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tv   BBC News  BBC News  September 3, 2020 2:00pm-5:00pm BST

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this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines. coronavirus testing is working well, says the health secretary — despite some people with symptoms travelling more than 100 miles to get a test. if people need a test, the vast majority get it quickly and close to home, but when those testing centres are full, then obviously people are offered a test at the nearest place which one is available. the prime minister said we would have a world heating system, we haven't got an effective system, and what we are now seeing is a postcode lottery. confusion about quarantine for travellers — airline bosses call for testing at airports, to prevent what they say will be the death of the industry.
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scotland's first minister says the coronavirus reproductive — or r — number is probably now above one, and could be as high as 1.4. russia rejects calls for an investigation, after germany says the opposition leader alexei navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent. after months away from the classroom, it's been a nervous start for many children finally going back to school. i'm excited to go back home and then i'm actually really sad because i've really enjoyed it today and i feel so much better. i have no nerves, they have all gone. public health experts have warned
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that focusing coronavirus testing on parts of the country with a high level of cases risks missing outbreaks in other areas. it's emerged that some people have been asked to travel more than 100 miles to get a swab. the health secretary matt hancock insists that most people who need a test will be able to get one close to home — and £500 million is to be spent on trials, including of a rapid saliva—based test. naomi grimley reports. until a vaccine comes along, testing is vital to get treatment to those who need it and to spot outbreaks before they take off. but in recent days, several members of the public have been told by the government website to travel more than 100 miles to drive—through testing sites. i went through the process and it came back with availability for testing in a place on the outskirts of blackburn, which is over 250 miles away.
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so i was convinced i had got it wrong, cancelled, reprocessed, and i got exactly the same answer. testing rates in the uk are now much higher than in many other countries in europe, but as winter draws closer, the system is coming under more pressure, particularly as schools resume and sniffles circulate. currently 17% of tests for the public are done via home—testing kits, though people don't always send them back. the rest is done via drive—through or walk—in centres, and, in high—risk areas, mobile testing units. 0fficials admit the testing website may need adjusting to avoid long carjourneys. ministers say the public may need to keep trying when booking a test but overall they argue the surveillance system is working. if people need a test, the vast majority get it
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quickly and close to home, but when those testing centres are full, then obviously people are offered a test at the nearest place at which one is available. latest figures show more than 6,700 people tested positive in england last week, that is an increase of 6% on the previous one, and the highest weekly numbers since earlyjune. the opposition says testing needs to be much better as the season turns. the prime minister said we would have a world—beating system, we haven't got an effective system, and what we are now seeing is a postcode lottery. this has got to improve, we want it to improve, but the government is way too slow on it. part of the government's strategy is to pour intensive testing into the areas seeing spikes, as we've seen in leicester over the past few weeks. but then there is less capacity in other places and that is worrying some health experts who fear
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the next surge could be missed. we are firefighting rather than proactively looking for where case numbers are going up, then doing something about it — i.e, identify, find the contacts, remove them out of circulation. we are unable to do it if we are not extensively testing. today, the government has announced it is giving £500 million to boost trials of a 20—minute saliva test. many believe mass, quick—turnaround testing is the best way to resume our daily lives. naomi grimley, bbc news. bbc news understands changes will be made to the testing regime. the government also says the online system for booking a test will be adjusted to try to prevent the sort of issues we heard about there. 0ur health editor hugh pym says government sources have acknowledged that their needs to be
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an adjustment to the system. so if there is nothing immediately available, the system should not send you hundreds of miles, it really isn't workable. they have said that the maximum would be 75 miles, which is still a long way. we heard matt hancock, the health secretary, say there that there will be areas of the country where there seems to be lower risk, infections are lower, there will be prioritisation elsewhere and there may be some areas where you do have to keep trying, keep on booking, and you will maybe get something later in the day. so an acknowledgement there that there is a capacity issue, that actually the demand for testing has grown substantially in recent months — up 60%. they say a lot more capacity is coming on stream, there is a new mega—lab known as a lighthouse lab, which is going to be opened in the midlands to help cope with that demand. what ministers are focusing on is mass testing, the long—term goal whereby you can have a home test kit at your workplace or home, do a saliva test, for example, you get a very rapid result and you do that every week,
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even if you don't have symptoms, and that will enable people to be reasonably confident that they are not carrying the virus. but that is a very long—term goal, we have pilot schemes which are being rolled out further but getting to that mass testing may take some time. right now, there are clearly some issues in some areas with demand exceeding the supply of testing. leaders of the airline industry have accused the government of overseeing the demise of uk aviation. and the head of heathrow airport and of virgin atlantic have called for ministers to support covid testing at airports, in order that quarantine measures for travellers could be lifted. there's speculation that portugal may soon be removed from the government's list of safe countries. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge has more. some brits who went over to holiday in zakynthos this summer have travelled home with the virus. so from this morning, anyone flying back to scotland
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from anywhere in greece has to quarantine. mark is heading home on sunday. i'm flying back to glasgow. it's got an infection rate of 21, i believe. i'm coming from a country that has an infection rate of 15 so i'm going back from a country that's got a lower rate than the country i'm going back to, but yet i have to isolate. for now, the welsh government says just those coming in from the island of zakynthos have to self—isolate. the uk government has been concerned by portugal, where the infection rate is worse than greece. but some of the biggest names in uk aviation are warning that if travel abroad doesn't open up significantly soon, then the economic fallout will be huge. i fear that if we don't act now, more jobs will be lost. 500,000 people in the uk rely on travel and tourism so action and leadership by the uk government and industry, which has always been at the forefront, is essential. week in, week out, we lose more destinations. with the travel quarantine
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tightening again, the man running glasgow, aberdeen and southampton airports says the sector faces ruin. frankly, i think at this moment in time, the uk government is overseeing the demise of the aviation industry in the uk. we are seeing more job losses than with the demise of the coal industry in the '80s. that surely can not be an accolade that any government would like to have. it's really quiet at heathrow right now, but aviation bosses say the government could change that by bringing in testing for covid at airports. but the facility already built at heathrow isn't being used because it doesn't have the government's backing. a passenger arriving into the uk will have booked a test online. they would then provide a saliva swab test to a trained nurse. they should get the results of that test within 2a hours, and they would be given a kit so they could do a second test at home in several days.
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two negative results would cut your quarantine period short. for months, ministers have been considering the idea. the industry wants action now. it's something that is working for over 30 other countries around the world. this is the way the international standards are going. the uk government need to get behind testing as an alternative to quarantine to save millions ofjobs in this country. the uk government says the travel quarantine has been vital at keeping cases of the virus out. ministers say the impact of testing is limited. if you test on day one on return, the scientists reckon that we find only about 7% of the total cases. so you still have to quarantine. and, in fact, the countries around the world that have introduced this testing on arrival are now moving away from it and doing the testing much later. the government says it's provided unprecedented support for the aviation industry. but this was check—in at glasgow airport this morning.
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there's no sign that international travel will pick up soon. tom burridge, bbc news. i've been talking to our correspondent lorna gordan in glasgow, and gavin lee in portugal, about the travel situations there. the portuguese authorities estimate there are more than 30,000 british tourists who have travelled in the last 12 days since that travel window opened to portugal. we have seen with france and spain and croatia — they have to work out, if the announcement comes today, as expected, how do they get back before what is likely to be saturday morning? the flights are more expensive and they are becoming fully booked. we have met big groups who have started a big holiday, some of their friends haven't been able to come out. others said they have double booked — a flight on friday and still going next week, having paid up to £700 more.
