this is bbc news with the latest headlines. former british prime ministers tony blair and sirjohn major call borisjohnson‘s brexit plans "shameful," as the government continues to defend plans to override parts of the withdrawal agreement. this is a collective will on the pa rt this is a collective will on the part of the government notjust to prepare for the worst but also to protect the internal workings of our united kingdom, that is responsible government. there's fresh concern in the uk over the growing spread of coronavirus after more than 3,000 cases were recorded on consecutive days. more than 30 people have died as wildfires burn in california, oregon, and washington, and there are further health concerns for the people living there as the smoke is causing widespread pollution. a new trail of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, a new trial of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe,

the british—iranian woman jailed forspying in iran, has been postponed. the government has welcomed the development and called again for her release. and coming up in half an hour we'll take a look back at all that's happened over the last week in parliament. good afternoon. two former prime ministers have condemned a plan by the government to override elements of the brexit withdrawal agreement signed with the eu. in a joint column for the sunday times, sirjohn major and tony blair called the proposal, which would break international law, shocking and irresponsible. thejustice secretary robert buckland this morning dismissed the criticism, saying the country is facing an unprecedented situation. 0ur political correspondent,

helen catt, reports. two former prime ministers, one conservative, one labour, both angry. they have joined forces before to speak against brexit, but now they have strong words for a government planning to alter parts of the treaty which paved the way for leaving the eu less than a year ago. writing in the sunday times, sirjohn and mr blair said the government's actions were irresponsible, wrong in principle and dangerous in practice. they said it raises questions that go far beyond the impact on ireland, the peace process and negotiations for a trade deal, crucial that they are. it questions the very integrity of our nation. the government has defended the plan, "it is an unprecedented situation," it says, and the powers it will give itself will probably never be used. this is all about insurance planning. is it sabre rattling and bluster? no, it's a break the glass in emergency provision if we need it. but if the uk were to break

international law, where would that leave individual lawmakers? is that the moment that robert buckland resigns from the government, if we break international law itself? if i see the rule of law being broken in a way i find unacceptable, of course, i will go. ah. we are not at that stage. 0n the eu side, the anger is visible. the irish foreign minister says these actions make getting deals on anything harder. the british government, in my view, is behaving in an extraordinary way on british people need to know that, because outside of britain, where this issue is being discussed now, the reputation of the uk and britain as a trusted negotiating partner on important issues like this, is being damaged in a very serious way. labour agrees. it says the government needs to stop reigniting old rows and just get on with it. there is a deal there to be done, and it is the responsibility of the british government to do that deal. the differences that remain

on state aid and fisheries, deals can be done on those things. good negotiators would be getting round the table rather than posturing, and that is what i'm urging the government to do. with the legislation due before parliament tomorrow, the chorus of concern is growing. at the moment, it looks unlikely that these will be the voices that persuade downing street it needs to change course. there's fresh concern over the growing spread of coronavirus after more than 3,000 cases were recorded in the uk on consecutive days for the first time since mid—may. it comes as the government sends an alert to care providers over growing concerns over an increase in covid—i9 cases in care homes. in towns and cities across the uk last night, many people took the opportunity to enjoy a night out, before new covid restrictions come into force tomorrow. here's simonjones. a busy saturday night in liverpool. a last chance for large groups to meet before the so—called rule

of six comes into force. in england, only six people will be allowed to get together in certain situations. this weekend, everyone isjust going wild, which makes zero sense, but i think everyone is going wild because they want to have their last party because everyone is terrified of going into another lockdown. there's four people in our house and there's four people in her house, so there's been eight. the majority of people have got two kids. the majority of couples have two children, so it's preventing two families from getting together. coronavirus is not going to stop this weekend, it's still going to be here, so why wait till monday? if there's going to be a lockdown, do it now. in soho in central london, there is concern at the rate coronavirus is spreading. the r number has gone over one now. i think we are approaching this second wave that everyone is talking about. i think it will be quite a good thing. when you go to places like this, you do see big groups of people. certain areas are not monitored like house parties, and that is down to responsibility for the host of the house party. hopefully, people listen. i don't know if they do, though.

