this is bbc news. the headlines tougher coronavirus rules for millions of people across the uk. tier 3 restrictions are now in force in manchester. a firebreak lockdown starts in a few hours in wales. two weeks is probably... it's probably not long enough. but it depends if people adhere to it. it is very, very scary. especially when people live on their own. warrington in cheshire is the latest part of england to agree to follow the toughest "tier 3" restrictions. nottingham is expected to be next. no clear winner in the final us presidential debate but donald trump and joe biden clash over claims of corruption and coronavirus. manchester united star marcus rashford won't accept defeat in his campaign to extend free

school meals in england. and the man with dementia who became an internet sensation after playing an improvised piece of music. good afternoon. swathes of britain are facing stricter coronavirus rules, with nearly six million people affected. ministers say the measures are needed to get infections under control. from six o'clock this evening, more than 3 million people in wales will have to stay at home as a 17—day ‘firebreak‘ lockdown begins. greater manchester has entered england's highest tier of restrictions, joining liverpool city region and lancashire.

south yorkshire will also move into tier 3 overnight. warrington moves to tier 3 as well, nottingham may be next. let's hear first on the latest from wales and tomos morgan in chepstow. well up until today, almost 80% of the welsh population have been under local measures, meaning that it has been banned by law from leaving or entering those areas and even mixing indoors with other households. now, i'm in chepstow, this is an area that hasn't been under those measures because the levels here have remained low for the best part, but now numbers have been rising here, as they have across the whole of wales. those local measures haven't been enough. after over one month of local restrictions, tonight sparks the beginning of a new national approach in wales. people will be urged to stay at home, much like in march, during a two—week long firebreak,

which will affect over 3 million people. the lockdown that wales is doing just seems to be too short for anybody to know at the end of it whether or not it is made any difference. it is very, very scary. especially for people living on their own. two weeks is probably... its probably not enough, but it depends people adhere to it. so what will and won't be open from 6p and this evening? restaurants, bars and cafes will close and will only be able to provide takeaway services. hair salons and garden centres will also shut, along with all other nonessential shops and businesses. pharmacies, post offices and banks will stay open, along with essential food shops. however, big shops will not be able to sell any nonessential goods, something that has caused some confusion here. if we are going to be successful and slow the spread of infection, we have to reduce contact between people wherever possible. this, as we have said before,

is a short, sharp shock to the virus to turn back the clock and to ensure that our nhs is not overrun. chepstow is one of the few areas that has not been under local lockdown measures recently. some here feel that tonight's restrictions are unfairly penalising businesses in those areas. when will it end? that's the biggest thing. how many more lockdown is will it take? how many more businesses are going to lose? can you survive another firebreak and more lockdown is if it were to come to that? who knows? i can't say. it will be very difficult, for sure. economists have warned that a firebreak or circuit breaker could cost the welsh economy £500 million. the aim of this national approach is to slow the spread of the virus and reduce the impact on the health service. with

winter fast approaching, the welsh government are aiming to provide businesses and the public with as normal a christmas as possible, given the circumstances. the first minister is yet to announce what the approach will be after this firebreak comes to an end but i am told it won't be back to local measures, it will be a new national approach but, does that mean that all the businesses that have been closed over this period will reopen straightaway on november the night? we don't know at the moment. schools will be reopening partially in phases, but another firebreak in the new year hasn't been ruled out by the welsh government. so how will that firebreak lockdown in wales affect communities used to crossing the border in and out of england for school and work? phil mackie has this report. it's always been quite hard to see exactly where the border between england and wales lies. but it's been brought right back into focus by the pandemic. hay—on—wye is on the welsh side, and normally it would be expecting a busy half—term week

with thousands of visitors. not this year. nonessential businesses will have to close. sally harman lives in england but works in wales and thinks it's unfair. because winter isn't good here, anyway. so it'lljust, you know, pull us down even further. and we've all got massive overheads, massive rates. you know, it's. .. it's just too much. the irony is that if you live on this side of the border in england, in herefordshire, then it's seeing some of the lowest infection rates in the uk — and it's a tieri area, so the fewest restrictions. cross the border into wales — still similarly low infection rates in powys, but from tonight, effectively, you're back into lockdown. sean davis lives barely 50 metres across the english side of the border. he works in wales, and unlike sally, he will be able to go into the office because he's a key worker. we've always gone, we'll listen to... we listen to the welsh side. if there's a lockdown, there's a lockdown for all of us, because we're close enough that it affects us because we're

on the border, like you said. so we won't be listening just to english rules, we listen to the welsh ones as well. hay is famous for its festival — which took place online this year — and its book shops, which will have to close tonight. this year has been the first when the impact of being on the border has really been felt. it's been absolutely stark that you exist on the border, that different rules for people who live 100 yards away from where i live, you know, which is very odd. and now different rules for businesses that are on the other side of the border, as well. it's not just businesses that will be affected. a50 welsh students attend hereford sixth form college and will still be able to do so after half—term. i met ari from cwmbran and matt from abergavenny as they were preparing to catch the train home. it's really difficult, because i worry that i could potentially be bringing it home to my mum and dad, both of which are key workers, which is even harder. it'sjust so weird, because you never quite

know where you stand, and particularly, obviously, me and my friends who get off at the same platform, we're still close to each other, but then, all of a sudden, we're not supposed to be either. and itjust feels like we're in this weird hyper—reality. the toll of the pandemic is still being felt across the uk. phil mackie, bbc news, on the border between england and wales. as we mentioned, greater manchester moved into england's highest level of coronavirus restrictions at midnight. many pubs and bars are now closed, while household mixing is limited to parks and other large open spaces. dan johnson reports. we are closing our doors at ten o'clock. we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting bar pop... another round of restrictions, a further tightening of the rules means life here is now that little bit tougher. and what happens next is a major question mark. why we are here tonight, i think, is just to support our local scene, because we are concerned that some

of them might not open again. we'll have to see how things turn out, i'm not sure these changes will make a big difference but we'll wait and see. good night, guys. closing time. and nobody knows for how long. we really don't know whether we'll be able to open up and whether staff will have theirjobs when we come back to it. they say it will be in december, but we'll see. manchester has a huge, vibrant independent hospitality scene and i believe this could kill us. after a bitter row about money to support staff, people across greater manchester woke to the reality of tier 3 restrictions that have been imposed by the government. this is a shutdown of people's workplaces, their businesses and, perhaps, the focus of their social lives, and it's getting more difficult to see your family and friends, but life is carrying on here. the shops are open, though it's really quiet this morning, and the reality is, for lots of people, they have been living like this now for months anyway. and the high level alert zone

will creep further east into south yorkshire tomorrow, affecting more communities and livelihoods. i think there needs to be greater recognition that businesses here are already on their knees, they are lean, they have spent the bounce back loans. this virus isn't going anywhere, we have to find a way of having a functioning economy and keeping people safe and not one or the other. and concerns extend across the north, with a sense the drive behind the northern powerhouse is evolving as the pandemic involves. for much of the past few years, it's been about northern transport and now it's gone into much more important issues than that, over education, skills, livelihoods and, in this case, everybody‘s health during the pandemic. and the government has got to be a lot more thoughtful. these measures are in place for at least a month, but there's a chance they'll last much longer. nottinghamshire and the north east are likely to face this in the days

ahead and there's the prospect even tighter rules could follow. dan johnson, bbc news, in manchester. nicola sturgeon has announced a new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions for scotland, which will come into force a week on monday. unlike england, it will have five levels. our correspondent, james shaw, gave us more details about what ms sturgeon had to say. level zero, that the first one, is essentially as close to normality as you can get, until there is an effective vaccine. and then the restrictions ramp up through levels one, two and three and nicola sturgeon explained that level three is similar to the restrictions that are in place, quite tight restrictions, in the central belt of scotland at the moment, so households, different households are not to meet indoors, most licensed premises closed and then level four, close to the kind of lockdown to be experienced in march of this year, although some activities will be able to continue, so schools

will stay open, construction and manufacturing will continue but this is how nicola sturgeon explained her thinking. we do not envisage returning to a situation as severe as the first lockdown imposed back in late march. i hope that helps to reinforce an important point. we are not back at square one. we have made progress in tackling the virus and we have more tools now at our disposal to help control it. today's framework will help us, i hope, to make further progress. and one other thing that the first minister was keen to stress in laying out these plans is that she wants to hear from stakeholders, in other words, people who will be affected in particular hospitality businesses, which we know have really felt the brunt of the restrictions in scotland and other parts of the uk. we will listen, she promised, although she didn't promise that she would be able to respond to all the requests that they made.

the areas that will be affected, how the restrictions will affect different parts of scotland, that will be decided over the next week. the scottish parliament will vote on these proposals on tuesday and they will come into effect, we expect, a week on monday, the 2nd of november. the reproduction number, or r value, for covid—i9 has fallen slightly and there might have been a slowdown in the daily growth rate, latest figures show. the estimated r number was i.2—i.1i, down from i.3—i.5 last week. for more on this, let's talk to our health correspondent anna collinson. just remind people what we are talking about with the r number.m isa talking about with the r number.m is a term we have been using a lot during this epidemic and it is

useful for people to be reminded. so, the r number, or the reproduction number, is an indication of how much the virus is spreading. if it is above one, it means the virus is growing, so the aim is always to keep it below one. the new r number is between 1.2 and 1.4. the the new r number is between 1.2 and 1.11. the government has just announced that in the past hour or so. this means for every ten people infected, they will in turn infect between 12 and 1a other people. last week, as you said, it was between 1.3 and 1.5 but this doesn't necessarily mean that the r number has gone down because those two numbers are arranged. it is an estimation, so it's somewhere in there. it could be a sign of things going down, but not necessarily. the growth rate covers the number of new infections every day and that is growing, between three and 6%. advisers to the government say that, based on this information, they are almost certain that the epidemic is still growing because if you look across the uk, in all parts of the uk it is above one and the growth

rates are all positive. but there are other measures that should also be considered when we are thinking about getting a clear picture of the epidemic, what is going on, for example, the latest data from the office for national statistics which was published about two hours ago. that is important data. what does that tell us? all of this data is important in getting an overall picture of what the virus is doing and whether it is in any way slowing down, what is the picture from the ons? that's it. with this data, they all have slight flaws but they all bring certain things of the table so when you piece it all together, you can when you piece it all together, you ca n start when you piece it all together, you can start getting a clear idea of what is going on, it is always a bit backdated however, so we are always looking slightly to the past. so while infections and admissions are rising, there is some hope. the office for national statistics, they carry out a weekly survey looking at infections and it is one of the most accurate pictures that we can have, because they speak to thousands of households across the country, they don't speak to them because they have symptoms, they speak to them

