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you are watching the contest on bbc news. vice pres. harris: anyone who wants to be president who is using that kind of violent rhetoric is unqualified to be president. pres. trump: if we can keep their cheating down, we are going to have a tremendous victory. i think it will go down as one of the greatest victories of all time. anchor: donald trump returning to milwaukee, the exact same arena we are republicans hosted their national convention a couple of months ago. a big discussion happening among voters. >> one of the big questions in this week state of north carolina is the devastation of hurricane helene. can see just how hard it hit here last month. >> joining me tonight on the panel, a pulitzer prize winning journalist, a former u.s. government official in the trump administration, a democratic strategist and founder of joy

strategies, and the president of the national federation of republican women. ♪ hello and a very warm welcome. we are live in washington, and we are almost there. this will be the final weekend of campaigning before the united states votes on tuesday. almost there is the message coming from team trump. their chief pollster, in charge of polling for each of trump's three previous elections, believes the president is in radically better shape than he was in 2020. in spite of that, it remains tight in each of the seven battleground states. it could be a variety of reasons for that optimistic framing. it is possible they have new internal polling or early returns they like the look of, but the confidence will make it much easier for trump to reject

a harris win if that is the outcome next week. pres. trump: if we can keep that cheating down, because they are a bunch of cheats, if we can keep that sheeting down, we are going to have a tremendous victory. i think it will go down as one of the greatest victories of all time. we are going to have an exciting time. anchor: on background, kamala harris's team talking in similar terms. not justly optimistic is how one senior staffer put it this week. the harris team has always conveyed itself as the underdog in driving turnout in the seven key states, but there are more positive ways as we are getting from team harris to counter any later suggestion from trump's supporters that the election must have been stolen. [cheers]

vice pres. harris: do we believe an opportunity? do we believe in the promise of america? and are we ready to fight for it? and when we fight -- >> we win! anchor: julie, i should come to you first. plenty of my games the and played at the moment. what do you see in this internal memo that has come from the trump team, one where they exude that sort of confidence? >> i think their optimism is coming from the energy on the ground. we all have seen the packed rallies. the national federation of republican women are working in all 50 states. we are doing extra work in the battleground states. i myself was in wisconsin last week for almost a week, going door-to-door. we are not knocking on republican doors. we are knocking on independent doors. these are voters of all ages and

not just an older demographic, not just a particular race demographic. they were independent voters, and there is energy on the ground in wisconsin as well as the other battleground states for president trump. anchor: we will talk about wisconsin shortly, because both trump and harris in wisconsin tonight, just a few miles apart and speaking within an hour of one another. i sort of feel that the democrats are so scarred i what happened in 2016 that you never hear the vice president say we are in the box seat are. how good do you think team harris would need to be doing to admit they are doing well? >> i don't think you are ever going to see us claim victy. we are never going to measure the drapes. we know better than to do that. -- anchor: we heard donald trump's comments about former republican congresswoman liz cheney, saying

she should have guns trained on her to understand the implications of her foreign policy. on the tarmac earlier, vice president harris called the comments disqualifying. vice pres. harris: represented of cheney is a true patriot who has shown extraordinary courage happening country above party area trump is increasingly, however, someone who considers his political opponents the enemy, is permanently out for revenge, and is increasingly unstable and unhinged. anchor: let's stay in wisconsin. gary donahue is in milwaukee, where trump's final rally of the day is being held. help us understand further what are the most important issues to people in milwaukee. >> it is interesting, because when you come into this arena, the yard signs that follow the messages about the economy, about taxation, about immigration, all the sort of

campaign paraphernalia is very much on message. the problem is the candidate goes off message, and we saw that yesterday with these comments about liz cheney had a firing squad there is no world in which liz cheney is going to face a firing wall. we saw comments about what is good and bad for women, which the campaign did not want to talk about, even on his own admission. the difficulties are not what donald trump is up to here, because these sorts of things certainly are not going to move those people who are undecided. the latest polling in wisconsin says around 5% of likely voters are still undecided. if you do the math, that is about one hundred 50,000 people. in this state, the margin last time aroundas 20,000. it plays in places like this if you keep on message. anchor: after the madisonquare garden rally on sunday, there was the four-hour about the comments by the comedian about puerto rico.

