this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: joe biden is expected to address the american people in the next few hours after pushing ahead of donald trump in two crucial states. mr biden is increasing his margin over the president in arizona and a recount is announced in georgia, wherejoe biden‘s lead over donald trump is just 4,000 votes. this is going to be a razor—thin margin and a recount will likely be in order and i do think it's appropriate, just to ensure the integrity of the election, but i am very confident that these results will stand. joe biden has built up a lead of nearly 20,000 votes over donald trump in the crucial vote count in pennsylvania. the city's mayor says trump must admit defeat.

i think what the president needs to do is, frankly, put his big boy pants on and acknowledge the fact that he lost and needs to congratulate the winner. hello. welcome to the programme. joe biden has pushed ahead of donald trump in crucial states which could hand him the us presidency. in pennsylvania, mr biden is now in the lead and victory there would push him over the threshold required to win the white house. the former vice—president is also ahead in georgia, as well as arizona and nevada. he needsjust 17 more electoral college votes in order to reach the magic number of 270. a short while ago,

president trump tweeted: mr biden is expected to make a televised address within the next few hours. let's get the latest from our north america editor jon sopel. joe biden takes the lead in pennsylvania... donald trump is now trailing... joe biden has just joe biden hasjust taken joe biden has just taken the lead. joe biden is winning the overwhelming share... this mightjust be the moment, the whole ballgame. the seemingly overwhelming lead that donald trump had in pennsylvania the day after the election this morning finally evaporated and has become a biden lead. if the democratic challenger wins here, it's game over for the president. pretty soon, the hyphen will be gone from vice—president to president—electjoe biden. it's a happy day for our country. and the march of the maths has been played out in small government buildings and windowless offices in arizona, pennsylvania,

nevada and georgia. 1,000 votes here, a few hundred there, all the time chipping away at donald trump's grip on the white house. there will, though, be a recount in georgia, where margins are so tight. in pennsylvania today from the pro—joe biden supporters, the party has already started and yes, there will be dancing in the streets. donald trump, you have to give it up, man. it's over for you! but from donald trump supporters, increasing anxiety and lots of chants of usa! all chant: usa! usa! and in las vegas, nevada, the trump supporters resorted to prayer. "please let our luck change" — not the first time that prayer has been offered in sin city. last night, a disconsolate president made a long, unhappy statement, again alleging without evidence that he was being robbed of a victory that was his. if you count the legal votes, i easily win.

if you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. and we think we will win the election very easily. we think there's going to be a lot of litigation, because we have so much evidence, so much proof, and it's going to end up, perhaps, at the highest court in the land. astonishingly, all the main us networks pulled away before he'd finished. ok, here we are again in the unusual position of not only interrupting the president of the united states, but correcting the president of the united states. this morning, the president issued this statement: but holed up in the white

house, the president isn't enjoying that much support for his legal battle from his party. this is the republican senator from pennsylvania. the president's speech last night was very disturbing to me because he made very, very serious allegations without any evidence to support it. i am not aware of any significant fraud, any significant wrongdoing. if it's happened, then the evidence needs to come out, we need to go to court. and the democrat mayor of philadelphia has also weighed in colourfully. you know, i think what the president needs to do is, frankly, he needs to put his big boy pants on and he needs to acknowledge the fact that he lost and congratulate the winner — just asjimmy carter did, just as george bush did and, frankly, just as al gore did — and stop this and let us move forward as a country. meanwhile, in wilmington, delaware, the stage is set for a declaration

on election night. it did not happen then but it may happen very soon. thatjoe biden has won and that he is now the president—elect. he's marching to the drumbeat of america's long—established democratic traditions, determined to be unaffected by the noise coming from the white house. john sobel, bbc news, washington. —— sopel. we have correspondence all over the united states in first, michelle fleury. good to see you, talk is through what is happening there. —— talk us. through what is happening there. -- talk us. we have seen joe biden‘s lead grow as the days, as the day has gone on and if you remember at 9am, for the first time, joe biden took the first time, joe biden took the lead from donald trump with about 5000 votes and now, as things currently stand, his about 20,000. in some ways, it is not too surprising because many of the outstanding postal votes that were left to be counted were in areas

