this is bbc news. i'm james reynolds with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. donald trump says he's doing well in hospital where he's being treated for coronavirus but expects to remain for the time being. you don't know, over the next period of a few days, i guess that's the real test, so we will be seeing what happens over those next couple of days. and as more senior republicans test positive, we ask — was last week's unveiling of the president's supreme court nominee at the white house a super—spreader event? and in other news, civilian areas come under fire as the conflict in the disputed region of nagorno—karabakh intensifies. at least three people are killed and more than 30 missing after storm alex hits parts of south—eastern france and northern italy.

hello and welcome. president trump is free of fever and improving after being hospitalised with covid—19 but is not yet out of danger, according to his physician, dr sean conley. in a statement released in the last couple of hours, he said mr trump was not yet out of the woods, but his medical team remains cautiously optimistic. earlier, the president released a video in which he said he feels much better, but that the next few days would be a "real test". let's listen to mr trump now. i want to begin by thanking all of the incredible medical professionals — the doctors, the nurses, everybody — at walter reed medical centre — i think it's the finest in the world —

— for the incrediblejob they've been doing. i came here, wasn't feeling so well. i feel much better now. we're working hard to get me all the way back. i have to be back, because we still have to make america great again. we've done an awfully good job of that, but we still have steps to go, and we have to finish thatjob. and i'll be back — i think i'll be back soon. and i look forward to finishing up the campaign the way it was started and way we've been doing, and the kind of numbers that we've been doing. we've been so proud of it. but this was something that happened, and it's happened to millions of people all over the world, and i'm fighting for them, notjust in the us. i'm fighting for them all over the world. we're going to beat this coronavirus, or whatever

you want to call it, and we're going to beat it soundly. so many things have happened. if you look at the therapeutics which i'm taking right now, some of them, and others are coming out soon that're looking like, frankly, they‘ re miracles, if you want to know the truth. they're miracles. people criticise me when i say that, but we have things happening that look like they're miracles, coming down from god. so i just want to tell you that i'm starting to feel good. you don't know — over the next period of a few days, i guess that's the real test, so we'll be seeing what happens over the next couple of days. i just want to be so thankful for all of the support i've seen, whether it's on television or reading about it. i most of all appreciate what's been said by the american people, by almost a bipartisan consensus of american people. it's a beautiful thing to see, and i very much appreciate it, and i won't forget it — i promise you that. i also want to thank the leaders of the world for their condolences. they know what we are going through. they know, as your leader, what i have to go through. but i had no choice,

because i just didn't want to stay in the white house. i was given that alternative — stay in the white house, lock yourself in, don't ever leave, don't even go to the oval office. just stay upstairs and enjoy it. don't see people, don't talk to people and just be done with it. and i can't do that. i had to be out front. and this is america, this is the united states, this is the greatest country in the world, this is the most powerful country in the world. i can't be locked up in a room upstairs and totally safe and just say, "hey, whatever happens happens" — i can't do that. we have to confront problems. as a leader you have to confront problems. there's never been a great leader that would have done that. so, that's where it is. i'm doing well. i want to thank everybody. our first lady is doing very well. melania asked me to say something as to the respect that she has for our country, the love that she has for our country. and we're both doing well.

melania is really handling it very nicely. as you've probably read, she's slightly younger than me — just a little, tiny bit — and therefore, just, we know the disease, we know the situation with age versus younger people, and melania's handling it statistically like it's supposed to be handled, and that makes me very happy and it makes the country very happy. but i am also doing well, and i think we're going to have a very good result. again, over the next few days, we're going to probably know for sure. so i just want to thank everybody out there — everybody — all over the world, specifically the united states. the outpouring of love has been incredible. i will never forget. thank you very much. i asked our north america correspondent, peter bowes, if these latest statements would end the confusion over the president's condition.

i think the combined effect of the video that we've just seen and the statement which is quite definitive, saying that the president is making substantial progress but a little err of caution saying that he is not out of the woods yet, which really reflects also what the president said in that video saying that the next two days, 48 hours or so, will be crucial to know the course of his recovery.. they seemed to be having the same message, if you like, and i think that will, for many americans, certainly mr trump's supporters, that's the kind of message they've been hoping to hear over the last few days. they might have been concerned about the mixed messages that we had earlier in the day on saturday. but i think the very nature of the trump administration and everything that swirls around it will mean that many people will continue to be sceptical in terms of they what they are being told by the white house, perhaps even sceptical of what the white house doctors are saying as well about mr trump's condition

