this is bbc news. the total cost of the 2020 election cycle, one of the most contentious in us history, will be record—breaking. spending is projected to reach $11 billion. does it feel like money well spent? the two campaigns are out fund raising today, ready for that final push in the crucial swing states. but donald trump is still facing questions about white supremacy , questions that the white house say have already been answered. his record on this is unmistakable and it's shameful the media refuses to cover it. not—so—welcome in wisconsin. president trump plans to campaign in the key battle ground state this weekend, but coronavirus cases there are rising. we'll speak with one city mayor who'd rather he stay away. also in the programme... american employers

continue to slashjobs. it is the most unequal recession in modern history, delivering a mild setback for those at the top and a depression—like blow for those at the bottom. plus, what is bread, if it's not bread? we will tell you about the subway sandwich, that the tax man in ireland thinks is something else. hello, i'm laura trevelyan in washington, christian fraser is in london. we're 33 days from the us election. and if the polls are right this time, donald trump is behind and running out of time. in the three critical states that he won in 2016, pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin, joe biden is up by more than 5 points. and nationally he's 7 points clear, as millions of americans are already voting. republicans want the president

to put laser focus on those voters he needs to win over. seniors and suburban women in particular. but it's the fall out from tuesday night's debate and mr trump's seeming inability to denounce white supremacists that continues to undermine the broader message. and again this afternoon the white house press secretary was on the defensive. the president has denounced... you read a bunch of quotes out. ..white supremacy, the kkk and hate groups in all forms. he signed a resolution to that effect. the president, just last week, perhaps you all were not covering it, but just last week expressed his desire to see the kkk prosecuted as domestic terrorists. this president advocated for the death penalty for a white supremacist, the first federal execution in 17 years. his record on this is unmistakable and it's shameful that the media refuses to cover it. but far from changing the conversation, the president is digging in. last night in minneapolis, a state the trump campaign is trying hard to flip, he returned to a familiar target.

ilhan omar, the congresswoman from minneapolis. she fled somalia as a child and she's been a us citizen for a long time. what...what is going on with omar? i've been reading these reports for two years about how corrupt and crooked she is. chanting. let's get with it, let's get with it. i mean, frankly, harvesting is terrible but it's the least of the things that she has done. how the hell... then she tells us how to run our country, can you believe it?! how the hell did minnesota elect her? what the hell is wrong with you people?! right? what the hell happened?! anthony zurcher is in washington for us. i watch that and i can't help thinking it's a really odd strategy because it's not his base that he has to win. it's those suburban women in when they watch that, while real really come over in the numbers he needs to support his campaign?

that line, tell us how to run our country, talking about an american citizen member of congress. it was pretty dramatic. if you look at the debate, donald trump's attitude and his demeanour during that debate interrupting, belligerent, that sort of demeanour is probably not going to play well with suburban women vote rs to play well with suburban women voters in particular. so it seems like that's the way donald trump ran in 2016, that's the way he has service president for the past 3.5 years and how he's campaigning now which is servicing his base. he seems to think that this election will be decided not by expanding the numberof will be decided not by expanding the number of voters who support them but by getting the people who are his core supporters to turn out and in record numbers. that's a risky strategy to say the least. his press secretary thinks he is being pretty clear on white supremacy but some senior republicans on the hell don't think so. take a look. i think he mispoke in response to chris wallace's comment, he was asking chris what he wanted to say, i think he misspoke. i think he should correct it, if he doesn't correct it,

i guess he didn't misspeak. he said it was unacceptable not to condemn white supremacists. and so i do so in the strongest possible way. republicans in a different position, best, especially those in down ballot races. its challenge for them and you can see them trying to distance themselves from donald trump. the problem is kayleigh mcenany is right. he has condemned white supremacists in the past. the problem is he is also very directly not condemn them when put under pressure from time like the debate or the follow—up right after the cha rlottesville or the follow—up right after the charlottesville unrest in 2017 so it's almost a smorgasbord of answers he provides on the subject and people can say maybe he is a little indelicate with his language or maybe the press is blowing this out of proportion but other people say perhaps is doing less in order to nod and wink at the more

disreputable portions of his base because he wants to keep their support. after that chaotic debate in cleveland and i was there and sort, there is no talk from the commission on presidential debates of changing the rules. already the president is tweeting, saying why would i allow the debate commission to change the rules when i easily w011 to change the rules when i easily won last time? so what you think will happen with that second debate? thing to keep in mind about the second debate is its town hall format so both candidates will be taking questions and providing answers to actual voters. it's a lot harder to interrupter, a lot harder to be aggressive in those situations because then you are being aggressive not towards the moderators but voters. i think what we may see from the debate commission if they change things is perhaps allowing moderator to mute the mic of whoever is not talking, when the other candidate is answering. to add more penalties for

