this is bbc news. the uk wants to change its brexit deal with the eu. the trouble is its already signed it so the prime minister urges his party to back some tweaks. the eu doesn't like it. the us congress doesn't like it. but mrjohnson says its a necessary safety net. nobody wants to see a barrier down the irish sea, so what we are doing, which i think will be very enduring, is putting a safety net beneath which things cannot go wrong. a bad news day on the pandemic — new restrictions in england and a road bump in the search for a vaccine. also in the programme. there are close to 100 wildfires, burning across the american west, with huge fires now out of control in california and oregon.

and a seal of disapproval, the rare ginger pup that was rejected by the others — but not by his mother! hello i am katty kay in washington, christian fraser is in london. the brexit talks are dangling precipitously over the edge tonight. the eu has asked for an emergency meeting with borisjohnson‘s government to discuss the new uk legislation, published today, that would seek to over—ride parts of the withdrawal agreement, signed in january. by the british government's own admission, there are elements of this new bill that will break international law.the uk agreed two things injanuary. there would be some checks on goods moving between britain and northern ireland — essentially checks in the irish sea. and to prevent

customs checks at the irish border — northern ireland would continue to follow some eu rules and in some areas remain aligned with the eu's single market. but today's bill gives the british government the option to unilaterally change which goods are checked. which goes right to the heart of how the whole thing works. borisjohnson says, in the event of no deal, his government is merely tidying up legislation, to protect the uk's internal market and the good friday agreement. myjob is to uphold the integrity of the uk, but also to protect the northern irish peace process, and the good friday agreement. and to do that we need a legal safety net to protect our country against extreme or irrational interpretations of the protocol. there are some conservative mp's who think the british government has forced this crisis to get the eu to move on some

of its key negotiating positions. but the former conservative prime minister sirjohn major — who of course negotiated parts of the peace process in northern ireland said this. ‘if we lose our reputation for honouring promises we make, we will have lost something a view echoed by the irish prime minister who called the uk's actions "disturbing". it's quite not the norm to unilaterally start taking independent action independent from negotiations. i think many people who are engaged of negotiations of this kind to say the least would be very, very taken back by the actions of the british government. we'rejoined by shankar singham — ceo of competere — a trade law and economic policy consultancy who has advised the uk government on trade deals and who supported brexit. there are two lines of thought in westminster today, that one is the british government is trying to

force the crisis to shift the eu on its positions but the other is that there is a hard—line, pro—brexit government in westminster that want the hardest of brexit and this would be an excuse to collapse the talks, which do you think is the truth? i don't think either is the truth. i think the northern ireland article is full of inconsistencies and does require clarification, i don't think that with the government has done with the internal market bill is a repudiation or a disavowal of the northern ireland protocol, in fact i think these are very much—needed clarifications, and first of all in the area of the fact that northern ireland is negotiated under the protocol to be in the uk customs territory. there is to understanding of what that actually means, secondly that northern ireland to gp goods movements would not require,

because they are entirely inside that because of territory, would not require customs processes, because whatever the purpose of the northern ireland protocol is to protect the european union's single market and customs you do because of the border between northern ireland and of ireland. for northern ireland to great britain movements and then other movements to ensure that the union customs code, which is the european customs rules that apply in northern ireland apply only to those movements between gb and northern ireland that actually implicate eu trade to cover the circle goods at risk, and then finally the commit was rbc not the intention of the parties that are the revisions of the northern ireland protocol that apply in the state aids rules for northern ireland, the parties did not intend it that should mean that the european state aid rules cover all of the uk. so there is a

clarification on not that point commit the rules don't cover that, i don't see any of that as a violation of international agreements, or an attempt to change the rules. i see that as a needed clarification. and that's what i think the government is doing in the internal market. that's what i think the government is doing in the internal marketli can understand what the government might not like the situation it finds itself in, but you can't really sign international deal and then go back and say sorry that was donein then go back and say sorry that was done ina then go back and say sorry that was done in a rush and we did not like that original link and we are going to start again and rip it up. but they are not doing that, the government through its internal legislation, which it needs to have, the northern ireland protocol is that back that is certainly what the european union thinks it's doing. i'm sure they do. i'm sure that their negotiating position. the

european union conceded in the northern ireland protocol that northern ireland protocol that northern ireland protocol that northern ireland is in the uk customs territory. that must actually mean something, you have to read the protocol in light of that, and that's what this legislation... do you think this comes back to the criticisms of borisjohnson that is not really a details man and that he has missed something here, and now he is trying to own it?|i has missed something here, and now he is trying to own it? i think this isa he is trying to own it? i think this is a negotiation of the northern ireland protocol that was done at speedin ireland protocol that was done at speed in the end of negotiation, you are not going to cover every base on it. it's really important that we give clarity to traders that are trading across the boundary about what it is that they can expect. we have to give clarity to uk business community about what is the exact purview of these rules and so forth. that's what this bill is doing. it's clear, the eu would have liked the

