this is bbc news. i'm kasia madera, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. one month after the blast that claimed so many lives, rescuers in beirut think somebody may still be alive under the rubble of this building. joe biden visits kenosha, where he spoke by phone to jacob blake — whose shooting by police triggered days of unrest. south korea imposes a near lockdown on its capital. why experts suspect some of the country's churches may have worsened the latest coronavirus outbreak. the literary race begins! we look at how the pandemic made it a tougher competition to become a christmas best—seller.

hello, and welcome. rescue workers in lebanon are searching for a possible survivor from the port blast in beirut that devastated the city a month ago. a sniffer dog alerted rescuers in the rubble of a collapsed building, and the team then said their scanners had detected a pulse. they've been digging ever since, and they say they'll keep going even if there's only a 1% chance of finding someone. our international correspondent orla guerin has been watching them work all day. hands up for silence. rescue workers and many in this battered city wait for a sign, daring to hope. and then, beeping that confirms breathing has been detected beneath the rubble. could there really be

a survivor 30 days on? rescuers from chile have been carrying out painstaking work. their key team member — a border collie called flash, who was the first to raise the alert when he detected a body at this location. night falls and floodlights are brought in, as the search continues hour by hour. some rescue workers go back in. nearby, others regroup. the rubble is being removed here piece by piece, by hand. well, they're getting set up here now to work through the night. they're setting up tent as an operations room. and the rescue team has been telling us that they'll be divided into groups of seven — only seven will be allowed up on the rubble at any one time because they're so afraid

of dislodging any of the wreckage. they have to proceed slowly and painstakingly. translation: the dog detected something, and the technology also detected a place in the building — the same the same point of interest as for the dog. it's four metres deep. it doesn't mean someone is alive or dead in the building. we have to get to that point and confirm. later on during the evening, the search teams, the chilean experts said they had to stop because they were worried one of the walls was going to completely collapse. they've pulled out their teams, saying they would now need to secure the site, secure that wall before they could continue, and they left for the night. orla guerin, bbc news, beirut. us presidential candidate joe biden has been visiting kenosha, winsconsin — the city that was rocked by violent unrest last month after police shot an unarmed black man, jacob blake, in the back.

mr biden called mr blake in hospital and had a private meeting with his family. they had refused to meet donald trump when he visited the city on tuesday. this report from our north america correspondent, aleem maqbool, contains footage that some viewers may find distressing. a rare trip in this pandemic forjoe biden. an indication ofjust how important events here have become in this election campaign. donald trump knows it, he's already been to kenosha, where he focused on condemning rioting and lawlessness. joe biden, though, talked of racial injustice, and criticised the president for stoking troubles. i've got to defeat hate. it only hides, it only hides, and when someone in authority breathes oxygen on to that rock, it legitimises those folks to come on out. unlike donald trump, joe biden met the family ofjacob blake —

he himselfjoined by phone from hospital. it was his shooting by a police officer that started all of this. but this spot had other visitors from out—of—town — nephews of george floyd. we're out here in kenosha, showing our love and our prayers for kenosha, man. neighbours came out to meet them, and thank them for theirfamily‘s work since their uncle was killed by a police officer, who knelt on his neck. a loss that is still clearly very raw. thank you for taking yourself out of your comfort zone so we can have a voice with action. exactly. and what is that action? george floyd's family told me the most important thing now is to vote against donald trump. we demand change. so this is what's going to happen, we need to get out there and vote, vote him out. from our city officials, locals, our police officers, everybody not with this movement — you need to go. hey, get on the ground. get on the ground. all this comes as newly—released police video

shows yet another disturbing case. daniel prude was having a mental health episode when officers handcuffed him and knelt on him. he stopped breathing, and died several days later. the medical examiner ruled it as homicide. i placed a phone call for my brother to get help, not for my brother to get lynched. donald trump and joe biden have now laid out their very different stances on race and policing. which appeals the most depends on which side of this deeply divided country a voter finds themselves. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in kenosha, wisconsin. let's get some of the day's other news... let me take you live to pennsylvania, this is the arnold palmer regional air airport where air force one has just landed. donald trump will be hosting a rally there, it

keep america great rally ahead of november's election. he's hoping to win pennsylvania again — this is a state he won backin again — this is a state he won back in 2016 and he hopes to hold onto it. and the moment we get any more, we will bring that to you. but that's just the live shot ahead of a donald trump rally in pennsylvania. let's bring you up—to—date with some of the day's other news. police in germany are waiting to question the mother of five children who were found dead in an apartment in the western city of solingen. the children were aged between one and eight. the woman is in hospital after being badly injured when she jumped in front of a train. facebook has said it will block new political advertisements here in the us during the week before the presidential election in november. the company said it would also act against posts that try to dissuade people from voting. the social network said that after the vote, it would also quash any

