hello and a very warm welcome to bbc news. i'm katty kay. i'm christian fraser. we're here in washington. our main story: the race to choose a democratic nominee to take on donald trump in november's election is gathering pace. 1a states have been voting in super tuesday. so far it has been a good night for the former vice president joe biden. he has predicted wins in virginia, north carolina and alabama. former front runner bernie sanders has won his home state of vermont. six other states are predicted. and expected that three other states could go either way with other contenders including senators and of course 1 billion out. —— one

billionaire. the race to chose a democratic nominee to take on donald trump in november — is entering a new stage. it's super tuesday — the day lots of american democrats go to the polls to pick a candidate. even in the runup to today, the pack was shaken up — with some candidates forced out and others catapulted to the front. polls have already closed in twelve states with early results projecting that bernie sanders has won his home state of vermont and joe biden has taken virginia, north carolina and alabama. three states are currently predicted to be some form of tie. the past couple of minutes, cbs

have confirmed that three more state will be a tossup between joe biden and senator sanders, they are texas, tennessee and minnesota. voting continues in utah and california, the state with the most delegates available. this is not about which states a candidate wins, this is about how many delegates they come out of this super tuesday contest with, the magic number 1991. there are delegates and each of the states that are voting, each of the candidates is trying to get a share of the delegates. ron christie and mary anne marsh are here. the polls have closed in texas, this is a very big step forjoe biden, what have you heard? the early votes get reported before the actual election day votes, and it appears especially in the dallas county area, that he is doing incredibly well with african—american votes, so that bodes well for him, at least keeping the margin close. if he

performed on election day the way it looks like he did with african—american voters, he might be able to keep sanders within his sites in texas, the second—largest case of delegates we have tonight, which is crucialforjoe biden with california looming on the coast. we got 12 that are closed at polls so far, and just looking at the virginia one where the count has been under way for a couple of hours now, 63% of the votes and, 54% of it has gone tojoe biden, you would imagine that that is going to extend that lead. that isa going to extend that lead. that is a huge win for him. that is huge, i expect the lead widen we get into the night. is a republican obviously didn't vote in virginia today but the line is down the street. there are a lot of people and the enthusiasm factor is therefore the vice president. but what

they have my ion right now is that we have seen the former vice president when in seven states, how will he do in colorado? minnesota? states that don't have as high of a concentration of african—american voters, let's see how this line is going to hold up for him, but so far so good for the vice president. the politics is exciting, the weather is exciting to. there isa weather is exciting to. there is a lot of wind swirling around us so bear with us if you are hearing that too. bernie sanders did very well in nevada, he did very well and 110w nevada, he did very well and now texas has a big hispanic population. will he repeat that? will the texas hispanics vote like the nevada hispanics voted ? vote like the nevada hispanics voted? i am wondering if we are starting to see that bernie sanders has a ceiling that he is now hitting. as this race has gotten smaller, fewer people and it, maybe he is at his selling now and it is

latinos and white men, but women and african—americans in particular seem to be going with joe particular seem to be going withjoe biden, and he is doing even better with men than i expected as well, sojoe biden might be able to do what many people thought he could not which is to repeat the south carolina performance across the states today, between now and when the california polls close and that is bad news for bernie sanders. yes, the winds have changed, as it were! they are about to blow us off the roof. let's go without any further ado two vermont. our correspondent jane o'brien is at bernie sanders' headquarters in essex junction vermont. tell us about the number of endorsements and how quickly they can? this has been a

fantastic 72 hours forjoe biden, not so much for bernie sanders, it appears to be a victory rally and last week it looked like bernie sanders was still going to be the front runner if not the favourite. that of course has all changed and the feeling that i am getting from supporters here is that moment has happened much sooner that moment has happened much sooner than they expected, they thought that the moderate vote would eventually coalesce around one candidate, it might bejoe biden around one candidate, it might be joe biden but around one candidate, it might bejoe biden but they didn't think it was going to happen this quickly. i've gotjohn sobel with me here, lovely to see you. i'm getting the sense that supporters are a little bit nervous tonight, should they be nervous? lou i think in politics everything is about expectations and managing it, and coming into super tuesday there was an expectation that bernie sanders would become a runaway train and know enough to be able to catch up with him stopping there hasn't been that tonight. i think when we got the first result from virginia

