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kamala harris gives her first sit-down interview since the start of her presidential campaign. welcome to world news america. the world health organization says israel and hamas have agreed to three separate pauses in fighting to allow united nations teams access to vaccinate more than 600,000 children in gaza against polio. the israeli prime minister stressed the pauses don't amount to a cease-fire. the united nations has worn for months about a widespread polio outbreak. now age groups have a chance to vaccinate the most vulnerable in gaza. 1.2 6 million polio vaccines are already in the territory. a four week interval is required between the first and second doses. earlier a w.h.o. spokesperson told the bbc what we can expect from the campaign.

>> reaching every child will be a huge challenge. we have over 640,000 children we need to reach. every child under 10. we will do it. we will have fixed vaccination sites and also vaccinations go tent to tent. it will be dependent on security. if there is any sense of fighting or evacuation orders or more threats that mean people will be displaced it won't be possible to reach all those children. >> israel's military is in the second day of an operation in the occupied west bank. the palestinian health ministry says at least 16 people were killed in the rates. israel's defense forces says it killed 12 people. israel says it's launching an operation to combat terrorism. the united nations says the israeli military is "fueling an already explosive situation." a report from jenin.

>> the israeli military operation seems ongoing. it's been quieter today in jenin but since yesterday eight palestinians have been killed in queue looting -- including one this morning. we have heard explosions and prolonged gunfire. palestinians and sees this as an aggression and escalation. certainly getting into jenin this morning was difficult. all major roads had been blocked by the israeli army. we spoke to local palestinian taxi drivers that said israeli soldiers had been firing at palestinian cars. when you get here, it is normally a vibrant, bustling city. today, the streets are absolutely deserted. all of the businesses are shuttered. it's having a big impact on the lives of ordinary palestinians. separately, a rare bit of positive news on the humanitarian front in gaza with

the world health organization saying it is got a preliminary commitment to have some sort of humanitarian pauses to allow for polio vaccinations to take place. the united nations has been pushing for weeks now to get the polio vaccination program underway. it came after the first case of polio in 25 years in the gaza strip. i think that this -- the key line, though, coming from the who is this will be area specific pauses. we aren't talking about a cease-fire across gaza. we are talking about perhaps a humanitarian pause in the south one day then shifting to the middle of gaza and to the north, for example. >> john dotson reporting. ukraine's armed forces says one of the f-16 fighter jets donated by nato allies crashed monday killing the pilot. ukraine's military said the pilot shot down three russian

cruise missiles and an attack the drone before his jet crashed . a military tour -- source told the bbc it was not do to russian fire nor pilot error. in the u.s. kamala harris and tim walz set down for their first joint television interview since accepting the democratic nominations for u.s. president and vice president. ms. harris faced criticism for what you formal interview with eight news outlet center campaign started. they were interviewed by dana bash in georgia. our it is part of cbs news estimates ms. harris is tied in pulling in that state with her republican opponent donald trump at 49%. vice president harris is in backing -- is embarking on a campaign bus tour through georgia this week. a short clip of the interview shows vice president harris asked about policy. >> generally speaking, how should voters look at some of the changes you have made that you have explained some of your in your policy?

is it because you have more experience now and you have learned more information? is it because you were running for president in a democratic primary? should they feel comfortable and confident that what you're saying now will be your policy moving forward? >> dana, i think the most important, most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is by values have not changed. you mentioned in the green a new deal. i have always believed, and i have worked on it, that the climate crisis is real. that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time. we did that with the inflation reduction act. we have set goals for the united states of america and, by extension, the globe, around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. >> the republican nominee former

u.s. president donald trump is on the campaign trail in another battleground state, michigan. it is his eighth trip to michigan this election cycle. before the rally mr. trump gave thoughts on the upcoming harris/tim walz interview. he said, why isn't it live? it is an interview that will be taped and edited and put out. that's not even an interview. he also said she would have to heavily rely on her running mate saying "she is doing it with her vice president sitting there, so she's not very smart. when they ask a question she can't answer she will look at him and say, you enter it." by gas to stephanie murphy the former democratic congresswoman from florida and met terrell managing strategist at firehouse strategy and worked on the marco rubio campaign. stephanie kveta -- stephanie, is it not smart for vice president harris to sit down with her running mate tim walz? >> she has a 68 days to