favourable to the democrats, philadelphia and surrounding suburbs and allegheny county, to pittsburgh. we are still waiting for the race to be declared and there has been lots of a lot of questions about why it has taken so long. in part because of the unprecedented nature of the fa ct unprecedented nature of the fact that you saw pennsylvanians in huge numbers voting by mailfor pennsylvanians in huge numbers voting by mail for the first time and those take longer to process , time and those take longer to process, but there are other reasons, from military absentee ballot but are still coming in and have until november the 10th to come in and provisional ballots which are onlyjust starting to be counted those are starting to be counted those a re ballots starting to be counted those are ballots where there are some questions about the eligibility of the voter. those ta ke eligibility of the voter. those take longer to process because they need to be double—checked but they are also more likely to be subject to challenges and we understand there are about 100,000 of those outstanding. michelle, what is happening there in pennsylvania, a good example of what donald trump was tweeting about? remind our

viewers, i read it earlier, he was saying he had such a big lead in all of the states on election night and these are the quote, miraculously disappearing. 0f the quote, miraculously disappearing. of course, they are only miraculous if you count are only miraculous if you cou nt vote are only miraculous if you count vote counting as miraculous. talk us through what he means by this. well, i don't know if you can see the science behind me but most say things like count every vote. —— the science. because the shift we saw was widely predicted by election watchers. —— signs. that is because donald trump had been encouraging his supporters to vote on the day in person while joe biden had been urging his followers divided by mail early as possible. that means that when it came to counting the votes, you saw this initial high number of votes in favour of donald trump and then as the pole counter started to get into those postal ballots and going through, they take longer

to count, used all the shift —— polls counters. i think the question everyone saw halfway through was was the shift materialising and how big would it be and we are starting to find out the answer, at least here in pennsylvania. any idea ona here in pennsylvania. any idea on a timeline or a timescale there, michelle? look, currentlyjoe biden has a lead of about 0.2% and there are as isaid of about 0.2% and there are as i said reasons to believe the trend will continue in his favour and therefore, the lead will grow. but, you know, it is still a small lead and bearing in mind an automatic recount is triggered if the margin is less than 0.5%. i think it helps explain why you are seeing election officials in this state ta ke election officials in this state take their time. they wa nt to state take their time. they want to make sure they get it right and want to make sure they get it rightandi want to make sure they get it right and i think it is also why you are seeing the media holding off declaring this state as projectjoe biden. what it means is all of us are having to wait a bit longer to find out who has one keystone state and who has won another

four years or a state and who has won another four years 01’ a new state and who has won another four years or a new four years in the white house. we will continue to wait, thank you, michelle. 0ur north america correspondent barbara plett usher is atjoe biden's campaign headquarters in delaware. hello, barbara! hello, yes, we understand now that joe hello, barbara! hello, yes, we understand now thatjoe biden will be addressing the nation tonight, whether or not news outlets have protected him to be the winner of the election. —— projected. there was some uncertainty but we believe that will happen now later tonight. in the meantime i spoke with one of his strong supporters, the senator for delaware chris goons, he succeeded joe biden in the senate and has known him for 30 years and was a very strong supporter on his campaign soi strong supporter on his campaign so i ask him what he thoughtjoe biden was thinking right now. this is what he had to say. i thinkjoe is behaving in an appropriate and measured way, respecting the process, and saying that he will wait

until another state or two is called in a way that makes it mathematically certain that he will be the next president of the united states so i appreciate the respect he is showing for the process, the respect he is showing for our vote rs respect he is showing for our voters in not jumping respect he is showing for our voters in notjumping ahead and making some announcement as president trump did on election night. this is the third time he has run for president. yes. how big a deal do you think it is for him? we first talked about him running for president in 20201 about him running for president in 2020! said tojoe that about him running for president in 2020! said to joe that this is your moment, you are exactly the right man to lead our nation and as the events of the la st nation and as the events of the last year have unfolded in the pandemic, our racial division after george floyd was murdered, the recession, it has become more and more true that he is exactly the right leader to bring us together at this moment of division, to show us leadership that respects the science and to rebuild our economy in a more inclusive and sustainable way. weren't you surprised though by how many people did vote for president