i wonder if the trump campaign is still booking speakers to go in advance of the former president. gary: there has been no list so far of who is going to set him up here tonight. we will see. i don't think it will outshine what kamala harris is doing six miles away, where she's got cardi b and other sort of singers who are going to headline a concert there. we will see who turns up. but i think they will be a lot more careful about who they booked, because this is the sort of thing that derails campaigns, these sort of missteps and mistakes. it sort of continued throughout the week because donald trump, while he was out west in new mexico and arizona, making extraordinary comments about hispanics and latinos, talking out loud, saying in front of a room, i am here to increase my credibility with hispanics, the

sort of thing campaign advisors would say to you in the quietness of your own campaign room, but you are not one to say it out loud to the audience themselves. still very tight, 49-50 in wisconsin. you might as well flip a coin. anchor: one more question for you, in your conversations with people coming to this rally and people who support donald trump, we heard kamala harris say disqualifying earlier. why are some people -- why, to some people who support donald trump, are his actions not disqualifying, such as not accepting that he lost in 2020 assumer -- in 2020? gary: because it is all baked in for those who support him. they have already made up their minds about his character, and when you talk to them, they will say it, i'm not voting for a

family member or a son-in-law or whatever, i'm voting for a president. even when you speak to evangelicals, they say that is in between him and his god. ere is a clear rationale that they are taking a very, what they would say is a clear eyed view about who is most effective for the country. i think saying this or that comment is disqualifying is not really going to land unless they think that is going to shift some of those small number of undecideds at this point in time. the thing is, the undecideds have also heard this stuff before and have not decided against him yet. anchor: gary, thank you indeed. we look forward to hearing about that rally when it happens. that's gary o'donoghue, live from wisconsin. in ukraine, one officer has been killed and 30 others have been injured in a rush and on kharkiv. this came after ukraine's air force said it shot down 31 drones launched by russia overnight. footage was also shared of

ukrainian troops removing a russian missile that was found on top of a warehouse in odessa. in other developments, the u.s. department of dense announced an additional $425 million in additional security assistance to ukraine. this is vitally important because ukrainian troops are relying heavily on that military support of the u.s. it also highlights how important the election is to america's future. we have this report from the small area that is still under ukrainian control. >> the fate of ukraine will be determined by an election thousands of miles from here. in the mostly occupied region, these soldiers are keen to demonstrate the american technology and weapons which keep russia at bay. said alex.uch more effective,

the damage it inflicts is much more than a soviet one. correspondent: it was once hoped that ukraine would mount a counteroffensive from here. now the aim is to hold out against relentless russian attacks. it is why the merits of supporting these troops have been increasingly debated in the u.s. >> the outgoing biden administration has promised thousands of armored vehicles like this one in the coming months, long after he is out of office. they have been instrumental on the battlefield, but the problem for ukraine is that progress has been harder to come by. >> but as politicians talk, missiles routinely slam into cities, and frontline villages. a change in american policy could see this area become a demilitarized zone, or even engulfed by russian troops if they were to stop. total liberation of russian

occupied areas seems less likely now. >> shoes off. correspondent: annette here, two years ago when her house was destroyed. she has been re-homed. i asked her about this war. >> what about those who gave their lives? i see the end of the war only when we have the borders of their country as they were in 1991. correspondent: this woman and her daughter fled to the u.s. when the invasion started. >> i would like a true friend to win -- a true friend of ukraine to win the election there, but who that is going to bcannot tell you. correspondent: at this underground theater, a performance by a prominent poet killed in battle. how do the cast feel about what is ahead? >> i see two possible options, a future where we remember our

heroes, speak ukrainian, and develop our culture, where we have no future. correspondent: america will now decide whether to give ukraine enough to win or just to not lose. all that will be the hope. anchor: spanish authorities have extended a red alert for torrential rain on the country's southern coast. we already had flooding that killed more than 200 people in eastern areas of spain. dozens remain missing. some residents say there should have been earlier warnings. also, thousands of volunteers are helping the spanish military and emergency services with the rescue and cleanup operation. our correspondent has this report from spain. correspondent: with tragedy comes an army of solidarity. communities stunned by what is becoming spain's worst

natural disaster in modern history. how do you begin to clean up when the calamity keeps deepening? every day, the debtor rising by the dozen, and for volunteers, it is overwhelming. >> people here have gone through terrible agony. sorry. they passed away. and anger because our local government did not do anything about it. they well knew that this was cong and did nothing about it. correspondent: when the floods came, they swept up and tossed around wildly in their path, cars, homes, lives upended. a years worth of rainfall in eight hours. juan perez and specs what is left of his home, just one of those the floods tore through.

>> all my life, my memories, my parents lived there and no overnight -- now overnight. it is all gone in five minutes. correspondent: the fear now is that many more bodies will be found underground as rescuers begin to reach an accessible areas and flush out the water. -- inaccessible areas and flush out the water. they relieve those trapped in car parks and garages as the floodwaters rose around them. on the outskirts of valencia, firefighters are stretched to their limit. locals pitching in in a desperate attempt to clear what they can. this was just one of the rivers that burst its banks with the torrents of water and mud engulfing everything in its wake. this is a scene that was repeated right across this region. what was also repeated was a growing sense of abandonment, a feeling we are hearing that in

the absence of the authorities, they are having to depend on one another. correspondent: we found the owner of a shop to shop was lost in an instant. she says the water rose and came up to my neck. i had a feeling my life was ending, but i lost everything, my business,y hope, and the government is not doing anything. only the young people around are helping us. >> amidst the sadness, anger is rising here too at local authorities that only sounded the alarm when the flooding had already started. messages sent to phones of people who had no chance to escape. there will be questions to answer here, but first the cleanup, the morning, the start of coming to terms with catastrophe. anchor: let's speak with the head of the climate and emergency unit at the u.n.'s

