this is bbc world news. our top story. doctors treating president donald trump for coronavirus say they are pleased with his progress. if he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow, to the white house where he can continue his treatment course. his doctors say his oxygen levels dropped twice and steroids have been used to treat him. the president sent this message to america. i want to tell you i am starting to feel good, you don't know over the next period of a few days, i guess thatis next period of a few days, i guess that is the real test so we will be seeing what happens. i'm kasia madera in london. also in the headlines. here in the uk the prime minister

says its too early to tell if the latest covid restrictions are working — and urges people and urges people to keep following the rules. i have to tell you, in all candour, it will continue to be bumpy through to christmas, it may even be bumpy beyond. but this is the only way to do it. russia calls for an immediate ceasefire in nagorno karabakh as the fighting escalates between azerbaijani and armenian forces. coming up on sport today in 15 minutes‘ time. goals galore in the premier league. mourinho has a happy return to old trafford, and there are nine more goals in one other game.

hello, and welcome to bbc news. doctors treating president trump for coronavirus say he is continuing to improve and could leave hospital for the white house as early as tomorrow. they also gave more details about his treatment, revealing that he is on the steroid dexamethasone and a five day course of the anti viral drug remdesivir. after confusion yesterday about the president's condition, the doctors also said that he had twice required supplemental oxygen. nomia iqbal sent this report from the walter reed medical centre. i came here, wasn't feeling so well, i feel much better now. no big rallies, no crowds of supporters but president trump still has his twitter following inside the hospital. after the chaotic handling of the messaging about his health by his staff yesterday, the president clearly decided to do thejob himself and released a long unscripted update on his and the first lady's health.

i want to thank everybody, our first lady is doing well, melania asked me to say something as to the respect she has for our country, the love she has for the country. we are both doing well. melania is really handling it very nicely. he even avoided mentioning china, as he usually does when it comes to the virus. we are going to beat this coronavirus, or whatever you want to call it and beat it soundly. but there were also uncharacteristic signs of hesitancy from a normally bullish president when it comes to his health. so ijust 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 and we will see what happens in those next couple of days. after his performance yesterday, the president's doctor tried again to reassure the american public that the president is really on the mend. as with any illness, there are frequent ups and downs over the course,

particularly when a patient is being so closely watched 24 hours a day. we review and debate every finding, comparing it to existing science and literature, weighing up the risks and benefits of every intervention. if he continues to look and feel as well as he does today our hope is we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the white house where he can continue his treatment course. there has been a real show of support outside the hospital for donald trump which he says he is grateful for but the messaging from the white house is causing real confusion about when he fell ill, who he may have infected and what that means about the president's health. from his team and family, the message remains that he is getting on with hisjob and in charge. but the numbers of cases of people falling ill around him are going up. the latest in his circle is the former governor chris christie who checked himself into hospital last night. he was at the rose garden ceremony last weekend for the supreme court

nominee amy coney barrett. it may turn out to be the super spreader event. for the time being, resident trump has for the time being, for the time being, president trump has to stay inside. he says campaigning for the election has not stopped. operation make america great again is in full swing. and it is also ramping up on the rival side with democratic candidate joe biden hitting the virtual trail last night. both men were meant to meet in 11 days for the next presidential debate which looks increasingly unlikely now. instead, the next few days will be dominated by the question of how ill the president is and when he will be able to return to the fight to hold on to the white house. nomia iqbal, bbc news, washington. we are going live to the walter reed medical centre, his supporters have been out there, some are flying from other parts of the country to show

support, a lot of trump supporters, he cannot go to them, so they are coming to him. president trump said i really appreciate all of the fans and supporter, outside the hospital, the fact is, they really love our country and are seeing how we are making it greater than ever before. the last bit in all caps, in typical president trump style. lots of people showing support for the president and he loves them right back so they will really appreciate seeing he has acknowledged i think that are out there and bring him good cheer while he is getting treatment and obviously they might be hardened to hearfrom his doctors he might be discharged tomorrow. —— heartened. there's been a spate of contradictory information from the white house and doctors treating president trump about how he's been doing. dr ezekiel emanuel, who's a former obama white house health policy adviser, says the president's medical team is not telling us the whole story about trump's health.

