Life well planned. The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Laura this is bbc world news america. Reporting from washington, i am laura trevelyan. Could gray power be x factor in the president ial election . We will report from a battground in florida. Jon donald trump won a huge victory in the villages. But the latest polls suggested joe den is well ahead amongst the over65s. Laura the centers for Disease Control says household gatherings are spreading coronavirus in the u. S. , but the whithouse is hearing from scientists with a more controversial approach. 200 nights in a tent and counting. A 10yearold boy in britain is paying tribute to his neighbor and raising money for charity along the way. Laura welcome to world news america on pbs and around the globe. There are just 20 days to go until the u. S. Election. Tonight the president is in the battleground state of iowa, while his rival joe is raising funds for the closing stretch of the campaign. Both candidates have been in florida for the socalled senior vote, which went republican four years ago. Will fear of coronavirus swing the elderly towards the democrats this time . Heres jon sopel. Jon it is the morning aqua aerobics class, and these elderly ladies have been invited by the instructor to join the love train. But once they get out of the water, there will be the incessant demands to board the trump train or the biden bandwagon. They dont seem happy travelers, as i discover at an impromptu focus group. How many of you want this election to be over . [cheers] jon they all live at the villages, americas biggest retirement community. When i say big, i mean humongous. It has a population of 130,000, it covers an area bigger than southhampton, and spans over five postcodes. The preferred mode of transport golf carts. Early vong is underway. The gravote is critical for Donald Trumps reelection. Not all republicans are seeing it as black and white. Im thinking biden is going to win. Jon does that make you happy or unhappy . I prefer the republican platform, so im voting for the republican platform is what im voting for. Not necessarily trump, but the platform. This is a very, very important election, and i made sure my democratic joe biden vote got early on time. Jon are you confident he might win . Yes. Confident he might . Im confident he will. Jon democrats have a spring in their step. The votes that have been cast so far are all for by mail vote by mail. The return is higher than ever before. Well over 50 democrat. That says to me that the momentum that we Felt Building to this moment is still there and still growing. Jon four years ago, donald trump won a huge victory here in the villages. But the latest polls suggest that joe biden is will lead amongst the over65s, and if that turns out to be true on polling day, that could be th difference between success and failure in florida. But just like four years ago, the republicans are saying dont believe everything you read in the polls. Trump is a bombastic personality. A lot of people really appreciate that. A lot of people like it if you ask somebody question, you get an answer. Donald trump will give you an answer. I think a lot of people appreciate that. Jon not a blade of grass out of place. It looks genteel. But dont be fooled. There is a vicious and unrelenting fight going on that will not stop until november 3. Jon sopel, bbc news, florida. Laura the senior vote is just one thread in the tapestry of this election. Joining us to look at the complete picture is seen her north america reporter anthony zurcher. We have the president in iowa today. What does that tell you about the state of the race when he won that state convincingly in 2016 . Anthony he did win the state convincingly. It was one of the biggest swings from support for barack obama in 2012 to support for donald trump in 2016. It tells you dollar trump is playing defense right now. On friday he is going to georgia, another state that has been traditionally republican. He w just in ohio and probably going back again soon, a state he carried comfortably. The signs are that donald trump is trying to hold it down what he already has and not trying to expand the playing field. Laura well, this week was supposed to see the second president ial debate, but instead what were going to get our two dueling town halls with both candidates on content tv aon prime time tv at exactly the same time. That is pretty confusing for voters, isnt it . Anthony it is confusing, and i think it is a missed opportunity for donald trump, because this was a chance, temple debate on thursday night, for him to put the first debate performance behind him. If you look at how he has done in the two weeks since the first debate, it did hurt him, in particular among suburban women voters, and now he will have to get eyeballs. He will get some attention for being on, but joe biden will be on another channel. Even if you think debate help, doing debate dueling debates with the candidates on different stages will not help much at all. Laura early voting is off the charts. There is so much enthusiasm. What can we read into that in terms of the possible result . Jon anthony you know, the republicans were questioning whether the enthusiasm was there forjoe biden and the democrats. What we are seeing from this early turnout is that there is no Enthusiasm Gap right now. It is too early to read too much into this about whether the democrats or republicans have an advantage, because it seems like democrats have been told to get out and vote early, get