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one thing i have found from covering this in different parts of europe, when people have suddenly found out they have to quarantine in the uk, there seems to be acceptance. the other issue is for the portuguese authorities. british tourists are the biggest group of foreign travellers — they call it silver season, where it's big for older british travellers because it's quieter with lots of children back at schools. they say it is 13% of the economy which they say they will lose big time if the announcement comes this afternoon. all right, gavin, thank you. lorna, at edinburgh airport, we have heard anger from airlines and airports. bring us up to date with what you are hearing where you are. greece is the latest country to be added to the scottish government's holiday hotspot quarantine list. within the last hour, the boss of edinburgh airport has published an open letter in which he calls the quarantine policy a travel ban in all but name. he says it is ineffective and unworkable and will be the cause of incredibly dark days ahead for the aviation industry, putting
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tens of thousands ofjobs at risk. nicola sturgeon, scotland's first minister, has responded to that in her daily coronavirus briefing. she says she understands and appreciates the damage and wants to work with the sector. but of course she has repeatedly warned people that the travel advice may change at very short notice — as has happened in this situation — and she says right now the advice is clear and that is that quarantine for 1h days is the most effective way of mitigating the risk of bringing in the virus from another country. we are going to talk more about coronavirus in just a we are going to talk more about coronavirus injust a moment, but some separate news coronavirus injust a moment, but some separate news are coronavirus injust a moment, but some separate news are breaking in germany. we are just hearing from our correspondent in berlin that the bodies of five children have just
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been found in a town in germany. 0nly been found in a town in germany. only a few details at this stage but the bodies of five children found in a town called solingen. that is coming from the police in that region. unconfirmed media reports say the five were found in a private residence. so the bodies of five children found, it would appear, in a private residence in germany. that has come from our billing correspondent. we will update you as soon as correspondent. we will update you as soon as we correspondent. we will update you as soon as we have further details. as promised, we said we would talk more about, staying with the topic of coronavirus. the scottish first minister, nicola sturgeon, has said there's more evidence that coronavirus is spreading again in scotland. she told her daily briefing that the r figure — the average number of people estimated to be infected by someone with the disease — was believed to have risen above one last week, to as high
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as one point four. we think that the r number in scotla nd we think that the r number in scotland increased last week and it is probably now above one, perhaps as high as1.4. is probably now above one, perhaps as high as 1.11. i said recently that the r number is up slightly less concern than overall prevalence of the virus is low —— when overall prevalence of the loaf. 0verall prevalence of the loaf. 0verall prevalence is still low in scotland right now. nevertheless, it is a further reminder that the virus is spreading again here. just as it is elsewhere in the uk, across europe andindeedin elsewhere in the uk, across europe and indeed in the wider world. so it isa and indeed in the wider world. so it is a reminder of the need for us to ta ke is a reminder of the need for us to take this seriously and do all of the right things. nicola sturgeon and her daily briefing. the time is quarter past two. the headlines on bbc news... confusion about quarantine for travellers — airline bosses call for testing at airports, to prevent what they say will be the death of the industry. coronavirus testing is working well, says the health secretary,
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despite some people with symptoms travelling more than 100 miles to get a test. nicola sturgeon has said latest official data suggests that coronavirus is spreading again in scotland. russia has rejected accusations that it's responsible for poisoning one of president putin's leading critics, alexei navalny. there are international demands for a full and transparent investigation, after germany said it had proof that mr navalny had been poisoned with a novichok nerve agent. the opposition activist is still in a coma in a hospital in berlin. steve rosenberg reports. moscow is under growing international pressure to answer one question — who ordered an attack on the kremlin's most vocal critic with a chemical nerve agent?
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alexei navalny has been a thorn in president putin's side for years. an anti—corruption campaigner who claims that russia's leaders are thieves. last month, he fell ill on a flight from siberia to moscow. in a coma, he was eventually airlifted to a hospital in berlin. the german government now believes mr navalny had been poisoned with novichok, the same type of nerve agent used against former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter — suggesting the russian state may be involved. and how does russia respond to that? "there are no facts. there's no evidence," says the foreign ministry spokesperson on russian tv. "it's an information campaign against moscow." and today, the kremlin had this message for its critics. "don't rush to blame us, or put new sanctions on russia.
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we're not to blame." the trouble is, under vladimir putin, the kremlin always says it's not to blame, even when the evidence suggests it is. and the international community is losing patience. the russians really don't care. they're not too bothered about collateral damage. sanctions, again, don't seem to mean an awful lot to the russians, but i think what we must do is carry on with sanctions, particularly financial ones. if russians, key oligarchs and supporters, start losing their money, i expect that probably will mean more to putin than anything else. some kremlin critics are calling on germany to halt this gas pipeline project with russia. that would send a strong message to moscow, but the problem is much of europe relies on russian energy. meanwhile, alexei navalny remains in a serious condition in hospital. expect moscow to continue to deny everything. but if mr navalny was attacked with a chemical weapon,
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the questions to the kremlin won't be going away. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. the online retailer amazon says it's going to create another 7,000 permanentjobs in the uk this year, to meet growing demand the figure is on top of 3,000 positions already announced this year. it will take the company's total uk workforce to more than 40,000. despite a recent rise in house prices, mortgage providers are cutting the number of low deposit deals — because of the economic fall—out from coronavirus. lenders are setting stricter conditions fearing defaults. some have already said they would not currently consider applications from people on furlough and who did not have a return to work date. ministers are defending the former australian prime minister tony abbott afer reports that he is being lined up for a role in post—brexit trade talks.
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mr abbott has been accused by politicians in australia and the uk of misogyny, homophobia and downplaying the science on climate change. the trade minister greg hands told mps he welcomed mr abbott's desire to "help this country out". let's get more on this with our political correspondent nick eardley, who's in westminster. there has been a lot of comment about potential involvement of tony abbott for a while now. what specifically is happening today? that's right. none of this is confirmed yet and the government has been at pains to point out that no final decision has been made but we know from tony abbott that he is in talks with the uk government about becoming a trade adviser. based on his background when he was australian prime minister he signed some pretty big trade deals with japan and china. he is quite a controversial character and he has been accused of misogyny, he
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suggested that men were more suited to making authoritative decisions than women. he also said that in the past he was threatened by homosexuality. it has caused quite a lot of controversy. some people questioning whether he is the right person to take thatjob. and the labour leader keir starmer has been raising some of those concerns, saying he is not sure that tony abbott is the right person for the job. nicola sturgeon, the scottish first minister, making a similar argument. it is interesting because i think the government is coming under increasing pressure over this one. although we have seen ministers are kind of suggesting they think it isa are kind of suggesting they think it is a great idea that a former australian prime minister is prepared to help the uk out when it comes to post brexit trade deals, they are really coming under a bit of pressure on this. ijust wonder, the fact we have not had any sort of confirmation yet, whether there is some nerves in government about what
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is going on. and so whose ultimate decision will it be? because he just be appointed despite all the anxiety we are discussing today. it's ultimately up to borisjohnson when it comes to the board of trade. he is the man who will sign that off. we heard from greg hands earlier, a trade minister in the government had to he was saying, we should be happy about someone who had such a prominent position in the australian government, who has done these big trade deals in the past, is happy to be on our side. liz truss, the trade minister, as well, saying that we should be welcoming the fact that somebody is prepared to do that for the uk. but it is a question of whether it is worth it, i think, for the government now. the fact there has been such opposition to this from has been such opposition to this fro m m ostly has been such opposition to this from mostly opposition parties, but there are some tories who i may be a bit uncomfortable about this, as well. the other side of the coin is
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that tony abbott is somebody who was totally behind brexit, he is very close to some people in the conservative party, some of whom are big backers of borisjohnson. i suspect that is exactly what number ten will be weighing up at the moment, the fact he has some trade expertise, the fact he totally buys into the brexit project, against the fa ct into the brexit project, against the fact that some people seem to think it isa fact that some people seem to think it is a terrible idea and are prepared to make that argument very vocally. interesting. we will see what emerges. thank you very much for now. many people who work in drug rehabilitation in scotland are in favour of legal consumption facilities — spaces where users can inject safely under supervision. one was proposed for glasgow three years ago, but it was blocked by the uk government. now, a former addict has taken matters into his own hands to try to force a change in the law. chris clements reports. peter krykant is a heroin addict who has been in recovery for 20 years. until recently, he worked for a charity tackling addiction. now, he is preparing this van
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to take it onto the streets of glasgow to be a place where addicts can come to inject drugs. we say in scotland we are treating drug addiction as a health problem, we say it is a public health emergency. four people a day are currently, on average, dying every single day in this country directly from a drug overdose. this city has suffered the worst outbreak of hiv the uk has seen for 30 years. users are injecting in lanes and doorways, under bridges, in the filthiest of conditions. three years ago, the city tried to open a facility where addicts could take drugs under supervision to prevent overdoses, to give them access to services. despite support from the scottish government, the idea was rejected by the uk government which controls drug policy. tired of waiting, peter says he has decided to act. 0n the streets of glasgow, he engages with local users.
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claire comes to visit the van, she has been sleeping rough in glasgow for one year and using drugs forfive. the places i've been to in glasgow, you wouldn't even think it. you go in and it'sjust disgusting, thoroughly disgusting. i have been there with somebody who has had an overdose, yes. it is scary. despite his claims the van is a safe alternative for people like claire, it won't have the ability to test the drugs users are bringing. is it not the case that you are creating a place where somebody can engage in harmful behaviour and criminal behaviour? i completely accept the fact that i am essentially breaking the law, however, the law dates back to an act from 1971 which is outdated. ultimately, if we have one of these establishments running with all the services that need to be involved, that is where we can engage people. in order for a change to happen, sometimes we need to disobey unjust laws.
