this is bbc news, the headlines... it's election day in america. with millions due to vote, donald trump and kamala harris make their final pitch to voters. barcelona is hit by heavy rains as rescue work continues in valencia following devastating flash floods. a bbc investigation finds that senior doctors in england are charging the nhs premium rates for overtime. boeing's strike finally ends — a majority of workers vote in favour of a 38% wage increase, spread over four years. welcome to bbc news. i'm martine croxall. after months of campaigning the wait is finally over. it's election day and america will decide the country's 47th president. in what has been one

of the closest run races in living memory, the final polling shows it's a toss—up between donald trump and kamala harris. in the last hours of the campaign both candidates have held their final rallies. here's what kamala harris has been saying in philadelphia. so, america, iam asking for your vote. and here is my pledge to you. as president, i pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to the challenges you face. i am not looking to score political points. i am looking to make progress. and i pledge to listen to those who will be impacted by the decisions i make. i pledge to listen to experts. i pledge to listen to people who disagree with me. because, you see, i don't believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy.

i'll give them a seat at the table. that's what real leaders do. that's what strong leaders do. earlier, former president trump held one of his final rallies in pittsburgh. here is some of what he had to sayjust a few hours ago. as your president i will fight for you every single day with every breath in my body, i will fight... cheering. together we will save this country. we will defeat the corrupt system in washington and america's future will be an absolutely incredible one. that's what it is. but we've got to start immediately. it can't wait any longer, it's not going to be possible. this is all you really need to know, it's simple, not particularly beautiful as a statement, but very simple. it's — kamala broke it, iwill fix it.

cheering. this election campaign has been filled with claims and counterclaims. with less than 2a hours to go until the first results are called, bbc verify�*s merlyn thomas has looked at some of the key claims from donald trump and kamala harris. immigration, abortion, inflation — three issues that have been central to the us election campaign. in an election with many twists and turns, bbc verify has been fact checking speeches and interviews made by donald trump and kamala harris. these are some of the key claims they've been making. trump has repeatedly attacked the biden—harris government over illegal immigration and crime. kamala let in the 13,099 convicted murderers. this is misleading. the number comes from the immigration and customs enforcement, which said there were this many noncitizens convicted of homicide on its database, but not detained by them. but the department of homeland security has said this data has been misinterpreted, and includes people who entered the us under previous administrations, notjust under

biden and harris. experts also told bbc verify thatjust because they weren't in ice detention, doesn't mean they are all on the loose. many will be held by other agencies or in prison. abortion rights are a key issue for the democrats, with kamala harris repeating this claim. if he is elected again i am certain he will sign a national abortion ban. which would outlaw abortion in every single state. this is misleading. during this campaign trump has not said he would introduce a nationwide abortion ban, instead saying abortion rights should be left up to individual states. but trump has given mixed messages about this in the past. this is the first presidential election since the supreme court, including three conservative justices appointed by donald trump, overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022. the cost of living is a big issue for voters in the us. trump repeatedly highlights rising prices under the biden—harris government. does vice president harris cast

the tie—breaking votes that caused the worst inflation in american history? this is false. inflation isn't the worst in the us on record. that was 23.7% in 1920. inflation is currently 2.4% in the us, but has been much higher under president biden. it peaked at 9% in 2022 as the us, like other countries, was affected by supply chain problems linked to covid and the war in ukraine. harris has had to defend the government's record on illegal immigration. there's been a particular focus around what's been happening at the us southern border with mexico. we have cut the flow of illegal immigration by half. this needs context because it doesn't give a full picture of illegal immigration under the biden—harris administration. the flow of migrants encountered at the us southern border was down by half in august 2024 compared with the end of last year, which was the highest monthly total on record. but if you look at the biden administration's overall record, it shows about 8 million encounters at this border compared with about 2.4 million under the trump administration.