northern ireland to be part of the eu public customs territory. that's a negotiating point that they conceded in the negotiations of the northern ireland protocol. so this legislation is building on that. and that's very important, because we got to protect the good friday agreement and the priest process, and there's two communities in northern ireland that need to. thank you very much indeed for that. borisjohnson says the uk would prosper in the event of a no—deal brexit and to hammer the point home, alongside the legislation published today, the government announced its plans to follow wto subsidy rules from first january. so what would all this mean for the other big trade deal borisjohnson is pursuing the one with the united states. remember, there is a strong friends of ireland caucus in the us congress, and they control the house ways and means committee, that has the power to hold up a trade deal indefinitely. i'm joined now from philadelphia by democratic congressman, brendan boyle.

congressman, thank you very much for joining the programme. if this bill goes through, and the uk changes its deal with the european union what are the us congress give support to us uk trade deals? no. absolutely not. it's me and my colleagues on the house ways and means committee that made that clear but also just the last hour, nancy pelosi has made it clear, and her words, there would be absently no chance of eight us uk free—trade agreement passing congress if the good friday agreement were undermined, if they we nt agreement were undermined, if they went back on the withdrawal agreement they adopted less than a year ago. a lot of people in the uk might ask whether the uk was going to get a good trade deal with america anyway, and perhaps actually it should focus on its relationship with the eu and get that right, because washington was never going

to give a particularly good deal. because washington was never going to give a particularly good deallj think that's a matter for the uk to decide. i can tell you, and i believe i was on this programme about nine months ago when the withdrawal agreement was agreed to. we remember. i appreciate that. i believe i at the time that this many advantages to eight us and uk free—trade deal that goes beyond trade —— a us. once this issue about the possible violation of the good friday agreement was removed or appeared to be removed and off the table than a major reservation on out table than a major reservation on our side went away. when i pee quite as pessimistic about the ability to reach a free—trade agreement, and even the best of circumstances agreement be difficult to reach.

they broke and all sorts of international agreements, on iran, oi'i international agreements, on iran, on paris and climate change. international agreements, on iran, on paris and climate changem international agreements, on iran, on paris and climate change. it is now in agreement that china has broken. there are countries breaking international agreements all over the place, and sometimes it results ina the place, and sometimes it results in a better deal, maybe the uk thinks it has to post this —— force this crisis. i did not support with the trumpet ministration did in withdrawing us from the paris climate accord that we actually led the creation of under the obama administration, or ripping up the iran deal. i don't think two wrongs make a right. i would iran deal. i don't think two wrongs make a right. iwould point iran deal. i don't think two wrongs make a right. i would point out that there is one key difference, and that's as much as i disagreed with the trumpet ministration decisions in these regards it was a new administration that was the same uk government that was just in place nine months ago that got it approved

and suddenly less than a year later have words that would violate international law. thank you for coming back on the programme, may become back nine months‘ time you could still be with us. thank you for coming back in the programme. emergency responders in california continue to struggle with multiple wildfires that are moving across the state at incredible speeds. but, as the fires grow and spread, they are changing from becoming a state issue into a regional one, as communities up and down the western coast of the united states are forced to deal with fires of their own. in california — authorities say that the massive creek fire is an ‘unprecedented disaster‘ — and that the fire remains at 0% containment. a few states north, in washington state, fires destroyed 80% of homes in the small town of malden ? they also burned down the local fire station and city hall. and in southern oregon, fires are moving towards the towns of medford and talent and could affect the more than 80

thousand people who live there. april ehrlich is a reporter atjefferson public radio. she sin grants pass, oregon and has been forced to evacuate due to the fires. you have had a pretty rough couple of days. yes, so when i first evacuated from my home in oregon, which is a small town of about 7000 people, i relocated to the southernmost part of medford, that's the larger city of about 80,000 people, and i was there for a few hours until we got another alert that we needed to evacuate again, so i relocated to a friend's house in grants pass which is about an hour north of where i live, and that's where i am now. tell us the geography, where is this fire that is affecting you coming from, and where is it moving towards? it's called the alameda fire, and going to throw another city name at you, it in ashland. it started there and

very quickly the winds pushed north. starting hitting the cities that we re starting hitting the cities that were just above ashland. this is all in southern oregon right on the california border. so the alameda creek fire group pretty quickly to about 3000 acres. it moved to where i lived, i was one of the first people to have to evacuate, and then it took over the city of phoenix, oregon and then medford. and i think it has reached the central point fiow. it has reached the central point now. april describe what you have seen, smelled and heard. when i first evacuated and relocated i got my reporter kids, and started doing some reporting. so they went to an evacuation centre where some people had already started showing up, and a lot of the folks there were from a

