welcome to bbc news. i'm mike embley. our top stories: with one week to go until the us election, campaigning intensifies for donald trump and his rivaljoe biden. we are going to have a great red wave. people that want to go out and vote, vote. the divisions in our nation are getting wider. angry people are upset. anger and suspicion are growing. a warning from scientists that levels of covid—19 antibodies in people who've been infected diminish rapidly. crowds build on the streets of philadelphia as the city braces itself for another night of protests over the killing of a black man by police. an american cult leader who had women branded with his intials and forced them to have sex

with him is sentenced to a 120—yearjail term. in exactly one week's time, an election will decide who the most powerful leader in the world is to be.choosing the next president of the united states has already proved remarkable for the record number of postal votes and early voting 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 this election 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's also level or ahead in iowa, georgia, north carolina and arizona. and it is the same picture in florida and texas. and werejoe biden to win one of the last two states, it's hard to see how

donald trump can 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. the president is campaigning in three mid—west states today — here he is speaking in omaha, nebraska a short time ago. this election is a choice between the trump super recovery which is what we're having or a biden depression, sad to say. booing and some bad newsjust came out on biden, but i won't tell you about that. you'll find that out tomorrow.

man, that's something. biden has pledged the biggest tax hike in the history of our country. the first man that i've 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 very substantially more. nebraska is not a case he must ta ke nebraska is not a case he must take my place he usually campaigns in. joe biden‘s running mate kamala harris was speaking in las vegas where where she offered a blistering criticism of the president's response to the pandemic. the commander—in—chief of the united states has as their first responsibility to concern themselves with the health and safety of the american people and he failed and therefore has forfeit his right

to re—election. a result from one of many lawsuits already under way, around this election, 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 and explained how difficult it is to predict what will happen on election day. i think that anybody that was brave enough to predict the outcome of the election at this point is a lot braver than me. certainly, both campaigns really pushing, trying to get the last bits of their base energised to get out and vote. even donald trump saying to his supporters in nebraska, get out

and vote, don't take it for granted. that was a message that president 0bama, former president 0bama, pushed home as well. i think every full to counts. they are so close in so many places. interestingly, with georgia, the last time a democratic candidate for president won there, boys two men were in the charts. that's how long ago it was. the factual biden has been there just goes to show that they think they have a chance and they are trying to get that state as well. a sign that the trump campaign sensed trouble when the president appears in states he would not normally campaign in. nebraska is interesting because unlike most of the other states, nebraska and maine split the number of electoral college votes that the award, so last time, donald trump won all of nebraska's five volts. the fact he is there in a pretty reliably

republican state shows that perhaps he is worried that his rival could pick up some of those votes. the republicans on their website and elsewhere are celebrating the fact that, as they put it, they have controlled the pandemic and yet i wish is looking at the latest figures from our us respondents, 500,000 new coronavirus cases in the last week, hospitalisations up 15% on last week, it does not sound control. that sounds a tricky kick claim to defend and i gather the website has been to some extent defaced. yes, two parts to that question. there was, it seems, a hack that happened earlier on this evening. hackers broke into the site and said that they were tackling false information, fa ke tackling false information, fake news that was being posted by the campaign. the trump campaign has said that has been reported to law enforcement and law enforcement are dealing with that. on the coronavirus,

there are certainly, i think, some dissonant there are certainly, i think, some dissona nt between there are certainly, i think, some dissonant between the m essa 9 es some dissonant between the messages that the campaign is giving. donald trump in that nebraska stop saying that on one hand we will crush the virus, on the other hand he is sick of hearing about covid, covid, covid. the us reaching a new seven—day high when it comes to daily figures, 70,000 people a day being diagnosed with coronavirus, hospitalisations up as well, 26 states finding they are having albums with the number of people in hospital, some states even having to turn to those field hospitals we saw right at the beginning of the pandemic, so the beginning of the pandemic, soi the beginning of the pandemic, so i don't know if we are turning the corner, i am not sure the coronavirus really ca res sure the coronavirus really cares that we are tired of hearing about it, it is here. the strict covid lockdown imposed nearly four months ago on the australian state of victoria has been lifted. four, three, two, one...yay!

