this is bbc news — with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm kasia madera... the body that oversees us presidential debates says it'll take steps to ensure there is no repeat of wednesday's chaotic and angry contest. the question is. you're gonna put a lot of new supreme court justices. the question is. ..radical left. will you shut up, man? listen, who is on your list, joe? after ducking an opportunity to condemn white supremacists — the president now claims ignorance over a far—right group he mentioned by name. i don't know who the proud boys are. i mean, you'll have to give me a definition because i really don't know who they are. i can only say they have to stand down. let law enforcement do their work. the un secretary general calls on richer countries to help out so everyone can get access to a potential covid vaccine. everybody will only be

protected when the countries in the developing world will also be able to vaccinate their citizens. preisdents putin and macron call for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict between azerbaijan and ethnic armenian forces. we have a special report. the us commission on presidential debates says it'll announce new measures to ensure a more orderly and structured discussion in the two remaining debates between donald trump and joe biden. the statement followed tuesday's ill—tempered encounter, laced with insults. after the contest biden, called trump's conduct in the debate a "national embarrassment" and condemned him for not clearly denouncing a white supremacist group,

the proud boys. mr trump now says he didn't know who the proud boys were, and right—wing militias like them should stand down and let the police do their work. our north america editor jon sopel reports. coming out on stage and not hitting each other was more or less of the most dignified thing about last night. this was an exercise in ugliness, with donald trump determined to trip his opponent, joe biden, up by repeatedly interrupting him. number one. joe, you agreed with bernie sanders and his far left on the manifesto. socialised medicine. look, hey. and then, as the moderator tried to regain control. let me ask my question. i'll ask joe. picking fights with the umpire. i guess i'm debating you, not him. lagging behind in the polls, the president was clearly going for a knockout blow, something that would turn this election around. but biden didn't go down. instead, he grew exasperated. radical left.

will you shut up, man? who is on your list, joe? this is so. don't ever use the word smart with me. don't ever use that word. 0h, give me a break. because you know what? because you are a president screwing things up. you are a senator. you are the worst president america has ever had. biden's clear strategy was not to get too embroiled and keep speaking to the american people. this is not about my family or his family, it's about your family, the american people. trump's best moment came when he talked about law and order and how the police and sheriffs were backing him. name one group that supports you, name one group that came out and supported you. go ahead. we have time. we don't have time to do anything. but then the president was asked to condemn the white supremacist militias that have appeared on the streets. he wouldn't. what do you want to call them? give me a name, give me a name. white supremacists. who do you want me to condemn? proud boys. proud boys? stand back and stand by.

the white supremacist proud boys group have welcomed the president's comments and said they have had many new recruits as a result of the debate. at this trump watch party, they liked what they had seen from their man, but biden had done better than they had expected. he actually surprised me a little bit, but it wasn't enough to impress me either way. he lasted the whole night. i'm surprised. his dementia didn't show. his dementia didn't show up. i say trump has done a hell of a job considering what he was dealt with, but i would have liked to have seen a stronger performance tonight by trump. the clear strategy of donald trump is to be aggressive, to interrupt as much as possible, to destabilise joe biden. with this audience, it's going down well, but what about independents? the disaffected republicans, people in the suburbs? that will be the acid test of this debate. at the end, the two wives came onto stage to congratulate their partners, with varying degrees of warmth.

this was a victory for heat rather than light. the next five weeks are not going to be edifying. jon sopel, bbc news, cleveland, ohio. president trump is heading to minnesota for a fundraiser and a campaign rally before leaving the white house he offered some clarification on why he didn't condemn the neo—fascist group — the proud boys. i don't know who the proud boys are. i mean, you have to give me a definition because i really don't who they are. i can only say they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work. law enforcement will do the work more and more as people see how bad this radical, liberal, democratic movement is and how weak. the law enforcement is gonna come back stronger and stronger. again, i don't know who proud boys are but whoever they are they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work. the debate left a lasting impression notjust the debate left a lasting impression not just but the debate left a lasting

impression notjust but around the globe in france they describe the debate is chaotic, childish and grueling. reporting never has american politics sunk so low. the editor in chief of the chinese state run paper reflected division of society and accelerating loss of advantages of the us political system. obviously for foreign leaders the outcome of the election is releva nt as the outcome of the election is relevant as they will have to deal with the candidate that ends up winning. dan nexon is professor of government and foreign service at georgetown university. hejoins me from washington now. lam assuming i am assuming professor that you stayed up, you watch it what did you think? well, there's a conventional wisdom that says debates do not make a difference in the outcome of elections. i think the conventional wisdom is true but instead debates are supposed to be civic rituals that edify and