trump? this is not the repudiation of mr trump's policies and style but perhaps democrats expected? monthly, yes, i was surprised. democrats expected? monthly, yes, iwas surprised. how democrats expected? monthly, yes, i was surprised. how do you think that will factor into how mr biden would be able to govern if he were to become president —— bluntly. govern if he were to become president -- bluntly. he has a strong mandate, he has more votes under larger popular vote than any other president in history if elected. and he have turned from supporting donald trump in 2016 to supporting joe biden in 2020, michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin, the famed blue wall and likely also georgia, nevada and arizona. that is a significant movement of six of our largest states so ido of six of our largest states so i do thinkjoe biden will be able to argue that he has won states of all backgrounds all over the country and his record, his personality, his experience, his character have always been bipartisan. it will be hard but he will work to bring us together as a nation. and i have to ask it will be ha rd and i have to ask it will be hard also because at this point

the democrats have not taken over the senate. yes. what do you say about that? what do you think about that? biden has a working friendship with mitch mcconnell, they served together in the senate and hammered out some big deals and hardfought deals but he is clear eyed. when he was vice president, i was the one who got sent up to the hill to try to deal with mitch mcconnell and negotiate with him so —— joe was the one. he understands how obstruction at and difficult mitch mcconnell can be as majority leader. and yes, it would be difficult for mr biden, if he w011 difficult for mr biden, if he won the presidency, but the democrats did not win the senate. however everyone is focused now on whether he will win the presidency and as i said, we do expect him to speak later tonight, if he is not able to declare victory at that point he will give an update on his growing lead in those swing states where it does look fairly positive that

eventually, he will win. barbara, what kind of tone do you expect him to strike?|j think you expect him to strike?” think that he will strike the same kind of tone that we have been hearing from him on the campaign trail, which is he will address the american people as somebody who would be the president for all americans, notjust the president for all americans, not just for democrats. he will call for unity. he will call for healing. he will say we must not treat our opponents as political enemies. you must come together to deal with the crises but is facing the nation because of the pandemic, because of the pandemic, because of the way it has affected the economy. he would be taking the helm at a time of national crisis so i think that it will project —— he will project as somebody who can deal with the crisis but also somebody who wants to be a president who could heal the divisions in the country that we have seen growth over the past years. barbara, what is the biden camp there making of the biden camp there making of the length of time these votes

and these crucial states is taking? i think people are impatient to get the race called. at the same time, they have been saying all along that this process must work itself out, that this is democracy at work. they have been defending it and saying that the system is legitimate, that it can be trusted in every boat should be counted. that would be their message. and i think the news outlets are being careful about calling the race because they wa nt to calling the race because they want to make sure that they could pass that margin of error where you would have to face a recount. they know it could be contested and indeed it will be contested and indeed it will be contested because president trump has already said he would die so and is doing so. so i think they are aware of all of those things. but they have also projected great confidence as we have seen all along that when the boats are finished counting that mr biden will be president because so many of these votes are postal votes

which favour the democrats. good stuff, thank you, barbara. 0ur correspondent james clayton joins me now from las vegas in nevada. lovely to see you james, we can't see much else other than you. pretty dark and black behind you so why don't you philistine about what has been happening there. biden only needs nevada and arizona, he doesn't necessarily need the mania. we had another update on the last couple of hours and very much getting incremental updates here. another 8000 votes have been counted. they are roughly split 5002 biden 3002 drum so that puts biden's lead from about 20,000 to 23,000. what we're seeing a slow but steady increase in biden's lead. it was a thousand yesterday, went up to 10,000, than 20,000, then 23,000. it is looking increasingly good for biden. people often ask why it is taking so long to count the ballots. a lot of these are

based on signatures. everyone who mails in—house to write their signature on the ballot. it's checked my computer but if they don't quite match then thatis they don't quite match then that is checked by humans where they compare signatures and it ta kes they compare signatures and it takes time. it is what they are counting right now. anything they are counting its provisional ballots. you might be able to see a queue behind me but people are still queueing because what they have been asked to do is supply id of some kind to check that there was some kind of identity issue with that talents. they have been asked to bring identification with them so that it can be checked. so for those two types of ballots being checked, they just those two types of ballots being checked, theyjust take a lot of time. about 100 and 10, when hundred 15,000 ballots left be counted. trump still win here and itjust doesn't look like the kinds of ballots being counted other ones he'll wa nt to being counted other ones he'll want to be counted —— 115,000. want to be counted ——115,000. interesting. you mentioned this at the start butjust go through it again for us a little bit more in detail because nevada is quite small

