this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a night—time curfew for paris and eight other cities in france, as the country struggles with a rise in coronavirus infections. as schools close in northern ireland, borisjohnson rejects so—called "circuit brea k" restrictions for the rest of the uk. could grey power he the by—factor in the presidential election? we'll report from a retiring — but not shy — battle ground in florida. four years ago, donald trump won a huge victory here in the villages. but the latest polls suggest joe biden is well ahead amongst the over—65s. and could air transport bubbles help rescue asia's beleagured travel industry?

hello and welcome. i'm kasia madera. the french president, emmanuel, macron has ordered a night—time curfew for paris and eight other french cities to contain the rising spread of covid—19. speaking on french television in the last few hours, mr macron said, "we have to act. we need to put a brake on the spread of the virus." in addition to paris, the measures apply to grenoble, lille, lyon, marseille, montpellier, rouen, saint—etienne and toulouse. residents will be banned from going outdoors between 9pm to 6am, from saturday. france reported 22,591 new confirmed coronavirus cases on wednesday. and it's become the ninth country

in the world to pass 33,000 deaths. this is president macron from that tv appearance just a few hours ago. translation: if during these six weeks we follow the curfew and act collectively to reduce the number of contacts, that's the point at which we think we can progressively start up again. dashed start to open up again. i'm being very careful here because experience has shown we can't control everything. we can't outline everything, but six weeks seems to us to be the best duration for our actions. 0ur paris correspondent lucy williamson says there's a sense in france that tougher measures are needed. well, i think there is a growing sense that the current measures aren't really up to the job. you had the head of the paris regional hospitals this week saying that he thought, by the end of october, 70—90% of the intensive care beds in the paris region would be occupied by covid patients. so i think for the government, this is something of a trade—off — it wants to keep schools and workplaces open,

so instead it's shutting everything else from 9pm in these nine major cities. restaurants, cinemas, theatres — now whether or not that stops student parties and other kinds of banned activity is well questioned, it'll certainly have an economic impact because some of these cities — notjust paris, but marseilles, toulouse, lyon, lille — they're some of the big economic centres of france. and when you look at the map, not only that, what's really striking as how they cover the length and breadth of this country. local curfews, yes, but this is not a problem that's confined any more to one region or one part of france. lucy williams and there in paris. in germany, chancellor angela markel has announced a plan to tighten restictions saying that the coronavirus infections were growing exponentially in the country. —— lucy williamson. there will be new measures including more mask wearing, a curfew for bars and limits on people meeting in areas of high transmission.

she urged young germans to forgo parties for now in order to enjoy life leader. the uk prime minister borisjohnson has insisted his three—tier regional approach to tackling the virus in england is the best way to limit the rise in cases, and to avoid what he described as the "misery" of a full lockdown. latest uk figures show that nearly 20,000 new coronavirus cases were recorded on wednesday — that's an increase of more than 2,000 compared with tuesday. the figures also show there were 137 deaths within 28 days of a positive test. northern ireland is now set to impose the toughest coronavirus restrictions anywhere in the uk. wales is set to ban visitors coming from the worst—affected parts of england, scotland, and northern ireland. but despite the increasing numbers, mrjohnson has rejected opposition calls for an immediate "circuit break", or temporary national lockdown. here's our political editor laura kuenssberg.

the rolling valley around glastonbury tor. around here in somerset, there have been 44 new cases of coronavirus in the last seven days. nottingham's old market square. in this bustling part of the world, nearly 3,000 people have fallen ill with the disease over the same time. why are you ignoring the science, prime minister? that difference — why the prime minister is resisting bringing in a limited lockdown across england. the opposition, though, has split away, after the government's own senior scientist proposed a short, sharp period of closures. 0n the 21st of september, the government's own scientific advisers, sage, gave very clear advice. they said a package of interventions including a circuit breaker will be needed to prevent an exponential rise in cases. why did the prime minister reject that advice and abandon the science? he wants to close pubs, he wants to close bars,

