this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the german government confirms the russian opposition politician alexei navalny was poisoned with novichok. experts say it's clear who is to blame. this is directly leading to the russians. they are the only ones who've ever made this stuff. they are the only ones we've ever known who have used it before. as hundreds of thousands of children return to class in england and wales, new accusations that ministers are to blame for last month's exam results confusion. what happens when two black holes collide. scientists may have found the answer, and say it's challenging the laws of physics. and prince harry and meghan markle strike a deal to make programmes for netflix. we'll ask what's on the list

of forthcoming attractions. or around the world. and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. there is "unequivocal proof", that the russian opposition politician alexei navalny, was poisoned with a novichok nerve agent. that's the finding of the german government — which says mr navalny was the victim of attempted murder, and the world was looking to russia for answers. mr navalny was airlifted to berlin in a coma, afterfalling ill on a flight last month. his team says he was poisoned on the orders of president putin, but the kremlin denies the allegation. novichok was used to poison the former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter

in the uk in 2018. our security correspondent gordon corera reports. alexei navalny has been the most prominent opposition figure in russia, campaigning against corruption. and had his offices raided. but soon after being pictured drinking tea at a siberian airport in august, he fell suddenly and violently ill on a flight to moscow. russian doctors said there was no sign of foul play and his blood sugar had simply dropped. but, amidst growing pressure, he was airlifted to berlin, where he remains in a coma. and today angela merkel revealed he'd been poisoned with a novichok nerve agent. translation: we expect the russian government to give an explanation. there are now grave questions which only the russian government can and must answer. and the prime minister said

on twitter tonight: novichok novichok is the same type of nerve agent used in salisbury in 2018. secretly developed by moscow in the cold war, western intelligence believe it was turned into a tool for assassination and smeared on a door handle belonging to former russian spy, sergei skripal, poisoning him and his daughter in salisbury. they survived, but a local woman, dawn sturgess, was killed months later when she picked up a discarded perfume bottle used to transport the agent. the use of such a rare substance was crucial then and now in pointing the finger at the russian state. well on the face of it, it would appear that they just don't care who knows. this is directly leading to the russians.

they're the only ones who have ever made this stuff, they're the only ones we've ever known who have used it before. and the other thing to consider, it took 18 months to clean up salisbury. if this stuff is lying around the airport where he was poisoned, or his hotel, there's a huge threat to the local population. today's revelations strengthens the evidence alexei navalny was targeted by the russian state. the question now is how the international community will respond. here in england and wales, millions of pupils have started to return to their classrooms. for many of them, it's the first day back since march after the unprecedented shutdown during the coronavirus pandemic. schools will look different, with one—way systems, screens keeping pupils apart and staggered start times. it comes as the exam regulator blamed ministers for the last month's controversy over exam results. our education editor bra nwen jeffreys reports.

first day at secondary school in a pandemic, teachers keen to reassure them. i spoke to a few of you and it's completely normal for you to feel really nervous, to have a funny feeling in your tummy, perhaps, feeling a little bit tense... each day, they will be in their year group bubble. some of the year 75 told me they've missed a lot. it feels like i'm not old enough because we missed loads of year 6, so it's pretty weird but it's all right at the same time. it feels like i forgot a lot of things, since i haven't been to school in a long time. maybe in the next couple of years, there's going to be some baseline stuff that we don't really know because we missed it in year 6. before they sit down to learn, a bit of cleaning, a lot for schools to manage. the head teacher worrying about the year ahead. she's still angry about this year's grades crisis, not impressed with an apology from the regulator. quual should have been very mindful

that we've got to make sure that this cohort of children are not prevented from moving on and that should have been paramount. so the fact that they're saying they didn't give that enough consideration, i think, is really quite disgusting. and he was a witch hunter, of all the jobs he could be, he was a witch hunter... they'll work for five years towards gcse exams. to each child, their future grade is important. this year, an algorithm put the system first — an admission today to mps it was a mistake. to say this was fair just fails to recognise what happened to students. just the level of accuracy that was fundamentally possible with the information that was available was too low to be acceptable to individuals. there were warnings it could put schools like this at a disadvantage. today, the prime minister wouldn't be drawn on what he knew, but said they acted quickly

when the problems became clear. but ministers were told that socially—distanced exams were the best option. our second option was to delay exams, but the third option, if neither of these were acceptable, would be to have to try and get some form of calculated grade. so, the decision to cancel exams was taken by the education secretary, against the advice of the regulator, announced without warning. today, the government insisted it had no choice. it's been a tiring first day but they're happy. this morning ifelt scared because it's such a big school and i was at a tiny school but now that i've got to know different people and i know where i'm meant to be, it's just felt good. for ministers, there's a long autumn term ahead. bra nwen jeffreys, bbc news, market drayton.