world climate organization. would you say definitively that what has happened in spain is directly linked to climate change? >> yes, good evening, everybody. let me explain what happened. we heard from the video saying exactly that the valencia region has received a year worth of rainfall in just eight hours. this is a phenomenon which is called isolated oppression at high levels. it comes during the end of the autumn season, and it is when the warm air is still lingering after summer and meets with the cold air coming from the polar region. this low pressure persists for several days and rotates in a specific region. how do we connect this phenomenon with climate change? it is because the warm air was really loaded with a lot of water vapor and evaporation from

the warm seas, from the mediterranean sea. we know that for each degree of warming, increase of temperature, this saturated air contains 7% more of water vapor, which means warming air will increase the moisture in the atmosphere and in turn increase the risk of extreme percent for tatian as the one that was happening now in the valencia region. this system also, we saw other systems like that, events like that before, also in september 2023 with the storm daniel, and it caused massive devastation. anchor: greece, libya, and spain are three countries. are there other climates that are likely to have this kind of

extreme precipitation? >-- roberta: in the mediterranean, the temperature is becoming higher and higher because of climate change and because we know that oceans and the ocean system actually absorb 90% of the increased temperature. the warming we are producing through the emission of greenhouse gases are absbed 90% from this system from the oceans. therefore, the ocean evaporates more and the air contains more of this water vapor, and the rainfall and this massive and violent rainfall happens, i would say, there are regions that are more affected, like the mediterranean region is one of them, a hotspot.

anchor: thank you, roberta. one more question, given that tackling climate change is a very long-term piece of work, do you advise that countries such as spain need to improve the systems they have in place to prepare for this kind of sudden flooding? roberta: absolutely, to be prepared is fundamental, vital. this is what we call an early-morning system, something that is promoted by the world meteorological organization. their critical line of defense -- they are a critical line of defense against the natural hazards, whether it is hurricanes, droughts, or wildfire. this system is designed to alert us to danger, to save lives, and to reduce the massive economic losses by prevention. this early warning system is much more than just an alert of the phone, of the siren. it is a complex process that starts long before the hazard

even strikes. anchor: roberta, thank you very much indeed. prospects of a cease-fire between israel and hamas and one between israel and hezbollah seem to be fading despite recent diplomatic efforts. today israel has continued attacks in gaza and lebanon. israeli strikes killed at least 64 people across central gaza in the last 24 hours. israel's military said it killed a senior hamas official on a strike on a car in khan yunis. in lebanon, at least 30 people have been killed in israeli strikes over the last day. one attack, on the capital beirut, is the first by israeli forces in nearly a week. rescuers are still searching for advisors following a strike in the bicarb valley. benjamin netanyahu said on thursday that his priority is enforcing israel's security, but lebanon's prime minister said israel is continuing -- israel's

continuing attacks indicated it is not interested in a cease-fire. also on friday, hamas rejected a cease-fire proposal in gaza that had been introduced by the egyptian president on sunday. our reporter has more from beirut. correspondent: it was only wednesday that the lebanese prime minister talked about his cautious optimism that a cease-fire deal could be reached in the coming hours or days, perhaps even for the u.s. election. today his tone has completely changed. he accuses israel of being stubborn and not seriously engaging in the cease-fire talks. he is also accused of escalation, pointing to the round of airstrikes in beirut and to the east of the country. diplomats have been in tel aviv this week to meet with benjamin netanyahu and other senior political leaders to discuss the basis ofhe cease-fire proposal. we are not yet aware of what the

outcome of those talks are as lebanon.ting continues in anchor: gaza heard in final phase of the 's vaccination campaign is going ahead. the ongoing conflict in gaza forced the world health organization to postpone the vaccinations just over a week ago. they said a lack of civilians and a lack of humanitarian pauses made the situation too dangerous and difficult to reach the children who need vaccines. in a joint statement, the world war iii -- the world health organization and unicef said that there needs to a human at terry and pause on vaccinations, but this is limited to gaza city. but this is a smaller area covered by preous humanitarian wars. children who received initial doses of the vaccine may not be able to receive follow-up doses. this lack of access means it is unlikely the campaign will reach nearly all of the 12000 children who require a further dose which is vital for the

lasting protection against polio. in serbia, at least 30 people have died after part of a roof at a well race -- had a well -- at a railway station collapsed. glass fell on people below. the station is around 60 years old and has just been rebuilt as part of a new high-speed line between belgrade and budapest. however, the canopy was not part of the renovation work. do remember you can get further details of all the stories we are covering on world news america and many others too on the bbc website. the address is bbc.com/news, or you can download the bbc news app onto your phone. that is it f 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: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.

♪ amna: good evening. geoff: on the news hour tonight, kamala harris, donald trump, and their running rates in critical swing states. with only a few days until voting e