hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. we will start by talking about covid—19 because there is a warning that the situation in europe is very serious. we in the uk the biggest regional lockdown we've seen yet sta rts regional lockdown we've seen yet starts at midnight. 2 million people in the northeast of england are affected. we will reexport from lesbos on the greek island police have started to move migrants to renew after the older ones last week burned down. the whole thing exposed cracked in the use migration policy. thing exposed cracked in the use migration policy. massive forest fires in the arctic circle. we have a special report on the blazes moving across siberia. and in our weekly deep dive, we'll take a look at a subject we've returned to time and time again

brexit and the irish border. a stark warning from the world health organisation for europe. it says the covidi9 situation is "very serious". this is why. weekly cases have now exceeded those reported when the pandemic first peaked in europe in march. last week, the region's weekly tally exceeded 300,000 patients. over the past two weeks more than half of the countries in europe have reported a 10% increase in cases. here's more from the who. in the spring and early summer, we were able to see the impact of strict lockdown measures. our efforts, our sacrifices paid off. injune, cases hit an all—time low. the september case numbers, however, should serve

as a wake—up call for all of us. although these numbers reflect more comprehensive testing, it also shows alarming rates of transmission across the region. what should european countries do next? i spoke to doctor kluger a few minutes ago. we need two things. the governments to step up leadership and miscommunication which instills public trust and clarity, and the society to adhere to public health measures. but would you agree that perhaps europe made a mistake in pursuing a normal summer and allowing so many people to move around the continent so freely? on one hand, when national lockdowns were in palmitic, implemented. we saw a dramatic decrease in the number of cases but it had a very high toll of mental health, economic loss. so, it's really a balance. and in that sense, the key issue is to learn how to live as a community

with the virus among ourselves. now you're saying the situation is very serious. can you help our viewers understand the difference between where we were in march and april and where we are now? are we seeing a repeat? that's key. no, today in september is not yesterday in february. we prepared hospitals, the intensive care community, we have a reserve of special protective equipment. people also learn the lesson. there is much more know—how and what you see for example if schools are to be close, it's localised. the surveillance and testing capacity became expanded. so we are in a much better position. we know what has to be done and it is too tricky to compare countries, we saw that in the first wave some countries, the best peoples of the class and others had a very tough time. so in that sense, the key issue is to stand

cani can i ask you about winter? in the uk the winter is unseasonably warm. it won't stay that way for long. how concerned are you about what happens when the weather gets colder?” concerned are you about what happens when the weather gets colder? i am hopeful because we know more but i'm also concerned, absolutely. i'm concerned that we are going to see some increase in mortality at different times of seasonality. but a lot depends on us. as we've seen throughout this pandemic, higher rates of transmission are often quickly followed by tougher restrictions. that's happening in the north—east of england, where new rules are about to come into effect. here's the the uk health secretary. from tomorrow, in northumberland, north tyneside, south tyneside, newcastle upon tyne, gateshead, sunderland and county durham, residents should not socialise with other people outside their own households or support bubble, hospitality for food and drink will be restricted to table service only and late—night restrictions of operating hours will be

introduced, so leisure and entertainment venues must close between 10pm and 5am. around 2 million people will be affected by the new restrictions. these graphs show why the government is taking action. the blue bars represent the number of weekly cases. in all of these counties there has been a spike in the last two weeks. the city of sunderland is of particular concern, the infection rate there is now at 103 cases per 100,000 people. for comparison the rate across the uk as a whole is 55 cases per 100—thousand and that's already considered high. well borisjohnson says he will do everything possible to avoid a second nation—wide lockdown. the prime minister told the sun newspaper "the only way to make sure the country is able to enjoy christmas is to be tough now." the opposition says more than tough restrictions are needed. here's labour's health spokesman. the secretary of state said little about testing this afternoon, mr speaker. atjust the point when many fear we are on the cusp

