this is bbc news. i'm jane hill. the headlines: scotland is to face tighter restrictions to try to control the growing number of covid cases. the hospitality industry says businesses affected need help. we're not businesses that can just be turned on and turned off. we're dealing with fresh food, we're dealing with, you know, long—term bookings, people that are planning special occasions in advance. the confidence issue across the board, that is what is going to be the hardest thing. a major supplier of coronavirus swabs and cancer tests to the nhs warns it's experiencing significant distribution problems. how dangerous are coronavirus droplets in the air? — the ground—breaking technology

being used by a british team to examine particles as they float through the atmosphere. could tonight be the most important us vice presidential debate in history? mike pence and kamala harris prepare to go head to head on live tv. and, another rugby match is called off — after six more sale sharks players test positive for covid 19. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news. scotland's first minister, nicola sturgeon, is preparing to announce new measures to try to slow the surge in coronavirus cases, although she's ruled out returning to a full lockdown. about 730 new cases are being

recorded every day in scotland compared with fewer than 300 a fortnight ago. it's understood more travel restrictions could be introduced, and hospitality venues may see tighter controls. business leaders have called on the scottish government to put support in place for any companies that are affected. also this afternoon, scotland's education secretary, john swinney will announce plans for exams next year after this summers were cancelled due to the pandemic. this report from james shaw. the scottish government has not said which sectors will be affected by new restrictions. they have said that hospitality will be one area being looked at. lots of factors make it easy for the virus to spread. the difficulty of social distancing, poor ventilation, crowds, alcohol and households

mixing together. we are not businesses that can be turned on or turned off. we are dealing with fresh food and long term bookings. people have long term bookings in advance. we are dealing with our team and our supply team. there is a confidence issue across the board, that will be the hardest thing. how do we build that back up again? nicola sturgeon has said schools will stay open and they won't be a scotla nd will stay open and they won't be a scotland wide travel ban but local travel bans haven't been ruled out. yesterday 800 new cases of coronavirus were announced across the country. 262 people are currently in coronavirus hospitals —— hospitals with coronavirus. more than two and thousand people have died after testing positive for coronavirus in scotland. changes could happen as soon as the weekend,

when many schools start autumn half term holidays. not a happy prospect when people want to get away or are worried about their jobs when people want to get away or are worried about theirjobs in hospitality. if travel restrictions cut our income, we will never get that back. you could be nervous about booking something in advance because your booking could be cancelled. the question around a circuit breaker is, will it work? we have to consider if there is evidence that particular behaviour and cause an increase in levels of infection they may need to be curtailed. even a couple of weeks could buy time for the nhs. it might slow the spread of the virus to help get the health service through the winter months, which are always a

challenge and will be even harder due to coronavirus this year. the number of coronavirus deaths in scotland has doubled in the latest week. latest figures from national records of scotland show 20 deaths which mentioned covid on the death certificate were recorded between september 28 and 0ctober1i — 10 more than the previous week. 0ur scotland correspondent andrew kerr is in glasgow. in the next i will be expecting to hear from the first minister, in the next i will be expecting to hearfrom the first minister, is there a sense that there will be tighter restrictions? at two 50p and we will hear from nicola sturgeon and we are braced for more restrictions. it won't be another lockdown like we saw at the beginning of march and schools will remain open. there could be regional

transport restrictions, not a national transport restriction. i do think that hospitality will be targeted on, perhaps their curfew, from ten p m to 6pm oh 7pm. i think the selling of alcohol and where and when that is served will also be targeted due to the rising number of cases. we have got the latest case numbers for today. 105a positive cases in scotland today. 800 yesterday, 1000 today. they keep going up. the thought about the politics of all of that, of course, we have been hearing from business leaders. i am thinking particularly of people who run cafe is and restau ra nts. of people who run cafe is and restaurants. they are trying to make a living and employing people. this is another blow for them. it will be another blow. the scottish government will try to provide funding for this. it won't come from the uk government this time. but

hospitality say they are at a tipping point. the general public are even getting frustrated by this. the scottish lib dems leader said people are getting scammed by —— restricted by this. there will be evidence published to show that reasons behind their latest restrictions. it is clear why there are new restrictions required thanks to today's data. thank you. we will be back with you later. professorjames chalmers is professor of respiratory research at the university of dundee, and a consultant at ninewells hospital. thank you for your time this afternoon. given the numbers in scotland, is there, from your

medical perspective, any alternative to greater restrictions?” medical perspective, any alternative to greater restrictions? i don't think so. you heard the numbers today have crossed 1000. we are into the exponential phase of the epidemic whether numbers will go up markedly unless the government takes action to slow the spite of the epidemic. that means introducing restrictions so that the r rate comes down. i expect to hear significant new measures today. no one is talking about a full lockdown, by which i mean, there is no suggestion as of yet that children would stop going to school. but other areas of life will be curtailed. from your perspective, is that sufficient, is that the only option? is that the sort of route you feel is inevitable? option? is that the sort of route you feel is inevitable ?|i option? is that the sort of route

you feel is inevitable? i think that the scottish government have made it very clear that their priority is to keep open schools. we are into a position where there is only difficult choices to make. in some ways, it will be a trade—off between keeping schools and universities open versus things like the hospitality sector. i don't envy the scottish government and the decisions they have to make today. having made schools the priority, i would expect travel restrictions and restrictions on the hospitality sector the most likely outcomes for today. assuming it is all brought m, today. assuming it is all brought in, everything we anticipated, what is the end point? bringing in restrictions is one thing but at what point do politicians make that decision that restaurants can go back to opening much later than usual? what point, medically, do we have to be at? we are going to the depths of winter. the key is how

quickly the epidemic is accelerating. it is this r rate that is being discussed. we need to find a way to live sustainably with this virus so that the number of infections doesn't keep increasing. the solutions, there are two types of solution. 0ne the solutions, there are two types of solution. one is a progressive lockdown measures until the r rate comes down. the full lockdown got the r rate to 0.7 in the uk. other measures that have worked well in the asia our aggressive testing and tracing measures. the scottish government are going to introduce new measures to ramp up testing and mmp new measures to ramp up testing and ramp up the test, trace and isolate capability so that we can find a way to live sustainable with the virus. that's really interesting. it's not

just about dampening it down for obvious reasons, people illness. it is also about using the time wisely. to increase test and trace? that's right. we can't live under strict measures permanently. the government knows that and everyone knows that. we need to use the time that it buys us so that we can use restrictions to buy ourselves time so that the epidemic doesn't expand to a point where it becomes overwhelmed. we need to use this time to increase testing capability and increase our understanding of the virus so that we can live sustainably with the virus until things like vaccines became available. exactly as you say, more lockdown measures are necessary now because cases are increases, increasing but we have to have a plan. thank you for your

time. he was reflecting on what may be coming up in the next hour. looks like we will be getting significant announcements from nicola sturgeon. we will bring that to you live in full. we think it will be a little bit before three o'clock. as soon as the address begins we will bring that life to you. the number of cases in the north of england remains high, despite many areas being subject to tighter restrictions. 0ur correspondent in newcastle fiona trott gave me the latest. well here we are seeing a rise in cases, rise in hospital admissions and questions whether restrictions are working. let me give you an example. latest figures suggest that eight of the ten worst affected areas in the uk are here in the north of england. manchester has the highest rate of infection, latest figures suggest, with over 3000

cases in the past week alone. when it comes to hospital admissions, we have seen that jump by about a quarter in england's hospitals one day. again, two thirds of those hospital admissions here in the north of england. in some of those areas, there are tougher restrictions. here in the northeast for example, you cannot socialise in any indoor setting unless you are in a support bubble. and yet you have the leaders of councils here in the north, labour councils. newcastle, manchester, leeds or writing a letter to the health secretary, matt hancock, saying restrictions are not working. we want more autonomy. that is also because there may be different spikes in different parts of the north for different reasons. it might be down to deprivation, student numbers. of course, the department of health and social care said they are working very closely with local authorities when it comes

to interventions but professorjohn edmonds who advises the government on coronavirus has responded saying more stringent national lockdown measures are needed. you get the sense here in the north, more targeted measures would be supported but not stricter measures. here in the north—east, for example, the highest unemployment rate in the uk. it doesn't want stricter rules. there are suggestions that more restrictions may be introduced in nottingham, where infections have surged. here's our correspondent phil mackie. the figures went up from about 70 cases per 100,000 people to 440 in the week up until the 2nd of 0ctober. that is partly due to the adjustment of the original cases which were not originally included in the public health england data. that is some of the cases but it can't account for all of it. the

outbreak is not confined to the city but also to the neighbouring boroughs. nottingham is probably the next big city to go into these additional measures. it will start to experience the kind of life that they have been living in those north—eastern cities. the director of public health here has said that is likely to happen. we are expecting the announcement to come tomorrow. every week there is a government meeting with the department of health and government authorities and then announcements are made. to give you a sense of how big the outbreak is, we are in one of the big areas where there is a particularly large outbreak at the moment. lots of students live around here and just round the corner there isa here and just round the corner there is a post box where the royal mail has have to put extra staff on select collections because there are lots of extra swabs here. the people of nottingham are bracing themselves for extra restrictions. scotland faces new restrictions

to combat a rise in covid cases with pubs and restaurants expected to be affected. the pharmaceutical company, roche, warns of problems with the supply of coronavirus swabs and nhs tests for other conditions, including cancer. a team at the university of bristol is using ground—breaking technology to study how dangerous coronavirus droplets in the air are. two members of the so—called islamic state group —— accused of killing western hostages in syria —— are now on a plane, in transit to the united states where they are scheduled to appear in a federal court — that's according to cbs news.

frank gardner can tell us more... this is a huge development in this case. these two men, former west londoners, were captured two years ago and handed over a year ago to us powers. they have not denied being related to isis. they are accused of the us and british governments for carrying out sadistic treatments, waterboarding, starvation... you name it. they are being brought to a us court in virginia, not farfrom washington, dc where they are expected to appear in the next couple of hours in a press conference. if this is confirmed,

this will be a huge step in closure for all the families and relatives of those western hostages who were, in some cases, how did on camera by isis in syria five years ago. reminders where they have been up until this point? reminders where they have been up untilthis point? it is. reminders where they have been up until this point? it is. they went out to syria quite some time ago. they formed a group which was nicknamed the beatles, because of their british accents. this is what hostages named them. one of those, the most infamous member, nicknamed john. was killed in a us drone strike a few years ago. another is serving a seven and a half year sentence in a prison in turkey. then

these two were captured in north—east syria by syrian kurdish forces. they were held for a year or so. then they removed for safety to aus so. then they removed for safety to a us airbase in iraq. that's where they've been for the last 12 months. the mother of one of them has tried very ha rd to the mother of one of them has tried very hard to prevent evidence being handed over by britain to the us to be used against them. why? because they won the death penalty. a us attorney general said they want to the death penalty. but british authorities said that the evidence can be used. this was flown to the us last week. they are now on their week to trial in the us. our

security correspondence with the latest. there are concerns about the availability of vital testing materials for a range of conditions, including coronavirus, after a supply chain problem with the pharmaceutical giant, roche. the swiss firm says it's experienced a "very significant drop" in its processing capacity because of an issue with a distribution centre in the uk. 0ur health correspondent is lauren moss. rocheis roche is a big supplier. they also supply antibody tests to see if someone has coronavirus. they relocated their lab to east sussex. they said it would be able to supply more equipment. some think this could have been done before brexit to mitigate any disruption for supply chains. they said they have

encountered unforeseen issues. hospitals have been alerted and one trust has told gps to pause nonurgent blood tests. nhs providers which represent the trust, depending on how much hospitals have in stock, it could have a knock—on effect. roche say they are prioritising covert testing but this may not be resolved for two to three weeks. the prime minister wants to carry out half a million coronavirus tests per day but the knock—on effect of this may have an effect on this ambition. saffron cordery is the deputy chief executive of nhs providers — the membership organisation for nhs trusts in england this is concerning news. when you

think about how nhs relies on testing, to have this disruption in supply chain is intensely worrying. what we've heard from up and down the country is that it will depend on how much stock that is on their patch as to whether or not they need to ration blood tests. it is a very concerning situation. if it does go on foot two or three weeks, as the company on foot two or three weeks, as the com pa ny fears on foot two or three weeks, as the company fears it might, do you have any sense of numbers? how many people could be affected? we call a blood test routine but the doctor ordered it because they think it's necessary. i think it's very hard to put a figure on it. what we have to think about is some people who have routine blood tests won't be able to have them. people who could be in a

worrying situation, waiting for the results of tests for things like cancer and other conditions may have to wait a little longer. and of course, critically, the situation we are in with coronavirus and the testing available for that. it is worth remembering that if you use roche testing for coronavirus, you have to use their end—to—end system. you can't mix and match and use swa bs you can't mix and match and use swabs from one provider or supplier and then another. you are completely reliant on the whole roche system. that is another worrying feature here that we can't patch it up for a little while and wait for their supplies to come back on stream. little while and wait for their supplies to come back on streamm that a worrying situation to be in? you are effectively saying all eggs can be in one basket if you are working with roche. is there any way around that in future? working with roche. is there any way around that in future ?|j working with roche. is there any way

around that in future? i think, obviously, the big pharmaceutical systems a re obviously, the big pharmaceutical systems are very embedded and entrenched. i think the testing for coronavirus in particular, works across a number of platforms. i think it won't stop testing altogether for that, but it will slow the progress. i think one of the things it shines a light on, well, two things it shines light on. 0ne well, two things it shines light on. one is the whole thing around needing to ration tests for a little while, but for coronavirus and other conditions. i was reading an article on your website which highlighted how a trust in the south—west was already doing that but it also highlights the fact that we are in a situation where we are seeing how reliant trusts are on commercial supply chains for medical supplies and consumables. that is really tricky when we think about brexit and the end of the transition period from the new deal brexit. logistics

will become incredibly important. we need to make sure the government has all of its ducks in a row and make sure that we come through this period and be in a place where supplies can get to the front line when they're needed. thank you very much for that. that was the deputy chief executive of nhs providers. how infectious are covid—19 particles when they're circulating in the air? understanding that is a challenge facing scientists all over the world, as they try to learn more about how the virus is transmitted. a team at the university of bristol is using ground—breaking technology to examine the smallest droplets as they float through the atmosphere. jon kay has been to see the work. it's one of the biggest questions we face right now. how long does coronavirus stay in the hour? at a

secret location, scientists from the university of bristol offer trying to find the answer. we were given exclusive access as they were making their final preparations at this sealed laboratory. they are now taking samples containing the coronavirus, placing them in this unique bit of kit and using an electric field, never the tiny droplets, making them hang around in the airfor minutes or droplets, making them hang around in the air for minutes or hours at a time, just as they would in the real world. then, by adjusting the temperature, humidity and light they can find out what impact those conditions have on the infectiousness of the virus. we are trying to directly mimic the type of particles that are produced by people when they're coughing, breathing, these kind of things. then we see how long the virus remains infectious in the. these are the first images from the

coronavirus ins, inspection. this is about showing the particles that are invisible to the naked eye. the man in charge told me the research could be particularly useful as we head into winter, spending more time indoors. how does this help us understand how cove coronavirus could be spied in an office, a pipe ora could be spied in an office, a pipe or a factory. ? we are looking at how it spreads in poorly ventilated places. it could be inhaling a lot of these aerosol particles. this research is set to last a year, with the first results before christmas. the scientists hope this will contribute to our abiding understanding, the changes we need to make.

