as tuesday's election draws closer, kamala harris and donald trump are continuing to focus on the seven swing states that will welcome to newsday, ultimately decide the winner. donald trump has been i'm steve lai. visiting north carolina, as tuesday's election draws closer, kamala harris georgia and pennsylvania. and donald trump are continuing while there, mr trump told supporters that the us to focus on the seven is a "crooked country". swing states that will ultimately decide the winner. and he reiterated his false donald trump has been claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. visiting north carolina, kamala harris has been campaigning in michigan, georgia and pennsylvania. a crucial industrial swing state. while there, mr trump told early on sunday, she supporters that the us attended a church service is a "crooked country". and then called in at and he reiterated his false claims of election fraud a restaurant in detroit. in the 2020 election. while in the state, she urged kamala harris has been campaigning in michigan, a crucial industrial swing state. early on sunday, she attended a church service supporters to vote on tuesday. and then called in at a restaurant in detroit. here we are on the sunday while in the state, she urged before the election and i would ask in particular people who have not yet voted to not supporters to vote on tuesday. fall for his tactic, which i think includes suggesting to people that if they vote, here we are on the sunday their vote won't matter, suggesting to people that before the election and i would somehow the integrity of our voting system ask in particular people is not intact so that they 00:00:54,738 --> 4294966103:13:29,429 do not vote.

who have not yet voted to not

on the campaigns with this report from the key battleground state of pennsylvania. it is nice to see you, kamala. popping up on late—night television, kamala harris projected confidence about her prospects, as well as the ability to take a joke. she imitates kamala's laugh. i don't really laugh like that, do i? a little bit. she is back on the campaign trail today with multiple stops in michigan. donald trump is hitting three different key states, claiming that democrats are trying to steal the election. they are fighting so hard to steal this damn thing. it is a damn shame, and i'm the only one that talks about it, because everyone�*s afraid to damn talk about it.

and then they accuse you of being a conspiracy theorist. he is behaving increasingly erratically. kamala harris says he is becoming unhinged, pointing to moments like this... hello. is that better?! ..when he got angry about a broken mic and started to do physical gestures instead. thousands of women marched through washington this weekend, supporting kamala harris, as a surprise poll suggested she may be ahead in the reliably republican state of iowa, with a very large lead among female voters. for people who live in battleground states like pennsylvania, this election is overwhelming. they are subjected to a deluge of political advertising. nearly $1 billion has been spent on campaign ads across the us injust the last week alone. in the key swing state of pennsylvania, the annual strasburg 19405 swing dance is in full flow.

it's particularly women in these states that the harris campaign is counting on. they are even running ads saying you don't have to tell your husband how you voted. issues like abortion bans do seem to be driving up female support for democrats. there is a really big gender divide. why do you think that would be? i think a lot of that comes back to the health care issue. women are the ones who are living every day with the results of what the access to healthcare is. do you feel donald trump's personality and some of the things he says are off—putting, particularly to women voters? 0h... well, yeah, because he represents what has haunted every woman for most of her life — down the street, getting catcalled, not being taken seriously. penn state! the men are showing their colours with the trump flags on display at the penn state college football game. polls suggest donald trump already has the support of most men, and he is making a particular push for young male voters.

trump's appeal is he's every man's dream. he says what is truthful and honest, whether you want to hear it or i want to hear it or whether it's appropriate or not. i think he's the person to restore confidence in our country, to the world and to the people that are here. donald trump's distinctive macho style may appeal to these guys, but risks turning off female voters, whom he also needs to attract, as men just don't turn out to vote as often as women do. sarah smith, bbc news, harrisburg, pennsylvania. samara klar is professor of political science at the university of arizona. she gave me her read on what may happen in those seven swing states, starting with arizona. it's really unpredictable. in 2020 biden won byjust 0.36%. all polling indicates it will be just as close this year with neither candidate outside the margin of error in polls for the last several months.

