commissioner to would like to invite commissioner to the podium. good afternoon. i would like to thank the county board of election staff, i would like to thank the taxpaying citizens of philadelphia and across america. i think it is safe to say that democracy has one. democracy is beautiful, we saw the statue of octavius right on city hall, where he died so that americans can have access to the democratic process. and as we stand here today in 2020, people still have access to democracy. and it's a beautiful thing but we still want everyone to exert patients, ignore a lot of the noise that's going on, allow us to complete the counting process. and

again, i would like to thank everyone but i would also like to thank my beautiful wife at home with my six children while i am down here doing all of the counting. i would like to say hi, wife, i love you and thank you. and right now i would like to bring on our president who isa like to bring on our president who is a friend, —— our council president he was a friend, he was a mental, and a true leader philadelphia. thank you. good afternoon everyone. to say that this was to mulch will she would be the understatement of the year. we in the city of philadelphia and across the city of philadelphia and across the nation have gone through some very, very challenging time but despite of that all works. democracy works. i want to thank the commissioners who were given a short time frame to transition from the traditional in—person voting that philadelphians are known for two having a mail—in ballot system, to having a mail—in ballot system, to having multiple actions. guy's, i

just want to say you did a great job, you did a greatjob, but all due respect to you, you guys, i want to thank the people that worked every time he went by broad street or you went by city hall you went by delaware or spring garden, the lights were on because you had literally hundreds of hard—working individuals in their making sure that this process works, so ijust wa nt that this process works, so ijust want to thank everybody. i want to particularly thank the citizens of our city who understood the need to participate. in record numbers to a degree. i want to thank the country for understanding the need to have a reasonable process that allows the citizens to speak so to everyone involved and particularly these individuals here, the mayor, the commissioners, thank you all and thank you for giving us an opportunity to allow democracy to work. thank you. questions. mayo, from what you have seen, if you

believe joe from what you have seen, if you believejoe biden would be elected president? yes. they are segregated as per the instruction of the secretary. can you clarify the number of votes still have to be counted? no. abroad? the military balance? no. 50 the total and counted in the city is what? it is upwards of 40,000. the us military overseas ballots are not due to was until the tenth. to the process and to the... i know that there had been a of fraud and legal issues? had there been other things that slows you down? no. we are counting hundreds of thousands of ballots in an industrial process.

and we are fortunate to have that machinery to allow us to count faster, but it is still a process, so we faster, but it is still a process, so we get all these envelopes in and it's like an assembly line, so first, you know, you got the envelopes, you have to use salt them, and then you have to open them, and then you have to open them, and then you have to open them them, and then you have to open them them again them, and then you have to open them again to get the secrecy envelope out, and then somebody actually sits there at a desk and is pooling the contents and then the ballots have to be back bended and prepared for the scanner so to be back bended and prepared for the scanner so even to be back bended and prepared for the scanner so even though, you know, we have all this machinery, it does help us, but we have to build up does help us, but we have to build up to that as we start the process. so, it's the first time we did it, we're really happy with, you know, the speed in which we were able to do it, and, you know, we're really happy that the people of philadelphia afforded us the opportunity to be able to do this for the first time in philadelphia,

as it's the first time that we have been able to vote by mail with excuse. well, we're going to leave that up day in philadelphia and, jane, the overwhelming message was a call for patients while those votes keep on being counted. that's fight. we now understand that there were 40,000 provisional ballots, a lot of those coming in from voters in the military and that is what they have still got to clear. let's bringing yelled at her keen he was in philadelphia right now, see if she can throw some more light on this. —— yalda hakim. i am finding it very had to be patient here. it doesn't sound like they're going to get a projection anytime soon. am i reading that right? what is your take? you are you are reading it right. we keep being told to be patient and

that democracy is at play here and they need to count every vote. they said that later this afternoon they will give us an update of a batch of two or 3000 votes and then we will have to wait for a couple of days and really it has been a waiting game here in pennsylvania. things have been going very slow since november the 3rd. remember, they couldn't actually count the bulk of votes before the 3rd of november, they had to begin on the 3rd of november and had been doing so tirelessly for the last four days and so one of the things that i found quite interesting was that one of the reporters he asked from me at what you are seeing does it appear thatjoe biden has won this election and it was a simple yes but, of course, they can't actually declare that at this stage because they say that at this stage because they say that they'd need to continue to count the votes, that there are at least 40,000 count the votes, that there are at least 40 , 000 votes count the votes, that there are at least 40,000 votes the need to be counted so they are going to do that meticulously and throughout the night and there won't be any updates, they say for another couple of days. the other thing that i found quite interesting was this repeated democracy is at work and

