hello, welcome to bbc news — we're bringing you the latest headlines in the uk and around the world. "vitally importa nt" — the uk prime minister urges mums and dads to send children back to school, saying it's more damaging to their development and health the longer they're away from the classroom. pupils have already returned to the classroom in scotland — this morning schools in northern ireland open their doors for the first time since march. a sentencing hearing for the man who killed 51 people at two mosques in new zealand hears he planned to attack a third and cause maximum casualties. victim impact statements are also read. he used to give me flowers for my birthday, but instead, i got his body. i decided to forgive you, mr tarrant, because i don't have hate. violent protests in the us state of wisconsin after police shoot

a black man several times whilst responding to a domestic incident. jacob blake is in a stable condition in hospital. firefighters in california warn conditions will only get worse as they battle to contain nearly 600 wildfires — six people have died and thousands have been forced from their homes. and, two british mps layla moran and sir ed davey tell me why they want to become the next leader of the uk liberal democrats. the uk prime minister borisjohnson has appealed directly to parents in england to send their children back to school next week. in a statement the prime minister

said "it is far more damaging for a child's development and their health to be away from school any longer". adding that the life chances of a generation of pupils are at stake if they don't go back. mrjohnson‘s words echoed those of the uk's four chief medical officers who said the risk of contracting coronavirus in a school is "very small". the new term also starts next week in wales. schools in scotland reopened earlier this month. and thousands of children in northern ireland are returning to class today for the first time since the lockdown was imposed. the term is beginning for years seven, 12 and 14. the rest of the pupils are due back in class next week. earlier, i spoke to our political correspondent, nick eardley. he told us about the governments push to reassure parents in england. education has been a bit of a mess over the last few weeks with the results fiasco but the government wants to try and get back on the front foot and is going to spend a lot of time over the next few days trying to reassure parents and teachers in england that it is safe to open schools next week

and that they should be doing everything they can to get as many pupils as possible back. remember, this was tried back injune, it didn't go particularly well, but the government has very much nailed its colours to the mast, saying it has to be done. "there is a moral duty to do it," in the prime minister's words. this is nick gibb this morning. i am confident we will have all schools open. we had 97% of schools open when they went back in july, when schools went back in june. the surveys from the ons say 90% of parents are likely, or very likely, to send their children back to school in september. it is a moral imperative to have young people back in school. in fact, the risk of long—term harm to pupils of not being in school, according to the chief medical officer, outweigh the small risks of children acquiring the virus within the school environment. children want to be back in school,

they want to be with their friends. they want to have lessons where the teacher is leading the lessons because it is the most effective way for young people to catch up on their education. that is why the prime minister is right to say it is a moral imperative for schools to be open in september and for young people to come back into school. it is interesting because there were figures out from the office for national statistics last week, which showed that in england half of parents were worried about sending their kids back to school, for various reasons. so clearly the government has some work to do on this. one of the things that was done over the weekend, the chief medical officers from across the uk, so all four of them and their deputies, put a statement out saying it was safe. the chances of kids transmitting the virus to each other is pretty low, transmitting it to their families is pretty low and actually, one of the biggest issues in schools is teacher—to—teacher transmission.

they are urging teachers to be wary and parents to be really wary when they are dropping kids off as well. this morning we heard from england's deputy chief medical officer. for teachers who are concerned, there is reasonably good evidence now that for younger children, they are less likely to catch the disease themselves, we think. it is still out for further review, but that seems to be the way. and the risk of transmission to adults is far less than the risk of transmission from the teacher to the child, if you like. so a report published yesterday by public health england on outbreaks and cases in schools suggest that the majority of those asked staff to staff interactions. so really important to reassure teachers on that count, but also to encourage them, when it is their coffee

break and they get a well—earned rest, they make sure they maintain their social distancing, good hand hygiene, all those sorts of things while they have their break because that does seem to be a risk factor. so some reassurance from the experts and reassurance from politicians as well. unions are still asking questions, they want to know exactly what measures are going to be put into place if there are outbreaks in schools or local areas. some people will be looking to scotland where the schools are already open to see how it is going there. some schools have had to close but by and large officials are saying there hasn't been much transmission in schools. we are going to hear a lot about this over the next few days, as england's schools prepare to open next week. a court in new zealand has heard how a white supremacist convicted of murdering 51 muslims at two mosques in christchurch last year had wanted to cause the greatest number of casualties possible. at the start of his sentencing hearing, prosecutors said

brenton tarrant had bought a collection of high—powered firearms and over 7000 rounds of ammunition in the 15 months before the attacks. 0n obtaining and practising with these weapons, the defendant began to formulate a plan to carry out attacks on mosques and to inflict as many fatalities as possible. he obtained a large amount of information about mosques in new zealand, predominantly within the south island. the information he obtained from the internet included detailed mosque plans, interior pictures of the mosques. mosque locations and specific details, such as prayer times and important days in the islamic calendar to ascertain when the mosques would be busiest. tarrant has been confronted by survivors and relatives of the victims in court. here is the statement of one mother who lost her son. may you get the severest punishment

for your evil act in this life. and in the hereafter, we know that allah is the mostjust. you transgressed and you thought you can break us. you failed miserably, we became more determined to hold tight to islam and our beloved ones are martyrs. shaimaa khalil has been monitoring the hearing and told me more about the mood in court. a very emotional day in court, victoria, with some of the survivors and victims' families in the same room with the killer responsible for the mass shooting in christchurch. some of them, like this mother, directing the killer directly, saying that you tried to break us, but we are not broken, we are united. this mother saying she did not forgive him. another mother, who also lost her son chose to forgive him

and said, it is in islam, forgiveness is part of the religion and part of its teachings. they've also told the court and brenton tarrant himself, his actions, his crime have devastated their lives. some started their testimonies, their statements with verses from the koran, from the souls of those they lost, talking about martyrdom, about justice, about peace. we heard from one survivor who was shot nine times by brenton tarrant. he described how he'd locked eyes with the killer, how he realised he was the target of his gun and how he had to play dead to avoid being killed. he said that the trauma and the pain will remain with him, he doesn't foresee a future without pain. the court also heard very distressing details about how pre—meditating this whole thing was, how, as the killer planned it for more than a year with layouts and research about mosques, when they will be busiest, how he can inflict the most damage and how he'd planned to burn down

the mosques after his attacks. we also had about how he went into one of the main prayer rooms in a mosque and started firing at groups of people who were huddled in corners, trying to escape. how he shot people who were lying down on the floor showing signs of life, including a three—year—old he was clinging on to his father. who was clinging on to his father. we are expecting to hear more of those testimonies, more of their statements in the days to come and also expecting to hear from the killer himself. brenton tarrant will be representing himself in front of the court after he had fired his defence team a few weeks ago. so more testimonies to hear more of those emotional horror stories that people had to live through on march the 15th, 2019. that is pretty controversial the court will hear from the killer himself? it is very problematic, it is his legal right and he has chosen to do so and he will be

allowed to do so. but it is problematic and there are many concerns about what he will choose to say, whether he will use it as a platform for his far right agenda and many questions about how that that day will pan out. that is why there are many reporting restrictions put on this. we were not able to travel because of covid—i9 restrictions, but even as we followed the court proceedings via weblink today, there were very, very strict rules about what we could say and when, that the morning session had to be done before we could report on it. some of the family members said they did not want to be identified by the media. i think the court itself, the judges, the authorities want to control this as much as they can for that reason, that brenton tarrant will be speaking for himself and they want to make sure that whatever it is he says, they don't give him a platform for a far right agenda. there have been violent protests

in the us state of wisconsin after police shot a black man several times while responding to a domestic incident. the man, named as jacob blake, is said to be in a serious condition in hospital. a video on social media shows him being shot in the back as he tries to get into a car in the city of kenosha. hundreds of people marched on police headquarters in the city last night. vehicles were set on fire and police used tear gas to disperse the protestors. the shooting comes at a time of high tension in the united states over police brutality and racism following the killing of george floyd in the neighbouring state of minnesota. joining us from kenosha, wisconsin is andy brovelli, a photojournalist for cbs 58 news. thank you very much for talking to us. it is four o'clock in the morning, what has it been like overnight? when we first got down here before midnight, it was pretty active, still had tear gas being

deployed and several protesters, right behind me in civic centre park, probably hundreds of people right behind me out there. as you can see, it is fairly quiet right now and a lot of people have disbursed for the moment. things had seemed to be calming down, however, after that happened, there was a lot of business is vandalised in downtown, about two blocks away from where we are currently, right by the kenosha court house. just down the road, they are still putting out fires that were set by those protesters. you just have to be careful around the stretch, but it does look like everything is slowly but surely starting to get back to somewhat normal. but it is still going to be very active here, probably for a while now. yes, what do we know about what the police say about why they shot this man in the back? what we have heard, it is a domestic dispute. when they arrived,

and those details are still not entirely clear at this point, we are waiting much like everyone else at this point, the latest we heard is he is in stable condition. that came via twitter earlier from a relative. we are still waiting for confirmation on everything, but the reasons leading up to it and as why, thatis reasons leading up to it and as why, that is still... we are still waiting to hear more on that and hence why we had so much unrest here. thank you very much, andy, we do appreciate it. the headlines on bbc news... "vitally importa nt" — the uk prime minister urges parents to send their children back to school, saying it's more damaging to their development and health the longer they're away from the classroom. a sentencing hearing for the man who killed 51 people at two mosques in new zealand hears he planned to attack a third and cause maximum casualties.

violent protests in the us state of wisconsin after police shoot a black man several times, whilst responding to a domestic incident. jacob blake is in a stable condition in hospital. pupils will start going back to school in northern ireland from today after spending months away. most pupils in year seven, i2 and 14 will be returning, along with vulnerable children. students in northern ireland have been out of school for longer than anywhere else in in the uk. they didn t go back prior to the summer holidays which began at the start ofjuly, so there ve been no on—site lessons at all since mid—march. let's speak now to cathal 0'doherty, principal of st clare's primary school in belfast and deirdre o'kane, principal of st patrick's and st bridid's college. thank you very much, both of you for talking to us. i wonder, first of all, deirdre o'kane, how you're

feeling about people is coming back today? we are delighted to welcome our year 12 pupils back to school today. it is lovely to see them coming through the school gates in their uniforms and keen to be back this morning. we look forward to welcoming the rest of our children over the next two week period in a phased re—entering. it is great to have them back. what about yourself, what are the challenges? great challenges, in a school of 500 pupils, today we have got 70 pupils coming through. by the end of the week we should have most details on site. we know most of the challenges when we have them back, we cannot have parents coming into the school, a one—way system has been put in classrooms are allowing social

distancing and we have minimised movements around the school. they will be a lot of differences the children will see when they come back. deirdre o'kane, you will have heard of this 0ns survey which shows half of parents are worried that children will catch coronavirus when they go back to school. i wonder if you think the statement from the uk's chief medical officers and their deputies will go some way to reassuring people? their deputies will go some way to reassuring people ?|j their deputies will go some way to reassuring people? i think people are reassured, the proof is in the pudding. parents are keen to get their children back into school and see the value of getting them into school, so they are having face—to—face teaching and learning taking place. the statement that came out i felt was very reassuring for pa rents came out i felt was very reassuring for parents and indeed for school leaders, that the chance of the young people catching covid—i9 and indeed, passing it on, is minimal.

that is heartening to hear. what about yourself, have you heard from pa rents about yourself, have you heard from parents who are worried about transmission? yes, there is that concern, transmission? yes, there is that concern, i have to agree. but what i will say, we are not so much concerned about the transmission from child to child, child to adult. from a school of this size and many school similar to us, when you open a school you are bringing 200 adults to the site twice a day for drop—off and pick—up, and that is where the risk is present. we did do risk assessments before we open the school, how would we manage the flow of adults to the school? are either of adults to the school? are either of you worried about trying to re—engage and re—motivate the kids, having had so long out of lessons, what would you say, deirdre 0'kane?

that is an immediate concern, our children have been out of school now since around the 14th of march. we did online learning with the children throughout the lockdown period, but felt many of our children did not engage effectively with that. re—engaging them is going to bea with that. re—engaging them is going to be a major challenge for us, given the circumstances. but also the way they are being taught is going to have to change. as a school we promote active learning and as much hands on practical work for the young people, because that seems to be their way to engage them and get them excited about learning and motivate them. we have to rethink that because of the practical measures that will need to be put in place within each classroom to ensure we are minimising risk. and thatis ensure we are minimising risk. and that is going to be very problematic for us as a school and something we will have to review regularly as we go through this term. mr doherty, i

have been told i am pronouncing your christian name improperly. i do apologise. how will you meet the challenge of re—engaging your kids, now they are coming back? that is the challenge. very fortunate that our staff are very well trained and we have established good relationships between the staff, the children and the parents. it will be a matter of good communication. everybody understands there will be difficulties, there is a new normal, as they say, with people going back to school. we will learn as we progress. today is day one. we will find scenarios when they arrive on site that we hadn't thought of and we will have to adjust and communicate that to the parents. hopefully, we will get there. do you know what to do if there is an outbreak in your school? yes, there

are procedures given by the department for education in terms of the guidance, they published a paper at the start of august. we will be following that. i think most schools are operating in bubbles now and that will be very much a class orientated thing. if something was to happen we can give advice as to exactly what should happen from a procedural point of view at the school. but because it is a school and we are dealing with children, there will be challenges. but hopefully it won't happen in the foreseeable future, but if it does we will look at authorities outside of the school to give us ad vice also. good luck. thank you both. a number of lockdown restrictions that were imposed in the scottish city of aberdeen earlier this month have been lifted.

tighter rules were introduced because of a surge of coronavirus cases in the city. a five—mile limit on nonessential travel and a ban on indoor gatherings has been removed, while pubs, cafes and restaurants will be able to re—open from wednesday, subject to environmental health checks. the us food and drug administration has given emergency authorisation for the use of blood plasma to treat coronavirus patients. the technique takes plasma which is rich in antibodies from people who've recovered from the disease, and gives it to those who are sick. 70,000 people have already been treated. the fda says early trials indicate its safe, though more are needed to prove effectiveness. firefighters in california are trying to control around 600 wildfires ? among the worst the region has ever seen. officials on the us west coast say dry lightning strikes, which started many of the fires, are due to return, along with high winds. rich preston has this report. the golden state.

