rajini: rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, orlando.se] laura: helping orlando heal after the heartbreak a year ago. remember, you can find more on all the day's news at our website. to see what we are working on at any time check out our facebook , page. i am laura trevelyan. thank you for watching "bbc world news america." and please tune in tomorrow. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea. nonstop flights are available from most major airports. more information for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles. captioning sponsored by ne

rajini vaidyanathan reports. rajini: the beating heart of orlando's gay community, no w a place to remember and reflect. some survivors, like jeff and tony, find it too painful to return to pulse. jeff remembers the gun and -- gunmen opening fire. for him, the memories are still raw. >> we were trapped. we had nowhere to run. we were trapped in the bathroom. my friends and i were there with 15 or 20 other people. we were shot multiple times. and i bled out for over three hours. rajini: jeff was shot in the neck, stomach, and legs. >> paramedics saying he is blue, he has lost a lot of blood, he is blue. i later learned i received the blood from over 40 donors. that is a lot of blood. rajini: it was blood donations that saved jeff's life. after eight operations, he is making a steady recovery. in the wake of the treasury, hundreds queued at this blood bank in orlando. >> people came in to help replenish the blood supplies. it was the donors that came in the days and weeks before the pulse tragedy that helped to sav

rajini vaidyanathan is there an d joins us now. you have covered many of these rallies during the actual campaign what is the mood among the president's loyal supporters following the victory last night? rajini: it certainly does he feel like we stepped back in time with the feel of a campaign rally and the merchandise on sale and the diehard trump supporters here. some who have been camping out and sleeping on the sidewalk. i spoke to one woman who is been here from 6:00 p.m. yesterday, and not just in iowa, but from the east coast and places like chicago. when it comes to georgia, i spoke to a few people delighted by the result because they said, in their words, the democrats poured all this money and it went to waste. for the people here, the focus is on defending their president and highlighting what they say is all the good work he has done since he has been in office. laura: the people that you are talking to, what do they want to see the president prioritize now in terms of his agenda, which in washington people feel is stal

rajini vaidya nathan was in the hearing.n the face of it, a bad day for donald trump, so how do we explain that a lot of republicans seem quite bullish at the end of the testimony? well, i think, from the republican perspective, many are saying that, actually, james comey‘s version of events is nothing new, and that some of the things that he talked about in that hearing, and of course he released the testimony the day before, just confirmed what we have already heard. people on the republican side are not necessarily jumping to the president's defence, but they did pick some owls, even during the testimony, about the way james comey handled this. we might come to this later, he went to a friend to leak some information about one of his meetings with president trump. that was picked up in the meeting as a question of concern. also, people said, well, so many things were leaked during the time in the last few months that there was concern over the dealings between james comey and there was concern over the dealings betweenjam

rajini: two or three things to point out. the burden of proof for obstruction of justice is very high and it is not conventional to charge a sitting president. putting all that aside, it is worrying because it shifts the focus back on president trump, who was able to say for the last few weeks "i am not being investigated." if you look at the tweetstorm , he is taking it very personally, describing it as the greatest witchhunt in american history, and perhaps taking aim at robert mueller by saying that the investigation is phony, that collusion with russia is a phony claim, there is zero proof, and saying that the investigation is being led by bad and conflicted people. i should add that tonight we are hearing that vice president mike pence has appointed legal counsel as well to help him with the russia investigation, which is just a sign of how seriously not just of the president but the vice president is taking this. jane: very briefly, this is just one of the many investigations going on. rajini: that's right, and it can b

rajini: it is a moment where sports can transcend politics. we have seen people on capitol hill putting their partisan differences aside. we have seen the captains and coaches from the republican and democratic teams come together in a press conference. they want the game to go ahead tomorrow. hopefully, security pending, it will go on tomorrow, continuing the tradition of a century. jane: the very latest from that ia.oting in virgin we will provide updates and continuing coverage of the ongoing tragedy in london with the death toll is expected to rise as a result of a devastating blaze at a city tower block. i am jane o'brien. thank you for watching. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the

rajini vaidya nathan reports from orlando.eflect. some survivors, likejeff and tony, find it too painful to return to pulse. jeff remembers the gunman opening fire. for him, the memories are still raw. oh, my god. we were trapped. we had nowhere to run. we were trapped in the bathroom. my friends and i were there with about 15 or 20 other people. and we were shot, multiple times. and i bled out for over three hours. jeff was shot in the neck, stomach and legs. the paramedics saying that "he's blue, he's blue, he's blue. he's lost a lot of blood, he's blue." and i later learned that i received blood from over 40 donors so that's a lot of blood. it was blood donations that saved jeff's life. after eight operations, he's making a steady recovery. in the wake of the tragedy, hundreds queued at this blood bank in orlando to do whatever they could to help. in one week alone, 28,000 units of blood were donated — more than double what they usually get. people came in to help replenish the blood supply. but it was the donors that came

rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, orlando.ritualfor global peace, how the shamans of peru are trying to ease tensions between the us and north korea. the day the british liberated the falklands and by tonight british troops had begun the task of disarming the enemy. in the heart of the west german capital, this was gorbymania at its height. the crowd packed to see the man who, for them, had raised great hopes for the end of the division of europe. michaeljackson was not guilty on all charges. the screams of the crowd testament to his popularity and their faith in his innocence. as long as they'll pay to go see me, i'll get out there and kick 'em down the hill. what does it feel like to be the first man to go across the channel by your own power? it's pretty neat. feels marvellous, really. this is bbc news. good to have you with us. the latest headlines: the british prime minister, theresa may, has apologised to her mps for losing her government's majority in last week's election. us defence secretary, james mattis, has said he

from washington rajini vaidya nathan reports. good morning, america. capitol hill showdown. it's being billed as a blockbuster moment in washington. reality politics, and it's most gripping. us tv networks are clearing their schedules as the former head of the fbi, james comey, testifies before congress. he has become more famous than me! there was a time when president trump had nothing but praise forjames comey, but a firm grip injanuary turned into a firing in may. the president sacked the fbi director, reportedly calling him a nutjob and more. he's a showboat, he's a grandstand. he's a showboat, he's a grandstander. the fbi has been in turmoil. you know that, i know that, everybody knows that. most people know the president's version of events, nowjames comey will go public before the senate with his. just like his testimony in march, it all comes back to russia. the fbi, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. and that includes investigating the nature of any links betw

rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, washington.owitz — who is a us lawyer and a former trump supporter. you contend that even under the broadest definition of obstruction, no crime has been committed by donald trump, could you explain why you say that? we have a very different constitutional system than the british. you have a director public prosecution who is independent. we have attorney general and fbi who work the president. —— who work for the president. —— who work for the president. i will give you an example. when president bush, the first, decided he wanted an investigation of the iran—contra matter, he certainly hardened the secretary of defence which ended the investigation. the president stifled the investigation. that is not an obstruction of justice. the investigation. that is not an obstruction ofjustice. when the president performs his constitutional duties, even the fire james comey, which he was entitled to do, orto james comey, which he was entitled to do, or to tell the head of the fbi, stop prosecuting someone

from washington, rajini vaidya nathan reports. good morning, america. capitol hill showdown.ump... it's being billed as a blockbuster moment in washington. reality politics at its most gripping. us tv networks are clearing their schedules as the former head of the fbi, james comey, testifies before congress. he's become more famous than me! there was a time when president trump had nothing but praise forjames comey. but a firm grip injanuary turned into a firing in may. the president sacked the fbi director, reportedly calling him a nutjob and more. he's a showboat, he's a grandstander. the fbi has been in turmoil. you know that, i know that, everybody knows that. most people know the president's version of events. nowjames comey will go public before the senate with his. just like his testimony in march, it all comes back to russia. the fbi, as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the

— to cover his proposed border wall with mexico in solar panels.0ur north america correspondent, rajinin cedar rapids in iowa. it looked and sounded like a campaign rally. huge crowds, as you can hear, came to see him. some said they had camped overnight to get a prime spot. it sounded like a campaign rally. president trump dipped into some of the things that he had talked about previously. he spoke of how the media was co nsta ntly spoke of how the media was constantly out to attack him, and despite saying that he wanted politicians to come together, he also presented a strong viewpoint. he highlighted some of the things he has done in his first few months in office. he talked about the reversal office. he talked about the reversal of the obama administration's policy on cuba, talked about getting the us out of the paris climate deal, something that was in a lot of tears in the room. he also talked about his plans to build a wall, saying he was going to make it a wall that would pay for itself and mexico would pay for itself and mexico would not have to pay as much. the theme of overal