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 to more than 700 per day injuly. 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 fall in antibodies suggests people will be regularly re—infected, just as they are with the common cold. dr michael mina, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the harvard th chan school of public health. he gave this reaction to the new research. this is reaffirming something that really comes from the first chapter of many immunology textbooks and that is after people get a first infection, antibodies are actually expected to wane, but i think it's very important to recognise that it doesn't mean immune protection is totally disappearing, it's just that immunity is on ingredient. it's a continuum. and this is reinforcing that the immune system, just like our brains when we want to learn something new, we have two train them and this is often through an

immunity, it's to re—exposure is with, ideally, less severe disease, their second and third exposures that people get. so we should take from this, should we, the lesson that it will be entirely possible to get covid again? it may be less severe, though. that's exactly right. i believe that what we will see is that this is serving, this virus is acting like many we have seen before and when people get re—exposed, we expect that their bodies will retain through b cells, for example, ant will retain through b cells, for example, an t cell some of that memory even if it is antibodies that we are not necessarily detecting in their blood. what implications does that have, if any, for vaccines? well, i think it certainly, rightly so, has a lot of people on the edge of their seats wondering if vaccines are going to work on the important thing is that vaccines will be built in a way

that will help to solidify immune response in a way that perhaps a natural infection may not be able to do as well and i think that we need to certainly be aware that it is possible that people will likely need to be boosted with vaccines, for example, which is very similar to how we give children their vaccines today. it sells from what you are saying that the idea of herd immunity is a bit ofa idea of herd immunity is a bit of a nonstarter or at least much more complicated than many have suggested. well, i think immunity, i do agree that it will not be a clean cut, if you will. people will have to be re—exposed multiple times, many times, but i do think we will achieve some level of herd immunity, hopefully through vaccination is my hope and then re—exposures after that might actually serve to boost those immune responses, but first things first is that we want to

attain herd immunity through vaccination and not through first infections. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the latest from philadelphia — as the city sees another night of protests following the killing of a black man by police.

this is bbc news. our main headline: with one week to go until the us election, campaigning is intensifying for donald trump and his rivaljoe biden. more on the us election. earlier i wasjoined by democtratic strategist cristina antelo who says the party has taken the lessons of 2016 on board. definitely not taking anything for granted and i think the whole party is not taking it for granted. we are running through the tape you are watching every surrogate we had across this entire nation is

many times as possible between now and election day. despite the huge amount of early vaulting and younger people voting which i think many people suggest looks good for the democrats, there is enormous enthusiasm among trump photos. we can see right there. absolutely, every trump vulture in all has a baseball cap and a t—shirt to go with it and there isa t—shirt to go with it and there is a lot of enthusiasm on his side, but i have spent a lot of time on social media and i am seeing some enthusiasm on the democratic side as well that has been below the radar, if you well. the straws to the polls and various marching bands in their communities i literally getting the word out in their community with hundreds and hundreds of people in line. still some people are 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, promises on deregulation, cutting taxes, boosting military spending, attaching conservatives to the supreme

court and judges in the why judiciary. the cutting of the taxes for billionaires. in the clip you had at his campaign stop in nebraska of all places, why is he campaigning there if he does not want to the one electoral college vote if you think it is not going to be important? they tax cuts were for billionaires and corporations when biden says he will raise taxes, he means corporate tax rate back up to 28%, not the original 35%. they reduced that down to 21 which means people like amazon and other companies are not paying any taxes and that is why he is promising that now because he didn't get around to it in the first time, not even on the list of priorities as long as corporations were making a lot of money. another black man dead at the hands of police, more black lives matter protesters on the streets, that may well be a tragedy but it is a problem for your party, isn't it? for many voters who are

concerned about so—called law and order issues, it makes it easy for them to listen to mr trump who says you cannot trust your biden. this one in particular is a difficult one for democrats. i won't pretend to not all of the information, i have only seen one video, but the one video does seem a little damning in that someone charges the police with a weapon and does not heed warnings and what is the right action to take? we cannot riot every time we disagree with someone, we every time we disagree with someone, we need to have a dialogue and we cannot take rioting to the next level where we set cars on fire or something. there has to be a better way and i think that by electing a president biden, we will turn the temperature down, have a dialogue and know someone have a dialogue and know someone in the white house is listening rather than throwing more and more gasoline on the fire. philadelphia is experiencing another night of unrest after the fatal police shooting of a black man. police say officers opened fire on 27—year—old walter wallace when he ignored orders to drop a knife he was holding.