it does appear clear he lied yesterday by saying that the president hadn't gotten oxygen when he did get oxygen, at the white house. and now we are supposed to believe him, he also seemed to evade the question of what the problem that was seen on the chest x—ray saying it was as expected. well what is expected in a covid patient is severe complications and presumably, i haven't seen the president, haven't examined hip and mostly we are trying to rely on reading between the lines and what is left out, presumably they started him on dexamethasone because they saw some worrisome things on the lungs, and i assume one of the reasons the president's feeling so great is dexamethasone usual will gives people a little up, but it does appear on friday he was pretty ill. they rushed him to get him a drug

and this antibody cocktail. you don't do that with someone you are not concerned about. they put him on ex general, took him out of the white house vehicleia helicopter, all that suggests he was sick and not resting easily in the white house, they have consistently down played this condition, but again, you know, we are trying to, you and iare you know, we are trying to, you and i are trying to make diagnoses reading between what they say and what they leave out. when they say he doesn't have is a fever, i would not put much stock. they didn't say they had him on medications to keep fever down, and dexamethasone itself the steroid he is on keeps the fever down, so i wouldn't put much stock on that indicator. you know, patients can feel well, and then basically fall off a cliff end, u nfortu nately, basically fall off a cliff end, unfortunately, require infew basing, much more oxygen, we don't know where the president is in the sequence. where the president is in the sequence. i would say the other thing that is really worrisome, that almost no—one has spoken about is, that there are what, in the us we

call long—hauler, o who have long—standing complications from covid, fatigue, mental confusion, and or problems, that take a long time to shake. those are not the kind of symptoms you want to have in the most powerful person in the world, and the leader of the free world, and the leader of the free world, and the leader of the free world, a little mentalfog, fatigue at the end of the day, and those kind of thing, so, that also, i think is quite worrisome, in someone who got covid. not everyone bounces back, in fact a lot people who were otherwise in great health take a long time to recover. otherwise in great health take a long time to recover. it's notjust the president's illness that's coming to the fore. two republican members of the senate judiciary committee have also tested positive for the coronavirus, raising questions about the timing of supreme court confirmation hearings forjudge amy coney barrett and whether additional senators may have been exposed. to discuss this further, i am joined byjonathan turley,

who's a professor of law at george washington university here in washington. what happens now, do you think the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell still has the numbers to confirm judge barrett. he does but who are fallering because of the illness. the key to remember is that the majority leader has zero margin for error, he cannot lose a senator toa for error, he cannot lose a senator to a convalescent period. so we don't know how serious the illness is for these senators, what is clear, is that the republicans are going to go forward, and if they have to take these senators into the floor on a gurney, my ex penge tasting they would do it if they consented. and the democrat also do everything in their power to stall and delay and block this, the coronavirus seems like a good excuse for them to bring that into play?

coronavirus seems like a good excuse for them to bring that into play7m is not going to be successful. this falls into the category of holding my breath until you give him. him. mcconnell would let them hold their breath. he can change the rule, he can even allow for virtual voting, if they push through those changes, and the thing is, even though time is short before the election, it is not that short. he can actually get this confirmation through, in this period, and he will also make changes if he has to, so he has a little time to play w assuming these two senators are on the mend, they did apparently get it early which is a good sign. so you think there is still time, one to change the vote, to a virtual one to change the vote, to a virtual one is one to change the vote, to a virtual one is necessary, one to change the vote, to a virtual one is necessary, and two, to stick to this time line, that makes sure that this confirmation happens before november 3rd which is election day? yes, i mean there is a possibility that they could push through this nomination during the

lame duck period, but what is clear is that the senate is all hands on deck, they are moving heaven and earth to get this confirmation across the finish line. they have a number of week, and i think they are hoping that that is enough for these senators to recover. so, i think that on capitol hill they are still pretty bullish about getting this threw. the most of the democrats can do is really attack along the edges, making small delay, an hour, maybe even a day, but it will take something really horrific, like a serious illness of one of the two of these senator, to derail the strategy. and joe biden at the debate dodged the question of whether or not he is open to expanding the number of people in the court, so if this does go ahead and judge barrett is confirmed, the democrats need to

