this is bbc news. i'm david eades with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. as attention focuses on a handful of closely fought states, donald trump again complains of electoral fraud without offering proof. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. joe biden insists the counting process is working properly and calls for calm and patience. he says he had no doubt he would be declared the winner. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that, when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. the counting continues in some of the key battleground states.

georgia, philadelphia and nevada are among those still to declare. this is the scene live in phoenix, arizona, where they're counting the ballots through the night. trump supporters protest on the streets as millions of dollars are donated to a fund to mount legal challenges in a number of states. hello. the us presidential election came to a close on tuesday night — 3rd of november. but still the result is farfrom concluded. a handful of states have the capacity to swing the race to the white house both ways, as they carry on counting mostly postal votes, some of which are still coming in. and those ‘mail—in‘ votes as they're called tend to be

cast by democratic party voters. so, in pennsylvania and georgia, for example, donald trump's lead established earlier in the counting, has been whittled away. they are currently too close to call. mr trump himself has repeated claims of voterfraud. his rivaljoe biden, has said he expects to win the election. ben wright reports from washington. he did not sound like a president confident of victory. instead, donald trump appeared in the white house to denigrate the american electoral process and makea the american electoral process and make a slew of unfounded claims about voting and fraud. if you count the legal votes i easily win. if you count the illegal vote they can try to steal the election from us. we think there's going to be a lot of litigation as we have so much evidence, so much proof and it is going to end up,

perhaps, at the highest court in the land. with his chances of re—election appearing to recede by the hour, the president made a wholly false the engine between votes cast in person on the day and votes cast by mail. both are legal and both are still being counted. some of the president's own party spoke out. on twitter, the republican governor of maryland, larry hogan, said there was no defence for the president's comments undermining the democratic process to their is no evidence of postal voting fraud and in georgia, a state that donald trump must win to have a chance of taking the white house, his early lead has been shrinking fast as mail—in ballots are been shrinking fast as mail—in ballots a re processed. been shrinking fast as mail—in ballots are processed. in pennsylvania, i stayed with 20 electoral college votes, his election nightly has been eroded as well. the campaign has filed a lawsuit to press for potus that my closer scrutiny of the process but the stop election official has defended the count. the strength of the integrity of this vote is really

unparalleled. same as when you vote in person, you must be registered, go in and sign the poll book. all these things are tracked. good afternoon, folks. joe biden‘s tone and tactics could not be more different to the president is confident of replacing. we have no doubt that when the counties finished, senator harris and i will be declared when it is so i ask everyone to stay calm. all people to stay calm. while there are still votes to count, joe biden presidency is not a sure thing and his slim lead over arizona narrowed on thursday. donald trump does not wa nt to thursday. donald trump does not want to be a one term president and he is willing to rubbish america's democratic reputation to try and hold on. but it is the state is in charge of counting the votes in that process continues no matter what mr trump says. joe biden has said he try to unite this divided country if he wins the election. if donald trump is on his way out of the white house he has not made that task any

easier. let's get the latest form our north america correspondent, peter bowes. and in some areas they carry on voting. it is fascinating, watching the way in which the account is changing almost by the hour. it is and it looks like in some of those crucial states thatjoe biden is beginning to take the edge. it is still neck and neck, too close to call in pennsylvania, georgia and arizona and the vada and those are the states we are watching because it all comes down to mass at the end of the day. 270 votes is what either candidate needs to get to become the next president. joe biden has 253 and president trump has 214 so you can see how close joe trump has 214 so you can see how closejoe biden is and if president trump not take pennsylvania, if he cannot take georgia then he has no path to the presidency. it is very

narrow in terms of his path to victory. there are options still available to joe biden and it is all coming down to the final few postal ballots that have been counted and what makes this election so different, people are wondering what makes this one so different, and it is the coronavirus. joe biden encouraged his supporters in postal ballots while president trump suggested that he should vote on polling day. so we are ina vote on polling day. so we are in a world where we may well have these concerted efforts to ta ke have these concerted efforts to take cases from different states to supreme courts and ultimately the supreme court. that could go on for ages. that could go on and that may well still happen but i think what is likely to happen in the meantime is that there will be projections in these outstanding states that show that either candidate, and it seems at the moment most likely joe biden, it could be both of them, but if it isjoe biden who has the most number of states taking him to 270 that

