a ban on gatherings of more than six people in england from next monday will stay in place for the forseeable future. it comes as rising numbers of new infections are blamed on people not following the guidance. the prime minister denies england's testing system is having problems. thanks to the heroic efforts of test and trace we have gone up to 320,000 tests a day... today. the government's side of the bargain was to deliver an effective test, trace and isolate scheme. but, two weeks into september, there is a glaring hole. out on patrol — as the police try and enforce the rules on social gatherings. we'll talk to our health editor about the testing row, and we'll be live at doncaster races where 3000 people are due to attend.

also this lunchtime... ministers publish new legislation on trade in the uk — which the government admits breaks international law. the man accused of stabbing jacob billington to death and attacking seven others in birmingham over the weekend makes his first appearance in court. the antarctic glacier the size of the uk and the discovery that explains why it's melting at an alarming rate. and coming up on bbc news, spectators back at the races. 3,500 people are expected at doncaster, despite new government rules against social gatherings. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in england from monday.

the measures follow a steep rise in coronavirus cases, with more than 8,000 people testing positive across the uk since sunday. the new law bans larger groups meeting anywhere socially — indoors or out. it won't apply to schools, workplaces or events such as weddings and funerals. 0rganised team sports will also be allowed. anyone breaching the rules could be fined £100, and up to £3,200 for repeat offences. scotland, wales and northern ireland are able to set their own coronavirus restrictions. some parts of the uk will continue to have tougher restrictions to tackle local outbreaks. here's our health correspondent, lauren moss. clamping correspondent, lauren moss. down again after a sl of clamping down again after a summer of looser restrictions. from monday and england following a surge in coronavirus cases, it will be against the law to meet in groups of more than six. anyone doing so will face a fine of £100. wash your

hands, cover your face, make face a fine of £100. wash your hands, coveryourface, make space. there will be more than 8000 new coronavirus cases gci’oss there will be more than 8000 new coronavirus cases across the uk since sunday and in a new campaign, the government says it is vital that eve ryo ne the government says it is vital that everyone follows the guidelines to stop its spread. there are a number of exemptions, for schools because we wa nt of exemptions, for schools because we want to protect education, for work, because workplaces have covid secure guidelines and for some very special events like weddings, funerals and christenings. tighter restrictions have been brought in in parts of northern england, western scotla nd parts of northern england, western scotland and then carefully, in wales. in bolton, which has the highest rate of new infections in england, 128 per 100,000 cases, hospitality venues are limited to ta keaways hospitality venues are limited to takeaways and must be closed between 10pm and 5pm. it will be ages before anything is back to normal. 10pm and 5pm. it will be ages before anything is back to normalli 10pm and 5pm. it will be ages before anything is back to normal. i get in pubs younger people when they go in,

there is more social distancing, but i wouldn't put the blame on younger people. it is not anyone's fort, is it? something has got to be done. we cannot keep going on like we have. we have hardly been anywhere for six months, havili? rules vary across the uk. in scotland up to 15 people from five different parcels can meet outside or eight people from three different hassles in sight. in wales, 30 outside, and four hassles can form wales, 30 outside, and four hassles canform an wales, 30 outside, and four hassles can form an extended household or bubble and in northern ireland, 15 people can meet outside, and six indoors. some have criticised the rules for being too confusing and experts say that it is important the guidelines are explained properly. what is very important in all of this is that we do understand, we do listen, because the last thing we wa nt to listen, because the last thing we want to do is create a blame game situation, and we all have a role to play. yesterday the director of england's test and trace programme apologise to anyone unable to get a test but the home secretary says a

quarter of those trying to are not actually ill. it was a subject of discussion in prime minister's questions. if you are saying there are too many people coming forward for tests, is it a capacity problem 01’ for tests, is it a capacity problem or not the? people are trying to do the right thing. they want to go back to work, we want children back in schools, we encourage and support that, but the government side of the bargain was to deliver an effective test, trace and isolate scheme, back two weeks into september there is a glaring hole. around 170,000 tests have been done every day, although the capacity is at least 250,000. mr speaker, it is a function of the growing demand, the growing public confidence in nhs test and trace that we have to supply more and more tests and that is what we have been doing. actually, thanks to the heroic efforts of nhs test and trace we have gone up 2000 tests a day in march up to 320,000 a day... today.