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the home office told us it has no plans to change its policy on drug consumption facilities. anyone running one would be committing a range of offences, and that it supports an evidence—based approach to reducing drug related harm. legal drug consumption facilities have been hailed as life—saving in other countries, but is this really the answer for a city and a country facing yet another record year for drug deaths? chris clements, bbc news, glasgow. breaking news from southwark crown court in the last few moments. we are hearing that a man hasjust court in the last few moments. we are hearing that a man has just been convicted of murdering two women and storing their bodies in a freezer which was found in his flat in east london. this is the case of zahid younis, 36 years old, just been convicted of the murder of two women. he had admitted putting the
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women. he had admitted putting the women in his freezer but denied murder. he has now, by a majority verdict, been found guilty of double murder. that verdictjust verdict, been found guilty of double murder. that verdict just threw verdict, been found guilty of double murder. that verdictjust threw it from southwark crown court, a very distressing case, and our correspondent danny shaw has been looking at the details of this case and the trial. police. police officer, make yourself known. this is the moment police make a grim discovery 00 hello, police. they are searching for zahid younis at his flat in canning town. he had been reported missing. there is a freezer i want to get into. it is locked. 0ffices i want to get into. it is locked. offices are suspicious about the lock to freeze flies around it, but when they force it open with a crowbar it is not zahid younis they find. inside the freezer where the remains of two women zahid younis had murdered. 0ne body had been stored there for almost 2.5 years, the other for nearly 12 months. both
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victims had suffered terrible injuries, including fractures to their ribs. 0ne injuries, including fractures to their ribs. one of the women was henriett szucs, originally from hungary. she wrote about her relationship with zahid younis, who was controlling and abusive. the second victim was mihrican mustafa, a mother of three, also known as janet. both women were in their 30s when they died. zahid younis had an appalling record of violence and sexual abuse. during an islamic ceremony he illegally married a 14—year—old girl. she then became pregnant. zahid younis was sent to prison and had to register as a sex offender. within months of release he brutally beat a 17—year—old girl, breaking her arm in three places, and was jailed again. zahid younis is an incredibly dangerous person. he is somebody that lives a lifestyle of abusing women,
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manipulating anybody to get money, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. but domestic violence campaigna what he wants. but domestic violence campaign a state police should have been more alert to the dangers zahid younis pose and help to safeguard the women. 0n younis pose and help to safeguard the women. on one occasion officers visited him, unaware one of the victims lay dead in his flat. it sends a very important and strong message to the authorities that they should understand these cases of domestic abuse much more fully and recognise the risks that individuals powers and the chances of ongoing perpetrators of violence and be sure to monitor and check those individuals more frequently. there are now calls for a review of the case to find out if the murders of zahid -- case to find out if the murders of zahid —— mihrican mustafa and henriett szucs could have been prevented. that verdict just through from southwark crown court in the last few minutes. zahid younis, 36 years old, convicted of the murder of both
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women. we will have much more and all the latest news of the day coming up in the next half an hour. we will be talking more about testing, as well, in terms of coronavirus. white now we willjust paused to take a look at the weather. low pressure is slipping into the north of the uk, real squeeze in the isobars, so it will be windy and the cooler air mass will work its way southwards. we lose the cloud from the south and east this evening. the skies will be more clear through the night, but it turns more for northern scotland and northern ireland. a fresher night than last night. as we head into friday, a bright start for many with some good spells of sunshine. lots of blustery showers across the north—west of the country, very windy in northern scotland. breezy for all with further rain turning into southern counties of england
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into southern counties of england into the afternoon. some centring around and temperature lower. at the weekend, we will have a run of fairly fresh west or north—west winds. lots of sunshine around, but lots of fresh winds as well.
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this hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: confusion about quarantine for travellers. airline bosses call for testing at airports, to prevent what they say will be the death of the industry. coronavirus testing is working well, says the health secretary, despite some people with symptoms travelling more than 100 miles to get a test. nicola sturgeon has said latest official data suggests that coronavirus is spreading again in scotland.
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the bodies of five children have been found in a town in germany, according to police. russia rejects calls for an investigation, after germany says the opposition leader alexei navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent. and to remind you of the news that came in recently from southwark crown court, 36—year—old man has been convicted of murdering two women. the bodies were found in a flat in canning town in east london in april last year. police found those bodies padlocked in a freezer. he murdered two women. 0ne
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those bodies padlocked in a freezer. he murdered two women. one was murdered by the man who had a long history of violence. both women were in their 30s. convicted on to two cou nts in their 30s. convicted on to two counts of murder. a majority verdict handed down in southwark. sport now. and time for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. there's been a 42% rise in reports of discrimination in english football over the past year. the report out by the equality and inclusion charity kick it out found racial and homophobic abuse has also increased as has abuse across social platforms. there were a total of 4116 reports of discrimination in the professional game, compared to 313 last year. racial abuse is up by 53%
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from 184 incidents to 282. and there's been a 95% rise in reports of abuse based on sexual orientation. at grassroots level while overall figures fell from 113 to 94. however, there were no matches from march due to the pandemic, so comparing the season until then saw an 11% rise. two cambridge united home games will host a reduced number of fans next week as part of the government's test events to allow supporters back in to sporting events. the efl trophy match at the abbey stadium with fulham under—21s on tuesday and the league two game with carlisle next saturday will both have spectators present, with 1,000 fans allowed in for the trophy tie and 2,500 for the league game.
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it's a big night in the nations league as the republic of ireland take on bulgaria in new boss stephen kenny's first match in charge, while wales play their first game since november last year as they take on finland. it'll be a chance for gareth bale to take to the field, something he's not done since 2ajune at real madrid. the forward says he's been denied moves away from the spanish club and seems to be happy to be on international duty. it is great to be back. we have not had too much training in the off—season and that, we are coming back, everyone is probably not match—fit. we have prepared as much as we can in the last few days. lionel messi's father has met with barcelona officials after declaring it would be difficult for his son to remain with the club. jorge, who acts as his son's agent, landed from argentina ahead of talks with presidentjosep bartomeu in a bid to resolve the stalemate
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between player and club, with barcelona demanding his £623 million release clause is met. messi's team believe there's a contract loophole allowing him to leave for free. even the captain of their biggest rivals real madrid hopes he'll remain in la liga. translation: with regards to messy, i think he is not an issue that concerns us. i think he is not an issue that concerns us. he i think he is not an issue that concerns us. he has i think he is not an issue that concerns us. he has earned the right to decide his future. i don't know if he is doing it the right way, but for barcelona and spanish football who like to win while being the best, we would like him to stay here. yorkshire say they're in contact with the former england youth captain azeem rafiq, who claimed institutional racism at the club left him close to committing suicide. the spin bowler said that as a muslim he felt he was made to feel like an outsider and that he dreaded going to work. rafiq alleges the problem of racism at the club is as bad as ever.
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the club say their equality and diversity committee chair — hanif malik — is working with rafiq. claire williams will leave her role as the deputy team principal of the williams formula one team after this weekend's italian grand prix. it means the williams family will leave the team founded by her father sir frank more than a0 years ago. it follows the sale of the outfit to a us investment group, dorilton capital last month after several difficult seasons. the team enjoyed huge success in the 1980s and '90s, winning nine constructors championships and seven driver's titles. you can find more on all those stories, plus live coverage from stage six of the tour de france on the bbc sport website. britain's adam yates of course the overall leader. bbc news understands that changes will be made
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to the coronavirus testing regime, after it emerged some people were having to travel more than 100 miles to be swabbed. we have had a lot of questions about the testing strategy. with me is our health correspondent nick triggle. also i'm joined by professor paul hunter, professor of medicine at the university of east anglia. let's start with this question from lorraine. she says, i have symptoms and have been offered a test nearly 50 miles away, a two hour drive from me. why can't theyjust 50 miles away, a two hour drive from me. why can't they just send 50 miles away, a two hour drive from me. why can't theyjust send a testing kit to me? nick, i'll come to you first. there are home testing kits available, but the problem here is that tests that are done in the community, in local walk in centres
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or sent to peoples homes are sent to one of a network of large laboratories. and they have reached capacity. mid—june, they were processing around 100,000 tests per day, now it's around 180,000 tests per day. but the government say they have simply maxed out, so they are restricting access in areas where there is low levels of infection so they can prioritise areas like care homes in towns with lots of infection. what the government are saying is new slots become available all the time. if someone can't get a slot nearby to where they live in the morning, try again a few hours later and you might be able to find somewhere there. and you're putting plans in place. a new lab is opening later in september to increase the amount of test they can do. they're saying it will hopefully be solved in the coming weeks. professor hunter, your thoughts on that. i think a lot of people are trying to keep up with the news and will think, why cant ijust get a testing
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kit through the post?|j think, why cant ijust get a testing kit through the post? i mean that's a big question and i really don't understand why that isn't doable. i think there are still anxieties about how reliable some of these home testing kits are. if they are reliable, then they should be made red —— readily available. if you're getting people to travel that distance then automatically you are sort of excluding that perhaps the most vulnerable people, the poorer sections of society, who are actually most at risk of contracting covid—19. so it is severely undermining the quality of the information that you are able to collect in order to control the epidemic. that's an interesting point. stay with you paul hunter because zoe has asked, how would an elderly person who doesn't have internet access and perhaps doesn't
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have a car, how would someone in that position a test? they probably wouldn't, unfortunately. unless they had helpful neighbours. 0r relatives who could take them. but actually, you know, they shouldn't need to have to do that. they should be locally available testing, there should be local authority supporting the ability to deliver local testing and, you know, we should be able to do that by now. and it's really sad that we can't. what are your thoughts on that? it's interesting. there is a phone line you can ring.
