this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. people arriving in the uk from belgium, the bahamas and andorra will have to quarantine for m days — the rules began at midnight in wales and will apply from 4 am on saturday in the rest of the uk. police in beirut use teargas on protestors demonstrating against the government — after an explosion earlier this week killed 137 people and injured more than 5,000. a record number of migrants crossed the channel by boat yesterday, and several more have been spotted this morning. british border force officers intercepted 17 boats yesterday which were carrying a total of 235 people. thousands of cabin crew at british airways will find out today whether they still have a job

— with many facing significant pay cuts if they remain, amid a dispute between the airline and its staff. president trump has signed an executive order banning any us transactions with the parent companies of tiktok and wechat — two of the biggest chinese social media apps. and the 10 year—old boy who was swept out to sea speaks about his rescue by lifeguards. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world 7 and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. i may people arriving into the uk

from belgium, the bahamas and andorra will have to quarantine for m days. the uk transport secretary grant shapps said the changes start at 4 o'clock in the morning on saturday except in wales, where restrictions started midnight on thursday. the countries are the latest to have a change in rules, after quara ntines were reimposed for spain and luxembourg. up to 1.8 million british nationals visit belgium every year, while 150,000 visit andorra. the bahamas, meanwhile, saw more than 36,000 visits from the uk in 2018. people who do not self—isolate when required can be fined up to £1,000 in england, wales, and northern ireland and those returning to scotland could be fined £480, with fines up to £5,000 for persistent offenders. and coronavirus cases in france are being "closely monitored" by the british government, amid reports that the country is in danger of being added to the uk's quarantine list. new infections in france put the nation at levels not seen since late may —

though no change to foreign office guidance has been announced. the uk is not the only country responding to rising coronavirus cases in europe — norway has reimposed a 10—day quarantine for travellers arriving from a number of european countries, including france and the czech republic. 0ur brussels correspondent nick beake has been monitoring the situation in belgium. this has not come as a huge shock and surprise, the fact belgium has now been put on the uk quarantine list. it's because we were watching those figures creep upwards and upwards and there has been quite a noticeable rise, not at the levels we saw two or three months ago, but the covid 19 rate in belgium is three times that of the uk, clearly people in whitehall in london have been looking at this and decided now enough is enough and so belgium, the bahamas, andorra being added to the quarantine list. as you say, come in for the rest of the uk, already in wales, but it will come into effect

in the rest of the uk in the early hours of tomorrow so anyone will have to self quarantine if coming from these countries. anyone hoping to pop across to belgium for a holiday, those who may be travelling through belgium, for example someone who is in amsterdam at the moment and getting the eurostar train back, they would have to self isolate when they get to the uk because of this new rule. a big impact. talk to us about france, as we mentioned in the introduction, cases on the rise there, do we think we are just perhaps days away, potentially, from similar restrictions being put on people who've been to france? i think it's hard to put a time frame on it, in the case of belgium there were newspaper reports a week or ten days ago that it was imminent and we've onlyjust seen it happen but clearly, if you look at the numbers and the trajectory that france is taking at the moment, theyjust reported the highest number of daily

new cases for two months. the level that the covid 19 level is near to where it was when spain was added to the uk quarantine list, you don't have to be a scientist to look at the figures and look at the graph and see france is really getting to that level of concern and i think we all remember the massive impact it had for brits in spain, the way that announcement was made, very quickly. lots of people, it would seem, as a country, people love going to france but lots of people who haven't been able to go to spain this year have chosen france and look at eurotunnel, people taking their vehicles from the uk to mainland france, their numbers year on year, comparing lastjuly with this july, passenger numbers only down 20%. that is a much less fall compared with the airlines. it did seem lots of people were going to france and if you booked a holiday in france it will be clearly concerning but for now,

there are no answers, only the government says france, like all countries, is under review and the government will take action quickly if needed, in the best interests of everyone ‘s health and safety. joshua holloway lives in ghent in belgium, and had been hoping to visit family in the uk. joshua, thank you for talking to us today. when were you hoping to come back to the uk, first of all?” would back to the uk, first of all?|j would have liked back to the uk, first of all?” would have liked to have travelled on wednesday for a long weekend. that would require obviously a quarantine, are you still going to do that? no, it is not worth it. in order to be able to enjoy your time you need to arrive two weeks earlier, to first self isolate before you can see the family or friends that you have been hoping to see. it also has the reverse effect, if my family wish to come and visit me, they would have to self isolate and return to the uk and it's very difficult if you have a job. because