enlighten and affirm our democratic character of our quality of republic. i thought it was just a disaster from that perspective. it was embarrassing experience. one that really degraded i think, the very norms and values we are supposed to uphold. how should the debates then, we are hearing about how potentially the committee behind these kinds of debates are talking about changing it. is there scope for change? the moderator of course is an extremely experienced moderator and yet he himself is saying that he missed an opportunity, he didn't realise it would go into this kind of a chaotic discussion. what kind, how do you get hold of something like this moving forward when you're thinking about the next two times these gentlemen meet? they can layer on all the rules

they want. fundamentally they only ability they have to really influence the conduct of the candidates is to turn off their mics if they start stepping over the line. it would prove difficult in practice because it turns the debate moderators to sensors of what kinds of arguments they're making. that's not a position that i think particularly amongst the debate brings clarity. ultimately, they need the candidates to be, the problem is with the candidates themselves. frankly with donald trump in particular. it's their behaviour that's going to set the tenure regardless of how many rules or procedures they layer on. moving forward then, when we look at the next two times that donald trump and joe biden meet, the kind of topics that will be put forward from politics, relationships with the rest of the world will come. will be important in this. how do you think that will be dealt with? one hopes

that whether it's in town hall it may be difficult for them to behave this way and for trump to behave this way and with ordinary people asking questions was that whether it's ina questions was that whether it's in a town hall format or eight moderatorfour, in a town hall format or eight moderator four, maybe in a town hall format or eight moderatorfour, maybe greater specificity in the questions, one thing that chris wallace did what she was very typical of debate moderators ask these multipart questions and i think that sometimes if you ask a much more specific question and then follow—up and demand an a nswer then follow—up and demand an answer it makes it harder for the candidate to get away with rambling off on some of the topic. those are things that they could do. it would be nice for them to discuss specific issues was that we have enormous numbers of challenges in us foreign relations right now. we need a substantial debate about what the united states should do and its relationship with china, the european union, what you do in the middle east, trade tensions

that need to be addressed. we have big questions on the direction of the us economic policy. it's interesting because in some respects the closest we came to a subsidence debate in the last one was on matters of climate and matters of the economy. even there it was largely more slogan filled in what used to in these kind of debates. ultimately substantive. just thinking about the kind of relationship you specifically touched on, china, given how the president is referring to coronavirus. do you think that kind of relationship with china, is that fundamentally damage now? well, i think that ultimately the relationship, there is so much at stake with the relationship with china. and so much interest involved that questions of policy are going to predominate over questions of rhetoric, i assume. the problem with debate perspective is all you're going to do is

bicker over whether or not trump was tough enough to biden is going to be tough enough on china in respect to coronavirus, you don't talk about political issues. which is how do we deal with the ongoing trade tensions and trade war moving forward? how do we best deal with security commitments in the south china sea? northeast asia. those a nswer sea? northeast asia. those answer questions i think, even they are raised, it's very unlikely they're going to be a nswered unlikely they're going to be answered subsidence lee. and if they do a probably quickly degenerate because the debate that donald trump wants to have is not a debate about the nuances of policy. at the debate about affect and strength and those of the kind of things he's likely to turn the discussion towards. interesting to see what happens in the next few debates in october. thank you so much. we don't yet have a globally available vaccine for covid i9 but the wealthiest countries

have been striking deals to ensure that when we do they have access to it. it is a scramble that could leave limited supplies in the coming year for low— and middle—income countries. today the un secretary general, antonio guterres, appealed to the advanced nations, to donate money from their own national responses to the pandemic — into order to help fund this global vaccine plan. he told the bbc how much it would help to win the commitment of the united states, china, and russia. it will be very important to have the commitment of all countries. some countries have already announced that they will have made available their own vaccines also to developing countries and this is part of this process. we believe that they will be an effective coordination of the covax, the facility that was put in place. with those countries that will not only produce for their own citizens but are ready to produce also to citizens of developing countries, and we strongly appeal to those that will be able to develop their own vaccines to be part

of these efforts. i am not asking for countries not to protect their own citizens, because it is the duty of these countries to protect their own citizens, but everybody will only be protected when the countries in the developing world will also be able to vaccinate their citizens. stay with us on bbc news, still to come, he went viral online but now he's talking about a bigger issue, what it's like to be a black singer in the world of opera. in all of of russia's turmoil, it has never quite come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nations destiny. the nightmare that so many people have feared for so long is playing out its final act here. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affections from catholics throughout the world, but his

departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. this man, israel right‘s winger visited the religious compound and that started the trouble. he wants israel allowed to have sovereignty over the holy sites, an idea that's unthinkable for the palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million german celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... the body that oversees us presidential debates says it will take steps to ensure there is no repeat of last night's chaotic and angry contest.