that democracy is winning here in pennsylvania. you will know that this really is more than anywhere the birthplace of the united states. this is where the declaration of independence took place in 1776. this is where the constitutional convention was held in 1787 so, for all of this to come down to pennsylvania, we have had many surprises throughout this election period but the one thing that the pundits, the campaigners got right, that pennsylvania would be important, it feels like in many ways that it will come down to what happens here in pennsylvania, and its 20 electoral college votes. yeah, 9000 is the margin by which joe biden is leading now, that was the last figure, but we have still got those 40,000 votes still to come in. yalda, it is nail—biting, it does mean that the other states that we i’e does mean that the other states that were also waiting on are coming into

play again because of course donald trump can't win this election unless he takes pennsylvania, so does this alter the way that we are viewing this election right now? well, for donald trump, there are really very, very few passed to the 270 number. everything has to go in his way, including pennsylvania, they can to get to 270 and to win this election and at this point it seems like a's narrowing. those votes that need to be counted a roll mailing votes and from what we understand, the bulk of the mailing votes have been for the democratic party because don't forget that the republicans and donald trump encouraged voters to vote on election day, they told voters not to trust the mailing process and that it would be fraudulent and i went to a number of donald trump's valleys over the last week in the

midwest in wisconsin and over and ovei’ midwest in wisconsin and over and over again he laid the groundwork for something like this and you can just hear the election officials behind me saying that we're going to keep counting, i'm not. i behind me saying that we're going to keep counting, i'm not. lam just getting another update here for my producer and he says that the philadelphia mayor has said that the president needs to put on his big boy pants and acknowledge that he has lost. that is the philadelphia mayor so really it is incredibly narrow here and they are not going to make any kind of official declaration, they say, until they have counted all the votes but i wouldn't be surprised if us networks start doing that ahead of time. yalda, thank you very much indeed update. rebecca, ithink yalda, thank you very much indeed update. rebecca, i think what we're hearing from yalda there is the frustration, apart from anything else, that these election officials are feeling because there they are, doing this groundwork, is a meticulous work, and they are at the

centre of this election right now, and they are getting all this criticism about the length of time it is taking, the legal challenges, the political rhetoric is ramping up. it's a very, very difficult time and of course the longer that these boats take to count, the more tensions rise across the country. absolutely, and let's not forget that they must be exhausted as well because they have been counting these votes now for several days, haven't they? jane, i would jane, iwould be jane, i would be interested in your ta ke jane, i would be interested in your take because you two have been following events of the last few days. it does appear thatjoe biden is knocking on the door of the white house when you think that we might actually have a result? well, to be perfectly honest, rebecca, this press conference really change the way in viewing this because yesterday officials in philadelphia were saying, well, we could have a fizzle by last night, they might have, they were ahead of schedule, —— we could have a result by last night. that is very

difficult to call right now, we're still waiting on patents is the watchword. great to talk to jane and thank you all for being with us. you're watching bbc news. —— patients is the watchword. the... the clouds thickening up into western scotland to allow a bit of drizzle but for many it was a glove estate. on the chilly sides. as we head into the weekend we have got some subtle changes. it will start to feel a little bit milder quite widely across the country but that is because we are going to see more cloud, and, potentially on sunday, some showery outbreaks of rain to the west. over the next few hours, though, we could again see more fog forming across southern scotland, the veil of york and to higher ground perhaps to wales.

temperatures, well, could be low single figures to the north but with more of a breeze down to the south—west we will see this temperature is holding up into double digits. now, as we go through the day, most of that fog should lift away but some of it will lift a low cloud and where that does happen the temperatures will struggle. the best of the sunshine on saturday for scotland, northern ireland, northern england and along the channel coast. we will see some sunshine on someone there. bit more of a breeze continues to drive in a risk of some showers and to the south—west. in terms of the feel of the weather on saturday afternoon we are looking at highs between nine and 15 or 16 degrees. moving out of saturday into sunday, more of a change into the weather stories we see low pressure pushing in from the atlantic in these weather fronts was that to bring some outbreaks of light showery rain. more isobars on the chart, a southerly wind picking up, so we chart, a southerly wind picking up, so we will start to see milder air picking generally across the country. their aim should be light and patchy, moving its way steadily north and lingering on this west

facing coast. some of us will dodge the rain but certainly have more on sunday. as we move out of sunday into the start of the new working week it's a similar story. low p i’essu i’e week it's a similar story. low pressure but always out to the west and we are still under this blocking high across the near continent which will peak at eastern area dry. stays quite quiet. most of the rain will be chiefly out of the west, fairly light and patchy, good deal of dry weather with some time and time to time. take care.

tonight at six, joe biden is on the verge of becoming president of the united states, as he edges ahead in key battleground states. three days after the election, he now leads in the crucial state of pennsylvania, and most of the other remaining states. as the momentum grows, joe biden calls for calm, but the trump campaign insists it's not over yet. several american television networks cut away from the president, massive victories in florida, iowa, indiana, ohio... ok, here we are again, in the unusual position of not only interrupting the president... several american television networks cut away from the president, accusing him of making false statements. are white in the last few moments, a leading republican senator has said the president was wrong to say that the president was wrong to say that the election was rigged, corrupt and