live from london — this is bbc news. donald trump's presidential campaign accuses the uk's labour party of foreign interference in the us election. the us secretary of state says now is the time for israel to end the war in gaza — to capitalise on its success against hamas. fresh airstrikes overnight in beirut — we'll bring you the latest from our correspondent in the region. rapid gunfire the uk is to sign a new defence agreement with germany — as it seeks to strengthen post—brexit ties with europe. and after their trip to australia — king charles and queen camilla arrive in samoa for a commonwealth summit. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. thank you forjoining us.

we start in the us, where donald trump's presidential campaign has made a legal complaint against the labour party here, for what it claims is illegal foreign contributions and interference in the us election. a statement from the trump—vance campaign says "the far—left labour party has inspired kamala's dangerously inspired kamala's dangerous liberal policies and rhetoric. in recent weeks, they have recruited and sent party members to campaign for kamala in critical battleground states, attempting to influence our election." a now—deleted social media post from a senior labour official said there were ten spots available to travel to the us and that the party would �*sort housing for volunteers�*. but labour officials say activists who've been campaigning for kamala harris are doing so in a personal capacity and are not organised orfunded by the party. for some context, a foreign national can participate in campaign activities as long as they are not being paid for it, according to the federal election commission. this is not the first time that

either labour or conservative party staff have campaigned in the us election. our north america correspondent, peter bowes reports. donald j trump! us election interference by the labour party — the claim being made by donald trump's campaign that britain's ruling party and kamala harris�* campaign have broken the law. in a six—page letter to the us election watchdog — the federal election commission — a lawyer for the trump campaign cites media reports about contact between labour and the harris campaign, and requests an immediate investigation into blatant foreign interference with apparent illegal foreign national contributions made by the labour party. the row revolves around efforts by labour to send volunteers to the states to help kamala harris. the letter cites this now deleted post on the networking site linkedin, apparently from a senior labour official saying ten spots

were available to travel to the us and the party would "sort" housing for volunteers. the trump campaign says that suggests labour is financially supporting volunteers. it is not illegal for foreign nationals to campaign in us elections, but they cannot be paid for it. in a statement, the trump campaign said kamala harris and her running mate tim walz were seeking foreign influence to boost what it called their radical message. donald trump's former ambassador to germany, richard grenell, who is tipped to be part of the former president's new administration, if he wins the election, told newsnight it was a slippery slope for labour. i think it is a really dangerous precedent to have the ruling party of an ally somehow playing politics, getting involved

in the actual campaigning with such a short notice. i mean, it is the last month of our campaign. sir keir starmer has played down the significance of the trump campaign's allegations, pointing out labour had volunteers who had gone to america pretty much every election, doing it in their spare time and staying with other volunteers. the prime minister added that he and donald trump had established a good relationship when they met in new york last month. peter bowes, bbc news. our political editor chris mason is travelling with the prime minister in samoa for the commonwealth heads of government meeting, where the trump row threatens to overshadow the trip. hello from winnipeg in the canadian province of manitoba. we're on our way to the south pacific, to samoa for a gathering of commonwealth heads of government. to put it gently, it's a long way. we've still got a long, long way to go.

quite the row, though, bubbling whilst we've been on the first leg of this flight — between donald trump and the uk labour party. you know, it's only a couple of weeks ago that keir starmer was having dinner with donald trump in new york, meeting him for the first time. now there's this row that centres on a post on linkedin, the cv and jobs website, from a labour party staffer ahead of operations, suggesting that people might want to go out to campaign for kamala harris, the big rival of donald trump. kamala harris of the democrats, the current vice president, with a suggestion that their housing would be sorted. now, that has caused real anger from the trump campaign because they reckon that it amounts to illegal electoral interference, particularly the idea that somehow money might have changed hands. labour say that is absolutely not the case. these are volunteers. this happens at every election and it's been blown out of all proportion. perhaps some injudicious language in a now deleted social media post at the heart of it. but quite the thing when we are just a couple of weeks away from the us

presidential election. that was our political editor chris mason. we have much more that story with our chief political correspondent henry zeffman and jerry hill from our us partners cbs who will be giving us the view from the us. —— jarred giving us the view from the us. ——jarred hill. king charles and queen camilla have arrived in the island nation of samoa for a summit of the 56—nation commonwealth. the couple has just completed a six—day tour of australia — the first time they have visited the country since the king became its head of state. our correspondent katy watson was in samoa as the king and queen arrived. she said climate change will be high on the agenda during the visit. this is the first commonwealth heads of government meeting that king charles is attending since becoming monarch. it's also a first for a pacific nation for hosting the summit. so it's a really big deal for samoa, a small country. there are 4,000 delegates expected to come here. they've had to bring

