And other crucial battleground states, not because large numbers of democrats defected to the Republican Party. No, they believe they lost because large numbers of democrats just didnt vote at all. A very warm welcome to bbc world news. In an hour the Democratic Party in the United States will hold the third evening of its Virtual National convention. Tonight it will be the turn of former president barack obama and the Vice President ial pick Kamala Harris, to try to persuade voters to backjoe biden over president trump. Laura trevelyan is in wilmington, delaware for us. Speu spell out the formats tonight for us, laura, who comes first . What are we going to get . Well, it is womens night tonight at the Democratic National convention, christian. The house speaker, nancy pelosi is going to speak, the lion of the progressive left, Elizabeth Warren herself a contenderfor the democratic nomination. She is going to speak stop we will hear from is going to speak stop we will hearfrom hillary is going to speak stop we will hear from Hillary Clinton. Is going to speak stop we will hearfrom Hillary Clinton. We will hear from kamala hearfrom Hillary Clinton. We will hearfrom Kamala Harris and before her, barack obama, not a woman, breaking news there. But it is going to be a big night and there. But it is going to be a big nightand it there. But it is going to be a big night and it is lights, camera, action. You can hear the atmosphere building. The sql server here. Ive seen a motorcade, the first one in two days. It is beginning to feel like a real convention. The immediate sense i hear, there are bars. This is the night that Kamala Harris really introduces herself to the American People who dont know that much about her, and were told theres going to be a video proceeding has been and in her speech were going to hear from in her speech were going to hearfrom her sister, her niece and also her stepdaughter. In her speech, she is going to talk about america being at an inflection point. There is this reckoning in america over racial injustice, over the coronavirus pandemic, the economic calamity and as a black woman, she is uniquely positioned to reflect that diversity. Also as a former prosecutor, the democrats are hoping she presents a reassuring figure to swing voters, someone who believes in laura. I have been looking at some of the exits they have released. It is clearly going to be heavily personal. It is also going to allow people, her tea m also going to allow people, her team say, to allow people to see themselves on her. That is obviously important for the different groups in the United States they are trying to ca ptu re. States they are trying to capture. She is such an interesting transitional figure isnt she because herfather interesting transitional figure isnt she because her father is jamaican, her mother was indian. She is both the first black woman to be nominated as Vice President on a Major Political party ticket, and the first woman of indian descent. She is shattering all kinds of barriers and all kinds of boundaries with the fact they can candidacy. Its an historic candidacy. There have been women before but they have all in white. And women before her, also nominated as Vice President ial candidates, they did make it. Will she get there . Theres a lot that is exciting about her. She has been a rising star in the Democratic Party for at least 20 years but this is the moment where she steps onto the stage, this is the big moment, the spotlight for her. Laura, thank you very much for that. Only formally announced as the candidate last week shows she hasnt had an awful long amount of time to prepare for the speech. We know that Michelle Obama had several weeks to prepare for her speech. Almost tonight on mrsa she steps up to accept the nomination as the party s candidate for Vice President. Shell become the first woman of colour in us history, to do so. Kamala harris is half jamaican, half indian and her Indian Heritage has been key in shaping her ideas. Rajini Vaidya Nathan reports. My grandparents were phenomenal. We would go back to india every other year. In social media videos, Kamala Harris has often talked about the importance of her indian roots. My grandfather would take me on his morning walk. It was on the pristine sands of Elliots Beach in the south indian city of chennai where she says her political views were shaped. This a young Kamala Harris would join her grandfather, pv gopalan, on walks with his friends. I would hold his hand and i remember the stories that they would tell and the passion with which they spoke about the importance of democracy. It was those walks on the beach with my grandfather in besa nt nagar that had a profound impact on who i am today. Her uncle told me the family were raised to be open minded in an india that could be deeply conservative. I think these are the values she picked up, be tolerant. If your children want to do something that you will not do, do not stop them from doing that just because you would not do that. Do not worry about black, blue, yellow, green, orange or anything like that. In another video, Kamala Harris speaks about how her mother shyamala defined her life. Shyamala gopalan moved to the