because that has been a common theme all the way through his administration, that the messages sometimes don't add up. are there, somewhere in america, a bunch of coronavirus detectives now going through the footage of that rose garden ceremony a week ago in which president trump nominated a supreme court justice which might now be seen as a super spreader event? we heard very quickly after the news that president trump had tested positive that contact tracing was under way. this is a statement from the white house a couple of days ago now so you can imagine those detectives that you talk about have been hard at work for a couple of days, scrutinising the footage of that particular event and we talk about that because it does seem to be the super spreader event, as we describe them, where lots of people turn out to be positive. we can only assume the virus would be passed from person to person, as they were sitting closely together, some people not wearing masks,

during that event, but of course there have been other events as well. there was the debate, there was a rally that president trump attended and a fundraiser as well, very close to the time, just the day before he was diagnosed as positive. so those virus detectives will be hard at work and they have a lot of ground, and potentially a lot of people, thousands of people, to check out. briefly, we have seen a line saying the secretary of state mike pompeo is cutting short his trip to asia. what should we make of that? yes, he's due to go to japan, he was going to go to mongolia and south korea as well, as a couple of extra legs on this particular trip. they've been cancelled. we're told they will be rescheduled later in the month. this will be a short trip for mike pompeo, he'll be back in just a couple of days‘ time. i think what we can take from this is a couple of things — that he is being very careful

about just simply mixing with other people. he did a videoconference speech as opposed to in person speech, when he was asked about his health and he says he is in good health and has been tested frequently. also there is the element of perhaps him just not wanting to be too far away from home during these very difficult and uncertain times for the president. we will have more on the president's health and the implications for the united states later on in the programme. the prime minister of armenia says his country is facing a "decisive moment" as it battles azerbaijan for control of the disputed region of nagorno—karabakh. clashes have intensified despite international appeals for calm. azerbaijan says it will continue the offensive until the region is under its control. our correspondentjonah fisher sent this report from the region's capital, stepa na kert, which has come under heavy shelling. one of the world's oldest conflicts... explosions ..is very much alive. we are being shelled in stepanakert, nagorno—karabakh.

it's an ethnic armenian town that under international law belongs to azerbaijan. the reality of life in nagorno—karabakh for the last few days, under assault from the air — it sounds like artillery but there have been drone strikes too. those azeri shells hit this residential building near our hotel, killing one and destroying the homes of dozens of others, like 78—year—old rita, who once had azeris as neighbours. we had many friends from azerbaijan here but now we are enemies. great enemies. that is why we— i, personally, don't want to live with them and don't want to speak to them.

this first week of war has been marked by azerbaijan's use of military drones striking at will. nearly three decades after losing nagorno—karabakh, the azeris appear intent on claiming it back. they are trying to invade, and they do everything to invade, to terrorise the people, civilians here. and you think that's why they are using drones and aerial strikes in this way? for sure. some have seen enough and are leaving to find safety. anoush tells us her husband has gone to the front line and she must get out with their children. but the aerial threat is never far away. this soldier is warning that drones have been spotted, and shortly afterwards there is an explosion nearby.

everybody is scrambling to come in here. a real reminder, as they were fleeing, as to why this place is increasingly dangerous for people, under attack, day and night. jonah fisher, bbc news, stepa na kert. at least three people have died and dozens more are missing after storm alex struck, bringing devastation to south—eastern france and northern italy, destroying bridges, blocking roads and leaving communities isolated. italy's piedmont region saw levels of rain not seen since 1958. areas of france suffered power outages as winds brought down power lines. mark lobel reports. catastrophic scenes for this french commune. yelling. an intense rescue effort to get out in time. roads, bridges and homes washed away. an elderly couple took refuge

on the roof of this house but their home was swept down the river. translation: we tried to convince them to come out and unfortunately, we didn't succeed. the road manager managed to reach his hand out to the lady and tried to tell her to come out, but nothing. and in the end, the whirlwind crashed right through the house and the house floated away, and them with it. france's prime minister has announced financial support and deployed the army to help these crushed communities. "the priority is to find the victims," he says, "and provide accommodation for those affected, as well as restore the means of communication for those hardest hit." in northern italy, roads and bridges were swept away too. residents rescued from their roofs. but not everyone was so lucky. a firefighter lost his life, and a man in his 30s,

whose car was swept into a river. beach clubs were flooded. towns destroyed. and on italy's coast, it was not business as usual. this woman says she has to laugh not to cry. this man says his food products are unsellable. and this woman says water came up to her knees, ripping down shelves. as calm follows the storm, they are left to count the cost of the clear—up. mark lobel, bbc news. this is bbc news. our top story: donald trump has tweeted a video from hospital saying he's doing well but still expects to remain at the walter reed medical centre for a few more days.