one of the world's greatest rock guitarists, eddie van halen, has died at the age of 65. he had been having treatment for throat cancer. his band, van halen, had huge success in the seventies and eighties — selling more than 80—million records worldwide. lisa hampele has been looking back on his career. the band were a staple of the sunset strip music scene in the 70s and 80s. they had a set of hits. he was a classic pianist and his trademark style helped make him one of rock's most influential guitarists. he performed with some of the music

industry's biggest stars, including michaeljackson. he was first diagnosed with cancer several years ago. his son, wolfgang announced his death. he said this... tributes have been flooding in. tributes have been flooding inm is very rare that you meet somebody who is a pure soul. a beautiful person. i never heard him say anything bad about anybody, especially other bands. as you can imagine, this business is full of big egos, yours truly included. van halen was a matter—of—fact guy. i'm sorry, i'm getting a little choked up. the thousands more have been

paying tribute to one of rock's superstars. van halen has died at the age of 65. now, the weather with helen willets. temperatures have reached above where they should be at this time of year. but it will be quite wet throughout the evening. for much of wales, northern ireland, and england, and reaches the borders of scotland. with the rain and strengthening wind, it is a wet and windy night. it will be relatively

mild. buta windy night. it will be relatively mild. but a soggy and great start to our morning. they could be some heavy rain on that weather front as it clears away, but the afternoon will be dry for england and wales. but in that stage we have more showers going across northern ireland and scotland. temperatures will be in the mid—teens for many, which is a bit above where they should be for this time of year. worrying to come on friday. this time it looks like the north. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines — scotland is to face tighter restrictions to try to control the growing number of covid cases. the hospitality industry says businesses affected need help. we're not businesses that can just be turned on and turned off. we're dealing with fresh food, we're dealing with, you know, long—term bookings, people that are planning special occasions in advance. the confidence issue across the board, that is what is going to be the hardest thing.

a major supplier of coronavirus swabs and cancer tests to the nhs warns it's experiencing significant distribution problems. how dangerous are coronavirus droplets in the air? the ground—breaking technology being used by a british team to examine particles as they float through the atmosphere. could tonight be the most important us vice—presidential debate in history? mike pence and kamala harris prepare to go head—to—head, on live tv. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, and chetan pathak. good afternoon. first to the cancellation of sale's premiership game against worcester. it was supposed to be held tonight, having been

rearranged from saturday, because of 19 positive coronavirus tests in the sale camp. but six more sharks players have since tested positive, meaning the game is off, worcester get the points, sale miss out on the play—offs. our sports correspondent andy swiss reports. there are total hopes ended by covid. this was sale sharks, training early in the summer, challenging for the premiership, while, like all teams, being regularly tested. 0n while, like all teams, being regularly tested. on and off the pitch, they were doing well, until last week, some 19 players and staff tested positive. it happened shortly after they had won a cup competition. sale have strongly denied claims their players had been out celebrating in manchester, but it's now prove very costly. after eight more positives emerged this morning, they've had to forfeit tonight's pivotal game against worcester, ending their hopes of becoming champions. in a statement, the club said...

ina in a statement, premiership rugby said they shared sale sharks's disappointment at the way their season had ended, but they couldn't jeopardise the health of any players or staff. and as the rugby authorities investigate what's happened here for the whole sport, these are challenging times. worcester, who had expressed concerns about playing sale tonight welcomed the cancellation, while the boss of another premier league club say the covid rule is no need to be clarified. what you have seen is probably the regulations were based around an ability to fulfil a team, put a team on the field, rather than the wider health implications. now i think what you'll probably find is, iimagine there think what you'll probably find is, i imagine there will be because of what has happened with sale there will be some addition to the radiation from next season. covid's

also affecting the england squad. piers francis having to withdraw after he tested positive. francis played against sale last week and the coach knows his players have to ta ke the coach knows his players have to take care. we are going to have to set an example and be good role models for people around england.- well as english rugby, scottish football has been affected. kilmarnock had to forfeit their cup game last night, after a number of positive tests. as sport battles to avoid more covid cancellations. andy swiss, bbc news. next to the french open, where the former wimbledon champion petra kvitova is through to the semi finals. she saw off germany's laura siegemund in straight sets at roland garros. it's just the second time that kvitova's reached the last four at the french open. kvitova's chasing her first title there, rafa nadal‘s after his 13th and he's

also through to the semi—finals. he had a really late finish against the the match finally finishing at almost 1:30 in the morning. nadal wasn't happy with the timings, or the cool temperatures at roland garros. but he can still equal roger federer‘s record of 20 grand slams if he goes on to be crowned champion. manchester united fans are going to have to wait a little longer to see edinson cavani. their new striker‘s debut is likely to be delayed by coronavirus regulations. the uruguayan, whojoined united on monday, left paris st—germain injune and hasn't been part of an elite athlete bubble. that means he should enter a period of self—isolation that lasts 14 days, and would miss united's next game away to newcastle on 17th october. that's all the sport for now. back to you, jane.

another of donald trump's senior advisers has tested positive for coronavirus. stephen miller, one of the president's top speechwriters, said he received the result yesterday and is now self—isolating. the rash of infections at the white house comes as the two contenders for vice president get ready for their televised debate tonight. 0rganisers are taking extra precautions — as sophie long reports. judge kavanaugh, i am concerned whether you will treat every american equally. she is a senator from california known for her incisive questioning of president trump's nominees for the supreme court. i know full well the importance of presidential leadership. he has been president trump's right—hand man for the past four years. tonight they will take to a specially adapted stage for a debate that will be watched by tens of millions of voters. vp debates are not normally the headline act of a presidential

election campaign but this one is anything but normal. given the age of their bosses, and the fact that president trump's recent hospitalisation with coronavirus means we don't yet know if the remaining two presidential debates will even take place, tonight's meeting between kamala harris and mike pence will be the most important of its kind in history. they take over under the death or the resignation of the president of the united states. when you have one candidate that's fairly old and one candidate that's sick right now, everyone is talking about it. there's no way that you can't talk about that particular issue, because there is at least some track where one of these two candidates could end up being president of the united states. we are an independent collection of latter day saint women from across the political spectrum, who speak for ourselves. in this deeply religious state, president trump's first term and his reaction to covid—19 has led lifelong republicans to look for something different. i wish no ill towards him.

but i think that it's time for us to once again think about doing better. this should have never been a politcal issue. coronavirus should have been something where we all come together and work together for the good of everyone. and that's why character matters in a president. but at this pro—trump potato bar, yes, there is such a thing, people think his personal handling of the pandemic is a show of strength. when you're a soldier, you're at risk and you're at a war, and you're fighting something, you go in there and you've got to rally your troops. you've got to build the morale of the troops. you got to be victorious, you can't be afraid. and that's what i look at it as. and unfortunately, some soldiers when they go to war, they get wounded. tonight, mike pence will be going into battle for the current commander—in—chief against a former prosecutor fighting for his competitor, joe biden. with less than a month to go, and a campaign thrown into chaos by covid—19, the stakes are high. sophie long, bbc news,

salt lake city. and our coverage of that begins at 1:30am, so put the coffee on to watch the vice presidential debate. tesco has reported its profits have soared, as people bought more food during the coronavirus pandemic. the supermarket giant said sales in the uk and ireland rose more than 8% over a six month period, and it made a profit of £551 million. let's get more on this with our business correspondent sima kotecha. yes, jane, well, some analysts say that supermarkets have been the winners during this pandemic, and tesco's results definitely reflect a very rosy picture. £551 million pre—tax profit in the last half year, so that goes until the end of august this year. however, it's not all good news, they did make a loss

with their banking side of the business, 155 million there, so definitely a dent on the balance sheet as a result of that, and also other experiences of trouble that other experiences of trouble that other experiences of trouble that other experiences there supermarkets have experienced. i am joined to talk about the extra cost and what lies ahead for tesco. talked me through your first impression of these results today. i have to say, i think it is a good first week for ken. he has been one week a ceo, taking over from dave lewis, it's not a bad set of results to deliver to the city for the first half year. i think that if you look at the coronavirus and the effect it has had on retail per se, then you've got to say tesco have handled it

really, really well, they've grown sales by 7.2%, like—for—like, and within that, there are some real highlights, such as great strength in online sales and good sales in the third quarter is going up by over 9%, the third quarter is going up by over9%, and the third quarter is going up by over 9%, and some mornings as well. they have reduced their sales on clothing by 17.2%, and their general merchandise as down as well, so there are some early warnings, not just for tesco but for the rest of the high street, as to how the virus is affecting these results. and you talk about ken murphy, the new chief exec, he has only been imposed around a week or so, so these are his first set of figures. let's talk about the expenses, because tesco, like many other supermarkets had to spend a lot of extra money on staff,

beefing up their online operation, these expenses, how much of their profit will eat into this, and how much attention does ken murphy have to pay as he moves forward?‘ much attention does ken murphy have to pay as he moves forward? a vast amount. as soon as they went into a christmas type environment with people panic buying, they needed to ta ke people panic buying, they needed to take people on board very swiftly. a numberof take people on board very swiftly. a number of those expenses for taking people on board, conducting them, training them etc, are upfront expenses. then also on top of the 16,000 people they have retained, they also have the expenses of dealing with the virus and keeping not only their own colleagues save but also the rest of the operation —— population. so they have a cumulative something like £533 million worth of additional expenses in half one, and as they go towards christmas, some of those will dissipate away a little bit, as their staff come on board and become more efficient. but they are faced

with a christmas that may not look as healthy as they previously have thought it would be. let's expand a bit on that if we may, phil. christmas, you are saying to me earlier, could be a massive challenge for supermarkets like tesco, could you just expand on that? certainly within the supermarkets that are used to work for, asda and safeway, we used to have a viewpoint that christmas was the golden quarter. you'd work very, very hard, not only to ensure that customers got a great deal and wanted to stay with you for those important christmas shops, because if you did a greatjob there, they would stay with you for the first quarter, the early part ofjanuary, etc. but most of that is predicated on the fact that people are getting together, they are having parties, they are seeing family relations, they are seeing family relations, they are seeing family relations, they are going out with their colleagues, they are buying new

outfits, they are buying lots of party food etc, and a number of these additional expenses, additional spins are now questionable with how we proceed towards christmas, with covid hanging overour towards christmas, with covid hanging over our heads. and i think it is for the retailers dealing in food, there is an inevitability that people will be still bailing food, but for some of those retailers, and the food arm —— buying food. , the future is less confident. thanks, phil durrell speaking to me, talking about what supermarkets like tesco face in the coming weeks and months, and also there is the brexit uncertainty at the moment, whether there will be a deal or no deal, and how it could also affect supply chains. back to you, jane. thank you for now.

greene king is closing dozens of pubs with the loss of 800 jobs. it's called on the government to provide urgent support for the pub sector while restrictions, such as the 10pm curfew, remain in place. two women have been jointly awarded the 2020 nobel prize in chemistry. jennifer doudna and emmanuelle charpentier won the prize for their development of a technique for editing genomes. the nobel committee in stockholm said the technology was revolutionary — and could realise the dream of curing inherited diseases. a court in athens has ruled that the far—right party golden dawn is a criminal organisation. its leader and six other senior members, all of them former mps, are among those who've been found guilty. the court also convicted golden dawn supporters of various attacks, including the murder of a left—wing

rapper in 2013. 0ur former greece correspondent mark lowen is following this for us from rome. see, i was based in greece as golden dawn really soared in popularity, capitalising on a lot of anger against austerity measures and against austerity measures and against migrant arrivals, and then in 2012, it stunned the country by getting into parliament. notjust getting into parliament. notjust getting into parliament. notjust getting into parliament, but getting 7% of the vote. 21 mps at its height. this was a party which has a lwa ys height. this was a party which has always denied being a neo—nazi party, but its leader denied the gas chambers, nazi paraphernalia was found at the houses of its mps, one of its mps was recorded telling children how to do the nazi salute and say heil hitler. and very worryingly, it was a party that was

engaged in widespread violence against political opponents and migrants as well, and then in 2013 there was a killing of a left—wing musician by a self—confessed member of golden dawn, and that led to the party being tried, standing trial for it being a criminal organisation. it has now been convicted, the leadership of the party has been convicted, seven of its former mps, including the party leader, have been convicted, along with several dozen members of the party, and it has all but collapsed in support since then. there's a warning the government's flagship business loan scheme could eventually cost the taxpayer up to £26 billion. a report by the spending watchdog, the national audit office, says the scheme is open to fraud — and that some firms may never be able to repay their loans. angus crawford has this report.

