this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm kasia madera. a record rise. 338,000 people have been infected with coronavirus in the past day, the highest daily number since the pandemic began. in michigan, the fbi arrests six men in an alleged plot to kidnap the state's governor, gretchen whitmer. when i put my hand on the bible and took the oath of office 22 months ago, i knew this job would be hard. but i'll be honest, i never could have imagined anything like this. the debate over the debate. it won't be virtual, but will the next us presidential match—up still go ahead? and the royal ballet gets ready for its first performance with a live audience

in seven months. hello, and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. we begin with an alarming announcement from the world health organisation. it says more than 338,000 people around the world have been infected with coronavirus in the past day. this is the highest daily number since the pandemic began. the worst figures in europe are from the czech republic, a small country, but it now has the highest infection rate in the eu at 327 cases per 100,000 people. thursday saw a record number of infections in the uk. the prime minister,

borisjohnson, says it means the country is heading into a danger zone. and officials in germany say they are worried after cases there rose by almost a third in one day. and the united states has the largest total number of cases and deaths in the world. dr krutika kappalli is an infectious diseases physician and a professor at the medical university of south carolina. i asked her what she makes of this record rise. i think this is something that we should all be alarmed by. we're seeing cases go up all over the world, as you mentioned in parts of europe. we're also seeing this in places like iran, argentina, india, the united states. in the united states over the last 2a hours, there have been over 50,000 cases, over 900 deaths. over the last week, there has been an increases of over 9% of new cases. so, this is something that's happening all over the world,

and i think it's a sign of people letting up on practising vigilance against coronavirus. so, when you say practising vigilance, we do see people people wearing masks, we do see lockdowns, we do see the negative effect that that has on the economy, on businesses, on people's livelihoods. where do we get the balance? and how are we getting it so wrong? well, you're right. we do need to worry about the economy, but the health of our economy depends on the health of our people. and so first and foremost, we need to ensure that the health of our population is there. and that's by possibly returning to developing some more stringent public health measures. so, in some places, we don't have mask mandates, and so recommending enacting those. and in some places, we've opened up businesses again, and so looking at some of those public health measures and tightening them back up again. now with your analysis, johns hopkins of course leading the way when it comes to looking at the figures,

are there specific areas, countries, continents you look at and you think that is going in the right direction, and then you look somewhere else and it raises alarm bells. is there anyone we can learn from? sure, there are definitely parts of the country we are concerned about. there are some places in the midwest that we are worried about where we see cases go up. 0ne place in particular that we're worried about that i can think about the top of my head is a state like wisconsin. we're seeing cases go up there. south dakota, north dakota, places like that. so, we definitely need to look at the states where cases are going up, localities where cases are going up and really look at what's going on, how we can increase public health measures, how we can increase testing, how we can increase contact tracing, how we can support isolation and quarantine measures and stop those chaings of transmission. 13 men have been charged with an alleged plot to kidnap the governor of the us state of michigan, gretchen whitmer. the fbi says the plot involved six of the men abducting the governor

and taking her to a remote location to put her on trial for treason. governor whitmer has accused president trump of encouraging far right groups by, as she put it, fraternising with domestic terrorists. just last week, the president of the united states stood before the american people and refused to condemn white supremacists and hate groups like these two michigan militia groups. "stand back and stand by," he told them. "stand back and stand by." hate groups heard the president's words not as a rebuke, but as a rallying cry, as a call to action. when our leaders speak, their words matter. they carry weight. when our leaders meet with, encourage or fraternise with domestic terrorists, they legitimise their actions and they are complicit.

there are conflicting signals about the likelihood of a second presidential debate between president trump and his democratic challenger, joe biden. the plan was to hold a virtual debate because of mr trump's treatment for covid, but the president said that would be a waste of time. last night saw the only face—to—face debate between the vice presidential candidates mike pence and kamala harris, as our north america editor jon sopel reports. never before has a vp debate been so important, and there's a reason for that. with both presidential candidates well into their 70s, the old phrase about the number two being only a heartbeat away from the oval office has never seemed more relevant. in the debate between mike pence and kamala harris, covid was centre stage, although divided by plexiglass. the american people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country.

