this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm kasia madera. all eyes are on the us state of utah, as mike pence and kamala harris take centre stage at the vice presidential debate. a us court charges two members of isis — nicknamed the beatles — with murder, for killing american hostages in syria. life in a warzone — we report on the families trapped by fighting between azerbaijan and armenia. people here tell us this is the way it's been for the last few days. it's become the normal routine to have indiscriminate shelling.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. in the united states, it's the turn of the us vice president mike pence and democratic vice presidential nominee kamala harris to take the stage tonight. the pair will face off for their one debate at the university of utah in salt lake city. sophie long is there for us. sophie, over to you. thanks. i think the sense of excitement here in salt lake city is now potable. we can see some of the stu d e nts potable. we can see some of the students that will make that minimum audience arriving and having their picture taken at the debate hall and the protesters getting more and more vocal. would a vice presidential debate normal to get such a national and

international attention? no, it would not. you cannot be pushed to find a political historian who can point them in the direction that change one campaign. at this presidential campaign, like everything is in 2020, is like nothing other that has come before. notjust because donald trump is still taking medication and recovering from coronavirus himself but also because the candidates can't campaign any physical and personal way that they have in every election to date, which means this is the big moment to reach the american people. they‘ re expecting tens of millions to watch, among them those crucial undecided voters, with less than a month ago until election day. the stakes are high and they have one shot. judge kavanaugh, i am concerned whether you will treat every american equally. she is a senator from california known for her incisive questioning of president trump's nominees for the supreme court.

i know full well the importance of presidential leadership. he has been president trump's right—hand man for the past four years. tonight, they will take to a specially adapted stage for a debate that will be watched by tens of millions of voters. vp debates are not normally the headline act of a presidential election campaign, but this one is anything but normal. given the age of their bosses and the fact that president trump's recent hospitalisation with coronavirus means we don't yet know if the remaining two presidential debates will even take place, tonight's meeting between kamala harris and mike pence will be the most important of its kind in history. they take over under the death or the resignation of the president of the united states. when you have one candidate that's fairly old and one candidate that's sick right now, everyone is talking about it. there's no way that you can't talk about that particular issue because there is at least some track where one of these two candidates could end up being president of the united states. we are an independent

collection of latter day saint women from across the political spectrum, who speak for ourselves. in this deeply religious state, president trump's first term and his reaction to covid—i9 has led lifelong republicans to look for something different. i wish no ill towards him. but i think that it's time for us to once again think about doing better. this should have never been a political issue. coronavirus should have been something where we all come together and work together for the good of everyone. and that's why character matters in a president. but at this pro—trump potato bar — yes, there is such a thing — people think his personal handling of the pandemic is a show of strength. when you're a soldier, you're at risk and you're at a war, and you're fighting something, you go in there and you've got to rally your troops. you've got to build the morale of the troops. you got to be victorious,

you can't be afraid. and that's what i look at it as. and unfortunately, some soldiers when they go to war, they get wounded. tonight, mike pence will go into battle for the current commander—in—chief against a former prosecutor fighting for his competitor, joe biden. with less than a month to go and a campaign thrown into chaos by covid—i9, the stakes are high. sophie long, bbc news, salt lake city. sophie, the stakes certainly are high, and also lots of concern over coronavirus. we are talking about, earlier today, plexiglass, the plastic glass, dividers between the two candidates, so a lot of concern about security issues. yeah, of course. the debate itself is two hours away, but that really was the pre—debate debate, if you like. i am told there was a spirited to and from from the kamala harris campaign and that of mike pence. she was

requesting further safety precautions put in place, he objected to this idea of plexiglas screens between the two, as they are going to be seated i2 two, as they are going to be seated 12 feet apart anyway. those screens have been installed on the debate stage behind me, so that isjust installed on the debate stage behind me, so that is just one of the safety precautions have in place. we know everone inside at home will be wearing face masks. the only three people who will be allowed not to have them on throughout the course of the 90 minute debate are the two candidates and the moderator, susan head —— susan page. all of us here, away from the debate hall, had to have negative tests to be allowed past. that gives an indication how seriously the organisers are taking safety here. we are, of course, still ina here. we are, of course, still in a global pandemic that has killed more than 210,000 americans and in the past few

