this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. donald trump and joe biden prepare for rival tv appearances, as early voters head to the polls. us vice presidential nominee kamala harris pauses her campaign travel after one of her aides tests positive for covid—19. twitter says it's investigating a global outage as millions of users are unable to post or read messages. a warning to the european union — impose new restrictions to save lives, as it reports more covid cases than the us and india. riot police in thailand clash with demonstrators, protesting against the king and the prime minister.

president trump and his challengerjoe biden are holding two rival town hall events this hour. they're instead of the second tv debate which was cancelled due to the president getting coronavirus. the biden campaign had its own virus scare on thursday with aides to kamala harris, the vice presidential nominee, testing positive. all this, as early voters rush to the polls. let's speak to our north america correspondent ben wright. a couple of interesting developments on the election campaign throughout the day to day. we will start with these two rival debates that are taking place right now which means that voters in the us can't watch them both at the

same time, obviously. yes, exactly. the rivalry between the networks, abc and nbc in this case, which is perhaps one of the stories of the nights and there is some controversy around nbc‘s decision to schedule this townhall debate with president trump which is being held in miami at exactly the same time as the abc debate with joe the same time as the abc debate withjoe biden the same time as the abc debate with joe biden in the same time as the abc debate withjoe biden in philadelphia, pennsylvania, which had been scheduled beforehand, but the two networks have gone head—to—head because they both wa nt head—to—head because they both want the ratings. it's clearly upset, i think, want the ratings. it's clearly upset, ithink, some want the ratings. it's clearly upset, i think, some of the big stars within nbc who do not think this is a particularly helpful programming decision for the american voters. of course, less than three weeks before the election, but we will see how it goes. this was meant to be the night of the essential debate which did not happen because president trump contracted coronavirus and it was suggested there could be a virtual debate instead which he did not want to take part in, so this is the second—best

option that us tv viewers are going to get this evening. we will be keeping across both those townhall events and we will obviously keep viewers updated throughout the next few hours. let's move on to a second interesting issue which is the vice presidential nomination for the democrats, kamala harris, who has suspended her campaigning travel because one of her aides has tested positive for coronavirus. yes, it is her communications director and also a flight crew attendant who works on the democratic plane. both of them tested positive yesterday and we know that kamala harris shared a plane with the two of them back on october the 8th, saw about a week ago, quite a long time. since then, she has tested negative herself i think twice, but the campaign is saying out ofan but the campaign is saying out of an abundance of caution, she has decided to cancel all face—to—face campaign events

between now and next monday. it goes to show again how randomly coronavirus, positive or negative test, one way or the other, in a campaign can throw it off course and it has done it off course and it has done it this time with kamala harris, but there is no suggestion that she might become infected or anything by her proximity to these two people. the third separate interesting development today and yesterday, an article, a newspaper article, by a us newspaper article, by a us newspaper was effectively kind of blocked by social media companies and lots of people unhappy. can you explain that as? yes, the new york post, a new york newspaper, had a story involving leaked e—mails job biden‘s son, hunter, allegations about links to ukraine, that the biden campaign, i must say, has completed dismissed and denied. the social media companies facebook and twitter both in

the last 2a hours also intervened on a story they did not feel had voracity or could not feel had voracity or could not be truth checked, had not cleared its hurdle of legitimate newsworthiness and both of them intervened, so facebook made the case that this was not appearing very high on people's feeds if they we re high on people's feeds if they were choosing to share it. twitter stops people sharing the story at all, so it was quite an intervention by those two social media giants which has come pretty riled republicans, of course, who have screened this as censorship. it has strung a spotlight on the decision—making behind—the—scenes in those two companies and it is something they have both said they will do more after try to combat misinformation and fake news, but it was interesting example of that which is obviously got a lot of attention during the day and ethic we will see more of this in the next 23 weeks. thank you very much for taking us thank you very much for taking us to the developers of the day in washington. with me now is ron christie

who's a republican strategist, political analyst and former george w bush white house staffer. great to see you. we have these two rival tv appearances by the two rival tv appearances by the two candidates going on right now. what are you looking out for? good evening to you, it's good to see you as well. what i am looking for is how these two candidates can connect in such a very difficult and very volatile political environment. coronavirus was an issue that we never thought we would have to co nfro nt we never thought we would have to confront in american politics and clearly around the globe and this is something which is consuming all of the attention of the folks in america. here is the best individual to lead america forward 7 individual to lead america forward? is at the incumbent, donald trump? does he have what it takes to lead america forward and revive the economy oi’ forward and revive the economy or will it take someone else, someone new, the former vice presidentjoe biden to help america get out of this terrible pandemic? i think many millions, tens of millions of americans and those around the world will be watching to see what these two gentlemen have