mobile home park that had burned down. they were low income and seniors, a lot of them, and they had to find alternative ways to get there. they did not have cars. they hitched a ride or car pulled up and they got a ride from the local sheriffs department. those folks are going to be struggling a lot in the coming days. this fire seems to have taken it kind of blowing through manufactured home parks in the poorest areas of these communities, and so it looks as though this wildfire is going to have major economic impacts going forward, throws what i've seen and heard there's a lot of smoke and it smells really bad but it's everywhere. it's even here in our north. because there's wildfires all of the state, it physically impossible to escape them at this point. thank you for coming in the programme. i remember when i covered the wildfires increase it so difficult to report.

because you‘re looking at a fire down there and it does not need to spread laterally, it sort ofjumps and it‘s behind you and you did not even spot that you are surrounded. that‘s what kills people. to give you a sense of the size of this there‘s 1000 acres burning every 30 minutes, one acre is a football field, so you have a thousand of those burning every 30 minutes. let‘s extrapolate that to 24 minutes. let‘s extrapolate that to 2a hours. that means every 2a hours out in the west coast at the moment there is an area the size of washington, dc burning down. i think that‘s a way of putting it in perspective, because when we hear 80,000 acres no one can really get their head around that, washington, dc, that‘s the sides of it. every day, burning down on the west coast. that is a stat that would not be proud of. terrifying when you thing about it. terrifying. and people in

their trailer homes or immigrant workers, this is really hard and the people that are vulnerable already. and now they have lost everything. we will keep tracing those fires. let s get some of the day s other news peter madsen, who was sentenced to life in prison in denmark for the murder of swedish journalist kim wall aboard his home—made submarine, has admitted to the crime for the first time in a documentary broadcast on wednesday. in a phone interview he answered "yes" to the journalist‘s question about whether he killed ms wall who was interviewing him in august 2017. sri lanka is to take legal action against the owner of the oil supertanker that is now leaking oil. greece—based porto emporios shipping inc is the registered owner of the 20—year old panama—flagged ‘new diamond‘. we brought you pictures of the tanker on fire last night — but as you can see the fire at least is now out. in belarus eu diplomats visited the home of nobel laureate svetlana alexeivich, the only member of the opposition‘s coordinating council who hasn‘t been arrested. she said she‘d been threatened

and that unknown men had tried to enter her apartment. the government has cracked down on dissent after protests swept the country following a disputed election. lots of those pictures on belarus, by the way. if you are watching bbc world news, we will be right back. the inquiry into the manchester arena bombing has been told that the attacker was flagged for further investigation. our correspondent fiona trott reports. the inquiry is focused on another question, could this attack have been prevented, and to answer that we‘ve been told that over the coming months evidence will be scrutinised from m15 a. what intelligence was available, how is it assessed, what steps were ta ken available, how is it assessed, what steps were taken as a result, and this is all because we heard during the inquiry that he was artie links

to people of interest, a friend did notice that he had more extreme views, was wearing more traditional clothing and talked about supporting i asked. he talked about visiting an extremist and present it was talked about meeting this threshold of someone about meeting this threshold of someone that needed further investigation. that was due to start in may, but was overtaken by events nine days earlier we were told to, and that was the arena bombing. we will talk a little bit about covid—19 today. borisjohnson has been setting up new rules and hinted that the uk might see a return to normal life from november, possibly it would be a regular christmas as well. that‘s starting to sound like pie in the sky as the reality of covid—19 kicks in once again.

from next monday — gatherings of more than six people will be illegal in england — amid a steep rise in infections.it‘s a significant shift from the current rules — which allow up to 30 people to get together. here‘s mrjohnson explaining more about the changes earlier today — at his first press conference in nearly two months. in england, from monday, we are introducing the rule of six. you must not meet socially in groups of more than six, and if you do you will be breaking the law. this will apply in any setting, indoors or outdoors. at home, or in the pub. the band will set out in law, and will be set up in law and will be enforced by the police, and anyone breaking the rules risks being dispersed, find and possibly arrested. at the same time, the oxford group researching a vaccine has had to put the final

clinical trial on hold after a participant in the study fell ill with a suspected adverse reaction to the vaccine. for more on all this let‘s bring in bring in professorjames naismith, director of the rosalind franklin institute — a medical research centre. can we talk about the pause in the trial, because it goes to the heart of the debate in the united states we think that possibly one or two people have been affected by these injections, they tell me the 18,000 people overall worldwide have been injected so far. so if you extrapolate that commit to people out of 18,000, what does that mean when you're injecting say 100 million? we don't know yet because it's only now being investigated, andl it's only now being investigated, and i emphasise i have no first—hand knowledge, we don't know for sure that most people suffer the convocations due to the virus, or i'm sorry, the vaccine. i want to emphasise that we should thinkjust