in electoral terms, only six electoral college votes so doesn't seem that important on its own. a little old nevada isn't usually talked about. hillary clinton won it in 2016 and no—one really remember that. the big reason nevada is important is because there is a possibility that georgia's recount goes to trump and there isa recount goes to trump and there is a possibility that may somehow pennsylvania will be overturned too, and then you look at the western states. if biden can win arizona and nevada too, it will be very difficult to overturn that. arizona and nevada, just by the ba rest arizona and nevada, just by the barest minimum, get him to 270. those are the points he needs to win the presidency and that is why people like me are standing outside car parks all day speculating about what is happening in a massive warehouse only does it. u nfortu nately, warehouse only does it. unfortunately, it means people like me james, have unfortunately, it means people like mejames, have to ask you annoying questions like what kind of timeframe, when will we

know? so the registrar he has said that he would rather be right than fast. he said, look, we will give you more updates at 10am tomorrow, 6pm gmt. but at 10am tomorrow, 6pm gmt. but at the moment, we are only getting results back in the tens, fifteens, 15 thousands. we may not get a result back to the point where we can predict something who has won the state until sunday, maybe going into next week. i really wouldn't expect suddenly to wake up tomorrow morning and see that nevada has been declared. this will be a long process. inc you james. —— thank you. the gap between donald trump and joe biden may be growing but the race in the remaining battleground states is still incredibly close. reeta chakrabarti takes a look at the electoral map and where the presidency will be decided. this is the state of play at the moment. this is the electoral map, and you can see the states in grey are the ones that are still to be

decided, and there are some very close races going on. it's so close in georgia that they're going for a recount. arizona is also extremely close. pennsylvania in the east, which we have all been focused on all day, well, there we have seenjoe biden edge his way past donald trump. and the democrats are now confident that they will take pennsylvania. what happens if they do? well, let me turn pennsylvania blue using the blue pen, and you can see that takes joe biden pass the winning line, and he will then have won the election. but what's interesting... i'll take pennsylvania away from him. joe biden has other routes to the white house too. let's assume that he succeeds in keeping nevada — hillary clinton won that in 2016 — and that he manages to flip arizona as well. that gets into 270 as well. so there are different routes forjoe biden to the white house. i will return the map to the state of play to show you that for donald trump, it's more difficult.

he's got to win pennsylvania. and then also three of the four other major swing states in order to stay in the white house. a much more uphill task. that was rita there. clive myrie has been reporting on the battle for the white house over the past two weeks travelling through some of the key states that are deciding who wins the presidency. he reports tonight from pennsylvania and looks at what this election has done to america. birdsong it's morning again in america. past presidential elections here herald a sense of hope, a peaceful dawn. but this is now america... count every vote, count every vote! a land of ambient ugliness. divided, angry, frustrated. primed for trouble.

there are many whose opinion we've canvassed in this disunited states of america in recent weeks. 0rdinary voters... i looked to track my ballot, and it wasn't there. now wondering, can the nation meet this moment to heal? you can'tjust find hundreds of thousands of votes. bridge the chasm between red and blue? we first came across catherine and herfriend pam stumping for president trump in phoenix in arizona just before polling day. they endure the heat... we love trump! ..and very public disapproval. i feel sorry for you! car horns if we lose the election, we're going to lose

our way of life. we won't be free. we came across chris smith at a trump rally in tucson last month. and after touching down in philadelphia on election eve, we chatted with debbie smith, a democrat who voted forjoe biden. as the election draws to a close, she says america cannot tackle its most pressing problems without unity. our people need to get back to work, we need to heal this country. so, at the end of the day, it's going to come down to we need to recover from the coronavirus. people have lost sight of what's happening. for some republicans, the coronavirus isn't the main election issue. ask chris smith. you think it's fraud? i mean, guys, we don't go to bed at ten, 11, 12 o'clock at night, two in the morning with leading all the key swing states, and wake up

