there's a stipulation that they must be down to their last 12 weeks funding of reserves, and by the time they get to that point any good zoo will have been putting contingency plans in place, so plans to rehome their animals and to scale down their collections, just to maintain their animal welfare and their care standards. so effectively by that time the zoo would be on its way to closure already? that's right, that's far too close to closure for it to be beneficial to most of our zoos and aquariums. the government says it believes its rescue package will provide zoos with the safety net they need if they're in serious financial difficulties. but many zoos are still worried about how they'll survive. hi, baby ede! a super rare baby okapi takes its first teetering steps at london zoo. her keeper, gemma, who shot this footage, has called her ede. with some zoos themselves facing extinction, ede could be one of the last beneficiaries of the international breeding programme.

justin rowlatt, bbc news, london zoo. time for a look at the weather. here's matt taylor. hello. good afternoon, let's start with a lunchtime view from space, shall we? this cloud gathering to the south—west, underneath that rainfall and wind strengths will intensify during the next 2a hours and affect us all weekend but before it is arriving there are clear skies around, foremost a fine afternoon, one or two showers dotted around although always cloudy and particularly wet in shetland and showers towards south—west wales will merge into longer spells of rain later. 10—15. will merge into longer spells of rain later. 10—15 . tonight, rain remains in northern scotland. here's the first stage to wet and windy weather in the south. the areas in between across northern ireland, southern scotland and northern england is where clear skies will

lead to frost and some fog to take this into tomorrow morning but it's the exception because all eyes will be to south. the rapid development will result in storm alex, it could bring us some disruption through tomorrow. starting in the south tomorrow, this is where the wettest and windiest weather will be, windiest in the morning around the english channel and channel islands, potentially damaging gusts of wind, that will have an impact on the ferries. torrential rain in southern counties of england, working northwards, brightening up later in the day but we could see gales developing land. the northern half of the country, much quieter. the frosty start, the mist and fog clearing, one or two showers in western scotland, most will have a dry, bright day. maybe some rain as far north as the m62 before the day is out. when you have sunshine, wind oi’ is out. when you have sunshine, wind or rain, a fairly cool day for early october. the area of low pressure which brings tomorrow's windy weather, it decays and is replaced by the large area of low pressure

and that means impact will be felt more widely. a white night across england and wales to take this into saturday, a bright start in many western areas but cloud, wind and rain pushing westwards turning right across scotland, windiest towards wales and the south—west and the channel islands. that could cause some damage. the breeze picking up further north and may be some late day sunshine towards the south and east. more of you will have a slightly drier day on sunday is an area of low pressure continues to revolve around. the rain becomes confined to the peripheries, that's persistent rain, but we could see intense thundery showers across england and wales where winds will be lightest. the strongest winds around the edges of the uk. that could have an impact but rain could bea could have an impact but rain could be a bigger problem for some. all of us be a bigger problem for some. all of us will see some rain over the next few days but the brighter colours in the east of scotland and towards the south—west and channel islands is the potential for flooding with over 100 millimetres of rain. we'll keep you updated. that's all from the bbc news at one. so it's goodbye from me. on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s

news teams where you are. bye— bye. good afternoon, it's 1.30pm and here's your latest sports news. champion jockey oisin murphy says he will "fight to clear his name" after testing positive for cocaine. the positive result came in france in july, with murphy strenously denying he's ever taken the drug. he's currently awaiting the result of a b sample. if he's not cleared, he'll face a ban of up to 6 months. he has 4 rides at chelmsford today, and is due to ride at ascot tomororw. england will be without centre manu tuilagi for the finale of the six nations and the autumn nations cup after being ruled out for six months because of injury. sale director of rugby steve diamond says tuilagi will undergo surgery next week on a torn achilles, picked up in the club's premiership

victory over northampton earlier in the week. it means he'll miss england's remaining 2020 six nations game with italy and will also be unavailable for the autumn nations cup, which starts next month. two of english football's brightest talents, mason greenwood and phil foden will find out in the next half an hour if they'll be included in england's squad named at 2 o'clock after breaking covid—19 guidelines in iceland last month. foden and greenwood were sent home after england's win in rekjavik last month for meeting with two women at the team hotel, with southgate describing the incident as "unnacceptable" — and they were both fined by icelandic police. a second division side in the us, san diego loyal, walked off the pitch and forfeited a match against phoenix rising last night in protest over an alleged homophobic comment aimed at openly gay midfielder collin martin. san diego players left the field, with the club explaining the decision on social media. it meant they forfeited the match, in a game