the prime minister, medical and science advisors will be at a press conference this afternoon. the guidelines will stay under constant review, as the country tries to keep a tight grip on the pandemic. lauren moss, bbc news. 0ur chief political correspondent, vicki young, is in westminster. a new message from the government and they are going into overdrive to get it across. there is no doubt they have been alarmed by the significant rise in cases in the past few days, but the nature of it, the fact that it is notjust in hotspots, if you like around england, it looks like more of a national surge, so that requires a different kind of response so, for the first time in a very long time, there is a more blanket response. what they are trying to do, because they acknowledge privately that there has been confusion, people simply do not know what the rules are any more, they want to simplify the message and make it easierfor

people to understand, but notjust that, it is about enforcement are putting this into law makes it easierfor the putting this into law makes it easier for the police to try to do something about it. they can see much more clearly those breaking the rules, and so fines can be issued. looking ahead to that conference, the first one that the prime minister will have held sincejuly, he will be flanked by the old team, by chris whitty and patrick vallance, and they will be explaining to people in quite a lot of detail what they think is going on with this virus. they have much more data than they did back in march. they want to explain that to people and from the prime minister, there will be some reassurance, but also saying to people, if you do not follow the rules, you know what is coming, they could be tighter restrictions. thank you, and sorry if you were upset by some of the language you heard in the background, there. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, is with me. are there problems with the testing

regime? some people have been going online, trying to book a test and been offered sites 100 miles away from their home or been told there is nothing available and they have to sit for hours on their computer trying to get something, but the government line last week when this first emerged when we reported it was that this was a small minority, and that everyone else was getting a test satisfactorily, but the fact that one of the senior executives running test and trace apologised on twitter yesterday and said there we re twitter yesterday and said there were capacity issues with laboratories, that's what she said was the problem, suggest there is quite a serious issue. the government says that demand has risen more rapidly than expected. they are bringing more capacity online and there is more testing in the uk than in some other major european health care systems, but, given the increase in cases we have been talking about, this is where you want the testing system to be working properly. a lot of

expectations on vaccine trials, and a pause in the one involving 0xford university. yes, they are partnership of the pharmaceutical company astrazeneca, they have paused it because of an adverse reaction amongst one of the participants in the trial. this does happen from time to time, if one of the people taking part develops an illness and they cannot immediately work out because of it, you do put a trial on hold, but this is obviously big news, because the world's attention is on these vaccine trials. this one is one of a couple of dozen which have shown serious potential, so any pause in that is going to cause a certain amount of discussion. the medical regulator in the uk will decide on the next few days, possibly, whether that pause must continue, or whether the trial can be restarted. hugh pym, thank you very much. downing street said police had asked for clearer rules on social distancing, and the power to enforce them. until now, officers haven't been able to stop gatherings

unless they exceeded 30. ministers say the rules are now ‘super simple' — and police will "rigorously" enforce them. 0ur correspondent, june kelly, has had exclusive access to one force as they try to ensure the rules are kept. how do you stop scenes like these? this was bristol last saturday night. around 100 young people gathered in a skate park, apparently in breach of the rules. the police watched on, the music was turned off. there were no fines issued here. the avon and somerset force says it engages with people and encourages them to disperse. these officers are part of a special operation set up by avon and somerset police to respond to covid breaches. yes, we've had multiple calls that there is a street party going on. last month alone 0peration hawthorn, as it's called, had 400 call—outs. and from next week, like all forces across england, the new restrictions will mean more

work for the avon and somerset team. the operation i am working on tonight, which is consisting of 18 pcs, three sergeants and an inspector, we don't want to go to a draconian position where we are not engaging with the public when we have the opportunity to do so. we need to act in a proportionate manner. proportionate policing in an urban and rural force area, which has seen countryside raves. they are already outlawed, with the threat of a £10,000 fine for the organisers. the government says the new lower six—person limit in england will make it easier for police to disperse illegal gatherings. but the police federation, which represents rank—and—file officers, says this latest change will simply add to the existing pressures on those on the front line. june kelly, bbc news, bristol. it's the opening day of the st leger meeting at doncaster — the first horse racing event with crowds since lockdown. but the decision to go ahead with the meeting has been controversial.

