in the us. that means it's the final weekend of campaigning. donald trump and kamala harris are holding rallies in some of the key battleground states. there are seven states which will decide who becomes the 47th president of the united states. polls show there's very little separating the two candidates, and polls are within the margin of error, so these states could go either way. donald trump has been in virginia and the battleground state of north carolina today, making his final pitch to voters. north carolina is the only swing state in 2024 that he won in both of his previous presidential election campaigns. kamala harris has also been holding a rally there today, withjon bonjovi among the warm—up acts. let's take a listen to what both candidates have been saying. imagine the oval office, and if he is elected, donald trump on day one would be sitting in that office, stewing over his enemies' list. booing

but when i am elected, i will walk in on your behalf, working on my to do list. cheering to do. and at the top of my list is bringing down the cost of living for you. i will end inflation, i will stop the invasion of criminals into our country and i will bring back the american dream. cheering this is all you really need to know. kamala, a low iq person, broke it. and i will fix it, i promise, i will fix it. now of all the battleground states where the election will be won and lost, the states where either

candidate has a chance of winning, eyes will be trained in particular on pennsylvania — a pivotal state for both campaigns as they try to reach the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the electon. in 2020, a win in pennsylavania helped secure presidentjoe biden�*s victory over donald trump. it has 19 electoral college votes — the most among battleground states. harris and trump have each spent a good share of campaign time there. and this week the supreme court rejected a republican bid to block the state counting provisional ballots by voters whose mail—in ballots lacked mandatory secrecy envolepes. so, what's the state of play there in pennsylvania? joining me live is denise clay—murray, politics reporter and co—host of philadelphia hall monitor. thanks for your time. first they thanks foryourtime. first they want to touch on the supreme court decision because there has been a lot of interest around it, the

decision on friday. what impact do you think this could happen? i think it could have a decent amount of impact because the way that mail in ballots are set up, particularly if you are a senior citizen or you are not used to doing a mail—in ballot this way, you may forget to put your ballot in the secrecy envelope, or you may forget to seal your ballot, or you may be like several people that i know of personally whose ballots were glued shut and were — and they were unable to open them and had to go and get new ballots. they were all kinds of things that could have gone wrong, so this could have — this could potentially have an impact. i do not think it is going to have the ultimate impact, though, but it is going to have an impact because it will keep people who think "0h, will keep people who think "oh, no, i can't vote because my

vote will not count because i forgot my secrecy envelope" from thinking that.— from thinking that. also talkinu from thinking that. also talking about _ from thinking that. also talking about why - from thinking that. also talking about why that l from thinking that. also l talking about why that big impact even matters, pennsylvania is considered the biggest prize of the swing states. can you explain why it is so important to the campaigns?— is so important to the camaians? , , " campaigns? well, because 19 electoral votes _ campaigns? well, because 19 electoral votes can _ campaigns? well, because 19 electoral votes can make - campaigns? well, because 19 electoral votes can make the| electoral votes can make the difference between who becomes president and who doesn't and because of how pennsylvania is in terms of how it is set up as a state, this is truly a state where it could go either way because you have, in the western part of the state, you have more rural counties, you have more rural counties, you have a fairly reliable number of republican voters that we refer to as the republican t because that is what the counties are shaped like. in the past couple of years it has not necessarily gone the way of the republican so part of the

reason why pennsylvania is getting this interest in addition to the 19 electoral votes, no—one knows what will happen here. this could truly go either way with his way over the next couple of days people are going to get really, really tired of seeing donald trump and kamala harris. to tired of seeing donald trump and kamala harris.— and kamala harris. to your oint and kamala harris. to your point about— and kamala harris. to your point about those - and kamala harris. to your point about those rural - point about those rural counties, there have been some demographic shift in pennsylvania since 2020, haven't they? what ones do you think would be most significant?- think would be most significant? think would be most siunificant? ~ , ., ., ., significant? well, you have a lot of peeple _ significant? well, you have a lot of people who _ significant? well, you have a lot of people who were - significant? well, you have a lot of people who were at - significant? well, you have a| lot of people who were at one time farmers who could no longer afford to be farmers so they sold their land and a lot of this land has been sold to people who are developing houses on it, so it is creating new suburbs or expanding existing suburbs in places that used to be rural. and those people that are moving into those developments are not necessarily trump voters. many

are coming from places like new york city and philadelphia and places that have been traditionally democratic strongholds which is why some of the texture of the rural vote in pennsylvania is changing. in 2008 — and i will neverforget this changing. in 2008 — and i will never forget this because i was working in reading, pennsylvania, which is one of those towns that was extremely rural at the time — there was a bourke and bourke county is one in which in many ways the cows outnumbered the people and the aryan nation had a home in bourke country so i was surprised to see them for 0bama because seeing them supporting a black man as president, if