a trial has started in paris of 1a people charged with supporting the fatal terror attacks on the french satirical magazine, charlie hebdo, and ajewish supermarket, in 2015. after the magazine printed cartoons of the prophet muhammad, three islamist gunmen stormed the charlie hebdo office and shot and killed 17 employees. the trial is expected to clarify what really happened and why. lucy williamson reports from paris. they arrived today, 11 men dwarfed by the security and symbolism around this trial — the state reclaiming its authority over those who, prosecutors say, helped terrorise france. sitting behind security screens they heard the charges — complicity, weapons procurement, membership of a terrorist group. the events at the heart of this trial are seared into the national memory of france, but the people standing in the dock today are almost completely unknown,

suspected of being small backroom accomplishes and the only remaining links to the violence that erupted five years ago. the violence in 2015 stunned france. 17 people were gunned down in targeted attacks during three days of cold—blooded killing, followed with disbelief on live television. the widow of one cartoonist killed in the charlie hebdo attack said she had been haunted ever since by nightmares of her husband's killers. translation: the defendants are the ones in the dock, but behind them are the kouachi brothers. it's cherif kouachi who i will see. the trial is going to be traumatising, but in the end, it might help. i'm asking myself if it will bring healing. i'm not sure. as france remembers the victims of these attacks, the government said this week that the risk remains extremely high. we should not become the victims

ourselves of terrorists, by thinking that islam is not compatible with what the french republic is. the trap of the terrorists is precisely to create oppositions, to create tensions and divisions that we would hate each other, we should refuse that. charlie hebdo this week reprinted the cartoons of mohammed that originally made it a target forjihadist violence. five years ago, france expressed its grief through solidarity with the paper. but its brash, belligerent satire is also a reminder that whatever conclusions this trial may reach, it won't settle debate around the rights and limits to freedom of speech. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. let 5 get some of the day's other news... the uk's borderforce says a record number of migrants crossed the english channel to britain on wednesday. some walked ashore from their boats near dover. officials say they have dealt with 409 people —

the previous daily high was 235. meanwhile, spain's coastguard rescued three boatloads of migrants from waters near the ca nary islands on wednesday. 58 men, thought to be from north africa, joined more than 150 other people in a temporary dockside reception centre. more than 10,000 migrants have entered spain illegally this year — that's 4,000 fewer than a year ago. the united states has imposed further sanctions on the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, fatou bensouda. the secretary of state, mike pompeo, has described the icc as a kangaroo court, accusing it of targeting americans by continuing its investigation into possible us war crimes in afghanistan. denouncing us action, the icc described the sanctions as coercive acts. this week, the cuban government has imposed a night—time curfew on the capital, havana, as the authorities struggle to contain the latest

outbreak of coronavirus. cuba had previously thought it had controlled covid—19, but in recent weeks, there has been a surge in new cases. now, people have been ordered to remain in their homes at night for two weeks. from havana, will grant reports. havana is under curfew — not by day, as people still venture out to find food or in some cases, continue to go to work. but at night, the streets of the cuban capital are completely deserted. from 7pm until 5am, for at least the next two weeks, people must remain in their homes — as the authorities attempt to bring this latest outbreak of coronavirus back under control. now, cuba had been praised for its response to covid—19 and for containing its local infection rates. indeed, in one day injuly, they registered no deaths and no new infections. however, since then,

they've gradually seen the numbers creep up, which has forced the communist run government into these latest measures. they include a halt on national tourism and only certain vehicles are allowed to circulate the streets. the governments say that people welcome these stringent new measures, as they want to see the outbreak brought back under control. but on the streets, they were greeted with mixed emotions. translation: the queues are much longer than the supplies available in stores. if they carry on only stocking some stores in havana with food and not all of them, then people will keep flocking to those shops. it will be terrible, and covid will keep spreading. translation: there are many basic goods which aren't available everywhere. i think all neighbourhoods must be treated equally to avoid problems of too many people crowding around

the same place. translation: the curfew measures are good. i agree that they're necessary, but i don't agree with the rule that says we can only buy products in our local neighbourhoods. some of us have spent hours queuing for nothing. as well as the night—time curfew, residents of havana can only purchase goods in their own municipalities — something which complicates matters for many, especially those living in the poorest neighbourhoods. now, it's worth remembering that even at its height, cuba's coronavirus outbreak is far more controlled than those in hot spots in the region, like brazil and mexico. nevertheless, the island's healthcare system is stretched to its limits, and the government is well aware that it simply can't afford a major second wave. will grant, bbc news, havana. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: is the best man for a crisis actually a woman?