how careful and thorough that scientific investigation is. the slightest consequences are always investigated before it ever comes out as a vaccine for the general public. do you think you need to be more open about what has happened to these possibly one or two people that were injected? because there we re that were injected? because there were nine pharmaceutical companies that came together the other day to say there would be full transparency over the vaccines. we don‘t really know what‘s going on at the moment. we know they are investigating, and when they have investigated have something proper to tell us they will do. but they have told us today is the trial is paused while they investigate. that is good and ethical science that there's nobody else going to be putting any risk, we will get to the bottom of what has caused these adverse reactions, and then we will report on that. how much of a setback in terms of everybody pause my desperation to get the vaccine as soon as possible,

how much of a setback is the delay like this? getting safe and effective vaccines is a huge challenge. we are proceeding at record—breaking speed. we will always have, nothing is a straight line so always ups and downs and setbacks. but there are many, many efforts to get vaccines across the world a re efforts to get vaccines across the world are one of them will definitely succeed. i emphasise there's no reason to suspect yet until the investigation complete that there is a serious problem with this vaccine either. do you think that the pressure, notjust political pressure, but let‘s face it, we all want this vaccine as fast as possible, do you think that pressure is being felt by the teams ina way pressure is being felt by the teams in a way that could have an impact of any sort on the process itself?|j would of any sort on the process itself?” would be stunned if that was the case. our own lab we work on antibodies as a means to treat

covid—19. we have a protocol to the best and most careful science, and i'm confident that's across the world of people evolving vaccines. but does it affect the research? because i would presume that there is different cocktails of things that have gone into other vaccines. will they be focusing on what the investigation puts together, because it could well affect their vaccines as well. some of them are very different that one another, and from every piece of information scientist love to find out more and that's how science works. science always throws away things that don't work and it learns from them. thank you very much forjoining us. if they knew we were talking about and an ox for their sake we have to have a pause now because of the safety issue. we live in a cruel world. but you can always count

on a picture of a newly born, baby fur seal to cheer you up. at least you could.to me they are always cute. but that‘s in the eye of the beholder, and maybe if you are a fur seal, you see other fur seals in a completely different way? i say that because this exceptionally rare ginger—fur seal spotted in the sea of okhotsk in russia, looks pretty huggable to me. but then, he sticks out, with his blue eyes, and his light brown fur, and his pink flippers. and look at the others. look at their cruel eyes. the look of rejection. calling for bcl therapists please. —— baby seal. the experts are warning he may soon be an outcast, shunned by the rookery — because of his rare markings. it‘s not happened yet — but they are standing by — just in case. maybe you could adopt him, a ginger headed presenter with a ginger headed presenter with a ginger headed seal. ijust knew you were

going to get there, it is blonder. it's going to get there, it is blonder. it‘s blonde, ok? i will not be shunned. good evening. the cloud and the odd spot of drizzle that we have had over our southern parts through today is clearing away, that is a weak weather front and it is weak because we have got a ridge of high pressure building across the uk at the moment and that is also reducing the amount of showers that we are seeing in the north, they are becoming confined to the north—east of scotland. and actually, the cloud will tend to melt away as we go through the evening and overnight notjust the cloud either melting away but the winds will fall light. so, ingredients are there for a chilly night. it was quite muggy in the south in particular last night. it will be distinctly chilly overnight. the glens of scotland are expected to fall to freezing in a few spots. and further south through the countryside areas, into low single figures. the towns and cities as you can see here are low enough. so, a distinctly chilly start to our thursday morning.

there could be a little mist around, even a little shallow fog and some of the river valleys. but that should clear and we should have plenty of sunshine, an abundance of sunshine first thing. the cloud will tend to build up through the day. it mightjust produce the odd shower for northern ireland but more so for western and northern scotland. further south and east, mostly dry and staying mostly dry for england and wales but notably, the temperatures are several degrees down on recent days. i still think it will feel pleasant enough because of the light winds and the sunshine. it‘s still early september but it‘s a notable change. and so a chilly night will follow in the south tomorrow night but by that time, we have got low pressure establishing itself. so, showers merge into longer spells of rain, and quite heavy and substantial rain across the scottish mountains and also for northern ireland. northern england will also see some rains before it brightens into showers in the north but again, further south and east, largely settled and dry on friday, just a bit more cloud around. that weather front just about fizzles away, then, through friday night as it crosses

into southern england but again to the north, we are watching that next pulse of rain come in on our next area of low pressure. so, initially starting as showers end of saturday. by the end of the day, it looks like we will see heavy rains spilling back into probably northern ireland, more so scotland. whilst elsewhere, parts of eastern scotland, much of england and wales largely dry, feeling warm with the light winds. and then as we change our wind direction into a more southerly for sunday, we will see it warm up again and our first pulse of rain clears away saturday night, so quite a wet night and potentially some more rain for the far north—west than into sunday. but by that stage 2a in the south.

