Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20240912

Are desperate for vaccines to arrive. Medics have said those vaccines are essential to stem the rate of new infections here. A warm welcome to bbc news. The two candidates vying to become the next us president have finally met and finally debated. Donald Trump And Kamala harris were on stage in the Swing State of pennsylvania, for what turned out to be a fierce clash, with claims, many of them false, hurled in each direction. Topics included the economy, abortion and immigration. It was a Prime Time showDown, which often turned personal. And while pollsters look at data to see how the candidates performances have gone Down with voters, both campaigns are claiming they came out best. Moments after the debate, Donald Trump entered the Spin Room to telljournalists hed won the night. Our senior North America Correspondent Gary Odonoghue was watching the debate in philadelphia. The abc News President ial debate. Here now, David Muir and linsey davis. Good evening. Im David Muir, and thank you forjoining us for tonights abc News President ial debate. Not just the first debate for these two as president ial candidates, but the first time these two have ever met. That was about as friendly as it got, as they came to debate in philadelphia, the so called city of brotherly love. Not so much. Shes a marxist. Everybody knows shes a marxist. People start leaving his rallies early, out of exhaustion and boredom. But soon, they got on to issues such as immigration, a key concern for voters and one that could be a strength for the former president , though he chose to focus on unsubstantiated claims about migrants eating peoples pets. In springfield, theyre eating the dogs, the people that came in. Theyre eating the cats. Theyre eating. The Vice President could scarcely contain herself. Theyre eating the pets of the people that live there. Moderators attempted to fact check the former president on several occasions during the debate, not least when he had this to say on the contentious issue of abortion. Will she allow abortion in the eighth month . Ninth month . Seventh month . Come on. 0k. Would you do that . The economy was always going to be a hugely important issue. Its what most americans really care about. She is biden. You know, shes trying to get away from biden. I dont know the gentleman, she says. And Donald Trump attempted to tie Kamala Harris to her boss. The worst Inflation Weve ever had. The Vice President talked about her economic plans, but not perhaps as much as her supporters would have liked. On international affairs, though, she was scathing. World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I have talked with military leaders, some of whom worked with you, and they say youre a disgrace. Donald trump hit back by attacking the chaotic withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan, and again claimed the ukraine War Wouldnt have happened under him. Were playing with World War iii, and we have a president that we dont even know if hes~~ where is our president . Moments after the end of the debate, Donald Trump himself appearing in the Spin Room, talking to a whole pack of journalists, hundreds ofjournalists, a sign that he thinks this did not go well. Gary odonoghue, bbc news, philadelphia. There is a lot to analyse there. Lets get some more from Gary Odonoghue. Here is more from Gary Odonoghue from the spinroom on how the polls are responding. Well, i think theres been some. I mean, theres been some of these instant polls that some of the networks do here, and some of that is indicating that Kamala Harris may have made some progress amongst independent voters, moderate voters, which are going to be key to this election and certain of these Swing States, including places like pennsylvania, where i am now. She was, you know, going to introduce herself to the american people tonight, despite having been Vice President for four years. Thats a pretty invisible job, to be quite honest, so this will be the first time that a lot of people got to see her at length, facing questions, seeing how she held Up To the kinds of attacks that Donald Trump is known for. And i think her team will be pretty pleased. She landed a bunch of blows, Donald Trump seemed a bit riled, he seemed a bit unhappy at times. And then kind of crucially, just after it was all over, a few minutes after, he appears here in the Spin Room, where i am talking to you from now, for 15 or 20 minutes. Now, the point about Spin Rooms is that is where you send out the people your surrogates, as they call them to do the spin for you. Thats where the campaigns put the gloss on the message or correct any problems that happened in the debate. You dont really see candidates coming out into the Spin Room. And if you do, that indicates there may be a bit of a problem. So i dont think that will have been something that his campaign will have liked tonight, and it may mean that they are much perhaps more willing to contemplate a second debate in october, which is not agreed at this stage. In the minutes after the debate, Pop Superstar Taylor swift endorsed Kamala Harris for President Writing in a post to her 283 Million instagram followers i will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 president ial election. She signed the post childless Cat Lady, a reference to comments made byjd vance. Donald trump last month posted Ai Photos that gave the false impression that she had already endorsed him. And weve also heard from the owner of x formerly twitter elon musk. He said while i dont think the Debate Hosts were fair to Donald Trump, Kamala Harris exceeded most