it adds two weeks onto whatever holiday time you planned to take. so it's a bit of a nightmare. you don't know when you will be able to see family orfriends know when you will be able to see family or friends again. has this news come as a complete surprise? 0bviously, there's been discussion for a while about rising cases in belgium and whether that would lead to it being added to the quarantine list. no, that's true, it's not a com plete list. no, that's true, it's not a complete surprise. what i find surprising or confusing is that there is no clear indication from there is no clear indication from the british government as to what measure they are using to add or remove countries from the list. in other countries, i think in germany, for example, there is a very clear limit of so many cases per hundred thousand triggers our country having to impose a quarantine and conversely, we don't know from the government what figures or criteria they are looking for to return

belgium to how it was before, where one can travel without self isolating. you are saying you would like a set figure that is triggered, automatically triggered, a country is added to the quarantine list. you think that would make things clearer for people? i think so and it would make things clearer when a country is likely to be added and removed because she could then, anyone could look at the figures, they are widely available. and you can look at a country thing, they are a bit close to the limit, its probably not wise to the limit, its probably not wise to book travel but if you see their numbers are way down you know, you can be pretty hopeful within a week thatis can be pretty hopeful within a week that is possible. the other issue is the government is adding countries asa the government is adding countries as a whole, in belgium, here, its specific regions or provinces that are added to the list for you cannot travel or you need to quarantine and test. in belgium, the biggest contributor to the figures and the spike we are seeing is coming from antwerp. i guess the counter argument to that, joshua, if you

tried to say, for people travelling toa tried to say, for people travelling to a particular area of let's say belgium, you can still go but you cannot go to that area, it creates a lot of confusion, doesn't it? especially people on holiday, typically, want to travel around a little bit and the government would argue, it has to react quickly to changing situations with a number of cases? that i appreciate and indeed, you are right, if you ban one every other country people can still move about freely but again, belgium is very small. somebody who is currently belgium who will transit through —— currently in germany, who will transit through belgium, norman will transit through belgium, norman will know they were there, you can't really prove that. —— no one will know. as long as the european borders remain open, people are free to move around, especially with a car, it is very easy. governments

and everyone else, we are just depending on people being honest and thinking about everyone else. reducing the risk for possible which is obviously what you have decided to do, you are not going to travel? no, there is no point any more. you have to be used to the fact that pla nts have to be used to the fact that plants will change rapidly. this isn't the first travel plans of mine that have changed this summer. and i accept this. but for me, i think, the key issue is to have a clear set of figures, rules, guidelines, data from the british government to make planning just a little bit easier. joshua, really good to talk to you and thank you. 0ur correspondentjessica parker is in westminster. jessica, that news about belgium, the bahamas, andorra emerged last night. there's also a lot of chatter

about france could be added to the list, the quarantine list but what are you hearing? what i've heard from government sources is we don't expect a change in france ‘s status imminently but having said that, the caveat is that things can change pretty quickly as they did with spain, for example. it took quite a lot of people by surprise on that saturday, spain was suddenly taken off the travel corridor list. in terms of whether france is being particularly closely monitored as some reports have suggested this morning, what i am given to understand is that all countries that are showing particularly high figures are being closely monitored as people might expect and we've heard before from the department for transport that they keep all countries, all the data under co nsta nt countries, all the data under constant review but this particular issue of france, france is a major holiday destination, second only usually to spain in terms of where people from the uk go abroad, it was put to rishi sunak this morning as to whether france could be soon

taken off that exemption list? i cannot speculate, we keep everything under constant revision but i would say to people we are dealing with a global pandemic and given that, it does mean there is a risk to travel and travel can be disrupted so people need to be mindful of that, i know it's frustrating. but it's right we keep things under review and if we think we can improve the health security by making changes then of course it is the right thing for us to do so, so people should constantly look at the guidance, see what we are saying and make the best decision they can, knowing we are living in uncertain times. jessica, i hope you can bring a bit of clarity to a situation we spoke about this morning, we interviewed someone who lives in london, is currently in the netherlands, got there by driving straight through without stopping, through belgium and had been originally planning to do the same on the way back, drive through belgium, no stops, but according to what the department for transport told us this morning, he

