[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Widespread Covid-19 vaccination not expected until mid-2021, says WHO Guardian NewsView Full coverage on Google NewsA man suspected of killing a far right-wing protester in Portland has been shot dead in an operation to detain him, according to officials.
Michael Reinoehl was located by FBI agents and the US Marshals service on Thursday after an arrest warrant was issued for him.
During the encounter, Reinoehl is said to have brandished a gun, before being shot by a police officer in Lacey, Washington.
The 48-year-old was the main suspect in the killing of Aaron Jay Danielson, which happened during clashes between Donald Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters on Saturday in Oregon, Portland.
BLM protests have been occurring regularly in the city following the police killing of George Floyd in May.
On the weekend, a convoy of around 600 vehicles - carrying an estimated 1,000 Trump supporters - drove around the city and were confronted by the protesters.
In an interview with Vice, Mr Reinoehl said he had acted in self-defence when shooting Mr Danielson, a member of the Patriot Prayer group.
He added: "I had no choice. I mean, I, I had a choice. I could have sat there and watched them kill a friend of mine of colour. But I wasn't going to do that."
Mr Reinoehl, who regularly the attended anti-racism demonstrations, described himself as "100% ANTIFA" on social media and had suggested that tactics used by counter-protesters amounted to "warfare".
He had also been shot at a protest before and is cited for having a gun at another.
Donald Trump acknowledged the shooting of Mr Danielson, tweeting: "Why aren't the Portland Police ARRESTING the cold blooded killer of Aaron "Jay" Danielson. Do your job, and do it fast. Everybody knows who this thug is. No wonder Portland is going to hell!"
There has been months of unrest in Portland, with hundreds of people being arrested after protesters vandalised government buildings and police stations, and authorities used tear gas and pepper spray to break up crowds.
Democratic officials and Oregon Governor Kate Brown have said: "The violence must stop. There is no place for white supremacy or vigilantism in Oregon."
They added: "Together, we are committing ourselves to do the hard work that will bring meaningful change for racial justice and police reform."
Rescuers are continuing to search through rubble for a potential survivor of the Beirut blast last month - but a pulsing signal thought to be a human heart beat has now dropped to seven beats per minute.
It comes as the Lebanese military said it discovered more than four tonnes of ammonium nitrate near Beirut's port on Thursday.
Search operations began on Thursday afternoon after a sniffer dog belonging to a Chilean search and rescue team detected something as the team was going through the neighbourhood of Gemmayzeh and rushed towards the rubble.
After hours of searching the work briefly stopped following sunset before some protesters arrived at the scene claiming the Lebanese army had asked the Chilean team to stop the search.
A Chilean rescue worker uses a sensitive listening device to locate vital signs of a survivor at a site of the Beirut blast on September 4
A rescue worker chains concrete to a crane while removing debris at a site of the Beirut blast on September 4
Rescue workers clear debris. A sniffer dog with a Chilean rescue crew responded to the suspected presence of a person in the rubble of a building damaged in the deadly explosion
The origin of the pulsing signal was not immediately known but it set off a frantic search and raised new hope
The protesters started searching themselves until members of Lebanon's Civil Defence team arrived an hour after midnight and resumed work.
The army issued a statement on Friday saying the Chilean team stopped work half an hour before midnight because of fears that a wall might collapse, endangering them.
It added that army experts inspected the site and two cranes were brought in to remove the wall and the search resumed.
On Friday morning, rescue workers were slowly removing debris with their hands and shovels. The more they dug, the more careful the work became to protect any possible survivors under the rubble.
On Thursday, the team used audio detection equipment for signals or heartbeat, and detected what could be a pulse of 18 to 19 beats per minute.
As night fell, rescue workers set up light projectors to work through the darkness.
Every now and then, the team asked people on the streets to stay quiet for five minutes so as not to interfere with the sounds being detected by their instruments.
The origin of the pulsing signal was not immediately known but it set off a frantic search and raised new hope.
Rescuers work at he site of a collapsed building after getting signals there may be a survivor buried in the rubble, early Friday
It is extremely unlikely that any survivors would be found a month after the blast that tore through Beirut when nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate ignited at the port
Every now and then, the team asked people on the streets to stay quiet for five minutes so as not to interfere with the sounds being detected by their instruments
The army issued a statement on Friday saying the Chilean team stopped work half an hour before midnight because of fears that a wall might collapse, endangering them
On Friday morning, the beats dropped to seven per minute according to reporters at the site.
It is extremely unlikely that any survivors would be found a month after the blast that tore through Beirut when nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate ignited at the port.