regardless, and so it gives a real idea of what is going on across the board. it found that coronavirus infections in the uk are rising, but the trend is a slightly slowing, so in england, in the week to the 16th of october, it suggests around one ina of october, it suggests around one in a people you might meet in the street would have had coronavirus. this compares to one in 180 in wales and scotland and one in 100 in northern ireland. the virus continues in england to be the highest in the north—west and the north—east, which ties in, with seeing tighter restrictions and amongst older teenagers and young adults. while no one week of data can give us an idea of the trend, there is, as i say this slight slowing which is promising. it was mentioned during the government's daily briefing yesterday. patrick valla nce daily briefing yesterday. patrick vallance praised the measures that we re vallance praised the measures that were in place, things like wearing masks on a social distancing, and the strict measures in lancashire

and greater manchester for example, but he said the rules must continue, with attention starting to turn to christmas, what we can do and who we can see, the next few weeks will be vital. thank you very much indeed. while i wasjust vital. thank you very much indeed. while i was just talking to anna, i was just while i was just talking to anna, i wasjust —— while i was just talking to anna, i was just —— we have just heard from wales where there is the new firebreak lockdown beginning this evening. a further 761 cases of covid in 19 have been diagnosed in wales. the total there is 40,253 and public health wales say that a further 13 deaths reported from covid, bringing the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic to 1756. that's in wales. dozens of cafes, pubs and restaurants, as well as several councils, have stepped in to offer free school meals for children in england during half term, after the government refused to fund them. the footballer, marcus rashford, has used twitter to highlight the places which are now offering

children free food, and he's promised to carry on campaigning on the issue, as i've been finding out. marcus rashford was helping out at the food warehouse named after his mother, melanie, who was there with him as he loaded up supplies. he said he's been blown away by support for his campaign for free school meals from businesses around the country and he has this message for his critics. i know for sure that a lot of them speak in the way that they speak and it is so insensitive about the issue and they've definitely not been through it themselves, so, for me, you know, i'll take that all day long as long as we start to see improvements going forward for the people that are in need of it now. it's what's important to me, so i don't mind the criticism. marcus rashford is used to scoring winning goals, but, this week, he suffered a defeat in the house of commons. mps voted by a majority of 61 not

to extend free school meals over holidays until next easter. so the noes have it, the noes have it. some local councils are now promising free meals over half term. but the government says, as far as it's concerned, there'll be no more u—turns. the issue is what is the best way of getting support to families and we have done that through the welfare system, through the support to local authorities, targeted measures in schools and, above all, trying to help as many people keep theirjobs through the package of measures we've set out. marcus rashford has also been hard at work on twitter, retweeting offers by cafes and restaurants to give free meals to schoolchildren over the half—term holiday. and he's called on people to unite to protect vulnerable children. for as long as they don't have a voice, he says, they'll have his.

i will be talking tojoe anderson, the mayor of liverpool, liverpool is one of the councils that has promised to provide food vouchers over half term holiday for children who need school meals. so, i will be talking to joe who need school meals. so, i will be talking tojoe anderson, the mayor of liverpool just after three o'clock. donald trump and his democratic rival, joe biden, have clashed over coronavirus and accused each other of financial corruption in their final debate before the presidential election next month. it was a calmer debate than last time, with few interruptions or insults. but millions of voters have already cast their ballots, and with the president trailling in the polls, it's not clear whether mr trump did enough to see off his challenger. barbara plett usher watched the debate in tennessee. applause. welcome to the stage former vice presidentjoe biden and president donaldj trump. the sequel to the most out—of—control presidential debate

americans had ever seen turned out to be the kind of traditional election face—off they would normally expect. the two men started by offering sharply different visions over how to handle the surging coronavirus pandemic. there's not another serious scientist in the world who thinks it's going to be over soon. president trump, your reaction? i don't say "over soon". i say we are learning to live with it, we have no choice, we can't lock ourselves up in a basement, like joe does. learning to live with it — come on, we're dying with it. president trump seem poised to take responsibility for failures with covid—19. and then he didn't. i take full responsibility. it's not my fault that it came here, it's china's fault. the much—anticipated mute button saw some action, but even when the microphones were open, president trump held off the constant interruptions of last time. what was supposed to be a discussion on national security got tangled up in accusations of personal corruption involving foreign governments. i don't make money from china, you do. from ukraine, you do. i don't make money from russia.

i have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life. we learned that this president paid 50 times the tax in china, has a secret bank account with china, does business in china. president trump got in a couple of sharp hits. he turned a question on black lives matter into an attack onjoe biden's record on race and criminal justice reform. i am the least racist person. i can't even see the audience because it's so dark, but i don't care who's in the audience — i am the least racist person in this room. not since abraham lincoln has anybody done what i have done for the black community. abraham lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history. he pours fuel on every single racist fire. iran because of you, iran because of barack obama, because you did a poorjob. if i thought you did a good job, i would have never run. climate change got serious attention this time.

he thinks wind causes cancer, windmills. it's the fastest growing jobs, and they pay good prevailing wages, 45—50 bucks an hour. we can grow, and we can be cleaner. the fumes coming up to make these massive windmills is more than anything that we're talking about with natural gas, which is very clean. overall, joe biden put in a steady performance and, crucially, scored points on everyday issues that matter to americans, like health care. people deserve to have affordable health care, period. period, period, period. president trump showed restraint and so didn't do himself damage, but neither did he inflict much damage on mr biden, who is the frontrunner. voters were the winners — they got a debate that was focused on substance rather than hijacked by style. barbara plett usher, bbc news, nashville. lets talk now to patrick murray the director of the polling institute

at monmouth university and anita kumar the white house correspondent and associate editor at politico. great happy both with us. benito, see the first of did either candidate land any knockout blows in this debate? —— anita. candidate land any knockout blows in this debate? -- anita. well, it was a real debate. there were some punches and guidelines but, as you just discussed, it is so close to the election that itjust doesn't matter at this point. it would have been better if president trump had some of those punches six months ago. patrick, it was quite refreshing because it was calming. you could hear what both men were saying. it was definitely calmer.

but i look at it, as a pollster, did it move the needle at all. how many people who are going to vote have already voted? this is a debate where donald trump really needed to lay out something that was different about him or something that undermined the comfort level that a lot of these swing voters feel about joe biden. he just lot of these swing voters feel about joe biden. hejust didn't lot of these swing voters feel about joe biden. he just didn't do that. anita, do you see this in a sense as a last chance for donald trump to move the needle, as patrick was saying? ideal. it is so close to the election, is we just discussed, so many people have oily voted. there are not that many people left to make up their mind. you did see this contrast and that was very start, particularly on the coronavirus, but it is some of those things we have already known. there was nothing new in this. you got to watch it, you got to really see these two different men lay out this vision

for america, but we have been seeing those same things for months now. so u nless those same things for months now. so unless something really dramatic happens, and we have been seeing so many different dramatic things happening, in the next few days, it is really unlikely to change. just a month ago, we were talking about how it was going to change the entire election and it really didn't, so it would have to be a significant event to change the situation. and patrick, just going back to the last election, donald trump, in the debates, he was stalking around behind hillary clinton, it was a very physical display and, do you think he has missed that? do you think he has missed that? do you think his style has been cramped by all the restrictions are now around these debates? yes, and i think his style is designed to do what he needed to do in these particular to debates, which is to undermine joe biden and his credibility, the comfort level that voters have with

joe biden and i keep pointing it out because that is the key. it is these swing voters, many of whom voted for trump four years ago or stayed at home, who are coming out forjoe biden this time around because they don't like the trump administration and they are comfortable with what the biden administration looks like. trump's talent is sometimes getting under the skin of his opponent by doing those kind of things like looking around and so forth, in a way that makes his opponent trip up and he just wasn't able to do that. patrick, interesting, because when you say they are comfortable with joe biden, is that because they are uncomfortable with president trump and especially uncomfortable with his handling of the coronavirus pandemic? the coronavirus is a key thing because we are looking at older voters, voters aged 65 and over, who historically vote for the republican for president and in every single pole, they are preparing to make map preferring joe

biden. they are looking for a president like the kind of presidents they are used to. and joe biden presents that term, and that is why they feel comfortable with joe biden in a way that they don't with donald trump. anita, patrick is saying that the needle isn't really moving in terms of the polls. so is ita moving in terms of the polls. so is it a done deal? can we assume that it a done deal? can we assume that it is going to be a biden victory? well i think that after 2016 nobody is predicting anything, at least not reporters in this country. we don't know because what donald trump says and he said this over and over, he said that a lot of people when they are polled, they don't indicate that they are going to vote for donald trump. they have these hidden voters. last time, it looks like that was the case, we just don't know. it was not the case at all. there were no secret trump voters that the poles missed, there was a lot of plate shifting and that is a myth that the drum folks want you to believe because they are looking to undermine the results.|j

believe because they are looking to undermine the results. i think the thing at this point is how these two sides get out there voters. how do they energise those people to get out, vote, there has been a lot of talk about whether mail—in ballots are legitimate or not, they are, we haven't seen a lot of fraud in that. so, do they get those people out? are they enthusiastic? will they go to the polls, will they send in their ballot, and really, it is focused at this point on that. patrick, could there be a surprise especially in the swing states where, although joe biden especially in the swing states where, althouthoe biden may have a lead, it isn't necessarily a huge lead. if there is a polling error, and that could be the case, but it is close enough in the swing states that donald trump could potentially thread the needle again and that is why nobody is saying that this is over, even with the consistency of joe biden's laid at this point.

