good afternoon. the government has defended its decision to allow hundreds of thousands of students to return to university. that's despite several outbreaks of coronavirus, which have seen many students confined to their rooms on campuses. the culture secretary oliver dowden said today it's important that students didn't give up a year of their lives by not returning to their studies. but a member of the government's advisory body modelling the spread of the pandemic says the consequences of allowing students back have been "entirely predictable". danjohnson reports from manchester.

so this is our saturday night... staying in for film so this is our saturday night... staying in forfilm knight is not exactly the fond freshers experience katy and max wanted. we have lectures throughout the week and lockdown came around yesterday, so the table we had playful, we had to cancel. seeing other unis have nights out, getting to see their friends and family and going out drinking, what we should be doing, it is quite hard for us and even other accommodations get to do it at manchester and, obviously, we can't. dyla n manchester and, obviously, we can't. dylan and claudia were also trying to make the best of it. is it a bit scary, i feel like we are in... and apocalypse. yes, not allowed to leave. i have got one hour lesson a week and that is it, everything else is online so it seems a bit pointless. this was only the second night of two weeks' isolation here

but the voices of concern are growing. students have been done over on their a—levels, they have been done over on freshers' week, the government is now threatening to lock them up at university and, very worrying for them, when they graduate, they may be looking at long—term youth unemployment. graduate, they may be looking at long-term youth unemployment. some of the students are starting to wonder how they ended up in this situation, when the rest of us are being told to work from home if possible and to limit the number of people we mix with. there were warnings that outbreaks would come and that would mean disrupted teaching. now, because university involves students coming in from many different parts of the country and congregating in very close proximity, then it is inevitable there is going to be some spread among the student population, that is what we are seeing. but there are no good alternatives, even if it means a tough start to turn the sun, with time behind bars rather than in them. universities say these actions show they have the plans in place to deal with cases. we are doing that

to enable this stop of the spread of disease and allow them to go back and it is important for students not to give a per year of their life by not going to university and they are going to university and paying fees accordingly. in scotland, more than 1,000 students are in isolation with reports that a few have left to go against advice. reports about seeing family christmas, with calls to enough testing in place for that to happen safely. dan johnson, enough testing in place for that to happen safely. danjohnson, bbc news, manchester. our political correspondentjessica parkerjoins us now. that issue that danjohnson was mentioning about students potentially not being able to come home for christmas is a very emotive one. it is and while it is clear the government wants to ask students to stay on campus for christmas, and they are saying there are no plans to do that, they are not able at this stage to absolutely rule it out. the conservative party has accused the labour party today are creating unnecessary stress for young people, labour has hit back accusing the government are causing confusion but, all of that aside, it

is clear that university students are not going to get the full usual experience they would in normal times. whether that is socially, in terms of face—to—face teaching and i think that will keep prompting questions as to whether they should be paying full whack. looking ahead to this week, labour is calling for a statement from the government in parliament, so is the conservative chair of the education select committee. education is devolved, so i don't think it willjust be the education secretary gavin williamson coming under political pressure but, of course, this all comes off the back of the exams saga we saw over the summer. the extent to which this issue will build up over the coming weeks, i think it depends partly on to what extent we see more coronavirus on campuses, more stu d e nts coronavirus on campuses, more students having to isolate. i think, if that increases, so will the political pressure. jessica parker, oui’ political pressure. jessica parker, our political correspondent. detectives investigating the shooting of sgt matt ratana in croydon on friday are searching properties in south london and close to the village of banstead in surrey.

the 23—year—old suspect is critically injured and detectives are unable to question him. sgt ratana was remembered this morning at the national police memorial day service and also at east grinstead rugby club, where he was head coach. tom symonds reports. police memorial day commemorates all of those who have died while serving but the killing of an officer is a particularly traumatic event. the home secretary and the mayor of london laid wreaths but the metropolitan police commissioner, dame cressida dick, was remembering an officer she had personally served alongside. matt ratana, she said, was extraordinary, firm but supportive of those needing help. if some good can come out of this terrible incident in which we have had one of our officers murdered, it would be that more people understand a little bit about the challenges of police work, and see us police for who we are.