what are the key issues for voters in arizona? like across the us, they are primarily concerned with the economy, the border and abortion. arizona is a border state, it borders the us—mexico border and that has been a big issue. but we are on the front lines of the border crisis, which is a big issue for voters. abortion is a huge issue in arizona. arizona residents have the opportunity to vote on a measure that would protect abortion rights in the state of arizona. and then finally the economy. arizona has had really high levels of inflation and dramatically increasing costs of living. those are the three issues candidates have been touching on. harris is seen as the stronger candidate on abortion, most arizona voters strongly oppose the ban on abortion and that should help her. she has been very aggressive on the border recently to keep

up with donald trump, who typically is seen as stronger on the border. both candidates have been here multiple times trying to explain how they are the best choice on the economy, how they will be the best to get higher incomes, lower taxes, whatever people want. what are the records of both candidates on those issues? the state's demograpics have changed, becoming more urban and less rural, what are some of the key impacts from this? there are not clues right now because it is so close, but over the last 20 years or so, republicans have been consistently winning arizona's elections by smaller and smaller margins of victory. we have seen republicans lose their grip on power in this state until finally in 2020, biden won and trump lost the state. in 2022, a mid—term election, arizona elected a democratic governor and attorney general, we have two senators who were elected as democrats, so arizona has seen a blue wave and lots of it can be attributed to the urbanisation

of the population, urban cities are gaining in population and that tends to shift favourably for the democrats. are you seeing similar patterns in nevada, also a crucial swing state? yes, in terms of urbanisation, many people are moving into nevada. nevada is switching a little towards blue, a lot of young people moving there, and arizona and nevada both have quickly increasing latino communities. latinos are politically diverse but tend to favour democrats by two to one. are you looking out for this election in the next few days? at this point it is anyone�*s guess as to who will win.

samara klar there. on the election now, let's get the global perspective on the election now, with a look at how tuesday's vote is being followed here in asia. the us has strong allies in the region — such as japan and south korea — but it's also in direct competition with the world's second largest economy, china. we asked bbc correspondents in three north asian capitals to give us a sense of the mood where they are ahead of tuesday. there is a feeling in china that beijing would face much greater pressure in terms of scrutinising human rights abuses here from a president harris than a president trump. in fact, donald trump is seen as being pretty weak on this front. that he does not seem to mind what authoritarian leaders do is a bonus for the communist party. a second trump administration may impose new tariffs on china and that would hit parts of the economy here. but this is all seen as negotiable because donald trump is viewed as somebody who can be bought because he is susceptible to flattery or any deal which makes him look good, so the chinese government

will be working up the means of purchasing up his acquiescence. when it comes to companies with dealings in both china and the us, they will be hoping greater trade links between the world's superpowers, but in reality whoever wins the election, tensions are likely to remain especially when it comes to the tech sector or any industry with a remote military application. as you might remember, some of the most defining moments of donald trump's presidency last time were these astonishing meetings with the north korean leader, where they sat down to reach a deal to make north korea stop developing nuclear weapons. but despite the fanfare, a deal was never reached, so since then, the biden administration has worked very closely with the south korean government to counter the threat of north korea and its weapons because north korea has continued to develop them and they are becoming more and more sophisticated.

seoul and washington have built up their military alliance. the thinking is that if harris is elected, she will continue this approach, which is what the south korean government wants. but if donald trump is elected, he may try to negotiate again with north korea and that could be good news for them because they might get a deal which they see as favourable to them. i was speaking to a former north korean diplomat who defected last year and he said to me the north koreans want donald trump to be re—elected for this reason, so this makes the south korean very nervous. the us has always relied on political stability injapan but that situation has dramatically changed in tokyo, when the liberal democratic party, which has ruled the country for most of its post—war era, was humiliated in the recent snap elections, its governing coalition losing its majority in parliament. now the prime minister must look for other parties to form

a new coalition or he heads a minority government. this political chaos is the last thing washington needs as they head into the us presidential elections and as the situation gets more tense here in the region. the silver lining to all of this is despite all of this uncertainty with politics injapan, one thing remains unchanged and that is japan's relationship with and commitment to the us. it's clear that the prime minister, when admitting defeat, addressed that relationship and said that no matter who wins, the japan—us relationship will remain strong. but whoever does win the election and gets in the white house will have to deal with a very different political landscape and a much more unstable east asia. you can watch live coverage of the results here on bbc news and on bbc one and the iplayer in the uk at 22:40

gmt on tuesday. caitriona perry and sumi somaskanda will bring you a special programme from washington dc with our team of experts and correspondents. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