he wants to close businesses in areas across the country where the incidence is low, that's what he wants to do. what labour's proposing is not as strict as the lockdown from earlier this year, but downing street wants to avoid it and there is little appetite on the tory benches, too. i know that, for someone who has been an opportunist all his life, this is difficult, this is difficult to understand... but, having read and considered the sage advice, i have genuinely concluded that a circuit break is in the national interest. the whole point, mr speaker, is to seize this moment now to avoid the misery of another national lockdown, into which he wants to go headlong, by delivering a regional solution. politicians don't like admitting it but there can be opportunity in crisis, and there have been conversations in government about bringing in a limited lockdown, to close pubs and bars everywhere, to slow

the disease down. number ten is loath to press the button on a limited lockdown for england, notjust because of the harm that could do to the way the country makes its living, but also, why treat everywhere the same when the pattern of the disease varies from place to place? but avoiding a limited lockdown is a strong hope, not a guarantee. more parts of the country could soon fall under tighter rules. a limited lockdown is not a never, but it's certainly not for now. laura kuenssberg reporting there. let's get some of the day's other news... the government in thailand has brought in an emergency decree, following a series of protests in bangkok. they have banned gatherings of more than five people and outlawed publication of news or online messages that — in their words — affect national security. the demonstrators have been calling for the prime minister to stand down. some also want to impose curbs on the power of the monarchy.

the us state department has announced new measures in response to china's crackdown in hong kong. its already imposed sanctions against ten people, including hong kong's leader, carrie lam. now washington has warned of sanctions against global financial institutions doing business with them. the president of the european council has said it is in the interests of both sides to have a post—brexit agreement in place before end of the year. but he said it couldn't be at any price. the uk's prime minister boris johnson had issued a deadline of thursday, but this has been delayed until the european council's summit ends on friday. donald trump is bouncing back after his coronavirus infection and heads to iowa tonight, trying to make up for lost time just 20 days before the election. at his rallies this week in florida and pennsylvania, supporters have packed in without any regard for the social distancing rules. and again tonight, mr trump will be

flouting white house guidance. he tells them there is nothing to be afraid of. but that message is not landing so well with seniors or suburban white women — as our north america editorjon sopel reports. # people all over the world, join hands... it's the morning aqua aerobics class, and these elderly ladies are being invited by the instructor to join the "love train". but once they get out of the water, it will be the incessant demands to board either the trump train or the biden bandwagon. but they don't seem happy travellers, as i discovered at an impromptu focus group. how many of you just want this election to be over? cheering. laughter. they all live at the villages, america's biggest retirement community. and when i say big, i mean humongous — it has a population of 130,000, it covers an area bigger than southampton, and sprawls over five postcodes. the preferred mode of

transport — golf carts. and early voting is under way. the grey vote is critical for donald trump's reelection. but not all republicans are seeing it as black—and—white. i am thinking that biden will win. does that make you happy or unhappy? actually i prefer the republican platform, so i am voting for the republican platform is what i'm voting for. not necessarily trump, but the platform. this is a very, very important election, and i made sure that my democraticjoe biden vote got in early and on time. are you confident he might win? yes. can you be confident with the "might"? i'm confident he will! the parties know how they're doing in these postal votes, and democrats have a spring in their step. the votes that have been cast so far are all vote—by—mail. and the return is higher than ever before. and well over 50% are democratic. and that says to me that the momentum that we felt

building to this moment is still there and still growing. four years ago, donald trump won a huge victory here in the villages. but the latest polls suggest that joe biden is well ahead amongst the over—65s. and if that turns out to be true on polling day, that could be the difference between success and failure in florida. but, just like four years ago, the republicans are saying don't believe everything you read in the polls. trump is a bombastic personality. a lot of people really appreciate that. a lot of people like it if you ask somebody a question, you get an answer. and donald trump will give you an answer. and i think a lot of people appreciate that. not a blade of grass out of place. it looks genteel. but don't be fooled. there is a vicious and unrelenting fight going on that won't stop until november the 3rd. jon sopel, bbc news, florida.

