this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm mike embley. with one week to go until the us election, campaigning intensifies for donald trump and his rivaljoe biden. president trump is just arriving in nebraska for the latest of his many rallies. a warning from scientists that levels of covid—19 antibodies in people who've been infected diminish rapidly. a country with enough to deal with already — now doctors in syria warn of a covid catastrophe. we have a special report. in exactly one week's time,

voters in america will be deciding who the next president of the united states will be. this election has already proved remarkable for the record number of postal votes and early voting going on in many states. while the democratic candidate joe biden is currently leading president trump in the national polls, that doesn't guarantee victory. the race is very much still on, and our north america editorjon sopel is in one of the states being watched very closely — georgia. one week to go, and joe biden has georgia of all places on his mind. no democrat has won here in decades, yet polls suggest this once rock—solid republican state is there for the taking. joe, go home! though famous southern hospitality was markedly absent from the trump supporters who lined the roads leading to where he was speaking. so where are we with the race between donald

trump and joe biden? the key to the selection is what happens in the swing states. joe biden has a steady lead in wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania, the three northern industrial states that propelled donald trump to victory in 2016, but he is also level or a in iowa, victory in 2016, but he is also level ora in iowa, georgia, north carolina and arizona. and it's the same picture in florida and texas and wherejoe biden to win one of those last two states, it's hard to see how donald trump could win. the remarkable phenomenon about this election is early voting. in 2016, 135 million americans cast a ballot in the presidential election. with a week to go, so far more than 60 million americans have already voted, and that means if turnout remains the same, well, nearly half of americans have already voted. what is also astonishing is the number of young people who voted early. in 2016, in michigan, 7000 people aged between 18 and 29 went to the polls

before polling day. this time round, it is over 140,000 so far. in other words, a 20—fold increase. and it's a similar story in florida and north carolina. and in georgia, that number is 31,000 in 2016. it's already 170,000 this year. these are numbers thought to favour the democrats massively, but donald trump says he's confident that next tuesday there will be a red wave of his supporters coming to vote that will propel him to victory. he's doing multiple rallies per day. today he's en route to michigan, wisconsin and nebraska. and there is a sophisticated data mining operation that takes place at these events, ensuring that everyone who attends is also registered to vote. this was his successful 2016 playbook.

let's go live to omaha, nebraska where president trump has just arrived for the latest of his many rallies exactly one week before election day but as john sobel was saying, with many, john sobel was saying, with any john sobel was saying, with many, many people already having voted, around 69 million americans already having voted. joe biden‘s running mate kamala harris is in las vegas where she has also been speaking in just the last hour. she offered a blistering criticism of the president's response to the coronavirus pandemic. he knew it was five times more deadly than the flu. he knew it could impact people of every generation including young people. he knew it was airborne. and yet he held onto that information and covered it up. he told the american people

it was a hoax. the commander—in—chief of the united states has as their first responsibility to concern themselves with their health and safety of the american people and he failed and therefore has forfeited his right to re—election. therefore has forfeited his right to re-election. a result is in from one of many lawsuits already under way around the selection and doubtless more to come. ajudge in michigan has ruled that voters can bring guns to polling stations. christopher murray struck down a directive by the michigan secretary of state, banning the open carrying of firearms on election day. the state attorney general has vowed to appeal against thejudge's ruling. lebo diseko is in washington for us. just on that last point, still quite a bit of concern about i suppose, there is no other way to put it, intimidation at the polls. yeah, absolutely. there is also a lot of concern about whether people will get their

votes counted or not. but of voting is becoming the latest battle ground between the two sides. there are cases in wisconsin, the democrats lost a case which had been taken to the supreme court trying to extend the amount of time for counting those postal votes. also pennsylvania, the republican party is taking a case again to the supreme court trying to challenge extra time that has been given to counting ballots there. and, of course, you will know there is a new justice on the supreme court, amy coney barrett, a trump nominee, someone amy coney barrett, a trump nominee, someone appointed and put forward by donald trump, softwa re put forward by donald trump, software democrats, they are worried about whether that will impact on how the court will rule. 0ne impact on how the court will rule. one third of the court or donald drop appointees. the republicans are saying very firmly on their website and all theircampaign firmly on their website and all their campaign pitch is that

they have the pandemic under control, but i just they have the pandemic under control, but ijust looked at our latest figures, 500,000 new cases of coronavirus in the past week, the numbers admitted to hospital up 15% on the last week. do we have a sense about how most voters feel about this in the handling of it? well, yes, for the republicans, they have a bit of a split message because they are putting that on all their websites and their candidates, the president, is saying we are tired of hearing about the pandemic and hearing about the pandemic and hearing about coronavirus, coronavirus, coronavirus. that is his message at each and every stop i have listened to and certainly we all are tired of this pandemic, but i don't think it cares. in terms of how voters are taking it, i would imagine like many other things in this country, very split along party lines. ithink in this country, very split along party lines. i think that donald trump is make