thank you both forjoining us on bbc news. if you want to see how the candidates are performing in the polls, as we havejust candidates are performing in the polls, as we have just been discussing, you can check out our poll tracker online. it tracks all the national polls and calculates the national polls and calculates the trending results. head on over to the bbc news app for that and much more in general about the us election. not long to go now. sport now — and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, here'sjon. good afternoon. the rugby football union will make a decision by 3pm this england's game against the barbarians are off. 12 of the baabaas squad have had to self—isolate after leaving their hotel for a meal and breaking covid rules. chris robshaw, richard wigglesworth,

sean maitland and jackson wray are among the players stood down. they were in progress of finding possible replacements for that game on sunday, there were given a deadline of three o'clock to do so, seemingly at the had been unable to find enough players to fill in the schoolyard for that fixture on sunday. the rfu have a decision is a precision to make about what they will do. the manchester united manager, ole gunnar solskjaer, has defended the professionalism of striker mason greenwood. the 18—year—old scored 17 goals as he broke into the united first team last season, but was sent home from gareth southgate's england squad for breaking covid related rules while on international duty. he has made a mistake this summer and with england, and suddenly the whole english press go after him. that is something that we have got

to look after. he is a fantastic boy to look after. he is a fantastic boy to work with. i have to disappoint you, he is never late for training, he is never a problem in the training ground, he is always on time. i have seen some of the stories, some x united players talking about him and they don't really know what they are talking about. that is something we have to deal with with many other players at united. aston villa can go top of the premier league table tonight with a win over leeds. that would make it five victories out of five, a remarkable start for a side that had to stave off relegation last season. it's been really good fun. it's been end to end football. similar to a basketball game at times in some games, but it's been fun to be part of so far. defensively, we have been really sound, kept three clean

sheets in our first four games which is really important in terms of others are progressing. that's been a team effort rather thanjust a back four and goalkeeper. england men's centrally contracted cricket players have agreed to a 15% pay cut for the 12—month period starting from october 1. it comes after what the ecb has described as a "substa ntial shortfall" in revenue as a consequence of the covid—19 pandemic. the 15% cut will apply to players retainers, match fees and win bonuses. meanwhile, the legendary india all—rounder, kapil dev, has undergone a heart surgery at a hospital in delhi after complaining of chest pains. the 61—year—old was admitted on friday and is in a stable condition. dev captained india's world cup winning team in 1983 and was named wisden's indian cricketer of the century in 2002. valtteri bottas was fastest in first practice of the portuguese grand prix earlier today. it was a mercedes one—two, with lewis hamilton 0.339 seconds behind him.

red bull's max verstappen finished fourth. there were a number of spins in portimao, which is hosting portugal's first f1 race since 1996. the track has been likened to a rollercoaster for its dramatic changes of elevation. england's tyrrell hatton is tied for second after the first round of the zozo championship in california. hatton made eight birdies in his round of 65. colombia's sebastian munoz has a one—shot lead — but it was a day to forget for rory mcilroy and tiger woods, who are back in 64th and 75th respectively. now, finally, we must say happy birthday to one of the world's greatest ever footballers — pele — who's 80 today. the brazilian icon once said, "i was born for football, "like beethoven was born for music." some of his greatest goals were at the 1970 world cup finals. a giant pele street mural will be unveiled in the coastal city of santos today to mark 80 years

of footballing greatness. that's all the sport for now. next it's your questions answered. lots of you have been writing in with your questions about the impact of the coronavirus on jobs and the economy as a new wave of lockdowns come into force across the country today. we are joined by two experts ready to answer them. jasmine birtles is editor of the website, moneymagpie, and michelle ovens is the founder of small business britain. many thanks to both of do it. loads of questions flooding into us.

andrea asks why are some major company's allowed to refuse the job support scheme? there is actually no obligation to ta ke there is actually no obligation to take part in thejob there is actually no obligation to take part in the job support scheme. one thing that i would say is that it has gone through some dramatic changes in the last 2041 was. yesterday at the chancellor announced some big changes which actually meant that employers have to contribute relatively little now that the top up to get to two thirds of staff wages. whilst there is an obligation for businesses to take part, the changes yesterday have made it very much more attractive to employers. —— whilst there is no obligation. it is definite worth having a chat with your employer and finding out if they are aware of all the changes and whether that applies to your role. can my employer bring me back part time from november, and not top up my wages

with the newjob support scheme? from esther lumby. as michelle has said, it is not mandatory that they do this, but it's only 5% that they have to add oi'i it's only 5% that they have to add on to help you for the hours that you have not worked. to my mind, it would be daft of them to do that. what they could do, they might say, we are going to change your contract, so you are going to do have the hours. but if they do that they had to do in at the proper legal way, give you 30 days notice etc. if it were me, i would see that it isjust too much etc. if it were me, i would see that it is just too much admin, etc. if it were me, i would see that it isjust too much admin, it is better to just put you it isjust too much admin, it is better tojust put you down it isjust too much admin, it is better to just put you down to 15 or 20%, whatever, of your form or our words, and just pay the 5% and that the government pay the rest. this is

a slightly different one about mortgages from said. —— from sarah. why are uk banks not supporting homeowners with interest—only mortgages payments whilst ourjobs have been cut due to covid? i can't speak for all banks, but i can't speakfor all banks, but i would say when we saw lockdown come in in march this year there was a big shift in banks and their behaviour towards mortgage holders and what they put in place to support people. now we're seeing a lot more lockdowns, more areas going into tier 3, lot more lockdowns, more areas going into tier3, and lot more lockdowns, more areas going into tier 3, and we are seeing some more severe lockdowns in northern ireland and wales, i think we will see more support coming from banks. they have stated openly that they are they have stated openly that they a re really they have stated openly that they are really keen to support people. i would say keep an eye, watch out, andi would say keep an eye, watch out, and i think they will be support over the course of the winter. maybe

a slightly technical one, jasmine. my employer didn't use the furlough scheme. can employers get the job retention £1,000 bonus in february 2021 if using the support scheme from november 1? it is quite complicated, all these different schemes. we are seeing gradually more and more details coming in. i think not. gradually more and more details coming in. ithink not. there is likely to be a different bonus or something for the support scheme, we don't know what yet, it is still coming out. there are a lot of rules, so what i would suggest is that you speak to acas about this, also have a look at golf a lot of details on there about what the job support scheme is actually saying.

—— gulf .uk. as far as support scheme is actually saying. —— gulf .uk. as faras i know, support scheme is actually saying. —— gulf .uk. as far as i know, they we re —— gulf .uk. as far as i know, they were not get the extra £1000 if they did not use the four scheme. this one is from liverpool which is of course in the 80th real level of restrictions. i wonder if you can make it clear to me about the government scheme to help with my wages, as my workplace in liverpool was a bar and has had to close. i started myjob there on september 9, 2020, and have been told i don't qualify. how am i supposed to pay my rent and food bills if i can't work through no fault of my own? to qualify for thejob to qualify for the job support scheme, members of staff need to have been on the payroll on the 23rd of september. you started on the ninth, however, you actually have to have gone through the payroll, so if your employer hasn't put you on the payroll until the 23rd, that is

probably why they are saying you are not eligible. that is quite a strict cut—off. they have moved to cut off from the previous four about, they have shifted it a long way forwards, but that is quite a strict cut—off there i'm afraid. where is the government support for people who have lost theirjobs? my girlfriend has been out of work sincejuly because there's too much competition forjobs, she's been applying for so many which she's more than qualified for but there just aren't enough for all the applicants. we applied forjobseeker's allowance over a week ago and have heard nothing. we have rent to pay and don't know what to do. as you say, it's very difficult, there are a lot of people facing the situation, particularly in retail and hospitality etc. i would say it is absolutely right to apply for jobseeker's allowance, some of these things do take time i'm afraid. i

would go to turn to us .org uk. —— turn2us. they have grants, a lot have been used over the last few months, but it is worth looking there. it is also worth talking to your local council, they do have grants, they vary from council to council. some have got rid of them, they have given out already, but it's worth getting in touch there. also, speak to your landlord about giving you a bit of extra time. if you have problems with your landlord, as speak to shouted, they can speak to your landlord on your behalf and help to keep you in your home. —— shelters. how much smaller is the uk economy now than it was at the beginning of the lockdown in march?

very good question, i wish i knew. i'm afraidl very good question, i wish i knew. i'm afraid i don't know! we get new figures all the time. just a month or so ago our figures all the time. just a month or so ago ourdebt, figures all the time. just a month or so ago our debt, the actual depth of the country, was equal to our gdp. essentially, we are spending as much as we earn as a country, that the government, not even personal debt. it is lot smaller. yes, maybe we will ring up rishi sunak and try to find out. does thejob retention scheme apply to those on temporary or agency contracts from october onwards? it does apply to people on temporary contracts. if you are on the payable, even if it is a temporary contract, but if you are on on the 23rd of september than it does apply to you, this also applies to people on zero—hour contracts. however if

you are not on the payroll until october, then it would not apply to you i'm afraid. if you are not paid on at the payroll and you are self—employed, there are other options available for you. the amount for that was also increased yesterday in yesterday's announcement. what will the government be doing for people who are self employed, or for people who have not been eligible for universal credit, jobseekers, hmrc grants or other grants? talk to is about the self employed for a minute. following on from the last question. self—employment's grant scheme which went on during the furlough period has now been extended. previously it was done in chunk amounts every three months. previously it was 80% of average

earnings. that was then duck down to 20%, yesterday it was increased back to 40% of previous earnings. so there will be two grants over the winterfor there will be two grants over the winter for those who are self employed. it is the same people who are eligible for the grants last time, so if you are not eligible for self—employment grants last time you will not be at this time. for those not eligible for universal credit, hmrc grants etc, there are still a few things out there worth looking at. for example, bounce back lines have been extended until the end of november. that is not for everyone, and it can be quite scary during this tricky time. there are other programmes available. you might want to look at the private sector for other support schemes. there are

things that you can get new skills, help yourself with your business, get one—to—one mentoring, so definitely look further afield for support if there is nothing for you in the current package. time for one more question. i'm a key worker, myjob entitled me to work within different cities. with the track & trace, if i'm told to isolate for 14 days, then go back to work then told to isolate again, is there any financial help for employees who have to isolate more than one time? from mark williams. yes, there is. if you are told officially through a track and trace that you cannot work, that you have to isolate, then you can claim a £500 grant, and you can do this as many times as you told to isolate,

but you must be told officially throughout the app. there is a code that you are giving and use that unique code to claim it once, at la st unique code to claim it once, at last for 14 days. after ten days, you could potentially get yourself tested and go back to work, but you have to isolate at least days. then later on, if you have to isolate again, then you can apply again with that different code that the app will give you. it's also worth speaking to your company to see what sick pay you might be entitled to. if you got that, you should be able to get that as well as the £500. jasmine and michelle, thank you so much about you for making so much of that cleared are, maybe not absolutely everything, but a really good stab at answering our viewers questions.