you know, human beings who go to work to help people, to support people and to protect people, and matt was the epitome of that. he was killed when shots were fired by a handcuffed suspect inside a secure police custody facility in croydon. cctv footage is crucial to understanding what happened. this morning, searches continued at a family home in south london and, overnight, police were also at a rural property in surrey. the connection between the two hasn't been made clear by scotland yard. matt ratana was as dedicated to rugby as he was to policing and, today, several clubs were remembering him, including east grinstead, where he was head coach. he wasn'tjust our coach. to the players, he was a role model, a mentor and often a father figure. we are going to mourn him as a family member. and he's left a...

he's left a big hole, to be honest. two families — rugby and police — will never forget their loss. tom symonds, bbc news. security forces in belarus are preparing for more demonstrations against president alexander lukashenko, whose re—election last month is disputed by the opposition and has led to weekly protests. this morning, the french president emmanuel macron said mr lukashenko must step down. the belarusian foreign minister has accused western countries of trying to sow anarchy. a short while ago, our correspondent in minsk, jonah fisher, sent us the latest. so this is just before the demonstration is due to start. if we come over here, this is how the authorities try and stop it happening. these guys are from the security forces, the masked guys, and they are basically picking up people who are hanging around and look like they might be going to take part in demonstrations.

this will be the seventh weekend of demonstrations here in belarus, we are expecting another large turnout. sunday is typically the day in which very large crowds gather here, all calling for president lukashenko, the man who has run this country for the last 26 years, to step down and it is now, what, seven weeks of demonstrations on the streets here since that disputed election in early august. what you saw just there was an attempt to intimidate people not to come. we'lljust have to see whether people turn out again. johan fisher reporting from minsk. now, music and the arts have been badly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic but there are efforts being made to help their return. the northern ballet is about to perform live for the first time since march. the company says it's lost around a million pounds because of lockdown. dancers will perform in full costume with the audience wearing masks as luxmy gopal reports.

piano. stepping into rehearsals in traditional ballet gear. and the not—so—traditional. northern ballet's last performance was geisha, in march. that closed afterjust one performance, because of lockdown. now the dancers return to the stage in a new programme, a mix of the contemporary and the classic. imagine opening—night jitters after seven months away. i'm not going to lie, i'm a little nervous, because it's been a long time but it's just going to be so exciting to get on there and feel the lights and hear the music, and, after working so hard for a short amount of time, it's going to be nice to hear the applause from the audience. i've missed the atmosphere that the audience is able to create with us as well. yeah, being at home in the kitchen's not really the same. there's only so much practising that could be done during lockdown. they were incredible about trying to do things in their living rooms and their kitchens,

so it would be like trying to run a marathon around your bathtub. you have to have the distance to do it and, therefore, the first step was really getting everyone back into the studio. and the biggest challenge — how can you stay covid safe in a dance form that requires touch? dancers brought into physical contact through the choreography stay in their own bubble for rehearsals and for the performance, to minimise the number of people mixing. we started off byjust learning the duets, like, two metres apart, not even touching our partner, just hearing the music, imagining what the steps and grips might feel like and then, slowly, trying steps, maybe a couple of sequences at a time and then slowly bringing it together. plus we had to wear masks when we were working in the studio, which is so much harder on your stamina and your strength. the masks will come off during the live shows. the audience must wear masks and socially distance, but, while the experience might not be exactly the same as before,

it offers some escapism from these uncertain times through the power of dance. luxmy gopal, bbc news. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at 5:20 this afternoon. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. let's return to our top story and the news that thousands of students across the uk are being forced to self—isolate after a rise in coronavirus infections. the government has defended its decision to allow students to return to universities, but hasn't ruled out a ban on them returning home for the christmas holidays. earlier i spoke tojonny butler who's a first year student at leeds beckett university and he explained to me the situation there.