us to study at the age of 19 and married jamaican student donald harris. They later divorced, with shyamala raising their two daughters. All the civil rights activity, so from a very young age she was strongly influenced by shyamala. How do you feel about president trumps attacks on your niece . She can take it on the chin, she is quite capable of doing that. One thing shyamala taught her children all, dont take anything lying down. If anybody questions your individuality or anything that you do, fight back. In her familys ancestral village in south india, signs wishing Kamala Harris good luck. In many ways herjourney to one of the biggestjobs in politics began here. Who knows where it will end . Rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news. Im nowjoined by Jennifer Nicol victor, an associate professor of Political Science at the schar school of policy and government, at virginias george mason university. Welcome to the program, thank you for being with us. I was just watching the package there, her report and it is estimating that an american citizen who has heritage in jamaica and india is seen by the Democratic Party as safe bet. Well, remember that the last president that the Democratic Party had was also a very multidimensional, barack obama had both African American and caucasian heritage. It is worth noting that the candidate that the party is nominating for the presidency is an older, white male, joe biden. And so Kamala Harris is much more of joe bidens pick, and i suppose it is accurate, as you put it, to call if the partys pick. While she was in the running for the presidency, she was one of the earlier candidates to drop out back in december. Laura was making the point earlier that it is womens night tonight but really it has been womens night every night. We had Michelle Obama on the first night with that memorable speech and then jill first night with that memorable speech and thenjill biden last night. And tonight we get, harris, that is by design isnt it. What do you make about . That is a great observation. One thing to keep in mind is the United States is observing the United States is observing the 100 Year Anniversary of the rights for women to vote when the amendment was ratified. But the amendment was ratified. But the other thing is much more from a strategic political point of view stop the Democratic Party, there is a big gender gap in politics and the United States and at this point, it is eight, nine, 10 points gender gap where women tend to prefer the Democratic Party. Democrats know that they need to motivate women to turn them out to vote in order to win. And i think youre seeing that with some of the Convention Fair tonight. They we re Convention Fair tonight. They were accused in 2016 of talking to themselves and not speaking to themselves and not speaking to Middle America enough, do you think it is incumbent upon them to do more of that on 93 and 9a . Them to do more of that on 93 and 94 . To some extent, yes night three and four. While i find these endlessly fascinating, i think most people watching these are people watching these are people who are relatively well informed about politics. I havent seen the nielsen ratings or anything on these, i dont know how well attended they are but most people paying attention to the campaign at this point our political junkies like me. To your point, i think one of the important questions that needs to be a nswered questions that needs to be answered over the next couple of nights is what are the big names that the democrats are going to be using . They do need a message that i think is a bit stronger than just an entire trump, to get there to get elected to the white house. Exactly what the Big Questions and themes are, i think that is something that we need to be looking from this crowd over the next couple of days anti trump. The next couple of days antitrump. Jq for talking to us antitrump. Jq for talking to us tonight. I spoke with two political strategists allied to opposing sides in this election mary anne marsh for the Democratic Party and ron christie, our analyst here at the bbc and a republican strategist. First i asked mary anne marsh what she thought ofjoe bidens choice of Kamala Harris as a running mate. The fact is the United States as a country of immigrants. Donald trump has certainly demonised immigrants over the last four years. So many people can see themselves in Kamala Harris. We know from history that voters dont vote for president vote based on Vice President , what Kamala Harris can do is energise a law that voters of colour. Younger voters who see theirfuture in her. I think thats going to be really galvanising going into this election and youre going to hear about her wrong rung by rung climb up the ladder. To end up being the nominee, the second woman Vice President , first woman of colour in United States history. Ive talked to you about Kamala Harris before. I know that your father and her father knew each other. Shes been painted as hard left and not progressive enough. Which is she . Good evening. Its very true that her father and my father a very close. Grew up with the harrises in our household. Its hard to say. The thing about Kamala Harris that