on a cruise ship to accommodate the visitors here this week. now, top of the agenda will be climate change. pacific islands are especially vulnerable when it comes to rising sea levels. but climate change, of course, is something that's very close to the king's heart. he'll be visiting a mangrove project, talking about how to preserve the ocean, also going to the national park and speaking to samoans about how to make this part of the world much less vulnerable. there'll be a lot of pressure, of course, on bigger members of the commonwealth to try and cut their fossil fuel emissions and try and help smaller nations like samoa in terms of climate finance and protecting countries from the climate crisis. the other big topic that's likely to come up is reparations. the uk has said that they won't be apologising, there won't be a formal apology and there won't be any talk of reparations. of course, the king can't say

anything unless he's been allowed to by the government. so although that's not been tabled, no doubt that's a conversation, especially from smaller nations, that will come up. but, certainly, climate change is going to be top of the agenda for the next few days here in samoa. back with our top story and donald trump is like presidential campaign has taken the extraordinary step of filing a legal complaint against the labour party, accusing it of blatantly interfering in the us election. earlier my colleague at bbc breakfastjon kay asked the environment secretary steve reed what the parties response was to these claims. it is up to private citizens how they use their time and money, and it is not unusual for supporters of a party in one country to go and campaign for a sister party in another. it happens both ways round and across many, many countries. but none of this was organised and funded by the labour party itself. this is individual people making their own choices as they are free to do. i think his complaint, though, goes to the fact that there was a post

on linkedin on social media from a labour party manager, which has now been deleted, but which was offering some kind of help for labour party members who went to america to help kamala harris�*s campaign. and that is what donald trump says is described as "reasonable inference" that the labour party was making, what he says, amount to illegalforeign national contributions to the american election. what do you say to that? well, none of this was organised directly by the labour party. as i say, what people choose to do in their free time and whether she's a part of a group linked to the democrats is entirely up to her and it's up to individuals if they want to use their holiday to go and campaign for a sister party in another country. people are free to do that.

it's not against the law here, it's not against the law in the united states. but it certainly wasn't organised by the labour party itself. let's speak to our political correspondent henry zeffman. henry, what could this row mean for the relations between the labour party and the tramp campaign? it labour party and the tramp campaign?— campaign? it is clearly not aood. i campaign? it is clearly not good. i don't _ campaign? it is clearly not good. i don't think - campaign? it is clearly not good. i don't think there i campaign? it is clearly notj good. i don't think there is precedent, certainly not that i'm aware of, for a presidential campaign to be making a legal complaint about a political party that is in government in one of their closest allies. this is a very big deal. it is very unusual. perhaps it is yet another symptom of what an unusual politician and what an unusual campaigner donald trump is but then again the labour party and labour government may find themselves within just a couple of weeks having to deal with a very unusual formal president—elect who might be returning to the white house. i think the big question here is there is no denying this is seriously awkward and embarrassing for the labour party. the question is whether

it is merely awkward and embarrassing but will pass within a couple of days, or whether actually this does show a level of anger from the tramp campaign that would carry over if he wins the presidential election, into his relationship with keir starmer as the uk prime minister. if that is the case, then that elevates this from an awkward and surprising row to something much more serious indeed.— serious indeed. henry, how unusual is _ serious indeed. henry, how unusual is it _ serious indeed. henry, how unusual is it for _ serious indeed. henry, how unusual is it for uk - serious indeed. henry, how unusual is it for uk parties | serious indeed. henry, howl unusual is it for uk parties to work with their american colleagues?— work with their american colleauues? ., . ., , colleagues? not at all is the truth. that's _ colleagues? not at all is the truth. that's why _ colleagues? not at all is the truth. that's why this - colleagues? not at all is the truth. that's why this is - colleagues? not at all is the | truth. that's why this is quite strange and white labour people i've been speaking to are pretty bemused this has blown up pretty bemused this has blown up in the way it has. —— why labour people. the labour party, she heard from steve reed, the labour party environment secretary, said some of their employees and officials have been volunteering for the democratic

party as individuals but that's not the same as the labour party operating for the democrat party. there is also is a precedent for volunteers, in fact conservatives volunteer for the republicans and conservatives who have volunteered in the past for the democrats because of the way the us political spectrum is perhaps all shifted a bit to the right from the uk. 0f the right from the uk. of course there is nigel farage, the leader of the reform party, now a reform mp who has been a big campaignerfor donald big campaigner for donald trump, big campaignerfor donald trump, primarily before he became an mp but he was out there at the republican national convention in the summer relatively recently after he got elected as an mp. if you ask labour people they would say this has just been happening for years. but what hasn't happened before and what hasn't happened before and what hasn't been happening for years is a diplomatic spat like this and that's why it is more serious. and that's why it is more serious-_ and that's why it is more serious. , ~' ., serious. henry, thinki, our chief political _ serious. henry, thinki, our. chief political correspondent henry zeffman. around the world and across the uk this is bbc news. —— thank you.

