this is bbc news. the headlines at 4pm... a man has been killed and seven are injured in stabbings in birmingham overnight — police declare a "major incident" but rule out terrorism. there's absolutely no suggestion at all that this is terror related. this is being treated as a homicide being investigated by west midlands police. the stabbings occured at several different locations over a period of two hours last night. police are still looking for a male suspect — an eyewitness describes what he saw. the police were reacting straightaway. they came here within seconds. obviously, nobody chased him because, by the time the police were there, the guy was already at the bottom of hurst street. tougher coronavirus restrictions have come into force in bolton, the area which now has the highest

infection rate in england. foreign secretary, dominic raab, says this week is "the moment of reckoning", as the uk tries to strike a trade deal with the european union. england start well in the second t20 game against australia — they are chasing a total of 158 to win the match and the series. and coming up... dateline: london brings together leading commentators and correspondents to talk about the week's biggest stories. that's in half an hour on bbc news. hello, and welcome. a police manhunt is under way

following the series of stabbings in birmingham city centre in which one man was killed and seven other people injured. west midlands police declared a major incident after officers were called to reports of a knife attack in the early hours of this morning, with further stabbings then reported. officers are treating the four incidents — in constitution hill, livery street, irving street and hurst street — as linked, with the suspect thought to have moved from north to south. police say there is "absolutely no suggestion" that the stabbings were "terror—related" and that the attacks appeared to be at "random". our correspondent, sian lloyd, sent this report from birmingham. a night of violence on the streets of birmingham. a man died, and seven other people were injured. two are critically injured in hospital. 1a abilities were called to four different locations in the heart of the city centre. we have launched a murder enquiry.

clearly, we're still in the early stages of that enquiry. but what i can say is that we are treating all four of those incidents as a linked series. four separate locations within a mile radius. the attacks took place as people left pubs and restaurants. this morning, forensic officers were coming at the pavements, gathering evidence that could help identify this attacker. police have confirmed that they are looking for one suspect, a man, in connection with all of these stabbings. at the moment, they have no idea where he is but they are asking for the public‘s help infinding him. as part of their efforts to identify the attacker, officers are trawling through cctv footage and appealing to anyone who saw what unfolded last night to get in touch. they believe this was a random attack with nothing obvious to link the victims.

i have been saying for some time, in the context of covid—19, that a lot of pent up feelings people have, not being able to get out, combine that with people who are now unsure about their future and theirjobs. it was almost inevitable that we would see a growth in violence. i'm not saying that this is directly related to that, but we are nevertheless seeing a growth in violence amongst younger people, particularly younger males, growing across the region. extra police are on patrol today. their message — that the city is still a safe place to visit. but last night people were terrified by what they saw. isaid, look, he's a stabbing the girl. no, he is robbing the girl. but he was stabbing her. because she screamed. it was very cold, and he wasn't even panting. he wasn't reacting or anything.

they lost him there. but before the lost him they spoke to him. the manager said i will never forget your face. and he says, whatever. many streets in the heart of birmingham remain cold and off. the next 2a hours will be crucial in the police investigation to identify and track down this killer. sian lloyd, bbc news, birmingham. our correspondent phil mackie is in birmingham. please note giving out much information, but you have a sense that they have a good idea of who they are looking for? yeah, i think they are looking for? yeah, i think they must have a sense of who they are looking for at the moment, simply because in the normal run of events, if they are looking for a particular suspect, and they say they have a cctv images, they might have released that to the media so we can share that, and also on social media, to try and track that person down. just to tell you where lam. this person down. just to tell you where i am. this is irving street. we think this is where the last attack took place. that blue tent up there

it marks the spot where the man died around 2am this morning. i was speaking to someone who stayed at in air b8b flat. he thought someone shouted, help me, in the street this morning. that's fits in with the sequence morning. that's fits in with the sequence of events, where they first attack took place across the city ce ntre attack took place across the city centre at about 12:30am. there were another attack on hurst street. the attacker must have come up this way, and that was the last victim of the night any one person who has died. of the seven other victims, two are ina of the seven other victims, two are in a critical condition and are still in hospital. we are for some updates later on. but also an update oi'i updates later on. but also an update on how they are doing in house hospital. a confusing situation for police last night as well. it seems that because so much of the city was

involved, there were other scuffles and brawls going on in different areas which perhaps confused eyewitnesses as well of what they we re eyewitnesses as well of what they were seeing? unfortunately, in the we st were seeing? unfortunately, in the west midlands, there have been a lot of people coming back out again and that has led to some low level disorder. there were some of that going on, particularly around hurst street last night, going on. they would have been some concern initially i am sure initially from the police that there was something more to this than a lone attacker, but by this morning they were clear in their minds that there was one person responsible for all of these incidents. working through the city ce ntre incidents. working through the city centre for an hour and a half. as we just heard that eyewitness day, quite casually walk up to people and stabbed them. leaving one person dead and other people in hospital. tougher coronavirus measures are being imposed in bolton

in greater manchester because of a rising number of cases. the infection rate is now the highest in england. the increase is being driven by a spike among younger people. simonjones has this report. "everyone in bolton must play their part". that's the plea from the local council as tighter restrictions are introduced. the infection rate has risen to 99 cases per 100,000 people per week, the highest in england, with people aged between 18 and 49 accounting for 90% of cases. residents are now being told to only use public transport for essential purposes and not to mix with other households in any setting — indoors and outdoors — unless part of a support bubble. although some restrictions are being lifted elsewhere, a ban on people from different households meeting indoors remains in most areas of greater manchester. the evidence suggests that it's still the home and gatherings in the home where we are seeing

the most community transmission. let's be honest — people behave differently in the home, it's not as regulated as a public space, and that's why the restrictions are still there. the aim is to avoid a more draconian local lockdown, like the one seen in leicester injune, but there is a growing list of coronavirus hot spots. in leeds, students are about to return to their studies, and officials are worried young people are becoming complacent. other areas added to public health england's watchlist are south tyneside, middlesbrough, corby and kettering. last week, restrictions on visiting other households were reintroduced in glasgow. extra testing is being promised in problem areas, but the think tank, the health foundation, is warning that the public don't think official coronavirus guidelines are clear enough, especially about who they can meet and where. simon jones, bbc news. 0ur correspondent, gerryjackson, is in bolton. can wejust can we just clear up about how many

cases they are per 100,000? we were reporting initiallyjust under a hundred, but is it higher than that now? there are some reports that it could be as high as 105 per 100,000 people, but nobody is sure of the exact figure. the official one was 99, that almost one in every thousand people in this borough a p pa re ntly thousand people in this borough apparently infected by covid. the restrictions due to be relaxed, that move was cancelled. extra measures directly now in place, and indeed the borough council has a team