mark lobel reports. on monday afternoon in a neighbourhood of west philadelphia, this happened. two officers respond to a report of a man with a weapon. he breaks free from his mother after she says she tried to shield him. police say they then tell the 27—year—old to drop his weapon. then this. gunshots, screaming he was pronounced dead at hospital. his father asked later why police did not first use a taser. mr wallace's family lawyer said they had called for an ambulance, not the police. this was an unjustified shooting. we have a person who had mental health issues. we are going to get those out as the process continues, but we have officers who i think are not probably trained to deal with those mental health issues. philadelphia's mayor called it a tragic incident,

pledging a full investigation. this is not only a matter which is being carefully considered by the head of our special investigations unit and the assigned prosecutor, it is a matter i am looking at personally and carefully. this office has made clear that we believe in fairness, we believe in evenhanded justice. we are not out to cover for anybody and we are not out to get anybody. there was visible anger on the streets of philadelphia. hundreds of protesters faced down riot police injuring several officers and looting multiple businesses. the white house had said they are prepared to deploy federal resources to enforce the law. in a statement released on tuesday, joe biden and kamala harris said... at the same time, they added, addressing the looting...

it's above all another tragic early end to a black life in america, of a father, twin and son, leaving another city on edge. the founder of a cult—like group in the united states has been sentenced to 120 years in jail after being convicted of sex trafficking and other crimes. keith raniere was the founder of the invm group, forcing women to have sex with him and branding them with his initials. the bbc‘s tim allman reports. in some ways, it's dehumanising. keith raniere described himself as a motivational speaker, a self—help guru who wanted to make the world a better place. the stage actor who goes out on stage can touch each individual in the audience and every performance is different because of that human—to—human contact.

what the world needs, i believe, is more human—to—human contact. this was keith raniere in court in brooklyn, the convicted leader of a sex cult. he had to sit and listen to 15 of his victims describe what they had endured as part of the invm group, also known as the vow, mostly young women who he abused, exploited and even branded. the judge's sentence, which in effect incapacitate keith raniere for the rest of his life, should hopefully give them some sense of security and should stand as a warning to others who would participate in similar conduct that when justice catches up with you, as it did today, it is severe. described as his second—in—command, the television actress allison mack, one of several other people who pleaded guilty to their part in the sex trafficking organisation. she recruited women

who raniere would then abuse and treat like slaves. his lawyers say he is innocent and a media campaign forced witnesses to give false testimony. but keith raniere now faces the reality of spending the rest of his life behind bars. finally halloween is fast approaching and if you were wondering how to achieve socially—distanced trick or treating, here's one solution. a mother in the us state of arkansas has come up with a "candy chute", to ensure that the sweets craved by the younger generation on 31st of october can be delivered safely. it's made of pvc pipes, spray paint and connectors. add to that a remote control doorbell and bucket and the transaction is entirely contactless. that's about it for now. much more anytime on the bbc website and on our twitter feeds. more anytime on the bbc website and on our twitterfeeds. thank 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. a week before election day in the us, 69 million people have already voted and the rivals for the white house are campaigning hard — the pandemic the topic of the day. donald trump claimed to voters they had a choice between a trump boom or a biden lockdown. mr biden visited georgia, a state not won by democrats for decades, and accused mr trump of mishandling the crisis. researchers at imperial college london have found levels of protective antibodies in people who've fought off coronavirus "wane quite rapidly" after infection. the team say the drop was most noticeable in people over 65 and in those who hadn't shown any symptoms. extra police and the national guard are being deployed in philadelphia, as the us city sees another night of unrest

over another fatal shooting of a black man by police. there are reports of protests turning violent and some looting. now, it's time for panorama. i'm cashjones. i'm 25 and a journalist at the bbc. growing up, i was taught that working hard was the way to get on. i feel like the majority of us are struggling. but seven months since covid first put us into a national lockdown. .. there've been days where i've been just in my room, just crying. ..the virus itself doesn't seem to affect the young as badly as others, but the fallout has been devastating. no—one's telling us what's going on. it's quite depressing. and the future for 16—to—25—year—olds now seems so uncertain. all i want is to learn and progress, but i don't think