but i want the american people to know that from the very first day, president donald trump has put the health of america first. whatever the vice president is claiming the administration has done, clearly it hasn't worked. but when you say what the american people have done over these last eight months hasn't worked, that's a great disservice to the sacrifices the american people have made. this debate had none of the histrionics and shouting of last week, in what felt like a 0—0 draw. to be honest, the most exciting bit came when a very black fly landed in mike pence's very white hair and stayed there. president trump and i stand with you. it ended with this trail—ahead. the second presidential debate is next week on october 15th, a town hall—style debate in miami. but this morning, the independent commission that runs the presidential debates ruled that next week's encounter should be virtual. the president's reaction — a furious "i' no, i'm not going to waste my

time on a virtual debate. that's not what debating's all about. you sit behind a computer and do a debate, it's ridiculous. and then they cut you off whenever they want. joe biden, who's agreed to a virtual debate, was today throwing up his hands. we don't know what the president's going to do. he changes his mind every second. so, for me to comment on that now would be irresponsible. i think that i'm going to follow the commission's recommendations. if he goes off and he's going to have a rally, i'll... i don't know what i'll do. the strategy of the president pre—illness had been to change the subject away from the pandemic. now he seems to be embracing it as a gift. i think this was a blessing from god that i caught it. this was a blessing in disguise. but for all that, he's still confined to quarters, whilejoe biden is out campaigning, something that will add to the president's growing frustration. let's get some of the day's other news. a massive fire engulfed a residential building

in the south korean city of ulsan, forcing hundreds of evacuations. the fire is thought to have started on the 12th floor of the building just after 11pm and quickly spread. the fire department said 77 people had been treated for smoke inhalation. tens of thousands of indonesians have protested for a third day against a controversial law that critics say will harm workers and the environment. rallies took place around the country. hundreds were arrested in jakarta. hundreds more have been held in strikes and protests in other cities this week. the so—called "omnibus" jobs creation bill became law on monday. the rape and murder of a young woman in algeria has sparked demonstraions for tougher action against gender—based violence. the killing of the 19—year—old woman set off a wave of outrage on social media, where users called for the death penalty for the attacker. 38 women have been killed in algeria this year.

stay with us on bbc news. still to come, failed harvests, extreme weather plus coronavirus. very few reasons to celebrate in north korea, but a parade for the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the workers' party is planned nonetheless. music. this was a celebration by people who were relishing their freedom. they believe everything's going to be different from now on. they think their country will be respected in the world once more, as it used to be before slobodan milosevic took power. the dalai lama, the exiled spiritual leader of tibet, has won this year's nobel peace prize. as the parade was reaching its climax, two grenades exploded, and a group of soldiersjumped from a military truck taking part in the parade and ran towards the president, firing from kalashnikov automatic rifles.

after 437 years, the skeletal ribs of henry viii's tragic warship emerged. but even as divers worked to buoy her up, the mary rose went through another heart—stopping drama. i want to be the people's governor. i want to represent everybody. i believe in the people of california. this is bbc news. the latest headlines — a record rise of coronavirus infections in one day, 338,000 people. in michigan, the fbi arrests six men in an alleged plot to kidnap the state's governor, gretchen whitmer.

let's stay with that story, the quinn klinefelter a journalist covering the story in detroit. these groups apparently were operating on kind of two prongs. the first is that they wanted to overthrow, they said, several state governments that they felt were violating the us constitution. that goes along the lines with what president trump has talked about in terms of trying to reopen the economies. states that kept their economies closed and were trying to protect because of covid—19 were seen as going against what the president wanted. this group seemed to believe the best way to alleviate that was to actually forcibly take them over. they'd got a quite intricate plot planned to try to abduct the governor from her vacation home, which is hundreds of miles away from the state capital, to try to use explosives as a distraction while they would get her. they actually obtained at tasers and things to try to actually pull this off. and they also involved the potential shooting of police officers, law enforcement.

apparently one person in the group found that to be too far and became an informant for the fbi, and that was how they were tipped to the entire plot. now, this group was incredibly well—organised with their plans. what do we know about them? do they have some kind of background? well, there's kind of a history of these militia in michigan for some reason. there's been a number of episodes where people were off training in the woods for the potential downfall of society as we know it. but in recent days, it's really come to the fore as there has been protections put in against the virus. they have said that being forced to wear a mask and being unable to try to go to places, motion picture theatres and the like, was infringing on their rights and that they needed to take a stand. almost as if it was the american civil war yet again. there have been numerous death threats sent to the governor. and a few months back, they actually had a number of

armed people who were allowed into the state capital to perch in the upper rows over the state legislature, which is michigan's parliament, and actually not aim the guns at them, but very to much intimidate them as they were trying to do votes which they were saying were votes to infringe again on their freedom. the president has pointed out governor whitmer numerous times as somebody who had locked down michigan and was going beyond her bounds to do so. he tweeted, "free michigan." and so it's very much of a coalescence of these two groups, militias that have been around for a while and seem to believe the current state of affairs is really infringing on them, so they believe. and the other is the president, as the governor said in the clip you played a bit ago, he did not condemn white supremacists or hate groups recently during the last presidential debate. and that these people see this as a go—ahead to try to take what action they believe is necessary.