0ur sports correspondent, andy swiss, is there. some people are not happy at all. yes, simon, welcome to doncaster where the first race of the day is getting under way. this is the first time that fans have been allowed inside a racecourse since march. we are expecting around 2500 fans here today. they have been making their way into over the course of the morning, many wearing face mask and making use of hand sanitiser is available at entrances, but as you say, this has been controversial. yesterday the mayor of doncaster, rosjones, said yesterday the mayor of doncaster, ros jones, said she yesterday the mayor of doncaster, rosjones, said she didn't think it should be going ahead, add that in her opinion this was a major risk for doncaster and these latest restrictions will only raise more questions. in the short term, the big question here at doncaster is whether the thousands of fans supposed to be coming here over the

next few days will still be allowed in. in the longer term, what about the broader impact on sport in general? the premier league had been hoping to welcome back some fans from the start of october. is that still realistic? we have seen a number of pilot events like this over recent weeks. last night cambridge united hosted a football match with almost 1000 fans present. more pilot events have been planned over the forthcoming weeks, so sport will be waiting to hear what the government has to say, later on, simon. and you can watch that coronavirus briefing with the prime minister here on the bbc. that's at 3:45 on bbc 0ne — and available with british sign language on the bbc news channel. you can stay up to date with the coronavirus epidemic on our live page. there you can check the latest developments, see reaction as it happens and get instant analysis from our correspondents and experts. you can watch video clips and live coverage of events as they happen. visit bbc.co.uk/news or go

to the bbc news app. in the last few minutes, the government has published legislation on trade within the uk after the brexit transition period, which ministers have admitted will break international law. the internal market bill could over—ride parts of the divorce deal agreed with the eu about northern ireland. the european commission has called for an extraordinary meeting to discuss it. in a moment we'll talk to our correspondents in brussels and belfast, but first, jessica parker is in westminster. borisjohnson boris johnson telling borisjohnson telling prime minister's questions everyone should obey the law. question number one lobbed at the prime minister today at prime minister's questions, if the government is willing to break the government is willing to break the law, how can they expect the public to stick to new coronavirus rate legislations? borisjohnson apply, everyone must obey the law but that jar somewhat with what brandon lewis the northern ireland secretary said yesterday, that remarkable admission that legislation just published will break international law. what it

appears to say is that it will give ministers the power to the supply parts of the withdrawal agreement, the divorce settlement with the eu. ministers say that this is to clarify things, tie up loose ends and protect the internal market and peace in northern ireland but it has raised eyebrows amongst some conservative mps and cause anger elsewhere. the snp westminster leader ian blackford said it is an attack on the scottish parliament and accuse the prime minister of creating a rogue state. here was the reply from boris johnson. 0n the contrary, mr speaker, this uk internal market bill is about protecting jobs, protecting growth, ensuring the fluidity and safety of our uk internal market, and prosperity throughout the united kingdom, and it should be welcomed, i believe, in scotland, northern ireland and wales and throughout britain. whilst this is to some extent about an interpretation of what has passed, it is crucial to the future as well. today, michel barnier, the

eu chief negotiator, has arrived in london for brexit trade talks. the eu has been clear that in their view the pass needs to be honoured in order to go ahead with forging a future relationship. so what has happened over the last few days, it has raised eyebrows and raise the temperature of those talks, as well. and in brussels the eu is wanting emergency talks? just the last few minutes we had a tweet from ursula von der leyen the eu commission president and she said she's concerned about announcements from the british government on its intentions to bridge the withdrawal agreement which would break international law and undermine trust. see used the latin phrase, signing agreements must be kept. top officials here are calling for an emergency meeting with the senior british government minister michael gove to try to explain the british

position and the big question is where this leaves these talks. the trade talks in the future relationship that have gone under way again in london today. i'm told the mood within the camp of michel barnier the chief negotiator is said to be bleak. we will see what happens in the next couple of days. and chris page is in belfast and equal unhappiness about this in dublin? yes, this is where the rhetoric will meet reality. unionists basically do not want any checks on goods arriving here from the rest of the uk and at the moment as things stand under with all agreement some products coming here from england, scotland and wales to the likes of belfast port would be checked because northern ireland in remains in eu single market with some eu customs rules. unionists wa nt some eu customs rules. unionists want that part of the agreement would have dan removed altogether but nationalist parties and the alliance party said changing that