these are just some of the claims that have been made across the campaign, but the real question is, what will voters make of them and will they make a difference at the polls? merlyn thomas, bbc news, washington. as americans head to cast their votes, the opinion polls are still incredibly tight. a flurry of polls arrived over the last 2a hours, each with their own slightly different take on the figures. if you draw out the overall trends, ratherthan the individual points, you see vice president kamala harris just a point ahead in the national polls.but the candidates�* shares of the national vote won't determine the winner. let's turn to the battleground states, that's the seven that were very close last time around and could be decisive in this election. the polls there have tightened further. former president donald trump's edge in arizona, which you can see at the bottom of the screen, is nearly down a point since yesterday. the other battlegrounds are even closer. neither candidate can bank

on victory in any of these states because election results have often differed from the polls by around three points 7 which would overturn any of the leads shown here. the international media has descended on washington because whoever becomes the american president will have an impact on the whole world. the bbc will have full coverage of the results tonight — starting straight after the news at ten and going through the night. jon kay takes us behind the scenes on how our coverage is shaping up. sumi and caitriona are going to be hosting the bbc coverage and with us on breakfast for the results as they come in. sumi, we often say elections are too close to call, but this one really is? yeah, if you look at the polls leading up to the election, i mean, there hasn't been a closer race in this century so far. the polls have stagnated really with kamala harris and donald trump tied.

even if you see kamala harris a little bit ahead here, or donald trump a little bit ahead here, all we know is that this is going to come really right down to the wire. we will have a tonne of information coming into the bbc on the night and it's about getting it out as much as possible to our audiences. would you have done something differently than president biden during the past four years? there is not a thing that comes to mind. they're eating the cats! | they're eating the pets! so on the night i will be here at the touch screen going through all the results as they come in state—by—state, east to west, and of course we are going to be focusing on the seven battleground states. we have been looking at the various routes the two candidates have to the white house. i'm sarah smith, the bbc's north america editor and i have been travelling around all the key swing states

trying to get a sense of how voters are feeling. and i think the thing to look out for tomorrow is the result from the state of pennsylvania. it's the biggest and most important of the swing states and the polls suggest it's absolutely on a knife edge. caitriona, whoever wins, it is history? it really is. both candidates are setting this out as a battle for the soul of america. but either way you're potentially going to have the first female president in this country, the first black woman, the first indian american woman. or you are going to have an individual who was already president, sat out for one term and is back in again, a twice—impeached, convicted felon. it is dramatic, dramatic time for the united states and of course what that means for the world as well. the new conservative party leader kemi badenoch has named her full shadow cabinet team ahead of their

first meeting later. chris philp has been appointed shadow home secretary, robertjenrick, who was beaten in the final round, will serve as shadowjustice secretary, while mel stride will be shadow chancellor and dame priti patel will be shadow foreign secretary. let's speak to our chief political correspondent henry zeffman. robertjenrick finally found something he likes the look of, then. �* , something he likes the look of, then. �* ., ., then. always one of the interesting _ then. always one of the interesting thing - then. always one of the interesting thing is - then. always one of the | interesting thing is when then. always one of the i interesting thing is when a then. always one of the - interesting thing is when a new leader is putting together their team, leader is putting together theirteam, be it leader is putting together their team, be it a cabinet or shadow cabinet in this case, is what they do with their defeated rivals. kemi badenoch has found a way to accommodate robertjenrick, who she beat by 57% to 43% on saturday in the vote of conservative members. shadowjustice secretary is shadow justice secretary is quite shadowjustice secretary is quite a big job but there is an uneasy element to it, which is that one of the clearest divisions between the two of them in the leadership campaign was that robertjenrick thinks

the uk should leave the european convention on human rights and kemi badenoch doesn't. that is something you would expect to come across this brief ofjustice. that is quite striking. it is an olive branch to offer robertjenrick thatjob to cross this shadow cabinet it is actually striking how few robertjenrick supporters there are, just three, including robertjenrick himself. the others are vicky atkins, who will be shadow environment secretary, and ed argyle, who will be shadow health secretary. that's compared to 15 supporters of kemi badenoch in her shadow cabinet. you might expect that given she has won but remember she only had about the same number of mps backing her as backed robertjenrick, so that is something to watch, whether some of those robertjenrick supporters who haven't gotjobs start to agitate against the new leadership. iii start to agitate against the new leadership.— start to agitate against the new leadership. if you are a conservative _ new leadership. if you are a conservative mp, _ new leadership. if you are a conservative mp, you - new leadership. if you are a conservative mp, you are i conservative mp, you are standing a very good chance of being included in the shadow cabinet. ~ , cabinet. absolutely right. it bears repeating _ cabinet. absolutely right. it bears repeating and - cabinet. absolutely right. it bears repeating and might i bears repeating and might explain why it took a couple of

