for fresh opposition has called for fresh elections, and thousands of protesters art of standing to defend their country's european future. donald trump's campaign distances itself from what it says are offensive and derogatory comments made by a comedian in his new york rally, branded "racist" by kamala harris. uk prime minister sir keir starmer says "britain must embrace the harsh light of physical reality" ahead of wednesday's budget, which he says will include tax rises to prevent austerity. —— fiscal reality. -- fiscal reality. here in the middle here in the middle east, gaza cease—fire talks are taking place in qatar for the first time since the killing of hamas leader yahya sinwar. and more reaction as manchester united sack their manager erik ten hag.

hello and welcome. hello and welcome. thousands of people have gathered in the georgian capital tbilisi to protest against alleged election fraud. the kremlin has "strongly rejected" accusations by the country's president and opposition leaders that moscow interfered to alter the result of saturday's vote. these are the live pictures already. lots of people there following what the president was saying. she called on people to assemble at the parliament, and that is exactly what we're seeing. she called on people to protest against this result, and it will be live in the square in a minute or two. live in the square in a minute ortwo. ijust live in the square in a minute or two. ijust want live in the square in a minute or two. i just want to show you what the president of the

european union called for an investigation into the rarity. for many years now, the people of georgia have been striving and fighting for democracy. they have a right to know what happened this weekend and they have a right to see that electoral irregularities are investigated swiftly, transparently and independently. georgians, like all europeans, must be the masters of their own destiny. let's speak to our correspondent in tbilisi, rayhan demytrie. let's speak to our correspondent in tbilisi, rayhan demytrie. in terms of what you are seeing there, it is a real standoff between the new government and the president and the opposition parties. where is this likely to take georgians? opposition leaders have been

addressing one by one the opposition has called for fresh elections and are saying there won't be negotiations with the government. that only one demand — new elections. a lot of them were draped in european union flags. one reason why they're here is they want a european future for their country and they believe, because of so many reports of violations and irregularities during the october the 26 vote, it was stolen. the elections were hijacked, as they say. they want to be sure that this country heads towards europe.

they believe if the jordan dream stays in powerfor another four years, dream stays in powerfor anotherfouryears, it dream stays in powerfor another four years, it will continue with what many people perceive as pro—kremlin policies —— the george and . rayhan, we will continue to monitor that _ . rayhan, we will continue to monitor that story. _ . rayhan, we will continue to monitor that story. thank - . rayhan, we will continue to l monitor that story. thank you. another couple lines coming to us. hungary's prime minister hasjust us. hungary's prime minister has just arrived us. hungary's prime minister hasjust arrived in us. hungary's prime minister has just arrived in the georgian capital. he has his government delegation. that will be interesting, him visiting, given everything that rayhan was just telling us. that is what so many of those protesters now fear. very large

crowds already turning up there at the parliament building, so we'll watch those live pictures and return to that story a little later. let's turn to america. we're just eight days out from the presidential election and both candidates are making their final big push for votes. we've seen ots of coverage in the last 2a hours after a comedian and podcast host who was acting at his rally in new york, described puerto rico — a us island territory — as a "floating island of garbage" and was disparaging about puerto ricans. donald trump's campaign team said, the remarks didn't reflect his views about the island. kamala harris described the comments as racist. more on that in a moment — first though, let's hear

a little more form donald trump and kamala harris as they campaigned. on day one, i will launch the largest deportation i programme in american history to get the criminals out. - i will rescue every city in town that has been| invaded and conquered, - and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals i injail, kick them the hell out of our country- as fast as possible. we can and we must seize this opportunity to end this war and bring the hostages home. and i will do everything in my power to meet that end. i'v e i've been speaking to our correspondent in washington. more on those comedian�*s comments at the donald trump rally — and whether it overshadowed let's bear in mind this was meant to be an opportunity for donald trump to address a crowd in new york. a crowd in new york —

that's important, of course, that's where he's from — and show a national audience that he could reach a sort of urbane new yorkers as much as he can reach people in florida and in the midwest and other places, too. so, it was an important opportunity for him to put out what he called the closing arguments, if you like, which of course focussed on immigration, which of course focussed on border security. and he used again this language of invasions and so on, which has been so controversial. but you're right, this particular comedian, who was a warm—up act for him, really did overshadow the entire thing. the entire act was a slew of sort of racist and derogatory language, xenophobic references, including one to puerto rico, which he said the island, essentially "a floating island of garbage". of course, that's been picked up on across social media. both sides have distanced...