at seven o'clock in the morning and suddenly they've found hundreds of thousands of votes and they all happen to be forjoe biden. hello, catherine, greetings from philadelphia, it's good to see you again. the last word goes to catherine. do you think the two halves of america can unite now? perhaps in the future we can start to work on it, but right now, no. the wound is too open. sobering words, but if it's winter in america, can spring be far behind? clive myrie, bbc news, in philadelphia. let's ta ke let's take you live now to joe biden's headquarters. there is the live pictures of wilmington delaware coming up to 8:30pm. 0ur correspondence barbara platt usher is there and she told us we will be expecting to

hear from vice told us we will be expecting to hearfrom vice president told us we will be expecting to hear from vice presidentjoe biden at some point in the next few hours. what will he say? we're not expecting him to declare sort of victory. why? because the votes are still being counted. many people across the united states frustrated with how long the process is taking but that is just how long the process is being taken. now down to a handful of crucial key states. we have heard from our correspondence in nevada, pennsylvania, already in the last half—an—hour and nevada, they are counting votes very, very slowly, comparing signatures by hand. that is why that process there is taking a long time. 0ver that process there is taking a long time. over in pennsylvania, a crucial state of course, 20 electoral college votes for gra bs of course, 20 electoral college votes for grabs in pennsylvania, forjoe biden, if he wins that, that takes him over the 270 electoral college votes he would need to become president. but he is not there

yet and we will wait to hear more from joe biden in the next couple of hours. that is it for me, iam couple of hours. that is it for me, i am at lewis vaughan—jones, this is bbc news. hello there. after a couple of cold and frosty mornings with a bit of mist and fog around, we'll start to see some changes to the weather this weekend. that's because lower pressure will be moving in, bringing milder weather to all areas by the end of the weekend, but also outbreaks of rain mostly across southern and western areas. 0ur big area of high pressure which brought the settled weather will be dominating the scene this weekend across the near continent. this area of low pressure will start to push up into southern and western areas, and the breeze will be increasing as well. already a breezy start across the far south west. elsewhere, it's a chilly start to saturday with some mist and fog through central scotland,

north east england, eastern wales and the midlands. the best of the sunshine will be across northern and western areas, and some sunshine also pushing into southern counties of england by the end of the day. we'll also see some rain arriving across cornwall and devon, too, the first of a series of weather fronts. here, it will be windy. elsewhere, the winds light, but certainly stronger than they have been of late. so it will be a milder day across southern areas, 14—16 degrees. another chilly one further north. now, through saturday night, looks like it'll be chilly and dry to start with across northern areas, where that band of rain spreads its way northwards. and by the end of the night, it'll be lying across northern ireland, wales, the midlands and into the south east. here, it will be milder because of the rain. fairly chilly in the north for a while, but those temperatures will start to rise as we move into sunday morning. that band of rain moves northwards across the country on sunday, and this next one will arrive later on sunday into monday. so, it'll be much a cloudier day across the country. that band of rain across central and northern areas will push into scotland, turning lighter and patch year. behind it, we could start to see some sunshine developing across northern ireland,

wales and the south west. but here, it will be breezier, and in fact further north the winds will be a little stronger than they have been of late. the milder air reaching as far north as northern ireland, so northern ireland up to northern england, southwards 14—16 degrees, 10—11 degrees across scotland. but the mild air reaches scotland as we move into monday. we'll see more weather fronts pushing into mainly southern and western areas to bring outbreaks of rain. some of it could be on the heavy side. but the theme as we move through the week is for higher pressure to keep eastern areas generally drier. the further west that you are, likely to see the influence of that area of low pressure, which will bring further spells of rain at times.

this is bbc news. the headlines:

joe biden is expected to speak in the next few hours as he inches closer to victory after pushing ahead of donald trump in two crucial states. 0verall, mr biden needsjust 17 more electoral college votes in order to reach the magic number of 270. mr biden is increasing his margin over the president in arizona but a recount has been announced in georgia, wherejoe biden's lead over donald trump is more than 4,000 votes. the mayor of atlanta has said she is positive that the results will stand. in pennsylvania, joe biden has built up a lead of nearly 20,000 votes over donald trump in the crucial count there. however, the city's mayor says trump must admit defeat. pennsylvania is of critical importance to both candidates as it's worth 20 electoral college votes. now on bbc news, click.