of a second deadly spike, the prime minister admits we don't have enough capacity. and rather than fixing the testing, the secretary of state is restricting testing. the us is very close to reaching 200,000 deaths. 197,000 people have died so far — and there have been more than six million confirmed cases. that's prompted the head of the centers for disease control to issue this renewed plea to americans. facemasks, these facemasks, are the most important powerful public health tool we have, and i will continue to appeal for all americans, all individuals in our country, to embrace these face coverings. i might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against covid than when i take a covid vaccine, because the immunogenicity may be 70%, and if i don't get an immune response, the vaccine's not

going to protect me. this face mask will. but president trump is focusing on the prospect of a vaccine. he says one could be ready before november's election. that directly contradicts what the director of the cdc said yesterday. there will be vaccine that will initially be available sometime between november and december, but very limited supply, and it will have to be prioritised. if you're asking me when is going to be generally available to the american public, so we can begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life, i think you're probably looking at late second quarter, third quarter 2021. bearin bear in mind that's the top official at the top body which it deals with disease in the us. and here's what the president said when he was asked about that a few hours later.

are you comfortable with that timeline. . . ? no, i think he made a mistake when he said that. it'sjust incorrect information. and i called him and he didn't tell me... i think he got the message maybe confused? maybe it was stated incorrectly. no, we're ready to go immediately as the vaccine is announced. and it could be announced in october, it could be announced a little bit after october, but once we go, we are ready. donald trump's rival for the presidenchoe biden says the president's timeline is being guided by politics not science. here he is. so let me be clear. i trust vaccines, i trust scientists, but i don't trust donald trump. and at this moment, the american people can't either. decidedly mixed messages coming on the vaccine. decidedly mixed messages coming on the vaccine. here's anthony zurcher in washington with more on what's been said. anthony zurcher is in washington. mark meadows echoing donald trump saying that robert redfield the

director of the cdc wasn't in the loop and didn't have the latest information but then you talk to drug manufacturers and they kind of echo what redfield is saying. that there could be a vaccine and the next month or two but it could also be stretching well into 2021. that's why you see people likejoe biting saying that there is a political motivation behind donald trumps announcement for that because he is talking about it happening right before election day. and if there is a return to normalcy that probably would help donald trump politically. although let's be clear all candidates running for election try to line up positive things don't they? donald trump is not alone in doing that. no that's not the case although when it something like life and death like this i think the sta kes a re and death like this i think the stakes are that much higher. you have to look at donald trumps record over the course of this year being overly optimistic about what was going to happen with the coronavirus from the very beginning downplaying it saying that dots were going to drop down to zero. saying that there could be a new cure with

hydrochloric line. saying that we are turning a corner and then cases spiking. when you view it in that context, it's more difficult to look at what donald trump is saying about vaccines and not see a particular political spin on it. thank you anthony. next — we're going to greece, specifically to the island of lesbos — after those huge fires at moria camp last week, police are moving thousands of migrants and refugees to a new camp nearby. since the fires last week, over 12,000 people have been homeless. many have been sleeping under tarpaulins or other makeshift shelters on the roadside. this morning police woke them early to move them to their new home. all these pictures are from the greek police. and this is one of the 70 female officers who were flown in to organise the transfer of women and children to the temporary camp — single men are not allowed in yet. a government official said 1,800 people had been moved by early thursday. but there's been criticism that people are simply being moved to another new camp on lesbos —

rather than a more long—term solution off the island. here's one activist in brussels. countries like greece and italy of austin hughes other countries and sharing the burden of people who are arriving into the eu. here is bethany bell on that use dilemma. it's a very difficult, divisive question. what we do know is that this week the head of the european commission said that she was going to reform the european asylum process. she called on european states to show solidarity with each other. she said migrant, outmigration was a european challenge. and she said she wants to try and reform the so—called, dublin regulation which is the system that works at the moment. whereby people are supposed to apply for asylum in the first eu state they arrive in. it was intended to prevent multiple

applications across european union countries. but many, many critics say that the result of this is that countries like greece and italy are bearing the brunt of dealing with the migrants who arrived there for us. the migrants who arrived there for us. and northern and eastern european countries are not having to deal with it. we understand that those plans will be released sometime next week. but i think there is a lot of skepticism certainly from where i am now in central and eastern europe where people, countries have been very adamant that they don't want to taken refugees or people requesting asylum. in a few minutes were going to turn our attention to florida because people are caught up in this. notjust florida but out there southeastern states as well. we will get a full update.

