and top democrats on m and top democrats on ram and top democrats on ca-itol hill are backin _ and top democrats on capitol hill are backing kamala - capitol hill are backing kamala harris to beat double top. —— to beat donald trump. for his part, mr trump says it will be easier to beat kamala harris than mr biden. our other main headlines. a student leader calls for a pause in the bangladesh job quota protests which have left more than 150 people dead. and more than 20,000 people on the spanish island hello, i'm nicky schiller. we start in the united states with reaction tojoe biden�*s decision to quit november's presidential race. he is backing his vice president kamala harris to now take on donald trump in the election. many top democrats have followed his lead and have also thrown their support behind her. kamala harris says she

intends to "earn and win" the nomination. mr biden withdrew on sunday, saying he'd taken the decision in the best interests of his party and the country. the democrat leader in the senate, chuck schumer, called mr biden a true patriot who had put america's future first. mr biden�*s endorsement of his vice president, kamala harris, as the presidential nominee has received support from many senior democrats. for his part, donald trump told the us network cnn that he thought kamala harris would be easier to defeat in november's election thanjoe biden. breaking news, president biden dropping out of the 2024 race, endorsing his vice president, kamala harris... despite the weeks of mounting pressure on him to step aside, joe biden had been holding firm. but he abruptly abandoned his campaign on a sunday afternoon... reaction tojoe biden dropping out of the race... ..as news channels went into overdrive. in a written

statement, he said... the last time the president was seen in public, having caught covid, he was gingerly descending the steps of air force one. that was wednesday. since then, huddled with his closest aides at his delaware home, he had been reflecting for a couple of days, say sources, before finally making up his mind yesterday morning. mr biden�*s campaign was fatally damaged from this point, almost a month ago, facing donald trump in a head—to—head debate. mr biden faltered, forgot things and couldn't finish sentences. dealing with everything we had do with... look, if... we finally beat medicare.

by now the attempts to revive his campaign were damage limitation. but that was too late — he'd already flunked the moment that really mattered. and then there were more mistakes, including this at a nato summit. now i want to hand it over to the president of ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination. ladies and gentlemen, president putin. president putin? he has to beat president putin, president zelensky. in the end it was a critical mass of democrats in congress and the threats of some donors that spelled the end of the road forjoe biden. i was following his campaign for part of this last week and saw him up close as he tried but failed to regain momentum. let me ask you, are you all in? because i'm all in. in las vegas, back on the campaign trail last week, the 81—year—old started out energised. but the next day, he seemed to have slowed down.

during a stop at a mexican restaurant, a pitch to hispanic voters, all the questions from us reporters were about the growing calls for him to quit the race. all talk at once then, after 90 minutes held inside, the whole trip was abandoned. we were raced away in the motorcade as it was confirmed the president had covid. the candidate was going home, and it felt like a campaign in crisis. gunshots screaming and this race had already taken an extraordinary turn when donald trump survived an assassination attempt. now officially the republican nominee, mr trump last night hit out at his former rival. he said... democrats have paid

tribute to mr biden, hailing his decision to pull out as a selfless act to serve his country. former president bill clinton and his wife hillary, the former us secretary of state, said mr biden had... so what happens next? mr biden has backed his vice president, kamala harris, for the nomination. dozens of democrats in congress have endorsed her, but she doesn't become the candidate automatically. there has to be a process, and others may still throw their hat in the ring. welcome to the white house, everybody. one person who hasn't explicitly backed ms harris — former president barack 0bama. other big names might also favour an open contest. withjoe biden out of the race, the democrats now find themselves in a situation unprecedented in modern american history —

without a presidential candidate, a little more than three months out from the election. tom bateman, bbc news, washington. kamala harris says she was honoured to be endorsed byjoe biden and will now "earn and win this nomination". kamala harris was the first woman and the first black person to serve as california's attorney general. she gained a reputation as one of the democratic party's rising stars after being elected as a senator in california in 2017. after becoming vice president in 2021, she's focused on several key policies, including abortion rights, and has called on congress to restore the constitutional right to abortion after the supreme court overturned the protections of roe v wade in 2022. it's in the swing states that presidential races are won and lost — they are the battlegrounds that could potentially be won by either of the candidates. so what do voters there make ofjoe biden�*s decision? the bbc�*s gary 0'donoghue is in the swing state of michigan

getting reaction. be in no doubt it is in places like michigan, places like pennsylvania, places like wisconsin, georgia and arizona, where the decision will be made about who is the next president. now, joe biden has been slipping in these swing states in respect of donald trump. he's been edging behind him by two, three, four percentage points. and it's not clear at this stage that a kamala harris candidacy would do any better. indeed, one recent poll in michigan had kamala harris doing worse thanjoe biden up against donald trump. so i've been speaking to democratic voters here and gauging their reaction to joe biden�*s decision. i was secretly hoping that he would drop out. um, ijust think there are so many other more qualified people. well, i think anyone that's working needs to know when their time's come and it's time to move on, let someone else have a chance, so it's another opportunity. yeah, it doesn't give us much time to actually choose a proper candidate. there's so many other

