president trump and joe biden have been campaigning in the midwest before tuesday's election. more than 85 million votes have already been cast, leading to predictions that turnout this year could break records. the british government may be considering whether more coronavirus restrictions are needed across england — after medical sources said the country was at a "crunch point," with rising cases of covid—19. british media reports say a second national lockdown, could be imposed as early as wednesday. at least 20 people have been killed by a major earthquake that has hit turkey and greece. rescue teams are searching for survivors in the turkish city of izmir, where at least 20 buildings collapsed. the magnitude seven earthquake also caused damage on the nearby greek island of samos. now on bbc news — click.

halloween is here and we have robotic checks, sailing treats, eerie airbags and a presidential election. welcome to click. i hope you're 0k. halloween may not be happening outdoors but it is certainly happening indoors at least. let us cross to the haunted house and see what horrors await. you have got a lot of halloween there. it

turns out i do. have i overdone it? i love it. you have gone stylishly minimalist as always. all i could find was the skeleton in my closet and i do not have anything else to decorate the house with. i have never been trick—or—treating. have you not? many of us will not be trick—or—treating this year, but there are some people who try to make it as safe as possible for the kids who do pass by. this is luke from austin, texas and he is out to save halloween. he has been finding ways to dispense sweets from a distance. he has experimented with dropping them from a drone and even firing them from an air cannon. but i think his star creation is this, rt the robot, after eight yea rs of this, rt the robot, after eight years of tinkering, his latest skill is distributing socially

distanced sweets. it runs on microcomputers, weighs about 140 kilograms and has been shut down to avoid scaring the kids. just readjusting the lighting to something more sensible, because straight after hollowing, there is another american horror story. never mind who wins, the run—up to the us presidential elections has been a political nightmare for many. two candidates yelling at each other, misinformation completely clouding the very real issues that the country is having to deal with and, of course, the debate over whether masks are too scary to wear. now, for a long time, there had been attem pts long time, there had been atte m pts to long time, there had been attempts to try and engage younger voters and also to make voting more accessible for people with disabilities. in the us, a few states have been running small trials to see whether technology can play a pa rt whether technology can play a part and james crichton has been to one of those states, to see it in action. america is

about to hold an election that feels like a crossroads for the country and already tens of millions of people have already voted, even by postal voting or by voting early in places like this. is there a simpler more technologically advanced way of voting. you can do your banking, even your tax returns online, so why can't you vote digitally? well, you might not know this, but in some states you actually can, this is west virginia, she has been disabled since the age of two. it was very simple, and less than 15 minutes, i had gone online, enter the information, got my ballot and signed it and send it off. several companies are trialling a mobile voting in this presidential election in a very limited way. those who are eligible are members of the

armed forces and people with disabilities. one called vote does it by mobile and another when you sit web browser. how does it work? when you finish filling out your ballot, select continue at the bottom of the page to hold on to the final step, where you will sign your ballot and review your ballot package. every state is different, but all of the pilots need some kind of verification that it is actually new, that can be facial id or a picture of your id or facial id or a picture of your idora facial id or a picture of your id or a signature. then it acts very much like a postal vote and that is until you send it off. vote uses block chain to store your vote and democracy live keeps it in the cloud and a copy of your ballot is also printed out. the vote app is being trialled in a county in utah and democracy live in west virginia and jurisdictions in 0regon virginia and jurisdictions in oregon and south carolina. it

is not a huge trial and at most a few thousand will vote this way. the pilots are all being funded by this man, bradley tusk, an early investor in uber, he has got deep pockets and big ambitions. i am not doing thisjust and big ambitions. i am not doing this just because i want people with disabilities to vote, but because i want to radically increase turnout overall, so that we move to the centre and that everyone votes and that means having technology that can handle millions of votes. why are we all e—voting, why are we all voting on their mobile phones? there are a lot of people who are very sceptical of the technology and some believe there are some serious security flaws with some of these apps. i caught flaws with some of these apps. icaught up flaws with some of these apps. i caught up with michael, he has reverse engineered these two electronic voting systems and says he has found security flaws in both. i am definitely surprised it was as easy as it was. i think there are a lot of things they could have done to

make it harder. overall those sorts of problems are not necessarily solvable in using the current technology which is why i wanted to take a look at the system in the first place. here is the example he gives, remember the online banking comparison? this is why he thinks that is not a fair parallel. when you bank online, you can actually see a transcript of how you spend your money. you can say, hey, this transaction, if ice spent $500 in the this transaction, if ice spent $500 inthe uk this transaction, if ice spent $500 in the uk and i live in boston and have never been to the yukon, therefore it is fraudulent. you cannot do the same thing with voting, because if you can improve the way that you voted, someone else can get a hold of it, i put some of these criticisms to both of these criticisms to both of these companies, first democracy live. at some point, we cannot hold back the tide,