the united kingdom is at a ‘critical moment', in the battle against coronavirus, according to prime minister boris johnson, who's warned that he won't hesistate to put further measures in place if necessary. england's chief scientific adviser has warned that our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. this is sital. coronavirus has changed her and her family's life. she and her husband both had the disease. his lungs are still scarred and things are different now. my husband was one of those people who, when covid first came on the scene, he was a believer that it wasn't going to effect him, it wasn't going to touch him. he was under a5, fit and healthy, and it wasn't going to effect him. my husband nearly died and it is really real. we found ourselves being more isolated at home. and in that melee, borisjohnson. coronavirus has changed his life, and his leadership, too. cases are rising again, political pressure mounting, winter on the way. no matter how impatient we may

be, how fed up we may become, there is only one way of doing this and that is by showing a collective forbearance, common sense and willingness to make sacrifices for the safety of others. he can't say enough. he doesn't want another national lockdown but it is plain it could yet happen. if the evidence requires it, we will not hesitate to take further measures that would, i'm afraid, be more costly than the ones we've put into effect now. we can see today that the limits already in place on millions of people have not stopped the spread and you even had to apologise for failing to explain the rules properly. how can people have confidence in your government's approach, and can you give people your honest assessment — how high is the chance of more restrictions coming in for everyone, everywhere? the answer is, i'm afraid, entirely dependent on how effective we are now, collectively, in driving down the virus.

and we know we can do it because we did it before. our success will have to be judged, i'm afraid, in the days and weeks ahead. we have got a long winter ahead of us and a lot could happen over that time so i think to predict forward from here would be a big mistake. numbers of cases are going up hospitalisations are going up, icus going up and unfortunately, very sadly, so are deaths. and that means that this is heading in the wrong direction. there is no cause for complacency here at all. and the disease has changed the balance between ministers and mps, too. at the start of the epidemic, the tories seemed the masters of parliament. now ministers have given ground to backbenchers who will have more of a say over extra restrictions being rushed through, but not before a serious ticking off from the speaker. shows a total disregard for the house. ..for cutting mps, who represent all of us, out of the process. i now look to the government to rebuild the trust with this house and not treat it with the contempt

that it has shown. and just as the tory backbenchers are proving less reliable than the government might hope, the opposition too is sharpening their attacks. the government's side of the bargain here is to have a very clear strategy for keeping that infection rate down and we don't see that strategy. very clear communications, and the byword for this week has been yet again confusion. but even with the current limits, things are different for how the country makes a living, too. this is the business design centre. this is dominicjones, the boss of this vast venue. coronavirus has changed everything for him as well. so, normally it would be a thriving, buzzing environment with thousands of people. these empty halls would normally be packed with 90,000 people a year. this complete unclarity on people's futures, their livelihoods, is causing absolute distress. we have so many people that are allied to our industry, that rely on our industry. it feels desperately unfair that we are being told,

and targeted as a sector, simply told that we cannot open. with rising cases come rising worries and rising concern about the government's grip. everything feels different second time round. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. the spanish government says it's reached an agreement on imposing partial lockdown on the parts of the country that are worst affected by the resurgence of covid nineteen. they include the capital, madrid, where residents will be barred from leaving the city except on essential trips —— but the local authorities say the decision isn't legally valid. russian president vadimir putin and his french counterpart emmanuel macron have called for an immediate ceasefire as the conflict between azerbaijan and armenia, over an area of disputed territory, continued for a fourth day. it's the heaviest fighting between the two sides in more than a quarter of a century. the two former soviet republics fought a war between 1988—1994, over

the region of nagorno—karabakh, which is officially part of azerbaijan, but governed by ethnic armenians. there are fears that two global powers could be drawn into the conflcit. turkey has close ties to azerbaijan, while russia is allied mainly with armenia. our correspondent jonah fisher reports from yerevan in armenia. nagorno—karabakh is one of the world's open sores. on the map, part of azerbaijan, but dominated and run by ethnic armenians. in the last four days, a decades—old conflict has roared back to life. as azerbaijan has gone on the offensive. here, armenians are trying to shoot down drones that are targeting them. dozens, probably many more, have been killed, including civilians. war with the old enemy has led to an outpouring

of patriotic fervour in the armenian capital, yerevan. donations are being brought to a theatre, ready to be taken to troops on the front line. some civilians have already fled in the other direction. this family left their hometown on the first day of the war. "i remember being shelled," she says. "we were so afraid that we just cried all the time. @ for both azerbaijan and armenia the long struggle for nagorno—karabakh has become an integral part of their national identity. what appears to be different now is the willingness of other countries to get involved. in particular, turkey. this is the wreckage of a plane which armenia says was shot down by a turkish f—i6 jet. turkey denies that but it has made no secret of it's support for azerbaijan's ambitions. translation: we have only one condition.

