this is bbc news — the latest headlines: tighter coronavirus restrictions are expected early next week for parts of england that could result in the closure of bars and restaurants. we are trying to take a localised approach. we are trying to agree a greater consistency to the rules so they are easier to understand. we are also trying to work on slightly broader canvases of regions or cities and counties, to avoid differences in people's daily lives if they drive over the border between one place or another. as new coronavirus restrictions hit scotland's hospitality sector, there's concern it could sound the death knell" for some businesses. let us know how affective you think the implementation

of tighter restrictions will be in bringing the number of cases down. on twitter, it's @annita—mcveigh or #bbcyourquestions. the other headlines... the two us vice—presidential candidates clash over coronavirus, climate change and health care during a televised debate in salt lake city. prince william and sir david attenborough join forces to launch what they hope will become the "nobel prize for environmentalism". the bbc sees evidence that livestock from the uk is being shipped to the middle east for slaughter in abattoirs described as "dreadful and terrifying". and the boeing 7a7 is noticeably absent from the british airways fleet here at heathrow. we have just watched the last two planes fly off one last time.

hello and welcome to bbc news. ministers are expected to tighten the coronavirus restrictions in parts of england on monday as they struggle to contain the surge in new infections. pubs and restaurants could be forced to close in the worst affected areas in another blow to the hard—pressed hospitality sector. there could also be a ban on overnight stays away from home in some areas. the government is also likely to introduce a three—tier system for local lockdowns where different parts of the country would be placed in different categories. it comes as significant new measures are introduced in scotland,

with pubs and restaurants closing for over two weeks. doctors‘ leaders say the measures are needed because there is — once again — a real danger that the nhs will be unable to cope and deliver the other services patients need. yesterday, the number of uk cases rose by 1a,162, with a further 70 deaths reported. it now looks almost certain there will be new restrictions in the north of england. manchester will very likely be affected. what hasn't been resolved is what form they will take and where they will be imposed. options include the closure of pubs and restaurants and possibly a ban on overnight stays away from home. there is also likely to be a simpler, more easily understood system of restrictions where areas are put into a certain tier according to the level of infection. cities in the north and the midlands

have some of the highest coronavirus rates in the whole of the country. liverpool has 552 cases per 100,000 people. manchester has 542 cases per 100,000, and nottingham 497. in many of these places, local restrictions are already in force. these local restrictions that have been put in place in much of the north of england really haven't been very effective. you can see rates are still going up, still going up very rapidly. we need to take much more stringent measures, notjust in the north of england, actually. i think we need to do it countrywide, and bring the epidemic back under control. across the country, the number of covid deaths is rising. so too are the figures for admissions to hospitals. there is a serious risk the nhs will become overwhelmed in very short order.

the increase in numbers of coronavirus cases is hard to compare from earlier this year, because of course we are testing far more. but the number of people being admitted to hospital is directly comparable from earlier this year. and it's on a very serious trajectory upwards. in scotland, new restrictions will come into force tomorrow evening. there will be no drinking inside bars and restaurants for over a fortnight. in the central belt, including glasgow and edinburgh, licensed premises will have to shut to all but takeaway services. there will be financial support for the hospitality industry in scotland, but the details are not clear. in england too, the treasury is looking at how to offer help to pubs and restaurants if tighter restrictions are imposed. andy moore, bbc news. let's get more on this from our political correspondent chris mason. so we know these tighter restrictions for parts of england are coming. how exactly they will look, whether they are identical to

what is happening in scotland, we don't know yet. do you have any sense when the prime minister has made his mind up what exactly these restrictions will be? i am told that no final decision has yet been taken, so it is one of those mornings where it's important to be candid about what we do know and what we don't know, because the implications of the decisions that are coming will have profound effects on millions of people's lives. we do know that there will be changes in parts of england and that they will be announced in the coming days. we can't be precisely certain on which day, and we can't be certain of their geography, and also of their severity. so we take a step back and think, what other government trying to do and what are they willing to acknowledge? they are they willing to acknowledge? they a re clearly they willing to acknowledge? they are clearly looking at the data. they are troubled by the rising number of cases. they are also

concerned about those areas like manchester, liverpool, newcastle and nottingham, where figures remain towering lehi and in some cases stubbornly so. attempts to bring the numbers down haven't worked. so they are weighing up what to do. as you say, when we hear talk of pubs and restau ra nt say, when we hear talk of pubs and restaurant is being closed, we don't know if it will be akin to what is happening in the central belt of scotla nd happening in the central belt of scotland or what is happening more broadly around scotland with a more loose model, or something in between oi’ loose model, or something in between or something different entirely? the communities secretary robertjenrick has been doing the rounds, touring the studios this morning, acknowledging the scale of the challenge the government faces, but not willing to be precise on specifics. we are currently considering what steps we should take, taking the advice of our scientific and medical advisors and decisions will be made shortly, but i am not able to tell you exactly what is going to happen