british and eu negotiators are meeting in london to try to reach a new trade deal. but finding an agreement on fishing is proving tough, with ireland's foreign minister warning that the two sides are "miles apart." ros atkins has this assessment of why fishing is so contentious. there is tension around the fishing industry right now and, for many fishermen, brexit is about ending an injustice and taking an opportunity. we're an island nation, and let's profit from our seas. and there's a persuasive logic to the idea that a country should control its resources, but what sounds simple is proving farfrom it, in part because the uk is trying to leave a situation it helped create. let's start with the deals done in the 1970s. they're the basis of the quota system still used by the eu, and this is how it works. here's the uk's exclusive economic zone, marked in red, but, if you're in the eu, it's not exclusive. everyone's zones are treated as a single shared resource.

each country gets a quota based on theirfishing catches in the ‘70s, and individualfishermen or companies can then own a part of that national quota, and that allows them to fish a certain amount. then, in the ‘90s, some fishing rights changed. some quotas lost value and some english fishermen sold their quotas to foreign businesses. they voluntarily gave up their right to fish in their own waters, and those quotas gained value. the bbc has found that, by 2019, over half of the value of england's fishing quota was controlled by vessels in foreign ownership. the same was true in wales, though, in scotland, the figure is much lower. so because of the quota system and foreign ownership, european boats have been operating in uk waters for years and, from a european perspective, this should continue. first, because a way of life is at stake. translation: if we can't enter british waters, it's practically the end of our profession. and emmanuel macron says he won't let that happen. translation: in no circumstances will ourfishermen be

sacrificed to brexit. another argument is that the uk doesn't have a domestic market for some of its fish. take herring, for example. european companies argue either they catch it and sell it or... english people have to learn to eat herring, a lot of it. but, for all the european arguments, brexit's a reality. the uk's leaving the eu's quota system and we are heading for an inevitable reset on fishing. some argue the eu has yet to accept this. the analyst mujtaba rahman says... "the eu position on fish is absurd. "essentially, it's everything changes because of brexit, but, on fish, it stays the same." and perhaps fishing matters because, in some ways, it is about everything — about brexit promises being kept, about the eu's collective strength being shown, about the broader negotiation on trade. because of that, agreement on fishing is hard but compromises are inevitable, and that includes, to some degree, on the uk's fish. ros atkins there.

90 waste—water treatment sites across the uk are testing sewage for traces of covid—19, as part of an early warning system to detect outbreaks before they spread. scientists established earlier this year that fragments of the virus's genetic material could be identified in human waste as our health correspondent, naomi grimley, reports. could waste water be essential in the fight against covid—19? that's the theory at this sewage treatment works in beckton, london, the biggest of its kind in europe. scientists from universities, such as newcastle, have been experimenting since the spring with regular tests on sewage, after they realised that fragments of the virus's dna can be detected in waste. the department for the environment says a pilot in september helped spot rising infections in plymouth, where a cluster was silently growing. during september there was a sudden spike, and that enabled local health

officials to try to identify where around plymouth there might have been a particular problem. and that showed a problem that was around even though the test and trace system hadn't shown it at that point. the technique is already being used on university campuses in america, which are analysing waste from student residences twice a week, helping to spot asymptomatic cases. from today, 90 treatment sites will be doing this in england, scotland and wales. they will share their analysis with test and trace to help them hone in on particular areas, as well as tip off local nhs services. it's an unlikely story of human ingenuity and human waste combining to provide a much—needed early warning. naomi grimley, bbc news. yesterday the chancellor unveiled

increased support for jobs and workers hit by covid restrictions, after growing calls from firms based in tier 2 areas that the system, as it stood, was unfair. rishi sunak announced big changes to thejob support scheme, which is set to replace furlough in november. geoff van sonsbeeck is the co—founder and ceo of baukjen & isabella oliver. discovers a picture from your point of view of what is happening at the mum in the retail industry. judgment. there is no hiding it has been an incredibly difficult year for retailers, and within retail i would single out the clothing sector having been hardest hit of all, even today being one of the few

categories still being significantly down and get on year. at the same time, i will really notice that the retailers have been incredibly resilient to turn around their approach on how to reach their customers, shifting their channels online and matching the offers. the latest retail report and data coming in is really encouraging. i really applaud the sector which employs about 3 million people in the uk. online is having a particularly good time, a lot of that is new customer is going onto the online channel and getting used to buying groceries and also for deliveries and fashion. it is my view that a lot of that will actually be locked in. we are in a kind of liminal men where we are seeing online as a channel changing retail. what is the projection

looking ahead? we are getting into the run—up to christmas, what are your hopes or may fear is? retailers often call this the coding quarter because so much is happening. —— the coding quarter. now we lockdown people being largely kept away from the stores, i fear that this is going to be a difficult quarter and one which is traditionally run from a tight markdown calendar. i think that may be very difficult for retailers this year when they do not have the margins any more to cope with this. on a positive, people are stuck at home and we strongly believe that we will see a lot of gifting, a lot of people buying

presents to get delivered to their loved ones elsewhere, to celebrate christmas in that way. we are quite optimistic about the kind of human eyes a re optimistic about the kind of human eyes are selling products of the season. i don't think it has to be discount let, we feel customers are changing, they are more conscious about how their behaviour impacts the ten, the planet and the people who make the products. we feel people will buy less but by vector, and hopefully put the retail sector at less discounting. you are sounding more optimistic, i commend you for that. the whole coronavirus pandemic, it must have come such a shock to the retail industry. but do you think the retail industry is now starting to absorb that shot, starting to absorb that shot, starting to absorb that shot, starting to learn to live with

covid, and perhaps becoming more resilient? i think that is certainly happening but i would be mindful and look at the retail sector as different categories. a lot of people at home actually invested much more in home improvements — furniture, home appliances, gardens. but the fashion sector particularly has really seen a drop, and i would think that may be quite structural. i think there has been too much over consumerism on the consumer side, too much fast fashion. i would say we need to push towards more quality. i think the fashion sector asa quality. i think the fashion sector as a whole will see beyond the

pandemic at a reduced amount and supply, pandemic at a reduced amount and supply, which would be good for the planet and for people. thank you for talking to us this afternoon. now it's time for a look at the weather. as the rain moved eastwards today, it has been turning very light and patchy, the last of clearing the south—east of england this evening. then clearer skies for a while but then more cloth on the lan atlantic brings more rain into northern ireland and scotland, the winds will be stronger as black moves in. tomorrow morning bright weather and sunshine across eastern england before rain moves eastwards, there could be a short and sharp brass of intense rain accompanied by some squally winds. it will be a windier day tomorrow, particularly windy is that rain arrives. they winds ease

as the rain clears away and the sunshine follows. head of the rain, temperatures in the south—east could reach 17 degrees. cold on sunday, the winds are not quite as strong, there will be some sunshine and blustery showers.

this is bbc news. the headlines. tougher coronavirus rules for millions of people across the uk. tier three restrictions are now in force in manchester. a firebreak lockdown starts in a few hours in wales. two weeks is probably... it's probably not long enough. but it depends if people adhere to it. it is very, very scary. especially when people live on their own. warrington in cheshire is the latest part of england to agree to follow the toughest "tier three" restrictions. nottingham is expected to be next. no clear winner in the final us presidential debate but donald trump and joe biden clash over claims of corruption and coronavirus. manchester united star marcus rashford won't accept defeat

in his campaign to extend free school meals in england. and the man with dementia who became an internet sensation after playing an improvised piece of music. and england's match against the barbarians at twickenham on sunday is called off after 12 barbarians players were stood down for breaking covid rules. swathes of britain are facing stricter coronavirus rules, with nearly six million people affected. ministers say the measures are needed to get infections under control. from six o'clock this evening, more than 3 million people in wales will have to stay at home

as a 17—day ‘firebreak' lockdown begins. greater manchester has entered england's highest tier of restrictions, joining liverpool city region and lancashire. south yorkshire will also move into tier 3 overnight. warrington moves to tier 3 as well. nottingham may be next. let's hear first on the latest from wales and tomos morgan in chepstow. well up until today, almost 80% of the welsh population have been under local measures, meaning that it has been banned by law from leaving or entering those areas and from mixing indoors with other households. now, i'm in chepstow in monmouthshire, this is an area that hasn't been under those measures because the levels here have remained low for the best part, but now numbers have been rising here, as they have across the whole of wales. those local measures haven't been enough. after over one month of local restrictions, tonight sparks the beginning of a new national approach in wales.

people will be urged to stay at home, much like in march, during a two—week long firebreak, which will affect over 3 million people. the lockdown that wales is doing just seems to be too short for anybody to know at the end of it whether or not it is made any difference. it is very, very scary. especially for people living on their own. two weeks is probably... its probably not enough, but it depends people adhere to it. so what will and won't be open from 6pm this evening? restaurants, bars and cafes will close and will only be able to provide takeaway services. hair salons and garden centres will also shut, along with all other nonessential shops and businesses. pharmacies, post offices and banks will stay open, along with essential food shops. however, big shops will not be able to sell any nonessential goods, something that has caused some confusion here. if we are going to be successful and slow the spread of infection,

we have to reduce contact between people wherever possible. this, as we have said before, is a short, sharp shock to the virus to turn back the clock and to ensure that our nhs is not overrun. chepstow in monmouthshire is one of the few areas that has not been under local lockdown measures recently. some here feel that tonight's restrictions are unfairly penalising businesses in those areas. when will it end? that's the biggest thing. how many more lockdowns will it take? how many more businesses are going to lose? can you survive another firebreak and more lockdown is if it were to come to that? who knows? i can't say. it will be very difficult, for sure. economists have warned that a firebreak or circuit breaker could cost the welsh economy £500 million. the aim of this national approach

is to slow the spread of the virus and reduce the impact on the health service. with winter fast approaching, the welsh government are aiming to provide businesses and the public with as normal a christmas as possible, given the circumstances. the first minister is yet to announce what the approach will be after this firebreak comes to an end but i am told it won't be back to local measures, it will be a new national approach but, does that mean that all the businesses that have been closed over this period will reopen straightaway on november the night? we don't know at the moment. schools will be reopening partially in phases, but another firebreak in the new year hasn't been ruled out by the welsh government. the first minister mark drakeford joins me now. thank drakeford joins me now. you so much for being wit first thank you so much for being with us. first of all, there seems to be some confusion about this issue of supermarkets and so on not being