meet sue and dave, victims of a fraud that came out of the blue. i've just gone from tears to anger. now i'm going to be scared to do anything. a fake company, a new bank account, sue's identity stolen by criminals out to get rich. he's got your mother's maiden name. oh, my gosh. my gosh. that is correct, is it? yes. you have set up a business. what? susie buddy services? they are having a laugh, aren't they? the gang then got themselves a government bounce back loan in sue's name. i'm gobsmacked. absolutely gobsmacked. so you applied for this loan, susie buddy services, you're trading as that. 50 grand. at 2.5% interest. that is immoral. and this is where susie buddy services says it is based, a flat in a block in central london.

we don't know who is behind susie buddy services. we don't even know if it is just a place where they pick up the post. and there may be many more cases. the national audit office says there is a very high level of fraud risk caused by self—certification, multiple applications, impersonation and organised crime. between 35—60% of loans may never be paid back, costing the government between £15—£26 billion. it is big numbers, that is undeniable. the government went into this with its eyes wide open, and its intention was to lend money as quickly as possible to these businesses with an objective of getting them the funds within 24 hours. as a result of that, it made a series of trade—offs. the government insists it is trying to minimise fraud. lloyds admits it did approve the loan in sue's name but in this case, later checks stopped the scammer getting the money. sue and dave, though,

are still worried and angry. the first thing we said was, oh, my god, a scammer‘s delight, because... well, i did not honestly think it would be that easy, though. because the banks are ok, aren't they? they are getting paid with public money. it's disgusting. angus crawford, bbc news. we are waiting to hear from scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon. she is likely to make that statement pretty soon, we think. we are expecting significant restrictions in scotland. just as i say that, in fact, right on cue, let's head to holyrood. important temporary measures to stem the increase in cases, set out how we will support businesses affected by them and update the chamber on the longer term work we are doing to further improve our ability to live with covid. in all of this, i will be very frank about the challenges we face and the difficult balances

we face and the difficult balances we must try to strike. none of this is easy. i am acutely aware that in every decision we take, lives and jobs are at stake and i want to assure not just jobs are at stake and i want to assure notjust the chamber but the country that none of these decisions are taken lightly full stop first, though, let me give you some statistics published a short time ago full stop since yesterday, an additional 1054 cases have been confirmed. that represents 13% of people newly tested and takes the total number of cases to 34,760. a total number of cases to 34,760. a total of 319 patients are currently in hospital with confirmed covid. that is an increase of 57 since yesterday, and 28 people are in intensive care, which is an increase of three since yesterday. i regret to also report that one further death has been registered of a patient who had been confirmed as having the virus, and the total number of deaths in scotland under that measurement is now 2533. the

national record of scotland has also published its weekly update today, that includes cases where covid is a suspected or contributory cause of death. today's update shows by last sunday the total number of registered deaths linked to covid was 4276. 20 of those deaths were registered last week. that is the highest weekly number of deaths since late june. every highest weekly number of deaths since latejune. every single one of these deaths represents the loss of an irreplaceable individual, and againi an irreplaceable individual, and again i want to send my condolences to all those who are currently grieving. these figures illustrate the rising challenge we again face from this virus. that challenge is also set out starkly in an evidence paper published today by the scottish government's senior clinical advisers. it assesses our current position in relation to covid and explains as i will try to do in this statement why we must introduce additional measures to control the virus, why it is urgent

we act now, and why we have decided upon the specific actions that i am setting out today. before i come on to that though, let me emphasise some of the more positive elements of our current position, because it is important i think for the morale of all of us that we don't forget that progress has been made. it might not feel this way about the situation now is better than it was in march. we are benefiting from the sacrifices made over the summer by driving the virus to very low levels, then we have helped to ensure that even after several weeks of increases the estimated total number of cases is currentlyjust 13% of the peak level back in march. cases are rising, but not as quickly as they were then. in addition and most importantly of all, we now have test and protect teams across the country who are doing exceptional work. test and protect is now bearing a lot of the strain of controlling the virus, and of course we understand more now about how to reduce the risk of transmission by meeting outdoors rather than indoors as possible, wearing face coverings,

cleaning our hands thoroughly and keeping our distance from others in households. while there are significant restrictions still in place and they are hard and painful, we are living much more freely now than in the spring and early summer. and we are determined if at all possible that this will continue, so i want to be clear, we are not going back into lockdown today. we are not closing schools, colleges or universities, we are not halting the re—mobilisation of the nhs for non—covert care and we are not asking people to stay at home. so while the measures i have announced today will feel like a backward step, and in many respects i know they are, they are in the interests of protecting progress overall. it is by taking tough but necessary action now that we hope to avoid even tougher action in future. let me turn now in more detail to the state of the virus. the need for action is highlighted by the daily figure is a reported a moment ago, but more fundamentally in the evidence paper published today, it

is worth remembering that when i updated parliament just over two weeks ago, the average number of new cases being reported each day was 285. that was up from 102 three weeks previously. now we are reporting an average of 788 new cases each day. in addition, i can report that in the seven days up to monday, the number of people in hospital with covert increase by almost 80%, and the number of people who died with covid last week was the highest for 14 weeks. in fact, there was the same number of deaths in the last week alone as in the whole of the previous month. the increase in the numbers of hospital with an sadly dying from covid reflect the rise we are now seeing in new cases amongst older age groups. in the second half of september, cases where rising most rapidly in the younger age groups, but in the past week, cases in people over 80 years old increased by 60%, and cases in the 60 to 79—year—old age group more than

doubled. we are seeing geographic as well as demographic splits. without a doubtand well as demographic splits. without a doubt and by some distance the highest levels of infection are across the central belt. we are particularly concerned about greater glasgow and clyde, lanarkshire, ayrshire, lothian and forth valley and that will be reflected in what i say later, but that should not obscure the fact that numbers are rising across the country. the majority of our health board areas are now recording more than 50 new cases per 100,000 the population each week, and virtually every health board area has a rising number of cases. the only exceptions are 0rkney and shetland, and even they have had cases in recent weeks. there is also as we speak a significant outbreak in the western isles. so the need to act and to act across the country is clear. what is also clear is the need to take additional action now. i mentioned earlier that prevalence of the virus is currently around 13% of its march peak. however, we estimate that the number of new covid cases is currently growing by around 7% each

day. so without action, and this is perhaps the starkest warning in today ‘s evidence paper, we are likely to return to the peak level of infections we had in the spring the end of this month. it is also instructive to consider the experience of other countries. our modelling suggests we are approximate before weeks behind france, six weeks behind spain in the resurgence of the violence. their resurgence like ours was initially concentrated amongst younger people, but it spread to other age groups and they are now seeing significantly more hospital admissions, more people in intensive ca re admissions, more people in intensive care and more deaths. it is to interrupt that trajectory that we must act now. of course we have already taken must act now. of course we have already ta ken perhaps must act now. of course we have already taken perhaps the most important and certainly the most painful step we can to reduce transmission. for the last 12 days, apart from certain limited exceptions, we have not been able to meet up in each other‘s homes. that should already be making a difference to infection rates, even if because there is a way is a time lag between introducing new measures and the impact they have, we are not

yet seeing it reflected in our figures. and let me take the opportunity to emphasise again today how vitally important it is that we all stick to that rule. it is incredibly hard for all of us not to visit friends and family or have them visit us, but it is the single most effective measure we can take to stop covid passing from one household to another, so please stick with it. that measure is vital, but the clinical advice i have received now is that it is not sufficient. we need to do more and we need to do it now. and to those who will wonder and ask, understandably, if the measures i set out today go too far, let me be very clear about this. if this was a purely one—dimensional decision, if the immediate harm from was all we had to consider, it is very likely we would go further, but seven months into this pandemic i am acutely aware that this is not and cannot be a one—dimensional decision. we have a duty to balance

all of the different harms caused by the pandemic. we must consider the direct harm to health from the virus, which must be reduced, but do that alongside the harm is being done tojobs that alongside the harm is being done to jobs and the economy, which in turn has an impact on people's health and well—being, and we have to consider the wider harms to health and well—being that the virus and the restrictions deployed to control it are having on all of us. for all of these reasons, we are applying a far more targeted approach than we did in march, one which reduces opportunities for the virus to spread while keeping businesses and other activities as open as possible. and we are not recommending that people who shielded over the summer should be turned to staying completely indoors was that we know how damaging that is to your well—being, but we do recommend that you take extra care, especially if you live in the central belt. you can now access information about infection levels in your local neighbourhood on the public health scotland website. let me know sat out the additional measures we are proposing. the

measures we are proposing. the measures on hospitality are intended to be for 16 days. in other words, across the next two weeks and three weekends. firstly, with the exception of the fife health board areas i will talk about shortly, pubs, bars, restaurants, and cafe is will be able to operate indoors on restricted basis. during the day between 6am and 6pm for food and nonalcoholic drinks only. hotel restau ra nts nonalcoholic drinks only. hotel restaurants will be able to operate beyond 6pm but only for residents. we are not closing indoor hospitality completely because we know the benefits in terms of reducing loneliness and isolation particularly for those who live alone, to meet friends for coffee and chat. but the restrictions will applied in the limits on meeting is applied in the limits on meeting is a maximum of six people from two households will still apply. again,

with the exception of the central belt areas, is i will mention shortly, bars, pubs, restaurants and cafe is can continue to serve alcohol at stores open till 10pm. there will be an exemption to these rules in all parts of full of celebrations it's rules in all parts of full of celebrations its associated with specific life events such as wet weddings that are already booked and funerals. these are the new measures that will take effect nationwide. however, because of the significantly high levels of infection in the central belt, there are stricter restrictions on the following five areas. rated glasgow and clyde, lothian. .. following five areas. rated glasgow and clyde, lothian... in these areas, all licensed venues will be required to close indoors and outdoors. no takers will be permitted. hotels will be permitted

to stay open for residents. in addition, can you see notes, bingo halls will close in these areas for two weeks. contact sports for people aged 18 and over will be suspended for the next two weeks with an exception for professional sports and indoor group exercise activities will not be allowed. current rules will not be allowed. current rules will remain in place for under 18. gems will remain open for individual exercise. 0utdoor life events will not be permitted in these five regions for the next two weeks. finally, we are asking people to live in these five health board areas to avoid public transport u nless areas to avoid public transport unless it is absolutely necessary. for example, going to school or work if home—working is not an option. we are not imposing mandatory travel restrictions at this stage and we are not requesting that people cancel half term breaks that they have planned but in general we had

of advising people who live in greater glasgow and clyde, lothian and forth valley... not to travel outside the health board area that they live in unless they need to. likewise, people in other parts of scotla nd likewise, people in other parts of scotland should not travel to these areas if they don't need to. more details of what i have set out will be available on the scottish government website. i want to set up the reasoning behind these decisions and particularly the focus on hospitality. i know that the vast majority of pubs, bars and restau ra nts majority of pubs, bars and restaurants have worked exceptionally hard over the past few months to ensure the safety of their staff and customers. i'm deeply grateful to them for that. i know how tough these, albeit temporary, restrictions out for the hospitality sector. but the papers published today present why the settings are particularly risky. the r rate has risen above one approximately three weeks after the hospitality sector opened. 0f

weeks after the hospitality sector opened. of the fifth of people in test and protect have visited hospitality sector. this doesn't mean this is absolutely where they got the virus but it does show the risk of these sectors. a place where different households can mix inevitably present a risk. it can be difficult to have good ventilation and it is hard to control the movement of people. the presence of alcohol can affect people's willingness to physically distance. for all of these reasons, significantly restricting licensed premises for 16 days, temporarily removes one of the key opportunities the virus has to jump from household to household. of course, we have already restricted the other of those which is transmission with in our own homes. this is an essential pa rt our own homes. this is an essential part of our efforts to get the our number back under one. —— the r rate

under one. other nations are risk announcing restrictions likely for the same reasons. ireland, germany, france have also announced restrictions in the past few days. we are also trying to balance the public health harm of coronavirus with economic issues. the measures that we are proposing to date will have significant impact on many businesses and i am sorry for that. but since the government is placing an obligation on businesses, we also have an obligation to help them financially. we can announce today that we are making available, immediately, an additional £40 million to support businesses that will be affected by these measures over the next two weeks. we will work with the affected sectors, obviously, especially hospitality, in the coming days to ensure that this money provides the most help to those who most need it and it gets to them as quickly as possible. for the rest of this month, businesses

can also use the uk government's job protection scheme, the furlough scheme, but now requires a significant amount of money from employers. we will explore how we can mitigate this contribution in our own package. as i have indicated, our intention is that these measures will be in place just over two weeks, incorporating three weekends from 6pm on friday for hospitality to sunday the 25th of 0ctober. hospitality to sunday the 25th of october. of course, we will keep the situation under review between now and them and keep parliament updated. we hope that these restrictions already in place and those that i have announced today will stand the increase in new cases. i can't stress enough that thatis cases. i can't stress enough that that is fundamentally down to all of us. the more we comply with all of the restrictions and all of the advice. the more effective they will be. we want these measures to be

temporary. we want to use these two weeks to prepare, protect to help our ability to live alongside this virus. 0ver our ability to live alongside this virus. over the next period would also take the following steps. firstly, we will introduce regulations to extend further the mandatory use of face coverings in intercommunal settings, this will include, for example, staff canteens and corridors in workplaces. we'll ta ke and corridors in workplaces. we'll take action to strengthen compliance with different strands the facts advice, focusing particularly on areas but we know from our own research that compliance is not yet high enough. for example, the to self—isolate. from this weekend across scotland we are asking shops to return to to meet a physical distancing and asking them to reintroduce the mitigations they in the pandemic, for example, one systems in supermarkets. we will also work across all other sectors

to review and where necessary, tighten guidance in operating practices and additional over the next two weeks we will have a further review of our testing strategy. we will set out further steps to expand capacity, which is already well under way, and build resilience and also the further steps will take to extend testing to more people and more groups of people in our society without symptoms. lastly, we need to get the strategic framework which will be adopted to how the virus is spreading. we need to consider how this thing placing other nations but of course the nations will take their own decisions on implementation. subject to parliament's agreement, will put this framework to debate in parliament in the week after the 0ctober recess. i am well aware that

