welcome to bbc news — i'm mike embley. our top stories: night three of this year's largely virtual democratic convention, as the party continues its mission to persuade millions of americans to vote for then on the third of november. and it's kamala harris' turn this evening — the vice presidential candidate will formally accept her nomination forjoe biden‘s ticket as she tries to convince americans that she's the woman for thejob. as kamala harris takes centre stage, we visit the beaches of the indian city of chennai, where the democrats pick for vp says her political views were shaped. and after the president's adverse comments about his predecessor, barack obama is expected to tell the convention that donald trump has failed the us on coronavirus, the econmy and its reputation overseas.

hello. the democratic party in the united states isjust starting the third evening of its virtual national convention. tonight, it will be the turn of former president barack obama and vice—presidential pick kamala harris, with back—up from elizabeth warren and hillary clinton, to try to persuade voters to backjoe biden, over donald trump. laura trevelyan is in wilmington, delaware for us. that is joe biden‘s that isjoe biden‘s hometown and home state. laura, barack obama, plainly not a woman. we will come to him in a moment. a lot of women on tonight's bill and there is a sound political reason for that. there is, mike, it is a hundred years since the ratification of the 19th amendment when women got the boat in america. there is

an historic acceptance of the nomination for vice president tonight by kamala harris. she becomes the first woman of colour to be on the ticket for a major political party and of course, women are the key constituency in this election, it is women who have really been moving away from donald trump, especially college—educated women. such tonight, we have nancy pelosi speaking, hillary clinton speaking, hillary clinton speaking, elizabeth warren, that lion of the progressive left. so so many democratic heavy hitters tonight, barack obama, and finally kamala harris herself. so the focus tonight is we the people, the idea is that we will also hear more about the actual policies thatjoe biden would enact where her to be elected — mckee to be elected president. we we re to be elected president. we were here on climate change, gun—control in the next election. we the young people

as well, interesting, this pitch for a certain young people. billie eilish performing. absolutely. we will see if performing. absolutely. we will seeifjoe performing. absolutely. we will see ifjoe biden in a video engaging younger activists over climate change. you know, there is this concern behind the scenes that democrats have that because joe scenes that democrats have that becausejoe biden scenes that democrats have that because joe biden is scenes that democrats have that becausejoe biden is 77 and harris herself is in her mid— 50s, who is going to excite younger voters in the way barack obama did and the way that hillary clinton failed to with her running mate tim kane. yes, we have seen the entertainment, the attempts to engage the yarn but also leading off tonight with this issue of control. speaking to some of the parkland activists with that school shooting in florida. this will be the focus at the beginning and of course isa at the beginning and of course is a huge issue for many young people are so many school shootings. it is interesting to see everything the democrats are going to try and tonight. barack obama, are going to try and tonight. ba rack obama, what are going to try and tonight. barack obama, what we have been given so far, any indications

of what he is going to say, really quite apocalyptic about democracy itself being at risk. it is unusual to see presidents like this trading bars of each other. it is very unusual and also barack obama in general has avoided mentioning donald trump by name. this is highly significant and it comes just two days after his wife opened up two days after his wife opened up with that attack on donald trump, saying that he failed to step up. and tonight, barack obama is going to be speaking for the museum of the american revolution in philadelphia to underscore his point that democracy is that risk. he is going to late on the line. he will say that donald trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't. so you can only imagine what kind of reaction that will provoke from donald trump. it is extremely stark, direct, and as you say, really unprecedented for a former president to attack a sitting one in this way. it shows you how high barack obama feels the stakes are. i know

you have got many other bbc programs to talk to. we must let you go. thank you very much for that. all eyes will be on kamala harris tonight as she steps up to accept the nomination as the party's candidate for vice president. she'll become the first woman of colour in us history, to do so. kamala harris is half jamaican, half indian, and her indian heritage has been key in shaping her ideas. rajini vaidya nathan reports. my grandparents were phenomenal. we would go back to india every other year. in social media videos, kamala harris has often talked about the importance of her indian roots. my grandfather would take me on his morning walk. it was on the pristine sands of elliot's beach in the south indian city of chennai where she says her political views were shaped. a young kamala harris would join her grandfather, pv gopalan, on walks with his friends. i would hold his hand and i remember the stories that they would tell and the passion with which they spoke about the importance of democracy. it was those walks on the beach

with my grandfather in besa nt nagar that had a profound impact on who i am today. her uncle told me the family were raised to be open—minded in an india that could be deeply conservative. i think these are the values she picked up, be tolerant. if your children want to do something that you will not do, do not stop them from doing that just because you would not do that. do not worry about black, blue, yellow, green, orange or anything like that. in another video, kamala harris speaks about how her mother shyamala defined her life. shyamala gopalan moved to the us to study at the age of 19 and married jamaican student donald harris. they later divorced, with shyamala raising their two daughters.