able to sell nonessential goods and confusion about what you are calling, or classifying is not essential. can you clear that up for us? i can clear it up in this way. all nonessential retail is required to close in wales. that includes hundreds of shops who trade on the high street. the same rules apply to supermarkets in wales. it's the same role here for everybody, whether you area large, role here for everybody, whether you are a large, multinational company or you are a small single trader on the high street, it's the same rule for is all. and so are you going to tell people what nonessential goods are? there are some examples. or well, food is essential. buying a candle ina well, food is essential. buying a candle in a supermarket is not. so, it's a common sense definition, it won't be where most people will be spending their thinking time over the next two weeks. we want people to stay at home as much as possible. only go out when you absolutely have

to. wandering around shops by nonessential cups dry goods is not going to happen. you say it's common sense. . . going to happen. you say it's common sense... but, with hours to go until the lockdown begins confusion is right the length and breadth of wales, some critics have said.|j right the length and breadth of wales, some critics have said. i am not responsible for the lack of common sense and the welsh conservative party. i think confusion is there in the length and breadth of mr miller's contribution. it is not in the minds of most people in wales. let me ask you about some views on that report. some people in areas of wales where they have had a lower infection rates, they feel they are being penalised unfairly by this wales wide lockdown. well, there are few areas in wales now i'm afraid that areas in wales now i'm afraid that are not above the 50 in 100,000 threshold and that includes

chepstow, which is above 50 today. there is only one local authority which still holds out below the 50 and that is why we need a countrywide effort. i think those parts of wales that have been protected by the actions of others over recent weeks understand that we need every person and every part of wales to be making their contribution over the next two weeks to putting our nhs back on track, breaking the chains of transmission that are allowing coronavirus to get out of control and allowing us all to have a pathway through to christmas where we don't need to have restrictions of this severity again. but why not have a more nuanced, more sophisticated approach with different tiers as we see in england, in scotland they are going to have five tiers. you have a one size fits all. well, we have 22 local authorities in wales only. it would not make sense to try to

divide them up into a complex set of tiers where, as i say, every local authority in wales apart from one is now above the 50 threshold and it will only be a matter of time before i'm afraid, that one remaining authority is in that place as well. the advice to us from the chief medical officer, the chief scientist, from the sage committee at the uk level is that we need a short but deep fire break period to interrupt the transmission of this virus. we need to do it simply, we need to do it uniformly and a wales wide effort is the best way to make us wide effort is the best way to make us all safe. used to wear short, we heard one woman we interviewed in that report saying it was too short. two weeks is not long enough. well, that's a proper debate. the advice we had was that we could go to three weeks and allow a few more things to

stay open, but the longer you make firebreak last, the greater the impact on businesses and on livelihoods. we are balancing all the time they need to save lives and to save livelihoods. we decided on the advice we had that the shorter the advice we had that the shorter the period we could manage, the better that would be, but short means deep. there is a trade—off between length and depth here. we have gone for a deep lockdown for two weeks only. can you give a guarantee that there won't be more lockdown is like this? short, deep however you want to describe it. people are busy thinking about christmas. can you guarantee people will have a run—up to christmas and be able to, in some ways, enjoy their christmas? welcome the advice we have is that provided we all do the right thing, and we make this next two weeks really counts, then we will be able to get through to christmas without needing to repeat

this sort of measure. but that really does depend not on what government does, it depends on the way in which every person in wales ta kes way in which every person in wales takes this seriously, makes their contribution, help us to get the situation back under control and in that way, we can get through to christmas together. mark drakeford, thank you for your time, thank you for being with us. this as we mentioned, greater manchester moved into england's highest level of coronavirus restrictions at midnight. many pubs and bars are now closed, while household mixing is limited to parks and other large open spaces. dan johnson reports. we are closing our doors at ten o'clock. we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting bar pop... another round of restrictions, a further tightening of the rules means life here is now that little bit tougher. and what happens next is a major question mark. why we are here tonight, i think, is just to support our local scene,

because we are concerned that some of them might not open again. we'll have to see how things turn out, i'm not sure these changes will make a big difference but we'll wait and see. good night, guys. closing time. and nobody knows for how long. we really don't know whether we'll be able to open up and whether staff will have their jobs when we come back to it. they say it will be in december, but we'll see. manchester has a huge, vibrant independent hospitality scene and i believe this could kill us. after a bitter row about money to support staff, people across greater manchester woke to the reality of tier 3 restrictions that have been imposed by the government. this is a shutdown of people's workplaces, their businesses and, perhaps, the focus of their social lives, and it's getting more difficult to see your family and friends, but life is carrying on here. the shops are open, though it's really quiet this morning, and the reality is, for lots of people, they have been living like this now for months anyway.

and the high level alert zone will creep further east into south yorkshire tomorrow, affecting more communities and livelihoods. i think there needs to be greater recognition that businesses here are already on their knees, they are lean, they have spent the bounce back loans. this virus isn't going anywhere, we have to find a way of having a functioning economy and keeping people safe and not one or the other. and concerns extend across the north, with a sense the drive behind the northern powerhouse is evolving as the pandemic involves. for much of the past few years, it's been about northern transport and now it's gone into much more important issues than that, over education, skills, livelihoods and, in this case, everybody's health during the pandemic. and the government has got to be a lot more thoughtful. these measures are in place for at least a month, but there's a chance they'll last much longer. nottinghamshire and the north east are likely to face this in the days

ahead and there's the prospect even tighter rules could follow. dan johnson, bbc news, in manchester. dozens of cafes, pubs and restaurants, as well as several councils, have stepped in to offer free school meals for children in england during half term, after the government refused to fund them. the footballer, marcus rashford, has used twitter to highlight the places which are now offering children free food, and he's promised to carry on campaigning on the issue as i've been finding out. marcus rashford was helping out at the food warehouse named after his mother, melanie, who was there with him as he loaded up supplies. he said he's been blown away by support for his campaign for free school meals from businesses around the country and he has this message for his critics. i know for sure that a lot of them speak in the way that they speak and it is so insensitive about the issue and they've definitely not been

through it themselves, so, for me, you know, i'll take that all day long as long as we start to see improvements going forward for the people that are in need of it now. it's what's important to me, so i don't mind the criticism. marcus rashford is used to scoring winning goals, but, this week, he suffered a defeat in the house of commons. mps voted by a majority of 61 not to extend free school meals over holidays until next easter. so the noes have it, the noes have it. some local councils are now promising free meals over half term. but the government says, as far as it's concerned, there'll be no more u—turns. the issue is what is the best way of getting support to families and we have done that through the welfare system, through the support to local authorities, targeted measures in schools and, above all,

trying to help as many people keep theirjobs through the package of measures we've set out. marcus rashford has also been hard at work on twitter, retweeting offers by cafes and restaurants to give free meals to schoolchildren over the half—term holiday. and he's called on people to unite to protect vulnerable children. for as long as they don't have a voice, he says, they'll have his. ben brown, bbc news. let's get more from our political correspondent helen catt. helen, we have seen some local councils in england moving to provide school meals over half term. liverpool were the first, some in london and in the last couple of minutes, birmingham as well. we have seen a number of councils, mainly labour councils, coming forward over the past 24 hours to say that they will put in place some sort of provision to provide children who get free school meals in term time with a way of accessing food over the holidays. this is what the whole

row is about. it is not necessarily about providing free school meals themselves, the government does that during term time, it has no plans to stop that. what this is about is how do you feed those same children over the holidays? historically, there hasn't been a specific provision for that. it came about over the summer because there was an extension of the scheme which provided replacements for free school meals when schools were shut, there was then the decision to extend that over the summer and now, of course, it has come back now to say, why don't we do that again over christmas and over half term. as you saw their annual report, a lot of the reasons for doing that. government is standing firm on this though, saying that it believes that when it comes to this issue of how to feed vulnerable children in the holidays, it is not the place of schools. it belongs in the welfare system and that it should be by boosting packages for families on low income would generally through the welfare system that that sort of issue should be dealt with. earlier on in the air, we had what was

perceived as a u—turn from the government. borisjohnson perceived as a u—turn from the government. boris johnson had perceived as a u—turn from the government. borisjohnson had a phone call with marcus rashford, but now we have had this house of commons vote, it doesn't look like any more u—turns are in the offing. not at the moment, a government spokesperson said earlier there was no change in a position. but the pressure does keep mounting and what is interesting is that it is not just from the politicians that the pressure comes on this particular issue, it is one that strikes a chord with people from outside, as you said. this is a campaign that was driven by somebody who is not a politician, marcus rashford. today, we have seen an open letter signed by more than 200 children's authors and illustrators, including philip pullman who wrote the his dark materials, matt hague, cressida cowell and many others. all saying that they have signed this open letter saying that these children and their families are letter saying that these children and theirfamilies are in a unique position because of this pandemic and that no child should go hungry. they said, we believe that children

should not have to depend on potluck charity and they should be official, organised, government support across the nation, so this is one of these issues that does bring in a lot of people from outside politics and that puts a very different kind of pressure on the government as well, but at the moment, no indication that they are looking to move on this in england. thank you, helen. nicola sturgeon has announced a new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions for scotland, which will come into force a week on monday. unlike england, it will have five levels. our correspondent, james shaw, gave us more details about what ms sturgeon had to say. level zero, that the first one, is essentially as close to normality as you can get, until there is an effective vaccine. and then the restrictions ramp up through levels one, two and three and nicola sturgeon explained that level three is similar to the restrictions that are in place, quite tight restrictions, in the central belt of scotland at the moment, so households, different households are not to meet indoors,

most licensed premises closed and then level four, close to the kind of lockdown to be experienced in march of this year, although some activities will be able to continue, so schools will stay open, construction and manufacturing will continue but this is how nicola sturgeon explained her thinking. we do not envisage returning to a situation as severe as the first lockdown imposed back in late march. i hope that helps to reinforce an important point. we are not back at square one. we have made progress in tackling the virus and we have more tools now at our disposal to help control it. today's framework will help us, i hope, to make further progress. and one other thing that the first minister was keen to stress in laying out these plans is that she wants to hear from stakeholders, in other words, people who will be affected in particular hospitality businesses, which we know have