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it is 119 for england, wales and northern ireland. the number is different in scotland. they can provide information of how to get tested if you don't have internet access. the government is trying to roll out local testing, so giving people the ability to walk to a local centre. 0bviously they will be in towns and cities so if you're in a more rural location it is more difficult. another viewer asks, i have done a home testing kit but i'm worried i have not done it correctly. could i get a false negative? i've never had to take one, but we've all seen the pictures. i thought, one, but we've all seen the pictures. ithought, i don't one, but we've all seen the pictures. i thought, i don't think i would be able to do that myself. it's quite an uncomfortable procedure to do. you have to stick the swab quite far down your throat to collect a sample. when you go to a testing centre, the staff can help
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and advise you to do it. doing it at home, there is a concern you might not do it properly. if you get a negative result back, you could be positive but have got a negative test, what the government advises is if you still have symptoms, you should still continue isolating. you could order another test or go to a centre and test if you're not sure about the confidence you have with that result, but the bottom line is if you have symptoms then continue isolating. paul hunter, do you have thoughts on false negatives? we've known that ordinary pcr tests do give false negatives, sometimes because the person actually is just incubating the infection and hasn't yet become positive, but even when people are symptomatic proportion of tests are negative. sometimes you can tell because they haven't got as much sample on the swab and you can
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detect that the system, but sometimes they are just negative. and sadly that's part of the nature of the testing and its part of the nature of medical test generally that you do get false negatives and false positives. another e-mail, i live in kent but i was told to go to newport in wales for a test. surely travelling so far been unwell means you could infect other people? absolutely. the advice is that if you have symptoms of covid, then you need to stay at home and you don't wa nt need to stay at home and you don't want people travelling. you cannot make that sort of distance in a single hop, you have to stop somewhere at least once, maybe twice in that distance, go and have a coffee, sit in a public area. where you are actually posing the risk to other people who are travelling on that day, so that is really
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something that we should not be asking people to do when they are symptomatic. again, this is one of the reasons this is absolutely on the reasons this is absolutely on the news today. that's one of the risks? indeed, it is. the government have said that they will be introducing a fix to the website so people will no longer be sent 200 miles. they said it will be limited toa75 miles. they said it will be limited to a 75 mile radius, that's still a long distance which i think is why we are seeing keep going back to the website, keep trying if you can get a local test because no one wants to travel even that distance for a test. 75 miles. we've had a thought about the new rapid test, people wanting to know how they will work. is this the saliva —based test we have been hearing about? there are a few different technologies. saliva —based tests give rapid results in 20 minutes, some in 60 minutes. this
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sum places have machines that will process that on the spot. 0ther places, a swab is sent away to a lab. usually takes 2a hours, perhaps more to get your result back. so the ultimate goal is a rapid easy to ta ke tests ultimate goal is a rapid easy to take tests that you can literally get the results back ideally on the spot. they are trying these new technologies. in salford, members of the public will be offered repeat testing. in southampton, it's been rolled out to schools, hospitals and students. the ultimate goal would be to introduce a mass regular testing for the entire population, an alternative to a vaccine if we are all testing ourselves regularly and we know we don't have the virus then it allows us to relax social distancing restrictions, but we are a long way from that. they're just
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trying out these new technologies now. professor paul hunter, i'll come to you now. is track and trace working properly in the uk? other countries seem to have a better system in place. what are your thoughts? well, it's working. i think there's still some way to go for it to be working as effectively as we would want, i think to a certain extent, if any enterprise like this can get it up and running quickly, it's a huge undertaking. and i think some of the problems that we have had were only to be expected with any new major organisation. to me, the biggest improvement that has been seen in the last few weeks has been the a cce pta nce the last few weeks has been the acceptance that local authorities do have a really, really important role to play in this. and hopefully, as
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more and more of the responsibility towards this move to local authorities, we should see better outputs and better achievement of targets than we have in the past.|j think it's inevitable that we've a lwa ys think it's inevitable that we've always look to other countries throughout the pandemic just to see by example what other countries are doing right and wrong. people are inevitably going to compare systems, i suppose? yes, they are. it's interesting. 0ther i suppose? yes, they are. it's interesting. other countries have also struggled with this. the uk is not unique. spain brought in the army to help with contact tracing. the service is expected to engage with 80% of the people who test positive and to find their close contact, and then contact 80% of their close contact to ask them to isolate. 0n their close contact to ask them to isolate. on both measures, it's been consistently below that, although not far below that. if you look at
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the overall infection rate, perhaps the overall infection rate, perhaps the bestjudge of how we are doing, the bestjudge of how we are doing, the uk is actually seeing relatively low numbers of infections compared to some european countries. in france and spain, infection rates are much higher. we are currently on par with germany, one of the countries usually held up as getting this right. italy has quite low rates as well. we talked about this lots right at the start of the pandemic, can you explain herd immunity? could it help reduce the number of coronavirus cases? right at the beginning i remember we discussed herd immunity and then it disappeared as a topic. where are we with that? it's still one of the big unknown is, how many people have been exposed to the virus. if you are exposed to the virus and you develop our —— an immune response, your body learns how to fight off the virus and afterwards it's left with some virus of that. if you are
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exposed again, your body can protect you. what we still don't know is how strong that immunity is and how long it may last. the development of vaccine immunity plays a key part in the development of that, and the trials there are suggesting people respond and bodies develop a good level of immunity, but we still don't know for sure how that's going to help us get out of this pandemic. paul hunter, i'm interested to hear your thoughts on herd immunity. the first thing to say is that we don't really know how long people are immune for after the initial infection. this and there have been well confirmed, not many, but well confirmed reinfection is in people after their first infection. and one
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re ce nt after their first infection. and one recent one was they became reinfected after about four and a half months. if you have an infection as very short lived immunity then actually you are never going to achieve herd immunity. and i think that is going to be the case with covid—19. that we will never achieve herd immunity in that we will always, the infection will be with us for decades to come. however, looking at the other coronaviruses and the initial evidence from the reinfection is we've seen so far is that generally in people who are otherwise healthy the second infections are much less severe than the first. and that's because, although the protective immunity goes, there are still some residual immunity that might not stop you getting the infection and
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may not stop you being infectious, but will reduce the chance that you will develop more severe illness. and so, as a control strategy, i think herd immunity is not going to work, but there will be some impact of longer term immunity on reducing the severity of the infection. we won't know for certain for probably two or three years, but looking at other infections of the same type, i think that's likely to be the case. i'm very interested that you say... are you saying that this is something as a nation we will have to learn to live with? but we will learn more and more better how to protect the most vulnerable how to live with this to the best that we can? i think so. i live with this to the best that we can? ithink so. i mean, if you look at the other human coronaviruses,
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those which are very similar to covid—19, they probably jumped those which are very similar to covid—19, they probablyjumped into humans one probably about 100 years ago and the other about four centuries ago. i think it's quite likely that not only my grandchildren but my grandchildren is grandchildren will be exposed to covid—19 in decades to come. the point is though that if you get it young, we know that very young children generally have a very mild illness and that with the other coronaviruses most children have had their infections by the time there about or three and a half and that repeated infections like that mean that when you get on in life to the age where maybe this could kill you've actually got already a fairly strong background immunity that will not stop you getting repeated
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infections, but we will be fairly mild, like the common cold. fascinating to hear that. i'll try to squeeze in one more final thought, which takes us back to international comparisons. someone asking about quarantine. joe says the needs to be a new country in the quarantine list every week. are the cases in this country actually less than all these other countries that are making their way onto the quarantine list? people worried about travel, again, nick? well, as i mentioned earlier, the uk now does have low rates of infection. 0ver the last seven days, we've seen between ten and 15 cases per 100,000 people, similar to germany and italy. if you look at spain, we are seeing 100 cases per 100,000. in france, it's approaching 50. the threshold for the government bringing in restrictions as 20 cases per 100,000 people. 0nce bringing in restrictions as 20 cases per 100,000 people. once we see
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countries tip above that, that's where ministers start considering these restrictions. yes. we will see later on today brabbins in that regard. thank you to both of you for your time. many thanks for all your thoughts and thank you for your questions. you have been watching your questions answered. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav danaos. hello there. it warmed up briefly through the day today, certainly early on, but through the day we've seen sunshine and showers push down from the north—west and it's gradually turning cooler once again. it will remain breezy as well. all areas, but especially across the north of the uk north—west scotland seeing winds touching a0 miles an hour or so as this area of low pressure edges ever closer. you can see a real squeeze in the isobars here as we head on in towards the evening. we eventually lose that weather
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front from the south and the east later in the day, so we could see a little bit of brief brightness before we head on into the evening. it turns windier, though, gales in the far north, certainly for the northern isles and plenty of showers here, some of them on the heavy side. temperatures not quite as high as what they were overnight last night, so a cooler feel to things certainly out of towns and cities. for friday, then, it's a fresher start to the day, it will be bright with some sunshine, still quite breezy, lots of showers piling into the north and west of scotland, northern ireland, far north—west of england. some of these could be heavy and thundery and we could see some rain returning into southern counties of england through the day. a bit of uncertainty to this, but it does look like it's mainly southern counties that will see the rain moving in, tending to be light and patchy and those temperatures still on the cool side. as we head on into the weekend, high pressure begins to build in from the south—west,
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squeezing in against that area of low pressure to the north—east. so that means we'll see a run of fairly cool and at times, brisk, west, north—westerly winds. there'll be plenty of sunshine around too, but also some showers. this is the picture for saturday and a rather cool start. again, a breezy day for all, windy across the far north—east, close to that area of low pressure. most of the showers will be affecting northern and western areas. again, the odd heavier one, tending to stay dryer the further east that you are, but those temperatures low. it will feel cooler, 1a to 18 degrees in the south—east. through saturday night, we see another feature push into northern ireland, southern scotland, that could bring more organized showery rain and that will then spread south—eastwards as we head on into sunday into large parts of england and wales. so a bit more cloud round, few showery bursts of rain, a bit of sunshine in between, could see the odd, heavy, maybe even thundery one in the south—east, dryer for scotland and northern ireland. but again, on the cool side, 1a to 18 celsius. quick peek as we head on into next week. it does look like high pressure is going to bring a lot of dry and settled weather certainly across england, wales and then for all areas it is going to feel a little bit warmer too.