more details on that story on oui’ more details on that story on our website. north korea is preparing for what is expected to be one of the largest military parades in its history as it marks the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the workers' party. the parades are a chance to show off new missiles despite strict economic sanctions. but it's been a difficult yearfor north korea after kim jong—un‘s failure to reach a deal with donald trump in 2019. on top of that, the covid—19 pandemic and extreme weather have cut off supplies and wreaked havoc on harvests, as laura bicker reports. hour after hour, north korean reporters broadcast live from successive typhoons. the destruction wrought on this fragile country was seen in real time, a first for this usually secretive state. kim jong—un went to see the damage for himself and raised concerns about vital harvests. this impoverished country has also been battered by the effects of the covid—19 pandemic.

although north korea denies having a case, it has been locked down for months. translation: all the routes - land, sea, and air — it's a complete shutdown of both people and material. the north korean economy has come to a halt. smugglers and small traders at the border have questioned why the regime is risking the fate of the economy if there's no covid—19 in the country. south of the border, our team is allowed into the demilitarised zone. we drive past the man—made barriers which have divided the two koreas for 70 years. from here, those curious from the south love to peer at the north. this is as close as they can get. 2020 has been difficult for many countries, but for north korea, it has the potential to be devastating. and since the border was shut in january, the 25 million north korean

people have been more closed off to the world than ever before. pyongyang dramatically cut off all communication and blew up the inter—korean liaison office earlier this year. but still some have hope of ending this war, even after donald trump and kimjong—un could not reach a deal on denuclearisation. translation: there were efforts to reach a big deal, but that resulted in a no—deal. it is time for us to go back and develop smaller deals in sports and culture. the governor would like north and south to share this landscape and designate it as a peace zone, an unlikely dream for now. instead, south koreans enjoy the autumn sunshine perching on the spine on their side of the peninsula. with few covid—19 restrictions and a certain harvest, there are few worries here.

the same cannot be said of their neighbours. laura bicker, bbc news, gangwon. let's bring you some breaking news — president donald trump's physician has said the president has completed his course of therapy for the coronavirus, has remained stable since returning to the white house and could return to public engagements on saturday. dr sean conley said in a memo released by the white house that trump had responded "extremely well" to treatment. so just to restate, the president's doctor saying the president has responded extremely well to treatment for coronavirus and he has remained ina coronavirus and he has remained in a stable condition and will return to public engagements on a sunday. just a bit of

breaking news there from the us from the white house. a study has shown that people who have a certain gene inherited from neanderthals are more likely to suffer severe forms of covid—19. scientists from sweden and germany have found that after a person's age, possessing the gene was the biggest risk factor for coronavirus, with far greater likelihood of hospitalisation and being placed on a ventilator. professor sva nte paabo, who is director of the max planck institute for evolutionary anthropology in germany, has led the study. he explained to me what the neanderthal gene is all about. so, neanderthals were this extinct form of humans that existed in western asia and europe until about 40,000 years ago when they became extinct. and when modern humans evolved in africa and then came out of africa, they met neanderthals, and one had babies together and those babies contributed to the ancestry of everybody outside africa today.

so, if your genetic roots are outside africa, 1—2% or so of your dna comes from neanderthals. so, does that mean that people with that gene then they suffer... well, they experience covid—19 in a worse way? just explain to us how that works. so, what i found injune this year was in chromosome three, there is this region that influences strongly how likely you are to become severely ill if you are infected with the coronavirus. and what we then found by comparing people's dna at that part of the genome with the neanderthal genome is that the risk variant there comes from neanderthals. so, if you happen to carry the neanderthal variant

on chromosome three in this region, you're more like you to become severely ill. so, if we compare it, for example, to your age, if you have one neanderthal copy from one of your parents, it is as if you were about ten years older in terms of risk of becoming severely ill. if you have two copies, it's as if you were 20 years older. so, how many people carry this neanderthal gene? strikingly, it varies across the world quite a lot. it is very low in africa because neanderthals had never been there. if you look outside africa, it's particularly high in south asia. so, for example, in india or in bangladesh, about one person in six... one person in two will carry at least one copy of this. in europe, about one person in six is a carrier. and in east asia, in china

orjapan, it's almost absent. so, that hints that these neanderthal genes have had some role in the past because they were good in south asia and have been selected against and disappeared in other parts of the world. so, they presumably had other roles perhaps in other epidemics and pandemics in the past. the world of the arts and entertainment has suffered huge problems because of the pandemic, and great institutions such as the royal opera house here in london are no exception. on friday, for the first time in seven months, the royal opera house will open its doors for a performance by the royal ballet, as our arts editor will gompertz reports. music. this is the first time since mid—march that the full orchestra and the full ballet company have been back at the royal opera house. things have changed a bit