introduce herself and running mate to the american people. it seems like efficiency of time that they both sat down for an interview. i will note that previous presidential and vice presidential candidates from clinton/gore, obama/biden, trump, tents, they sat down together and did not face the same criticism. one has to wonder if it is because she's a female at the top of the ticket that there are questions about her ability to do this. it is not as if she has not taken interviews by herself before. in fact, in the aftermath of the disasterous debates between biden and trump she was one of the few people that were out there doing standalone interviews on behalf of the biden/harris administration. so i think it is a bit unwarranted, the tension around the fact tim walz is with her in the interview. >> matt, i want your thoughts as well. you think this will silence some

criticism? >> we will have to wait to see the full interview. the biggest challenge vice president harris has in the race is many people see her as somebody who have changed her positions quite a bit. the american people don't mind if a candidate change his opinions. president trump has changed opinions. candidates do that. but what they will look for and it throughout the campaign from vice president harris is, are these authentic changes? does she believe in these changes? based on conviction, or based on trying to win the presidential election? that is what voters will focus on. political bases are fired up for respective nominees. the democratic base will turn out for harris. what she and former president trump need to do now is when over swing voters. they care about the economy, inflation, border security. we have seen vice president harris change her position on fracking. she appears to have changed her position on the voter wall. swing voters will say, it that conviction or somebody trying to

change positions based on winning an election? >> stephanie, what do you think? in the clip we just heard she is asked about changing positions. republicans have accused her of flip-flopping on some larger policy positions. will she have a hard time proving her authenticity to voters? >> i think that is why in the clip we saw she grounded her policy position in her values. i think that we say in politics that values unite and issues divide. so, she is grounded in her positions in her values. that is why you saw so much of her biography and values being displayed during the convention. and in many of her speeches, she focuses on those things. because, the specifics of policy, that will have to be hashed out with congress. whatever the makeup of that looks like. those details will come with governing. what is important to voters right now is, where her values

are. what are her perspectives? who is she fighting for? her campaign has focused on those issues and pushing those messages. >> back, we have seen candidates focusing on battleground states, donald trump in michigan today and his running mate jd vance in pennsylvania earlier this week and kamala harris and tim walz in georgia. what do you think their message has to be to win over the swing state voters you mentioned? >> it will be the economy. it will be focused on inflation, namely, the cost of housing, food, fuel, and health care. it needs to focus on border security. that is what voters care about. it is not that there are not other issues of voters in this race are focused on. but in wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania, arizona, georgia. that is where the race is being won or lost. i go back to the political basic. the democratic base will turn out for harris and the gop base will turn out for trump.

45,000 voters, maybe 100,000 swing voters that were uncommitted in the race will decide this thing. we saw that in 2021 roughly 40,000 voters decided that race. in 2016 roughly 70,000 voters are so decided that election. it will be a very close race. to your point, the paycheck-to-paycheck voters, voters concerned about border security, that is the swing voters. economy, inflation, border security. that is where the trump/vance ticket needs to spend every day in the race talking about the issues. >> stephanie, back to you. looks like matt's line is frozen. we have about one minute left looking ahead to the debate i think two weeks away now, september 10. what you think about hers and her -- what you think about harris and her team are doing to prepare? >> whatever campaign does, to rehearse, and practice and be ready for the back and forth that have complete command of