supporters, a lot of them, their approach is, that, if you are going to get it, you will get it. the president had it and recovered. i read a report that 90% of democrats see that asa that 90% of democrats see that as a deciding factor in their vault. just before coming in here, i read that there is now a seven day average of coronavirus cases at a record high of 7000 per day in the seven day average, so it is not going away at the moment at all. thank you very much. scientists have found that immunity to coronavirus may decline sooner than had previously thought. a study by imperial college london found the number of people with covid—19 antibodies had fallen by around a quarter betweenjune and september. adults under the age of 2a had the highest levels of antibodies — but those over 75 the lowest. here's our science correspondent rebecca morelle. antibodies are the immune system's best defence against covid—19. they block the virus from entering our cells, and stay around in case

of reinfection, but the latest research has found they don't last long. it does suggest that immunity is likely to wane over time after you've been infected, and we're now about six months past that first wave of infection. this is not particularly surprising because seasonal coronaviruses, which we've known about for a long time, do tend to produce some immunity, but it does wane after 6—12 months. this is one of the largest surveys of its kind, carried out across england on more than 350,000 people. in june, scientists found that 6% of adults who had been tested had detectible coronavirus antibodies. by september, though, that had fallen to 4.4%. that's a drop of more than a quarter in a matter of months, and the fastest decline was seen in people aged over 75, and in those who'd had the virus with no symptoms. so does this mean you can get covid twice? there have now been a few

confirmed cases of reinfection, but it's not yet clear whether symptoms are less severe the second time around because the body's defences are already primed, and scientists are studying other parts of the immune system, like t—cells, to see if they play a longer lasting role. all of this has implications for the vaccines in development around the world. if natural immunity doesn't last long, what does this mean for them? i think we should remain optimistic about the up—and—coming sars—cov—2 vaccines. they will work in very different ways to drive the immune response. and so we can remain hopeful that they will indeuce a more robust and more long—lasting immune response that will protect people for much longer than natural infection would. it may well be that future covid vaccines need to be administered more than once. achieving herd immunity is unlikely without a vaccine, especially if antibodies to natural infection

are shortlived. so for now, it means everyone's sticking to the rules of hands, face and space, as there's still much we need to learn about coronavirus and immunity. rebecca morelle, bbc news. the strict covid lockdown imposed nearly four months ago on the australian state of victoria has been lifted. four, three, two, one...yay! as you gathered, it was a lot less muted than that. people in the city of melbourne began flocking to restaurants and pubs at the stroke of midnight local time. victoria was at the epicentre of australia's second wave, and saw cases surge more than 700 per day injuly. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we will be in arizona asking if the latinos can swing the vote in the swing states.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: millions have already voted but with just a week to go until election day in the us, campaigning is intensifying for donald trump in john campaigning is intensifying for donald trump injohn biden. levels of covid—19 antibodies in people who've had the virus diminish quite rapidly, say scientists. the president is campaigning in three midwestern states today. this election is a choice between the trump super recovery which is what we are having or a biden depression, sad to say. and some bad news just came out on biden, but i wa nt to just came out on biden, but i want to tell you about that. you'll find that out tomorrow. -- i will you'll find that out tomorrow. —— i will not tell you about

that. man! that something. biden has pledged the biggest tax hike in this history of our country, the first man i have ever seen campaign on the fact i'm going to raise your taxes. what's going on? i gave working families record—setting tax cuts and in my second term, i will cut middle—class taxes va ry will cut middle—class taxes vary substantially more. that's the presidentjust now enormous hand brass car. i'm joined by democratic strategist, cristina antelo. i guess you must be feeling pretty good if the opinion polls are to be believed, but they were looking pretty good about this time for years ago and we honour what happened. that's right, i am definitely not taking anything for granted andi not taking anything for granted and i think the whole party is not taking it for granted this time and we are running through the tape and watching every surrogate we have as many times

as possible between now and election day. despite the huge amount of early voting and lots of young people voting which i think many people suggest looks good for the democrats, there is enormous enthusiasm among trump voters, we could see it right there. absolutely. every trump or terai know has a t—shirt under cap to go with it and there is lots of enthusiasm, but i have spent a lot of time on social media recently, which i don't normally do, but there is enthusiasm on the democratic side as well which has been below the radar, if you will. the stroll to the polls and various marching bands and their community are literally getting the vote out in all of their communities with hundreds and hundreds of people in line. if there still are some people undecided, when you look at his record, he has done a lot of the things that he promised to do. iam the things that he promised to do. i am looking at the list. commitments on deregulation, cutting taxes, boosting military spending, appointing conservatives to the supreme court and hundreds ofjudges to