you know anything about pennsylvania it makes you think "0k, what is up with this?" and it makes you think people who had moved there from somewhere else had gotten houses in berks county and had started to be among those folks changing the rural counties in pennsylvania. andrew biden made a last—minute stop in scranton. what kind of impact do you think that will have? . ., ., , have? that will have a big im act have? that will have a big impact because _ have? that will have a big impact because scranton. have? that will have a big | impact because scranton is have? that will have a big - impact because scranton is home forjoe biden. you may have been the senatorfor forjoe biden. you may have been the senator for delaware but before he moved to delaware he lived in scranton, pennsylvania. you would think he was a cast member of the office. but pennsylvania also office. but pennsylvania also looks at biden, traditionally hasn't looked at biden, as its third senator. in addition to the two senators we had, he was someone we considered our third senator because of his connections to scranton and the fact that he did whatever he

could to help pennsylvania in addition to helping delaware and jersey when he was in the senate. , . ,. ., , _ senate. he gets all the scrappy kid from scranton, _ senate. he gets all the scrappy kid from scranton, doesn't - senate. he gets all the scrappy kid from scranton, doesn't he. | kid from scranton, doesn't he. denise clay—murray, thank you so much for your time. denise clay-murray, thank you so much for your time.- so much for your time. thank ou. well, one poll that's just come out shows iowa, which is usually a solid republican state, could be one to watch. the des moines register—mediacom poll, which is well regarded, shows kamala harris with a slight lead of a7—4a% over donald trump. that result is within the margin of error. j ann selzer is the president of the iowa—based polling firm selzer & company, which conducted a poll showing kamala harris now leading donald trump in the state. remember this is an historically close one in modern history. she told me about how significant these findings could be. well, iowa has been what we call a red state — republican—dominated for the last election cycles

to the point where our entire delegation that serves in washington dc are republican and our entire state—wide — people elected are republican, except one. both chambers of the iowa house and senate are republican. iowa is just about as republican as you'll find in any state. can you tell us about the methodology of this poll? yes, what we do is want to collect data in a way that will reveal to us without us making any assumptions what the future electorate is going to look like. we asked people to tell us whether they will definitely vote, probably vote, and so on. we only take them in if they're a definite voter, and we will have

a balance of a bigger pool that represents the entire state. if older people are more likely to vote, they will show up in ourdata. we don't make any assumptions about what the future electorate looks like. and the poll does show that women have partly driven some of this result in your poll. the gender gap is a big issue, isn't it? it isa it is a big issue. i point you to the margin of kamala harris with older women. it's a 2—1 margin of women 65 and older, so there's obviously something going on here. older people can be the most reliable voters. kamala harris is doing very well with that group. what does this poll tell you about independent voters in iowa ? independents in iowa do sort of switch back and forth in this poll. they are solidly behind kamala harris. and robert f kennedyjunior was still on the ballot in iowa, wasn't he?

yes, so we still test him. he's at three percentage points. there's a few percentage points in play. you will note that neither of the major candidates get to 50%. there still little squishiness as to what can actually happen come tuesday. they talked about abortion. how much have those reproductive health issues come up in this polling? we know that among the people who are democrats, self—described, people who say they support kamala harris, the issue they say they are are thinking of most is democracy and about half of them saying that's the most important thing. but half of that say abortion.

iowa has a rule thatjust went into play. it's a six—week ban and after six weeks, you're not allowed to get an abortion in iowa. that may all have played a part in this. we don't have precise data in this poll. and of course, harris has made abortion a key issue. i want to talk about one aspect of your poll that was favourable for donald trump, which was enthusiasm. could you talk a little more about that? yes, in fact, donald trump, since he really got into politics and running for office back in 2016, the enthusiasm factor was always remarkable. very strong for him. when we first tested kamala in iowa in this cycle, she had jumped in and closed an 18—point gap that trump had overjoe biden tojust four points. i'm sorry — she closed it by 111 points. i need to see it that way.