yeah, be sensible. from monday, police in england will have the power to fine people who don't stick to the rule of six. £100 for a first offence, doubling each time to a maximum of £3,200. the big question is whether police will initially try an approach of engagement or move straight to enforcement. in england, the rule of six will apply indoors and outdoors and in scotland, the six can only be from two households and young children aren't counted and in wales up to 30 can still meet outdoors. this is why the government is acting. there were 3,497 new coronavirus cases recorded in the latest 24—hour period. that means the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week is just over 3,000. nine deaths were reported of people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—i9 test and that means on average in the last week, 11 deaths were announced each day, taking the total number

across the uk to 41,623. in scotland, new cases diagnosed have hit a four—month high. the message from politicians, keeping coronavirus under control requires care and vigilance from all of us. the government has written to care home providers in england to warn them of a rise in new coronavirus infections within the sector. the letter acknowledges that infections are "mainly affecting the workforce, but clearly there is a risk the virus will spread to care home residents". 0ur social affairs correspondent, alison holt has been following developments. there are reports in the sunday times newspaper today that an official report marked official and sensitive was circulated at the department of health and social care last friday, saying the rate of coronavirus infections had quadrupled since the start of the month. it also says that the health and care secretary, matt hancock,

was told last wednesday that outbreaks had been detected in 43 homes in england. i do need to give you some context to that. at the height of the pandemic, the worst week for care homes, back in april, there were more than 1000 outbreaks in homes during one week. nevertheless, this is reflecting that wider worry about what is going on. which we force reported on friday, first reported, said infections were mainly among the workforce, but nevertheless they had been transmitted to residents in some cases. the department is due to publish its winter plans for social care in the next week or two, and says it is doing all it can for care homes, but already, care homes are worried about their ability to get testing and testing results as they see that as the key to protecting homes. dr maria van kerkhove is the technical lead on covid—19 at the world health organization. she says that the majority of people in the world

are still susceptible to the virus. what we know is that this virus has quite a long way to go. if we look at the proportion of the population that actually still remain susceptible, only about 10% of the world's population has been exposed and has evidence of infection, which means that most people remain susceptible. we're seeing some worrying trends across europe. in a number of countries, we're seeing an increase in case numbers, which is partly due to increased testing, it's partly due to improved surveillance, but it's definitely heading in the wrong direction. so what we really need to focus on is bringing transmission under control, and we do have the tools that can put that in place. more than 30 people have been killed by wildfires that are sweeping through the west coast of the united states.

blazes have been burning in washington, oregon and california for three weeks, affecting millions of acres. dozens of people are missing and tens of thousands have been forced to flee their homes, as helena wilkinson reports. in oregon and california, this is what some have had to escape from. more than a dozen fires are still raging across the state. oh, my god, babe. from up high, the devastation is stark. thousands of homes in oregon now reduced to charred ruins. 0n the ground, search and rescue crews look for dozens who are missing. so awfully kind of you. for the tens of thousands who have been forced to flee their homes, they have no idea of when they'll be able to return, or what they will find. if we have to rebuild, we have to rebuild. if we don't have to rebuild, we still have so much clean—up to do because of the ash, because when we left, like i said, the last time we pulled out, there was almost two inches. satellite images from this week show

thick plumes of smoke over the west coast of america. nasa said the view had been unusual and grim. the smoke pollution from the wildfires has left portland barely visible. meteorologists say 0regon‘s largest city has been left with the worst air quality in the world. on monday, president trump is due to visit california to see for himself the trail of devastation the wildfires have left behind. helena wilkinson, bbc news. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, the british—iranian woman jailed for spying in iran, has not been taken to court to face new charges, as she'd been expecting. her husband says she was instead told that she'd be brought into the prosecutor's office in tehran for a discussion. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe was told last week that she was facing a new charge. the foreign office said it welcomed the deferral of the hearing and has urged iran