to say tonight. the frustrating thing for many of those watching will be that they cannot watch both at the same time or if they do, they need to screens and two sets of yea rs. to screens and two sets of years. what do you make of that, the fact it is scheduled at the same time? i think we are in the same boat. i think i will be flipping back—and—forth and doing dual screens. i think this is a disservice to the american people. we should have found a way to have the vice president and the current president of the united states in the same stage. the president had coronavirus but with just 19 days to go, is it the right thing to have the two candidates on two competing networks at approximate the same time which really deprives the american people of the opportunity to hear what they both have to say as they enter the home stretch and are trying to close the deal to the american people as to why they should president of the united states ? should president of the united states? if you were advising donald trump, what kinds of m essa 9 es donald trump, what kinds of messages would you want to hear from him? stay disciplined, stay positive, talk about what

you are going to do moving forward. obviously what you have done, but talk about what your vision is for the next four years and, candidly, for the next 19 days as the american people are looking to make sure can we have a safe united states, can we have an economic rebound and, most importantly, can we find a cure for a pandemic sort of therapeutic to get us out of therapeutic to get us out of the coronavirus era which so many of us in america and around the world are facing. great to speak to you. we will let you get back to watching two men at the same time. good luck! thank you. twitter say they are investigating after a global outage of the platform. users were unable to tweet, and were sent error messages including "something went wrong". twitter have said there is no evidence to suggest that it was caused by a security breach or hack, and there will be more updates to come. our tech reporter james clayton joins us live from san francisco.

james, what's going on here? we have only had two statements from twitter. i will read them out. about an hour ago, they said, we know people are having difficulty tweeting and we are working to fix this and then they said we have no evidence this outage is caused by a security breach or hack. we are currently investigating internally and will share more soon. that is important because the last time this happened, all verified accounts on twitter went down, it was deliberate because there was big twitter hat, people like jeff besort were hacked and they close down twitter to see what was going on. this time, they do not think the same thing has happened, which begs the question what has happened? at the moment, we do not know. it says something that an outage for a couple of hours causes such a stir. yes, it is not the first time it happened. injuly, very similar thing happened. a lot of people said they were quite refreshed by

they were quite refreshed by the idea that verified twitter users could not actually tweet, but it is not the first time this has happened on twitter and, of course, it is so important. donald trump uses it asa important. donald trump uses it as a message board and the idea it could just go down this easily is really quite worrying and soi easily is really quite worrying and so i am quite sure that the chief executive of twitter now will be pulling his hair out. three weeks to go to the election, this is not a great time for this to happen. absolutely, not a great time for it to happen and, as you touched on there, the reliance of it for political messaging campaigns but more widely for communication in general shows really that shift in the power of these big social media companies. that's right. this isa companies. that's right. this is a big few weeks for facebook and twitter. you havejust heard that story about twitter yesterday deciding not to link toa yesterday deciding not to link to a new york post article. they did not say why. all sorts of criticism from the right, the chief executive once again came out in the afternoon and

saidi came out in the afternoon and said i apologise, we handled this badly. this is happening all the time. facebook is also getting a lot of heat from both sides because a lot of what is going on right now, advertising, their conversations that are happening right now particularly during covid when a lot of people are at home are happening online, so how these platforms moderate their platforms moderate their platform is incredibly important and three weeks to go to the election. james, great to the election. james, great to have yuan and we will wait for any more updates from twitter. thanks for now. the european union is now reporting more covid cases than the us, more than india and more than brazil. the world health organization warned today that european governments must impose tough new restrictions in order to save lives. in france, that means a curfew will come into force on saturday in nine cities, including paris and millions of french people won't be allowed to leave their homes from 9pm to 6am. from paris, lucy williamson

sent this report. time moves slowly in the cafe around the sorbonne. but student social life, virtually unchanged for centuries, has accelerated infections in cities like paris, marseille and lille. matil is studying management here, and agrees that this curfew is for them, but will it work? i don't think that it will work. if i didn't have a test, i think i will go out with people and do parties at 21—6 am. the curfews are being imposed on frans's worst hit places, the paris region and eight other cities, including marseille, toulouse, lyon and lille. hotspots which span the length and bredth of france, these may be targeted local restrictions, but together, they add up to a national problem. what the government is desperate to avoid is a national solution — some medics are already calling for another

nationwide lockdown. translation: for several months now, we have adopted a tailored strategy. we have opted for targeted measures, city by city, area by area, rather than generalised bands. we rely on trust with local officials, first and foremost the mayors. i want to say it again, without them, we would not succeed. the government has been careful to consult local leaders after accusations it was sidelining them last month. but there is still lots of opposition. the mayor of marseille says she's very angry about the cu rfews. "we know where infections happen," she said, "companies, "ca nteens, public transport. "we are putting the sticking plaster in the wrong place." almost half the life—support beds in paris are already full of covid patients, staff at this hospital said they were preparing for a marathon, not a sprint. one nurse we spoke to broke

down as he described the past six months. "for us, it's not just numbers," he said, "it's names and faces." lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: how the so—called ‘latino vote' is playing an important role in the run—up to the us election.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: donald trump and joe biden know taking part in rival tv appearances right now. a warning to the european union to impose new restrictions to save lives, as the bloc reports more covid cases than the us and india.