the widerjudiciary. yes, i go back to the cutting of the taxes. he cut the taxes for billionaires, you just heard him saying in nebraska, why nebraska of all places? he is not looking for that one electoral college vote unless it is going to be important. that tax cut was really for billionaires and corporations and therefore when biden says he will raise taxes, he will put corporate taxes backed up to 28%, not even just 35. it's currently at 21 which means billionaires are not paying any taxes and that is why biden is promising that now because he didn't get around to it. we saw another black man dead at the hands of police, more black lives matter protesters on the streets which may well be a tragedy there but it is a problem for your party, isn't it? many voters are concerned about so—called law and order

issues and it makes it easier for them to listen to mr trump when he says for them to listen to mr trump when he sastoe biden is to the left of him and you cannot trust him. i think this one in particular is a difficult one for democrats. i will not pretend to know all the information, i have only seen one video, but the one video does seem damning that someone charges the police with a weapon and does not heed warnings and what is the right action to take? but we cannot riot every time we disagree with something, we must be able to have a dialogue and we cannot take rioting to the next level where we set cars on fire or something like that. there must be a better way and i think that by electing a president like biden, the temperature will be turned down, there will be a dialogue and someone in the white house will lessen as opposed to throwing more and more gasoline on the fire. we may well talk again, thank you very much for talking to us now. have a good night. let's get some of the day's other news.

about 30 police officers have been injured in violent protests in philadelphia after the fatal shooting by police of a black man. police say two officers opened fire on 27—year—old walter wallace when he refused their order to drop a knife he was holding. mr wallace's father says his son, who suffered from mental health problems, appeared to have been shot ten times. a us court has sentenced the leader of the invm cult to 120 years in prison. keith raniere starved and branded women, and forced them to have sex with him. he was convicted of racketeering, sex trafficking, possessing child pornography and other crimes. there's been a sixth day of protests in poland following a constitutional court ruling that bans virtually all abortions in the country. the women's strike movement took their protest into parliament and onto the streets and is calling for the resignation of poland's conservative government. poland's ruling party leader says the court ruling will not be reversed and has threatened action against the protestors. russian scientists say vast methane deposits in the bed of the arctic ocean are being released into the sea.

sa m ples collected 600—kilometres off the coast of siberia show surface levels of the potent greenhouse gas are up to eight times higher than normal. they say the methane is probably being released because warmer water from the atlantic is increasing sea temperatures. doctors in north west syria have told the bbc that they are expecting a "‘covid catastrophe'. the number of positive cases across aleppo and idlib were said to have risen tenfold last month — putting a strain on the already fragile health system. the bbc‘s darren conway was granted rare access inside idlib and sent this report: the road to idlib has been a journey of misery for so many. this is one of the last remaining parts of syria that hasn't been retaken by the regime. millions of civilians have funnelled into this little corner of north—west syria in an attempt to escape the fighting. but the people that live here are about to face

yet another battle — covid—19. dr kaddour is head of the two largest hospitals in idlib. he's one of only 600 doctors for a population ofjust over 4 million people. very few covid tests are being done. while we were here, an average of 400 were carried out a day. up to 40% of those tested positive. aeroplanes, rockets, corona, angry, poor, assad's security — it's the same. all of them, all of these terms mean for us death. life is already tough enough here. it's a daily fight for survival. a free food hand—out quickly turns into a mob. but there are no masks to be seen. at times like this, prayer is about the only support the people here can rely on. but at this mosque, there is no social distancing. and if you thought that it was

tough living in idlib city, just take a look at the refugee camps — up to 1.5 million people living in filthy, cramped conditions. this is atma camp. it's one of the largest. this seems like the perfect breeding ground for the virus, yet the official statistics show that only a handful of people have tested positive here. one of the reasons for this is that only people who are showing symptoms and are willing to come forward are being tested. but there's a stigma that comes along with being a covid carrier here. little zane has the virus. he caught it from his father. translation: people have treated me as if i'm disgraced. if they see me in the streets, they walk away from me. a couple of days ago, i went to get some groceries from the store and people moved away from me as if i am the virus, as if i am the virus, as if i will kill them. so, unlike zane and his father, most people would prefer to suffer through the illness in silence which, in

camps like this, means that they are superspreaders. would you say that the virus is out of control in the camps? it's out of control, yes, absolutely. this winter will be very bad, very dark, very hard. we do not have many places for people in the camp, we do not have many medi kits for these, we do not have many fuel to make children and babies and women more warm in the camp. we do not have food enough for them. no one really knows just how bad the outbreak is in the camps. this is a population who have already endured the worst of humanity. it's hard to imagine, but if the outbreak in the camps is as bad as predicted, life here is about to become even harder. darren conway, bbc news, idlib, syria.

