this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm kasia madera. joe biden and donald trump both say they're on course to win the us presidency as the vote counting continues. i'm not here to declare that we won. but i am here to declare that when the counting is finished we do believe we will be the winners. we were getting ready to win this election, to win this election, frankly, we did win this election. we did win this election. angry poll watchers are barred from entering a counting hall — as the trump campaign says it'll take legal action in key states such as michigan and pennsylvania.

hello and welcome. the us presidential election is hanging in the balance — with both donald trump and joe biden‘s teams saying their candidate is on course for victory. the margins are tight with just a few thousand votes in a handful of swing states set to decide who wins and who loses. in the last couple of hours, michigan has been projected as a biden win, and it looks like could also won wisconsin. that puts him ever closer to the magic number of 270 electoral votes, which opens the door to the white house. he's issued a short statement in front of the cameras — where he did everything but claim victory. here the people rule. power can't be ta ken or asserted.

it flows from the people. it is there will that determines who will be the president of the united states and there will alone. and now after a long night of counting, it's clear that we are winning enough states to reach 270 electoral votes to win the presidency. i'm not here to declare that we won, but i am here to report when the count is finished we believe we will be the winners. when all the votes are counted we have won wisconsin by 20,000 votes. virtually the same margin that president trump one that state four years ago. in michigan we lead by over 35,000 votes. and it is growing. a substantially bigger margin than president trump won michigan in 2016.

mr trump hasn't spoken in front of the cameras in washington since around half past two in the morning, but he has been on twitter. in the last hour he tweeted, we have claimed, for electoral vote purposes, pennsylvania additionally, we hereby claim the state of michigan if, in fact, there was a large number of secretly dumped ballots as has been widely reported!" that tweet, like several others ina similarvein, has been tagged with a warning by twitter — saying that some of the information is disputed and might be misleading. let's take a more detailed look at the results

with my colleague christian fraser. ijust i just put ijust put on the board how it was when we tried to go to bed for a couple of hours after our late night programme. this is how it looked. at that point really, you could see that donald trump did have a route to the white house. he was leaving in georgia, leading narrowly in north carolina, leading by 600,000 votes in pennsylvania. i will come back to that. he had a lead in michigan and also wisconsin for them he was well and truly home. he came out sounding bullish saying look, we don't need to count any more votes, it's mine. the trouble is of course all those votes still needed to be counted where the mail—in ballots. when you look at the state and i will show you the mail—in ballots in all of them. it is significantly swaying towards the democrats. that's been borne out by the account over the last for you oui’s. account over the last for you ours. cvs is called ms. yukin, reuters who we use its their

figures without actually reuters haven't called wisconsin yet but some has. let's just put that into blue for now. let me show you pennsylvania. what really interesting over the last few hours, i'm good to go back to this and bring it up here. what really interesting about pennsylvania is there is still about a million votes to go. 86% of the vote counted. there is that absentee ballot i was talking about for the 58 —— a2. it leans heavily towards joe biden. when he came out of this press c0 nfe re nce biden. when he came out of this press conference you remember just a short time ago he said, 7596 just a short time ago he said, 75% of the mail in ballot is going to us. and it's all mail in ballot to count from places like delaware county, philadelphia county. deep lu democrat areas. what's been happening over the last few minutes, i've scribbled on my page when we were on air about an hourago page when we were on air about an hour ago 3a3,000 was the lead that he had in pennsylvania. it's come down to 320, it's now two 760. it's coming down our to our in 20,000 chunks. so there is

every reason to understand why the democrats feel pretty positive about pennsylvania at the moment. michigan as i said has been called. that's because they leave now just look has been called. that's because they leave nowjust look at has been called. that's because they leave now just look at the tally is 67,000. again, you see quite a healthy absentee ballot forjoe biden. it leans by 18 points towards the democrats was up that total is just going up was up that total is just going up and up. the reason i think reuters has not called wisconsin and some of the others have is purely because it is tight. it's 20,000 votes. it's 20,000 votes with 99% of the votes counted. it still the odd foe coming in from around the state. but pretty much it's all in. this one we already know donald trump is going to challenge. the point about this is, the switch we've seen in the midwest with joe is, the switch we've seen in the midwest withjoe biden rebuilding the blue wall around the great lakes is that he now has two options to the white house to stop this is why it's looking a lot grimmerfor house to stop this is why it's looking a lot grimmer for the president. let's take our blue markerfor