attempts by candidates to claim false victories. more than 300 people have been arrested during a third day of climate change protests in central london. the metropolitan police said more than 200 arrests were linked to a demonstration on lambeth bridge. some extinction rebellion supporters glued themselves to the ground around parliament. the carbon emissisons from fires burning across the arctic this summer were at record levels for a second year running. that's according to a group of scientists funded by the european union. researchers fear that so—called "zombie fires" may now be smouldering underground from one year into the next. it is thought that almost all of the fires are in russia. south korea has been praised for its efforts to contain the coronavirus, but has now imposed a near—lockdown in the capital city after a surge in cases. experts say the situation has been made worse by extreme evangelical churches, who've convinced many followers

that the pandemic is part of a government conspiracy. from seoul, laura bicker reports. to his followers, he's an alt—right rock star. to others, this pastor and his church pose the biggest coronavirus threat this country has faced. thousands of new cases have now been confirmed, many of them from ultra—conservative churches. some worshippers, many of them elderly, are refusing to be tested. they believe the virus was planted in the church by a government determined to silence them. i put it to this young follower that he is risking lives by failing to get a test. why are you not being tested for covid—19 after being at the rally?

it's proving a huge challenge for this country's virus hunters. usually they can trace over 1,000 people an hour using mobile technology. but hundreds are refusing to go into quarantine. as cases increase, seoul's usually neon—lit social life has been forced to fall silent. this is as close to a lockdown as the capital city seoul has had since this pandemic began. it almost feels like a curfew, because within the space ofjust a few minutes, these normally busy vibrant, sometimes boisterous streets have come to a stand—still. translation: business

is down by 90%. it feels like the whole world is falling apart. these church members once faced the wrath of the south korean people. they belong to the shincheonji church ofjesus, a sect blamed for the country's early virus outbreak in february. they're now donating their blood plasma for treatment and research. as one religious group seeks redemption, another remains defiant. threatening this country's well publicised success in fighting the pandemic. laura bicker, bbc news, seoul. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the fight against covid—19. scientists say they've found a less dangerous strain, which could mean a better chance of survival. she received the nobel peace prize for her work with the poor and the dying

in india's slums. the head of the catholic church said mother teresa was a wonderful example of how to help people in need. we have to identify the bodies, then arrange the coffins and take them back home. parents are waiting and wives are waiting. hostages appeared — some carried, some running — trying to escape the nightmare behind them. britain lost a princess today. described by all to whom she reached out as "irreplaceable," an early—morning car crash in a paris underpass ended a life with more than its share of pain and courage, warmth and compassion.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines... one month after the blast that claimed so many lives, rescuers in beirut think there may be somebody still alive under the rubble of this building. joe biden travels to kenosha to meet the family ofjacob blake, and spoke to mr blake on the phone. let's go back to that live shot from pennsylvania. this is the airport there. donald trump is hosting a keep america great rally. let's listen in. we have over 400 right now under arrest. these are bad people. over the last three and a half years, we've secured america's borders, fix our broken trade deals, rebuild the united states military, obliterated the isis caliphate100%.

secured american energy independence, and built the single greatest economy in the history of the world. and now we re history of the world. and now were going to do it again. have to do it again. gotta do it ain! to do it again. gotta do it again! and it's happening. you see what's happening. job numbers, retail sales numbers are all at records. it's happening very fast. it's actually happening in a super v, and you'll see numbers coming out, they have come out — just watch your newspaper, you'll see numbers that congressman we haven't seen those numbers ever before, actually. by the way, we have re cord actually. by the way, we have record stock markets, we have re cord record stock markets, we have record everything. you're going to have... you're going to have

an incredible economic year next year. your stocks are going up, your401(k) is through the roof. had a little pause today, people wanted to ta ke pause today, people wanted to take some profits and probably somebody said something stupid along the way. but the stock market is at record levels. think of it, in the hopefully rounding the turn on the pandemic, we are rounding that turn, and vaccines are coming along great. you know, the job that they've done, the doctors, everybody else— we are years ahead of schedule. anyone else as president, you wouldn't be talking about vaccines 2—3 years. donald trump hosting a rally in pennsylvania, talking about lots of records being broken. of course we need to fa ct broken. of course we need to fact check those claims of his about the economy, about what

