this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. our top story: the global struggle to stem the rise of coronavirus infections. france confirmed nearly 9,000 cases on friday — 15% more than the previous record, set in march. in the uk — a warning that the country is at ‘a critical moment‘ in the pandemic — as students prepare to return to universities. also in the news: a senior figure in the belarusian opposition takes refuge in poland — saying she's been forced to choose betweenjail and exile. the uk prime minister criticises protests by environmental campaigners, targeting three printing presses owned by rupert murdoch. and we need to act now or over 500 species of mammals wll die out by the end of this century — that's the stark warning from new research.

hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world 7 and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. welcome, i'm philippa thomas. we start with the coronavirus pandemic, which at a time when school pupils and university students are returning to their places of study around the world, is regaining momentum. india has seen more than four million cases — making it the third country in the world to pass that mark, following the united states and brazil. in europe, france registered 8,975 cases in the 2a hours to friday — its highest daily infection rate for covid—i9 since the start of the pandemic.

in the uk, new lockdown measures have been introduced in bolton in greater manchester after the infection rate rose to 99 cases per 100,000 people per week, the highest in england. and another northern city — leeds — was added to the public health england ‘areas of concern‘. 0ur correspondent richard galpin reports. the new university year is approaching for students here in leeds. but it is feared the movement of thousands of students to universities could lead to a surge of coronavirus cases. the virus has much less impact on the young, but they can spread it to other people. i‘m a bit worried about the population, that they might bring something with them because they‘re from all over the uk and america and things, and we don‘t know if they‘re carrying it, so i feel like they need to be tested before they can be allowed back in universities. as long as i limit my interaction and use my mask and stuff,

i'm not really that concerned about spreading it to anyone else. but experts believe it is likely there will be significant outbreaks. this is indeed a critical moment. we are seeing the highest numbers of infections, or at least detected infections, in younger people. universities are having to put in place important measures to make sure they have testing capacity and also thinking about how they teach their students. leeds is already being seen as a coronavirus hotspot. it‘s now been added to the watchlist of areas of concern. 0fficials here are urging young people to take responsibility for controlling the spread of the virus. whereas we were focusing more on specific communities at the beginning, it‘s now clear that the pattern is changing, and a very strong message from us to avoid having further restrictions put on us.

the watchlist of hotspots is growing. south tyneside, middlesbrough, rossendale, corby, kettering and norfolk are also now on the list after increases in cases. it is another busy day here at the flamingo‘s coffee house in leeds. social distancing, as in all cafes, pubs and restaurants is vital. but the owner here says there are still people who ignore it. 99% of people want to do the right thing and they want to follow the rules and keep everyone safe. people are getting fatigued from coronavirus, everyone, me included, we slip up a bit, it's hard to keep everything going, and also there are some people that don't want to socially distance. and as long as that continues, then leeds like other affected cities and towns will not be rid of the virus. richard galpin, bbc news.

more now on france‘s highest daily infection rate since the start of the pandemic. 0ur europe correspondent damien mcguinness is following the story. the break of testing has shot up massively in france so a lot of people are maybe not exhibiting symptoms that are showing up as positive so we are getting a better idea of the real situation but undoubtedly the infection breaks have also risen so it is a worrying new record because what we are seeing is this is almost 9000 daily new infections. in the 24—hour is between thursday and friday. if you compare that to the figures at the height of the pandemic at the beginning of march, there, daily infections were about 7500. this is 1500 higher than at the height of the pandemic when france was seeing one of the severest lockdown is of

any country at all so it is a very worrying sign. it is partly because of more testing but also because the lockdown measures have eased up so people have got more contacts with each other, people are going back to work, people have also gone back to school this week, as a result of certain outbreaks dozens of schools have had to close down. but because life is getting back to normal, it does mean infection rates are rising. and more on india, which has become the third country globally to confirm a total of more than 4 million cases. the centre for disease dynamics, economics & policy in delhi has been monitoring how the virus has been spreading around the country. the first cases were mostly in urban areas where people are living cheek byjowl and things transmit quickly, but over a period of time the disease has also spread to rural areas, and you have to remember that most of india lives in rural areas where healthcare facilities are poor, testing facilities are not great and for a while it is going to be an unsustainable epidemic in rural india but it will show up