more than 4,000 square kilometres of it burning. in the napa valley, california's winemaking heartland, a perilous journey caught on dash cam. an ominous orange sky around a deserted university of california, santa cruz. fire retardants are being dropped from the sky to try and stop the flames spreading. but for some, it's too late — the damage has already been done. president trump has declared the fires a major disaster. i spoke to governor newsom as they battle two of the worst wildfires in the history of their state. that continues. the federal government has already deployed over 26,000 first responders and personnel to battle the wildfires. we're working very closely with the governor. more than 100,000 people have been forced to flee, but where they'd normally sleep in shelters, many are avoiding them overfears

of the spread of coronavirus. we have more than 400 red crossers who are on the ground and hundreds more who are helping virtually, and those folks are out there making sure that we're getting people in shelters or in hotel rooms where it's available. and they're also there just to make sure that the people who are coming to our shelters have a safe place to stay and food to eat. emergency crews have been overwhelmed by the number and intensity of the fires. the job is now to save lives and protect only the most essential buildings. but with warnings of more lightning strikes and high temperatures in the days ahead, fears that the fires could continue for at least another week. rich preston, bbc news. one of president trump's longest—serving advisers, kellyanne conway, is leaving the white house at the end of the month. she helped donald trump win the presidency as campaign manager in 2016 and has since been one of his most vocal defenders. in a statement she said, she would spend the next few months

focusing on her children and giving them "less drama, more mama". it comes a day after one of mrs conway's daughters tweeted that her mother's job had "ruined her life". the liberal democrats will have a new leader this thursday. in the last hour, the final two candidates layla moran and sir edward daveyjoined us in the studio to lay out their visions for the party. sir ed davey, acting leader, said that he is pushing for a greener economy, a fairer society and more caring country. i think the economy is number one now with probably the biggest and deepest recession we have had the 300 years and i am an economist by training, i put myself through night school, and i have been thinking about how people will recover. people like emily, can look forward toa people like emily, can look forward to a brighter future. people like emily, can look forward to a brighterfuture. i have been tailoring my economic plan so it meets climate future aspirations and

hopes. leila moran said while she may have little expierence in parliament voters should look at her track record of what she has acheived in the three years she's been an mp. first of all in 2017i overturned a massive conservative majority to win the seat in the first place, when others didn't. i did that by amassing a group of people from all sides of the political spectrum to do it. where we are now as liberal democrats, we are at 6%. we have to turn this around. the bulk of my professional experience as a maths and physics teacher is outside a parliament, at a time when people don't trust politicians, we need to win back the trust of the electorate, shall we have learned from the mistakes of the past and start rebuilding again. this is a from scratch situation. two members of the belarussian oppsition's coordination council are reported to have been arrested. the pair are said to have been detained by riot police and taken

to an undisclosed location in a police van. the arrests follow another weekend of huge demonstrations against the disputed reelection of president alexander lukashenko. protesters say the poll was rigged and are calling for him to step down. mr lukashenko has responded with defiance, saying he has no intention of leaving. the bbc spoke to one protester in the capital minsk who was beaten up by police. the people i fear the most of the police. no one can protect us and i cannot live beside these people any more. we need to change something in our country very quickly. two tropical storms are forecast to slam into the us gulf coast this week, one after the other. tropical storms marco and laura are threatening torrential rain, high winds and flooding. the us national hurricane center says tropical storm laura is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane by early tuesday. the storms have already had a deadly

impact in the caribbean — at least ten people have been killed in the dominican republic and haiti. alanna petroff has the latest. cheering. rescuers pull in stranded survivors to cheers. the capital of the dominican republic flooded and overwhelmed by tropical storm laura. why, why?! not everyone made it. a mother and her young son died when a wall collapsed on their home. translation: the wall collapsed on top of them. it fell onto the house. the owner needs to come forward. he knew that the wall was going to collapse. he shouldn't have built that wall. tropical storm laura also battered puerto rico, haiti and the virgin islands. in haiti, some people lost everything. translation: the majority of the people here are not safe. this town is destroyed,

as you can see. look at the people walking by. the houses are condemned. there are bodies. the merchants have lost their goods. tropical storm laura is forecast to strengthen further into a hurricane as it churns towards the us gulf coast. before laura makes landfall in the us, hurricane marco will hit first. they're both heading towards the state of louisiana. texas and florida are also making preparations. forecasters are predicting a storm surge, flooding rain damaging winds. president donald trump issued a disaster declaration for louisiana ahead of the storms. the atlantic storm season runs until november and this one has the potential to be the busiest season ever. the us national hurricane centre is predicting there could be up to 25 big storms this year, double the average, all with winds

in excess of 62km an hour. when they get that strong, the storms get names. alanna petroff, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news... "vitally importa nt" — the uk prime minister urges mums and dads to send children back to school — saying it's more damaging to their development and health the longer they're away from the classroom. pupils have already returned to the classroom in scotland — this morning schools in northern ireland open their doors for the first time since march. a sentencing hearing for the man who killed 51 people at two mosques in new zealand hears he planned to attack a third and cause maximum casualties. victim impact statements are also read. he used to give me flowers for my birthday, but instead, i got his body. i decided to forgive you, mr tarrant, because i don't have hate.

violent protests in the us state of wisconsin after police shoot a black man several times — whilst responding to a domestic incident. jacob blake is in a stable condition in hospital. firefighters in california warn conditions will only get worse as they battle to contain nearly 600 wildfires — six people have died and thousands have been forced from their homes. the pandemic is having a deep negative impact on nine out of ten britons with eating disorders, according to a study from northumbria university. it estimates that approximately 1.25 million people in the uk have an eating disorder. the fallout from routines being disrupted in lockdown, a focus on food, exercise and health in public conversation, and healthcare moving online, could all have lasting effects, according to the study.

with me is dave chawner who was diagnosed as severely clinically anorexic at 23 and is in recovery. he is an author, comedian and ambassador for beat, the eating disorder charity. and also i'm joined by hope virgo, an eating disorder campaigner who is in ongoing recovery herself. thank you forjoining us, both of you. nine out of ten people finding lockdown difficult. tell us why stop predominantly we are looking at things around exercise, food, all over social media we have seen people exercising left right and centre and while for some people this might not feel damaging, if you have an eating disorder that is extremely triggering and the other thing i think it's really important, it's the uncertainty around lockdown. which, when you have an eating disorder, it's that uncertainty that can be really dangerous. the eating disorder tries

to pull you back in, give you that sense of control through calorie counting, controlling your exercise. that gives you that sense of reassurance around that. i think that uncertainty has really caused so many people to become more concerned with their day—to—day lives around food. dave, i wonder if you could pick up on the point about seeing everybody on social media doing exercise are taking up jogging or whatever, fight that might be triggering. can you give us some insight? not really because i'm terrible and social media! for me, i think it's, one of the things that gets me is look, there was a lot of insecurity around lockdown, people didn't know what was going on with their jobs, didn't know what was going on with theirjobs, furlough, didn't know what was going on with their jobs, furlough, you didn't know what was going on with theirjobs, furlough, you wrap people up in cotton wool and its natural people are looking for coping mechanisms and a lot of the time people are looking for disease coping mechanisms and if you are surrounded by food all of the time,

tempting you, you have a restriction on the amount of exercise you can do, of course you comfort eat and the more you do that, you feel guilty, you feel bad, you need more comfort, you comforted, vicious cycle and this is what a lot of people are seeing. hope, why don't you give us insight into why seeing others exercising might trigger for you? eating disorders are really competitive in the sis and i know at the height of my illness i was competing with people around food and the amount of exercise i was doing and when i see people on social media constantly showing what they are doing, you have a lot of instagram lives 24/7 and it's causing people to feel like they need to be exercising that much. i think the other thing it is doing which is trigger rising is normalising exercising obsessively in your home so you have sessions back to back and it is easy to tune into and! back to back and it is easy to tune into and i had hundreds of people

contact me who are so unsure about that and finding it difficult to navigate, wondering how much exercise they should do, should they do any at all, and it creates this battle in your head trying to work out whether what you're doing is healthy or not. that's the first time i've ever heard that. eating disorders are very competitive. which is chilling in one sense but also useful to know for learning more about this. dave, let me ask you, many people in the last few months will obviously not be going into offices or the normal workplace and they will be having soup meetings so as that another area, you can see yourself on zoom and it is so annoying? it is and it looks terrible, nobody looks good on so! you look like a depressed tomato. so that has a very real impact, as well as increased time on social media but i don't want to massively reduce this and sites social media is the

devil. also, other factors are at play, this is a mental illness, it's about vanity, looking at instagram and stuff and generally, exactly like the other contributors said, it's very competitive, it stems on people's low self esteem and i think there is another that washing around, people losing theirjobs, losing family members, losing any sense of control. if there is somebody watching right now and i'd like to ask you both, who is struggling with an eating disorder and has struggled, found it really ha rd and has struggled, found it really hard for all the reasons that we've described, what would you suggest, dave? beat, the uk 's eating disorder charity has so much help and resources, we have a charity for blokes suffering with eating disorders but i would say it's ok, you don't have to freak out, you

can't recover from an eating disorder. it takes time and that's 0k. disorder. it takes time and that's ok. but i would start to realise what is underpinning the because eating disorders are not about food at all, food is the outlet in the same way any sort of addiction is. hope, what would you say?|j same way any sort of addiction is. hope, what would you say? i would remind them they are not alone in how they are feeling, so many people who will struggle with similar things and i always suggest going to yourgp asa things and i always suggest going to your gp as a first point of call, make that contact with your gp. quite often gp will turn that person away, there might not be supported in place but be persistent around that and i always say back to basics if that is what works for you. at the start of lockdown i found the first two weeks quite challenging andi first two weeks quite challenging and i went back to having quite a strict routine around mealtime, i made sure i had a start and finish of my day and i spoke to people around me, ispoke of my day and i spoke to people around me, i spoke to my mum, my boyfriend, making sure i had that support network there and i think

there is support out there as dave says, professional support so if you need that, never, everfeel ashamed about reaching out for it because the fact is they are serious illnesses and it's hard work and sometimes it is aboutjust plugging away at it every single day and pushing those boundaries and challenging yourself to keep going and the feelings pass. thank you both very much. hope and dive, we appreciate your insight and your time. thank you. —— hope and dave. the bbc has learned that foreign office officials expected british—iranian — nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe to be freed from jail in iran almost two and a half years ago. a deal to secure her freedom in 2017 appears to have been linked to the repayment of a multi million pound debt to iran but the money was never paid. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe has already served four years in prison. the revelation comes in a bbc panorama investigation into the fate of dual british iranian citizens detained in iran and accused of spying. darragh macintyre reports.

nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was returning to the uk with her daughter after a holiday in iran when she was arrested in april 2016. she was convicted on spying charges that have been widely condemned as baseless, and sentenced to five years in jail. successive british governments and officials have raised her case with iran without result. her husband richard ratcliffe, reunited with their daughter last year, believes his wife is being held hostage. i would absolutely believe that hostagetaking is a tool of iranian diplomacy. it has become normalised as an acceptable thing to do. the us government agrees. it says nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe and a number of western citizens are being held by iran as diplomatic leverage. do you consider those western citizens that are being held in iran as hostages? yes.

it's a tool of statecraft, it's part of iran's foreign policy to take people hostage who are innocent, and then trade them later for some objective that they think advances their own objectives. iran denies hostagetaking but the uk does have something iran wants, £400 million. a debt owed for some 1500 chieftain tanks, paid for by the shah of iran before he was toppled in 1979. britain did not deliver the tanks to the new islamic republic and courts in britain and abroad agree that the uk owes iran the money. but it is yet to be paid. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe has been told payment holds the key to her release. she was told by the judiciary, the deputy prosecutor, she was told by the judge that we are not going to release you until the british government pays for the money they owe iran, she has been told that explicitly by three different parts

of thejudicial system. officially, both the uk and iran say the debt and nazanin are not related. the uk government told the bbc it is unhelpful to suggest otherwise. but events seem to contradict that. in november 2017, the iranian ambassador to london published this message. the debt is scheduled to be paid to iran by britain in the next few days. weeks later, boris johnson, then foreign secretary, went to teheran himself. the bbc understands a deal was almost reached. british officials told nazanin's family they were preparing for her to return to the united kingdom, there was even a date. the british embassy called up and said we think she might be coming out on the 28th of december. so the embassy were giving us a date to be ready for it. but a deal never materialised. we don't know why. but well—placed sources have told us that some in the ministry of defence have objected to the payment of britain's debt. another british iranian anousheh ashouri has already spent three years injail. his wife made this plea.

what would you say to boris johnson, what would your central message be? it is money they owe. they are not doing iran a favour. they are paying a debt. if that would restore families, i would go on my knees, i would beg him to do it. at least eight british citizens have been detained in iran in recent years, though some have got home. iran says its justice system is lawful and human. the uk government says it is committed to securing the freedom of all british citizens, regarded as arbitrarily detained and that it continues to explore options to resolve the debt. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe has been placed temporarily under house arrest at her parents home in teheran. the fate of other british iranians held in iran remains unclear. darragh macintyre, bbc news. and if you're here in the uk, you can watch

panorama: hostage in iran on bbc one at 7.30 this evening. the president of peru is calling for an investigation after 13 people died in a stampede at an illegal party at a night club in the capital lima on saturday. phoebe hopson has more. it was a birthday party that ended in tragedy. why did 13 people die after the illegal gathering was raided by police? suffocated or trampled as they tried to escape from the club's only exit. it's believed the victims were in their 20s. a night—time curfew has been in place since march to stop the spread of the coronavirus and large gatherings are banned. it's estimated around 120 people turned up at the tomas restobar after party—goers organised the event on social media. under peruvian law, those who violate the restrictions face fines of around $110 and potential jail time. although police denied the use

of excessive force and tear gas, eyewitness reports a different story. translation: the police arrived, they spoke to the club owner. no—one arrived. the officers entered with their cameras to film. they used tear gas and closed the door and that's how the madness started because you can't breathe with tear gas. the president has called for an investigation. translation: i feel sorry and i am sad for the people and the relatives of the people who have lost their lives but i am also angry and i feel indignation for the people who organised this type of event. after brazil and mexico, peru is battling the third—worst coronavirus outbreak in latin america. official reports confirm that of the 23 people arrested, 15 later tested positive. a reminder of the health risks people take when they break restrictions. phoebe hopson, bbc news.

