this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm james reynolds. donald trump again complains of electoral fraud in tuesday's presidential poll. he repeated his assertion — without evidence — that he won the vote. if you count the legal votes, i easily went. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. joe biden insists the process is working properly and that every vote will be given the respect it deserves. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that, when in the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared

the winner is. —— winners. the counting continues in some of the key battleground states — georgia, arizona, nevada and pennsylvania are among those still to declare. hello and welcome. within the last hour donald trump has again complained of electoral fraud in tuesday's presidential poll, as his lead in two key states — georgia and pennsylvania — continues to shrink as postal votes are counted. at a news conference at the white house he said the system was corrupt. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from ours. if you count the votes that came in late, we're looking at them very strongly but a lot of

them very strongly but a lot of them came in late, but i read it decisively one and critical states including massive victories in florida, iowa, indiana, ohio. we wonder these and many other victories despite historic election interference from big media, big—money and big tech. as eve ryo ne big—money and big tech. as everyone sold, we won by historic numbers and the pulses go it knowingly wrong. they go it knowingly wrong. the polls was so it knowingly wrong. the polls was so ridiculous, there was no blue wave that they predicted. let's speak to the bbc‘s ben wright in washington. i know you have been looking at claims made by the president. bring us your analysis, please. it was an extraordinary and despondent statement by the president and he made a series of completely unsubstantiated claims about how this process is working. he talked about legal and illegal ballots but it isa

legal and illegal ballots but it is a completely false distinction. ballots are exactly cast in person or posted through the mail and both are counted in the proper way. he complained about widespread fraud. they have never been any fraud in mail—in ballots a nd never been any fraud in mail—in ballots and he never offered any proof. he talked about his lead whistling away. it is shrinking fast in pennsylvania. the reason it is happening, they accounted quite properly they accounted quite properly the postal votes that arrived in huge numbers and they are tending to favourjoe biden. why is that? primarily because joe biden encouraged his voters to vote by mail in the weeks coming up to the election and donald trump did precisely the opposite. we are about to see live pictures from phoenix,

arizona. the presidency is not just about words, it is about tone as well and when you saw the 20 odd minutes from the president he seemed to be in much lower key than in previous appearances? i thought there was a tone of defeat within his voice and he tried to talk about achievements in terms of the tenant, the republican voters, that there was among republican voters on the day, the fact that they had not lost the fact that they had not lost the senate, he talked with pride about state he had one, and then with this promising about state which are now in an nailbiter. it was quite surprisingly, we have seen this kind of behaviour before from the president but right now, as america waits to hear who the next president will be, to hear donald trump discrediting american democracy like this

and just think great doubt on the integrity of the whole process was quite a thing to hear. thank you so much. joe biden also addressed the media on thursday evening. he said he was confident that he would win but called for patience. we continue to feel very good about where things stand. we have no doubt that, when the count is finished, senator harris and i would be declared the winners. i want everyone to stay calm, the process is working, the count is being completed and we will know very soon completed and we will know very soon so completed and we will know very soon so thank you all for your patience but we have to count the votes. god bless you all and may god protect our troops. our correspondent barbara plett—usher is in delaware the joe biden‘s ho. what was the aim of that statement by mr biden? under

the one hand, i think he wants to show that he has respect for the integrity of the electoral process and probably wants to control himself to the kind of claims president trump was making just now and also he wa nts to making just now and also he wants to tell his supporters that they are on track to win, evenif that they are on track to win, even if they are not winning right away, to be patient, to keep the faith, even though he has not declared victory yet. the other thing is you want to keep these statements coming because, in the democratic camp, they are aware of what happened in 2000 when al gore hung back when there was this issue of disputed votes and george w bush seized the moment and started acting like a president and i think mr biden is preparing the ground where he can act like a president if the news organisations decides

he is president elect mathematically even if there is no formal declaration so this is probably part of that. he comes out from time to time to reassure his supporters, to show respect for the integrity of the electoral system but also to position himself, i think, for making that declaration and i think he will went to the news organisations called the states. it is a fascinating balance because he has to be careful on one had not to claim victory because he wa nts not to claim victory because he wants every vote to be counted on the other he is now beginning to appear in public like a kind of president—elect, at least the beginning of a president—elect? at least the beginning of a president-elect? his campaign has said, we're notjumping the gun here, we are waiting for the votes to be counted and we keep saying we are confident we will went but we are doing that on the basis of data and on votes being counted so that is