it was four points. she had the advantage — this was in september — on enthusiasm. that's dropped a little bit but her numbers are nothing to complain about. it's just that trump has returned to having the stronger number there. that wasj ann selzer. i am bringing you some live pictures of donald trump in greensboro, north carolina. he was there earlier in the day before moving to north virginia and has returned a little late to deliver his speech. remember — north carolina is a key swing state. immigration is a big issue there and this is his final rally. north carolina is also a state that kamala harris has been visiting. she is heading to charlotte, north carolina, and it is another day where both candidates are holding competing rallies. if harris were to clinch a win in

north carolina, that would open up north carolina, that would open up and expand that map for her on her path to 270, should she make it, but north carolina, while we call it a swing state, is one that president 0bama won in 2008 but lost when he got re—elected in 2012, so it is not an easy one for the democrats. as soon as we have some more updates for you, we will bring them to you from that rally. and remember — election day is coming soon. you can watch live coverage of the results coming in here on bbc news on bbc one in the uk and on the iplayer at 10:40 gmt. that's 5:40 eastern time, next tuesday, november 5. sumi somaskanda and caitriona perry will bring you a special programme from here in washington dc with our team of experts and correspondents. let's turn to the latest in the middle east. we're following a few separate developments today. the israeli military has confirmed that it captured a senior hezbollah

official in lebanon. imad amhaz, who is reported to be a senior member of hezbollah's naval force, was abducted from his home by more than 20 men in uniform on friday. cctv footage shows israeli commandos hurrying him away before departing in speed boats. lebanon's prime minister najib mikati has called for an investigation into the raid. elsewhere in the region, four children are among six people injured in a strike on a polio vaccine clinic in gaza. 0fficials there say two israeli missiles hit the sheikh radwan primary health care while parents were bringing their children for vaccinations. the israeli military denies the accusations. it had earlier agreed to a humanitarian pause to allow vaccinations in gaza city to resume days after the world health organization stopped its polio campaign due to continuing violence. the head of the who says the incident may deter parents from bringing their children to be vaccinated.

and in the background of all of this, the deadline set by the us for israel to improve the flow of humanitarian aid orface cuts to american military aid is approaching. it's less than two weeks away, yet this week, the us ambassador to un has said israel's words are not matched by actions on the ground. israel has said it is going above and beyond its humanitarian obligations and blamed hamas. meanwhile, we've also had more reaction to those israeli strikes on iranian military targets a week ago. iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei has said the actions of his country's enemies will not be forgotten. take a listen. translation: the enemies, the zionist regime of- the united states of america will definitely receive a crushing response in return for what they are doing against the iranian nation and the resistance front. for some analysis on the latest in the region, i've been

speaking with laura blumenfeld, who previously served as senior policy advisor for the middle east peace process in the us state department. i asked her how seriously the us is taking this warning from iran's supreme leader. iran is threatening to go up on the escalation ladder and the us is taking it seriously. they are saying, "if you do this, we can't hold israel back "from kicking the ladder out from under you." israel is feeling pretty confident. they sound outright cocky. one of them compared iran to the black knight in monty python — arms and legs chopped off but still wanted to fight. there supreme leader, at least one leader was threatening to break the israelis' teeth, but they said

that they defanged the air defences and broke the jaw of hezbollah. we sent our b—52 bombers and are beefing up sources again. hoping that deters that one word that president biden uttered a year ago. you say the us says the point is that it can't hold israel back, but the pentagon began sending more fighter jets as well. it made that announcementjust yesterday. and yet this humanitarian deadline is looming, the one we mentioned. what leverage does the us have over israel? absolutely, and that will come after the election. i think it's going to come down on israel like a tonne of bricks. that will be the united states's opportunity to hold israel accountable. they put it in writing. as the italian say, "the letter things." they did give israel a 30 day warning to comply with humanitarian law. otherwise, there will be consequences,

especially with biden — one thing is clear. he won't be the president injanuary, so he might be able to take some of those tough steps. president harris may not want to take them or a future president trump won't. spain's prime minister has announced the country's biggest deployment of troops and emergency services in peacetime to join the recovery operation in the valencia region. 211 people are known to have died in flash flooding and landslides earlier this week, and many are still missing. are corresponded mark longman has this report. wading into the unknown, an abyss of horror that rescuers believe still hides many. with every hour, the chance of a miracle fades further. in garages and car parks, they fear more bodies will be found trapped as the floodwaters rose. search dogs and mountain rescue teams scour the landscape for the missing. from high above, they're

winched down to comb one car. valencia's suburbs are scenes of carnage and the authorities are overwhelmed. the prime minister has announced 10,000 more troops and police to join the relief effort. entire neighbourhoods are still caked in mud. the streets stricken with the remnants of lives. legions of locals do what they can to clear, but it's barely scratching the surface. outside one damaged home, we met pablo. on the night of the floods, he rescued elderly residents of a nearby retirement home and retrieved those who didn't make it. and has it been...it�*s been destroyed? he takes me to where the pensioners lived calmly until tuesday. we went inside and we found them inside... down the fridge. down the sofas. and now when you look over there.