the headlines on bbc news... "vitally importa nt" — the uk prime minister urges parents to send their children back to school — saying it's more damaging to their development and health the longer they're away from the classroom. a sentencing hearing for the man who killed 51 people at two mosques in new zealand hears he planned to attack a third and cause maximum casualties. violent protests in the us state of wisconsin after police shoot a black man several times — whilst responding to a domestic incident. jacob blake is in a stable condition in hospital. the inquest has begun into the death of nora quoirin, a teenager from london who went missing in malaysia last year. the 15—year—old, who had special needs, disappeared from her room while on a family holiday — her body was found in the jungle 10 days later. nora's parents are due to give

evidence via video—link next week. let's return to our top story — in a message to parents — uk prime minister borisjohnson has said it is ‘vitally important‘ that children go back to school — with the life chances of a generation at stake. kate green is the shadow education secretary and labour mp for stretford and urmston. hello, good morning to you. or you are reassured by the message from the prime minister? i am absolutely clear in the labour party is absolutely clear that children must go back to class next week, it is in the best interests of their social and emotional well—being, being with their friends, and emotional well—being, being with theirfriends, in a routine, in the best interests of their learning and long—term life chances and i know how much work school leaders and staff have been putting in over the summer to welcome children back safely to school. but i think the government has been missing in action over the last few weeks, not giving them the information and

support they needed and over the past couple of weeks, totally preoccupied with their own exams fiasco when they should have been supporting schools and reassuring pa rents. supporting schools and reassuring parents. we had the information yesterday, didn't we, from the chief medical officer is right around the uk and their deputies? yes, it's really good to have that information from the chief medical officers and i think parents will take that very seriously. and it reinforces what i think was already known. children are very much at the low end of the risk spectrum in relation to this virus. of course that doesn't mean schools aren't going to take excellent high quality protective measures to keep everybody safe in school and that's what they've been working on over the summer, reconfiguring their premises, arranging extra cleaning and so on but they really don't need the support of the government to keep those measures in place and the guidance they've been relying on hasn't been as clear as it could be, it's been a one size fits all, not

really differentiating between may bea really differentiating between may be a small rural school and a large inner—city school and i think the government has been asleep at the real one schools have largely been left to get on with it on their own in the last few weeks. do you think children over 12 should wear masks in school? i've looked at this really carefully because it's such an important question and i think the evidence is very cared for very young children, mask wearing is not appropriate to stop the situation for older children and adults seems to be in some countries masks are being worn, that tends to be only where there has been very high levels of infection and on their own, masks certainly aren't going to be enough to keep a school site, we need to have a whole range of safety measures including the cleaning and premises configuration and so one dimension. masks aren't on their own a silver bullet but i think obviously if the chief medical officers advice was clearly that masks should be one of course schools would follow that and we

have to keep the advice under very, very careful review. but at the moment, it remains that they are not saying that and i do know that some teachers and parents and indeed stu d e nts teachers and parents and indeed students worry that masks would inhibit good communication between teachers and children so it is a difficult balance but it's really important we follow the advice of the chief medical officers. in terms of people who are worried, parents who are worried, the main message i am getting from those who are worried and there are plenty of pa rents worried and there are plenty of parents who think it is absolutely right that kids and parents are excited about going back, but it's from extremely clinically vulnerable pa rents from extremely clinically vulnerable parents who say i am immune suppressed, am i supposed to be sending my kid back to school?|j sending my kid back to school?” think this is a really good question and it's where it schools and pa rents and it's where it schools and parents need really clear information and advice from the government and to be honest, they haven't really had that clear information. i don't believe that

the normal health and safety precautions that you would take if you had a very seriously unwell or vulnerable family member are changed by the fact that we are in the middle of this particular crisis. of course, where there is medical advice and information that says to advice and information that says to a particular individual or family you shouldn't behaving in this way, you shouldn't behaving in this way, you shouldn't behaving in this way, you should protect yourself by staying isolated, that is really important and people should follow the advice of their clinicians so i do understand why people are worried. i do the government could be doing much more to give reassurance to those clinically vulnerable people but i would also say if they are worried, they should talk to their own doctor because thatis talk to their own doctor because that is the best advice they will receive about their own situation. kate green, thank you. a doctor in south africa has told the bbc that coronavirus patients have been dying from hypothermia ? after being forced to sit for hours in a freezing hospital tent. south africa has begun to turn the tide on the virus,

but there is growing outrage about how it's handled the health emergency. 0ur africa correspondent andrew harding has this exclusive report. winter in a poor township south of johannesburg. as night falls, the temperature here can sink well below zero. we've come to the local hospital in sebokeng after a whistle—blower told us that suspected covid 19 patients were being forced to wait, sometimes for days, in this freezing cold tent. people have been dying here, not from the virus, but from suspected hypothermia. 0ur source is a doctor inside the hospital here, i'm going to call her now, she's speaking out because she's so furious about what she's seen. as soon as night falls it's horrible. you can see the patients declining. it's freezing cold in the tent. down to —4. i felt stressed, hopeless. hypothermia is one of the major causes of death here, especially in the tent.

this wasn'tjust on one occasion? no. there have been multiple cold fronts. it's terrible. how many patients need to die unnecessarily? we've tried to ask management where the money is being allocated to improve the tent, to get more staff. we don't get answers. one patient who spent hours in that tent was martin mlombo. his mother took out an old school photo of the 30—year—old who died last month, it's not clear why. it was freezing, it was freezing. it was freezing. and you know it's winter and on one side it was open. how long was he like that? it was too long. too long. this is not an isolated story. although south africa has successfully moved past the peak of the pandemic, there is widespread anger here about mismanagement and alleged corruption. in a local stream, we saw hundreds

of discarded boxes of ppe, almost certainly dumped by criminals now trying to cover their tracks as the government promises a crackdown. what concerns all south africans are those instances where funds are stolen, where they are misused, where goods that we have to procure are overpriced. at sebokeng hospital, the line between bad management and overt corruption is unclear. but these internal messages leaked to the bbc reveal how experts repeatedly warned against using tents in the south african winter, calling them inhumane. in a statement, the government rejected the whistle—blower‘s claims and told us there was no evidence of patients dying of hypothermia here. we are told the situation here has improved in recent days, partly because of steps taken, partly because the infection rate has come down significantly.

but of course those changes come far too late for some. another cold night begins in a nation where the virus has revealed both courage and decay. andrew harding, bbc news. south africa. let's bring you this breaking news, regarding one of the biggest supermarkets in the uk. tesco going to create 16,000 new permanent roles. these jobs are to create 16,000 new permanent roles. thesejobs are being to create 16,000 new permanent roles. these jobs are being filled mainly by people already employed on a temporary basis from the start of the pandemic. tesco are announcing todayit the pandemic. tesco are announcing today it will create 16,000 new permanent roles, the addition they say to 4000 permanentjobs already created since the start of the covid 19 pandemic, including 10,000 pickers to assemble customer orders and 3000 drivers to deliver them

plus a variety of other roles. 16,000 newjobs at tesco. those jobs will be filled mainly by the people already employed on a temporary basis at the start of coronavirus. thank you for your messages about sending your children to school. jane says i'm totally fine with my son returning. he needs it. another bureau says as a parent i have no worries about two of my children returning to school, one returned for a few weeks before the summer holidays. 0ne for a few weeks before the summer holidays. one has been off since lockdown began. schools will do their utmost to make sure it's a safe environment. another pier on twitter says i miss being in school with the children but i'm concerned for clinically vulnerable teachers and staff, photos of classrooms only ever show about a children, there are 30 plus kids in advance, it's going to be very difficult to distance. smaller bubbles would surely be safer? and another bureau says children need to go back to school but guidance should be issued

for pa rents school but guidance should be issued for parents and guardians who are clinically vulnerable after having to shield. what is the guidance for when those children return home? you are watching bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood hello again. once again this week we are in for some unseasonably strong winds. the first batch will be tonight and also tomorrow. but what we have today is a mixture of sunshine and showers. some of the showers will be heavy and potentially thundery, particularly so in southern counties. 0n the satellite picture you can see a bit of cloud around the uk producing those showers, but this is a developing area of low pressure in the atlantic. and this is what is going to bring us the strong winds and the heavy rain later on. so we've got showers pushing from the west to the east, some of those heavy and thundery in southern parts of england, possibly south wales. showers across eastern parts

of england, eastern scotland and the west of northern ireland, but in between a lot of dry weather and a lot of sunshine and gentle breezes. highs, 12 in the north to 21 in the south. this evening, there will still be a lot of dry weather but you can see already, the advancing rain, greens and yellows telling you there will be some heavy bursts accompanied by gusty winds, gusting 40, 45 miles an hour, west wales, south west england and also northern ireland. if we pick this up tomorrow, in the centre of the low pressure, it won't be windy at all but look at the isobars, widely we are looking at gusts in england and wales 45, 50 miles an hour and later the same across eastern parts of scotland. the rain advancing quite quickly northwards leaving drier conditions behind with a few showers. but those are the wind gusts you can expect and we will see more rain come in across northern ireland, north wales and northern england through the course of the afternoon. temperatures disappointing for the time of year

across the board, only 12 in aberdeen to 21 as we push out towards london. on wednesday, the low pressure moves away to the near continent but before it does, you can see the squeeze in the isobars close to the north sea coast. so for those counties along the east of the country, we are looking at a windy start but the winds will ease through the day and many of us will have a dry day with variable amounts of cloud and some sunshine — highs, 12 to 21 yet again. then as we head on into thursday, we've got this band of rain moving from northern ireland into scotland turning showery. but our next area of low pressure brings in further heavy rain and also some gusty winds. temperatures 12 to 20.

this is bbc news, i'mjoanna gosling with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. "vitally important. " uk prime minister urges parents to send their children back to school, saying it's damaging to their development and health, the longer they're away from the classroom. pupils have already returned to the classroom in scotland. this morning, schools in northern ireland opened their doors for the first time since march. a sentencing hearing for the man who killed 51 people at two mosques in new zealand hears he planned to attack a third and cause maximum casualties. victim impact statements are also read. he used to give me flowers for my birthday, but instead i got his body.

i decided to forgive you, mr tarrant, because i don't have hate. violent protests in the us state of wisconsin after police shoot a black man several times. jacob blake is in a stable condition in hospital. firefighters in california warn conditions will only get worse as they battle to contain nearly 600 wildfires. six people have died and thousands have been forced from their homes. and two mps, layla moran and sir ed davey, tell us why they want to become the next leader of the uk liberal democrats. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe.

the uk prime minister, borisjohnson, has appealed directly to parents in england, saying it's vitally important to send their children back to school next week. in a statement released late last night, the prime minister said... "it is far more damaging for a child's development "and their health... to be away from school any longer." he added that the life chances of a generation of pupils are at stake if they don't go back. mrjohnson's words echoed those of the uk's four chief medical officers, who said the risk of contracting coronavirus in a school is "very small". the new term also starts next week in wales. schools in scotland reopened earlier this month. and thousands of children in northern ireland are returning to class today for the first time since the lockdown was imposed. the term is beginning for years 7,12 and 14. the rest of the pupils are due back in class next week. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley has more on the government's push to reassure parents in england.

education has been a bit of a mess over the last few weeks, with the results fiasco, but the government wa nts to results fiasco, but the government wants to try and get back on the front foot and is going to spend a lot of time over the next few days trying to reassure parents and teachers in england that it is safe to open schools week, and that they should be doing everything they can to get as many pupils as possible back. remember that this was tried back. remember that this was tried backin back. remember that this was tried back injune, it didn't go particularly well, but the government has very much nailed its colours to the mast here, saying it has to be done, there is a moral duty to do it, in the prime minister's words. this was the schools minister, nick gibb, this morning. i am absolutely confident that we will have all schools open, we had 90% percent of schools open injuly. the surveys we had 90% percent of schools open in july. the surveys from we had 90% percent of schools open injuly. the surveys from the 0ns are saying that 90% of parents are likely or very likely to send their

children back to school in september. it is a moral imperative to have young people back in school. in fact the risk of long—term harm to pupils of not being in school, according to the chief medical officer, outweigh the small risks of children acquiring the virus within the school environment. and children wa nt to the school environment. and children want to be back in school, they want to be with their friends, they want to be with their friends, they want to have lessons where the teacher is leading the lessons because the most effective way for young people to catch—up on their education... that's why the prime minister is right to say that it is a moral imperative for schools to be open in september and for young people to come back into school. it's interesting, because there were some figures out from the office for national statistics last week which showed that in england, more than half of parents were worried about sending kids back to school, for various sending kids back to school, for various reasons. sending kids back to school, for various reasons. so, clearly, the government has some work to do on this. one thing that was done over

the weekend was, the chief medical officers from across the uk, all four of them, and their deputies, put out a statement saying that they thought it was safe, that the chances of kids transmitting the virus to each other is pretty low, transmitting to the family is pretty low, and actually one of the biggest issues in schools is teacher to teacher transmission. issues in schools is teacher to teachertransmission. so, issues in schools is teacher to teacher transmission. so, they are urging teachers to be really wary, and parents when they are dropping kids offers well. this morning, we heard from england's deputy chief medical officer, drjenny harries. for teachers who are concerned, there is reasonably good evidence now that for younger children, they are very unlikely, or less likely, to catch the disease themselves, we think. it is still out for further review, but that seems to be the way. and actually, the risk of transmission to adults is far less than the risk of transmission from the teacher to the child, if you like. so, a report published yesterday

by public health england on outbreaks and cases in schools suggests that the majority of those are actually staff—to—staff interactions. so, i think it is really important to reassure teachers on that count, but also to encourage them that when it is their coffee break and they get a well—earned rest in the day, to ensure that they maintain their social distancing, good hand hygiene, all those sorts of things while they have their break, because that does seem to be a risk factor. so, some reassurance from the experts and from politicians as well. unions still are asking questions, they want to know exactly what measures are going to be put in place if there are outbreaks in schools or in local areas. some people will be looking to scotland, where the schools have already reopened, to see how things have gone. there are some schools that have had to close but by and large, officials are saying there hasn't been much transmission in schools.