he will claim to have won the election. the big question then is will donald trump concede, as is tradition in presidential elections. if he does not concede and continues to pursue his grievances that have come without presenting any evidence, if he continues with those grievances through the lower courts and the supreme court, that is where the uncertainty in this country will linger, as you suggest, perhaps for several weeks. there are many people from different directions in the us who are working massively over time to try and get this to come out the way they want and the rest of the world is treading water and waiting for the result. it is an unfair question but when you think will get it? there are signs that we could get it as early as later on today, on friday, certainly pennsylvania looks like it is very close, the state of georgia looks like it is close. we just do not know because the officials in all these places are at pains to

point out over the last 24—hour is, look, we are being careful. we know this is crucially important and we are in an unprecedented situation with many postal ballots, we will ta ke many postal ballots, we will take ourtime and many postal ballots, we will take our time and get it right. so if not friday then possibly at some point over the weekend but as we have just been discussing, the legal implications of this will come into play when it could force this to drag on for several weeks. thank you very much, peter. that is peter bowes in la for us. let's take you around the houses to get from perspectives on the situation. our correspondent barbara plett—usher is in delaware atjoe biden‘s hq and says mr biden is trying to reassure the american public. well, he is presenting a sharp contrast to president trump and also responding to what he sees as attacks on democracy. he is reassuring americans that the voting system can be trusted and that it is voters who choose the president and not anyone else. but he is also reassuring his supporters that he believes he is on a path

to victory and when all those votes are counted, he will be president. and i think he is also building momentum to declare victory when and if the news organisations call states in his favour and declare mathematically that he is president—elect. that he will declare it to be so and probably start to act like one because if that does happen, his advisers don't believe that president trump would concede. the bbc‘s michelle fleury is in philadelphia in pennsylvania — one of the states still to declare. there are 20 electoral votes there, enough to getjoe biden over the line in one fell swoop and as we heard peter say, president trump must win this state if he is to stay in this state. let's hear from michelle. what we understand, the latest update we got 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, and 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're accounting for about two—thirds of the postal votes going for biden — that's why you're seeing this late swing, they take longer to count. this is philadelphia and the live count, although it does not look very live, but that count goes on. it is getting close, as i say, 20 electoral couege close, as i say, 20 electoral college votes on the line there

in philadelphia, pennsylvania. we will keep an eye on that for you as well here in the programme. our correspondent james clayton is in las vegas, nevada and explains how close we are to a result there. we may not know much more and at the moment it is razor thin. it is about 10,000 votes betweenjoe biden and donald trump. and if you want to know who will win, you need to come here, the clark county election centre where a vast majority of votes that are yet to be counted in the vada are being counted in the vada are being counted because clark is where 70% plus of all the nevada residents live. it is the cou nty residents live. it is the county that contains las vegas and there are many votes still, about 190,000 votes that we still do not know about. we do not know which way they have been cast. believe we are going to getan

been cast. believe we are going to get an update at around 10am pacific time tomorrow, about 6pm gmt and that may only be on 50,000 votes so it may well be the case that when it comes to knowing how this state has gone, knowing how this state has o knowing how this state has gone, we will not know that much more tomorrow and actually, the registrar he has said it may be saturday, sunday, even next week until we get a result here. it is possible that we do not get a result for the us presidential election until we get a decision here. so don't hold your breath but we expect something more to emerge relatively soon. still to come: more on the election. we'll be working out the arithmetic to see who'll win the presidential race.

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 it just 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: donald trump has again insisted that he was the winner, repeating unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and said he was taking legal action in the most closely contested states. joe biden has appealed for calm and says he expects that when all the votes are counted, he will have won. let us get some more on that. brian watkins is a republican and a civil and constitutional rights attorney, hejoins me now from san diego. thank you very much forjoining us. donald trump's messages straightforward, if you count the legal votes are easily win. what is your view of postal vote's? well, the law is very clear that you can allow for mail in balloting at any ballad