...all the civil rights activity, so from a very young age she was strongly influenced by shyamala. how do you feel about president trump's attacks on your niece? she can take it on the chin, she is quite capable of doing that. one thing shyamala taught her children all, don't take anything lying down. if anybody questions your individuality or anything that you do, fight back. in her family's ancestral village in south india, signs wishing kamala harris good luck. in many ways herjourney to one of the biggestjobs in politics began here. who knows where it will end? rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news. i'm nowjoined from washington by liza acevedo — a democratic strategist who worked as deputy national press secretary for julian castro on his 2020 presidential campaign.

good to talk to you, thank you for your time. what encourages you and what worries you about the way this is going so far?|j think the convention is going great so far. i think we are seeing a lot of energy, a lot of people who are enthused and the first night i believe there we re the first night i believe there were actually two point 5 million viewers that tuned in wishes something that absolutely incredible. i think the way that the democrats are running it this year is actually a chance to engage with new voters, build a new coalition and bringing people into the group. i'm excited tonight, excited to see kamala give her speech and all the excitement that is going to be generated around that. you have dodged the question around what worries you, what concerns do you have around the way this is going away might be going with voters 7 going away might be going with voters? at the moment, i think the party is doing the best with its outreach that it can. what we are faced up against

right now is a national pandemic and it is a pandemic that the president has not been able to get a handle on, has not been able to address. president has frozen to use this rhetoric, chosen to attack vice biden, chosen to attack senator harris and the attacks are falling flat. right now, i think the democrats have an advantage moving forward. people are out of work and facing eviction in our country. people are worried if they are going to receive the next paycheck and the president is on twitter constantly every single dayjust on twitter constantly every single day just tweeting on twitter constantly every single dayjust tweeting away nasty deceitful comments and i don't think it's getting him any attention. if you look at the poles, —— polls, joe biden and kamala harris are up in the polls may lots of work to do still. the viewing figures are down over most years. i know the party is saying a lot of people watching their instead but it is quite tricky to

generate enthusiasm when you're not seeing enthusiasm from a mass of people, you're not seeing a balloon drop on the screens. i will tell you this, when senator harris was announced, i saw enthusiasm, i personally cried myself when it was announced. i know there are times of young girls around the country, especially women of colour who really saw themselves and felt represented. so between the time of her announcement and what we are seeing tonight especially with her remarks coming this evening, i think we're going see another surge in enthusiasm. women during this convention from jill biden last night to show obama's speech and her remarks, women area speech and her remarks, women are a critical voting bloc in this election come november. on the way that the party has been conducting its outreach and what we have seen thus far in engagement, i think they are doing a greatjob. engagement, i think they are doing a great job. the signs are they that in those crucial swing states, there are a lot of democratic, normally

democratic party voters who simply didn't vote in 2016. are you convinced that joe simply didn't vote in 2016. are you convinced thatjoe biden and kamala harris are the people to bring them back?|j am, people to bring them back?” am, without a doubt. i think joe biden has a sense of empathy, a sense of outrage. when we have policy plans on top of that that are engaging people. the speakers tonight at the convention such as elizabeth warren who ran for president herself on a progressive platform. you have this engagement that was done during the entire presidential campaign. people got to know senator harris because she ran her own campaign and i think seeing them come together tonight, really says something. and on top of that, we currently have a president who has a racist tone and delivers racist remarks constantly. what isa racist remarks constantly. what is a better historic message to send to the american people than nominating the first black woman as vice president? we have been seeing on our

