a very warm welcome to bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. my name is mike embley. an unwelcome milestone — the number of official coronavirus global deaths officially past million. the americas account for more than half the total. the world health organization and the us announce plans to rollout a rapid new covid test. it could transform the global response to the pandemic. one, two, three, four, five, into the test. twisted three times. the adhesive is pulled off, then you wait 15 minutes and that is the test. less than 24—hours before the first presidential debate, donald trump dismisses accusations he has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. and earth under threat —

sir david attenborough describes his fears for the planet. what can be done to help. hello to you. let's start with that breaking news. a million deaths at least from the coronavirus have now been recorded worldwide. according to thejohns hopkins university. those official figures are likely to be a considerable under estimate but it isa considerable under estimate but it is a milestone. the bulk of those come from the americas with more than half the global toll there. europe, with a concerning rise in cases over recent weeks is next worst hit with almost a 250,000 cases. asia, where the virus first originated and the middle east have seen more than 180,000 deaths. africa has recorded at

least 35,000's of the pandemic began. let's speak out to an infectious disease physician at the washington school of medicine. thank you very much for your time and good to talk to you. what do you make of these figures? i guess they are likely to be much worse than presented? absolutely. first we have to acknowledge how sad, deeply sad this is that we have reached this state. it is become so normal that we don't even pause to consider how devastating this is. but yes, many of us in the public health sector believe that these numbers are grossly understated. this is for many reasons, what of those is that this happened so fast and we're quite early on in the pandemic. it felt like such a long time. in those beginning stages, it took a lot of time for us to be able to establish appropriate testing and reporting from people around the world. while those physicians were doing the

best they can, they take some time to get accustomed to the definitions used for what in fa ct cou nts definitions used for what in fact counts as they do. so many of us believe that these are actually lower numbers than what we are actually seeing. when all started, did you ever think we would be here and did we have to be here? was it inevitable? there is no way that you can foresee something as devastating as this, especially when you live in such a resource rich part of the world as i currently do. in places like my home country of zimbabwe, of course, one can understand that with poor infrastructure and limited resources , infrastructure and limited resources, something like this could occur. not to your question about, did this need to happen, i believe not. i believe with clear and consistent leadership and messaging, this could have been avoided. we have known since the beginning what it takes masking, universal masking could have been adopted earlier on. we know that social

distancing wherever possible in public, we know the date are that there is about overcrowded places and yet this has been something that has been so difficult to adopt here in the united states. talking of africa, many people were predicting a horror story on the continent but many countries they have done remarkably well, haven't they? i remarkably well, haven't they? , yes, they have actually. there are two ways to look at it. for one, it is quite possible and very reasonable to see the fact that testing is probably limited because in these resource poor settings. however, when you look at the actual demographics of who is getting sick in africa right now, it is the younger relation and as we have seen in the younger demographic, they seem to be getting this at much lower rates and when they do, having mild illness. so that may account for what we are seeing. thank you very much for joining us. thank you so much. as the number of covid deaths

globally passes that million mark. yesterday around the ambitious plans of how to tell the disease. the world health organization has plans to roll out any rapid test run hundred countries. this is a credit card, could countries. this is a credit ca rd, could cost countries. this is a credit card, could cost $5 and show results and is always 15 minutes. right from the beginning of the outbreak, the who has called for extensive testing is a way to control the virus but finding quick, reliable cheap test has been a struggle for many countries. these tests provide lab results in approximately 15—17 minutes, rather than hours or days at a lower price with less sophisticated equipment. this will enable the expansion of testing, particularly in hard—to—reach areas that do not have lab facilities or enough trained health workers to carry out pcr tests. this is a vital addition to their testing capacity, especially important in the areas of high transmission.

the director general of the who there. what behind the test is an american firm. a news conference at the white house, president trump has announced ambitious plans to release more than 150 million tests and he says it will make a huge difference. today i am pleased to report we are announcing our plan to distribute 150 million abbott rapid point—of—care tests in the coming weeks, very, very soon. this will be more than double the number of tests already performed, and here is our plan: 50 million tests will go to protect the most vulnerable communities, which we have always promised to do, including 18 million for nursing homes, 15 million for assisted living facilities, and million for home health and hospice care. so, how do the rapid tests work? we got a demonstration on how easy they are to use. the admiral in charge of testing on the coronavirus task force was on hand.