really felt the brunt of the restrictions in scotland and other parts of the uk. we will listen, she promised, although she didn't promise that she would be able to respond to all the requests that they made. the areas that will be affected, how the restrictions will affect different parts of scotland, that will be decided over the next week. the scottish parliament will vote on these proposals on tuesday and they will come into effect, we expect, a week on monday, the 2nd of november. we can speak now tojillian evans, head of health intelligence at nhs grampian and an expert in public health. thank you very much for being with us. nicola sturgeon outlining these new five tiers. does that make sense to you? well, it acknowledges that we are going to have to live with the virus and it pulls no punches about that. it explains and gives us

some sense of what the future might hold for us and the fact that we need to balance many different types of harm until we have more proper, proper elimination strategies that help us get back to something that resembled our life before the pandemic. learn to live with a virus for how long? what is your estimate? well, the strategies that we are pinning our hopes on are really to do with the vaccination, is part of an elimination strategy, but it won't just be an elimination strategy, but it won'tjust be that. there are also advances and changes in treatment for coronavirus and that we might need to live with some of the restrictions and the social norms that we have experienced in our lives for some time to come. it is asa lives for some time to come. it is as a public health person, it is a good thing to remember good hygiene and practice safe coughing educate and practice safe coughing educate and all of the things that have been such essential parts of the advice that we have been given the past seven months. what is the picture

where you are in nhs grampian? i know you had the lockdown earlier on in aberdeen earlier in the year. what is the picture in terms of the number of cases? well, there is the difference between scotland and wales. the central parts of scotland definitely have higher rates than others, although what we were hearing today is that the rate of the increase appears to be slowing, but if we look to the north—east where i am, those rates are low. sure, we have had our problems as well, we have had outbreaks, the well—known one in august, which was associated with hospitality. but with fast action, that outbreak, those outbreaks were managed and the numbers started to come back down again. what's important is the numbers came down again but they didn't return to the levels that we saw in the summertime. so we need to have constant vigilance because we

know that the number of positive cases is rising everywhere and almost in every age group, which means that sometimes the response may need to be different in some areas but it means that we need to maintain our vigilance regardless of what level or tear we are in. we hear that cry a lot from experts, but from what you can see, is their co nsta nt but from what you can see, is their constant vigilance? are people perhaps becoming a bit fatigued by it all, a bit weary and fed up? yes, and of course that's what happens when you have endless cycles of restrictions starting and stopping. some might think, are we just postponing the inevitable which is a lockdown, as we saw in the spring, but what is the first minister of scotla nd but what is the first minister of scotland has introduced today is another level which has very tough restrictions, and i have looked at all of the things that would change if you are in a level four situation, but it doesn't go as far

as the lockdown we saw earlier on in the year. so that gives us some hope that what we are doing might be having an effect and from what we hear today, there certainly is some benefit and some of the changes that we have had in household associations definitely seem to be paying off, so the amount of time that we spend looking at, are restrictions making a difference? it's an important debate to have so i'm really it's an important debate to have so i' m really interested it's an important debate to have so i'm really interested in what indicators we are looking at to understand whether the restrictions that we have put in place are making a positive difference. thank you so much for talking to us and good luck with all the work you are doing. the reproduction number, or r value, for covid—19 has fallen slightly and there might have been a slowdown in the daily growth rate. latest figures from the department for health show the r number is1.2—1.4forthe uk. that's down from 1.3—1.5 last week.

the latest figure means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 14 other people with coronavirus. donald trump and his democratic rival, joe biden, have clashed over coronavirus and accused each other of financial corruption in theirfinal debate before the presidential election next month. it was a calmer debate than last time, with few interruptions or insults. but millions of voters have already cast their ballots, and with the president trailling in the polls, it's not clear whether mr trump did enough to see off his challenger. barbara plett usher watched the debate in tennessee. applause. welcome to the stage former vice presidentjoe biden and president donaldj trump. the sequel to the most out—of—control presidential debate

americans had ever seen turned out to be the kind of traditional election face—off they would normally expect. the two men started by offering sharply different visions over how to handle the surging coronavirus pandemic. there's not another serious scientist in the world who thinks it's going to be over soon. president trump, your reaction? i don't say "over soon". i say we are learning to live with it, we have no choice, we can't lock ourselves up in a basement, like joe does. learning to live with it — come on, we're dying with it. president trump seem poised to take responsibility for failures with covid—19. and then he didn't. i take full responsibility. it's not my fault that it came here, it's china's fault. the much—anticipated mute button saw some action, but even when the microphones were open, president trump held off the constant interruptions of last time. what was supposed to be a discussion on national security got tangled up in accusations of personal corruption involving foreign governments. i don't make money from china, you do. from ukraine, you do. i don't make money from russia. i have not taken a penny from any

foreign source ever in my life. we learned that this president paid 50 times the tax in china, has a secret bank account with china, does business in china. president trump got in a couple of sharp hits. he turned a question on black lives matter into an attack onjoe biden's record on race and criminal justice reform. i am the least racist person. i can't even see the audience because it's so dark, but i don't care who's in the audience — i am the least racist person in this room. not since abraham lincoln has anybody done what i have done for the black community. abraham lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history. he pours fuel on every single racist fire. iran because of you, iran because of barack obama, because you did a poorjob. if i thought you did a good job, i would have never run. climate change got serious attention this time.

he thinks wind causes cancer, windmills. it's the fastest growing jobs, and they pay good prevailing wages, 45—50 bucks an hour. we can grow, and we can be cleaner. the fumes coming up to make these massive windmills is more than anything that we're talking about with natural gas, which is very clean. overall, joe biden put in a steady performance and, crucially, scored points on everyday issues that matter to americans, like health care. people deserve to have affordable health care, period. period, period, period. president trump showed restraint and so didn't do himself damage, but neither did he inflict much damage on mr biden, who is the frontrunner. voters were the winners — they got a debate that was focused on substance rather than hijacked by style. barbara plett—usher, bbc news, nashville. if you want to see how the two candidates are performing in the polls, you can check out our poll tracker online which tracks all the national polls

and calculates the trending result. head on over to bbc.co.uk/news or the bbc news app for this and more about the us elections now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett hello there. as the rain moves eastwards today, it has been turning very light and patchy, the last of the rain clears the south—east of england during this evening. then, we will have clearer skies for a while but more cloud from the atlantic bringing more rain back into northern ireland later into western scotland, almost a repeat of last night except the winds will be much stronger is that rain moves in. ahead of it, some clearer skies allowing temperatures down to four or 5 degrees. tomorrow morning, we got it in bright weather and sunshine across the midlands, eastern england, before this band of rain moved eastwards, quite heavy rain, they could be a short, sharp burst of quite intense rainfall accompanied by some winds as well.

the sunshine follows with some showers in the north—west. a windy day tomorrow, particularly windy as that rain arrives. the wind do tend to ease as the rain clears away and we get that sunshine following it. ahead of the rain, temperatures in the south—east could reach 17 degrees. cool on sunday, the winds would be quite a strong, maybe some sunshine and blustery showers. hello, this is bbc news — with ben brown. the hedlines: tougher coronavirus rules for millions of people across the uk. tier 3 restrictions are now in force in manchester. a firebreak lockdown starts in a few hours in wales. two weeks is probably... it's probably not long enough. but it depends if people adhere to it. it is very, very scary. especially when people live on their own.

warrington, in cheshire, is the latest part of england to agree to follow the toughest tier 3 restrictions — nottingham is expected to be next. no clear winner in the final us presidential debate, but donald trump and joe biden clash over claims of corruption and coronavirus, manchester united star marcus rashford won't accept defeat in his campaign to extend free school meals in england. sport — and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, here'sjon. what's going on? good afternoon. england's match with barbarians on sunday has been called off after the rfu discovered a second breach of covid related rules at the invitational side's hotel. 12 players had been stood down from the original squad as management sought replacemnets to fulfil the fixture. andy swiss is with me.

andy, now not one but two breaches. that's right. we have found this a really interesting statement from the rfu. they were already investigating a breach of the covid rails on wednesday when it was revealed that a number of the barbarians players had left their hotel bubble and had gone out for dinner at hotel bubble and had gone out for dinnerata hotel bubble and had gone out for dinner at a restaurant in london. they discovered there had actually been an earlier breach of the covid rules on tuesday when a number of barbarians players had gone out from the hotel without permission. they say because those players did not isolate afterwards, they have had no alternative but to cancel the game against england. bill sweeney, the head of the rfu, said that they were incredibly frustrated and disappointed with the actions of a number of barbarians players. we have also had some statements from

some of the players involved. former england captain chris rob shaw was one of the players who went out for dinner without permission on wednesday. he said he wanted to express his deepest apologies, he was seriously remorseful for what he had done. richard will is, another one of the players who broke the rules, said he was embarrassed and beyond gutted that he has let a lot of people down, including myself, i wish i had done it differently. england will be looking forward to a warm up game against barbarians ahead of the six nations again, but all their plans have been thrown into utter disarray. the manchester united manager ole gunnar solskjaer says the media are beginning to "go after" forward mason greenwood. the 18—year—old scored 17 goals as he broke into the united first team last season, but was recently sent home from gareth southgate's england squad for breaking the team's bio

bubble while on international duty. he's made a mistake this summer with england, and suddenly the whole english press go after him. that's something that we have got to look after. he is a fantastic boy to work with. i have to disappoint you — he's never late for training, he's never a problem in the training ground, he's always on time. i have seen some of the stories, some ex united players talking about him and they don't really know what they are talking about. that's something we have to deal with with many other players at united. aston villa can go top of the premier league table tonight with a win over leeds. that would make it five victories out of five, a remarkable start for a side that had to stave off relegation last season. it's been really good fun. it's been end—to—end football, similar to a basketball game at times in some

games, but it's been fun to be part of so far. defensively, we have been really sound, kept three clean sheets in our first four games which is really important in terms in terms of us progressing. that's been a team effort rather thanjust a back four and goalkeeper. england men's centrally contracted cricket players have agreed to a 15% pay cut for the 12—month period starting from 1st october. it comes after what the ecb has described as a "substa ntial shortfall" in revenue as a consequence of the covid—19 pandemic. the 15% cut will apply to players retainers, match fees and win bonuses. meanwhile, the legendary india all—rounder, kapil dev, has undergone a heart surgery at a hospital in delhi after complaining of chest pains. the 61—year—old was admitted on friday and is in a stable condition. dev captained india's world cup winning team in 1983 and was named wisden's indian cricketer of the century in 2002.

