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woman: auccessful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" t on bbc news. t >> i am now declaring the whole of jamaica to be a disaster area for the next seven days. jamaica must take this hurricane seriously. >> almost total damage and destruction of all buildings. public buildings, homes or

private facilities. there is literally no vegetation left anywhere on the island. >> wins are picking up. we are getting reports already. the area near the airport, there are big rocks, big boulders used as coastal protection. water is already going over that. tenant leave the harbor is no also part of the -- is now also part of the caribbean sea. ♪ >> still in the race for now. the white house says president biden is not quitting after reports in the new york times he told in ally he may not be able to salvage his candidacy. we will assess the options for the democrats ahead of november's election. also on the program, barrel barrels down on jamaica. the path of the storm acrossin grenada, venezuela and st.

vincent. the last full day of campaigning in the u.k. election. we will look at what the latest polls tell us and assess the highs and lows of life on the campaign trail. and how about working a six-day week? bruce introduces a 48 hour week to boost the economy. but is working more really the answer? all that to come but we start the program tonight in the united states or the white house has denied reports president biden is weighing up whether to continue in the race for reelection. this comes after reports in the new york times that say he told in ally he may not be able to salvage his candidacy. after a disastrous performance in last week's televised debate. president biden says his performance when he appeared to lose his way on a number of occasion was down to traveling and jetlagged but it has led to renewed concerns within the

democrats about president biden's ability to win in november. now the cracks in the democratic support are beginning to show. on tuesday texas congressman lloyd doggett came the first democrat in the house of representatives to publicly urge the president to step aside. that has left joe biden with a difficult and unusual task of campaigning not only to voters but also to those within his own party. on tuesday he met with hakeem jeffries, the minority leader in the house of representatives. on wednesday, it was senator chuck schumer, the majority leader in the senate. he is expected to meet with democratic governors. among them, gavin newsom, the california governor who has been tipped as a possible replacement. here is the white house spokesperson a short time ago. >> the president is moving forward. he is moving forward as being president. he is moving forward with his campaign as his campaign has been clear about that. that is what. i can speak to. that is what i can say. >> let's talk to our north

american correspondent who joins us from washington. the white house say he is still very much in the race. he is out campaigning and he once all the votes he can get. as we said, the support from within his own party is starting to fragment a little. >> there are cracks showing i think when you have very senior democratic party members such as nancy pelosi and jim clyburn, two people very close to president biden not saying he should stand down but certainly acknowledging there is a legitimate concern. i think that itself is very telling. president biden was on a call with his staff earlier and to quote you what he said, i'm in this race until the end and we are going to win because when democrats unite, you always win just as we beat donald trump in 2020. we a going to beat him again in 2024. therein lies what motivates joe biden. he has always said he beat

donald trump in 20 and he can beat him again. >> but he has an uphill battle given the performance in the debate. he has to convince voters and donors that performance was an anomaly. not an ongoing iue. >> he does. he has quite a few seat of the can events coming up. next week he will be hosting world leaders for the nato summit. a big deal of course and he went viral when he was at the g7 in italy over the flag ceremony. now the scrutiny on him will be even more. of course the white house wants this to go away. i don't want this fervent reporting we are seeing happening about president biden's health at all it will take is one more bad day. one more bad moment that will go viral. we have also got an presidential debate coming up in september. both joe biden and ultram say they are sticking to that. what if he has another bad moment? that will be jumped on.

it is hard to see whilst the concern may be quelled for now, how it will not come up again i think. so for now, this is what president biden is saying. he has made it clear no one can replace him unless he wants to be replaced. he is still of the belief he can win this. i would also add you have got these various polls that suggest donald trump is ahead edging him out in battleground states. i think for the biden team, they don't really believe polling is destiny. they point to the fact the midterm elections was predicted to be a bad one for them but it was not. mr. biden has said he does not really consider the polls in any of this. as far as they are concerned, it is full steam ahead and president biden today has confirmed he is not going anywhere. >> thank you. we are going to talk about what those polls tell us because the president battling for the support of his own party right now. he also needs to convince voters

he is up to the job should according to the latest polls convicted -- conducted after that, this is a cnn poll released yesterday. . it found 75% of district voters have the democrats had a better chance of beating trump with someone else as their candidate. let's talk now to stephanie rawlings blake who is the former mayor of baltimore. good to have you with us. what are you hearing from within the party? saying there the official line from the white house is he is staying in the race. she also points to the fact he cannot afford another bad day and there are a lot of days to go until the vote in november. >> i am hearing that the wagons are circling around biden. president biden was old yesterday. he is going to be old in four years. we know what we have. and while i think it makes for good tv to focus on a very poor

performance in this debate, eventually after this dust settles, we will focus on the job he has done as president, the prosperity has brought to our country, jobs that were created. the student debt that has been relieved. the infrastructure he has in place president trump could not do to save his life. these things are going to start to paint a picture of a true choice. not this perfect elusive candidate that 75% of democrats think could beat donald trump but the actual person we have and the track record of president biden. >> people may not question his track record should they may say for the first four years you have been able to deliver. the question is can he keep delivering in the four years to come. that is what a lot of people will be thinking about. they will be judging him on his

