welcome to bbc news — i'm mike embley. our top stories: joe biden says he's on course to win the us presidency but the vote counting continues. i'm not here to declare that we've won, but i'm here to report that when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners. the trump campaign launches legal action to try to stop the counting in michigan, pennsylvania and georgia — and wants a recount in wisconsin. and we visit one so—called swing state — where the record number of postal votes mean they've got a lot on their plates.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. with victory projected in two crucial midwest states, the democratic party challenger, joe biden, says he's confident he's on course to win the white house. but a handful of states remain too close to call — and officials warn it may be days before the final result is known. president trump's campaign has begun legal action to try to stop vote counting in georgia — an important battleground where his lead overjoe biden continues to narrow. the president's team has also filed legal challenges in michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin. mark lobel wraps up all the latest developments. could the 77—year—old be on course for victory? he and his supporters are growing more and more confident of it. i'm not here to declare that we've won, but i am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.

that's because the much predicted blue wave, though slow in coming, and smaller in size than many predicted, may now be breaking through. buoyed by a projected democrat win in the key state of michigan, and with both wisconsin and perhaps pennsylvania and georgia swinging towards biden, it may not be long now. but donald trump's team is claiming voterfraud, despite no evidence to back up his claims. and the democrats know that the only way that they can win this election is to cheat in pennsylvania. and we've seen it from day one. we've seen it from day one. his team has filed a lawsuit in georgia, michigan, and pennsylvania, seeking to pause the states‘ counts there. they've already demanded a recount in wisconsin — which they're entitled to. at key swing states they continue to count postal vote. now all eyes are on wisconsin, pennsylvania, north carolina, nevada, and georgia. joe biden still needs to get to that 270 mark, whatever his opponent says.

we will win this. and as far as i'm concerned we already have won it. and echoing the president's call for counting of votes to now stop, these trump supporters called for a halt at this count in detroit, michigan. show me what democracy looks like! this is what democracy looks like! that has caused counter protests across the country from democrats — with their message being to protect the vote. donald trump is adamant there are serious questions to answer about the handling of this election. it may be that the courts do get involved, but for now the feeling is that the colour of victory that at first looked trump red may now be turning a biden blue. mark lobel, bbc news. let's look at some live

pictures now from georgia where ballots are being counted. the director there said they will finish tonight and take as long as it takes. it is a republican stronghold in the trump campaign has launched legal action accusing democrats of scheming to disenfranchise republican voters. that had live now to david willis. 1992 was when the us last unseated a president after a single term. i'll president after a single term. ru likely president after a single term. i'll likely does it look now? there seem to be more routes to victory forjoe biden at this particular point then there are four donald trump. there are millions of votes still to be counted and counting is going on in several of the key swing states overnight. arizona 11 electoral college vote and georgia with 16 electoral

couege georgia with 16 electoral college votes also, they are both due to announce new voting tallies in a few hours time. voting is expected to go on. nevada are saying they will not release any results until tomorrow, a state that hillary clinton won back in 2016 and it has six electoral college votes up has six electoral college votes upforgrabs has six electoral college votes up for grabs full pennsylvania, about 800,000 votes are still to be counted and that is the crucial swing state with 20 electoral college votes that both candidates have been eyeing closely indeed. so everything still to play for. well this down. we're told in pennsylvania and georgia that trump is ahead and biden gaining. in arizona, from his gaining. in arizona, from his gaining on biden but there are legal challenges and demands for recounts. is the mileage there? the trump campaign has

lodged lawsuits in michigan, georgia and pennsylvania. basically, in the first two, those lawsuits demand better access for campaign observers and when it comes to pennsylvania, of course, they are basically resisting that move by the supreme court to support a move to extend the vote counting in pennsylvania and that is something that donald trump has railed against in the last few days, that vote counting can go on until friday. all this is the result ofan friday. all this is the result of an unprecedented number of male in boats, or postal pellets, as a result of the coronavirus. where this will lead us, it could days, we will probably get a better idea of how the election is shaping up over the next few days but we could possibly see vote counting going on for weeks.

in the battleground state of nevada, joe biden has a razor—thin lead, with 86% of the vote counted. 0ur correspondent, james clayton, is in las vegas. well, it's really, really close, 8000 votes between biden and trump. at the moment biden isjust edging it. and wouldn't he love to win in las vegas? this is very much trump's playground, trump has a massive hotel in las vegas. it's las vegas that's helping biden at the moment, because in terms of nevada it is pretty much all republican — apart from a little bit of blue right at south las vegas, and that is democratic, it's trending democrat right now. it was a very hard seat to call this because of the economy. you might see some of the casinos behind me. a lot of them were shut, there was huge unemployment here, some of the eyes in the country and there was a big question of whether people would blame donald trump, the commander in chief, or blame the democrats who actually run the state here. there is a democrat governor here. think a lot of people thought that arizona was the one to watch around here and nevada