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this is bbc news, i'mjane hill. the headlines. a violent sex offender is found guilty of murdering two women and hiding their bodies in a freezer at his east london flat. zahid younis is an incredibly dangerous person. he is somebody that lives a lifestyle of abusing women, manipulating anybody to get money, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. coronavirus testing is working well, says the health secretary — despite some people with symptoms travelling more than 100 miles to get a test. if people need a test, the vast majority get it quickly and close to home, but when those testing centres are full, then obviously people are offered a test at the nearest
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place at which one is available. the prime minister said we would have a world—beating system, we haven't got an effective system, and what we are now seeing is a postcode lottery. confusion about quarantine for travellers — airline bosses call for testing at airports, to prevent what they say will be the death of the industry. scotland's first minister says the coronavirus reproductive — or r — number is probably now above one, and could be as high as 1.11. russia rejects calls for an investigation, after germany says the opposition leader alexei navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent. after months away fom the classroom, it's been a nervous start for many children finally going back to school. i'm excited to go back home and then i'm actually really sad because i've really enjoyed it today and i feel so much better. i have no nerves,
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they have all gone. hello, good afternoon. in the past hour, a man has been found guilty of murdering two women and hiding their bodies in a freezer at his flat in east london. zahid younis, who's 36, murdered henriett szucs in 2016 and mihrican mustafa in 2018. younis had previously been convicted of violently and sexually abusing teenage girls, and was being monitored as a "medium risk" during the period he committed the murders. danny shaw reports.
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hello. police. police officer, make yourself known. this is the moment police make a grim discovery. hello, police. they are searching for zahid younis at his flat in canning town. he had been reported missing. there is a freezer i want to get into. it is locked. officers are suspicious about a locked freezer with flies around it, but when they force it with a crowbar it isn't younis they find. inside the freezer were the remains of two women zahid younis had murdered. 0ne body had been stored there for almost 2.5 years, the other for nearly 12 months. both victims had suffered terrible injuries, including fractures to their ribs. one of the women was henriett szucs, originally from hungary. she wrote about her relationship with younis, who was controlling and abusive. the second victim was mother—of—three mihrican mustafa, also known as mj orjan. both women were in their
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30s when they died. zahid younis had an appalling record of violence and sexual abuse. during an islamic ceremony he illegally married a 14—year—old girl. she then became pregnant. younis was sent to prison and had to register as a sex offender. within months of release he brutally beat a 17—year—old girl, breaking her arm in three places, and was jailed again. zahid younis is an incredibly dangerous person. he is somebody that lives a lifestyle of abusing women, manipulating anybody to get money, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. but domestic violence campaigners say police should have been more alert to the dangers younis posed and helped safeguard the women. on one occasion officers visited him, unaware one of the victims lay dead in his flat.
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it sends a very important and strong message to the authorities that they should understand these cases of domestic abuse much more fully and recognise the risks that individuals pose and the chances of ongoing perpetrating of violence and be sure to monitor and check those individuals more frequently. there are now calls for a review of the case to find out if the murders of mihrican and henriett could have been prevented. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw has been following the case. a deeply distressing case. explain more about the sort of monitoring, how much was known about this man during this period. zahid younis was not someone who just came out of nowhere. the authorities were very aware of him. he was a registered sex offender, which meant that police had to regularly check up on him and carry out visits and so on. he was a medium risk offender,
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meaning that was quite a serious level of intrusion in terms of the monitoring. during that time he murdered these two women. there are questions for the police about what monitoring arrangements were in place, whether they asked the right kinds of questions, when they visited him did they examine, for example, any of his computers or phones to check whether he was complying with all the regulations he should have been. there are questions there. there are then more detailed questions, i think, about the two women that he murdered. henriett szucs had been someone who had been involved in previous allegations against another man, and she was someone who had been kept in a safe house because of concerns about her, but then sort ofjust vanished and police found it very difficult to trace her. what attem pts difficult to trace her. what attempts were made to contact her? because several months after a trial was abandoned that she was meant to bea was abandoned that she was meant to be a witness in, she ended up being
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murdered by younis. there are also questions about mihrican mustafa. she was reported missing in may 2018. herfamily she was reported missing in may 2018. her family say police did not do enough in that missing persons enquiry to try to find her. there are allegations that a phone, which would have contained key information about zahid younis, was not actually examined. that is now being looked at by the independent 0ffice examined. that is now being looked at by the independent office for police conduct and they have referred it to the met. 0utstanding questions for the police to answer, as well. that verdict only coming through in the last hour or so. have we had any formal response from any of the authorities involved in this or is that yet to come? we are awaiting sentencing of zahid younis. he will get a life sentence, clearly, that is mandatory, and a very, very long minimum term. it may be that thejudge very, very long minimum term. it may be that the judge will be considering a whole life tariff in this case, giving his appalling
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previous record of domestic violence and the fact he has murdered two women. he had previously admitted not carrying out a decent and lawful burial, so he actually admitted to storing their bodies in a freezer, and claimed that other people were somehow involved in the murders. the jury somehow involved in the murders. the jury clearly saw through it and that is why they convicted him. for now, thank you. it's emerged that some people have been asked to travel more than 100 miles to get a swab test for coronavirus. the health secretary matt hancock insists that most people who need a test will be able to get one close to home — and 500 million pounds is to be spent on trials, including of a rapid saliva—based test. naomi grimley reports. until a vaccine comes along, testing is vital to get treatment to those who need it and to spot outbreaks before they take off. but in recent days, several members of the public have been told by the government website to travel more than 100 miles to drive—through testing sites.
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i went through the process and it came back with availability for testing in a place on the outskirts of blackburn, which is over 250 miles away. so i was convinced i had got it wrong, cancelled, reprocessed, and i got exactly the same answer. testing rates in the uk are now much higher than in many other countries in europe, but as winter draws closer, the system is coming under more pressure, particularly as schools resume and sniffles circulate. currently 17% of tests for the public are done via home—testing kits, though people don't always send them back. the rest is done via drive—through or walk—in centres, and, in high—risk areas, mobile testing units. 0fficials admit the testing website may need adjusting
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to avoid long carjourneys. ministers say the public may need to keep trying when booking a test but overall they argue the surveillance system is working. if people need a test, the vast majority get it quickly and close to home, but when those testing centres are full, then obviously people are offered a test at the nearest place at which one is available. latest figures show more than 6,700 people tested positive in england last week, that is an increase of 6% on the previous one, and the highest weekly number since earlyjune. the opposition says testing needs to be much better as the season turns. the prime minister said we would have a world—beating system, we haven't got an effective system, and what we are now seeing is a postcode lottery. this has got to improve, we want it to improve, but the government is way too slow on it.