americans again are going to learn tonight and theyre going to learn over the next 70 some odd days is what does she stand for and what are her bed rock principles . Is she a principal progressive, is she slightly left to centre . What does she stand for . Thus far in her career she has really progressed up the ladder in a very number of very high profile positions. Its very hard to really define what her pragmatism, leadership would bring to the Vice President and potentially president of the United States. Millions of americans here and millions of people around the world are going to be asking that very question of who is she and what does she stand for . Its a difficult balance because shes been brought on the ticket obviously to harness the African American vote and so she has to speak to their progressive tendencies. At the same time she has to also speak to those republicans who are wavering the swing voters. What shes really got to do is prosecute the case against donald trump. She will be incredibly effective at it. Yes shes been progressive but shes also a prosecutor. We have seen what shes done to members of the trump cabinet whether it was bill barr, Brett Cavanaugh trying to be a Supreme Court justice. General kelly, and on and on where she just went after them and they are still licking their wounds. Shes going to do the same thing on the campaign trail. While she will certainly energise voters to get out and vote and there is nothing more important than that between now and november, shes certainly going to make the case against why donald trump and mike pence should be leaving the white house. And whyjoe biden and Kamala Harris should take their place. What do you make of the number of republicans who spoke in this convention in favour ofjoe biden . John kasich who you worked for for some time, cindy mccain who came out last night, colin powell, its unprecedented for so many republicans to come to the opposite side . I think the Republican Party right now is trying to remake itself and try to rebrand itself. The traditional republicans, mccains, colin powell, kasichs cling to the old order of the Republican Party. They look at donald trump and say this is not who we are, this is not the man who we want leading us. The real question is will those republicans who you mentioned, will their presence at the convention matter to those around the United States . My suspicion is not very likely. I dont think there are very many people watching this. I dont think theyll be very many people watching the Republican NationalConvention Next week. The question is, can the Vice President biden deploy these republicans who spoken at his convention around the country to continue that bipartisan message that he seeks to foster . Interesting to see how the republicans deal with the Convention Next week. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come we find out how the Democratic Party is trying to win states it lost in 2016, and motivate its voters to show up this time around and cast their ballot. Washington, the worlds most political city, is today assessing the Political Health of the worlds most powerful man. Indeed i did have a relationship with ms lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. In south africa, 97 people have been killed today in one of the worst days of violence between rival black groups. Over the last ten days, 500 have died. Chanting czechoslovakia must be free czechoslovakia must be free chanting czechoslovakia must be free russia is observing a national day of mourning for the 118 submariners who died on board the kursk. We all with them now, within our hearts. The pope has celebrated mass before a congregation of more than 2. 5 Million People in his home town of krakow. Stay with us, stay with us, chanted this ocean of humanity. Well, well, joked the pope, so you want me to desert rome . This is bbc news, our top story this hour Kamala Harris, the Vice President ial candidate, is to formally accept her nomination to be onjoe bidens ticket at the Democratic Party convention, which is into its third of four nights. Ive been speaking to Douglas Brinkley, whos a professor of history at rice university. I began by asking him about the history of conventions and their importance. It has always been very important in american history, but starting in the 1950s they began being televised, really 1952 when eisenhower got elected, and so its been a spectacle, the idea you are supposed to put on an extravaga nza supposed to put on an extravaganza like a super bowl 01 extravaganza like a super bowl ora extravaganza like a super bowl or a michaeljackson concert, with music, balloons, confetti, and thats what drew people and and thats what drew people and and part of it was, you never knew what could happen stopping there was that live element of something unexpected about to occui on something unexpected about to occur on tv. Now, with covid 19, you feel this is all very script did. The fact you we re very script did. The fact you were just very script did. The fact you werejust mentioning, people dont go over their time limit, it also means there are not weird moments, its all very choreographed. So it seems to be less important