this is generally done by a healthcare provider but it can be done supervised, it is easy. one, two, three, four, five. into the test. twist it three times. the adhesive is pulled off, then you wait 15 minutes. and that is the test. well, that is how it works on an admiral. we will let you know how that goes. let's round up some more of the main news for you. hundreds of abortion rights demonstrators have clashed with riot police in mexico city. protesters threw petrol—bombs and bottles and attract officers with hammers and baseball bats. police responded with tear gas. the protesters wa nt with tear gas. the protesters want abortion to be legalised across the country. the senior chinese executives returned to court in canada to continue her fight against extradition to the united states. the chief financial officer of the chinese technology firm huawei was first detained in vancouver nearly two years ago. she is

accused of breaking american sanctions on iran. the legal tea m sanctions on iran. the legal team argue the case should be thrown out. there have been protests in barcelona after spain's highest court upheld an 18 month ban on catalonia's regional leader holding back office. he is facing charges of disobedience stemming from his refusal last year to remove a banner supporting jailed separatists from the main facade of his government palace. the court's decision could trigger a snap election if the original parliament doesn't vote for a candidate in the coming days. the british cabinet minister michael gove has said parts of the controversial internal market built, which the european union was removed, will remain in the bill. it overrides parts of the brexit deal signed last year and ministers have admitted it brea ks and ministers have admitted it breaks international law. he describes talks in brussels as constructive. it is 2a hours 110w constructive. it is 2a hours now before the first televised debate of the 23 election.

donald trump is under sustained pressure from his tax affairs. other reports he paid no federal income tax for 10 years because of extensive business losses and that he is substantially in depth. the lead democratic congress nancy pelosi says the president's tax records raise national security issues around who he is indebted to. there's nothing quite like it. one—to—one combat, the red and blue corners, two fighters looking to land a knockout blow. and donald trump's taxes and what he did and didn't pay have opened up again as a line of attack. on the eve of this televised debate, his tax return is once again a burning issue. it's totally fake news. made—up, fake. maybe he's not as rich as he says. four years ago, hillary clinton thought she had him pinned down on this very topic. or maybe he doesn't want the american people, all of you watching tonight, to know that he has paid nothing in federal taxes,

because the only years that anybody has ever seen were a couple of years when he had to turn them over to state authorities when he was trying to get a casino licence, and they showed he didn't pay any federal income tax. that makes me smart. and when you're in the ring, do you stay cool under pressure or do you start to sweat under the lights? back in 1960 john f kennedy was expected to take a pounding from richard nixon. instead, jfk was unfazed and it was nixon who ended up on the ropes. when you're in a race, the only way to stay ahead is to move ahead. boxing is governed by the queensbury rules. no punching below the belt, no holding, break when i say break. but for the past four years, donald trump has played by no rule book. it's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of donald trump is not in charge of the law in our country. because you would be in jail. secretary clinton... look at how he followed hillary clinton around

the room, almost stalking her. donald trump revels in the image of prizefighter. what's gonna happen? he controversially tweeted this mock video of him beating up a critical news network. it has just got worse with this gentleman. i use the term really loosely. joe biden at the start of this year looked as though his best days were behind him, but his corner are confident and bullish that he'll go the distance. the two people who will be lacing up their gloves on tuesday have a combined age of 151 years. probably, neither will float like a butterfly nor sting like a bee, but it's likely to be brutal and compelling. jon sopel, bbc news, cleveland, ohio. let's get more on this now. let's get more on this now. let's speak to the executive journalist and author of

economy and tax issues. and know the new york times piece uses know the new york times piece uses some information you i left way back in 2005. in the midst of all of this, that is a particular issue isn't it because it makes people vulnerable to pressure. yes an interesting thing here isa yes an interesting thing here is a donald trump personally signed on to $330 million of debt. if you are a billionaire and have valuable assets, you could place them as collateral, you wouldn't personally guarantee the loans. that raises serious questions around donald's claims that he is a billionaire and i'm the guy is who in 1990 broke the story that he wasn't only not a billionaire as he claims but he had a negative net worth. so what do you think is really going on here? well, that is actually the most troubling thing. donald trump has taken enormous losses. he is not a major real estate figure. he is primarily invested in his tv

show and the golf courses. and of course, you can't depreciate land, only buildings. and yet he took $1.1; billion in tax deductions in 2008 and 2009. i'm not sure they are real. donald trump has fabricated tax deductions in the past. he had to make trials for civil tax fraud, both of which he lost in which he forced a document in that case. it was lucky he wasn't prosecuted. if the deductions are not real, then the question that arises is, where did the money go? we know that donald trump's family have talked about what they need out of the russians. we know he has had extensive dealings of russian criminals and other criminals including a major international cocaine traffic i heeded extraordinary favours for. so we really need to have a thorough investigation and hopefully that will be done by the manhattan district attorney into donald trump's finances.