rajini vaidya nathan reports from washington. he has become more famous than make. this was a time when president trump had nothing but praise forjames comey. but he fired him in may. he sacked him, reportedly calling him a nutjob. sacked him, reportedly calling him a nut job. he is a showboat, a grandstander. the fbi has been in turmoil, everyone knows that. most people know the president's version of events. now james people know the president's version of events. nowjames comey will go public with his. just like his testimony in march, it all comes back to russia. the fbi, in part of oui’ back to russia. the fbi, in part of our counter intelligence mission, is investigating the russian government's efforts to intervene in the 2016 election. that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the donald trump campaign and the russian government. on the eve of his appearance before the senate, james, released a written statement saying the president is being investigated as part of the russia enquiry, referring to statements made

rajini vaidya nathan reports from washington. there is james. more famous than me. there is james. than me. there was a time when president trump had nothing but praise for comey but a firm grip injanuary turned into a firing in may. the president sacked the fbi director, calling him a nutjob and more. president sacked the fbi director, calling him a nut job and more. he isa calling him a nut job and more. he is a showboat, he is a grandstand. the fbi has been in turmoil. you know that, i know that, everybody knows that. most people know the president's version of events. now james comey will go public before the senate. just like his testimony in march, it all comes back to russia. the fbi is part of our counterintelligence mission is investigating the russian‘s —— the russian government's election interference. that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the trump campaign and the russian government. on the eve of his appearance before the senate, james comey released a written statement. he said the president isn't being investigated b

our north america correspondent, rajini vaidyanathan, is in iowa.the stage looks the same. the posters are almost the same. and the playlist as we wait for the president arrived is the same, as well. this looks and feels like a campaign rally, except donald trump is now president trump. —— stepped. hundreds of people have been lining up to get here, even if his approval ratings seem to have fallen. it does not feel like that here. amongst supporters i spoken to, some have been sleeping outside on the pavement overnight, to get the front seat. one woman says she was here from 6pm the day before to ensure that she could get a good seatin ensure that she could get a good seat in the rally. on the stage, there are signs that say promises made and promises kept. and that might give us an idea of what the tone of the night's speech. he will try to consolidate with his supporters things that he has done in his first six months in office. and perhaps even make some reference to the victory in georgia, where the republicans managed to hold on to that congres

the bbc‘s rajini vaidyathan has been breaking down the numbers for us. i'mjon ossoff.six representative congressional district has become the most expensive ever. close to $40 million already spent. for decades, the seat has been republican. many democrats see this as a referendum on president trump. their candidatejon ossoff has raised the most cash so far. nearly six times more than his republican rival, karen handel. mr ossoff relied on smaller donations to fund his campaign. liberal extremists will stop at nothing to push their radical agenda... now they are turning their attention to georgia. republican ads like this that hit out at him argue that most of his cash is not coming from voters within the district. they are right. the lion's share of his fundraising has come from outside the state of georgia. karen handel's office budget increased 42%. democrats point out that karen handel has also benefited from outside spending. millions of dollars from the republican party and some of its fundraising committees have been spent on ads attacking john ossoff. there's b

opened fire at the gay nightclub, and dozens more were injured. 0ur north america correspondent, rajinihe community is moving on. ambassadors of hope and love in 0rlando. ambassadors of hope and love in orlando. this is what we are here for. we sing songs of hope and love to the world. these are all of the victims. josh lost his friend shane in the pulse attack. as he was dealing with his loss, he was called upon to sing with the choir for the victims. i did not know it was going to turn out to be the biggest event that the chorus had ever sung at that the chorus had ever sung at that time. and at that moment was when, for me, i started to heal. one of the founding members of the chorus, joel, was also singing that night is a pillar in my head, i was thinking i would give up my own life to bring back any of those kids —— that night. i am 57 years old. i have lived a rich and vibrant life and have done things in this world that those kids would never have the opportunity to do. it was that concert that led to them taking on a role to sing as people mourned. the chorus recognised we had a

rajini vaidya nathan reports.nful to return. jeff remembers gunman opening fire. for him, the memories are still raw. we we re him, the memories are still raw. we were trapped. we had nowhere to to run. we were shot. multiple times. and i bled out for over three hours. jeff was shot in the neck, stomach and legs. the paramedics saying his blue. he has lost a lot of blood. i later learned that i received blood from over a0 donors so that is a lot of blood. it was blood donations that saved his life. after a operations he's making a steady recovery. in the wake of the tragedy, hundreds queued at this blood back in all under the do whatever they could in one week alone, 28,000 units of blood were donated. double what they usually get. it was the donors that came in before the tragedy that saved those lives. the blood has to be donated in advance. survivors are partnering with us to encourage people donating blood now. i survived something really terrible and crazy and at the best thing we can do is try to make someth