the measures i have outlined today are disruptive to many businesses, especially hospitality businesses. they will be unwelcome to many people across the country. although they are significant as there needs to be to make an impact, they do not represent a lockdown. in fact, they are designed to reduce the likeliness of the future looked on. schools will stay open, learning will continue in our universities and colleges. shops will continue to trade, businesses like manufacturing and construction will continue and these new restrictions designed to last for 16 days. they are intended to be short sharp action to arrest a wearing increase in infection. although they are temporary they are needed. without them, there is a real risk that the virus will run out of control by the end of this month. with them, we hope to slow down the spread. that will help us

keep schools and businesses, including hospitality businesses, open over the winter. fundamentally, it will also save lives. i'm asking everybody across the country to follow these new rules and continue to ta ke follow these new rules and continue to take the other basic steps, difficult but basic steps that we know will help you protect you and each other. please do not visit each other‘s homes for now. work from home if you can. download the protect scotland cap if you can. where face coverings, avoid crowded places, two metre distancing, get tested if you have symptoms. sticking to all of this isn't easy. after seven long months it is harder thanit after seven long months it is harder than it has ever been. but it is essential. it is the best way to look out for each other and now more than ever, we need the spirit of love and solidarity that has served us so well. hard though it is to believe it now, all of these hard

sacrifices we are making this will hasten the brighter days that lie ahead. the pandemic will pass so let's do all we can to help each other through this. let's stick to it and above all let's stick together. i think everyone across the country for everything you are doing. thank you very much. there will now be questions. when the first minutes to study tear 15 days ago to reintroduce national interest restrictions for the first time since lockdown was lifted, i said that the scottish public were steeling themselves for a long hard winter. in the last fortnight, they have not been allowed to visit friends and family in their own home. the number of households a commuting big spaces, both indoor and out have been contained. businesses have remained closed and businesses who are trading again have seen their hours cut. that has beena have seen their hours cut. that has been a bitter pill to swallow for many. but they have done it and they

did this because they were told this would stop the rise in infections. but people are now being asked to give up more. they see that cases are rising that they are willing to act and stick by the rules and do their bit. but we need to acknowledge that the first minister's announcement today is putting further massive restrictions on people's lives and livelihoods. in weeks ahead, the whole country will be in the firing line, but perhaps no more so than scotland's hospitality sector. like other small businesses, they are looking to the first minute for a clear statement of support. the bare minimum that those in business expect is for the scottish government to set out packages for new restrictions. we have had the headline figures today but we don't have what small businesses really need, the details. they can't afford to wait. many are running on empty. all reserves are gone. what they want to know today is, how much can a business apply for, how do they apply and how long

will it take for the many to reach them? these are all perfectly legitimate points and questions. can i say legitimate points and questions. can isayi legitimate points and questions. can i say i know how tough this is for people and i am aware that every single decision i take... i am aware that these are horrendous decisions to take. but this is nothing compared to how difficult it is to live with the consequences of them. there is not a moment of any guy that this is not very much in my mind. 0n hospitality... we see a rise in infections across infections across the uk, across europe, across the world. this is an accelerating global pandemic. this is incredibly difficult and it feels incredibly difficult and it feels incredibly difficult for people right now. it is important not to do when but it is important not to do when but it is equally important not to underplay the progress that we have made that allows us to have much more freedom now than we did in

lockdown early in the year. it is important that we stick with these restrictions in order to preserve that. it is also important for me to pay tribute to and on behalf of people across the country, the test and protect teens who are doing so much work across every part of scotla nd much work across every part of scotland to bear the strain of the virus. this is a significant step forward from earlier in the year. in terms of hospitality, and it's forward from earlier in the year. in terms of hospitality, and its two points and they refer to small businesses in particular. firstly, i am conscious, this is not intended asa am conscious, this is not intended as a criticism of any other government's decisions, because we have done it to some extent as well with the 10p curfew. there has been an effort to keep small businesses open but restrict what they can do. we wa nt open but restrict what they can do. we want to get them into a

position... we have decided to take a more honest position today and put further restrictions on hospitality but offer significant additional financial help. i think that is more honest and more straightforward way of treating the sector at this time. the question about the packages is often an important one. i've made clear today that there will be more significant funding available. i looked yesterday at different options to how this money could be allocated. i decided to take a day or so after this announcement to allow consultation with the sector so that we can hear from van, how they think this money should be best allocated. the priorities for it and what packages would best meet their needs. that is not a process that i wa nt to ta ke needs. that is not a process that i want to take a long time but i think it is important for the sector to have that input. as we did earlier with aberdeen we want that many to

flow quickly. it is important to recognise that where there have been restrictions on hospitality over recent weeks and all parts of the uk, it hasn't come with additional financial support for we want the businesses to feel the support in the next two weeks. the scottish hospitality sector is not sodom and gomorrah and should not be treated as such. why doesn't the first minister consider shutting down businesses that are not complying with restrictions instead of shutting down every business, serving 70% of the population including those who are fully complying? where is the evidence that current virus is spreading in all hospitality settings to warrant all hospitality settings to warrant a blanket ban on all of these establishments? in the first

minister explain the terms of the review after the initial 16 days and come the first minister outlined how the £40 million mitigation the government is proposing for those hospitality businesses. shutdown will be distributed if she is going to have a consultation will she speak to the trade unions? which she ta ke speak to the trade unions? which she take into account that every single worker, as well as every single business, should be covered for all of that losses including those with young workers, many of whom are on minimum hours or zero—hour co ntra cts ? minimum hours or zero—hour contracts? i will touch on the financial part of this question. i think my answers to the previous question answers the question. we wa nt to question answers the question. we want to talk to the sector to know that we as we allocate that many it will best help the businesses affected. i think that is important. let me stress that we are digging deep to provide the support because we think it is the right and

necessary thing to do, given the restrictions that are inevitably being announced today. we also seeking with the uk government for additional support to be available across the four nations. the other devolved nations are pressing this point again. because our budget is finite and it is not possible for us to continue to take these compensatory steps beyond where we are right now. of course, we talk to the trade unions, we will talk to the trade unions, we will talk to the trade unions and everything we do. of course, we want to make sure this mini gets to businesses as quickly and effectively as possible. 0n the point of evidence, i don't know if richard leonard has an opportunity, possibly not because i think it was published before the statement today, the evidence paper that has been prepared and published looks at the evidence that we are putting forward for the focus of

these restrictions. this is not hospitality‘s fault. nobody is pointing the finger of blame. two things i think it is important to point out. one is that in we cannot in any case of the virus... test and protect seas where people have been. that does not necessarily mean if they have been to a pub or a restau ra nt they have been to a pub or a restaurant that they got it there. but it is an exposure and it is summer weather could have got it or transmitted it. because of some of the characteristics of hospitality, sometimes, poor ventilation, the characteristics of hospitality, sometimes, poorventilation, places we re sometimes, poorventilation, places were people, particularly with alcohol and mixing more not meeting social distancing. even if premises are making an effort to comply, as the vast majority are, these are high—risk settings in terms of the virus transmitting. if we want to make a big impact on arresting this

rise in cases, there are two things that my advisers say we have to do. limit interactions between households in domestic settings, that's what we have done. and limit interaction between people generally in other settings where they are more likely to come together and that, includes has clarity. none of this is easy or straightforward. there are no straightforward, easy solutions to any of this. but we must arrest this increase in order to have and retain as much normality for individuals and businesses as we go forward deep into the winter. lastly, on review i have firm intention that these measures will be lifted at the end of two weeks. i am not saying i will first come back to parliament and say that, they will be lifted at the end of the two—week period, but obviously it stands to reason that we will monitor the virus between now and to learn and if there are any changes to any of that, we will report to

parliament. 0ur to any of that, we will report to parliament. our intention is that these are time measures. everybody will recognise that these new restrictions are regrettable. but in the face of the rising number of cases, i believe they are necessary. the situation does reinforce the need for continued support for people's incomes. for worker's incomes not just people's incomes. for worker's incomes notjust businesses. the work supports team is not a good replacement for furlough. especially for scotland's particular circumstances. i would like the minister to ensure that the £40 million is not only available for business owners but also support the incomes of the employees and hospitality businesses whose incomes will be infected. i want to note as well, the success that people around the world have seen from the country

of new zealand by showing strong leadership, leadership which i think we should follow. they've achieved, for the second time, elimination of community circulation of this virus. they are now able to lift restrictions because they were imposed quickly and clearly, enough to drive down infections. this is a lesson that we and other countries could ship take it seriously. also the review that first minister has announced, this is an issue that the greens have raised with the scottish government. we are all aware of the shortcomings of the uk testing systems. can the first minister tell us more about the work being done to build capacity in nhs scotland to conduct that testing and does she agree that the review she has just announced must look at a wider role for regular, routine testing for groups within the population? let me

address each of these points. firstly on support for workers as opposed to just support for businesses. i absolutely agree. i specifically said my statement that one of the things we wanted to talk to businesses about is ensuring that our financial to businesses about is ensuring that ourfinancial package to businesses about is ensuring that our financial package can help with is the contribution businesses have to make to the job retention scheme, which was greater than it was in weeks gone by. businesses can, for the rest of this month, make use of that scheme but they have to pay a bigger contribution. we hope that that will help make a contribution to that and that will by extension help workers. it is absolutely imperative though that we see further action from the uk government on support for wages, for businesses who will continue to be affected by the effects of covert. but also, further financial support for not just scotland but also, further financial support for notjust scotland but for wales, northern ireland and england. i

would say this week there have been some positive discussions on a four nations basis about that and i would hope that we would see progress in the not—too—distant future. in the point about new zealand, on one level i very much agree. i think there is a lot to admire but new zealand generally and about the current leadership. i probably shouldn't go further on that because they're having shouldn't go further on that because they‘ re having an shouldn't go further on that because they're having an election at the moment. but new zealand has not been without its trade—offs. every country is making trade—offs and right now, yes, new zealand has a different approach domestically but its borders are completely closed. you cannot come in or out of new zealand without very very strict quarantine. we are not geographically new zealand, obviously and there are different issues at play in terms of scotland's integration, not just with other parts of the uk but with europe more generally. no two countries are identical. we look to learn from all countries where we

can but we have to adapt to our own circumstances and that is what we are seeking to do. lastly, on testing we are on nhs capacity, we are in the process of creating a number of regional hubs which will significantly increase nhs capacity. we are also transferring care home testing to the nhs in order to give us more capacity through to the uk system but the increased nhs capacity will give us more scope to expand. we are clinically advised regularly routine testing of asymptomatic groups in the population. we are looking at further groups in the nhs but in the wider population as well. it is important that that is clinically advised because my clinical advisers would say it does not always make sense to do in every part of the population but once we have carried out the review i referred to, we will update parliament further on the next steps will take.|j

will update parliament further on the next steps will take. i have personally complimented the first minister on her communications and continue to support the cautious approach that like so many people across the country, i am a frustrated and disappointed. why have we heard rumours and hints of greater restrictions for weeks but no upfront evidence or debate? then this new set of complex measures to be rushed through in a matter of days, with little evidence of the likely impact. what has happened to the route map and what now for the elimination strategy? people made sacrifices for longer here but the government did not use this extra time while to get ready for this. for instance, why is taken until now to agree to asymptomatic testing? to many people, there is no longer feels like a strategy but a series

of major reactions. i want to work with the first minister to get this right. but we do need a new route map endorsed by this parliament that eve ryo ne map endorsed by this parliament that everyone can understand. was she agree to that? not only will agree to this but i announced in my statement that we will bring out new strategic framework for debate and all for uk nations are working on similar approaches right now. what we hope to do is align in term of that strategic framework but then it will be down to each of us to decide what levels of it are implemented in each nation or in different parts of the nation. that'll come to parliament in the week after the 0ctober recess. i understand that people are frustrated and depressed. i share the frustration and depression about all of this situation although i understand it is much harderfor many people across the country than it is for

me. but as i keep saying, statement of the obvious and a global pandemic,... 0n the specific points raised, which are of course, legitimate, i constantly have a debate in my own mind about the balance strike between the open debate, the fact is that are taken into account. that can learn leads to speculation running away from us. again, that is understandable. the alternative to that is to keep it all to ourselves and can stay and announce things without open discussion of the challenges. we will continue to try to get that balance right. increasingly, measures are complex but again there are difficult balances. they can be simple and hard all you can be a bit more targeted but recognise that the price of that is a bit more complex.

we had to do in ourjudgment what we get to the central bouts today. the simple thing to do would be apply that to the country but that would have been hard for the non—central belt of the country. i've tried to articulate the elimination strategy andi articulate the elimination strategy and i will have a brief go again. it isi and i will have a brief go again. it is i was a strategy to eliminate, in terms of getting the violent to the lowest possible level. the challenges of doing that ebb and flow, depending on the range of restrictions you have in place and are prepared to live with. of course, we now have the winter effect. it is still our objective and we are now signed up across the four nations of the uk to a strategy which is about suppressing the virus. that's why we're putting additional restrictions in place. if we we re additional restrictions in place. if we were happy to let the virus spread with its own free will, we wouldn't be doing that. it's because we wa nt wouldn't be doing that. it's because we want to suppress and because we suppress so far over the summer. although we are in a difficult situation now, we are not in an

out—of—control situation which we would be already had we not suppress so far already in the summer. lastly on asymptomatic, we do set test asymptomatic groups. we test care home workers. we test groups of nhs staff. we do surveillance testing as well. what we will do now, which we have always intended to do is, driven by clinical advice, look at where we can go next to extend testing into asymptomatic groups of the population. as i said, we will update on that once we have had the opportunity to do the review.