more now on that regional lockdown in the north—east of england. from midnight almost two million people will see their movements and lifestyle restricted. it will cause major disruption — but the authorities in the region are largely supportive, as fiona trott reports. they actually asked for more. they wanted more help with immediate testing. 40,000 students are expected here in the next few weeks. we understand that hasn't been forthcoming. also reports today of over 100 people queuing outside a testing centre in sunderland but no tests were available. the local authorities also asked for less. they didn't want friends or families involved in childcare arrangements to be included in that household rule, but they are. and local authorities pressed for these measures because they don't want a full lockdown in this region, they can't afford one. it has the highest unemployment rate in the country. it's a difficult balancing act. the night—time economy here is worth

£3110 million in newcastle alone. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is... covid—19 and the world health organisation warning of alarming rates of coronavirus warning of alarming rates transmission in europe must serve as a wake—up call. there are wildfires affecting several regions around the world. we have an exclusive report from siberia in russia in a moment. first to the united states, where fires are still burning along the west coast. this is a map from the california fire department, cal fire. you can see the number of seperate fires. these are aerial shots from butte county in california. another fire threatens communities in the san gabriel valley. and evacuation orders remain in place for areas around the angeles national forest. we know at least 36 people have been killed by the fires since august. oregon is being badly affected — and some of its regions are beyond the state's measurement

scale for air quality. this is one one firefighter there. it hits close to home. this is our backyard. these are the places that we have friends who have been displaced. and neighbouring departments that we provide mutual aid to who have lost their communities and their fire stations or fire engines, and the places that we would take our children camping or go and visit. we have seen those altered permanently. we won't see those places look the same probably in my lifetime. but it's not just the west coast that's being affected by these fires. this image was tweeted by the national weather service in new york — it shows the smoke reaching all the way across the country. it's now visible in new york and in washington dc. a journalist there tweeted this picture...

next let's move from north america to south america — where fires continue to rage one of the world's largest wetlands the brazilian pa nta nal. it hosts the most biodiverse ecosystem in the world — and it's at risk. a record number of fires in the region have been reported for september — there's been more than five thousand, six hundred this month. environmental groups blame farmers and cattle ranchers. here's one scientist on why it's happening. translation: the rains we get in the state of mato grosso, including the pantanal, comes from the amazon. with increasing deforestation in the amazon, other regions in south america will also suffer as we are seeing this year. this extreme drought has caused many more fires than we have ever seen.

but the president jair bolsonaro has shrugged off global criticism, saying, "there are disproportionate criticisms of the amazon and that might be true — but scientists have pointed out in the past, the number of fires across africa has remained consistent year to year. in contrast, in the southern part of the amazon, it's thought the fires are worse than they've been for at least ten years. we've looked at the us, at brazil — now to siberia in russia which is serious fires for the second year in a row. what links all of these fires is that they're setting records for severity and damage. the arctic fires in siberia are burning carbon—rich peatlands, and so are releasing more carbon dioxide, 35% more on last year. and last year was a record. the bbc‘s steve rosenberg and his crew are the first foreign team to be allowed into the yakutia region. this is the report they made.