interrupting as far as giving time to provide answers, that sort of thing. but when you create rosettes oi'i thing. but when you create rosettes on both candidates to respect those rules. anything they have set up, the candidates have to comply or not comply with and then you could get another chaotic scene like we saw in the first one. let's talk about that staggering amount of money that has been spent on the presidential and congressional races. $11 billion. the gdp of montenegro. how much of thatis the gdp of montenegro. how much of that is small donors and how much is big money? when you look at individual candidates and campaigns, a big chunk of that is small donations. that's because it's a lot easier for individual voters, people from around the country, to donate to their candidates thanks to the internet fundraising that has taken off in the recent years. i think the democrats announced after the death of ruth bader ginsburg they raised to $50 million in donations, most of those coming in small dollar

donations. —— 200 $50 million. you have that on one side then on the other side you have groups not governed by campaign laws we can raise unlimited amounts of money. these negative owners throw their money in and that's where you see groups not directly associated with candidates running issues and awareness ads. —— candidates running issues and awareness ads. “ mega candidates running issues and awareness ads. —— mega donors. when it comes to candidates it's the vote rs it comes to candidates it's the voters who are speaking with their dollars. good to talk to you, thank you very much for that. we sometimes forget just how you very much for that. we sometimes forgetjust how much cash is in the final straight of the battle. i was looking today at whatjoe biden has raised and quite a significant cash lead in all of this. strange, rather unorthodox because usually it's the power of the incumbency that gives the man in the white house the war chest he needs to win. but that's not the case this time, is it?

donald trump spent $100 million on a vanity added during the us super bowl. let's look at where the money is going. biden‘s campaign has reserved a quarter billion dollars in advertising in 18 swing states over the next five weeks. by comparison, trump's campaign has booked $130 million worth of ads in 13 states in the coming weeks. hillary clinton out spent donald trump and she still lost. the president is campaigning in wisconsin this weekend, a midwest state with an alarming spike in coronavirus cases. it's just been flagged a red zone by the white house coronavirus task force, which means it has one of the highest levels of community spread in the country. in the past week, the state has reported nearly 16,000 new cases, compared to just 5,000 in the last week of august. in green bay, where the president will speak, one hospital is already at 90% capacity. he was also due to head to la crosse, but we're hearing in the last hour that he may not end up going.

let's speak to tim kabat, the city's mayor. there you are planning to his arrival but what? are you hearing that maybe plans are being postponed? we had asked the trump campaign to consider cancelling or postponing the president's visit based on the covid—19 cases and positivity that we have here and we learned earlier this afternoon they are not coming here, they will be going somewhere else, i'm not sure where but they are not going to be coming here on saturday. made a good sense has prevailed because i want to read you this and it's not fake news. this is actually from the president's task force which they put out this week. it says, "wisconsin has seen a rapid worsening of the epidemic in the last week, to the maximum degree

possible increase social—distancing measures possible until cases declined." if he does go to one of these rallies how worried would you be about the pressure it might put on the emergency services? i'm very concerned and that was conveyed to the campaign, the fact that we are ina red the campaign, the fact that we are in a red zone right now and very severe high—risk and just witnessing these presidential rallies around these presidential rallies around the country, where you have large numbers of people not practising social—distancing, and not wearing masks, we are very concerned about a spike in those numbers and want to do everything we can to prevent that and slow the spread of the coronavirus. so i and slow the spread of the coronavirus. 50 i am and slow the spread of the coronavirus. so i am relieved that the campaign decided not to come here. normally a presidential visit toa here. normally a presidential visit to a town is welcome and a big deal but considering where we are with a

virus, our numberone but considering where we are with a virus, our number one priority is the health and safety of people here. wisconsin is a swing state. 0ne here. wisconsin is a swing state. one to practice having politically the you think? with everything the focus when it comes to the coronavirus has been on oui’ comes to the coronavirus has been on our health, safety and welfare. unfortunately it has become politicised so the issues of whether or not you when a mask, all of that has become political. i think you're in wisconsin, both campaigns are running very hard campaigns to win wisconsin. it was a deciding state in the last presidential election and expectation as it will be again. sol and expectation as it will be again. so i know it's a state that is being highly sought by the candidates because of how close the election is presumed to be. indeed so. why do

you think you're seeing so many case in wisconsin? is it the fall, more people being inside, coronavirus 40? it's probably a combination of factors. i know here ever experience in this town, we are doing pretty well and doing stable in august but once we had a return of university students and then other students opening up, we students and then other students openlng up, we saw students and then other students opening up, we saw a dramatic sky skyrocketing of case numbers even though this week we came down from la st though this week we came down from last week. last week was our highest and the concern with a large rally and the concern with a large rally and a large gathering of people that would cause those numbers again to spike, so we're seeing community spread, not only college—age students, it truly affecting most of oui’ students, it truly affecting most of our people and we are doing everything we can to try and slow that spread. good luck with that. thank you so much forjoining us. thank you so much forjoining us.