and his family would still need to quarantine, even if they weren't stopping in the country. i think there are some further news emerging on this, isn't there? we are seeking clarity from the department for transport on that particular point because a lot of people might find themselves in that situation, if they had been planning to drive across belgium, not necessarily stop but be en route to another destination in europe so we are hoping to get clarity on that pretty soon but what we do know, for example, if you transit through an airport in belgium, or if you take the train through belgium, you will have to self isolate on your return to the united kingdom. that is because you could come into contact with other people who been out and about in the community in belgium but we will try and get clarity on that specific point as to whether you can try through belgium without stopping and therefore not have to self isolate, we hope to get clarity on that pretty soon. jessica, thank you. for those of you who have been

getting in touch about that particular point, please do keep watching. 0n checking the information from the department for transport, we do not have an exact, fixed position if you are driving through belgium without stopping. more on that soon, i hope. and for viewers in the uk at 12:30 this afternoon we'll answer your questions on quarantine and travel restrictions. send them in to us at yourquestions@bbc.co.uk, or on social media using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions . in beirut, police have used teargas to disperse a group of protesters expressing their anger at the government. they had gathered near the parliament, as fury mounts over the way the country is being run — and how tuesday's massive explosion in beirut‘s port could ever have happened. at least 137 people have been killed, many others are still missing and around 5,000 have been imjured. on top of that about a quarter of a million homes have been destroyed. alanna petroff has more.

night time in beirut, outside parliament. emotions are running high. protesters throw objects. security forces fire back with tear—gas. since the deadly blast on tuesday, leading politicians are nowhere to be seen. residents say the explosion was symptomatic of neglect and corruption in the political system. people are dead, lives have been ruined, and anger is boiling over. earlier, when the lebanesejustice minister came out to the streets, a crowd formed and people started yelling. water bottles were thrown in frustration. and she retreated. former colonial power france sent in president emmanuel macron. i'm not here to help them. i'm here to help you. he saw the damage and desperation up close. he was there, others were not.

funerals are providing another outlet for the nation's grief and tears. this corporal was donating blood moments before the blast took his life. his sister and those who loved him distraught. everyone here is grieving in their own way. homes, shops, livelihoods are gone. for those alive and accounted for aid is coming in. from algeria, water bottles and food packages are being stocked up and flown over. translation: a shipment will be sent every day through the military airport until other operations can be set up. in france, the head of doctors without borders says he is concerned about the possibility of food shortages and malnutrition.

translation: what we must monitor is what the people tell us. for us the priority is to listen to the people and to know exactly what their needs are. we can't invent our own catalogues of humanitarian aid which may not be up to the expectations of the lebanese people. as the aid comes through, volunteers pull together. they're out with brooms and shovels to clean up the mess. the broken city is filled with broken glass. but residents push ahead and try to pick up the pieces. alanna petroff, bbc news. let's speak now to lawyer rita papadopoulou who lives in beirut thank you forjoining us, i spoke to yesterday, good to see you again. give us a sense of what the last 2a hours have been like for you? first

of all, let me tell you this is now a collective experience for everyone. we all go through the shop ina everyone. we all go through the shop in a collective manner, my emotions and feelings reflect what is out there. —— go through the shock. the anger has been building in the last 24 anger has been building in the last 2a hours against the political class in this country and what has seemed like a terrible, terrible crime and devastation on the city, by way of the negligence and neglect of the political class. as people try to cope with the devastation, they also try to make their well—known, that they want political change. so you saw yesterday, the demonstrations in downtown beirut and people are

desperate and people want change to restore their sense of dignity, to restore their sense of dignity, to restore hope and trust for being able to think of a future for this country and its people. what do you think of the use of tear gas, used against the protesters yesterday? the authorities must know the anger, must see the anger, yet they used that teargas? yes, i agree with you, i thought of this is unacceptable because it's an undignified way to deal with very legitimate demands of the people. and you have to see the line that follows through the 0ctober line that follows through the october 2019 mass uprising, one and a half million people went on to the streets, one and a half million people asking for political change. and asking for reforms and they were not delivered. the government fell at the time but the new government has failed to act on the new reforms while the country is collapsing in a