president. let's take our blue marker for a president. let's take our blue markerfor a second, we note that arizona is leaning towards joe biden. nevada is going further towards joe joe biden. nevada is going further towardsjoe biden. joe biden. nevada is going further towards joe biden. you can put in wisconsin in blue, pennsylvania and blue and he's there, over that magic 270 number. 0r there, over that magic 270 number. or you there, over that magic 270 number. 0ryou can there, over that magic 270 number. or you can go a different route. he has a route through the southwest as well. you could plug in nevada, arizona and that one wisconsin gets them just to the mark. we we re gets them just to the mark. we were talking was so crucially important because it nudges him over the mark two to 70. he has two routes now to the white house. and that's why the democrats are feeling pretty confident about their position. christian fraser having a look at some of those states. winning the swing state of pennysylvania is key to winning the white house. but authorities there say the record number of postal votes has put extra pressure on officials — which is why the count has still to be officially declared. 0ur correspondent

clive myrie expains. there is an irony in the middle of all this. because some of those battle ground states where there is huge controversy over the counting of male and balance, absentee ballots is here in philadelphia and pennsylvania. its republican lawmakers who refused to allow the local authorities mainly democrats to start the process of counting those absentee ballots earlier in the election cycle. now what we left with? chaos, anger and recrimination. all this should be redundant now. the election ephemera of the night before. it is the morning after election day. and as we very well knew might be the case we are still awaiting a result. here in pennsylvania and a handful of other crucial states in america conversations reflect a n states in america conversations reflect an election still in play. 0ver breakfast tables

this morning and possibly dinner tables tomorrow night. marie and mary are sprightly 80 somethings who've seen a lot in their lives. but nothing like this. they've got lots of lots of vote yet to count. i always save me the better man when and let's hope when they are in an office they do the right thing. but who will be in office? it's still unclear. here in philadelphia they were counting absentee and mail in ballots through the night with i million left to process by the morning. and now the trump campaign is taking legal action in pennsylvania. you know, you do kind of expected. the man leading the count told me he's not concerned. i want it over with two more than anybody else, i assure you. that being said, we have to get it right. we can't get it wrong foot up there are no do overs when it

comes to counting elections. but why all the problems? covid—i9. republicans were co mforta ble covid—i9. republicans were comfortable voting in person more democrats voted by mail. that is where we are. listen to brian a formula doing that former senior election official in philadelphia. you have to openin in philadelphia. you have to open in pennsylvania and out envelope, check the signature open that when and they get the ballot out. it takes time when you are talking about hundreds of hundreds of thousands of ballots a nd of hundreds of thousands of ballots and some of these counties. and public officials in pennsylvania and michigan and wisconsin all said it was going to take time. so you voted back in october? yeah 0ctober voted back in october? yeah october 23. and in the middle of all the chaos seemingly forgotten the voter. meet debbie smith who checked online last night to see of her early vote had been counted. and she couldn't find it. it wasn't there. itjust still said malin. are you nervous it might not be there? i know. so now

it's there. it says vote recorded. so it's there. late afternoon and other worried voters are on the streets. they all completed their ballots in good faith. will america respect their wishes? donald trump won the state of arizona four years ago but this time joe biden's people say they're ahead now. 0ur correspondent sophie long reports. we believe one of the nets has suggested we've already won arizona, we are confident about arizona. that's a turnaround. in arizona, we have a lot of life in that and somebody said, somebody declared, it was a victory, and maybe it will be. after a premature call, words urging calm and caution, counting continues, and there's