to make her release permanent. a stretch of the ms has been closed in gloucestershire after a serious collision involving several vehicles. police were called at about 5.30 this morning following reports of a ford fiesta leaving the northbound carriageway between junctions 9 and 11. police said as a lorry parked behind the fiesta to offer help, a second lorry crashed into the back of it. highways england have reported a vehicle on fire but have yet to disclose injuries or casualties. economists say that the growing number of local lockdowns could lead to an increase in job losses and a collapse in consumer confidence. this week it was announced that households in birmingham will no longer be able socialise. and in bolton, bars and restaurants have had to close except for takeaways. our business correspondent katie prescott reports. a sign of the times in bolton town centre. pubs and bars closed for the second time for the local lockdown. this publican in bolton has

re—furloughed all of his staff except the chef and is turning to takeaways, to keep the business ticking over. the future of the business, uncertain. we have had good support. the pub we are in at the moment, the thomas egerton, i think will survive. i think we will be all right here. we have got a smaller pub down the road called the brewhouse, which may not be as easy to start up again. and that may be the difference between the company staying afloat or otherwise. businesses like this in england, forced to close by local lockdowns are getting extra funding from government, but any restrictions can upend the economy. we have seen in leicester, whfor example, when the restrictions have been lifted, the footfall is still around up to 20% lower than what we would have expected it otherwise, so there is a lingering effect of these local lockdowns on consumer confidence. and it is these sorts of closures that we are seeing here in bolton that businesses say

they really fear. but there is a catch—22 going on between trying to open up the economy and get people back to work and indeed going to work counts as essential travel in lockdown areas. all the while, trying to prevent a spike in infections that could lead to the sorts of stringent measures being seen in other areas of the uk. it is not game over for bars in halifax, which can still open, but in this local lockdown, different households are not allowed to socialise inside, which means more empty seats. now, obviously with the restrictions that we have got in place, it is less of a utopia for you to come and enjoy yourself. you are enjoying yourself in a controlled environment, which is not what the hospitality industry is about. by sticking to the new rules, all are hoping that these types of closures are short—lived. katie prescott, bbc news. teenagers convicted of terrorism in england and wales could receive whole—life terms under sentencing reforms described by

the government as the most radical in almost 20 years. currently, a life tariff can only be given to those over the age of 21, but ministers plan to reduce this to 18 for exceptional cases, such as terrorism as thejustice secretary, robert buckland, explains. i'm going to be reforming the law further to end the situation where just because you might be under 21, the law bars the possibility of a whole life order, that is somebody serving all their term in prison. i think it's right to give judges that discretion, and later in the week i will be announcing more measures in a sentencing white paper that will finally give the country a sense of what i have worked on for the last 30 years as a professional barrister and as a part—timejudge, that i think sentencing can be better, can be smarter and can be more balanced, genuinely in the interests of public protection and also

rehabilitation wherever appropriate. labour say increasing sentences for younger terrorist offenders is "quite low down the list" of issues in a criminaljustice system that is in "complete disarray" due to cuts. and earlier i spoke to lord carlile who served as the uk's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation from 2001 to 2011. he said he doesn't support this review from the government. it's completely unnecessary. judges have the full range of discretion available for 18 to 21—year—olds, as mrjustice jeremy baker demonstrated a few days ago, when he gave a minimum term of 55 years to hashem abedi, one of the brothers responsible for the manchester bombing. there are very good reasons for having different rules for those under 21, as i would have thought would be recognised by every experienced prosecutor,

defender, criminologist, teacher, parent who has had teenagers and so on. this is window dressing, i'm afraid, and it will not be acceptable, particularly to many people in the house of lords who i believe willjoin me in voting against it. authorities in greece say all the migrants and refugees left without shelter after a fire that swept through their camp on the island of lesbos, will be able to move into new accommodation this week. five days after the moria camp was destroyed, thousands of people are still living rough. officials on the island have been opposing the construction of a new camp and many of the migrants want to be allowed to claim asylum elsewhere. from lesbos, bethany bell reports. another night sleeping on the streets. migrants and refugees from the burnt out camp at moria lie among their few possessions. crowded together in squalid conditions. with little or no running water, it's a struggle to keep clean.