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part of the government's strategy is to pour intensive testing into the areas seeing spikes, as we've seen in leicester over the last few weeks. but then there is less capacity in other places and that is worrying some health experts who fear the next surge could be missed. we are firefighting rather than proactively looking for where case numbers are going up, then doing something about it — i.e, identify, find the contacts, remove them out of circulation. we are unable to do it if we are not extensively testing. today, the government has announced it is giving £500 million to boost trials of a 20—minute saliva test. many believe mass, quick—turnaround testing is the best way to resume our daily lives. naomi grimley, bbc news. bbc news understands that changes will be made to the coronavirus testing regime. government sources say the online system for booking tests will be adjusted to prevent such issues. 0ur health editor hugh pym says
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government sources have acknowledged that there needs to be an adjustment to the system. so if there is nothing immediately available, the system should not send you hundreds of miles, it really isn't workable. they have said that the maximum would be 75 miles, which is still a long way. we heard matt hancock, the health secretary, say there that there will be areas of the country seen to be lower risk, infections are lower, there will be prioritisation elsewhere and there may be some areas where you do have to keep trying, keep on booking, and you will maybe get something later in the day. so an acknowledgement there that there is a capacity issue, that actually the demand for testing has grown substantially in recent months — up 60%. they say a lot more capacity is coming on stream, there is a new mega—lab known as a lighthouse lab, which is going to be opened in the midlands to help cope
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with that demand. what ministers are focusing on is mass testing, the long—term goal whereby you can have a home test kit at your workplace or home, do a saliva test, for example, you get a very rapid result and you do that every week, even if you don't have symptoms, and that will enable people to be reasonably confident that they are not carrying the virus. but that is a very long—term goal, we have pilot schemes which are being rolled out further but getting to that mass testing may take some time. right now, there are clearly some issues in some areas with demand exceeding the supply of testing. police say they've found the bodies of five children in a town in germany. they were found in a private residence, in the town of solingen, in north rhine—westphalia. according to unconfirmed reports from the bild newspaper website, the children were aged between one and eight years old.
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a sixth child is said to have survived. they are all the details that have emerged so far. leaders of the airline industry have accused the government of overseeing the demise of uk aviation. and the head of heathrow airport and of virgin atlantic have called for ministers to support covid testing at airports, in order that quarantine measures for travellers could be lifted. there's speculation that portugal may soon be removed from the government's list of safe countries. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge has more. some brits who went over to holiday in zakynthos this summer have travelled home with the virus. so from this morning, anyone flying back to scotland from anywhere in greece has to quarantine. mark is heading home on sunday. i'm flying back to glasgow. it's got an infection rate of 21, i believe. i'm coming from a country that has an infection rate of 15 so i'm
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going back from a country that's got a lower rate than the country i'm going back to, but yet i have to isolate. for now, the welsh government says just those coming in from the island of zakynthos have to self—isolate. the uk government has been concerned by portugal, where the infection rate is worse than greece. but some of the biggest names in uk aviation are warning that if travel abroad doesn't open up significantly soon, then the economic fallout will be huge. i fear that if we don't act now, more jobs will be lost. 500,000 people in the uk rely on travel and tourism so action and leadership by the uk government and industry, which has always been at the forefront, is essential. week in, week out, we lose more destinations. with the travel quarantine tightening again, the man running glasgow, aberdeen and southampton airports says the sector faces ruin. frankly, i think at this moment in time, the uk government is overseeing the demise
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of the aviation industry in the uk. we are seeing more job losses than with the demise of the coal industry in the '80s. that surely cannot be an accolade that any government would like to have. it's really quiet at heathrow right now, but aviation bosses say the government could change that by bringing in testing for covid at airports. being used because it doesn't have the government's backing. a passenger arriving into the uk will have booked a test online. they would then provide a saliva swab test to a trained nurse. they should get the results of that test within 2a hours, and they would be given a kit so they could do a second test at home in several days. two negative results would cut your quarantine period short. for months, ministers have been considering the idea. the industry wants action now. it's something that is working for over 30 other
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countries around the world. this is the way the international standards are going. the uk government need to get behind testing as an alternative to quarantine to save millions ofjobs in this country. the uk government says the travel quarantine has been vital at keeping cases of the virus out. ministers say the impact of testing is limited. if you test on day one on return, the scientists reckon that we find only about 7% of the total cases. so you still have to quarantine. and, in fact, the countries around the world that have introduced this testing on arrival are now moving away from it and doing the testing much later. the government says it's provided unprecedented support for the aviation industry. but this was check—in at glasgow airport this morning. there's no sign that international travel will pick up soon. tom burridge, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news...
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a violent sex offender has been convicted of murdering two women and hiding their bodies in a freezer at his east london flat. confusion about quarantine for travellers — airline bosses call for testing at airports, to prevent what they say will be the death of the industry. coronavirus testing is working well, says the health secretary — despite some people with symptoms travelling more than 100 miles to get a test. russia has rejected accusations that it's responsible for poisoning one of president putin's leading critics, alexei navalny. there are international demands for a full and transparent investigation, after germany said it had proof that mr navalny had been poisoned with a novichok nerve agent. the opposition activist is still in a coma in a hospital in berlin. steve rosenberg reports. moscow is under growing international pressure
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to answer one question — who ordered an attack on the kremlin's most vocal critic with a chemical nerve agent? alexei navalny has been a thorn in president putin's side for years. an anti—corruption campaigner who claims that russia's leaders are thieves. last month, he fell ill on a flight from siberia to moscow. in a coma, he was eventually airlifted to a hospital in berlin. the german government now believes mr navalny had been poisoned with novichok, the same type of nerve agent used against former russian spy sergei skripal and his daughter — suggesting the russian state may be involved. and how does russia respond to that? "there are no facts. there's no evidence," says the foreign ministry spokesperson on russian tv. "it's an information
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campaign against moscow." and today, the kremlin had this message for its critics. "don't rush to blame us, or put new sanctions on russia. we're not to blame." the trouble is, under vladimir putin, the kremlin always says it's not to blame, even when the evidence suggests it is. and the international community is losing patience. the russians really don't care. they're not too bothered about collateral damage. sanctions, again, don't seem to mean an awful lot to the russians, but i think what we must do is carry on with sanctions, particularly financial ones. if russians, key oligarchs and supporters, start losing their money, i expect that probably will mean more to putin than anything else. some kremlin critics are calling on germany to halt this gas pipeline project with russia. that would send a strong message to moscow, but the problem is much of europe relies on russian energy.
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meanwhile, alexei navalny remains in a serious condition in hospital. expect moscow to continue to deny everything. but if mr navalny was attacked with a chemical weapon, the questions to the kremlin won't be going away. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. we can speak now to arkady 0strovsky, who's russia editorfor the economist. he has written books on the subject. thank you for your time this afternoon. the kremlin says there is no reason to blame the russian state. is that a case of they would say that, wouldn't they? yes, surprisingly. i'm surprised they are not saying, yes, of course we did this and we will take responsibility for it. it's exactly what you expect. the cover—up, the muddying the waters, the obstruction to
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alexei navalny at the request of his family to be taken to berlin, all this points out that the kremlin is at the very least complicit, very likely responsible. alexei navalny isa likely responsible. alexei navalny is a figure of enormous political importance. i would is a figure of enormous political importance. iwould be is a figure of enormous political importance. i would be very surprised if an attack like this was carried out without some form of approval if not an order from the very top of the russian government to. from vladimir putin? yes. anything less than that suggests that putin has lost control over his party since. this is a military grade nerve agent which only state structures have access to. it suggests that he had nothing —— michael suggesting that he had nothing to do with it would suggest to me that the state has lost a monopoly of its security agency. that would be very worrying, in a
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nuclear state. but i don't think it is the case. would there be any voices saying, if you kill alexei navalny, you turn him into a martyr? well, that's a very good point and that has been the kremlin's calculation for an number of years that alexei navalny has been active, that alexei navalny has been active, that he has managed to build up a very formidable political machine, a horizontal structure, despite the kremlin's ban for him to stand in the elections. despite the state monopoly on television, alexei navalny managed to circumvent all of those obstacles and still campaign and still cause very significant damage politically to the kremlin. nevertheless, the kremlin's calculations was exactly as you say, that it calculations was exactly as you say, thatitis calculations was exactly as you say, that it is simply too costly, it would turn him into at mandela figure. if you locked him up for a long time. it risks a really sort of
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enormous protest in russia. that calculation appears to have changed as the russian regime itself is undergoing a very serious change in its configuration. putin has changed the constitution to stay in power indefinitely. it is facing protest both in the west, in the belarus regime, which only two months ago seemed very unassailable, and of course there are protest in the russian far east which are in some ways echoes of a successful campaign that navalny managed to mount up in russian regions. the calculations have changed. the cost of incurring damage from navalny has gone up, and the russian regime might have decided, particular looking across the border in belarus, that it is better to decapitate any potential
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protest now than be faced with hundreds of thousands of people on the streets later. and so we ask, as we did for example after the salisbury poisonings in this country, what should the west be doing, what should international countries be doing? some pressure on germany right now. will there be any response from any western country that will bother the russian regime? well, the response has to be... it should not be a knee jerk reaction. i don't think for example stopping the gas pipeline is going to do it. it might be symbolic but it is a very different issue even at the height of the cold war, the soviet union continued to supply energy to the west. the war of afghanistan, the west. the war of afghanistan, the invasion of czechoslovakia. what i think is required after this really atrocious attack, the impact
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which we are able to comprehend that michael still to comprehend both in russia's of huge and international security, what i think a very, has everything of policy for russia from the west, the us and europe. what that needs to address is something that needs to address is something that angela merkel started to explicitly mention in her statement yesterday, which is that the attack ona number yesterday, which is that the attack on a number two politician in russia, the abuse of human rights, intertwined, intimately intertwined with the issue of international security. navalny provided as an institution a certain check on the russian government. certain constraint. abuse of human rights in russia, attacks on critics and political opponents, it will make the international security much more
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fragile. a number of scenarios i can see. already alexander lukashenko his men back by moscow, that's the only reason he is still in power, let's be honest he is organising —— whether it is organising drills on the western border of poland, what if alexander lu kashenko, the western border of poland, what if alexander lukashenko, in a moment of desperation, lodged a provocative attack on belarus and then called in russia to provide defence and collective security arrangement. the democracy of human rights in russia and the issues of nuclear and military security and high security in the letter very closely linked. whatever policy emerges from this needs address that. very interesting to hear your perspective. thanks for your time. arkady 0strovsky, russia editorfor your time. arkady 0strovsky, russia editor for the economist. many thanks. much more in the next half
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hour but we will pause and take a look at the weather. all areas turning fresher, sweeping into the north of the uk. squeeze on the eisser by so it will be windy across northern areas. moving its way southwards. we lose the club from the south and east this evening. skies will be clearer. a fresher night than last night. as we head into friday, a bright start for many with some good spells of sunshine. lots of blustery showers across the north—west of the country, very windy in northern scotland. breezy for all with further rain turning into southern counties of england into the afternoon. some centring around and temperature lower. at the weekend, we will have a run of fairly fresh west or north—west winds. lots of sunshine around, but lots of fresh winds as well. we will have
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—— lots of showers, as well.