how do you think all of this place politically because there are bound to be voters aren't there who say it is actually quite smart to avoid taxes if you are and he certainly wouldn't be the first businessperson to declare losses when he actually wasn't losing money to minimise tax bills? i don't think the new york times stories detailed and is fabulously well done as it is, is going to change any votes. americans pretty much seem votes. americans pretty much seem to have made their minds up seem to have made their minds up about donald trump and it is surprising to me that there are millions of americans i have interviewed a number of them who will say, ok, the president isa who will say, ok, the president is a crook, ok the president is indebted to a lot of criminals, i don't care. that raises real fundamental questions about the health of the american democracy, what has happened with the cost of cutting back teaching civics in american schools. thank you david. thank you. we will have live coverage on

the us presidential debates on bbc news. the first one kicks off in cleveland, ohio tuesday evening us time. two over debates will be held in october and we will have comprehensive special coverage from 1:30am gmt wednesday. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a pledge for nature, the plant toa a pledge for nature, the plant to a wildlife under threat from climate change. letters from countries have agreed to sign up. —— leaders. in all russia's turmoil, it has never come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people have feared for so long is playing out its final act here. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world, but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. this man, israel's right—winger ariel sharon, visited the religious compound, and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty

over the holy sites, an idea that is unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. welcome back. very glad to have you with us on bbc news. the latest headlines for you. an unwelcome milestone — the number of globally registered coronavirus cases officially passes 1 million. with 2a hours before the first residential debate donald trump has dismissed accusations that he is hundreds of millions of dollars in debt.

thousands of people in california are being forced to leave their homes again as new wi—fi stakeholder. the extreme rate of growth for the blaze in napa county, called the glass fire. tanya dendrinos reports. devastation. the park and dribbled in size overnight. residence in california reliving a recurring nightmare. a lot of consternation in and around that region that has been hit over and over and over again over the course of the last number of years. the fire in shasta county, familiar territory, literally, thousands of acres burned. and the carr fire, this is in and around those areas. thousands have

been forced to evacuate a terrifying escape for some, but there was nothing to match the ferocity of the inferno tearing through wine country, homes and livelihoods swallowed by the flames. conditions did anything but favoured crews throughout monday, working desperately on the ground and from the area. we have had an increase in the winds along with an increase in temperature and lowering relative humidity is, which has increased the fire behaviour and the fire has jumped increased the fire behaviour and the fire hasjumped and is working its way towards us and more populated areas. an anxious wait for many of the will of mother nature. this is oui’ will of mother nature. this is our property right here, we have a little sliver here between here and the napo river, a couple of acres. it is com pletely river, a couple of acres. it is completely covered with forestation. if anything gets in the yard, it will all be gone. everything. so we are wetting this all down as best wetting this all down as best we can and we have a couple of sprinklers on the roof of the

house. we are hoping for the best. multiple fires continue to burn across the state in what has been california's west pharisees and on record. crews waiting for any opportunity to begin to regain control. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. david attenborough has praised china for pledging to become carbon neutral by 2060. he signed up to the social media but from instagram last week. he has been speaking to louise minchin. my name is david attenborough and i have been appearing on radio and television for the past 60 years, but this is my first time on instagram. and i am making this move and exploring this new way of communication to me, because as we all know, the world is in trouble.

congratulations, you are the fastest person to get1 million followers on instagram. i don't know if you know that. i read it in the paper this morning. so, why instagram and why now? well, i'm so old, it's difficult to teach an old dog new tricks, and i'm not a great user of social media, and i haven't used instagram before, but the message that i'm concerned about is so important, i would use any medium to get it across. in 2050, if we carry on this path that we all are on, how bad will it be? well, one of the things that will happen is that the world will get hotter and hotter and hotter, and that's not news. that has been happening for a very long time, and deserts are spreading. if there's one choice to make today, what choice would like people to make? don't waste.

don't waste anything. don't waste electricity, don't waste food, don't waste power. just treat the natural world as though it's precious, which it is, and don't squander those bits of it we have control of. in the face of huge countries like china or brazil or the united states doing something entirely different, it seems irrelevant, sometimes. well, we have to do what is in our power. we can't take that as an excuse for doing nothing. we must do everything that all of us can do and must do, and china is taking very big steps in many directions.

it is a huge country with an immense population and they are starting doing things about sorting out their climate and their weather which have caused them such problems. the younger generation, seem to be many of them are on board, how does that make you feel? that is a great hope! that is the most important hope, and the most important place where there should be hope. it's their world, and it's their tomorrow. i won't be there, they will be. it's their‘s. of course it's very important that young people should be concerned about this, and they are, in increasing numbers. it's extraordinarily touching, and i feel privileged that they should listen to what an old bloke like me is talking about. that old bloke, sir david attenborough, 94 years young speaking to louise minchin.

