separately, what concerns

do you have about vice president harris�*s ability to beat donald trump if you were at the top of the ticket? —— if she were at the top of the ticket? look, i wouldn't have picked vice president trump to be vice president if i didn't think she was qualified to be president. so, let's start there, numberone. the fact is that — the consideration is that i think i'm the most qualified person to run for president. i beat him once and i will beat him again. we will come back to that press conference and president biden�*s performance at it. as the summit wraps up, i sat down with nato secretary generaljens stoltenberg. secretary general, great to speak to you. we spoke, actually, just a few weeks ago when you were here in washington. we talked about your expectations for the summit. what do you think was achieved? we achieved what we hoped for and planned for, and that is a strong message on ukraine —

more support and helping to move ukraine closer to membership. it's important decisions on the terms of defence and we stepped up our co—operation with our partners in the pacific. so, this was something to celebrate, the 75th anniversary of nato. we did so, but also to make important decisions for the future. let's talk about that membership for ukraine. i think that the wording was "an irreversible "path to membership". ukraine wanted a formal timetable for when that would start. do you think that ukraine was disappointed by the fact that there wasn't that concrete language? ukraine welcomed the language. and i attended the press conference and also had a meeting with president zelensky and they expressed, of course, that this is a strong message. they always want more, because they would like to be members of nato as soon as possible. but given the fact that we are 32 allies, we need to have a consensus. ukraine expressed satisfaction with the language. but in a way, language

is important — it is the strongest language nato has ever had on membership for ukraine. but actions speak louder than words and what i regard as even more important are the decisions we made on delivering more air defence, more ammunition, and also to set up a nato command to provide and co—ordinate security supplies and training for ukraine, and also to set up a new training and aviation centre in poland. these are concrete measures, actions, that have been decided here that will be implemented that will help ukraine to prevail. let's talk about some of that military assistance — f—16fighterjets, for example, are expected to arrive in ukraine by this summer. do you think that they should be used to also strike in russian territory? well, different allies have different types of restrictions on the use of weapons they are delivering... right.

i'll be careful speaking on behalf of every ally. what i can say is that allies have delivered long—range fires, missiles, which are now used also against legitimate military targets inside russia because this is a war of aggression — russia has attacked another country, ukraine. ukraine has, according to international law, the right to self—defence and the right to self—defence includes also the right to strike legitimate military targets in russia. so, did you urge us partners, for example, to allow that to happen with the us weapons systems that have been sent to ukraine? well, as i said, different allies have different types of restrictions. some allies don't have restrictions at all. but allies have now loosened, reduced the restrictions — not least because until recently, the frontlines were inside — deep inside ukraine. so, to attack targets on the other side of the frontline was still to attack military targets on the ukrainian territory. over the last two months,

russia has launched a new offensive in the north in kharkiv where, actually, the frontline and the border line is more or less the same. and if you are not able to attack on the other side or the frontline, then that would be a kind of safe haven for the russian forces. so, that's a reason also why also, the united states has adjusted its restrictions on the use of us weapons. adjusted its policy, but not with the type of weapons, necessarily. and we spoke to a few congressmen before the summit, who said the ukrainians are fighting with their hands tied behind their backs. do you think that that is a fair assessment? well, i think it's fair to say that ukraine needs the right to attack legitimate military targets inside russia. as i said, different allies have different kinds of restrictions. the united states has suggested their policy. this is an issue which is constantly discussed amongst allies. and again, no doubt that has the right, because this

is attacking airfields, missile launcher and therefore they can attack them. —— missile launchers which are attacking ukraine and therefore, they can attack those military targets. the first reporter mr biden called on for a question wasjeff mason, white house correspondent for the reuters news agency. he's with me now. we played the clip short while ago of the president mistakingly missed naming his vice president, thank both president trump. it was in response to your question, you had the first question after statements wrapped up. can you tell us a bit what the reaction was like with the expectations are so high there? expectations were certainly _ are so high there? expectations were certainly high _ are so high there? expectations were certainly high and - are so high there? expectations were certainly high and that - were certainly high and that was the second time tonight that he had mistaken the name. he did earlier at an event during the nato conference, he mistook mistakenly said president putin when was trying to introduce present zelensky.