but we can actually hear this comedian, tony hinchcliffe, making that very controversial joke. there's a lot going on. like, i don't know if you guys know this, but there's literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. yeah, i think it's called puerto rico. so, you can hearjust in the audience itself, it was sort of sharp intake of breath quite quickly off the back of that, the trump campaign said that the joke did not reflect the views of former president trump or his campaign. we saw quite quickly to the harris campaign trying to make the most of it, pointing out what her platform for puerto rico, of course, still recovering, hurricane maria, and the damage that that wrought on the island. what her platform was for that and seeing celebrities like bad bunny, the reggaeton artist, coming out staunchly in favour of her very, very quickly. and he has an audience on instagram of some 45 million people.

eight days to go until the polls _ eight days to go until the polls. let me take you to the tracker— polls. let me take you to the tracke , ., ., if you average it out, the vice president continues to lead with the gap shrinking over the last few days. let's turn to the battleground states. trump's pole leads between 1—2 points. putting more background on the bbc website. let's turn to uk

politics. here, the prime minister has been preparing the ground for his government's first budget. in a speech today, sir keir starmer said the country had to "embrace the harsh light of fiscal reality". here's a little of what he said. this is not 1997, when the economy was decent, but public services were on their knees. and it's not 2010, where public services were public services were strong, but the public finances were weak. we have to deal with both sides of that coin. these are unprecedented circumstances. but the budget the chancellor will deliver on wednesday will prevent devastating austerity in our public services and prevent a disastrous path for our public finances. that's the reality of what would happen if we'd stuck to tory spending plans. and it's why we never, unlike the opposition in �*97 and 2010, committed to the same

spending plans. let's speak to political correspondent helen catt. —— hannah miller. the prime minister prepared the ground for the audience, the public for the audience, the public for more pain.— for the audience, the public for more pain. very much so, preparing _ for more pain. very much so, preparing pepple _ for more pain. very much so, preparing people to - for more pain. very much so, l preparing people to essentially expect more tax. the government has promised that it won't raise taxes on working people in his manifesto, a definition that has been somewhat loose, critics have said. but it's becoming increasingly clear that after the budget on wednesday, many people will pay more tax. the prime minister today was really trying to justify that decision in advance, saying that there needs to be more money spent on public services, particularly in relation to the nhs. we're expecting to hear some funding

boosts there. he is arguing that the plans that have previously been set out by the conservatives simply weren't realistic. the conservatives dispute that, saying this is labour's choice to fund public services to a greater extent and raising taxes. the liberal democrats have criticised some decisions that may be coming up, particularly in relation to bus fares, where there has been a cap on affairs of £2, set to rise to £3. what we're receiving really is sir keir starmer preparing people and justifying his decisions in advance ahead of the budget on wednesday. advance ahead of the budget on wednesday-— wednesday. that budget of course comes _ wednesday. that budget of course comes very - wednesday. that budget of course comes very soon - wednesday. that budget of course comes very soon on | course comes very soon on wednesday. hannah, thanks very much for that. around the world and across the bbc.

you're watching bbc news.

let's turn to the middle east. iran is demanding an urgent meeting of an urgent meeting of the un security council following israel's air strikes on saturday. it comes following stark warnings from a range of un agencies over the weekend about the catastrophic situation on the ground in gaza. today, new talks about a ceasefire are taking place in qatar. let's go live tojerusalem. ben brown is there for us. lots to discuss. then, let's start with the cease—fire talks. what is being said about the prospects of them in qatar was that we haven't had talks now for quite a while.- was that we haven't had talks now for quite a while. know, we haven't, now for quite a while. know, we haven't. and _ now for quite a while. know, we haven't, and what _ now for quite a while. know, we haven't, and what is _ haven't, and what is significant is these talks are the first gaza cease—fire talks since the death of the leader

of gaza a couple weeks ago though. the us administration seem to be a ya hya yahya sinwar ya hya sinwar has yahya sinwar has been seen as an optical to cease—fire talks. —— obstacle. he's come back to israel. —— the cia director from the united states and the egyptian mediator, and they've been trying to revive proposals. benjamin at yahoo's office says they have focused on a new outline that takes into account —— benjamin netanyahu. one of those regional development may be the death of yahya sinwar, wejust don't know. there's an egyptian proposal for don't know. there's an egyptian proposalfor a don't know. there's an egyptian proposal for a very short proposalfor a very short two—day proposal for a very short two—day cease—fire with the release of four hostages. just