in england, national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty and other protected areas account for just over one—quarter of all land, the prime minister has promised a big increase within the next decade. here is our science the respondent, victoria gill. peaceful, picturesque, many of us have looked to the countryside as an escape from at least some of the anxiety that this year has brought. but even in the most scenic, rural, predicted places like this site on the west pennine moors that belongs to the wildlife trusts, many species are in decline. we're losing biodiversity in this country. a quarter of native uk birds and mammals are now under threat. so environmental groups have welcomed the announcement by the prime minister that 400,000 additional hectares of english countryside, equivalent to about 400,000 football pitches will be protected, set aside for the recovery of nature. like so many 2020 meetings,

the biodiversity summit today was held virtually. we can't afford to that and delay because biodiversity loss is happening today, it is happening at a frightening rate, and if left unchecked, the consequences will be catastrophic for us all but while this commitment is seen as a positive step, conservationist say it takes much more than space to restore habitats and let species bounce back. having more land set aside for nature is really good and it is a step forward that we have been waiting for, for years, but that is just one step forward stopping a lot of our wildlife won't survive if you just let the land go. the majority of it will turn to woodland and of course a lot of our species are grassland species and species like a mixture of everything, so all our species would disappear if everything wasjust woodland. while the environment as a devolved issue, the government has pledged

to work with scotland, wales, northern ireland and landowners across the uk to increase the amount of protected land. in england, protected areas currently make up 26% of land, so the government's pledge will increase that amount by just 4% by 2030. but with many of even those protected sites in poor condition, it will take much more than that to make the land notjust green and pleasant, but healthy and biodiversity. —— biodiverse. just before we go, a reminder of the agreement top story. the number of people who have died from the coronavirus since the disease has first emerged has 110w disease has first emerged has now officially past 1 disease has first emerged has now officially past1 million. the grim figure is substantially higher than that stop figures from johns hopkins university so cases from brazil, india and the united states account for around half the total. much more for you on all the news, national and international any time on the bbc website and on our

twitter feeds. thank you so much for watching. hello there. a window of fine weather awaits many today — not all, but for most, there will be some good lengthy spells of sunshine and light winds, and it will feel pleasa ntly warm for late september. the reason, well, we've got a ridge of high pressure moving in behind the cold weather front, which hasn't brought much rain but it certainly brought cloudier skies southwards through the night and some drizzly rain, which will stick across eastern england for a time before finally clearing. the ridge of high pressure towards the north ensuring a pretty cold start to the day again, with temperatures close enough to freezing to give us some grass frost. the other thing we need to be aware of in northern and western areas is some patchy fog — of course, it lingers through the rush hour this time of year. now, we have got the cloud, the low cloud, the drizzly rain with our weather front as well in the south,

really rather great start for parts of eastern england. as you can see, with time through the day, it's starting to pull away, the skies will brighten. also, just the outside chance of a few showers in north—west scotland, possibly northern ireland. it's more likely the cloud will thicken towards tea—time here. with light winds, despite temperatures a little lower than they were on monday, the north will still feel very pleasant, and approaching 18—19 in southern areas, rather where they should be for the time of year. but that ridge of high pressure is a brief ridge of high pressure, because by the night, as you can see, and tomorrow, we have got more rain rushing in. and it's a slow moving band of heavy rain. some parts of southern and western scotland could see 40—60 mm before this rain finally clears away. you can see, it continues to fall throughout tuesday night and wednesday. strong, potentially gale force winds with it. ahead of it, some drier weather, and this mild air at least, but it will be a fairly wet affair wednesday for most parts of the uk. then a brief respite again, potentially on thursday, little ridge of high pressure, still some showers around. now comes the uncertainty. where will this deepening area of low pressure come to lie? potentially southern areas, bringing us increasingly windy

and wet weather and lasting into the weekend as well. it certainly looks a lot more unsettled by that stage. so, yes, definitely feeling autumnal, and feeling quite chilly as well after the fact that we've had some sunshine and it's felt quite warm. look at the temperatures — really dipping down by the end of the week. as i say, perhaps a little respite on thursday, but some very unsettled weather as you can see in the outlook. as ever, there's more on our website.

the latest headlines for you on bbc news. the number of people around the world who have died of covid—19 since the disease emerged has officially passed 1 million. figures from thejohns hopkins university in the united states are likely to be in under estimate, showing that the us, brazil and in under estimate, showing that the us, braziland india account for nearly half the total. the world health organization and the us have announced plans to roll out a new rapid covid test. it could transform the global response to the pandemic. the new procedure will cost just to the pandemic. the new procedure will costjust $5 to the pandemic. the new procedure will cost just $5 and should show results in as little as 15 minutes. one day ahead of the first presidential debate, donald trump has dismissed claims the new york times has made but his legs tax returns show he has hundreds of millions of dollars in debt. the democrats say if true, the president's debts pose national security concerns, as foreign nations or individuals could have leverage over mr trump. no—one