the european union will immediately impose sanctions on belarusian leaders involved in the country's flawed presidential election and the crackdown on the opposition that followed. travel bans and asset freezes will affect a0 members of president alexander lukashenko‘s regime. mr lukashenko himself is not on the list. there have been more angry protests in india — after the death of a second woman in an alleged gang rape. she was also from the badly marginalised dalit community. both killings have sparked national revulsion — but gender and caste—based violence continue to be endemic in the country. the european commission has started legal proceedings against britain over legislation that seeks to override parts of the brexit treaty. britain has a month to respond. nicola sturgeon has denied that

her government is obstructing the alex salmond inquiry, which is looking at the scottish government's handling of sexual harassment allegations against the former first minister. during angry exchanges at first minister's questions in the scottish parliament, nicola sturgeon said it was outrageous that she was being accused of not answering questions. our scotland editor sarah smith reports. with her government under pressure to produce information, today nicola sturgeon herself was accused of breaking her word after promising to provide whatever material was requested by the salmond enquiry. two years ago nicola sturgeon told the media with regards to the salmond case, "i relish the prospect to answer all and every question." well on today's performance, the question is when can she start? first minister. 0k. it is outrageous that i am in a position right now of having given written evidence to this committee two

months ago, it hasn't been published, that's not down to me, i have not been invited to give evidence to the committee and yet i am somehow being accused of not being prepared to answer questions. alex salmond was acquitted in march of 13 charges of sexual assault. the parliamentary enquiry at the heart of this row is looking into where the scottish government went wrong when it was investigating claims of sexual harassment against alex salmond, a process that was found to have been procedurally flawed. the convener of the salmond enquiry turned up the heat this week when she said she was "completely frustrated" with the obstruction she was experiencing. with due respect... tory msp oliver mundell was ejected from the holyrood chamber yesterday after refusing to withdraw a claim that miss sturgeon had lied to parliament. nicola sturgeon has volunteered to give oral evidence any time the salmond enquiry invites her to do so. both the scottish government and mr salmond say they have been unable to provide some documents for legal reasons.

sarah smith, bbc news, glasgow. now on bbc news: philippa thomas hears from people around the world about their extraordinary experiences during the pandemic and how covid—i9 has changed their lives. welcome to coronavirus: your stories, a programme about how covid—i9 has affected lives around the world. i'm philippa thomas, and this week we're hearing how the pandemic has impacted performance. and we'll hear from individuals at the top of their game about how they've dealt with the stress and uncertainty of lockdown. we'll hear from an emmy—nominated television director who was partly through filming a world—famous series, the crown, when

suddenly, lockdown intervened. something as important as the monarchy... the swedish ballerina who was lockdown in vienna tells us what it means not to perform in public or even to have enough space to fully stretch out and dance by herself. we start with a french boxer and olympic medallist whose hopes ofjoining the tokyo olympics were dashed. as an amateur, souleymane cissokho won a bronze medal at the 2016 summer olympics in rio. now he's professional, the senegal—born frenchman says he can't wait to get back in the ring. souleymane, this was going to be another olympic summer, how did you feel when you heard it was cancelled? it was a very bad time, because i had a great training camp and i gave my best every time in training camp, so it was very hard.

so, no tokyo. so, what have the last six months have been like for you, souleymane? i spent a lot of time in the us because i was there for training camp. i was supposed to fight in april and then injune, so they cancelled both fights. then i came back here because my wife was pregnant. and she gave birth at the end ofjune. so, congratulations! thank you very much. family is very important for me, so i spent a lot of time with family, in and out, and that is a good part of my life right now. let's hear a little bit of your story. how did you become to be a boxer? one of my friends was a boxer. he told me, souleymane, you can come with me. boxing is very good sport and i tried boxing at 14 years old. then, in one year and a half later i became the french youth champion, then i became captain of the french team. i won an olympic bronze medallion, 2016, at rio. everything was very, very fast. of course it's hard

but it's an amazing sport. tell us about the sport education initiative that you run. the sport education is very important for me. the aim is to help the most disadvantaged people. we operate in france, also in africa. we organise some training camps, we help meet new people, we try to educate people, you know? because sport is good, but education also is very important. and what have you heard about the way the pandemic has affected some of these young people? i guess, they're often in difficult situations to start with? during the pandemic it was very hard to work, because everything was closed and we can do nothing, because every time we keep