better people out there. but because we have very few months left, it's very frustrating. and time here is the crucial factor. i was speaking to one senior local democrat who said he hoped for a really smooth transition to a kamala harris candidacy, but he also said the problem is, you put five democrats in a room and you get six different opinions. so don't be surprised if this is not a smooth process to a nominee for the democratic party. our us special correspondent katty kay told me more about the reaction to biden's decision to step down as the democratic candidate. this is something i have been hearing pretty firmly from people around president biden for the last week or two. it seems like there was a last—minute pushback by the president but once the poll numbers came in after the debate, particularly poll numbers from swing

states, it became very difficult for him to stay. today you are getting democrats lauding president biden as doing the right thing, as putting his country first and giving them a chance to win. but there is also a lot of frustration amongst democrats i have been speaking to overnight about the fact he didn't do this four months ago, that he didn't do this a year ago. because by staying in the race as long as he has, he has deprived the democratic party of this incredibly important process of the primary test, and that is when candidates can test their mettle, become better candidates and become, if you like, political athletes, and by dropping out this late, he hasn't given them the opportunity to do that. so in a sense, yes, joe biden has done the right thing, he's put the country first for democrats but he has also done it so late it leaves the party in a bit of a mess. does that mean, because it is so late there is only one candidate, and that is kamala harris, that the top democrats like the clintons are backing, and not, interestingly, 0bama at the moment.

is it certain it will be her? look, certain? is anything? the message of the last few weeks in american politics is that nothing is certain! but if i had to take odds on it, then yes, i would put my money on kamala harris being the nominee. partly because the delegates who will go to the convention in august, democratic delegates of the democratic national convention, tend to be heavily labour unions, compared to the rest of the country, there are higher numbers of african—americans and higher numbers of hispanic delegates. it's a delicate component that will skew more liberal perhaps than the american population, and that, i have been told by democratic strategists, that actually amongst those people kamala harris polls very well, they like her. even if there were some open process between now and the democratic national convention in august, the chances are that at the first round of voting, kamala harris would still win. so just explain to our viewers around the world what the process

is now going forward up until august. i kind of wish i could explain that! i have been trying to read up on this, and the truth is the process is messy, because we haven't been here before. we know there will be the august convention, and that is when the nominee is kind of formally announced, if you like. all the delegates cast their votes for that nominee, and there is a voting process. if there is an open convention, and i'm still hearing that is possible, although more names are not putting themselves forward, you could go into the convention with, say, four candidates, of whom kamala harris is one, and you get a round of voting, and if kamala harris won outright, then she would be the nominee, and then you would have a second round of voting, a third round, until the delegates agreed on a nominee. the question is what happens between now and chicago. do they throw it open and say, ok, lots of people can run and have a mini primary with town halls and debates or something with only three or four weeks to go? the trouble is you have to get people to put their name in the ring

and at the moment the only one who is doing so, sort of, isjoe manchin, who has actually left the democratic party. most of the people you might expect to run have decided not to run against her, making me think she is the likely nominee. of those who we thought might who haven't, the attention turns to whether they will be, if she does get it, her vice presidential running mate and those names in the frame. yeah, about a week ago, i've been texting back and forth with democratic sources all week, and about a week ago a fairly big democratic donor who is quite well plugged into what is happening in the white house texted me to say, this is interesting — she had heard kamala harris was almost already vetting, a week ago, potential vice presidential candidates and among them were andy beshear, the governor of kentucky, a conservative state but who has proved himself by being elected as a democratic governor in a conservative state. josh shapiro, the new governor of pennsylvania, i spent a day with him when he was running for governor, very impressive

and could perhaps help with pennsylvania. and pat cooper, the governor of north carolina, again, a fairly conservative state, a democrat who's done well in a conservative state. those were the names i heard a week ago, i haven't had any specfic updates on extra people at the moment. it's my understanding both nancy pelosi and the 0bamas, former president 0bama, would like an open convention with more of a contest, and i don't think that necessarily means they don't think kamala harris is the best candidate but they might feel this process of some sort of contest would make her a better candidate and unify the party because then they could say, look, it was an open process and she was the one who won. if we turn our attention to the trump campaign, he will become the oldest candidate for president. how do you think they will be rethinking if it is kamala harris he is going to face? interesting, i texted someone pretty close to president trump, former president trump, last night when i heard the news, and he came back saying,