the armenian armed forces must immediately and definitively leave our land. if they comply, the fighting will stop. when people look at the map tonight and they see that this piece of territory, nagorno—karabakh, is inside azerbaijan on the maps, why should they believe that you're in the right? because those who are slightly familiar with the history of this land will know about the transfer of this territory. so historically. historically this was the land in which the armenian population resided. across the border in azerbaijan, a soldier is being buried. a conflict that has long blighted the region is claiming new casualties on both sides of the line. jonah fisher, bbc news, armenia. emmanuel "onry" henry is one of the few black opera singers

in the north—western united states. injune, he and portland state university student madisen hallberg went viral for their impromptu duet of the national anthem. it marked a moment of racial unity amid nationwide black lives matter protests. here's onry‘s story. one day towards the end of may, i left my house. i began to walk down the street, and i hear this vocalist. # 0 say, can you see. it's a friday in may. i had been singing in the park blocks for maybe 20 minutes, just the national anthem over and over again, getting different takes. out of the corner of my eye, i see this guy. he kind of passes and keeps going down the block. # were so gallantly streaming.

i thought to myself, "you know, it's been a really, really long time since you sang with somebody. " and he just asked. "would you mind if ijoin you? " and she said. "sure," because i'm always down for anything. when he first came in with his voice, i was like, "oh my gosh, his voice is incredible. " both: # and the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air. at that moment, it was about playing life together. and the student about to graduate ready to sing, and then this. when i say i'm an opera singer, people often say, "but your frame is so small and you're not white. " and i say, "exactly.

" singing opera. despite the influx of residents and the reputation of progressive behaviour, portland still remains to be one of the whitest cities in america. and although i've had success here in the city, i've had to deal with a lot of racism along the way. during the quarantine, i lost all of my gigs. about 25 gigs in a month—and—a—half. while singing in the streets, i was stopped by police, i was stopped by security guards and asked to stop singing in certain spaces because i wasn't allowed in those spaces, singing italian opera. i have this thing, and this thing has ability to heal a nation. that's the power of the human voice. that's the power of my voice. all we are conditioned to think right now is the divide. really, this is a time and a privilege to come together.

wow what a voice. the power of music to unite. thanks for watching bye—bye. hello. thursday offers up the promise of a dryer day for the majority of the uk in comparison to wednesday. there should be some decent sunshine and the winds will be a little light as well. how are we managing that when our weather is dominated essentially by this massive area of low pressure for the coming days? one with actually seven centres — but we are getting quite close to a little hill in the isobars. that is a brief ridge of high pressure that we will sit in through thursday. it's not plain sailing though, there will still be some more persistent rain across northern and eastern scotland through the day and coming into the southwest through the afternoon, some sharper showers that will push into wales, some for northern ireland, perhaps some more generally across southern britain later on in the day. but in contrast to wednesday, lighter winds, and the rain

nowhere near as widespread — temperatures 14—15 degrees. we head through thursday evening, and we will start to notice something developing to the south of the uk. the rain towards the north pulls away, it becomes quite quiet here, skies clear, it's a largely dry night across scotland and northern ireland, and actually chilly in some rural spots. but to the south of the uk, we've basically got a hook that's formed, and this is a deep low pressure centre that is set to spin up across brittany, ploughing its way into france — the worst of the weather think on the way to france. the french met service have given it a name, it's storm alex, and it looks like it will also affect southern britain, so hence our concern for friday, particularly through the early part of the day for heavy rain across southern counties of england pushing into south wales, and very strong winds, may be gusting up to 70 mph. even in land, though, 30—35 mph as that low centre spins away to the south of us and this weather from swings north.

quite a contrast between the north and south on friday. england and wales, wet and windy. scotland and northern ireland, largely dry with some decent spells of sunshine. but for the weekend, we are still dominated by low—pressure, and as such, it looks like further bands of rain will sweep around this larger low with its centre to the south. i think some wet weather for all areas through the weekend, some strong winds at times too. the detail on this low, somewhat, complicated, so it's very hard for us to pinpoint exactly when your area will get wettest of the weather. but that trend, i'm afraid, is very clear.

this is bbc news — the headlines... the organisation that oversees us presidential debates says it will take steps to avoid a repeat of the chaotic nature of the first debate between donald trump and his challenger —joe biden. the trump campaign said the rules should not be changed in the middle of the game. joe biden has condemned the president for not clearly denouncing a white supremacist group known as the proud boys. mr trump said he didn't know who the proud boys were — and insisted that right—wing militias like them should stand down and let the police do their work. the united nations' secretary general — antonio guterres — has urged countries to start funding a global coronavirus vaccine plan by using money from their own national programmes. mr guterres' comments follow an urgent appeal by the head of the global vaccine alliance for more countries to join.