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woman: two retiring executives turn their focus to greyhounds, giving these former race dogs a real chance to win. a raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your purpose, and the way you give back. life well planne 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" ♪ ben: hello. ♪ i'm a bennie thompson. you are watching "the context" on bbc news. >> we are being pelted with rain. palm trees are being bent over. we are hunkering down because it is just too unsafe to be on the ground in this ferocious storm. >> this is the size of the

tree. it's ller than me. it was yanked out of the earth from the sheer ferocity of the winds brought by beryl. >> thursday night into friday morning we have a hurricane warning, hurricane watch down to cabo. ben: tonight, israel's prime minister says he will send a negotiating team to resume talks, saying securing the release of hostages held by hamas in gaza. thousands of homes in jamaica are without wer after hurricane beryl thunders along the southern coast. after six weeks of campaigning, the u.k. general election draws to a close. voting ends in under two hours. u.s. president joe biden admits he screwed up in last week's debate against donald trump but

vows to fight on in the election race banking on barbie -- the 65th birthday of the world's most famous doll. she has her own exhibition. we will look at her cultural impact through the decades. voters have been casting their votes in the u.k. general election. this is the scene live in westminster. the bbc, like other broadcasters, isn't allowed to report details of campaign or election issues while the polls are open. there are a couple of hours left to cast your vote. photo id is required if you are voting in person. here is ian watson. ian: democracy in action. 7:00 this morning, 40,000 polling stations open across the u.k., some in unlikely places, from a laundromat to someone's house. if you haven't voted yet, don't

forget, for the first time in a general election you will need to produce a form of id. this electoral commission video demonstrates how it works. driver license, passport, bus license for older disabled people are accepted ways of proving your identity. 150,000 staff are there to enable you to cast your vote in the privacy of the voting booth, while pets wait outside. in yorkshire, rishi sunak chose to vote early, but you have until 10:00 tonight to cast your ballot. the labor leader, secure stammer -- sir keir starmer, voted in north london. smp leader john sweeney made his way to his polling place in perthshire. leader of the greens in england and wales cast her ballot in the west of england. but many people have already

voted by post, and that includes reform u.k.'s nigel farage. global media has dissented on westminster to cover the election result. 650 mp's will be elected, so a party needs 326 of them to form a majority. whatever the result, there will be lots of new faces in there, because one of five mp's in the last parliament chose to stand down. votes will be counted under night, and if you are able to stay up overnight, the bbc election program will bring you the results. in watson, bbc news. ben: there is still a little while left for people to cast their votes. all the latest on how you need to know is on the bbc website and on the app. you can watch our special program that covers all the results as they come in and reaction and analysis. you can watch that on bbc news and in the you --and the

u.k. on bbc one. elsewhere, president biden has welcomed an announcement by israel's prime minister that he is sending a negotiating team to resume talks aimed at securing the release of hostages held in gaza. the two men talked over the phone a little earlier. benjamin netanyahu's office also made it clear he would not agree to the law before achieving all of his objectives, the destruction of hamas and the return of hostages. it follows proposals put forward by hamas. it is not known what the new ideas include. for more details on the dangers posed by continued action across israel's northern border, here's is our middle east correspondent yelling now. yolande: as benjamin netanyahu announces he will be sending a negotiating team via mediators on this cease-fire and hostage release deal, what i think is

important is he is saying he is going to be putting the head of the mossad intelligence service as the head of that team. that shows a sign of seriousness on israel's part and it comes as we are getting reports of a shift in the hamas position that it is showing more flexibility in its approach to this three-phase deal currently on the table. the same time as things are moving in a more positive direction there, things are going more negatively across the israel-lebanon border amid more fears that this quickly to a full-scale war there. we have had more than 200 rockets and attack droness, 20 attack grounds launched by hezbollah at northern israel, most of those intercepted israel says, although one soldier was killed. hezbollah's action was taken in

