this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: donald trump is not backing down. he questions if the presidential election can be honest, despite senior republicans distancing themselves from his comments. we wa nt we want to make sure the election is honest and i'm not sure it can be. i don't know that it can be. a race against time in france to avoid another deadly coronavirus wave as the country reports a record number of new cases. the uk government unveils a plan to top up workers‘ wages, as covid cases rise and fears of mass unemployment grow. constantly accused of kidnap because her child's a different race — how one mother's trying to change public prejudices.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. first, president trump is continuing to cast doubt on the results of the upcoming election in the united states, telling reporters that he's not sure the vote can be honest. in the past 2a hours, senior republicans distanced themselves from his reluctance to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses in november. mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate, tweeted: "the winner of the november 3rd election will be inaugurated on january 20th. there will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792." well, speaking a short while ago, here's what the us president said. we wa nt we want to make sure the

election is honest and i'm not sure that it can be. i don't know that it can be, with this whole situation, unsolicited ballots, they are unsolicited. things being sent to everybody. his comments caused condemnation from politicians and the public — this is how crowds greeted him while the president and first lady paid their respects to the late ruth bader ginsburg. crowds outside the supreme court in washington chanting "vote him out". we can go live now to the united states and just see pictures of donald trump, that is david willis, who we are going to speak to. standby one second, we're just going to speak to. standby one second, we'rejust going going to speak to. standby one second, we're just going to look at what donald trump is doing. he is at a campaign rally in florida, jacksonville. he has been speaking again,

questioning those elections. let's chat to our corresponding, david willis, who use or there. david, what is this all about in trying to question the legitimacy of elections? well, i have to tell you it's deja vu all over again, really, isn't it? back in 2016, when he was campaigning for president, donald trump said he may well refuse to accept the outcome because there could be a lot of people who commit fraud. well, fast forward four years and we have these claims now from mr drum, this time, focusing on postal ballots, which he says area postal ballots, which he says are a potential source of fraud. that is significant because millions of people in america are expected to vote by post this time around, and live because they don't want to stand in long lines at the time of the coronavirus pandemic. mr trump says on top of all of that that he may refuse to the outcome of the election if he

thinks there is fraud. and that has caused a lot of disconcerted responses, even from people within his own party. we had mitch mcconnell and romney and others coming up to say they believe there will bea to say they believe there will be a peaceful transfer of power -- mitt be a peaceful transfer of power —— mitt romney. it's worth making the point that no american president has cast doubt on the american democratic system in this way ever before, hence the american civil liberties union put out a statement today saying the peaceful tra nsfer of statement today saying the peaceful transfer of power is essential to a functioning democracy. yeah, david, it's extraordinary, isn't it? we certainly do reports and interviews on countries across the world that legitimately have problems with the democratic functions. we never thought really that me and you would be sitting here chatting about this or the united dates? absolutely not. and that is something the house speaker, nancy pelosi, embraced today

when she addressed reporters about this. she said the president admires people who are perpetuating their role in government, and she referred to kim jong—un government, and she referred to kimjong—un in government, and she referred to kim jong—un in north government, and she referred to kimjong—un in north korea and vladimir putin amongst others. she said you are not in north korea, mr president, nor in turkey, nor in russia. so why don't you just try for a moment to honour your oath of office? but all of this cloud and already clouded electoral process. we have of course contentious nominations coming up contentious nominations coming upfor contentious nominations coming up for another supreme court justice, and indeed, such as the potential lack of clarity going into this presidential election, that it might actually be up to the highest court in the land at the end of the day, the supreme court, to determine the outcome of the november election. extraordinary stuff. thanks, david. the french prime minister is warning that it is a race against time to avoid a second

