The freeman foundation. By judy r d peter blum kovundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. And by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. This is bbc world news amerina. Reportg tonight from new york city, im laura. Laura in beirut, lebanon begins three days of natio mourning as the cleanup and search for survifesersgoing goes on. The french presi visits, seeing the frustration firsthand. Great deal of anger here some are calling for a e. Revolution. Others are telling them there needs to be politicalhange in this country. Most are just asking for help. Ura taking aim at the National Rifle association. New yorks attorney general accuses the group of fraud and selfenrichment and sues to disband it. Can tourism in tuscany be revived a with coronavirus . We go in search of the summer crowds. Plus, takingn her biggest challenge yet. We meet the disabled sailor who for all of you watching on pbs amd around the globe, welcome to world newica. Amid the grief and pain in lebanon tonight, theres growing anger at government. A massive explosion in beirut andured more than 5,0. Ople. Dozens are still missing. The french president flew there today. The first world leader to visit since the blast. Res our middle east reporter francessident said he was here to bring home truths to lebanons politicians. He received an earful of them in beiruts neighborhood. They stoppedlearing up their shattered homes and streets and begged for help. The french president is being pulled in all directions. Behind me, a great deal of anger here with the lebane some are calling for a revolution. Others are telling them there needs to be political change in this country. Most are just aing for help. Their own president they declaimed as terrorist and as theyve demanded for nearly a year now, they called for a revoluon. We dont know anything about this reporter few lebanese politicians would dare to get this close to the peoples anger. Then in a ruined pharmacy, the french president spoke to ada. He said, you must try our best again and again. We shallseo this b for our children, the future of our childr, because although we are a desperate, because we h enough. We are hopeless in this country. Every time we try to do some project or to do we dont have dreams anymore. Reporter its a sig of lebanons desperation. It but asking its former colonial power for salvation. Abeirutro port, gd zero for the explosion, mr. Macron laid down a challenge. We know that the crisis here serious. It implies a historical responsibility on t part of th leaders in place. Theres a political, moral, economic and financial crisis of which thbanese people are the first victims. Reporter there may be no ternative. This was lebanons life line to the world and its now in ruins. This is whats left of the countrys electricity pvider. It barely b functioneore the explosion. Rebuilding this will take billions, whole neighborhoods have been abandoned. A job like this will require internationaffort. But some in lebanon cant yet woy about the future. Theyre too lost in the present. This family hold a vigil outside the gates of the docks. They take it in turns. This woman is searching for her husbd. Weve been here for days, she told me. No one came to hearur cries and no one tells us whether hes alive or dead. If it wa any of their sons missing, they would be moving heaven and earth. R u no one has showed up. The governments incompetence brought tragedy here. It maysh unleauch more. Quentin summerville, bbc news, beirut. Laura and wel be live with quentin later in the broadcast night. An ile, new yorks attorney general has filed a major lawsuit against the National Rifle association, trying to devolve the group. Top officials are accused ofin fu their lavish life styles by corruption and misspending. Right to bear arms gives it huge cultural and political influence. Here in the u though its a lightning rod for advocates of gun control. Our north america editor hasre. Reporter the protesters can freely salk thetreets of america arms to the teeth i largely down to the fordablewe por of the natasnal rifle ciation. Arguably the most influential lobbying organization in the u. S. The right to bears a their cause. But how the n. R. A. Has been spending its money has led to them coming under distinctly unfriendly fire from the new York Attorney general. Just a few minutes ago, my office filed a lawsuit against the National Rifle association to dissolve the organization in its entirety. Reporter she paints picture of wild indulgence. They use millions upon millions of dollars from the n. R. A. For pm use. Including for lavish personal use. Including for lavish trips for themselves and their familiepr ate jets, expensive meals, and other private travel. Reporter the National Rifle association also spends fortunes backing likeminded caidates in elections a none is more likeminded than donald trump. Coincidentally, the n. R. A. Nounced today it would be spending millions in the battlegroundtates supporting the president , attacking his opponent,oe biden. Donald trump has never sought to hide hishe admiration for n. R. A. Leadership. President trump im thrilled to be here in indiana with the men aen of the n. R. A. You ar Great American patriots. [cheers and applause] reporter but today he tried to switch the focus away from their excesses to what a joke bidens presidency mig mean for gunritis. Um president hes following the radical left agenda. Take away your guns, destroy your second amendment, no religion, no anything. Hurt the bible, hurt god. Hes against god, hes against guns. Reporter millions of ordinary americans own and carry weapons and go to gun shows like this one in the sam way you would a Garden Center or d. I. Y. Store. Can i just walk out with it if i give you the money . Ou ifive me the money and show me your drivers license. Repoer but after eve mass shooting theres a familiar chorus for gun control. The move by new yorks attorney general wont bring a swift demise to the n. R. A. But it will ensure that guns will be a wellready toen cultural battleground come this novembers election. Welltrodden battleground come this novembers election. Laura in other news from around thesorld. Thereen a major shakeup at the u. S. State