this is bbc news. the headlines at four... 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/ of the withdrawal agreement. this is a collective will on the part of the government not just 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 3000 positive cases were recorded on each of the past few 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. the husband of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, the british—iranian woman jailed for spying in iran, says her case is a game of cat and mouse between governments, with them living life

as a piece of bait. police in belarus detain 250 anti—government protestors as around 100,000 people return to street demonstrations. 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... 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. the uk's chief negotiator in uk—eu talks, lord frost, has said he hopes the eu will "think better" of their position on whether to list the uk as a third country for food imports. earlier, the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier said suggestions the eu was threatening to effectively block uk food exports to northern ireland by withholding the "third country" status were not true. but lord frost responded in a series of tweets claiming it had been made clear to the uk in the current talks that there was "no guarantee" of the uk being listed. and that if the uk was not listed, it would "not be able to move food to northern ireland."

he warned the suggestion the eu might sue britain was not helpful as it got in the way of an effective deal. 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. the letter from the department also circulated on friday, which we first reported on friday, 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. we have the latest covid—i9 figures.

they have been released by the uk government. get them in a consolidated way at this time every day of the week. they show that 3330 people confirmed cases of covid—i9 in the 2a hours for, that has compared with 3497 in the 24 hours for, that has compared with 3497 in the previous 24 hours and that looks like a trend of about just over 3000 24 hours and that looks like a trend of aboutjust over 3000 cases a day. what the government and health authorities will be particularly anxious to watch closely for is the rate of infection from each individual as they track individual cases and see how many people have been affected, infected we know the figure has gone up, rate of

infection you can see how that grows exponentially, the figure is 3330 coral virus infections in the last 24 hours. compared with 3497 in the previous 24. that is uk wide. dr maria van kerkhove is the technical lead on covid—i9 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.

thank you so much. 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.

these are live pictures from san francisco, not like you can see much, like much of the three states affected, california and as helen was saying in her report, showing from the satellite images, really, really heavy smoke and fog created by that, you can see visibility must be terrible for that small number of drivers who are going across, it's up drivers who are going across, it's upjust after drivers who are going across, it's up just after 8am on a sunday morning there. traffic would not be as heavy but a lot of people have left the city because of the risk from the fires. we know that a democratic governor of california has seized on this to argue very strongly that the president is making a mistake in dismissing man—made climate change and of course it is going to get caught up in the politics of the presidential election but for people who are kind

about the sharp end of it that innocenceis about the sharp end of it that innocence is almost academic, they are living with the consequences of fires. and the damage that has been caused to large parts of the state and obviously the collateral damage of the smoke. to those places not directly affected by the fires because the smoke is travelling hundreds of miles, the intensity is so hundreds of miles, the intensity is so great. you can imagine what breathing quality is like and i spoke to our correspondent a few months ago when sydney was affected by the fires, not so much fires themselves but the smoke blowing into the city and really, really damaging the air quality for millions of people who live in these places like san francisco. so we will leave those pictures, just to give you a flavour of the situation the city itself. 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. 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. the authorities in belarus say they've detained about 250 people at the start of the latest mass anti—government demonstrations in the capital, minsk. as these pictures show, there have been violent altercations between the security forces, who are out in large numbers, and 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. observers say an estimated 100,000 people are now in central minsk taking part in the protests.

an estimated hundred thousand people are now in the centre of minsk for the fifth sunday in succession. 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. the foreign office said it welcomed the deferral of the hearing, and said they "call on iran to make nazanin's release permanent so that she can return to herfamily in the uk." nazanin's husband richard it was "too early to say what the postponement means, except that this remains a game of cat and mouse between governments...with us living life as a piece of bait." nazanin told her husband this morning, "i really can't take it any more. they have all these games, and i have no power in them. "i find myself hating everything in this life, including myself. there is no escape." tulip siddiq is the local mp for the zaghari—ratcliffe family and says the uncertainty continues to hang over her constituent‘s head.