so, everything here in leeds, in my halls and around me, seems fine right now. obviously leeds went into local lockdown on friday, and looking at the news, looking at reports from manchester, from glasgow and around the country, it's frightening to think that at any moment we could be next. our building could be next, we could be told we're not allowed to go anywhere, we're not allowed to go home. that could extend to christmas, as people have been saying. that is a possibility the government say they can't rule out, that you wouldn't be able to go home for christmas. what do you think of that? i think it is hyperbolic and not the kind of message that we need to be hearing at the moment. i mean, did you think aboutjust not going to university this year? it's a very, very different experience, a pretty miserable experience in many ways? i actually took a year out, last year.

and so i didn't see it really as an option, to take another year out. i've been excited for university and excited to start at leeds beckett, everything they have been saying about blended learning sounds really awesome. everything here sounds great, i'm just worried that if my building gets knocked down, we won't get to get there. from a work point of view, can you go to seminars and lectures, or will it all be online? the course i am on is fairly practical. so, there will be some teaching that will be done online, especially large group things. but there will be smaller, face—to—face groups, pending any changes with government advice. what some students are saying is that they want some of their money back. that it's not the same university experience as you would normally expect, either in terms of learning or the social aspects of it. yeah, this is absolutely understandable. i can completely relate to people who are calling for that. but i remain pretty excited to start with the stuff that has been shown to me,

and what i am being told i'm being able to do. my concern is if it is going to change. the social side is obviously very different from how it would normally be. i mean, there aren't going to be parties. or maybe there are, but they are not allowed. there definitely are! so what do you make of all of that? it's just not going to be what you signed up to. well, again, i think i was really lucky that i got to go to the freshers fair last week. that was a really awesome opportunity. very well planned and completely covid safe. i managed to meet some very nice people there and make some connections. but it is very worrying and frustrating that, for many people, in many places, it will be even more difficult. new measures to limit the spread of coronavirus will come into force in swansea and cardiff, the two biggest cities in wales, from six o'clock tonight. in total, one and a half million

people in eight welsh local authority areas will be under local lockdown rules, half the population. earlier i spoke to dr simon williams, who's a senior lecturer and public health researcher at swansea university. i started by asking him what he thinks people are making of these latest restrictions. i think it's mixed. probably the overall feeling is one of confusion and anxiety. that's something we found. we have been conducting research and generally over the past few months there has been a lot of anxiety about the prospect of having to go into a second lockdown. there is a mix, there is generally speaking a lot of faith in the welsh government. i think the adherence will be quite high but it is divided at the moment. it is there a sense of fatigue, do you think? we're hearing that from a lot of people, they have had enough these restrictions?

i think so. there is an element of behaviouralfatigue. research suggests one of the main things about adherence is it is required that you have clear communication about what the regulations are. not so much the regulations being confusing to people but the fact they are changing over time. this is something we did see back in late march and early april. people concerned if they did had to go back into lockdown, the motivation may not be there. do you think people are clear about the restrictions? are you clear about the restrictions? i think that is something we're definitely seeing. a recent survey suggested over half the population in the uk, including obviously wales, felt regulations were unclear. part of the difficulty now is piecing out what regulations mean for people in certain areas. overall at least half the population aren't clear. part of the difficulty is the change over time. one good thing, if you can call it a good thing

about the national lockdown, initially is everyone was in the same boat and there was a sense of togetherness and social cohesiveness. if people aren't clear about what the rules are, and we have seen in this research people suggesting they are following their own rules, if you like, ie common sense over what distancing should be and what appropriate measures should be taken. there is widespread confusion, definitely. one of the big issues at the moment is universities, students going back and being told to self—isolate in pretty large numbers. do you think it was a mistake for the government to say universities could reopen? i think it was unequivocally a mistake, for many of the reasons that have been discussed on the show and others. one concern is over mental health related issues. our research found amongst young people in particular and those insecure and precarious jobs, lockdown is very difficult. for those students who are in confinement and quarantine, university can be a very isolating time of transition

uncertainty and anxiety. so i think the move to have online only education for the first semester, at least, would have been the right course of action. simon williams, from swansea university. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's sarah. good afternoon. there's a yorkshire derby under way in the premier league — it's the first time sheffield united and leeds have met in the top flight for 26 years. it's goalless so far — but the leeds keeper ilan meslier has pulled off two great saves to keep the hosts out in the first half. sheffield united are looking for their first win of the season — leeds' first two games produced 1a goals — the won one and lost one.