in the form of hospitalisations where these are possible and obviously a very large caseload as well. a leading opposition activist in belarus has arrived in the polish capital warsaw after fleeing the country. 0lga kovalkova recently spent ten days in jail. she‘s a seniorfigure in the belarusian opposition coordination council. she says she was told by the authorities that she would face further arrest if she didn‘t leave the country. she‘s not the first opposition figure to flee belarus following last month‘s disputed presidential election. 0pposition leader svetla na tikhanovskaya travelled to lithuania immediately after the poll, which is widely believed to have been rigged. peaking alongside the polish prime minister in warsaw, ms kovalkova condemned her treatment. translation: i consider everything that happened to me in recent weeks

to be torture. i received threats that i would be jailed for a very long time. when i fell ill, it wasn‘t doctors who came but representatives of the authorities, they suggested that i leave the country, otherwise i would stay in prison for a very long time. yuri vendik from the bbc russian has been following developments including today‘s protests. most of them, as far as we can understand, most of them went peacefully. even though we do have reports of several people detained in particular several student detained in minsk, and there are also reports that the chief executive officer of an it company has been arrested today, that is why the companies which first of all supported the opposition and it is one of the companies which publicly declared they are considering moving out of the country after that

crackdown on the opposition. but the main events in terms of the protests are of course planned for tomorrow. as usual, for sunday at two o‘clock local time, there is a huge, the opposition of course hopes, it will bea opposition of course hopes, it will be a huge rally in minsk. the russian authorities will be watching this with interest on their doorstep, what you make of the apparent role that russia is playing? it is very interesting, actually. it looks like russia is playing a fairly balanced game in this case. 0n the one hand, they explicitly support lu kashenko, this case. 0n the one hand, they explicitly support lukashenko, and president putin has said they are ready to support lukashenko even with manpower, meaning sending police or even troops into

deliveries if needed. 0n the other hand, let me remind you that the leader of the opposition made a video statement in the united nations security council and some of the observers say that wouldn‘t be possible without the consensus of the permanent members of the security council, including russia. at least russia did not object that. so it seems that russia is playing both sides to some extent, probably,. whoever comes to power, if lukashenko was to be overthrown, whoever comes to power, it may not be an anti—russian. the uk prime minister, boris johnson, has condemned environmental activists for preventing the delivery of millions of newspapers on saturday morning. extinction rebellion targeted newspaper printing presses in england and scotland accusing the media of failing to report climate change. the metropolitan police say they‘ve arrested 600 people during a wave of protests in recent days.

0ur chief environment correspondent justin rowlatt reports. what a turnout! it was late last night when vans containing dozens of extinction rebellion protesters blocked the entrances to three printing presses owned by rupert murdoch‘s news corp. some demonstrators locked themselves into elaborate bamboo structures, others chained themselves together. as well as this plant in hertfordshire, activists targeted presses in merseyside and in north lanarkshire. the protest meant delays delivering millions of newspapers this morning, including the sun, the times, the daily mail and the daily telegraph. we are here because we feel the british media and political establishment have been complacent about the most existential threat britain has ever faced. 72 people were arrested as police cleared the roads. newspaper editors described the actions as an outrageous

attempt to gag the press. the actions of these protesters are so absurd that it would be considered laughable if it wasn't so serious. they need a good lesson in history and how the world works to understand, and one presumes they don't understand, that these are the actions of totalitarian dictators and authorities throughout the world and history — shut down the message, attack a free press, which is exactly what they have done here. this is the fifth day of protests by the environmental campaign group. on tuesday, perhaps 3,000 activists congregated outside parliament, blocking the roads, amongst them the former archbishop of canterbury, rowan williams. the police have begun to come into the crowd here at parliament square and arrest protesters. extinction rebellion says five more days of actions are planned. activists say targets will include fossilfuel companies, the fast fashion industry and government, so expect more disruption. justin rowlatt, bbc news, london.

the headlines on bbc news: a warning that the world is at critical moment in the coronavirus pandemic. cases continue to soar as schools reopen and businesses prepare to bring back more workers. 0lga kovalkova — a senior member of the opposition council in belarus — has arrived in poland, saying she‘s been forced by authorities in minsk to leave the country. sport, let‘s get a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. here‘s good evening. serena williams is being given her toughest test yeat she‘s up against fellow american sloane stephens. williams lost the first set 6—2 against the 2017 champion, but williams, who has won six times in new york, responded to level

the third round match, winning the second by the same scoreline. and then shejust and then she just ran away with it in the decider as well, so she is through to the last 16. remember, she is looking to equal margaret court‘s record of 2a singles grand slam titles, serena williams three. last year‘s runner—up daniil medvedev is yet to drop a set so far in the tournament. the russian came through against american jj wolf. lots more reaction to serena williams victory and the other results on the bbc sport website for you. lot‘s of football going on across europe, the uefa nations league. six results in so far. wins for north macedonia, georgia and gibraltar. there was drama in one of the elite groups as 10—man england beat iceland away with a late raheem sterling penalty. iceland missed an injury time penalty to equalise. also wins for luxembourg and montenegro. some good matches underway