thank you. for those watching on bbc world news, we'll be right back. another 2 million people in northern england are preparing for tighter coronavirus restrictions from saturday. in warrington, hartlepool, middlesbrough and the city of liverpool mixing with other households will be banned and only essential travel will be allowed to try to bring down a rise in cases. the health secretary for england, matt hancock, said the disease was "spreading fast" as ed thomas explains. there is a picture emerging now across the uk, and especially across the north of england, as areas here face tighter and tighter coronavirus restrictions. today, it was people here in liverpool who were told they were next. but no surprise, though, because for the past 48 hours this has been a city waiting to hear what would happen next. looking for action to stop this rise of coronavirus cases. meanwhile new measures being introduced in north wales now

forbid people from leaving or entering conwy, denbighshire, flintshire and wrexham without a "reasonable excuse." pubs and restaurants won't be allowed to serve customers indoors in the derry and strabane council area of northern ireland. we know that covid—19 has been devastating to lives and to livelihoods. but it's now becoming clear the level to which people in low paid jobs, many of who are not white, have been disproportionately affected. around 22 milion usjobs were lost during the height of coronavirus. the most recent figures show that that about 10 million jobs have been recovered, no mean feat. but that still leaves 12 million jobs that haven't come back. and look at the demographics where job recovery is slowest. while 61% of white women have found some employment since the pandemic, just 34% of african—american women have. and while 55% of workers with college degrees have found new jobs,

only 40% of those without a college degree have. it's statistics like these that have led to one of the most unequal 0ur correspondent michelle fleury is in new york for us. iimaginea i imagine a lot of this is down to the sectors we are talking about. bars, restaurants, travel and leisure. i was looking today at walt disney who announced a staggering lay—off programme. 28,000 workers and 67% of them are in part—time jobs that pay by the hour. you are getting right to the heart of the problem here. if you think about the jobs which allow you to work from home, often those of the type of jobs that come with things like paid sick leave and other benefits. the areas like hospitality, travel, health care workers, retail, those industries are associated often with less generous benefits perhaps and so consequently depending on where you're employed in work, well determine how your experiencing this

pandemic. add to that other layers. when are more likely to work in the hospitality and health care industry. retail, therefore you start to see how they are disproportionately affected. add to that black women in that category and that starts to explain. the key thing to bear in mind is that some of these trends existed before the pandemic but what it has done is it has deepened those problems. pandemic but what it has done is it has deepened those problemsm there any sign of a stimulus programme, and you want to help those hardest hit americans? there has been a flurry of phone calls here in washington. yeah, i mean this is something that notjust wall street but obviously lots of people are watching closely. you may recall immediately when the pandemic first emerged here in the us, the president and congress received praise for the swift action they took but since the first and second round, the third what we have been

waiting for weeks and no deal is in sight. the house democrats were going to take a vote on the proposal la st going to take a vote on the proposal last night. that was delayed. this was seen as a positive sign that perhaps progress was being made behind closed doors with the us treasury and negotiations being led on that side by treasury secretary steve mnuchin but now we hear that although talks have been going on it does look like house democrats will vote on their proposal this evening and that seems to suggest they are trying to show that a deal probably isn't likely and that they have done their best. where the two remain divided to explain to viewers, is in pa rt divided to explain to viewers, is in part on the price tag of how much should be given in unemployment assistance and how much help states should receive because of course they have paid a lot more out in benefits and that has depleted state coffers. which means we won't get any coffers. which means we won't get a ny a nswe rs coffers. which means we won't get any answers on this until after the election. thank you for that at the moment. aviation has been one of the hardest hit industries. american airlines and united announced today they are

beginning to furlough a combined 32,000 employees. the airlines say they were forced to take drastic action, blaming congress and the white house forfailing to agree on more federal aid for aviation. ian lordi is an american airlines flight attendant, who flew for the last time today before being furloughed. hejoins us from dallas, texas. thank you so much for being with us. tell is how you're feeling on this very difficult day. to be honest i and tired. i'm exhausted. the last numberof and tired. i'm exhausted. the last number of months have been very stressful, dealing with the of course but also the idea that our jobs were going to be potentially coming to an end. as it is of today, it finally came to an end, so, we're just flabbergasted with everything. do you feel that politicians here in washington could have helped you with a bailout for the airlines?|j do with a bailout for the airlines?” do really feel like they could have done something a little bit more

with our payroll extension. as a grant, only because i feel like it becomes an issue of politics when it really isn't, you forget the human factor, the human side. i'm going to lose my income, me and thousands and thousands of other airline workers are going to lose their income and also their health benefits. and god for bed, one of us comes in with covid—19 in the couple of months and what happens if we hospitalised? —— god forbid. and the bells are astronomical, we don't know what to do other than go and jump in unemployment line. i doesn't help anyone, especially with the economic recovery anyone, especially with the economic re cove ry we anyone, especially with the economic recovery we really need. i'm really sorry for the position you're in. i'm looking at a picture of you on the last flight today. with your colleagues. all of you in the same very difficult position. i read that you are, effectively furloughed it says here until 2029. so does that

mean you cannot actually go anywhere else? how does it work? the date is arbitrary, only because we don't know when we will be recalled so the syste m know when we will be recalled so the system just had to have an end date. for the way to setup. once our booking start coming back up and they can start recalling flight attendants we have indefinite recall right so i can be called back a year, two years, and if i'm willing to come back and accept a job then i can. but until then we just have to kind of wait and see just wait and see. i don't want to pride too much but i'm keen to understand what for low m ea ns but i'm keen to understand what for low means in the united states. here in the uk it has meant that people have been able to get by, a lot of their salaries have been paid. what is it look like they're for you and when you talk about health care and benefits that come with a job, do they continue to exist? ever union