days for up kemi badenoch to put together this shadow cabinet. the conservative party in parliament is smaller than it has ever been at any point in its existence, i2i mps. that is a really, really diminished parliamentary party when you consider a full shadow front bench, notjust shadow cabinet but people shadowing the junior ministers, it's probably 70 or 80 people, so about two thirds of conservative mps. i suspect as kemi badenoch puts together the rest of the team in the next couple of days you will see more and more mps doubling up. some mps who have not been givenjobs in the up. some mps who have not been given jobs in the shadow cabinet, or perhaps didn't want to because they have done a long stretch in the actual cabinet, some of them would say, no, iwould rather be cabinet, some of them would say, no, i would rather be on the backbenches altogether than be a shadowjunior minister for something or other. i think that will be a challenge for her, especially given she said on saturday after her leadership, that herfirst on saturday after her leadership, that her first task and priority as leader was

provide effective opposition to the government in parliament. henry zeffman, thank you. a bbc investigation has found senior doctors are charging the nhs premium rates for overtime, as the service faces pressure to cut waiting lists. some consultants made more than £200,000 extra each year for the additional work. that's almost double the average pay for a full—time consultant in england. the british medical association says staffing shortages are to blame. i asked our health correspondent nick triggle what the investigation found. some consultants, as you say, were earning over £200,000 a year in overtime. that is due to the premium rates they can charge — over £200 an hour, which is four times their basic pay. we found in at least half of hospital trusts there were consultants being paid over £100,000. the average overtime pay was £27,000. this is important because the government is looking to tackle the hospital waiting lists, the backlog,

by getting more work done in evenings and weekends, which will require more overtime because consultants are crucial in treating those patients on waiting lists. the british medical association is basically saying, "we need more doctors"? that is the bottom line, there is a shortage of doctors and the british medical association has been very keen to make that point. as well as working on the waiting lists consultants have been brought in to cover sickness, vacancies and also the junior doctor strikes over the last year, and those strikes have had a particular impact because the bma asked its members to ask for particularly high rates of overtime to cover the junior doctors who were walking out, and hospitals have told us that has raised expectations among consultants about what they should be getting in overtime, and that is a big factor in why these high rates are being paid. what is the government saying it will do about it? this is a contractual matter

and nobody is doing anything wrong even though these are large sums of money? absolutely. talking to senior people in the nhs they say the consultant contract is pretty unique in the nhs, allowing an opt out for weekend work, for example, and consultants only have to offer the first four hours a week at normal rates and beyond that it can be negotiated locally what they can get, and if there are shortages they can hold out for quite a lot of money. other staff do not have this advantage. it is not in the interest of consultants or the bma to renegotiate this contract, which is over 20 years old. there does not look to be much movement there. there is recruiting extra doctors, which the government is doing, but there are also things with technology, ai reading scans and helping to make diagnoses, getting other staff like speciality doctors below the grade of consultants and senior nurses to do some of the work of consultants to ease the pressure. if all this money is going

on over time it cannot be spent elsewhere? it can't. the overall total spent on consultant overtime £1 billion, overtime is £1 billion, which is clearly significant. last week the government said it was putting an extra £25 billion into the budget, this morning the health secretary wes streeting said it is important every penny is spent wisely so that is why there is concern about what is being paid here. sir alan bates, the leading campaigner for sub—postmasters, will give evidence to mps today, as part of an inquiry into the progress of compensation for those affected by the post 0ffice horizon scandal. hundreds of victims are still waiting for financial redress, as our business correspondent emma simpson reports. janet skinner ended up in prison, wrongly convicted of stealing from her post office. she lost her home, her health, and is still waiting for her compensation. this is supposed to help people. it's more like a battle. she's had to learn

how to walk again. amid all the stress she suffered a neurological collapse, paralysed from the neck down. janet's now being asked for a fifth medical report, another opinion on whether her disability was caused by her ordeal. are they going to want something else after this, and then they're going to want something else after? do you know, it's just never—ending. how long has your claim been going on for now? they've had my claim for over two years. money is being paid out but it's less than a quarter of the £1.8 billion now set aside by the government. and it's those hardest hit, often the most complex cases, that are waiting the longest. frustrations are real. james hartley is one of the main lawyers for the victims and is giving evidence to mps today. we are not asking government to simply pay what a postmaster is asking, whatever that figure may be. we understand it has

to have a legal basis to it. but to give the benefit of the doubt in those borderline issues on parts of claims. government needs to give the benefit of the doubt so these claims can be concluded. mark kelly lost his post office and his house after being threatened with prosecution. he's now got a support dog to help him cope with anxiety and depression. he showed me the compensation letter he got last week, causing him more stress, asking for financial info when his parents were running the post office before he took over. because my father has passed away, so i can't get information from him, and my mother is in a care home with dementia now, so she can't answer that question either. i think it's quite insulting. it also shows that they haven't thought about the human impact. it just feels like they are trying to find any excuse to delay it, reset the clock.