thatis mail in balloting at any ballad that is postmarked prior to the close of election, november three at 8pm, i believe, it gets counted. his allegations are saying that there are those that there aren't postmarked so we don't know when they came in and that maybe there were illegal votes and that people who were not authorised to vote, who are not citizens, voted in the selection because all you need to vote is a drivers license and when you have a mail in ballot you don't even get your driver's licence check so you fill it in and stick it in the box. so that does create an environment where fraud would be very easy to commit. so those are his allegations. i don't know what evidence he has to support that, but those are his allegations. there in lies the rub. you can make claims, if you don't have any evidence you don't have a lot of ground to stand on, do you? no, you don't. a part of his argument is that he was not allowed in some of the republican people we re some of the republican people were not allowed to observe and that if they get a chance to

investigate and observe they will uncover this evidence and be able to present it to a higher court. ijust be able to present it to a higher court. i just want to throw a couple of remarks that have come from people who you would consider trump supporters, the likes of chris christie, for example, he told abc that all this does, in terms of what mr trump has had to say, is in flame without informing, it is right to do it, but show was the evidence. and that really, it seems to me, brian, is the problem, we have rick sa ntorum me, brian, is the problem, we have rick santorum also saying this is dangerous, it's not factual, and at times it is incendiary. yes, he is going to have to produce evidence. he claims he is going to fail legal challenges and, of course, in court he has to bring the evidence. but, you know, let's not get it twisted here, legal challenges in contested elections are not new to america. i mean, you go back to america. i mean, you go back to bush versus gore, the democrats did the same thing when bush won, oh, gore really

one, its bad, it's fraud, now theissueis one, its bad, it's fraud, now the issue is on the other foot and they don't want to wear it. i think that is an interesting point you make, there are so often legal challenges to the elections. and it is a real hodgepodge across the united states in terms of the ways in which votes are collected and counted. i think that is recognisable stop there is a verification system, isn't there, brain, let's be honest, and if there are question marks ofa and if there are question marks of a particular ballot papers they are taken aside and reassessed and often people are brought in to provide a signature. the problem with this situation is we have never had an election during a pandemic, where everyone had to mail in their ballots, yes, we a lwa ys mail in their ballots, yes, we always had mail in ballots, people overseas can still vote during the american election when they are citizens and are residing or vacationing overseas, and people whojust can't get to the polls are able to mail in ballots, her had that and has not been a problem. but we have never had it at this massive scale where

we have so many, everyone, pretty much, very few people showed up to the polls, most people i believe mailed in the elets. we have never seen it on this scale before and this environment is ripe for fraud. there is no—one checking the signatures, so anyone at home, you know, who has a ballot can simply mail that in and we have no idea who that person is, whether in this country illegally or not. there are people checking signatures, i'm not going to say in every case thatis not going to say in every case that is happening, because they simply don't know, but i have had returning officer's talk about the ways in which they have had to do this. nonetheless, let me ask you this, brain, becausei nonetheless, let me ask you this, brain, because i find are fascinating, if you count the legal votes by easily win. that isa legal votes by easily win. that is a huge overstatement, isn't it, of the reality on the ground? it is a bit of an exaggeration. i don't know if he has the evidence to support that statement. he is talking figuratively, saying he believes that there is voter fraud and without that voter fraud and without that voter

fraud i win the election. that's basically what is trying to say. not saying it that well, but that's his position. like i said, we have had disputed elections, pretty much every election. last year when trump won hillary clinton says i should benny wenda, i wonder popular vote, there is a problem with the electoral college. we was have these challenges. there is nothing new. brian, thank you very much indeed. brian watkins joining is there from san diego. 0k, ok, so where exactly are we? we are down to a small number of states waiting to hand in the results of top results with me is our reporter paul hawkins. (1+1) you can understand his frustration watching it, is a big lead is whittling away to almost nothing in some cases. where are you with these? as the mail in ballots coming across the united states which

tend to favour the democrats, they are being counted. it is tense for all of us. turning on our phones getting notifications, tuning in to see what is the latest, at the moment, if we look at the electoral map, joe biden on 253 electoral college votes, he needs only 17 to take the white house. donald trump on 214, he needs 56 to take the white house, or should i say retain the white house. there are three clear routes forjoe biden to take the presidency. there are five states still in play, including, also, plus alaska. at that has three electoral college votes. it is going to go to president trump so we're not really involving that at the moment. five states in play. if joe that at the moment. five states in play. ifjoe biden wins arizona and nevada it is over for donald trump. he is ahead in both those estates at the moment. close in arizona, though, isn't he? close in arizona, but still ahead in