you re watching bbc news with me katty kay in washington, christian fraser is in london. our top stories. prime minister boris johnson calls on mps to support new legislation, which would alter the brexit withdrawal deal, even though his government has admitted that it will breach interational law. a new book, about to hit stands, says president trump knew covid—19 was deadlier than the flu — but wanted to play it down. also, in the programme. as us election officials expect 80 million ballots to be posted by mail this year — could it take longer to count votes and declare a winner? we‘ll be speaking to both the trump and biden campaigns about how they‘re planning for the possibility of an unclear result in the days

following november third. with bob woodward it always comes backs to the tapes. it did during watergate, it has again today. an advanced copy of the legendary american journalists‘ new book on donald trump reveals a president who downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus in public while telling mr woodward that it was a deadly threat. and, yes mr woodward, has the tapes of the 18 different interviews he conducted with the president for the book. the most damning parts of the book come from those interviews — with the president back in march, admitting to mr woodward that he was deliberately downplaying the pandemic. take a listen to this extract, courtesy of the washington post. to courtesy of the washington post. be honest with y! a lwa ys to be honest with you. i wanted to always play it down. i still liked playing it down. that doesn‘t quite match up

with what his press secretary, kayleigh mcenany, had to say earlier. to make the president never downplayed the virus, once again, he expressed calm, the president was serious when democrats were pursuing their impeachment. he was expressing calm. president trump also defended his handling of the coronavirus pandemic — and suggested woodward‘s account was politically motivated. we don‘t want to show panic and that is exactly what i did. i was very open. it isjust is exactly what i did. i was very open. it is just another political hit job, open. it is just another political hitjob, but was him or anyone else, you cannot show a sense of panic or you cannot show a sense of panic or you are going to have bigger problems than you ever have before. let‘s talk to philip bump, national correspondent for the washington post. i suppose you can cut the president some slack on that point, every leader wants to prevent panic, but he was downplaying how serious it

yet he knew, according to this book as book as early as february that it was airborne and that it spread easily and that it was highly dangerous. yes, there's a difference between inciting panic and in actually informing the public on what the risks were. there were times during his briefings were he accurately conveyed with the risks were, but then he would repeatedly try and assure people that things are not going to be that bad he has continuously said that the virus is just going to go away and he claimed that repeatedly in february or march, what‘s the temperature got warmer outside, they‘re all these ways in which the line between not trying to instill panic actually giving them information that is useful and and accurate gets blurred. and in this tape, he seems to have a good handle on the situation it is keen to show his expertise to bob woodward. but in that report, he is campaigning that he did not know and they‘re quite shocked by what they are hearing. and it‘s sort of odd because

eve ryo ne and it‘s sort of odd because everyone has known that donald trump is at these meetings with bob before, and this people are certainly aware, he was one of the people involved in unveiling what happened in watergate, but this is not the first time that his campaign tea m not the first time that his campaign team has been caught flat—footed in a way that is not been expected. and there is information that is been a way that is not been expected. and there‘s information that is been amended and exactly what they saw and frankly it is bizarre that they did not have people involved in these conversations normally and officially you‘ll have someone who isa officially you‘ll have someone who is a handler who sits in her tracks is a handler who sits in her tracks is being said and he did not have that happening either that is surprising. —— sits in and attracts what is being said. communications and who he talks too. there‘s also insta nces and who he talks too. there‘s also instances in the book where senior officials, john kelly for example,

quoted by woodward sing very unflattering things about the president. do you think this book will make any difference in the american election‘s because we kind of heard of all of those things before? that is a good point. one of the questions that remains about any revelation regarding president trump is an extent to which it will change anyone‘s mind. one of the things we‘ve seen about his presidency from the outset is that very few people have yet to make up their minds about president trump and most feelings are very strongly held. the risk here in the story and the story came out last week about his allegedly having disparaged american troops is that it might make his own base a little less enthusiastic about going out to the polls because so much of this is going to be who is going to take risks on the covid—19 precautions or go to the steps necessary to go to absentee ballot, it is a higher bar. people

to say, i‘m just not excited about them as i used to be. i am not going to go the extra mile and that could potentially be problematic for him. thank you very much forjoining us. how much will happen and how many more books. probably one today. if you‘re like christian and me, your calendar has been marked for months, if not years now. november 3rd. election day. a big red circle, with an exclamation point. that‘s the day, in theory, when the american voters gets to decide who will be president for the next four years. but instead of an exclamation point, you might well put a question mark. because it‘s looking increasingly likely that we won‘t have a result that night. blame covid and the millions of americans who are planning to vote by mail, rather than in person. president trump has been casting doubt on the validity of those mailed in votes for months now.