their fears about the spread of coronavirus. the authorities are putting up new tenants to house at least some of the migrants. we have seen small groups of people entering the new camp, there have been women with little babies, children and the vulnerable. for them it may be a relief after several nights of sleeping rough, but many migrants and refugees say they do not want a new camp, they want to leave lesbos altogether. now you can see there are some new camps there... for this man, it's a question of freedom. but i think there is no good for this second hell and second moria and why here is better than there because there is a prison, people can go out from there and i think here is more better. and as you can see, all the disabled

people and vulnerable people are in the street, pregnant women. the locals want them to leave too. they say the greek government and europe have abandoned them. but without eu—wide agreement on these migrants, solutions remain elusive. police in belarus say they have detained 250 demonstrators after tens of thousands of people have been gathering in the capital, minsk, on the fifth consecutive sunday of protests against the longstanding leader, alexander lu kashenko. these pictures from the capital appear to show security forces out in large numbers, detaining several of those heading to the protests. the demonstrators are calling for mr lukashenko to resign, after presidential elections last month that were widely seen as rigged. protestors are also angry at subsequent police violence. russians are voting today in dozens of local elections across the country.

they're being seen as a key test for the united russia party, which backs president vladimir putin. national elections are due to be held next year. fires are also burning in brazil's pantanal, the world's biggest tropical wetlands, the worst blazes in decades. many of the waterways have been dried up by drought. the wetlands sit at the southern edge of the amazon rainforest and stretch from brazil into paraguay and bolivia. experts say more than 5.7 million acres have gone up in flames so far this year. two los angeles police officers are in a critical condition after being shot in what police are calling an ambush. video of the incident shows a figure approach the officers‘ vehicle, before opening fire and running away. the officers involved have not been named, but have been described as a 31—year—old woman and a 24—year—old man. hundreds of thousands of students are due to arrive at university over the coming weeks, but what will the experience be

like for freshers at what should be one of the most exciting times of their lives? joining me now is quintin mckellar, vice chancellor of the university of hertfordshire. fight you for being with us today. —— thank you. you have spent time planning and replanning not least because of the latest requirements to come and tomorrow you find about last week. the rule of six. what changes can we expect and what additional things have you had to do asa additional things have you had to do as a result of the change this week? of course the safety of our staff and students is paramount but when they come onto the campus, they will see many of the things they will see in many other public places, there will be lots of signage which makes them all the one—way systems and so on. when they go into classrooms, the seats are much further apart than they would normally be. people

will be wearing masks, when people go into class they will be sitting significantly further away but apart from that, it will continue as you would expect on campus. are you quite well resourced in terms of space and so on because you are a campus university rather than, because presumably the challenges will be different in places that are in the city or may have smaller older buildings? yes, we have a lot of space on the campus, but of course we are expanding that as i think many universities are, so we're putting gazebos up across our grounds and those sort of things, so people can sit outside in groups or undercover outside in groups they can interact safely and hopefully continue to do their studies. and have a decent social experience. that's a particular problem when we talk about students later in the

afternoon, about this, it is slightly different for those who are coming for their second or third or fourth year, because at least they had the part of a year, they had freshers week, they made new friends, that process is going to be that much harder and presumably you your responsibilities in terms of supervising the welfare of students could be potentially more challenging this year than they have ever been before? absolutely, they undoubtedly will be, but of course we are responsible for both the educational experience to some extent for the social experience and i'm really pleased that following the locks and we had in march, we did a couple of surveys and the survey results came back positively about the material they were getting... enhanced material. buti am delighted our students union has

responded incredibly well and are proposing to do all sorts of imaginative things for the freshers stu d e nts imaginative things for the freshers students when they arrived, for example an outdoor cinema, we have a fabulous sports facility and it will be operating according to government guidelines but it will allow stu d e nts to guidelines but it will allow students to take part in many activities and then all the student houses will be having into house competitions and that sort of thing so they should get a good social experience as well as the educational experience that we want to give them. the education technology not—for—profit conducted some research, i don't know if you have seen this, it was released today. 20500 and students across the uk and a quarter of those, 23% said they could not rate the quality digitally experience they had in the last couple of terms is good, excellent or the best imaginable. if we're going to see a lot more this