days, more and more of donald trump's white house staff have tested positive, so they cannot really be too cautious. of course. sophie, i know you and the team will keep us up—to—date through the debate. thank you so much for the time being there. sophie long in salt lake city. let's look at the day's other news 110w. the main officer charged in the killing of george floyd has been released on a million—dollar bail. derek chauvin is scheduled to face trial in march along with three former colleagues. footage of mr chauvin pressing his knee on george floyd's neck caused a huge outpouring of protests around the world. hurricane delta has torn across mexico's eastern coastline, toppling trees and ripping down power lines with winds of up to 175 kilometres per hour. the powerful storm now has the northern gulf coast of the united states in its sights, with hurricane warnings issued for parts of texas and louisiana. in the last half—hour,

the white house has released a new video of president trump, in which he says he wants to make regeneron, the experimental antibody treatment he received, free for all americans affected by covid—19. standing outside the oval 0ffice — and not wearing a mask — trump says his infection was "a blessing from god". i want everybody to be given the same treatment as your president. because i feel great. i feel, like, perfect. so, i think this was a blessing from god that i caught it. this was a blessing in disguise. i caught it, i heard about this drug. i said, "let me take it." it was my suggestion. i said, "let me take it." and it was incredible the way it worked, incredible. and i think if i didn't catch it, we'd be looking at that like a number of other drugs. but it really did a fantasticjob. i want to get for you what i got. and i'm going to make it free. you're not going to pay for it. it wasn't your fault that this happened. it was china's fault. and china's going to pay

a big price, what they've done to this country. china's going to be a big price, what they've done to the world. this was china's fault. a video there released by the white house. let's speak to the bbc‘s nomia iqbal in washington. iam not i am not quite sure what you make of this, but given the recent events when it come to the trump administration, i guess this is yet another something that, well, it is just difficult to explain. he is in just difficult to explain. he isina just difficult to explain. he is in a classically defied mood, which he has been since he left walter reed hospital, and we have not seen president trump publicly for about two days but we have certainly been hearing from him. in the last 24 hearing from him. in the last 2a hours, i think he's tweeted more than 100 times, and this video he released a few minutes ago, just in time to make the news programmes this evening in america, and a few hours before the vice presidential debate, i think we can read something

into that. but as we heard there, he is effectively claiming this is a cure, that regeneron has cured him from coronavirus. regeneron is a spiritual drug, it's been tried ona spiritual drug, it's been tried on a handful of people, is not even approved by federal regulators. and only reason he was given that drug is for compassionate reasons because, of course, he is the president. we are unsure as to what he thinks it is regeneron that has made them better, given that he is on quite a few other experimental drugs as well as a very strong steroid, and it's worth mentioning that even his own doctors and his medical tea m own doctors and his medical team have not explicitly said anything along the lines of what we have heard from him just now. the timing is indeed interesting, given that we have got the vice president of debates coming up and also the doctors have been speaking about him as well as having no covid symptoms for more than 2a hours. donald trump wants to show strength, he wants to show that coronavirus is something,

as we heard there, that he has beaten, that he is in charge, he is back on form, and mike pence is the head of the coronavirus task force and i am sure that tonight, we will hear accusations that the administration has not handled this pandemic well at all, and so this does allow perhaps the administration to now suggest that they have got a handle off this pandemic, this pandemic continues to be a future issue that affects americans. more than 211,000 people of died, more than 7 million americans infected with the virus, and so of course, mrtrump infected with the virus, and so of course, mr trump wants to try and show that he is on top of it. nomia, thank you so much for talking us through this rather extraordinary leo from the president. —— extraordinary video. nomia iqbal in washington. two british members