lots of special coverage on november three. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: will recession thwart jacinda ardern's hopes of a landslide victory in new zealand's general election? parts of san francisco least affected by the earthquake are returning to life, but in the marina area — where most of the damage was done — they are more conscious than ever of how much has been destroyed. in the 19 years since he was last year, he has gone from being a little known revolutionary to an experienced and successful diplomatic operator. it was a 20—pound bomb which exploded on the fifth floor of the grand hotel, ripping a hole in the front of the building. this government will not weaken, democracy will prevail! it fills me with humility and gratitude to know that i have been chosen as the recipient of this

this prestigious honour. this catholic nation held its breath for the men they called the 33. and then... bells toll. ..bells tolled nationwide to announce the first rescue and chile let out an almighty roar. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... president macron of france has announced a night—time curfew that will be enforced in paris and eight other cities from saturday to help counter an increase in cases of covid—19. as schools close in northern ireland, borisjohnson rejects so—called "circuit brea k" restrictions for the rest of the uk. "travel bubbles" — where countries with low cases of covid—19 allow each other‘s' citizens to visit — have sparked hope for millions of people reliant on the tourism industry.

the stakes are high, with an estimated 100 million tourism jobs worldwide at risk unless borders are reopened soon. as the first countries to initiate the idea, australia and new zealand have agreed to partially reopen the borders for each other on 16 october. australia also has plans to reopen travel with japan and south korea in the nearfuture. though forming these bubble have lots of operational challenges, the idea is being picked up by many other asia—pacific nations. mario hardy is ceo of the pacific asia travel association, a nonprofit organisation focused on development of travel and tourism in the region. great to have you with us. before we talk about new zealand and australia, i know china and thailand, that travel bubble there, there were a lot of high hopes for it but it's been scrapped. talk us through why? it's actually been postponed. just a few days before it

was meant to be launched, the ministry of health decided to postpone it for a few weeks until they reassessed the different protocols between the two countries. i see, so it's not scrapped, just postponed. so hopefully fingers crossed it will be back on the agenda. we certainly hope so. we agree that the corridors, or bubbles as you refer to them, or a way forward for countries to reopen their destinations. but i think what is really key and important is to have common protocols between countries between destinations to facilitate the travel between each of the countries. so let's talk about australia and new zealand. that's partially reopening the borders from 16 october. how will that work realistically? what's really important as these bubbles is to have a good handle on the cases

of covid—19 in respective destinations. it's really important to have saved protocols of testing before travel and after travel, and upon arrival as well, and having some form of digital health passport to monitor who's been tested, when they've been tested. and essentially this passport will also be used for vaccines, once the vaccine is available. so do you feel confident there are strong enough testing procedures where you can get results back quickly enough, and these results will be stable? because there's also the issue that you can sometimes get false negatives. there's also the issue that you can sometimes get false negativesm is, but it's a question of minimising risk and understanding what it is that is the risk tolerance in respective destinations. we don't believe quarantine is effective. it is obviously necessary for people who test positive, but who test negative, we believe testing before travel, testing on arrival in testing if you stay for an extended period of time needs to be done on a

regular basis, and of course contract tracing, as well. when it comes to a time like dutch timeline for this,... where you think the industry is? because it's been decimated with this pandemic. industry is? because it's been decimated with this pandemicm has, the industry is on its needs at the moment. we do anticipate that travel will restart fairly soon. as you said, it will be financial agreements between destinations and countries. the reopening will be gradual and it will take quite some time for the industry to recover. mario, thanks so much for your times, thank you. thank you very much. new zealanders will vote this weekend in the country's general election and, if the polls are right, jacinda ardern's labour party is favourite to stay in power. they're so far ahead of their nearest rivals that some think they'll be able to govern alone without a coalition party —

something very rare in modern new zealand. it's being seen as a referendum on ms ardern's first term, but with new zealand now in recession for the first time in 11 years, the economy is also key. shaimaa khalil reports. chanting: jacinda, jacinda! she was virtually unknown when she became prime minister, but a tumultuous first—term established jacinda ardern as one of the world's most notable leaders. her premiership has been tested time and time again — especially by the christchurch terror attacks. it is clear that this is one of new zealand's darkest days. jacinda ardern grieved with the families. her decisiveness and empathy united the nation at the most tragic of times. many of those who will have been directly affected by this shooting may be migrants to new zealand, they may even be refugees here. they have chosen to make new zealand their home,

and it is their home. they are us. new zealand's success in containing the spread of covid—19 has given the prime minister a firm lead in the polls. thanks to an early and strict lockdown, the country has one of the lowest death rates globally. she's absolutely risen to the occasion and she's done so with a level of fundamental decency, and grace and humanity, which even people who are not going to vote for her party on 17 october will recognise the hallmarks of somebody and i suspect will go down as one of the great prime ministers of new zealand. the jacinda ardern brand is inevitably a big focus of this election. many have said that her leadership style based on kindness and compassion has changed the political rhetoric in the country. during the covid—19lockdown, she addressed new zealanders directly and said it would take a team of five million to get through it. but, despite her message of unity, there is still those