live text commentary on the website. the scottish premiership leaders rangers are 3—0 ahead at motherwell, thanks to two penalties from james tavernier and a goal forjordan jones. the top four are all in action today. it is the women's fa cup quarterfinals. everton are playing chelsea in the first of the day's three women's fa cup quarter—finals. chelsea are ahead early on — erin cuthbert with the goal. the culture secretary oliver dowden said today that the premier league needs to look after clubs further down the pyramid, who are struggling financially. he said he was hopeful a deal could be put together in the coming week, to provide emergency funding during the pandemic. dowden also said the government would be reviewing the ban on fans at matches and they were looking at the possibility of same—day coronavirus testing, to give them what he called a "freedom pass". the proposed gradual return of spectators was put on hold this week, in light of rising covid—19 cases.

the french open tennis has got off to a less than ideal start, with victoria azarenka refusing to continue her match because of the conditions. it's wet, windy and cold in paris, and it was going with serve against danka kovinic when azarenka sat down and demanded to speak to the supervisor. she was asked to wait on court to see if the weather improved, but she said it was "ridiculous" and only eight degrees. her opponent didn't want to wait either, so they walked off court. they did return and azarenka — the 10th seed — won in straight sets. the road world championships in italy draw to a close today. the last event is the men's road race, which got under way at quarter to nine this morning. let's go live to imola now. these are the live pictures.

the top eight finishers in the tour de france are competing today, on the 162—mile course, which starts and finishes at the famous motor racing circuit. they're out in the wider region of emilia romagna now. you can watch the race live on bbc two. lebronjames helped the la lakers to their first nba finals for 10 years. he scored 38 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists, as they beat the denver nuggets 117—107, to take a 4—1win in the series. the lakers tweeted — "special squad, on to the final round" . this is james' 10th nba finals but his first with the lakers. formula 1 drivers have been told they cannot wear clothing bearing any slogans oi’ messages while on official duty after races. it comes after lewis hamilton wore a t—shirt at the toscana grand prix two weeks ago, referencing the case of a woman killed by us police. the fia said drivers must stay in their driving suits done up

to the neck on the podium and at interviews afterwards. hamilton said he'd been expecting the ban to be imposed. hamilton started on pole for the russian grand pix but he was given two five—second time penalties for doing practice starts in the wrong place. he served it during a pit stop, fell down to 11th but he's back up to 3rd place. there's live coverage from sochi on the bbc sport website and much more. i'll be back with more later. president trump has picked a conservativejudge — amy coney barrett — as his nominee to fill the supreme court seat left vacant by the death of ruth bader ginsburg. the decision has been condemned by democrats who say he is trying to force through a judge who would help to destroy public healthcare and abortion rights. donald trump's presidential rival, joe biden, says there shouldn't be a senate vote

until after november's election. nomia iqbal reports. inside a packed rose garden, president trump confirmed who wants to see replacejustice ruth bader ginsburg. today it is my honour to nominate one of our nation's most brilliant and gifted legal minds to the supreme court. she is a woman of unparalleled achievement, towering intellect, sterling credentials and unyielding loyalty to the constitution. judge amy coney barrett. applause amy coney barrett's nomination was no surprise. she had been linked to the seat made vacant in 2016 when conservative justice scalia died. and with just a few words, judge barrett made it clear what to expect from a potential justice barrett. i clerked forjustice scali

more than 20 years ago. but the lessons i learned still resonate. hisjudicial philosophy is mine, too. and this is what worries liberals. the mother of seven is described as a devout catholic, who, according to an article in 2013, said that life begins at conception. this makes her a favourite among religious conservatives, keen to overturn the supreme court decision that legalised abortion nationwide. she has also taken conservative positions as a judge on the court of appeals, on gun rights, immigration and health care. butjudge barrett sought to reassure those who were critical of her. if confirmed, i would not assume that role for the sake of those in my own circle, and certainly not for my own sake. i would assume this role to serve you. i would discharge the judicial oath which requires me to administer justice without respect to persons. do equal right to the poor and rich.

