Thfreeman foundation. By judy and peter blum kovr foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Viewers like you. Thank you. Anchor im katty kay in washington and this is bbc world news america. A u. S. Court has chaed to members of isis with murder for killing american hostages in syria. Like many other terrorists before thehey have underestimated american resolve to obtain justice for our fellow citizens who are harmed or killed by terrorists anywhere in the world. Katty the vice pridential debate doesnt usually get much attention, but with concerns about the health and age of both president ialll candidates, eyes are on utah tonight. Facebook bans ads fm the Conspiracy Theory group qanon, but will that help or hurt the organization that has won among Trump Supporters . Welcome to world news america on pbs and around the globe. Two former british Islamic State prisoners arrived at a federal court in virginia. They face charges in connection with the killing of hostages in ria. Both men are accused of belonging to an is cell nicknamed the beatles. Joining us from virginia is our correspondent, barbara. How significant is it that they were transferred from iraq to reporter it is quite it is an important milestone in u. S. Efforts to y to bring to justice Islamic StateGroup Members who carried out these brutal killings against western hostages. Of course it resonated so strongly in the unitedte s because of those gruesome videos which were produced propaganda type inserts and sseminated on social media and very widely seen. Shook up the u. Government as well and strengthened the u. S. Response to isis. All of that was fundamental. They are going to have a procesi ofing to justice people that they are accusing of being part of that. H been told that the defendants would be appearing in person, but have just been informed that they will be doing so by web camera to have the charges read against them. Katty the two defendants had been british. Th were stripped of their citizenship. In order to get them here, the department of justice had to agree to take the Death Penalty the table. Was that an area of conflict between the u. S. And the u. K. . Did the u. K. Want them back in london . Reporter the u. K. Did not wantt to prosecum. It was generally believed that under the law in the u. K. They might not be able to mount a strong case with as harsh a punishment as here in the u. S. Wawhat the americans wante evidence to strengthen their case. Theres c hital punishmene and there isnt in the u. K. Nein july, the attorney l said, we will not seek the death pe breakthrough. Was the evidence so they could preventat the toughestd case possible get the toughest sentence possible. In terms of july, there had also been pressure from the pentagon because these defendants were being held temporarily at ae military b iraq and the pentagon made clear that this is not something they wanteto do and they wanted this resolved. Katty barbara, i had the chance to speak to the mother of james foley, one ofhe hostages killed by this group, and see said she hoped the point of this ou would bring about more information on other people who had been involved. What do we know about what else might come out of the trial . Rerter they have said for sure that they want this truth out about what happened to their children. That is the first thing i think that they want to hear. In terms of what might have happened to others, a number of hostages wer killed of other nationalitieas well. And weve also, it has also been suggested that otherwho we held hostage will come to testify. L that may bring new information as well. Katty barbara, thank you very much. Lets move on to american. Politi usually people dont pay a lot of attention to Vice President ial debates, but tonights matchup between mike pence and Kamala Harris is tting a lot of attention part of the reason is the joe biden will be the oldest president in american history. President trump is 74 and has the coronavirus. If anything were to happen to those men, one of the people on the stage tonightould become president. Sophie, i hesitate to say, is it going to be a debate, because last weeks debate was clearly not a debate and wasnt president ial. Do we expect Something Different tonight . Reporter i think we can expect Something Different tonight. Heres been a huge amount of coverage about that first president ial debate. This time, mike pence, softly spoken, facing off with Kamala Harris, 55yearold californian fsenatomer prosecutor and attorney general. I think they heard from the voters that what people really want to hear this time around is some focus on policy and what their respective plans are for erica going forward. The debate is set to take place a little later. In terms of content, i think one major focus will be the pandemic. Not least of course because President Trump is still recovering from his own positive diagnosis n andber of white house aides and advisors have also tested positive. Asking for increasetygn has been measures. Im told there has been a spirited two and fro between the campaigns. We now know they will be seated at least 12 feet apart. And there will be plexiglas separating the two candidates. They will beeated on the stage. There was some pushback from mike pences mpaign about that. That will happen. 90 minutes of th debate thathe there is a Global Pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 210,000 americans, and he was leading the task force that led the administrations response to that. Katty very briefly, i guess the goal for Kamala Harris is do no harm. Her team is ahead in the polls. Reporter ths a lot to lose for the democratic candidate, joe biden. She will want to continue that. She will be wanting to speak directly to the American Voters and reassure them. It seems the polls would indicate that more and more people are happy with the idea of joe biden being president. She needs to convince them that she is a candidate who could take over the reins. Joe biden at 77 years old would be the oldest president if elected. Rnmike pence has to his around. There is less than a month until the polls close. Some americans have already voted. Bthey wille wanting to change their fortunes. Katty sophie long in utah, thank you very much. Some half a dozen