how they explain it but, at the same time, he is preparing to speak to the nation as soon as he feels there is clear evidence that he has won the election and i think he has been hearing mr trump for several months now saying the kind of things he has now said. the challenging the vote, calling it voter fraud, stealing the election and so on and so he is primed in that way. he is also been putting out statements, talking about uniting and healing in the nation. he said, when and hip it becomes president he will be a president for all americans not just the a president for all americans notjust the democrats. —— when and if he becomes president. that he wants to be a leader for the whole nation. you said setting the stage, what is going on behind you, i see two

huge harris — biden sides, what is going on? it is pretty empty. nothing is going on at the moment but a little bit of activity earlier in the evening, some sound system woke has preparing to swing into action as soon as they feel confident that they have the numbers they want and they can swing into action by quickly because their audience is going to be in cars, a sort of driving rally. i will go and get some new glasses! see you soon. let's speak to the bbc‘s james clayton who is in las vegas, nevada how are things going? it is so close, it is completely on a knife edge. if you think about nevada, think about las vegas

and in this county because three quarters of the population live here. we believe there are about 190,000 ballots left to be counted. they have been counted 50,000 today and they will announce tomorrow morning, pacific time, at about 10am, 6pm gmt, the results of those ballots so we will not more tomorrow morning. at the moment it is razor thin. it is about 10,000 votes between joe it is about 10,000 votes betweenjoe biden it is about 10,000 votes between joe biden and it is about 10,000 votes betweenjoe biden and donald trump. the winner of this state could very well become the it is kind of weird, it looks like a warehouse in the middle of the desert but it could really decide the future of america. it is very surreal. i have done something today i should not have done, spending the day on social media. and i have picked up, people saying why are

things so slow in nevada but also why are so thorough. are they taking the time for a reason? they say they are just trying to be thorough,. all the eyes, trying to be thorough,. all the eyes , a cross trying to be thorough,. all the eyes, across all the teas. people are getting frustrated. there was a trump rallyjust over that was meant to be static 20 minutes ago and people are angry. a similar rally last night and they were guns. you can imagine this turning in quite a nasty way in someone turning in quite a nasty way in someone like nevada. it is a very, very close and if you speak to trump supporters they are all talking about stealing divide and voter fraud stop that do not provide any evidence about a really believe it, they believe passionately

that this election is trying to be stolen and they are angry. in some states, trump supporters are saying stop the count, that is what the president is saying but in nevada, mr biden is ahead in the count so do they actually wa nt the count so do they actually want the count to continue?m isa want the count to continue?m is a slightly confused sort of slogan because it is stop the vote but don't stop all divides. they just want the proper votes to be counted. that improper votes should not be counted. what improper votes art can be different things. republicans think 10,000 votes we re republicans think 10,000 votes were from people they did not live in the state. of course, why are they registered in the state ? why are they registered in the state? because you can, if you wa nt to state? because you can, if you want to be registered in nevada and then move somewhere else and then move somewhere else and still vote in nevada and

because of covid, people have moved out because the casinos have closed, huge levels of unemployment. i spoke to a waiter who said just that. he moved out on las vegas to find work but then move back once the casinos open again. you could see how that could have happened but that does not mean there is any voter fraud. just like in the uk, you can vote in a constituency you do not live in if you are registered there. thank you so much. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: where does america go from here? we've been finding out what people think of the election, and how they can heal the country's bitter divisions. 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:

in only his second public appearance since tuesday's presidential election, donald trump has again insisted that he was the winner, repeating unsubstantiated claims of voterfraud. joe biden has appealed for calm and says he expects that when all the votes are counted, he will have won. let's have more now on the us presidential election and take a closer look at what each candidate needs to do to get into the white house. here is paul hawkins. you know how the machine works. it is all yours. i thinki you know how the machine works. it is all yours. i think i know how the machine works. this is the electoral map of the united states. the states in red are those that are projected to win for donald trump, the ones in blue are projected to win for joe biden. the ones in grey are the ones we want to be watching. these are the ones that are in play, nevada, arizona, pennsylvania, north carolina and georgia. down here we have alaska, which i am

sorry to say, alaska, we are going to ignore you for the purpose of these maths. three electoral college votes and the people of alaska are likely to vote for donald trump, who by the way is stuck on 214. that is why he is not happy at the moment. he needs to get to 270 to get the keys to the white house, or rather to retain the white house. he is short by 56 electoral college seats. his route to the white house looks narrower where is joe biden only needs 17 electoral college votes —— whereas. he has more options. he has three routes. let's go through them now. if he were to win nevada and arizona, just those two, and he is ahead in both of those states as counting continues, if we note nevada turning blue, turning arizona blue, he is up to 270. that gets him into the white house. now, were he to win georgia, and that is in play at the moment, 3000 votes trump leads by in georgia, but