who feel left behind. this woman, a single mother of three, has struggled for years, getting by on food grants. she says there's been times when she couldn't afford school lunches or uniforms for her kids. in the last three years, they promised that they were going to reform this wealth—poverty issue that we're having. where's that promise? nothing. my message to the government is, "stop speaking of kindness and start doing something about it." hoping to dislodge labour is the national party. but the polls suggest it will take more than divine intervention for its leader, judith collins, to be the next prime minister. whoever voters choose on saturday will face the same struggle as every leader around the world — getting their country's economy back on track with the global pandemic still looming large. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, sydney.

back to the us now and donald trump's nominee for supreme court, amy coney barrett, is facing tough questions in the us senate for the third day of her nomination hearing. her likely confirmation will mean a 6—3 conservative majority on the court. the life—time appointment is being challenged by democrats saying that the court vacancy should be filled by whoever wins the election. republicans are pushing for a full senate vote before the november presidential election. in wednesday's hearings, judge barrett attempted to reassure democratic senators, worried about her alleged hostility to president obama's affordable care act. well, as i said yesterday, what i can say is that i certainly have no agenda, i'm not on a mission, i'm not hostile to the aca at all. and if i were on the court and if a case involving the aca came before me, i would approach it with an open mind — just like i do every case — and go through the process that we've discussed.

as early voting begins in the us presidential election, campaigners in the state of georgia say a historic problem has reappeared. it's called "voter suppression" and ranges from excessively strict identity requirements to purges of electoral rolls. all of which disproportionately affect black voters. our correspondent larry madowo reports from atlanta. waiting for hours. long lines at polling locations at the primary elections in georgia injune. i've covered elections in other democracies in africa, like nigeria and south africa, where america is seen as a beacon of democracy. but for some of its citizens, like here in the heart of atlanta, it is a game of cards — and they have been dealt a bad hand. gary harrison is a nurse who volunteers as a poll worker. he sees people blocked from voting for minor reasons. we may have votes, but a lot of votes are going to be suppressed.

and they could be every reason they can use to strike the ballot, like felonies or signatures not matching. officials at georgia's largest county are looking for redemption after accusations of voter suppression. fulton rolled out a mobile voting unit to serve voters who have been frustrated too many times. how are you, sir? fine, are you all right? i'm good, thank you. this is a first in the state of georgia? yes, sir, and we're very proud of it. but a voting station on wheels won't drive away strict voter identification laws that make it harder for minorities to vote. long lines, missing ballots, and voting machine failures at the primary elections were also widely criticised as instances of voter suppression. nearly 200,000 people were incorrectly removed from the state's voter rolls in 2019, according to the american civil liberties union of georgia. a lot of the rules that seem to be reasonable if you're a middle—class person, who works a white collar

job and drives a car, actually end up being voter suppression from the point of view of the person who moves a lot, who's low—income, who's working a minimum wage job. those fighting and documenting what they consider voter suppression here say some tactics are deliberate, others just sheer incompetence. but they say these are all signs of a fragile democracy. they consider it a battle worth fighting, because civil rights in this country have come too far to turn back. officials hope 80% of people will vote early or by absentee ballot to reduce the strain on election day. that was pretty easy. my staff, if you were to go around and ask them if they would participate in any sort of voter suppression tactics, i think you would get a resounding "no". i mean, that is not... we've done everything — since 2013, when i arrived, the only thing that we've been focused on is enfranchising voters.

in death, the civil rights icon john lewis towers over atlanta. nikema williams is a democratic state senator running to replace him in congress. she says she sees a larger problem in how elections are run here. i am very well aware of the leadership that we still have in this state. the legislature is majority republican—controlled in both chambers, and a republican governor and secretary of state. so we are very much mindful of the fact that we oftentimes have to go to the courts to get relief for voters in this state. thank you for waiting. you're welcome. thank you for waiting. a record turnout is expected in this election but, in the world's most famous democracy, full access to voting is not yet the full guarantee that has been promised. lots on the lots - on the build lots- on the build up lots - on the build up to the us election on our