this is bbc news, the headlines... we are guilty as government, but also the communities guilty. thousands of people turn out for the funeral of olympic athlete, rebecca cheptegei in uganda. she was killed after being set on fire by a former boyfriend. a former senior us official tells the bbc president zelensky�*s frustration over the use of long range missile against russia is �*palpable and justified'. it comes as president biden

and sir keir starmer made she posted it alongside a picture of her cuddling her gorgeous cat, benjamin button. and then she was onstage and then she was onstage at the mtv awards as well this at the mtv awards as well this week, where she was encouraging week, where she was encouraging people to vote. people to vote.

..thank the fans, so thank ..thank the fans, so thank you for what you've done. you for what you've done. and the fact that this and the fact that this is a fan—voted award is a fan—voted award and you voted for this, and you voted for this, i appreciate it so much. i appreciate it so much. and if you are over 18, and if you are over 18, please register to vote please register to vote for something else that's very for something else that's very important coming up — important coming up — the 2024 presidential election. the 2024 presidential election. i love you all so, so much. i love you all so, so much. thank you for this moment. thank you for this moment. cheers and applause cheers and applause taylor swift is big. taylor swift is big. you don't need us you don't need us to tell you that. to tell you that. she's very, very, very big. she's very, very, very big. she's got a very big she's got a very big tour which has already tour which has already grossed over $1 billion. grossed over $1 billion. she's got almost 300 million she's got almost 300 million followers on instagram. followers on instagram. she is one of the most she is one of the most photographed, most celebrated photographed, most celebrated people on the planet. people on the planet. does that mean, though, does that mean, though, that her endorsement that her endorsement of a political candidate of a political candidate will make any difference will make any difference at all with how people vote, at all with how people vote, or whether people are paying or whether people are paying any attention to this election? any attention to this election? that's what we're going that's what we're going to try and find out. to try and find out. welcome to americast. welcome to americast. americast. americast. americast — from bbc news. americast — from bbc news. hello, it'sjustin in the worldwide headquarters of americast in london, england. sarah here, back in the studio

in washington, dc. and it's marianna, aka miss information, also in the worldwide headquarters. i don't know when we'll stop saying "the worldwide headquarters", but for now... maybe we've done it for the last time. anyway... marianna chuckles i was going to say, you can stop when it stops being funny, but that was maybe a wee while ago. laughing: that was a long time ago. - that was a long time ago. i'm going to carry on anyway, because who cares? people expect it of me. and marianna, it was in the worldwide headquarters, wasn't it, that you found out the news that taylor swift had endorsed kamala harris? i was in the spin room in philadelphia, as all the presidential surrogates were trying to say, you know, how well their candidate had done in the debate. and then suddenly there was a sort of collective gasp, intake of breath, as everybody saw what had dropped on their instagram posts. if any americasters listening didn't hear our episode about the presidential debate, and marianna's reaction to finding out about the taylor swift news, go back and listen to that, because it's definitely worth it.

can ijust say, sarah, i was in the room... i was in the room, but i failed to be properly impressed. and she signed it off as a childless cat lady, referring to those comments which have received quite a lot

of backlash online, from jd vance, trump's running mate. and then now, since then, and since we chatted about it, trump has responded. there are actually a few clips of him where people were saying to him, "0h, do you realise what's happened with taylor swift?", i think when he was in the spin room, but he hadn't properly responded at that point. but then he's come out to say that, you know, she'll regret it, her fans will regret it, and basically that he doesn't want it anyways. marianna chuckles that's sort of his take. _ and it's interesting, as well, because she specifically highlighted in her post, taylor swift, how donald trump had shared some ai—generated pictures of her supporting him before. so you kind of wonder, "hm, why did he do that before "if he's not interested in her support?" he might argue, "well, it was a bit of a joke", or, "people knew it was ai—generated" or whatever. but she specifically said that images shared of her, suggesting she was a trump supporter — not necessarily the ones shared by trump — were the reason that she decided to post. i mean, it almost