peoples expectations tonight. That said, when it comes to getting things done, notjust saying nice sounding words, i strongly believe that trump will do a far betterjob. Reaction to that debate coming thick and fast. Lets speak to dr leslie vinjamuri, who is a director at the us And Americas Programme at chatham house. Lets just talk about the way that this debate was handled. Was it handled fairly . The moderators were pushing back quite intently when it came to some of the things that Donald Trump was saying. Some of the things that Donald Trump was saying. Well, i think we did hear trump was saying. Well, i think we did hear some trump was saying. Well, i think we did hear some Fact Trump was saying. Well, i think| we did hear some fact checking, which i think people have complained in the past that there wasnt enough of that. I have also heard people on the democratic side of the ill say that Donald Trump was given the opportunity to reply more than he should. So there is an inevitability to be extent that people see a debate is not being fair to their candidate. I think it was a very well handled debate. You know, this is the first time that we saw Kamala Harris and Donald Trump Go Head to head, very important, there was a lot of energy and probably anxiety around how this would go, given the last president ial debate. Normally we think of these debates is not really being so consequential. This one, because of the last one, we seem to be very high stakes. We know that people are wanting to hear more and see more of Kamala Harris, a candidate who has had very little time to define herself. I think she did very well, she came out very strong, she made it clear that she is the person that Donald Trump is running against, not a President Biden. She really put him on the defensive, you know, going after some of his vulnerabilities. Very tactfully saying, you know, your rallies, people are bored and they are leaving. You could see the former president really being railed by this, her billing him as a millionaire who declared bankruptcy six times, again putting on the back foot. The key thing here is when she started, she really spoke very clearly about her policy. People are wanting to see more about the details. It is very difficult to get to detail any debate, but she started out talking about the opportunity economy, that she is a middle class, working american. She listed some of those policies that we have heard about and tried throughout the debate to talk about whether it was womens rights, health care, foreign policy, they covered multiple topics. And when they talked about afghanistan, ukraine, the middle east, china, on each case she turned to Donald Trump and said, the reason that we have had to get back to a baseline and take this policy forward is because of where you put as as president , whether it was a difficult economy during covid, whether it was the tariffs that Donald Trump levied on china, running up the deficit, whether it was Donald Trumps deal in afghanistan, forcing a withdrawal in a way that wasnt conducive to us interests, nor to afghanistan, whether it was saying that Donald Trump would basically give up the defence of ukraine, he would do a deal because he simply did not care about sovereignty and protecting ukraine. On every single issue, she really did manage to throw it back to Donald Trump, which i think is why we saw the reaction that we saw immediately after the debate. , saw immediately after the debate. , thank you so much, we are out of time. If you want more analysis on the president ial debate, you can listen to a special episode can listen to a special of americast, which is available on bbc sounds now. The team have been working through the night to get that in addition to you. Official figures just released for the Uk Economy show that it failed to grow for the second month in a row. The chancellor of the exchequer, rachel reeves, said the initital estimate of gdp forjuly from the Office Of National Statistics reflected the state of the economy that her government had inherited from the conservatives. Well, i am under no illusions about the scale that this new government faces in fixing the economy. After 14 years of economic stagnation, we are not going to be able to turn everything around in one month or indeed in one budget. But today, in welcoming the new investment from Amazon Web services in the uk, in data centres, in good jobs paying decent wages, and helping people train with those technical skills is about the price with those technical skills is about the prize that is on offer if we can bring stability back to the Economy And Work in partnership with business to rebuild our country and make it better off. That is what i am in this business for. With me is dharshini david, our chief economics correspondent. Disappointment there, a failure in growth for the second time in growth for the second time in a row. � , , in growth for the second time inarow. H, in growth for the second time in a row in a row. Lets step back and look at what in a row. Lets step back and look at what is in a row. Lets step back and look at what is exactly in a row. Lets step back and look at what is exactly is look at what is exactly is going on. We had the summer of sport, euros, wimbledon, the other pics, and we did see a boost to do things like Food And Drink sales, leisure activities all around that. But it was a disappointing month for manufacturing and construction. If we step back, one months figures are always a little bit volatile and you cannot take them too seriously. Over the year so far, what we have seen is a pretty emphatic recovery from that recession we