coronavirus wave as bad as the first. jean castex said the public must act now to stop a repeat of the peak in spring. it comes as the country records a record number of new cases since mass testing began. 16,096 cases were confirmed in the last 2a hours. 0ur reporter mark lobeljoins me now. right. not good news out of france, is it? talk us through it. french prime ministerjean castex is urging the french public to be attentive. it is the fourth time in a week cases have reached 13,000. if we were to look at some figures, lewis, in the last of the four hour period, 52 deaths have occurred, up from 43, and intensive care units in france, 1048 patients currently there are two in the last 24—hour period. and patients with covid—19, almost 6000, that is the highest it has been for two months, but it is five times

less tha n months, but it is five times less than when it peaked in april. there is no sense there isa april. there is no sense there is a national lockdown happening yet, but they are very worried about this rise in cases. news those numbers are much lower than the first peak, but the trend is worrying, isn't it? what is the government doing now? prime minister is saying if the french public don't react in the way he is hoping, he is hinting there will be severe restrictions, possibly leading to lockdowns. at the moment, politicians in paris have agreed france's second city is in what they called maximum alert status. that means pubs, bars, restaurants, they are all closed for two weeks from saturday. there is fury among residents, some residents there and local politicians, they weren't consulted and they think it will push the problem elsewhere. they feel they are being picked upon. butjean castex was in of the visit on thursday night, defending the plan. i don't think is going to

watch on that one. and then an elevated alert for paris and ten other cities where there will be a curfew in place for bars and will be a curfew in place for bars a nd restau ra nts will be a curfew in place for bars and restaurants from monday. and a rule of ten so people won't be able to meet in public or private gatherings if you are more than ten people. in terms of sporting events, there was an announcement on wednesday from the health ministry that 1000 people would be the maximum at major sporting events. there were questions over whether roland—garros, the french open, would be affected by that. they received a statement from the prime minister which said they would be included. a blow to organisers, they were hoping for 5000 today. last year, quite different from the thousand that will allowed this year. there were 37,000 fans attending a day. briefly, what is happening across the rest of europe? well, the question is are we hitting a second wave? there are 3 million cases now in the uk and the eu combined. spain at the top with over 700,000 cases, and as we were

discussing marseille, in southern districts of madrid there is a severe lockdown where people are not allowed to leave their houses were asked not to unless for work or essential medical reasons. and extent of testing is really high. that height, that level, the government has brought in new rules, curfews on pubs and restau ra nts new rules, curfews on pubs and restaurants from 10pm, this rule of six in the uk where you cannot meet more than six people inside or outside your house, and they are encouraging people to go to the office. thank you for talking us through that, mark lobel. more than a million people have already downloaded the government's contact tracing app for england and wales on its first day of release. anyone over 16 is being encouraged to use it on their smartphone.

it can warn if you've been in close contact with someone who's been infected. but the health secretary for england, matt hancock, says it won't be a legal requirement for people to self—isolate, if the app says you should. here's our medical editor, fergus walsh. advert: now based on apple and google's privacy preserving technology, the app will help us safely live our lives, protecting you and others. much delayed, but finally available for download in england and wales. the nhs covid—19 app can be used to check in at bars and restaurants and tell you the coronavirus risk level where you live, but its main function is contact tracing. the app uses bluetooth, and if you come into contact with others who've downloaded it, that will be recorded on each of the phones. let's say i test positive. that result will be sent anonymously to the nhs. if i'd been within two metres of someone for at least 15 minutes, perhaps sat

near them on a train, they'll be sent an alert telling them to self—isolate. the app keeps secret who's received those alerts, so self—isolation will be voluntary, unlike those contacted through nhs test and trace, where it's mandatory. this allows us to find, all of us, to find contacts that we wouldn't otherwise know. because if you've been sitting near somebody on a bus, for instance, you might not know who they are, so if you test positive, you couldn't tell the contact tracers that. a million people downloaded scotland's tracing app within a week of its launch. northern ireland's app has also proved popular. for those with covid symptoms, finding out fast whether they are infected is vital so that contacts can be traced. new figures show that fewer than one in three people in england who attended a covid testing site are getting their results within 24 hours.