right now. but we will continue to ta ke right now. but we will continue to take a proportionate and localised response, which i think is the right thing to do because the variations in the numberof thing to do because the variations in the number of cases are very significant in england, from over 550 in manchester per 100,000, to as low as 19 in cornwall, dorset and herefordshire. so a localised but proportionate response has to be the way forward. so if we do end up on monday with parts of england affected by tighter restrictions, especially in the hospitality sector, is there any word on whether there will be more targeted furlough for those sectors? there is a word about support, but no details as yet. we hear the anguish of the hospitality sector, frightened about what might be around the corner after the bruising and desperately difficult seven months they have had. there is no precise word from

the treasury, but there is an awareness that there will need to be support. exactly how that is described or how long it extends, we don't know. there is an awareness of the government attempting to match up the government attempting to match up the financial support offered to the sectors of the economy most acutely by affected by what is to come with the measures themselves. but clearly, there is a desire for those measures to be imposed quickly. for instance, the leader of nottingham city council was talking to the bbc this morning, seeing significant rises in the number of cases in his city and making the argument that he fears that if the government doesn't act quickly, there will be a temptation for people to go out partying this weekend, fearing that it might be their last opportunity to do that this side of christmas, with the potential consequences for further significant spread of the virus. so

the government is working against a deadline and anger from some quarters in local government, often labour leaders, saying, hurry up, consult us an act quickly, versus the desire to answer your question that they are able to offer support to pubs and restaurants to restrict what they can legally do as far as being a business is concerned. chris mason, in westminster. let me read you a couple of comments i have been sent out all of this. code ninja tweets, it's no good complaining about further restrictions. if more people had stuck to the rules and exercised common sense, we wouldn't be in this situation. more restrictions or thousands will die, could it be simpler to understand? kate says, working in a theatre and cinema, it has become clear that a lot of people do not understand that they should still be keeping their distance from people in other households, even if they meet under

the rule of six. please send in your thoughts and let us know what you think. you can get in touch with me on twitter and we will try to read out as many comments as we can fit let's take a look at the restrictions that will come into effect in scotland tomorrow. pubs and bars will be ordered to stop serving alcohol inside, and venues inside scotland's central belt will have to shut their doors completely. the new rules will apply from 6pm tomorrow, for an initial period of 16 days. in the central belt — affecting more than 3 million people — all licensed premises except hotel bars for residents will have to close indoors and outdoors, although takeaways will be permitted. in other parts of scotland, pubs and restaurants will be able to open for limited hours, but can only serve alcohol outdoors. the first minister admitted the new rules would be disruptive

to many businesses and would be unwelcome to many people. rules on face coverings are being tightened too — in the coming weeks they must be worn indoors in all communal settings like workplace corridors and canteens. james rusk owns three bars in glasgow. due to the virus, one has had to close. the other two are the butchershop bar and grill and spanish butcher. thank you forjoining us. let's be clear for all our viewers, how thank you forjoining us. let's be clearfor all our viewers, how are these restrictions going to affect your two remaining businesses? thanks for having me on. nobody wa nts thanks for having me on. nobody wants the ranting restaurateur at nine o'clock in the morning, as we are genuinely a hospitable lot and i am sure everyone is are genuinely a hospitable lot and i am sure everyone is fed up of listening to restaurant owners at the moment. but this last round of restrictions is a real kick for our

teams and colleagues in the wider community. for all intents and purposes, we can call it what we like, we can call it a circuit breaker or dress it up as a second lockdown, but we have to find a balance through this. and i believe that balance on this particular round is way off. i am clearly not an epidemiologist, nor do i profess to be. but i am a business owner with responsibilities to employees, customers and suppliers. so many are trying to navigate our way through this. james, sorry to interrupt. i understand your desire to rant, rant by all means if you want to, but what do you mean by saying the balance is way off? we have to look at the different types of hospitality and the types of businesses. 0ur hospitality and the types of

businesses. our business is the sale of alcohol and food. the notion that eve ryo ne of alcohol and food. the notion that everyone goes for drinks and falls over and spreads covid is a simple narrative, but it is not a one shoe fits all. as a restaurant owner, we understand how people behave. we know how to create controlled environments and we know how to follow rules. restaurants have zero vertical drinking. we were given clear guidelines of how to manage the spaces when we came out of lockdown, which was to slow down the frenetic activity within our establishments, space out our tables, make sure we were wearing face masks, put hand sanitiser everywhere and calm the whole thing down and create a flow of people and have nobody waiting. so is the perception unfair that people go to a baror perception unfair that people go to a bar or restaurant, they have a few glasses wine or a few beers, they

get terribly relax and forget all about social distancing and they start to mingle, is that perception unfair? i think it's about having a balanced approach to what that perception is. i definitely don't think it's a one shoe fits all. and i think it is up to us as business owners to make sure we are taking the guidelines that the government set down and we do implement them. we have to slow down the frenetic activity within our establishments. but i don't think we can say a blanket statement that everybody goes for dinner, gets drunk and fall so low over the place and spreads covid. take us from 6pm tomorrow. what can you do, what can you not do and what impact is that going to have on your employees and the financial viability of your business is going forward? we were told yesterday, wednesday, that as of friday the businesses are closed

across the central belt from six o'clock. i would say an element of good faith has been corroded across our employees against legislation that comes through and a great deal of fear and panic for their jobs. we are lucky to have the furlough scheme until the end of october. but who is to say that this circuit break will have the desired effect and who is to say that it will not be the start of a potential new process which may last longer than two weeks? really interesting to talk to you. i wish you good luck in the weeks and months ahead with your businesses. james rusk in glasgow. doctors' leaders say one of the key reasons for tightening lockdown measures still further is that there is, once again, a real danger that the nhs will be unable to cope and deliver the other services patients need. we heard from professor helen stokes—lampard in our reportjust now.