out and vote by mail, or as has been telling his constituencies that it is better to vote on election day. If you look at michigan and wisconsin, they are at 25 of the turnout from 2016 already. In harris county, where houston is, democratic city in texas, 120,000 people cast ballots on the first day of early voting, almost double the number who cast ballots in 2016. We have had 13 million ballots cast already. Back in 2016, 136 Million People cast ballots. Still only 10 of turnout. Three weeks away from we are seeing signs that the turnout may set records. Certainly more enthusiasm on both sides then we saw in 2016. Laura just briefly, how about all this microtargeting going on with a campaigns, like the biden ad on his catholic faith and the Trump Campaign with seniors . Anthony i think what you are seeing, a race that could be close, is paying attention to small constituencies. Catholic voters are important places like pennsylvania. Totally voters are important info elderly voters are important in places like florida. That is why it is so puzzling to see donald trump tweeting out a picture of joe ben in a nursing home in a derogatory way. That undercuts the message he was trained to do in the jon sopel package. Laura thanks for joining us, as ever. This week, as anthony was saying, we have seen long lines in georgia, some waiting for hours to cast ballots. The state has a troubled history of a Voter Suppression. More recently there have been strict requirements on the kind of identification voters need. All of this has revived fears that africanamericans are being disenfranchised. Reporter waiting for hours. Long lines at polling locations for the primary election in georgia in june. I have covered elections in other democracies in a, like nigeria and south africa, where america is seen as a beacon of democracy. But some of its citizens, like here in the heart of atlanta, it is a game of cards, and they have been dealt a bad hand. Gary harris is a nurse who volunteers as a poll worker. He sees people blocked from voting for minor reasons. We may have a votes can but a lot of us will be suppressed, for every reason they can use to strike the ballot, like felonies, signatures not matching. Reporter officials at georgias largest county are looking for redemption after accusations of Voter Suppression. They rolled out a mobile voting unit for voters who have been frustrated too many times. How are you, sir . Im good, thank you. This is the first in the state of georgia . Yes, sir. We are very proud of it. Reporter but the station wheels want to drive away strict voridentification laws that make it hard for minorities to vote. Lo lines, missing ballots, and voting machine failures, widely criticized as instances of Voter Suppression. Nearly 200,000 people were incorrectly removed from the states voter rolls in 2019 acrding to the American Civil Liberties union of georgia. A lot of the rules that seem to be reasonable to a middleclass person who works a whitecollar job and drives a car are end up being Voter Suppression from the point if you of a person who moves a lot, who is low income, was working a minimumwage job. Reporter those fighting and documenting what they say is Voter Suppression say tactics are deliberate. Others, just sheer incompetence. They say it is a sign of a fragile democracy. They say it is a battle worth fighting biggest civil rights in this country have come too far to turn back. Officials hope 80 of people will vote early or by absentee ballot to reduce the strain on election day. That was pretty easy. My staff, if you were to go around and ask them if they would participate in any sort of votersuppression tactics, you would get a resounding no. We have done everything since 2013 when i arrived. The only thi we have been focused on is in franchising voters. Reporter civilrights icon john lewis towers over atlanta. A Democratic State senator running to replace him in Congress Says she sees a larger problem in how elections are run here. I am very well aware of the leadership we still have in the state. The legislature is majority republicancontrolled in both chambers, ana republican governor, republican secretary of state. We are very much mindful of the fact that we oftentimes have to go to the courts to get relief for voters in the state. Reporter a record turnout is expected in this election, but in the worlds most famous tomography, full access to voting most famo democracy, full access to voting is not the full guarantee that has been promised. Laura as the temperatures begin to fall in the u. S. , new Coronavirus Infections are rising in more than 30 states, the worst we have seen since august. As people spend more time indoors for winter, the number of cases could rise even further. The centers for disease corol is warning that small family gatherings could be the new flashpoint. At the same time, the white house has been hearing from scientists who are pushing the theory of herd immunity, the idea that when a majority of people in the community are infected, further spread is unlikely. Ahead of the head of the World Health Organization has slammed this approach. Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from the virus, not by exposing them to it. Never in the history of Public Health has herd immunity been used as a strategy for responding to an outbreak, let alone a pandemic. Its scientifically and ethically problematic. Laura for more on this, were joined by an emergency physician at Brown University and cofounder of get us ppe. Based on what you are seeing in emergency rooms, are we seeing a second wave of covid19 here in the u. S. . We are absolutely starting to see the beginning of this muchdreaded second wave across the United States. Emergency departments across the country are reporting increased number of covid19 patients, and as opposed to a month or two ago where many of the patients we were seeing are young and relatively healthy, we are now eing higher numbers of people who are sick or, we are seeing hospitalizations and intensivecareunit admissions start climb. Laura the cdc is saying that the new threat is coming from small household gatherings. What exactly do you think is going on there . Dr. Ranney i think there is a couple of things. The first is that we are all tired of this. We are tired of being isolated and separated from our friends in a family. We think, i know someone well, i can get together with them for a short period of time. As the weather turns colder, the small family and friend gatherings are moving inside. I think that is part of it. I think the other part is just that the virus is spreading more, and as it becomes more and more common in the community, it is more and more likely that these small gatherings are going to contain a person who actually has covid. I think it is a combination of our fatigue and the spread of the virus thats leading to this report from the cdc. Laura well, so does that explain now why the white house has been meeting with scientists who like the idea of herd immunity . What do you make of that . Dr. Ranney i wish i could explain why they are meeting with those scientists, because that is not a concept that is endorsed by most of us in Public Health or dicine. There are ample studies from the United States and elsewhere across the world suggesting that we are so far from herd immunity, only of americans have been infected with covid19 at this point. We would need upwards of 70 to be infected to have heard immunity. Im not sure why they are meeting with those scientists except that perhaps they want to defend their current lack of action. As ive said before on your show, we still lacked adequate personal protective equipment and testing. We lack universal precautions across the United States. We continue to lack a thorough National Response to this virus. Laura so, given all of that, what is your advice to americans and people around the world as the Colder Weather is approaching us . Dr. Ranney my advice is a few things. The first is keep an eye out on local numbers of covid19. Numbers start to rise, it will be more and more important to limit the number of social contacts you have. The second piece of advice is to always wear a mask come whether you are with friends and family or not. The third is as much as possible to stay outside, and when you are with people who are not in your household, to engage in activities that are not shoing or singing or exercising. We saw a report of a big infection in canada from a spin cycle studio. Avoid those types of occurrences or engagements as much as possible. I know that we all do still crave social connection. Make that happen, but do so in a safeway outdoors with masks on. Laura important advice. Dr. Megan ranney, thanks so much for being with us. Dr. Ranney thank you. Laura in otherews from around the world, french president Emmanuel Macron has announced a nighttime curf for paris and eight other cities starting saturday to combat the spread of corovirus. Police will fine people around 160 if they are caught out between 9 00 p. M. And 6 00 a. M. , with a penalty raising to 1700 for pete offenders. Night workers will be exempt. Iranianbacked Houthi Rebels in yemen have free to to american cap is in what is reported to be swap involving a number of militants. The white house said welcomed the release. Earlier, the wall street journal reporter they had been flown to oman with the remains of a third american. In return, more than 200 supporters of the Rebel Movement world like to fly home to yemen from oman for somein thailand, prodemocracy protesters are staging demonstrations on the streets of bangkok, calling for the departure of the Prime Minister and a new constitution. Some want to impose curbs on the power of the monarchy. Rival demonstrations took place in the city, and thousands of Police Officers were deployed to maintain the peace. You are watching bbc world news america. Still to come on tonights program, a looming fight over fishing rights. Why french fishermen fear they are going to lose out under the u. K. s brexit plan. The dutch government has approved plans to allow euthanasia for terminally ill children between the ages of one and 12. Our correspondent reports from the hague. Reporter the new law will apply to incurably Sick Children who are experiencing unbearable plane and have no hope of recovery. It comes after a report was published by a group of medical experts which found small groups of very Young Children were suffering because doctors were afraid to take the action that would hasten their imminent deaths. The dutch Health Minister has said that the law is designed to offer those doctors greater Legal Protections that offer some transparency to the system. It has caused intense debate in the netherlands. The country was the first in the world to actually legalize euthanasia. But after months of debate in parliament, the new legislation, which is likely to affect between five to 10 job in a year, is expted to be introduced in the next few months. Laura european leaders are holding a summit in brussels on thursday