sounded like that... yeah, that was the reason why she decided to post. it was almost like, "well, donald trump, "if you're going to try and pretend that i'm supporting you "using artificial images, well, i'm going to come out here "and tell you what the truth is." yeah, as though he had kind of goaded her into it. i thought it was really cleverly written, though, justin. i mean, depending on how interesting or not you find taylor swift's intervention into the campaign, i think it's worth looking at the text of what she had to say, which wasn't, you know, "i demand all of my fans do as i do "and go out and vote for kamala harris." she was encouraging people to read up on the issues, find out where the candidates stand, and principally, encouraging people to vote and to make sure that they're registered to vote. she wasn't hectoring any of her followers into voting the same way she's going to. yeah, and it's interesting, that kind of "do your own research" thing is something that people who maybe are less keen on taylor swift or less keen on the democrats, it's a phrase they use quite a lot. but actually, it felt like she was legitimately trying to say, "well, look into this stuff. "make up your own mind." we do actually have a clip

of donald trump and jd vance reacting to taylor swift's endorsement, from fox news. donald trump: well, i actually like mrs, uh... i actually like mrs mahomes much better, if you want to know the truth. she's a big trump fan. i was not a taylor swift fan. it was just a question of time. she couldn't. .. you couldn't possibly endorse biden. you look at biden, you couldn't possibly endorse him. but she's a very liberal person. she seems to always endorse a democrat, and she'll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace. but no, i like brittany. i think brittany is great. brittany got a lot of news last week. she's a big maga fan. that's the one i like much better than taylor swift. we admire taylor swift's music, but i don't think most americans, whether they like her music, are fans of her or not, are going to be influenced by a billionaire celebrity who i think is fundamentally disconnected from the interests and the problems of most americans. look, when grocery prices go up by 20%, it hurts most americans. it doesn't hurt taylor swift. when housing prices

become unaffordable, it doesn't affect taylor swift or any other billionaire. it does affect middle—class americans all over our country. and so i think our pitch to women voters is very simple — donald trump delivered policies that lowered the prices of groceries, lowered the prices of housing, and most importantly, donald trump delivered public safety in our country. well, i think he's right, actually. i mean, not necessarily right politically, but right in that reaction, because i think the problem with all of these endorsements — and there have been loads in the past — rememberjohn kerry getting leonardo dicaprio when he was in his prime? well, he's probably still in his prime. who am i to say he's not in his prime? leonardo dicaprio? but you know, he had barbra streisand, a load of people. it made no difference at all tojohn kerry when he was fighting george w bush in 200a. and the other point, the key point that vance makes there is that she does not live the life of ordinary americans. and so, for the endorsement to come, yes, it will probably

bring some of her supporters, possibly, to the polls, who might not have gone to the polls, but it could equally have a net value of zero, because it suggests to others, "hang on a second, this is the party of billionaires "and people who don't really have anything to do with us." and the democrats have got to really fight against that message this year, particularly with kamala harris as the candidate. so i think the net effect, if anything, is zero. let me disagree with you a bit for a number of reasons there. i mean, firstly, jd vance is not short of a bob or two himself. and, you know, the billionaires are tending to support the trump campaign at the moment. but taylor swift is really quite down—to—earth in her public image, compared to beyonce or madonna or somebody. she doesn't really give off a big billionaire vibe, even though she's actually made, you know, well over $1 billion on her latest tour. i thought you could hear, though, jd vance being a much cleverer politician in that clip, because he said, "we all respect taylor swift, but. you had donald trump saying, "well, i never really liked her."

if you are just about the most popular entertainer on the planet, do politicians want to be slagging her off? i mean, you know, come on, let's give some kudos to just how popular her music is, if nothing else. and i mean, i don't know, justin, i think it will open people's minds to the idea of getting involved in the election at all — registering to vote, for instance, because there's no point in firing up a whole bunch of young people under 30, and then them turning up at the polls and discovering, "hey, you've got to have registered first, guys, "before you can cast a vote." just widening the bandwidth of people who are paying any attention to this election at all is good for democracy, and i think probably, if it's through taylor swift's endorsement, more likely to help the democrats. yeah, and there's another point i'd add — not that we're all ganging up onjustin — which is that i think that i agree with you to some extent that some celebrity endorsements perhaps don't matter that much