make sure it is ideologically in their corner? he did. the president's performance at points was truly appalling, but it was equally shocking to see joe was truly appalling, but it was equally shocking to seejoe biden again refusing to answer this question of whether he will pack the court. many people will not vote for candidate who is opening to packing the supreme court. he continues to refuse to answer that, even though his running mate kamala harris is one of the democrats that raised this issue. this isn't coming from the republican side. i don't know how long he will be able to continue this, this is a major issue, in the view of some of us, packing the supreme court with six new members to get a majority, would destroy that institution. it is an odd way to honour ruth bader ginsburg to destroy the court she loved so much. thank you so much for telling us what you make of all this.

back to our london studio. larry and the team in washington will be monitoring events in washington and the situation with president trump, lots more on our website. now to other news. now to other news. there's been a new surge in fighting between azerbaijan and armenia over the disputed territory of nagorno karabakh, a week after the long running conflict re—ignited. russia has called for a ceasefire. azerbaijan has threatened to destroy military targets inside armenia, in retaliation for a missile attack on its second city, ganja which it says killed a civilian. until now most of the conflict has been between azerbaijan and nagorno karabakh itself, an area internationally recognised as part of azerbaijan, but where the majority of the population is ethnic armenian. our reporter rayhan demytrie is in tbilisi, with more on the latest developments in the area.

the president announced on his twitter page that the army has reca ptu red twitter page that the army has recaptured the town and also the president listed ten villages, in the same area, we are talking about seven adjacent regs to nagorno karabakh, seven adjacent regs to nagorno kara bakh, that have seven adjacent regs to nagorno karabakh, that have been up until now, they have been under the armenian control, and they have been under the armenian control since the 19905 under the armenian control since the 1990s war, so, as we understand now, there is quite a celebration going on in azerbaijan, in baku, there is still martial law in place but people are celebrating the fireworks, and so on, a lot of cheering going on. that followed earlier today on sunday, the armenian forces hit azerbaijan's second largest city and that is a

worrying escalation, because obviously it is outside the conflict zone. azerbaijan said that it was hit by a missiles and reported at least one person, one civilian being least one person, one civilian being killed. police in belarus have used water cannon to disperse protesters who have again gathered in minsk, to call for president alexander lukashenko to stand down. tens of thousands of people joined protests in the capital, and other cities in belarus, for the eighth sunday in a row, to reject mr lukashenko's election victory in august. at one point demonstrators wrenched open the side panel of a water cannon truck, forcing it to retreat. onlookers waved red and white banners and shouted encouragement from neighbouring apartment blocks. the campaign group viasna said more than 100 people had been arrested. the french government is set to declare a "maximum alert for coronavirus" in the parisian region. new restrictions will come into force on tuesday for an initial period of two weeks. restaurants will be required to observestricter sanitary to observe stricter sanitary

rules to stay open. bars, which until now have been permitted to open until 10pm, will be ordered to stay shut. among other measures, universities will have to reduce the number of students on their sites by half. borisjohnson has warned that the pandemic would mean a very tough winter — but that he hoped things would be radically different by the spring. boris johnson was speaking in a bbc interview — as the conservative party conference got under way online. this report from our political correspondent iain watson contains some flashing images. how times change. despite a big election victory, many of borisjohnson‘s winning policies have been obscured by the coronavirus crisis. temperature check here. the political temperature is rising with covid cases going up and his poll ratings coming down. today he acknowledged people's frustrations but delivered the grim news that it might not be