which they were leading 3—1 — ending their hopes of reaching the play—offs. the club then released this statement via twitter, saying they had to act. the side are led by the former everton midfielder landon donovan our guys to their immense credit said they weren't going to stand for it. they were very clear in that moment that they were giving up all hopes of making the play—offs. they we re hopes of making the play—offs. they were meeting one of the best teams in the league but they said it didn't matter. there are things more important in life may have to stick up important in life may have to stick upfor important in life may have to stick up for what we believe in, and so they made the decision to walk off andi they made the decision to walk off and i have tremendous pride in this group. following the withdrawal of serena williams yesterday, another big name in the women's draw has exited the french open today with number two seed karolina pliskova knocked out in the second round. she was beaten in straight sets byjelena ostapenko — who won the title at roland garros back in 2017. the los angeles lakers began theirfirst nba finals in a decade,

by beating the miami heat 116—98 in game one of the seven match series overnight. the lakers went into the series as overwhelming favourites to land a 17th championship title, but it was miami who raced into a 13—point lead in the first quarter withjimmy butler leading the way. but soon the lakers took control with lebronjames — who is going for a fourth nba title, proving his star quality once again with 25 points. i don't think at the beginning that we were physical enough. you have to get a feel for how hard play is. they smacked us in the mouth. we got a sense of that. so we knew how hard we had to play if we wanted to try to make it a good game. from that moment, when it was 23—10, we started to play to our capabilities. started flying around. started getting defensive stops in, started sharing the ball a lot

better offensively and got into a really good groove. the scottish open is also under way at the renaissance club in north berwick. scotland's grant forest and england's matthew fitzpatrick leading the charge for the home nations at the moment. keep up to date with that and the rest of the day's sports news on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport. thank you very much for that. good afternoon tea. you're watching bbc news. i'm jane hill and afternoon tea. you're watching bbc news. i'mjane hill and we will afternoon tea. you're watching bbc news. i'm jane hill and we will talk about our main here this afternoon. restrictions on households mixing indoors, already in place in parts of the north east of england, are to be extended to liverpool, warrington, hartlepool and middlesbrough. andy preston is the mayor of middlesbrough. he says the new restrictions imposed by the government are based on ignorance. earlier he spoke to my colleague martine croxall.

i've seen communication between the government, quoting incorrect levels of infection rates. and what's most frustrating and annoying and potentially damaging to our area is the fact that this decision is being made without any consultation with us. there's a myth being bandied about that there's been lots of exchanges of information and ideas. it's categorically untrue. this is being done to us despite our efforts to engage, suggest alternatives. and by the way, we are absolutely not soft on covid. i am all for the right strong measures, but we have to be pragmatic to look after mental health and preserve a viable jobs. and this action, if it goes ahead, will absolutely damage viable jobs and cause significant, unnecessary mental health problems. what you believe the infection rate in middlesbrough to be? i haven't seen today's numbers. it was something like 116 yesterday.

our highest so far was something like 120. and there was a communication put around earlier saying that we'd been at 170. what i don't want to talk about is the difference between 120 and 170. that's not my point. my point is that there's a real lack of knowledge, lack of information, lack of local expertise gone into this decision. and we have tried hard to engage, to give the government what we want. we're not naturally defiant people. we want to work with the government to solve this and find a way of working inside this covid problem. so what would an appropriate response be, in your opinion? what we propose is that we work with the government, what they've done up the road in tyne and weir, for example, where they do severely limit people's ability to socialise. because we do know that 80% of our infections are generated in the home. but do you know what? if i or anyone else wants to go and see their cousin, it's absolutely fine for me to stand

on their garden path and for my cousin to stand in her doorway, or we both stand in the garden and have a cup of tea. similarly, we have some astonishingly well run cafes. it's absolutely acceptable for a well—run cafe to host somebody and a neighbour, socially distanced. that being denied is a monstrous barrier to returning to any kind of normality and pretending mental health and our culture and society. things like that don't need to happen. by the way, two weeks ago we hosted a football match. 1,000 people attended. it was beautifully executed. everybody wore a mask, everybody washed their hands, everybody distanced, nobody was affected. we can carry on with lots of elements of life, we can be safe and we can protectjobs, but we need to be pragmatic and intelligent, and not impose blanket things apparently based on a lack of knowledge.