because people think, "oh, well, it'sjust someone who is very rich and famous "and they don't really get my life. "and to be honest, "i expected them to back that particular person anyways." but i think what's crucial here, and the thing that we should talk about, is that taylor swift is famous for this very committed bunch of followers she has on social media, this swiftie fandom. there are other celebrities that don't really have followings like that, or fandoms that are as active on social media. and the benefit to the harris—walz campaign is that that fandom are able to generate loads of their own content — memes, videos, posts. they make that — they make it for free. it costs you nothing. and it also is what we call organic. so it's stuff that doesn't look like it's sponsored by anyone necessarily. it feels like it's coming from real voters, real people. if you're another young woman, for example, orjust someone in your 20s, it feels like it's coming from, you know, a genuine other voter who might be a bit like you. and that stuff keeps popping up on your feed. maybe it's at the top of your tiktok feed, or it's on x or instagram or wherever it is. and that is the thing, i think, that is most valuable here to the campaign.

because donald trump already has... i mean, he almost has no need for the swifties, because he's succeeded in cultivating what is effectively his own fandom, which is a group of people who really support him and generate all kinds of content that's been hugely beneficial to him online. so it's almost like the way of going sort of toe—to—toe with trump's online supporters, who do a really good job of constantly getting him to the top of people's feeds and on their kind of agenda. so you're telling me this isn't the equivalent of clint eastwood backing whoever he did? i think it was mitt romney, wasn't it? anyway, backing a republican some time ago. i absolutely get it. and i think i take your point, and i think you may well be right and i may well be wrong, but because of the whole social media side of it, erm... but then there is... the kind of organisational side of it as well, which is the point you're making, isn't it? which i think i probably, with my old brain on, and my kind of political antennae that are blunted by the way that things used to be done. and if you're right, my god,

it's fascinating, isn't it? cos it's a whole new world. let me turn it on its head, justin. and while i make an admission that i'm not that fashionable, but i found out who charli xcx was this summer, when she declared that kamala harris was brat. now, i get it. it's supposed to be the other way around. you're supposed to be a charli xcx fan, and then you take a look at kamala harris because she's been declared to be brat. but you can do it in reverse. i would never have come across charli xcx if it wasn't for her interface with this american presidential election. the other way around for swifties — or charli fans, for that matter — is to, suddenly, this name comes across your horizon, you go, you look into it, you discover it's a bit more interesting. i've got about three charli xcx songs on my, erm, shared on a playlist now. so, you know, these things, theyjust... extra information comes into your life from a sphere you didn't expect it to and suddenly you're richer for it. do you know the apple dance, sarah? the tiktok apple dance. see... she sings and, and, and... and it's our, er, it's our tv feed.

you can't see me, marianna. justin, by the way, for anyone... i promise you, i'm doing it well. well done. anyone who's looking, anyone who's listening, sorry, justin is literally looking so out of his depth, ican't even... he's thinking, "i don't know what's going." i'm drowning. oh, but i found out... martha, clara, if you're listening, teach him the apple song. yeah, exactly. that's my daughters, by the way. ifound out from marianna. i find out all these things from marianna. but i do think that the kind of, the idea — i can absolutely understand that you get a head of steam going and a kind of passions going and people interested, and people are not necessarily very interested in politics. and you get them to the polls and all the rest of it. but ijust think, over and over again in the past, the evidence has been, and, actually, the evidence with taylor swift as well in the past, she took part in a... and endorsed a candidate in a state election and the candidate didn't win. and she endorsed biden last time around. of course, biden did win, but i'm not sure it made an awful lot of difference. but i take your point. so, number one, isort of make my point that, in the old days, ie two

or three years ago, it didn't work. but i see what you're saying, that, actually, now it might. i should say that — and i think your point still stands — we don't fully know the impact that this will have. and i've been, for a different podcast — why do you hate me usa? — that comes out later this month, i've been hanging out with some of the swifties for harris that i've chatted about before, and i've been messaging them back and forth as well. so they are the people who became involved in this campaign of theirown. you know, theyjust set up this campaign, said, "right, we want to kind of campaign online." and they've had the harris campaign in touch with them. it seems clear to me, from the conversations they've been having, that it is, you know, the thing that is hugely valuable to that campaign is different posts that are... that they will share, that will keep them high up on people's feeds, keep them sort of, erm, you know, keep all of this stuff quite relevant and being shared and so on. but these are not people with political experience. a lot of the people i've chatted to are based in places that, you know, probably might or will vote democrat, not necessarily in any of the key swing states. so this is about how much...

