live from washington, this is bbc news. three americans are on their way home, after the largest prisoner swap between the west and russia since the cold war, including the journalist evan gershkovich. new reports are emerging about the assassination of hamas�*s political leader, ismail haniyeh. and here in the us democratic delegates begin voting for the party's presidential nominee, which is set to be kamala harris. hello. i'm rajini vaidyanathan. welcome to this hour. we begin with the breakthrough in diplomatic negotiations which saw the largest prisoner swap between russia, the us and other western nations since the cold war. three us citizens who are among those released are making

their way home to the us, expected to arrive in the next couple of hours. they are wall streetjournal reporter, evan gershkovich, on the left, and on the right, former us marine paul whelan, and radio free europe journalist alsu kurmasheva. this photo shows them on a phone call with presidentjoe biden after their release. in addition, vladimir kara—murza, the russian—british journalist who holds a us green card, was freed in the deal. in an address to the nation after news of the deal was made public, president biden said the deal was the result of difficult, complex negotiations. he said that the us will continue to work to free americans who are detained abroad. the president and the vice president, kamala harris, are scheduled to welcome the freed americans on the tarmac ofjoint base andrews in maryland. this is expected to happen in a little more than an hour from now, at 11:30pm local time. let's go live tojoint base andrews, our correspondent will grant is standing by.

and if the next hour or so we are expecting that plane to land. what can we expect to happen? figs land. what can we expect to ha--en? �*,,. land. what can we expect to hauen? a ., happen? as you can imagine, the expectation _ happen? as you can imagine, the expectation is _ happen? as you can imagine, the expectation is rising _ happen? as you can imagine, the expectation is rising now. - happen? as you can imagine, the expectation is rising now. we - expectation is rising now. we understand president biden �*s motorcade has set off from the white house and is on his way here. we are speaking of a question of some minutes before the plane ringing back all three american presidents should land to be greeted by president biden and vice president biden and vice president harris. families were also be here. a hugely emotional moment for them, of course. 500 days evan gershkovich he has spent in a russian prison and paul whelan five years and around a year for alsu kurmasheva so it has been a long time coming, a lot of diplomacy and hard work to

have this realised here on the tarmac. ~ ., ., ., , tarmac. we are going to see if the president _ tarmac. we are going to see if the president and _ tarmac. we are going to see if the president and vice - the president and vice president greet them off the plane? president greet them off the lane? , . ~' . , plane? yes and i think that is politically _ plane? yes and i think that is politically important, - plane? yes and i think that is politically important, isn't - politically important, isn't it. the fact that this was a team effort has been stressed over again by the biden administration, all the way through. this was notjust the last few weeks or months but years in the making to reach this point. as i say, paul whelan was held for five years. a lot of work undertaken by the state department, intelligent services as well but the white house �*s part in an election year will be very, very important and year will be very, very importantand i year will be very, very important and i think president biden, as he leaves office, as he has analyses stepping down from the race, he wanted to achieve something important and this is that something had fought vice president harris she will take this and run with

it in her campaign to the white house. ~ ., it in her campaign to the white house. ~ . ., , ., house. we had the family of evan gershkovich _ house. we had the family of evan gershkovich played - house. we had the family of evan gershkovich played a l evan gershkovich played a pivotal role, particularly his mother, when it came to the negotiations into this complex deal. what more openly heard from the families and are they expected to be there as well as the plane touches down? indefatigable is a word that can be used about evan gershkovich�*s mother, simply refusing to let his name drop out of the headlines, making sure every single time there was a high level meeting that evan's name was mentioned. we can see the motorcade of president riding arriving now. —— president biden. the most high—profile us prisoners in modern times, and they are almost back in modern times.

hopefully we can bring pictures of the motorcade. there they. we will just of the motorcade. there they. we willjust sit on those pictures for a bit. another question, and we touched on it earlier, but this was incredibly complex a deal to get to where we are today? it really is. not only did it involved a number of agencies involved a number of agencies in the us but it involved seven different nations around the world, in total 26 people were released. there were 16 return to the west, if you like, and eight to russia. the political calculations of who is on that list are interesting. of course, it comes down to washington deciding whether or not the political calculation to an extent of returning to the kremlin a known assassin for the fsb was one worth