she is a gp and chairs the academy of medical royal colleges and joins me now. what did you make of what that restau ra nt what did you make of what that restaurant owner had to say with regard to the situation in scotland and the tighter measures there, the one size fits all approach is wrong, he argued and that the balance was off—kilter. is he right, or do you broadly support tighter restrictions affecting the hospitality sector? your heart goes out to james and people in the sporting industry and the creative industry and everybody who is finding it incredibly difficult to function in the current situation. with these tighter restrictions, i am confident that the scottish government wouldn't have taken such draconian action u nless have taken such draconian action unless they were gravely worried about the situation there. throughout the uk, we are seeing a worrying trend in increases in hospital admissions, increases in people going into intensive care with coronavirus. we have seen this

sudden spike in cases, but that is ha rd to sudden spike in cases, but that is hard to compare than earlier this year because we are testing far more people than we were in the spring. but the numbers of people going into hospital intensive care is very measurable. we measured it then and we are measuring it now. when you compare the two, it is a worrying trend. the nhs throughout the four nations of the uk is far better prepared now than we were in the spring. we have learned and prepared a look. we have the ppe and ventilators, but we haven't magicked up ventilators, but we haven't magicked up thousands more health care professionals to look after people. so if more time is spent dealing with people with coronavirus, that is less time to spend on all the other health problems our patients present with. and it is obviously hugely important that people do get their appointments, whether it is for cancer or cardiology, or the other areas of health treatment that ought to be going on. we heard the labour leader yesterday at prime minister's questions pointing out that in 19 of the 20 areas in

england where there are extra measures, the cases are still going up. do you know why that is? what is your sense of why that is happening and if it continues unabated, how worried are you for the ability of the nhs to cope? why is it happening? it is very complex. there are loads of reasons. there are some people who have got dated and disenfranchised with the rules who have become cynical about it and tried to live a more normal life, which unfortunately undermines what the majority are doing to stick to the majority are doing to stick to the simple messages of, cover your face, wash your hands and be careful with hygiene, keep that two metres distance at all times wherever possible. even if are meeting you under the rule of six, keep that distance if you are talking to somebody from another household, which one of our viewers pointed out that she works in the theatre and a cinema and she doesn't see people doing that. that's right. i think

people have become confused by too many mixed messages across the nations. it has been problematic and i have been pleased to hear that we are going to get more coherent messaging and that one type of lockdown in one city will mean the same as in another. that has been a challenge, but the basic messages haven't changed. stay apart from people. practise the hygiene measures that we all know so well by now. wear masks where you can and you should, but this is also about the testing and tracing system. please comply with it. we had a horrible hiccup a couple of weeks ago which has been smoothed out. we have more testing available than ever. if you are symptomatic, get tested and please stay in isolation until you have a result, however frustrating it can be. the consequences are serious. i frustrating it can be. the consequences are serious. i want the nhs to work and function as a high level all winter providing care for everything, not just level all winter providing care for everything, notjust coronavirus, but we have to prioritise the

desperately sick and i don't want to waiting lists to get longer than they already are. that is the risk we are running right now. we can do this. this isn't just we are running right now. we can do this. this isn'tjust the nhs or just certain groups of people, it is all of us. let me ask you about a university of edinburgh piece of research which reassessed an earlier study by the imperial college of london suggesting that in a worst—case scenario, there could be hundreds of thousands of deaths from coronavirus if no action was taken. but the latest reassessment of that study suggests that if schools hadn't been closed and if some kind of immunity had built up among younger sections of the population, it would have been beneficial overall. what are your thoughts on that? research is going on all the time and we are learning all the time. scientists are learning as we go with this virus. so pieces of work like that are important, but we can't change the past. we are where we are and we can only influence the future. i want our schools and

universities to be open. i want young people to be interacting and learning. but the consequence of thatis learning. but the consequence of that is that the virus will spread more, so everyone else has to be extra vigilant. young people are very safe with this virus. very few of them get serious consequences. some will get long covid, which is miserable, but the vast majority will be fine or indeed asymptomatic. as we get older, the virus is increasingly cruel and takes a terrible toll. that is a challenge for all of us to live with. we can't change the past, we can only move forwards together and we can do this. let's not just forwards together and we can do this. let's notjust blame one section of society or the other. professor helen stokes—lampa rd, thank you very much. the us vice president, mike pence and his democratic challenger, kamala harris, have taken part in their only debate ahead of the next month's election. the candidates clashed over the economy and foreign policy,

health care and racialjustice. ms harris criticised the trump administration's coronavirus response as the greatest failure in presidential history, while mr pence accused her of undermining confidence in an eventual vaccine. 0ur correspondent nada tawfik watched the debate. with the chaotic presidential debate still on the minds of americans, vice—president mike pence and senator kamala harris walked on stage eager to reset the tone. over the course of 90 minutes, they delivered a far more substantive discussion that was civil, but not without fire. mr vice—president, i'm speaking. i have to weigh in. straight away, the coronavirus that has affected millions of americans, including president trump and his white house, dominated the discussion, their divisions going beyond the glass barriers that separated them on stage. the american people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country.