response to the killing of a senior figure in hezbollah, a commander killed in an israeli airstrike a day ago. as much as we have both sides wanting to avoid a full-scale war, we have internatial diplomacy to try to avoid that, but the actions taking place are leading us potentially in the other direction. ben: that is yolande knell joining us from washington. we are getting details of what was discussed in that phone call between u.s. president biden and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. netanyahu talking mr. biden to the details of the agreement. they say it was a 30-minute call and they will try to find an opportunity to bring an end to the war. as we have said, mr. nandini who -- mr. netanyahu saying he has authorized his team to begin the talks again to reach a deal. from the u.s., we are hearing an official saying there was a breakthrough on a critical impasse in those talks. but there is caution, too, to

say that will not be resolved within a matter of days. they say there is still significant work to be done on the implementation of that deal. but they do say that cease-fire talks between israel and hamas could now take place once again in doha. those are coming from the phone call between the u.s. president and israeli prime minister. let's get to our state department correspondent in washington. just getting sense of what was discussed on that call, in and of itself nothing significantly new, but it is important that those talks are happening, and mr. netanyahu saying he is willing to send his team to continue those negotiations. tom: yeah, the first point is a phone call between president biden and prime minister netanyahu is significant. it shows progress in this. they talked relatively infrequently, so i think it is a sign of momentum now, a

cease-fire and a hostage-release process or these proposal. americans say israelis -- we have had a fair bit of back-and-forth between israel and hamas since then. i think the critical moment was yesterday when we got a statement from hamas saying that they had responded positively to the american-backed proposal, reiterating that they want to see withdrawal of israeli forces from rafah in the south of the area on the border between gaza and egypt. and then we had today some movement, or as you said, announcement from the israelis about sending their director of mossad and other officials back to doha. now, you mentioned the phone call between mr. biden and mr. nadja no, around 30 -- mr. biden and mr. netanyahu, around 30 minutes. my sense is from a senior administration official that

this was about the nuts and bolts of implementation of this deal. the sticking point has always been that the american-backed proposal had been in phases. the first phase a temporary cease-fire in return for the release of the elderly and wounded hostages and also the release of palestinian prisoners by the israelis. moving to a second phase, that second phase would be subject to negotiation that carries on during phase one. and then you would get a permanent cease-fire, end to the war, and a full withdrawal of israeli forces. that has always been the point that hamas objected to. they said from the start a permanent cease-fire and withdrawal of israeli forces. my sense is from what the americans are saying now that hamas have conceded on that, that they would now accept in effect a negotiation to phase into full israeli withdrawal, permanent end to the war. that does feel like a breakthrough, but it is only

breakthrough getting mediated talks back up and running between the israelis and hamas in doha. that looks like it is going to happen in the next few days. but we are still talking about weeks until anything is assigned, until these two sides start a truce in return for release of hostages. ben: as if to underline that, further details on that senior u.s. administration official saying hamas made a pretty significant adjustment in its position -- something you were talking about there -- potentially over a hostage release deal with israel, expressing hope that it would lead to a packed, it would be-- pact, it wod be a step to a permanent cease-fire. there are so many stages to this process. this would take a significant amount of time to resolve. to that's right, and i would also caveat that with remember the briefings from the american side are always going to highlight what they see as contentions --concessions by

hamas. they never talk about potential concessions by the israelis. i think there have been in this process even within the last week -- for example, report over the weekend the americans were proposing some new language to go with the agreement that would effectively entice hamas, give a bit of ground to them, because there is a huge amount of detail in this, particularly around, for example, things like the extent to which israelis withdraw from just populated areas, hamas wants them out in the south, the early along the border -- particularly along the border with rafa, along the border with egypt. israelis want full demilitarization of gaza. does that mean hamas giving up other weapons? that's the kind of thing they are talking about in phases two and three of this. still a vast amount of potentially fundamental things that have to be worked through, but i think what the americans

are saying is they think they have a framework in place now that at least gets two sides, mediated by qatar -- they don't talk directly, the two sides negotiating again. ben: tom, it's good to get your analysis on this. we will check in with you a little later, tom bateman in washington. all of this coming as the u.s. prident faces continued uncertainty about his political future. joe biden has insisted he won't pull out of the present race, despite appeals from a growing number of democrats. have been because -- there have been calls within the party to abandon a bid for a second term. mr. biden, who is 81, says he would not be pushed out of the election. speaking to local radio in wisconsin, a swing state he needs to win, the president did accept the debate had not gone well.