and because now they've sent that letter, once the application gets resubmitted, the a0 working days starts again, which becomes a really mentally draining exercise. mps are now taking a fresh look at the problems. justice has not been done. the budget has made sure that the money is in the bank to provide redress and compensation for the victims of the horizon scandal, but quite frankly not enough cheques are in the post to those innocent victims of what has been the biggest miscarriage ofjustice in british political history. the government says requests for extra info are sometimes required in complex cases and it's working tirelessly to provide full and fair redress. emma simpson, bbc news. the smoking ban in england could be extended to include outdoor areas close to schools, hospitals and children's playgrounds. vaping could also be banned in these areas, under plans announced by the government as part of the tobacco and vapes bill.

our health editor hugh pym reports. plans for a gradual introduction of a smoking ban were put forward by the last government. this would raise the legal age for tobacco sales by one year every year, meaning that anyone aged 15 or under now could never be sold cigarettes. there were also proposals to crack down on underage vaping, including restrictions on packaging and flavours. now labour are taking forward the plans with added new elements. these include an extension of the current smoking ban to some outdoor spaces, including children's playgrounds and areas near schools and hospitals, and a vaping ban in some of these spaces. there will also be a licensing scheme for retailers with on—the—spot fines of £200. the plans will be put out to consultation. some nhs trusts already ban smoking in their grounds. the proposed legal ban will apply to smoking outside hospital sites.

sort of agree with that, you know. but, like, you know you've got people that are quite ill. they're never going to stop smoking. i'm probably going to, you know, probably one of them as well. but, um, if it does, you know, like, i think go a bit further down the road, have a cigarette and go back to your hospital bed. the proposed licensing scheme will apply to shops selling tobacco, nicotine and vaping products. i think anything we can do to clearly stop the appeal of vaping to children is a good thing, but it's got to be proportionate. there's over 5 million vapers, over 3 million of those were previous smokers. and therefore we have to ensure that we're putting this into the right proportionate context _ and therefore anywhere that does expose children to these products is a good thing to stop. but it can't be at the cost of enabling adult smokers to make the switch to a materially safer product, which is vaping. scotland already has a registration system

for retailers and, along with wales, a ban on smoking outside hospitals. officials say the plans will have a positive and lasting impact, but there will be no shortage of debate before they're finalised and put in front of parliament. hugh pym, bbc news. it has been two weeks since six—time 0lympic cycling champion, sir chris hoy, announced that his cancer was terminal — something he and his family have been dealing with privately for the past year. in his first tv interview since then, sir chris shared with us the "absolute shock and horror" he felt at his initial diagnosis and the nightmare of having to break the news to their two young children. for a special programme on bbc one tonight, he tells us about the outpouring of support he's received and — remarkably ? how he is focusing on the positives. patrick gearey reports. sir chris hoy has never shirked challenges. in fact, he's sought them out, chased them, conquered them. but now one of our greatest 0lympians greatest challenge is one that's found him.

it's been the toughest year of our lives so far by some...some stretch. september 2023, i got the news that i had a terminal illness, so i've got stage four prostate cancer, completely out of the blue. no symptoms, no warnings, nothing. all i had was a pain in my shoulder. i remember the feeling of absolute horror and shock. how on earth am i going to tell — are we going to tell the kids? and i think the key was telling them about the treatment and saying, look, i'm about to get chemotherapy. it's going to make me quite unwell. it's not the cancer that's that's making me unwell. but this is going to knock me back. but it's medicine that's going to push back the cancer for as long as possible and make me feel betterfor a while. even for someone with his legendary strength and resilience, chemotherapy would be tough, not least the ice cap sir chris had to put on so that his son callum wouldn't see him lose his hair. so for him, i thought, well, this is something i want to do and it's important to do. but that was the biggest pain.