the policy issues and then, to underscore the message is that the campaign has been focused on today, they have come out strong talking about affordability. talking about an opportunity economy. rolling out an economic plan that addresses housing and the cost of goods. because, they understand, as matt says, they understand the swing voters they need to win the election care deeply about these issues. so, they have laid out topline messaging on all those things. they will be preparing to deliver that during the debate. >> stephanie, thank you. matt, we don't have them on the line anymore but great conversation to both. the trump campaign is facing allegations that some of its staff were involved in an altercation with an official at arlington national cemetery. the president visited the cemetery this week to honor fallen u.s. service members. u.s. media reported a trump staffer "verbally abused and pushed the official aside when

trying to prevent the staffer from filming an area where service members are buried." the trump campaign disputes the report saying the cemetery official was suffering from a mental health episode. a statement released thursday by an army spokesperson says "and anc employee that attempted to ensure adherence to the rules was abruptly pushed aside. it is unfortunate the anc employee and her professionalism has been unfairly attacked." the employee will press charges. the pentagon deputy press secretary spoke earlier about the incident. >> what i will say about the mission of those that work at arlington national cemetery, these are people who dedicated to honoring our fallen heroes. they maintain that hallowed ground. they work with families honoring those who have had their loved one lost. i just won't go beyond what the army has said, other than that, you know, there was a report

filed. but, subsequently, that person decided not to press charges. we stand by the army's statement that this matter is closed. >> our state department correspondent tom bateman is following the story today. why is this such a controversy? >> first of all, because donald trump's opponents are using this as a further sign of not only the character of the candidate, but his campaign team. because of the huge sensitivity, this being the most hallowed ground for american war dead and is the nature of this incident. this has been the accusation. it has taken a few details for the details to be fully firmed up and they were today in the statement by the army where they confirmed and arlington cemetery authority was in their words pushed aside during this visit by donald trump and his campaign team for potentially breaking the rules around filming in a sensitive part of the cemetery. then, we had the response from

the trump bank -- trump campaign both earlier in the week where you said they described in the individual, the employee in the cemetery as somebody clearly suffering from a mental health episode. further attack to the individual describing them as despicable, spreading lies, dishonoring the men and women of the armed forces. i think it is the tone of the statement that has further added fuel to the controversy. hence, why we have had both the army and the pentagon down today effectively defending the employee saying they were doing their job, describing them as acting with professionalism and dignity. in terms of simply maintaining the rules of arlington. >> tell us more about what the pentagon is saying about all this, the fact it has risen to the pentagon commenting on it. what impact did you think it might have? >> there were a lot of questions about this in the press conference today, it self interesting. one of those was about, first of all, the army has said the employee will press charges over

a potential assault charge. and, therefore, the army regards the matter is closed. the other point here is, that to use arlington for political campaigning is actually against federal law. the question was asked, while -- well, the scepter of defense can overrule the army on this if there is a breach of the candidate using arlington and properly it can be taken up by the pentagon. they still regard the matter is closed. i think this gives you a sense in which this story has already become significantly escalated since it was first reported by npr at the beginning of the week. i think what will really determine it now is whether or not to harris campaign decides to get further involved. they may choose not to. donald trump's essential campaigning charge here has always been that the biden/harris administration boston pro in afghanistan leading to the deaths of those soldiers three years ago.

the campaign may not want more attention drawn back to that fact. >> tom bateman, thank you for the update on that story. u.s. national security advisor jake sullivan wrapped up a three-day visit to china after talks with president xi jinping. despite standing disagreement over u.s. trade tariffs, china's claims over taiwan, and the war in ukraine mr. sullivan and president xi said they were committed to a stable relationship between washington and beijing less than 10 weeks before the u.s. 20 24 election with biden aiming to ease tensions before leaving office. the white house confirmed u.s. and chinese presidents will hold a call the coming weeks. mr. sullivan said thursday he hopes the two will meet again in person at a apex summit in november. >> while great changes have taken place in the two countries and in china/u.s. relations, china's commitment to a goal of a safe and stable u.s./try to wrench up remains unchanged.