and here are the facts. 210,000 dead people in our country in just the last several months. over 7 million people who have contracted this disease. and here's the thing. 0njanuary 28th, the vice—president and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic. and they knew what was happening and they didn't tell you. senator kamala harris said the trump campaign should forfeit its right to re—election, based on its response. but the vice—president, as head of the coronavirus task force, said their efforts saved lives, including by restricting travel from china in late january. what i want the american people to know, from the very first day president donald trump has put the health of america first. before there were more than five cases in the united states, all people who had returned from china, president donald trump did what no other american

president had ever done, and that was, he suspended all travel from china, the second largest economy in the world. now, senator joe biden opposed that decision. he said it was xenophobic. this was perhaps the most important vice—presidential debate in history, touching on everything from racial justice to the supreme court to foreign policy. the only moment of levity, a fly that landed in the wrong spot at the wrong time. this debate may not change the course of the campaign, but it's certainly a reminder to voters ofjust how much is at stake in this election. nada tawfik, bbc news, salt lake city, utah. joining me now is dr gina yannitell reinhardt, senior associate professor in the department of government at the university of essex. the first thing that struck me about that debate was how civil it was compared to the presidential debate.

absolutely. this was to be expected. i don't think anybody would expect something as uncivil as a debate with donald trump in it. these two candidates really needed to show that they could shore up and support their presidential candidates, and their presidential candidates, and the way to do that is not by being civil to each other or attracting too much attention. so they both managed to handle that. on the big topics of the night, coronavirus, the economy and racism, how do you think the two of them handle those? the first one, coronavirus, i think that harris could have done more to highlight the trump camp's shortcomings. she stayed away from mentioning that the president has the disease or that the white house is now a hotspot of the disease. that was probably out of fear of looking like she was attacking the

health of the president, which could become a security threat if someone was doing that vociferously. so she stayed away from that but could have pressed it further, and in the end, the fact that pence didn't have to deal with it meant that it was a draw between the two sides. racism was another one you mentioned. in terms of that, pence landed a real blow against mike pence. he had very little answer to that. how much difference do you think last night's debate will make to the way voters cast their ballot if they haven't already before the election, and how important was it in terms of, we are looking at two people who could potentially be running for the presidency itself four years from now? of course. both candidates

deflected talk about the potential of taking over, should their own presidential candidate be incapacitated from the presidency. that was because they don't want to emphasise what the american people might be thinking, which is that both of these presidential candidates are in their seventies and infouryears candidates are in their seventies and in four years will be in or close to their 80s. sorry, i interrupted you into thought. please do finish. that's all right. the fa ct do finish. that's all right. the fact is that vice presidential don't really accomplish much. so for each candidate, the main goal was really to not lose anyone, and i don't think any candidate lost anyone. they accomplished as much as they could but in the end, i don't think anyone's opinion will be swayed.- gina yannitell reinhardt, thank you

for your thoughts. you can see more from that debate at 1.30 on the bbc news channel, when we will be showing highlights from that contest between the vice—president shall candidates mike pence and kamala harris. later this hour, candidates mike pence and kamala harris. laterthis hour, chris morris will be applying the reality check i that debate. do stay with us for more on that. meanwhile, president trump has described being infected with covid—19 as a "blessing from god". the president's doctors say he has displayed no coronavirus symptoms for the past 2a hours. and in a video message, mr trump said he said he wanted all americans to have access to the treatments he was given — free of charge. i want everybody to be given the same treatment as your president, because i feel great. i feel like, perfect. so i think this was a blessing from god that i caught it. this was a blessing in disguise. i caught it, i heard about this drug, i said, let me take it,

it was my suggestion, i said, let me take it, and it was incredible, the way it worked, incredible. british airways is saying farewell to its iconic boeing 747s this morning. in the last hour, the airline's final two jumbo jets made their last take—off from london heathrow. the reduction in international travel because of the pandemic caused the airline to pull the planes from service four years earlier than scheduled. 0ur transport correspondent, tom burridge, is at heathrow airport. tom, quite a moment? annie taylor, we are still recovering from it, the adrenaline is still pumping. but really sad, the 747s are noticeably absent from ba's fleet at heathrow this morning. they rolled down the tarmac within the last hour. we can show you those incredible images. atrocious conditions, it has to be said, but we had it covered from

every angle and it was a real moment. a lot of stuff came out to cheer and wave as the planes flew off because these 7a7s, the original jumbojets, off because these 7a7s, the original jumbo jets, they really were a massive part of the fleet for british airways for decades, the original plane in 1969 really shook things up in the world of aviation. and this morning really was the end ofan era. a queen of the skies. the uniforms and the food changed... the cabin has been fine—tuned for passenger comfort. but the 7117 was a glamour—glider for decades. it's big, but by no means slow. full, it could weigh 400 tonnes. the original was made in 1969. man, how they are going to get that thing in the air!? ba once flew 57 of them. now their last two are leaving heathrow.