he was saying. but that is a rally in pennsylvania, he won the state back in 2016 and he hopes to win again in november. he was actually there two weeks ago as well. so this is the live shot right now in pennsylvania and, like i say, those statements need to be fa ct those statements need to be fact checked. people arriving in wales and scotland from portugal must now self—isolate for 14 days, but the rules covering england and northern ireland have not changed. the rules for wales apply from 4am on friday morning — while in scotland they begin 24 hours later on saturday morning. cases of coronavirus in portugal have been rising in the past week. scientists have found a new, less dangerous variant of covid—19. in a study published in the lancet, researchers found patients had better survival chances after becoming infected with the new strain. the research might help scientists find better ways of treating covid—19 in the future. professor gavin smith is based at the duke—nus medical school

in singapore, and is senior author of the study. so we found the virus that is missing a large part of its genetic material, and that completely removes a gene of the virus. and then, we looked at the behaviour of this virus in the patients that were infected with it, and compared it to the normal virus — the wild—type strain. and we found that in general, the people infected with the virus with the deletion had a less severe disease and didn't require as much support. i see. so in that case, it is a less lethal form. why would a virus mutate to become less lethal, rather than more dangerous? so viruses, and particularly

coronaviruses and rna viruses, which include things like influenza — they naturally mutate, it's just viruses doing what they do. so it's not unusual in coronaviruses to see deletions of genes — usually partial deletions in this part of their genome. it was previously observed in the 2003 sars outbreak, and there are also examples from the covid—19 outbreak. so with these observations that you've made, how would that impact the search for a vaccine? will it impact, and will it help you? for that, it seems less clear. it certainly won't have an impact on the current

generation of vaccines being developed. but longer term it is possible, because what the study shows is that if you remove this particular gene, then you end up with less severe disease. so it's possible information like that could contribute to the vaccine development in the future. i think more immediately, the significance of the finding is that we know that if we can block the function of this gene for the viruses that don't have the deletion, we can target the function of that particular gene as a potential treatment. so if we can find drugs that block this gene, then we will end up with a less severe disease hopefully. professor the smith they're speaking to me earlier. russia has rejected accusations that it's responsible for poisoning one of president putin's leading critics, alexei navalny. there've been international

demands for a full and transparent investigation, after germany said it has proof that mr navalny had been poisoned with the nerve agent novichok. mr nevalny is still in a hospital in berlin, where he lies in a coma — as steve rosenberg reports. moscow is under growing international pressure to answer one question — who ordered an attack on the kremlin‘s most vocal critic with a chemical nerve agent? alexei navalny has been a thorn in president putin's side for years. an anti—corruption campaigner who claims that russia's leaders are thieves. last month, he fell ill on a flight from siberia to moscow. in a coma, he was eventually airlifted to a hospital in berlin. the german government now believes mr navalny had been poisoned with novichok — the same type of nerve agent used against former russian spy sergei skripal

and his daughter, suggesting the russian state may be involved. and how does russia respond to that? "there are no facts. there's no evidence," says the foreign ministry spokesperson on russian tv. "it's an information campaign against moscow." and today, the kremlin had this message for its critics. "don't rush to blame us, or put new sanctions on russia. we're not to blame." the trouble is, under vladimir putin, the kremlin always says it's not to blame — even when the evidence suggests it is. and the international community is losing patience. the russians really don't care. they're not too bothered about collateral damage. sanctions, again, don't seem to mean an awful lot to the russians, but i think what we must do is carry on with sanctions, particularly financial ones. if russians, key oligarchs and supporters, start losing their money, i expect that probably will mean more

to putin than anything else. some kremlin critics are calling on germany to halt this gas pipeline project with russia. that would send a strong message to moscow, but the problem is much of europe relies on russian energy. meanwhile, alexei navalny remains in a serious condition in hospital. expect moscow to continue to deny everything. but if mr navalny was attacked with a chemical weapon, the questions to the kremlin won't be going away. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. they call it super thursday, the unoffiical start of the literary race to see which books will be "best—sellers" come christmas time. this year, the field is even more crowded, since many publishers delayed book releases because of the pandemic. our arts editor will gompertz reports. "there was something mythic, something almost ghostly in the name by which miss jane