i did hearfrom his campaign, who said this is something that president biden has done for years. he messes up names. you shouldn't make too much of a big deal out of it. i think that's the biden campaign's interpretation of that. campaign certainly took off with it and used it as a clip to show that biden is not with it, which is an argument they have been making. i think the white house and the biden campaign think aside from that flub and maybe some other flub is that he had that it was a fairly strong night for president biden. it's not my job to make that determination and we will see how democrats respond in the coming days, that's who he has to prove it to and who will be watching. he did take several questions about his mental fitness and age. how did he address those questions? he did, he took several questions and did not show offence at that. he, i

think, was prepared and expecting to get them. one of the interesting thing he said, he was pressed late in the press conference about whether or not he would take another cognitive or see another urologist before neurologist and he said if my doctor says i need to, i will. so he was opened it saying that if it was necessary and otherwise express confidence in his abilities and talked about being the best qualified person to govern and he thought the best qualified person to run for re—election. he seems very clear on the fact that he is not bowing out of this race. can you tell us what some of the conversations have been like with the campaign within the campaign as well, how they are dealing with some of this criticism?— of this criticism? they certainly _ of this criticism? they certainly had - of this criticism? they certainly had a - of this criticism? they certainly had a rough l of this criticism? they - certainly had a rough couple of weeks in terms of the criticism because the criticism was coming from within, the criticism was coming within the democratic party and from allies of president biden and lawmakers and strategists and donors and people who he needs

and who would normally be in his corner, so it's been rough for him and i think his campaign. their strategy now is one that president biden actually articulated tonight. he said people want to see me more, they want to see me out there more, so that's what i'm going to do. he's going to do a rally tomorrow in detroit michigan is a really important swing state. he is doing another major network interview on monday with nbc news and, of course, he did the press conference tonight and i think he is going to keep up that schedule, so to get back to your question, think the strategy is for him to just keep moving himself while doing his dayjob and see if that reassures the democrats that he is the right one.— is the right one. one question about the _ is the right one. one question about the polling _ is the right one. one question about the polling because - is the right one. one question l about the polling because we've seen president biden appearing to be pretty dismissive of some of the polls showing him losing particular in swing states, at least in the bbc news interview he did, and on the other hand saying that the polls are wrong

-- abc. saying that the polls are wrong —— abc. how is the campaign and president biden taking on some of the numbers that appear to show him really still trailing president trump?— show him really still trailing president trump? yeah, i mean, he's always _ president trump? yeah, i mean, he's always been _ president trump? yeah, i mean, he's always been dismissive - president trump? yeah, i mean, he's always been dismissive of l he's always been dismissive of polls and part of the biden narrative and part of what is driving him so resolutely to stay in the race right now is that he has come back from setbacks before, it's kind of in his dna, and he doesn't believe it when somebody tells him the polls are down for you or that they are down so far that it or that they are down so far thatitis or that they are down so far that it is insurmountable. it's not something thatjoe biden accepts. i think in terms of the campaign strategy, they are certainly also seeing some of these steps in at least the public polling but behind the scenes, they are saying it's not that bad polling and that somebody else stepping in now, be it kamala harris or another democratic contender, even though some of them may be polling better against trump,

they say that's because they are not tested. joe biden has already been through all of this. a lot of the sort of common knowledge aboutjoe biden is already out there and baked into the polls and you bring in a new candidate who has not gone through the media scrutiny that president biden has, those polls would be —— won't be reliable either. that's the view. the question to go back again initially is will democrats stick with him? you know, will they pay attention to the polls? will the polls continue to go down, stabilise, go up? those are just things and elements we will see in the coming days and weeks. ~ ., ., ., weeks. we will have to leave it there. weeks. we will have to leave it there- geoff— weeks. we will have to leave it there. geoff mason, _ weeks. we will have to leave it there. geoff mason, white - weeks. we will have to leave it i there. geoff mason, white house correspondent for reuters, thank you forjoining us —— jeff. thank you for “oining us -- jeff. ~ , , ., , around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at a story making news in the uk. in scotland, dozens of pilot whales stranded on a beach in what is thought to be the largest stranding event

in scotland for decades. rob flett sent us this update. i2 whales are now being euthanised. the remainder of the 77 whales, which beached some time in the middle of the night and, sadly, weren't spotted until the middle of this morning, leaving just too little time for a rescue effort to be mounted, wasting any chance of success. i've seen remarkable acts of compassion from the rescuers just over those sand dunes, trying to keep the remaining whales moist and cool and alive long enough until a decision on their fate could be taken by veterinary experts from around the country. but, sadly, those vets decided there was just no realistic prospect of success and for those animals to be saved. experts say it's too soon to know what caused the stranding but likely, one of the whales got in trouble and the rest of the pod tried to help. you're live with bbc news.

asjoe biden comes under scrunity for his age, his campaign is fighting back with a warning about what it claims donald trump would do if re—elected. the biden campaign is pointing to project 2025, an initiative from the heritage foundation, a right—wing think tank. the authors of the plan write: on abortion, the plan says the white house should quote: and the authors say they want to quote: donald trump is distancing himself from the plan, posting on social media last week: for more, i spoke to isaac arnsdorf, national political reporter for the washington post who covers former president donald trump. so, let's start with a big step back here. can you explain to us what exactly project 2025 is?