we'll look at why researchers say female leaders were better at dealing with the coronavirus outbreak than their male counterparts. she received the nobel peace prize for her work with the poor and the dying in india's slums. the head of the catholic church said mother teresa was a wonderful example of how to help people in need. we have to identify the bodies, then arrange the coffins and take them back home. parents are waiting and wives are waiting. hostages appeared — some carried, some running — trying to escape the nightmare behind them. britain lost a princess today.

described by all to whom she reached out as "irreplaceable , " an early—morning car crash in a paris underpass ended a life with more than its share of pain and courage, warmth and compassion. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... the german government says there is unequivocal evidence that the russian opposition leader alexei navalny was poisoned with novichok. the kremlin says there is no proof to support the claim. does the sex of your leader have an effect on how well your country has responded to the coronavirus pandemic? it might surprise you to learn that researchers say female presidents and prime ministers coped better — with the key difference being putting a lockdown in place earlier than their male counterparts. according to recent research

by the universities of liverpool and reading, countries led by women had fewer covid deaths than those led by men. the study looked at the number of covid—19 cases and deaths in 194 countries of which only 19 were led by women. here's how three female leaders made their mark. taiwan's president tsai ing—wen imposed a swift response to the outbreak, keeping the number of deaths down to just seven. new zealand, led byjacinda ardern, has also suffered only a handful of covid—related deaths. some point out that the country's geographical location has also been a factor. and chancellor angela merkel‘s government has seen germany suffer far less than its western european neighbours — including the uk, which is isolated with only one land border. supriya garykiparti is a developmental economist at liverpool university and co—author of a report looking into this.

can you categorically say that gender is the deciding factor, because of course, there are so many different comparable things when it comes to comparing coalbed population density —— covid—19, population, care beds, germany, for example has a high number of those, is it gender in your reports findings? certainly. all of these variables that you mention do matter. so, what we did is matched female lead countries with male lead countries using all the variables that you just mentioned. and it's only after we match countries in that way with their nearest neighbour our comparisons tell us that female lead countries certainly did have a better covid—19 case —— fewer covid—19 cases and fewer covid deaths. in fact,

covid—19 cases and fewer covid deaths. infact, our covid—19 cases and fewer covid deaths. in fact, our results on covid deaths are actually more prominent than the results on covid cases, which tells us that female lead countries may have been equally hard—hit by the virus, but they managed it better. so was there something overwhelming that these female leaders were doing that lead them to manage this situation better? yes, i mean, our results suggest that female leaders locked down significantly quicker than male lead countries. not only were they very quick and decisive about locking down, but they also communicated their strategies better. so, depending on the specification that we look at female lead countries lock down 22—25 deaths earlier than male lead countries did, and that may have madejust countries did, and that may have made just that difference which we find has determined their performance over the first quarter

of the pandemic. they seem to have communicated their strategies as well quite clearly using interpersonal style, and perhaps citizens have responded really better to that interpersonal style of communication. fascinating insights. thank you so much for sharing your research and your reports's findings with us. thank you. they are perhaps the greatest mystery of the universe. black holes — where matter is so densely packed it creates a gravitational pull strong enough that not even light can escape. on wednesday, scientists announced they had discovered one of the largest ever — and it's 17 billion light years away, as our science correspondent, pallab ghosh, reports. black holes are the monsters of the universe. their gravity is so strong that not even light can escape. they suck in all that's around them, destroying stars and planets in their wake. black hole—detecting

network of instruments. it detects gravity waves, ripples in space—time. recently, it detected a black hole that was so large, it shouldn't exist. when we saw this for the first time and that it was such a heavy object, this was incredibly exciting because it pushes to the limits our understanding of the origin of these black holes and opens up new ways of investigating the creation and evolution of such massive stellar objects. a black hole is created when a star collapses in on itself, but the new one was too large to have been produced that way. instead, scientists think it was a merger of two black holes to produce one that was 85 times the mass of our sun. scientists observed it merging with another black hole to produce an even larger monster of 142 solar masses. that sent a shock wave across the universe

with the explosive power of eight suns, powerful enough to have been detected 100 billion trillion miles away on earth. the discovery suggests that across the vastness of space, black holes merge often, and keep merging to become bigger and bigger. the american video streaming giant netflix says it has signed a deal with britain's prince harry and his wife, meghan, to produce programmes. the agreement will last for several years — though the financial details have not been released. it will involve documentaries, feature films, scripted shows, and children's programming. in a statement, the duke and duchess of sussex said their focus would be on content which informs but which also gives hope. in a statement, netflix ceo ted sarandos said:

so let's get a bit more detail on this. from new york, we're joined by carly ledbetter, who covers the british royal family for the huffington post. was this sort of deal expected? you describe them as our newest netflix stars. do we know whether they are going to be appearing in front of the camera, or what their role will be? will be more similar to say, the 0bama is? what do we know exactly about this deal? it's a deal structured like like the 0bama some and for anyone who is a fan of megan on the hit usa network show, suits, she will not be returning to acting, but both she and harry could appear in front of the camera for some documentaries, much like we have seen prince harry during his recent appearance on the netflix documentary, rising phoenix. so they have been speaking to various different media

organisations. of course, they did something with disney, what happened there? how come they didn't stay with them? you know, they were in talks with a lot of networks, including disney and apple, and you know, megan's first post—royal project was a documentary with disney. prince harry is already executive lee producing something with apple. netflix ended up, to my knowledge, being the one that would pay the most for the couple. yes, they've got a lot of stuff to look forward to. so, do reckon it was basically about who will cough up the most to get them? of course come with a bot to a very expensive home in the united states. i guess they've got to make some money now. you know, they haven't confirmed what the deal ended up being. there are estimates that it was north of $100 million, iassumed are estimates that it was north of $100 million, i assumed that it was based a lot on it, yes, price tag, but also creative control and how that castes tell their story. when it comes to content, they wanted to

be hopeful, they also talk about, you know, seeing as they are new pa rents, you know, seeing as they are new parents, something to do with families. will we know what kind of issues they are going to be looking at ‘s of course, the 0bama cs, the documentary that they were supporting one and oscar. yes. we know that they want inspirational programming, as they said that they are parents of young when they sign with their speaking agency, the harry walker agency, they said that they were going to be focusing on mental health, the environment, racial injustice and gender equity. so we are going to see those themes pop up with their work. also, we will see how it overla ps work. also, we will see how it overlaps with their new nonprofit. it will be interesting. it will be fascinating to see what they end up doing. as you say, we want to expect a return to acting in the kind of suits scenario that we had megan in. currently, thank you so much for talking us through that. what's mine our website as always. inc. you so much forjoining us here on bbc

world news. —— thank you so much for joining us here on bbc world news. hello. it will be a much milder and to the night. that's because we picked up atlantic weather fronts with more cloud around. although thatis with more cloud around. although that is clearing away for many, we will still have quite a cool and brisk breeze with showers coming in on that atlantic wind. these are the weather fronts that i've talked about, some heavy thundery reigned for a time through the night. this cold weather front is bringing some more persistent rain southwards into the south of that it is very misty. low cloud shrouded the hills with fog. it was 3—4 on wednesday morning in some areas in suffolk. so, it will be a milder start, but a great one for some. already, the brighter skies with us for scotland, for northern ireland, from northern england, filtering through wells in the morning, into the midlands in the morning, into the midlands in the afternoon. but the more

appreciable rain could just linger into the second part of the afternoon further south, and the cloud towards evening as well. but we will still see temperatures in the high teens and low 20s, obviously, with some sunshine in northeastern areas of both scotland and northeast england feeling pleasa nt and northeast england feeling pleasant enough. but there will be a near gale force wind in the far northwest of scotland, and most will have a breezy or day than wednesday. that breeze will blow the cloud and ran away from the south on friday, continue to push ours into the north and west, bots, actually, through into friday morning, it will be chillier to start. so much milder this morning, but a chilly win again on friday morning. now, the —— there is some uncertainty till on friday regarding the rain. still sunny spells, showers, possibly more from the north on friday, but this area of rain may push an aggressive and parts of england and wales through the second half, or during through the second half, or during through the day, and it'sjust the second half, or during through the day, and it's just uncertain as to much how —— how much we're going to much how —— how much we're going to get. more details in time. as that then clears away, the beacon to set up with lopressor to the north into bristol northwesterly wind, high—pressure starting to build into

the southwest. but, again commits a chilly direction, so if anything, temperatures will be suppressed a little bit more this weekend, just mid—high teens for most. showers continuing, possibly something a little wetter later in the day in northern ireland, but at this stage, the devil is in the detail. but if that does development could well, without northwesterly wind, push further southwards during saturday night and into sunday, bringing more showers across england and wales, potentially by that stage. either side effect, some drier, brighter weather, still quite cool and that bristol northwesterly wind. i still into the high teens. as ever, more online, including the warnings.