at the moment, belgium beating denmark, portugal ahead against croatia and france are 1—0 up against sweden. mercedes domination in formula one shows no sign of waning. it was another 1—2 in qualifying as world champion lewis hamilton took pole from his teamate valterri bottas ahead of sunday‘s italian grand prix. hamilton also broke the lap record at monza. honestly, every weekend it is very humbling to see what we do as a team. you know, we keep going from strength to strength to strength. i‘m just so grateful and happy with my guys, they do an incredible job every weekend. great britain‘s adam yates has kept hold of the yellow jersey in the tour de france but stage 8 belonged to a frenchman. yates did well to stay in contention

as the tour hit the pyrenees, the first high mountain stage. nans peters claimed his first tour stage win — he was part of an early breakaway and held on. his compatriot, and one of the pre—race favourites, thibaut pinot is effectively out of contention. he was dropped on the second climb of the day. no frenchman has won the race since 1985. britain‘s georgia taylor—brown has become world triathlon champion for the first time. taylor—brown broke clear from compatriotjess learmonth and bermuda‘s flora duffy early in the run section. she gradually extended her advantage to win by nine seconds from duffy with germany‘s laura lindemann third in hamburg. in the men‘s race, france‘s vincent luis defended the title he won for the first time last year. the champion is usually crowned after a series of races across the year, but because of the pandemic it was decided that the 2020 men‘s and women‘s titles would be decided at a one—off event. five—time ashes winner ian bell is going to retire from cricket. he won 118 test caps for england, scoring over 7,000 runs.

the 38—year—old has spent his entire career with warwickshire and will call it a day at the end of the domestic season. it's it‘s obviously a difficult decision to make. it is a career and i suppose a job that i have absolutely loved to pieces, all i wanted to do was play cricket for a living so i suppose it is the end of a chapter and moving on. but honestly thinking with myself and talking to people around me, it felt like the right thing to do. i said i wanted to be able to play or i believed i wanted to play at a level and i think physically now with the injuries, thatis physically now with the injuries, that is not possible. that‘s all the sport for now. president trump is facing a backlash over reports he mocked american soldiers killed in action. mr trump has strongly denied the accusations which emerged on thursday, but the row doesn‘t seem to be dissipating, with some

veterans and relatives condemning the president. mr trump visited an american cemetery during a visit to france in 2018, to mark the centenary of the end of world war one. but he cancelled a visit to a different cemetery on the same trip. the atlantic magazine alleges that he said, he didn‘t want to go because it was "filled with losers". the publication also says mr trump described the one thousand eight hundred marines who died in the battle of belleau wood as suckers forgetting killed. in the battle of belleau wood here‘s what mr trump had to say about the claims. to think that i would make statements negative to our military and our fallen heroes, when nobody‘s done what i‘ve done with the budgets, with the military budgets, with getting pay raises for our military — it is a disgraceful situation by a magazine that‘s a terrible magazine, i don‘t read it, but ijust heard about it. they made it up, and probably it‘s a couple of people that have been failures in the administration that i got rid of, and i couldn‘t get rid

of them fast enough. democratic presidential candidatejoe biden gave this response to mr trump‘s alleged remarks. if what is written in the atlantic is true, it‘s disgusting, and it affirms what most of us believe to be true — that donald trump is not fit to be in the job of president, to be the commander—in—chief. my son volunteered and joined the united states military as the attorney general, he went to iraq for a year, won the bronze star and other commendations — he wasn‘t a sucker. the servicemen and women he served with, particularly those who did not come home, were not losers. well, this controversy comes as a recent poll shows a continued decline in active—duty service members views of president trump and a slight preference forjoe biden in the upcoming november election.

leo shane iii is the deputy editor of military times which conducted the us troops poll. he explained the significance of the results. this is a part of some of our readers who are active service members, little bit older and more career orientated than the entire military force but it shows a good snapshot of a section of the us military and it shows evidence that the republican party claims that the military is also them isn‘t quite true. the troops opinions of pedis —— president trump have declined over the last four years and there is some feeling that he is not doing a good job as president. we asked a whole bunch of policy questions as well and we saw a lot of divide between president trump on some of his issues and what military issues —— are supported. for example, the

military was suggested to quell the protests a nd military was suggested to quell the protests and they were against that. they opposed his plans to reduce number of troops in germany. they opposed plans to rename