Life well planned. The freeman foundation. By judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbstation from viewers like you. Thank you. I am jane obrien and this is world news america. Two weeks to go before the u. S. President ial election but many voters have already made up their minds as early voting gets underway. I am in the battleground state of florida. Voters have been lining up since dawn for early voting. We take a look at whether latino voters could hand President Trump another victory or defeat. The president ial election. We its impact on security in asia as chinas military might continues to grow. And the short,harp shock of cold water. Could swimming in it prevent dimension . Our correspondent takes the plunge could swimming it prevent dementia . It certainly is refreshing. Your whole body screams and shock. In shock. Jane welcome to world news america on pbs and around the globe. We are just 15 days away from the u. S. Election and in the battleground state of florida where joe biden and donald trump are tied voters are already casting ballots. Katty kay was with them in miami where she joins us now live. You have had a lot of rain, but judging by the lines it has not kept people indoors, has it . No, it was blowing like a hurricane this morning. It was still out there. It did not seem to dampen voter enthusiasm is all at all. Florida has 14 million eligible voters and in past elections they have been nailbiters down here. To give you an idea, cast your mind factor 2018 when the was a te race. Rick scott defeated the incumbent bill nelson but by the tiniest of margins. There were only 10,000 votes between them. After speaking to some of those early florida voters today, it looks like it could be another razor thin margin. I was here at 7 00 this morning. Brought my friends here. To vote. I just dropped off miky ballot,i dropped it off in the mail. You knew you wanted to vote early . Yeah. It is going to be crazy. I can tell. Look at the people here. It was bigger when i first got here. It is a very important election and we have to the more we show as a people that we want to exercise our right t vote the better we are. I know a flood of republicans who are voting for joe biden this year but at the same time it seems like a lot of folks are overlooking the Disgusting Things we see coming out of the president s mouth. They are voting because they care more about, you know, abortion or gun rights than they do about a president eing president ial. Im very happy. Rain, rain, i dont care. I came 6 00 in the morning. Yeah. Rain, i dont care. I vote for trump. Viva trump. Trump. Florida, i feel it always comes back to florida. When this polling station opened this morning it was pouring with rain and a howling wind, and people were still queuing up to vote. Because they know how tied this tight the state can be. Weather report to republicans or democrats this morning the also the same thing florida is on the knifes edge. And anyone who lives in this ate who is old enough remembers this. In 2000, it was just 537 votes in the whole state of florida that separated al gore and george bush. One became president , the other didnt. Most of th i afternoon with a trump caravan. And the enthusiasm is just as high. So, which way is it going to go . Joining me now is david smiley, a political reporter for the miami herald. Ive spoken to diehard democrats and diehard republicans, it does look once again its too close to call in florida. Anybody who tells you they ow who is going to win florida is just making it up. Nobody knows. It will almost certainly be incredibly close. Donald trump won this state about, by one point in 2016. If it is anything more than that in 2020, by florida standards, that is pretty much a blowout. We got two weeks to go. Could you see anything happening, david, between now and election day that could materially make a difference in the race . I think if we see coronavirus numbers increase significantly in the state, that this essentially has a big impact. We know that Donald Trumps voters are going to show up in big way on election day. And how much is going to be the big question. Joe biden will go into election day with a very large lead. We have about half a million more democrats who have voted at this point than republicans in the state of florida but we also know that there are close to half a million republican super voters, people who always vote no matter have yet to vote, in part because many republicans are shifting from mail voting towards voting in person this election cycle. So, the in person turnout becomes really important, especially for donald trump. If there is a bad which seems like it is unlikely to hpen but still possible, tt would essentially have a big effect on the election. David, i thank you are too young to remember this but i still have ptsd about the 2000 election and the weeks that followed after that. Tell me. Is 20 20 going to be 2000 2. 