to look at whether talks on a new trading relationship with the u. K. Have gone to. Fiing rights have become a major Sticking Point in the negotiations. Have to catch in frances northern ports come from british waters. Lucy williamson is on the french coast. Lucy like negotiators, fishermen rely on shifting positions to get results. Navigating the distance between france and the u. K. Is a daily commute. Three quarters of his crimes and lobsters come from british waters. His grandfather fish off the coast of scotland. His father here in the channel like him. He is worried that the ebb and flow of postbrexit trade negotiations will sink boats like his. Devastated, so disappointed if we cannot enter british waters. It is practically end of our profession. Lucy britain reportedly wants to change the way its fish stock are allocated. Francis refused any compromise. No deal is better than a bad deal, it says. What we have seen in the last week, there will be no agreement if we dont have full confidence and respect of the first part of the negotiation. Lucy despite the fear of fishermen and the heartline position hardline position of president macron, many in france believe a deal on fishing is possible. But too much compromise could start trouble at home for mr. Macron. The head of the region is a potential val for the presidency, and after years social unrest in france and now the pressures of covid, more disruption in this sensitive area like this is the last thing mr. Macron needs. Many fishermen say they would compromise on their cash rather than lose access completely. It would be a lot more acceptable to have 80 of the catch in it is waters rather than nothing at all for in british waters rather than nothing at all. Lucy at this fish market, buyers choose fish for restaurant tables. Three quarters is sold to the eu. No deal assures a mutual issue destruction for fishermen on both sides of the travel. Will navigation of these contested what is proof contested what was prove easier than in brussels . Laura french fishermen caught in the middle. In britain, a 10yearold boy has raised tens of thousands install this for charity by camping out in his back rden. He has been sleeping under the stars in a tent left a him by his neighbor who died in february. He has been there ever since, mo than 200 nights. Jokay has more. Jon night 205. As max goes to bed once agn he is remembering his hero rick and his neighbor, who died of cancer earlier this year and left max his tent. He was amazing, he loved the outdoors. He said, you have got to promise to you will have an adventure, and i said yes my promise you that. Jon what an adventure he has d. And smart, since march, max has slept in the garden every night, despite all the dangers he has encountered. I woke up in the morning with red ant bites all around my leg. Jon the 10 has had so much use from he has had to get a new one, big enough for digging elaborate little from time to time. You have a nice warm bed. Ive never seen it this tidy. J are you tempted to go inside in the middle of the night . No. Having your parents eck on you. Jon it is the middle of october now. Presume it will be cold and we pretty soon it will be cold and wet and went right. Are you prepared to do this . Yeah. Even if it is snowy, i will live in it. Jon max says he will do the fullyear, and there is a big incentive. He has raised tens of thousands of pounds for the hospice care for his hero. If rick was alive, he would be by my side in a tent right now. Laura go max. Before we go, the auction house christies says it sold a rare collection of shakespeares plays for nearly 10 million. It was published in 1623, seven years after shakespeares death, and considered to be one of the most important works of english literature. The book contains 36 plays including macbeth, 12th night, and julius caesar. It is the first time in decades at a copy like business of the market. If i had 10 million, i,o come would want shakespeares first folio. You can find much more on all that jesus on our website. All the days news on our website. I am laura trevelyan. Thank you for watching bbc world news america. Narrator funding for is presentation of this program is provid 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 viewers like you. Thank you. Yuyi i came to the unitedpbs. States when i was 24 years old. I did not speak any english. I felt very, very lost, really not knowing what to do with my life. One day on tv there was sesame street. Ernie and grover and cookie monster. And its not only that i learned to speak in english, now i know how to live in the United States. So this is how you do it now im powerful. Now i know i can do anything i want. I will make myself learn how to do it. And i 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 world to me. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff good evening, im judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight. Every time you ask me a question about whether a case was correctly decided or not, i cannot answer that question because i cannot suggest agreement or disagreement. Woodruff . The partisan divide is on display as senators again question president trumps third nominee to the supreme court. Then, voting early the pandemic and a contentious election prompt a massive surge in ballots cast before election day. Plus, the machines of democracy. As election day approaches, we examine different methods of electronic voting as well as their strengths and weaknesses
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