arizona. they are counting on phoenix and tucson. the other alternative is for georgia to be flipped to joe alternative is for georgia to be flipped tojoe biden. that is really close at the moment. only 1800 votes in georgia, they still counting in places like adelaide in the south—east of the state, is that —— if thatis of the state, is that —— if that is flipped in the democrats, it hasn't gone blue since 1992, ifjoe biden take that, plos one of arizona or nevada he gets over the magic 270 figure he needs to take the white house. the third and easiest route to the white house, very simple, joe biden ta kes house, very simple, joe biden takes pennsylvania, his home state. and if he wins the... it's a done deal, isn't it? it is all overfor donald it's a done deal, isn't it? it is all over for donald trump. for donald trump it is narrower, he has to win pennsylvania plus a combination of the other states, that is why there is so much focus on pennsylvania. one thing he usually wins is attention on social media. obviously twitter is going a little bit longer is over his remarks in the night. what have you been picking up on social media? broadly

speaking, his supporters are angry. joe biden's supporters are finding his reaction to watching his leaves dwindle down quite funny, frankly. greta thunberg was tweeted by donald trump this time last year the teenage environmentalist, he tweeted to her "so ridiculous, greta thunberg must work on her anger management problem and then go toa management problem and then go to a good old—fashioned movie with a friend. and then she has tweeted this back. that is one example of people enjoying someone in a time of frustration. we still have to wait for the outcome. thank you very much that. we believe it for the moment. obviously we will keep the coverage on the election as those votes are

still being counted in those estates with you here on bbc news. it's certainly been one of the most divisive us elections anyone can remember. our correspondent aleem maqbool has been speaking to people in wisconsin — one of the most fiercly contested states — to find out how the bitter battle has affected the public mood. even in quaint suburban america right now, in these fractious times, it's them and us. but there are those trying to come together. when tim had his biden sign stolen, his trump—supporting neighbour, josh, surprised him with a replacement. i knowjosh is a member of the republican party, and so, you know, for him to come and do something like that was pretty outstanding. so, in the course of our conversation, i realised that josh is, you know, a regular person first and a republican second.

but the situation nationally is causing tension. i think people's wicks are just a little bit shorter than they used to be. i think people are afraid. they're afraid of what the economy looks like, they're afraid of the unknown, and so that fear becomes anger. even outside the white house on election night, we saw radical elements on the left make an appearance. in recent months, far—right militia have also made their presence felt in many parts of the country. antifascist activist vaughn mays has been arrested several times for alleged violence, but now predicts trouble from the other side. i live in a state where we saw armed protesters, trump supporters, storm the capital because they did not want to follow mask mandates, and they did not want their businesses to shut down.

they wanted to be able get, in their words, haircuts. and so if they would go to those heights and those levels for mask mandates, it's definitely concerning what they would do if their president is not reelected, especially when he's been putting it out there that if he doesn't win, its rigged, or it's some sort of conspiracy against him, and that they should fight back. there's little doubt that the angry rhetoric and political discourse at the top has led to more animosity, among some elements at least, on the ground. the fear is, because this has already been a contentious election and promises to be into the days and weeks to come, that will only lead to greater divisions in american society. aleem maqbool, bbc news, milwaukee, wisconsin. that is wisconsin for you. let us that is wisconsin for you. let us look at phoenix, arizona, and philadelphia, in pennsylvania, two of the states that have not declared. it does

not look like feverish activity overnight. but they are still counting, trying to bring a close on the votes. we will keep across that here. we have the business implications coming right up. don't go away. 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 wind blowing 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'll lift fairly readily, mind you, as the breeze picks up and we get sunshine developing widely. and 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 south—west 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 while 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 vale 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 and southern england, it could be quite grey and cloudy through the day. a bit of rain in the far south—west later. but temperatures are beginning to recover across southern areas. where we have 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, a southerly breeze. these weather fronts — pretty weak, 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 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. but it should be dry but still fairly cloudy, i think, on tuesday.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. as attention focuses on a handful of closely fought states, donald trump again complains of electoral fraud without offering proof. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. joe biden insists the counting process is working properly and calls for calm and patience — he says he had no doubt he would be declared the winner. each ballot must be counted. we have no doubt that, when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners. the counting continues in some