all over by christmas. they are furious with me and the government but, but, i have got to tell you in all candour, it is going to continue to be bumpy through to christmas. it may even be bumpy beyond. labour are accusing him of losing control of the virus. he acknowledged testing needed to improve and promised it would. it is not perfect, i'm not going to claim it is perfect. am ifrustrated with it? yes, of course i am. am i going to blame nhs test and trace and attack the thousands of people who are doing a good job? of course i'm not. but i take full responsibility for the service, i think by international comparators it is really very good indeed. boris johnson will speak online to his virtual party conference this week and some of the faithful want him to reflect on his performance as prime minister. i have been speaking to some long—standing conservative mps and some of the new intake and quite a few of them say they still want further proof that boris johnson, having battled the virus himself,

is still up for the job, and some say they would like to see the old boris back, the man who used to denounce the doomsters and gloomsters but who these days seems to be the bearer of bad news. this is a government facing an unprecedented crisis and i think that if people wanted me to approach it with, you know, the sort of buoyancy and elan and all the other qualities that i normally bring to things, i think people would think that was totally inappropriate point. as for his health... the issue is that when i last got this wretched thing, i was too fat. but i am fitter than several butchers' dogs! as for other peoples health, household and other people have been living under enhanced restrictions since august and some want to know when it will end. if the restrictions are still as confusing, i think it might increase even more because people willjust do their own thing. i do think it's going to destroy oldham. pubs are restricting people coming

in, people aren't going in. we need to abide by the rules so it won't last longer than it has to. labour says more clarity was needed on when and why restrictions were imposed. we are not going to blame the british public like borisjohnson tried to do, we are proud of what the public are doing. we understand why local restrictions may be needed but andy burnham has been saying it's a bit like hotel california, places go into these restrictions, you check in but can never leave. borisjohnson says we should go forward without fear but with common sense but it seems that balancing act may have to be maintained well into the new year. heavy rain has brought flooding and travel disruption to parts of the uk — with more than a0 flood warnings in place. these are some of the pictures from somerset which has been particuarly badly hit. homes have also been flooded in hampshire, hertfordshire and northumberland. in scotland, safety checks have been carried out during today on rail lines and bridges

following heavy overnight rain. cineworld, the world's second biggest cinema chain, is reported to be on the verge of closing all its sites in the us, the uk and ireland — a casualty of the coronavirus. last month cineworld announced half— year losses of 1.6 billion dollars. the reports came as the release date for the newjames bond film was again pushed back from november until next april. the industry has been starved of blockbusters to lure audiences back to the cinema. japanese designer kenzo takada has died in paris, reportedly from complications after contracting coronavirus. kenzo was the first designer from japan to make it in the competitive world of french fashion. he founded his fashion label in the 1970s, and became known for his colourful graphic and floral prints.

sport, and for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's karthi gna nasegaram. it's been an extraordinary day in the premier league, with champions liverpool beaten 7—2 by aston villa in a remarkable match. villa's new signing ollie watkins scored a hat trick, with captainjack grealish and ross barkley among the other scorers for the home side in what isjurgen klopp‘s heaviest defeat as a manager. that wasn't the only shock result as manchester united were thrashed 6—1 at home by tottenham. ole gunnar solskjaer‘s side actually took the lead with a penalty but after that it was all spurs with son heung—min and harry kane both scoring twice. there were goals too for tanguy ndombele and serge aurier. to compound things for united they had anthony martial sent off for slapping erik lamela in the face after 28 minutes with the score at 2—1. plenty for united manger ole gunnar solksjaer to think about.

it is worst day of my career as a manchester united manager. it is probably the worst day for probably all of those players as well. as a manchester united player, but it is not the worst day in the manchester united club's history, and we have bounced back before. to explain now, it is quite difficult. of course you, we have been beaten, 6—1 at home against a very good side, i have to say, but we have contributed a lot to our own downfall. but we have contributed a lot to our own downfall. west ham put in an impressive performance to pull off a surprise 3—0 win against leicester, ending their 100 per cent winning start to the season. goals from michail antonio, pablo fornals and jarrod bowen. west ham are ninth in the table. arsenal, southampton and wolves also won. in italy's serie a, atalanta thrashed cagliari 5—2 in the early game. benevento won 1—0 at home to bologna, lazio drew 1—1 with inter, and parma beat hellas verona 1—0. ac milan took a comfortable win at home to spezia.