she went through the charges against her with her lawyer from what i understand yesterday. they prepared a strong defence. her lawyer reassured her there was not much in what they were plotting against her if you like and they would be able to give a strong defence in herfavour. she waited all morning and was told she was not going to court, she was meant to be escorted because she has got an ankle tag which prevents herfrom moving away from her parents‘ house where she is based but all of a sudden she was told the trial hasn't cancelled, she would not be in court today, there would be no hearing, so once again it's hanging over her head. her husband has maintained from day one that her wife is a pawn and a bargaining chip which is caught between two countries. as you say and you are absolutely right, we as a country or iran right, we as a country owe iran £400 million and nazanin has been

told over and over again that unless that debt is paid, she will not be coming home. she was told herself by one of the guards in prison that she is in prison because of our failure to pay that debt. and it is promising that the government, our government is talking about paying the debt back but in all honesty, they should have paid back the debt along time ago. because perhaps if they had paid the debt back, a constituent the debt back, my constituent would be home right now. the one thing i would say that is promising is that the embassy in tehran, our embassy in tehran is now seeing our embassy in tehran is now saying they would stand beside nazanin, attend court hearings, go to her trial and be there with her, perhaps that's one of the reasons why the trial did not go ahead today, it's hard to know. no one really knows the reason. it may be because the embassy is finally coming out and supporting nazanin that we are in the situation. she was granted diplomatic protection, special status as a prisoner by the former foreign secretary and it looks like government is finally taking that status seriously and doing something with it which gives us

hope about her returning home. the headlines on bbc news... former british prime ministers tony blair and sirjohn major call boris johnson's brexit plans "shameful. " the government continues to defend plans to override parts of the withdrawal agreement. there's fresh concern in the uk over the growing spread of coronavirus after more than 3000 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. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's sarah.

good afternoon. let's begin at the cricket where england are in action against australia in their second one day internaional at old trafford. they've got to win this to keep the three match series alive. england won the toss and decided to bat. but they have struggled, losing wicket regularly. captain eoin morgan the fourth to fall went for 42 after being caught by aussie skipper adam zampa on the pads. sam curran edged behind and england were seven down. chris woakes' innings is also just gone for 26, josh hazlewood with the wicket. england are currently 152—8. leicester have got off to a winning start in the premier league with a 3—0 win over promotoed west brom. timothy castagne scored on his debut to get them off the mark in the second half before jamie vardy scored twice from the spot to wrap up the win. spurs against everton will kick off in about 15 minutes' time lots of the new signings involved

matt doherty and pierre—emile hojbjerg starting for spurs. while allan, abdoulaye doucoure and james rodriguez all start for everton. i think the players that arrived understood that we have a project with ambition. the club is a big project with ambition for the future, so this is also the reason that they are happy to come here now. they are going to work to put their quality for the team and for this club. defending champions chelsea hammered bristol city with nine different goal—scorers to register their first win of the new women's super league campaign. it was a fractic first half, with chelsea leading 5—0 at the break. erin cuthbert with the nice finish for the fourth. pernille harder scored herfirst league goal for the club since signing in the second half

and here sam kerr completed the rout, making it 9—0. elsewhere, everton are two wins from two, beating tottenham 1—0 thanks to an izzie christiansen goal. reading have their first win in the league this season — 3—1 against aston villa. brighton held manchester city to a goalless draw. manchester utd came to win 5—2 against birmingham city. wasps have continued their charge towards the premiership play—offs in rugby union by crushing title rivals bristol 59 points to 35 at the ricoh arena. bristol boss pat lam made 12 changes from their winning team in midweek, with one eye on their european challenge cup quarterfinal next friday. wrapped up in 18 minutes. and controlled the game right to the end. so all eyes then on the other teams in play—off contention this afternoon. sale in third are taking on bath in fifth but it's bath who have the lead, it's 17—7 there. the top four qualify, with exeter at the top of the table already qualified,

they take on saracens, kick off at half four. italy's franco morbidelli won the san marino grand prix to claim the first moto gp win of his career. his yamaha team mate fabio quartararo lost his championship lead after crashing twice forced him to retire from the race at misano. morbidelli got a brilliant start from second on the grid to overtake pole sitter maverick vinales and then lead the race to the chequered flag. so lots of sport for you to follow including the tuscan f1 grand prix which is ongoing in mugello. the race has been red flagged twice after a series of crashes, all is ok and they're back under way. you can follow it as it unfolds on the bbc sport website and also keep up to date on the cricket with video clips. you won't miss a thing.