year until covid—19 has been dealt with, if it ever is dealt with, in terms of online distance learning, that figure has got to go up a lot, hasn't it? i think it is going up. certainly if you think about what happened in march, it was effectively an emergency response, so many of our academics were utilising the material they had in the best way they possibly could in such a short time span, but we have had the whole summer to plan and we have got wonderful learning and teaching colleagues who have been helping them to develop a much more interactive, much more technology enhanced form of teaching, so if there are lockdown is when students have to be taught in a more online fashion, that will happen in an extremely, i think, fashion, that will happen in an extremely, ithink, positive fashion, that will happen in an extremely, i think, positive way and the students, certainly the ones that have responded to other surveys , that have responded to other surveys, seem to think that the experience has been a good one. but of course there will be still for

our smaller groups, the opportunity to do face—to—face teaching and that will be in a much more, in classrooms with much greater spacing but it will still be very much interactive and the students should get a good experience there as well. i hope you get a good night sleep tonight, thanks very much. thank you. a group of mps has written to nhs trusts asking them to allow pregnant women to have a partner with them during labour and scans. the government has given guidance saying this should be permitted, but mps are concerned that some nhs trusts are still making women go through labour alone. earlier, conservative mp alicia kearns told us why she was organising the campaign. so, when national lockdown ended, medical guide and said it could now change so old that women across the country could have a partner for all their scans and country could have a partner for all theirscans and —— country could have a partner for all their scans and —— so that all women. unfortunately in this week

woman had to deliver a stillborn on her own, women had miscarriages on their own and partners are locked out of rooms when theyjust want to be there protecting their loved ones, so i'm calling for all nhs trusts to put in place government guidance and make sure no woman goes through this alone. i'm five months pregnant, the reason i am fighting for this is that my trust immediately let my partner so i have not had any scans on my own, but women go into these scans, with their partners excited, terrified, it's a real time of unknown, you could walk in and walk away with the best news possible, i had a scan yesterday, or you could walk with the most devastating news where you could have been working to get pregnant four years. women are going into rooms where they have previously had miscarriages, not knowing what they will be told this and, asi knowing what they will be told this and, as i said, being forced to do the process to deliver a stillborn on their own. i remember when i was

in labour, birth changes at speed and women have to be given a support and women have to be given a support and partners deserve to be part of that and not cut out of the process. sue barker is leaving the bbc‘s a question of sport after 23 years, as part of a major shake—up at the programme. team captains matt dawson and phil tufnell will also depart the long—running sports quiz show. their final series together will be broadcast next year before the series returns with a new team. now it's time for a look at the weather. we are getting live weather back from this weekend. great to see you again. you have had plenty to choose from with the weather, i know you and your colleagues have been working all throughout lockdown tirelessly but it must have been slightly lonely because you have been down there in the barrels of

the bbc. we are in a different part of the newsroom, on the first level, we have had a lot of work to do by ourselves, a lot of recordings but now we're bringing back the live weather, so slowly back to normal. the weather itself is actually looking pretty cheerful over the next couple of days. in fact i will say that for some others it may even bea say that for some others it may even be a little too hot and it is warming up and i think it will be particularly warm for september. temperatures could hit 30 degrees. the last time we had 30 or more happened four years ago, so it has been awhile since we a hot spell in september. it's already warming up today, 25 in the south—east but wet and windy here in the western isles, where and one or two spots we have had around 100 millimetres of rain, roughly in the last 18 or 2a hours. through this evening and overnight that rain will start to clear. the wind will ease as well and then it's

basically a fairly quiet into the night for most of us, around ten the lowest. in the midlands. here is tomorrow, warm southerly wind spreading across the uk, plenty of sunshine, turning hot across the south—east. 30 degrees. but for most of us it's not going to be that one, it will be mostly around the low— mid—20s which is comfortable enough in pleasant enough in aberdeen and also glasgow around 20. i think tuesdayis also glasgow around 20. i think tuesday is going to be every bit as warm across many parts of the uk and from wednesday, it is back to normal. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. former british prime ministers tony blair and sirjohn major call borisjohnson's brexit plans ‘shameful‘, as the government continues to defend plans to override parts of the withdrawal agreement. more than 30 people have died as wildfires burn in california, oregon, and washington

and there are further health