of the islamic state group have arrived in the united states to face charges related to the murder of hostages from america, the uk and japan. alexanda kotey and elshafee elsheikh were flown from iraq, where they'd been in american military detention following their capture by kurdish forces two years ago. the two men admit belonging to is, but have denied killing hostages. here's our state department correspondent barbara plett usher. what they have said is that their main role was facilitating ransom negotiations, that they had nothing to do with those gruesome killings which were recorded on video and posted online. but the indictment has said that they took part in physical and psychological violence, prolonged physical and psychological violence, and that they were part of a hostage—taking that resulted in death. and american prosecutors feel they have quite a strong case, especially since they just got some additional information from the uk and they've been looking for that for many years, orfor a number of years. but the hold—up was that there is capital punishment

in the usa and there isn't capital punishment in the uk. and finally injuly, the attorney general here promised that prosecutors would not seek the death penalty, and so that was the big breakthrough for the trial to go ahead. and of course, there are british victims, as you mentioned in your intro, and judicial officials have acknowledged that. but this trial is going to be about the four american victims, and it's very important to the families, in particular, who see it as the best way to ensure that the islamic state group doesn't get the last word. barbara plett usher there. journalist james foley was murdered by the group. his mother, diane foley, gave the bbc her reaction to the news. i am tremendously grateful to all of you good people in the uk, as well as to our fbi, department ofjustice, ag barr, and so many people outside of government also, pro bono attorneys on both sides of the atlantic. i'm just hugely grateful to everyone that has helped us get to this first huge step

in some accountability for these horrific crimes. i really hope that they will give us information about not only our children, but of some of the other crimes done by isis, as well as implicating others. these two were not the only ones, and ifear that there's others still in refugee camps, hiding in our midst. so, i think it's really a national security issue for all of us that this step towards accountability be undertaken. i feel that it's essential that these crimes are made public. i think people need to know the depth of the hatred of this group and others who seek to destroy our way of life. i think that transparency is really essential. i think too much of the world

is just naive and unaware of the threats of international hostage taking, for one. diane foley, james foley's mother. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: just over an hour to go before the candidates for us vice president start their debate in salt lake city. kamala harris and mike pence will be separated by a plexiglass screen, because of coronavirus. this was a celebration by people who were relishing their freedom. they believe everything's going to be different from now on. they think their country will be respected in the world once more, as it used to be before slobodan milosevic took power. the dalai lama, the exiled spiritual leader of tibet, has won this year's nobel peace prize. as the parade was reaching its

climax, two grenades exploded, and a group of soldiersjumped from a military truck taking part in the parade and ran towards the president, firing from kalashnikov automatic rifles. after 437 years, the skeletal ribs of henry viii's tragic warship emerged. but even as divers worked to buoy her up, the mary rose went through another heart—stopping drama. i want to be the people's governor. i want to represent everybody. i believe in the people of california. this is bbc news. our main headline: all eyes are on the us state of utah, as mike pence and kamala harris take centre stage at the vice presidential debate.

going to stay there and find out what we can look out for intimate's debate. we can talk to taylor griffin. he's worked on three republican presidential campaigns and is a former bush administration official. you would know exactly what people are going through ahead of the vp debate tonight. and what are we looking out for, given how much hype there is for this particular debate? given how much hype there is for this particular debate ?|j think for this particular debate?” think you cannot get around the issue of covid—19, the stunning news that president trump was diagnosed positive with covid—19 over the weekend really shook the campaign. i think you will see kamala harris focus very strongly on that issue while vice president pence tries to talk aboutjust about anything else. and given we've just had a video from the president saying that he was cured and he is talking about giving medicine to people for free, he's doing a lot to take