potential performance in the years to come. >> definitely, but again, president biden had one very bad performance. if you saw the rally he did i think it was the day after, he was electric and the crowd was enthralled. i joked with some of my democratic friends if we needed something to rally the troops to get people to care about the election, we would not have chosen for him to bomb at the debate but it seemed to have worked. democrats are paying attention. we understand what is at stake. having a senior citizen as a president is not the worst thing that can happen to democrats or this country. it is having donald trump in charge of multiple new members, potentially new members of the supreme court. that could devastate our country having someone who has been unleashed to perform to conduct

any criminal activity he once under the guise of official acts and not being held accountable is a threat to our democracy. these things are real. put that up against having an elder statesman as our president and i think democrats are beginning to see this is more than about joe biden. >> why is there no error apparent here? have the democrats got themselves into a position where there is no alternative to president biden right now? there is no one waiting in the wings to take over at the top of the party and to be the presidential pick? and i wonder therefore whether this is a problem of the democrats own making. >> i think it is a challenge for both parties. i don't think there is any other republican candidate that can whip up the republican base like donald trump can. if that were the case, they would not have someone who is a

34 time convicted felon as their presumptive nominee. >> i wonder for the democrats and sorry to cut across but i think it is important to discuss where there is no one who would take over from him. if the white house decides, if president biden decides he is not going to stand in this election, who is the pick? >> i think>> to say there is no error apparent or -- >> that could be president trump -- that could beat president trump. >> i think michelle obama wake up tomorrow and say if biden said he didn't want to be president, i think she could wake up tomorrow and beat donald trump basically sleepwalking. >> will she do that do you think? >> she said she would not. you said there are no democrats and i'm saying there are. i think gavin newsom would be a phenomenal choice if that scenario were to take place.

we have people in the senate such as canada tort -- senator cory booker, my governor wes moore. we have amazing democrats in the wings. the reality is we don't need to tap them because we have a president with a track record people can trust, a president who tells the truth, a president puts the country before everything else who deserves our support and respect. >> that is the question, isn't it? if they are going to do it, they need to do it now. >> that is your question, not my question. i think the pundits are having a field day with biden's poor performance. i think the facts show debates don't win elections. if debates won elections, the second president clinton would be finishing her term.

it is a poor performance but i don't think it is the end of the day. >> always really good to talk to you. we will talk again about this i'm sure. stephanie rawlings blake, former mayor of baltimore. let's turn our attention to events in the caribbean and the hurricane beryl. the storm expected to make landfall within the coming hours bring sustained winds of 236 kilometers an hour. a category four storm. it has been downgraded as slightly but already causing dangerous winds and a surge in sea levels. the jamaican prime minister has cleared a 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. curfew across the island. he spoke to bbc world. have a listen. we will try to bring that to you later. we don't have that right now. hurricane beryl leaving a trail of damage across the caribbean. at least several people are

known so far to have died. among the worst hit areas is the small island nation of st. vincent and the grenadines. this photo filmed after the storm passed through. local officials say 90% of the buildings have been severely damaged. for the northwest, the dominican republic, whipped up by winds. that part of the coast and not in the direct line of the hurricane but there are concerns the storm surge could cause flooding. let's speak to will grant following from mexico city. you have been following this. it has made its way across the caribbean. seven killed so far. distinct warnings for jamaica. that in the moment lying directly in the line of the storm to >> this is a worrying time for jamaicans. a worryi time for authorities who are doing what they can to

prepare shelters across the island and is misunderstood, homeowners trying to make sure that instruction which will inevitably come with a storm thisarge heading directly toward the island that the destruction is not too bad in their own personal circumstances. they boarded up all they can, they have tied down with a can, fishermen bringing their boats in. all acts that can help reduce the imprint of a storm that is lest we forget the biggest storm recorded this early in the hurricane season on record. >> the u.s. national hurricane center saying the potential for devastating catastrophic wind damage as a potential attach as it passes over jamaica. we touch on the preparations being made. they are relatively limited in the face of the biggest storm so early in the hurricane season. >> and the relative lack of warning. any the case of jamaica, they had a lack more warning than

they did in union island. that was in the face of the storm. a very small island off st. write that received the full force of the storm as it came on land and somewhere in the region of 90 scent of residents have been left either homeless or with homes very badly damaged. a couple more days warning in jamaica and we have seen testimony from people saying we saw what happened elsewhere. we want to make sure we are not caught the same way. there is to an extent a flip of a coin with these things. is it going to be this time, will it be the next time? this is so early in the hurricane season should cuba is not going to receive the worst of it but does that mean it will not be caught on a future one? hey to you have mentioned and the dominican republic not in the path of this one but receiving lots of wins and nation which are already in precarious situations