so i just want to tell you that i'm starting to feel good. you don't know, over the next period of a few days, i guess that's the real test, so we will be seeing what happens over those next couple of days. so we know that president trump has been given two treatments to try to slow the impact of the virus. our health editor, hugh pym, looks at how effective they might be. as the president walked across the white house lawn to the helicopter which would take him to hospital, it wasn't clear what sort of treatment or care he'd require. today, doctors revealed they'd carried out extensive monitoring of donald trump's condition, and the state of his health. we have monitored his cardiac function, his kidney function, his liver function — all of those are normal. and the president this morning is not on oxygen, not having difficulty breathing or walking around the white house medical unit upstairs. the president is getting two experimental therapies which are not routinely available to patients and are still being

assessed by clinicians. the first involves antibodies produced in laboratories to boost covid patients‘ immune systems. scientists say early results are encouraging, but there are still questions. it's reduced the amount of virus that those patients then carry. what we don't know yet is whether that strong signal, strong effect on the virus, translates into benefits for the patients. so, for example, does it reduce the time that people need to be in hospital, or reduce the need for a mechanical ventilator, or improve survival? experts say the other drug, remdesivir, is an existing antiviral treatment which has shown positive results in one trial. the length of stay in people who have severe coronavirus infection is less. and so, when you have indicators of severe infection, whether that's risk factors or whether it's observed low oxygen rates,

the thinking is that the earlier you can get it into the patients, the better. president trump has had the drugs early on. in fact, doctors were taking pre—emptive action to try to reduce the risk of the virus doing more damage. but these are not cures for coronavirus. hugh pym, bbc news. many political experts are looking closely at the contingency plans in place in the us should his condition deteriorate. i spoke to norman ornstein, a leading political scientist and resident scholar at the american enterprise institute, and asked him how things could unfold should the president be incapacitated. there are two ways in which incapacity can be dealt with. one is the president directly signs an order that says "i am going to be unable to perform my duties for a period of time and i turn them over to the vice president." that has happened before for brief periods. president george w bush twice underwent colonoscopies. for two hours he gave the authority directly

to the vice president. the second way is if a president can't sign such an order, if he's comatose or on a ventilator or is undergoing dementia or simply is a rogue — that requires a more formal operation. it requires a majority of the cabinet and the vice president to sign a declaration and have it approved by two—thirds of both houses of congress. that is pretty cumbersome and obviously is not going to happen and, from what we know now, the president has not signed such an order to be exercised if things get worse. so we have a little bit of a grey area here but right now it is not at all clear whether the president is going to be out of the woods and it does not look great. you have written of one scenario in the washington post, and i'll quote you to you, "there is no path in law

or the constitution to determine who has presidential authority if both the president and vice president are, say, on ventilators." talk us through why you wrote that. the 25th amendment deals with inability or incapacity for a president but it has no provision for a vice president, if a president and a vice president are unable to perform their duties. we have something else — it's a law that deals with the presidential transfer of authority, the presidential succession act of 1947, and that provides, as civic students in the united states know, that if you do not have a president or a vice president, next in line is the speaker of the house, followed by the president pro tempore of the senate, which is usually the most senior member of the majority and then the cabinet in order of succession. but if the president and vice president are both incapacitated, there is no mechanism to turn that authority to the speaker

and, of course, the speaker is of the different party than the president, at this point, and more than likely if nancy pelosi, the speaker, said, i'll tell you what, i will take over as acting president, she would have to resign to do that. no doubt the attorney general would say no, you cannot do that. the secretary of state would say, "i will be in charge," the president's chief of staff might say, "no, i will take over", and, let's face it, the bottom line here is, if you have questions about who is on top in the chain of command, who can issue the ultimate orders for the armed forces when you have adversaries looking at this and knowing that there is a period of vulnerability. it is a really bad thing and we have not prepared for it. i have tried since 9/11 to get things changed and so far without success. you can keep up to date with donald trump's condition by heading to our website. there's also analysis on how these events may affect the us presidential election. go to bbc.com/us2020.

over the past few days we have been covering the story of the alleged gang rape and murder of a 19—year—old dalit woman in the north indian state of uttar pradesh. the case has sparked outrage across india and triggered days of protests. now, in a significant development the, chief minister of uttar pradesh has called for india's federal police to investigate the incident. ishleen kaur has more. another day of stand—offs and clashes between state police officials, journalists and the leaders of india's opposition party. no force can silence us — these were the words of former congress president d after meeting the family of the 19—year—old dalit woman who was allegedly gang raped and murdered in northern india.

