♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... woman: a successful business owner sells his company and

restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" >> this is bbc world news america. four people are dead after a school shooting in the u.s. state of georgia. police say the suspect, a 14-year-old student, is in custody. the u.s. accuses several russian officials of a covert operation to influence november's presidential election. israel's prime minister doubles down on his gaza strategy.

warning remaining hostages won't return if israel removes millibar -- military pressure. welcome to world news america. two students and two teachers were killed and at least nine others injured after a shooters -- shooter opened fire at apalachee high school in georgia. footage showed emergency responders surrounding the school and students evacuating to the football stadium. police give an update recently on the shooting saying the 14-year-old suspect is in custody and they attend -- intend to charge him with murder and try him as an adult. >> i was born and raised re. i went to school in the school district. my kids go to the school system.

i'm proud of this school system. my heart hurts for these kids. my heart hurts for our community. but i want to make it very clear that hate will not prevail in this county. i want that to be very clear and known. love will prevail over what happened today. i assure you of that. >> the white house says president joe biden was briefed. mr. biden released a statement saying he is, mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short. the white house press secretary said the president is calling on congress to act. >> as the president has said time and time again, this is not normal. this is not normal. students and teachers deserve to know that their schools are safe. they should focus on learning, not lockdowns.

while the president and vice president have taken historic action to reduce gun violence, more must be done to keep our schools and communities safe. we continue to call on congress to do something, to do something. >> our correspondent is following this story for us today. what is the latest that we know? >> well, in the latest press conference by officials, we got more details on the timeline of what happened. first off, they did identify the suspect as 14-year-old colt gray . he is a student at the school. they said they got an alert of an active shooter around 10:20 in the morning local time in georgia. they say within minutes law enforcement was on the scene and that in fact it was two resource officers who are normally posted

at the school that first encountered the suspect. they say that the suspect immediately surrendered when he was face-to-face with those officers and he was then taken into custody. but before that he had killed two students and two teachers and nine others also suffered a gunshot wounds. they are now being treated at local hospitals. they say they have interviewed the suspect. they have also gotten in touch with his family. they say he will be charged with murder and tried as an adult. in the meantime, we heard from the sheriff. we saw how shaken this community is. the superintendent said that school would be closed for the remainder of the week and that they would be offering grief counseling, as the students are trying to come to terms with

what happened to them just over a week into the school year. >> a tragic story so soon into the start of the school year. what are some of the reactions we are seeing? >> yes, well, look, we have both major candidates for presidential office making remarks about this. you know, donald trump, who put out a statement, saying that his heart is with the families. and he called the gunman "sick and arranged, monster." he said the children were taken far too soon by this gunman. we also had kamala harris out she said it was just outrageousd that parents in the united states had to wonder when their children went to school if they were going to come back safely. she said that it doesn't have to be this way and said this was a major issue in this election.

so clearly, this is still an issue that very much is central to americans in this country, but is still a politically divisive issue and one stopping any kind of movement on any kind of bands on assault weapons. >> thank you for that update. the u.s. justice department indicted two members of a state russian media company. the allegations revolve around the russian government controlled tv company rt, formerly known as russia today. officials accuse rt and its employees, including two indicted, of paying $10 million to covertly finance and direct a tennessee-based online creation company. they directed that company to

publish videos about contentious issues. the doj says the scheme aimed t amplify domestic divisions in the united states. the allegations come 62 days before the presidential ection. the attorney general expressed russia is exploiting new technologies to try to achieve its goals. >> it is an acceleration of and an increased sophistication of and its use of ai and cyber techniques that were not available in earlier elections. we are seeing more and more, it is coming faster and faster. it is now ai fueled and they are using bot farms in a way that was not possible before. and therefore it is a bigger threat than it ever was before. >> the reality is that russia has meddled in our society and tried to sow discord for

decades. what we are seeing is just more tools in the toolbox with the advent of technology. first it was social media, which provided able horn, and now ai is its own amplifier. and so whether it is shell companies, fake personas, secret distribution networks, the point is not the message itself, the point is the hidden hand of the russian government, which deceives americans into thinking that they are getting information from american sources when it is coming from the russian government. >> now to the war in ukraine and russia launched drones and missiles on a western ukrainian city killing seven people and injuring sres of others. it comes a day after the deadliest single day on ukraine earlier this year. four members of the same family were among the same family, the sole survivor was the father. he is one of 64 people injured

in the attack on lviv. a witness who had fled a city closer to the front line of fighting described the attack. >> the rocket hit our house. everything was blown away. during the explosion, i was somehow in the corridor so i was not badly hurt, but the apartment and the stre were badly damaged. we are unharmed, but the cat is gone and the apartment is gone. >> we came to escape the war, but the war hit us here. >> and russia's attacks come as ukraine's president replaces members of his executive cabinet. at least six government ministers have resigned from thei positions, they include the foreign minister who lobbied for ukraine around the world since russia's full-scale invasion started.5 years ago. speaking at a press conference next to ireland's visiting prime minister, mr. zelenskyy said the decision to reshuffle the