contract has negotiated that depending on yourtenure contract has negotiated that depending on your tenure with the airline and how long you have worked, you get a certain number of weeks pay and benefit to continue. once that date runs out, then you are cut off. that's what we have negotiated as part of a contract. so i'm thankful that i will have a little over a month of pay and benefits but then after that for me personally i'm done, there are so many people, we have flight attendants who just started this year who haven't completed one year of service and they will not have anything. so... what happens then? if you have, if you are done and have no money, you have got to, you have no money, you have got to, you have rent or a mortgage, what are you facing? you either go into sign up you facing? you either go into sign up for unemployment or in my case i'm willing to go and do whatever, priorities are to pay my bills,

mortgage and get insurance again. so even though there are so many of us we re even though there are so many of us were going to be looking for a job in the exact same time you just have to kind of pull yourself together and go and find work. it may not be what you are used to but you have to do what you have to do. thank you so much forjoining us and we're so sorry. appreciate thank you. the european union is taking taking legal action against britain's government, over the brexit withdrawal agreement. ministers at westminster admit that a planned new law will breach part of the agreement that was reached between borisjohnson and brussels. the commission president ursula von der leyen said the eu had asked the uk to remove the problematic parts of the internal market bill by the end of september and that deadline had now passed. now, subway is famous for its footlong sandwiches of all varieties. but don't call that stuff either side of the filling "bread", at least not in front of the irish taxman. in ireland, bread is classed

as a staple product, so there's no vat to pay on it. and with that in mind, one subway franchise claimed it should not be paying tax on the rolls they use in heated sandwiches. much like this one. but ireland's supreme court ruled that because of the higher level of sugar in the rolls, they cannot be considered bread. specifically, under irish law, ingredients the sugar in bread specifically, under irish law, the sugar in bread should not exceed 2% of the weight of flour in the dough. in subway‘s case, the figure is actually 10%. so they are going to be giving away some dough. anyway, i got quite obsessed with this this afternoon, if its not bread then what is it. is it a footlong cake? how does the taxman define it? and so in the interests of good journalism, we contacted the tax and customs office in ireland, and this was their reply.

which is a pretty crumby response. anyway, there you have it. the pans, the plans,... i have more of them. no, it's ok. if this is actually a cake what does it mean for the economy there?” actually a cake what does it mean for the economy there? i would have thought it would be good, so long as people are prepared to eat foot long ca ke people are prepared to eat foot long cake because if they do more business there is more vat, right? it's just really strange. i still think it looks like bread and not a cake. just think the amount of sugar and here is actually beginning to put me off subway. it's not good pr. is that italian herb and cheese?m

certainly is. you're not going to eat that though, i know you. this is bbc news, i'm not eating it. good evening. contrasting weather north and south of the country as we go through tonight into tomorrow. northern areas where we see skies clear, some mist and fog around and we will see frost. and into northern england, southern half of the country will stay milder, but is here where storm alex pushes its way in, bringing some wet, windy conditions and a potential for travel disruption in the morning. here is the bigger picture. named by france because of the expected distru ption. maybe around 60—70 miles or hour.

torrential rain in places, southernmost counties of england to begin with. contrasting, let's take a look at the northern half the country because here, that frost and north and west scotland with a few showers will gradually break up. lots of sunshine through the day, cloud increasing in northern england later. we could see some rain from storm alex arrive around temperatures 12 to 15 degrees on the cool side. storm alex fizzles out, pushes its way southwards into the weekend, and another area low pressure takes over. a thoroughly wet start to saturday across england and wales, bright towards the north and west, the rain spread across scotland. wind strengthen here. strongest of the winds of saturday across wales, southwest england. potential for damage or disruption. some parts of northern ireland may

stay dry, but the rain will spread. that broad area of low pressure become centred around the uk, and it's around the edges where we see the widest and windiest conditions as we go through sunday. the middle of it, we could see some slow—moving, torrential downpours and they themselves could cause flooding. across areas, this chart turned green and yellow. shows where all areas will see rain, but to the southwest, eastern parts of scotland, over 100 mm of rain as possible.