of the key battleground states — georgia, pennsylvania and, nevada are among those still to declare. trump supporters protest on the streets as millions of dollars are donated to a fund to mount legal challenges in a number of states. let's get some business reaction to events in the us — because financial markets have continued to rally asjoe biden creeps closer to winning the presidential race. a change in the white house could mean more stability and an easing of trade tensions. and the prospect of a split congress — with republicans likely to keep control of the senate — has allayed concerns the democrats would be able to push through more regulation and tax

rises on big business. let's just show you how the us closed — another day of strong gains. although oil is still a problem these days. the s&p 500 index of america's top companies has gained more than 4% since election day on tuesday — and is close to a record high. injapan — the nikkei is at its highest since october 2018. also helping boost the markets, america's central bank — the federal reserve — pledging to do whatever it can to sustain a us economic recovery. however fed chairjerome powell made it clear there is only so much the central bank can do and that government needs to play its role. in other words — pass another stimulus package. elected officials have the power to tax and spend and make decisions about we as a society

could direct our collective resources . could direct our collective resources. the fiscal policy actions that have been taken thus far make a critical difference to families, businesses and communities across the country. even so, the current economic downturn is the most severe in our lifetimes. it will take a while to get back to the levels of economic activity and employment that prevailed at the beginning of this year. and it may take continued support from both monetary and fiscal policy to achieve that. an interesting time to be making pronouncements. jim wilcox is a former economist for the federal reserve — now professor of finance at the haas school of business in the university of california berkeley. ed stringham is president of the american institute for economic research — and economics professor at trinity college in hartford, connecticut. thank you both very much for joining us. i want to start with you,jim. joining us. i want to start with you, jim. jay powell could hardly do anything apart from

leave the interest rates alone ata time leave the interest rates alone at a time like this, could he? there is really not much else that the federal reserve could do. they have tried to pull out all the stops and they have been very all the stops and they have been very generous all the stops and they have been very generous to the financial markets and the markets have responded positively. but he does not have many more bullets to fire at this point so he has been pleading for the administration to enact some kind of relief and stimulus programme. ed, the position at the moment from the markets point of view pretty calm, in fact quite chirpy. that if this transition were to go on that if this transition were to goona that if this transition were to go on a while, let's say, and we do not have anything other than a bit of treading water then they will start getting a bitjittery, then they will start getting a bit jittery, won't they? then they will start getting a bitjittery, won't they? the chicago board of exchange and that index has been following this week —— falling this week so this week —— falling this week soi this week —— falling this week so i think that indicates that

investors are seeing fewer problems, fewer potential problems, fewer potential problems ahead and obviously the stock prices have gone up andl the stock prices have gone up and i think you hit the nail on the head in your introduction, the head in your introduction, the investors and corporations are harmed by tariffs and trade wars so are harmed by tariffs and trade wars so that is a potential improvement by maybe the new president coming in, on the other hand, markets have been worrying about financial regulation and increased taxes and the potential new president that would be negative for markets but i do think the potential for the divided congress, for gridlock in some weird sense, maybe that is the best that markets can hold for —— hope for, that may be the ability to increase taxes and regulations are not going to be there and maybe just have a little more free trade. in terms of market prices i think investors are taking it a

little mystically. jim, do you share that view? is it the best of all possible worlds if the republicans hold the senate?” don't know about it being the best of all possible worlds but there is some virtue and having divided government. one thing thatis divided government. one thing that is likely to happen is that is likely to happen is that one way or another we will get a stimulus package. in the unlikely event that president trump is re—elected i think we will get a stimulus package enacted very soon, probably before christmas. that's almost not an option, that it is done before christmas. that is another six or eight weeks. that is right. but negotiations have been going on for a long time and if you really ended up with a re—elected president he would be a lot more influential on his republican senators to actually get an agreement with the democrats. much more

