x»: “by”; w" grieving the loss of grieving. grieving the loss of life, the loss ofjobs, the loss of opportunities, the loss of normalcy, and yes, the loss of normalcy, and yes, the loss of certainty. and while this virus touches us all, we've got to be honest, it is not an equal opportunity offender. black, latino and indigenous people are suffering and dying disproportionately, and dying disproportionately, and this is not a coincidence, it is the effect of structural racism, of inequities in education and technology, healthcare and housing, job security and transportation. the injustice in reproductive and maternal healthca re the injustice in reproductive and maternal healthcare and the excessive use of force by the police, and in our broader criminal justice system. police, and in our broader

criminaljustice system. this virus, it has no eyes and yet it knows exactly how we see each other and how we treat each other and how we treat each other. and let's be clear, there is no vaccine for racism. we have got to do the work. for george floyd, for breonna taylor, for the lives of too many others to name, for our children and for all of us. we have got to do the work to fulfil that promise of equal justice under law. because here is the thing, none of us are free until all of us are free. so we are at an inflection point, the constant chaos leaves us adrift, the

incompetence makes us feel afraid. the callousness makes us afraid. the callousness makes us feel alone. it is a lot. and here is the thing, we can do better and deserve so much more. we must elect a president that will bring something different, something better and do the important work, a president who will bring all of us president who will bring all of us together, black, latino, asian, indigenous, to achieve a future we collectively want. we must electjoe biden. and i will tell you, i knew joe must electjoe biden. and i will tell you, i knewjoe as vice president, i knewjoe on the campaign trailand vice president, i knewjoe on the campaign trail and i first got to knowjoe as the father

of my friend. so joe's got to knowjoe as the father of my friend. sojoe‘s son bo served as attorney generals in delaware and california together. during the great recession, we spoke on the phone nearly every day, working together to bring back billions of dollars from the big banks that foreclosed on people's homes. and bo and i would talk about his family, how as a single father, joe would spend four hours every day riding the train back and forth from wilmington to washington. bo and hunter, got to have brea kfast and hunter, got to have breakfast every morning with their dad. they went to sleep every night with the sound of his voice reading bedtime stories. and while they endured an unspeakable loss, those two little boys always knew that they were deeply,

unconditionally loved. and what also moved me aboutjoe is the work that he did as he was going back and forth. this is the leader who wrote the violence against women act and enacted the assault weapons ban, who as vice president, implemented the recovery act, which brought our country back from the great recession. he championed the affordable care act, protecting millions of americans were pre—existing conditions. who spent decades promoting american values and interest around the world. joe, he believes we stand with our allies and stand up to our adverse areas. —— adverse right now, we have a president

who turns our tragedies into political weapons. there will bea political weapons. there will be a president who turns our challenges into purpose. joe will bring us together to build an economy that doesn't leave anyone behind. where a good paying job is the floor, not the ceiling. joe will bring us together to end this pandemic and make sure that we are prepared for the next point. joe will bring us together to squarely face and dismantle racist injustice, favouring the work of generations. joe and i believe that we can build that beloved community, one that is strong and decent. just, and kind. one in which we can all see ourselves. that is the

vision that our parents and grandparents fought for. the vision that made my own life possible, the vision that makes the american promise for all of its complexities and imperfections a promise worth fighting for. so make no mistake, the road ahead is not easy. we may stumble, we may fall short but i pledge to you that we will act boldly and deal with our challenges honestly. we will speak truths and we will act with the same faith in you that we ask you to place in us. we believe that oui’ place in us. we believe that our country, all of us, will stand together for a better future. and we already are. we

see it in the doctors and the nurses and the home healthcare workers and frontline workers who are risking their lives to save people they have never met. we see it in the teachers and truck drivers, the factory workers and farmers, the postal workers and farmers, the postal workers and farmers, the postal workers and poll workers, or putting their own safety on the line to help us get through this pandemic. and we see it in so this pandemic. and we see it in so many of you who are working, not just to get so many of you who are working, notjust to get us through our current crisis but to get us somewhere better. there is something happening all across oui’ something happening all across our country, it's not aboutjoe oi’ our country, it's not aboutjoe or me, it is about you. and it is about us. people of all ages and colours and creeds who are, yes, taking to the streets and