staying with that and here in england, new covid restrictions have prompted differing responses from regional political leaders. differing responses from the mayor of london sadiq khan has backed new rules which prevent people from visiting each other‘s houses in the capital — but the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, is resisting plans to place the region in tier three, with the toughest restrictions. our political editor laura kuenssberg reports. is it too late to stop the north—west‘s doors closing? the government wants bolton and every part of greater manchester in a limited lockdown. pubs and bars shut, travel restrictions, no household mixing. but students dominic and connor say at college, everyone's already ignoring the rules. even though we may have locked down, people are still going out, so what's the point? today i've been mixing with a load of other people, there's no social distancing, no nothing. angela's had enough. i'm sick of it. but georgia thinks a limited lockdown could be worth it. as long as it curbs the stem of coronavirus before christmas and people are able to see friends and family around the time, that's my big concern.

it's not happening for now, though. listen to the resistance from the mayor of greater manchester after angry conversations with number ten. they are asking us to gamble our residents' jobs, homes and businesses and a large chunk of our economy on a strategy that their own experts tell them might not work. greater manchester, the liverpool city region, and lancashire, are being set up as the canaries in the coal mine for an experimental regional lockdown strategy. this is an important moment. greater manchester will stand firm. no applause from 200 miles away, though. there have been furious calls between ministers and mps, including angry tories. the government's not ready to force the north—west — still trying to persuade. so, i call upon local leaders to set aside this party politics and to work with us

to put in place the measures that are needed in greater manchester, across the north—west, so that we can deal with this virus and support people through it. the reluctance of politicians on the ground to back harsher restrictions has been the concern that that those who live there will lose out. where firms have to close, the treasury's promised to stump up two thirds of wages, and workers could top up with benefits. but a well—respected former government adviser says that just doesn't cut it. we are looking at a period of destitution. do we want to go back to the days where people can't put shoes on their children's feet? this is what we are talking about. are we actually asking people in places like liverpool to go out and prostitute themselves so that actually they can put food on the table? but more than 20 million people do know tonight they'll face extra limits on their lives from midnight on friday. right across london, essex, york, parts of derbyshire and cumbria, meeting friends indoors is off. for sue maybanks, it's yet

more time home alone. i haven't seen anybody inside my flat since march. it's lonely. so, that's why i come out, chat to friends, outside, in the fresh air. what else can you do? martin says his dry cleaning business is already on its knees. we are in tier one and business is completely dead. look at it. if we go to tier two, i don't think it will make much difference anyway. and this woman worries about more time indoors with the kids. i had her at home with me for six months, which was so hard to keep herentertained. unlike his counterparts in the north of england, the london mayor had been pushing for tighter rules. the virus is spreading rapidly in every corner of our city. nobody wants to see more restrictions, but this is deemed to be necessary in order to protect londoners. i must warn londoners that we've got

a difficult winter ahead. downing street wants to push and pull different parts of the country in and out of limited lockdowns to match the spread of the disease. but those differences mean a clash, a war of words at least between national and local leaders. but in the end it's number ten that has the power to impose tighter rules. but remember, the tories want to keep their new—found friends in the north. there is no easy way out for either side. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. it's been another day of mass protests in the thai capital, as public anger spills onto the streets with thousands of pro—democracy demonstrators ignoring an emergency decree banning large gatherings. the demonstrators are calling for the resignation of the country's prime minister and for democratic reforms. our correspondent johnathan head sent this report from bangkok. as their numbers built,

the push forward against the police who seemed unsure how tough they could be with this youthful crowd. with one surge, they occupied the entire intersection. at this point, the police are pushed back against the railings, leaping over to escape the pressure and even thanking some protesters who would help them. this first day of the protest ban was not going well for the authorities. one of the few leaders to escape arrest then led the crowd in the chant of we are not afraid. like a lot of people here, he believes what happens next largely depends on the king.

do you think the king is listening to you? i cannot answer that easily. we would like his majesty to adjust himself, we do not want to overthrow his institution, but in the future, we want the monarchy to live in harmony with the people. this week we've been looking at the state of the us presidential campaigns in the key electoral state of florida. there the so—called latino vote accounts for around a sixth of the electorate, and with less than three weeks to polling day, both the democrats and republicans are working hard to win their support. from miami, our north america editorjon sopel sent this report. this is donald trump's hispanic armada making a splash against miami's famous skyline. around 200 boats. it is chaotic, noisy and exuberant. if every election throws up a new way of campaigning, this is 2020's innovation — the boat parade.