multifaceted, complex crisis so the people are very legitimate and protesting. they shouldn't be phased in this way, as if they don't have the right to be in this country, you know what i mean? this isn't the right approach. but this is the sta nce right approach. but this is the stance that astonishingly,, elton today, is being taken by the —— until today, it's been taken by the political class. president macron, there was quite a lot of presence around that visit yesterday, astonishing to see how people reached out to him. and appealed for help. and he has very firmly said obviously, apart from the initial aid that is going to trusted partners in aid agencies, any further funding would only come after reform. do you have any confidence that reform will happen and how could it happen, given the amount of distrust that there is

among the people for the government? i think there should be a dual approach, one is what president macron said, there should be assurance and monitoring that any help should be channelled directly to people on the ground, local non—governmental organisations but at the same time, there should be a push towards the government to act as well, in collaboration with those efforts. so any country that sense help, they would do a good job to try to monitor. i know —— know this help reaches people on the ground but at the same time we need pressure on the government as well act. thank you so much for talking to us again today. let's bring you some exclusive pictures. this is a bbc arabic team, which is embedded with a french rescue team at the port area. it's some of the nearest pictures we've seen of the complete destruction the blast caused to the port area.

the rescue efforts continuing there. and i think we can possibly go to some live pictures as well? mangled metal. the various buildings and equipment and structures in the port area, absolutely twisted by the force of that huge blast on tuesday. and of course, from the epicentre of the blast, the port, the blast pushing outwards through the surrounding districts of beirut, causing massive damage to homes, around 30,000 people homeless in beirut at the moment. and that wider shot really gives you some further

perspective, doesn't it? lots of cranes in their but they do have a huge task ahead of them to clear this area. in the uk thousands of cabin crew at british airways will find out today whether they still have a job. the airline has been locked in a bitter dispute with its staff, who face significant pay cuts if they remain. ba reached a deal with its pilots last month. earlier i spoke to angela — that's not her real name — who's been cabin crew for british airways for 25 years. she took voluntary redundancy on monday because she couldn t bear to be told she didn t have a job anymore. voluntary redundancy is a very loose term. the word voluntary is very loosely used here. everybody that i know that pressed that button on monday loves theirjob, did not want to go, but felt that they literally had no other choice because they would not have been able to survive on the new contract with a 40% cut

in their salary, so to say voluntary implies that we have a choice. we didn't feel that we had a choice, we were all desperately upset and sad, as are all the crew, but our enhanced package, another term that is used loosely, our enhanced package to leave, was actually 1.4 times the statutory redundancy, so enhanced is not quite what we were hoping for, but these are the terms that we were given and this is what we have had to deal with. so when there have been reports, angela, talking about different terms and conditions, that is the sort of thing that you are alluding to? yes, i mean we have not actually been told officially what this new contract will involve. so the entire point of what going through is that everything is unknown. we are being asked to leave a job that we love or

take the risk of not being selected for the new role, not taking voluntary redundancy does not guarantee you a place on the new contract, itjust means you will be considered for selection and i know crew who have literally been awake all night because the e—mail started to come through at midnight. they have literally been awake all night, waiting to see whether they will be selected for their ownjob, and if they are selected, they should be relieved to keep a contract where their salary will go down between 40—50%. that was angela, a member of british airways cabin crew for 25 years who has taken airways cabin crew for 25 years who has ta ken voluntary airways cabin crew for 25 years who has taken voluntary redundancy. we hope to get back to our correspondent on that very shortly but let's show you some more live pictures coming in from beirut. from the port itself. they're on the left of your screen you can see, it looks

like a boat, doesn't it? on its side. in the water. we were looking at images a few moments ago, the mangled metal, a large number of cranes in the area, to try and begin the clearance operation but actually, you can see them, they seemed divorced, don't they, by what lies around them. —— they, by what lies around them. —— they seemed dwarfed. i think those cranes have been brought in, as opposed to cranes already damaged in the blast, there would be lots of cranes obviously in situ at the port at the time of the blast on tuesday. in this epicentre the shock wave of that huge explosion emanated right throughout the city, causing so much damage.