in touch with the young people, a lot of the young people didn't understand about the situation. they just heard, like, "you have to stay at home and that's it. " so, we explained to every kid about the situation, and then everything was fine. and what about you, souleymane, do you have a fight date? is there anything in the diary? i have a fight date. november seventh. so, i will fight in the us. will it be like how it was before? now, with the pandemic it is very hard without crowds. i think it will be only be on tv. what do you think it will feel like when you're fighting again and there's a big crowd there, when it does feel more back to normal? what's it going to be like for you? oh, i will be, like, it will be a blessing, a big blessing. because now it is, like, it's been like one year without fights. so, i can't wait to come back in the ring and with

the crowd and everything. hear people say my name. so i can't wait to fight with crowd. souleymane cissokho, hoping to hear the roar of the crowd from the boxing ring, again. from sports to the arts, what if you're a performer and all of your performances are cancelled due to covid—i9? that's what happened to swedish ballet dancer nikisha fogo, who held the highest rank of first soloist at the vienna state ballet. oh, it was definitely a hard time, because with ballet we normally work in a studio and it's all very physical. so, not being able to work in the studio and keep in shape was quite challenging. you really hard to think in different ways and different, new ways to be able to stay in shape and do what you love

to do, basically. how could you practise? because obviously you do need space? my case was my living room, and you see the little piece of dance mat. so it would be easier to be able to do everyday practices. and it was a bit tight on space. but it gave us opportunity to work in these... uh, keep our muscles a bit strong and do our form work. what effect does it have mentally, knowing you are not going to perform for months? yeah, it's quite difficult. in this situation now we don't really know when we will be able to get back. i know some companies are back already and some are not. and as a dancer, as a performer, we're very much in this live aspect, and to perform is what we

are living for. so, to have that kind of taken away from you can be difficult, mentally. in the sense of, well, you can't do what you love to do in the same way. for me, i was trying to figure out other things that made me happy, using other hobbies. i kept myself busy with those things, jumping around in a big space. and you have quite a lot to look forward to, you are moving in 2021? yes. i am moving to san francisco and i am joining the san francisco ballet as principal dancer. which is really exciting. i was already supposed to be there injuly, so that was postponed. it was upsetting. also exciting to get to know my new colleagues

and explore the new city and be in this new environment. it is perhaps harder still for other dancers. i know there is an effort to help support people who don't have positions like yours? during the lockdown or the pandemic, i was involved with misty copeland and her project called swans for relief, where a lot of professional ballerinas around the world gather and record themselves performing this iconic ballet role, the dying swan, in their home, during the quarantine. and we did this as a fundraiser to try and get money and support for those dancers that have it hardest this time. like, students or people that are freelancing and don't have the same support as maybe i do, like a opera house. it seems to me this is a job, a role you have always wanted. do you think you have always

wanted to be a dancer? yes! for me it was yes since i was a young child. i was always dancing at home. me and my sister were always dancing in front of the mirror in the living room and making shows for my parents and dancing has always been a part of my life. both my parents were dancers, not ballet dancers, but other kinds. and although i haven't always danced ballet, it wasn't my first love, actually i was dancing hip—hop, jazz, all kinds of dancing. and i started at swedish ballet school when i was around nine, because i felt i wanted to continue to grow more as a dancer and dance every day.

and you've achieved these very prominent roles both in vienna and now moving on to california. do you feel that you've stood out in terms of talent and of race in the world you are in? in this ballet world it's already a very tough environment. you have to be very strong and know what you want and really work hard. it's not an easy profession. ifeel very honoured i can be a part of an inspiration for younger dancers, younger children and for them to have someone to look up to. however, i am just doing what i love, and by that i can be an inspiration. i am thinking about those live

performances from your point of view. i've just been talking to an olympic boxer, souleymane said he can't wait to be in the ring with a crowd around him. and i guess for you it is really going to be meaningful to be on the stage with an audience right out in front of you? yeah, it really is a special feeling to feel the energy of the audience. not really knowing how it's going to go, how it's going to plan out. we've been rehearsing for months and you are at this point where you are supposed to deliver and just enjoy. and the audience really has a big part of that. as we rehearse every day, when there is an audience there, something special happens. and i really can't wait to get back to that. and i hope it will be sooner rather than later. ballet dancer nikisha fogo. you are watching coronavirus:

your stories, a programme about how covid—19 is affecting lives around the world. i'm philippa thomas, and this week we're looking at the impact of pandemic on performance, hearing from outstanding individuals in the worlds of sport and the arts. you may have watched more television over the last six months. i know i have! but what's it been like for those who are creating all that content we're so eagerly consuming? something as important as the monarchy... especially when they're working on a series as high—profile and eagerly—awaited as the crown on netflix. i have been hearing the story from new zealand—born emmy—nominated director jessica hobbs. on march 15 i think we were filming with around 400 people in the centre of london. and we still had six or seven days left of filming to go and we realised we were never going to meet that target with everything going on. so we closed down filming with the ambitious idea of being able to go back and pick up those sequences

and scenes we hadn't been able to shoot. but it became abundantly clear to us early on that wasn't going to be an option and we needed to find a way to work with the material we had. so that is how we approached our whole lockdown period. was, how can we create something wonderful out of what we have, rather than mourn the things we weren't able to get. did this mean there had to be an awful lot of brainstorming on zoom? uh, yeah. laughter. peter morgan and i had an unseemly amount of contact on a day—to—day basis and on zoom and on facetime. it sounds like you haven't had much of a break? i am extremely — i was extremely jealous of all of those people in lockdown saying i have been doing the vegetable garden, i have been making sourdough, i have learned a new language. i just thought, i just would love five minutes off to put my head down. but equally, i was incredibly grateful to have a job during that period of time. that was just lucky timing. you know, i am a freelancer

in a freelance industry and it has been particularly tough for our industry. so, while i was very grateful for the fact that i had work and i was able to provide for my family during that time, so many other people that i was in contact with weren't able to. jessica, looking back at some of the scenes you have filmed that we've seen for season three, it also struck me that there is quite a lot about loneliness in the middle of everything, for the queen and prince philip especially. and loneliness is a really big factor for so many of us now in pandemic times, i'm thinking in particular of your scene where i think prince philip is alone when he is watching the first man step onto the moon. that is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. i, yes, i thought about that

sequence a lot actually. i think this sequence of time and loneliness is a theme that i have always sought out in my work. i've always sought that out as a central theme. i think television's great work is to reach into people's homes and help them feel a little bit less lonely and little bit more seen. and that was, you know, an extraordinary combination of events where everyone was so excited about whether the moon landing would happen but very few people stayed up, particularly in his home, to actually watch that exit from the columbia onto the surface of the moon. and i love that he experienced that on his own and it was so emotional. it may be think about how so many people are experiencing huge emotional challenges and kind of universal things that are happening. this is a global pandemic.

we'll understand what it is and yet so many of us, so many are experiencing an extreme isolation and that sequence i think spoke strongly to that in retrospect. i think we all also appreciate storytellers now. i mean, a lot of us have watched a lot more or television and film. the demand is there. just for a moment, jessica, i want to take you back because you are of course an emmy—nominated award—winning director of the crown, apple tree yard, broadchurch many other dramas. what would you say got you where you are? being true to chasing those stories where i felt i could contribute the most to and i find that if they are stories that have at their heart something that is difficult and challenging but ultimately redemptive for a character to go through. some kind of, you know, passage of fire that they have to go through in order to perhaps be at their better selves or contribute more.

that is the kind of work i always look for and i found that when i started being really true to myself about why i loved scripts and what i wanted to do than the work came as a result of that. i know you can't tell us very much about season four, it is coming up around the world next month. in terms of the queen, but isolated figure who could not be more in the spotlight. what do you find emotionally in this challenge? we all know her and we don't know her? she is lying here, just coming to and remembering this isjubilee day. we have a face that we put on, a public face when we walk out the door and our private face in isolation and that is something that i think has become far more accentuated during this period of time where people feel so isolated. and i think the queen reflects that to us and we project onto her what we need

her to be. you cannot make a mistake, because if you show a single crack, it will not be a crack but a chasm. and we will all fall in so you must all it hold together. must i do that alone? there is only one queen. i certainly from working on the show have gained a profound respect for her as a human being, someone who been consistently constant as a presence in our lives and as a female world leader. ask yourself, and the time i have been on the throne, what i actually achieved? you have been from, stable and... useless and unhelpful. this country was still great when i came to the throne and now look.