still no categoric confirmation that arizona will go tojoe biden. though some news networks and democrats have called it. arizona did the job, so we still have to make sure that every vote is counted, because we want everyone's voices to be heard, but arizona showed up and showed out today, and i'm so proud of my state, and i'm so proud of my county. democratic success here is the result of cultural and demographic shifts. and months of street pounding, doorknocking, and some of the most frenzied campaigning this state ever seen. republicans who gathered to celebrate saving their state from the liberal left packed up a party that never got started. i am discouraged and a little down about arizona, but i'm still hopeful for nationally, that we are going to win. trump is a very solid, excellent candidate. arizona just has some leadership issues, at the governor and arizona republican party level. 0thers, though, are refusing to concede defeat, and talking

about recounts, protests and legal challenges. the expectation is they have their act together and we see results tonight, then hopefully they are positive for the president. and it looks like right now like they are trending that way, and i think the biden campaign is getting very nervous about that because they think they have to win arizona. if they don't win arizona, they're toast. after a night of confusion, what is clear is that the once reliably republican grand canyon state is now a true battle ground, and the fact the fight is so close reflects the deep chasm that continues to divide people here and in states across the country. sophie long, bbc news, arizona. one of the early results saw florida stay in the trump camp. and his victory there seems to have been propelled by latino voters, many families of cuban or venezuelan exiles. one of those who campaigned to get latinos to vote for mr trump is reverend samuel rodriguez. he's the president of the national hispanic christian leadership conference, an association of a2,000 latino

congregations in america. he prayed at president trump's inaugural ceremony and backed him in this election. reverend rodriguezjoins us from st louis in missouri. thank you very much for your time. so, you manage to get florida about latino community there to support trump. just expense was why you are so supportive of mr trump. i'm supportive of mr trump. i'm supportive of mr trump. i'm supportive of policies. arms of pa rt supportive of policies. arms of part of of policies that speak to building a firewall against socialism. 0ne to building a firewall against socialism. one of the fire early my primary reason white latinos represent in my opinion the most measurable outcome of this election. it's eight massive electoral shift of the second logic ethnic group in america, latinos. voting for president from, that's pretty amazing. and it saying no to socialism. the latino vote has now emerged as a quintessential firewall against the advanced advancement of socialism in

america. i support that. we come from venezuela, nicaragua, cuba we know what socialism looks like first hand. the second hand is latinos have a strong faith process very pro—life according to pew research with the most pro—life community in america. and the democratic party left the reservation no longer the party of barack 0bama of 2008, it's the party of late term abortion. latinos are like wait abortion. latinos are like wait a minute, that's why latinos gave florida president chart. can you really compare what is happening in the countries that you mention, that level of socialism communism to sam as what say democrats are suggesting? sure you can, of course. it's and i geological continuum. if you're a student of history it begins with the nuance of socialism of big government entitlement. multi generational government entitlement. putting a lid on one of the abilities of free

markets and free enterprise was that we evolved into madero, fido castro, that involves into socialistic regimes with marxist and communist tendencies. its secular totalitarianism. it's infringing on our freedoms and rights as currently a fellow that went venezuelans are currently experiencing. latinos are afraid of socialism. therefore they say yeah, we are going to go with president trump and the republican agenda. i don't think it's an anomaly. i think it's the beginning. unless the democratic party in america has a come tojesus moment regarding socialism and late—term abortions, you may very well see the beginning of in engagement between latinos and the conservative movement. 0n and the conservative movement. on that same marriage, i think the engagement ring is on the finger and they are about to meet our parents. reverent rodriguez thank you so much for sharing your passion. thank you.