how irresponsible, though, is it for you, as the mayor of middlesbrough to be taking issue with what the government is saying? this will be a green light, won't it, for people to ignore the rules that the government says need to be brought in? i think it's absolutely responsible for me to say what i think, to challenge government, and if they are suggesting that we do something wrong at a point in the future — which they are doing, by the way — it's absolutely essential for me to stand up and say, "no, you've got it wrong here. listen to us, because in this case we know more than you." and that's what i'm doing. of course, i won't disobey the law, and absolutely won't condone anyone else to disobey the law. but as things stand today with that announcement, i'm saying, "no, it's not acceptable, it's not good enough, come and talk to us. andy preston there, the executive mayor of middlesbrough. a lockdown has been ordered

in and around spain's capital madrid after a rise in coronavirus cases there. residents will only be allowed to leave the area for essential reasons. however, madrid's regional government, which is controlled by the conservative opposition and did not vote in favour of the restrictions, questions its legality. mark lobel reports. tempers flare at new restrictions for madrid. normal life set to be masked once again as a high rate of infections means 4 million residents must stay put. bars will shut at 11pm, playgrounds and parks will be closed. gatherings of no more than six. translation: i live alone. the park is an important way out and if they close it, that is very annoying, because being confined at home lowers morale a lot. translation: madrid is the worst—off region. it is true that measures must be taken so things don't get worse and we don't have a second lockdown but i think that a second lockdown is not effective because economically, spain can't afford it.

madrid's regional government opposes the restrictions and argues they are not legally valid, but spain's health minister disagrees. he says madrid's health is spain's health and that the situation in madrid is complex and worrying. madrid's lockdown was ordered after spain's regional governments, who are in charge of health care, voted in favour of imposing restrictions in areas with more than 100,000 residents that had 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, 35% covid patient occupancy in intensive care units, and positive results in 10% of tests. even though madrid's politicians did not vote in favour of the restrictions, as it is responsible for nearly half of all spain's coronavirus cases and meets the criteria for restrictions, it must now close its borders for nonessential trips. people will only be allowed to cross for work, doctors

visits and shopping. despite spain's many casualties in the fight against covid, madrid's regional government insists national politicians are causing alarm and may fight the lockdown in court. their solution has been to bring in targeted restrictions locally, but that too provoked protests, as it affected more poorer areas of the city. but national politicians concluded those measures were not enough to curb the pandemic. mark lobel, bbc news. italy was for some weeks the global epicentre of coronavirus — the first country in the west to be deeply affected by the pandemic and the first in the world to impose a national lockdown. but now its infection rate is considerably lower than others in europe — 38 cases per 100,000 people, compared to more than 100 in the uk, 230 in france and 330 in spain. so what we all want to know is how it has managed to stay

on top of the virus. our rome correspondent mark lowen reports. covid's once global epicentre is not letting down its guard. spot checks by italian police to ensure rules on overcrowding and mask—wearing are followed. it's one of the tools italy has used to get infection rates down to some of the lowest in europe, keeping the virus in check while others struggle with a fresh spike. "we issue fines when needed," says giovanni. "but none today. usually, everyone wears masks. awareness of the consequences of breaking the rules has helped instil a sense of discipline here but in reality, police have had to intervene relatively rarely as italy has, on the whole, followed restrictions. and now, it is reaping the benefits. italy is taking safety as seriously as its food. many restaurants have screens,

disposable or digital menus, customers are recorded for contact tracing. it has given them the freedom to stay open and busy, unlike others in europe. the trauma of covid frightened italians into compliance. because we were the first and we had a very long quarantine and we really felt it, and it was a very strong period for everyone, so we really felt it, and there were many, many people dying and we could see all the — not here but through the news — all the — those people dying alone, well, it has been very strong. the government's reward for a lower infection rate has been broad public support, but it knows success is fragile. i'm really proud of italians because they did follow the rules. but, you know, the war is not over yet. it is still to wait and see what is going to happen in october, november and even the winter, but right now, i think things