would amount to a betrayal. the irish prime minister speaking in dublin this morning expressed some concern that all this could damage the ongoing trade negotiations between london and brussels. it is important to say that meaningful negotiations can only proceed on the basis of mutual trust. unilateral actions which seek to change the operation of measures already agreed included in an international treaty and incorporated into domestic law, do not build trust. as for the people here are many ways sharp end of this, the import and export business people based on what they need is as much clarity as clarity as possible as quickly as possible. thank you all very much. our top story this lunchtime. social gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in england from monday. more than 8,000 coronavirus cases have been recorded in the uk in the past three days. a fire devastates the overcrowded

migrant camp on lesbos — greece declares a state of emergency on the island. catalans dragons go top of super league — the title will be decided on a win percentage now, after a number of match delays due to positive covid tests. the biggest glacier in west antarctica is melting at an alarming rate — releasing billions of tonnes of water in the ocean every year — and pushing up sea levels round the world. now scientists have discovered one of the reasons why. they say deep channels under the ice appear to be letting in warmer water, causing it to melt faster. if the glacier disappears completely, it could flood cities around the globe. the bbc s chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt, has been to see it. we are at whiskey 35. our next call will be 17110...

this one antarctic glacier is the size of the uk, and is already responsible for 5% of world sea level rise. and the rate the thwaites glacier is melting has accelerated fivefold in the last 30 years. last year a team of british and american scientists set up camp on the glacier. it is one of the most remote places on earth. by measuring the gravitational pull of the sea bed under the ice, they discovered a network of deep channels, a key step in understanding why the glacier is changing so rapidly. so these channels are really, really important because they are the pathway that links the deep ocean to the grounded ice sheet. and although the surface waters around antarctica are really, really cold, the deep ocean waters are actually somewhat warmer. and it is if these warmer ocean

waters can get in to the ice, that you can actually start to see quite rapid changes in ice sheet behaviour. this is what they think is happening. a series of huge channels, some almost a kilometre below the ice, allow the warmer, deep ocean water to flow up to the front of the glacier. melting it increasingly rapidly. another team of scientists work from an icebreaker ship at the front of the glacier. exceptional sea ice break—up last year meant they could survey over 2000 square kilometres of the sea floor in front of the thwaites ice shelf. it is so important to understand what is going on in antarctica today, particularly these big glaciers like thwaites, because they are changing really quickly as the climate warms and as they melt, they are feeding more and more water to our global oceans which is increasing the rate of sea—level rise. there is up to 3.5 metres of

sea—level rise locked up in the ice here in west antarctica. that is enough to reshape the map of the earth, flooding many of the world's greatest cities. understanding why this remote area is changing and how quickly it will do so, is essential if the world is to prepare for the rising waters to come. justin rowlatt, bbc news. greece is declaring a state of emergency on the island of lesbos — where thousands of migrants have fled a fire that has almost destroyed the overcrowded moria camp. the 13,000 migrants in the former army camp had been under lockdown because of a coronavirus outbreak. mark lowen reports. a camp often called a ticking time bomb has exploded. moria, overfour times its capacity, has been almost completely destroyed. fires tore through it overnight, an inferno in a place where life was already hell.

my house is finished. many, all finished. a desperate attempt to douse the flames, first light looking like the sun itself was on fire. the 13,000 migrants here are now homeless, most of them afghans, many of them children. trudging out with the few belongings they had. these people don't have a place to stay tonight. it is about 10,000 people with their belongings sitting on the street. the cause is not yet known. but with reports of 35 coronavirus cases amongst the migrants, it is thought there were scuffles as authorities tried to isolate them. arson is being investigated. the flames quickened by a strong wind. 0pened seven years ago, hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers pass through moria

as the first entry point to europe, in dire conditions and riddled with crime, there were repeated warnings that the bottleneck could not last. lesbos island is now under a state of emergency in a scramble to house the migrants and quarantine those infected. they had barely anything, but at least they had shelter. no more. mark lowen, bbc news. a man has appeared in court — accused of murder and seven counts of attempted murder, after the knife attacks in birmingham at the weekend. phil mackie is at the scene of one of the attacks. this is worth 23—year—old jacob billington died from a stab wound to the neck at about ten to two on sunday morning. 0ne the neck at about ten to two on sunday morning. one of his friends, 23—year—old michael carrick and was also wounded after being stabbed and he is ina also wounded after being stabbed and he is in a critical condition in hospital at the moment as well as