this year. Covid 19 has made people sick of politics, the sound bite at the convention right now comes from Michelle Obama when she said, i dont like politics and you all know at. There is an entire politics mood even though 2020 is the big president ial election year, that will change when the debates occur in the fall, that will have everybody leaning forward and watching. And when you look back over time since the war and where first term president s were at the convention, where do you see the big comeback and where do you see history telling us how difficult it is going to be for donald trump . Its pretty bleak for donald trump right now. I mean, yes, Hillary Clinton had a lead but her lead was around four points at this time in august. This is getting late in the game to see donald trump around 10 , never able to grow into 50 meaning of the country like them, it was usually around 40 and after all a lot of these elections are about the economy and its not a good time for working people in america, covid 19 crashed the American Economy and the stock market in the United States is doing quite well but trump is going to have to hope that he will rebuild the economy and somehow from a leadership point of view, donald trump has been feckless and at times fullness, usually foolish, daily, about covid 19. He seems very ante science and so its going to be tough for him to track, however joe biden is not known as a great debater, and donald trump has a stage presence and is willing to go to the low road sucker punches on stage, so its going to be almost like big time wrestling or something, those three debates, and that does turn things in a particular candidates favour. Douglas brinkley knows a thing 01 Douglas Brinkley knows a thing or two about us conventions. When the democrats picked milwaukee to play host to their convention, they didntjust stick a pin in the map. Wisconsin was one of the three key states that Hillary Clinton lost in 2016 and winning back the state is a top priority for democrats, as David Grossman reports. Picking milwaukee was supposed to send a message that democrats were listening to wisconsin again after Hillary Clintons failure here. She didnt come to wisconsin to campaign here. And there are many people who never forgave her for that. The democrat partys strategy this time around starts with this simple fact. They believe that Hillary Clinton failed to win wisconsin and other crucial Battle Ground states not because large numbers of democrats defected to the Republican Party. No, they believe they lost because large numbers of democrats just didnt vote at all. Across this state, a quarter of a million obama democrats failed to show up for Hillary Clinton 4,000 of them here in Columbia County. Twice, columbia voted for obama and then, on a reduced turnout, for donald trump. At the county Democratic Party headquarters, they think the enthusiasm is back and with it, party unity. So now on facebook, when people talk about, you know, joe this, joe that, but im going to vote for him. Thats pretty much it. I wish bernie were the guy, but, ok, ill vote forjoe this time. I think people understand whats at stake. Supreme Moore Omokunde was a Bernie Sanders delegate at the last convention four years ago. Hes now standing for the Wisconsin State Assembly to represent milwaukee, a racially mixed area where huge numbers of African American voters abandoned the party in 2016. He says it would be a mistake to assume that those voters are in the bag this time. We cant rely on trump sucking so badly that well put all our cards or all our eggs in that basket, if you will. We have to come out and convey a message that meets people at their level, on their everyday needs. We need to talk about health care, we need to talk about climate change, we need to talk about economic equity, we need to talk about social justice and racialjustice. And we have to be sincere. At the moment, the democrats are relying on what they say is Donald Trumps failure of leadership on the pandemic to win over this state. We dont have that common plan, we dont have that inspiration thats going to lead us to really resolve the consequences of this pandemic, and were looking for that kind of leadership. But that criticism alone may not be enough in many Rural Counties in wisconsin. Here, the virus has hit hardly at all. There have been just two deaths in Columbia County since the start of the pandemic. Donald j trump donald trump, who paid a flying visit to wisconsin on monday, accuses the democrats of exaggerating the virus to hurt his chances. This will be a large scale, very large scale venezuela if they win. But its not these voters the democrats are aiming for. Some party strategists believe they can win wisconsin and america perhaps without even persuading a single trump voter to change their minds. Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes near the us city of San Francisco, as a number of fast moving wildfires swept into the region. Police and firefighters have been going from door to door, urging people to leave. The governor of california has declared a state of emergency. Tanya dendrinos reports. This is the unmistakable roar ofa this is the unmistakable roar of a firestorm. Flames licking at the roadway, an ominous orange glow across the blackened sky and residents scrambling to make it out. It took me awhile to get out, so my was driving the car and he got burnt and he had to leave the car so i was walking down by myself, and i got all these fla mes by myself, and i got all these flames on me and id lost my shoe. But i made at. God saved me. This couple, among thousands forced to flee their homes between San Francisco and sacramento as the infernos took hold. Precious lives saved as structures were engulfed. From the air, the blanket of smoke reveals the sheer scale of the disaster. A wall of raging fire showcasing the intensity of the displays and the battle at the hands of fire crews desperately trying to gain control. This is very difficult terrain to operate m, difficult terrain to operate in, it is very steep, theres lots of dry fuels and of course we have lots of high temperatures, low relative humidity. All the forces to make this a very challenging fight. With hundreds of fires burning across the state and many structures already destroyed, the governor of california has declared a state of emergency, and for residents still on standby, the anxious wait continues. And, before we go, this week marks 100 years since women in the United States won the right to vote. Commemorations are happening across the country, but the celebrations in nashville, tennessee took things to new hights. This is an elite all female skydiving team who took to the skies yesterday to celebrate of this monumental week in american history. In 1920, tennessee was the pivotal 36th state that pushed through the amendment through. Its a bit hard to see, but some of the skydivers carried banners that read, shall not be denied, a mantra of the suffragette movement. And simply, vote. Each landing was met with cheers and clapping from the small crowd. Lets applaud the message, but not sure id jump out of a plane. Dont forget theres much more of the days news on our website just visit bbc. Om news. We are waiting for those features which we are going to get in the next half an hour. Southern parts of ireland are feeling the full force of storm ellen. Here in the uk, also very blustery. The winds will increase in many parts of the uk over the next couple of days or so. It is likely to be very unsettled with the storm closely spinning by. Now the worst of the weather has gone over southern parts of ireland, where the destructive winds and places have been. We are just to the east of the storm, so winds will be pretty strong around the coast of cornwall, western fringes of wales, but it will be particularly windy in Northern Ireland too. Now having said that, the weather actually doesnt look too bad at all for most of us on thursday. There will be some rain in the morning across parts of scotland, but once that clears through, apart from a few showers across western areas, the weather is looking mostly sunny. So itll be a weird day where we have quite strong winds but also with that, some strong sunshine and decent temperatures. In fact, look at the values in east anglia, up to 26 celsius, 22 in newcastle, and into the 20s where we have these blustery conditions out towards the west, as well. Now through the course of thursday evening, the rain becomes more widespread across western fringes of the uk, and the winds will strengthen once again. A bit of a little with that warmth and sunshine in the afternoon. Because by the time we get to friday, what is left of storm ellen will be barreling across the uk and that means more generally speaking, itll be a windy day right across the uk. Now gusts of wind inland friday into saturday could exceed 50 mph and this time of year, thats not good and could prove very troublesome during the summer where the trees are in full leaf, a 50 mph wind could bring down a weaker tree. So be prepared for some disruption as we go through the course of friday and into the weekend. Now saturday will still be blustery because whats left of the storm is still with us. Frequent showers out towards the northwest of the uk. Take a look at these winds 14 15 mph, that is unusually windy for august. To the south of us, it wont be quite so windy but breezy enough, with temperatures getting up to the low 20s. Sunday will be a calmer day. This is bbc news, the headlines at the Democratic Party convention, Kamala Harris, the Vice President ial candidate, is due to formally accept her nomination forjoe bidens ticket. Former president barack obama, and former first lady hilary clinton, will top the list of speakers on the third night of the largely virtual event. Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes near the us city of San Francisco as a number of fast moving wildfires swept through the region. Police have been going from door to door, urging people to leave. The governor of california has declared a state of emergency. Opposition supporters remain on the streets of belarus as eu leaders agreed to impose sanctions on those involved in repression and Election Fraud in belarus. They have described the violence against demonstrators as unacceptable and accused president lukashenko of rigging the poll to claim a landslide victory