u. S. Politicians running for congress do believe in the conspacy theory group qanon. At m itst extreme, qanon maintains that there is a vast cadel ocrats running a sex trafficking ring. Facebook, which has been reluctant sometimes in the past, yes to say yesterday saiwo it d remove all qanon ads from its platforms even if they contain no violent content. In august, facook says it took wn more than 1500 pages and groups connected with qanon and removed more than 6500 pages and groups tied to 300 militarized social movements. Wh difference is this going to make . Joining me is will summer, for the daily beast. How significa is this decision by facebook . Itin is cer the harshest move weve seen from a social network against qanon. Qanon had thrived on facebook. Millions of people believed in qanon on facebook according to some studies. This was a place whe qanon sucked in people. People just happened upon a qanon item and suddenly found themselves pulled into these groups. So far facebook has done a pretty wide purge. I think this will set qanon back. Katty if i was to go onto qanon pages, how difficult would it be . If you just typed in qanon, i dont think that would work. Oyesterday morning, you would have found flourishing groups with hundreds of thousands of members, people just sort of radicalizing one another. Butav now you would to use a code word maybe. Get a little more subtle. Facebook says they are keeping an eye out for those as well. This has been a pretty wide ranging crackdown the strongest weve seen compared to Something Like twitter or youtube. Katty ee facebook has reluctant to police some of its content in the past. Why is it doing this now . Facebook partially has been reluctant to be seen as being ased against conservatives, but right now, thereas a smaller non crackdown in august and now they are doing it in oob. I think these platforms are starting to realize that it is bad business to be sociated with qanon. These are groups that commit violence. They harassed companies and celebrities. If you are facebook, that is not the business you want to be in. Katty do you think this could impact the election . m not sure if this individual crackdown well, b i think weve seen some Republican Leaders start to see qanon believers, very ludicrous beliefs, but theyve started to see them as part of the base. Theyve sort of defended qanon attacked qanon. Publicans who last week, the Trump Campaign had ad saying j biden is attackingst conspiracy theo like it is a bad thing. Katty can you give us some sense of the scale of this, i dont know if you call it a movement, but some sense the scale of qanon in the United States and arounthe world . Vigorously this is hard to gea read on. A lot of people belie the Democratic Party is running a sex trafficking ring but perhaps they dont think, i am a qanon believer. Nevertheless, recent pollingth foun 7 of respondents in the u. S. Identified themselve as qanon supporters. Theres other polls around that same amount. But this isnt just in the United States. In the united kingdom, hundreds of people flood these save the children rallies. In germany. A lot of activity this is all over europe as well as japan. The badt news is te cat may already be out of the bag. Katty will summer, thank you very much for that will be interesting to see what happens. The coronavirus cases are continuing to rise both here in the United States and across much of western europe. The sale of alcohol indoors for two weeks. But how infectious are covid19 particles circulating in the ai understanding that is still a challenge. bbcjon kay has more on that. Report it is one of thees biggest ons we face now. Infectious in the air . Sta whether at work, public transport, or socializing . At a secret location, scientists are trying to find the answer. Wve been given exclusive access as they make their final preparations as this love oratory. They are taking samples containing the coronavirus, placing them in this kit, and using an electric field, levitating the tiny droplets, making them hang around in the time jusas they would in thea real world. Adjusting the temperature, humidity, and light, they can find out what imct they have on the infectiousness of the virus. We are trying to mimic the virus remains infe in theong the aerosol phase. Reporter thesere the first images from the covid experiment. Six microspic droplets suspended in the air. This project is about studying the smallest airboe particles, those that arenvisible to the naked eye. We can look at how the virus remains infectious. Reporter the research could be particularly usel as we head into winter, spending more time indoors. How does ts help us understand how covid could be spread in a pub, office, or factory . We are particularly concerned in poorly ventilated spaces, spaces talking very loud or singing, generating these small aerosol particles. Reporter this research is set to last a year. The scientists hope it will add to our understanding of the risks face and the changes we may still need to make. Jon kay, bbc news, bristol. Katty i think i just talked myself into thinking this winter was going to be ok and then i watched that piece and rlized this could be spread everywhere and it is going to be a long time. But i will still be keeping in touch with all of you. The main officer charged in the killing of george floyd was milliondollar bail. Derek chauvin is scheduled to t faal in march along with three of his former colleagues. E foot of him pressing his knee on George Floyds neck caused protests around the world. Mppresident truas lost his latest bid to shield his tax returns in a federal appeals court. E Manhattan District Attorney says its office can enforce a subpoena. A lawyer for mr. Trumpe wise take the right up to the supreme court. You are watching bbc world news america. The middle east is experiencing a covid induced economic coma that has caused the cession of thousands of Foreign Workers are forced to return home. Been lifted in auckld, which joins the rest of the country ae the alert level. Social distancing is no longe required in bars and restaurants, with life there turning morer less back to normal. Good for them. That is after 10 consecutive gaze ofy no communit transmission. New zealand was celebrating being covid free for 100 days