and we never... it's kind of like this impossible question — how much stuff on your social media feeds could translate? cos it's not necessarily being targeted at people in specific swing states, although they have told me that some of them are actually going out and canvassing and trying to do a little bit of that sort of stuff. it strikes me that the social media stuff is the most valuable, and yet you can't necessarily target it — if it's not paid for, if it'sjust organic — at people in a swing state. so, you know, it's a question of whether it...whether it's... ..whether they succeed in gaming the algorithm to reach people in, say, i don't know, pennsylvania or wherever that might be, rather thanjust people in new york or where they live. it's a really interesting point, this business of reaching people who you wouldn't normally reach in the normal, mainstream media, and trump does that a lot. in fact, i think we've got some examples of it. so he goes out, he gets to places, he gets to places that most people are not, and are not listening, but key specific groups are. so this is trump talking to the influencer logan paul on his youtube channel. i want to talk

to you about aliens. yeah. ufos, uaps. i know. the disclosure we've seen in congress recently. yeah. it's...it's...it's confusing and upsetting a lot of americans cos something's goingm — there's something happening. there are unidentified aerial phenomena in the sky. we don't know what they are. do you? so, it's such a... a question i do get a lot. and it's such an - interesting question. i've met with pilots that look just like you, actually. - 0k, they have more of a crew cut, ok? i they...they look like him, and they look like you. - some of them look like you. a little fatter. but these are perfect people. giggling and they're not... not crazy. ..not conspiratorial. they're not crazy. yeah. and they tell me stories that they've seen things that - you wouldn't believe. phone pings these are not| people that you would say... no way. "gee..." oh, that's ok. president of the united states. isaid. who is it? that'sjoe biden wanting to do an interview. - i think it's a really important and interesting point, cos... so, logan paul and then bryce hall, who's a tiktok star

that trump has also spoken to, are both people who appeal to a particular demographic, especially of young men, but who reach a huge social media audience. erm, and in a similarway to the swifties, really, are a way of getting people who are not necessarily tuned in to the election. well, i think there's an entire series that you should be doing about the kind of practically men—only spaces on the internet and these podcasts and things as well. but that's a. . .that�*s a completely different argument. i saw some really interesting numbers, and i have to admit, they're not the bbc�*s. i was watching cnn as i was walking into the studio. they had a big graphic. in 2020, joe biden won 28% more of the under—30s than donald trump did. when he stood down, he had only 7% advantage in young voters. kamala harris has taken over, she's doing better, but she only has 15 points over donald trump in the under—30s, so she is almost halfway behind wherejoe biden was in 2020. you wouldn't necessarily think that from looking at the sort of mood of their campaigns

and things, but there's a lot of work that the democrats have to do with younger voters and, of course, with the younger voters, it often starts with getting registered in the first place, and just grabbing their attention, just making sure they know there's an election at all, and what's at stake. and, if the democrats can't really improve their numbers with young people — that's one of their absolute key demographics — then they haven't got a hope. but that's one of the things that makes me sceptical, though, sarah, about all of this is, cos if you look at young voters, you tend to think of them as, "0h, they're kind of people at college having they're not. most young voters aren't at college., actually, are having a pretty tough life, particularly after the bout of inflation that america'sjust had. they care about a lot of the economic things, in a sense, more than older voters. they can't get onto the housing ladder. erm, and that, of course, is a big part of the kamala harris campaign. she's really woken up to that as being an important thing. so all of those bread—and—butter, kitchen—table issues really matter to them. and that's why, again, i think the taylor swift stuff mightjust not quite hit