it was a return to home—schooling for the mcguire family from cambridgeshire last week, after two—year—old sian got a fever. they managed to book a test slot. getting a test like that and one that was — we didn't have to travel 150 miles for, it was a half—an—hour drive so, actually, i thought, "this is really good". but a week on, they never heard back. we still don't have the government's test and trace result — day eight. it's so frustrating. actually, it felt so much worse than the original lockdown. in the end, they paid £150 for a private test and got the result last night. negative! yay! yay, you can go back to school. the government set a target of 500,000 tests a day by the end of october, double the amount done now, but making sure people get their results back quickly will be another challenge. fergus walsh, bbc news. the uk government has outlined plans to try to protect millions ofjobs and the economy over the next six months, as coronavirus

restrictions limit growth. under the new scheme, people who are unable to work full time will have their wages topped up by the government. they have to work at least a third of their normal hours to qualify. iam announcing i am announcing today the new jobs support scheme. the government will directly support the wages of people in work, giving businesses who face depressed demand the option of keeping employees in a job on shorter hours, rather than making them redundant. the finance minister there. the chancellor has insisted the government can only support jobs which are viable. he admitted this would lead to a rise in unemployment. i cannot save everyjob — no chancellor could. but what we can and must do is deal with the real problems businesses and employees are facing now. 0k. let's take a look at what

else is hitting headlines around the world now. the cardinal, cardinal becciu, has become embroiled in a scandal involving the purchases of luxury property in london. the matter under investigation has already led to others stepping down. cardinal becciu denies wrongdoing. boris johnson urges world leaders to commit to deeper cuts in carbon emissions and has dissipated in a virtual meeting of the un climate action summit group. he said the uk would get hundreds of thousands of newjobs in a green industrial revolution. environmental experts have expressed scepticism. vietnamese police have seized more than 320,000 used condoms that were to be illegally resold to

unsuspecting customers — that's according to local media. footage show dozens of bags in a warehouse that was recently raided in the southern binh duong province. a woman, who was believed to be the owner of the warehouse, has been arrested. the former wimbledon champion, boris becker, has been warned he could be jailed for up to seven years if found guilty of concealing information about his financial assets. the 52—year—old, who was declared bankrupt in 2017, is accused of not disclosing details about bank accounts, shareholdings, and a flat in london. he pleaded not guilty to 19 charges at a london court. the us city of louisville is facing a second night under curfew after wednesday night's violence which saw two police officers shot. angry demonstrations followed a decision by the kentucky authorities not to prosecute anyone over the death of breonna taylor, who was killed during a police raid in march. in the past few hours, the curfew has been extended into the weekend. meanwhile, a man has been charged with the shooting of the two police officers.

still to come: constantly accused of kidnap because her child's a different race — how one mother's trying to change public prejudices. ben johnson, the fastest man on earth, is flying home to canada in disgrace. all the athletes should be clean going into the games. i'm just happy that justice is served. it is a simple fact that this morning, these people were in their homes. tonight, those homes have been burnt down by serbian soldiers and police. all the taliban positions along here have been strengthened, presumably in case the americans invade. it's no use having a secret

service which cannot preserve its own secrets against the world and so, the british government has no option but to continue this action even after any adverse judgement in australia. concorde have crossed the atlantic faster than any plane ever before, breaking the record by six minutes. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: donald trump has again questioned if the presidential election can be honest. that's despite senior republicans distancing themselves from his comments. france reports a record number of new covid cases since mass testing began. more than sixteen—thousand cases were confirmed

in the last 24 hours. thailand's parliament has decided to delay making a decision on whether it will amend the country's constitution, following weeks of anti—establishment protests in the country. thousands of students have been taking to the streets since the beginning of the year in unprecedented waves, openly calling for political reform and — first the first time ever — reform to thailand's powerful monarchy. let's get some analysis from paul chambers, an expert on thai politics based at the university of nare suan. thank you for coming on the programme. thank you for having me. we have seen these amazing protest in thailand. there is a chance for the politicians to act and change something and implement reforms. and that wasn't really expected to happen. no. students, mostly