being declared immediately for joe biden, it was suddenly looking like it's very much a two horse race, and that is the way it is going, but of course because there was so much expectation for bernie sanders, we are all saying, joe biden has done a whole lot better, and you can see that people are trying to watch out what's happening on the big screen, so any time a race looks like it is being called. i would say joe biden is very much in there and it is a very different story from what it looked like a week ago. lots of enthusiasm here even if they do have a bit of the jitters, but do you think, to pick up on the point that maryanne marsh made, that bernie sanders may have had his ceiling. among young people it is very good for bernie sanders, and when it is an older population, whether it is a big african—american population, that is rather better forjoe biden.

population, that is rather better for joe biden. the population, that is rather better forjoe biden. the race is complicated. i think that people think, i saw an introduction that was written for a news bulletin which said after super tuesday it will become much clearer who is going to be the democratic nomination, i said no stopping you've got to take that out, it is not going to be clearer stopping this is still going to ta ke stopping this is still going to take a while to resolve. i think what the bigger picture is that mike bloomberg's half $1 billion hasn't bought him that much. a wish he'd invested in my football team instead. and elizabath in my football team instead. and eliza bath warren in my football team instead. and elizabath warren really isn't showing, but i suppose the big question that we will be asking after super tuesday is, what happens to both of them. right, and also what happens to bernie voters. i've been speaking to some younger voters and for them it is all about climate change and for them they are not hearing that from joe biden. is there a

sense that if bernie supporters don't get their man for the nominee, will they turn out to vote for somebody who is at best, second—best? vote for somebody who is at best, second-best? that is the huge challenge facing the democratic party, and it goes the other way as well. will centrists who were supporting joe biden rally around bernie sanders if he becomes the nominee? and i think those are unanswered questions in i think we saw the evidence four years ago where hillary clinton certainly felt a lot of bernie sanders supporters stayed away and they went exactly encouraged overly to join the hillary clinton campaign by senior figures with bernie sanders, that's the hillary clinton narrative, and it may be she is using that to explain her own defeat four years ago, but i think there is a real problem, unifying the democratic party, because it's two different visions and they are fighting for the heart and soul of it, a much more radical

left—wing vision for bernie sanders, a much more traditional centrist alternative from joe biden. summing it up brilliantly there as always, and of course it is theissue, as always, and of course it is the issue, unite or do what bernie sanders wants to do, fight. tenebrae and there. very interesting. —— jane o'brien there. metabolism to what mike bloomberg has to say. he has been addressing supporters, and despite not having a very good showing this evening, he does say that he is the man to take on donald trump. if you want someone on donald trump. if you want someone who talks turkey and has a record of accomplishment on all the big issues facing our country, and who has the resources to beat trump, i'm your guy.

our correspondent nick bryant is at michael bloomberg's event in west palm beach florida. despite the fact he has had a very bad night, he has picked up very bad night, he has picked up those 11 delegate but it has cost him quite a packet to win those few delegates. is he staying in the race? he is, and he is saying he is staying in florida in two weeks time, florida, a state he should do better in, because they call miami beach the sixth borough of new york city, there are so many new yorkers who have moved down here but this was a night that mike bloomberg thought would totally transform the race, this was his big gamble, that you could come in on super tuesday, spend a ton of money, carpet bomb the states that we re carpet bomb the states that were up for grabs today with television advertisements and you could not joe television advertisements and you could notjoe biden out of the race. that was the idea that he would become the

moderate candidate, he would become the centrist candidate, the candidate around which the moderates coalesced and that just has not happened. joe biden has emerged tonight as the centrist candidate, bloomberg's play has failed, it's like he spent the night in the casino, and spent a ton of money on blackjack, spend a ton of money on roulette, failed with every single one. on the way out he got a couple of waters out of the slot machines from american samoa and someone saying they would validate his parking. it's been a terrible michael bloomberg, his strategy has failed. it's hard to see a viable course from here, the rationale for his candidacy was to ta ke rationale for his candidacy was to take joe biden rationale for his candidacy was to takejoe biden out and to become the centrist candidate because he didn't want any centres to be the nominee, but if he stays in, it becomes the spoilerforjoe biden. he actually helps bernie sanders, soa actually helps bernie sanders, so a lot of thinking for mike bloomberg to do although he does have something which usually forces failed candidate