i can't. yesterday i tried with my brother to go there and see, but i couldn't. i couldn't. it is very difficult. and now a flood of solidarity. the volunteer effort increasing by the day. they queued all morning in central valencia to take supplies to the affected areas. we have very close to us and they have lost their houses and their cars, and their... it's all material, and we know people that have lost a families, and that is a disaster really. well, the last of the buses are being loaded up to head to the worst—affected areas. organisers believe that some 15,000 people have shown up here today. an outpouring of emotion filling the vacuum that many feel has been left by the authorities. disaster has brought spaniards together — critical of their politicians,

determined to help out. a spirit of unity to fight national trauma. the uk conservative party has elected kemi badenoch to be its new leader, four months after labour's landslide general election victory. she is the first black woman to lead a major party in the united kingdom. in her victory speech, kemi badenoch promised to renew the party and said it was time to "get down to business". detectives investigating allegations of sexual offences against russell brand have sent prosecutors a file of evidence so they can consider whether to press charges. the comedian and presenter has been interviewed by police three times since an investigation a year ago revealed allegations of rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse, all of which he denies. our correspondent frances read is following the story. this all came about after an investigation by the sunday times, the times and channel 4's dispatches.

it revealed these allegations against russell brand. the allegations come from a seven—year period when he was at the height of his fame, starring in hollywood films, holding topjobs in places in hollywood films, holding top jobs in places like channel 4 and also bbc radio 2 at the time. the met police said in a statement it had received a number of reports of sexual offences from women following the original investigation. detectives investigating these allegations have now sent prosecutors a file of evidence so that the cps can consider whether or not it should bring charges. the cps says any decision to charge or not a charge is made independently, based on the evidence, and in line with its legal test. russell brand this evening has posted on social media but has not mentioned anything to do with these

files. he has previously denied the allegations, calling them very hurtful. scientists say there has been an alarming lack of progress on saving nature as the cop16 un biodiversity summit draws to a close. it was hoped countries would pledge to protect 30% of their land and sea by 2030, but more than 85% of countries failed to submit plans on how to achieve that target. rich countries also blocked a proposalfor a new fund to help poorer nations restore their depleted natural environments. the more well—known cop climate summit is just over a week away. walterjetz is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and of forestry and environmental studies at yale university. he just returned from the cop summit in colombia and gave me his thoughts. there was an immense energy there. it was the biggest cop thus far — an estimated 15,000

two 20,000 registered folks attending. and the energy on the ground i felt was just substantially greater than i had seen before. in colombia, they call it the people's cop. there was a plot of participation from colombia, indigenous communities, local communities had a really strong say. they actually got their own subsidiary board approved and the other thing i noted was and the other thing i noted was a rapidly increased interest from business and often in very constructive ways. stay with us here on bbc news. hello. fireworks displays on saturday evening at least added a little bit of colour into what was otherwise a pretty grey day. this satellite image from saturday afternoon, there's the uk — lots of cloud in place so, with winds coming in from the south and southeasterly direction, look what is still to come our way. we do see a few breaks and more particularly to the northeast

of scotland, where temperatures drop the furthest to take us into sunday morning. it is around the northeast where we could see temperatures in aberdeen at four, lower than that in the countryside. a touch of frost around, mostly mild enough, 8—12 degrees. little change as far as the weather setup is concerned for sunday. high pressure still with us. not a huge amount of wind to the clouds. where we have a bit more breeze in northern scotland, an enhanced chance of a few more sunny breaks extending into the highlands, still the northeast best favoured. one or two breaks maybe in the west but the cloud thick enough for patchy rain and drizzle and later in the day, we could see some sunny spells towards east anglia and the southeast. temperatures on sunday very similar to saturday. into sunday night we go and again, where we've got clearer breaks in northern scotland, temperatures will drop the furthest. a mild night. patchy rain or drizzle. misty over the hills to take us into monday morning. and once again, for most, temperatures not dropping a huge amount to start the day. so, as we go into the start of the new week, not a massive amount will change. a lot of dry weather around, high pressure still dominant. there should be a few more sunny spells as the breeze picks up every now and again but morning fog patches

could be an issue. and the other thing — as an area of high pressure just drifts further eastwards, we get more of a southerly flow and that, with low pressure out in the west, will help to draw in even warmer air, so temperatures will be back above normal, particularly in parts of scotland and northern ireland. for monday, though, we start off with that grey scene. a few brighter breaks here and there in the west but there will be a greater chance down towards the english channel coast and the southeast of seeing some clearer skies moving in, so an enhanced chance of some sunshine but temperatures still around 12—14 degrees at this stage. with some clearer skies, then, in the southern uk to take us into tuesday morning and light winds, fog patches could be an issue for the commute and where they do form, they could linger for much of the morning, even into early afternoon. elsewhere, lots of cloud to begin with. a few breaks here and there with a bit more