its principal in handling the relationship based on mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win/win remains unchanged. >> under president biden's leadership the united states has and will continue to advance its interests and values that look out for its friends and as we do we believe competition with china doesn't have to lead to conflict or confrontation. the key is responsible management through diplomacy. >> let's talk about this now with a democrat that serves as ranking member of the house select china committee. great to see you. i want to ask about messaging we heard. both sides say they are committed to maintaining this relationship. xi jinping told jake sullivan the u.s. and china should be a source of stability for world peace. they want a more stable relationship. what you think of that? >> i think it is exactly what it should be. but i am very concerned that china's rhetoric doesn't match its behavior. right now in the south china sea , for instance, we are seeing

chinese coast guard vessels ramming philippine vessels. and, they claim the entire south china sea as their own territory. in violation of international law. that type of activity, that type of aggression is not consistent with what they are saying. i hope they change their behavior. >> do you think president xi jinping and joe biden should hold a call and perhaps meet again at the aipac summit this fall? >> yes. that type of interaction is always good especially when we are able to communicate clearly what we expect in terms of lower military aggression, lower economic aggression. i think that those are important contacts to continue. >> china accuses the u.s. of being the aggressor in this.

when you and your colleagues return to the house you will vote on legislation on china including the end chinese dominance of electric vehicles in america act and the protecting american agriculture from foreign adversaries act. what message do you think that then sends to china? >> i think that what we are trying to do is protect our interests, protect our values, make sure that we are in a position where having opened up our economy, having opened up so many avenues for the ccp to kind of take advantage of commerce with the u.s.. they have kind of exploited our openness. so now, we are ratcheting back a little bit making sure, for instance, that certain technologies that utilize don't get embedded in our networks and used against us. also, one of my bills is called the bio secure act. i hope it comes up for a vote as well. it would prevent u.s. taxpayer

dollars from going to biotech companies that are controlled by foreign adversaries that actively work with those adversaries militaries to undermine our securities. those are the types of actions i think our taxpayers and citizens want us to undertake. >> we know china, as the rest of the world is very much looking to what might happen here in november. we will see who is elected as the next president. how much of a road you think kamala harris has played in the current biden/harris administration policy on china? >> she has been a partner in helping to not only designed, but also, implement this policy. she has met with xi jinping as well as president -- vice president lee and other leaders in china. so, they know her. i think she would probably maintain some continuity in terms of this smart and tough

policies that the biden administration has taken and probably build on those foundations. i think she would maintain a steady hand in the relationship. >> donald trump's running mate jd vance said tuesday, harris "not only wants to allow the chinese communist party to build factories on american soil, she wants to pay them to do it with our tax money." what's your response? >> that's crazy talk. i don't really look to jd vance for his expertise on china policy. remember, this is a guy who recently talked about leaving taiwan to its own designs. if it were to be attacked by china. i think that kamala harris would continue to project strength, work with our friends, partners, and allies to try to bring stability to the indo pacific. at work on a bipartisan basis just as president biden has done to make sure we maintain a

unified approach. remember, the one thing the chinese look for is division in our country. it's a theme that i sounded in my speech at the democratic national convention. which is, unfortunately, donald trump divides us. this is something the chinese like. now we need to unify. that's what kamala harris would bring to the table. >> congressman, thank you for joining us on bbc news. >> thank you, sumi. >> officials in japan i ordered more than 5 million people to evacuate their homes as a typhoon crosses the country. four people have died since tuesday and more than 80 have been injured. hundreds of thousands were left without power. the typhoon made landfall bringing torrential rain that disrupted transport services. it has now been downgraded to a tropical storm. the authorities have lowered emergency alerts as the storm moves north but they say there is still an increased threat of

flooding. thank you for watching world news america. you can always find more of the day's news on our website, bbc.com/news. see what we are working on it any time. check us out on your favorite social media site. to follow the latest news download the bbc news app. find the headlines and analysis from our correspondents around the world. from all of us in washington thank you for watching and stay with 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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amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the "newshour" tonight, donald trump and kamala harris campaign in critical swing states as the vice president also sits down for her first major interview as the democratic nominee. amna: israel agrees to pause fighting in gaza to deliver