but next—generation voters are going to demand next—generation voting technologies. we are going to learn lessons, that is why we are starting small and responsibly. with voters he would be otherwise disenfranchised. we don't have all the answers right now, the academic community and security community do not have all the answers and that is why we do small a responsible testing, learn the lessons and then build from there. that is what we are trying to do right now, we are trying to do right now, we are trying to do right now, we are starting with groups that today would be otherwise disenfranchised. i put the same questions to the founder of vote. obviously there will be criticism, so we welcome the support, but at the same time, a lot of that is hypothetical, it just by looking at a lot of that is hypothetical, itjust by looking at one part of the system without actually transacting with the system in any meaningful way. it would often any meaningful way. it would ofte n lea d any meaningful way. it would often lead you to incorrect or incomplete assumptions. so what

did terror think of her experience of voting online?” would like it for people with disabilities because it gives us disabilities because it gives us options and we need options. some of usjust us options and we need options. some of us just cannot get out, some of us require special tools in order to write or speak. i think that it is a good option for people like that. i am not necessarily an advocate of electronic voting without a lot more security. both types of voting have been used before, in local elections and both companies say they have never been successfully hacked. so, is e—voting the future, or voting stations like this when the pass? not so fast, because even the advocates of e—voting say the technology is not quite there yet which begs the question, why it has been trialled in the

us election. but perhaps the small trials may perhaps one day offer a safe and secure form of voting in america, just maybe not quite yet. james clayton there. of course this isn't just a clayton there. of course this isn'tjust a debate limited to the us. the pandemic has played havoc with elections around the world and the arguments for and against online voting systems have been given new life. in one country, it has been a reality now for well over a decade. way back in 2005, digitally savvy estonia became the first country to allow online voting in elections. skip forward to the 2019 general election and 44% of voters filled out their ballots online. and there have been other examples of positive engagement with internet voting across the world. back in

april, the labour party elected their new leader in an online ballot in which 70% of its 550,000 members voted. this way of voting makes a lot of sense, it is less expensive than the traditional in—person system and for many it is just easier. and, could internet voting be the way to engage a younger generation? as time goes on, online voting will become more and more important for young people. because society will become increasingly digital, increasingly online. also at the same time our voting system will look exactly the same as those that existed in the 1800s and you will have a big divide between democracy and the way that people live their lives. we have elections, but there are still thousands of people who cannot physically vote and therefore we have elections, but we are not a full democracy. however many claim

that online voting is still too vulnerable to cyber attacks and security breaches. malware could tamper with votes before they reach government servers and hackers could create mirror versions of an election portal, steel voter credentials are even attack the computers that count the ballots. in estonia there have been no serious security issues. however, crucially, online voting has been linked to the country's state—of—the—art electric id cards, which is stony and dues for everything, from paying taxes to accessing health records and not every country has such a solid infrastructure in place. some countriesjust don't want to take the rest, after yea rs of don't want to take the rest, after years of testing, for example, switzerland was hoping to push forward with online voting, but in 2019, decided to end trials after flaws were uncovered in the proposed system. regardless of whether you are for or against internet

voting, all would agree that the stakes could not be higher than in major elections where there could be zero doubts cast on the outcome. so, we may have to settle for waiting online at the ballot box for a little while yet. welcome to the week in tech. it was the week that harley—davidson revealed its electric bicycle that will go on sale next march. the ceos of google and facebook and twitter faced hours of question on censorship and misinformation on their platforms and ali baba founder new online payment group detailed its plans for a stock market debut next month. it is said to be the words largest ever. it was also the week that space x's satellite internet service started recruiting baited testers with low expectations to test its broadband. a tester will get a router and a terminal to connect to the satellite giving

access to what an e—mail describes is better than nothing internet service. the release of the highly anticipated game cyberpunk 77 has been delayed again until december ten. a letter from the developers apologise for the further delay save menu the announcement would raise emotions. the boston robot dog was sent to chernobyl to help sniff out radiation. 34 years on from the disaster, 200 tonnes of radioactive fuel is estimated to still be in the area. finally, we met another robot named spot he is also learning to behave like a dog. a team from john hopkins university is training this robot using dog training techniques of positive reinforcement. when it performs a task well, the robot gets a treat and researchers say it can achieve in two days what would normally take a month of training. the headphone market is seriously overcrowded so