had last year. But over a longer term, the chancellor is right, we have a lot of work to do to grow the economy at a faster rate. That is her challenge. She says these things do not happen overnight, this is a reminder that we have got a way to go. This is a reminder that we have got a way to 90 this is a reminder that we have got a way to go. What does this mean for interest got a way to go. What does this mean for interest rates, got a way to go. What does this mean for interest rates, what i mean for interest rates, what will be decided next week . We are not expecting a cut. We are not. Economists are not expecting a cut. We are not. Economists say are not expecting a cut. We are not. Economists say we are not expecting a cut. We are not. Economists say we should| not. Economists say we should see more cuts over the rest of this year. This is weaker growth than they had expected, but there are other things to take into the equation, things like inflation, wage growth. If we look at those on the road, they are tempted to say that they are tempted to say that the Bank Of England is likely to pose this time around and see what happens, maybe go again in november. But we wait and see. Already we see some of those Mortgage Rates starting to come Down. Mil those Mortgage Rates starting to come Down. To come Down. All of this will No Doubt to come Down. All of this will No Doubt be to come Down. All of this will No Doubt be reflected to come Down. All of this will No Doubt be reflected in to come Down. All of this will No Doubt be reflected in the i No Doubt be reflected in the budget next month. We have heard the budget next month. We have heard the Mantra Budget next month. We have heard the Mantra All Budget Next month. We have heard the mantra All Over Budget Next month. We have j heard the mantra all over the summer from the chancellor saying, it is going to be a difficult budget, there will be difficult budget, there will be difficult choices to make when it comes to things like tax and spending. We know the public finances are in a pretty tight spotin finances are in a pretty tight spot in relation to her rules. Also, it is all about the decisions the chancellor makes. We have seen her aboard some higher pay rises to the likes of Public Service workers. So how are you going to finance that . How do you alleviate the burden on the public finances . You grow the economy more quickly, bringing more tax receipts, but that is a longer Term Plan and aspiration. In the short term, there could be someone in pain to come. That is not the someone in pain to come. That is not the Note Someone in pain to come. That is not the note i someone in pain to come. That is not the note i wanted someone in pain to come. That is not the note i wanted to someone in pain to come. That is not the note i wanted to end on thank you so much. The us Secretary Of State Antony Blinken and the Uk Foregin Secretary David Lammy are making a joint visit to ukraine. It is a show of support for the country, and the men will discuss Ukraines Request to use long range us and british missiles against russia. Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly asked for permission to strike deep into russian territory, saying his forces were fighting with their arms tied. Lets speak to our Europe Correspondent Nick beake in kyiv. It is quite a historic moment for these two to come to ukraine together. For these two to come to ukraine touether. ,. ,. ,. , ukraine together. Good morning. Yes, it has. Ukraine together. Good morning. Yes, it has. The ukraine together. Good morning. Yes, it has. The americans ukraine together. Good morning. Yes, it has. The americans and i yes, it has. The americans and the british are making the point that this is the first visit overseas from the british Foreign Secretary and their american counterparts. They are travelling together from poland, getting the train to the ukrainian capital kyiv. They will meet President Zelensky, and he is hoping that this visit is notjust symbolic but actually lead to a Policy Change from both countries. President zelensky is hoping that permission will be given to the ukrainians for them to use american made and british made long range missiles, that they have already got here, on they have already got here, on the battlefield and actually specifically hitting further into russia. What Mr Zelensky Saysis into russia. What Mr Zelensky says is that if they have the ability to hit russian airfields, to take out russian bombers before they even take off and wreak havoc over the skies of this country, that will put ukraine at a huge advantage. He is very much hoping there will be this change in policy and that maybe it is crystallised on this visit. , ,. , visit. The issue is, though, that president visit. The issue is, though, that President Putin visit. The issue is, though, that President Putin has i that President Putin has previously said that if that permission is granted, it would, in his words, lead to a very serious problem. No doubt this decision will be really, really strategic and important, they are not taking it lightly. Absolutely. The message from moscow has been that if this is done, then the western allies, the uk and the us in particular, will become more intrinsically involved in this fight. That is what President Putin and others are warning about. We will have to see whether this is a decision that is made behind the scenes. I think what Antony Blinken, the us Secretary Of State, has indicated is that he will talk to President Zelensky and then take back the conversation that they have two President Biden in the White House will stop on friday he is