The explosion on August 4 killed 191 people and injured 6,000 others and is considered to be one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded. Thousands of homes were damaged.
There were 2,750 tonnes of the hazardous chemical held in the warehouse at the time of the explosion - which measured as the equivalent of a 3.5 earthquake.
'Ninety-nine percent there isn't anything, but even if there is less than 1% hope, we should keep on looking,' said Youssef Malah, a civil defence worker.
But a Chilean volunteer said their equipment identifies breathing and heartbeat from humans, not animals, and it detected a sign of a human.
Rescuers are searching through the rubble of a building in Beirut after reports that a heartbeat was detected
The worker, Francesco Lermonda, said it is rare, but not unheard of, for someone to survive under rubble for a month.
Meanwhile, according to the military, army experts were called in for an inspection and found 4.35 tonnes of ammonium nitrate in four containers stored near the port.
There were no details on the origin of the chemicals or their owner.
The military statement said that customs officials had called in the army to inspect containers at a facility near the port, where they found 4.35 tonnes of ammonium nitrate.
A sniffer dog belonging to the Chilean search and rescue team first detected something as the team was going through a street in one of the worst hit areas
The team then used audio detection equipment for signals or heartbeat, and detected what could be a pulse of 18 to 19 beats per minute as they search the rubble
Every now and then, the team asked people on the streets to stay quiet for five minutes so as not to interfere with the sounds being detected by their instruments
Fires were still burning at the destroyed port following the blast as the full extent of the devastation - in a country that was already in the midst of an economic crisis - was laid bare
It said army experts were 'dealing with the material', suggesting it was being destroyed.
Lebanon's president and prime minister were warned last month that a stash of ammonium nitrate at the port of Beirut could destroy the city if it exploded.
Security officials wrote a letter on July 20 saying the industrial chemicals which had been idling in a warehouse since 2013 needed to be secured immediately.
Thousands of protesters continue to take to the streets and clash with police. The prime minister and his cabinet resigned after the devastating explosion.
Donald Trump made multiple disparaging remarks about members of the US military who had been captured or killed, and referred to the American war dead at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in France as “losers” and “suckers”, according to a report.
The president said the story, first reported in The Atlantic, is “totally false”.
A senior Defence Department official with first-hand knowledge of events and a senior Marine Corps officer who was told about Mr Trump’s comments confirmed some of the remarks to the Associated Press, including the cemetery incident.
The officials said he made the comments as he begged off visiting the cemetery outside Paris during a meeting following his presidential daily briefing on the morning of November 10 2018.
Staff from the National Security Council and the Secret Service told Mr Trump that rainy weather made helicopter travel to the cemetery risky, but they could drive there. He responded by saying he did not want to visit the cemetery because it was “filled with losers”, the official said.
At the time the White House blamed the cancelled visit on poor weather.
In another conversation on the trip, The Atlantic said, Mr Trump referred to the 1,800 marines who died in the First World War battle of Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed.
He denied the Atlantic report, calling it “a disgraceful situation” by a “terrible magazine”.
Speaking to reporters after he returned to Washington from a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Mr Trump said: “I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes. There is nobody that respects them more. No animal — nobody — what animal would say such a thing?”
He also reiterated the White House explanation of why he did not visit the cemetery. “The helicopter could not fly,” he said, because of the rain and fog.
“The Secret Service told me you can’t do it. They would never have been able to get the police and everybody else in line to have a president go through a very crowded, very congested area.”
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said: “It’s sad the depths that people will go to during a lead-up to a presidential campaign to try to smear somebody.”
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, whose son served in Iraq, said: “If the revelations in today’s Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the president of the United States.
“Duty, honour, country — those are the values that drive our service members. I will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honour their sacrifice — always.”
The defence officials also confirmed to the AP that Mr Trump, on Memorial Day 2017, had gone with chief of staff John Kelly to visit the Arlington Cemetery gravesite of Mr Kelly’s son Robert, who was killed in 2010 in Afghanistan, and said to Mr Kelly: “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
The senior Marine Corps officer and The Atlantic, citing sources with first-hand knowledge, also reported that Mr Trump said he did not want to support the August 2018 funeral of Republican senator John McCain, a decorated navy veteran who spent years as a Vietnam prisoner of war, because he was a “loser”.
The Atlantic reported that the president was angered that flags were flown at half-mast for Mr McCain, saying: “What the f*** are we doing that for? Guy was a f****** loser.”
Trump acknowledged Thursday he was “never a fan” of McCain and disagreed with him, but said he still respected him and approved everything to do with his “first-class triple-A funeral” without hesitation because “I felt he deserved it.”