you said you like scripts that really resonated mean something, what you think audiences are wanting now? we have gone through so much in the past six months. i it was wonderful at the emmys that schitt‘s creek, a show that i adored, swept the board. it is about love and humanity on a small—scale but essentially learning how you can become part of a community by becoming a better person yourself. and was just overjoyed about that. i think things like watchmen, which reflects a society where we are already in, while pretending to be futuristic, is groundbreaking. i think people looking for things that are not only escapism but show that there is a way forward that they can believe in, particularly when the world is in crisis. and i think that is why people are looking for, they are looking to be moved

and to relate and to have something to hang onto that might be a little bit of light in this darkness we find ourselves in. ok, talking about light, i am going to talk about the emmys, the usual star—studded occasion, all of that drama and all of those crowds. what was it like to be part of the emmys in your living room? it was completely surreal and kind of wonderful. i thought, it is just going to be sitting here between 1am and 4am with my partner asleep next to me. but actually — you got to see into people's rooms and it was wonderful. they kept the backstage cameras on and we were on live feeds so it kept going between them. so that was bradley whitford checking how he looks in that chair, jennifer aniston going between places. you could see things happening off—screen that went get on screen and i felt very privileged, to be somehow a part of this vip, this surreal backstage zoom lounge. it was great to be in the live room beforehand. you got to speak together

in a way we normally wouldn't. we got to share admiration for others‘ work. it was a much better than i expected and i loved that they brought real people into present those awards. i am sad that it has taken something like this to make that difference but it is great as an industry to recognise your audience. and for that arts community, what do you think is on the horizon, jessica? as we've said, there are so many people who are freelance, so many people who don't know where the next work is coming from and in the northern hemisphere, we are going into what could be a very tough winter.

i do think more government support is needed to recognise the role that the arts has in our society. but i believe that creative people will always find a way to do their work and out of this will come some amazing work. i am already starting to see some of it coming out, bubbling up, what people are riding, what they're wanting to convey, the kind of photography coming through. the kind of home made projects but they are so full of heart and vitality and a kind of clarity of vision because everything else has been stripped back. that is my optimistic view. jessica hobbs on the crown and being creative in the age of covid—19. i am philippa thomas. thank you forjoining us on this addition of performance, the last in our edition of coronavirus: your stories. hello. september was a drier than average month across much of the uk, but as you know,

it's october now, and here comes the rain, initially from this area of low pressure, named storm alex by the weather service in france for impacts there, but nonetheless, parts of the uk are also going to see some very wet and windy weather from that during friday. particularly in england and wales, where it starts very wet in southern england and south wales. the rain moves northwards across the rest of wales, the midlands and east anglia during the day. it clears from parts of southern england, though, to further showers, and it's windy with those strong easterly winds gusting on the south coast, perhaps nearer 60 mph at times, especially the coast of south—west england, nearer 70 mph in the channel islands. now, for scotland and northern ireland, well, there are a few showery bursts of rain in north—west scotland to the west of northern ireland to start the day. that will slowly fade, staying damp in shetland, but much of scotland and northern ireland, sunny spells and a dry afternoon after a chilly start. a chilly start in northern england, a few fog patches around. cloud increasing from the south. the further south you are in northern england, you could see some rain edging in during the afternoon. highs of around 12—16 degrees — that will make for a warmer day in northern scotland then we had on thursday. so, still some rain and brisk winds into england and wales overnight and into

saturday morning. if anything, these north—easterly winds will start to strengthen a bit further as the night goes on. slightly chilly where we have some clear spells in scotland and northern ireland. so, as we go on through saturday, then, more rain to come, heavy at times in england and wales. it may clear from parts of south—east england and east anglia into the afternoon. rain heading from east to west across scotland, reaching in towards northern ireland saturday evening, saturday night. still very windy, particularly across parts of south—west england and into the channel islands. similar temperatures to what we see on friday. further rain overnight and into sunday, with low pressure sitting right across the uk on sunday. there will be outbreaks of rain or showers, some heavy, around. still quite windy around this area of low pressure, and rain totals certainly mounting towards north—east scotland and, over several days, mounting

across south—west england. that does bring the prospect of seeing some flooding where we are going to see the heaviest rain and some travel disruption as well. so, a difficult few days to come, weather—wise. there are some met office weather warnings. check out all of those details online.

people in the centre of london. welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: the european union agrees immediate sanctions on a0 leaders in belarus responsible for the country's controversial election — but president lukashenko himself is not on the list. anger in india after the death of a second woman in a few days from an alleged gang rape. the rise in extremism is centre stage in the us presidential election. we report from portland, hearing from members of both far—right and far—left groups. and — arise, princess delphine — the love—child of a former king who has now been given