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hello. this is bbc news. the headlines: a violent sex offender has been convicted of murdering two women and hiding their bodies in a freezer at his east london flat. confusion about quarantine for travellers. airline bosses call for testing at airports, to prevent what they say will be the death of the industry. coronavirus testing is working well, says the health secretary, despite some people with symptoms travelling more than 100 miles to get a test. nicola sturgeon has said latest official data suggests that coronavirus is spreading again in scotland. the bodies of five children have been found in a town in germany, according to police. russia rejects calls for an investigation, after germany says the opposition leader alexei navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent.
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sport, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's jon watson. good afternoon. there's been a 42% rise in reports of discrimination in english football over the past year. the report out by the equality and inclusion charity kick it out found racial and homophobic abuse has also increased as has abuse across social platforms. there were a total of 4116 reports of discrimination in the professional game, compared to 313 last year. racial abuse is up by 53% from 184 incidents to 282. and there's been a 95% rise in reports of abuse based on sexual orientation. at grassroots level while overall figures fell from 113 to 94. however, there were no matches
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from march due to the pandemic, so comparing the season until then saw an 11% rise. two cambridge united home games will host a reduced number of fans next week as part of the government's test events to allow supporters back in to sporting events. the efl trophy match at the abbey stadium with fulham under—21s on tuesday and the league two game with carlisle next saturday will both have spectators present, with 1,000 fans allowed in for the trophy tie and 2,500 for the league game. it's a big night in the nations league as the republic of ireland take on bulgaria in new boss stephen kenny's first match in charge, while wales play their first game since november last year as they take on finland. it'll be a chance for gareth bale to take to the field, something he's not done since 24june at real madrid. the forward says he's been denied moves away from the spanish club and seems to be happy to be
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on international duty. i always feel comfortable here. you feel loved, you feel wanted. so, as i said, it's great to be back. we haven't had too much training, we've been in the off—season and that, we're coming back, everyone's probably a little bit not match—fit. but, yeah, we've prepared as much as we can in the last few days. lionel messi's father has met with barcelona officials after declaring it would be difficult for his son to remain with the club. jorge, who acts as his son's agent, landed from argentina ahead of talks with presidentjosep bartomeu in a bid to resolve the stalemate between player and club, with barcelona demanding his £623 million relase clause is met. messi's team believe theres a contract loophole allowing him to leave for free. yorkshire say they're in contact with the former england youth captain azeem rafiq — who claimed institutional racism at the club left him close
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to committing suicide. the spin bowler said that as a muslim he felt he was made to feel like an outsider and that he dreaded going to work. rafiq alleges the problem of racism at the club is as bad as ever. the club say their equality and diversity committee chair — hanif malik — is working with rafiq. ahead of the start of their t20 series against australia tomorrow, england captain eoin morgan has been talking about the story. it is surprising to see stories like that come out. we are quite outspoken when it comes to things like that. we have had victims of abuse. we are the headline act when it comes to cricket at home. we need to be better at talking people through our particular journey. to be better at talking people through our particularjourney. and that it's ok to speak up and report things when things happen. and it's not ok to be a victim. claire williams will leave her role
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as the deputy team principal of the williams formula one team after this weekend's italian grand prix. it means the williams family will leave the team founded by her father sir frank more than 40 years ago. it follows the sale of the outfit to a us investment group, dorilton capital last month after several difficult seasons. the team enjoyed huge success in the 1980's and 90's winning nine constructors championships and seven driver's titles. you can find more on all those stories — plus live coverage from stage six of the tour de france — on the bbc sport website. britain's adam yates of course the overall leader. that is all from me. i will be back with an update later. thanks, john. millions of pupils have returned to the classroom in england and wales for the first time since lockdown in march. much about the school day
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has changed since then, with measures introduced to keep children and teachers safe. for pupils starting secondary school, there are new rules to be learned as well as new friends to be made. geeta pendse reports. good morning, how are you doing? it is their first day back, but for these year sevens, it's also their first day at secondary school. and with so many safety changes too, there are mixed feelings. it was a bit of a stretch waking up early to go to school. i've been feeling excited to come back to school because we have been off for so long. i'm a bit nervous, but i'm not as nervous, because i'm doing it with everyone else. it's been six weeks and i'm actually really nervous. you are going to have a proper tour, not a virtual tour, a proper tour of the school. year seven are the first to return to stjohn talbot‘s with the full school back by friday. arrivals are staggered, with form groups led in one at a time. all the form groups are now in their classrooms, they've all hand sanitised on the way in, and they are being shown a video which they would not
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normally do which is all about health and safety measures. you know, where they can go, the one—way system. and they have also got a planner which again they wouldn't normally get but this time it includes lots of information on health and safety, so there is a lot to take in. a tape marks where the teacher can stand to observe social distancing, with each year forming a bubble and moving from one class to the next at the same time. the school advice here is to wear masks in corridors and communal spaces indoors, and most seem to be. with so much to take in, the first break time is a chance to relax. it is actually going really well. the teacher's really, really friendly and i'm with most of my friends, so it's really comfortable and i've settled in really well. actually, i'm feeling pretty happy. i'm glad to be back, to be honest with you. it is quite isolating to be at home. and teaching online is really not
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the same as having the children. a recent survey suggests children in england are three months behind in their studies, so catching up is key. it is something the new head here is aware of. over time, in this term, we are confident that what will go on in the classroom will help to identify where there may be students who have fallen behind, and then where we need to we will put the plans in place, either through the classroom or beyond the classroom, where needed. back in class and the last subject is maths, so is it ten out of ten for school? it's been really fun, like, meeting new teachers and everyone and making new friends. i'm excited to go back home and then i'm actually really sad because i have really enjoyed it today. what's changed is i have actually got to know people very well and i feel so much better. i have no nerves, they have all gone. right this way, please. that is the first day done, just the rest of the year to go now. geeta pendse, bbc news, whitchurch.
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a new case outlining allegations of police violence has emerged in the united states. camera footage obtained from police in new york state shows an unarmed black man being hooded by officers and held down with his face to the road for two minutes. 41—year—old daniel prude was suffering from mental health problems when his family called the police for help in march. his brotherjoe spoke to the media on wednesday. i placed a phone call for my brother to get help. not for my brother to get lynched. you're here to protect and serve. but you're basically here to protect and lynch. cbs correspondent laura podesta in new york explained what's known about the case. yes, another case that is causing outrage, this one in the rochester, new york community, a bit further north from where i'm standing in new york city.
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as you mentioned, it happened back in march but body camera footage was just released which shows this man, daniel prude, being held down by rochester police face down, with a spit hood over his head. a spit hood is like a mesh bag, and it was being used on him because this was while coronavirus was ramping up. and there are reports that daniel prude told officers he had coronavirus, so they put the spit hood on him as a precaution so that they wouldn't get his saliva on him and perhaps contract the coronavirus. but daniel prdue was held down for over two minutes facedown. he became unconscious and was taken to hospital and died seven days later after being ta ken off life support. so now there is an internal investigation of the police officers involved. we're told they are still on the force. they have not been suspended orfired.