talking in person to british prime Ministers Sir Keir starmer, it may well be that at that point we do we do not have some sort of Policy Change announced. One thing that possibly has been factored into the equation, certainly The Americans were talking about it yesterday, is what they say is hard Intelligence And Evidence that iran is sending short term missiles to russia. What The Americans are saying is that the russians are able to use these in the coming weeks on the battlefield, these shorter range missiles, and at the same time that is freeing up the same time that is freeing up the russians long range missiles to hit more ukrainian cities. That is the latest we are giving. We will have to see what comes from this meeting. When that happens, you will bring it to us, i know. Nick beekin bring it to us, i know. Nick beek in kyiv, thank you so much. Around the world and across the uk. This is bbc news. Palestinian paramedics say at least five people have been killed in an Israeli Military operation in the occupied West Bank. The Israeli Military said it was carrying out a Counter Terrorism Operation in the area and had struck an armed terrorist cell. The Palestinian Red Crescent said a drone had been used. Its just days after the largest Israeli Military operation in the West Bank since the hamas attacks on october 7. Lets speak to our correspondent injersualem, daniel de simone. What more can you tell us about the operation in the West Bank overnight . This took place overnight, and the Palestinian Red Crescent say that five people were killed, various palestinian channels are naming the dead, saying they are all men. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it has recovered the bodies and taken them to hospital. It described them dying in an israeli drone strike. The israeli drone strike. The israeli defense forces confirmed it conducted a Military Operation overnight, described it as a counterterrorist operation, and sent an aircraft had struck what it described as an armed terrorist cell. This all comes as part of a context of a large operation by the Israeli Military in the West Bank that started quite recently. It is the largest operation in the occupied West Bank since the october seven attacks by hamas last year. A previous statement by the palestinian Health Ministry said in this recent operation, at least 39 people had been killed, including some children. Given that five people have died overnight, i think that number will rise. And certainly since the attacks of the 7th Of October last year, the palestinian Health Ministry says over 690 palestinians have been killed. And any separate incident, this one in gazza, Jills Army is saying one of its helicopters crashed on gazza. What more do we know about that. This crashed on gazza. What more do we know about that. We know about that. This has ust we know about that. This has just been we know about that. This has just been announced we know about that. This has just been announced by we know about that. This has just been announced by the l just been announced by the israeli defense forces within the last hour. They say that overnight they had a helicopter that was taking part in an operation to evacuate an injured soldier, but the helicopter crashed in the Rafa Area of the gaza strip. And during this crash, two soldiers were killed and seven others were killed and seven others were injured to varying degrees. And those seven were taken to hospital. The Israeli Military said the indication so far is that the helicopter did not crash as a result of enemy fire, but they say an investigation, an inquiry will take place into how this happened and how the crash occurred. Happened and how the crash occurred happened and how the crash occurred. , ~ ,. ,. , occurred. Daniel, thank you for brinuain occurred. Daniel, thank you for bringing us occurred. Daniel, thank you for bringing us up occurred. Daniel, thank you for bringing us Up To occurred. Daniel, thank you for bringing us Up To date occurred. Daniel, thank you for bringing us Up To Date On occurred. Daniel, thank you for bringing us Up To Date On what| bringing us Up To Date On what we know so far. The driver of a bus that crashed in australia killing 10 people and injuring 25 has been sentenced to 32 years in prison. Injune last year, Brett Button was driving home in the New South Wales Hunter Valley with a bus full of wedding guests when he lost control of the vehicle. It was australias deadliest Road Accident in decades. Our correspondent in Sydney Katy Watson has been following the story. This shocked australia, a country that has a very safe Safety Record when it comes to driving. What we heard was Brett Button was driving 35 wedding guests back home after an event in Hunter Valley and the Hunter Valley is a few hours from here in sydney, it is a very popular place for weddings, it is where there are a lot of vineyards here in australia and he was a driver who was dependent on opioids, he had taken tramadol, which can lead to fogginess, it can lead. And he had also been accused of driving dangerously. Some passengers had said that they were concerned about the speed he was driving. And he lost control at a roundabout and the bus turned over and slid along a guardrail. Now, all 35 passengers on the coach, there were ten who died and 25 injured. Everybody was affected, apart from the driver himself. And the last few days, we have heard testimony from those survivors, who talked about the grief and the pain that they are going through. It has been a very emotional few days in court ahead of the sentencing that we have just heard. Katie watson reporting. In the final leg of his