also persuading our family members, rallying our friends, organising our neighbours and getting out the vote. and we have shown that when we vote, we expand access to healthcare and expand access to the ballot box and ensure that more working families can make a decent living. and i am so inspired by a new generation, you, you are pushing us to realise the ideals of our nation. pushing us to live the values we share. decency and fairness, justice and love. you are patriots who remind us that to love our country is to fight for the ideals of our country.

in this election, we have a chance to change the course of history. we are all in this fight, you, me, and joe. together. what an awesome responsibility, what an awesome privilege. so let's fight with conviction, let's fight with hope, let's fight with confidence in ourselves and a commitment to each other. to the america we know is possible. the america we love. and years from now, at this moment will have passed and our children and our grandchildren will look in our eyes and they

are going to ask us, where were you when the stakes were so high? they will ask us, what was it like and we will tell them, we will tell them not just how we felt, we will tell them what we did. thank you, god bless you and god bless the united states of america. on bbc news, live on what has been the virtual democratic party convention in yard states. kamala harris, a black woman of indian and jamaican heritage therefore the first time in american history, a woman of colour on the bus presidential ticket for a major party in the united states. the vice presidential candidate formally accepting her nomination forjoe biden's ticket. the convention will and this particular night. the last night with a performance by jennifer hudson. let's speak to

laura in wilmington delaware right now. laura, well, it's a moment. it certainly is. and what an extraordinary setting for that speech. there she was speaking to an almost empty convention hall behind me. but two things really struck me when she talked about the coronavirus pandemic and she pointed out that here in america, it is not an equal opportunity offender, she said that blacks, hispanics, native americans are dying in greater numbers. she said this is the effect of structural racism and then she went on to say that there is no vaccine for racism and to say that the legacy of this moment of racial reckoning in america following the death of george floyd should be that finally america treats everybody equally under the law. so very powerful there speaking out as a black woman and an woman of

indian descent. she spoke about those twin crises facing america of the coronavirus and the reckoning over racial injustice from her perspective. she introduced herself to america's wealth at the beginning, is the daughter of a single mother who was brought up single mother who was brought up to believe in hard work and public service who went on to bea public service who went on to be a prosecutor and then she spoke warmly aboutjoe biden and his empathy, his ability to lead and said that he was the man who would end this pandemic and make sure that there wasn't another one. so, a powerful performance there, a staring one in, americans don't know her that well —— stirring one. they saw her a little bit during the race for the democratic nomination. that was kamala harris introducing herself to the world. have touched on it and it has been said before but so often the vice presidency, the running mate is a bit of a sideshow but in this case, if voters are going to electjoe biden, have to a cce pt going to electjoe biden, have to accept that he's going to be 78, the office president i think ever to take office. has hinted he doesn't want to serve

a single term more, to elect him, voters have to see kamala harris as a president. that's right, joe biden has talked about himself as a transitional figure. he has flirted with the idea that he wouldn't serve for a second term were elected, wouldn't run for a second term. so yes, the choice is more the more important. she is in the middle 50s. she represents the future of the democratic party, the continuation of the obama coalition. so the question is, will she be able to generate the same excitement on the ticket that barack obama did when he was leading it in 2008 and 2012, because that is none of the reasons whyjoe biden has picked so that she can bring to the ticket the youthful vigor and ability to turn our photos in huge numbers that barack turn our photos in huge numbers that ba rack obama turn our photos in huge numbers that barack obama spoke earlier on about tonight. that is what is going to need to happen according to barack obama is, we going to have to turn out in such big numbers he said to