those are the latest live pictures coming in from beirut. let's return to that story about british airways, thousands of cabin crew finding out today whether they still have a job or not. they were eligible to take volu nta ry or not. they were eligible to take voluntary redundancy on monday. if they didn't they then had to go into a process today to find out whether they could keep a job. with me now is theo leggett. what is the latest on the situation, a bitter dispute between staff and airline? it's a tremendously better and emotional dispute, as you heard from angela just a moment ago. what british airways is doing is trying to cutjobs across the board, throughout its operations, cabin crew, engineers, maintenance staff, all of them, and what we are having todayis all of them, and what we are having today is cabin crew, who are amongst the worst affected, learning what their fate is the worst affected, learning what theirfate is going

the worst affected, learning what their fate is going to the worst affected, learning what theirfate is going to be. british airways wants to reorganise a number of different cabin crew divisions, make one single division and put them all on the same contract but for many of them, the longest serving staff, this means that they are facing significant pay cuts. it's a 20% cut to their basic salary but they will also lose allowances and other aspects of the terms and conditions which means most of those i have spoken to are losing between summer in the region of a0—50% of their overall pay packet and working conditions being made that much harder. the e—mails started at midnight last night, i've been speaking to some of the people who have received those e—mails and what quite curious, those people who have been offered one of the newjobs on the revised terms and conditions, the revised terms and conditions, the e—mail says you've been offered a job but we cannot tell you exactly what the job will a job but we cannot tell you exactly what thejob will entail, a job but we cannot tell you exactly what the job will entail, we cannot show you the new contract so you know you have a job, you know you are going to be paid less, you have to a cce pt are going to be paid less, you have to accept thatjob now and this is

your notice for your existing post. you are being fired from your existing post effectively but we cannot tell you what the job is. on the other hand, british airways says it had no choice but to do things this way because it needed to push through change, its haemorrhaging money at the moment, doesn't believe the aviation market is going to recover until at least 2023 so it says it has no choice but to be forceful and push through what it calls necessary change. we've just had a statement from british airways, i don't know if you had the benefit of seeing it and it overlaps a little with what you were saying let me read out some of the key points. ba saying staff are being sent one of three letters, they will not know if they have been successful in securing a run and will continue on the same contract. if they have been successful in securing a row but will be required to signa securing a row but will be required to sign a new contract, or if they have been unsuccessful in securing a row and they say colleagues who have been unsuccessful in securing a row will have the option to opt into the priority return talent pool and will be fast tracked into any new roles

that become available. the voluntary redundancy option is now closed for wave one as they call it, that remains open in other areas of the business, they remain in consultation with many of our employees, they say. what do you make of that detail and of the criticism from cabin crew and other employees about how ba has handled this? well, you have to remember there are negotiations going on in different areas across the business which is why you have different groupings, different waves of what is happening. work cabin crew is most significant is that there is a history behind all of this. back in 2010 reddish airways wanted to reform its cabin crew contracts, wa nted reform its cabin crew contracts, wanted to reduce the costs of employing cabin crew and entered into what was then a very bitter dispute with many of its employees, the outcome of that was that new joiners were put onto a different

contract, paid less but people who had been at the company for a long time kept their benefits, kept the terms and conditions. what many of the cabin crew i've spoken to over the cabin crew i've spoken to over the past few days say is that they think this is willie walsh, the chief executive of the parent group international airlines group, trying to co m plete international airlines group, trying to complete unfinished business, they say he is using this crisis to force through changes he wanted to make anyway, to boost ba profits in future and to boost shareholder returns so what we've got is a real lack of trust between the employer, british airways, and some of their longest serving and previously most loyal staff. as we've pointed out, the airline industry is in crisis, british airways does say it has to cut costs and cut costs dramatically. but other airlines are doing this too, its just with british airways, it has that bitterness, that emotion behind it and that's largely because of what has happened in the past. 0k, thank you very much. a record number of migrants

crossed the channel heading for the uk by boat yesterday and several more have been spotted this morning. simonjones has been out on the channel in a boat and has already come across people attempting to make a crossing. a little earlier he sent this update. we set out at around 4am this morning and shortly after, the sun rose and we spotted a bit of a blip in the sea and we went a bit closerjust to see what it might be and it turned out to be a boat that was carrying around 17 migrants. we think there were three children on board, two women, one of them was pregnant. they told us, when we shouted over, that they were from iraq. and they simply wanted to get to the uk. they are wearing life jackets, at the moment, most of them. although the boat is overloaded, it seems secure. we have been asked by the coastguard to follow this boat to make sure it doesn't come across any problems in the busiest shipping