we're going to hear a lot about this over the next few days as england's schools prepare to open next week. many school pupils in northern ireland will be dusting off their uniforms for the first time since lockdown this morning, as they begin a phased return to the classroom. but it will be a very different experience, with measures put in place to stop the spread of the covid—19. chris page has more. more than five months after face—to—face lessons stopped, teachers have been preparing to welcome children into their classrooms again. st paul's primary school in west belfast is in an area of high social deprivation, so the principal has decided to restart school for all pupils today, and begin by focusing on their experience of lockdown. the children have probably been in quite close quarters at home and maybe no access to gardens and things like that. so just give them an opportunity to speak about their experiences and to share that with each other. hopefully that'll begin to allow them to start processing it and be ready to move on,

be ready to start learning whenever we come back to the formal education. the difference to school life will be noticeable — not least, colourful reminders of social distancing. but families are looking forward to the new term. happy...to see my friends again. yeah. i miss my friends. obviously a lot of nervousness in terms of a lot of pupils coming back together and, you know, you worry about whether that's going to cause further transmission or not. but, broadly speaking, i think it's important to get the young people back. home schooling was fun, but it'd be nice to have the teachers back doing it properly. schools in northern ireland have been closed for longer than in the other uk nations. reopening will be a learning experience for children, parents and teachers — a new term unlike any before. chris page, bbc news, belfast. cases of covid—19 have been detected at two more schools in dundee. it follows an outbreak at the city's kingspark school. there are now 22 cases linked to kingspark school. it's been closed and all pupils

and staff told to self—isolate. the new cases are at st peter and paul's primary school and at an out—of—school club at downfield primary. a number of lockdown restrictions that were imposed in aberdeen earlier this month have been lifted. tighter rules were introduced because of a surge of coronavirus cases in the city. a five—mile limit on non—essential travel and a ban on indoor gatherings has been removed, while pubs, cafes and restaurants will be able to re—open from wednesday, subject to environmental health checks. you can stay up to date with the coronavirus epidemic on our live page. there you can check the latest developments, see reaction as it happens and get instant analysis from our correspondents and experts. you can watch video clips and live coverage of events as they happen. visit bbc.co.uk/news or go to the bbc news app. a court in new zealand has heard how a white supremacist convicted of murdering 51 muslims at two

mosques in christchurch last year had wanted to cause the greatest number of casualties possible. at the start of his sentencing hearing, prosecutors said brenton tarrant had bought a collection of high—powered firearms and over 7,000 rounds of ammunition in the 15 months before the attacks. 0n obtaining and practising with these weapons, the defendant began to formulate a plan to carry out attacks on mosques and to inflict as many fatalities as possible. he obtained a large amount of information about mosques in new zealand, predominantly within the south island. the information he obtained from the internet included detailed mosque plans, interior pictures of the mosques, mosque locations and specific details, such as prayer times and important days in the islamic calendar to ascertain when the mosques would be at their busiest. tarrant has been confronted by survivors and relatives

of the victims in court. here is the statement of one mother who lost her son. may you get the severest punishment for your evil act in this life, and in the hereafter, we know that allah is the mostjust. you transgressed and you thought you can break us. you failed miserably. we became more determined to our tie to islam, and our beloved ones. shaimaa khalil has been monitoring the hearing and told me more about the mood in court. some of the survivors and the victims' families in the same room with the killer responsible for the mass shooting in christchurch. some of them, like this mother, addressing the killer directly, saying that, you tried to break us, but we are not broken, we are united. this mother saying that she

did not forgive him. another mother, who also lost her son in al noor mosque, chose to forgive him and said that it was in islam, forgiveness was part of the religion and part of its teachings. they have also told the court and brenton tarrant himself how his actions, his crime, has devastated their lives. some started their testimonies, their statements with verses from the koran, for the souls of those they lost, talking about martyrdom, justice, peace. we also heard from one survivor who was shot nine times by brenton tarrant. he described how he had locked eyes with the killer, how he realised that he was the target of his gun, and how he had to play dead to avoid being killed. he said that the trauma and the pain will remain with him and that he doesn't foresee a future without pain. the court also heard very distressing details about how premeditating this whole thing was.

how the killer planned it for more than a year with layouts and research about mosques, when they were going to be the busiest, how he could inflict the most damage, and how he planned to burn down the mosques after his attacks. we also heard about how he went into one of the main prayer rooms in al noor mosque and started firing at groups of people who were huddled in corners trying to escape. how he shot people who were lying down on the floor showing signs of life, including a three—year—old who was clinging on to his father. we are expecting to hear more of those testimonies, more of those statements in the days to come. we are also expecting to hear from the killer himself. brenton tarrant will be representing himself in front of court after he has fired his defence team a few weeks ago. so, more testimonies to hear, more of those emotional horror stories that people had to live through on march 15th in 2019. the liberal democrats will have a new leader this thursday.

this morning, the final two candidates, layla moran and sir edward davey, joined us in the studio to lay out their visions for the party. sir ed davey, acting leader, said that he is pushing for a greener economy, a fairer society and more caring country. i think the economy is number one now, iam i think the economy is number one now, i am in economist by training. iam now, i am in economist by training. i am particular concerned about young people as well as the climate burden so i have been tailoring my economic plans and so it meets their aspirations and hopes. leyla moran said while she may have little expeirence in parliament, voters should look at her track record of what she has acheived in the three years she's been an mp. in 2017i in 2017! overturned a massive conservative majority to win the seat in the first place, and we did

that by amassing a group of people from all sides of the political spectrum. where we are now as liberal democrats, we are at 6%, we have to turn this around. the bulk of my professional experience as a maths and physics teacher is outside of parliament, at a time when people don't trust politicians, we need to win back the trust of the electorate and show that we've learned from the mistakes of the past and start rebuilding again. this is a scratch situation. the headlines on bbc news... "vitally importa nt" — uk prime minister borisjohnson urges parents to send their children back to school, saying it's damaging to their development and health the longer they're away from the classroom. a sentencing hearing for the man who killed fifty one people at two mosques in new zealand hears he planned to attack a third and cause maximum casualties. violent protests in the us state of wisconsin after police shoot a black man several times —— whilst responding to a domestic incident. jacob blake is in a stable condition in hospital.

there have been violent protests in the us state of wisconsin after police shot a black man several times while responding to a domestic incident. the man, named as jacob blake, is said to be in a serious condition in hospital. a video on social media shows him being shot in the back as he tries to get into a car in the city of kenosha. hundreds of people marched on police headquarters in the city last night. vehicles were set on fire and police used tear gas to disperse the protestors. the shooting comes at a time of high tension in the united states over police brutality and racism following the killing of george floyd in the neighbouring state of minnesota. andy brovelli is a photojournalist with cbs 58 news and gave us this update. we first got down herjust before midnight, it was still pretty active, you still had teargas being deployed, you had several protesters right behind me in the civic centre park, there was probably hundreds of people right behind me and as you can see right now it is fairly quiet

right now. a lot of those people have dispersed for the moment and again, things have seemed to be calming down. however, after that happened, there was a lot of businesses vandalised in downtown, about two blocks away from where we are by the courthouse. and then just down the road from me, they are still putting out some fires that we re still putting out some fires that were set by some of those protesters. so again, you just have to be careful around this stretch but it does look like everything is slowly but surely starting to get back to somewhat normal. what we've heard is that it's a domestic dispute, and when they arrive, and those details are still not entirely clear at this point, we're still waiting, much like everybody else at this point, the latest that we heard as far as the condition is that he is in stable condition. this was following what was on twitter earlierfrom a following what was on twitter earlier from a relative. following what was on twitter earlierfrom a relative. we following what was on twitter earlier from a relative. we are still waiting for confirmation on

everything. but again, the reasons leading up to it, and as to why, we are still waiting to hear more on that, hence why we had so much u nrest that, hence why we had so much unrest here during the early morning and late night hours. the us presidential race is well underway and president donald trump is set to open the republican convention later today — with the majority of it being held virtually due to covid—19. but he's facing anger over his handling of the pandemic, and has been badly trailing his democratic party rival, joe biden, in the polls. we can talk now to dr jan halper—hayes, a republican commentator and former vice—president of republicans abroad. welcome, thank you very much for joining us. what does this unconventional convention need to do for donald trump? well, what it needs to do for the american people, and it is going to do, is that it is going to show all the positive things that have happened prior to the coronavirus. i feel so

things that have happened prior to the coronavirus. ifeel so bad things that have happened prior to the coronavirus. i feel so bad for the coronavirus. i feel so bad for the democrats, that they don't learn from their mistakes, and theyjust made their whole convention of, let's just say everything bad about donald trump. there are going to be real people talking about how the government, how the administration has helped them. for example, we have the first step act, which donald trump released 3100 people from prison that should not have been put there. when you compare that with biden, who created that when he was the head of the judicial committee, and he said, we're going to get everyone put away except for jaywalking. you're going to hear stories of this woman from baltimore who has felt that she is running for congress, she's a black woman, and she had been smeared and she came out and said the democrats have done nothing for the black people of

baltimore. and she, her poll numbers have just gone up. so, baltimore. and she, her poll numbers havejust gone up. so, you're going to hear real stories, real things, that have happened, and you're also going to hear about how we're going forward. in terms of the polling for joe biden after the democratic convention, he has gone up, and you're talking about the views of african—americans in terms of the democrats and republicans, he has gone up, about 75% approval rating amongst black americans on that front, he has also, in a stronger position at this point now in the campaign than hillary clinton was. she did of course lose but she won the popular by quite some way, 2.9 million votes more than donald trump. are you confident in where donald trump is at this stage? let me explain something about these polls. these general polls, i don't pay attention to them because they don't always have the actual voters that are going to come out. the

other thing is that it is a cross—section of people in america, but the good polling is done by looking at the states, and sometimes even going down to the counties that are even going down to the counties that a re really even going down to the counties that are really particular. and right now, i can tell you that from the trump campaign, ourstate now, i can tell you that from the trump campaign, our state polling is looking very, very good. and there was just a poll that came out that i think biden is at 48 and trump is at 4796. think biden is at 48 and trump is at 47%. but i don't pay attention to the polls until it gets much closer andi the polls until it gets much closer and i know what's happening in the states. you said that this convention is going to focus on all the positive things prior to covid—19. there has been a lot of criticism of various aspects of donald trump's handling of the pandemic. 0ne donald trump's handling of the pandemic. one of the things that he said early on was comparing it to flu ke, said early on was comparing it to fluke, talking about there being a perfectly good flu vaccine as if that was going to help in this

situation, and he was corrected on screen by advisers, which was quite uncomfortable to see that. he discussed suggestions that infections of disinfectant might help. he is now reportedly considering bypassing american regulations to fast tracked a vaccine that is being developed in this country in order to roll it out in the us before the presidential elections, and there are warnings that could trigger mass resignations from the us food and drug administration. how would you describe the things that he has said, the way that he has handled the pandemic and weather it shows in sufficient grasp of detail? ok. i think there is a big difference between what he actually did and, many of us agree that he has been all over the map in saying things about it. he made a huge mistake in wanting to be a cheerleader and trying to put a positive spin on

something so tragic. and i would agree with everyone that verbally, he's not handled it well. but when you look at what he has been able to provide the states, and our debts are going down, and you can't compare the american number of deaths to other countries, because germany fits into america 28 times. when you look at the uk, you have one fifth of our population, but then what percentage of deaths have you had in comparison to the usa? so, i avoid looking at that one. i do look at what he has done, and many of us have not been happy with the way that he has carelessly been communicating about it. thank you very much forjoining us. my pleasure, thank you.

the trump adminstration has given emergency authorisation for blood plasma to be used to treat coronavirus patients. early trials suggest it is safe to use, but experts say more tests are needed. the announcement was made on the eve of donald trump's presidential campaign launch. this is a powerful therapy that trans fuses very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients. it has had an incredible rate of success. today's action will magically expand and access to this treatment. one of president trump's longest—serving advisers, kellyanne conway, is leaving the white house at the end of the month. she helped donald trump win the presidency as campaign manager in 2016 and has since been one of his most vocal defenders.

in a statement she said she would spend the next few months focusing on her children and giving them "less "drama, more mama". 0n the west coast of the united states, firefighters in california are trying to control around six—hundred wildfires, some of which are the worst the region has ever seen. officials say dry lightning strikes, which started many of the fires, are due to return, along with warm and windy weather. rich preston has this report. the golden state, burning. in the napa valley, this was caught on dash come. this was around the university of california, santa cruz. fire reta rda nts of california, santa cruz. fire retardants are being dropped from the sky to try to stop the flames and spreading. but for some it is too late, the damage has already been done. president trump has declared the fire is a major disaster. i spoke to the governor as they battled two of the worst wildfires in the history of this

state. that continues. the federal government has already deployed over 26,001st responders and personnel to battle the wildfires. we are working very closely with the governor. won more than 100,000 people have been forced to flee but many are avoiding the shelters over fears of the spread of coronavirus. we have more than 400 red cross people on the ground and hundreds more helping virtually. those folks are out there making sure that we are getting people in shelters or in hotel rooms where it is available and they are also there to make sure that the people who are coming to our shelters have a safe place to stay and food to eat. emergency crews have been overwhelmed by the number and intensity of the fires. the job is now to save lives and protect only the most essential buildings. but with warnings of more lightning strikes and high temperatures in the days ahead, fears that the fires could continue for at least another week. rich preston, bbc news.

two huge storms are forecast to hit the us gulf coast this week. tropical storms marco and laura have already brought torrential rain, high winds and flooding across the caribbean. at least ten people have died in the dominican republic and haiti. alanna petroff has the latest. rescuers pull in stranded survivors to cheers. the capital of the dominican republic flooded and overwhelmed by tropical storm laura. not everyone made it. a mother and her young son died when a wall collapsed on their home. translation: the wall collapsed on top of them. it fell onto the house. the owner needs to come forward. he knew that the wall was going to collapse. he shouldn't have built that wall. tropical storm laura also battered puerto rico, haiti and the virgin islands.

in haiti, some people lost everything. translation: the majority of the people here are not safe. this town is destroyed, as you can see. look at the people walking by. the houses are condemned. there are bodies. the merchants have lost their goods. tropical storm laura is forecast to strengthen further into a hurricane as it churns towards the us gulf coast. before laura makes landfall in the us, tropical storm marco will hit first. they're both heading towards the state of louisiana. texas and florida are also making preparations. forecasters are predicting a storm surge, flooding rain damaging winds and rough seas. president donald trump issued a disaster declaration for louisiana ahead of the storms.