this is going to be the greatest election disaster in history. this universal mail and is a very dangerous thing. it is fraud and everything that can happen. it‘ll end up being a rigged election or it will never come up with an outcome. there will be dumping them in neighbourhood, people are going to be picking them up, there will be right bank and paying off people to bribe some. you cannot let them take your vote away, these people are playing dirty politics. mail—in ballots are nothing new. what‘s different this time is the sheer volume of them. this election cycle — more voters than ever before — in 43 states — are entitled to vote by absentee ballot: either automatically or by giving coronavirus as an excuse. in the pandemic, people want to avoid polling stations. and with lines like these from georgia‘s primary injune, who can blame them. former first lady michelle obama even had this warning for those getting ready to vote in person:

we have got to grab her comfortable shoes, put on a mask, —— pack up a brownbag dinner and we have to be ready to stand all night if we have to. in the last us presidential election 33 million voters sent in their ballots through the mail. nearly a quarter of all us votes cast. this year as many as 80 million ballots are expected to be mailed in. and democrats are more likely to vote by mail than republicans. according to pew research, fewer than 1—in—5 trump supporters say they plan on voting by mail — compared to almost 60 percent of biden‘s supporters. in some states, voters can mail in their ballots right up to election day — itjust has to be post marked november 3rd. that means millions of ballots may not arrive until days after election day. especially as the us postal service has been running extra slow these days. which sets up the possibility of what people are calling a ‘red mirage‘,

the appearance of a trump victory on election night, thanks to all those day—of trump voters. but then in the days that follow, biden votes trickle in by mail, and the tide turns in his favour. president trump has already raised questions over whether he would accept a loss. to give a direct answer that will accept the election was blue i have to see. i am not going to say yes or no andi to see. i am not going to say yes or no and i did not the last time, either. for the next quarter of an hour we‘re going to be focusing on the increasingly likely prospect that we won‘t have a definitive result the morning after the election. first — let‘s speak now to anthony salvanto — cbs news‘s director of elections and surveys. hejoins us from westchester, new york. thank you forjoining us. imagine a scenario where it is midnight on november the 3rd, cbs news, what is happening. i am urging everyone to

have patients. one of the things that you mentioned in the lead up is that you mentioned in the lead up is that there are so many mail ballots and it will take the states longer to count them and in particular, thatis to count them and in particular, that is going to be in the states where they are a little bit new at this. some states as you mentioned where mail voting happens all the time, colorado, arizona, etc. but there were going to be states or they mailed out ballots to a lot of voters for the first time, where a surgeon mail applications is really going to be nothing like they‘ve ever seen. so on election night, we can only anticipate that it will ta ke can only anticipate that it will take them longer to count that in one of the reasons why i‘m going to urge patients, perhaps at midnight and certainly even sooner than that, is that any time somebody does something new, it might take them longer to do it and that does not mean that there‘s anything wrong, doesn‘t mean that there is anything bad going on, itjust means that we may have to wait. having said that, i should add that we will report

will be no and will make clear where the state is leaning but not necessarily who wanted until we see all of the ballots. will we know how many mail—in ballots left to count an individual states? yes. i think we will. one of the things that happens with the data that we get is that publicly available voter rolls in many states make public the number of male requests that they have gotte n number of male requests that they have gotten in the number of ballots that have been returned. so, we will have an approximation of that in one of the things that i think we will see try to make very clear is, here‘s what is remaining. here is how many thousands are left yet to count. it may get a little bit murky if we do not know exactly how many of those or in person and how many of those or in person and how many of those or in person and how many of those are male, because as a polling has shown, we anticipate big differences, we anticipate democrats to vote by mail more and more

republicans to vote by person. some people say that there‘s been overblown, this concern, because as you know, it comes down to a handful of states and counties and in the states, they have mail in balloting for many years, they‘re pretty good at this and they get the ballots in quickly. do you think it may be... if this election is a blow out one way or another, it certainly could be, but i am not concerned about a mirage ofany be, but i am not concerned about a mirage of any sort. people should be patient and if we know something, we are going to report it. we are going to report it in context. if we see about half the votes we expected have been counted, we will report those votes and as we always do, the networks try to see the patterns in the data, who might be leading and who might be on the way to victory. we will explain that to people, but