you're live with bbc news. let's turn to spain now, where the country's king and queen have been pelted with mud and other objects during a visit to the flood—hit valencia region. there's been frustration with both the apparent lack of preparation for the floods as well as the pace of the response. the flooding, in which at least 200 people have died so far, has been described as the �*worst in generations�* in the valencia region. spain's weather agency has also issued a new severe rainfall alert for the coming days. 0ur europe correspondent mark lowen has more from valencia. 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 scoured the landscape for the missing. from high above, they are winched down to comb one car — amazingly, one woman was found alive today after being trapped in her vehicle for three days. valencia's suburbs are scenes of carnage and authorities are overwhelmed. now the prime minister has announced 10,000 more troops and police officers to join the relief effort. whole neighbourhoods are still caked in mud, streets stricken with the remnants of lives. legions of locals do what they can to clear but it is barely scratching the surface. 0utside, we met pablo. 0n the night of the floods he rescued elderly residents

of a nearby retirement home and retrieved the bodies of those who did not make it. he takes me to where the pensioners lived calmly until tuesday. we found them inside down the sofas, horrible. now when you look over there... i can't. yesterday i tried to go there and see but i could not. now a flood of solidarity — the volunteer effort increasing by the day, they queued all morning in central valencia to take supplies to the worst hit zones. it happened very close to us and they have closed their houses and their cars and it is all material and we know people that have lost families and that is a disaster.

the last of the buses are being loaded up to head to the worst affected areas. 0rganisers believe that some 15,000 people have showed up 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. national unity fighting national trauma. mark lowen, bbc news, valencia. turning to moldova now where the country's pro—eu president maia sandu has claimed victory in a close election run—off, considered by many as a choice between europe and russia. with most preliminary results counted, sandu was leading with almost 55% of the vote, and in a late—night speech she promised to be president for all moldovans.

her election would give her a second term in office and would be a boost for moldovan aspirations of becoming an eu member state. her opponent, backed by the pro—russian party of socialists, had promised a closer relationship with moscow. during the vote, the president's national security adviser said there had been "massive interference" from russia in the election. liana fix is a resident fellow at the german marshall fund in washington. she told me what was at stake and what this election result could mean for moldova. for moldova it was a choice between europe and russia but not the first time moldovans had to take these choices. it was a choice between europe and russia but not the first these concerns were particularly high after russia's invasion of ukraine, which has confirmed moscow is not only using violent means but also political subversion

as a means of getting neighbouring countries' support. ——under control. does this victory for sandu put moldova on a closer path to eu integration? it very much will, there will still be elections in moldova next year, which will be important, but it has been an important signal because it shows despite widespread claims about russian interference and russian vote buying, the majority of moldovans still want to take the country to the west. it was a very narrow vote in a referendum for the bid for moldova to move closer to the eu or get integrated into the eu, so does that suggest sandu's ambitions are not widely shared more broadly in moldova? yes, the first dimension is that russia's war against ukraine has raised concerns amongst some moldovans — will moldova be next if it tries to get closer to the european union and the west?

those fears that are directed towards western partners of moldova — what will they do if moldova gets under russia's threat? moldova already have russian troops stationed in a region. the second point is that maia sandu has confirmed that several thousands, up to 300,000, votes have allegedly been bought by russia, people have been paid to vote for a pro—russian candidate, and this election feels on a massive scale in a small country like it can contribute to a narrow result. what do you make of those claims of russian meddling, which they denied, given that she did not win ultimately? the surprise would have been if russia did not meddle, but it also demonstrates there are limits to russian political meddling.

despite all the efforts to buy votes, despite efforts of cyber attacks during this election, it is still difficult for russia to turn around a majority of voters if they want to confirm maia sandu and in addition in moldova, the diaspora is more traditionally western oriented. it shows the limits of influence on elections in neighbouring countries. what will be her main priorities in her second term? to advance moldova's eu integration, it might take up to ten or 15 years even. moldova obviously wants to get ahead in the reform process to align itself with european union standards and the fight against corruption in moldova is very high on her agenda.

a female iranian student has been detained by security guards after she had stripped down to her underwear in public at a university in tehran. a spokesman for the islamic azad university said she'd been found to have a "mental disorder". but many social media users in iran say her actions were more likely a protest against the country's strict dress code for women. what has happened to her since being detained is unknown. rana rahimpour is an iran analyst and a former bbc persian presenter. she gave me her take on how the incident is being viewed outside tehran. the details of exactly what happened, it's still unclear and a lot of rumours are going around on social media. but one thing that is clear is how this woman's protest has been received by large parts of the iranian society. many believe that this is a very brave act of protest against compulsory hijab. there are reports on social media that suggests