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this is in contrast to the george floyd case in minneapolis this that you will remember back on memorial day in may. those officers have been either suspended or fired, and are facing charges now. a ship with more than 40 crew on board and which was carrying nearly 6,000 cattle has gone missing off the coast of japan. coastguards have rescued just one seaman, who was found drifting in rough waters. the freighter, which was on its way from new zealand to china, sent out a distress signal late last night. the bbc‘s shaimaa khalil says the rescued crew member has been giving details of what happened. we are getting some more details now. we heard from serino edwards, the 45—year—old crewmember,
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chief officer, who was the only crewmember to be rescued from the ship. he spoke to the japanese coast guard after he was rescued he said that one of the ship's engines had failed before the ship hit a wave and capsized and that he and other crewmembers were directed to wear life vests, and jump off into the water. but he said he didn't see any other crewmembers. the search continues for the other crew members. we know that the ship was headed from new zealand to china, it was due in china by next friday, but overnight on wednesday it sent out this distress signal. the japanese coast guard has told the bbc that the search continues,
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they are using five planes, they are using three patrol ships, but they are working in extremely difficult conditions because of the typhoon. the online retailer amazon says it's going to create another 7,000 permanentjobs in the uk this year, to meet growing demand. the figure is on top of 3,000 positions already announced this year. it will take the company's total uk workforce to more than 40,000. despite a recent rise in house prices, mortgage providers are cutting the number of low—deposit deals because of the economic fall—out from coronavirus. lenders are setting stricter conditions fearing defaults. some have already said they would not currently consider applications from people on furlough and who did not have a return to work date. pharmaceutical firms gsk and sanofi have announced they are starting clinical trials for a coronavirus vaccine in the coming weeks. the two firms say they plan to test
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440 adults at 11 sites in the united states, with initial results by december. there are now around 20 pharmaceutical companies holding clinical trials in the race to find a vaccine. let's speak now to dr muhammed munir, who has been leading the team at lancaster university that is dedicated to developing a covid—19 vaccine. a very good afternoon to you, sir. good afternoon. quite a number of clinical trials getting under way. what is the situation with your team at your university? at lancaster university, we are developing a vaccine which can be administered nasally, one of very few. we believe if we can protect our respiratory system, we will be in a better
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position to protect us. this is cheap to produce, it can be produced as cheap as chips, however the process is not as fast as we anticipated because of lack of funds. we are doing well animal trial using antibodies. give us a sense of the scale of your trial at the moment. how many people have been working on it for how long? give viewers a sense of this. yes, so our give viewers a sense of this. yes, so our vaccine is not in human trial yet, so what we are testing is the first stage, the development phase in the laboratory. we developed the construct where we took the antigens and high—resolution data and put it into one of the vectors that cause disease in poultry, but is very inert and high immune responses in
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humans. so we put the antigen into the virus and after that development we took it to animals where we have seen a we took it to animals where we have seen a strong production of antibody and cellular responses. both are important to protect against infection. but we are not yet into the humans, that will be the next stage. and the fact there are attem pts stage. and the fact there are attempts going on amongst various teams, in various countries. is that helpful, that sort of level of professional competition, does that spur the team is on? i professional competition, does that spurthe team is on? i mean, is there any sharing of knowledge and data or is this literally a race to be the first people to find something that can help the populations? well, one thing is true that there is competition and
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collaboration. we help each other really to drive the vaccine development. it is a multi—disciplinary action, not only... there is a great level of collaboration ongoing but still there are always rooms for improvement. from the beginning, we wa nt to improvement. from the beginning, we want to ensure we have a vaccine in time. five year time has been compressed in less than a year. we have never seen compressed in less than a year. we have never seen a compressed in less than a year. we have never seen a vaccine going into phase three trial and that would not have been possible without collaborative efforts from the scientific community. so that's one positive to take. i'm quite sure everybody you talked about this says
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to you how long, what sort of date and time scale are you putting on it? presumably from everything you say, there can't be any chance of getting anything this year, can there? it is certainly possible to have a vaccine approved this year. we have nine vaccines in phase three trials and those are being tested in multiple sites around the world. the infections are very high and that is the most critical factor in compressing time in phase three. so if everything goes as well as planned, then hopefully by november we will have conclusive data on a couple of vaccine candidates and we're couple of vaccine candidates and we' re really couple of vaccine candidates and we're really looking forward that at least one two would be safe enough to be exposed to regulatory bodies
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by the end of this year. so we would hope to be rolling out before easter. we will talk again, i'm sure. for now, thank you for your time. just to bring you news coming in from southwark crown court in the last few moments. sentence has been handed down to zahid younis. the man, a convicted violent sex offender who has this afternoon been convicted of the murder of two women. zahid younis given a life sentence with a minimum term of 38 yea rs. sentence with a minimum term of 38 years. a minimum term of 38 years. he is 36 years old, so he will be well into his 70s before he can be considered for parole. in fact, in the last few moments the judge passing sentence has said you have no remorse and you may never be released. hearing that zahid younis
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refused to return to the courtroom to hear that sentence handed down. he stayed in the cells downstairs at southwark crown court. he refused to return to the courtroom to hear the life sentence handed down with a minimum of 38 years. the judge describing his and arch deceiver who spent a lifetime destroying lives. thejudge said, you have murdered two beautiful and creative women who fell into your orbit when they were ata fell into your orbit when they were at a low ebb. zahid younis sentenced to life with a minimum term of 38 yea rs. to life with a minimum term of 38 years. he murdered two women in their 30s. 0ne years. he murdered two women in their 30s. one had three children. their bodies were found in a freezer in his flat in east london. many people who work in drug rehabilitation in scotland are in favour of legal consumption
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facilities — spaces where users can inject safely under supervision. one was proposed for glasgow three years ago, but it was blocked by the uk government. now, a former addict has taken matters into his own hands to try to force a change in the law. chris clements reports. peter krykant is a heroin addict who has been in recovery for 20 years. until recently, he worked for a charity tackling addiction. now, he is preparing this van to take it onto the streets of glasgow to be a place where addicts can come to inject drugs. we say in scotland we are treating drug addiction as a health problem, we say it is a public health emergency. four people a day are currently, on average, dying every single day in this country directly from a drug overdose. this city has suffered the worst outbreak of hiv the uk has seen for 30 years. users are injecting in lanes and doorways, under bridges, in the filthiest of conditions.
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three years ago, the city tried to open a facility where addicts could take drugs under supervision to prevent overdoses, to give them access to services. despite support from the scottish government, the idea was rejected by the uk government which controls drug policy. tired of waiting, peter says he has decided to act. 0n the streets of glasgow, he engages with local users. claire comes to visit the van, she has been sleeping rough in glasgow for one year and using drugs forfive. the places i've been to in glasgow, you wouldn't even think it. you go in and it'sjust disgusting, thoroughly disgusting. i have been there with somebody who has had an overdose, yes. it is scary. despite his claims the van is a safe alternative for people like claire, it won't have the ability to test the drugs users are bringing. is it not the case that you are creating a place where somebody can engage in harmful
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behaviour and criminal behaviour? i completely accept the fact that i am essentially breaking the law, however, the law dates back to an act from 1971 which is outdated. ultimately, if we have one of these establishments running with all the services that need to be involved, that is where we can engage people. in order for a change to happen, sometimes we need to disobey unjust laws. the home office told us it has no plans to change its policy on drug consumption facilities. anyone running one would be committing a range of offences, and that it supports an evidence—based approach to reducing drug related harm. legal drug consumption facilities have been hailed as life—saving in other countries, but is this really the answer for a city and a country facing yet another record year for drug deaths? chris clements, bbc news, glasgow. the organisers of the london marathon have released more details about this year's race, which will be held next month
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after being postponed from april. around 80 elite competitors will take part — and are preparing by living in a bio—secure bubble. joe wilson has been speaking to the marathon's director. follow these footsteps. 19 laps of saintjames's park, this year's marathon — very different, but, look, still london. couldn't get more iconic in terms of where we are, but it is a quick course. this was one of the courses and we were part of the organisation team that put on the ineos 1:59 challenge where eliud kipchoge, who will be coming here on the 4th of october, the first man ever to run under two hours for a marathon, and this is one of the courses we looked at. it isn't as quick as vienna. are you telling me it is going to be a 1:59 london marathon? i'm not telling you it is 1:59, i am telling you it is a quick course.
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before the competitors get to the race itself, they are going to be staying in a hotel at a secret location with its own grounds where they can prepare and where they can be tested. it will be their own bio—secure bubble. just to clarify, if there is a positive test before a competitor comes from east africa, for example, they don't get on the plane? correct. if there is a positive test once they get here, what happens then? they get sent back. they get sent back so there is no chance of competing. absolutely. if they get a positive test on the friday, two days beforehand, they also cannot compete. now, st james's park, right in the heart of london,
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