taking. they clearly decided it is but a lot goes into this. it is but a lot goes into this. it is not done overnight and painstaking over many years. but to an extent, the politics has just been put to one side for a few hours. obviously, it would be unpicked in the weeks and months to come, not least by the manyjournalists who know and work with evan gershkovich but for now it is about the celebrations and they are going to be very home very shortly and back into the arms of their family.— shortly and back into the arms of their family. they have been throu~h of their family. they have been through a _ of their family. they have been through a lot — of their family. they have been through a lot of _ of their family. they have been through a lot of trauma - of their family. they have been through a lot of trauma as - through a lot of trauma as well. of course, we do not know what will happen once they learn but of course it has been a difficult time for all of them. they have been held for different periods of time. yes, and i different periods of time. yes, and i think— different periods of time. yes, and i think particularly - different periods of time. yes, and i think particularly paul. and i think particularly paul whelan had a tough time towards the end. according to

colleagues, one was in touch with the family and spoke to paul whelan in prison and she said that she noticed that things were becoming very, very dark. he worked extremely hard over those five years to keep his spirits up but it is a long and difficult time and the moments of silence between updates or between moments of positivity in captivity, it must be very, very easy to let your spirit drop, to have the sense that perhaps your government has forgotten you or are not prioritising you will at least all of those things are put to one side today and his family canjust are put to one side today and his family can just celebrate having him back in the united states. ~ , ., ., states. will grant, for the moment _ states. will grant, for the moment to _ states. will grant, for the moment to thank - states. will grant, for the moment to thank you - states. will grant, for the | moment to thank you very states. will grant, for the - moment to thank you very much. we will return to you when we see more activity on the runway behind you. it was only two weeks ago that evan gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years. he was detained in

march 2023 on espionage charges which of the wall street journal and the us government always maintained were bogus. evan's colleagues have been relentless in working for his release. photos from inside the team newsroom showed some of the relief after receiving the news that evan would be coming home. evan's family also worked hard behind the scenes and today they describe their relief. in a statement they said... that praised the wall street journal for their effort saying... —— they. earlier i spoke to paul beckett the assistant editor at war street and asked him to describe how he is feeling.

how are you feeling today? all the things, smiles ofjoy and tears of relief, and the other way around, exhilarated and exhausted. that isjust for us, so we can only imagine how it feels for evan gershkovich and his family and the other families who will be reunited. it really is quite a moment. i was reading an extensive article that your colleagues have written about how this release came about in one ——and one of these striking things that i took away was the role that evan's mother had in all this. tell is more? you can see why he is an excellent reporter when he is the son of elinore. she is a force of nature and there were key moments over the last 16 months where she had the moral authority of a mother, to press the politicians to act, she would carry messages, people knew

she would be meeting president biden or senior officials and she would tell them this and she would ask and it would be done. his family has been extraordinary, they have really been an inspiration for us to support them. your newspaper has been reporting on this from the day that evan was taken, and as a reporters across the day that evan was taken, and as reporters across the world have also tirelessly worked to secure his release, they have also faced challenges, becoming part of the story on many occasions, including being questioned and followed by the russian agents as well. tell us more about that? it is a hard position to find yourselves being a story and wanting to do better reporting than anyone else. that was an odd position to us but we decided early on we would do as best as we possibly could in hopes

of getting him back. we are immensely grateful to the bbc and many others who joined in that chorus, i think it made a difference and everybody, all your viewers and listeners, everybody at the bbc can take pride in what happened today because it diverted a travesty ofjustice and it served for all the people who returned. nobody likes these swaps, they're horrible, and nobody pretends that trading a convicted assassin for an innocent man is a good deal but it does bring innocent people out and it stops them rotting in penal colonies in russia which was otherwise going to be their fate. it is worth remembering the aggressor here is the cynicism of the vladimir putin regime and i commend america for its dedication in bringing its citizens home. it took 491 days what your newspaper described as one of most complicated

prisoner swaps in history. did you see this day coming? did you give up hope at times? we certainly hoped it would come, we saw a few green shoots of a deal earlier in the year that went nowhere. alexei navalny�*s tragic death ended one of the initiatives. so we just had faith that it would work and we are determined to keep speaking up for evan, and in the last couple of weeks it started to turn positive but these things are so delicate, so knife edge balance that we did not breathe a sigh of relief until we knew his feet were on the tarmac in ancora and he was out of russian custody. do you think this would change anything more broadly when it comes to russia's relationship with western nations? the key going forward for the us will