might be a bit easier because hillary clinton took this date in 2016. it does appear that perhaps nevada is going to be closer, 85% of the votes have been tallied. we thought we might get a result today. we're not going to get that. we're going to get more information tomorrow. 9am pacific time, that's 5pm gmt. it could, potentially, decide the election. certainly important for mr biden, isn't it, james, our other correspondents doing the maths, they say even if mr biden doesn't get pennsylvania, if he gets arizona and nevada, arizona with 11 points in the electoral college, nevada with six, that gets him to 270 in the electoral college and gets into the white house. that's absolutely right. there are lots of different pathways you can get to, obviously if he wins pennsylvania that changes things. but nevada could be crucial. there is absolutely a scenario where biden loses states like georgia and pennsylvania north carolina and suddenly

nevada would be the crucial state for biden and it is a very, very close. just one thing to say about the republicans here, they are very litigious, they have already launched all sorts of lawsuits previous to the election. i think if it's close here you can pretty much guarantee you are going to see more lawsuits from the republicans to come here. james clayton in las vegas. evenifjoe even ifjoe biden does become president, if his party does not control congress it can be difficult to get things done. they are expected to remain control of the house with a reduced majority. they were unable to unseat susan collins who has fought off a strong challenge. they needed to gain three orfour challenge. they needed to gain three or four senate seats for control they have had just an increase of one. democratic strategist,

cristina antelo joined me from washington, i asked her how difficult it is to be president if your party doesn't control the senate. we have been watching donald trump with the same problem with not controlling the house so it's divided government and many consider that gridlock and nothing would happen. but i'm actually taking a more positive view. mitch mcconnell has been in the senate for 36 years, i think. he is a master legislator, strategist and tactician and joe biden, we cannot forget he started his career in the senate and has a long relationship with mitch mcconnell and they know each other well and they are on opposite sides but know how to deal with each other and what i see in the mitch mcconnell statement today, we do not hear from many republicans making announcements but the announcement mitch made went towards saying he was not ready to get to work on a lame duck and pass coronavirus relief aid with nancy pelosi. we have not seen that kind of engagement throughout the summerfrom him and he knew he had tough elections for his republican senators

trying to come back but i think if you know that donald trump is not coming back, then he is ready to deal with the democrats. assuming nothing, joe biden is not president yet, what is his path to victory because he is not there yet, i'm assuming you will say pennsylvania and michigan or arizona and nevada? i do think it is arizona, nevada, and michigan and i think we take those and get to 270 exactly. pennsylvania and georgia may be become the fallback just in case. that goes to the point that joe biden has multiple pass to get to 270 whereas president trump has one path, only through pennsylvania and that's why you see him fighting so desperately to cling there and not allow those votes to be counted. he challenges results everywhere else because he doesn't have any option. this is the only way you can

try to keep the math alive, if not the vote. ifjoe biden gets one of the pairs, he does not need the other pair to get to 270? that is exactly right. whatever happens, there will be many of people, millions and millions of people who are going to be opposed to the result, whoever wins and it seems millions and millions of people who will think that the process possibly the whole structure of democracy in the united states, is broken. how to reconcile with those people? i think it starts with the speech that joe biden gave today. a conciliatory tone, not an arrogant one. one that talks about unity and creating unity not one looking to stoke more and more division, so, i think by definition, if donald trump is re—elected and president trump is still there for another four years, it grows increasingly worse. i'm hopeful that even with a split government, with republicans retaining the check and balance

that the founding fathers created on purpose to make sure that there is not some liberal agenda that donald trump has scared folks into thinking that socialists were taking over, that somehow we would become communists under this new power structure, i think people will inherently see that the democracy we created, the founding fathers created, actually does work, the checks and balances of the senate, with the republican senate with mitch mcconnell working there will come up with good bipartisan solutions and seeing that for the next two years will do a lot of good for our constituents. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: as the contested counts and accusations of fraud continue — we look at what might be learned from the infamous florida vote — and those hanging chads — two decades ago. 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 to 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 itjust seems to keep on going. tonight, we prove once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but 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 the vote counting continues. the trump campaign launches legal action to stop vote counting in michigan, pennsylvania and georgia, and wants a total recount in wisconsin. spanning vote was very important, but of course it is not a single block. democrat and majority whip of the virginia general assembly, alfonso lopez, joined me to discuss the latino vote which was decisive in a number of states. the latina boat is not a monolith, there are many different nationalities and the fa ct different nationalities and the fact is that cuban—americans have very different issues than chicano americans in california, and from arizona,

mexican—americans, and very different issues from el salvador americans in virginia. they have very different issues and priorities. president trump clearly did spot a very good opportunity in florida with cuban—americans, also exiles from venezuela. do you think your own party has really hit the spot? i disagree with your assertion that there were more latino voters in texas and florida for trumpet, in fact, latina voters voted overwhelmingly in almost every state for the joe biden campaign, infact, there state for the joe biden campaign, in fact, there was an issue in miami dade county where the number of conservative latinos came back home, specifically the cuban—american immunity, and it was not a big a win as it had been for hillary clinton in 2016, but when you look at the highest density latino precincts, joe biden one each