our correspondent, rajini vaidyanathan has spent most of the day at the scene of the attack, in alexandriae. behind me there are still police tape and a number of vehicles as the fbi continues their investigations. we had an update from the fbi. they issued a clarification confirming that five individuals were shot earlier today at the baseball game. that includes the gunmen. they also confirmed media reports that the gunmen was james hodgkinson, 66 old man from illinois who died from gunshot wounds to the torso. the fbi also issued information about missed the hodgkinson. he is from illinois but he moved to this area in virginia much of this year where he had been living, perhaps on this street, out ofa living, perhaps on this street, out of a cargo van. they did not give us any more information about whether or not he was on the radar of the authorities. the fbi said they are not going to talk about the character or the nature of the case. one thing that local police here say they are doing is canvassing people door to door to reassure them that this incident is now over and this communi

both campaigns have raised millions of dollars, as the bbc‘s rajini vaidya nathan reports. the sixth district. the race to represent georgia's sixth congressional district has become the most expensive ever, close to $40 million already spent. for decades, the seat has been republican. many democrats see this asa republican. many democrats see this as a referendum on president trump. their candidatejon as a referendum on president trump. their candidate jon ossoff as a referendum on president trump. their candidatejon ossoff has raised the most cash so far. nearly six times more than his republican rival karen handel. mr ossoff‘s relied on smaller donations to fund his campaign. extremists will stop at nothing to push the radical agenda. now, they're turning their attention to georgia. public ads like this have hit out at him, arguing that most of his cash isn't coming from voters within the district. and they're right, all i am sure of his fundraising has come from outside the state of georgia. karen handel's office budget increased 42%. .. immigrants point out karen hande

recuse himself from the inquiry as he may now be a potential witness. 0ur correspondent in washington, rajiniformer fbi director, testified before the senate last week and remember, he was fired by president club at the beginning of may. he testified before the senate but president trump was not the subject of the investigation is into whether the trump campaign colluded with the russians. but of course, he only knew what was going on while he was in post. but thenjames kelly was in post. but thenjames kelly was fired, and someone called robert mallo was taken over —— takeover of the investigation as special council. now that mr muller has taken over. he has broadened the scope of the enquiry and is now investigating president trump. but whether he is —— for whether he obstructed justice. he is now being investigated for his role in firing james comey. stay with us on bbc world news for lots to come, including sports news, the latest from the second round of the latest from the second round of the us open. there was a bomb in the city centre and ai 0blak codewords —— ira codeword. thus south

let's bring in rajini vaidyanathan offering live from washington.ng on parts of america where mr trump is popular. watching that report, mr trump and his supporters will not care less about this? you are absolutely right on that. i was at a rally that president trump held last week in iowa. certainly the message from the president during that rally was his focus on putting america first. he said after decades of building foreign nations, we are now rebuilding our nation. do some extent, throughout the campaign and even last week, president trump was reinforcing the notion that perhaps globalisation isn't a great thing. we've seen in the last few months president trump criticised the london mayor, apparently refusing to shake the hand of angela merkel. at a summit recently he appeared to push through to the front of a group of world leaders who were walking. he doesn't particularly care. of course, around the world, those actions have drawn scorn. we have seen that when we look at the results of the survey. for the supporters that i have been speakin

the bbc‘s rajini vaidyathan has been breaking down the numbers for us. i'mjon ossof. georgia's sixth congressional district becomes the most expensive ever. close to $40 million already spent. for decades the state has been republican. many democrats see it as a referendum on president trump. their candidate has raised the most cash so far. six times more than his republican rival. he has relied on smaller donations to fund his campaign. extremists will stop at nothing to push their radical agenda. now they're turning their attention to georgia... republican adverts like this have hit out at him, arguing that most of his cash is not coming from voters within the district. they are correct, the lion's share of his funding has come from outside the state. democrats point out that karen handel has also benefited from outside spending. millions of dollars from the republican party and some of its fundraising committees have been spent on adverts attacking jon ossof. there has been a record turnout in early voting, a close race which will send a message to washington whate

investigation into links between members of the trump team and russia. 0ur north america correspondent, rajinihan, reports. oh, and there's james. more famous than me. there was a time when president trump had nothing but praise forjames comey, but a firm grip in january turned into a firing in may. the president sacked the fbi director, reportedly calling him a nutjob and more. he's a showboat, he's a grandstander. the fbi has been in turmoil. you know that, i know that, everybody knows that. most people know the president's version of events. now, james comey will go public before the senate. 0n the eve of his appearance, he gave this. he said the president isn't being investigated by the fbi as part of the russian enquiry, confirming statements made by mr trump in the past. butjames comey did say over a private dinner injanuary he was asked by the president for his unwavering support. the white house has denied this. but how far did the president expect this loyalty to go? mr comey says he was asked to drop the investigation into ties between the former national security adviser michael fly

