this this is bbc news — donald trump takes on michelle obama after she slams him in her convention speech. the former first lady has largely avoided his wrath — until her words last night put her in the presidential cross—hairs. in a stingingly personal rebuke of the man who succeeded her husband, mrs obama said the country deserved better. he cannot meet this moment. he simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. it is what it is. the us postmaster general says he's suspending changes to the postal service — democrats had warned that the service was being deliberately run down ahead of the election also in the programme.... coronavirus clusters at three us universities afterjust one week

and...is this potty — or is it a loo—cid example of our future. the japanese toilet cublicles that are see through. hello, i'm katty kay in washington, christian fraser is in london. donald trump is in iowa and the democrats are celebrating the woman they sort of wish was running for president. michelle obama dominated the opening night of the party's virtual convention with a speech that made no attempt to hide her disdainfoertrump. the visceral force of obama's address overshadowed everything else from the first night of the convention. but in the speech there was also a warning for fellow democrats. this was a call to action. mrs obama reminded them of 2016, when trump won by the slimmest

of margins, in a few counties, in a few key states. the price of failure this time, she said, is just too great to imagine. let me be as honest and clear as i possibly can. donald trump is the wrong president for our country. he has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. he cannot meet this moment. he simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. it is what it is. so if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this, if you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don't make a change in this election. if we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote forjoe biden like our lives depend on it.

president trump was never gonna take that lying down was he? frankly, she should've made the speech life, frankly, she should've made the speech live, which she didn't do, she taped it. it was not only taped, it was taped along time ago, because she had the wrong deaths. she didn't even mention vice presidential candidate in the speech, you know, she gets these fawning reviews. face many more questions a onit what if you gave her a real review, it wouldn't be so fawning. i thought it was a very divisive speech, extremely divisive. let's bring in our north america editor, jon sopel. no question with the highlight of that was, maybe even the question of -- highlight that was, maybe even the question of —— highlight of the week. that was, maybe even the question of -- highlight of the week. she's very powerful, and for some who says she hates politics, which she did in a speech last night, she's pretty damn good at it, isn't she? she knew exactly what she was saying. i got the impression from a christian, that this was a speech that had taken her that this was a speech that had ta ken her five that this was a speech that had taken her five minutes to write and three and half years to deliver. she

has been itching to say these things we re has been itching to say these things were a has been itching to say these things we re a very has been itching to say these things were a very long time and finally she had the opportunity last night and she didn't mince her words, did she? no, she didn't. elsewhere, we have the sort of book ends, didn't we come democratic party. john casey, a republican, political opposite if you will to bernie sanders. the message was, what? unity, that all of these different forces in the democratic party can pull together? but, for how long? yeah, you know, i started watching la st yeah, you know, i started watching last night and started behaving like atv last night and started behaving like a tv critic and thinking, "what are the productive values like was my close what i've got to forget all about. this is a political event, judge of the politics are, and actually, politics involved a lot of box ticking, so that we can appeal to republicans come injohn casey, the former governor of ohio, talk about george floyd, his brother's on for a moment's silence. about george floyd, his brother's on fora moment's silence. run about george floyd, his brother's on for a moment's silence. run a virus, a woman talking but the death of her father and saying that the only

reason “— father and saying that the only reason —— pre—existing condition she had —— he had was that he trusted donald trump. so it went on. bernie sanders to reassure the left. i think that it was as a piece of political stage management, it was very carefully thought through and pretty well done. i'm sure the democrats are thinking, welcome you know, we are going to get some blowback from donald trump, but it wouldn't have been normal if we didn't. i think they will feel that it was a job done. yes, so, john from alas that we spent quite a lot of time on the programme talking about the us postal service him and not something we normally do, because democrats are saying that the president is trying to undermine it, to stop mail—in voting. we had just a major reversal from the administration, did the white house decide that going after the post service was actually going to damage the more than it was going to help them? ina in a country that is so divided, one thing that unites americans as its postal service. it has enormous popular support. so when donald trump was saying, "i'm not going to

give any funds so that it makes postal voting impossible." give any funds so that it makes postal voting impossible. " then give any funds so that it makes postal voting impossible." then you saw postal voting impossible." then you saw the sights of postal boxes being ripped off street corners and loaded onto lorries, perhaps the idea that there would be no overtime for people to deliver the mail in ballots that are going to be used so extensively this election from it looked like a political fix. i think that there has been a massive reverse that there has been a massive reverse thrust, we have had this statement from the head of the post office today saying, we will deliver the nation's election mail on—time and within our well—established service standards and to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, i'm suspending the initiatives that were going to change the way the us postal service was change the way the us postal service was going to be run. he is due before congress next week, he will face many more questions about what before congress next week, he will