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announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... 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 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" s is bbc "world news america." s robert f. kennedy, jr. said he is suspending his presidential campaign and endorsing donald trump. mr. kennedy: i am not terminating my campaign.

i am simply suspending it and not ending it. >> authorities in russia say they have killed four inmates after a rebellion. agencies are demanding access into gaza amidst a potential outbreak of polio. ♪ welcome to "world news america." it has been a week dominated by the democratic national committee should. today it is an independent presidential candidate making headlines. robert f. kennedy, jr. announcing friday he is suspending his campaign. rfk junior said he is throwing his support behind republican candidate donald trump. mr. kennedy is the nephew of former president john f. kennedy and the son of former

presidential candidate robert f. kennedy, jr.. he initially lost his campaign as a democrat before running as independent. he is running on criticism of the two major parties. he became known for his anti-vaccine stance. the 70-year-old made the announcement in the swing state of arizona and made clear to some voters. mr. kennedy: i want everyone to know i am not terminating my campaign. i am simply suspending it. not ending it. my name will remain on the ballot in most states. if you live in the blue state, you can vote for me without harming or helping president trump or vice president harris. in red states, the symbol apply. i encourage you to vote for me.

>> robert f. kennedy, jr. was never likely to win the presidency. his support could still have an impact on this election. a recent poll shows him at 4% voter support behind kamala harris' 42% and donald trump's 37%. mr. kennedy saw his numbers drop significantly once kamala harris replaced joe biden on top of the democratic ticket. he could be a factor should they follow his endorsement of donald trump. mr. trump has been speaking at a rally of his own in nevada where he thanked mr. kennedy for his endorsement. mr. trump: we just had a nice endorsement from rfk jr. [applause] i will be talking about that right after this. we will be going to arizona and talking about that and a lot of other things, too.

i want to thank everyone. i want to thank bobby, that was very nice. he is a great guy. . >> as mr. trump mentioned he is heading to arizona, the same state mr. kennedy is in for a campaign rally. the trump campaign has teased a special guest, fueling speculation it could be robert f. kennedy, jr. 50 kennedy's siblings -- five of kennedy's siblings posted a message that his endorsement of trump is a betrayal of values. it is a sad ending to a sad story. his announcement comes a day after kamala harris officially accepted the democratic nomination for president on the final night of the democratic national committee should. she vowed to take american politics in a different direction, saying there is a fleeting chance of moving past the country's divisions as she made promises on border security

and reproductive rights. she stressed the urgent need for a cease-fire in gaza. we can speak now to the mayor of san antonio, texas. he is also an official surrogate for the harris-walz campaign. i assume it has been a big party for the democrats. coming in there were some worries about potential protests , about a new candidate replacing joe biden but this seems to have been pretty much a dream come true for the party. >> well, it certainly was uplifting week. i would describe it more as a pep rally before a big game than a party. what we felt in the arena and what has been felt across the country is a sense of hope and optimism about this campaign in the direction of the future of our country under a president harris. we realize the stakes of the

election and the work that is necessary to win over the support of voters who have been stuck in many ways of the middle of a political minefield over the last several years and feeling like they need someone to represent them. i thought vice president harris made the case last night forcefully and hopefully we can continue to make the case on the trail. >> we will talk more about the campaign in a second. i am sure you saw the news about robert f. kennedy, jr. dropping out and throwing his support behind donald trump. what kind of an impact do you think that will have on the campaign and how concerned re democrats -- are democrats that that endorsement could tip the scale toward trump? >> your reporting pretty much covered that. with respect to robert f. kennedy, jr., there are some folks he has appealed to because they have been looking for a third alternative. as vice president harris entered the race, you saw kennedy's numbers plummet. he is not even a shadow of his

forbearers in terms of leadership, statesmanship and leadership in politics. i do not expect there to be much impacted all other than to show the desperation of donald trump and his followers. you can see even in trump's reaction, he is a fan of kennedy now only because he has spent the knee. >> you said this was a pep rally and not a party. what is kamala harris and tim walz need to do over the next 75 days until election day to start to get those voters in those crucial battleground states onto their side and make sure they have this election wrapped up? >> i think vice president harris and governor walz need to continue to do what they are doing. they are doing everything they need to do to win this election and now it is on us -- surrogates, volunteers and the borders of america who believe in democracy in the future of our country.