powerful that the city's mayor has singled out their contributions. 0ur north america correspondent rajini we are here for, we sing songs of love and hope to the world. at that moment, it was the call. these are all the victims... josh lost his friend shane in the attack at pulse. as he was dealing with his own loss, he was called upon to sing with the choir at a memorial for victims. i did not know it was going to turn out to be the biggest event that the chorus had ever sung at, at that time. at that moment, that was was when — for me — i started to heal. joel strack, one of the founding members of the chorus, was also singing that night. in my head, i was thinking i would give up my own life to bring back any one of those kids. i'm 57 years old, i've lived a rich, vibrant life, i've done things in this world that these kids are never going to have the opportunity to do. it was after that concert that the group took on an unlikely role — as a rapid response team, sent to gatherings to sing for people mourning. i think the chorus recognised we had an important role to play in the communit

the bbc‘s rajini vaidyanathan was in cedar rapids iowa on wednesday night for the president's rally —ryone wants to concentrate on is this russia thing. and it is bogus. russia does not bother me at all, whatsoever. i'm not really worried at all, to be honest with you. # god bless the usa #. politics in washington might be dominated by the russian investigation but what do trump's supporters here in iowa, a state the president won in last year's election, make of it all? so you're not concerned? no, why would i be concerned, why would i? what you mean concerned — concerned about what? he might be under investigation, because... investigation doesn't mean he's guilty. this investigation has been going on for seven, eight months. nothing. we've got pictures here of various people. why? we don't like him — james comey is a liar. liar. why is he a liar? just when he speaks he is a liar, because he is involved with the crooked hillary gang. leaker, liar, i don't believe him, i don't believe what he is saying. it seems him and president trump both have two opposite viewpoints about what has

our north america correspondent rajini vaidya nathan reports. singing.g songs of love and hope to the world. at that moment, it was the call. these are all the victims... josh lost his friend shane in the attack at pulse. as he was dealing with his own loss, he was called upon to sing with the choir at a memorial for victims. i did not know it was going to turn out to be the biggest event that the chorus had ever sung at, at that time. at that moment, that was when — for me — i started to heal. joel strack, one of the founding members of the chorus, was also singing that night. in my head, i was thinking i would give up my own life to bring back any one of those kids. i'm 57 years old, i've lived a rich, vibrant life, i've done things in this world that these kids are never going to have the opportunity to do. it was after that concert that the group took on an unlikely role — as a rapid response team, sent to vigils and gatherings to sing as people mourned. i think the chorus recognised we had an important role to play in the community. both representin

thank you forjoining us. 0ur correspondent rajini vaidyanathan was in the hearing room and joins us nowide i saw hundreds of people queueing through the corridors to try and get one of the corridors to try and get one of the public seats. most of them were interns. a group of them managed to get in and i asked them how long they had been queueing for and they said that they started at liam, so they could witness history. another young man who wasn't as lucky said that the last time he had queued up like this was to get an iphone and he was successful on that count. in the room i was struck by how composed james comey was when he was taking questions. i was about three rows behind him. he didn't seem to hesitate when he was asked questions, he seemed relaxed, there we re questions, he seemed relaxed, there were no notes on the table in front of him. even though he had to talk for a couple of hours, answering questions, but he barely drank any of the glasses of water in front of him. that is impressive, i think i would have drunk the whole lot and perhaps thejug would have drunk the whole

investigation into links between members of the trump team and russia. 0ur north america correspondent rajinian reports. oh, and there's james. he's become more famous than me. there was a time when president trump had nothing but praise forjames comey, but a firm grip in january turned into a firing in may. the president sacked the fbi director, reportedly calling him a nutjob and more. he's a showboat, he's a grandstander. the fbi has been in turmoil. you know that, i know that, everybody knows that. most people know the president's version of events. nowjames comey will go public before the senate with his. 0n the eve of his appearance before the senate, james comey released a written statement. he said the president isn't being investigated by the fbi as part of the russia inquiry. mr comey says over a private dinner injanuary he was asked by the president for his unwavering support. "i need loyalty, i expect loyalty", he says the president told him. the white house has denied this. but how far did the president expect that loyalty to go? mr comey says he was asked to drop the investigati