the evidence makes a compelling case for action and today's case numbers show sadly that there is indeed a need to act urgently. is the first minister therefore content the package of measures she has announced today go far enough with a view to seeking to bring the virus under control? i would just mention by way of context that for example it was announced this afternoon that in brussels, all pubs and all cafes are to close completely for one month. annabel is absolutely right in what she has said about brussels. the republic of ireland earlier this week effectively decided to close hospitality certainly indoors in all parts of the republic, i think in dublin they have also closed outdoors, so we are not out of step. many countries are having to take these really difficult decisions and i think it is better to be firm in taking them and to take them early to try to arrest the spread of the virus than to wait longer and find it is much more difficult to do. in terms of annabel‘s question about am i confident this will get the virus under control? what we are seeking to do with the very restricted

measures that are in place, both in terms of household interaction and now hospitality is reduce the risk of transmission in the highest risk settings, and that is very much about arresting the growth in cases and starting to bring them back under control. but i would say this, for that to succeed and for us to bring the virus back under control and keep it there, it will take the ongoing efforts of all of us, not just these particular restrictions but all of us making sure we continue to work from home if possible, that we make sure we comply with all of the aspects of test and protect, self isolation in particular, and we follow all of the other strands of the campaign, and we will be seeking strengthen compliances one of our other objectives over this next two week period. we will leave holyrood for now. my goodness, a huge amount to digest and react to, major announcements from scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon. we will be discussing the politics of all of

that in a moment. we will talk to the leader of the scottish conservatives and professor hugh pennington for his reaction to those major announcements that take effect in scotland from friday. before i talk to anyone, let's just give you a recap. a huge amount of detail but let's go over the main restrictions from six o'clock this friday evening. pu bs, restau ra nts a nd cafes are barred from selling alcohol indoors until sunday 25 0ctober. 0utdoor bars, restaurants and cafes will be allowed to remain open up until 10pm and will be allowed to sell alcohol up until that time. these establishments can open indoors between the hours of 6am and 6pm for food and non—alcoholic drinks only.

there are further restrictions for an awful lot of people living in the central belt. in five scottish health board areas across the central belt, greater glasgow & clyde, lanarkshire, ayrshire & arran, lothian and forth valley pubs, restaurants and cafes must shut and will only be open for takeaway only. those establishments can sell take away but that is all. this area is around 3.4 million people. nicola sturgeon said £40 million would be available for businesses affected by the new restrictions. people in the central belt have been asked to avoid public transport wherever possible. the announcement was made as the first minister said a further 1,054 people had tested positive

for covid in the last 24 hours. the public transport restriction did not affect going to work or going to school. let's just assess everything we have heard from the first minister. 0ur scotland correspondent andrew kerr is in glasgow. he was listening to all of that. very keen to stress that it is not education, it is not manufacturing and construction, but my goodness these are major restrictions on hospitality, aren't they? that's right, a short sharp shock on scottish hospitality from the first minister. nicola sturgeon was speaking about a scientific paper prepared by the government's chief medical advisors and scientific advisers that charted the spread of the virus, the worrying spread, and this has been done to try to arrest

that, because they were warned that actually there would be a return to the peak level of the virus by the end of the month if these types of restrictions were not put in place, and hospitality targeted for the simple reason that that is where households meet, and particularly with alcohol people perhaps relax a bit more and do not obey the restrictions as much. but yes, this isa restrictions as much. but yes, this is a big measure here, really being put in place, and this particular concern about that great swathes of central scotland, the five health board areas that you mentioned, really a local lockdown in a sense of pubs and restaurants, hospitality in that area, with other measures of course for the rest of scotland there. so quite a shock for the hospitality industry at these quite severe measures. nicola sturgeon did say that money was being made available for areas for businesses that are affected. now, how much do we know about how beneficial this

will be, how business owners are going to be able to access these funds? is there more detail to come on the financial package? so before we had the furlough scheme from the united kingdom government, but now this is money from the scottish government, and they are promising £40 million to the hospitality industry. ms sturgeon was facing questions and that from the scottish conservative group leader at holyrood, ruth davidson. she was saying how much will they get, how do you apply and how long do you have to wait for the money? nicola sturgeon was saying she will be consulting with the hospitality industry. richard leonard from scottish labour had similar concerns too, though he was questioning why some hospitality places that had been adhering to the measures were being targeted in this way. he said that hospitality is not all of sodom and gomorrah, and in fact willie rennie, the scottish lib dems

leader, questioning the entire strategy, calling it rushed through, and why we are having these quite complex measures based on little evidence, but i think there will be the real concern, where the real questions will be putting to the first minister about how hospitality will be funded and if people's jobs will be funded and if people's jobs will be funded and if people's jobs will be properly protected. nicola sturgeon says discussions are continuing with the uk government about potentially other schemes as well. andrew, for now, thank you much indeed. andrew kerr in glasgow. we will talk about the science in a moment, let's stay with the politics right now though. douglas rossjoins me, leader of the scottish conservatives. good afternoon, are these measures necessary, do you feel? what we have seen in scotland is an increase in the number of people testing positive for covid—19, over 1000 new cases in the la st 24 covid—19, over 1000 new cases in the last 24 hours, more people in hospital, more people in intensive ca re hospital, more people in intensive care and sadly in the last 24 hours another person has died as a result

of covid—19, a family in mourning, andl of covid—19, a family in mourning, and i want to express my deepest condolences and sympathies with anyone who has lost a loved one during this pandemic and it is clear the infection is still amongst us and people are still sadly losing their lives as a result of this virus. so is nicola sturgeon doing the right thing then? well, what we have seen from the first minister is more restrictions on hospitality, and yet again no information, no clarity on how this vitally important sector for scotland will be supported. they have announced £40 million but no idea how that will be distributed, how people can apply for it, when you can get it, and it seems yet again business is the last thing the scottish government thinks. we need to get out in front of these things, the health measures have been widely trailed and leaked through the scottish government for several days now, yet we are still being told the industry will now be consulted. the federation of small businesses in scotland yesterday said we needed to

hear the plans for support for businesses at the same time and once again scottish government has let businesses down by announcing restrictions but no clarity how businesses can get support through this period. is your contention that these measures, they should have been a delay to these measures until the financial side of the issue was tied down? well, the financial side of the issue should have been ready to go is the same time as any restrictions introduced, it is once again an afterthought of the scottish government to support businesses. i've been saying throughout this pandemic we have to respond to both the health emergency and the economic emergency, and i had a meeting with tourism leaders across scotland last night, a virtual meeting, and they were all saying how worried they were about any potential restrictions and about the lack of clarity in any financial support. all they got today was to be told their businesses were going to shut down be told their businesses were going to shutdown or have further restrictions imposed from friday

evening, but with no idea how they can get the vital support to protect jobs and their businesses over the next two weeks and three weekends. from the health perspective, was there any other choice, though, than to do what nicola sturgeon has just announced ? to do what nicola sturgeon has just announced? what we are seeing is further restrictions on other parts of europe, that was outlined by the first minister in belgium, france, the republic of ireland, so we have to look at the evidence, and that has been published this afternoon. i am ona has been published this afternoon. i am on a call with the chief health medical officer later this evening to go into further detail on the evidence they have provided to the scottish government. i welcome the fa ct scottish government. i welcome the fact that we are now getting more evidence around these decisions, but ultimately this comes down to how we can support these businesses through these further restrictions, right across scotland the hospitality sector has been dealt a heavy blow, in terms of what they are going to face over the next few weeks and i just think it is unacceptable that

once again the scottish covenant have failed to put businesses first and prepare them for the tough restrictions they now have to follow. do you welcome the fact education is unaffected? nicola sturgeon was adamant that schools, colleges, universities must continue. yes, we have seen so far during this pandemic that the scottish government have a very poor re cord scottish government have a very poor record in protecting the educational system, whether it was through their plans for applied learning, whether quickly you turn over all the exams fiasco, or students going back to halls of residence when another lack of clarity and lack of detail from the scottish government. sol welcome the fact that students and young people can continue to learn after the school holidays in october. thank you, let's talk to professor hugh pennington. aberdeen university. from your perspective,

are these appropriate measures that have just been announced ? are these appropriate measures that have just been announced? yes, are these appropriate measures that havejust been announced? yes, very appropriate. i was puzzled for quite appropriate. i was puzzled for quite a long time why in glasgow and the surrounding health boards, the central belt, when infection case numbers were going up really quite markedly, and inexorably, as it were, why pubs weren't being looked at in much more detail earlier, because we know, and we know even from places like new zealand that pubs are good places for the virus to get about. and of course it is not just being to get about. and of course it is notjust being inside, it is also drinking as well, where social distancing goes out the window, and all that kind of thing. so it is basically what we are seeing today isa basically what we are seeing today is a circuit breaker for the central belt, very tough on the hospitality industry, but i'm afraid it was inevitable. just because of those case numbers. nearly 80% of the new cases in scotland yesterday were in the central belt. and this is

because, you are touching on this, but this is because we know a lot now about, well, we know more about how the virus spreads and we are talking about indoor spaces where there is poor ventilation? absolutely. it is all very well to say household shouldn't meet with other households, but where do they do that? they are not generally speaking going next door to have a chat, they are going to a pub or a restau ra nt chat, they are going to a pub or a restaurant and that kind of thing. and then of course adding in the alcohol, that increases the likelihood of people getting close together and all that kind of thing, and poor ventilation. i don't think pubs in glasgow and edinburgh necessarily worry too much about the ventilation most of the time, for good reason, but there it is. it is just a fact of virology, this is a good place for the virus to get about and if somebody goes in there who is infected, and i was very pleased to hear nicola sturgeon talking about doing much more

testing on a symptomatic, because a lot of people have the virus, don't know they have it, feel fine, and feel infectious. the only way you can spread —— stop spreading it in a pub unfortunately is to close the pub. you have heard nicola sturgeon very much say she wants to keep education going, what about the arguments that at university or couege arguments that at university or college level you have perhaps got a lot of young people living together, they might be in a hall of residence, and that they are indoors, how well ventilated are those halls of residence, do you have a query around that? absolutely, there has been an enormous amount in universities, scotla nd enormous amount in universities, scotland have led the way in the uk, in terms of university outbreaks, because our universities went back a bit earlier than in england. if you look at the united states, they have had 330,000, the last time i looked, 330,000 positive students in the us in universities, more than 1000

universities infected, so we knew this was going to happen if you looked at other countries, and i was quite surprised there wasn't much mention of the fact that many university courses can be done online, in fact they are being done online, in fact they are being done online, they had to go backjust have an online course. now there are some courses like medicine, veterinary medicine, engineering, chemistry and so on where you have to be there to do practical work and practical classes, and all that kind of thing, exceptions for them. but i was slightly surprised that, 0k, let the students do what students do, which is socially interacting. that is one of the benefits of going to university, meeting your peers and all that kind of thing. so i was slightly surprised about no mention of doing much more online teaching for a goodly proportion of the university community. but it is probably too late, because we have had these enormous outbreaks in all

the university towns in scotland running for weeks, and that's one of the reasons why the case numbers have shot up. now unfortunately the virus is dribbling out, it is spreading to older people in the community. a quick final thought if i may, if we look outside scotland, are you expecting, would you expect, would you advocate these sort of measures coming in in some other areas? we have talked a lot about parts of northern england, where this would be beneficial as well, the sorts of things nicola sturgeon has unveiled today? yes, i think it isa has unveiled today? yes, i think it is a model to follow, and we will have to see how well it works, which isa have to see how well it works, which is a good thing. i was slightly puzzled it is only for two weeks, but that is the circuit breaker approach, because two weeks is a pretty short time, considering that some people don't fall ill for ten days after they have been exposed to the virus, to find out how it's going, but nevertheless it is going to be reviewed, if it works, if the number of cases stops going up, and

hopefully goes down, it will be a very good model to follow for those parts of england, which have a similar problem to the central belt. professor hugh pennington, thank you very much for your thoughts. we promised we would speak to someone, of course we want to speak to people who are going to be hit by all of these major announcements. let's speak to steve whiting, the owner of the halfway house pub in edinburgh. it is in fact the smallest in edinburgh, you may well know it. it has been shut since the start of lockdown as a result. steve, thanks so much for waiting to talk to us. goodness, your reaction to everything nicola sturgeon has been talking about. i believe these latest measures were inevitable. they have been flagged up with the increasing numbers of infections that this type of measures were going to be introduced, and so i really wasn't surprised an hour or so ago when i had these measures that will result in all pubs in the

central belt being closed down two weeks from friday tea—time i believe. and you will know a lot of people i would assume who are directly affected by this, you must know an awful lot of business owners in yourline of know an awful lot of business owners in your line of work? absolutely. it has been an incredibly difficult time for the hospitality sector. first of all, we had the social distancing, then we had the curfew, now there is going to be a two—week shutdown. any number of problems with the staffing situation, with the ordering, this is going to mean cafes, pubs losing stock and having to start up all over again and further uncertainties about when they will be able to open and for how long. it's just a they will be able to open and for how long. it'sjust a nightmare they will be able to open and for how long. it's just a nightmare for hospitality. and you have been shut for such a long time. how have you managed financially, how much government assistance have you been able to access? we had a government

grant within about a month of the beginning of the lockdown. but heading into the winter now, the hospitality sector, small businesses, are going to need further financial support. with regards to staff, we have all heard stories about staff who were on furlough and have now been made redundant coming into the lockdown period. i had five staff, how to make 3d redundant at the end of august. i got two that i've still got on furlough at the moment which i'm contributing towards. that's due to end at the end of this month, so going forward from then, i'm still not quite sure what i'm going to be doing. the first minister announced 40 million in help directly from the scottish government, do you have any sense yet as to whether you will be eligible for some more help?|j

eligible for some more help?” certainly hope we will be eligible for some more help and i certainly need it, but no details have come through yet. so fingers crossed on that one. steve whiting, thank you so much, we wish you all the best, owner of the halfway house pub in edinburgh. thank you so much. the number of cases in the north of england remain high. 0ur correspondence fiona trott has been following the situation in newcastle and explained more about what's happening there. here, we are seeing a rise in cases, hospital admissions and questions over whether restrictions are working. an example, restrictions are working. an exa m ple, latest restrictions are working. an example, latest figures suggest eight of the ten worst affected areas in the uk are here in the north of england. manchester has the highest rate of infection. latest figures suggest. 0ver highest rate of infection. latest figures suggest. over 3000 cases in the past week alone. when it comes

to hospital admissions, we have seen thatjump, to hospital admissions, we have seen that jump, haven't we, to hospital admissions, we have seen thatjump, haven't we, by about to hospital admissions, we have seen that jump, haven't we, by about a quarter in england's hospitals in just one day. again, two thirds of those hospital admissions in the north of england. now in some of those areas, there are tougher restrictions. here in the northeast for example you cannot socialise in any setting unless you are in a support bubble and yet you have the leaders of councils here in the north, labour councils, leads macro, all that writing a letter to the health secretary —— leeds, saying restrictions are not working, we wa nt restrictions are not working, we want more autonomy, and also that will be because we know there may be different spikes in different parts of the north for different reasons. it may be down to deprivation, student numbers, the department of health and social care saying it is working very closely when it comes to interventions. professorjohn evans who advises the government on