in here are the bunks where you can get a rest if we have more than two crew. captain al bridger will pilot this one into retirement. the 747‘s departure from the fleet is earlier than planned because of the pandemic. the first thing you notice when you look out the window is, you are looking down on people, which is really weird compared to any other aircraft you've flown. it's almost sad when a beautiful aircraft can still fly that it's off to its final resting place. it will be an emotional moment lifting off of that last time. good morning, bbc breakfast, and welcome on board this final british airways 7117 flight from london heathrow. julie welcomed a—listers and royalty on board. no need to go to a gym either! you become very attached to a huge chunk of metal that takes you around the world. it's glamorous, it's iconic and you do actually fall in love. the stretched upper deck is new to ba.

in its day, the double—deck was novel. it's like a private jet up here! it's still pretty cool today. i know somebody whose grandma boarded a 7117 and thought she was still in the departure lounge because it was so big. she didn't realise and was asking when they were going to be boarding. 71 metres from the front to a place passengers didn't see near the tail. at the back of the plane, up a flight of stairs is where on long haul flights, the crew can get some rest. in seat 1a, you are further forward than the pilot. the cockpit is up there. but the amazing views out of the window didn't come cheap in first class. it's incredible to think that the boeing 7117 has been with us for around half a century. suddenly, you could carry around 400 people from heathrow to jfk, new york, in about six hours.

it was a wow moment. and it changed the way we travel. millions of miles, millions of jumbo jet memories. this morning, it's over and out for the ba 7117 era. the airfield behind me is really quite by heathrow standards, you have got the two runways there and you can see one plane coming in, a ba flight you can see one plane coming in, a ba flight but because of the pandemic, there are no where near as many flights taking off, normally it would be every a0 seconds, planes coming in and out of this, one of the busiest airfields in the world in normal times and that is why the 7a7 has been prematurely retired from the fleet. it was quite a poignant moment this morning because it is an aircraft that is really loved, not just by it is an aircraft that is really loved, notjust by the company but by anybody connected to aviation

worldwide. ok, tom, thank you very much, tom burridge, ourtransport correspondent at heathrow. the rain pouring down for that final take—off for the two jumbo jets. let's see how the weather is set for the rest of the day with carol kirkwood. hello again. it has been a pretty wet start to the day, particularly so across england and wales. as we go through this afternoon, the rain should all but clear and behind it, we are looking at a brighter afternoon with some sunny spells. also a fair few showers and some of those in the north and west could be sharp and thundery. we will hang on to more cloud which could produce a shower in east anglia. temperatures reaching from ten in the north to 17 in the south. through this evening and overnight, under clear skies in southern areas, it is going to be a colder night than the one just gone. we have rain coming in across northern ireland, scotland, into northern england and north wales by the night, with a rash of showers following on behind. a cool night under clear skies in parts of scotland as well. through tomorrow, the weather front

continues to journey southwards, bringing more cloud ahead of it as it does so. behind that, once again, a mixture of bright spells, sunny skies and showers, with the potential for some of the showers in the west to be heavy and feeling a bit cooler. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. tighter coronavirus restrictions are expected early next week for parts of england, that could result in the closure of bars and restaurants. as new coronavirus restrictions hit scotland's hospitality sector — there's concern it could sound the death knell" for a number of businesses. the two us vice presidential candidates have clashed over coronavirus, climate change and health care, during a televised debate in salt lake city. prince william and sir david attenborough have joined forces to launch what they hope will become the "nobel prize for environmentalism".

and british airways bids farewell to its last boeing 7a7 jumbo jets — four years earlier than planned due to the pandemic. mps have launched an inquiry to scrutinise the government response to the coronavirus pandemic. the commons health committee, led by the former health secretary jeremy hunt, and the science committee, chaired by greg clark, will examine the effectiveness of the action taken by the government, and the advice it received from experts. the hearings will begin next week with a session on social care, with recommendations expected to be published by spring next year. as we've been hearing, ministers are expected to tighten the coronavirus restrictions in parts of england on monday, while in scotland, further restrictions on bars and restaurants come into force tomorrow. in belgium, the capital brussels is facing a similar tightening. all bars and cafes will be closed from today, for at least a month.