are going very well. alert to the fact schools reopened later here than elsewhere in europe, there is now mass testing for students and teachers — this at a high school near rome. rapid results come within 30 minutes. tests, rules, compliance — a formula italy hopes can halt a second wave and ease the legacy of pain from the first. mark lowen, bbc news, rome. in northern california — the authorities are struggling to contain wildfires burning through thousands of acres of land. the blazes have destroyed property and forced people to leave their homes. the bbc‘s tim allman has more. driving through yosemite national park, a convoy fleeing the flames. rangers leading the way as a number of tourists had to be evacuated. it looked like a fairly

perilous trip — dark clouds above, burning trees neverfar away. this is just one of a series of fires burning through central and northern california. high temperatures, precious little rain — it is a dangerous combination. mother nature is something that we don't try to guess so we're preparing for the worst—case scenario and we're hoping for the best. so our firefighters are going to be working around the clock securing those lines. the two latest wildfires called zogg and glass only began in the last few days, but they've been busy, burning through hundreds of square kilometres of land. some of it wine country, trheatening lives and livelihoods. i own this vineyard over here and with a bad year and fires and no power, i haven't picked a grape. i don't think we're going to pick anything. tens of thousands of people have left their homes but some are waiting to see what will happen next. how long are you going to hang out?

i don't know, we'll see. if i see flames i'm out of here but until then, i'm just gonna hang out probably. this has been a record—breaking year for wildfires in california, and with more hot weather on the way, the danger is still present. tim allman, bbc news. despite their opposing views, both us presidential candidates want to change how social media platforms operate and make tech firms more accountable for illegal and harmful content. debates are raging on and offline about what sort of model is best but one system adopted by germany is increasingly being discussed around the world. our cyber reporterjoe tidy has been taking a look at whether it's worked, and the possible dangers of policing public spaces online. there aren't many things these men agree on but when it comes to social media, they are strangely in step. thank you very much. we are here today to defend

free speech from one of the gravest dangers... both donald trump and joe biden want to take away the us law that protects platforms from being liable for what their users post. donald trump wants to repeal it to reduce censorship. joe biden wants to get rid of it to compel companies into doing more to tackle harmful content. whoever wins the presidency it seems change is coming to social media in the us. elsewhere, lawmakers around the world are also trying to battle with the issue of hate speech and harmful content. increasingly, many are looking here for answers — germany. it's been nearly three years since a pioneering new law was passed here in germany to regulate social media. it's called the netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz, or netzdg for short. and many countries around the world have seen it as a benchmark for tackling something they are all trying to deal with — hate speech and fake news — on social media. according to danish human rights think tankjustitia, at least 25 countries around the globe, including the uk,

have discussed or even adopted regulation models similar to netzdg. the three main principles of the law are that obviously illegal content must be deleted within 2a hours or platforms face a maximum fine of 50 million euros, £46 million. networks must make it easy for users to flag offensive posts and they must provide a report on the blocked items every six months. according to a new independent report, commissioned by the german government, the law has broadly made a positive difference. the netzdg evaluation found no evidence that social networks overblocked content but has there been any trickle—down effects to make social networks generally safer and nicer for everyday users? verina is an influencer. she says the majority of online life is positive but if netzdg was meant to reduce nastiness online, it has not worked. i get a lot of hate comments, like people say that i look like a whale or i'm like an elephant. have you noticed a difference between 2018 when netzdg came in and now?

maybe on facebook. but not on instagram. and not on tiktok. critics of netzdg, including the social networks themselves, argue it's too strict and is harming free speech in germany. and there are concerns the law is being used as a template for censorship in other less free countries like turkey which recently passed a similar law. it's a trend that's troubling german lawmakers. if there is no freedom of speech anywhere in your country, what is restricted, then, of course, yes, netzdg will help you to do the same restriction of free opinion. whilst many countries have looked to germany for answers, soon, all eyes may turn here. joe tidy, bbc news. here, the countdown to the end of the furlough financial lifeline has begun, with employers facing increased costs amid a warning that millions ofjobs now hang in the balance. from today, the government's contribution to furloughed

workers‘ wages falls. it is also the deadline for some firms to issue redundancy notices before the furlough scheme ends on 31 october. our business correspondent nina warhurst has been speaking to people who have been furloughed to find out what the future holds for them. almost £40 billion and counting. almost 10 millionjobs. every furlough story is different. i'm chris and i'm the manager of a hotel in manchester. i've been furloughed since march. some people would say it sounds great. you get to stay at home, you get paid anyway. what would you say to them? you're spending a lot more at home, but you're still receiving less and you do get a sense of the feeling of worthlessness because you're not doing anything during the day. i personally, i miss my colleagues. what has been the impact on your mental health? a lot of sleepless nights. a lot of...