the atlantic storm season runs until november and this one has the potential to be the busiest season ever. the us national hurricane center is predicting there could be up to 25 big storms this year, double the average. 0r or with wins 0rwith wins in or with wins in excess of 62km/h. when they get that strong, the storms have names. denmark was the first country in europe to reopen their schools, back in april. they're now two weeks into the new academic year, so how are teachers and students coping? let's talk to the vice—president of the danish union of techers, dorte lange. thank you very much forjoining us. so, how has it worked in terms of what is happening with covid and whether they have been any outbreaks in schools? there has been a slight outgoing of outbreaks during summer, actually, after the summer holidays, where people have been mingling

around across the country, the small increase in infections are actually not due to school opening. the reopening in april was done on the basis of a very roughly controlled virus spread, the virus spreading was going dramatically down in the midst of april, and that is why the reopening was possible. what measures were ta ken reopening was possible. what measures were taken in denmark to ensure the safe reopening of schools? there were very strict regulations, and the minister of education said that they were not negotiable. no municipality were allowed to open schools before those regulations were followed. and that was, for instance, that students, the small kids, it was only up to five graders who returned to school,

and they had to stay in small groups, like, ten or 12 and they had to stay in small groups, like, ten or12 in and they had to stay in small groups, like, ten or 12 in a group, and those groups were not allowed to mingle. so, they had to stay apart during lessons, and also during breaks. and most teaching was done outside as much as possible, and hand washing everyone and a half hours, at least. and when seated in the classroom, they had to sit two metres apart. so, those regulations we re metres apart. so, those regulations were lifted a bit in may, june, where the older students also returned to school. then we didn't have as much space to have the very small groups, so, classes were bigger and seating was, like, one metre apart, and that did not increase the virus spreading. but still, it was done on the basis of a very firm lockdown of society as a whole, so the virus was under

control at that time. the prime minister has said it is vital for children the prime minister has said it is vitalfor children to go the prime minister has said it is vital for children to go back to school because it is more damaging for their health and development to be away from school for any longer than necessary. in this country we have had children out of school for five months. how would you assess the impact of children being outside of school as opposed to the rest of catching covid within school? the online teaching is not at all as good as the physical, to being together any social environment of a classroom. looking at it like that, teaching in the school, physically, is much better than online teaching, but again, i must tell you that i can understand that teachers and school masters and school leaders in other countries, where the virus has not been as controlled as it was in denmark and they have said that the risk of spreading through children,

because we know that children can ta ke because we know that children can take the virus with them back home to maybe vulnerable family members. that might not be a very good idea to do that. you need to have the epidemic firstly under control and then we can easily and very safely and securely open schools again.- the end of the month, 53 countries are meeting to discuss best practice. have there been mistakes that you would point out in the weight has been handled in your country? what are the lessons or guidelines that everyone should look at? one of the very important lessons is that we need to do this together. we need to collaborate. in denmark, as you might know, we don't regulate our labour market by laws

and regulations from parliament, we regulate it through collective agreements with trade unions, and thatis agreements with trade unions, and that is also how we were doing this in the spring, that we, as trade unions, worked very closely in collaboration with authorities, essentially within the nation and also in local authorities. and that collaboration is very vital to the feeling of safety. 0ur collaboration is very vital to the feeling of safety. our members, as teachers, they felt safe because we could tell them that we are in close contact and we will take your considerations into account when we make the regulations on how to reopen, and i think that is a very important lesson, that teachers and pa rents important lesson, that teachers and parents feel that they are being considered and listened to. thank you very much for talking to us, the

vice president of the danish union of teachers. you are welcome. the inquest has begun into the death of nora quoirin, a teenager from london who went missing in malaysia last year. the 15—year—old, who had special needs, disappeared from her room while on a family holiday. her body was found in the jungle ten days later. nora's parents are due to give evidence via video—link next week. the bbc has learned that foreign office officials expected british—iranian nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe to be freed from jail in iran almost two—and—a—half years ago. a deal to secure her freedom in 2017 appears to have been linked to the repayment of a multi—million pound debt to iran but the money was never paid. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe has already served four years in prison. the revelation comes in a bbc panorama investigation into the fate of dual british—iranian citizens detained in iran and accused of spying. darragh macintyre reports. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was returning to the uk with her daughter after a holiday

in iran when she was arrested in april 2016. she was convicted on spying charges that have been widely condemned as baseless, and sentenced to five years in jail. successive british governments and officials have raised her case with iran without result. her husband richard ratcliffe, reunited with their daughter last year, believes his wife is being held hostage. i would absolutely believe that hostagetaking is a tool of iranian diplomacy. it has become normalised as an acceptable thing to do. the us government agrees. it says nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe and a number of western citizens are being held by iran as diplomatic leverage. do you consider those western citizens that are being held in iran as hostages? yes. it's a tool of statecraft, it's part of iran's foreign policy to take people hostage who are innocent, and then trade them later for some objective that they think advances their own objectives.

iran denies hostagetaking but the uk does have something iran wants, £400 million. a debt owed for some 1500 chieftain tanks, paid for by the shah of iran before he was toppled in 1979. britain did not deliver the tanks to the new islamic republic and courts in britain and abroad agree that the uk owes iran the money. but it is yet to be paid. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe has been told payment holds the key to her release. she was told by the judiciary, the deputy prosecutor, she was told by the judge that we are not going to release you until the british government pays for the money they owe iran, and she has been told that explicitly by three different parts of thejudicial system. officially, both the uk and iran say the debt and nazanin are not related. the uk government told the bbc it is unhelpful to suggest otherwise. but events seem to contradict that. in november 2017, the iranian ambassador to london

published this message. the debt is scheduled to be paid to iran by britain in the next few days. weeks later, boris johnson, then foreign secretary, went to tehran himself. the bbc understands a deal was almost reached. british officials told nazanin's family they were preparing for her to return to the united kingdom, there was even a date. the british embassy called up and said we think she might be coming out on the 28th of december. so the embassy were giving us a date to be ready for it. but a deal never materialised. we don't know why. but well—placed sources have told us that some in the ministry of defence have objected to the payment of britain's debt. another british iranian anousheh ashouri has already spent three years injail. his wife made this plea. what would you say to boris johnson, what would your central message be?

it is money they owe. they are not doing iran a favour. they are paying a debt. if that would restore families, i would go on my knees, i would beg him to do it. at least eight british citizens have been detained in iran in recent years, though some have got home. iran says its justice system is lawful and human. the uk government says it is committed to securing the freedom of all british citizens, regarded as arbitrarily detained and that it continues to explore options to resolve the debt. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe has been placed temporarily under house arrest at her parents' home in tehran. the fate of other british iranians held in iran remains unclear. darragh macintyre, bbc news. and you can watch panorama: hostage in iran on bbc one at 7:30pm this evening. let's get more now on the comments from prime minister borisjohnson that it is "vitally important" children go back to school,

with the life chances of a generation at stake. schools in northern ireland return today, schools in scotland have already returned and in england and wales it is next week. let's talk now to calum semple, professor of child health and outbreak medicine at the university of liverpool. he's a member of sage, a group of scientific experts which advises the government, although today he's speaking to us in a personal capacity. welcome and thank you forjoining us. we have heard a lot since the very beginning of the outbreak about how children don't really transmit covid—19, and again, today we have heard that the risk of transmission is not from children to adults, the bigger concern would be teacher to teacher. so, can you give us a rear —— a really clear explanation of why and what is known about transmission amongst children? we know that transmission take some energy to move the virus inside a smattering of particles into the air. if the

children are not unwell and are not coughing and sneezing, they are not lifting the virus into the air as much of the adult who is exhibiting symptoms. in general, because children do not get sick and waking up children do not get sick and waking up —— and we can be absolutely sure about that because children don't get sick, they are not transmitting it so much as adults who are getting sick, we have also got evidence looking at outbreaks within schools and children's' and teachers teachers, and on the whole outbreaks in schools have been related to staff, be at the teachers of the administrative staff or support staff rather than the children themselves. so, what you are seeing obviously chimes with, as i mentioned, what we have been hearing for months, right at the beginning when he said children did not transmit. why then have schools been shut for five months? it is not that they absolutely don't transmit it is that they are transmitting less than adults are. so, when you have to

ta ke severe adults are. so, when you have to take severe actions to take control ofa take severe actions to take control of a pandemic right at the start when there is literally tens of thousands of people are dying, then it is reasonable to lockdown society. but now that we are trying to get the economy going and reduce the harm to children through social isolation and lack of education, you must decide what you keep open and what you close as you need to. so, ona what you close as you need to. so, on a balance of risk and no harm, because we know that the children are coming into harm through lack of education that affects their life choices and chances, which affects their inequity, it also causes increases in teenage suicide, eating disorders and self—harm. so, when you are balancing harm, you think, let us get the school is open and keep them open and if we have to shut out of things, then we do that. iam not shut out of things, then we do that. i am not saying it was a mistake to close the schools in march and april and may, it was actually quite important, but now that we are into

a different phase, we can get these schools open. i spoke shortly to the vice president of the danish union of teachers and she said that the primary lesson that she said they had learned there that was instrumental in them being able to reopen the schools in april, against a backdrop of decreasing infections, she said one of the key parts was the union working very closely with the union working very closely with the government, and that sent a strong message to teachers and pa rents strong message to teachers and parents that it was safe, and that everybody had their backs and all the precautions were being taken. it has been a different story in this country. has that been part of the picture as to why it has taken so long? i can't comment about the negotiations between government and the unions, but i do have some insight into what has been happening with the children. when the children's' views have been sort they themselves have identified that there has been difficulty with communicating to their age group and perhaps we could have done better

there. you mentioned about the decisions that would be taken around keeping schools open versus other things. you previously set that there was obviously a high risk of a second wave in october and you and others advising the government have said that the decisions might have to be taken then about closing other parts of society to keep the schools open. how do you now see the prospects of the schools returning? i don't think anything has changed in that regard. it would be unwise if we did not plan for a second wave. we are not seeing it as inevitable, but it is very likely, far more likely than not that we will have a second wave and personally, i think it will be quite a tough winter. so, i would like to see schools kept open for as long as we can. there might come a tipping point where in some areas we have to close goes, and that is something we will have to accept, but i would

hope that at that stage other aspects of society would be reduced or restricted so that schools are the last resort in that process. calum semple, thank you very much for joining calum semple, thank you very much forjoining us. thank you. the authorities in belarus have arrested two members of the opposition council — they were detained outside a factory at the forefront of the strikes against the contested re—election of president lukashenko. huge protests continued over the weekend. mr lukashenko has responded with defiance, saying he has no intention of leaving. the bbc spoke to one protester in the capital minsk who was beaten up by police. the people i fear the most are the police. no—one can protect us. i cannot live beside these people any more. we need to change something in our country quickly. the president of peru is calling for an investigation into a stampede at an illegal party, in which 13 people died. the incident happened at a night club in the capital,

lima, on saturday, as phoebe hopson reports. it was a birthday party that ended in tragedy. why did 13 people die after the illegal gathering was raided by police? suffocated or trampled as they tried to escape from the club's only exit. it's believed the victims were in their 20s. a night—time curfew has been in place since march to stop the spread of the coronavirus and large gatherings are banned. it's estimated around 120 people turned up at the tomas restobar after pa rty—goers organised the event on social media. under peruvian law, those who violate the restrictions face fines of around $110 and potentialjail time. although police denied the use of excessive force and tear gas, eyewitness reports a different story.

translation: the police arrived, they spoke to the club owner. no—one arrived. the officers entered with their cameras to film. they used tear gas and closed the door and that's how the madness started because you can't breathe with tear gas. the president has called for an investigation. translation: i feel sorry and i am sad for the people and the relatives of the people who have lost their lives but i am also angry and i feel indignation for the people who organised this type of event. after brazil and mexico, peru is battling the third—worst coronavirus outbreak in latin america. official reports confirm that of the 23 people arrested, 15 later tested positive. a reminder of the health risks people take when they break restrictions. phoebe hopson, bbc news. a doctor in south africa has told the bbc that coronavirus patients have been dying from hypothermia after being forced to sit for hours in a freezing hospital tent. south africa has begun to turn the tide on the virus, but there is growing outrage

about how it's handled the health emergency. 0ur africa correspondent andrew harding has this exclusive report. winter in a poor township south of johannesburg. as night falls, the temperature here can sink well below zero. we've come to the local hospital in sebokeng after a whistle—blower told us that suspected covid—19 patients were being forced to wait, sometimes for days, in this freezing cold tent. people have been dying here, not from the virus, but from suspected hypothermia. 0ur source is a doctor inside the hospital here, i'm going to call her now. she's speaking out because she's so furious about what she's seen. as soon as night falls it's horrible. you can see the patients declining. it's freezing cold in the tent. down to —4. i felt stressed, hopeless. hypothermia is one of the major causes of death here, especially in the tent. this wasn'tjust on one occasion?

no. there have been multiple cold fronts. it's terrible. how many patients need to die unnecessarily? we've tried to ask management where the money is being allocated to improve the tent, to get more staff. we don't get answers. one patient who spent hours in that tent was martin mlombo. his mother took out an old school photo of the 30—year—old who died last month, it's not clear why. it was freezing, it was freezing. it was freezing. and you know it's winter and on one side it was open. how long was he like that? it was too long. too long. this is not an isolated story. although south africa has successfully moved past the peak of the pandemic, there is widespread anger here about mismanagement and alleged corruption. in a local stream, we saw hundreds

of discarded boxes of ppe, almost certainly dumped by criminals now trying to cover their tracks as the government promises a crackdown. what concerns all south africans are those instances where funds are stolen, where they are misused, where goods that we have to procure are overpriced. at sebokeng hospital, the line between bad management and overt corruption is unclear. but these internal messages leaked to the bbc reveal how experts repeatedly warned against using tents in the south african winter, calling them inhumane. in a statement, the government rejected the whistle—blower‘s claims and told us there was no evidence of patients dying of hypothermia here. we are told the situation here has improved in recent days, partly because of steps taken, partly because the infection rate has come down significantly.

but of course those changes come far too late for some. another cold night begins in a nation where the virus has revealed both courage and decay. andrew harding, bbc news. south africa. with less than 200 cases worldwide, the progressive neurological condition habc is thought to be one of the rarest diseases on the planet. there's currently no known cure for the disorder — but graham satchell has been speaking to three mums who live just an hour apart, who are hoping to change that for their children. frankie. frankie is just five. he has an extremely rare brain condition called h—abc. well done. we were told, nothing we can do, go home, enjoy your time. quite ironic, really. sorry.

and this is a year ago, so it's not been too long. 0h, he loves to kiss and cuddle me. he tells me he loves me all the time. the fact he can lose his voice is just the hardest thing. to think that one day he won't be able to tell me he loves me. it's just really hard. what are you doing, baby? huh? you enjoying yourself? you having mr crab for dinner? this is sophia. her parents began to worry when, as a baby, she was late to sit, cruel and walk. ——crawl. after years of tests, sophia was also diagnosed with h—abc. you can spend quite a bit of time being paralysed with fear and grief. i mean, i'll be very honest with you — i couldn't really accept it for a while. it took me years and years to come to terms with it. aggy was diagnosed with the condition five years ago. whee!

h—abc is a genetic disorder — a faulty gene and the white matter of the brain means messages to the rest of the body don't go through. as she's got older, it's affected aggy‘s walking and speech, but so far not her smile. hi! she's very happy. she's very positive. and strangely, she's never asked why she's lost the ability to walk now. she's never asked any questions. and i say to her, you know, "if you want to ask, if you have any questions..." and she just gummed down. it's her her way of coping with it, i think. let's go have a sit down. it's the first time these three families have met in person. h—abc is incredibly rare — there are only 200 recorded cases in the whole world. these families live within an hour of each other in england. all of us felt like we were just like a small little sailing boat in this sea, in an ocean

of being lost with your child, you know, and then you just have to find something, somewhere, an island of hope. i think we'll all say we've got amazing family and friends that are so supportive, but they don't understand it. until you've been there, you don't understand it. it's tough. it's very tough. most children with h—abc won't survive into adulthood. but these three families are determined not to give up. they formed a charity, the h—abc foundation, to raise awareness of leukodystrophies — the umbrella term for genetic brain disorders. by chance, michelle is a trained genetic scientist. she's been busy making contacts around the world. do you just accept it and support her, or do you think, actually, there could be something out there that could help her? the children's hospital of philadelphia in america — the families are in touch with professor vanderver, one of the only clinicians in the world researching treatments for h—abc.