likely, of course, is that president biden takes office in january and we do not get a stimulus or a relief package until then. at that point it may well be not quite as consumerfriendly may well be not quite as consumer friendly with a divided congress, as you may otherwise get. maybe not as consumerfriendly but, otherwise get. maybe not as consumer friendly but, ed, otherwise get. maybe not as consumerfriendly but, ed, your view presumably is that if it is less of a stimulus package than the democrats might have wa nted than the democrats might have wanted initially that might not bea wanted initially that might not be a bad thing. certainly. so the amount of money that the government has been spending and the amount of deficits and debt, that will be coming from taxpayers, whether that is individual labourers or american corporations. that has to be paid for somehow. the debtors going up and the idea that can spend ourselves into

prosperity, just tax—and—spend, tax—and—spend and in these cases there have not been increasing taxes but the fact that we are spending money with reckless abandon, i just that we are spending money with reckless abandon, ijust don't think that is a foreseeable sustainable future. so certainly i think the fact that maybe nothing gets done, to use your term, maybe nothing gets done, to use yourterm, i maybe nothing gets done, to use your term, i would maybe nothing gets done, to use your term, iwould not maybe nothing gets done, to use your term, i would not say that everything is the best of all possible worlds but it is better than the alternative. such a statement, if this is the best of all possible worlds. reckless abandon is the phrase that ed uses there in regard to some of the democrats desires to spend. how would you define it? remember, there is a crucial distinction between the health of the stock market and the health of the economy. some things are really good for the rest of the economy and they may or may not be so good. prices. this is an economy that

desperately is going to need more relief. the stimulus and the relief packages are like a coffee. they provide stimulus for a short time but unless we get the stimulus cup replenished, we will have a very cold and unpleasant economy for the next six months or so. the household sector, the small business sector, state and local governments are running out of their very small reserves and so what we do need is, in fact, for the federal government to borrow a lot more and to spend and provide a lot more so that the rest of us can spend more. coffee, coffee, coffee. it is just a stimulus in some respect. so is the time approaching, ed, where you will have to look at, i say you, but government, at easing the tensions in the big problems perhaps on the global level

that us- perhaps on the global level that us— china trade issues, i don't pretend it will turn around and suddenly be sweetness and light but there is room to manoeuvre there that needs to be taken? for sure. this is probably one reason again to be a little more mystic. i think the trade wars and varying tariffs that are unpredictable over the last few years have been very destabilising towards supply chains and various sectors and corporations don't like it, tariffs are basically taxes on american corporations or even foreign corporations and american consumers, foreign consumers as well and the idea that these things might diminish, ithink, that these things might diminish, i think, is actually tremendously positive. sol think that the previous, the existing president has deregulation and tax cuts which are good for markets and the economy but some of this irregular trade wars and

destabilisation of the economy, i think if that is diminished it would be a really good thing for markets moving forward. in 20 seconds, jim, joe biden has not been afraid to speak up about china and you would expect movement there? yes. i think there will be movement. you can be tough but you can also be sensible. i thinkjoe biden comes from the wing of the democratic party that things that free trade is to a very large extent a benefit to most businesses and households in both countries and i think there will be, as was just suggested, some easing of those kinds of tensions and barriers to trade. you can still be tough about enforcing unfairness in some of these markets and i think it is pretty widely recognised that china has not always been playing fair in the economic game. and, very briefly, are

you worried about a hiatus in business, in political business activity between now and january? i am more worried about the business slowing down sojob about the business slowing down so job markets has softened about the business slowing down sojob markets has softened up a little bit and we will see jobs report tomorrow which will seem so so but, in fact, the outlook is not particularly rosy and in fact we can see clearly that many businesses are going to need a lot more help and so will their consumers. jim and ed, thank you very much indeed, it was great to get your expert views on the issues of the moment and let's see how that election pans out. wait to see you both. let's get some response from wall street. daniel ives is managing director of equity research at wedbush securities in new york. thank you very much forjoining us. it has been an interesting

week. the market is bouncing along quite happily thanks very much and we have more talk from donald trump about the need to ta ke donald trump about the need to take legal action and it raises uncertainty about when this result is actually going to be declared and whether or not he might be prepared to concede if it seems to have gone that way. what will that do to rattle wall street, if at all? at this point i think it is a lot more noise in the street point of view is about a biden presidency are no blue wave, which is important in terms of a republican—controlled senate. that is a goldilocks scenario for stocks, especially for tech stocks. from a regulatory perspective. you spoke about china, a biden presidency is viewed as bullish for any stocks. so all in all, as you mentioned, it is the goldilocks scenario. that is just what the