drinking alcohol outdoors will also be banned. but restaurants serving meals at tables will remain open. 0ur correspondent gavin lee has the latest from brussels. it came very late yesterday afternoon, it was very sudden and unexpected, this is not a federal government thing for the whole country but the regional government. as a side issue here, the regional government has announced this but almost all of the members, the ministers of the regional government, made the announcement from self—isolation because one minister tested positive for covid—19 so only the health minister at the moment can be out and about in public. what they have said is as of 7am, bars and cafe is will be closed for at least a month. why? the reason is, brussels, according to the regional president, is the second worst hit city for covid—19 in the whole of europe, second only to madrid. one in seven people tested is testing positive in the city for covid—19. the scene around us at the moment, usually at this time of the morning,

even in this weather, there would be a few people out under the canvas, in the chairs, but the bars and cafes are closed. there is a lot of confusion. we heard from a lot of people overnight saying they have got a bar, can they quickly change it into a restaurant? but as we understand it, it is businesses that are registered as cafes and bars have to stay closed. and the reason, well, is the pressure on hospitals at the moment. they are trying to keep the pressure down. some of the hospitals are now moving patients out of brussels into nearby towns because, although they are not at capacity yet, they are worried about the speed people are coming in, and they believe in two or three weeks, they will risk collapse. so this is a step away from a complete lockdown and they are hoping this will work. the bbc has seen video evidence that shows livestock from the uk is being shipped to the middle east and slaughtered. investigators tracked consignments of cattle over the summer via spanish fattening farms and ports. practises

at one lebanese abattoir, where a british bullock was filmed in august, were described by charity workers as "dreadful and terrifying". the government has said it is committed to improving animal welfare. jon ironmonger has this exclusive story. and a warning that you may find some of the images in this film distressing from the start. a slaughterhouse in lebanon in august. cattle are strung up by the legs, still conscious, and stabbed with knives. the practices are typical in this part of the world. the cattle are not. ear tags on this dead bullock reveal it is from the uk, far beyond any protection from europe. charities have gathered first—time video evidence that british livestock is being exported via spanish fattening farms and ports for slaughter in third countries, where international standards are ignored. on a truck in cartagena injuly, investigators filmed another bullock from the uk. it is loaded onto a ship

headed for libya. i have worked in animal welfare for 20 years and the footage from slaughterhouses in the middle east is the worst thing i have ever seen. it is absolutely desperate and i can't imagine a crueller way to treat an animal. it is just awful. there is pain and suffering for long periods of time. livestock carriers take at least five days to sail from spain to libya or lebanon. in 2016, when this footage was filmed, a landmark study found poor welfare and stifling hot, cramped conditions were commonplace on long sea journeys. the cattle on this ship to israel are crowding around an empty drinker. after many years of legal challenges and protests, exports of live animals have been declining in britain. the port of ramsgate is the main departure point for livestock exports from england and scotland. shipments of uk calves, for years fiercely resisted here, have very recently been suspended but they continue unabated from ports in ireland.

campaigners say that without a ban, new trade routes will soon open up. male calves are low value by—products of the dairy industry. last year, 16,500 were sold to spain by the uk for fattening. many fall sick en route. like this one, filmed outside a facility in catalonia injune. it has been left untreated. charity workers later called a vet to shoot the animal. this video footage is stomach churning. it is such a wake—up call. the government has a manifesto commitment to restrict excessive long—distance transportation. i think they need to act on it so that one day very soon, we see an end to live export for slaughter or fattening. animals exported from the uk are still protected by eu rules requiring vet checks and placing limits on journey times or stocking densities. brexit presents an opportunity to go further and ministers have promised to consult on a possible ban.

the national farmers' union said the trade was important and that they would seek to maintain it. john ironmonger, bbc news. we can speak now to vet dr lynn simpson, who wrote a report in 2016 about the conditions animals face when being transported long distances at sea. thank you forjoining us. 0r thank you forjoining us. or a number of years, your job thank you forjoining us. or a number of years, yourjob as a vet was to travel on the ships containing large norms of catalepsy and to check on the animal is' welfare. give us a sense of what conditions are like for animals being transported in that way? sure, there conditions are just completely unnecessarily cruel and distressing for the animals in general. 0urjob asa for the animals in general. 0urjob as a vet is like being an er doctor. the animals you treat and you deal with, you are there to hopefully use your skills to make their passage easier but you wish they were not there at all. it is a bit like a

doctor dealing with a drug overdose ora doctor dealing with a drug overdose or a car accident. you hope to help but you don't want them to be there. the conditions we see with these animals, if you can picture them being like a multistorey car park and they are living pen after pen on top of each other, with a concrete floor, usually very little bedding, so these animals are not designed to live on concrete, they get leg injuries to the point that their joints are worn down to the bone, they are very crowded so they have got to jostle and fall all over each other all the time. they generate a lot of heat in themselves, and they hold heats up so it becomes a hot and humid environment which becomes and humid environment which becomes a perfect incubator for diseases. and it sounds horrendous and i know thatis and it sounds horrendous and i know that is why you ultimately left the role and wrote the report that we mentioned. there are a number of stages in the journeys of animals

from the uk to the middle east, as highlighted in this report, and we saw the treatment of one animal at the abattoir in lebanon which was really horrific. what needs to happen to change this, if practices are not going to change in one particular country, does the uk need to put an end to live export for slaughter? is that where the answer lies? i think that is absolutely the end point we need. we need it to end. there are regulations in place that are not being respected and people are not being held to account. a very simple one is a lot of the animals who are leaving the uk are travelling across the mediterranean to israel, libya, lebanon etc. the united nations has a shipping wing because the international maritime organisation and they have very clear regulations as to where you can discard bodies. a lot of these cattle die, especially of respiratory diseases and leg injuries and when they are