particularly in the case of haiti. > a word on the rebuilding efforts as the storm passes through. the focus will turn to rescue and recovery those people who have lost their homes but as you have said, huge questions about what other storms are likely given the forecast there will be many more than usual in this hurricane season. >> these are always multimillion, billion-dollar efforts to rebuild the damaged parts of the caribbean every year without fail. the question begins to arise because we can see the link between human activity and the warming of the seas which makes the hurricane season so much busier. the hurricane so much more frequent and so much stronger than in the past. the questions that have been raised by the island nations in the small states of the caribbean is toward the major emitters themselves. toward the united states and their responsibility to the

other nations in the americans to do more. to help them out when these events happen and help them with disaster preparedness before they get hit by the likes of beryl in the first place. we >> will check in with you later. will grant training us from mexico city. around the world and across the u.k., you are watching bbc news. ♪

you are with the context on bbc news. the u.k. there are just a few hours ago before polling stations open in the general election. all the main party leaders have an out and about trying to reinforce their message to voters. with the details, our political editor. >> six weeks ago, it was a bit damp. a general election is on. >> you want change, you have to vote for it. >> here they are. funny old business following the prime minister on the campaign trail. >> are you changing any minds? >> you can see we are having a

conversation here. >> would you describe yourself as a socialist? >> yes, i would. >> fireworks, smiles, promises, questions and one more day of persuasion. rishi sunak was at school in rumsey in hampshire today. how is he i wonder after hearing a cabinet colleague on radio for this morning say this? >> where the polls are at the moment means tomorrow is likely to see the largest labor landslide majority, the largest majority this country has ever seen. what therefore matters now is what kind of opposition do we have? >> how would his boss mark his homework? >> what he was pointing out was the dangers of a labor government with an unchecked majority, blank check to do what they want and that means people's taxes are going to go up to >> the labor leader has been in glasgow this afternoon. and dismissive of the

conservatives near concession of defeat. >> it is>> more of the same. . it is trying to get people to stay-at-home. i say if you want change, you have to vote for it. i want people to be part of the change. i know there are close constituencies across the country. i don't take anything for granted. >> the scottish national party leader john sweeney has been toasting a marshmallow next to a big plastic frog in cattle milk in glasgow today and he had a fluorescent jacket moment too. >> the election is truly over and done with south of the the issue for scotland is who is going to protect scotland's interests in the next westminster parliament. people know they can rely on the snp to do that. my busted not get this welcome but sir ed davies did from liberal democrat activists in hartford sure this afternoon. >> tomorrow we have a chance to win the change our country

desperately needs. >> yellow bus in, pink car out. zany capos over and out for the lib dems. nigel farah from you reform u.k. has been at a oxen club and was asked how he thought his party would do. it >> is very tough to call what is going to happen to the thing we cannot measure is the youth about. are all these people, millions of them who have been very supportive, are they going to go and vote? i don't know. >> the green party of england and wales is hoping it is heading toward gains. >> the level of support has been phenomenal. i have been stopped in the street repeatedly by people asking for a selfie or even a hug. >> it is my pleasure to be here. >> the leader of plaid come right which would like to see independent wills did peptalk in drizzly car park. >> using the platform so we had, there were not have been a mention of wills during this campaign adult. people can see that.

>> here is a mention of northern ireland were a panoply of parties contested seats in races that feel very different from elsewhere in the u.k. this is it. it is over to you to sketch how this place will look, feel, sound and decide for the next five years to come. and, ultimately, who will live here. bbc news, westminster. >> let us talk to our political correspondent rob watson. six weeks this campaigning -- six weeks ago this campaigning began. it feels like six months, doesn't it? >> goodness, i don't know. to me it feels like it has gone pretty quickly. >> you love this though. that is why. >> you know, it is definitely true it is more than a job. it is sort of a passion to feels

to me like it has gone quickly. i would be curious to know what the country feels and what the politicians feel. >> interesting to see what the politicians find out as well. we will get the exit poll at 10:00 tomorrow night. we have a wild to wait for that. if we look at the polls, the polls are telling us one thing. is there any possibility of some sort of surprise in these results? >> absolutely. i would not claim to be a pollster expert but where the uncertainty comes in is through the fact britain has an incredibly disproportional first past the post system. to remind anyone who does not know, it is 650 mini elections. although it is true polling tends to be accate in terms of the parties overall share of the vote, it kind odepends how it is spread out and what constituencies. also whether people vote tactically and that is why for

example the modeling by some of the pollsters as suggested the conservatives could get as few as 50 odd seats or perhaps as many as 200 and it might just depend on a few thousand votes in a few key seats. that is one of the extraordinary vagaries of our system should >> a startling revelation was from a conservative ministers sang highly likely labor would achieve the largest girardi in history. this election could set records for all the wrong reasons for the conservatives. >> it certainly could. it is possible they cld get the fewest number of seats since before the first world war which would be pretty extraordinary. it is perfectly possible as well some of the modeling suggests that say labor to get something like 40% of the vote share but have 70% of the mps in parliament. these are the vagaries of

britain's first past the post constituencies system and that would throw up all sorts of questions about -- shouldn't other parties be getting more seats? that is exactly wh can happen. >> can be fascinating to watch. we will speak to you again in about an hour. rob watson, our political correspondent. full coverage here on the bbc. stay with us. see you soon. ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was so provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it,

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