students, protesters are demanding much more democracy in thailand and tensions are really heightening and what they are demanding, as your report said, amendments to the constitution and those amendments are really focusing first on changing the senate powers my power. the senate by the way was appointed by the militaryjunta a the way was appointed by the military junta a couple the way was appointed by the militaryjunta a couple of yea rs militaryjunta a couple of years ago and senators tend to be military cronies. senators have the power to help select the prime minister but they also have power to help amend 01’ also have power to help amend or not amend the constitution. it takes one third of these senators to amend the constitution and so the protesters want constitution and so the protesters wa nt a n constitution and so the

protesters want an end to these senatorial powers and also an end to an appointed senate. how likely... nothing has happened this evening there, but how likely is it? that seems and sounds like a fundamental change ina sounds like a fundamental change in a big stumbling block to what the protesters are actually likely to get. you are exactly right. because it would ta ke exactly right. because it would take the senators themselves to make the changes, at least one third of the senators. how many of the senators are going to give up their own powers? the protesters are seeking, demanding these changes, there are definite stumbling blocks. let's get onto the issue the monarchy. thailand has very strict laws about what you can and can't say and any criticism of the monarchy that has been

in place for a long time, it's worthwhile viewers knowing that as we chat about this, how unusual, how surprised have you been by the open calls for change and reform on the streets of thailand ? change and reform on the streets of thailand? protesters demanding reform of the monarchy in thailand, this is unprecedented. it's never happened, where so many people are demanding these changes and as such, many people, the old, the aristocracy, is pretty flabbergasted. and what the protesters really want is a regal institution that is much more under the constitution. they don't want to regal institution that doesn't have any transparency in its economic dealings, in its political cloud, and they don't wa nt political cloud, and they don't want a law that makes it criminal to say things about the monarchy. and i'm sorry to

jump the monarchy. and i'm sorry to jump in, but that would be a huge and significant change, wouldn't it? i am afraid we are out of time so we have to leave it there but we appreciate you coming on. facebook says it has dismantled three networks of fake accounts which could have been used by russia's intelligence services to disrupt the upcoming us election. the company says the accounts used fake identities, and could have been used to leak hacked documents. it comes as facebook prepares to launch an oversight board next month. users will be able to file appeals to the board, which will have the power to over—rule facebook‘s moderators and executives, including mark zuckerberg. our technology reporter james clayton has more. i think it's really clear is that facebook are worried and they are worried because there are they are worried because there a re lots of they are worried because there are lots of disinformation on the plat form and it's a real headache for them, what happens when trump starts talking about postal fraud, what happens when trump starts talking about postalfraud, what happens if trump says going forward, he'd w011 trump says going forward, he'd won the election when the declared result was a joe biden win? there are lots of

difficult decisions going forward and what's interesting is this oversight committee which has been talked about for some months now is actually going to be up and running before that election and in theory, that will help facebook because they can say, if this isa because they can say, if this is a really difficult decision, we can hand that over to the committee. that said, this committee. that said, this committee will potentially take up committee will potentially take up to 90 days to make decisions. it is more as a supreme court but passes down a law that facebook than in the so law that facebook than in the so if facebook suddenly get caught up in very, very acute problems with all sorts of claim, counterclaim close to the election, i'm not sure this oversight committee is going to help that much. adopting a child can be a challenging experience but imagine being accused of kidnapping your new baby. that's what happened to an african—american woman who adopted a white child. how much you love your mum?