i'm back on medication. to be quite frank, there have been points of very, very low point where you think, what am i worth at the minute? some people would say that you're one of the lucky ones, you still get an income. i'd say try and live it because i might have an income at the minute, but at the end of october when the furlough scheme ends, i don't know where i'm going to be getting my income from and i don't want to be on benefits. i'm lydia and i work in property. i was furloughed in march for two months. i remember it was a really sunny day and i was actually in the garden and graham gave me a call and straightaway it was great, just laid out, black—and—white, what the company would be doing in terms of using the furlough scheme. do you think that furlough saved your job? yeah, definitely.

with us being a small business, i think it was essential to have such a scheme in place. and you've been promoted. and i've been promoted. well done. thank you, i'm really happy. it's just another step closer to where i want to be career—wise, so i'm thrilled. hi, i'm matt. i was furloughed from my barjob in march and decided to pursue my dog training company full—time. with the bar situation, they were really good about it, straight onto furlough. on a self—employed level, there was no support from the government available, as i hadn't currently been through the tax system, which meant my income dropped by about two thirds. i made the decision of, you know what? let's just jump in with two feet. i've been doing it full—time now for two or three weeks. i'm absolutely loving it. so actually, the volatility that came with covid has led you into this new life? oh yeah, definitely.

i think it's definitely made me take the leap, i guess. a bit of a leap of faith. as i say, take the bull by the horns in this kind of situation because you don't know what the universe is going to give you, so you have to just go with it. the universe has given you lovely luna. it has. now, the weather with matt taylor. hello, strong winds and heavy rain will feature in the forecast through friday and into the weekend at times for many of you. today is the relative quiet day. rain will start to become more abundant across south wales and south—west england later and it will stay wet in the north—east of scotland, but as we finish the day into the evening, clear skies and one or two showers for many in between. this is where we'll see the coldest conditions, there who go through tonight, frost is likely in southern scotland and northern england and across northern ireland.

rain in the north keeps things milder and then we turn our attention to what's happening in the south. through tonight and tomorrow morning, storm alex named by the french weather service because the impact they will have some disruption for us, we suspect. particularly around the english channel. the likes of the channel islands, southern counties of england, strong wind and heavy rains. you can see the extent of the rain, some of which will be heavy causing minorflooding. rain, some of which will be heavy causing minor flooding. around channel is where we will see the strongest winds. channel islands could see mph gusts at times, brightening up for some along the south and east through the afternoon, is that rain spreads its way into the midlands and across parts of wales. the northern half of the country, it's a different day, a bit of frost and fog to begin with, lots of sunshine, showers and the west eating away but we will see rain edged towards the likes of the m62 rain edged towards the likes of the m 62 corridor as we finished the day. a bit further north or a bit further south, keep an eye on the forecast but either way, where you are in the sunshine or wind and

rain, it is a cool day. storm alex loses its potency and head off into france, replaced by another area of low pressure through this weekend and around that's more of you will see wind and rain develop. saturday, a wet night for england and wales, the rain spreads its way westwards, so the rain spreads its way westwards, so after a bright start here, it will turn wetter, turning wet across scotla nd will turn wetter, turning wet across scotland as the breeze picks up. strongest winds on saturday down towards wales, south—west england and the channel islands. maybe brightening up towards the south—east later. saturday night into sunday, heavy rain across northern and western areas and that will become confined around the periphery is where we see some of the strongest winds. heavy, slow moving showers for england and wales but some of you have some longer, sunny spells on sunday compared saturday. it may be the drier of the two days for some of you but over the next few days, as you can see from our rainfall chart, rain is expected everywhere, but could be 100 millimetres of rain in places.

this is bbc news, i'mjane hill. the headlines at two. new restrictions announced for parts of the north of england including liverpool and middlesbrough following a rise in infections. we've had to take difficult but necessary decisions to suppress the virus. the only alternative to suppressing the virus is to let it rip. and i will not do that. in the largest study of coronavirus cases in england, scientists suggest the spread of the virus is slowing — but warn that levels of infection reamain high in all areas of the country. the eu begins legal action against the uk government — because of its plans to override parts of the brexit withdrawal deal. the commission has decided to send a letter of formal notice