twelve Day Tour of South East, the pope has arrived in singapore the first papal visit there since the 1980s. The visit will include a speech to politicians at the national stadium, which Tens Of Thousands of people are expected to attend. Vietnamese state media is reporting that at least 22 people in Lao Cai Province Have died in landslides triggered by flash flooding. More than 70 are still missing. Heavy rainfall caused by Typhoon Yagi has swept across Northern Vietnam over the past few days, killing nearly 150 people. Rescue workers are struggling to reach remote mountainous areas with communications Down and roads washed away. We canjust we can just have a look at the live image that we are monitoring there. We know that thousands of people have been stranded on rooftops and some of the northern provinces of vietnam. They have been posting desperate pleas for help on social media. Vietnams most powerful storm in 30 years. Just to let you know, we are monitoring the reaction to that debate that happened overnight in the united states will stop the live shot in washington, thatis the live shot in washington, that is on our website. Much more, reaction on bbc news, we will bring that to you. A day of sunshine and blustery heavy showers across the uk today. A cool field, as well, notjust being felt here but across much of northern and western europe. Low temperatures indicating much lower than average temperatures. Milderair lower than average temperatures. Milder air does make a comeback, things returning to normal this weekend. That is a three days away, though. Today, it is a cool North Westerly Wind Feeding though she was widely across the country into the afternoon. One or two back shots may avoid them, some parts of South East scotland, north east england, some southern counties. Very few if any showers for some of you. But i think youd best cater for at least a Downpour or two coming your way through today on that brisk wind, which will make it feel even colder when the rain is with you. Probably a Wind Chill holding things Down to around 6 to 7 celsius for some in northern scotland, but for all, temperatures, certainly Down on what we saw at the weekend. Now, as we go into this evening and overnight, showers continue around some of the coasts again, maybe pushing a bit further inland through parts of wales into the North West midlands, but with some clear skies elsewhere and winds starting to fall just a little bit lighter. Temperatures lower this coming night than the night, just gone, Down to around 2 or 3 celsius in some parts of Northern England and scotland. It does mean, though, much more sunshine around to begin the day. Fewer showers, but theyll still be there in northern and western areas to begin with. Some will develop a bit more widely inland, particularly through england and wales, but overall fewer showers around. More will have a better chance of staying dry, if not all day long, certainly for the bulk of the day, but another chilly one, 10 to 15 celsius. What will follow, though, will be the coldest night of the week, and thats because weve got a ridge of high Pressure Building in. Cold air in place to begin with. The Ridge Of High Pressure means winds will be lighter, and so by the morning, temperatures will have dropped further. A greater chance, certainly out of the towns and cities, of seeing a frost on the grass and on the cars, even if not in the air for parts of scotland and Northern England. But itll be a lovely, crisp, fresh, sunny start to friday. Cloud builds from the west through the day, maybe some late rain into Northern Ireland and the far west of scotland, but mostly youll have a dry day. After that cold start, temperatures may be up a little bit, so improvement with lighter winds and they will rise further into this weekend. Saturday though, this area of low pressure will bring some Weather Fronts to north and west, which willjust slowly move their way southwards and eastwards, but introduce a run of milder conditions. So rain at times for some, particularly north and west, on saturday this weekend. But next week it looks like things will turn drier and milder again. This is one of the most incredible things ive ever done. 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The first time we have done the first time we have done this the first time we have done this in the first time we have done this in modern history. We will say unprecedented this in modern history. We will say unprecedented a this in modern history. We will say unprecedented a lot. This is bbc news, the headlines. Us president ial candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump meet for the first time, in a head to head debate ahead of novembers election. In a fiery 90 minutes, the pair accused each other of lying, as they clashed on issues including immigration and foreign policy. As the debate came to an end, Pop Superstar Taylor swift endorsed Kamala Harris on social media. Calling her a gifted leader and a warrior, Swifts Post was accompanied by a photo of her with a cat. Her childless Cat Lady comment was a nod to remarks made in 2021 byjd vance. In other news, the us Secretary Of State, Antony Blinken, and his uk counterpart, david lammy, head to ukraine in a joint demonstration of support. The men will discuss Ukraines Request to use long range us and british missiles against russia. In the democratic republic of congo, medics on the Front Line of the battle against mpox are desperate for vaccines to arrive. Our team was given rare access to an Mpox Treatment Centre in south kivu, the worst affected region in the world, where infections are rising. That fiery clash