you're watching bbc news with me, laura trevelyan, in washington, christian fraser is in london. our top stories... campaigning for the battleground votes — president trump plans to continue his large—scale rallies, whilejoe biden's campaign restarts in—person canvassing in key states. a huge study of coronavirus cases in india offers some surprises to scientists — we'll talk to the author about his insights for everyone. also in the programme... facebook ads pushed a baseless biden earpiece conspiracy — the trump campaign kept spreading the idea. now facebook bans ads that try to undermine the us electoral process. are we all getting too comfortable? or are we letting ourselves go? this season is all

about the athleisure. a huge new study in india has looked at how the coronavirus spreads. india is one of the worst affected countries in the world, with over 6 million cases. the study, out today in thejournal science, looked at 85,000 people who'd had the virus and then at a further massive 575,000 people they had been in contact with. some of the headline findings of the study were that 71% of people who had the virus did not spread it to anyone else. in fact, just 5% of people were responsible for 80% of secondary infections. another significant finding was that children did infect other children with virus. let's to talk to the lead author of the paper, joseph lewnard,

who's an assistant professor of epidemiology at the university of california. joseph, it is good to have you with us. joseph, it is good to have you with us. let me pick up a one of these extraordinary figures, the 5% that we re extraordinary figures, the 5% that were responsible for causing 80% of infections. do you know whether there was a common link between the people in that group, in that 5%? there is no necessarily a clear way of drawing a common link between them, buti of drawing a common link between them, but i think there are several things that we should consider when we discuss super spreading and the fa ct we discuss super spreading and the fact that a minority of people might account for many, if not most, infections in covid—19. one of these is that much transmission occurs in households and households are certainly a high—risk environment and that is particularly important in settings like the developing world, including india and other. another consideration is the observation is in high income

settings, people engaged in essential work who are not in a position to restrict the number of contacts that they have in the community and other settings might bea community and other settings might be a disproportionate risk of transmitting to others around them, so there are many considerations here in addition to potential questions about biology that might underlie why some individuals are a greater risk of transmitting than others. but anecdotally, and it is anecdotally, a lot of us have come across people who have had coronavirus and may not have infected people in their house, but then maybe wanted to know the setting in a different time and did spread it. does this research answer in any way why that happens? i mean, do some people have a viral load at a certain point and that is when they spread it? are some people, i don't know, less prone to catching it than others? that was not really the focus of this study in particular, it wasjust the focus of this study in particular, it was just 85,000 people to track, it is not necessarily easy to make specific determinations whether each one of

them had this, although that is certainly an interesting factor. we don't yet know exactly how symptoms contribute to individuals' risk of transmitting, for instance coughing or doing something like that that may help the virus get out. there is also the point that has been raised many times that viral load peaks right before or at the same time as symptoms start, so of course different points in people's infectious period contacts will have very different risk of acquiring an infection most likely asa acquiring an infection most likely as a result of that. and joseph, the finding that children can infect other children, that is highly significant, isn't it? i believe it is something that people have wondered about because it does have importance and it has been a little bit hard to study so far, in part because children are not easily picked up and surveillance systems that focus on the most severe cases. you know, you would have an easier time identifying people who are ill

here at the hospital and we know from many children that when be the case and with school closures while they have been probably helpful for reducing some amount of exposure, they have in a sense made it harder to track the exposures children have and how they might contribute to infections more in household type settings. joseph lewnard, thank you so settings. joseph lewnard, thank you so much forjoining us. thank you. if you watched the debate between president trump and his democratic rivaljoe biden two nights ago — and managed to hear anything above the shouting — you'll know that one issue they clashed over was the so—called "proud boys". i was there in cleveland and i am still recovering. they are the white supremacist movement that mr trump refused to condemn, choosing instead to focus his anger on the left—wing demonstrators of antifa. our north america correspondent, aleem maqbool, has been to meet members of both groups. it's become the us capital of radicalism.

most american cities have seen some demonstrations this year, but here they haven't stopped. and it's become a huge election issue. well, this is what almost every night has looked like, here in downtown portland, in the four months since the police killing of george floyd in minneapolis, with hundreds of protesters on one side, law enforcement agents on the other, and there have been many flashpoints of violence. some feel over aggression by the security forces has exacerbated tensions, but the white house says this isn't demonstrating about racial justice, just rioting by anarchists or antifa. a riot is the voice of the unheard. so if you don't want riots, maybe you should listen. it's not antifa in the streets. it's the people in the streets. it's the people that are being pushed around, the people that don't have food, the people that can't pay their rent. but it has led to loss of life.

in late august, a large convoy of trump supporters drove past the protesters in portland, some firing paintballs at them. later that day one trump supporter from a far—right group was shot dead. the left—wing activist who is suspected of killing him died in a police raid on his home. it's partly why the neo—fascist group the proud boys earlier this week decided to hold a rally in portland. they'd predicted thousands would attend. in the end it was a few hundred. we're here to shut down this violence and bring awareness, national attention. hopefully donald trump sees this and he's already decreed this an anarchist city, which is great, because it's true. in the debate, when asked to condemn the actions of white supremacists, the president could only manage this. what do you want to call them? give me a name. white supremacists, proud boys, right—wing militias. proud boys, stand back and stand by,

but i'll tell you what, i'll tell you what, somebody's got to do something about antifa and the left because... the proud boys have revelled in his response. back in portland, at the same time as the proud boys gathering, an illustration of the totally different worlds on display in the us these days. a rally still focused on why so many black people are killed by the police. they're trying to say we're trying to destroy america and democracy, but they know that's garbage. they are just falling behind the rhetoric that dehumanises us so that they can lower the value of our lives to justify committing acts of violence against us. it's those at this rally who've been taking to the streets night after night. many americans support their efforts to bring about change, but for many others these scenes are making them all the more determined to vote for donald trump. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in portland. we won't know until all