markets want to see. i mean, if you could have scripted it you could not have scripted it better because from a stock perspective, especially when you think about tech stocks, the regulatory anti—trust is now contained in the blue wave. the china issue which continued to ratchet up, biden will take a softer stance which is bullish for apple and semiconductor stocks as well as chinese stocks like ali barber. and if you are a bull, this really could not have gone better which is why this market, in my opinion, will continue to go up. i think tech stocks are up 15% into the end of the year despite the headline noise. it is interesting. this has been a vicious election campaign, let's be honest. a very unpleasant experience for many americans and indeed for many republican and democrat politicians who will now have to work with each other if they

are to reach the goldilocks wonderland that you can foresee. it is easier if one party is in control and can push things through and it could still be very difficult to get decisions, couldn't it? and, ultimately, wedlock is bullish. because if you had a blue wave that could have been, in terms of tax increases, in terms of legislative change around anti—trust, that could have been a pandora's box. so a rent—controlled senate is significant, even gaining with a biden pedersen seat that will be viewed as a lot more favourable when it comes to decoupling between china and the us. from a stocks perspective it is a cinderella story in terms of how the selection runs out. we have goldilocks and cinderella. who will get the fairytale ending? thank you very much indeed.

and thanks for being with us here on bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a lifeline for workers hit by lockdown — as england's furlough scheme is extended until spring. but is it enough to save jobs? and now for some news here in the uk. denmark has been removed from the list of countries safe for travel. passsengers arriving from 4am friday morning will have to isolate for 14 days. the transport secretary, grant shapps, said the urgent decision had been taken because of the discovery of a mutated form of coronavirus in danish mink farms. it's emerged that six people are wanted for questioning by detectives investigating the manchester arena bombing. the parents of the brothers responsible for the attack are both among the suspects. 22 people were killed after salman abedi detonated a bomb at the end of an ariana grande concert. the university of manchester has apologised after fences were put up around

accommodation blocks. university officials said the barriers had been designed to keep students safe but would now be removed. some were torn down by students, who said they felt as if they were in prison. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: donald trump has again insisted that he was the winner, repeating unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud and said he was taking legal action in the most closely contested states. joe biden has appealed for calm and says he expects that when all the votes are counted, he will have won. england's furlough scheme has been extended until the end of march. it will continue to cover the wages of workers who are unable to do theirjob because of coronavirus restrictions. the british chancellor rishi sunak also extended help

for the self—employed. our business correspondent, katie prescott has more. at the start of the first lockdown, the word furlough suddenly became very familiar. the aim of the scheme was simple, grant to pay 80% of their wages who couldn't work because of coronavirus restrictions. since it's a start, over 9 million people have been supported by it. but as restrictions eased, the scheme was being wound down, due to end on the 31st of october. a less generous replacement was planned. last saturday boris johnson announced a new four week lockdown in england, with businesses across the country told to close their doors. and at the same time he announced a month extension of the furlough scheme across the uk, broadly similarto scheme across the uk, broadly similar to the original. the chancellor has now said the will run until the end of march, a huge relief to many businesses and their staff. the extension of the furlough

scheme is undoubtedly positive. it means that my team will have some income for that period of time. the problem is that there may not be a business that is as strong at the end of it because we will have a heavily reduced income. we would typically be being —— bringing in 80% of our profit for the year during november and december and i was counting on that for our recovery. there was also in excess of the scheme designed to help the self—employed and two business loa n self—employed and two business loan programmes, but about 3 million people are still falling through the cracks of government help. being eligible for the grants has made me primarily very angry and disheartened —— ineligible. we put money aside for many years to cover ourselves for this kind of situation in terms of maybe a small window of time that we don't have work, but we could never have seen something like this happening with no idea as to when we will be able