in siberia, they call their forests the lungs of the planet. if that's true, our planet is in big trouble. we were given a bird's—eye view of a climate emergency. from the air, siberia's forest fires looked like armageddon. a heatwave has been fuelling them and they‘ re releasing record amounts of carbon. and because of the vastness of siberia, fighting them is incredibly difficult. this region alone, yakutia, is 13 times the size of britain. what's happening here in siberia has consequences for the whole world. scientists believe that these forest fires are producing huge amounts

of greenhouse gases that are changing the climate of the planet. russia has one fifth of the world's forests. if they're burning, the fallout is global. for a closer look, we switch transport and head into the siberian taiga with the forest rangers. it's slow going. this is a real siberian forest path. not easy to get down, and it will take us a while to get to the fire. but we're on the right track. it soon becomes clear that fire has swept through here, destroying larch and silver birch and turning parts of this fairy—tale forest into a wasteland.

when we catch up with the flames, the forest rangers do their best with what they've got. but no sooner is one fire out, another sparks. it is siberia's equivalent of david versus goliath. turning back to the us. in the us, thousands of people in south—eastern states will soon need to flee rising waters because of tropical storm sally. alabama, florida and mississippi have all declared states of emergency already. the storm made landfall as a category 2 hurricane on wednesday. this is pensacola in florida, it was badly hit. flooding reached one and a half metres — making it the third worst storm surge ever recorded in the city.

in orange beach, alabama, one person has died and another is missing. this map shows how the storm has left many people in the dark. alabama has 290,000 people without electricity, florida more than 220,000. and these latest satellite pictures show the storm heading towards georgia and the carolinas. it's been downgraded to a tropical storm, but it remains hugely powerful. also wanted to show the satellite images. you can also see the great band of smoke that's wrested from the california wildfires. to make matters worse still more tropical storms are stacking up and threatening other parts of the gulf coast. a little earlier i spoke to a meteorologist for the washington post. he'sjust got back from the gulf coast. it really was incredible. i've seen hurricanes before this one was moving slowly barely walking pace which means we are in the thick of things for hours at a time. we had

roughly for hours in a row with winds gusting in excess of 150 kph and rainfall rates between seven and ten salaries per hour. that stepped up ten salaries per hour. that stepped up to more than half a metre rainfall where i was. ashley parked my vehicle on a sidewalk. but other people, lost their cars in the flooding in the parking lot at the hotel i was at. then we got to the eye, it was definitely quiet. you can only have three frogs and crickets out there. it was very impressive event. i actuallyjust flew home earlier today and there was a lot of turbulence i'm back to dc. you can actually still see sally's rem na nts dc. you can actually still see sally's remnants out the window with very strong thunderstorms producing tornadoes over the carolinas. each thursday we make a report for the bbc website which looks at one of the stories we focused on over the week. i thought we could turn into a subject we discussed a much more than any other in the last four yea rs. than any other in the last four years. one puzzle has been there from the start of the brexit story. to restart mate lost herjob try to solve it borisjohnson wants to break international law to solve it

and everyone is taking an interest. you don't mess with the good friday accords. with peace in northern ireland at stake, let's look at why the irish border question won't go away. the challenge has always been to reconcile three things. the first is the eu's single market — it allows free movement of goods, people, services and capital. and eu protects — anything coming in or out is checked. the second thing was captured by borisjohnson in 2016. i believe that this thursday can be our country's independence day. for some of its supporters, brexit is an assertion of national sovereignty. leaving the eu's single market is part of that. which leads us to the third thing — and this is the complicator if the uk leaves the single market, the question is, where to put the checks? and this then becomes about history and geography. northern ireland is part of the uk. for years, a violent conflict played out between nationalists who want it to be part of the republic of ireland and unionists who want

it to stay in the uk. in 1998, the good friday agreement ended that conflict. it also ended military checks on the border. and ever since, checks of any type on the border are politically unthinkable. which brings us to the geography. if there can't be checks on the irish border, well the map points you towards checks in the irish sea. but would a uk government agree to that? in 2018, the eu floated the idea. theresa may famously replied "no uk prime minister "could ever agree to this". theresa may instead proposed a backstop — a plan where the uk remained aligned to the eu's single market until a new trade deal was done. no said brexiteer mps. and soon mrs may was gone — and borisjohnson arrived with a big shift that few saw coming. in 2019 he meet ireland's leo varadkar and offered to accept some checks in the irish sea. it stunned uk politics — but he got a deal with the eu, forced an election, won the election. it was a huge political coup.