dean had become known in bath. "she was described as the angel..." dame rose tremain reading from her latest novel, islands of mercy — one of thousands of new books being published this autumn in a series of so—called super thursdays when publishers release books en masse with the hope of one of them becoming a christmas hit. it is a case of throwing mud against a wall and seeing what sticks. i think there has been an element of that, of publishing too much because nobody is making the right aesthetic judgments about what is really good and what isn't really good. i am all for new voices being encouraged and debut writers, as they are called, but i think there is this kind of mid—list where there is a lot of mediocrity. there is certainly too much publishing and not all books will succeed,

but on the other hand the sheer richness of what is being published allows book—selle rs to sift amongst them and cure rate amongst them and to read. there have been many great novels where the author has not been expecting success, so in that respect the merrier. ruthjones made her name as the co—writer and co—star of gavin and stacey. i didn't know i had a red sharpie in my bag. before becoming a bestselling author whose second novel was one of the many books chosen to delay this spring due to covid. it nowjoins the ranks of the other hopefuls. i think it is glorious so many people are producing so much stuff to read because, for me, i think it is transported to experience and it is just the best place to escape into a novel. —— tra nsportative.

when bernadine won the booker prize last year, she became... the first black woman to win this prize. highlighting what many have seen is a lack of diversity in publishing and possibly also a turning point. if that is the case, this new publishing company has been set up to make sure it's a permanent change. what we found is there has been almost a cycle that happens in various industries, especially in literature, where we get this diversity trend. suddenly it's in to have these exotic books, but i think what the world really needs is a lot more publishers who approach a trend but is a necessity. online sales helped the publishing industry to weather the covid storm. the role of super thursday is to tempt some of the readers away from the classics to try something new. will gompertz, bbc news. yes, it'll be fascinating to

see who is at the top of the race. i can't believe we are already talking about christmas. lots more on our website, and i'm social media. thanks for watching. hello there. looks like we are all in for a dose of cooler, fresher weather over the coming few days. could be perfect weather for seeing some rainbows, just as we saw on thursday here by a weather watcher in scotland. further south, it's been milder and quite muggy for a while. temperatures ahead of the cloud and drizzle were as high as 23 celsius in the southeast of england. it's a cooler start to friday, temperatures in the clearer skies, typically 9—11 celsius. some more blustery showers in northern scotland, then towards the southwest, this cloud never really clears away. it comes back into the southwest of england and south wales — pushing eastwards towards the midlands and south east england. that will bring a bit of light rain and drizzle. further north, some brighter skies, some sunshine and some showers. those showers turning more widespread in scotland and northern ireland, pushing into the far north of england. disappointing temperatures,

17—18 celsius, fairly typically, could make 20 in the southeast ahead of any rain that arrives during the evening. as we head into the weekend, high—pressure is close by, but it's towards the southwest of the uk. it leaves us with a run of northwesterly winds. that's going to drive in cooler air, and temperatures on saturday could be even lower during the day as well — it will be a chilly start to the day too. so, a cool weekend ahead. there will be this mixture of sunshine and showers continuing. as we look ahead to saturday, most of the showers will be in the north and west of the uk. quite a few showers, actually, across northern scotland, quite a few showers for northern ireland. those will stream over the irish sea into northwestern parts of england and wales. so, for the south and the east, it should be largely dry, some sunshine at times, those temperatures could be even lower, making 14 celsius at best through the central belt of scotland — 18 in the south of england. some more showers continuing overnight and into sunday. should be a drier day though for northern ireland, a drier day for scotland. most of the showers across england and wales, some of those could be heavy as well.

temperatures will be pegged back in those showers, but probably a degree or two higher than saturday across scotland and northern ireland, but still only making 16 celsius. those showers do move away during the evening as we head into the early part of next week. we've got lower pressure to the north of the uk, some weather fronts on the scene, higher pressure into more southern areas. so, that means for the first few days of next week, it's going to remain unsettled for northern areas. there will be some stronger winds, some rain from time to time. further south, it should be largely dry and warmer — temperatures into the mid—20s.

this is bbc news, the headlines... search teams in the lebanese capital, beirut, say they have found possible signs of life in a collapsed building — a month after the huge blast which destroyed parts of the city. rescuers said they'd detected a pulse two metres deep in the rubble in a residential area. joe biden has spoken by phone to jacob blake — the black man whose shooting by police in wisconsin sparked days of unrest. in a speech in the city of kenosha, mr biden accused donald trump of legitimising the dark side of human nature. south korea has now imposed a near—lockdown in the capital after a surge in cases. experts say the situation has been made worse by extreme evangelical churches — who've convinced many followers that the pandemic is part of a government conspiracy.