there are still some votes to count, and it could still be thatjoe biden flips the state there. he takes georgia, let's get our blue pen. georgia goes blue... i should say, let's go back here now. georgia goes blue, my toy is not working. and then he only needs arizona or nevada to take him up to 280. simplest of all, this is his simplest route to the white house. if he were to take pennsylvania, then he gets up to... well, he easily gets over the line, anyway. he easily gets over 270. to make things a little bit easier, if we put these estates back in play now, if donald trump were to win pennsylvania, that is his only route to the white house, effectively. this is the only way that he could win the white

house. if he were to win all of the others, to put it another way, if he were to win north carolina, georgia, arizona and nevada, he gets to 282, because we have still got pennsylvania highlighted. let's unhighlight pennsylvania. i knewi highlighted. let's unhighlight pennsylvania. i knew i should have had more practice on this toy. he has to win pennsylvania is the take home from that, to win the white house. pennsylvania is why the trump campaign is putting so much effort into that state. next time we will make you do alaska as well! thank you. let's go to one of the states still to declare, pennsylvania. the bbc‘s michelle fleury is in philadelphia. michelle, the very simple question i have is what is going on with the count? well, the building over my right shoulder is where postal ballots are being counted and have been counted now four

days. the work continues. the latest update we have from top election officials in this state is that the majority of the ballots have now been counted, but the race is still too close to call. donald trump has had a lead here in the keystone state, but it has narrowed even in the last few hours. it has shrunk. it was in some ways what people had been expecting. let me explain by what i mean by that. in person votes tended to favour republicans. you may recall donald trump had urged his supporters to vote early. democrats, who tended to vote by mail, they are accounting for about two—thirds of the postal votes going for biden. that is why you are seeing this late swing, they take longer to count. to reinforce the point we have been making, michelle, if the state is called forjoe biden, he is over that 270 number, so what almost everyone at home will be yelling at me

to ask you is when, when, when? that is the million—dollar question. you know, earlier today there were about 100,000 postal votes left to count in this building. that is enough to put biden in the lead in pennsylvania. you are talking about what is going on inside and potentially deciding this race but because it is so close, because as you say it essentially gets joe close, because as you say it essentially getsjoe biden to the magic number, officials here are being very cautious. i think you are going to see that both from the media not wanting to call things too early, but also, as i say, officials, given the significance of pennsylvania. the last big battleground state, those 20 electoral votes, they could decide the future direction of this country. what about any legal challenges from the president and his team? yes, i mean, we have seen a president and his team? yes, i mean, we have seen a number of

the trump team actually out here earlier today, pam bondi and corey lewandowski were here to tout one of the victories they had. in that press conference that donald trump had, he talked about observers being blocked from seeing the votes counted. the judge being blocked from seeing the votes counted. thejudge here said that they could move closer, essentially. but then somewhere in the process, the voting stopped in this building as corey lewandowski and pam bondi and others tried to sort of go in and force their way into observe. then we had the philadelphia board of elections trying to appeal to pennsylvania's highest court. that matter is still outstanding but for now the counting goes on and on. you have been there for quite awhile in philadelphia but i imagine you have been able to monitor the situation in the entire state. have you heard of any kinds of problems or even inside counting stations or outside, problems, confrontations and so on? it

has gone, i think, more smoothly, honestly, than people had anticipated. i think talking to people here on the ground but also hearing what was going on around the country, there was concern about what things might look like, given the anxiety, tension, how charged the situation was. fortunately, so far that has not materialised. they have been isolated incidences, some involving ballots, involving a that was set out incorrectly, that now those are being set aside to be processed more slowly. things like that, but we're not talking about significant votes that could make a huge difference at this stage. problems may still emerge, we just haven't heard of them yet. what is worth remembering is that in 2016, hillary clinton lost this state by about 44,000 votes. that is less than 1%. it looks like the margins here, whatever way this state goes, could be as tight this time

around. michelle, thank you so much. let's go to georgia. the bbc‘s larry madowo in atlanta, georgia. larry, same question i give to eve ryo ne larry, same question i give to everyone when i first see them. what is the latest with the count? the latest with the count? the latest with the count is that president trump's lead has essentially been slimming throughout the day and now his lead overjoe biden in the state of georgia is about 3400 vote. there are maybe just about 30,000 or so votes left to count —— 3400 votes. so razor thin. that is why donald jr, razor thin. that is why donald jr, the president's son, has been holding a press conference, charging up the troops, claiming widespread voter fraud even though there is no evidence. the reason why president trump's lead in georgia appears to be slimming is because he actively encouraged his supporters not to vote by mail, to show up by election day. the are only