the president's son eric is the star attraction. eric, are you feeling confident? how are you feeling? you tell me how it looks, right? is there love in this country or is there love in this country? tremendous love. we're going to win this thing. if you look at the polls, donald trump is facing, well, very strong headwinds. he is being outspent. in key battle ground states, he is down. but among hispanic voters, his head is above water and in this critical state, that could be a vital lifeline. the hispanic and latino vote in florida is critical. many of these latinos have already seen what the rhetoric is on the left side, pushing socialism, free stuff. they don't want it, they are hard—working americans that are here and they want the freedom to choose. they want donald trump. both sides are pouring millions into ads for the hispanic tv market. so i said to my people, slow the testing down please. joe biden... even on spanish language

stations, there is no escape from the election. adios. for president, did you vote for biden or trump? i voted for biden. biden? thank you. but the hispanic vote is not a monolithic block, as this democratic canvasser in little havana explains. here the community is not just the latino vote. it is the cuban vote, the honduran vote, the venezuelan vote. and so it is important to kind of understand where these people are coming from. joe biden was here earlier in the week and though he has a spring in his step, polls suggest he is doing way worse among latino voters than hillary clinton was four years ago. but why? the number two in the democratic party for the crucial miami dade district gives a brutally candid answer. the trump administration has run a playbook which has been sheer genius for the past three years and basically itjust says, democrats are socialists.

and that is hurting you. so when you come from a country in latin america that everything you have had was taken away from you under the guise that it is a socialist government which is really a left—wing dictatorship, then when you hear that the democrats are socialists, you're running away. as these trump boater voters discovered today, the climate in florida changes fast. predicting whether it will be sunshine or heavy rain come november 3rd is decidedly risky. jon sopel, bbc news, miami. and before we go, a little something to make you smile — ten penguins have been released back into the wild in brazil. many of the penguins washed ashore weak and hungry, in the southern state of santa catarina in july and august. animal rescuers said the penguins were juveniles and had most likely got lost while embarking on their first annual migration from patagonia in search of food. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @lvaughanjones.

if it is working! this is bbc news. hello there. we're moving into a quieter spell of weather. it may only be short—lived, mind you. essentially we've got high pressure dominating but again the centre of the high pressure is towards the north of the uk, hence those winds off the north sea as we've seen over the past few days bringing with them a few showers as well. probably not as many showers today compared with what we had yesterday. and more places will be dry with a little sunshine. but it will be a chilly start to the day on friday especially where we've got the clearer skies in the west. we start with a few showers mainly for the eastern parts of england. they'll run their way through lincolnshire through the midlands towards parts of wales and some showers in the extreme south—east of england, the odd one possibly in northern ireland too. but more sunshine for south—west england and more sunshine for northern england. and the best of the sunshine

in scotland, i think, will be across the western side of the country. for many parts of scotland, it looks cloudy. it's going to be a cool day as it was yesterday. that cloud continues to push down across scotland into northern england. one or two showers continuing into the night, may be a few more showers arriving in the far south—west of england as well but probably not quite as cold early on saturday morning compared with friday morning. those temperatures under the cloud at around 6—7 celsius. the weekend looks quiet, little or no wind. the winds very light, we have a lot of cloud around, many places will be dry and still quite cool. got a few showers towards the south coast of england, the south west. the odd one from the cloud across england and wales and a bit of drizzle coming in across northern and eastern scotland perhaps into the north—east of england. that's going to make it feel quite cold. temperatures struggling to make double figures in northern scotland. i2—i3 again is going to be a fairly typicalfigure, a lot of cloud around too. and on the whole, it looks quite cloudy on sunday but if anything, the cloud is a little bit thinner for many areas, so a better chance of seeing some sunshine. a better day for the south west

of england for example. but signs of a little rain just beginning to arrive in northern ireland, perhaps the north—west of scotland, and that's a sign of things to come really because if we look further ahead into the early part of next week, instead of high pressure dominating the weather, the pressure is falling and low pressure is going to take charge. you can see we've got a number of weather fronts on the scene as well. so, we can tidy that up really into just this sort of headline because the early part of next week looks like it's going to be a big change in the weather to wet and windy conditions, maybe not quite as chilly as the weekend.

this is bbc news. the headlines... donald trump and joe biden are about to hold separate town hall events instead of the second tv debate which was cancelled due to the president getting coronavirus. —— are holding separate townhall tv events. the biden campaign has had its own virus scare, with aides to vice presidential nominee, kamala harris, testing positive. the world health organization has given a warning to european countries to impose new restrictions to save lives, as europe reports more covid cases than the us and india. a curfew will come into force in france on saturday in nine cities. twitter is investigating a global outage as millions of users weren't able to post 0!’ read messages. twitter say there's no evidence to suggest it was caused by a security breach or hack, and there will be more updates to come.