stand up and fight for the middle class and justice and support and bring back the rights that have been taken away by so many republican state legislators and activist courts. the ticket needs to continue to do what it is doing and we need to go knock on doors and make sure independent voters, people who feel they have not been represented by either party are finally getting the representation they need and hear the message of vice president harris. the exact message she delivered last night about how she will be a president for all americans. >> you are a mayor in san antonio in a border state of texas. immigration has been a point that donald trump has really chosen to hammer the democrats and now kamala harris on. has she done enough this week to make it less of a losing proposition for them and something that might be able to take to the american people? >> i think vice president harris

prosecuted the case of immigration reform dramatically and forcefully yesterday and went back on offense. the reason why we are in the place we are is because republican legislators, particularly donald trump, who has had -- from legislators in the senate to kill a bipartisan border deal that had enhanced border security we needed for so long. the truth of the matter is what is happening at the southern border is not unique to america. there are 114 million people misplaced in the world today, the highest number since world war ii. what is unique about our system is the kind of legislative paralysis from congress. congress needs to act. the need to bring back the bipartisan border deal that vice president harris and president biden were able to negotiate with good faith legislative

senators on both sides of the aisle. we need to bring back the reform package and pass it. . that is on congress in the meantime you see vice president harris and president biden do what they can do through the executive powers they have two deal with the issue as best as they can. absent legislative action through congress we will still be passed working immigration reform and that is not good enough for the u.s. and i think vice president harris prosecuted the case well last night. >> thank you very much. >> thank you for having me. >> four prison guards were killed during a prison revolt in southwestern russia. russian special forces killed four inmates. the federal penitentiary service at eight workers and four convicts were taken hostage. the bbc was unable to verify

images like this one showing one of the prisoners walking around armed. the insurgents took to social media where the identified themselves as militants for the islamic state. >> this happened in a prison called ik-19, a maximum security prison colony. but somehow four inmates managed to arm themselves with knives and then go on the attack. the attack prison staff, and having done so, they released greece a mobile phone footage showing prison officials lying in pools of blood. we believe at least four prison staff were killed. the attackers identify themselves as islamic state militants. they said they had taken hostages. russian special forces were deployed and later stormed the prison and ended the siege. all four armed convicts were

shot dead. i remember something similar happening two months ago at another prison. again, islamic state militants took hostages in a pretrial detention center. russian special forces stormed the facility. >> to the middle east where fears of a wider conflict are looming as israel and hezbollah continue to trade strengths. cia director bill burns is in cairo for talks between israel and hamas. white house national security spokesperson said on friday the latest discussions have been constructive. he urged all sides to come together to implement a deal. hamas is taking part of the negotiations. the group said israel is adding new conditions. a senior hamas official tells the bbc the group would not

accept anything but a full-scale withdrawal from gaza by israeli troops. talks in cairo follow a visit to the region by antony blinken who said israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu was on board with the u.s. proposal to bridge gaps and reach a cease-fire. president biden also spoke with prime minister netanyahu, stressing the urgency for those two sides to reach an agreement. in studio with me is our correspondent. you have been following this negotiation process as it plays out -- probably slower than the administration would like. we are hearing from the white house there have been constructive thoughts. wear to the negotiation stand? >> what we have had is something we did not know would definitely happen and that is two more days of talks involving some of the principal negotiators and mediators in cairo. that is why we have the white house saying there is still

momentum to this and they are making progress, they believe. it is extremely slow going. where we are basically at is at the end of may, president biden had presented the so-called framework for an agreement. and that it has been back and forth between israel and hamas. a lot of back-and-forth and a lot added, particularly on the israeli side as benjamin netanyahu has attempted to squeeze more and more out of this process. so to have hamas, it has to be said, but what we have seen are signs of growing american exasperation with conditions added from the israeli side. that is why we had a best and final offer. it had said to have been accepted to bring the two sides closer together. even that is on shaky ground. >> you were on that recent trip we mentioned with antony

blinken. you mentioned momentum. there was some positive talk coming from american officials. what happened? is that momentum gone? >> at the beginning of that trip we flew out over the weekend. there was an expectation of optimism that by early next week we might be talking about putting the finishing touches to a deal. the trip did not end like that at all. mostly because we were all in tel aviv and antony blinken said he had gotten the israelis to accept the proposal, now it was over to hamas. literally as we flew to egypt to discuss with the egyptian mediators, reports circulated that mr. netanyahu had been reportedly saying he had convinced antony blinken there had to be troops remaining on the ground in parts of gaza as

part of the agreement. that deeply irritated the americans. they felt like mr. netanyahu was trying to bounce them into a position they do hamas would not accept so they pushed back strongly. one official saying in effect mr. netanyahu was taking a maximalist position and potentially jeopardizing the deal. >> tom bateman, our state department corresponded who has been covering the negotiations closely. thank you very much. for more, let's turn to frank, former special envoy for israeli-palestinian negotiations at the u.s. state department. great to have you here for your thoughts from what has taken place in the region. i want to ask you about hamas. they are not directly taking part in these talks. why is that and do you think that could be holding up the progress of the agreement? >> i do not think it is so important whether or not hamas

shows up because they are basically negotiating on their behalf. hamas does not really want the temporary cease-fire. they would do a deal that ended the war altogether, implemented all three phases of president biden's three cease-fire but benjamin netanyahu is only interested in the first phase when the hostages are released and he plans to resume the work. from hamas' perspective, they have the opportunity for hezbollah to join the fight and take more aggressive action against israel and that was our plan from the beginning, trying to spark a regional war and have others join in. i do not see them having incentive to join the deal and i do not think netanyahu does either so the u.s. has their work cut out for them. >> you just said you do not think netanyahu once a full stage, full on cease-fire. obviously the u.s. does. wedges that relationship stand between the white house and the