do stay with us the world is watching will be getting reaction on how the race to the white house is going. the israeli prime minister yitzhak rabin, the architect of the middle east peace process, has been assassinated. a 27—year—old jewish man has been arrested and an extremist jewish organisation has claimed responsibility for the killing. at polling booths throughout the country, they voted on a historic day for australia. as the results came in, it was clear the monarchy would survive. of the american hostages, there was no sign. they are being held somewhere inside the compound. and student leaders have threatened that should the americans attempt rescue, they will all die. this mission has surpassed all expectations. voyager one is now the most distant man—made object anywhere in the universe and it just seems to keep on going. tonight, we proved once more

that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth but from the enduring power of our ideals. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines. joe biden says he's on course to win the us presidency as donald trump remains defiant. angry poll watchers are barred from entering a counting hall — as the trump campaign says it'll take legal action in key states such as michigan and pennsylvania. let's have more on the us election. stuart stevens is a former republican strategist. he's worked with the likes of george w. bush, mitt romney, bob dole, and chuck grassley. but he's now a consultant for the lincoln project — an organisation that has been working to prevent the re—election of donald trump. does he believe his

work has paid off? this is pretty much done i think biden has won. it'sjust a matter of going through the process here. you look at the state, he's got away in arizona, nevada michigan has artie been called by networks. wisconsin has been called. and that's it. that's all he needs. i think he's also going to win pennsylvania pretty easily. at least 100,000 votes. and he could very well when georgia. but all he needs to do, he needs to finalise accounting in arizona and nevada. he's going to win. that's why trump is trying to stop the count. given the pandemic the united states is so reliant on mail in votes, mailing ballots, the result is taking much, much longer. even so are you taking much, much longer. even so are you surprised that it

still so tight? well, you know being in incumbent president is very difficult. it's quite an achievement i think that biden is going to pull off here. there were efforts made by republicans to make this process slower. and some of these states they went to court so these states they went to court so that the mailing ballots couldn't be counted in advance. which is slow this process tremendously. they did it so the day of voting would come in and trump could to say he was ahead and then somehow try to stop the counting. it's just not gonna work. and these states are democratic governors, democratic attorney generals. and they are not going to allow the process to be denied. regardless, do you not fear that people are simply underestimating how popular donald trump is? well, i think he's about to lose by it may be

10 million votes. in our crazy system it's about the electoral college. in any other system this election would've been over last night. joe biden is getting more votes than any presidential candidate has in history. i think is going to lose. i think it's not going to be that close once the votes are finally counted. so you reckon it could be as much as 10 million? yes. yeah, it could. if you look back at what happened in 2016 it took a long time to get all the votes in. and hillary clinton started out about a million votes ahead and ended up about 3 million votes ahead. but you know, in our system it's only the electoral couege system it's only the electoral college that counts. the states account for the of the overall total vote doesn't amount to anything as far as determining the election. i think biden has

pulled this off. he flipped arizona, it went for trump, pulled this off. he flipped arizona, it went fortrump, he flipped michigan which went for trump. he flipped wisconsin which went for trump. i think he's gonna flip pennsylvania which went for trump. and if he won in georgia that would be quite extraordinary. of course we are watching all those states stuart stevens a former republican strategist who is working to prevent the reelection of donald trump. working to prevent the reelection of donald trump. and the world has been watching this race closely — but many global leaders have refused to make a comment until every vote is counted. let's get some reaction now from japan — a close ally to the united states. joining us is professor sayzheero takeishee—ta from the school of management and information at university of shezoowereka in japan. thank you so much forjoining us thank you so much forjoining us i'm sure i've mispronounced every single word of that. let's start off with where we are right now. because of

course we don't have a clear result yet. we are inching towards it. but as the world watches, what would japan be hopeful to see? re-patching the international relationships and alliances. what we are feeling here are the greatest in the asian region is aggression from china. as you saw it in case of hong kong. and we need a good strong western coalition which u nfortu nately, strong western coalition which unfortunately, has been destru cted unfortunately, has been destructed by the trump administration. for example, the i would say approval rating injapan has the i would say approval rating in japan has dropped the i would say approval rating injapan has dropped from 70% to a0 during mr trump. we really need to re—patch issues. because we all know it's not america first. it's actually america first. it's actually america only, or trump only. that was his policy. and that has to be altered in order to create a better alliance. the western free world alliances in order to fight off the aggression that we are seeing. and basically to re—do the