england's tyrrell hatton is tied for second after the first round of the zozo championship in california. hatton made eight birdies in his round of 65. colombia's sebastian munoz has a one—shot lead — but it was a day to forget for rory mcilroy and tiger woods, who are back in 64th and 75th respectively. now, finally, we must say happy birthday to one of the world's greatest ever footballers — pele — who's 80 today. the brazilian icon once said, "i was born for football, "like beethoven was born for music." some of his greatest goals were at the 1970 world cup finals. a giant pele street mural will be unveiled in the coastal city of santos today to mark 80 years of footballing greatness. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour.

hgppy happy birthday, pele. as we've been discussing tough new coronavirus measures are now in place in greater manchester. the area has joined liverpool city region and lancashire in england's highest tier of restrictions. warrington will also move to the highest tier from next week. dr andrew furber is regional director for public health, in north west england. we have heard so much about liverpool and greater manchester in the last few days. what is your perception of what is going on with the virus in the north—west? perception of what is going on with the virus in the north-west? we are certainly seeing increasing infections across the west, the rates are rising steadily, particularly now in those aged 60 or over, the age group we are clearly most worried about because that

results in worst outcomes. u nfortu nately, we results in worst outcomes. unfortunately, we are beginning to see more hospital admissions, more admissions to intensive care, and sadly we are beginning to see a rise in the coronavirus deaths. can you pinpoint where this rise has come from? a lot of people have talked about students returning to university in manchester and liverpool and so on? i don't think it's liverpool and so on? i don't think its related to the students. obviously, syrians have been returning to university throughout the country and we have seen increases in places like newcastle and nottingham. —— students have been returning. in the first wave of the virus, the virus arrived in the north—west quite a late after other parts of the country. it was still circulating when the national lockdown came off. from those embers, i think we have seen sustained community transmission from the late summer into the early

autumn. in the north—west, we have densely packed populations, quite high housing density, housing with multiple people in occupations that expose them to the virus, people working in retail, transport or the ca re working in retail, transport or the care sector. these factors combine to give us the rates we are seeing in the north—west at the moment. to give us the rates we are seeing in the north-west at the moment. now we have tea rfully in the north-west at the moment. now we have tearfully restrictions, we know about the controversy around them, but do you think those two are three restrictions in a liverpool, and now greater manchester, how much are they going to help slow the spread of the virus? they have been designed to disrupt the transmission of the virus. the virus transmits when we interact with other human beings, we need to produce that kind

of interaction, that is what these measures are designed to do. but they are only going to work if we do absolutely everything that we can and go the extra mile, both as individuals and the organisations working to control the virus. as individuals we need to be aware of what the rules are for our local area, look at the your postcode and find out what you can and cannot do. follow those rules and keep that to metre distance when you're out and about, be careful about washing your hands, using a face covering when in enclosed public spaces. simple things which are required if we are going to disrupt the transmission of this virus. how worried are you that people are not doing those simple things any more? maybe they are weary of the whole thing. thing. we saw pictures a few you days ago liverpool of people partying in the

streets. i think that's a minority of people. i think most people are very responsible and want to do the right thing. but it is difficult. i understand many places have been understand many places have been under some sort of restriction for months and months now. so it is difficult for people, i'm not doubting that. but i think if people can make that extra effort over these coming months and into the winter, i'm pretty sure we will be getting any vaccine sometime in the early pa rt getting any vaccine sometime in the early part of next year. hopefully that will be the kind of light at the end of the tunnel and we will be ina much the end of the tunnel and we will be in a much better place by summer. some experts are saying that we have to try a different approach, learn to try a different approach, learn to live with less violence, not lock everything down, shield and protect the most vulnerable and elderly, let other people get on with their lives? i'm afraid there are no good

options here. it is a case of finding what is the least worst option that we can put in place. those strategies you described is a dangerous one, because all you would get is an increase in cases in the older age groups, that would result in hospital admissions and u nfortu nately in hospital admissions and unfortunately more people dying unnecessarily when it could have been prevented through the interventions that we are putting in place now. thank you for your time. i know you're extremely busy so very good of you to spare a few minutes to talk with us. wales move into a 17—day lockdown from six o'clock this evening. the welsh government says the aim is to protect the nhs and bring "a much more normal christmas season." people are being told

to stay at home — unless they are exercising. pubs, restaurants, hotels and nonessential shops will shut. the "fire break" measures will be in place until monday the 9th of november. let's speak now to sara jones from the welsh retail consortium. this 17 day firebreak lockdown, as it's described, the length and breadth of wales. how will it affect your members? it will have a huge impact, nonessential retail will now have to shop for 17 days, that's an spite of the fact our members have invested millions of pounds on keeping their colleagues and customers say. the assessment of closing retail on that r number is actually incredibly low. for us, it is huge. it will have a massive impact. people are confused and concerned about what it means for

theirjobs and their concerned about what it means for their jobs and their ability concerned about what it means for theirjobs and their ability to access theirjobs and their ability to a ccess services theirjobs and their ability to access services in our fantastic stores in wales. i read that has been confusion in wales about what is essential and nonessential. i was talking to the first minister mark dra keford talking to the first minister mark drakeford who said that food is essential, candles are not, so it's not that unclear. do you understand the definition on this? we understand the definition of an essential or nonessential retailer. the problem now is that our essential retailers have being told they cannot sell nonessential items will stop this is highly subjective and depends on somebody's circumstances. a light bulb, a newborn baby grew, in a frying and, for example, some of those things are essential for people in wales, and yet there is no clear definition of what is an essential and nonessential item. the issue for us is how that will impact on our

hard—working colleagues, is how that will impact on our ha rd—working colleagues, those retail staff who have been at the front line right through this pandemic. the confusion that will create now will put huge pressure on them, and they are the people we need to protect right through this. i suppose that the government say they need to protect lives, they need to save lives, and that is how that will impact on our hard—working colleagues, those retail staff who have been at the front line right through this pandemic. the confusion that will create now will put huge pressure on them, and they are the people we need to protect right through this. i suppose that the government say they need to protect lives, they need to save lives, and that's. as i suggested earlier, there is no evidence that the retail setting is causing any transmission incidence. indeed, the sage report has said at the impact of closing nonessential retail is extremely loud, so the actual benefit of this policy is a really questionable. —— extremely low. the people who run pubs and restaurants say the same thing, and if you let everything stay open when you have no kind of any restrictions. the government would say that the bias continues to spread. it is a lot of marginal

gains that you make a difference when put together. that is the case that the welsh government is working to. we were to reiterate that our shops have been open safely right through this pandemic. our grocery members, essential stores, had through this pandemic. our grocery members, essentialstores, had been open but since the beginning of march and have been operating safely. millions of pounds have been invested in our industry to keep customers and colleagues say. there is no spike after the reopening of retail in june. we is no spike after the reopening of retail injune. we remain convinced this is not the right approach but we will of course get behind it and make sure we do at the right thing to support the welsh government in their approach. a17 day lockdown, to put it frankly, are some retailers going to go to the wall because of this, do you think? we think there will bejob this, do you think? we think there will be job losses and shop closures because of this. wells already has one of the highest vacancy rates in the whole of the uk. the biggest challenge will be from the 9th of november. the economy minister has

helpfully said we can reopen our doors on that day, that will be critical for us, to doors on that day, that will be criticalfor us, to reopen ahead of the key festive period. if we can reopen then, we can hopefully regain some of the ground we will lose over these next 17 days. that is what the welsh government is saying, that this is kind of to save christmas. the run—up to christmas is presumably absolutely crucial for your members? never more important thanit your members? never more important than it is now. we have been hugely impacted in wales with local lockdown is, that has impactive footfall into our stores in some of the towns and major city centres in wales. the festive period is absolutely critical for us and we will be encouraging consumers to shop as early as they can at this year, shop as early as they can at this yea r, safely shop as early as they can at this year, safely and considerately. thank you for talking with us.

so how will that firebreak lockdown in wales affect communities used to crossing the border in and out of england for school and work? phil mackie has this report. it's always been quite hard to see exactly where the border between england and wales lies. but it's been brought right back into focus by the pandemic. hay—on—wye is on the welsh side, and normally it would be expecting a busy half—term week with thousands of visitors. not this year. nonessential businesses will have to close. sally harman lives in england but works in wales and thinks it's unfair. because winter isn't good here, anyway. so it'lljust, you know, pull us down even further. and we've all got massive overheads, massive rates. you know, it's. .. it's just too much. the irony is that if you live on this side of the border in england, in herefordshire, then it's seeing some of the lowest infection rates in the uk — and it's a tier1 area, so the fewest restrictions. cross the border into wales —

still similarly low infection rates in powys, but from tonight, effectively, you're back into lockdown. sean davis lives barely 50 metres across the english side of the border. he works in wales, and unlike sally, he will be able to go into the office because he's a key worker. we've always gone, we'll listen to... we listen to the welsh side. if there's a lockdown, there's a lockdown for all of us, because we're close enough that it affects us because we're on the border, like you said. so we won't be listening just to english rules, we listen to the welsh ones as well. hay is famous for its festival — which took place online this year — and its book shops, which will have to close tonight. this year has been the first when the impact of being on the border has really been felt. it's been absolutely stark that you exist on the border, that different rules for people who live 100 yards away from where i live, you know, which is very odd. and now different rules for businesses that are on the other side of the border, as well.