department. The u. S. Special envoy to iran since early 2017 is stepping he had been a central figure in the trump admintrations hardline stanceh towardn. Hell be replaced by a veteran diplomat best known for his involvement in the iran contra scandal in the 1980s. The mayor of los angeles says wautr and power will be off to homes where large parties are being held. Thatse to enfoocial distancing during the eric gar said house parties have become night clubs in the hills and the measure would take effect o friday. California is the worst affected u. S. State with more than half a million. Cas this years London Marathon is all but canceled with only a few elite runners taking part in october. Theyll r a revised course through central londo with no fans, due to coronavirusco erns. Thats a far cry from the usually run who the 26mile circuit. Next years race will take place in october, rather than its usually daten the spring. And lets return to our top story now. Theftermath of the explosion in beirut. Lets go to our corresponde, quinton summervle, who is there for us. Are people i beirutny closer to knowing tonight what caused that explosion . Renrter they a but they have their suspicions. As you can understand, theres a tot of pain here at moment. A lot of suffering and a lot of grief. E theytill searching for bodies at this very moment. But increasingly there is anger here about who was respoible, who is to blame for this enormous catastrophe. Their own politicians arent really to be seen. Theyre almos invisible, if you like. Greatly disreected by large swaths of the lebanese politician who are sick of their cruption, sick of their mismanagement and could there be any bigger example o this countrys dysfunction than the chemicals angerous were stowed just down here, right ithe heart of this city, somehow that they managed to explode, despite the government being warned that this was a threat and danger, not just to all of beirut, but to all of lebanonst l this was allowed to happen. And the people who have already t rid o one government, remember, they took t lthe streett year in protest andemanded change, well, that tsnt enough for them. And nowyre look at this aftermath and you have to wonder, will change finally come for this country . Laura and what is the opportunity thoh real political change . Are there elections coming up . Rerter well, the french president macron w here today and he was giving given a real earful by lebanese people in the street. Y werent angry with him, they were angryth their own politicians. They referred to their own president as a tourist terrorist. Theyre demanding revolution again. And president macron had said that france would help and said that france would lead the International Effort in helping lebanon. But stil thead to be change. The tricky thing is, though, that the lebanese elite have managed for many years, generations almost, tprotect their own interests, toteal om the stateto steal from foreign donors and to avoid that change thats demanded. Bu you do haveo wonder now, given this terrible tragedy, enough for the people in lebanon, as well as its allies overseas. Laura thank you. Turning to th covid19 pandemic, and dr. Deborah birx irof the white house coron task force is sounding the alarm about emerging hot spots here in the u. S. In a phone call with state ofcials, dr. Birx said there were encouraging signs in the sunbelt, but warned of increasing cases in nine cities and the central in the Central Valley region of california. She suggested that People Living in areas with rising cases should avoid familygs gather and today we learned the republican governor has tested positive for coronavirus. The diagnosis came hours before mr. Dewe was d to meet trump who is in ohio today. Joining us now is the president and c. E. O. Of the rob johnson foundation. Thanks so much for being with us. So this influential model thatslosely followed by the white house is predicting tonight that the u. S. Death tollould reach almost 300,000 by december. What does that say to youatbout the of the outbreak here . When i look at tse model, laura, i view them as what would happen or could happen if we dont takeltnative actions. Theyre not a crystal ball and what we do today really matters. When dr. Birx is talking about hot spots, will there be change in behavior . Will there be change in terms of what the government provides in support . So that those hot spots dont continue to grow . Or not . Widespread outbreaks . More so when i see a modelike this that like, that c. C. Combines many models because of differences in what they show. Bu what i say when see a model i what can we do to change this . So this rely isnthe future that we have down the road . Laura the state department meanwhile is lifting the International Travel advisory for u. S. Citizens. But are americans going to be welcome otherountries, do you think, with the cases this high . If i were in another country and i was looking at the u. S. , i would have great concern about travelers from here coming. There are parts of the u. S. Where the numbers have come down and are staying down. But as we move to try and get children back into schools, and to open the economy, we havent fully embraced the measures that so many other countries around the world have successfully embraced in terms of social distancing and Wearing Masks and avoiding gatherings and indoor places like bars and restaurants. I would be a worriedut a plane load of americans coming in, given thetiurrent sit in this country. Laura when you look at america, cases are surging in, grande in texas. Ea, the rio is that an example of how coronavirus is really exposing the fault lines of race and poverty in america . I think it is. Were still notct colg the data that allows us to see how different communities, how op differentations are being hit. We know today to date that black americans, latino americans, native americans are getting hit disproportionately hehard. And you look at whats goingn in the rio grande valley, and parts of california , you have large populations of latino amecans, many of whom dont have health insurance, dont have ready access to the alth care system, many of whom have underlying conditions like diabetes