course to the right path of gaining prosperity together. but donald trump is one of the few western leaders who was in fa ct few western leaders who was in fact stood out to china and push back against their power so far. but in doing so he also made the same type of accusation of trade wars. he triggered trade wars to his direct partners like canada, mexico, europe and japan as well. the fact of the matter is is that if you ask the trust of trump administration to western leaders like in europe they will laugh in your face. leaders like in europe they will laugh in yourface. so basically yes he did fight off against china, he did have a very strong aggressive stance. but in doing so he did the same under a but in doing so he did the same undera similar but in doing so he did the same under a similar methodology. like i said, it's america only ortrump like i said, it's america only or trump only type of policies which is adopted. which basically burnt the bridges of the western alliance. if joe biden were to win then is it

something that he can on pick? certainly. regressing back into the paris accord that nuclear talks he can do a lot. at least alter the course to the right path. that's what he's got to do on international affairs right away. we still got a bit of time. i'm assuming then that you would be very happy to see ajoe biden you would be very happy to see a joe biden victory in a strong one at that. we must see joe biden. as for the prosperity and coalition of international affairs and trade. thank you so much for your time and of course as always we will watch the results come in. we have lots more on our website as well. within a light page there thatis well. within a light page there that is monitoring all the reaction as well. you can also follow some of us on social media. for the time being as always, thank you so much for watching us here on bbc news.

hello there. it's pretty cold out there at the moment across more southern parts of the uk. wednesday started with some frost quite widely in england and wales. what followed was a generally dry and sunny autumn day. but, for scotland and northern ireland, we saw more cloud moving in during the afternoon and the evening. you can see that clearly on the satellite picture from earlier on. that cloud moving very slowly southwards. we actually have weakening weather front bringing some damp and drizzly weather and lowering the cloud onto the hills. but we've got high pressure across the south, this is where we've got the clearer skies and we've got those lower temperatures as well. milder in the north, but colder in the south. maybe some frost around for mid wales, midlands and southwards. notjust some frost, some mist and fog too. that's going to be dense

in places in the morning. gradually through the morning that will tend to lift and break. may take a while in the home counties, mind you. then we get sunshine coming through. but, for north wales, northern england it looks quite cloudy, damp and misty over the hills. further north, we've got more of a breeze from the atlantic. that's significant. it's blowing in a lot of cloud but the cloud breaks to the east of the high ground in a bit of scotland. and a bit of warm, 15 or 16 degrees. elsewhere ten to 12. similar to what we had on wednesday. this time in the morning we've got much more mist and fog around. and into friday morning, again there will be dense patches of fog. again it's more likely for the midlands southwards. this time on friday that fog will tend to lift more readily. the breeze will pick up a little bit more and we should see sunshine developing. further north, some low cloud around, misty over the hills. cloud tending to thin, some sunshine coming through away from the northwest. the temperatures ten to 12 degrees again. a little bit milder perhaps towards the south east, but the winds are picking up in the far southwest.

the wind direction is changing just in time for the weekend. that's going to be quite significant because that's going to draw up some milder air and push it very slowly northwards. instead of the high pressure that's keeping it quiet at the moment, it'll be quite cold. that's moving away towards continental europe. and lowering pressure from iberia means we've got the threat of some rain coming up from the south. maybe the odd shower around on saturday rain across northern and western areas on sunday. temperatures gradually rising. higher temperatures towards the south possibly up to 16 or 17 c.

this is bbc news,

the headlines. both donald trump and joe biden say they have a path to the white house with results still due from some key states. but there's a bitter battle over how long they should go on counting postal votes. the trump campaign has launched legal action to stop vote counting in michigan, pennsylvania and georgia — accusing democrats of scheming to disenfranchise republican voters. mr trump's campaign has also called for a recount in wisconsin saying there had been reports of irregularities. the democrats' hopes of making big gains in the us congressional elections have so far failed to materialise. they're expected to remain in control of the house of representatives, but with a reduced majority. now on bbc news.