democrats don't want this to happen during the election, the same way the republican stopped them in 2016. in a statement, democratic presidential candidate joe biden focused on concern over health care. he said the senate should not act on the vacancy until after the american people select their next president. long after the controversy is over, and long after many who watched the ceremony have retired or even gone, amy coney barrett will be on the us's highest court, with her fellow conservative justices, making decisions about how americans live their lives. that is why this pick is considered one of the most important decisions of donald trump's presidency. after the announcement, he spoke before flying to a rally in the key battleground state of pennsylvania. i think it's going to go quickly, i hope. but i think she's got a great future. she's brilliant. when the professor at notre dame, one of the most highly respected, said she is the best student he ever had, that means something.

first in her class, and all of that. so it's a great honour. president trump knows that delivering a third conservative judge on the bench is something his supporters want, and before the election. amy coney barrett will be questioned by democrats and republicans in a series of hearings in the coming weeks. only 51 republican senators are needed to confirm her to the bench. and right now, the party has the numbers. nomia iqbal, bbc news, washington. early indications seem to show that swiss voters have voted convincingly to keep theirfree movement of people agreement with the european union. the proposal to end the agreement came from the right wing swiss people's party, who argued that immigration from europe was to blame for a rising population, and placed an unsustainable burden on public services, and the environment. early estimates show around 63% of the voters however wanted to maintain freedom of movement. ballots are still being counted, and final results are due later today.

the australian city of melbourne is preparing to lift a night—time curfew imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus following a drop in the number of infections. it's one of a number of restrictions that are to be eased — primary schools will be allowed to reopen in two weeks' time and staff in a number of industries will be able to return to work. melbourne was placed into a second lockdown injuly. the state's premier says other restrictions may be eased sooner than expected. this is a strategy that is designed to get us to a covid—normal christmas. we are well on track. in fact, we are ahead of time when it comes to achieving that outcome. that is a credit to every single victorian who is staying the course, working hard, making sacrifices. we have to get this done. we have to complete this task. there are no short cuts.

there is no easy way to defeat this wicked virus. scientists at cambridge university in england, have developed a faster way of testing drugs to fight covid. it involves putting parts of human cells onto microchips, which allows them to watch the virus as it attacks. richard westcott reports. starting with human cells in a petri dish. this cambridge team has developed a new, quicker way of finding drugs to tackle covid. first they separate the outer layer or membrane of the cells because that is the bit the virus attacks first. then a unique device comes in. normally when you test drugs on cells, you have to wait for the results to come back. you look at the aftermath of what has happened. by putting them on this microchip here, this team is able to see what is going on in real time, as it is happening. the chip monitors

electrical activity. wait for it. this spike tells us when the cell gets attacked by the virus. the spikes mean the virus has successfully breached the cell's defences and got inside. by putting different drugs on the cells they can see which ones keep the virus out. you can also watch these attacks happening under the microscope. when you see these flashes of light, you are seeing the virus fusing with the cell membrane. that has an electrical field around it and when the virus is as it disrupts the membrane and we are able to measure that electrically endorses it optically. every pinprick of light is a virus attacking a cell. yes, exactly. this video shows flu attacking kidney cells but the technique works just as well with coronavirus and they can use a form of the virus that is not infectious.

this technology allows us to quickly test drugs against covid — may be some that are already developed or some new ones. the good thing about this new technology as we are using human membranes, so we don't have to maybe do some irrelevant experiments on animals and it is much more relevant to our systems if we develop a drug that works on us. the real goal is to find promising drugs are easily available and that we already know are safe for humans to use. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. how is it looking? it is actually quite sunny across many parts of the country to the rest of the day. still a bit of a chill in the air, but the wind is a bit later. there is more ploughed for easternmost parts of the uk, especially eastern england. the cloud is taken off in east and the other south—east to give one or two showers. drier than yesterday. the wind, that has been really cold, is beginning to ease. the best

temperatures are