biden administration and prime minister netanyahu? >> i think there is an extraordinary amount of tension. you can hear that bubbling over on the surface. we have been very frustrated with netanyahu for taking positions on this cease-fire deal that seemed carefully calibrated to ensure hamas would not accept. the object of then being for him to blame hamas for the failure of the talks. that is causing a lot of frustration for the biden folks. >> we heard earlier in the show kamala harris made her big speech at the democratic national committee and last night. she mentioned the israel-hamas conflict. she said now is the time for a gaza cease-fire deal. she also seemed to back a two- state solution. what is your take on one kamala harris said and what her administration might mean? >> i thought she did a very good

job of letting the young voters and the arab-american voters particularly in michigan no cc the palestinian -- michigan know she sees the palestinian point of view. i think that was a very positive start. that being said, israelis do not really care. netanyahu does not care what we say. they care what we do. harris is off to a good start in taking a more balanced approach in terms of the rhetoric. that is not the hard part. the hard part will have to come when we use our leverage against israelis to try to get to a cease-fire and end the war down the road. that is much more difficult than giving a good speech at the dnc. >> you mentioned hamas was potentially trying to lure other regional actors into the conflict. there has been worry on the board -- border between lebanon and israel with

hezbollah. has that simmered down or is there still potential we could see something much bigger breakout? >> if there is no cease-fire, hezbollah would take direct action that goes beyond what they have done so far. that is part of the reason the administration is leaning so far into the cease-fire because it is the best chance they had to avoid that regional conflict. iran is stepping back. there was concern at the outset they might launch another direct attack against israel like they did in april. they seem to have walked back what has not. i think from a hamas perspective, there is hope that hezbollah will get involved. once that happens and israel responds, everyone uses control of the situation and there is a chance this could turn into a full-blown war which would serve hamas' purposes. >> before we let you go, we will get into this, there were fears

of a polio outbreak in the gaza strip. what do you make of the humanitarian situation even if there is no cease-fire deal to bring much-needed aid to the people? >> it is catastrophic, the situation on the ground. palestinians are continuing to be pushed out of what were previously safe areas. the polio thing is incredibly alarming. is humanitarian cease-fire to allow vaccinations to a kurtz. i do not think either side is interested in that. the palestinian people in gaza are stuck in the middle of a nasty war between israel and hamas. it is a tragic situation. >> always great to have you on the program. >> thanks for having me. >> the world health organization said the first case of polio in gaza in a quarter-century century has partially paralyzed a baby. the infection was confirmed

after officials first reported it last week. the who said it found traces of the polio virus in wastewater. the head of the organizations that efforts are underway to carry out a vaccination program for more than 640,000 children. this comes a week after the u.n. pleaded to israel and hamas for a seven-day pause in fighting to allow vaccines to be distributed. indian prime minister narendra modi offered to mediate negotiations to end the war between ukraine and russia during his visit to kyiv. the east asia and ally to both countries that he would act as a friend to help establish a truce. it comes after the indian prime minister made a trip to poland. one of the first visits to ukraine from a country not in the western hemisphere. are europe correspondent sent us the latest on prime minister modi''s visit. >> both prime minister modi and president zelenskyy have held today as being historic.

we have seen over the course of the past 2.5 years a lot of western leaders coming to kyiv to show support that was the ukrainians are saying today is this visit represents support in the form of the indian leader and the asian powerhouse that he controls. a very different story from six weeks ago when a lot of people in ukraine were upset to see mr. modi visit vladimir putin. in moscow there was a warm embrace between the two men that came on a day when more than 40 people in ukraine were killed by a barrage of rusted missiles. one of those missiles hit the children's hospital here. first on the list of places for mr. modi to visit today was this new art installation that doubles up as a memorial to the 570 children who have reportedly been killed since the start of russia's full-scale invasion 2.5 years ago.

after that moment, mr. modi set his heart was filled with grief as the people he described as martyrs, those who had been killed. he talked about a personal pledge he was making, playing some sort of role he helped in bringing peace between ukraine and russia, said he was prepared to try to start a process where there were negotiations. >> authorities in bangladesh are trying to evacuate areas in the east of the country inundated by flash flooding. four point 5 million people have been affected and 13 people have died. homes were left underwater with people stranded on rooftops. scientists say climate change is making extreme weather events more deadly. will leave you now with some incredible images of a volcano in southwestern iceland erupting for the sixth time in nine months. it follows a series of strong earthquakes near the capital

city on thursday. the glowing lava is not heading in the direction of the population. unlike previous eruptions. onlookers traveled closer to the spectacle of the view. hopefully not too close. you can find more on all of the day's stories on our website, bbc.com/news as you can always see what we are up to by checking us out on your favorite social media site. thank you for watching "world news america." ♪ 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. ♪ ♪

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♪ >> good evening. >> tonight, the presidential race kicks into high gear as kamala harris formally accepts