gene therapy, where the faulty dna in the brain is either edited or removed now a realistic possibility. i've been caring for this group of diseases for almost 20 years. and if you had told me even — just as you said — five to ten years ago where we were today, i'm not sure i would have believed you. it's just a question of getting the work done and getting it done as quickly as possible so that we can help children who are alive and suffering from these diseases today. are you able to give a timescale? it's hard to know because some of it is beyond my... ..you know, my ability, but i would say certainly hopefully within the life span of the children you spoke with today. the doctors, all of them say this is such an exciting, exciting time. things are moving. science is, you know, changing every day. so that gives us so much hope. and that's basically what kind of gets me out

of bed in the morning — to know that there is a chance, there is a chance to cure our kids. all three families will continue to raise money for research, continue to raise awareness of the condition, and continue to hope for a treatment. graham satchell, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with carole kirkwood. -- phil —— phil avery. it is a reasonable day, there will be some blue sky around with a passing shower for some. if you have plans for the outdoors whatever the scale, i would encourage you to get out and about today because that lump of cloud has our name on it, it has been named by the met office as storm francis and it will affect much of the uk through tuesday and wednesday. back to the here and now, a lot of decent

weather around, sharp showers for the south and possibly for the north—east of england and up into scotland. on a day when the temperatures go back a degree or two on where you were through the course of the weekend. through the evening and overnight, many of the shower is dying away but out towards that south—western quarter of the british isles and spreading gradually further north and east, the wet and windy weather in association with storm francis arrives and how. we have a lot of weather on the way, the storm and i do, head of the cloud and wind and rain. that will tie in with storm francis, how much, 60, 70 tie in with storm francis, how much, 60,70 mph gusts, tie in with storm francis, how much, 60, 70 mph gusts, disruptive tie in with storm francis, how much, 60,70 mph gusts, disruptive and damaging, and a lot of rain to come, particularly through parts of northern ireland, the south of scotland. this is tuesday on the broader scale, notice how the eyes of the squeeze up on the southern flank of francis. that is why the met office have warnings about the strength of the wind across england and wales. for scotland and northern ireland, we are concerned about those rainfall totals really

beginning to build up, something of the order of 60 up to 90 millimetres. the rain cleared through england and wales, brightness returns perhaps, getting the temperatures to 21, 22. but 13, 14 or 15 underneath the rain. the storm moves towards a continent on wednesday but we have a squeeze on the isobars down through the north sea, across the eastern side of england and wales. that will rattle anyfairfew england and wales. that will rattle any fair few showers and this ridge of high pressure build through, but for the western areas, it is a reasonable sort of day, again, i would encourage you to make the most of that, because, as he progress through thursday, again, looking towards the atlantic, we will spread more cloud and rain from the atla ntic more cloud and rain from the atlantic and some of those darker blues are indicating some of that rain will be heavy. watch out for francis.

this is bbc news. the headlines... "vitally importa nt" — the prime minister urges parents to send their children back to school, while labour accuses the government of being "asleep at the wheel" with guidance to schools not "as clear as it should be". in northern ireland, schools are opening their doors to some students for the first time today since march. a sentencing hearing for the man who killed 51 people at two mosques in new zealand hears how he planned to attack a third and cause maximum casualties. victim impact statements are also read. he used to give me flowers for my birthday, but instead i got his body. i decided to forgive you, mr tarrant, because i don't have hate. violent protests in the us state of wisconsin, after police

shoot a black man several times after responding to a domestic incident. jacob blake is in a stable condition in hospital. firefighters in california warn conditions will only get worse as they battle to contain nearly 600 wildfires. six people have died and thousands have been forced from their homes. layla moran and sir ed davey tell us why they want to become the next leader of the liberal democrats. borisjohnson has appealed directly to parents in england, saying it is vitally important to send their children back to school next week. in a statement, the prime minister said it is "far more damaging for a child's development and their health... to be away from school any longer".

he added that the life chances of a generation of pupils are at stake if they don't go back. mrjohnson's words echoed those of the uk's four chief medical officers, who said the risk of contracting coronavirus in a school is very small. the new term also starts next week in wales. schools in scotland reopened earlier this month. and thousands of children in northern ireland are returning to class today for the first time since the lockdown was imposed. the term is beginning for years 7,12 and 14. the rest of the pupils are due back in class next week. 0ur political correspondent nick eardley has more this was the schools minister, nick gibb, this morning. i am absolutely confident that we will have all schools open, we had 90% percent of schools open injuly. the surveys from the 0ns are saying that 90% of parents are likely or very likely to send their children back to school in september. it is a moral imperative to have young people back in school.

in fact the risks of long—term harm to pupils of not being in school, according to the chief medical officer, outweigh the small risks of children acquiring the virus within the school environment. and children want to be back in school, they want to be with their friends, they want to have lessons where the teacher is leading the lessons because the most effective way for young people to catch—up on their education... that's why the prime minister is right to say that it is a moral imperative for schools to be open in september and for young people to come back into school. labour says it agrees that getting schools back is a priority, but believes that government guidance for headteachers hasn't been as clear as it could be. the shadow education secretary kate green told us that the government has been "asleep at the wheel", while schools have largely been left to get on with it "on their own in the last few weeks". children must go back to class next

week, it's in the best interests of their social and emotional well—being, being with their friends, being in a routine, and of course, in the best interests of their learning and their long—term life chances. and i know how much work school leaders and staff have been putting in over the summer to welcome children back safely to school, but i do think the government has been missing in action over the last few weeks, not giving them the information and support they needed, and, of course, over the past couple of weeks, totally preoccupied with their own exams fiasco when they should have been out supporting schools and reassuring parents. children are very much at the low end of the risk spectrum in relation to this virus. of course, that doesn't mean schools aren't going to take excellent, high quality protective measures to keep everybody safe in school, and that's what they've been working on over the summer, reconfiguring their premises, arranging extra cleaning and so on, but they really do need the support of the government to keep those measures in place. and the guidance they've been relying on hasn't been

as clear as it could be. it's been one—size—fits—all, not really differentiating between maybe a small, rural school and a large, inner city comprehensive, with different premises needs. so, i think the government has really been asleep at the wheel, while schools have largely been left to get on with it on their own in the last few weeks. the deputy chief medical officer, drjenny harries, says that the risk of transmission in schools is low. for teachers who are concerned, there is reasonably good evidence now that for younger children, they are very unlikely, or less likely, to catch the disease themselves, we think. still out for further review, but that seems to be the way. and actually, the risk of transmission to adults is far less than the risk of transmission from the teacher to the child, if you like. so, a report published yesterday by public health england on outbreaks and cases in schools suggests that the majority of those are actually staff—to—staff interactions.

so, i think it is really important to reassure teachers on that count, but also to encourage them that when it is their coffee break and they get a well—earned rest in the day, to ensure that they maintain their social distancing, good hand hygiene, all those sorts of things while they have their break, because that does seem to be a risk factor. jerry glazier is on the national executive of the national education union. it represents more than 450,000 teachers and support staff in the uk. welcome, thank you forjoining us, how are you feeling about schools going back?” us, how are you feeling about schools going back? i think there is an element of anxiety, joanna, about schools going back, but we are supportive of all schools going back next week, we think that is important, for all the reasons you've been discussing, it is important for education, it is important for education, it is important for education, it is important for the mental health of the children, it is important for those children who have been out of

school for five months to get back into education and begin to learn again, so there is a lot of challenges there. do you agree with the prime minister when he says keeping the schools closed a moment longer than is necessary is socially intolerable and is damaging the life chances of some kids? yes, i think thatis chances of some kids? yes, i think that is obviously going to be and has been the case. we are keen for schools to open but we are keen that the government does face up to its responsibilities in terms of how we can ensure schools continue to be able to open, particularly if there are local spikes, and, able to open, particularly if there are localspikes, and, if able to open, particularly if there are local spikes, and, if there is a second wave of the virus in the autumn or at the beginning of the new year, let's hope it doesn't happen. and we are very concerned that there isn't that clarity, the government has got simply one plan, we think there needs to be a plan b, and that needs to be clear and properly supported. we can see all sorts of ways in which schools, if they get into some difficulty in localities, can maintain education, providing they have got more space

to do so and they have got the staff to do so and they have got the staff to do so and they have got the staff to do so. asjenny harries and said, andi to do so. asjenny harries and said, and i agree with her, the biggest risk is the transmission amongst adults within the community. schools have a large number of adult teachers, support staff and administrative support and they come from within the community and can easily bring that infection into schools. so it is important that schools. so it is important that schools have robust measures which are consistently applied, and we have assisted in ensuring that schools have that so that the staff can feel safe and the parents can feel safe and the children feel safe. should that extend to teachers wearing masks in schools? as a union, we are calling upon it to be permissible for teachers to wear masks, if they feel they need to do so. there are many teachers who have beenin so. there are many teachers who have been in vulnerable categories, or extremely clinical categories, over the last few months, who are now out of them, and they need to be secure that the school understands their

position and is enabling them to come back to work, and if wearing a facemask orface come back to work, and if wearing a facemask or face covering gives them the security and the confidence to do so, then so be it, we think that isa do so, then so be it, we think that is a small price to pay. so it should be permissible for staff and permissible for students to wear face coverings if they so choose.” spoke earlier to the vice—president of the danish union of teachers, their schools went back in april and it has all gone very smoothly, she said one of the really key lessons she believes that they learned in their country was the importance of a really good relationship and communication between the unions and the government, and that then sent ona the government, and that then sent on a message to teachers and to pa rents on a message to teachers and to parents that it was safe and that they needn't be concerned. how would you compare that with how things have been here? well, i think there have been here? well, i think there have been here? well, i think there have been periods when we have been very dissatisfied with the engagement of the government, and the openness and honesty of the

government, right from the beginning of this pandemic, we've been very keen for schools to open, when it was safe for them to do so. and obviously we know a lot more about the disease and its transmission today than we did even two months ago, which gives us some security. but you're absolutely right, we feel the government could have done much more in engaging constructively and professionally with the teaching unions, and that would have been beneficial, and sharing the evidence, sharing the science, it took a long time to get a lot of it out into the open. but equally i think it has taken a long time for the understanding of this pandemic to filter down into the localities. now we know that there is a lot of granularity, that local authorities can detect the virus levels in individual streets, and that bodes well in terms of being able to act very quickly to address any issues in the locality, and that will give a lot of comfort to schools at the heart of the community.

pupils will start going back to school in northern ireland from today, after spending months away. most pupils in year 7, 12 and 14 will be returning, along with vulnerable children. students in northern ireland have been out of school for longer than anywhere else in in the uk. they didn't go back prior to the summer holidays, which began at the start ofjuly, so there havew been no on—site lessons at all since mid—march. let's speak now to frank maguire, a parent whose 16—year—old son is back at school today, and joni mcsorley, a mum of three and principal of drumlish primary school in dromore. thank you very much forjoining us, both of you. frank, how are you feeling about your son going back today? i suppose there is some mixed emotion, delighted for him, first and foremost, that he's getting back to the school environment, where for the last six months, he has been cut off from friends and all of that. so, on the one hand or delighted, that way. but still obviously keeping one eye on the covid—19 and all of that, and hoping that, as this is an important year for

all of that, and hoping that, as this is an important yearfor him, with his gcses, that it will all hopefully run smoothly. how would you describe the impact of lockdown on him, and has he been able to do much online schooling? the lockdown obviously, when it came there was a virtual online streaming with the school which he adapted quite quickly to, and was able to complete his final study that way. however, as it was his gcse module year, at the front of his mind straightaway was, what was going to happen with his results later on for this year? and it materialised that no results we re and it materialised that no results were given for the gcse modules. so, it's a big year, it is a big year for him this year. it is all going to be compiled into one year for the gcses now. and we're keen to see how thatis gcses now. and we're keen to see how that is going to pan out moving

forward. joni mcsorley, obviously you've got the double experience of being a mum of three and also being a principal in a school. how are you feeling about going back, do you feeling about going back, do you feel it is safe? i'm delighted that the children are going back, i think without a doubt they really need to go back to school. i do understand the anxieties and worries and i know that schools are doing everything they possibly can to make things as safe as they can for all the children. it is every schools priority and i appreciate that schools are going to do their best and it will be a trial and error syste m and it will be a trial and error system i'm sure with lots of different things. but we've got to move on, our children really need to go back to school. what measures have been brought in at your school? well, i have done risk assessments obviously within the school and then individual risk assessments with those members of staff who have been shielding. they have a category as being clinically extremely vulnerable. so it is trying to put in enough protective measures in terms of social distancing that the

adults can be two metres away from the children, and that is a challenge because no doubt about it, particularly when you're working with small children. obviously things like one—way systems within the school, we have also managed to put in three protective bubbles. so we are lucky in that we are a small rural primary school and we have good space and we are able to manage our three bubbles in that way. and frank, how is your son feeling about today? as i say, he was looking forward to going back and i suppose one of the main advantages, we are also a small, rural school, so, the social distancing and all those guidelines are relatively manageable, shall we say, within the school. i suppose the key to it all, really, is the mental health and well—being of kids, including my son, that are going back into the school environment after six months of being at home. and i think it is key that the department of education

and the managing authorities, and i and the managing authorities, and i a member of the parents council of the school, we are trying to be creative, to provide additional resources to the school. so that the children can adapt and blend their way back into the school environment. particularly with the last six months they have just experienced, and i think mental health and well—being is going to be a very critical and important role for everybody involved. thank you very much forjoining us both of you andi very much forjoining us both of you and i hope it all goes very well. we can go straightaway to nicola sturgeon, giving her daily briefing on covid—19. sturgeon, giving her daily briefing on covid-19. an additional 66 cases we re on covid-19. an additional 66 cases were identified yesterday, representing 1% of the total who we re representing 1% of the total who were tested and it takes the total number in scotland to 19,877. the full breakdown will be available later but my provisional information

is that 14 of the 66 new cases are in tayside, where we are dealing with a cluster involving the processing plant. 15 are in greater glasgow clyde, 17 in lanarkshire and five in grampian. these are health board areas in which we been dealing with clusters in recent days. but the remainder of the cases are spread across five other health board areas. i can also confirm that a total of 248 patients are currently in hospital with confirmed covid, which is three more than yesterday, and one person is in intensive care, which is one fewer than yesterday. i am also able to confirm, and i very pleased to do so, that yet again in the past 24 hours no deaths of patients were registered of patient who had tested positive over the previous 28 days. the number of deaths under that measurement therefore remains 2000 492. that total should remind us of the impact this virus has had, and