be first of all families still have loved ones in russia injail so i am sure the us will continue to work for them. the bigger points will be how was the us and its allies, including the uk and the countries who worked towards a swap today, how do you remove the incentive for countries like russia to do that. unless they can do that, then there is a risk of a cycle, if they can do that, they should be able to stop. i think you will see a lot of effort, they've already had discussion of defence treaty for arbitrary detention which is what this is, the nato to protect citizens who were taken by other countries and having a common response. so the advantage does not go to the aggressive to do it. paul beckett, assistant editor of the wall streetjournal. an important day for you and your team. . ~ important day for you and your team. ., ~ i. ,., important day for you and your

team. ., ~ i. . important day for you and your team-_ we i team. thank you so much. we will be staying _ team. thank you so much. we will be staying with _ team. thank you so much. we will be staying with that - team. thank you so much. we will be staying with that story | will be staying with that story because as we have been saying, that plane carrying those three american detainees who been released by russia is due to land in about half—an—hour from now and these are the live pictures from joint base andrews in maryland. we understand, you cannot see them in those images but we understand presidentjoe biden and vice president kamala harris have now arrived. we saw pictures of the motorcade earlier and they are now there and the plan is that they will greet the detainees, those three americans when they return, when that plane lands and on—board to journalists, evan gershkovich and alsu kurmasheva and former marine paul whelan and vladimir

kara—murza, the kremlin critic also on board. we will return to that as we more developments. us secretary of state antony blinken has said that opposition leader edmundo gonzalez won the most votes in venezuela's disputed election. the country's electoral authority had declared the incumbent president nicolas maduro the winner. but the opposition says its own vote tally shows its candidate, mr gonzalez, won by a landslide. this comes as the presidents of brazil, mexico and colombia call on venezuela to release the full details of last sunday's contested results. the country's top court has also called on the president and opposition leaders to present their vote tallies on friday for a verification process. but independent organisations say the supreme court in venezuela is an extension of government, and question the independence of its judges. meanwhile, on thursday opposition leader maria corina machado said she was in hiding and "fearing for my life" after calling for supporters to continue protesting against president maduro's re—election victory. the disputed election is fuelling regional tensions,

with mr maduro expelling argentine diplomats, who were sheltering six opposition members in their embassy. the us—based carter center which was invited to monitor the vote accused the national electoral council of a complete lack of transparency and said the poll could not be considered democratic. jennie lincoln is the director of the latin american and caribbean program at the carter center. the carter centre was invited by the electoral council of venezuela and welcomed by the opposition, which is part of our requirements, to be able to undertake an independent mission to send technical election observation to any election. we were in the country for a month before the election and then present for election day when we saw massive amounts of people voting, people who had not had this opportunity for many years in venezuela, to go to the polls to be able to express their will,

their political will. later in the afternoon then, it became questionable about how the end of the day would happen because the maduro forces were mobilising to celebrate their win before the polls even closed. the polls closed and the electoral council did not produce results very quickly. i should mention that one of the international standards for elections is to have an impartial electoral council, which venezuela did not have, does not have right now, so very quickly to tell you, the end of the day did not happen until after midnight when the president of the electoral council announced with just a global flood, no explanation of the numbers, that president maduro had been re—elected when at the same time, poll watchers and national observers were reporting a massive landslide for edmundo gonzalez, the candidate for an

opposition coalition. those were the headlines that then led to a controversial situation where the trust in the electoral council was questioned. they reported a total vote after having only 80% and again, they did not include the data from the individual polling stations, which calls this election into question. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news: the 17—year—old boy charged with murdering three girls and attempting to murder 10 others in southport has appeared in court in liverpool. he can now be named as axel muganwa rudakubana, after the judge lifted reporting restrictions. it's understood that the teenager from lancashire

has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. the prime minister has condemned protestors, following two nights of violence across parts of england, in the wake of the killings in southport. after crisis talks with police chiefs, sir keir starmer held a news conference announcing that police forces across the country are to co—operate more on tackling violent disorder. i have just held a meeting with senior police and law enforcement leaders where we have resolved to show who we are, a country that will not allow understandable fear to curdle into division and hate in our communities. and it will not permit under any circumstances a breakdown in law and order on our streets. you're live with bbc news. an investigation published in the new york times on thursday has revelead new details about the assassination of hamas's political leader ismail haniyeh in iran. ismail haniyeh was in tehran for the inauguration of the newly—elected iranian president, masoud pezeshkian.

