this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak 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 9000 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. injerusalem, the volunteers who've recovered from covid and are now heading back in to hospital to help others do the same. also in the news, a seniorfigure in the belarussian opposition takes refuge in poland, saying she's been forced to choose betweenjail and exile.

80 arrests are made as the uk prime minister condemns the actions of environmental activists who've targeted the media over the reporting of climate change. 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, and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. 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 4 million cases, making it the third country in the world to pass that mark following the united states and brazil. in europe, france registered 8975 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, the highest in england. 0ur correspondent richard galpin reports. the new university year is approaching for students here in leeds, but the movement of thousands of students to universities could lead to a surge of coronavirus cases,

and while a coronavirus infection has little impact on the young, they can then spread the virus to other people. i'm a bit worried about the population, that they might bring something with them cos they're from all over the uk and america and things, and we don't know if they're carrying it. 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's likely there will be significant outbreaks. this is indeed a critical moment. we are now seeing actually the highest numbers of infections, or at least detected infections, in younger people. and the universities are having to put in place to make sure they've got testing capacity and also thinking about how they teach their students. leeds is already on the government's

watchlist of areas of concern and officials here are worried young people are becoming complacent. 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 going out from us to avoid having further restrictions put on us. the watchlist of hotspots like leeds is growing. south tyneside, middlesbrough, rossendale, corby, kettering and norfolk are also all now on the list after increases in cases. and this evening, bolton has announced a further tightening of restrictions. people here being asked to avoid mixing with other households and only use public transport if essential, because, the council says, its infection rate is the highest in england. back in leeds, another busy day at flamingo's coffee house. social distancing vital, but the owner says people are still ignoring the rules.

99% of people want to do the right thing. 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 infection rates will not come down. 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 rate of testing has shot up massively in france, so that means that a lot of people who maybe are not exhibiting symptoms are showing up as positive. so, we're getting a better idea of the real situation, if you like, but undoubtedly the infection rates have also risen. so, it is a worrying new record because what we're seeing is this is almost 9000 daily new infections in the 2a hours between

thursday and friday. now, if you compare that to the figures of the pandemic at the end of march, there we were talking daily infections about 7500. this is 1500 higher than the height of the pandemic when france was seeing one of the severest lockdowns of any country at all, so it's a very worrying sign. as you say, it's partly because of more testing, but it's also because these 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 that 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. dr ramanan laxminarayan is director

of the centre for disease dynamics, economics & policy in delhi and has been monitoring how the virus has been spreading around the country. so, the first set of cases were mostly in urban areas. that's where people are living cheek by jowl and things transmit really 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 health care facilities are poor, testing facilities are not great and therefore for a while it is going to be a largely invisible epidemic in rural india. but it will show up in the form of hospitalisations when these are possible and obviously a very large caseload as well. to america, and president trump is facing a backlash over reports he mocked american soldiers killed in action. mr trump has decribed the journalist from the atlantic magazine who broke the story as slimeball.

he 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. the president visited an american cemetery during a visit to france in 2018 to mark the centenary of the end of world war i. 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 1800 marines who died in the battle of belleau wood as "suckers" for getting killed. 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 i just 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 candidate joe 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 do the job of president, to be 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 for former vice presidentjoe biden in the upcoming november election. joining us from new york isjeremy butler, who left active duty in 2005 as a lieutenant with the us navy. he is still in the naval reserve and also runs the iraq—afghanistan veterans of america, a nonprofit organisation for vetera ns' support. thank you forjoining us. just that last point about the slight switch and support towards the democratic side. just how significant is that and why does this matter? thank you. first of all i would like to say thank you for having me on the show and sorry to be here to talk about this because we did not want to be having these kind of conversations either internally or internationally

here. but it is really hard to tell. that has been i think the most amazing thing from president tromp‘s time in office is that he says things that in any other time for any other candidate or any other politician would have been a career enter. we have seen that certainly if he is talked about the... jeremy, i don't know if we can sort out your link. we have got you back. carry on. sorry. it is hard to tell what outcome this is going to have because so many of the comments he is made in the past that had been actually on tape really have not move the needle. these are alleged comments, so it will be testing to see if these really stick or if they are something his supporters just pass off as fake news. how is this being received? pass off as fake news. how is this being received 7 yes, pass off as fake news. how is this being received? yes, they are alleging comments we have heard him make comments on tape, on camera about mrjohn mccain. how are they

being received in the military world and active and the veterans as well? i think these really are hitting with a much heavier impact even in the comments about senator mccain. first this comments back during the last campaign, i think they hit really heavily but then we u nfortu nately have really heavily but then we unfortunately have gotten used to some of these comments about the vetera ns. some of these comments about the veterans. these however really are at any level that i think really are kind of hitting in a very strong way. the unfortunate thing is they are ticking away from the conversation that the military and vetera n conversation that the military and veteran immunity wants to have which are about the issues that are affecting us and continue to. everything from suicide in the military and veteran community, dealing with the effects of toxic exposure that veterans have dealt with overseas and just so many other things we were the focus on but these are an unfortunate distraction. we have yet to hear from john kelly orjim matus. do you expect and despicable in this matter? would you like them to?|j don't think we will hear from them. i think they have tried to make a

point of being silent at all times so point of being silent at all times so that when you get something that is as commercial as this, they are not breaking ranks with what they have done in the past. i think they wa nt to have done in the past. i think they want to keep what they discussed with the president when they were in the administration as something that stays between them there because to do otherwise... 0k, lieutenant jerry butler, unfortunately just lost the end of your conversation there but thank you very much forjoining us. thank you. 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 belarussian 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

tsikhanovskaya travelled to lithuania immediately after the poll, which is widely believed to have been rigged. speaking alongside the polish prime minister in warsaw, ms kovalkova condemned her treatment. translation: i consider everything that's 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 in my cell, 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 service has been following developments including today's protests in minsk. 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 students detained in minsk. and there are also reports that the chief executive officers of an it company are being arrested today. and that's one of the companies which first of all supported the opposition and that's one of the companies which publicly declared that 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 already has become usual, for sunday, for 2pm local time, there is a huge — the opposition, of course, hopes it will be auge — a huge protest rally in minsk is planned. 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. 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. 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're here because we feel the british media and political establishment have been complacent about the most existential threat britain has ever faced. newspaper editors described the actions as an outrageous attempt to gag the press. the actions of these protesters are so absurd. 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've done here.

this is the fifth day of protests by the environmental campaign group. on tuesday, perhaps 3000 activists congregated outside parliament, blocking the roads. amongst them, the former archbishop of canterbury, rowan williams.