die, they are thrown into the ocean. —— when they die. it is illegal to throw them into the mediterranean, it is considered a special area and the ships should be held to account because every single one of them is breaking the law all the time. and why is that not being picked up? why is that not leading to change? that is that not leading to change? that isa is that not leading to change? that is a fantastic question and i think it is because awareness of the trade is on the rise, hence the trade in itself is on the decline, which is fantastic. it is just not declining as quickly as it should. it should be back in the days of the abolition of slavery, like, you know, we have better ways of doing it. for example in australia, every country that we live export animals too, those countries also import chilled and frozen meat from us so why on earth are we sending these animals on an cumulatively stressful journey between trucks and ships, slaughterhouses, whatever, when they canjust be slaughterhouses, whatever, when they can just be processed slaughterhouses, whatever, when they canjust be processed in slaughterhouses, whatever, when they can just be processed in our own

countries, preserving our own jobs, using our own animal welfare standards that we can control, and then sending them as a chilled and frozen carcass? thank you for joining us. a spokesman for destro has said that now we have left the eu, we will be taking for the ma nifesto eu, we will be taking for the manifesto commitment to end excessively long journeys for animal journeys going to slaughter and fattening. the national farmers' union says it has developed its own proposals for a live export assurance scheme and it is looking to work with the government to implement it. we will have more on that story in the next hour. the headlines on bbc news... tighter coronavirus restrictions are expected early next week for parts of england, that could result in the closure of bars and restaurants. as new coronavirus restrictions hit scotland's hospitality sector, there's concern it could sound "the death knell" for a number of businesses. the two us vice presidential candidates have clashed over

coronavirus, climate change and health care, during a televised debate in salt lake city. let's get more reaction now to the vice presidential debate in the us. current vice—president mike pence going head—to—head overnight kamala harris. with his democratic challenger kamala harris. chris morris, our reality check correspondent, was watching. here are his thoughts. well, it was certainly more of a debate than last week but that isn't setting the bar all that high. there were fewer questionable or incorrect claims made but there were still a fair number. coronavirus is the dominant issue of this campaign, and kamala harris said donald trump has called the virus a hoax. but that is not quite right. it goes back to comments the president made in february when he accused the democrats of politicising the virus and went on to say criticism of his handling of covid—19 was "their new hoax". we know the president has often played down the virus and said it

would one day magically disappear, but he has not directly called it a hoax. mike pence defended the administration's handling of the virus and said president trump had suspended all travel from china in the early stages of the pandemic, saving hundreds of thousands of lives. but there was no blanket ban on travel from china. there were exemptions for us citizens, as well as legal residents and others. in fact, about a0,000 people arrived in the us directly from china in the two months after president trump's restrictions were imposed, and most of the infections probably arrived from europe anyway. there was also mention of recent events including a ceremony in the white house rose garden, announcing amy coney barrett as the president's nominee for the supreme court. mr pence stressed the event, at which the virus may well have spread, was out of doors, but he did not say that there

where receptions immediately afterwards inside the white house, with little or no social distancing. there have been lots of stats thrown around in this election campaign about the state of the american economy, and kamala harris said more than 30 million people have had to file for unemployment in the last three months. that is true when you look at claims made since the start of the covid outbreak in february, but what she did not say is that the number of claims has dropped in recent weeks. there are now about 12 million continuing claims for unemployment insurance. this graph shows how unemployment has risen and fallen sharply. and of course, the context is a global pandemic which has crashed economies around the world and which would have sent unemployment soaring under any american president. health care is another big election issue in the states. mr pence said, "president trump and i have a plan to improve health care and protect pre—existing conditions for every american." but the administration has not released a detailed plan of its own and it has not set out a policy to cover pre—existing conditions.

the vice president was pressed again on this point by the moderator later later in the debate, but he basically ignored the question and talked about abortion and the supreme court instead. in fact, both candidates did not answer questions when it suited them. kamala harris ignored one on whether the democrats would try to expand the supreme court with their own nominees if they win, but politicians avoiding awkward questions is hardly unique to this election or to the united states. women with darker skin are more than twice as likely to be told their photos fail uk passport rules when they submit them online, compared to lighter—skinned men. the passport application website uses an automated check to detect poor quality photos, which do not meet home office rules. however, research conducted by the bbc found that women with darker skin are most likely to have their photos flagged

as unsuitable, even if they meet all the requirements. let's talk to noel sharkey, emeritus professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the university of sheffield. thank you forjoining us. one person who spoke to the bbc for this investigation, a black student, said she was wrongly told her mouth looked open each time she uploaded five different photographs to the passport application website, even though her mouth was closed as required in the photographs. why is this bias happening? well, it is very bad. i mean, it is the tools they are using. i am actually quite angry about this because this was revealed by the press association in september last year, and then a team looked at... used freedom of information to the home office and found out that they knew this was