lane in the world. border force are now dealing with other incidents. another couple of inflatables, we understand, and a kayak has been reported this morning. yesterday was the busiest on record for channel crossings by boat by migrants. more than 200 succeeded in reaching the uk. that is causing concern with the government in the uk. they are saying the french need to toughen up and they are saying the number getting through is completely unacceptable. the immigration compliance minister, chris phelps, says he will travel over to france next week to raise the issue but on a day like today, perfect conditions for trying to get across the channel. it is extremely calm, it is warm and it is clear it will be a busy day for the emergency services. simonjones. president trump has signed an executive order banning any us transactions with the parent

companies of two of the biggest chinese social media apps. the restrictions on bytedance, owner of the hugely—popular video—sharing app tiktok, and tencent, the parent company of the messaging service wechat, come into force in 45 days' time. daniel ives is a wall street analyst covering the tech sector. he says trump's exective order now throws the spotlight onto microsoft who are in talks to buy tiktok ahead of a 15 september deadline set of a 15th september deadline set by the us president. we've seen this essentially a cold war with us and china and now huawei. it is now an arranged marriage between tiktok and microsoft. it is a game of high—stakes poker. microsoft. it is a game of high—sta kes poker. bytedance microsoft. it is a game of high—stakes poker. bytedance pulls away and that valuation goes from 40 billion to about 10 billion. this is a dangerous territory. there is an 80% chance the deal will get done and microsoft hits that deadline.

right now, bytedance is under the clock and for microsoft, click christmas came early in terms of getting an asset that is 40 billion in terms of what they will pay. ultimately we think it is worth 200 billion. in the next three or four yea rs. india has become the third country in the world to surpass 2 million confirmed coronavirus infections, after the us and brazil. more than 41,000 people have died. the government argues that the fatality rate in india is among the lowest in the world. 0ur india correspondent, yogita limaye, says the latest milestone will put the government on the defensive. the speed in which it has been reached, as well. we reached 1 million about 20 days ago and it's only taken about... so, you know, it took months to reach that number and it's only taken less than three weeks to reach 2 million cases. and all through the last week, we've had 800—900 people die every single day from this infection in the country. on some days, india has had the highest number of new coronavirus cases and deaths in the world.

so, this infection continues to spread rapidly. the government, of course, says that the death rate, relative to the size of india's population, is still a fraction of what we're seeing in countries like the uk, spain or italy. there is, you know... we have had evidence from front—line doctors and workers over the past several months that there is under reporting, as far as covid—19 deaths are concerned. sometimes on the death certificate, co—morbidity is written, instead of saying the person was infected by the virus. sometimes people who have been brought dead to hospitals are not tested and so they are not counted in the final death toll. but even given that, i have been talking to public experts over the past several weeks and they do believe that india has a lower mortality rate compared to other countries in the world.

let s get some of the day s other news. the party of sri lanka's president, gota baya rajapa ksa, has won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, cementing the rajapaksa family's control of sri lankan politics. they won a two—thirds majority, meaning they can attempt to make constitutional changes. in afghanistan, 3,000 tribal elders and other delegates are holding a grand assembly — the loya jirga — in the capital, kabul, to discuss the release of 400 taliban prisoners. it's a pre—condition set by the taliban before it will hold talks with the afghan government — the next phase of the peace process in the country. in belarus, thousands of people have gathered at a rally in the capital, minsk, to support the country's main opposition candidate, svetla na ti kha novs kaya. she's become an unlikely rival to belarus's authoritarian president, alexander lu kashenko, after the arrest or disqualification of a number of opposition figures, including her detained husband. here in the uk, wearing face coverings in shops and other

enclosed public spaces will be compulsory in northern ireland from monday. it's also been announced that indoor pubs which don't serve food won't be allowed to reopen from next week. 0ur ireland correspondent, emma vardy, is in belfast and sent this update. well, this is belfast‘s cathedral quarter, normally a place very popular with people for a drink after work on a summer's evening. but the announcement came last night that pubs and bars in northern ireland that do not serve food, well, their reopening date is now