In 2015, shortly after launching his presidential candidacy, Mr Trump publicly criticised Mr McCain, saying: “He’s not a war hero,” and adding:: “I like people who weren’t captured.”
The magazine said Mr Trump also referred to former president George HW Bush as a “loser” because he was shot down by the Japanese as a Navy pilot in the Second World War.
Donald Trump has denied allegations that he referred to American soldiers who lost their lives in war as "losers" and "suckers".
The claims date back to 2018 when the US president cancelled his trip to a cemetery in France, which was blamed on bad weather at the time.
According to The Atlantic, Mr Trump is reported to have asked his aides: "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers."
In a separate conversation, it is alleged that the president branded US marines who lost their lives at the Battle of Belleau Wood in the First World War as "suckers".
The Atlantic said it had spoken to four people with first-hand knowledge of the discussion about the cemetery visit, while the Associated Press news agency said a senior defence department official had confirmed some of the remarks, including the 2018 cemetery comments.
However Mr Trump has insisted the claims are "totally false".
Speaking on Air Force One on Thursday night, the president - who has consistently positioned himself as a supporter of the military and veterans - denied making the comments, calling the site that published the remarks a "terrible magazine".
"What animal would say such a thing?," he added.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters on the flight: "It's sad the depths that people will go to during a lead-up to a presidential campaign to try to smear somebody."
Mr Trump's Democratic rival Joe Biden was quick to jump on the allegations, saying: "If the revelations in today's Atlantic article are true, then they are yet another marker of how deeply President Trump and I disagree about the role of the president of the United States.
"Duty, honour, country - those are the values that drive our service members.
Mr Biden added that if he is elected president he "will ensure that our American heroes know that I will have their back and honour their sacrifice - always".
:: Subscribe to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
According to The Atlantic, Mr Trump also called Senator John McCain a "loser" upon his death and allegedly refused to support his funeral - claims which the president also denied.
Mr McCain, who was one of the few major Republican figures who refused to back Mr Trump when he was elected, was captured by opposition forces in the Vietnam War.
Responding on Twitter, Mr Trump said he supported Mr McCain's funeral and even sent Air Force One to transport his body.
He added: "Also, I never called John a loser and swear on whatever, or whoever, I was asked to swear on, that I never called our great fallen soldiers anything other than HEROES.
"This is more made up Fake News given by disgusting & jealous failures in a disgraceful attempt to influence the 2020 election!"
In 2015, Mr Trump criticised Mr McCain, saying he "lost" and that "he never liked him as much after that, because I don't like losers."
He added at the time: "He's not a war hero... I like people that weren't captured."
Following the party conventions and the unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, there has been some evidence that the US presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is starting to tighten in the all-important swing states.
A Monmouth University poll of Pennsylvania published this week gave Mr Biden a four-point lead among the state’s registered voters, down from 13 points in mid-July. Polls from other swing states, including Wisconsin and Arizona, have been better for the Democratic challenger.
While some state polls show a tighter race, hardly any have Mr Trump in the lead. But the betting markets have moved dramatically in the president’s favour since the conventions, and now give him an almost 50-50 chance of winning re-election.
Voters are also sceptical. A recent survey of US voters from the Pew Research Center gave Mr Biden an eight-point lead, but found that just 82 per cent of the former US vice-president’s supporters thought he would win. Mr Trump’s backers are much more confident: nine out of 10 think he is on course for re-election.
So why is there such a disconnect between national polling — where Mr Biden enjoys a stable lead — and the perceptions of voters and those betting in the prediction markets?
One explanation is that a national lead does not equate to a victory in the electoral college. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016 but still lost the race. The same thing happened in 2000 when Al Gore lost to George W Bush.
Some pundits therefore prefer to focus instead on state-level polling averages that show Mr Biden has a narrower lead at this point in the race than Mrs Clinton had — especially in those states that helped propel Mr Trump to victory.
However, simply comparing state polling numbers in 2020 to those from 2016 can be misleading and might suggest the race is tighter than it really is — for two important reasons.
1. In the states where it mattered most, 2016 polls underestimated Donald Trump’s support. Pollsters have since tried to correct their mistakes.
National polls were mostly accurate in 2016, but state polls, especially in battlegrounds, tended to underestimate support for Mr Trump. The polls understated his support in Wisconsin by 6.5 per cent, and in Pennsylvania and Michigan by four to five points.
One of the main problems, according to an American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) postmortem, was that many state pollsters failed to adjust their samples by education, meaning they had too many highly educated voters among their respondents.
This mattered less in elections before 2016. In 2012 education was not so closely correlated with voter choice. However, in 2016 education was arguably the most important demographic factor in determining the candidate that voters (especially white ones) would back.