happening but said they were determined to fix it. this is a year ago. why is it still happening? it is face recognition technology itself, it has been appalling. 0ur police are using them and they have been demonstrated, in their own data, be 5% accurate with black people, 5%! sorry, 5% accurate in general but at the notting hill carnival, they were only 2% accurate and yet they are still using this. it is unbelievable. it is more about the inaccuracy rather than the accurate. yes, 9896 inaccurate, put it like that. to flip the coin and look at it that way. this is all about algorithms, isn't it? yes. why are the algorithms making biased decisions? there are a couple of reasons, one is that in the it world, it is dominated by white males. in silicon valley, in the uk,

everywhere where there is technology, it tends to be white males. they are writing a programme and their unconscious bias is in there. they are not thinking about there. they are not thinking about the impact on black people or ethnic minorities or gay people or disabled people. and so they make that kind of error, but the majority of the use of this technology is being done by what we call machine learning. that is when you feed a machine with vast amounts of data. although our society is evolving to develop better values, you would not think it sometimes but we are. many of our old biases are ossified on the internets that this data comes from, though. so we can't truly blame the algorithm but we humans behind it? yes. what can be done about it? if we know there is an issue, what can be done to deal with advising technology? welcome a lot of people have been working on this like google and microsoft for some years now, trying to find a way of

eliminating the buyers. these are black box so if you give it a biased decision against you, it can be mortgaging, it can be policing, loa ns mortgaging, it can be policing, loans or whatever, you can't get an explanation from the machines because they are just big boxes of numbers. they have been working to make it explainable and also trying to find ways of biasing. but my view is simply this, if critical decisions have to be made about humans, that significantly impact their lives, they should be made by humans. these systems should all be shut down until they can be shown in some sort of large pharmaceutical trials to be unbiased. we must leave it there. professor, thank you for your time. the bbc appraoched the home office with the story and asked for a response. a spokesperson said: "the photo checker forms an important part of the online passport application service, with the indicative check helping our customers to submit a photo that is right the first time and enable their application to be

processed as quickly as possible. over 9 million people have used this service and our systems are improving. we will continue to develop and evaluate our systems with the objective of making applying for a passport as simple as possible for all of our customers." the duke of cambridge and sir david attenborough have launched an ambitious nobel—style environmental award, with a £50 million prize fund, to recognise and celebrate ideas and technologies that can target the climate crisis. prince william said his earthshot prize was to recognise what organisers called "amazing people" with "brilliant innovative projects to help save the planet". justin rowlatt has more. here we are, right on the coast, so we've got the marshland... it's becoming clear that protecting the environment is the issue that will define prince william's public role from now on. you can hear the ducks, geese, all the birds all the way along the coastline here. this year, prince william and a global alliance... he's joined forces with sir david attenborough,

no less, to launch what the pair intend will literally be a world—changing prize. a global prize... the idea, the prince says, is to inject some positivity into the debate. we very much felt that what was needed and what was missing at the moment was very much a case of harnessing people's optimism and hope. there's been a lot of negativity and pessimism and i think it's such a big scale topic that people themselves don't know, you know, "if i recycle my plastic everyday, actually, how much of a big difference am i making?" kensington palace says the earthshot prize will make five awards of £1 million every year for ten years. prince william and sir david say they are looking for ideas that will transform our approach to five key issues — fixing the climate, building a waste—free world, restoring nature, cleaning our air and reviving our oceans. but higher temperatures mean a lot more than longer summers.

these are bold ambitions and the time for action is now, sir david attenborough told the today programme. suddenly, we actually see the writing on the wall. suddenly, we can actually see coral reef dying. suddenly, we can see that forests are disappearing. suddenly, there are real dangers that there may be a tipping point in which the ice caps of the north pole begin to melt, which it's doing already. the aim of earthshot is to find ways to, the organisers say, repair the planet. the hope is, the prize will attract new ideas that can bring about real change. today, the prince will be announcing more celebrity supporters, as well as the companies, charities and other organisations that will be backing the prize. justin rowlatt, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood.

hello again. it has been a pretty wet start to the day, particularly so across england and wales. as we go through this afternoon, the rain should all clear and behind it, we are looking at a brighter afternoon with some sunny spells. also a fair few showers and some of those in the north and west could be sharp and thundery. we will hang on to more cloud which could produce a shower in east anglia. temperatures reaching from ten in the north to 17 in the south. through this evening and overnight, under clear skies in southern areas, it is going to be a colder night than the one just gone. we have rain coming in across northern ireland, scotland, into northern england and north wales by the night, with a rash of showers following on behind. a cool night under clear skies in parts of scotland as well. through tomorrow, the weather front continues to journey southwards, bringing more cloud ahead of it as it does so. behind that, once again, a mixture of bright spells, sunny skies and showers, with the potential for some of the showers in the west to be heavy and feeling a bit cooler.

this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. tighter coronavirus restrictions are expected early next week for parts of england that could result in the closure of bars and restaurants. as new coronavirus restrictions hit scotland's hospitality sector, there's concern it could sound the "death knell" for some businesses. a sharp increase in covid—19 cases in countries across europe — germany calls the rise "worrying". in brussels, cafes and bars have been ordered to close this morning for at least a month. the two us vice—presidential candidates clash over climate change and health care and coronavirus — during a televised debate