being counted after the election day votes were counted and as that has been coming in, more ofjoe biden's supporters' votes have been added to the tally, and that is why the changes happening. ifi tally, and that is why the changes happening. if i got the numbers right, you said about 30,000 votes to go. do you know which particular parts of georgia georgia they are from? the understanding is that it is mostly the understanding is that it is m ostly fro m the understanding is that it is mostly from democratic leaning counties in the state of georgia. fulton county is the largest, which is part of this metro atlanta area, had most of votes counted, there are a few military and overseas votes here to count. if few remaining areas and counties that are more racially diverse and have more racially diverse and have more democratic voters, it is understood that those are two of the places still being counted. that is so important because the democrat has not won this state since 1992. if the 16 electoral college votes go tojoe biden, he is within striking distance of 270. if president trump loses this, it is almost unrecoverable. what

has the atmosphere been like in atla nta ? has the atmosphere been like in atlanta? very tense, james. we saw outside one counting centre supporters of president trump chanting stop the steel? they claimed there were new ballots being found and added to the tally and that they should be stopped, even though that is not happening. a lot of supporters ofjoe biden still afraid that this might not go their way. they are watching that and refreshing it, like everybody else. the secretary of state's website, to see how it is changing. president trump has claimed this evening that he has one by... horn honks. they recognise me and they wa nted they recognise me and they wanted to say hello. that is not happening so everybody is refreshing it and hoping to see what happens when it is all decided in the state of georgia. you have missed your ride. for the moment, thank you so ride. for the moment, thank you so much. i am sure ride. for the moment, thank you so much. i am sure we ride. for the moment, thank you so much. i am sure we will be back with larry later. thanks to all of our correspondence.

—— correspondents. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @jamesbbcnews. hello there. it looks like the weather should even out a bit more, i think, for friday, certainly compared with thursday where we had the win lowing over the pennines, bringing some sunshine in durham and temperatures reaching 18 degrees. whereas across southern parts of england, when that fog formed, it lingered into the afternoon in some places and temperatures only eight or nine celsius. now, it's quite chilly early in the morning across more southern areas of the uk. where we have the clearer skies, a pinch of frost. further north, there is more cloud around. but where we have those clearer skies in england and wales, there's some mist and fog, particularly towards the west country and the south—east of wales in the morning. it will lift fairly readily, mind you, as the breeze picks up and we get sunshine

developing widely. that cloud, quite low cloud, moving northwards across scotland and northern ireland and some sunshine coming in here as well. the winds picking up in the southwest through the day. temperatures not quite as high as they were on thursday, notjust to the east of the pennines, but also in the north—east of scotland. but over the weekend, we're going to find milder air gradually coming in from the south on a southerly breeze. and whilst it's dry for many, there could be a bit of rain around especially on sunday. but we start the weekend this time with the colder air and the lower temperatures across more northern areas of the uk, with the clearer skies. that's going to lead to some fog, particularly across the veil of york and perhaps in the central belt. that could linger into the afternoon as well. otherwise, we get some sunshine in the north away from that fog. further south, through wales, the midlands, southern england, it could be quite grey and cloudy through the day. a bit of rain in the far south—west later. temperatures are beginning to recover across southern areas. where we havr the fog lingering further north, though, it will be quite chilly. second half of the weekend, we've got lowering pressure to the south—west of the uk.

southerly breeze. these weather fronts — pretty wea k, mind you — are moving their way northwards. so it looks like there's a fair bit of cloud at least on sunday. there could be some patchy rain here and there, most of it i think running up through the irish sea towards northern ireland and later on into the south—west of scotland. many places are still going to be dry and those temperatures making double figures through the central belt of scotland, and again 16 degrees towards the south—east of england. those temperatures remain at those sort of levels, really, i think through monday and tuesday into next week. we've got some wetter weather on monday. nut it should be dry but still fairly cloudy, i think, on tuesday.

this is bbc news, the headlines: donald trump has again complained of electoral fraud in tuesday's presidential poll, as his lead in two key states — georgia and pennsylvania — continues to shrink as postal votes are counted. at a news conference at the white house he repeated unsubstantiated claims of voterfraud. joe biden has insisted the vote counting process is working properly. he's called for calm and patience and said democracy was sometimes messy, but had ‘no doubt‘ he'd be declared the winner once counting was complete. he's seventeen electoral votes short of securing the presidency. votes are still be counted in several key states including pennsylvania, georgia, nevada and arizona. counting has been delayed largely because of the huge volume of postal ballots most of which are expected to be in favour of mr biden. overall turnout is projected to be the highest in 120 years.

now on bbc news, our world.