and heart disease. Because of economic greater risk. That put them at this really is a pandemic thats hitting every community, but not hitting every community equally. And thats something that has to chae and can change, if we really are intentional about it. Laura thank you so much for joining us. T when it com tackling the pandemic, italy has gone from cautionary tale to a virtual howto guide in a matter of months. The first european country to be badly hit by the virus. The nation locked down hard. That surely h save lives. But the impact on business has been devastating. Especially tourism. Nour correspondent has b to tuscany and has this report. Reporter as grapes ripen, its tourism is turning se. If only business at the vineyard looked as promising as this years harvest. Visitors are trickling back but few foreigners. These big casks are quite typical reporter the family has been making wine here since 1385. The 26th generation to run it says shes never seen it so bad. The british market has always been very, vert import terms of tourism and in terms of work as well. E only replacement was the italian, so we lost 90 of tourism here. The very big. Weve never lived anything like this in my generation, ive never lived anything like this. This is lik a war. So its like being after the war. Reporter in nearby florence, its usually hard to move for gust tourups. No longer. The First Western country crushed by coronavirus is emerging scarred, with tourism 13rks of its economy, expected to drop by half thisear. The lucky ones see an uncrowded we were meant t on honeymoon and it got cancel. When we sawtaly was available to travel to, we always said we wanted to come to italy and we thout, with the travel industry at the moment, its so quiet here at the moment. We felt really reassured. Reporter at this gallery, thermal scanners are the new installation. Just half the preovid capacity can now visit the renaissance gems, meaning youre often alone with leonardo. An opportunity for change, says the director. We also have the chance to really rethink our model of tourism. I dont think that we really urn to nt to re r the point of last year, to have overtourism. People in the museums that just come to take some snaphots and selfies and then rush out. Reporter next door, theyre trying out new methods. This is an extra covid measure that florence cathedral has brought i a speci device thats given to you already disinfected. And then if you get closer than 1. 8 meters to the person nextou to it vibrates. Ingenious. This is the first place in the worl to introduce it. And several cathedrals in britain have already been in touch, saying they wan the same. There is suffering in beauty and art. And this city of both is now feeling it. Laura i went there on my honeymoon. Id love to be there now. But instead im going to the American West on vacation. Youre watchingws bbc world america. Still to come on tonights program, 400 years after natures engineers vanished, theyre building dams in england. Laura nearly 1. 2 million workers here in the u. S. Filed for unitployment ben last week. Thats the 20th straight week of more than one mlion claims. The bbc has more on the timing of those figures for us. Reporter broer picture is when we keep hearing again and again from economists and that is that it is going to be a very long time before this job whats interesting about these figures, it is the last week thatany americans were eligle for the enhanced Unemployment Benefits. That is this 600 in extra Unemployment Benefits a week. At expired at the end of july. Lawmakers are still fighting over what to do next. Andar yet here w several days on, theime frame keeps slipping, we wereold friday we were told possibly in the days ahead. Meanwhile, the white house is saying it is prepared to act unilaterally if something isnt done at time. The financial anxiety, the for millions of americans continues to go u and of course on friday we get the official monthly jobs figures and the unemployment rate. Ura now to a warm and fuzzy comeback story for the ages. Beavers vanish fro england over had 4 400 years ago. Ecosystem engineers have been gradually reintroduced over the last decade. Now, 15 beaver families have been given the permanent right stay in their new home in deven. Its a trial to see what theyll have on the wildlife and people around them. Conservationists call this a our correspondent has more. Reporter its dusk on the river ott. Theres another beaver thereg just on the r side. In the wild. Ey were born her since ey were hunted to years, extinction. Two kids. Probably no more than 8 to 10 weeks old. Reporter its a mystery hth original few escaped captivity and found their way here. Fivehe years on,ir trial is over. Its amazing. They dont seem remotely bothered by us. But, what theyre doing here isnt just shaping ait river. Oes much wider than that. I think people arein bng to see that we need Natural Solutions to some of the big problems we face. And beavers are not going to solve everything. But they can be part of a natural solution to a lot of the issuese face. Reporter thats the governments conclusion too. En the enviro minister visited their habitat in east devon to make the announcement. She believes this project could influence how farmers are subsidized after the u. K. Leaves the european union. If he wants more diverse habitats to worklongside with our farming and healthy and Sustainable Food production, natural managemystms like that the beavers can provide are one of the answers that farmers could be paid to have the beavers on their land. Porter but they are rodents and they do cause problems. Scotlands beavers were given protected status l bt year, some farmers said they were ruining valuable land. Av dozenssince been culled. They feeot enough trust has been do research has been the maamle w here a long time ago and our rivers have changed since then. Are they athe moment in a fit place for a mammal like the beaver to be reintroduced . Reporter despite some worries, a lost character of the past is now gliding into our present. Claire marshall, bbs news, eavon bbc news, devon. Laura if thers arent inspiring enough for you, look no further than a young sailor fr britain. Natasha lambert is quadr