of those precincts 65 to 70%, and the same holds true in texas, and the western latina democrats have really solidified those dates to the point where colorado and mexico and now nevada are solid places the democratic votes, and now, what we see with arizona, arizona latina democrats were the key factor in basically flipping that state for republican to democrat. looking at what you have been seen, you feel there are a lot of myths about miami dade in florida. it's not the centre of the latina universe of the united states, it only counts 3.1% of the overall us latina population. the fact is there are latinos in every quarter of the united states, and the fact is that they are really now the

margin of victory in several states, a lot of the battleground states we're talking about, michigan, wisconsin, virginia, texas, and they are going to grow, continually, and the fact is they will continue and eventually, that margin will be there for the democrats and a lot of states going forward. they have played a huge role in virginia and a significant role in wisconsin and michigan just over the past couple of days. winning the swing state of pennsylvania 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 explains. there is an irony in the middle of all of this because in some of those battleground states where there is a huge contraversy over the counting of mail—in ballots and absentee ballots, as 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 are 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 an election still in play. 0ver breakfast tables this morning, and possibly dinner tables tomorrow night. marie pizzo and mary lorenzo are sprightly 80—somethings who've seen a lot in their lives, but nothing like this. they've got a lot of... ..lots of votes yet to count. i always say, "may the better man win, and let's hope that

when they are in office, they do the right thing." period. 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 a million left to process by the morning. and now the trump campaign is taking legal action in pennsylvania. the man leading the count told me he's unconcerned. i want it over with too, more than anyone else, i assure you. but that being said, we have to get it right. we cannot get it wrong. there are no do overs when it comes to counting elections. but why all the problems? covid—19. republicans are comfortable voting in person while more democrats voted by mail. that's where we are... listen to brian rosenwald, a former senior election official here in philadelphia. you have to open in pennsylvania an outer envelope, check a signature, then separate out an inner envelope,

open that one, and then get the ballot out. it takes time when you're talking about hundreds of thousands of ballots in some of these counties. and the public officials in pennsylvania, in michigan, wisconsin all said it was going to take time. you voted back in october? october 23. in the middle of all the chaos, seemingly forgotten, the voter. meet debbie smith, who checked online last night to see if her early vote had been counted, and she couldn't find it. it wasn't there. it stilljust said mail—in. are you nervous it still might not be there? i know. so now it's there. it's there and 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? clive myrie, bbc news,

in philadelphia. over this entire election has hung the cloud of legitimacy. there are already lawyers and legal wrangling, contested cou nts a nd accusations of fraud. the president set the narrative early on for this —suggesting mail in ballots would be stolen and that if he lost it would be through foul play. the last time a presidential election outcome was this contested, it went all the way to the supreme court. the bbc‘s gabriel gatehouse asks what we might learn from the infamous florida vote two decades ago. the voting has finished and still, there is no result. an anxious nation waits. we have been here before, 20 years ago, in what feels like a distant era. excuse me one second. im so sorry to interrupt, florida goes for al gore. there is a lot of uncertainty and confusion about who won florida. the network has called this thing, but the people actually counting the votes are coming up with a different

perspective, and so, we are darn upbeat about things. florida pulled back into the undecided column. in 2000, florida held the key. whoever won the sunshine state would take the presidency. bush wins, headline of the hour, headline of the year. al gore was on his way to make his concession speech, having already phoned his rival to congratulate him, but his team told him to wait. florida has pulled back. cbs news has now, for the second time tonight, florida has pulled back. this race is simply too close to call, and until the results of the recount is concluded, and the results in florida become official, our campaign continues. it was the election of the hanging chad, inconclusive ballot papers that held the result of the whole election in the balance. 36 days of legal, bureaucratic warfare over which ballots

were to be counted, and ultimately, this well of litigation ended up at the doorstep of the supreme court. the supreme court eventually ruled for bush, and the rest, as they say, is history. today we are still a long way from the drama of 2000. no one is talking about the supreme court, yet. no one has called this election, yet. no one, that is, apart from the president himself. so we will be going to the us supreme court, we want all voting to stop, we don't want them to find any ballots at four o'clock in the morning and add them to the list, 0k? the partisan rivalries of 20 years ago were no less bitter than they are today, but what is different is the tone. no matter what the outcome, america will make the transition to a new administration with dignity, with full respect for the freely expressed will of the people, and with pride in the democracy we are privileged to share.

some still believe that bush got fewer votes than al gore 20 years ago, but when the supreme court ruled, that was it, its legitimacy was not questioned. this election continues to test america's faith in its institutions, by whatever means an eventual win is secured. to remind you of that main story, some live pictures of the counting still going on, first of all in fulton county in georgia, we understand from the director of elections there that count will go on until it's finished, and also in nevada, essentially the election coming down to four states are still counting ballots, in pennsylvania and georgia mr biden is gaining, in arizona, the trunk campaign is gaining. the trunk campaign is suing to pause accounting in a

view and a total recount in wisconsin. thank you so much for watching. 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: joe biden says he's on course to win the us presidency as vote counting continues. michigan and wisconsin are projected as biden wins. european monitors described the election as competitive and well—managed. 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 there to be a total recount of ballots in wisconsin, saying there had been reports of irregularities there. the democrats are expected to remain in control of the house of representatives, but with a reduced majority. in the senate, they have been unable to unseat republican susan collins. the democrats needed to gain three senate seats to take