cabinet came down to new energy needed to fight the war. >> i'm very grateful to the ministers and the entire cabinet team who have been working for ukraine, for the sake of ukrainians for 4.5 years and some of them have been our ministers for five years. we need new energy. these steps are related to strengthening the state in various places. i cannot predict what exactly this or that minister will do. the answer to this question will be given to them when they are offered the position. >> for more on this story, we can speak to the former u.s. ambassador to the ukraine. very good to have you back on bbc news. what do you make of the cabinet reshuffle, especially seeing the foreign minister stepping down who really has had such a presence on the global stage? >> i think it is rather typical of ukrainian politics. a little bit lessypical given

the large invasion, but typical of zielinski's management style. there have been rumors for nearly a year about a major cabinet reshuffling. starting with the minister, who has remained in place, but others have gone. these changes have been in the wind for some time. >> we are seeing this in the midst of the war ongoing. we know that president zelenskyy said they need new energy for the war effort. what do you think that means? >> i think that zelenskyy is right now riding off the success of his incursion into kursk in russia and he is trying to mobilize additional energies within ukraine to make the case within washington and berlin to use american weapons against

military and strategic targets. he thinks perhaps a change of cabinets will help with that. i don't believe it is anything more. >> precisely on this question of using western made weapons deeper into russian territory, president zelenskyy has been calling for this over and over. what is the calculation here in washington because we haven't seen it happen yet? >> there is a time established pattern since the beginning of the invasion of a timid white house saying no to ukraine's request for more advanced weapons and permission to use it in russian territory. they say no, no, no, and then they say yes. i think this pattern will continue. at some point, they will probably get permission. at that point, the russians will probably be mod out of the longer missile range.

but putin's successful intimidation of the biden administration and the leaders in germany with threats of nuclear escalation. >> you don't buy that president putin could escalate this further and e that nuclear option if u.s. and german weapons are starting to be used in russian territory? >> i think the weakness shown by western leaders, especially in washington and germany, make it more likely that the kremlin uses nuclear weapons. they have seen they can be effective at telling the united states to let russia conquer ukraine. russia is not as vulnerable to a nuclear strike as the united states. we have had a policy of deterrence and a nuclear world for over 75 years, a deterrence which we exercised effectively during nuclear crises with the soviet union over berlin and cuba. we have been behaving as if only russia has major nuclear weapons

and that is something which hurts american security and western security. >> if ukraine were able to use these western weapons deeper into russian territory, would that be a game changer for ukraine? >> if we had given them permission months ago, it might have been a game changer. now because moscow has moved weapons back, it would not be a game changer, but it would mean fewer ukrainian civilians and soldiers would die and ukraine's position on the battlefield would be stronger. >> if we look at the moment right now, you have seen russia launching massive attacks and you have mentioned ukrainian incursion into that territory. how critical do you think that moment is for ukraine? >> i disagree with your characterization of what is happening in kursk. ukrainians have begun to fortify a substantial amount of territory suggesting moscow will

have a hell of a lot of trouble getting that territory back. ukrainian forces continue to move, cautiously, further along into russia. the russians have been able to stop the fast gains of the ukrainians, but not additional gains and not taking back any territory. that is an embarrassment for putin, which is why he is downplaying it, which is why you have russian toadies on television who always told the kremlin line suggesting the russian government is lying to the people. >> we will have to leave it there. thank you for your perspective today. >> my pleasure. >> israeli prime minister netanyahu is facing sustained pressure to do more to secure the release of hostages held in gaza. families of those still missing protested for the fourth day in a row. a cease-fire and hostage deal remains at an impasse partially due to the prime minister's demands that israel maintain a

military presence in the philadelphia corridor. he warned of the potential consequences should israel relieve its military pressure on hamas. >> i'm telling you if we get out of the corridor, we will not get the hostages back. we will condemn a lot to stay there. we could get a few out, but they will leave a lot with them. we won't have the pressure point and something else will happen. we will not be able to come back, so we won't release all the hostages. and we won't achieve the defenses we must have to prevent more october 7 again and again and again. >> for more on how the proposed deal has divided israeli i spoke to israel's special envoy for combating anti-semitism. you are the envoy to combat anti-semitism for israel.

i want to talk to about anti-semitism in a moment. you are also a former member of the knesset. i want to get your reaction to some of the comments we saw from prime minister netanyahu today. he was talking about the strategy going forward and said that israel can't leave this strip of land because the hostages won't be released. i'm wondering what you think of that because we have spoken to hostage families who are critical of the strategy because they say they want the deal done to get their loved one some and they believe the prime minister's standing in the way. do you agree with that? >> i want to underscore israel is a democracy. it is not under the kind of duress we have experienced in the last 11 months, there is legitimate criticism of government decisions and prime minister's decisions or policies, but i want to take us back to what got us here, which is the very fact that for 334 days, 101 hostages who were abducted by a genocidal terror