the mark that has to be hit. you say that as though you assume anyone who's been struggling with inflation for the last few years, or, you know, is having trouble making ends meet, wouldn't vote for kamala. i'm not saying that at all. i'm saying that they would be tempted to say, "hang on a second, you, kamala harris, "have been in charge while my costs have been going "through the roof and i can't find anywhere to live. "i don't care what billionaire endorses you. "i don't particularly... i like taylor swift, "but what she does politically doesn't interest me. "what has happened to america interests me. "and i remember, or remember my parents telling me, "that during the trump administration..." cos that's another thing — a lot of these people don't remember much about the trump administration. they were very young then. they certainly wouldn't have voted in that election in 2016. they will be saying, "the things that matter to me — "love taylor swift, love her music — "but the things that matter to me are not impacted "at all by what she says." 0k, well, if i was working for the harris campaign, which i don't, so this isjust

a. . . hypothetically what they would say would be, "no, no, no, don't vote "for kamala harris because billionaire taylor swift "tells you to. have a look at kamala harris "because taylor swift tells you to. "and then you will see that she's offering help." yeah. "help to find a deposit for buying your own home, "erm, tax credits for young families, "while donald trump's offering tax cuts for billionaires," is what democrats would say. so, you know, don't do it cos taylor tells you to, but find out a bit more about it. and they would say that, you know, harris is offering far more for young people who are struggling to get on the housing ladder. the other problem, i would say, and i've said it a few times, is that social media is pretty allergic to policy. like, itjust doesn't... policy doesn't get the algorithms going, on the whole, and it doesn't get the engagement going, whereas personalities and trends and all this kind of stuff does. and so, whether it's good or bad for politics and for voters is another question, but it's ultimately the way of ensuring that you are high up in people's minds. and, like, that's actually, if we think about this, like, the voters that a lot of... well, the voters that both kamala harris and donald trump

are fighting over are the people that are feeling a bit sort of, like, tired out and disillusioned with politics, or they might not even be following it at all, and you just want to be on their radar. and i think that that's...that's the kind of strategy that's being pursued. again, whether that's necessarily right or wrong is sort of another question, but it is the way that social media has kind of made political campaigning now. talking about what social media does to policy, did you see the dog on x where, where... so, trump is... it's a picture of someone, a picture of his tv. and, and... there are so many of these puppies. trump is saying, "the haitians are eating dogs and cats." yeah. and then he pans across to the dog, who looks genuinely nervous. but there were so many of these. it goes behind the sofa. so there are so many of these. so, my tiktok feed, and then the undercover voters' tiktok feeds, variously and across the political spectrum, so including the people who like trump, have been flooded with some of these videos of pets reacting to the debate. and it's like dogs and cats panicking because they're being told they're going to be eaten. and then also cats saying... do you remember on facebook, when you used to be able to check in as safe when there

was like a terror attack or something? i don't know if you remember that. so like when there were, when there were that kind of period of terror attacks here in the uk, people would check in as safe to show they were safe. it's pets saying, "checked in as safe "from springfield, ohio. "not eaten." but that, sarah, that... by the way, we should...we should say that those claims about eating pets are unfounded, and there's not currently any evidence to properly support the widespread allegations. you sound like the abc anchors. that is... we have to tell people that. but, also, that's the kind of thing. for trump, that's bad because it gets trump on theiragenda, sure, but a lot of people seeing that might be the kind of undecided voters who are like, "oh, this pet's quite funny reacting to that. "why has he said that?" but itjust does show, doesn't it, sarah, when you look at the way that politics is...is... kind of happens in...in the modern world, i mean, that, she goaded him into that in the debate and he went for it. and it was in an answer... weirdly, i listened back to it, or i hadn't realised, it was actually in an answer that had started off quite badly for her. so she'd been asked this really pointed question by the abc