coronavirus response has had more stringent national lockdown measures are needed. you get the sense here in the north more targeted measures will be supported. but not stricter measures. here in the north—east for example, the highest unemployment rate in the uk. it doesn't want stricter rules. fiona trott there in newcastle, she was speaking before that address by scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon. there are suggestions that more restrictions may be introduced in nottingham, where infections have surged. here's our correspondent phil mackie. the figures went up from about 70 cases per 100,000 people to 440 in the week up until the 2nd of 0ctober. that's partly due to the adjustment of those additional cases that weren't originally included in the public health england data. so that has made some of the difference but can't account for all of it and the outbreak isn't just but can't account for all of it and the outbreak isn'tjust concerned to the outbreak isn'tjust concerned to the city but some of the neighbouring boroughs like rushcliffe as well. so nottingham is

probably the next big city to go into some of these additional measures. it will start to experience the kind of life that they have been living up in those big north—eastern cities fairly soon. in fact, the director of public health he has only said that is likely to happen. we expect the announcement to come tomorrow because every week there is a government meeting with the department of health and local authorities and after those announcements are made. just to give you a sense of how big the outbreak is here, we are in lenton, one of the big areas where there is a particularly large outbreak at the moment, lots of students live around here, just around the corner there, there is a post box where the royal mail has had to put extra staff on four collections because so many of these swabs are being posted there at the moment, the postbox is getting full. people in nottingham are bracing themselves for extra restrictions. they will probably hear what they are tomorrow. phil mackie in nottingham. much coming up from 4pm, continuing reaction to those restrictions just announced from 4pm, continuing reaction to those restrictionsjust announced by scotland's first minister, and that

is the session at holyrood i think we are looking at, that is because we are looking at, that is because we are looking at, that is because we are waiting to hear in the next little while from john swinney as well, who is expected to announce what is going to be done about exams next year. so that's coming up too, thatis next year. so that's coming up too, that is all the coverage from holyrood, major changes for millions of people in scotland, starting new restrictions starting 6pm friday evening. much more on all of that coming up from 4pm, with rebecca jones. i will leave you with a look at the weather prospects with helen willetts. good afternoon. we have seen fewer showers on the whole through this afternoon. a beautiful shot here of whitby, taken in the sunshine, not too far away, the autumnal colours coming through in leeds, but we have had some showers, particularly in the north but also across the south of wales. porthcawl here in bridgend seeing that beautiful rainbow. as we say, most of the show is now confined to the north because further south the cloud is starting to fill in, this

length of cloud sticking out in the atla ntic length of cloud sticking out in the atlantic is a developing area of low pressure, set to bring us our next bill of windy weather. so where we have the sunshine, it will tend to diminish, as this cloud rolls in and continues its progress in off the atla ntic continues its progress in off the atlantic through the rest of the afternoon. by the evening it will look quite wet through some areas, but still pleasantly warm if you are in the sunshine. but as well as the wetter weather, the winds will strengthen, again, pushing this wetter weather in across the south—west of england, wales and northern ireland for the beginning of the evening rush hour, whilst we continue with the sunshine further north. but though showers particularly for the north and north—west of scotland, but many other parts of scotland seeing the drier weather. but it looks, as i say, really quite wet through the evening, across not just say, really quite wet through the evening, across notjust northern ireland and the south of england but much of england and wales as well. so that will hold the temperatures up, the cloud, the rain and indeed that stronger wind, while further north with the light winds across scotla nd north with the light winds across scotland we could see temperatures dipping towards freezing in the glens. that rain by morning starting

to move away, it drags its heels in the south and still could be quite here, with some quite lively downpours, but as it falls away, the afternoon looks drier, brighter, more sunshine. by that stage, the sunshine in the north replaced by more showers. but between those, temperatures will still get to the mid—teens, about where they should be for the beginning of october. some uncertainty regarding friday. it looks as though we will see another area of low pressure move m, another area of low pressure move in, another area of rain, another area of low pressure move in, anotherarea of rain, this another area of low pressure move in, another area of rain, this time potentially further north but gradually through the day it works further southwards, showers will follow on behind and quite a chilly wind starts to set in. temperatures won't be quite so high across scotla nd won't be quite so high across scotland and even further south because of the rain as well they will be down a degree or two by the end of friday. as for the weekend, we are getting quite a brisk week —— micro wind from the north so feeling cooler for all of us but a lot of dry weather to be found. goodbye.

this is bbc news i'm rebecca jones. the headlines all pubs and restaurants across central scotland will close for 16 days from 6pm on friday under new measures aimed at tackling a surge in coronavirus cases. the new rules apply across the central belt — which includes glasgow and edinburgh. in other areas, venues will only be able to sell alcohol outdoors until 10pm. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon says she wants to avoid a full winter lockdown we hope to slow down the spread. that will help us keep schools and businesses open over the winter.

a major supplier of coronavirus swabs and cancer tests to the nhs warns it's experiencing significant distribution problems. how dangerous are coronavirus droplets in the air? the ground—breaking technology being used by a british team to examine particles as they float through the atmosphere. could tonight be the most important us vice presidential debate in history? mike pence and kamala harris prepare to go head to head on live tv. and tributes have been pouring in for rock legend eddie van halen, who's died at the age of 65. the first minister of scotland nicola sturgeon has announced a further tightening

of coronavirus restrictions across scotland. from 6pm this friday pubs, restau ra nts a nd cafes are barred from selling alcohol indoors until sunday 25 0ctober 0utdoor bars, restaurants and cafes will be 0utdoor bars, restaurants and cafes will be allowed to remain open up until 10pm and will be allowed to sell alcohol up until that time. these establishments can open indoors between the hours of 6am and 6pm for food and nonalcoholic drinks only. in five scottish health board areas across the central belt; greater glasgow & clyde, lanarkshire, ayrshire & arran, lothian and forth valley pubs, restaurants and cafes must shut and will only be open for takeaway only. this area is around to 3.4 million people. nicola sturgeon said £40 million would be available for businesses affected by the new restrictions.

and, people in the central belt have been asked to avoid public transport wherever possible. the announcement was made as the first minister said a further 1,054 people had tested positive for covid in the last 24 hours. nicola sturgeon said the new measures were necessary to try and stop the rapid spread of the virus. we are not proposing another lockdown at this stage. not even on a temporary basis. we are not going to be asking you to stay inside your own homes. we are not about to impose travel restrictions on the whole of the country. we are not about to shut down the entire economy. we are not about to halt the re—mobilisation of the nhs. apart from the october holidays, which are already planned, we are not proposing to close schools. let's return to the scottish parliament where scotland's education secretary john swinney is giving a statement on the plans for next year's exams.

stop the virus running out of control and to save lives. this is not, however, a turn to the spring. we are not closing schools and instead, keeping them open is the priority. we know how disruptive coronavirus is to the awarding of national qualifications. we have found that schools were closed without time to prepare. exams could not go ahead. there was no ready—made solution, we saw that from the fact that the rest of the united kingdom faced similar difficulties. in setting out our solution, we did not get it right for all young people. we apologised and acted to fix the situation. this year, we have more time to prepare but some things are still the same. the virus remains with us, it is still as infectious. we cannot plan for the business as usual. that is

not possible. exams would start back in may, when schools were still clothed test so pupils have lost teaching time. we cannot predict how much time will be lost to coronavirus in the coming months. we don't know what spring and summer will look like in terms of the public health position. what we can do is three things. we can learn from last year, we can consult our teachers, and we can listen to our experts. every decision we take, we can build an approach that recognises the hard work of individual pupils fairly and consistently. it must be an approach that does not face unfair burdens on them. all the teachers. it has to have the support of the education system. that is what we have done in recent weeks and the progress we have made and the conclusions we have made and the conclusions we have reached i will now set out. i

commissioned two key pieces of work. i asked the review to be expanded to include the question of the roles exams should play in a modern educational system. that will go forward in the coming months. in the coming year, i asked for an independent review to be carried out following the cancellation of the exams. the review has been submitted andi exams. the review has been submitted and i would like to thank the team behind the review. and particularly for the pace it has been completed. the initial proposals have been set out for modifications to assessments in 2021 and it is fair to say they have never seen a more extensive response. i would like to thank eve ryo ne response. i would like to thank everyone who took the time to engage with this work. i have consulted with this work. i have consulted with young people, including pupils in the senior players who i have

spent valuable time within discussion last thursday. we have heard the opinions of teachers and colleges and universities. we have discussed with people across our education including the qualification contingency groups. i have also consulted scientific experts. we are designing an awarding system we sqa and education scotland, our schools and education systems. the broader picture is one ofan systems. the broader picture is one of an education system that has successfully returned to full—time learning. despite the virus, attendance remains around 93% for pupils. the additional safety measures are mitigations which we recommended and teachers and staff have worked so hard to put in place are working well. we have now engaged with more than 500 schools with the implication of the

coronavirus guidance. my thanks go to everyone on the exceptional effo rts to everyone on the exceptional efforts to reopen schools and deliver face—to—face education safely. despite this progress, the virus remains the same. the risk remains that they could be further disruption for pupils, schools and colleges during the course of this academic year. it is in this context that i have found the clear recommendations professor priestley makes regarding 21 of great assistance to me in making these decisions. due to the level of disruption already caused by covert mac and the likely disruption faced by our pupils this year, a full exam diet is too big a risk to take. it would not be fair. i have asked the chief examining officer to take an alternative approach to accreditation in 2021 rather than the usual exams. the alternative approach will be based on two key

recommendations by professor mark priestley, these recommendations are the suspension of the national five examinations diet with qualifications awarded on the basis of centre estimations based on assessments. secondly, a proportionate system for moderation of centre paste assessment. the alternative approach will be based on teacherjudgment, alternative approach will be based on teacher judgment, supported alternative approach will be based on teacherjudgment, supported by assessment resources and quality assurance. this will include, where possible, specifying between two and four pieces of work per subject which will form the basis of arriving at the final reward. there will be evidence guided on... the focus will be on quality. rather than quantity. the key pieces of work that young people will need com plete

work that young people will need complete will have guidance. the sqa will work with education scotland, local authorities, regional improvement collaboratives and others to support a local and national approach to quality assurance, including the provision, provision of assessment resources. the sqa will work with colleges and schools. this will include the sqa looking at a sample of work within each school and college and feeding back to the teachers and lecturers to ensure standards are maintained. the sqa will build the system of quality assurance in collaboration with the education system, drawing on its existing expertise. put simply, and a in aberdeen has to be the same anywhere else. i want to make clear what will not happen. first and foremost, awards will not be given or taken away on the basis

ofa be given or taken away on the basis of a statistical model or on a school's past performance. there will be no algorithm. awards will be based on the progress of our young people and their work. this work and thejudgment of people and their work. this work and the judgment of a teacher, supported by appropriate quality assurance to maintain standards will be evidence on which grades are based. in taking this decision on national five exams, we need to think about hires and advanced highers. the national fives constitute more than all, more than half exams taken. not having these exams significantly reduces these exams significantly reduces the risk of not having exams as a whole. it means we can build an exam diet for highers and advanced highers to be as safe as it can be. we will use all the coronavirus mitigations, including physical distancing and enhanced cleaning. that means that the exams determining the result that most people leave schools with, the exams

that determine most people's future pass into work, college or university, can go ahead as long as public health guidance allows it. it also means we can use the time freed up also means we can use the time freed up in the school year by cancelling the national five exams to make up some of the time that pupils lost last year. as a result, i can confirm that the higher and advanced higher exams will begin on the 13th of may, later than normal and give pupils approximately two weeks of the learning time they lost this year. certification date will remain as the 10th of august. this remaining time in conjunction with the course assessment modifications that the sqa have made, following its consultation, give the greatest chances of these exams being implemented fairly. the presiding officer, while making steps that make space for hire and advanced higher exams next year, i am acutely aware that there is no way of knowing what circumstances we will face at that point. to avoid

decisions being made in extremis, as had to be the case this year, a contingency plan will be developed for these exams. this will include key checkpoints up to the february break to assess public health advice and in the light of that, of our plans. if necessary, we will award higher and advanced higher courses based on teacher professional judgment, supported by sqa quality assurance taking in account classroom evidence, including prelims where appropriate. in deciding the way forward for this yea r‘s deciding the way forward for this year's exams, deciding the way forward for this yea r‘s exams, there deciding the way forward for this year's exams, there is a reality we must face. coronavirus has not gone away. if anything, must face. coronavirus has not gone away. ifanything, it must face. coronavirus has not gone away. if anything, it is making a comeback. 0ur task is to build a system of awards that can be delivered despite coronavirus and a belief that the plan that developed does that. it has evidence at its heart, it puts a robust system of quality assurance in place and it

works with teachers to award on the basis of their professional judgment. i believe it is far, i believe it is rigorous and of greatest importance, it gives us the opportunity to recognise the achievements of young people in scotla nd achievements of young people in scotland in these challenging days. questions will now be raised. around 20 minutes of questions will be allowed. so, we have been watching a statement from the scottish education secretary, john swinney. national five exams will be cancelled. they are the equivalent of gcses in england. they will be cancelled this year, with qualifications awarded via coursework and assessments. higher and advanced higher exams will take place slightly later than normal. john swinney said they will be two weeks later than normal. they will

begin on the 13th of may. the intention is for those, the equivalent of a—levels in england, to ta ke equivalent of a—levels in england, to take place. let speak straightaway to our scotland correspondent in glasgow. what do you make of what you have just heard? a busy day in scottish parliament. john swinney were setting out how concerned they are of the impact of coronavirus in scottish schools. first of all, individual pupils being affected over the course of year and how their coursework might be affected. 0reven, their coursework might be affected. or even, schools as a whole. that's why we have these exams being taken off the cards. these exams, as you say, equivalent to gcses down south or the old standard grades as they used to be called in scotland. there is more impetus and focus on the more senior exams of higher and advanced higher to make sure that