to work again and when the money is going to run out. we the's measures have been for coming too late in the day for many businesses had already decided to let people go. in response the government as anyone made redundant after the 23rd of september can be rehired and put back on furlough. at a cost of more than £50 billion so far it's usually expensive, but the government feels better than the human cost of mass unemployment. katie prescott, bbc news. busy time with regards to covid, busy with regards to policy. busy for sport as well. let's get a sport briefing from the bbc sport centre. hello, i'm jane dougall, with your friday sport briefing. there were 24 games played in the europa league on thursday night. you can find all the results on the bbc sport website. the winners included arsenal who made it three wins out of three, but only after a scare at home to molde. martin ellingsen put the norwegian champions in front mid—way through the first—half. but then the game turned arsenal's way with two

own goals before half—time. the gunners dominated the second—half with further goals from nicolas pepe and joe willock to secure a 4—1 victory. arsenal are now three points clear at the top of group b. the good thing is that they are young players, we have to give them opportunities, they have to earn the right to play and they are doing that and that is a really positive thing. and how lucky we are to have this generation. the right is sometimes giving them the opportunity when they deserve it. if not they don't play. ac milan were also hoping to make it three wins from three, but they suffered a shock 3—0 defeat at home to lille. turkish midfielder yusuf yazici scored a hat—trick for the french side, who are the new leaders of group h. tennis, and rafael nadal is safely through to the quarter—finals of the paris masters. the tournament is one of the few masters series events that nadal hasn't won, along with miami and shanghai,

but he made it through to the last eight in paris with a straight sets victory over australia's jordan thompson. after racing through the first set, losing just one game, the second was tougher for nadal, going all the way to a tie—break. nadal will now face fellow spaniard pablo carreno—busta. golf, and caroline hedwall still leads the way ahead of the third and final round of the dubai moonlight classic. she's 9—under par — one shot ahead of england's meghan maclaren. the chasing pack includes new zealand's lydia ko, the former world number one. she went round in 70 to move to 6—under par. ko is three shots off the lead. a further two shots back on a congested leaderboard is england's bronte law. this birdie at 14 put her in a 4—way tie for eighth place at four—under par. slovenian cyclist primoz roglic will again be wearing

the leader's red jersey in thursday's 16th stage of the vuelta a espana. he remains on course to become the first rider in 15 years to retain the title. roglic is 39 seconds ahead of richard carapaz with three stages to go. jasper philipsen of uae team emirates won thursday's stage — a second successive win for a belgian rider. now, the rain in spain falls mainly on — well, villarreal‘s pitch actually! take a look at these pictures not long before their europa league match. torrential rainfall saturating the pitch, filmed by the club on thursday. luckily it cleared up to a drizzle in time for villarreal to beat maccabi tel aviv 4—0. you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, jane dougall, and the rest of the sport team, that's your friday

sport briefing. 0k, ok, just time for me to bring you right up on the situation in the us. as we know, just a handful of in the us. as we know, just a ha ndful of states. in the us. as we know, just a handful of states. this is a scene in philadelphia as they continue to count votes there for pennsylvania. we understand 95% of votes are in, counted, finished, done, and donald trump has 49 point the vote, 49 point to forjoe biden, that amounts to a lead of something like 22,000 votes with 5% left to go. but when there was just 9296 to go. but when there was just 92% of the votes cast, the lead for donald trump was 115,000 so you get a sense that is whittling away, the areas where those votes are coming in from would seem to be very much in joe biden's favour. that is why we are keeping a very close eye on pennsylvania, on georgia, on

arizona as well, and nevada, to see the way in which they will go. we will keep across that for you, of course, go. we will keep across that foryou, of course, bbc go. we will keep across that for you, of course, bbc news. thanks for being with us and enjoy the rest of your day. 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 wind blowing 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'll lift fairly readily, mind you, as the breeze picks up and we get sunshine developing widely. and 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 south—west 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 vale 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 and southern england, it could be quite grey and cloudy through the day. a bit of rain in the far south—west later. but temperatures are beginning to recover across southern areas. where we have 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, a southerly breeze. these weather fronts — pretty weak, 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. but it should be dry but still fairly cloudy, i think, on tuesday.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. our headlines today. asjoe biden tightens his grip on the white house, donald trump makes more unsubstantiated claims of voting fraud. if you count the legal votes, i easily win. if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election. joe biden appeals for calm and says democracy sometimes requires a little patience. we have no doubt that when the count is finished, senator harris and i will be declared the winners.

so declared the winners.