the data is in who won the first televised debate, but we do know what's dominating the online discussion about it. we've now had 48 hours of ads pushing an unfounded accusation that joe biden was wearing an earpiece throughout the debate. that image on the left is him actually at the debate. there have also been a series of false and unfounded claims about postal voting, a lot of it coming from the president. and with the very real prospect there will be no clear winner on election night, facebook is taking further steps. it's announced today it will be banning all ads that question the us electoral process or speculate about the outcome. marianna spring — our reporter who specialises in sifting through the disinformation — is with us. good to see you. what about this decision from facebook? doesn't go far enough? i think a lot of people have welcomed it because it has been a big worry in that in the days and weeks following the election,

especially the immediate days afterwards, disinformation about voting or make the people doubt whether the election is fraudulent could be a big problem, but that is also something we have seen in re ce nt also something we have seen in recent weeks, disinformation about postal voting has been presented by donald trump himself on his twitter feed and whilst facebook is making moves to tackle disinformation in the days following the election and following polling day, there are still really big concerns about what it is doing to tackle baseless conspiracy theories, including in adverts, in the weeks leading up to the vote, for instance that advert you mentioned for the trump campaign less yesterday ran hundreds of adverts like this, promoting a baseless conspiracy theory that joe biden had cheated in the debate by wearing some kind of listening device. there is adverts reached millions of people and before that they went viral on social media and there is absolutely no evidence to support them to stop the joe biden campaign herself they are untrue and yes, there is absolutely nothing to

suggest he was wearing an earpiece. this won't act on those ads they say they don't do that checking of political speeches, including in adverts like that one, but it is adverts like that one, but it is adverts like that one, but it is adverts like these and conversations online about conspiracy theories and other things which could have an impact on voters before they head to the polls. we had nick clegg, the facebook spokesman, on our programme the other week and he was quite clear that they are getting to grips with local groups that are spreading these false rumours and disinformation, but this example you have just pointed to with the earpiece suggests they are not. yes, andl earpiece suggests they are not. yes, and i think another big worry is a lot of the disinformation i have been investigating with regard to the us election in recent weeks hasn'tjust been the us election in recent weeks hasn't just been ads from political campaigns. actually, it has been organic conversation, often conspiracy theories plugged by extreme groups like queanon. this is

a theory that suggests some people are caught spreading paedophiles. it has been used... it has evading social media platforms and that means it is on facebook and on lots of social media platforms. i've spoken to friends who say they are going to change how they vote because of this political situation andl because of this political situation and i actually took the opportunity on tuesday to ask nick clegg about this and why it is done more to stop this and why it is done more to stop this conspiracy theory that promotes disinformation and is reaching vote rs disinformation and is reaching voters and also would be a right place for foreign influence campaigns to exploit, and following that conversation, facebook now has made a decision today to fact check disinformation that is related to qanon and child safety on its platform, which is positive news, but it has bled into new spaces, meeting new people who don't even realise it is qanon, but now the

liberal democrats they are saying running a trafficking ring, which is honestly a baseless claim. thank you very much. when you listen to intelligence agencies about what the president is saying or about the election undermining the vote and what are so baseless claims, what they are really worried about is that it is the russian groups are going to pick this up and amplify it, and they are amplifying his words, and i came across an article today in the new york times that had been written by david sanger and he wrote this,. we've spent the past four years preparing for putin's election interference. it turns out the bigger threat to election integrity, and source of disinformation, lives in the white house, not the kremlin. and the president on his twitter feed is urging his supporters to actually be poll watchers. he says there is going to be grabbing and feeding and stealing. that is a claim he is making and it is being

amplified by some, the real star of the mega right, donald trumpjunior. here is what he said in a recent video. their plan is to add millions of fraudulent ballots that can cancel your vote and overturn the election. we cannot let that happen. we need every able—bodied man, woman tojoin army for trump's election security operation. atrump campaign a trump campaign are saying today they are looking for 50,000 volu nteers they are looking for 50,000 volunteers and they are going to be circulating around these polling stations and the pair will be that obviously some of them will be watching and just watching, but the fear will be that some of them go violent. we will see, christian. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we'll speak to one of the impressionists behind the outrageous satirical puppet show, next. what satirical puppet show, next. did you save the show called? what did you save the show was called? the name is spitting image.