screens, i don't know if you as i getting as well but a big efforts, the former representative from arizona. gun control clearly a message the democrats want to get over but it is also a message that the republicans push very hard, that the democrats are coming to ta ke that the democrats are coming to take your guns. it is a message they continue to push and wonder they're message they continue to push and wonder they‘ re not message they continue to push and wonder they're not going to give up on. at the same time, the other day, the party or donald trump decided to push buffer messages — birther, and all of those racist and sexist m essa 9 es all of those racist and sexist messages are falling flat. they wa nt to messages are falling flat. they want to continue the gun narrative but at the end of the day, the people are smart enough and want to come together and say, well, you're not so truthful with us behind all of this so why should we believe with you when you say this. people already, they're ready for change and fed up and tired over these past four yea rs. tired over these past four years. and i think gabby gifford standing up there and delivering a message tonight is

so crucial. we honestly know the pain she went through, as well as her husband, mike kelly, he is running in arizona right now which is being considered a purple state and he is up in the polls. if anyone should be worried, should be the republicans. there are the appearances that the parties far more unified thanit the parties far more unified than it was in is thatjust pr oran than it was in is thatjust pr or an appearance, or not? be honest. i am an hundred % orange. i think they are definitely unified. i was on there on the campaign trail as you mentioned before with secretary castro. as the candidates all came together, maybe there were differences on certain issues or differences on how to actually articulate them a go—ahead on them but eve ryo ne them a go—ahead on them but everyone believed in the same message, everybody needs everybody needs to get a paycheck coming and people should not be working two jobs. we have to raise the minimum wage. maybe there were differences in how we actually achieve and go about reaching

these goals but there was a unity and a sense of the message and what we represent asa message and what we represent as a party. and i also believe that as we watched in these nights in the convention, we have seen a coalition of speakers come together. we have seen diversity on that stage. we have seen democrats, republicans, more to the left progressives. we have seen it all. i think that really represents the unity that the democrats have been stating. lies are, thank you so much. of course, happy to be with you. keeping an eye on the convention of course. we are expecting a performance from billie eilish and after that a space from hillary clinton. —— speech. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: night three of this year's largely virtual democratic convention, as the party continues its mission to pesuade millions of amecians to vote for them on the third of november. kamala harris, the vice presidential candidate, is to formally accept her nomination to be onjoe biden's ticket.

donald trump has called for a boycott of american tyre company goodyear, stoking a controversy over political expression in the workplace. the company allegedly banned its employees from wearing political clothing which supported the president. paul hawkins reports. the largest tire company in north america and now in president trump's bad books. what they are doing is playing politics and the funny thing is that the people who work for goodyear, i can guarantee you, a poll very well with all of those great workers in goodyear, and when they say that you can't have blue lives matter, you can't show a blue line, you can't wear a maga hat, there's something wrong at the top of goodyear. company found itself in the president's cross ha i rs after a

found itself in the president's crosshairs after a report based ona crosshairs after a report based on a slide from the presentation. slide said black lives matter and other equality issues were acceptable while gear bearing the trump campaign slogan make america great again plus all lives matter and blue lives matter were deemed unacceptable. they want to wear a maga hat or if they want to where blue lives matter, you know that, right, it's policemen and women. that's a terrible thing. that's a terrible thing. that's a terrible thing. that's a terrible thing. they are using their power over these people and these people want to wear whatever it is they want to wear. if there were an alternative, would you want those tires swapped out? yes, i would swap them out based on what i heard. you are going to have a lot of people not wanting to buy their product anymore, and they will buy from anymore, and they will buy from a competitor. made in the usa, too. goodyear said the sliding question had not been prepared at its headquarters and that

it's at its headquarters and that its rules about activism that falls outside the scope of racial justice and falls outside the scope of racialjustice and equity issues, plus, contrary to reports, it wholeheartedly supported both equality and law enforcement. it isn't the first and it won't be the last company to get caught up in battles of politics and race before november's election. police in france believe a 16—year—old boy from sudan, whose body was found on a beach near calais, drowned while trying to cross the channel to reach the uk. so far this year nearly 5,000 migrants have made the crossing, with dozens today attempting to make the dangerous journey in flimsy vessels. the discovery of the dead boy highlights the challenge faced by the governments of both britain and france. lucy williamson reports. in the sudanese camp in calais today, everyone had heard of the boy from back home found dead on a beach down the coast. no—one was surprised that he tried to sail to the uk in a dinghy, nor even that he died. "this is what life here