pres. biden: i had a bad night. the fact of the matter is i screwed up, i made a mistake. that's 90 minutes on stage. look at what i have done in 3.5 years. ben: let's headed to virginia and speak to a former director of global engagement at the white house. good to have you with us. president biden fighting once again, saying judge me on for years, not that debate. but the big question for voters and those within his own party is whether he can do the next four years, not what he has already done but what he will or will not be able to deliver. >> and in fact, more worrisome news in the last few minutes from cnn, apparently president biden told those democratic governors he met with yesterday that he is going to get more sleep, and attack he is not going to stay up past 8:00 p.m. i just don't understand how you can run for president, especially against donald trump, who throws everything and the kitchen sink at two, and not

stay up past 8:00 p.m. this is just getting worse and worse for the biden campaign each day. i think it is a matter of time, and quite frankly, the campaign as well as the presumptive next nominee for the democratic party, vice president kamala harris, will be preparing for a smooth transition over the coming days. ben: so talk to me about how that might unfold, if indeed president biden decides -- it would be him, one assumes, who decides he will not run again -- how does this work? brett: there are several scenarios. one, ideally, biden is going to accept, acknowledge i don't have it in me to take this forward another four-and-a-hal years. i will likely come not only as a result of these well-heeled donors, folks like reid hoffman, the founder of netflix, who is a saying, president biden, you have got to step aside -- there are many others i'm talking to privately saying it. then you have got the democrats

in congress as well as up-and-down the ballot, several have already come out and said, biden, you got to step aside, or some version of that by many others. now we will start seeing these poll numbers that have dipped six, 8% just since the debate. that is going to have an impact up-and-down that ballot, and you are going to see more democrats saying, joe, we appreciate everything you have done, but you got to go. ben: no one is going to come out publicly and say they will run until he decides he is not going to. talk to me about vice president kamala harris, because was not pulling very well. the polls suggest she could not beat former president trump. and yet since that debate her numbers have been creeping up a little bit. brett: they have, and look, the vice presidency in the united states is in opposition.-- an audit position. you don't-- odd position. you don't get the spotlight all the time would you do get, and kamala harris has been a

victim of this, is a lot of attention when you misspeak. this is an effort to reintroduce kamala harris to the american people. and let's not forget, she also will have a running mate. when joe biden was selected by barack obama, then-senator barack obama back in 2008, it was to buttress the political experience that biden brought to the ticket. we will see someone like one of the democratic governors, gavin newsom of california, gretchen whitmer of michigan, added to the ticket, and together that will represent perhaps stronger alternative to donald trump. ben: is there an element in this where we are judging these two candidates rather differently? some might say that if you look at what former president trump often does, he is rambling, he is incoherent, he doesn't always make sense. and yet when president biden, as he said, had a bad night, are we more critical of him? do we expect more of him then we

do a former president from? brett caldwell, look-- brett: well,, look i'm a football fan, and you can compare this to the this was a major moment. it was a defining moment in the presidential campaign. and yes, of course, donald trump speaks extemporaneously, he oftentimes speaks strangely. but it was quite different -- i watched the debate and i spent a lot of it frankly biting my finger nails because it was so cringe worthy, as biden struggled to follow the train of thought that he had. no, this was quite frankly a performance unlike one that has been seen in modern american political history. so while as a democrat i was rooting for biden and i wanted him to do well, i just don't give him a pass on what was such a major moment. ben: brett, good to have you with us. former director of global engagement at the white house. grateful for your time.