anchors, possibly one of the most pointed of the whole evening — "why is it that you've waited till six months before the election, before you did anything "about the southern border?" in effect, was the question. difficult question for her. and he completely blew it up with his dogs and cats and, you know, even if you are a more disciplined candidate than donald trump is, sarah, the way in which social media can just destroy what you thought was your carefully honed message is terrifying, really. have you seen, though, there's a clip withjd vance where he's asked on cnn by caitlin collins, who says... it was the day before the debate, and she says, "there's no evidence whatsoever for this story about people killing and eating pets. and he basically says — i'm not quoting him here — but he basically says, "no, there isn't but, you know, "we have to say outrageous things like this to get people like you in the mainstream media "to cover the issue

about immigration at all. "so it's fine for us to spread these lies and stories "because, hey, look, it's got you talking about it." that's it. we'll be bringing you another episode next week. just eight weeks to go now until the presidential election, and there will be plenty to talk about. remember, you can always get the podcast first and in full on bbc sounds. bye— bye. hello there! we've got quite a mixed weather picture around this afternoon for large parts of england and wales, we're looking at dry weather with some decent sunshine. certainly been fine so far today in pembrokeshire,

if a little breezy. further north and west though for scotland and northern ireland you can see the cloud piling in here. we do have a weather front that's bringing outbreaks of rain across northern ireland that's going to be working into west scotland, where there will also be some quite brisk winds today, gusts reaching into the 50 miles an hour at times in the western isles, as that rain works in. the rain towards the evening time will turn a little bit lighter and patchy in northern ireland very gradually, whereas england and wales still hanging on to a fair bit of sunshine and with the winds turning to a southwesterly direction, it's milder compared with recent days. top temperatures reaching 20 c overnight. tonight, ourweather front moves southwards across from scotland into northern england, northern parts of wales. a few showers for western scotland. we've still got the dry air and relatively cold air across east anglia and southeast england, where it's going to be another chilly night. temperatures down to around 4 or 5 degrees in the very coldest spots for sunday. we've got these weather fronts pushing southwards towards an area of high pressure. and, so, quite a mixed weather picture again.

starting off on a sunny and chilly note across east anglia, the midlands, southern counties of england. a band of rain for northern england, north wales gradually moving southwards through the day. and for scotland and northern ireland, broadly speaking, it's a day of sunny spells and showers. temperatures reaching the high teens to low 20s, which should feel okay in the best of the day's sunshine. well, that takes us on into next week, and we'll see another change in the weather pattern as high pressure builds in across the uk. and so for monday, it might start off with a bit of cloud, maybe an odd bit of drizzle across southernmost areas, a few mist and fog patches, but otherwise there's that high pressure... builds in most of the uk will have dry weather with lengthy spells of sunshine. just a little bit of high cloud in the skies at times. temperatures reaching generally around 17 to 21, so feeling pleasant in the sunshine. and as we go into next week deeper, it looks like the high pressure is going to hang around, with an easterly wind starting to pull in some slightly milder air from the near continent, so there's going to be a lot of dry weather around

with temperatures for more of us reaching the low 20s, which will feel quite pleasant after the recent cool spell. bye for now.

live from london, this is bbc news. we this is bbc news. are guilty as government, but we are guilty as government, but also the communities guilty. thousands gather for the funeral of olympic athlete rebecca cheptegei in uganda. she was killed after being set on fire by a former boyfriend. keir starmer returns to the uk after talks in washington. he and president biden made no public announcement on ukraine's use of long—range western missiles inside russia. and trained to expect the unexpected — two us astronauts explain how they cope with being stranded in space.

hello, i'm lewis vaughanjones, welcome to the programme. thousands of people turn out for the funeral for ugandan 0lympic athlete, rebecca cheptegei who was killed by a former boyfriend this month. the service is at her family's home town, bukwo. she will receive full military honours, having been a member of the ugandan armed forces. the 33—year—old marathon runner, who competed in the paris games last month, died after being doused with petrol and set alight. rebecca cheptegei's body was brought in from kenya where she lived and trained. her death has renewed concern about the level of violence against women in kenya. herformer partner has since died of his injuries. 0ur senior africa correspondent anne soy has more from bukwo. rebecca cheptegei was a much loved member of this community, and you can see that from the turnout today.