while they've been away. the stalls have been removed so the orchestra can play down there, and all the scenery is gone so the orchestra can play at the back if it wants to. this stage is huge, so social distancing is possible, and the dancers only dance in pairs if they are in a specific ballet bubble of two for pas de deuxs. we're in a bubble. he's my working husband. what's it like to be back? really good. really nice. if you leave it till late, you probably never... yeah, the body starts to go, like, into netflix mode. yes, exactly, exactly! how's it different compared to a pre—lockdown show? well, a lot of it is. i think no—one was ready,

no—one could even think that... this could be possible. yeah, one day, they would have to readdress ballet so it would be social distancing... i know. it's crazy to think, you know? i don't know, i guess it's up to the choreographer. the performance might be back, but playing to full houses is unlikely to happen in the nearfuture, putting the royal opera house in a precarious financial position. putting it simply, since march the 17th, we haven't been able to perform at all. and somehow, we've got to sustain the country's largest community of artists through that without that income, and it's a huge challenge. prized assets, such as this painting by david hockney, are being sold, which will raise much—needed income, as will, the management hope, this special ballet gala, which will be streamed to the world tomorrow night. for now at least, the show is going on. will gompertz, bbc news. the american poet louise glick is the winner of this year's nobel prize for literature.

at 77, she's one of only 16 women to ever be awarded the prestigious prize out of 117 laureates. her poetry focuses on the painful reality of being human, dealing with themes such as death, childhood and family life. she won the pulitzer prize in 1993 for her collection the wild iris and the us national book award in 2014. let's remind you of our breaking news — president donald trump's physician has said the president had completed his course of therapy for the coronavirus and has remained stable since returning to the white house and could return to public engagements on saturday. dr sean conley said in a memo released by the white house

that trump had responded "extremely well" to treatment. in theory resuming public engagements on saturday. i'm sure there will be a lot of interest in that. thank you for watching. hello there. when the sun came out yesterday, we saw 19 celsius, temperatures above where they should be. and they have been for much of the week. but we will swing now to feeling colder for the next few days, probably with temperatures dipping a little bit below where they should be. we will still see some sunshine like we saw on thursday between the showers, this was the rain that moved away, the showers came in, but this next little area of low pressure comes in, giving some quite heavy rain actually through the night as it crosses scotland, northern ireland into the northern half of england and wales. you can see the wraparound here, the area of low pressure, a brisk north—westerly bringing heavy showers, frequent showers following that rain. so, as we go through the day, there will be early brightness in the south and east,

but the rain will eventually reach here by lunchtime. still some heavy rain upon that weather front and we still have that wraparound left around the area of low pressure and rain in the north east of scotland, northern isles and elsewhere, sunny spells and showers. quite a brisk breeze, gusty near those showers, and temperatures will be down, it is colder air, so we will do well to reach about 30 to 40 in the south, more like eight to 10 degrees in the north. some of these showers could be heavy with hail and thunder. they will continue through the night into saturday morning as well with further bands of showers going southwards, but the air is colder, so where we see the clear spells, it will turn quite chilly as temperatures fall fairly close to freezing in the glens of scotland. it is because we have this cold air mass coming down on that north—westerly breeze. but again, we have high pressure to the west and that will tend to start to see the showers easing away to the second half of the weekend, but we're going to keep a close eye on this area of low pressure, as always it's going to include the risk of showers or even into next

week some longer spells of rain, but for saturday, bands will make their way southwards on the north—westerly airstream, probably more showers in northern and western areas, but they could at times fall further east and again, temperatures as on friday, well down, except in shelter. 13 or 14 if you shelter from that northerly breeze. and that wind is still with us on sunday, but probably lighter, the high pressure starting to build in from the west, probably fewershowers, but again, always going to be more of a chance near the low pressure in the north sea, so closer to the eastern parts of england and wales. so, into next week, some uncertainty on where that area of low pressure is going to go. as ever, we will keep you updated.

this is bbc news — the headlines... the world health organisation has announced that more than 380,000 people around the world have been infected with coronavirus in the past day. that is is the highest daily number since the pandemic began. infections have reached record highs in the netherlands, the czech republic, ukraine and poland. the democratic governor of the us state of michigan has accused president trump of encouraging right—wing militia groups — after 13 men were charged with an alleged plot to kidnap her. in a statement — gretchen whitmer said that when leaders fraternize with domestic terrorists they legitimise their actions. president trump has rejected a plan to hold next thursday's election debate in virtual format — saying it will be a waste of time and the moderator would be able to cut him off.