0, are we going to be in for another recount situation . We may be in for another recount situation. I do not with think it would be as chaotic. I was in high school. I do remember it very well. I grew up in broward county, the most leftleaning county in the state of florida, huge mess in 2000. But the laws in the state of florida have been finely tuned to avoid that chaotic situation. Wttwo years ago, even though we had some very contentious recounts with some problems 20 years ago by and large it wasnt much much more smoothly than 2000. There are laws to prevent the situation from happening. I think we are losing davids line just at the end of that, but again it is going to be close, jane. Slightly disappointed that david was in high school back then. I was covering the selection. One differences, remember back in 2000 . The hanging chad and pregnant chats. This time is the difference is around signatures all of those signatures need to match the signatures of the voters on the web just repaired on the other hand, remember, florida starts, is already counting as early mailin ballots. So, hopefully when we get to election day we do not have to wait a long time to get floridas result and, as everybody says, if joe biden wins florida he wins the white house. This makes this a very critical statfor donald trump to win. Jane dont worry because i, too, remember 2000 all too well. Thanks for joining us. We will go back to her later on. But the outcome of the american president ial election will he a major impact not just on the u. S. But around the globe. This week across bbc news they are exploring the impact of the America First strategy by President Trump here we take a look now at how the Trump Presidency is affecting security and asia. On october 1 last year china put on this extraordinary display of military might. Legioned, disciplined soldiers, the new stealth drones, its hypersonic cruise missiles. This is a force that military experts say is designed for one purpose to give chinas leaders the ability to take on and defeat the United States. This has has happenedh faster than anyone expected. For the past 20 wheres the main question most people ask is will the United States defend its partners . As thehinese military becomes advanced, the question has shifted and beijing, from will they . The u. S. Has around 80,000 troops and 25 ships based in asia. Most of them in japan. From here, the u. S. Navy has dominated the western specific for the last pacific for the last 7years. It is not had a rival since the end of the cold war. Now in the shape of china it very suddenly does. A question for the next president , trump or biden, is stark. Is the u. S. Ready and willing to take on the challenge from china . In the South China Sea, the challenge to American Naval power is already underway. In 2012, china took control of the coral atolles called scarborough shole off the coast of the falklands. It began constructinthree huge artificial islands and building runways. These are places where the chinese we flew over a place called Mischief Reef to film the massive construction effort going on there. Captain James Finnell was the head of u. S. Naval intelligence in the pacific. He watched happening with frustrating. What happened at scarborough from april to june 2012 was americans biggest Foreign Policy failure nature since our helicopters took off from the roofs of those Embassy Buildings in saigon in 1975. It was a disaster. And it really d a debilitating impact on Americas National credibility in asia when we did not do anything to defend the philippines. Bu expes sayt, for chinas president s xi jinping the South China Sea is just the beginning. His ultimate goal is taiwan. A vibrant democracy of 24 million people. It almost does not matter very much what type e taipei or washington will do about taiwan security. Xi jinping wants taiwan back, and xi jinping wants to have taiwan back before he hands over power to whoever comes next. The headaches for the next u. S. President do not end there. This is north koreas latest mega missile revealed at a huge parade on october 10. If their Nuclear Ambitions are not stopped, something others i asian could go nuclear, even south korea and japan. They are concerned about a future of east asian order that has both china, russia, and north korea all Nuclear Armed against south korea and japan. But the biggest challenge facing theu. S. Is still xi jinping. The chinese leader has 10 or 15 years to complete his mission to unify all of chinas lost territories. How will the u. S. Respond . That is the question facing the next u. S. President , whoever it may be. Jane well, from a cold war with china to cold water swimming, because it could hold a clue to a possible dementia cure, according to Cambridge University. Scientist discovered a protein that has been shown to slow the onset of dementia in mice that swn the winter. Our environment correspondent explains. Fancy a dip . Yes, in col war. Its warm. Ahh we are from the north, so we can handle it. Why might this help protect against dementia . The ansr is a latent hibernation ability prompted by getting cold that it seems han beings retain. When animals hibernate they lose some of the connections between their brain sells, but they are remarkably reformed wh they wake in the spring thanks in part to a protein discovered by the Cambridge University team. Which is where this hempstead heath. The scientists wanted to know if our bodies produce the same protein, andled a group group of people who regular get very cold. After three years of blood tests, the