that was the biggest challenge. it was excruciating. it's like torture, basically. i rememberjust thinking, i'm sitting here in a warm hospital room with a cold cap on my head. come on. i know this is going to end. it's going to end in a couple of hours' time. this isn't that bad. it seems horrendous when you look, you think, "0h, it's two more hours, i can't cope." don't do for two hours — do it for one minute. the strategy was just take it one step at a time. prostate cancer can be spotted using a blood test called a psa test. sir chris hoy wants more men to request them. even if, like him, they don't have symptoms. if you've got a family history of it like i have, if you're over the age of a5, go and ask your doctor. just get the test a little bit earlier. catch it before you need to have any major treatment. to me, it seems a no brainer. why would they not reduce the age? bring the age down. sir chris doesn't stay still for long. next year, he wants to stage a charity bike ride, the tour de four, hoping to get others with stage four

cancer in the saddle. this master of speed knows the power of the present. you know, if somebody�*s watching this right now who's just had a horrendous diagnosis like me to sort of look and think, well, blimey, i didn't think you could look like that or still be living a full life a year on from from getting that diagnosis. well, there's hope out there. patrick gearey reporting. we can show you preparations taking place at this polling station in new york. we believe they are due to open for business in around five minutes' time. the east coast wakes up first meaning polling is under there first. vermont began about an hour ago. i think we can show you what's happening at mar—a—lago, some out to riders with blue lights flashing, this is the home of former president donald trump. we expect him back at his

residence today where he is likely to vote in the election, presumably for himself, at the palm beach later this afternoon. all sorts of reports he will host dinners and an election watch party nearby. roads are closed in anticipation of his arrival. plenty more information about what this us election actually means and how kamala harris and donald trump would actually go on to win it. we know that donald trump has been proposing, write to the last minute, sealing the border, proposing tax cuts worth trillions of dollars. meanwhile kamala harris in her last appearance in the swing states was advocating for abortion rights and pledging to lower food and housing costs for working families. 240 million people in america are eligible to vote. 0ur people in america are eligible to vote. our apologies as we

swing around with those camera shots. more than 82 million people have already voted by post or in person before election day. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood. hello again. 0ur weather is well and truly stuck in a rut at the moment. it's a fairly cloudy day ahead. you can see in st andrews we've had a lot of cloud already, and it's the same in st helier in the channel islands. a lot of cloud and, really, across the board, that is the story. high pressure has been in charge for a while and will continue to be so over the next few days. so a lot of cloud into the afternoon, some breaks across the north of scotland, northern ireland and wales, some patchy drizzle across the northern and western isles and the far north—east of scotland. but apart from that, light breezes with temperatures 11 to 16 degrees under the cloud. but, like yesterday, some of us could see occasional glimmers of brightness. now, if you're going to any bonfire events tonight, we're likely to see a few showers and breezy conditions in the north—west, but for

the rest of the country, largely dry, cloudy, mild with some hill fog, especially in parts of the south—east. temperatures seven to 12 degrees, but a chilly two degrees in aberdeen. so high pressure remains in charge of our weather on wednesday. you can see this ridge here, it's effectively keeping this weather front at bay, but you can also see how the wind is coming from a southerly direction, a mild direction for us as represented by the yellows and the ambers. so a lot of cloud once again on wednesday. as the weather front skirts past the outer hebrides, it will introduce some rain and then it moves away. breezy across the north—west. and for all of us again, a lot of cloud. some brighter breaks for northern scotland, north—east england and also wales with highs up to 17 degrees. on thursday, a lot of cloud to start the day, some mist and fog lifting into low cloud. some breaks in north—east england, north—east scotland and wales. again, breezy across the far north—west with temperatures 12 to 15, so slipping just a touch. then as we head from friday

into the weekend we've got different areas of weather fronts coming our way. some of them could well make inroads to the west, some of them may not. the jury is still out on that. but as we head from friday and into saturday and even sunday, we hang on to a lot of cloud. the chance of some rain coming in through the west, but temperatures still above the seasonal average.

live from london. this is bbc news it's election day in america, polling stations are now open in most of the east coast states. in theirfinal rallies, donald trump and kamala harris have made their last pitch to voters. just one more day in the most consequential election of our lifetime, and the momentum is on our side. cheering. with your vote tomorrow we can fix every single problem our country faces and lead america — indeed, the world — to new heights of glory. in other news, barcelona is hit by heavy rains, as rescue efforts continue after devastating flash flooding in valencia. here in the uk, the new conservative party leader kemi badenoch has finalised her shadow cabinet team. boeing's strike finally ends —

a majority of workers vote in favour of a 38 % wage increase, spread