project 2025 is meant to be an off—the—shelf, out—of—the—box blueprint for the next republican administration that represents the consensus of the entire conservative movement, so this was something that started before it was clear that trump was going to be the nominee and it involved the heritage foundation but a whole coalition of about 50 other conservative groups in washington, and what's happened over time, as it became clear that trump was the nominee — and the fact that this report was written predominantly by alumni of trump's administration and people who are likely to serve in the next trump administration — if there is one — you know, it's being read as kind of a companion to trump's very threadbare policy platform and it's sort of like, well, you know that's what trump says. but if you want to kind of get into the nitty—gritty details, you would go look at project 2025, and that's what has got

the trump campaign going, "well, we do not know if we want to own all that." right, ok, back to that in a second but talking about the authors here, the heritage foundation, we mentioned a few of the points but what are the guiding principles of this agenda? i think kind of, philosophically, what's going on here is a shift from the previous conservative orthodoxy of limited government to what is now sometimes called common good conservatism, which is an idea, really, of actually using the government in a more proactive way for right—wing or conservative policy goals. and so, that's very in line with, you know, the kind of president that trump is running to be, which is not your ronald reagan, "the government is the problem". it's actually, you know, everything trump says is "i am your solution". right. that's so interesting. isaac, if you were going

to take the agenda for project 2025 and put it up against the agenda for the republican party now going into the convention next week, how similar are they? i mean, there are definitely some areas where there are gaps. abortion is definitely a key one. but overall, you know, there is a clear alignment where project 2025 is like a more fleshed—out, in the weeds, agency—by—agency blueprint for how you would actually implement as policy the big ideas that trump is promoting on the campaign trail. looking at one of the points we read out, "assemble an army of conservatives to go to work "on day one to deconstruct the administrative state." what exactly do you think that would look like? well, that that's talking about is basically collecting resumes ahead of time for people who are considered bonafide maga to serve in an administration, as opposed to people who trump

loyalists perceive as being not with the programme in the first term. my reporting is that they've also identified political appointees from the first term who are not welcomed back, as well as civil servants — career government officials who they view as uncooperative, who they will be trying to and eliminate as part of a broader weakening of the civil service. do you get a sense, isaac, of how much donald trump himself actually embraces some of this agenda, some of these proposed policies? well, again, trump actually does mean it when he says, "i don't know anything about project 2025. "that doesn't speak for me." and it's true — those are not official campaign positions — but the campaign is kind of trying to have it both ways in terms of not having the liabilities of some of those controversial positions that are getting a lot of public pushback but, obviously, they are relying

on — you know, if trump wins, they will be turning to a lot of the people who contributed to this for help taking over the administration. right, and that is an important point. last question, isaac — what do you think we can expect looking ahead to the republican convention in milwaukee? yeah, you know, conventions are sort of four—day infomercials and to some extent, they're always about presenting, like, a kinder, gentler reintroduction of the candidate and what i am interested to see as this is shaping up is how it compares to your average trump rally. based on what we know about the schedule, it looks to be very different. you know, really about the kind of poll—tested messages that republicans often wish trump would talk about, rather than what trump prefers talking about on the campaign trail. kenya's president william ruto has fired every member of his cabinet, apart from the foreign minister,

claiming he wants to make his government more efficient. mr ruto's dismissals of high—level ministers on thursday follows the government's withdrawal of planned tax increases that sparked protests across the country last month. more than 30 people were killed and hundreds injured as security forces sought to quell the demonstrations. president ruto himself has faced calls from the public to step down. speaking about the dismissals of cabinet ministers on thursday, mr ruto said he wanted to make his government more efficient. we have, including other radical measures and programs, to explore raising domestic resources and revenues, expanding job opportunities, eliminating wastage, and unncessary duplication over

multiple difficult government agencies, and the slaying the dragon of corruption, consequently making the government of kenya lean, inexpensive, effective and efficient. our senior africa correspondent anne soy is following all the latest developments from nairobi. this is another big win for the kenyan protesters. it started out as protests against legislation that sought to introduce new taxes, and that was withdrawn by government and then, it evolved into an agitation for reforms within government. they have been protesting against excesses and largesse that's been exhibited by government officials and they even had a session on x spaces with the president, in which they accused him of not listening to them, of, you know, running a bloated government and demanded for cuts in the government expenditure as well as cutting

down on some of the excesses in the government. the president has come back to them to say, "i have "listened to you. "i have fired most of the cabinet". he is only left with the deputy president, whom he can't fire because it is a constitutional office, and one member of the cabinet, who is the prime cabinet secretary — it is not a constitutional office, it is a controversial one, but he's a senior member of the cabinet. anne soy. police in the uk are looking for a man after two suitcases containing human remains were found on clifton suspension bridge in bristol. officers were called to the area late last night after reports that a man was seen acting suspiciously on the bridge. police have since released this image and have urged anyone with any information to phone 999. our correspondent phil mackie has the latest from bristol. one of the country's best known landmarks was today the scene of a gruesome crime.