let's turn to the middle east where there have been more strikes overnight in lebanon. this is the skyline in beirut this morning after strikes were reported in baada which is a southern — suburb of beirut. it comes as america's top diplomat, antony blinken, continues his visit in the region. he was in israel on tuesday, he'll now be visiting saudi arabia, qatar and the uae. in israel, he urged prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, to capitalise on the recent killing of the hamas leader yahya sinwar by securing the release of all hostages and ending the conflict in gaza. more developments in gaza, we have news coming in from the world health organization, saying it has had to pause the ongoing polio vaccination campaign due to begin on wednesday in the north of gaza. there has been a massive polio

vaccination attempt across the territory, trying to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of young children against the polio virus. news coming in from the world health organization that because of the ongoing fighting in northern gaza, they say intense bombardment and the mass displacement as a result, they have had to pause the expected polio vaccination in the north of the territory. let's speak to our correspondent in jerusalem, yolande knell. that news from the who once again highlighting the delicate humanitarian situation in gaza as antony blinken visits the region. as antony blinken visits the reuion. ., �* , as antony blinken visits the reuion. . �* , , as antony blinken visits the reuion. . �*, , ., region. that's right, it is a message _ region. that's right, it is a message coming - region. that's right, it is a message coming out - region. that's right, it is a message coming out fromj region. that's right, it is a - message coming out from the different un agencies that are involved in this mass vaccination campaign really made necessary after the first traces of polio were found, first of all in sewage water in central gaza in the middle of this year and then they had the first case of a baby, and

unvaccinated baby with polio in close to two decades. it was underlined by the different un agencies involved in this mass vaccination that it was really important to have this 2—stage programme is rolled out across all areas of the gaza strip. the first stage was completed successfully a month or so ago and now they have carried out the second stage in the centre of the gaza strip and in the south. but it seems they are unable to get the humanitarian pauses in fighting that are necessary in order for this to work in the north of the gaza strip, where israel has been conducting a new military offensive against what it says are regrouping hamas elements there. but we have had these forced displacement orders in the past couple of weeks. we have had people especially in jabalia which has been a big focus of the israeli ground campaign saying that they are

unsafe, they can't get out, hospitals are being evacuated, people complaining that the complete lack of food, so it has really led to a dire humanitarian situation. we have had mr blinken who just left talking about the importance of getting aid into gaza and the north of gaza in particular saying that the us was tracking this every single day, but may the state department is also aware this is a likely announcement to follow as he was leaving the country. yolande knell, thank you, our middle east correspondent with the latest from the region. let's get more on our top story and donald trump's presidential campaign has taken the extraordinary step of filing a legal complaint against the labour party. accusing it of blatantly interfering in the american election. let's speak to cbs correspondentjared hill who's in new york.

just tell us more about the reaction in the us to this story. it reaction in the us to this sto . , , story. it is interesting because _ story. it is interesting because this - story. it is interesting because this is - story. it is interesting because this is a - story. it is interesting| because this is a story story. it is interesting - because this is a story that has not really gotten a tonne of traction in the states, at least not yet. again what we know is the tramp campaign filed this lawsuitjust earlier this week on monday, and so this week on monday, and so this is starting to trickle out here. the allegation as you are mentioning is that the labour party, they say, were sending members and staffers to the united states to campaign on behalf of vice president kamala harris. what we're hearing from the labour party is these are people who are doing this on theirfree time and people who are doing this on their free time and they are in their free time and they are in their individual capacity, in their individual capacity, in their spare time. that's what they say they have done in previous elections on both sides of the political spectrum. here the question is going to be if this has any sort of political repercussions in the states for former president trump or vice president trump or vice president harris. it will be interesting to see how this

develops over the next couple of hours or days. in develops over the next couple of hours or days.— of hours or days. in the midst of hours or days. in the midst of what is _ of hours or days. in the midst of what is a — of hours or days. in the midst of what is a very _ of hours or days. in the midst of what is a very intense - of what is a very intense presidential campaign, is the story likely to last more than one or two new cycles? you know, if— one or two new cycles? you know, if i — one or two new cycles? you know, if i could _ one or two new cycles? you know, if i could give - one or two new cycles? you know, if i could give you - one or two new cycles? 7m. know, if i could give you the answer to that i would have a whole lot more money in my pocket because i could tell the future. what we do know is that a lot of these stories do move very quickly, especially again with as being just 13 or so days before the election. but there is always talk about the so—called 0ctober surprise and whether that is something that potentially could be a big enough story in the new cycle to really sway things. we will have to 1543 00:19:37,652 --> 00:1