democrats, so there could be no doubt about the results. so, a fascinating night in the american political history that are not. what is the job from here on in the rest of the campaign, ithink here on in the rest of the campaign, i think there are 76 days or so. there will be the vice presidential debate with mike pence but much more than that? well, she has to articulate what it is that the biden harris presidency would do and she didn't talk too much about it there. she talked about it there. she talked about her own story which was inspirational, she talked about her own background. but so far, this convention has been lighter than what they would do and strong on the criticism on donald trump and his unfitness for office which of course rubber echoes with what hillary clinton did rather u nsuccessfully clinton did rather unsuccessfully in 2016. now course, donald trump has a record. she will face attacks also all of next week from donald trump in the nominating convention when he accepts the fa ct convention when he accepts the fact that he is running for a

second term. straightaway, the attacks will begin and herjob what they would do, how they would and the pandemic and bring back means ofjobs. clean energy they are talking about isa energy they are talking about is a way of doing it to put me on the bones. let's just have a listen to some of the invoices day three. barack obama said donald trump had not grown into the job of president of the united states. i've sat in the oval office with both men who are running for president. i never expected that my successor would embrace my vision or continue my policies. i did hope, for the sake of our country, that donald trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously. that he might come to feel the weight of the office and discover some

revere nce office and discover some reverence for the democracy that had been placed in his care. but he never did. for close to four years now, he has shown no interest in putting in the work. no interest in finding common ground, no interested in finding the use of the office to help anyone except himself and his friends. treating the presidency as anything more than one more reality show he can use to get the attention he craves. donald trump hasn't grown into thejob, because he can't. and the consequences of that failure are severe. barack obama, of course. the former secretary of state, hillary clinton, who lost to mr trump four years ago said the president was dangerous. who won the popular vote lost to those key swing states by

80,000 votes. she said the president was dangerous. forfour for four years, people have told me, i didn't realise how dangerous he was. i wish they could do it all over, or worse, i should have voted. look, this can't be another woulda coulda shoulda election. if you vote in person, do it early. become a poll worker. most of all, no matter what, vote. as michelle obama and bernie sanders warned us, if trump is re—elected, things will get even worse. that's why we need unity now more than ever. remember back in 2016 when trump asked, what do you have to lose? well, now we know. our healthcare, our jobs, our loved ones. our leadership in the world and even our post office. hillary

clinton there. i'm nowjoined from san francisco by ben labolt who was national press secretary for president obama's re—election campaign in 2012. good to talk to you, thank you for your time. i know you have been waiting quite a while to talk to us. of course you are going to say it's a riproaring success. and fairness, what concerns you? what makes you nervous about what you have been seeing and hearing?” think we have gone into this convention incredibly unified. this is a big party with some ideological diversity in at. we got some really strong progressive, moderate, republicans who aren't co mforta ble republicans who aren't comfortable voting for donald trump again, and this convention had to speak to all of them and i think whether you are listening to barack obama, michelle obama, hillary clinton or bernie sanders, they were unified in their opposition to donald trump as an existential threat and they've done a great

job of credentialling joe biden who has led this country through an economic recovery before. the playbook to prevent the next pandemic which was left for the bush administration which has played administration which has played a role in putting so many of the federaljudges on the bench across this country and a lifetime in public service. it's the same thing that worries democrats since 2016. nobody, including donald trump, thought donald trump was going to win in 2016, so there were a number of voters out there who weren't telling pollsters that they were planning to pull the lever for donald trump. we know there are still undecideds out there are still undecideds out there to close so the job of this convention is not only to rally the faithful but to really focus on reaching those undecideds and i think the most impactful thing that it has done is here the stories of regular people who have been impacted by this

administration, like the story you heard about the family of immigrants tonight who were just completely dehumanised by donald trump and came to america because they believed in the american dream. and those key swing states, there we re those key swing states, there were quite a few people who voted democratic who just didn't turn out in 2016 and clearly you have to get hold of them again, but also its plane, there were a whole bunch of people who were so frightened by the idea of barack obama that they voted for donald trump. isn't it likely that those same people will be even more frightened by the idea of a black woman? i'm not sure that's what i would attributed to. a lot of countries are experiencing fear right now over some massive global trends, mainly the trends of globalisation and automation and if you live in a town where the core industry has left,