around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. ♪

ben: you are with "the context" on bbc news. let's turn to the caribbean and the latest on hurricane beryl. hundreds of thousands of homes have been left without power in jamaica after the strong weather system struck the south of the island. winds of 220 kilometers an hour knocked out power lines, downed trees, and sparked flash flooding. it has brought instruction across many caribbean islands. this was the aftermath in grenada. this is where the storm has been heading, tracking right across the caribbean. it is expected to make landfall in mexico by tomorrow. 10 people are known to have died so far. nick davis reports from jamaica. nick: the destruction caused by hurricane beryl as it makes its

way across the caribbean was felt here in jamaica yesterday. the island lashed for 24 hours by storm surges come heavy rain, and driving wins, toppling trees, causing power cuts, and blocking roads. the country's main or parts -- main airports forced to close and everybody forth indoors with a nationwide curfew in place. flooding caused by torrential rain coming down for hours. what you see here, trees falling down, knocking out electricity for 65% of the island. it's now about trying to get back the infrastructure. in many cases that is not going to take days, but weeks. barbados was one of the first islands hit by the hurricane. the cleanup is underway, but the impact on many people who fish for a living is life-changing. >> we don't know how much the toll is right nowbut we expect 30, maybe 40 vessels.

nick: hurricane beryl is tracking toward grand cayman with winds of 130 miles an hour. in its wake, it is expected to jump up to six inches of rain on this low-lng land. while the hurricane is expected to weaken as it continues on its path over the next 24 hours, residents are getting themselves ready to face its arrival, protecting their homes, livelihoods, and themselves. >> i'm trying to keep calm, but i'm anxious and a bit scared. nick: at the storm continues its trek across the region, mexico has put itself onto alert. there is a hurricane warning across all the eastern coast of the yucatán peninsula. having seen the destruction the storm is had across 200 miles, people are taking necessary precautions. this is the atlantic season's first hurricane and the earliest storm on record. and the u.s. national oceanic and atmospheric administration is forecasting there will be a large number of major hurricanes

this year in what they call an extraordinary season. nick davis, bbc news, kingston. ben: y see those images and you get a sense of the devastation caused. that storm passing to the south coast of jamaica but bringing those strong winds and high sea levels. we are hoping to talk to the prime minister of jamaica on the program. you will understand that communications with a number of islands in the caribbean are difficult right now. trying to bring that to you as soon as we can. we touched on the root of the hurricane. it has passed beyond jamaica and heading to the cayman islands. despite being downgraded to know a category three storm, locals say some areas have lost power. we spoke to the director for cayman islands red cross, who told us more about how the island is preparing for the storm. >> at the moment hurricane beryl is making its way up through the cayman islands. thankfully it moved south, and so we have got the government

damage assessment teams out there trying to see what is going on, so we are currently on lockdown until we get the actual all-clear from the government. >> how have you and your team's been preparing for this? jondo: that is why we are there. anybody who lives in the caribbean knows that from june to november is hurricane season. at the red cross we have a responsibility to make sure we not only train our volunteers, but also work with the community. between january and june, it is all about preparedness, encouraging people to get their disaster relief supplies ready, and with regards to the volunteers, we train them in emergency response. e of our biggest tasks when it comes to a hurricane is that we sent our first trained volunteers into the national shelters, and that is a big task because these are volunteers who need to prepare their homes first. yesterday, the majority of the stuff we did was trying to get our volunteers into the shelters to make sure that the people are

safe. and i would say that the people of the cayman islands took this very seriously, and we had quite a number of people into the shelters. ben: we will keep a close eye on that and talk more about it a little later. our main story, people in the u.k. have a little while left to cast their votes. you can find out all the latest on how to do so and how to find out about polling day on the app. live here on bbc news and bbc news and bbc1 in the u.k. from 9:55 this evening, 20:55 gmt. polling day guidance means no selfies, drinking, dogs in the polling station. voters are showing off their first friends were making the journey to vote with them. right across the country, these well-behaved dogs have been posing outside polling stations. this is mavis high-fiving in

greater manchester. here in bedfordshire -- aw. seeing the love from an owner in sunderland. and bella up to no good in salford. jjoey waiting patiently -- i love this 1 -- in a mobile throne in edinburgh. stay with us. you are with "the context" on bbc news. ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. 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: "usa today" calls it,

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