as a high—level ally, haniyeh was staying inside the presidential palace complex. at a vip guesthouse hosted by the islamic revolutionary guards corps. in the early hours of wednesday morning, there was an explosion in the guesthouse, killing mr haniyeh. the new york times, citing sources within the irgc, reports that the explosion wasn't from a missile, but rather from a bomb that was hidden in the guesthouse, weeks or even months before it was detonated. it's not clear how or precisely when the bomb was planted. hamas and iran blame israeli for the attack, while israel has not commented on mr haniyeh's death. thousands of people turned up for his funeral procession in tehran�*s adazi sqaure. iran has vowed to retaliate against israel. mr haniyeh's coffin is now in the qatari capital doha, before his burial on friday. and there's been more reaction to the killing

of one of hezbollah's most senior commanders, in beirut which also happened this week. hassan nasrallah who is the head of the lebanese militant group has said israel crossed a line and can expect revenge, for the attack. the leader of yemen's iran—backed houthi movement has also vowed a harsh response on behalf of its ally. turkey's president recep tayyip erdogan declared august 2nd a national day of mourning, he said quote "in solidarity with the palestinian cause". our correspondent nick beake sent this update from beirut. this was the first reaction we have had from the head of hezbollah hassan nasrallah and he was speaking to mourners via a link up at the funeral of one of his top commanders are killed on tuesday evening in a southern suburb here in beirut and the message was that this was a strike completely unacceptable and that israel had carried out an

assassination but also that civilians had been killed, including two children. he said what had happened really has raised the temperature in the middle east and taken the conflict to what he described as a new level. we also spoke about the killing of this week, just a few hours later in iran, of the head of the political wing of hamas and the killing of ismail haniyeh has certainly been a significant development. he said the two killings, assassinations, will really provoke a very strong reaction from iran which backs both hezbollah in lebanon on and also hamas as well. we did not get any indication as to what the response will be but certainly lebanon on�*s neighbours have been talking about the need to really lowered the temperature at the moment. the us also saying there is a fear things could escalate and no—one wants to see a wider war in the middle east so lots of people concerned about what happens in

the coming days. there has been this tit—for—tat over the past ten months between hezbollah and israel. will this escalate further in the days to come? here in the us, delegates from the democratic party are choosing their nominee for president and there's only one name on the ballot — kamala harris. the party is holding an online vote from thursday until monday, before its formal convention, so it can meet the deadline for getting a candidate onto the presidential ballot in certain states. and as democratic presidential hopeful kamala harris vets potential candidates for vice president, let's also spare a thought for the contenders as they undergo a process that one past participant likened to "a colonoscopy performed with a telescope". earlier, i spoke with our senior news editorjude sheerin about the intensive vetting process potential running mates undergo to land the coveted position of second in command. you have been looking at how

vice presidential pigs are chosen. ~ . , vice presidential pigs are chosen. ., , chosen. what is the process? it is a very exhaustive _ chosen. what is the process? it is a very exhaustive vetting - is a very exhaustive vetting process as you would expect who is a heartbeat away from the president and what makes a daunting is the fbi do not complete background checks for vice presidential nominees. they do with cabinet pics but not running mate so that leaves the team of vetting lawyers as the team of vetting lawyers as the last line of defence and if they will check over absolutely every facet of a candidate's life. , ., ., , , life. they are legal experts and every _ life. they are legal experts and every facet _ life. they are legal experts and every facet of - life. they are legal experts and every facet of a - and every facet of a candidate's life, looking for scandals, skeletons in the closet, what else are they looking for?— closet, what else are they looking for? no stone is left unturned — looking for? no stone is left unturned in _ looking for? no stone is left unturned in this _ looking for? no stone is left unturned in this process. . looking for? no stone is leftl unturned in this process. you have an army of up to 200 lawyers who will fire off a questionnaire, at least 100 questions, as much as 200 questions, as much as 200 questions, and they will ask the most probing and intimate questions about a potential

nominee's personal life that you can think of. and they have to answer that before they can even get a sit down with a potential presidential nominee. they will look into their social media, their children's social media, their children's social media, their children's social media, their grandchildren�*s social media, they will speak to family members, parents, they will look into anything that could come back to haunt the ticket later and they have been warned tell us now because it will come out. in tell us now because it will come out-— tell us now because it will come out. in this particular instance. — come out. in this particular instance, with _ come out. in this particular instance, with kamala - come out. in this particular. instance, with kamala harris the likely nominee, tried to find her running mate, she has not had much time. the process is moving _ not had much time. the process is moving faster _ not had much time. the process is moving faster than _ not had much time. the process is moving faster than previous i is moving faster than previous election cycles. they have added three months to do it typically. kamala harris only has a couple of weeks to get this nailed down. she has a filing deadline and the convention coming up. it is all hands to the pump to get this done.