a fleet of small boats and a group of marine experts have spent the day trying to rescue a pod of northern bottlenose whales that have been stuck in gare loch, in argyll, for a few weeks. this weekend the region is hosting europe's largestjoint military exercise and there are concerns that the sonar communications used by the boats and submarines could harm the whales. our scotland correspondent james shaw reports. waiting for the whales. people started to gather on the banks of the gare loch this morning, keen to catch a glimpse of them. these northern bottlenose whales should not be in the relatively shallow waters of the loch — they are deep diving species, at home in the open ocean. and there is an urgent need to get them out of the loch before this weekend's big military exercise. but the job of rescuing them has to be done slowly and carefully. a flotilla of small boats moving

down the loch towards the sea. so you mightjust be able to see in the background there a flotilla of seven boats and they are trying to herd these whales on to the far side of the loch, away from the shallows on the side. but at a crucial moment, the rescuers lose contact with the pod. they were in front of the boat, but at the minute we have lost sight of two of them. one of them is back up at the head of the loch so the boats may reset and they may try again. at the minute, we are trying to find confirmation of the two of them. because they can dive for more than an hour, these sea creatures are an elusive species for whale watchers. it is lovely that they are here and we are able to see them. unfortunately, we haven't seen them today, but for the health of the whales, we need to get them back into the open sea. but as the rescue boats raced back to the top of the loch, it became clear that it is no easy task. jim shaw, bbc news,

at the gare loch. dogs have been helping so many of us cope with the pandemic, cheering us up and keeping us company. i know that our labradoodle alfie has been a superstar. now it seems they might also help us defeat the virus itself, by using their incredible sense of smell. graham satchell reports. this is asher. he is a medical detection dog. scientists are hoping specially trained dogs can be a vital help in the fight against covid—19. the dogs have this incredible sense of smell. they have 350 million sensory receptors dedicated to olfaction. now, us poor humans have got five million and we think we can smell pretty well. asher‘s remarkable nose has already been trained to sniff out a number of human diseases like cancer and malaria.

now, a joint research project with the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine, and durham university, is seeing whether they can detect covid—19. we now know scientifically that diseases change body odour and, you know, dogs are incredibly good at sniffing and we all know that, but they are also very good at learning as well. and so they can learn the smell of a particular medical condition. we now know that dogs really can do this really well so we are really hopeful that the dogs will be able to do this for covid—19. helsinki airport in finland. trials have already started here, with dogs sniffing passengers as they arrive. this is kip, one of the dogs being trained to detect covid—19. he lives with sam. i think it is a fantastic project. the capability of dogs to do mass screening in a speedy time is really important because covid is going to be with us for a while yet. they have a massive part to play.

the dogs are trained by sniffing samples of clothing from people who currently have covid—19. researchers say they desperately need more samples and are appealing for help. graham satchell, bbc news. i'm going to sign up alfie for that, i bet he would be brilliant. for 24 years politicians and celebrities have been free of the curse of spitting image, living without fear of being merclilessly satired. but all of that comes to an end this saturday as the puppet show that defined the 80s and 90s returns — on the bbc and itv‘s commercial streaming service, britbox. feauturing a whole new cast of characters, including jeff bezos, greta thunberg, as well as borisjohnson and donald trump, the new series promises to be as outrageous as ever. take a look. what did you say this show is called? the name — or nomen to the romans, latin pun — is spitting image.

it's a sketch show with puppet caricatures of real people. it can be rather nasty. puppets? that is the very most moronic thing i have ever heard. my puppet is going to be the best puppet and i love it. lovett! i'm glad to say that matt forde the voice of president trump and borisjohnson and many morejoins us now. i think there are quite a lot of us who have been following politics these last few years who have been saying there is a spitting image sized hole in us that our editors back! is it going to be as big and bold as it was in the eighties? yes, it is, and i am 37, so i only rememberthe tailend of it is, and i am 37, so i only remember the tail end of spitting image, but it was the most outrageous thing on telly and i can tell you that the show we are putting together for this saturday, it isjust as putting together for this saturday, it is just as outrageous, putting together for this saturday, it isjust as outrageous, grotesque and as ludicrous as it ever was. in the voice of borisjohnson, could

you tell us how you have put this together. how are you working together? well, come on, it is typical of the bbc want to know... you know, the details, which, some of them must remain private, by the way. i have a difference to the... you know, the spirit of the way in which you asked. it is a laborious process, as you would imagine, involving creatives from all over the uk and... writes, on mondays, tuesdays, wednesdays and thursdays, some of these voice, artistes! i gather some of them are really rather good. they will then lay down audio on the lead in the days of the week the puppeteers come in and do their magic! and it is delivered! of course, by stalk to the eyes of the nation, to brick box every saturday night! and how do you get in

character for the voice of donald trump, then? well, with trump, both of them are obviously quite big characters with the personas they have created for themselves, so we donald trump i have really gone to town, so i start off with, the donald trump impression and i am it is great to be on your big station by the way and i'm a big fan of abc news. you guys do great work in australia and you to the best women i've ever been on tv we are, you are really people. super start with that then, ithink really people. super start with that then, i think it is beautiful, by then, i think it is beautiful, by the way, i do know that. and then he will talk to himself, we will do great things, people don't know it, but we are, so you start with that and thenl but we are, so you start with that and then i think because he is such and then i think because he is such a cartoonish character and because the puppet is so grotesque i have played with the voice a bit more amid a bit more... do do the left as well, do you do keir starmer? yes, keirstarmer is at well, do you do keir starmer? yes, keir starmer is at other end, so donald trump is really, i have put