once again i want to express condolences to everyone who has suffered loss. as always i want to thank everyone who has worked in a variety of different capacities to help the country through this pandemic. today i want to cover three issues before the chief medical officer and i take questions from journalists as usual. firstly, i want to recap on the decision we confirmed yesterday, to ease restrictions in aberdeen. i will then talk more about today's figures with an emphasis on the cluster in cooper angus, and i will close by briefly talking about the issue of face coverings in schools. 0ver briefly talking about the issue of face coverings in schools. over the past week there has been a continued decline in the number of new cases being recorded in aberdeen and more widely in the grampian health board area. we were therefore able to agree yesterday the lifting of restrictions which were put in place for aberdeen city two and half weeks ago. that means that from today, our

advice on travel and on meeting in people's homes is the same in aberdeen as it is in all other parts of scotland. we are no longer recommending that people in aberdeen should stick to a five mile limit when travelling for leisure or recreation and people in aberdeen are now able to go into other people is houses. however, they must continue to stick to the national guidance on this, and just to remind people, that is that only three households can meet indoors and the maximum group size indoors is eight. we have also set a timetable for the removal of restrictions in relation to hospitality in aberdeen. hospitality premises will be able to reopen from wednesday this week, the 26th of august. but they should only open once an environment of health check has been completed by council officials. any hospitality business owners in aberdeen who intend to open on wednesday and haven't already been contacted should get in

touch with aberdeen council to ensure that they go through the appropriate checks. in addition, last thursday i set out a number of nationwide changes to lockdown restrictions which take effect from today. all of these changes should follow the relevant guidance. i announced that from today some outdoor live events can now go ahead with physical distancing and hygiene and structured numbers. organised outdoor contact sports can resume for people of all ages, driving lessons for people of all ages, driving lesso ns ca n for people of all ages, driving lessons can also resume and indoor face—to—face advice services, for example citizens advice bureau, and welfare advice services, can also reopen. yesterday's announcement means that the majority of today's changes also apply to aberdeen, so it is now possible for example to have a driving lesson in aberdeen or to play a contact sport outdoors. there are however two exceptions to that. on thursday i announced the nationwide reopening of premises and services such as bingo halls, casinos, funfairs and bowling alleys. casinos must remain closed

in aberdeen until wednesday. 0ther services can reopen but without selling food and drink for consumption on their premises. they can only open for the sale of food and drink from wednesday. they, like all other hospitality premises, should be subject to an environmental health check. if business owners in aberdeen are in any doubt about the status of their premises, they should contact aberdeen councilfor premises, they should contact aberdeen council for further information. i am sure that the lifting of these restrictions after what must have felt like a long 19 days will be very welcome in aberdeen and i want to thank all partners therefore working so cooperative with us during a difficult time and i want to specifically thank local health protection teams for the immense amount of work that they have done and continue to do to make sure that this outbreak is under control. most of all i want to thank the people of aberdeen. these restrictions have been effective in beating back this outbreak for the simple reason that you have all complied very well with them. and that is also the reason that we are now able to lift these

restrictions. i know how difficult the last two and a half weeks must have been for everybody in the city and you have my grateful thanks for that compliance. i now want to touch on today's figures but specifically the figures for tayside. as i mentioned earlier, and as we have been reporting over the past few days, we are currently dealing with a major cluster of cases based around the two sisters poultry processing factory in coupar angus. as of yesterday they were 110 positive cases linked to that cluster, 96 were employees in the factory and 14 were contacts 0f theirs. the factory remains closed and contact tracing continues. this isa and contact tracing continues. this is a very significant outbreak and i would expect to see the number of cases rise even further. 0ver would expect to see the number of cases rise even further. over the past five days, the mobile testing unit at the two sisters plant has tested 900 people, another couple of units have tested more than 600 people. however, this is important,

at this stage there is no evidence so far of wider community transmission. for example i mentioned on friday that people in the coupar angus cluster might have had links to two other food processing factories in tayside, but so far no other cases have been identified in relation to those factories, and so once again, i want to thank everyone who has been involved in the contact tracing operation and indeed everyone who is helping with the wider response. finally and importantly, i want to stress that our guidance for employees at two sisters and their families remains unchanged. if you work at the plant, you and your household, including children, must self—isolate until 31st august. support from local authorities is available to help you do that if you need it but sticking to that guidance is absolutely fundamental in helping us to keep the outbreak under control and to ensure that we continue to be able to see, as we

can now, that there is no evidence of wider community transmission. the other cluster i want to update you on is at kings parks calling in dundee. 22 cases in total have been identified so far outshone folder. following contact tracing, children from two other dundee primary schools have also tested positive, contacts schools have also tested positive, co nta cts of schools have also tested positive, contacts of those children have already been alerted by for kingspark school, advice was issued on friday which remains in place. all staff should self—isolate for 14 days from the last day that they we re days from the last day that they were on site and all pupils should self—isolate for 14 days from thursday 20th august. anyone who lives with a pupil such as parents, ca re rs lives with a pupil such as parents, carers or siblings should also self—isolate for 14 days from the 20th of august if they are unable to maintain physical distancing within the household. testing is available for all staff who work at the school and support and advice is available

for everyone involved. but once again let me stress the importance of these rules on self—isolation and thank everyone for sticking to them. self—isolation is a crucial way, perhaps the most important way of all, of keeping clusters like this under control and mitigating against wider transmission in the community. the final issue i want to cover todayis the final issue i want to cover today is face coverings in school, which i know is attracting a lot of attention and sparking a lot of debate. 0ver attention and sparking a lot of debate. over the weekend, the world health organization issued new guidance on this subject. it said that young people over the age of 12 in schools, where physical distancing was not possible and in areas of high transmission, then face coverings should be recommended. i said last week that we here in scotland were looking closely at this issue and taking advice from our expert advisory group. so, by way of update today, i can confirm that the education

secretary is in the final stages of consulting with teachers and local authorities on a recommendation for the use of face coverings by staff and pupils in secondary schools when they are moving around in corridors and communal areas. we are consulting on their specific measure because firstly, mixing between different groups is more likely in corridors and communal areas, increasing the potential for transmission. secondly, crowding and close contact in these areas is more likely and voices could be raised, resulting in greater potential for creating aerosol transmission. and finally, there is often less scope for effective ventilation in these areas. so, this is a position, if we conclude it as we expect to do, that would reflect and actually go slightly beyond current who guidance. we are also considering the position on school transport and i will set out, or we will set out, our conclusion in the next few days.

but we are not currently consulting on any proposals to wear face coverings in classrooms. and that is because there is greater scope for physical distancing in the classroom and face coverings are of course more likely to interfere with teaching and learning. i would emphasise however that where there are outbreaks, it does remain an option for incident management teams to recommend more extensive use of face coverings if they believe in a particular area that that is required for a period to protect public health and reduce the risks of transmission. more generally, the reason why we of transmission. more generally, the reason why we are of transmission. more generally, the reason why we are consulting at this stage on a limited use of face coverings and indeed the reason why we have been able to fully reopen schools is because of the relatively low levels of transmission we currently see in the community. and that highlights a fundamental point. the best way to ensure that schools can stay open safely and that businesses can reopen and stay open is for all of us to play our part in keeping transmission rates within

the community as low as possible. and the way for all of us to help do thatis and the way for all of us to help do that is by sticking to current guidelines and so that as always is the point i want to end on. this is vital everywhere, but it is especially important in relation to indoor settings, which we know pose a higher risk of transmission. when you're indoors, no more than eight people from no more than three households should meet up. this applies whether you are in each other‘s homes or in a pub or a bar ora other‘s homes or in a pub or a bar or a restaurant and you should at all times physically distance from members of other households and remember to wash your hands and hard surfaces. doing all of that will reduce your risk of getting the virus and it will also make it less likely that you will pass the virus on to somebody else. and it will also, and this actually is worth bearing in mind right now as our test and protect teams are working across the country, following that guidance will also mean that you are less likely to become a contact, a

close contact of someone with covid, and that means you are less likely to be contacted by test and protect and advised to isolate for 14 days if someone you know gets the virus. so, please think about the decisions that you're making and please also help us to get these messages across to yourfamilies help us to get these messages across to your families and to wider networks of friends and colleagues and at all times remember the five golden rules that we must all be remembering as we go out and about has passed face coverings in enclosed spaces, avoid crowded places, clean your hands and clean ha rd places, clean your hands and clean hard surfaces regularly, to meet a distancing remains the overall rule, and self—isolate and book a test if you have symptoms. these five rules will keep transmission low, it will help —— two—metre distancing —— to enable our test and protect teams to do their work effectively and ultimately it will help protect the nhs and save lives. so my thanks to

everybody for co—operation with that and please continue to encourage everybody you know to follow these rules. thank you for listening, i had quite a lot to cover today so thank you for bearing with me. we are now going to go straight to questions, and the chief medical officer will join questions, and the chief medical officer willjoin me in answering them. the first question comes from jamie mcivorfrom them. the first question comes from jamie mcivor from bbc scotland. good afternoon, first minister. schools are well aware of the problems and challenges associated with crowded corridors — should guidance on facemasks have been in place for the 11th of august? secondly, bbc scotland has spoken to a number of people in the central belt who have been directed to test centres in england and northern ireland for covid testing. one person was told by the nhs scotland healthline that there is currently no testing available in scotland. are you aware of any problems with testing in scotland at the moment? firstly, on

changing guidance, and we have seen guidance on a whole range of issues change over the months we have been dealing with this pandemic and that will continue to be the case. when we change guidance in the light of the latest scientific evidence, understandably, i am the latest scientific evidence, understandably, iam not the latest scientific evidence, understandably, i am not complaining about this, they will be people who say you should have done it earlier. but we are trying to make sure that all of our guidance is properly considered and informed by the best evidence that we have but also adaptable. the guidance for schools going back on the 11th of august was informed by the input of our scientific advisory group. we have been considering over the last few days specifically whether that guidance needed to be changed on face coverings over the weekend we have seen updated guidance from the world health organization, which is why we are in the final stages of consulting on the proposition that i have set out today. this is always going to be a case of making sure that our guidance on any particular

issueis that our guidance on any particular issue is as up—to—date as possible, that it issue is as up—to—date as possible, thatitis issue is as up—to—date as possible, that it is responsive to changing circumstances but also that it is put and we know and we are trying to get the balance right between maximum protection against transmission in schools but also enabling young people to learn and be taught in ways that are conducive to them having a good school experience. but we will always take ca re experience. but we will always take care to get this guidance right. 0n the issue of testing i am away with issues on the booking system this morning. we know that we have, i think this is a uk wide issue, but i will talk specifically about scotland. we have seen exceptional testing demand over the weekend, and therefore, we are looking right now at how we can ensure that that demand is properly and appropriately managed. and there might have been, andi managed. and there might have been, and i say maybe, because my officials as we came in were still trying to understand is full of this

morning and i will get an update when i leave the podium later. there might have been a technical issue with people in scotland instead of being directed to the next available slot for scotland where in a mistake directed to testing centres in england and wales are working to make sure that is resolved. so the testing system is working, working well, but as demand increases or a period of high demand increases, please bear with us as we resolve any issues. that is the issue i have at the moment and i will get an update from my officials after this briefing. if there is more information you can give later in the day, we will seek to do that as quickly as possible. gordon chree from stv. thank you. to pick on something you said earlier, you said exceptional demand on testing over the weekend. it might be useful to know why that was the case. just a

few weeks ago, the daily case numbers in scotland where particularly low and we were even hearing about the elimination strategy. but over the last two weeks, the numbers seem to have ticked up a bit and been at this 1% figure every day. does that suggest that something has gone wrong, and if so, what? and if! that something has gone wrong, and if so, what? and if i can ask the chief medical officer, despite that slightly higher level of daily cases, we haven't seen any uptick in hospital admissions or deaths, which is fuelling a kind of narrative among some people that the virus is not as lethal as it previously was. what can you say about that?” not as lethal as it previously was. what can you say about that? i will hand over to the cmo shortly. i use the word exceptional, and we will look at the numbers later. but we seem to have had a higher demand, perhaps not surprising with it being the weekend, and we are currently

looking to properly understand that. ido looking to properly understand that. i do not want to go much further and too far into anecdotes, but i have had a lot of anecdotes over the weekend of children with cough so that their parents are taking them for tests. most of those tests as i understand it are not covid but we are going into a part of the year when people could have other illnesses and viruses that present with similar symptoms to covid. so, we would expect to see demand for testing increase as we go into the autumn and winter, and there will undoubtedly be pea ks autumn and winter, and there will undoubtedly be peaks in that demand period. but our testing teams are working to make sure that we understand that, as we continue to build the resilience of our testing system, and the capacity of that as we go into the next period. we will leave nicola sturgeon at that point. to bring you up—to—date the latest developments from her on how the

covid—19 situation is being handled in schools. she said that the education secretary is in the final stages of consulting on whether or not students should wear masks in corridors and skills when moving between lessons and she said it is because it is an environment where voices will be raised and people might knock into each other in a way that will not happen in the classroom. they are not looking at wearing masks in classrooms but are consulting on whether masks should be worn in corridors. a court in new zealand has heard how a white supremacist convicted of murdering 51 muslims at two mosques in christchurch last year had wanted to cause the greatest number of casualties possible. at the start of his sentencing hearing, prosecutors said brenton tarrant had bought a collection of high—powered firearms and over seven thousand rounds of ammunition in the 15 months before the attacks.

0n obtaining and practising with these weapons, the defendant began to formulate a plan to carry out attacks on mosques and to inflict as many fatalities as possible. he obtained a large amount of information about mosques in new zealand, predominantly within the south island. the information he obtained from the internet included detailed mosque plans, interior pictures of the mosques, mosque locations and specific details, such as prayer times and important days in the islamic calendar to ascertain when the mosques would be at their busiest. a tarrant has been confronted by survivors and relatives of his victims in court. this is the statement of one mother who lost her son. may you get the severest punishment for your evil act in this life, and in the hereafter, we know that allah is the mostjust. you transgressed and you thought you can break us. you failed miserably. we became more determined to our tie to islam, and our beloved ones.