they go ahead. the cut scottish qualifications authority will be keeping in touch with schools across the year to sample the quality of assessment that is going on in that school to make sure that an a in aberdeen is the same as a a elsewhere. not only an impact on scottish education but a big impact on hospitality as well. as you say, it's been a busy day in scottish parliament. that announcement from nicola sturgeon, a two tier system. short, sharp shock for scottish hospitality. in the central belt, licensed premises being shut down from friday for two weeks with £40 million scottish government support and tier two, million scottish government support and tiertwo, in million scottish government support and tier two, in a sense, in the

rest of scotland, much tighter restrictions. hospitality closing at 6pm. there has been an outcry from the hospitality sector, the scottish hospitality group said the first minister has effectively signed a death sentence for many businesses. they say the real problem is socialising at home. food and drink scotla nd socialising at home. food and drink scotland say it is vital that that support given to the hospitality sector gets through to them as well, to the wider distribution network of food and drink suppliers. the conservatives are being very critical. they say this is a damning indictment of a failed strategy. thank you let's get more in the news of these restrictions in scotland. let's get more on this, i'm joined now by dr christine tait—burkard, expert in infection and immunity

at the university of edinburgh. i wonder what your reaction was to what nicola sturgeon announced that there were to be this two—week closure of pubs and restaurants and other hospitality businesses in the central area of scotland ? other hospitality businesses in the central area of scotland? wasn't unexpected that this announcement was being made. it was actually, unexpectedly less severe than expected. lots of talk was happening around a so—called circuit breaker that would mimic much closer to a locked and that we had in march. now we see the biggest impact, very localised, or relatively localised on the central belt. primarily focusing on the hospitality sector. is that the right focus, the hospitality sector? is that the main cause on the rise infection? it

comes off the back of the announcement of the government ten days ago which was restricting people meeting inside each other‘s houses. no two households are allowed to meet any more and doors for ten days already all over scotland. that is something that is going to stay in place for the next two weeks. this is taking it one step further to what the government believes are the major sites of infection. there is some evidence that restaurants may serve as a mixing pool. the first minister was talking about 20%, or one in five people who is contact traced having visited a pub or a restaurant, shortly before the time they got the positive results. this means they could have spread the virus in those settings of a similarly could have

picked up the virus in those settings. it's trying to curb down on that. we know that the number of cases is increasing. in your view, when these measures, which you said at the outset were not perhaps as strict as you anticipated, will they be enough to get the rate of infection down? i think at the moment, we see an increase in cases but more worryingly, we see an increase in hospitalisation. that's the problem that we are dealing with at the moment. they're comparing apples and oranges. from march when we only tested in hospitals to now where we are testing the white community. —— the wider community. in glasgow there is already a

household mixing bang and the numbers started to come down and that's when universities went back into session. the university student numbers are kind of making the water isa numbers are kind of making the water is a bit at the moment. it is very difficult to differentiate between the numbers. but it is clear that the numbers. but it is clear that the higher age groups, so that is above 25—year—olds to 65—year—olds are strongly increasing in infection rates. we see more than double of increase in numbers in these age groups. we need to focus. the measures will be in place and hopefully a bit more of a sustained measuring. i think at the moment people are tired of the measures. people have had enough. compliance will be keen to bring numbers down. i hope this doesn't impact people's

morale because it is quite a strong impact on all of our lives and it will be a strong impact on the hospitality sector. good to hear your thoughts and insights, thank you. two members of the so—called islamic state group — accused of killing western hostages in syria — have been indicted by the us department ofjustice. alexanda kotey and el shafee el sheikh — seen here in an interview with the bbc two years ago — were being held in military detention in iraq. the men, originally from london, were dubbed ‘the beatles ' while in syria, because of their british accents. they were part of a group of four i—s jihadists in syria accused of carrying out sadistic punishments on their captives... and had been fighting a battle against extradition. earlier, the us assistant attorney generaljohn demers had this to say.

we are here to announce the indictment of these two man. they we re indictment of these two man. they were members of the notoriously brutal eye hostagetaking cell that became known as the beatles. they we re became known as the beatles. they were given this name because of their british accidents. they are accused of hostagetaking and killing of four americans as well as citizens of great britain and japan. they were held under the us under the law of armed conflict. they are now in fbi custody and will soon appear in federal court in the eastern district of virginia. today isa eastern district of virginia. today is a good day but it is also a solemn one. today we remember the fourinnocent solemn one. today we remember the four innocent americans whose lives we re four innocent americans whose lives

were taken by isis. many around the world are familiar with the barbaric circumstances of these people's deaths. but we will not remember these americans for the way they died. we will remember them for the way they lived. they're good and decent lives. james was a print journalist who was covering the civil war in syria. he was a correspondent in iraq and syria. he was a former elementary school teacher. stephen was a journalist reporting on the refugee crisis in syria. according to a long time

friend, he was drawn to the region to give a voice to the people who didn't have one. stephen was the grandson of holocaust survivors who inspired him to be that voice. peter was in syria working for a humanitarian organisation in syria who delivered food to refugees. he had done service in iraq. another woman devoted her life to helping those in need, both at home and abroad. as president trump shared, the american warriors who conducted the american warriors who conducted the lead of the operation was so inspired by the woman killed, that

the mission was named after the woman's birthday. we have been inspired by these americans memories and we've been moved by the determination and grit of their families. families who will never rest until justice families. families who will never rest untiljustice is done. to them, i say this. neither will we. although we cannot bring back your children, we will do all that we can to obtainjustice for children, we will do all that we can to obtain justice for them, for you and for all americans. as for the terrorists, as like many terrace before them, they underestimated americans resolve to obtain justice. these men will now be brought in front of the united states court. as

for the ringleader, infamously known asjihadijohn, he for the ringleader, infamously known asjihadi john, he was for the ringleader, infamously known asjihadijohn, he was in an air strike many years ago. my message to other terrorists is this, if you have an american you will face the same fate as these men. you will face american arms in a battlefield and if you survive that, he will face americanjustice and if you survive that, he will face american justice in an american courtroom and the prospect of many yea rs courtroom and the prospect of many years in an american prison. that was the us assistant attorney general. let's get now more from the courthouse in virginia where they are expecting the defendants to appear later in the day. barbara,

talk is through the significant of this development. it is significant ina number of this development. it is significant in a number of ways for the united states and for britain. the crimes of which these two are accused, they are said to be part of the four british members of ex islamic state who tortured and killed western hostages, including four americans and two britons. this really resonated here, as it did with britain, these gruesome executions which were videotaped and came one after another. everyone here remembers that. they might not remembers that. they might not remember or know about other hostages but this they do, it will resonate for that reason. also for the families here, they have been working hard to get that to happen. they said the best way to honour the lives of their children is to find

out what happened to them, to get to the truth of it and to hold those responsible accountable. they wanted the child to happen here in america because they thought that was the best chance of bringing a strong prosecution with a strong penalty. they have welcomed this move. this has been going on for quite a few yea rs. has been going on for quite a few years. the americans first wanted britain to try these two men that they were stripped of their citizenship, the american and decided to go forward but they wa nted decided to go forward but they wanted evidence from the uk to strengthen their case. there was an issue because this would have been a death penalty case. the uk doesn't support the death penalty so that held things up for a number of yea rs. held things up for a number of years. eventually, the attorney general here in july years. eventually, the attorney general here injuly said they would agree not to make a death penalty case and that led to this case being able to be tried. it will be presented as bringing justice to

those who killed americans. he did say in his speech that he mentioned the others who had been killed, including the britons. thanks for that. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. good afternoon. there's been some dry and bright weather for many parts of uk today. fewer showers around, away from the far north, and temperatures have reached above where they should be at this time of year. but it will be quite wet throughout the evening. for much of wales, northern ireland, and england, and reaches the borders of scotland. with the rain and strengthening wind, it is a wet and windy night. it will be relatively mild. but a soggy and grey start to our morning. therre could be some heavy rain on that weather front as it clears away, but the afternoon will be dry

for england and wales. but in that stage we have more showers going across northern ireland and scotland. temperatures will be in the mid—teens for many, which is a bit above where they should be for this time of year. more rain to come on friday. this time it looks like the north. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines — all pubs and restaurants across central scotland will close for 16 days from 6pm on friday, under new measures aimed at tackling the coronavirus. the new rules apply across the central belt, which includes glasgow and edinburgh. in other areas, venues will only be able to sell alcohol outdoors until 10pm. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon says she wants to avoid a full winter lockdown. with them, we hope to slow down its spread, and that will help us keep schools and businesses including

hospitality businesses, open over the winter. national 5 exams are to be cancelled in scotland in 2021 and replaced with teacher assessments and coursework. two ex—british alleged islamic state militants are charged in the united states over the killing of four american hostages. a major supplier of coronavirus swabs and cancer tests to the nhs warns it's experiencing significant distribution problems. how dangerous are coronavirus droplets in the air? the ground—breaking technology being used by a british team to examine particles as they float through the atmosphere. could tonight be the most important us vice—presidential debate in history? mike pence and kamala harris prepare to go head to head on live tv. two serving prisoners have been convicted of attempted murder — after a prison officer suffered stab wounds at hmp whitemoor

in cambridgeshire earlier this year. wounds at hmp whitemoor the jury tookjust over three hours to convict the two men. our home affairs correspondent june kelly reports. this is terra convict brustholm ziamani. in white top securityjail he has become close to a fellow inmate with a history of violence. as hopton shares his extremist ideology, and between them is prison officer neil trundle. 0ne ideology, and between them is prison officer neil trundle. one has asked the officer for officer neil trundle. one has asked the officerfor a spoon officer neil trundle. one has asked the officer for a spoon out of a store cupboard. as he unlocks the door, the pair pounce. neil trundle manages to stop them pushing him into the cupboard. with cries of our akbar, they launch their attack, both are wearing fake suicide belts.

0ne shouts, i've got a bomb! during the trial, neil trundle described how with their makeshift weapons, they stabbed him repeatedly in the head, neck and chest. he suffered multiple injuries and has been left scarred. the court saw footage of the attack from cctv cameras and neil trundle's body worn cameras. in the melee, the record button on the offer is as camera was turned on. he put up his hands desperately trying to protect himself, as he lay on the floor at the mercy of his attackers towering over him. neil trundle's colleagues came to his rescue and overpowered his attackers. but as hopton grabbed one officer's that on and try to attack and with it. i think the k should be

and with it. i think the k should be a wake—up call. and with it. i think the k should be a wake-up call. professor ian aitchison is a former prison governor who led a review of islamist extremism in jails. governor who led a review of islamist extremism injails. he believes this case demonstrates a failure to manage the risk posed by certain inmates. if i was a terrorist, and we have to think very like these people if we are to contain them and defeat their intentions, i would contain them and defeat their intentions, iwould be contain them and defeat their intentions, i would be trying to target, injure and take hostage a member of prison staff because that would be the quickest way to break the rule of law inside prisons and the rule of law inside prisons and the shortest route to creating chaos. brusthom ziamani was jailed asa chaos. brusthom ziamani was jailed as a teenagerfor chaos. brusthom ziamani was jailed as a teenager for planning to behead as a teenager for planning to behead a british soldier. he was trying to imitate the barbaric street murder of fusilier lee rigby in woolwich in 2013. it was a member of the banned terror organisation, here with its leader the extremist preacher was also later convicted of terrorism.

in jail, also later convicted of terrorism. injail, brusthom also later convicted of terrorism. in jail, brusthom ziamani also later convicted of terrorism. injail, brusthom ziamani remained committed to his attack plan, and he found a willing partner in baz hockton, a convert to islam who became radicalised in prison. exclusive new figures suggest almost half of all sexual abuse content online is "self—generated", meaning children are coerced into creating it themselves. that's according to research by the internet watch foundation, which says it's a 15% increase on the previous year. you may find rachel stonehouse's report distressing. the voice of the mum has been changed to protect her son's identity. it was terrifying. i didn't eat or sleep for about three months. mandy's son was groomed online through a game called roblox. mandy

is not her real name. we were just taking photographs of our beloved dog, my partner's phone was not to hand, my son because mccrone was available so took pictures of the dog and my partner looked back through them, and found that there we re through them, and found that there were two naked photographs. so obviously the phone was confiscated andi obviously the phone was confiscated and ijust obviously the phone was confiscated and i just went through the phone, and i just went through the phone, andi and i just went through the phone, and i found requests and i just went through the phone, and ifound requests from an and i just went through the phone, and i found requests from an unknown to see naked pictures. disturbingly, the person who groomed mandy's son then went on to access his facebook account and used it to groom other children. when he was grooming children. when he was grooming children through our son's facebook, and we were getting all these images through facebook, naked images of nine and ten—year—olds bending over and all this sort of thing, i was

just in absolute a torrent of tears, that was just the first one, and then we probably got another 60 images through on our son's facebook account which we couldn't close because facebook wouldn't let us close it. the family reported it to the police but no further action has been taken. this type of grooming is becoming increasingly common. it was mccord self generated, meaning the content is created by the children themselves, often under the direction of the groomer. the internet watch foundation is a charity, which removes child sexual abuse from the web. how much of a concern is self generated content and the rate at which it is increasing? it is extreme a concerning because children have this technology at their fingertips but it is also spiralling out of control, in terms of self generating content. our control, in terms of self generating content. 0urfigures so control, in terms of self generating content. our figures so far for the year, for the half year, suggest we are now 44% of the action content is self generated, so this is increasing very quickly. isabel's

job involves searching for child abuse online to get it taken down. again, we are protecting her identity because of the work she does. i'm not going to lie, it is not always an easyjob because every single day i come to work i am seeing thousands and thousands of images of children being raped, sexually abused for a kind of the worst images i've ever seen in my entire life. most of what we see, in terms of self generated content, is usually a single child, kind of alone in their bedroom or bathroom, and they are being coerced by someone on the other side of the screen to perform sexual acts. but what we are seeing now is more kind of sibling self generated content, so that's where there is what appears to be a pair of siblings together in the same home, and they are both talking to somebody on the other side of the screen, and the people the other side are coaxing them into sexual abuse and to sexually abuse each other. for me,