yourfamily is the core industry has left, your family is not the core industry has left, yourfamily is not doing any better than you did, you worry about your children's future, it was certainly a jolt to the system in 2016 and there are a number of people out there who voted in protest, but i think they have seen the results haven't gotten any better and you are hearing from republicans in wisconsin and michigan where manufacturing has been hammered because of the trade war that donald trump started with china. they really can't believe that america used to lead the global response in the world when things like a global pandemic hat, and the obama biden administration when ebola threatened, h1n1, and we just can't do that anymore with donald trump as president and you are seeing a lot of folks rally for the parties saying they have been lifelong democrats but they would certainly rather vote forjoe

biden over donald trump. just briefly, it's very unusual, wasn't it, to hear a former president attack by name a sitting president and also to sound so apocalyptic about democracy itself at risk. how do you think that plays with voters, does it feel overplayed? i don't think it does. when people see post office boxes being removed from their neighbourhood, america used to be the country that would send in the election monitors and it seems donald trump knows he is losing and he is trying to disrupt the electoral process and question the results and the legitimacy of the election before they ever come and. i don't think barack obama ever come and. i don't think ba rack obama was ever come and. i don't think barack obama was ever a fire and brimstone president. if he says something severe it's because something severe has happened quite well, as they say, other points of view are available. we will hear a lot of them next week. thank you very much.

all eyes on kamala harris tonight. 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. there is much more for you anytime on all the news on the bbc website and our twitter feeds. thank you so much for

watching. southern parts of ireland are feeling the full force of storm ellen. here in the uk, also very blustery. the winds will increase in many parts of the uk over the next couple of days or so. it is likely to be very unsettled with the storm closely spinning by. now the worst of the weather has gone over southern parts of ireland, where the destructive winds and places have been. we are just to the east of the storm, so winds will be pretty strong around the coast of cornwall, western fringes of wales, but it will be particularly windy in northern ireland too. now having said that, the weather actually doesn't look too bad at all for most of us on thursday. there will be some rain in the morning across parts of scotland, but once

that clears through, apart from a few showers across western areas, the weather is looking mostly sunny. so it'll be a weird day where we have quite strong winds but also with that, some strong sunshine and decent temperatures. in fact, look at the values in east anglia, up to 26 celsius, 22 in newcastle, and into the 20s where we have these blustery conditions out towards the west, as well. now through the course of thursday evening, the rain becomes more widespread across western fringes of the uk, and the winds will strengthen once again. a bit of a lull with that warmth and sunshine in the afternoon. because by the time we get to friday, what is left of storm ellen will be barreling across the uk — and that means more generally speaking, it'll be a windy day right across the uk. now gusts of wind inland friday into saturday could exceed 50 mph — and this time of year, that's not good and could prove very troublesome during the summer where the trees are in full leaf, a 50 mph wind could bring down a weaker tree. so be prepared for some disruption as we go through the course of friday and into the weekend. now saturday will still be blustery because what's left of the storm is still with us.

frequent showers out towards the northwest of the uk. take a look at these winds — 111—15 mph, that is unusually windy for august. to the south of us, it won't be quite so windy but breezy enough, with temperatures getting up to the low 20s. sunday will be a calmer day.

this is bbc news, the headlines: kamala harris, the only black woman in the us senate, has been formally nominated at the democratic convention asjoe biden's vice presidential candidate. if the democrats win the november electiion, she would become the first female vice president in us history. hillary clinton and barack obama were among those who spoke in favour of the nomination. opposition supporters remain on the streets of belarus, as eu leaders agreed to impose sanctions on those involved in repression and election fraud in belarus. they have described the violence against demonstrators as unacceptable. 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 through the region. police have been going from door to door, urging people to leave. the governor of california has declared a state of emergency.