this is princeton and his adopted mum. we have been accused of kidnapping our son, being stopped in restaurants. she captured this moment with a stranger at princeton's nursery. who are you? how do i knew you? how do i know you? i'm nota knew you? how do i know you? i'm not a teacher, no. i'm not his babysitter. kia and her husband ricardo fostered winston when he was a baby and adopted him when he was two. we went to the hospital and we saw him for the first time. for me, it was just like love at first sight. 0h, it was just like love at first sight. oh, my gosh, he so tiny. but she didn't realise how rare the situation was until she went to a foster class and met several white couples caring for black children. we were the only african—american family that had a white child. the otherfamilies were that had a white child. the other families were like, we don't go through that, and they

we re don't go through that, and they were crying and they were like, were crying and they were like, we feel so bad. the couple from north carolina have to other adopted children. carly and aden. as well as macro monde's biological daughter. but kia is frustrated at the way some people treat her family. it's sad that we have to defend our family all the time against misconceptions or racism or people being just plain rude. so she's been using social media to challenge perceptions. every ten negative things we get, if we get a positive one, andi get, if we get a positive one, and i feel like get, if we get a positive one, and ifeel like 0k, get, if we get a positive one, and i feel like ok, the get, if we get a positive one, and ifeel like ok, the world is moving in a different direction. as sheep. make sure you are checking your own vices, prejudices. people who are adopted trans— racially, we love just to love. i think you

will be just love just to love. i think you will bejust fine. love just to love. i think you will be just fine. it's like any other parent parenting a hello again. if you went outside on thursday, i'm sure you noticed a certain autumnal chill in the air. but was it really cold enough for snow? well, actually, this wasn't snow, it was a massive hail storm that went through the bradford area and the 0tley area, quite close to leeds in west yorkshire. and you can see the roads and the pavements turned white as those accumulations of hail built up. it must‘ve been quite some storm. now, the satellite picture shows low pressure over the uk with storm clouds rotating around it, and over the next few hours, we are going to see plenty more of those big showers. areas to watch out for, well, west wales in pembrokeshire

and also into cornwall, could see some particularly heavy showers here. we're also going to see a band of persistent rain affecting parts of east anglia. now, as we go on through friday, pressure builds actually in the west, and this area of low pressure's slow—moving. so, the isobars are going to pinch together. the winds are going to blow even more strongly. it will feel even colder. yes, a day of sunshine and showers, but prolonged outbreaks of rain across parts of eastern england. and there's going to be some very strong winds in east anglia. gusts could reach in excess of 60 mph, strong enough potentially to bring down a tree or two, so there could be some transport disruption. and there's heavy rain in the forecast, too, particularly lincolnshire into parts of east anglia with around 20—40 millimetres orso, perhaps a bit more in places. we could also see some localised flooding, but away from the east, some sunshine, feeling really cold, though, given the strength of those northerly winds. and those northerly winds continue to blow into saturday, albeit slightly less strongly. it's going to be another

cold start to the day, and there's the threat again of a bit more rain running down into parts of east anglia in particular. further west, actually, pressure's building a bit, so it should be a drier kind of day, showers fewer and farther between. temperatures, though, still struggling and still feeling cold in the wind, and we're going to have cold nights around as well. as we head through saturday night, it'll be cold enough for some frost patches in the countryside in scotland. we've still got those northerly winds with us as well across eastern parts of england. still potentially a few showers or spots of rain. further west, it's brighter with some sunshine. winds a little bit lighter here, so not as chilly. looking into the forecast into next week, it stays unsettled with low pressure. temperatures coming up, though, a few degrees. that's your weather.

this is bbc news. the headlines: republican leaders in congress have said there will be an orderly transfer of power, should president trump lose november's election. he appeared to cast doubt on the transition on wednesday, again raising questions about the probity of the vote, with so many ballots likely to be cast by mail. the french prime minister's warned it is a race against time to avoid a second coronavirus wave as bad as the first. it comes as the country records a record number of new cases since mass testing began, with more than 16,000 people testing positive in 24 hours. the british chancellor of the exchequer‘s announced plans to replace the current furlough job support scheme for workers as the country tries to contain coronavirus infections. rishi sunak said his primary goal remained to support the labour market, but he warned he wouldn't be