noises into perhaps he wouldn't do, but not sound like the sort of thing that donald trump would do. sol make and squeak a lot. i say, mike, we can't trust these people, there are very we can't trust these people, there are very squeaky! and even though he doesn't sound like that, it is sort of the noise you can imagine him making. whereas keir starmer is at the other end of the spectrum, highly contained, very professional, very pragmatic, lawyerly and parliamentary. in terms of getting his voice, he sounds a bit like he has got a permanent block knows that he can't shake off. and maybe not a full block knows, maybe just one nostril block, the prime minister... has been very clear, as have we, that we will support the government when it does the right thing, and that emphasis sometimes... but it is kind of blocks, halfway to alan rickman and a little bit of the way tojosh widdecombe rickman and a little bit of the way to josh widdecombe and it rickman and a little bit of the way tojosh widdecombe and it is a partial blockage, is the way i have started with keir starmer. that is so started with keir starmer. that is so good! your accidents are so good! really looking forward to it, best

of luck with it. thank you. thank you so much. wow. oh, getting ready for a night out. it feels like a distant memory, now that life is dominated by takeout, streaming movies from the couch, and comfy clothes. and now it seems the athleisure trend is here to stay, this is what i saw on my walk to get coffee this morning in washington, stretchy work clothes! no! is that to make room for the quarantine 15, as my family call the extra pounds gained during lockdown? what is moisture wicking? it leaves me cold! as does four way stretch. what is four way stretch anyway? and i have noticed as well that people are now wearing this stuff and they don't call them jogging stuff and they don't call them jogging pants or tricky bottoms, they call it yoga apparel. have you noticed that? i have noticed it, and i have banned my husband from wearing that stuff and i hope that

your wife is going to do the same sort. sweat pants. yeah, revolting! i don't want to see any next week, right? stick to the office clothes. i promise. there are lots to get our teeth into for the weather this week. some rapid cyclones, where it will drop 24 bars in a day, intensifying the wind and rain, which is what has happened with storm alex as we start friday. it will bring a split in our contrasting conditions to the uk on friday and south is where we will see the most lively conditions, damaging winds and disruptive weather around the english channel, particularly for these channel islands. wind and rain for the southern counties of england and that will spread its way northwards during the day before things will brighten up any south, but inland we could see gales as well. a bit of a

frosty start for northern england, scotla nd frosty start for northern england, scotland and northern ireland, but a bright start, one or two showers in the far west, but note mostly dry and cloudy weather coming in later, the rain from storm alex could get as far north as sheffield by the end of the day. but even down to the south, a cool day for all, particularly with the strong winds later. thru friday night, the wet and windy weather become a widespread again across parts of england and wales. storm alex fades away to the south, a broad area of low pressure takes over and what that means for the weekend is that more of us will see wind and rain at times, particularly on saturday. a wet start for many in england and wales, dry and bright to the north and west, but that rain will spread northwards into northern ireland through the day, brightening up in the south—east later. stronger winds through wales and parts of the south—western energy channel islands, again some damage and disruption possible. as we go through saturday into sunday, low pressure starts to become a bit older in nature and starts to open

out a bit, pushing the rain out towards the peripheries of the country, where we see the strong easterly winds. in the centre winds are lightest and there will be enough energy to products of big storm clouds, slow—moving, giving a risk of flooding. not all of us will see the strong winds, but we will all see rain, and you can see it gathered across the charter for the next four days. where you see the greens and bright yellows, this is where the risk of flooding is, east of scotland, south—west wales, channel islands, with 100 millimetres rain possible. that where the system will continue into monday, still with some rain around, but gradually improving. we will see some rain around, murky start to nelson and western parts, a bit chilly, but most places will be a bit drier and winds will be lighter. blustery conditions across the far south—west and temperatures still in the mid teens. low temperatures continue for thursday, you will notice how the lines opening out, so notice how the lines opening out, so not sure underground and that could make for a windy day murky start on

tuesday. towards areas of eastern england and the north—west, books and brightness in between with a bit of sunshine as well. what happens beyond that is going to be governed bya beyond that is going to be governed by a jet stream pushing to the south of us, but we have lost the depth and low pressure starts to put off towards the east. low pressure is still nearby, bringing windy weather at times, but as it clears the way we will get the northerly winds on the back edge of it, so whilst we will see some misty mornings and some sunshine, it is potentially turning much colder and there is one scenario in which it has played out in the us model we can see here. potential for a in the us model we can see here. potentialfor a stormier in the us model we can see here. potential for a stormier low pressure system to push north into the country before that colder kicks in. we will you updated.

tonight at ten — a quarter of the uk will be under local lockdowns by this weekend, as millions more people face tighter restrictions. liverpool is one of a number of areas in northern england where people will be banned from socialising anywhere indoors with other households. the responsibility, the problem, is not coming from the hospitality sector and yet and still we're the ones being absolutely hammered. the most important thing that you can do, it's do that, you know? the restrictions are in place but it's not to be restricted by them as such, it's to move with them. meanwhile a major study suggests that the rate at which the coronavirus is spreading in england may be slowing down. we'll have the latest on that, and all the new restrictions across the uk. also on the programme tonight... i'm going to focus my comments on the economic health

of my constituents this evening.