out of the race, and that is money. he willjust dig deeper in his pockets if he wants to do that. thank you very much for the moment, nick. do that. thank you very much forthe moment, nick. so do that. thank you very much for the moment, nick. so far it has been a blowout forjoe biden, and i have to say i can feel a bit of that because we are getting blown out of our studio. with had lightning, torrential rain and a lot of wind as you can hear. so for the moment, until it passes through, we are going to hand him back to make in a studio in london. thank you, welcome back to our nice warm video in london! —— nice warm studio. the bbc‘s sophie long is at a joe biden event in los angeles california. good evening from california, we are at recreation centre in los angeles, we are expecting former vice presidentjoe biden

to arrive at some point stopping the atmosphere is building with the volume of the music, they imagine when the candidate arrives and a little while he will have a spring in his because it has been a very good start to this super tuesday night forjoe biden. early projections say he has won virginia, north carolina and alabama stopping the polls in california where imr still open for another couple of hours and then they are still accepting postal votes for three days after that we won't get definitive results from california and this of course is the big prize of super tuesday. hundreds of delegates up tuesday. hundreds of delegates upforgrabs, more tuesday. hundreds of delegates up for grabs, more than a third of the 1300 on offer, but i think in terms of how the night is looking forjoe biden it is pretty good. he had a port showing in iowa and new hampshire. a flicker of light came back into his campaign in nevada and then of course he had that resounding win in south carolina on saturday, his

performance also helped tonight by the fact that two moderate candidates, amy klobuchar and pete buttigieg also dropped out ata pete buttigieg also dropped out at a rally in dallas, texas last night, endorsing him, so we wait to see now whether those endorsements and the resounding win will turn into super tuesday delegates topic the indication so far, i have tuesday, are pretty good. worth reminding ourselves, it was such a lacklustre campaign that people were writing upjoe biden a couple of weeks ago. a lot of votes in california, that huge state, already cast but may not be counted for several days. we may not know the full picture for a while. that's a very good point. early voting in california has taken place since the third of february, when iowa went to the polls. that momentum that was created with his resounding win in south carolina on saturday and those endorsements all come

in the past three days, 2h hours, really, a change in the polls. we wait to see how much they can be reflected in the super tuesday delegate results, because of course that early voting, some 40% of people eligible to vote in as primary here in california have already done so. some 3—.5 million people. many of whom will have voted, perhaps, for people no longer on the ballot. so california, the state who said it was this whole political process to be as accessible as possible, they have 24—hour polling stations and early voting started there on saturday. so that could be bad news forjoe biden. they have to say, it is the only bit of bad news you will be thinking about at the moment. we are expecting to see him shortly and they would imagine we would hear a victory speech, despite the fact, as you rightly point out, we won't have definitive results from here in california for several days, if not weeks. polls still open and takes it

—— texas as well. we have some exit polls saying thatjoe biden has done quite well among the latinos voters. by doing much better there is bernie sanders. that will play into california as well. a huge hispanic population. bernie sanders polls very well with them. why was at a polling station earlier today and spoke to lots of students, many of them latino students, each and eve ryo ne them latino students, each and everyone spoke to said they would be voting for bernie sanders. they say they want real change. think a lot of this support forjoe biden tonight across the united states has been from people who wa nt states has been from people who want someone to unite the democratic party, not for real change. so we wait to see what happens in california as we await the former vice president who is due here at any time. sophie, thank you very much indeed. we go live to detroit, michigan.