if there‘s not enough left to show that when candidate has a decisive edge, we will see that too and will say why. we will not put electoral votes in the base, and so someone is actually one. just a really quick one, we are out of time. but do you think the media is doing a good enoughjob to think the media is doing a good enough job to one public and the public around the world that we might not get a result on night? people are used to seeing the elections and all the networks all things fast, so i do not think will do enough and it might take some patience and will get it counted and will get it right no matter what that takes. so, let‘s get the republican view of this situation now. joining us now from virginia is brad blakeman from president trump‘s 2020 re—election campaign, brad is also a former adviser

to president george w bush. representing for republican candidates and he says that they have had legions of republican lawyers searching for for decades forfraudulent double lawyers searching for for decades for fraudulent double voting and he says there is no proof of widespread fraud, and most are isolated incidents by both democrats and republicans. elections are not rick. what do you make of that? that is good news. but that does not mean that the next election will have shenanigans. —— not have shenanigans. it had before does not set the course what happens next. that is important, we cannot happens next. that is important, we ca n not rest happens next. that is important, we cannot rest on our laurels, it is a good sign that the american electorate has been fair and honest, but that does not mean it is going

to continue without the proper oversight and transparency. so you‘re forming new legions of republican lawyers to try to find it on the night, a? you have to, look what happened in 2000 and thousand florida where six counties in florida where six counties in florida had a mandatory machine recount which means that the whole state had to go to their machine and then only picking up four counts to doa then only picking up four counts to do a manual recount and that required individual labour to go out a republican and democratic sites and watch the government hand recount for counties and look at the fiasco that happened in that circumstance. it was something that was fought in the courts and the recou nts was fought in the courts and the recounts and filed in the state courts. this is all the stuff of political historians nightmares. this is what we are getting into a cold sweat about, and will all have

to be patient because none of us are patient. we tvjournalists, we are not patient people and we are going to have to be. if the comparison is not 2000 and 2016 because in 2016, on the night of the election, donald trump was slightly ahead in the popular vote, but a few days later, once all of those mail—in ballots have been counted, he was actually 3 million votes behind hillary clinton in the popular vote. are you worried that could happen again this time around because those mail—in ballots are going to give counted and we know that more of them might be democrat and republican. the good news is that we have an electoral couege news is that we have an electoral college that is mandated by the constitution. we do not elect the president by popular vote. it didn‘t matter that hillary clinton got more votes. but he could swing the state from one column to the other. yes, it could and that is why there is only seven states it best that could

turn the selection. you know the donald trump will never win new york, he will never win california, so does not matter what happens in those states is first donald trump is concerned because those electoral votes will go tojoe biden. what matters is the swing states or the battle ground states that will have to be watched very closely because yes, you will have a slide of electoral votes that could change the entire election. is going to be a long week. potentially a long month. goodness. went for my book. 0k. -- month. goodness. went for my book. ok. —— weight. stay with us, we will be right back. the biggest glacier in west antarctica is melting at an alarming rate — releasing billions of tonnes

of water annually — and pushing up sea—levels globally. now scientists say deep channels under the ice appear to be letting in warmer water, causing it to melt faster. our chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt, reports: we are whiskey 35. our next call will be 17:40... 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. let‘s return to that possibility of an uncertain

election result the morning after november third. we‘ve heard the republican side of things, so let‘s switch over now to what the democrats have planned. for that, let‘s bring in baltimore‘s former mayor — stephanie c. rawlings—blake — who‘s also a surrogate forjoe biden‘s presidential campaign. thank you forjoining us. what is your plan for election night, if it looks like donald trump has won the election? i think you have heard from everyone, former first election? i think you have heard from everyone, formerfirst lady michelle obama to former president barack obama, joe biden, everyone is saying the same thing. you have to have a plan, you have to have a plan, early voting, day of voting and you have to have a plan of hike to make sure that these votes are going to be counted. but everyone is on the same page and that this might bea on the same page and that this might be a very long night or as you said, a long couple of days if you‘re still counting balance. donald trump

looks at the results gets the results from the date of voting and declares victory, what is the democrats plan? declare victory or declare that it is rigged. that is not a mystery the point for us is to make sure we have observers that we are tying all of our voters in and they have the information that they need to push back some of the voter suppression that the republicans are participating in during the selection. i think donald trump is appointed 200 federaljudges, if it goes to the court do you think that he has an advantage now? no. the advantage that he has is the

interference in the election and refuses to acknowledge the fact that there is no declared plan for how to fight what we know is russian a‘s attem pts fight what we know is russian a‘s atte m pts to fight what we know is russian a‘s attempts to interfere with the election. that is his advantage and ido election. that is his advantage and i do not believe thejudges election. that is his advantage and i do not believe the judges would participate in the political process one way or another and i have faith that these judges will make sure that these judges will make sure that every vote is counted. we saw that every vote is counted. we saw that with the 2000 election and as difficult as it was for democrats to hang on every ball, it was trust and faith in thejudicial hang on every ball, it was trust and faith in the judicial system to hang on every ball, it was trust and faith in thejudicial system to make sure that we had a fair election. faith in thejudicial system to make sure that we had a fair electionm is something that we are going to be following over the course of the next few weeks. thank you for that.