that this woman was harassed by the so—called security officers, orforces at the university, or a member of basij, the militia, because she wasn't wearing a headscarf when she was entering the university, and as a result of that encounter, the member of the basij tore that woman's clothes and in protest, she has taken it off. and that doesn't come as a surprise, because the iranian regime for decades have been suppressing iranian women and has imposed compulsory hijab on them. and, in 2022, we saw a peak of it when a woman was killed while in the custody of the morality police and this oppression has continued. this is a show of frustration, a show that the islamic republic of iran is refusing to accept. a developing story to bring you — at least ten people have

died after a volcanic eruption in eastern indonesia. that's according to an official speaking to bbc indonesia. these videos taken by inhabitants on the island of flores appear to show houses burned and damaged due to the rain of molten rocks. the volcano is located in the southeastern part of the island. reports say lava and rocks spewed six kilometers from the mountain's peak. we'll bring you more as we get it. and just before we go, a three—person chinese crew has returned to earth after more than six months aboard the tiangong space station. the capsule containing the astronauts descended to earth, assisted by parachute, and touched down intact at a landing site. ground crews assisted the astronauts out of the capsule�*s latch and onto stretchers ahead of a post—landing medical check. during their mission the team completed china's longest spacewalk, totalling more than eight hours.

beijing says it's on track to send a crewed mission to the moon by 2030. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. hello. it's been a week devoid of sunshine for the vast majority due to cloud being trapped underneath an area of high pressure. that high pressure system stubbornly sits across europe for much of this week, but as it moves away eastwards at times and weather fronts get close by to the west, we should start to get a bit more of a breeze as we go through the week. that will help to break up the cloud a bit more, so we should see a bit more sunshine come through later on, but that does mean some night time and morning fog patches are possible, and with southerly winds developing, it's going to be quite a very mild week — in fact, gets milder as we go through. notice on our anomaly chart, these deeper oranges and reds

appearing in the north of scotland around the moray firth and also inverness — we could see temperatures six to seven degrees above average by thursday. it's here though, we start chilliest first thing on monday morning after clear skies through the weekend. eight or nine degrees for many elsewhere. another very familiar picture there, rather grey skies, cloud trapped under this area of high pressure. 0n the edge of it, though, so we may see a little bit more breeze help to break the cloud across some of these western areas to allow some brightness through. but it's here there's a greater chance of one or two light showers. we could also bring in a bit more sunshine as well to the southeast and southern counties of england every now and again, but a cloudier day in the north east of scotland and temperatures as they have been through the weekend. now, monday night into tuesday, cloud sits in place. where you get any breaks, temperatures could dip down into single figures. also, we could see some mist and fog with some clearer breaks towards east anglia and the southeast, but certainly into tuesday not a huge amount change to begin with. but as we start to see this weather system get close by, it's not going to have a direct impact on us. but what it will do, it starts to bring in from the south more in the way of low cloud towards irish sea coast —

could turn quite misty around these areas, damp and drizzly, too. and southerly wind also developing means northern scotland to get favoured for a bit of sunshine, maybe to the north east of wales, too, and still some sunny breaks possible towards the south and southeast. temperatures lifting just a little bit into tuesday. so it will be a mild day, a fairly cloudy one. fireworks add a little bit of colour to proceedings in the evening for bonfire night, with most places staying dry and mild. as we go through the rest of the week, it's a familiar picture — high pressure to the east, but as these weather systems get a bit deeper towards the west, a strengthening southerly airflow. notice on our capital city forecast, the temperatures lift — could hit around 17 or 18 around the moray firth on thursday, but still to the south and east during the next few days, the chance of lots of cloud and some overnight mist and fog.

china's top legislative body meets this week as investors eye stimulus plans for the economy. we take a look at how america's cost of living crisis could impact the polls on election day. welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. in china, the standing committee of the national people's congress will kick off its week—long session in beijing. it's a time when legislators will review a range of issues including state asset

management and changes to laws. a chief economist at goldman sachs laid out what to expect from the npc this week. this week's npc standing committee meeting will last from today until friday. what we are really looking for is, after the conclusion of the npc standing committee meeting on friday, what exactly is the fiscal resource they are approving for stimulus. for supporting the economy. it's possible that there will be a press conference following the conclusion of the npc meeting. that would be a venue for them to provide more details. for investors and markets, people want to know how much and what are you going to spend it on. details are what you are looking out for, do you think we'll get a clear indication with regards to

to housing or local government debt? we're not sure how much detail we are going to get. butjudging from the amount they approve, hopefully we'll be able to piece out for example how much might be