as a kind of building block for some sort of future cease—fire arrangement. we'll have to wait and see if that comes to anything. and see if that comes to anything-— and see if that comes to an hina. ~ �* , , . , anything. we're seeing pictures from the protests _ anything. we're seeing pictures from the protests there. - from the protests there. israel's defence minister has spoken on the attack on iran that could be exploited in any future attacks. reading between the lines, that presumably is a very clear signal that there must not be a response from iran, because that would provoke another attack from israel. . . provoke another attack from israel. ., ., , israel. yeah, that is the problem _ israel. yeah, that is the problem for _ israel. yeah, that is the problem for iran. - israel. yeah, that is the problem for iran. does l israel. yeah, that is the | problem for iran. does it retaliate that latest retaliatory attack from israel on saturday? if it does respond, if you get hit again even harder by israel. yoag gallant saying they have taken out radars and that means that

iran, he says, would be at a huge disadvantage when, he said when, israel attacks iran again —— yoav gallant. he also said knocking out the missile production capabilities in iran changes the balance of power. that's what israel are saying. iran has been trying to play down the whole thing, really. the spiritual leader, all the hot money, should afp news agency reported that south africa has filed evidence of genocide with israel with the icj. given all the concern about what is happening in northern gaza.— about what is happening in northern gaza. that's right, the international _ northern gaza. that's right, the international court - northern gaza. that's right, the international court of i the international court of justice — this was brought at

the end of last year in december — that is really forces are carrying out enough genocide. they have now predicted 750 pages of evidence, including 4,000 exhibits and annexes. they're about civilian deaths. the forced displacement, all of which they say amounts to breach of the genocide convention. i should say what israel says is that is all nonsense. the israeli prime minister has said in the past it is not we who have come to perpetrate genocide, it is hamas. "it would murder all this, and it could." that's what benjamin netanyahu has said. what ben'amin netanyahu has said. �* �* ., ., ~' what ben'amin netanyahu has said. �* �* ., ., ~ ., said. ben brown, thank you for takin: us said. ben brown, thank you for taking us through _ said. ben brown, thank you for taking us through all _ said. ben brown, thank you for taking us through all the - said. ben brown, thank you for taking us through all the day'sl taking us through all the day's developments.

a prolific vietnamese people smuggler has shared details of the forgery, fraud and deceit used to enable migrants heading for the uk to gain european visas, opening a pathway to crossing the channel in small boats. over 2,000 vietnamese, have crossed the channel so far this year, making them the single highest national group in small boat arrivals. it's also been the deadliest year on record for those attempting the crossing, with more than 50 people killed in the water between northern france and england. andrew harding has been speaking to the smuggler, as part of an extensive investigation into why so many vietnamese people are choosing such a dangerous route to great britain. as the death toll in the channel soars, another change is under way here, too — a new group filling the small boats heading to the uk...

..and crowding into the makeshift migrant camps in northern france — vietnamese. almost overnight, they've become the single largest nationality, being smuggled into britain by boat. as new migrant routes through europe open up, these vietnamese tell me they're escaping business debts and loan sharks back home. are you aware that what you're trying to do here, this crossing to the uk is incredibly yeah, i'm well aware of that. and that doesn't stop you. why not? "i have no other choice," he replies. "if i return to vietnam, i have nothing there. i sold my house, but it wasn't enough to pay off my debt." in britain, meanwhile, the police are concerned that many of the vietnamese are being trafficked here, as has happened in the past. i'm arresting you on suspicion of facilitating the illegal entry of non—uk nationals into the united kingdom. criminal gangs forcing the migrants into conditions of modern slavery.

to understand more, we've made contact with a vietnamese smuggler in the uk. we'll call him tan. it's a very lucrative business. if you have a good reputation, the clients come to you. no force, no violence. tan arrived in britain earlier this year by small boat. he's now claiming asylum. tan himself became involved in smuggling years ago, running a gang in france at a time when people hid on lorries rather than taking small boats. later, he moved back to vietnam and began forging documents for people trying to get visas in europe. we've agreed to keep his identity confidential in return for his insights into the smuggling business. he's showing me here some of the documents that he's actually forged. he's got copies on his phone. one is for a bank statement, another is for some payslips. and he's still forging and boasting of bribing banking officials in vietnam to provide false paperwork.

i'm good at this work. people trust me, i never fail. how do you justify what you do here? you've come to the uk illegally. you're still breaking the law by assisting other people to come here illegally. at the same time, you're taking british taxpayers' money to be fed, to be sheltered here in the uk. i just do paperwork. i help people to travel. i don't force them to take certain routes. why have you chosen to talk to us, to tell us all this, about all the crimes that you've been party to? i want people in vietnam to understand the truth that life here is no better. they should stay at home rather than make a dangerousjourney and get deeper into debt. andrew harding with that special report. one more story.