a spotlight from this debate. do you think this will work for him? traditionally, campaigns are about the president, any vice president shall campaign a second every, but in this case, donald trump is the election. this election is about donald trump more than anybody else, even more than joe trump more than anybody else, even more thanjoe biden, certainly more than mike pence. thejob of the certainly more than mike pence. the job of the vice president of candidate is to do no harm, because no problems —— because no problem for the campaign. it is very rare vice president of candidates are meaningfulfor the president of candidates are meaningful for the campaign. you can look back to 2008, when sarah palin debated joe biden for vice president. that was important for sarah palin because it redeemed her, but these debates are about trying not to detract from the top of the ticket, and it's certainly ha rd to the ticket, and it's certainly hard to overshadow donald trump. and i don't think mike pence will be doing that tonight. i think the most important thing to watch for are coming from kamala harris

and how she will try to connect with middle of the red voters they need to win the election. taylor, going back to alaska, you are there, you lead the mccain campaign's pr efforts on behalf of sarah palin. when you have a character like that who is quite la rger—than—life, have a character like that who is quite larger—than—life, how do you kind of stop that from deflecting, especially now, thing about tonight's debate? of course, people are so excited about what kamala harris will deliver. is there a chance she will take the spotlight away from joe biden even? i don't know. we will see. kamala harris is certainly a strong candidate, and i'm not sure if the biden campaign would mind if she did come if she is positive. the voters they need to win are looking for, and by and large they are suburban women, who kamala harris may well connect with, is some reassurance that the leftwa rd is some reassurance that the leftward tilt of the democrat party, that it's sort of turned off some moderates, is not

going to be reflected in a biden— harrison ministration, so, actually, ithink biden— harrison ministration, so, actually, i think there's a lot more to gain from kamala harris then she has to loose here —— biden— harris administration. and she will be working very hard to make sure women any suppers and other moderate voters who are potentially amenable to voting for biden come over to their camp and stay there. and one assumes, though, she will be attacking mike pence when it comes to how the republicans have dealt with coronavirus. he has been quiet recently, under the radar, so how is he going to fight back on this one? mike pence is a lwa ys on this one? mike pence is always an under the radar guy. he was a good governor and a decent lawmaker. he is someone who is more of a traditional republican. and so mike pence's job, really, in the white house has been to support the president, to give him some

credibility with the traditional republican party andi traditional republican party and i think he ends up being sort of in the explainer position of trying to interpret some of president trump's more unconventional positions as a conventional politician, so we will see where he goes tonight, but i think that vice president pence could potentially reassure people that the administration really does have the current service under control and that despite what might make the nervous about president trump's tweets, he is after a ll president trump's tweets, he is after all the leader of the president's coronavirus task force —— have any current verse under control. to the extent he has to talk about that, and i don't the key can get away from that, he would rather talk about the economy and other issues, but he will be trying to show that the administration is indeed focused not only on the severity of the coronavirus but have to get past it, and that the real difference

between the republicans and democrats. the republicans have a message of couple you try to get past the coronavirus, the democrats are more oriented around, this is an extremely dangerous crisis that the president is not taking seriously enough. taylor, we are going to have lots of coverage here on bbc news, so dojoin us later. coverage here on bbc news, so do join us later. taylor griffin there, the former bush white house and treasury spokesperson. thank you for joining us. now, some other news. the fighting between two former soviet republics could enter its third week if azerbaijan and armenia can't find a way to settle their territorial dispute over the nagorno—karabakh region. 0ur international correspondent 0rla guerin reports from the city of tartar, which lies on the front line. azeri forces continuing their advance, in footage released by the authorities here. they only show the victories, not the losses, and they don't allow independent access

to the front line. but we were allowed to enter the ghost town of tartar, which borders nagorno—karabakh. it's normally home to 100,000 people. most have been driven out by armenian shelling. but not 0sman, who we found picking up shrapnel. "the armenians caused a lot of destruction," he told us, "but it doesn't matter as long as they are driven out." some here in tartar are sheltering underground. he doesn't respond? aybeniz tells me her grandson faras is used to it, and she's not going anywhere.