zak hudak, thanks your time. they know you are very busy. what the latest? the latest is, so far, elizabeth warren is not having the early showing she would like to see and we see her actually right now projected to be in third place in her home state of massachusetts, which is really a worst—case scenario. massachusetts, which is really a worst—case scenario. we saw bernie sanders aiming for that sort of kill shot. saying if you can't when their work and she went? he was there a few days ago and had upwards of 10,000 people at a rally. all ofa 10,000 people at a rally. all of a suddenjoe biden is in the mix ahead of elizabeth warren and a could finish the night that way. it shows the power of omentum and the power of endorsements from people as they dropped out thatjoe biden was raking in yesterday. andy powell that winning south carolina and proving that he is the most capable democrat of winning the black vote here. he is also... here in detroit, elizabeth warren gave mostly a

standard speech in town hall. she was pretty much on message. it was odd only that she wasn't giving a speech that was more resetting expectations after tonight. but really what she was doing was acting as though nothing was out of the ordinary and she is pushing forward and we still don't know the results ina lot we still don't know the results in a lot of the western states, the ones that have the delegates she really needs for the power forward. you may have been hearing this as well, but a lot of women democratic voters telling our correspondence they really wa nted correspondence they really wanted a woman in the race, they really liked elizabeth warren, but this issue of electability came up and they we re electability came up and they were looking at 2016 and thinking hillary clinton couldn't beat donald trump, we don't think elizabeth warren can, we have to go elsewhere. you know, it's an issue that her campaign has had throughout the entire cycle, i think. early on lots of people would say that donald trump would just after her. and they have really tried to show from

various ways that she is someone various ways that she is someone who, despite whatever visors people might have against women, is the right person to take on donald trump. in fact, around the beginning of 2020 she started making the argument that because after donald trump was elected, the day after we had this massive women's march and then in the following mid—term elections we saw democrats win over the house, largely fuelled by women, in particular young women, in particular young women winning the seats, elizabeth warren's argument was the best person to take on donald trump is in fact a woman. beyond that we have seen in recent debates, two debates ago in nevada, she showed herself to be sometimes the most aggressive candidate. it is something they are actively combating, but, at the end of the day, it is still buyers that exist in a lot of americans people's minds, they wonder if a woman can really beat donald trump. thank you for that. zak hudak of cbs in detroit, michigan. we go to anthony zurcher in washington,

dc. anthony, gather you are not on the rooftop, you are safe from the weather. bring us up—to—date. from the weather. bring us up-to-date. it still looks like it is going to be a strong note forjoe biden, at least early on. the right now wadeye am looking at is the state of texas was up it is a big prize in the super tuesday states. second only to california. but california is going to take a while before we know what the results are like, could be weeks before we have a final tabulation. but we are getting early results from texas and it looks like a real toss and the reason why it toss up is because bernie sanders is winning the hispanic vote, about 48% of the hispanic vote from exit polls, whilejoe biden is winning the black vote, which is about 60% of black voters are supporting joe biden and bernie sanders is winning young voters, joe biden is winning old voters. all the things we are seeing playing out some the divides within the democratic party are on display in texas and they are all pulling in different

directions. so they could go either direction. i think it shows us what a dog but this is going forward. joe biden, of course, had always said wait until the latin expo comes out, the african—american vote comes out, it looks like he might be right. the democratic party is a very diverse party. that is something we perhaps didn't really appreciate in those early days looking at the results in iowa and new hampshire, which are overwhelmingly white states. now it's a super tuesday and we are seeing what the bulk of the democratic party, what the real tomography of the democratic party looks like and how they are voting. what it means is these divisions within the party idea logically, as far as progressives who want the big, bold government agenda, versus the moderates who want a more pragmatic approach, they are playing themselves out in the shop divides between the young

and the old, between certain races within the party. at least right now it seems fairly evenly balanced in states like texas. in a state like california, however, which has a lot of delegates, think you will see bernie sanders do very well because that state has a lot of young hispanic voters and they are trending very heavily to bernie sanders. how do you expect, with all your experience, how do you expect this to shake out tonight? elizabeth warren, in particular, she was shaping up to be the main progressive alternative to joe to be the main progressive alternative tojoe biden, she read something like $30 million just recently, she could carry on through mark, is she in danger of losing her home state primary, do you think she might drop out? —— raised. primary, do you think she might drop out? -- raised. she is in danger of losing massachusetts. i think will do reasonably well in california because of that early vote and because of her appeal in that state. again, we won't know a lot about california, don't think of four weeks. it will make it harder for her to point to that and

claim some silver lining to this week or this note's results. with a drops out or not she has talked about campaign events later in the week in different states, states like washington. she is in michigan right now. she has the money to keep on going. she thinks she has, is one of the few women remaining in this race, perhaps an obligation to continue to express her views on the campaign trail. but it is going to become increasingly ha rd is going to become increasingly hard for her to find a plat wa nt to hard for her to find a plat want to talk about what doing, because all of the attention is going to be focused, right or wrong, for better or worse, on thisjoe biden, wrong, for better or worse, on this joe biden, bernie wrong, for better or worse, on thisjoe biden, bernie sanders faceoff. tell us if you have anything more recent honours from your contact, we are seeing joe biden projected to win virginia, north carolina, and arab —— alabama, and now tennessee, according to one network. this is what his campaign is calling momentum.