this is bbc news. well, that is at the scene live injoint base andrews in maryland. as we await the return of three americans on their way home after the largest prisoner swap between the west and russia since the cold war. also on that plane is leading kremlin critic vladimir kara—murza. we saw a motorcade earlier whizzing along the tarmac and we know the president and vice president are going to be greeting those on board the plane as they land. well, we can go live to joint base andrew and join my colleague will grant. bring us up—to—date on what is happening where you are? this on what is happening where you are? �* , , ., on what is happening where you are? n on what is happening where you are? a ., ., are? as you say, a motorcade arrived and —

are? as you say, a motorcade arrived and we _ are? as you say, a motorcade arrived and we believe - are? as you say, a motorcade arrived and we believe that i are? as you say, a motorcade i arrived and we believe that was vice president harris�*s motorcade. the white house press pool has arrived, indications this moment is only minutes away. among the journalists gathered here are a number of evan gershkovich's colleagues from the wall street journal, obviously in a jubilant mood, including the chief editor. the president and vice president i hear, awaiting this moment. the darker side, probably doubted this moment would come but now they are so close i could most touch it. this has been hailed as a feat of diplomacy by president biden and by others. explain why that has been given that description? what is so complicated about this? it is a feat of diplomacy _ complicated about this? it is a feat of diplomacy to _ complicated about this? it is a feat of diplomacy to pull - complicated about this? it is a feat of diplomacy to pull this | feat of diplomacy to pull this off. it is hard enough to do with just off. it is hard enough to do withjust one or two

off. it is hard enough to do with just one or two prisoners. dealing with just one nation. this was in total 26 people, involving seven different nations. the intricacies of making that work, the different agencies pulling in different directions at different times is very hard to avoid so it did obviously involve a lot of work, a lot of diplomacy behind the scenes, a lot of patients no doubt and a great deal of pressure put on by the family not to go behind the headlines and forgotten and maintaining the pressure on the biden administration to constantly keep it there on the table with any high—level discussions with moscow and that has been successful and although i have no doubt there would have been moment they feared it would never happen, it has led to this extraordinary result of 16 people coming from russia to the west and ate going in the

other direction.— other direction. you say extraordinary, - other direction. you say extraordinary, one - other direction. you say extraordinary, one of. other direction. you say l extraordinary, one of the things that stood out was a tireless work of evan ghosh cribbage's mother in trying to lobby key officials even world leaders to try and get her son back home. —— evan gershkovich. remind our viewers of the role she played in all of this. that has been _ she played in all of this. that has been important - she played in all of this. that has been important in - she played in all of this. that has been important in that i she played in all of this. twat has been important in that area that i mentioned, just keeping it public and front and centre and never letting the name sidelined orforgotten and never letting the name sidelined or forgotten and and never letting the name sidelined orforgotten and one cannot underestimate the difference that can make. it keeps pressure up on all of the actors involved both in washington and in washington. we know that vladimir putin was not just we know that vladimir putin was notjust going to buckle to the idea that there was a global clamourfor idea that there was a global clamour for these prisoners to be released. but he was going to get something out of this as well. that is a complex and

delicate operation and now the debate will come in the coming days and weeks about the costs and benefits on both sides. irate and benefits on both sides. we saw vladimir putin hugging the russians, similar images where you are, i think we can see another motorcade that is pulling injust behind you, i assume, that must be president biden is, as you say, vice president harris is already arrived? . �* , president harris is already arrived? . v . arrived? that's what we loelieve- _ arrived? that's what we believe. that _ arrived? that's what we believe. that does - arrived? that's what we | believe. that does now, president biden, coming to the tarmac, the families with him so, yes, it's getting very, very close to the moment that we will soon hearing the role of the plan that is brought them back from turkiye. with regard to the point you are making about moscow and the sense of victory on that side,

too, that