subjects of the trials are gathered to hear the results. We compared you to a bunch of people doing tai chi. And none of them get the increased levels of this protein but many of you did. So, what does it tell us . Cold does induce this protein in humans. You are the nonpatient cohorts to show that cold water swimming raises this protein which is pretty cool. But, remember, winter swimming can be really dangerous if you are not used to it or have an underlying illness. So, do be careful. The challenge now is to find a drug that stimulates the production of the protein in humans and of course to prove it really does help delay dementia. If you slow the progress of dimension by a couple of years, a whole population that would happen in or miss impact, economically and healthwise an enormous impact. The link between coldwater and dementia is a very promising line of research but do not expect results soon. There is lots more work to be done before it yields a potential treatment. Jane rather him than me. You are watching bbc world news america. Still to come, both candidates running for president have campaigned hard among latino voters in florida. Will a growing number of venezuelans give mr. Trump the support he needs for another four years in office . The social Party Candidate luis arce may have enough votes to avoid a second round runoff. These elections are rerun of the president ial vote last year that saw the former leader going to exile in argentina. Katy watson has more. We can be, they said they would not be giving output luminaries also. Pliminary results. They would only be giving out official vote count, and it could take days. But we are at 25 of the vote counted so far. A long way off from getting an official result however, pretty much everyone including the closest rival carlos mesa has conceded defeat and talked about that this is an opportunity to build democracy in which the opposition has a voice. It seems that looking at those images, hearing what happened last yr,t seems like everyone seems to be on board to try and build a a Better Future for bolivia. Jane the Irish Government has announced it will impose the highest level of covid19 restriction since the spring. The level five measures will shut down much of the Retail Sector until december. But will be reviewed after four weeks. Schools will remain open, although separately schools in Northern Ireland have begun a two week closure. The arrival of a second lockdown. Many an unwelcome inevitability. Dublins nightlife will soon disappear once more. It is confusing. Itsauuite i know i for young people because there is no outlet for young people. The, cases are rising but like, what do you expect . You ahve teachers have teachers and classrooms and they are full. Counties along the irish border have been some of the worst effective with cases of the virus climbing for a second time. Who doubles as a funeral director and shop manager in the village good afternoon. The virus is feeling increase in the present. It is coming very close in the local community here. It is coming, back, really to every house. Do you think will be harder this time around . The people are housebound. They cannot quote for a walk. They cannot walk their dog, cannot exercise. And they have no comfort or whatever. Ireland has a tiered system. This county is in er four. People have a few days until they moved to tier five, close to what was back in march. Tonight the Prime Minister announced that nonessential businesses must close across ireland. Restaurants and cafes and bars will be take away only. Only essential retail may remain open. Everyone in the country has been asked to stay at home with exercise permitted within a five kilometer radius of their home. Only essential workers whose physical presence in the workplace are permitted to travel to work. Those who can work from home must do so. It comes after wave of new restrictions in Northern Ireland began on friday. Keep schools open, Northern Ireland closed schools from today, an extra week on the half term break. If this break does continue beyond two weeks, i think the pressures that would be brought to bear would be enormous, to try to say, can we do we really have to make a change this year because, its proving to be impossible to provide the level of education they require. In the counties with the highest rates of infection, food and hospitality businesses have already shut. But the government believes these localized measures are not working. So, tonight, much more of ireland is braced for a near total return of the lockdown up before. Jane ok, lets return to our top story and that is early voting in florida. Katty kay is there for us. There is a particular voting block that is getting a lot of attention from both president ial candidates. Who are they . Katty yeah, of course, latinos make up a big part of floridas population. There are 17 of registered voters. One of the fastestgrowing groups are actually venezuelans. Who fled from their home country to escape famine, political unrest. Between 2008 and 2018 the number of venezuela eligible voters in florida grew by a staggering 184 , which makes up about 2 of the total latino voting population. That might not sound like a lot but their votes in a tight election in