shane rowley, a woman stabbed in hurst street. she is 22 and also in a critical condition in hospital but said to be stable. a 30—year—old man remains in hospital as well and this morning zephaniah mcleod who was arrested in selly oak yesterday morning was charged with one count of murder and seven counts of attempted murder. he appeared in court through video link and spoke only to confirm his age and name. we heard again from west midlands police who are still appealing for witnesses to those attacks that took place at four separate locations over a period of about an hour and a half on sunday morning. they're keen especially to hear from anyone who may have taken any footage of what was going on at the time. three other people have been arrested suspicion of assisting an offender and they have all been released on police bail. and zephaniah mcleod is

due to appear before birmingham crown court tomorrow. phil mackie, thank you. the public inquiry into the bombing at the manchester arena has been hearing evidence about why the fire and rescue service did not arrive at the scene until two hours after the explosion. a fire service expert told the hearing that the response to the bombing had been "nadequate and ineffective", and that a decision to muster three miles away had been a systemic failure. 22 people were killed and hundreds injured in the attack in may, 2017. fiona trott is at the inquiry. for the families to date the hearing has been detailed and distressing. we've been told about the injuries the victims received and how they we re the victims received and how they were treated and crucially weather experts believed that those injuries we re experts believed that those injuries were survivable. also today we learned more about the victims themselves, putting —year—old nell jones who just before the explosion told her friend that she loved her. courtney boyle who was standing four metres away from the bomber salman

abedi ledger her family learned that she had earned a first in her end of year university exams. and 20—year—old john atkinson as concert tickets were a christmas present, past experts say his injuries were potentially survivable. we heard that the fire service did not reach the scene until two hours later. there appear to be confusion about whether they were responding to an explosion or a bombing. and the enquiry set emergency services had learned lessons but it was important to understand if a different response would have saved lives or even one life. the enquiry continues. fiona, thank you. a teenage boy has appeared before magistrates in norwich, charged with attempted murder and firearms offences, after another boy was shot on his way to school. the 15—year—old remains in a critical condition in hospital after the incident in kesgrave, near ipswich, on monday. the defendant cannot be named for legal reasons.

the green party has re—elected jonathan bartley and sian berry as its co—leaders. after securing around half of the votes, they said that only the greens have a clear, positive vision for what the country could be. the party automatically holds leadership elections every two years. the english football season will get underway in the next few days, but there may be more challenges off the park than on it. some clubs have battled with financial issues ? notjust because of the pandemic — but also because fans feel they ve been badly managed by the people at the very top. jane dougall reports. itjust breaks your heart, makes you want to cry. it felt like a bad dream, really. it's a big loss to the community if it was to go. some fans argue their clubs are in administration because of irresponsible owners. there is a test for prospective buyers, but it has been heavily criticised. the current pandemic hasn't helped clubs already in trouble. i think football as an industry has had a pretty atrocious pandemic. if you look at the supposed, i say supposed, governing bodies,

they have almost been absent without leave. and my view of them is they should either step up or step aside. you can be a good owner, or you can pass the test at the start of your tenure with the club. but who is to say whether you are later on, a year down the line, ten years down the line, etc. the most important factor is sufficient funds to actually buy the club. but you still have to be approved. so what is the owners and directors test? well, it is kind of a check list of disqualifying events which would prevent you from buying a club. they include do you have an unspent conviction or are you on the sex offenders register? do you have any influence on another english club? have you or any company you have been involved with gone bust? and are you and your money allowed in the country? the problem is there are some who feel that several owners have already been permitted to buy clubs when they don't seem to have passed this test.

the current system is totally inadequate to keep bad elements out of the game. i think what a football regularity authority could do, what a financial regulatory authority could do is to say well, 0k, we've got these rules, we want to see that you are complying with those rules and guidelines. if an owner is injecting money into the club, we want to know how many years that will be there and is there a sustainable business plan, including those loans, which will help the club perform at the level they want it to. the bbc understands the english football league will review the test, but clubs will have to vote for reform. with empty stadiums around the country, the changes may not come quickly enough. jane dougal, bbc news. one of america's longest—running reality tv shows, ‘keeping up with the kardashians‘, will end next year. the series has turned kim kardashian—west and herfamily into global superstars. she said it had been a difficult decision to end the show after 1a years. time for a look at the weather, here's helen willetts.