they have been waiting to roll that out. it has been a month. now they have a chance on the heels of that south carolina win. they are racking up these states. there is a more mid atla ntic states. there is a more mid atlantic cell. he has some real victories and real momentum to point to stop is doing well in these places because he is strong with older voters, strong with older voters, strong with older voters, strong with black voters. and also strong with voters who are later deciders. the fact that all the states did not have a lot of early voting like california and texas, i think that helps them a lot. thank you for that. thanks to for being with us. just to round up what we know so far, pulse have already closed in 12 states. early results projecting the bernie sanders as one is home state of mind. perhaps no surprise. joe biden has taken virginia, north carolina, and alabama, and one network is projecting tennessee as well. six days currently predict did.

the main oklahoma, texas, minnesota, all toss up ‘s between sanders and biden. that is all for now. much more on the bbc website anytime. thanks for watching. hello, we know of course it was a very wet winter. now the met office says it was the uk's third lease frosty winter on record. we are going to start wednesday with a widespread frost. but there is more rain on the way as the weather fronts head in and particularly into parts of england and wales. so even when you start with some sunshine you are going to see cloud increasing and the chance of seeing some rain pushing north, but a lot of uncertainty about how final that rain will get, it may not seem too much for northern ireland and northern england and much of scotland staying dry. this is how it looks temperature wise. first thing, that widespread frost. but we're not cold towards south—west england. that is

because we're starting with cloud and outbreaks of rain. very gradually spreads further north across the rest of southern england, wales, into the midlands during the day. process but you may not see two towards northern england and the north of ireland. cloud will slowly increase annual get showers starting to break out. shower 2a western scotland, where as to the east it is mainly dry. you have a bit of sunshine as well. it will feel a bit cooler. the chance of seeing a bit of hell so into snowdonia, perhaps the peak district, especially as this begins to pull away on a wednesday night. then skies will clear, northern ireland, scotland, northern england in particular for a chance of frost again going into thursday morning. so for some of us it will be a cold start on thursday, but the frost isn't as widespread as elsewhere, temperatures hold up underneath cloud. and then the potential on thursday for seeing some soaking rain into the channel islands, perhaps even southern counties of england, with quite strong winds as well. though

there is a lot to play for in how far north any rain here will get on thursday. so watch this space. showers into north—west scotland, wintry on hills, elsewhere a fair amount of dry weather on thursday. and then into friday we are going to bring a weak weather front east across the uk, just because something can cloud here and the chance for seeing some patchy rain and perhaps some patchy rain and perhaps some al snow out of that, not amounting to too much. fairly quiet at the moment on friday. u nfortu nately, quiet at the moment on friday. unfortunately, that is not going to last. we have a stronger weather system, a dib area of low pressure heading our way into the weekend. here it is. and that means the weather at the weekend will get windy again and this weather front will take rain southwards on saturday. the further south you are you may not see too much rain during daylight hours. and then on sunday, once the weather system begins to pull away, it is sunshine and blustery showers. that's your latest forecast.

this is bbc news, the headlines: polls have closed in more than half of the us states taking part in the super tuesday primaries. senator bernie sanders is projected to win vermont, his home state, whilejoe biden is projected to win virginia, north carolina and alabama. it's estimated six other states could go either way. the who says the mortality rate of those believed to have had the coronavirus appears to be just under 3.5%. that's higher than the usual rate for the flu. the us central bank has made an emergency interest rate cut over economic risks posed by the virus. in the us, at least 25 people were killed as tornados ripped through the city of nashville and across the state of tennessee. buildings collapsed and tens of thousands of people are without power. it struck overnight while many were asleep and unable