from there, brexit happened, and trade talks began. but as they struggled to progress borisjohnson delivered his second big shift. during the election campaign, he'd told us his brexit deal was oven ready. but mrjohnson's view of his deal changed. and hre directed his government to do this. this does break international law and a very limited and specific way. the uk is now seeking to override parts of the withdrawal agreement — and accuses the eu of wanting a border in the irish sea. even though the withdrawal agreement which the uk agreed explicitly creates a regulatory border in the irish sea. and so we have the government attacking a deal that it sold to the country — and we return to right where we started. the square may get circled — but the irish border question won't go away because it remains fiendishly difficult to answer. you can get more on brexit by of the bbc website. thank you very much indeed. will be back with you next

week hope you can join indeed. will be back with you next week hope you canjoin me. bye—bye. hello. it looks like our weather will turn more unsettled, windier, cooler. so, if you are enjoying the sunshine, do make the most of it as it continues into tomorrow and for many into the weekend as well. here's a lovely view from the east coast of scotland today. it's high pressure, won't be surprised to see that, keeping it sunny and settled. just on the southern flank of that area of high pressure, there is a strengthening easterly breeze overnight. that will stop the temperature falling too far. it will bring some areas of low cloud that push into parts of especially eastern england. and there's a weak weather front close to the north of scotland also keeping temperatures up here with a chance of seeing a little bit of light rain, especially in the northern and western isles. and temperatures probably at their lowest across south east scotland and north east england, 11—5 degrees for some spots here.

into tomorrow then, and there will be some areas of high cloud around in places making the sunshine hazy. still a chance of seeing that little bit of light rain in the north of scotland, especially into the northern and western isles. won't amount to very much. and it will be a bit breezier into england and wales. these are average wind speeds, but some gusts may be approaching 30 mph, maybe closer to a0 in the most exposed spots here. in the breeze and in the sunshine, it will feel very pleasant indeed. these temperatures are just actually a bit above average in some spots, 21 degrees in glasgow. just looking into friday evening, no great change here so still looking dry and then into the weekend, things do start to change the further south you are. an area of low pressure coming north out of iberia mayjust start to push a weather front close to southern england. don't know yet how far any showers will go, so keep watching the forecast if that is something that interests you. but it's southern england, south wales with a greater potential for catching a shower that could be heavy and thundery in that brisk easterly wind.

elsewhere, it may be hazy in places and there's more cloud towards the northern and western isles, but most of the uk will have a dry saturday and sunny at that. just a bit cooler into scotland and northern ireland, with temperatures in the mid—teens here, and some areas of cloud starting sunday, the sun will eventually come through. still some cloud into the north west of scotland. cloud and showers possibly early on sunday towards the south. it looks like that potentially retreats during the day, bringing some sunshine, and for many, it will be a very pleasant sunday. bye— bye.

hello, this is bbc news with kasia madera. the headlines. nearly two million people across most of the north east of england are set for tougher coronavirus restrictions from midnight, after a rise in cases.

it's spreading, isn't it, really? so, if it saves it getting worse. you just have to obey the rules. it's not hard work, is it? everybody's, "yes, sir, no, sir, three bags full, sir." this country has gone to the dogs. a similar story in south wales — where almost half a million people in rhondda cynon taff will have stricter lockdown rules from 6pm this evening. the head of nhs test and trace admits there aren't enough coronavirus tests available. it's clear from today that demand is significantly outstripping the capacity that we have. and, so, we are all going to need to work on this together. a warning from the bank of england — that the rising rate of coronavirus infections and a lack of clarity over brexit, could threaten economic recovery. and coming up — cold, flu, or coronavirus? we'll help you recognise the symptoms for each.