is like," one said. governments do not care about us. if we are all dying, they don't care about that. ahmad, sheltering inside his tent — from both the camera and the rain — has been trying to cross the channel in one way or another for the past five years. they don't care. if they care, the uk can open the border to people if they don't like the people dying at sea. this is where the teenager's body was found this morning, hours after he'd set sail with another boy in a small inflatable boat. when the boat capsized, only one of the boys was found alive. he's said to have told rescuers that his missing companion couldn't swim. this crossing did not have the usual hallmarks of a smuggling network, more a desperate, homemade attempt by two teenagers to cross on their own. but it will fuel a growing political row on both sides of the channel about how to stop migration across this stretch of water — and who's to blame

when they can't. more than 1,200 people have crossed the channel in small boats so far this month. these people arrived in kent today. a local mp here in calais said no amount of policing would stop migrants pursuing their dream and accused the british of lacking even an ounce of humanity by not allowing people to claim asylum from outside the uk. the craft they are taking to are, frankly, not even fit to go out on a beach, on a pleasure trip. these are tiny boats, they have sometimes no motor, they‘ re using kayaks that they buy in sport shops — all kinds of desperate measures with which to make it to england. the home secretary, priti patel, said on twitter today... she's vowed to make the channel crossing unviable. not everyone can afford

to pay smugglers. the boys who put to sea last night reportedly used stolen shovels as oars. prepared to cross alone, without an engine, the teenage retort to police, politicians and laws. lucy williamson, bbc news, calais. the president of the west african state of mali, has appeared on state television, to announce his resignation. yesterday, in an apparent coup attempt, the president was arrested by the military, along with the prime minister. the rebel leaders are promising new elections. but the apparent military takeover in the capital bamako has been condemned by the international community, including the united nation secretary general and france, the former colonial power and in the last hour the eu. for more, here's our west africa reporter, this is mali right now, a wary calm and continuation of life. but yesterday, celebrations of rebellious military personnel launching a mutiny and arresting the president

ibrahim boubakar kate and several government members. last night the president resigned and dissolved his government. translation: if some elements of our armed forces today were happy to conclude that it should be the end of my term as president with their intervention, do i really have the choice not to comply? i do not want any blood to be shed to keep me in business. the military rebels have called their movement the national committee of the salvation of the people, claim they aren't interested in power but want stability and have formed a transitional government and will have new elections within a reasonable time. but this action has been condemned by the united nations, the european union and the economic community of west african states. for months, tens of thousands have taken to the streets to demand the resignation of the president over corruption, the state of the country's economy and increased violence from militantjihadists who threatened to continue the sahel region.

an emergency un security council meeting is due to take place later today because now mali is without a constitutional government, the rest of the regional stability is being called into question. chi chi uzundu, bbc news. thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes near the us city of san francisco, as a number of fast moving wildfires swept into the region. police and firefighters have been going from door to door, urging people to leave while us authorities say the pilot of a water—dropping helicopter died after his aircraft crashed. the governor of california has declared a state of emergency. tanya dendrinos reports. this is the unmistakable roar of a firestorm. flames licking at the roadway, an ominous orange glow across the blackened sky and residents scrambling to make it out. it took me a while to get out, so my husband was driving

the car and he got burnt and he had to leave the car and it blew up so i was walking down by myself, and i got all these flames on me and i lost my shoe. but i made it. god saved me. this couple, among thousands forced to flee their homes between san francisco and sacramento as the infernos took hold. precious lives saved as structures were engulfed. from the air, the blanket of smoke reveals the sheer scale of the disaster. a wall of raging fire showcasing the intensity of this blaze and the battle at the hands of fire crews desperately trying to gain control. this is very difficult terrain to operate in, it is very steep, there's lots of dry fuels and of course we have very high temperatures, low relative humidities. all the forces to make this a very challenging fight. with hundreds of fires burning across the state and many structures already destroyed,

the governor of california has declared a state of emergency, and for residents still on standby, the anxious wait continues. we are experiencing fires the likes of which we haven't seen for many years. you consider, 367 active fires that we are aware of all across the state of california. it's just take you back to that virtual national convention. laura trevelyan is in wilmington, delaware for us. at the moment, centred very much on climate change? yes indeed, but just before much on climate change? yes indeed, butjust before that there was a surprise appearance by pamela harris herself. she p°pped by pamela harris herself. she normed up by pamela harris herself. she popped up right at the beginning just when we were last chatting and it was a real