napoli meanwhile didn't show up for their match withjuventus as they remain in isolation in naples due to two coronavirus cases. with the game abandoned, the victory is set to be awarded tojuve under serie a rules. a big surprise in the london marathon with world record holder and four time winner eluid kipchoge beaten into eighth place. no crowds watching on in the cold conditions, but it was an exciting sprint finish to the end with ethipopian shura kitata just pipping kenyan vincent kipchumba to the line. kitata's time was two hours five minutes and 41 seconds. the conditions were cold and wet for both the men's and women's events. world record holder brigid kosgei won the women's race earlier in the very different, covid—safe marathon. kosgei went clear of world champion ruth chepngetich after mile 18 and finished in two hours, 18 minutes and 58 seconds.

there was disappointment for britain's david weir, who was going for a ninth victory in the men's wheelchair race. he finished second behind ca nada's brent la katos. nikita den boer won the women's race. tennis, and rafa nadal remains on course for a 13th french open title after easing into the quarter finals with a straight sets victory over sebastian korda at roland garros. meanwhile, the number one seed in the women's draw, simona halep crashed out, beaten injust 68 minutes by 19 year old ega swiantek from poland. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in

sportsday at half past ten. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbc kasia madera. now it's time for a look at the weather with stav. hello there. it's been a thoroughly wet weekend. pretty much across all areas and many places have seen more than a months worth of rain just falling in a few days. across more western and southern part, with central parts of the low pressure seeing a scattering of showers, some of which were quite heavy. but all this rainfall has, of course, led to dozens of flood warnings up and down the country. if you are worried about these in your local area do head on to the bbc weather website to check these out.

now overnight our low pressure system will hang round, it is going to generate further showers, some of them could be quite heavy at times, but there will be some clear spells too. more in the ways of cloud, though, in the north—west of scotland, northern ireland, south—west of england, so here temperatures holding in double figures but a bit chillier, particularly where we have those clear spells, with sevens, eights and nines. now as we head on into the new week, low pressure will still be nearby, so it is going to remain pretty unsettled with sunshine and showers, at least there will be some sunshine around. this is where the low pressure will be sitting as we head through monday and you will see fewer isobars on the charts, the winds not quite a feature tomorrow. still quite blustery across the far south—west, and here we could see another weather front reinvigorating to give a pretty wet day, i think for parts of northern ireland, wales and the south—west, but elsewhere, sunny spells, scattered showers — some of the showers could be heavy and thundery. and it will be a bit warmer in response to more sunshine around, particularly across the south. we could see 16 or maybe 17 degrees. through monday night we hold on to the showers, some clear spells as well.

some of the showers could be quite heavy in places, and we could see longer spells of rain across more western areas, and breeze starting to pick up generally across southern areas. temperatures down to around eight or nine degrees for many, perhaps just making double figures across the south where we hold on to the breeze and the cloud. now into tuesday, our area of low pressure will sit to the north of the uk. you will notice isobars becoming a bit closer together throughout tuesday and certainly into wednesday, so could be quite windy by the time we reach wednesday. but a good deal of sunshine i think across many central and eastern parts on wednesday, there will still be some heavy showers around on both days.

hello, this is bbc news with kasia madera. the headlines: president trump's doctors say he is continuing to improve as he's treated in hospital for coronavirus. they also reveal more details of his condition before he was admitted. he received oxygen twice.

if he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow, to the white house where he can continue his treatment course. here, the prime minister warns there could be "a very tough winter" ahead, as the country deals with coronavirus. i have got to tell you in all candour it is going to continue to be bumpy to christmas, it may even be bumpy beyond but this is the only way to do it. the cinema chain, cineworld, is expected to close indefinitely in the uk and elsewhere with more than 5,000 jobs are at risk here. now on bbc news, anna holligan travels across europe to see how people are getting on their bikes and asks if the surge in cycling is the start of a much bigger change in the way we travel. from the bubonic plague to tuberculosis, pandemics have historically changed the way our cities are designed,