organization, but one proxy of a murderous islamic regime in iran attacked the state of israel on 10/7, burning, raping, pillaging, mutilating people and abducting 251 now after three days ago are executing six of those hostages, now with a remaining 101 human beings who were stolen, some of them from a peace festival, some from their very homes, some of them elderly and some of them young babies and children, stolen from their homes on 10/seven and we have to remember that the israeli population has been not only under attack on 10 7, but since 10/8, a multi-front war has been raging including just this morning when tens of thousands of israelis were once again alerted to go into their bomb shelters from incoming rockets targeted by hezbollah in the north, with its continuous

multi-front attack. my has for luck hamas, the who these, all proxies of the murderous regime in iran after iran attacked israel on april 14. so it is very important. >> could i ask you then of course given that background of what has happened, what do you think t best way is to get the hostages home right now? we have talked to families who say a deal is the most important thing to do. >> let's be clear, the best way to get the hostages home is not to expect israel to make more concessions, but to ensure that hamas and all the states that enable it, qatar, turkey, a member of nato itself, qatar that houses hamas leadership, to ensure that they know there are consequences for what is a standing violation of international law. there is one entity that all of this pressure needs to be applied on and it is the hamas genocidal terror organization

that in its charter is committed to the annihilation of the state of israel and the murderer -- murder of jews and its spokesperson and leadership have openly stated that they want to commit the crimes of 10/7 again and again. that is the best way we can ensure including countries like the united states and europe and others that have the capability and i would say the responsibility to ensure that these terror entities and the countries enabling those terror entities, i mention some of them, are held to account for what is a standing violation of international law by holding these 101 individuals hostage. >> let me talk to you about another aspect of this conflict. you are israel special envoy combating anti-semitism and we have seen anti-semitism and hate of many forms on the rise since october 7 in many parts of the world. what do you want to see in place to combat that? >> i want to say that is an important question and it is

devastating and almost unfathomable to think that the very same anti-semitism that fueled the atrocities, the war crimes, the crimes against humanity perpetrated on 10/7 is the anti-semitism that fuels the responses to those atrocities, to those war crimes, to those crimes against humanity's. responses of silence, including from international institutions, women's organization, #metoo unless you are a jew. denial. even as the barbaric savages live-streamed what they perpetrated on that day. denial begin t kick in. responses of justification. responses including professors, the likes of judith butler, a feminist, who explained that rape is armed resistance and responses of attacks of jews around the world on the streets on campuses oine, and what we see as a tsunami of

anti-semitism and that is a very concerning anti-semitism. since the holocaust and the war that has been raging since, there would be a tsunami of anti-semitism. even after the awful execution that we witnessed of six of the hostages including one american israeli, the response to that execution was right here in new york city where i'm speaking to you from, demonstrations in the streets holding hamas flags and echoing the hamas charter's intent to annihilate the state of israel and murder jews just like mein kampf and that is the anti-semitism we are facing. i have to just convey the importance of all of the spaces and places, national strategies, universities, towns to utilize the definition we have of anti-semitism. >> now in gaza, united nations teams have administered polio

vaccines to an estimated 18900 children as part of an effort to stop the disease from spreading. the vaccination campaign is taking place during limited pauses and fighting. unicef hopes to expand the initiative in north and south of gossett and vaccinate a total of 640,000 children. the u.s. presidential election is just over two months away. the latest pollinghows donald trump and kamala harris in a dead heat in several battleground states. a new cnn poll shows harris leading trump 48% to 46% among likely voters in georgia and nevada. they are tied at 47% among likely voters in pennsylvania. on the u.s. economy, voters pulled in six swing states should a clear preference for trump over harris. vice president harris traveled to new hampshire wednesday to highlight new initiatives as part of her economic agenda. as she proposes a tax benefit of up to $50,000 for new small businesses, which expands the current $5,000 of tax relief for

startups, the harris campaign says it is part of their goal to increase small business applications by 25 million over four years. she says the new initiative will boost entrepreneurship and lower costs for small businesses, something she does not believe will happen under donald trump, who has called for lowering the corporate tax rate. >> he intends to cut off federal programs that give loans to small businesses. [booing] he plans to give billionaires massive tax cuts and to cut corporate taxes by over $1 trillion, even as they pull in record profits. [booing] his plans will add more than $5 trillion to the national debt and that is on top of the $2 trillion tax cut he gave them when he was president and when he exploded the deficit. >> the trump campaign attacked harris' economic record, calling

president biden's economic plans week. the trump campaign claim harris has put the middle class last. saying that she has done nothing but cause problems for american families, adding president trump is the only one who will fight for all americans and put the country back on track. that is our program at this hour. thank you so much for watching world news america and do stay with bbc news. ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ announcer: "usa today" calls it, "arguably the best bargain in streaming." that's because the free pbs app

lets you watch the best of pbs anytime, anywhere.

wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. now you won't miss a thing. this is the way. xfinity internet. made for streaming. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the "news hour" tonight, just as the new school year is getting underway, the nation is rocked by another shooting, this time at a georgia high school. geoff: -- amna: the biden administration accuses russia and other nations of once again meddling in the u.s. presidential race. the new steps that are being taken to counter foreign