earlier in the year after that Strict Lockdown and the restrictns having eased. In august, another outbreak hitc the biggest tntry has seen. 180 cases linted to that cl now jacinda aern sai she is confident that this cluster is eliminated. Thingsoing back to normal at a crucial time because this is happening just over a week ahead of the general election. Katty over the last few years,u dubai and habi have been flooded with foreigners, people who move thereor wellpaying jobs, low taxes, and quality of life. The uae has been hit hard by recession and lots of Foreign Residents have lost their jobs. Forcing famies to pack up and go back home. The bbc has this report now from dubai. Capturing memories torish for a lifetime. After spending 10 years in the city where they met, fell in love, and started a family, they are getting ready to say goodbye. Both of them lost their jobs due to the pandemic. Despite their best efforts, they couldnt find any opportunities. They are now getting ready to leave e country. It is not easy. You can put your 10e years l into a few boxes. Ou friends are here and they became our family and all our life was sorted. We were financially secure and all this. And suddenly we need to go back home. Like lia and robert, thousands of families are in a similar situation. Shipping Companies Like this are flooded with orders. Report estimates that nearly one million Foreign Residents will have left by the of this year. The country does not give citizenship orermanent residency to foreign nationals, nor does it offer any social welfare benefits, which makes it difficult for expatriat to continue living here without any income. Even bluecollar workers that form the bulk of the workforce have been impacted severely. The uae is the tourism and trade hu its economy has been one of the worst hit due to the pandemic. The government has introduced policieso help businesses. But the crisis may not be over yet. Most Business Owner say they are not hiring at employment is very sharply down from the kind of baseline. Certainly we are going to see sharpeclines inome of the expatriate cmuty over the next year. As lydia and robert prepared to head back to their hometown, they are still not sure what the future holds for them. They are sad to leave, but hopeful that someday both of them wl be able to return the country. Bbc news, dubai. Katty they moved in and now they are moving out. E fighting between two former soviet republics could enter its if azerbaijan and armenia cant find a way to settle theirut territorial di our International Correspondent reports now from the ci on the front lines. Rerter as forces continue their advanced in footage released by the authorities here , the only show the victories, not the losses. And they dont allow independent access to the frontline. But we were allowed to enter the ghostof town tartar, which borders it is normally home to,0 100 people. Been driven out armenian shelling. But not this man we found picking up shrapnel. The armenians caused a lot of destruction, he told t it doesnt matter as long as they are driven out. Rerter some here in tartar are sheltering underground. He doesnt respond. Reporter he tells me her grandson is used to it, and shes not going anywhere. Weve been waiting for this fo 28 years. That is why we dontt want to one step away. My son and daughter are fighting on the front line. Weve just been hearing more coming fire. We heard what sounded like a jet a few minutesgo and there were some explosions in the last half hour or so. People tell us this is the way it has been for the last few days. It has become routine to have indiscriminate shelling. They say nine civilians have been killed in this area. No cradle, just a lullaby. But scenes like this are being repeated on the others of the frontline, as ethnic armenis are shelled by azerbaijan. In the capital, they come to honor soldiers who fell in combat stretching back to the soviet era. Theres a lot of nationalism on display and a lot of gratitude for strong backing from turkey. Weve come to visit the martyrs, says a 20yearold, and to celebrate some ofur victories. We believe there are a lot m e while they look to turkey, armenia is looking to russia. So far, it is largely staying out of the picture. For people here, the conflictve was nefrozen. But now, the old hatreds are threatening to inflame the regi. Katty a decadesold dispute that is still claiming lives. Before we go, what would you do with 32 million . One anonymous bidder at an ioauct had a different answer. This Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton that was picked up at an auction at christies, it was a 20 minute virtual bidding war that quadrupled his estimated value of 8 million. Stan is one of only 50 trex gossils ever discovered. He looks pretty for his age. The 40 foot dinosaur is in pristine condition. It has 188 bones andch over 11 ong teeth. For 32 narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Language specialists teaching spanish, french and more. Raymond james. The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewer you. Thank you. Yuyi i came to the uniteds. States when i was 24 years old. N i did not speaenglish. I felt very, very lost, really not knowing what to do with my life. One day onv there was sesame street. Ernie and grover and cookie monster. And its not only that i leard to speak in english, now i know how to live in the United States. So this is how you do it m now werful. Now i know i cano anything i want. I will make myself learn how to do it. And got that from pbs. I bought my first set of paints and brushes and i practiced. My path is childrens books. And i have found who i wanted to be. Which is that person who has something to say. Pbs and sesame street, they opened all the wod to me. Funding for this program is possible by contributions to like you. From viewers thank you. Woodruff good evening, the i am Judy Woodruff and welcome to the pbs newshour special uninterrupted coverage of the only Vice President ial debate of this 2020 election. In just few moments Vice President mike pence and california senator Kamala Harris will be on the stage at Kingsbury Hall on the campus of the university of utah in salt lake city. Pence has served under president trp for almost four years, senator har