earlier, we spoke to pat nevin, former chelsea and everton forward. he shared his insight on this with us. one piece is a surprise — what took them so long? because we knew they were going to do it in the end. it's not against ten hag in any way whatsoever, but the new partial ownership with ineos and sirjim ratcliffe, they were always going to make changes. they stuck by erik ten hag — i think that was decent of them — for a little period of time, but as you say, 14th in the league after the eighth—place finish last season, they look a long way from being a team that is going to be challenging, not only in domestic football, but european as well, so changes were always going to be made and it's starting now. yes. as you are talking, we are seeing pictures of him with the fa cup and that really saved him from this happening at the end of last season. so, here we are, there is a vacancy. who do you think is most likely to fill it? well, it's a tricky one because there are quite a number of candidates and they have all got real strength behind them.

obviously, ruud van nistelrooy is sitting in the chair now, it's only an interim position at the moment, but he has coached already with psv and done a decentjob. but i don't think he's the favourite, even though he is a favourite with manchester united fans. but there's plenty of others as well. nagelsmann, who's the germany manager, has done a decentjob, always mentioned when this comes up as well. some outsiders as well, you're talking, there is kieran mckenna, etc — he was a big name last season, but less so this season. but i think the real names are going to come out after, i think ruben amorim, who is supporting at the moment in portugal, he has done a greatjob over there — two titles in the last three seasons. he is the hip guy, he's the guy everyone's talking about and you wouldn't be surprised if he was given a chance. but he is apparently very, very expensive to prise away from supporting — 20 million euros, we hear. but on top of that, there's other names as well that are more familiar to british audiences. graham potter was well rated,

but things didn't go well for him at chelsea. but there's that other man. you can't ignore him at all. left england as manager, did a very, very good job — gareth southgate is out of work and completely available and knows how to work with big organisations. so, there are lots of options there and they all have different strengths. pat nevin talking to me earlier. life of the next few minutes at old trafford. let's end this half—hour back in tbilisi. the protest after the president said the elections of the weekend had been stolen after moscow's interference. you're watching bbc news and verified live. right up—to—date. hello. high pressure is in charge of the weather this week. let's have a look at the big picture. here's the azores high building towards the uk and anchoring itself through the middle part of the week. the jet stream is way to the north and the west of us, taking its rain, with it deflecting

the weather fronts to the north. so, a mostly settled week, but that doesn't mean sunny skies — in fact, farfrom it. sunshine is going to be limited this week with this area of high pressure. in fact, most days will be quite cloudy, damp and foggy in the morning. but we've got some very mild air coming in from the south. in fact, you can see today that some mild air can be traced almost to the subtropics, and it's here to stay for the next few days. now, the satellite picture reveals an incoherent area of cloud. in fact, it's breaking up in a few areas here and there, allowing some sunshine to the east of the pennines, east of the welsh hills, but rather cloudy for most of us, and mild north or south. but rather cloudy for most temperatures will be typically in the mid—teens today, and then this evening some drizzly weather, particularly out towards the west and the northwest. rather cloudy for most of us and a very mild morning tomorrow. double figures. in fact, on the south coast some spots could be around 13 or 14 celsius.

now, tomorrow again starts off very cloudy and murky with some hill fog and drizzle in places, but i think the clouds will break up through the morning into the afternoon. and i think the second half of the day tomorrow is looking a little bit more cheerful, a bit brighter, certainly to the east of scotland, the north east of england. 15 degrees in newcastle. not bad at all. maybe even as high as 17 in the south east of england. now, wednesday, that high pressure is well and truly right on top of us with light winds. could be murky, foggy mornings, but some sunshine developing here and there through the afternoon and the temperatures about the same. mid—teens, perhaps a degree or so higher here and there. and thursday, copycat conditions. but notice weather fronts are starting to approach the northwest of scotland. thursday evening, we've got halloween for the trick—or—treaters, it looks generally dry, even clear in some areas, but some damp weather is expected in the north—west of scotland. and looking at the outlook beyond the weekend into next week with that area of high pressure close by, it looks as though it's going to stay

generally quite settled. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines thousands of protesters have gathered outside georgia's

parliament in tbilisi after claims about the recent campaign. donald trump's campaign distances itself from offensive and derogatory comments, made by a comedian at his new york rally branded �*racist�* by kamala harris. new gaza ceasefire talks are taking place in qatar for the first time since the killing of the hamas leader, yayha sinwar. in new york — the oscar nominated actor timothee chalamet made a surprise appearance, at his own lookalike contest. we hear from we hearfrom one of we hear from one of those who went along. first, the sport with hugh ferris. manchester united have started their search for a new manager after sacking erik ten hag. the club have only registered three wins all season so far and have put first team coach ruud van nistelrooy in temporary charge. joe lynskey is at old trafford for us. the manager position had been under some threat for a good deal of time.