translation: we've been waiting for this for 28 years. that's why we don't want to take one step away. we're very excited about what's happening. my son and daughter are fighting on the front line. well, we've just been hearing more incoming fire. we heard what sounded like a jet a few minutes ago and there were some explosions in the last half an hour or so. now, people here tell us this is the way it's been for the last few days. it's become the normal routine to have indiscriminate shelling. and they say that nine civilians have been killed in this area. no cradle for faras, just a lullaby. but scenes like this are being repeated on the other side of the front line, as ethnic armenians are shelled by azerbaijan. in the azeri capital baku, they come to honour soldiers who fell in combat, stretching back to the soviet era. there's a lot of nationalism

on display here and a lot of gratitude for strong backing from turkey. "we've come to visit the martyrs," says 20—year—old gulnar, "and to celebrate some of our victories. we believe there are a lot more to come." while they look to turkey, armenia is looking to russia. so far, it's largely staying out of the picture. for people here, the conflict over nagorno—karabakh was never frozen. and now, the old hatreds are threatening to inflame the region. 0rla guerin, bbc news, baku. lots more, as always, on our website. and just in an hour's time, we be live in the us state of utah. that is the stage where it just

state of utah. that is the stage where itjust an hour's time, mike pence and kamala harris will be taking to that stage, plexiglas and all, at the vice presidential debate. join us live in. hello. the weather picture first thing not looking so great across england and wales, a lot of cloud out there and some outbreaks of rain. but hang in there because the afternoon offers a much brighter picture. here we are with this area of low pressure currently feeding in all of the cloud and the rain, but notice to the north of it how much clearer the skies are. we'lljust pick out this little white streak of cloud here, though, because that is a line of showers that will push into scotland and northern ireland. and they're set to be pretty punchy. but once this band of rain starts its journey southwards through the morning, skies will begin to brighten. so, by 9am, hopefully something a little bit brighter already into wales. scotland and northern ireland should see some decent sunshine from the get—go, but a lot of those showers already in the west turning quite heavy, perhaps clumping together into longer spells of rain.

just a few, i think, further south and for northern ireland. the front finally off into the continent after lunch, and that's when we'll see things brighten for southernmost counties. for much of england and wales, though, not a bad second half of the day at all. perhaps just some cloud hanging back across east anglia, but up to 17 degrees in the brightness, 11—12 further north for scotland and northern ireland. through thursday evening and overnight into friday, plenty of showers crossing scotland, a more organised band of rain trails back into northern ireland and sinks into northern england. either side of that cloud and rain, quite a chilly start to friday, patchy frost perhaps in some rural spots across england and wales and northern scotland. and then a lot of cloud around for northern england, northern ireland and wales first thing on friday, then this whole system sinks its way southeastwards through the day. so, we'll see cloud and rain moving in for southern and eastern england, i think, later on on friday. still plenty of showers further north, but hopefully interspersed with some sunny

spells. and then from friday into the weekend, here's our next significant transition. we move into a northerly airstream. we move into polar air, that's the blue shading on the map behind me, and we do so because we finally pull away the low pressure that we've been talking about all week towards the continent and allow a high to establish from the atlantic. the squeeze between the two, though, gives us that northerly airstream, so quite a chilly northerly breeze but a lot of dry weather and sunshine for the majority of the uk for the weekend ahead. but some on northern coasts could be prone to some thicker cloud, perhaps the odd shower, and we may see some drifting in off the north sea into eastern england as well.

this is bbc news. the headlines — in just under an hour, the candidates for us vice president will start their only tv debate in salt lake city. republican mike pence and democrat kamala harris, who have both tested negative for covid—19, will be separated by a plexiglass screen because of the pandemic. two ex—british alleged islamic state suspects have been charged in the us with terrorism offences over the killing of four american hostages. alexanda kotey and el shafee elsheikh are accused of belonging to an is cell dubbed "the beatles" involved in kidnappings in iraq and syria. the former us police officer charged with the murder of a black man, george floyd, in minneapolis has posted bail. footage from mr floyd's arrest showed the white officer, derek chauvin, kneeling on his neck for about nine minutes.