all day, it's been the focus of intense activity. this afternoon, a private ambulance came to take away the human remains. the grim discovery was made just after midnight after a call from the public about a man acting suspiciously. eyewitnesses described seeing the suitcases after they were dumped on the bridge. you know, because it was very visible on the end of a bridge versus in the middle, essentially, with — obviously, there was blood leaking out and blood on the pavement. you know, it paints quite an unpleasant picture. this is the man detectives want to speak to, caught on cctv, bearded and dressed in black. they say he isn't considered to be a danger to the public but urged anyone who knows him to contact them urgently. this is a very disturbing incident and i fully recognise the concern it will cause for our communities. we currently have an increased presence of officers

in the area and i encourage anyone who has any concerns to please do speak with one of the team. this was a particularly horrific discovery. how has it affected the officers who were here last night? i'm gratefulfor you asking that question. it's something that in a career, i'm sure somebody would never even anticipate coming across as part of their duty. specialist investigation teams have been working around the site all day. police say that the man they are looking for was dropped off in a taxi, got out with the suitcases and walked along clifton suspension bridge, where he left them. now, they've taken the taxi in to be examined and spoken to the driver. they're also looking at footage that was taken inside the car, as well as footage that comes from the cameras here, so they can exactly work out what happened last night. this evening, the police helicopter was flying over the area and new cordons were put in place. it's hoped that a postmortem examination will provide more answers about who it was, what happened, and when. phil mackie, bbc news, bristol.

that's our programme at this hour. thank you so much for watching bbc news and don't forget that you could always head to our website for the latest headlines around the clock and also analysis from our correspondence around the world. i'm sumi somaskanda in washington. stay with us. hello there. the best way to sum upjuly so far this month has been rather wet at times and disappointingly cool. average temperatures at this time of year generally between 18 and 23 degrees. just take a look at the next few days — temperatures below par for the time of year, all due to the direction of the wind and the amount of cloud we're going to see. now, let's take a look at the pressure chart a little more detail, and explain further. we've got this high pressure out to the west but circulating

around that high, the wind direction comes in a clockwise fashion and so, that means a northerly wind. it'll continue to drive in plenty of cloud across exposed east coasts, maybe thinking enough for a spot or two of drizzle as we go through the day, and perhaps a few sharp and thundery downpours breaking out across south wales and south west england. best of the sunshine, perhaps, on friday will be across parts of southern scotland and northern ireland. brisk northerly wind, particularly out on those exposed east coasts. temperatures will struggle — mid—teens — but we could see highest values of 20 degrees in western scotland but generally, those temperatures a little bit subdued. the high pressure tries to hang on in there as we go into the start of the weekend, staying out to the northwest, and this area of low pressure could just influence eastern areas, spilling in. once again, a little more in the way of cloud and some drizzle. so, double figures to start the day on saturday. still some showery outbreaks of rain around for some. and as we go through the day on saturday, sheltered western

areas will see the best of the sunshine. a feed of cloud and some showery rain just drifting in across east yorkshire so here, temperatures once again mid—teens at very best. we might see highest values of 20 degrees. now, as we move into sunday, there is a potentialfor that low pressure to just pull away a little bit further and allow for more sunshine to come through, particularly across england and wales, and as a result, the sunshine is strong at this time of year. we'll start to see those temperatures recover just a touch. and that's going to be the trend as we move into next week. we've got low pressure pushing across the country which could bring some showery outbreaks of rain at times. but then, the weather story looks set, fingers crossed, to quieten down. so, a few scattered showers around monday, possibly tuesday, but by wednesday onwards, drier and warmer.

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. long jump is still my favourite, you know. everybody knows jackie joyner—kersee's love affair with the long jump. yes. sports illustrated called you the greatest female athlete of the 20th century.

you have the record, the olympic record in the heptathlon, the olympic record in the long jump. and you set those records almost a0 years ago and they have still not been broken. do you think of yourself as a great athlete when you wake up in the morning? is that how you still see yourself? it's not that i think of myself as being an athlete of yesterday. i am a realist. i understand and even understood during the time of my days of being a competitive athlete, that i wanted to be one of the best. so to be called, you know, one of the greatest, you know, i'm very humble and i'm very honoured, but i know the importance of people who saw the potential in me as a young girl that i did not know that i had. did it occur to you for a moment that those records would not be broken again for almost a0 years?