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? earlier, quintin mckellar, vice chancellor of the university of hertfordshire, explained what will await students at his university. the safety of our staff and students is paramount importance to us 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 follow 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 libraries they will be sitting significantly further away but apart

from that, it will continue as you would expect on a campus. with me is patrick 0'donnell, president of the university of york students' union, where he is helping to organise social distancing events at the university. and kai mcleod, who will be returning to the university of kent for his final year of drama and theatre studies. let me ask you first what was the end of your last year —like when covid—19 hit? end of your last year —like when covid-19 hit? i end of your last year —like when covid—19 hit? i can imagine your course is a lot of practical? it was very frantic. the last week it was very frantic. the last week it was very normal, week after that, eve ryo ne very normal, week after that, everyone was leaving, no one knew what to do. and then ijust had to come straight back home. and it was very sudden. i was very nervous, very sudden. i was very nervous, very anxious at that point. how you

feel about going back resting? normally going back to university i'm very excited. going back now i'm very anxious. i just feel like going to university is always a happy thing, it's always something i look forward to. i still look forward to it, but with these restrictions at this time i'm a bit worried. i'm not surprised, i imagine yourfamily are as well. let's hear from surprised, i imagine yourfamily are as well. let's hearfrom patrick. ki is entering his final year. you are trying to help final students pursue happiness well but those coming for the first time. —— kai. what can freshers expect? we are really lucky to have lots of green space here so we really lucky to have lots of green space here so we are really lucky to have lots of green space here so we are encouraging all of our students to socialise on campus and one thing we're doing is

erecting loads of marquees and teepees around our green campus. essentially encouraging students to come socialise in safeways where we can control it. so we're going over and beyond government guidelines and doing things like temperature checks on track and trace and i completely recognise there are some students who are really, really eager to go back and clubbing tomorrow and of course lots of students who are really anxious to come back but we are trying to psyche violence —— trying to strike a balance. what about the student union bar? we have six venues and managed to reopen all of them in septemberjust in a few weeks' time and we have also managed to create 120 or so jobs for students which is really important ata time students which is really important at a time when lots of students, there is less opportunity around the city and elsewhere so we absolutely

encourage students to return safely to campus and we are giving them the tools and space to do so. kai, you are down at the university of kent which is in canterbury, what sort of facilities either, can you visualise being able to kind of practice social—distancing to still be able to do the sort of things you would hope to do in your studies and social life? i trust them, to follow the rules and restrictions properly, i have no doubt that they will put things in place so that you can be closer to normal. so i have no doubts there. have a talk to you at all about the use of technology and distance learning for some of the theoretical parts of your course or is the theory site pretty much done by the time you come to your final year? no, they did say it would be a mixture of online lectures and

face—to—face teaching. they said that a couple of weeks ago so in advance. that didn't happen in the last term? no, in the last term, it was towards the end it was getting a bit disorganised as you can imagine. but going into this new year it's all going to change and be very different. patrick in terms of the practicalities for all students who are going to be in york starting to come in the next few days, there is the question of student accommodation but also the question of learning, ice or a survey one of the digital technology firms, a not—for—profit put out, a survey about 20,000 students which was released today and that survey suggested that only about a quarter who had been in university in the last academic year could really

describe their distance learning is good, very good or best that could possibly happen given. so that means three quarters were not satisfied with what they were getting. i know a lot of it was kind of a necessity and all done very last minute improvised, but they have had the summer to prepare, how confident are you that experience will be different for those doing courses this term and this year?|j different for those doing courses this term and this year? i think ultimately it's about striking a balance. 0ur university is going through lots of changes and we are ensuring we have face—to—face learning where we can and whenever it's not possible to provide online alternatives. kai, lastly, this is your final year at university then your final year at university then you have at what would at any time bea you have at what would at any time be a difficult transition to the workplace, still less in such a precarious profession as the theatre, i don't know if your plans are to act or be in production or

stage management, a variety of things, you can tell is that, but are you worried about that when you see the state of the industry right now? festival, i want see the state of the industry right now? festival, iwant to see the state of the industry right now? festival, i want to go into acting seriously, tv and theatre. i'm just looking at the times i've had in the months we have been in quarantine and lockdown, ifeel like there will be a lot more opportunity i feel looking at the black lives matter movement in particular, there's a lot of black talent and black people protesting and making their voices heard during that time. and i feel like when we come out of this lockdown and quarantine period there will be more opportunities for young people like new, young black people and obviously the people in the industry now to rise up and

really show what we're made