vahul and his sister were finally successful in meeting the victim's family after an u nsuccessful the victim's family after an unsuccessful attempt on thursday when they were detained by local police. the uttar pradesh government has been criticised for its mishandling of the case, including allegations of creating the body against the family's west. the victim's brother spoke to bbc hindi. translation: they forbade us from speaking to any journalists. we want to know whose body was burnt on that day, and if it was my sister's body, why did they burn her in this manner? all of us request for police and administration to allow us to see her one last time. a senior police official has denied these allegations. translation: when the body was bought that night, the brother of the victim gave us his consent to cremate the body. i had a conversation with the family for about ten to 15

minutes. it was done with their consent. furious protest against the police and the government have been staged across the country. the allahabad high court has summoned top state officials to appear before it on the 12th of october. rape and sexual violence have been under the spotlight in india since the going rate case in 2012. tougher laws against rape in india have been brought m, rape in india have been brought in, but the country still struggles to tackle sexual violence against women. the authorities in egypt have unveiled dozens of ancient coffins

recently discovered at a burial ground near cairo. it's thought they contain the remains of priests and other seniorfigures who lived around 2,500 years ago. it's the first such disovery to take place since the coronavirus pandemic. tim allman reports. archaeologically speaking, the sands of saqqara are the gift that keeps on giving. for around 3,000 years, the dead were buried here. and now, once more, it gives up its secrets. dozens of ornately decorated coffins found buried deep below the surface. not just an important historical find, but a source of some national satisfaction, too. i'm very proud that this discovery of today, with 59 wooden coffins in perfect condition of preservation, was done by egyptian mission and egyptian hands. the coffins are believed

to date back to the 6th or 7th century bc, around the time of the 26th dynasty, the last native rulers of egypt before the persian conquest. their occupants were most likely priests, dignitaries, traders, important figures, and there may well be more to come, with other coffins still to be found. so today is not the end of the discovery. i consider it is the beginning of the big discovery. these sarcophagi will now be moved to the soon—to—be—opened grand egyptian museum. another chapter in the ancient history of a country truly blessed with reminders of its past. tim allman, bbc news. to recap the main story — president trump is now beginning his second night in hospital at the walter reed medical centre eight miles north of the white house. in

the most recent statement released by his physician, the white house says that president trump is free of fever and improving. stay with bbc world news. hello there. it's been a thoroughly wet night up and down the country and we continue with more heavy rain through this morning, in fact mainly across western and southern areas, and it's here where we're likely to see more transport disruption, some further flooding in places, and it's here where the winds will be strongest as well. all tied in with this area of low pressure. you can see where the isobars are closest together across more west and south—western areas, and this is where we will have the weather front as well, bringing that heavy and persistent rain. now, the amber warning across south—west england and wales is likely to persist up until around midday today, so we could see further flooding here through the morning period, whereas further north, the amber warning across eastern scotland should expire early this morning as the rain

begins to pivot away and push towards the west. so we should see a little bit of brightness appearing here as the day wears on. the heaviest of the rain down into wales, south—west england, across the south and south—east as well. but even here, the rain should start to move away as we head on into the afternoon. central areas — lighter winds, some sunshine around and it's here where we will see some heavy, slow—moving showers as temperatures reach around 15 or 16, but feeling quite chilly across the south—east. into sunday night, it looks like those rain bands begin to spread away from the uk but we will continue to see lots of showers spiralling around the centre of the low. some lengthy clear spells in between and when that happens, it could turn chilly in one or two spots — generally 8—10 for most. low pressure still with us then as we head on into the new working week for monday. it will be slowly filling, which means it will be gradually weakening through the day, so conditions should slowly improve as we move through the week. but for monday, again,

we will see scattered showers around, the winds not quite as strong, some of the showers that develop could be on the heavy side again, some could merge together to produce longer spells of rain. but in the sunshine, again, we could see 15 or 16 degrees, and that is where we could see some of the heaviest of the showers. if we move out of monday, i will show you our area of low pressure begins to fill more and drift northwards. it opens a north—westerly wind across the uk which will drive in a few showers, but we should also see good spells of sunshine as well, so i think it's really a slow improvement as we move through the week. that low pressure system moving away. and if anything, by the end of the week, high pressure should start to build in, so that will settle things down.

this is bbc news, the headlines

on his second day in hospital donald trump has tweeted a video thanking well—wishers, and says he's making progress — but admits he still expects to remain at the walter reed medical centre for a few more days to come. and in other news — despite international calls for calm, fighting has intensified in the disputed region of nagorno—karabakh with reports of civilians being targeted. armenia's prime minister says the country is facing a decisive moment as it battle azerbaijan for control of the region. at least three people have died and dozens are missing after a powerful storm hit southern france and north—western italy. a number of villages suffered serious damage around the southern french city of nice, with the mayor calling it the worst flooding in living memory.