"this is great for us." "we can beat kamala harris more easily than we can beatjoe biden." we will paint her as very liberal, dangerously liberal, the fact she comes from california is a great advantage to them, they think california is seen as very liberal with lots of social problems. so they, to a reporter at least — and i take this with a little grain of salt — they say they think this is a good move for them. there has also been a lot of reporting recently, and there is a fantastic piece by the journalist tim alberta in the atlantic that came out last week, showing that the republican ticket was very much hoping it would run againstjoe biden, that reallyjoe biden post—debate, was their ideal candidate to run against. i think kamala harris might be a little harderfor them to run against thanjoe biden, in the current state he has been in. she puts abortion much more front and centre of this campaign and that will be a very important issue for democrats. katty kay. here in the uk, the prime

minister keir starmer has been speaking about his government's plans for skills this morning in hampshire. he was asked about the us president's decision to pull out of the 2024 race, and whether he thought mr biden was capable to serving out his last six months as president. cani can i first says since we are here at this airshow, how much he cares about security and defence, that was introduced leadership. he led us through the nato counciljust ten days or so ago. really important, a bigger, stronger nato with resolve. i respect the decision that he has now made. a decision that i know that he will have arrived at, taking into account the best interests of the american people, and i look forward to looking forward to working with him for the remainder of his presidency. coming up later, we'll

bejoined by a number of experts to talk about the big decisions being made in the states after biden announced he will be stepping down for re—election. we'll be answering your questions live, so get in touch using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions or email yourquestions@bbc.co.uk that's at 1430 bst. a little after that we expect kamala harris to be at the white house meeting at college students who have done well at sport, but we expect her to be making comments on the white house lawn, herfirst appearance in public since that announcement byjoe biden yesterday. we will of course carry your comments live on bbc news. —— her

comments. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

now the day's other news. bangladesh remains tense following days of protests against governmentjob quotas in which more than 150 people have died. some of the demonstrators have promised to continue the protests until the government enacts a court ruling which scrapped most of the quotas, that had reserved the jobs for relatives of veterans from the country's 1971 war for independence from pakistan. but today one key student leader has called for the protests to be suspended for 48 hours. 0ur south asia correspondent yogita limaye has been in bangladesh following the protests. we should warn you, her report contains distressing images. troops on the streets, a strict curfew, a near—blackout of communication. bangladesh is using all its

might to control public anger. over the past week, students marched on the streets against quotas in government jobs for families of veterans of bangladesh's warfor independence, which some say benefit those close to the ruling party. the police and paramilitary are accused of cracking down on the protests. in this video — verified by the bbc — a young man, injured but alive, left on the streets by security forces. he died later, one of more than 150 killed. outside a dhaka hospital, shahida begum — the aunt of 16—year—old imam hussain, who succumbed to gunshot injuries. "my nephew was an innocent child." "why did they kill him in such a brutal way?" she cried.

hundreds have been injured, in what many describe as the worst violence they've seen. translation: three | of my friends are dead. see? there are bloodstains on my hand. why are my hands coloured with the blood of my brothers? bangladesh's government has denied that it used violence against unarmed students. it alleges the protests are politically motivated. prime minister sheikh hasina last spoke out on wednesday. she promised action against those who've committed murder. in nearly 15 consecutive years in power, this is one of the most serious challenges she's faced. yogita limaye, bbc news, dhaka. let's take you to sudan now, where a new report by the medical charity medecins sans frontieres has detailed horrific violence in the country's ongoing civil conflict in sudan,

including repeated attacks on hospitals and clinics. msf says civilians, including children, have been subjected to bombing and displacement. the report has been published following a week of indirect un talks between sudan's warring parties where no clear progress was made. the israeli military has told palestinians to evacuate from the eastern parts of the city of khan younis in gaza, ahead of what it called a �*forceful operation.�* a spokesman says rockets had been fired towards israel from the location. the area has previously been designated a humanitarian zone. and following that huge global it outage last friday, cyber security firm, crowdstrike, says a "significant" number of affected computers are now back online. disruption still continues, though, with many airlines saying they're struggling to restore normal operations. delta airlines is cancelling more than 300 flights scheduled for

today, with no timetable for an end more than 20,000 people have taken part in a protest against mass tourism on the spanish island of majorca. around 18 million people visited majorca and the other balaeric islands last year. this demonstration is the latest in a wave of anti—tourism protests across spain. 0ur europe correspondent nick beake is in majorca. the authorities in spain saying 20,000 people turned out for it, and we were there, and certainly there was a real strength of feeling amongst the people who were walking the streets, saying that enough is enough, because basically they say that if you look at the figures, 18 million visitors to this island last year and the other balearic islands, three— quarters of those from abroad, and they say simply it's too much for the resources they have here, for the space available, and also crucially for the accommodation, for the housing. and this is a real specific source of anger for so many people we were speaking to yesterday. they say what's happening