companies are having to get a little bit more creative these days. take a look at this, for example, it looks like one speaker and it is in this form. you call this party mode, but you can also separate them into two and placed them up to 22 feet apart to create stereo sound, plus take a look in back row when you have got a pair of true wireless earbuds. each pa rt true wireless earbuds. each part of the speaker bad has six hours battery life and the buds can be recharged when they are sitting in the speaker. i have had a bit of a problem with getting earbuds to fit and stay in my ears and as i have said before, this may be because i have strange ears but these ones actually fit very well and they are great for strangers. this isn't the most amazing audio i have ever heard, but for something so versatile at this price point, i don't think i would complain. and now something for a quieter life, could this be the first sleep aiding headphones? they hope to

help you get a better night sleep, but they could also give you a little bit of relaxation during the day. i got a rest on thejob again. the new during the day. i got a rest on the job again. the new cbt method to provide relaxation as well as being full of biometric sensors, the device eg centre aims to track brainwaves, along with monitoring motion and heart rate, combining them with info on the user's environment, this allows them to personalise the programme, for example change the audio when you have fallen asleep or if there is some background sound, add some white noise. you do of course have to buy into the idea that you would want to sleep in a pairof you would want to sleep in a pair of headphones and admittedly they are extremely co mforta ble, admittedly they are extremely comfortable, it is just if you try and move away from your back, it is quite hard to keep them in place. also, i do sleep pretty well and to be honest i don't really have much desire to relax, which may be means i

actually need to, and i'm not sure i am really their target market but the thing i can see them being very useful for would—be on an aeroplane, not that i am actually travelling anywhere right now. and earbud version is coming soon as well and there are plenty of other wea ra ble and there are plenty of other wearable sleep devices out there, including other earbuds aiming to help you get the best out of your slumber. here i have the quiet sleep earbuds and one of the things they can do is use noise cancelling to get rid of any snoring, hopefully they can do that for my own. i tried them before and now i can test a pair again. with ten hours battery life, there is plenty of time for a good night's sleep and the noise cancelling did a great job of dampening down low frequency sounds and they were surprisingly comfortable, but the one on the side i was sleeping kept falling out by the morning, which is clearly a problem, although maybe my strange ears

problem, although maybe my strange ea rs are problem, although maybe my strange ears are to blame again. yes, they do a better job than foam earplugs but they do so with a pretty hefty price tag. if you simply want a bit of silence at least some of the time, then these prototype earplugs are an interesting proposition. the idea is that you place them deep inside your ea rs you place them deep inside your ears aren't as absurd as it sounds, i actually had to watch the video to find out how to do it because it is not at all instinctive, but once you place them in further than i thought anything could actually fit, by using the style at the site, you can reduce the volume around you by actually five and 38 decibels, to put that into context, the company claims that losing around 80% of household sound at its highest and if you keep it on its lowest, it hardly makes any difference and the reason that would be useful is that the company promise is that you would wear them all day. you simply adjust them as to whether you want to turn up or down the volume of actual life.

these are just the prototype andi these are just the prototype and i was not really sold on the idea that i would want to keep them in all day. if you do, with no battery and having been sitting in the depths of youraircanal, been sitting in the depths of your air canal, then you may be pleased to know they can be washed in soapy water. they look like they would go right m, look like they would go right in, do they touch your brain?|j think in, do they touch your brain?” think so, it felt like it. ok, you may remember a few weeks ago we took a look at the america's cup, a sailing race at the cutting—edge of design technology. this week we are going back to see and this time it is for the start of around the world race with a twist. all of the sailors have to do com pletely all of the sailors have to do completely alone. travelling 27,000 miles, it takes competitors 80 days of constant sailing. they can only pause for a 30 minute bursts of sleep. naturally, this can impact their mental health and one competitor is taking on some tech that she hopes could come to the rescue. zoe has

been to the south coast of england to find out more. this is per pair, she is taking part in the race. i don't think there is another sporting event on the planet that asks so much of human beings. she is trying to beat the world record set in 15 years ago by dame ellen macarthur. the challenge is physically tough, both on the sailor and on the vote. something that can be overlooked is the mental health strain of being completely alone at sea for weeks on end. it is why her team is determined to keep a close eye on her well—being. her boat is kitted out with every gadget you would expect on a 21st—ce ntu ry you would expect on a 21st—century craft, autopilot, gps, led flares, but what sets

it apart is that mental health attack is also part of the package. i am attack is also part of the package. iam really attack is also part of the package. i am really interested in how you're going to cope with being completely on your own for such a long period of time. so, it is a long time at sea, but i am really not alone, iam sea, but i am really not alone, i am well connected. i have two satellite systems i can upload, video, do whatsapp chat. this connection to sure is where this 20—year—old yacht truly becomes cutting—edge. pip's tea m becomes cutting—edge. pip's team plans to use ai becomes cutting—edge. pip's team plans to use al to understand how she is really feeling from the video she shares during her voyage. looking at the text that has been transcribed from anything anyone says and gives us sentiment about positive neutral or negative about what is been said and it is also looking at your facial expressions, talking, to identify motions, anything from joy identify motions, anything from joy to effortful thought, to emphasis, as well as things