florida can be very tight, could decide who is elected the next president. How are venezuelans going to vote . I spoke to a venezuela native and journalist who now lives in florida. We heaa lot about the cuban vote in florida and how important it is. But this election it seems to me that theenezuelan vote could also be important. Especially in must win florida. It will come down to the wire and this is a state where every single vote counts. There was all most half a million venezuelan americans, and most of them are in the state of florida. Are they more important, are there more venezuelans who can vote in this election than say in 2016 . Absolutely. You have the most massive refugee crisis that happened in the american hemisphere coming from venezuela. It is the number one source of asylumseekers to the United States. I am an example. I came here 12 years ago. Four years ago i could not vote in this time around i am a first time voter. Congratulations. Your first vote in america. Exciting. How important to the Venezuelan Community then was President Trumps support of the opposition . It was critical. Trump knows how to manage the media and manipulate the media. And showing guaido at the state of the union have both parties applauding him. That was so simple it. I mean, i saw it, trump us genius because even though he said all options are on the table in terms of venezuela, that has not materialized into action. But just the fact that he gave guaido symbolic support has a lot of venezuelans rallying for him. Do you think like the cuban vote, the venezuelan vote is a bloc for donald trump . Is this a big voting block for him . Hes courting them as a bloc. Many will come out for him. But, i think it is really hypocritical in the sense that his symbolic support of guaido has not supported the Venezuelan American Community that resides in the United States. And you see it with concret actions like temporary protected status and many of the venezuelans that have come here, trump has not really pulled that off. But hes still managed to persuade them that he is there guy. Trump is the venezuelans guy. Byu showingt support, even symbolic and using bug words like communism, socialism and if biden gets elected what you saw in venezuela will happen here. Clearly that is not the case because of americas institutions. You and i have spoken about the state of democracy, having come from venezuela to america, how confident do you feel about the strength of american democracy if this is a tight election, if trump were to lose and not concede, do you think it is a robust democracy . I think it is more fragile than people believe. And having seen venezuela, a democratic country crumble i see many of the things, the sam things happening here. It is authoritarianism, even coming from the right. The fact that trump is casting a shadow of the doubt over the system, the fact that people are rallying against the establishment, the fact that he is limited access to free press, polarization. All of that whe the seeds of discontent i saw in venezuela happening here. Thank you very much. Mariana, interesting. You hear a lot about the cuban vote. We have not heard tt much about the venezuelan vote but in this election it could actually be that they have enough numbers, if it is tight to tip this one way or another. Ive been here for a couple of days here. I cannot vote tell you which way florida will vote. Jane you will be in georgia tomorrow. Do join us for that. And you can find more on all of the days news, katty there in florida at our website and to see what we are working on it any time, do check us out on twitter. Im jane obrien. Thanks very much indeed for watching bbc world news america. 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 viewers like you. Thank you. Narrator youre watching pbs. Vo ready to watch the best of anytime, anywhe, on nearly any device . Its easy withhe pbs video app. Simply download the pbs video app on your mobile or streaming device. Now you can watch the latest pbs episodes, or catch up on the shows you missed. And when you support your local station, you can get pbs passport, giving you access to more episodes, more specials, more of what you love get the pbs video app now and stream the best of pbs, anytime you want, anywhere you are. A platform where. People can go to in order to sre their experiences. When i was 18 and joined the marine corps. And its been an amazing journey ever since. Thisroject can help bring us together. To understand what it really means to be an american. To join in. Go to pbs. Org americanportrait join us, and be a part of history. Amna good evening. Im amna nawaz. Judy woodruff is away. Onhe newshour tonight, the pandemic and the polls. How the president ial campaigns are apprching this final stretch to election day. Then we explore whats behind this latest spike in covid cases across the country. Plus, the politics of fear how. How this one emotion is overwhelming voters as they cast their ballots. Lisa what does all this use of fear do, what does it mean to voters . We asked on social media and the response was overwhelming. Thousands of people answered, surprising us with the intensity of their fears related to the election. Amna all that and more on tonights pbs newshour