talking to her producer, but younger than us, didn‘t know anything about hanging chads. —— chats. i just want to bring you on update on brexit talks — coming to us from our europe editor katya adler. she says — there will be an urgent meeting of the eu—u.k. joint committee will take place in london tomorrow — called for by brussels — we now hear that meeting could be pushed to friday. either way things are moving. and on this side of the atlantic, speaker of the house — nancy pelosi has said there is absolutely no possibity of a uk—us trade agreement passing congress — if the uk violates an international treaty and undermines the good friday accord. i pride myself on being a good driver. pretty good at squeezing into a tight space.

but this next clip going viral on social media shows we‘ve got a thing or two to learn. this is kerala. a man called pj is seen driving up to a parking space behind two metal railings —— with sheer drops either side of the space. after a couple of minor adjustments, he successfully parks the people—carrier. but talk about a balancing act. fantastic. pretty good tight

parking, will be back tomorrow, see you then, goodbye. hello there, and welcome to a look at the weather for the week ahead. it‘s a little bit more uncertainty with the detail into next week at the moment, and that‘s because we‘ve got a couple of tropical lows that have formed in the atlantic. and where they go now will impact on the position of the jet stream, and it‘s the jet stream that drives low pressures across the atlantic and towards our shores. so we will see that buckling potentially. so the detail on when the low pressures arrive will obviously be difficult to pinpoint. but at the moment it looks like we will see some early warmth into next week. some rain at times, yes, but perhaps midweek it‘s looking a little bit drier at the moment. with some dry weather on the cards, in the south in particular for the next couple of days, chilly start on thursday morning. a touch of frost in the glens in scotland, a little bit of mist in the south, and for most a dry day.

just the odd shower for northern ireland, but more so for scott learned, northern and western scotland, the further south and east you are here, the dryer you will be. but the pictures are down. we have changed the air mass, so it will feel cooler i think than recent days. or not as muggy, because of course in the sunshine pleasant enough. and then overnight chilli again in the south, but more rain does gather in the north as showers merged to a longer spell of rain, because yes we have got the next atlantic low coming our way. so tightly packed isobars the north half of the country, so quite a strong wind blowing all that moisture off the atlantic up over the hills of scotland where we will see some appreciable amounts of rain falling. it does ease further east, but then picks up again over the cumbrian hills easing away from northern ireland. a lot of southern and central england and wales remained mostly dry, it may just tumble into the north of wales and northern england. that one then peters out as it comes into the high—pressure further south, but then into the weekend we‘ve got another pulse of heavier rain coming

in, and another one following as well. all the time that west atlantic wind going to pull in all that moisture. but again for saturday it looks like in many parts but it is still hanging around the weather front, and further pulses pushing in. butjust a subtle change in the wind direction on sunday pushes the rain for the north allowing more areas to see the dryer, bright and warmer weather. temperatures getting towards the maid 20s celsius again. that‘s because we are just starting to pull in a bit of a southerly wind, you can see those weather systems just staggering to the west of us. so by monday yes you can see that dry and fine weather persisting for much of england and wales, but gradually are rather front starts to creep into the western side of the uk. so holding the temperatures down here, but quite a muggy field whilst further east towards the high 20s. and i have to say that‘s because of the influence of the southerly wind, and that‘s the warm starch to the week. but it does look as if it will then fade away at that low pressure system, that cold weather friend comes in across our shores. in the week ahead does look to be driven by a strong jet stream coming

and i have to say that‘s because of the influence of the southerly wind, and that‘s the warm start to the week. but it does look as if it will then fade away at that low pressure system, that cold weather friend comes in across our shores. in the week ahead does look to be driven by a strong jet stream coming off of the atlantic, high pressures and low pressures coming and going. could be that the second half of the week we see that high—pressure building into the south, but still a strong jet to the north will deliver us some rain. and by the end of the week the indications are that we will start to see some more unsettled weather coming in. so mixed bag for the week ahead, and some uncertainty in the detail as i have explained, so please do stay tuned to the coming week‘s forecast.

tonight at ten, borisjohnson introduces his "rule of six", the strict new laws on social gatherings in england from next monday. alarmed by the sharp rise in new cases of coronavirus, especially among young people, the prime minister and his senior advisers want to avoid another total lockdown. in england from monday, we are introducing the rule of six. you must not meet socially in groups of more than six, and if you do, you will be breaking the law. people should see this as the next block of time. that may not last for many months, but it is very unlikely to be just over in two or three weeks. as people take in the extent of the new restrictions in england, we ask residents in swindon for their response