like contempt. when she uploads a video, say something like this... it is my last day in full today. it ends up in a system that looks like this, which picks up all of the different emotion she is experiencing. and i walked out the door... this allows her tea m the door... this allows her team to work out how they might be able to help her. do we sense that she isn't as joyful as she has been and do we want to have another phone call that really tries to lift your spirits. to get a fair trial, i thought i would have a go as well. i don't think i will be needing a pep talk anytime soon, i pretty chipper. back on land, this technology is used to do market research, analysing video uploads from customers and it basically replaces the focus group and medallion games that allows companies to monitor emotional responses to their products. when it comes to this race, i will be interested to see how

useful it is. the team is limited in what support can provide remotely. looking after her mental health includes helping her make good decisions, especially when she is tired. she plans to survive onjust 30 minute bursts is tired. she plans to survive on just 30 minute bursts of sleep. it is not always easy to understand how well my cognitive function is and how it might be impaired and how well it is functioning. i am working with the company that specialise in monitoring rare health conditions for patient management and they have written me an app that will help me assess my cognitive ability. for me, if i'm about to make a big decision, i might decide to have a bit of a slate before you make the decision. this app gives her regular promise to complete basic maths challenges, a bit like brain training and the speed and

a ccu ra cy training and the speed and a ccu ra cy of training and the speed and accuracy of her answers indicates how alert she is.” get a notification through my wearable, so there is a forward memory task, where i recall the numbers ina memory task, where i recall the numbers in a list going forward and there is a backwards memory task, same again, just a little bit harder and without the app i would just do it through mental arithmetic tasks, but the app gives a bit of regularity to what i am doing and also collecting the data, so and also collecting the data, so that we can learn from it when i get back. it is crazy to think that the next time i come back, i will have sailed around the world. that was zoe with pip and we wish her all the very best of luck for the race. that is it from us at halloween. lara, what on earth? you clearly didn't think i was making enough effort so i am mixing you up something in my cauldron. anyway, you can keep up with the team throughout the

week on youtube, instagram, facebook and twitter at bbc click. thank you for watching and we will see you soon. goodbye. by by mid week next week our weather will finally have turned drier and calmer, but by the weekend it is far from it and for saturday, storm aidan as named by the irish weather service for impacts there, even across the uk will be very windy and at times very wet. here is the area of low pressure passing from the north west of scotland and another will come along on sunday as it stays windy and there will be more rain. saturday begins already with some outbreaks of

heavy rain towards the west in particular and for a time clearing north across scotland, further heavy, torrential bursts of rain, sweep east across the uk with very gusty squally winds and for many of us squally winds and for many of us that were clear to some sunshine. it is in the west where we will see the strongest gusts of wind, 50 or 60 mph but closer to 70 on exposed coasts and hills and even elsewhere as this torrential rain moves on through could well see some gusts of 50—60 mph and it is going to be a mild start to the weekend. many of us see the rain cleared to sunshine but there will be feathering for northern ireland and to the west of scotland, still strong winds, parts of the west of scotla nd winds, parts of the west of scotland could for a time gassed in excess of 70 mph. before the winds is a touch, into sunday morning, more rain comes on through from the west. sunday will be another very windy day, this area of low pressure contains the remnants of what was once hurricane rita and closer to that we will see

the strongest winds, but all parts will have another windy day and after some early rain clear through, some will brighten up in scotland and northern ireland, further outbreaks of rain in england and wales and some of that may push further north as we go on through the day. there was when still very gusty, particularly in north—west scotland, the chance of seeing us about 70 mph fora time chance of seeing us about 70 mph for a time on sunday is still looking mild. it does turn colder next week, but that is part and parcel of a significant change in the weather and still some rain and showers around to start the week and it is quite windy but mid week it is drier, calmer, yes it is colder and it could be forced on frogs overnight. wet and windy weather at the weekend and if there are some problems because of the weather, keep up—to—date on the radio.

welcome to bbc news — i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories. the final weekend — trump and biden campaign in the midwest — where polls suggest several us states could still go either way. the number of americans tested positive for coronavirus passes nine million — as the us breaks the record for the biggest rise of cases in a single 24 hour period. with 21 states in the grip of the pandemic — we report on the native american community devastated by coronavirus. it was a hard time for me. knowing that those people are laying there, people that i've known, and they are laying there because of covid. it was heartbreaking. it was heartbreaking. is another lockdown on the way?