0ur correspondent shaimaa khalil has been monitoring the hearing and told us more about the mood in court. some of the survivors and the victims' families in the same room with the killer responsible for the mass shooting in christchurch. some of them, like this mother, addressing the killer directly, saying that, you tried to break us, but we are not broken, we are united. this mother saying that she did not forgive him. another mother, who also lost her son in al noor mosque, chose to forgive him and said that it was in islam, forgiveness was part of the religion and part of its teachings. they have also told the court and brenton tarrant himself how his actions, his crime, has devastated their lives. some started their testimonies, their statements with verses from the koran, for the souls of those they lost, talking about martyrdom, justice, peace.

we also heard from one survivor who was shot nine times by brenton tarrant. he described how he had locked eyes with the killer, how he realised that he was the target of his gun, and how he had to play dead to avoid being killed. he said that the trauma and the pain will remain with him and that he doesn't foresee a future without pain. the court also heard very distressing details about how premeditating this whole thing was. how the killer planned it for more than a year with layouts and research about mosques, when they were going to be the busiest, how he could inflict the most damage, and how he planned to burn down the mosques after his attacks. we also heard about how he went into one of the main prayer rooms in al noor mosque and started firing at groups of people who were huddled in corners trying to escape. how he shot people who were lying down on the floor showing signs of life, including a three—year—old who was clinging on to his father. we are expecting to hear more of those testimonies, more of those statements in the days to come.

we are also expecting to hear from the killer himself. brenton tarrant will be representing himself in front of court after he has fired his defence team a few weeks ago. so, more testimonies to hear, more of those emotional horror stories that people had to live through on march 15th in 2019. there have been violent protests in the us state of wisconsin after police shot a black man several times while responding to a domestic incident. the man — named as jacob blake — is said to be in a serious condition in hospital. a video on social media shows him being shot in the back as he tries to get into a car in the city of kenosha. hundreds of people marched on police headquarters in the city last night. vehicles were set on fire and police used tear gas to disperse the protestors. the shooting comes at a time of high tension in the united states over police brutality and racism following the killing of george floyd in the neighbouring state of minnesota. andy brovelli is a photojournalist with cbs 58 news and gave us this update.

we first got down here just before midnight, it was still pretty active, you still had tear gas being deployed, you had several protesters right behind me in the civic centre park, and there was probably hundreds of people right behind me. and as you can see right now it is fairly quiet right now. a lot of those people have dispersed for the moment and again, things have seemed to be calming down. however, after that happened, there was a lot of businesses vandalised in downtown, about two blocks away from where we are by the courthouse. and thenjust down the road from me, they are still putting out some fires that were set by some of those protesters. so again, you just have to be careful around this stretch but it does look like everything is slowly but surely starting to get back to somewhat normal. what we've heard is that it's a domestic

dispute, and when they arrived, and those details are still not entirely clear at this point, we're still waiting, much like everybody else at this point, the latest that we heard as far as the condition is that he is in stable condition. this was following tweets on twitter earlier from a relative. we are still waiting for confirmation on everything. but again, the reasons leading up to it, and as to why, we are still waiting to hear more on that, hence why we had so much unrest here during the early morning and late night hours. tesco is to create 16,000 new permanentjobs to keep up with its online growth. the supermarket says it expects the majority of these roles to be filled by people who joined on a temporary basis at the start of the covid—19 pandemic. the new roles are in addition to 4,000 permanentjobs already created this year and will include 10,000 pickers to assemble customer orders and 3,000 drivers to deliver them. the liberal democrats will have a new leader this thursday. the final two candidates — layla moran and sir edward davey —

joined us in the studio this morning to lay out their visions for the party. sir ed davey, acting leader, said that he is pushing for a greener economy, a fairer society and more caring country. i think the economy is number one now, i am in economist by training. i am particular concerned about young people as well as the climate burden so i have been tailoring my economic plans and so it meets their aspirations and hopes. leyla moran said while she may have little layla moran said while she may have little experience in parliament, voters should look at her track record of what she has acheived in the three years she's been an mp. in 2017, i overturned a massive

conservative majority to win the seat in the first place, and we did that by amassing a group of people from all sides of the political spectrum. where we are now as liberal democrats, we are at 6%, we have to turn this around. the bulk of my professional experience as a maths and physics teacher is outside of parliament, at a time when people don't trust politicians, and we need to win back the trust of the electorate and show that we've learned from the mistakes of the past and start rebuilding again. this is a scratch situation. firefighters in california are preparing for conditions to worsen as they try to bring nearly 600 wildfires under control. lightning strikes, which were blamed for starting many of the blazes last week, are forecast to return, along with windy weather. tens of thousands have been forced to leave their homes and six people have died. rich preston reports. the golden state. more than 4,000 square kilometres of it burning. in the napa valley, california's winemaking heartland, a perilous journey caught on dash cam.

an ominous orange sky around a deserted university of california, santa cruz. fire retardants are being dropped from the sky to try and stop the flames spreading. but for some, it's too late — the damage has already been done. president trump has declared the fires a major disaster. i spoke to governor newsom as they battle two of the worst wildfires in the history of their state. that continues. the federal government has already deployed over 26,000 first responders and personnel to battle the wildfires. we're working very closely with the governor. more than 100,000 people have been forced to flee, but where they'd normally sleep in shelters, many are avoiding them overfears of the spread of coronavirus. we have more than 400 red crossers who are on the ground and hundreds

more who are helping virtually, and those folks are out there making sure that we're getting people in shelters or in hotel rooms where it's available. and they're also there just to make sure that the people who are coming to our shelters have a safe place to stay and food to eat. emergency crews have been overwhelmed by the number and intensity of the fires. the job is now to save lives and protect only the most essential buildings. but with warnings of more lightning strikes and high temperatures in the days ahead, fears that the fires could continue for at least another week. rich preston, bbc news. two huge storms are forecast to hit the us gulf coast this week. tropical storms marco and laura have already brought torrential rain, high winds and flooding across the caribbean. at least ten people have died in the dominican republic and haiti. alanna petroff has the latest. cheering. rescuers pull in stranded survivors to cheers. the capital of the dominican republic flooded and overwhelmed by tropical storm laura.

why, why?! not everyone made it. a mother and her young son died when a wall collapsed on their home. translation: the wall collapsed on top of them. it fell onto the house. the owner needs to come forward. he knew that the wall was going to collapse. he shouldn't have built that wall. tropical storm laura also battered puerto rico, haiti and the virgin islands. in haiti, some people lost everything. translation: the majority of the people here are not safe. this town is destroyed, as you can see. look at the people walking by. the houses are condemned. there are bodies. the merchants have lost their goods. tropical storm laura is forecast to strengthen further into a hurricane as it churns

towards the us gulf coast. before laura makes landfall in the us, hurricane marco will hit first. they're both heading towards the state of louisiana. texas and florida are also making preparations. forecasters are predicting a storm surge, flooding rain damaging winds. president donald trump issued a disaster declaration for louisiana ahead of the storms. the atlantic storm season runs until november and this one has the potential to be the busiest season ever. the us national hurricane centre is predicting there could be up to 25 big storms this year, double the average, all with winds in excess of 62km an hour. when they get that strong, the storms get names. alanna petroff, bbc news.

the headlines on bbc news... "vitally importa nt" — the prime minister urges parents to send their children back to school, while labour accuses the government of being "asleep at the wheel" with guidance to schools "not as clear as it should be". a sentencing hearing for the man who killed 51 people at two mosques in new zealand hears he planned to attack a third and cause maximum casualties. violent protests in the us state of wisconsin after police shoot a black man several times whilst responding to a domestic incident. jacob blake is in a stable condition in hospital. the inquest has begun into the death of nora quoirin, a teenager from london who went missing in malaysia last year. the 15—year—old, who had special needs, disappeared from her room while on a family holiday. her body was found in the jungle ten days later. nora's parents are due to give evidence via video—link next week. the bbc has learned that

foreign office officials expected british—iranian nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe to be freed from jail in iran almost two—and—a—half years ago. a deal to secure her freedom in 2017 appears to have been linked to the repayment of a multi—million pound debt to iran but the money was never paid. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe has already served four years in prison. the revelation comes in a bbc panorama investigation into the fate of dual british—iranian citizens detained in iran and accused of spying. darragh macintyre reports. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was returning to the uk with her daughter after a holiday in iran when she was arrested in april 2016. she was convicted on spying charges that have been widely condemned as baseless, and sentenced to five years in jail. successive british governments and officials have raised her case with iran without result. her husband richard ratcliffe, reunited with their daughter last

year, believes his wife is being held hostage. i would absolutely believe that hostagetaking is a tool of iranian diplomacy. it has become normalised as an acceptable thing to do. the us government agrees. it says nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe and a number of western citizens are being held by iran as diplomatic leverage. do you consider those western citizens that are being held in iran as hostages? yes. it's a tool of statecraft, it's part of iran's foreign policy to take people hostage who are innocent, and then trade them later for some objective that they think advances their own objectives. iran denies hostagetaking but the uk does have something iran wants, £400 million. a debt owed for some 1500 chieftain tanks, paid for by the shah of iran before he was toppled in 1979. britain did not deliver the tanks to the new islamic republic and courts in britain and abroad agree that the uk

owes iran the money. but it is yet to be paid. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe has been told payment holds the key to her release. she was told by the judiciary, the deputy prosecutor, she was told by the judge that we are not going to release you until the british government pays for the money they owe iran, and she has been told that explicitly by three different parts of thejudicial system. officially, both the uk and iran say the debt and nazanin are not related. the uk government told the bbc it is unhelpful to suggest otherwise. but events seem to contradict that. in november 2017, the iranian ambassador to london published this message. the debt is scheduled to be paid to iran by britain in the next few days. weeks later, boris johnson, then foreign secretary, went to tehran himself. the bbc understands a deal was almost reached. british officials told nazanin's family they were preparing for her

to return to the united kingdom, there was even a date. the british embassy called up and said we think she might be coming out on the 28th of december. so the embassy were giving us a date to be ready for. but a deal never materialised. we don't know why. but well—placed sources have told us that some in the ministry of defence have objected to the payment of britain's debt. another british iranian anousheh ashouri has already spent three years injail. his wife made this plea. what would you say to boris johnson, what would your central message be? it is money they owe. they are not doing iran a favour. they are paying a debt. if that would restore families, i would go on my knees, i would beg him to do it. at least eight british citizens have been detained in iran in recent years, though some have got home. iran says its justice system is lawful and human. the uk government says

it is committed to securing the freedom of all british citizens, regarded as arbitrarily detained and that it continues to explore options to resolve the debt. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe has been placed temporarily under house arrest at her parents' home in tehran. the fate of other british iranians held in iran remains unclear. darragh macintyre, bbc news. and you can watch panorama: hostage in iran on bbc one at 7:30pm this evening. two members of the opposition council set up to arrange a peaceful transfer of power in belarus have been arrested in minsk. the pair are said to have been detained by riot police and taken to an undisclosed location in a police van. the arrests follow another weekend of huge demonstrations against the disputed re—election of president alexander lukashenko. protesters say the poll was rigged and are calling for him to step down. mr lukashenko has responded with defiance, saying he has no

intention of leaving. the bbc spoke to one protester in the capital minsk who was beaten up by police. the people i fear the most are the police. no—one can protect us. i cannot live beside these people any more. we need to change something in our country quickly. the trump adminstration has given emergency authorisation for blood plasma to be used to treat coronavirus patients. early trials suggest it is safe to use, but experts say more tests are needed. the announcement was made on the eve of donald trump's presidential campaign launch. this is a powerful therapy that transfuses very, very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help treat patients battling a current infection. it's had an incredible rate of success. today's action will dramatically expand access to this treatment. one of president trump's

longest—serving advisers — kellyanne conway — is leaving the white house at the end of the month. she helped donald trump win the presidency as campaign manager in 2016 and has since been one of his most vocal defenders. in a statement, she said she would spend the next few months focusing on her children and giving them "less drama, more mama". the oldest polar bear living in britain has died afterfalling ill on friday. victor, who was 22 and lived at the yorkshire wildlife park near doncaster, suffered a terminal kidney failure and vets put him to sleep. park managers described him as the "most prolific breeder" in europe, having fathered 13 cubs in several countries. a teenage volunteer at an archaeological excavation in israel has found a jar of gold coins buried for more than a thousand years. the money dates back to the era of the abbasid caliphate, which ruled much of the region for centuries. the coins would have been worth a huge sum when they were buried — enough to buy a luxurious home in one of the empire's wealthiest cities. speaking last week when the discovery was made,

the teenager who found the coins explained how his eye was drawn to something unusual in the dirt. translation: we were digging strips along the square and when i remove the soil i saw something that looked like leaves. i wanted to clear them but realised they might be close. i looked down and found three of them. when i picked them up, i saw some more underneath. now it's time for a look at the weather with phil avery. hello. we are trying to forecast that particular picture. 0n we are trying to forecast that particular picture. on tuesday, we will be looking at some very strong winds, some very heavy rain and some disruption is distantly possible because of storm francis, as named by the met office, is looming in the

south—west and approaches of the british isles and through this banner of cloud and wind and rain thatis banner of cloud and wind and rain that is coming closer to us. on tuesday we will be feeling the effects as far ahead as wednesday. keep dropping those isobars into the centre of that storm, it deepens rapidly into the small hours and thenit rapidly into the small hours and then it starts throwing its banner of significant rain ever further north across england, wales and northern ireland. much of scotland escaping the worst overnight, quite a chilly night under those relatively clear skies. they do not last as the rain continues its way ever further towards the north. clearing from a good part of england and wales during the course of tuesday, but what you are left with isa tuesday, but what you are left with is a very strong disruptive and potentially disruptive wind. so, here we are. let us take a look at the windlass, even across scotland we are looking at 40 mph, there could be limitations on the speed

over bridges, destruction of the irish sea. even in an —— even on land we could see gusts of up to 50 or 60 mph, which is why the met office have warnings for the wind and rainforthe office have warnings for the wind and rain for the next day or so. temperatures, with a bit of brightness coming through, we could get 22, but stuck underneath the onshore wind and rain in aberdeen closer to 13. it is notjust a flash in the pan because here we are going into wednesday and notice the eyes of our still very tightly packed across the eastern side of scotland and england. so there will be some blustery showers down those easter and facing shores. 0ut west, a different kettle of fish. the winds begin to ease, still noticeable in places, perhaps an expose locations, but at least it is much drier and brighter but in the shorter term we must consider the potential impact from storm francis as it crosses many parts of the british isles.

the prime minister tells parents it's "vitally importa nt" their children go back to school. borisjohnson says the life chances of a generation are at stake — and the risk of catching covid—19 at school is "very, very, very small." scotland's first minister says secondary school children there may soon have to wear face coverings in communal areas. mixing between different groups is more likely in corridors and communal areas, increasing the potential for transmission. we'll be getting reaction from around the uk. also this lunchtime: tesco delivers — creating 16,000 new permanent roles to support the growth of its online business. awaiting sentence: the man who killed 51 people at two mosques in new zealand faces survivors and relatives in court.