it is the fact i am able to remove them, to stop people from accidentally stumbling across these images in the first place, and also mainly for the victims. in a statement, facebook say... roblox told us they are committed to protecting the safety of children and have stringent chat filters to block inappropriate content. but for mandy, these companies are not taking enough response ability. they arejust grooming taking enough response ability. they are just grooming grounds, taking enough response ability. they arejust grooming grounds, and the fa ct arejust grooming grounds, and the fact that roblox didn't even have the courtesy to get back in contact with us, it's just terrific. the courtesy to get back in contact with us, it'sjust terrific. rachel stonehouse, bbc news. with me now is susie hargreaves, the chief executive of the charity — internet watch foundation. thanks forjoining us here. how surprised by word you buy what you found, this 15% increase? well,

sadly we have seen an increase in self generated content year on year, andi self generated content year on year, and i think particularly during covid, where we've had a situation where children are at home and online for much longer, and also perpetrators are online for much longer, so they are out there looking for children that they can coerce and trick into sharing images, and! coerce and trick into sharing images, and i think the statistics have now got to a really shocking level. 44% of what we have removed so far this year has been self generated, so this is children in their bedrooms, domestic settings, with a camera enabled device, and they are being tricked into doing they are being tricked into doing the sexual images and videos, then when we find them and remove them, they are on child sexual abuse websites, so the children are totally unaware of what is actually happening to them, and often parents are unaware as well, so it really is are unaware as well, so it really is a worry, and particularly as 80% of the images we remove have been of girls aged 11 to 13. goodness me. i

mean, how do you find these images, how do you remove them, and how difficult is it? we are fortunate in that we are able to go out and proactively search for this content, as well as we take reports from the public on our website, so people can report to a suspected child sexual abuse content, but we actually go out and find it and we know where a number of these child sexual abuse websites are. we use technology, we work with the internet companies to find the content, and then when we do find it, we acted swiftly to get it removed, because every single time an image stays out there in circulation, that child is being re—victimised. circulation, that child is being re-victimised. but if you know where these websites are, why aren't they taking down? the ecosystem is incredibly complicated, so an awful lot of the images and videos we find are on websites hosted in the

netherlands, not on names you would recognise, and often we have to work within international law to work within international law to work with partners, and it is, we have to work really ha rd with partners, and it is, we have to work really hard to get this remove as quickly as possible. but also one of the things i would say is alongside the handling, how do we deal with all this nasty content and how do we get it removed so that children are safe? we need to do awareness raising and an education programme, so we desperately need to kind of do a national campaign around this and talk to children and pa rents around this and talk to children and parents and say to them, there are ways to keep yourself safe online, because it has to be an education piece going alongside the technology piece. i realise that is a big initiative but just give piece. i realise that is a big initiative butjust give us a few pointers as to the sort of advice you would be giving, then? we are pa rt you would be giving, then? we are part of the uk's safe internet

centre so we will take the content down and our partners will do the awareness raising and work with pa rents. awareness raising and work with parents. what we would say to children is if you are a child and somebody asked you to do something online, they might be pretending to be someone that they aren't really, so if they make you feel uncomfortable, ask for help. if people ask you to take your clothes off, then you don't have to do that. ask for help, ask parents. and the m essa g es ask for help, ask parents. and the messages for parents, please make sure you know what your children are doing in their bedrooms. please understand the technology they are using, talk to them, do not blame them if they are caught in a very difficult situation because these children, particularly 11 to 13—year—olds, are so incredibly physically and emotionally vulnerable that they are easy prey for predators. so what we need to do is safeguard them, support them and make sure that we don't blame them if they get into a really difficult situation. susie hargreaves from the internet watch foundation, thanks so much for telling us about your work, thanks.

figuresjust into us figures just into us at the bbc from the government. they are the latest coronavirus figures. the government has said that as of nine o'clock this morning, there had been a further 14,162 laboratory confirmed cases of coronavirus. now that is across the whole of the uk. it brings the total number of cases in the uk to 544,275. the government also said a further 70 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for covid—19, as of today. that brings the uk total number of deaths to 42,515. separate figures published by the uk's statistics agency show there have now been 58,000 deaths registered in the uk, where covid—19 was mentioned on the

death certificate. so there is are the very latest covid—19 figures from the government. there are concerns about the availability of vital testing materials for a range of conditions, including coronavirus, after a supply chain problem with the pharmaceutical giant, roche. the swiss firm says it's experienced a "very significant drop" in its processing capacity because of an issue with a distribution centre in the uk. mark roscrow is the chair of the health care supply association — am association dedicated to medical supply chain. hejoins me now. so perhaps you can give us some thoughts and insights into how this has happened. well, i don't know the detail but i suspect it is the implementation of a new system. 0ften implementation of a new system. often an it system in a warehouse, and historically those can prove

extremely difficult to implement. normally, you would have a very detailed testing process, obviously running up to a goal—line cutover period, but very often when the strength —— the stress of a flawed system is brought on line that can cause difficulties that often don't arise from the testing process. so i suspect it is linked to that and the availability of product being disrupted as a consequence.” availability of product being disrupted as a consequence. i almost inferfrom disrupted as a consequence. i almost infer from what you are saying that you're almost not too surprised by this news. would that be fair?” think that is a fair comment, to be honest. we have experienced that ourselves in the nhs on a number of occasions, and a number of big companies have also have the same sort of problems. it is not unusual u nfortu nately. sort of problems. it is not unusual unfortunately. if it does go on for two to three weeks, as roche suggests it might, what with the impact be? well, it depends on what their contingency plans are and

whether this is a flow of stock into their production facility, and quite clearly if it is a raw material flow, that is going to have an impact on their ability to produce product. so it depends on a whole variety of things and the extent to which they've got stuck sitting in their manufacturing plants at the moment. i mean, you said that perhaps you weren't too surprised but i suppose the flip side is that rocheis but i suppose the flip side is that roche is a very large company. is there some sort of element of surprise that a company of this size and stature has run into this problem? it is, but ijust wonder whether it is a third party supporting their work that is actually the problem here come it may well not be roche themselves, it may well not be roche themselves, it may well not be roche themselves, it may well be a subcontractor they have working through their supply chains. so it may well be related to that. having said that, you still

expect roche to be on top of any implementation that is having an impact on their production capacity, particularly if it will impact on covid related product. how do you make the system in your view more robust going forward? really they should have anticipated this and had contingency plans, and that should have eased any potential delays while they work through the teething problems they are obviously encountering. thanks so much for joining us here on bbc news. let's update you with the headlines. all pubs and restaurants across central scotland will close for 16 days from 6pm on friday under new measures aimed at tackling the coronavirus. the new rules apply across the central belt, which includes glasgow and edinburgh. in other areas, venues will only be able to sell alcohol outdoors until 10pm.

scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon says she wants to avoid a full winter lockdown. meanwhile, the national 5 exams are to be cancelled in scotland in 2021 and replaced with teacher assessments and coursework with all the ongoing uncertainty over the health of donald trump, it is easy to forget sometimes that the us presidential election is less than a month away. tonight in utah, the democrat vice presidential candidate kamala harris and current vp mike pence, will go head—to—head in a debate. 0ur north america correspondent sophie long has more.

judge kavanaugh, i am concerned whether you will treat every american equally. she is a senator from california known for her incisive questioning of president trump's nominees for the supreme court. i know full well the importance of presidential leadership. he has been president trump's right—hand man for the past four years. tonight they will take to a specially adapted stage for a debate that will be watched by tens of millions of voters. vp debates are not normally the headline act of a presidential election campaign but this one is anything but normal. given the age of their bosses, and the fact that president trump's recent hospitalisation with coronavirus means we don't yet know if the remaining two presidential debates will even take place, tonight's meeting between kamala harris and mike pence will be the most important of its kind in history. place, tonight's meeting between kamala harris and mike pence they take over under the death or the resignation of the president of the united states. when you have one candidate that's fairly old and one candidate that's sick right now, everyone is talking about it. there's no way that you can't talk about that particular issue, because there is at least some track where one of these two candidates could end up being president of the united states. we are an independent collection of latter day saint women

from across the political spectrum, who speak for ourselves. in this deeply religious state, president trump's first term and his reaction to covid—19 has led lifelong republicans to look for something different. i wish no ill towards him. but i think that it's time for us to once again think about doing better. this should have never been a politcal issue. coronavirus should have been something where we all come together and work together for the good of everyone. and that's why character matters in a president. but at this pro—trump potato bar, yes, there is such a thing, people think his personal handling of the pandemic is a show of strength. when you're a soldier, you're at risk and you're at a war, and you're fighting something, you go in there and you've got to rally your troops. you've got to build the morale of the troops. you got to be victorious, you can't be afraid. and that's what i look at it as. and unfortunately, some soldiers when they go to war, they get wounded.

tonight, mike pence will be going into battle for the current commander—in—chief against a former prosecutor fighting for his competitor, joe biden. with less than a month to go, and a campaign thrown into chaos by covid—19, the stakes are high. sophie long, bbc news, salt lake city. and you can follow the us vice—presidential debate live, in a special programme from 1.30am on the bbc news channel, and via the bbc news website. 0r you'll be able to watch it later on the bbc iplayer. tesco has reported soaring profits for the first six months of the financial year, as people bought more food during the coronavirus pandemic. the supermarket giant saw sales in the uk and ireland rise more than 8 percent, and it made a profit of £551 million. greene king is closing dozens of pubs with the loss of 800 jobs.

it's called on the government to provide urgent support for the pub sector while restrictions, such as the 10pm curfew, remain in place. two women have been jointly awarded the 2020 nobel prize in chemistry. jennifer doudna and emmanuelle charpentier won the prize for their development of a technique for editing genomes. the nobel committee in stockholm said the technology was revolutionary — and could realise the dream of curing inherited diseases. one of the world's greatest rock guitarists, eddie van halen, has died at the age of 65. he had been having treatment for throat cancer. his band — van halen — had huge success in the seventies and eighties — selling more than 80—million records worldwide. lisa hampele (pron: hamp—il—ee) has been looking back on his career. lisa hampele has been looking back on his career.

eddie van halen didn't sound like anyone else. he was said to have a kind of fury. van halen, the band, featuring eddie's explosive guitar solos, became a staple of the sunset strip music scene in the 1970s and ‘80s. they had a string of hits. he was a classically—trained pianist, and his trademark melodic style and use of harmonics helped make him one of rock's most influential guitarists. he performed with some of the music industry's biggest stars, including michaeljackson. eddie van halen had health problems throughout his career and was first diagnosed with cancer 20 years ago. his death was announced by his son wolfgang, a bass player who joined the band in later years. he said: he was the best father i could ever ask for. every moment i've shared with him on and off stage was a gift. tributes have been flooding in. it's very seldom you meet somebody who's a pure soul, who's a beautiful person.

i never once heard eddie ever say anything bad about anybody and especially other bands. as you can well imagine, this business is full of big egos, yours truly included. eddie was an "aw, shucks" kind of matter—of—fact guy and i will tell you... i'm sorry, i'm getting a little choked up. sammy hagar, the band's formerfront man, who departed under acrimonious circumstances, shared a picture of the two of them with the words "heartbroken and speechless". and thousands more have paid tribute to one of rock's superstars. and thousands more have been paying tribute to one of rock's superstars. eddie van halen, who has died at the age of 65. american musician, johnny nash, has died at the age of 80. # i #ican # i can see clearly now the rain has gone. applause

# i gone. applause #ican gone. applause # i can see all obstacles in my way... the singer—songwriter is best known for his reggae—inspired 1972 single "i can see clearly now", which sold more than a million copies. his son told us media nash died at home of natural causes. good afternoon. we have seen fewer showers on the whole through this afternoon, a beautiful shot here of whitby taken in the sunshine. not too far away, autumnal colours coming through in leeds. we have had showers, particularly in the north, but also across the south of wales. porthcawl here in bridgend seeing that beautiful rainbow. most of the showers now confined to the north because further south the cloud is starting to fill in.

this length of cloud sticking out in the atlantic is a developing area of low pressure set to bring us our next spell of wet and windy weather. so, where we have the sunshine, it will tend to diminish as this cloud rolls in, continues its progress in off the atlantic through the rest of the afternoon. by the evening, it will be looking quite wet, through some areas. still pleasantly warm, if you are in the sunshine. as well as the wetter weather, the winds will strengthen again, pushing this wetter weather in across the south—west of england, wales and northern ireland for the beginning of the evening rush hour, whilst we continue with the sunshine further north but those showers, particular for the north and north—west of scotland, but many other parts of scotland seeing the dry weather. it looks, as i say, really quite wet through the evening across notjust northern ireland and the south of england but much of england and wales as well. that will hold temperatures up, the cloud, rain and that stronger wind. further north, with light winds across scotland, we could see temperatures dipping towards freezing in the glens. by morning, the rain starting to move out of the way. it drags its heels in the south and it still could be quite heavy

here with some lively downpours, but as it pulls away, the afternoon looks drier and brighter, more sunshine. by that stage, the sunshine in the north replaced by more showers for scotland, northern ireland and the north—west of england. again, between those, temperatures will get up into the mid—teens, which is above where they should be for the beginning of october. some uncertainty regarding friday. it looks like we will see another area of low pressure move in, another area of rain, this time potentially further north, but it gradually works its way southwards through the day, showers following on behind. quite a chilly wind starts to set in. temperatures won't be quite as high across scotland and even further south because of the rain, they will be down a degree or two by the end of friday. as for the weekend, we are getting a brisk wind from the north, feeling cooler for all of us, but a lot of dry weather to be found. goodbye.

this is bbc news. the headlines. all pubs and restaurants across central scotland will close for 16 days from 6pm on friday under new measures aimed at tackling the coronavirus. the new rules apply across the central belt — which includes glasgow and edinburgh. in other areas, venues will only be able to sell alcohol outdoors until 10pm. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon says she wants to avoid a full winter lockdown we hope to slow down its spread and that will help us keep schools and businesses including hospitality businesses open over the winter. meanwhile the national five exams are to be cancelled in scotland in 2021 and replaced with teacher

assessments and coursework.