Many state pollsters have tried to rectify the problem by weighting their samples by education, alongside more traditional demographics such as age, gender and race.
To illustrate the difference this can make, the FT asked three state pollsters to remove the education weightings from their samples and to recalculate their latest polls. To varying degrees, all three would have estimated a higher lead for Mr Biden. Most dramatically, Mr Biden’s lead in a poll of Florida voters by the University of North Florida jumped from 6 to 11 points after the education weighting was stripped out.
2. There are fewer voters up for grabs than in 2016, and some polls suggest they favour Joe Biden.
Education weighting alone does not alone explain the polling deficiencies in the run-up to the last election. The Marquette Law School Poll of Wisconsin voters was one of the few that did weight for education in 2016, but it was still out by six points.
Charles Franklin, director of the poll, attributed the error to “the dynamics of opinion at the end of 2016”. There were lots of undecided voters who disliked both candidates but shifted to Mr Trump in the final week before the election.
There is not much that pollsters can do about “late breakers”, who accounted for 13 per cent of the 2016 electorate in Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania, according to the AAPOR report.
A related theory is that there were lots of “shy” Trump voters in 2016 who were unwilling to admit their preference to pollsters. But the AAPOR report and subsequent research has found little evidence of this.
This time round, there is less potential for late-deciders to alter the race. For instance, the latest Marquette poll of Wisconsin has Mr Biden at 50 per cent and Mr Trump at 46 among likely voters. That leaves just 4 per cent who say they are undecided or voting for a third party.
By comparison, in the final Marquette poll of 2016, Mrs Clinton stood at 46 per cent and Mr Trump at 40 per cent, leaving 14 per cent undecided or supporting a third party. So Mr Biden’s lead is smaller than Mrs Clinton’s was, but he is arguably in a better position.
Secondly, there is some evidence that undecided voters are more likely to pick Mr Biden. In the August Marquette poll, 58 per cent of Wisconsin voters who disliked both candidates said they would vote for Mr Biden, according to Mr Franklin.
That said, there are still two months to go until election day and external factors could upend the race.
Americans broadly disapprove of Mr Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. However, the extent to which this hurts Mr Trump in November, and the net effect of his law-and-order rhetoric, remain unclear. Voter turnout is another big unknown.
Finally, many of the issues that affected election polling in 2016 remain. Reputable pollsters in key states are grappling with lower budgets and increased costs. That means high-quality state polls, which can cost from $10,000 to upwards of $20,000 a survey, are too infrequent.
“The structural challenges that the survey field had in 2016 are still in place in 2020,” said Courtney Kennedy, director of survey research at the Pew Research Center.
Rescuers in Beirut are continuing to search through the rubble of a building amid reports a person could be alive, one month after a massive blast devastated the Lebanese capital.
Specialist sensor equipment was to sent the Mar Mikhael area after unconfirmed reports that a heartbeat was detected.
The search was initially suspended overnight, but volunteers continued to work by hand, reports say.
More than 200 people died when 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate detonated.
Some 300,000 people were left homeless by the blast on 4 August.
There has been outrage that so much hazardous material was stored unsafely in a warehouse in the city's port, which lies close to many residential areas.
The Lebanese government's resignation shortly afterwards failed to pacify protesters, who clashed with police in the city for several nights.
In a separate development, four containers with 4.3 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were found on Thursday outside Beirut's seaport, the army said.
It said its specialists examined the containers, but gave no further details.
A crowd gathered at the building on Thursday as the rescue team from Chile began to work. It is still unknown if a person is alive under the rubble.
Rescue teams called off the search for the night as they lacked cranes to lift the rubble, amid fears that the building could collapse.
But local volunteers vowed to continue working by hand and a crane organised by private individuals has now arrived at the scene, according to journalists on the ground.
The team of Chilean rescuers have also reportedly returned to work.
The rescuers were passing the building on Wednesday night when their dog gave a sign there was a person alive inside.
On returning this morning the dog went to the same place and gave the same sign. The group then used a scanner to search for a heartbeat or a breath from within, and came with equipment to dig down into the rubble.
Red Cross staff have set up a tent with floodlights and supplies. Army, fire service and volunteer rescuers are also on the scene.
The Chilean rescuers arrived in Lebanon on 1 September. According to a local source, they have highly sensitive equipment which can detect breathing at a depth of 15m (49ft).
As of now there is no confirmation that anyone is alive under the rubble - but some of those gathered at the scene dared to hope, our correspondent said.
Mar Mikhael was one of the areas worst hit by the blast wave.
It is a historic neighbourhood that faces the port. It was famous for its night life before the disaster.