now who the race to the white house will in part be decided by who can persuade america's growing latino population in crucial swing states like florida and arizona to turn out and vote for them. since donald trump was elected in 2016, nearly four million latinos have come of voting age. many have watched as their communities 0ur correspondent sophie long reports from arizona. this is the level of some latinos dedication to their president. latinos love trump. aw, that's great. restaurateurs jorge and betty rivas certainly do. he is the right person to keep leading this country. we need someone tough, we need someone with the right ideas. we think that donald trump is the perfect person for another four years. but the threats to their business that followed their endorsement shows that not all latinos feel the same way.

latinos have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic that shut down this state, and while the president's macho image may have impressed latino man, here in the heart of phoenix's latinx community, it has caused deep offence among those who lost loved ones to the virus. i think that his brazen disregard was really clear. but i think that for latino voters in particular, especially folks who know somebody that has been impacted, they felt the way that i felt — this man does not care about us. he doesn't care about us. we will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement. with the election now just days away, campaign ads fill the airwaves, but so too does misinformation that feeds people's fear. and fear is a very real thing in neighbourhoods like this one, where some will have fled countries where people die because there is no law and order, yet they become

increasingly fearful of law enforcement here too. just as the past four years have deepened divisions across this vast country, they have exposed divisions in latino communities too. i saw 902, but i haven't seen 833... around four million latinos have come of age in the last four years. they're determined to use their new political power and spend their evenings encouraging others to do the same. we all remember 2016. we remember the feeling. i remember that feeling. i literally have goosebumps thinking about that day. i wasn't able to vote, so people were, like, "well, you didn't show up to vote". i couldn't. i couldn't then. now, in 2020, they can, and if enough latinos across arizona do the same, this time their voice could really count.

there is more on the election and pretty much everything else on our website. thank you for watching. hello there, it's going to remain very unsettled for the rest of this week thanks to areas of low pressure which will bring spells of rain and gales at times. today also very unsettled. we've got sunshine and blustery showers, these heavy and thundery across western and southern areas. all tied in with this area of low pressure which actually contains the remnants of what was hurricane epsilon. some extremely strong winds on its southern flank racing across the north atlantic and that is generating some very big waves today across some western coastlines. you could even see some disruption to the ferry services for western scotland at times. and if you are walking out near the coastline in the west, just take extra care. now, lots of showers will be affecting many western portions of the uk. some merging together to produce longer spells of rain for parts of wales, central and southern england though some brighter echoes indicating some hail

and thunder mixed into some of the heaviest of the showers. the best chance of seeing the lengthier sunny spells will be across the eastern parts of england but it will be a cooler day today than we what had yesterday, 10—13 celsius. the showers continue on for a while during wednesday night but then they begin to fade away. the skies clear and it turns a bit chilly in the far north and east but further west, temperatures begin to rise with the next weather system arriving, bringing more wet and windy weather. you can see it here on the pressure chart racing up from the south west, lots of isobars on the chart. so, it's going to turn very windy once again. so, wet for southern and western areas to start thursday, dry and bright in the north. the rain will eventually reach much of scotland, all but the northern isles. behind it, it will tend to turn a little bit drier, perhaps a little bit brighter but it will be windy. you will notice milder airgetting in the mid—teens celsius here. 11 degrees across the north of scotland. thursday night will remain very windy and mild, and it will stay wet across northern and western areas.

in fact, rainfall totals really starting to mount up across parts of western scotland, northern and western england, and wales where we could see some minorflooding by the end of friday. it starts to brighten up for scotland and northern ireland into the afternoon, and we could see some brighter spells across the south—east. and given that very mild air mass, we could see 18 or 19 degrees across the south and east. as we head on into the weekend, more low—pressure systems racing off the atlantic, some very deep ones here which could bring a spell of gales or even severe gales in places.

this is bbc news. the headlines.

with a week to go before the us presidential election, donald trump has accused his opponents of misleading americans about the pandemic, in order to discredit him. he accused the media of exaggerating the impact of the coronavirus, and told voters they had a choice between a trump boom, or a biden lockdown. joe biden also used the pandemic to hit out at his rival, saying the president's handling had failed the people. he campaigned in georgia, a state not won by a democratic party candidate decades. scientists say levels of protective antibodies in people who have fought off coronavirus wane quite rapidly after infection. the research, published by a team at imperial college, london, said the drop was most noticeable in those