theme of this week, she urged americans to make a plan to vote. remember when we saw michelle obama wearing that necklace that spelt out vote, she was urging americans to make a she was urging americans to makea plan, she was urging americans to make a plan, pack a she was urging americans to make a plan, packa bag, stand in line as long as it takes. this is of course and the error of coronavirus it might take longer to vote in person with social distancing, there are all kinds of concerns about voting by mail and whether there are attempt by the trump appointees who runs the post office to scale back the capacity of the post office to handle millions of mail and ballot, so there we are. kamala harris right at the beginning cutting to the chase and urging people, make a plan to vote, but we will hear more from her later. and concern about voter suppression, simply about it being made harderfor people in certain areas might vote certain areas might vote certain ways devote. i understand ba rack certain ways devote. i understand barack obama is going to be quite explicit, as he puts it, tomorrow's

democracy itself at risk. barack obama is going to speak from the museum of american revolution and philadelphia. a lot of the keynotes are live, so there's already a different dynamic to this evening, it's feeling like less the virtual convention and more of the traditional one. you can feel the excitement because we are going to hearfrom hillary clinton, who so narrowly lost to donald trump in 2016 and she's going to say let's not have this be another woulda coulda shoulda convention, so there is much more of an urgency and a drama to tonight than there has been. we were hearing earlier from victims of gun crime, how is this issue played for most voters, as far as we can tell? only the republicans are banging very ha rd republicans are banging very hard on the drum that says, democrats are going to take away your guns? it is interesting, in rural america

of course there are great concerns about the second amendment, and that a biden presidency would undermine the right to bear arms, yet in suburban america, polling suggests that gun—control and climate change are the issues that really motivate people, until of course the coronavirus pandemic came along. so you have this divide in america but you have, clearly with the democrats kicking off tonight with this segment on gun control, that's showing just how much they wish to see progress on this issue. joe biden has talked before about how he was one of the people who brought this weapons ban through congress. that has now expired so one of the things that democrats are hoping that they could do is bring in more restrictions if they could, but gun—control one of those hugely divisive issues and one which really motivates supporters of president trump, and he himself isa president trump, and he himself is a staunch defender of the

second amendment and has the backing of the powerful national rifle association. on the other half of the screen there we have just been seeing there we have just been seeing the unmistakable hair and some of the unmistakable talent of billie eilish. this is a very clear pitch for a youth demographic? absolutely, and we haven't seen that many people under a0 or indeed under 50 speaking, with the notable exception of alexandria ocasio—cortez, there was a brief showcasing of 17 rising stars yesterday, but in general the speakers are trending a little older and of course one of the concerns that democrats have as, how do they recreate that coalition that barack obama had in 2008 and 2012, which was young voters, voters of colour, suburban voters, so that's the secret sauce the democrats are trying to get back and yes, i'm sure that billie eilish will be part of that. do you have a sense of how all this is playing with

younger voters? not really. the only statistic that we have at all in terms of this convention is the fact that tv audiences are down 25% from 2016, although there does seem to be although there does seem to be a little bit of a growth in the digital audience, good news for democrats is that the audience pretty much held up from night one tonight too, you would expect that this evening would generate more excitement because barack generate more excitement because ba rack obama generate more excitement because barack obama is speaking, hillary clinton is speaking, hillary clinton is speaking and of course pamela harris formally accepts the nomination so we will see when we get those overnights tomorrow. just keep an eye on that because we are expecting hillary clinton to speak very soon after this but just hillary clinton to speak very soon after this butjust before billie eilish there was a long video about the dangers of climate change. again, should be of major concern to everybody but particular, no doubt, to younger voters. that's right. of course the green new deal that alexandria ocasio—cortez came up with, this idea that you could both

have a clean environment and create much needed jobs. the green new deal hasn't been fully adopted by the biden platform. he makes a reference to it but he hasn't adopted it and that's one of the issues that very much excited younger voters, this idea of a radical plan to combat climate change. joe biden is doing something that has made a little more incremental. laura, thank you very much indeed. let's fill you in on some more international news. european leaders have agreed to impose sanctions on anyone involved in belarus. they describe violence against demonstrate is as shocking and unacceptable. they said president alexander lukashenko had rigged the vote to claim a landslide victory. mr lukashenko has ordered security forces to end the unrest in belarus, but hundreds of demonstrators defied him and returned to the streets of the capital minsk. police did not step in.