as a lot of the flats are being bought up and then rented out, particularly over the summer, to foreign visitors and so that prices out a lot of local people, they're unable to find anywhere to live. that's what one after another desperate people were telling us yesterday. what's the solution to this? activists at the rally yesterday were calling for limits to the number of people arriving, so a reduction in the number of planes flying in, the number of cruise ships arriving on this island. we saw another really huge boat arrival a little earlier today. no sign that the government here is willing to do that, and there are warnings that you don't want to jeopardise a sector of the economy that's really been performing extremely well and powering the whole national spanish economy. these protests not only happen in majorca but elsewhere in spain — barcelona in particular as well, they are not too happy about the number of tourists they are getting. yeah, in barcelona two weeks ago you might have seen some video that emerged showing

some really angry activists, demonstrators on the streets, spraying tourists with water pistols, people who were just having a drink or food in the city centre. no repeats of that here last night where we are, but you are right, there have been other protests on the mainland in spain, in barcelona, but also malaga, in the canary islands there have been demonstrations. and of course there has been a debate raging for years in tourist hotspots like this as to whether the visitors actually bring more problems than they do benefits. but it does feel like something has changed this summer in spain. a lot of people say it has reached an intolerable limit, the amount of people coming in, so that's why they say something needs to be done urgently, and that's why we can expect to see more protests in the week to come. here in the uk, kensington palace has shared a photograph of prince george, to celebrate his 11th birthday. posting on x, formerly known

as twitter, the prince and princess of wales wished their son a very happy 11th birthday. the photo itself was taken by catherine. back to those live pictures from washington. just coming up to 6:30am there. a lot of talk about who will become the next resident of the white house. democrats have been endorsing vice president kamala harris as she seeks to gain the party's presidential nomination, after president biden stood down yesterday. interestingly, barack 0bama not immediately backing vice president kamala harris for that race against donald trump in november. stay with us, here on bbc news. hello again. as we go through this week

the weather is fairly settled. there will be showers at times, rain today and on thursday but a lot of dry weather as well, with temperatures close to where we would expect them to be at this stage injuly. something about today, though, is the pollen level is moderate or high across many parts of the country and we're still talking grass and nettle, although starting to subside in the south—east in terms of the grass pollen. we also have various weather fronts moving across us, they have been introducing a fair bit of cloud through the course of the morning and some showers moving from the west to the east. but the cloud breaking up with more sunny spells developing. any showers in the south rattling through on a brisk wind. further north they will be slow moving and here too you might get the odd heavy one and the odd rumble of thunder. temperatures, 14 in the north to a pleasant 25 degrees as we push further south. by the end of the afternoon the cloud will be building across northern ireland and south—west england, introducing some patchy rain which will cross parts of england and wales through the course of the night. a lot of the showers further north easing and under clear skies in rural areas temperatures could slide away to about 5 degrees. but in towns and cities,

9—16 will be more like it. tuesday night into wednesday we've got this ridge of high pressure across us. you can see weather fronts waiting in the wings so we say goodbye to the dregs of the weather front in the south—east and then a lot of dry weather. yes, there will be the odd isolated shower and breezy down this north sea coastline which will take the edge off the temperatures here. but top temperatures, 15 to about 24 degrees. tuesday into wednesday, this high pressure squeezed further east and then these weather fronts do come in from the west. so on wednesday itself there will be a lot of dry weather, variable amounts of cloud here and there, thick enough for the odd spot of light rain. but it's later in the day we have the thicker cloud, murky conditions, some patchy light rain coming in from the west. top temperatures once again up to about 24 degrees. wednesday into thursday, the fronts continue to come in from the west and push eastwards so you can see a lot of us are going to have a cloudy day

and there will also be some rain or some showers around. but as we head on into friday, it is drier, some showers in the north and west, potentially a little bit of rain

uncertainty on the markets — big questions for global investors as president biden withdraws from the race for the white house.

also coming up: losing altitude — airline giant ryanair brought down to earth with a slump in profits as consumers cut back. cleaner skies — sustainable fuel among the big issues facing aviation bosses at the farnborough air show. welcome to business today. i'm marc ashdown. we start with the markets, as global investors adjust to the news that president biden has pulled out of the race for the white house. markets had been positioning for a likely donald trump victory and the return of aggressive protectionist policies after his threats of hefty tariffs on foreign imports. well, the old saying goes "the markets hate uncertainty" and now the race looks more uncertain than ever. so what are investors making of it? european markets are mostly up after that sell—off last week. asia was a pretty mixed picture. here is how wall street ended on friday.