it's not just businesses that will be affected. 450 welsh students attend hereford sixth form college and will still be able to do so after half—term. i met ari from cwmbran and matt from abergavenny as they were preparing to catch the train home. it's really difficult, because i worry that i could potentially be bringing it home to my mum and dad, both of which are key workers, which is even harder. it'sjust so weird, because you never quite know where you stand, and particularly, obviously, me and my friends who get off at the same platform, we're still close to each other, but then, all of a sudden, we're not supposed to be either. and itjust feels like we're in this weird hyper—reality. the toll of the pandemic is still being felt across the uk. phil mackie, bbc news, on the border between england and wales. a former music teacher living with dementia has been reunited with some of the pupils he inspired, after video of him playing the piano became an internet sensation. the clip of paul harvey

improvising went viral, and has prompted his former students to speak about his enduring influence. graham satchell reports. this is 80—year—old paul harvey doing what he loves best. paul was diagnosed with dementia last year. his memory is slowly deteriorating. b natural. a few weeks ago, paul's son nick gave his dad four notes and asked him to improvise a tune. he plays slow, romantic-style melody. this video has now been watched almost two million times on social media. and, yes, itjust took off. it was ridiculous. in the ‘70s, paul became a teacher. we set up a quick video call

with some of paul's former students. hello, there! paul, hello, i'm dominic, dominic glynn. you did doctor who. there's no way i would be having a career as a composer now, if it hadn't had been for you, paul. my name was griffiths in those days, alex griffiths. oh, ido... i run a charity which brings people together through music. so i run a choir for people with and without communication disabilities. it communicates from the heart and from the soul. it's not from the brain, it's from somewhere deeper. and you brought that to your students. # ijust died in your arms tonight... my name is nick eede. oh, for goodness' sake! i've got pictures of you. we've been looking at pictures of you. we were so proud of you. crikey, it was wonderful.

you made it so inclusive that kids who were just sitting around, you know, not really doing great academically, would shine on stage. i find that pretty emotional myself, you know? you gave people a chance they wouldn't normally have had. wow, wow. it's been very emotional, it's been wonderful to speak to you all. it really has. paul's improvised piece has now been adapted by the bbc philharmonic orchestra and will be played for the first time on sunday. we are living in a very peculiar world at the moment, and things aren't good. if it gives people pleasure, or being moved

is pleasure, that's great. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. we have seen a band of rain made in eastwards today, it opens the door to much more unsettled weather through this weekend and into next week. another band of rain on this weekend will be followed by sunshine and showers, accompanied by some much stronger winds, all coming in from the atlantic. wet and windy weather on saturday, with rain coming from eastwards today, becoming lighter as it pushes eastwards. the last of the rain made only from south—east of england this evening, then clear skies for a while. then the next era of cloud

comes in, bringing rain into northern ireland and western scotland, the winds will be stronger than last night. there may be a bright start tomorrow across the midlands and eastern england, but that band of rain made eastwards and will be heavier. this could be an intense burst of rainfall accompanied by gusty winds before sunshine follows on behind. it will bea sunshine follows on behind. it will be a windy day on saturday, particularly gusty winds is that rain moves through, when the ease of a little bit and sunshine follows. ahead of the rain, temperatures are 17 degrees in the south—east of england. rain and at the evening could be quite heavy before clearing away, the clocks go back on saturday night. low pressure remains to the north of the uk. it will be. most of

the showers for southern and western parts of england and into wales, colder air on sunday so temperatures back down to 11—14. enter next week, low pressure still close to northern parts of the uk, not as deep so winds are not as strong around it. blustery winds still blow in for a while into northern ireland, across scotla nd while into northern ireland, across scotland and into england and wales. some showers could be heavy and thundery before the ease of in the afternoon, there will be some spells of sunshine outside of those showers. watch out for tuesday and wednesday, it could get very windy in many places.

this is bbc news. the headlines tougher coronavirus rules for millions of people across the uk. tier 3 restrictions are now in force in manchester. a firebreak lockdown starts in a two hours in wales. two weeks is probably... it's probably not long enough. but it depends if people adhere to it. it is very, very scary. especially when people live on their own. warrington in cheshire is the latest part of england to agree to follow the toughest "tier 3" restrictions. nottingham is expected to be next. no clear winner in the final us presidential debate but donald trump and joe biden clash over claims of corruption and coronavirus. manchester united star marcus rashford won't accept defeat

in his campaign to extend free school meals in england. the man with dementia who became an internet sensation after playing an improvised piece of music. and england's match against the barbarians at twickenham on sunday is called off after 12 barbarians players were stood down for breaking covid rules. swathes of britain are facing stricter coronavirus rules, with nearly six million people affected. ministers say the measures are needed to get infections under control. in just under two hours,

from six o'clock this evening, more than 3 million people in wales will have to stay at home as a 17—day ‘firebrea k' lockdown begins. greater manchester has entered england's highest tier of restrictions, joining liverpool city region and lancashire. south yorkshire will also move into tier 3 overnight. warrington moves to tier 3 as well. nottingham may be next. let's hear first on the latest from wales and tomos morgan in chepstow. well up until today, almost 80% of the welsh population have been under local measures, meaning that it has been banned by law from leaving or entering those areas and from mixing indoors with other households. now, i'm in chepstow in monmouthshire, this is an area that hasn't been under those measures because the levels here have remained low for the best part, but now numbers have been rising here, as they have across the whole of wales. those local measures

haven't been enough. after over one month of local restrictions, tonight sparks the beginning of a new national approach in wales. people will be urged to stay at home, much like in march, during a two—week long firebreak, which will affect over 3 million people. the lockdown that wales is doing just seems to be too short for anybody to know at the end of it whether or not it is made any difference. it is very, very scary. especially for people living on their own. two weeks is probably... its probably not enough, but it depends people adhere to it. so what will and won't be open from 6pm this evening? restaurants, bars and cafes will close and will only be able to provide takeaway services. hair salons and garden centres will also shut, along with all other nonessential shops and businesses. pharmacies, post offices and banks will stay open, along with essential food shops. however, big shops will not be able to sell any nonessential goods, something that has caused

some confusion here. if we are going to be successful and slow the spread of infection, we have to reduce contact between people wherever possible. this, as we have said before, is a short, sharp shock to the virus to turn back the clock and to ensure that our nhs is not overrun. chepstow in monmouthshire is one of the few areas that has not been under local lockdown measures recently. some here feel that tonight's restrictions are unfairly penalising businesses in those areas. when will it end? that's the biggest thing. how many more lockdowns will it take? how many more businesses are going to lose? can you survive another firebreak and more lockdown is if it were to come to that? who knows? i can't say. it will be very difficult, for sure.

economists have warned that a firebreak or circuit breaker could cost the welsh economy £500 million. the aim of this national approach is to slow the spread of the virus and reduce the impact on the health service. with winter fast approaching, the welsh government are aiming to provide businesses and the public with as normal a christmas as possible, given the circumstances. the first minister is yet to announce what the approach will be after this firebreak comes to an end but i am told it won't be back to local measures, it will be a new national approach but, does that mean that all the businesses that have been closed over this period will reopen straightaway on november the night? we don't know at the moment. schools will be reopening partially in phases, but another firebreak in the new year hasn't been ruled out by the welsh government. speaking to the news channel earlier the first minister of wales, mark drakeford said

a "short but deep "'fire break' period" would help wales to "get to christmas without needing to repeat this kind of measure". there are actually very few areas in wales now, i'm afraid, that i'm not above the 50 in 100,000 threshold and that includes monmouthshire, where the interviews were being carried out, which is above 50 today. there is only one local authority that still holds out below the 50 and that is why we need a wales wide effort. i think those parts of wales that have been protected by the actions of others, over recent weeks, understand that we need every person and every part of wales to be making their contribution over the next two weeks supporting our nhs back on track, breaking the chains of transmission that are allowing coronavirus to get out of control and allowing us all have a pathway through to christmas where we don't need to have restrictions of severity again. mark

dra keford, restrictions of severity again. mark drakeford, the restrictions of severity again. mark dra keford, the first restrictions of severity again. mark drakeford, the first minister of wales. dozens of cafes, pubs and restaurants, as well as several councils, have stepped in to offer free school meals for children in england during half term, after the government refused to fund them. the footballer, marcus rashford, has used twitter to highlight the places which are now offering children free food, and he's promised to carry on campaigning on the issue, as ben brown has been finding out. marcus rashford was helping out at the food warehouse named after his mother, melanie, who was there with him as he loaded up supplies. he said he's been blown away by support for his campaign for free school meals from businesses around the country and he has this message for his critics. i know for sure that a lot of them speak in the way that they speak and it is so insensitive about the issue and they've definitely not been through it themselves,

so, for me, you know, i'll take that all day long as long as we start to see improvements going forward for the people that are in need of it now. it's what's important to me, so i don't mind the criticism. marcus rashford is used to scoring winning goals, but, this week, he suffered a defeat in the house of commons. mps voted by a majority of 61 not to extend free school meals over holidays until next easter. so the noes have it, the noes have it. some local councils are now promising free meals over half term. but the government says, as far as it's concerned, there'll be no more u—turns. the issue is what is the best way of getting support to families and we have done that through the welfare system, through the support to local authorities, targeted measures in schools and, above all, trying to help as many people keep theirjobs through the package of measures we've set out. marcus rashford has also been hard at work on twitter, retweeting offers by cafes

and restaurants to give free meals to schoolchildren over the half—term holiday. and he's called on people to unite to protect vulnerable children. for as long as they don't have a voice, he says, they'll have his. ben brown, bbc news. more than 200 children's authors and illustrators have signed an open letter calling for "official organised government support" including the author and screenwriter frank cottrell—boyce. hejoins me now. hello, good to talk to you. good afternoon. why did you sign this letter, why do you feel passionately about this? well, as a children's writer, you go into hundreds of schools. you go into as many skills as an ofsted expect. you're painfully aware that, over the yea rs, painfully aware that, over the years, school has become a place of

security and stability for many children and also of nourishment and the past few months, that has obviously become much more important. school has become an anchor, and a in the situation. to lose it over the holiday would be a disaster for lots of children. you are calling for organised government support, the government is arguing it has made funds available in other ways, it is introduce benefits, it is given money to local councils, that sort of thing. are you saying that sort of thing. are you saying that that is simply not sufficient? you might know, it's not sufficient. what we need is stability. . there isa what we need is stability. . there is a huge mental pressure on a lot of families and to have that certainty that the meals will be there over the holiday means a huge amount. a crisis stress tests society, it shows you where the gaps are and this has demonstrated that so clearly. this is an opportunity to fix something. it's a scheme

that, a campaign i should say, that is absolutely spearheaded by a very young man, a remarkable young man, who has experienced this himself. i'm interested what you think of marcus rashford's involvement in this. you might it's wonderful. the word he used before with unite. he tried so hard for this not to become a party political issue. that interview that you just had with him, that would unite, this is an opportunity for people to work together, its such a pity that this was borne apart on party lines at this point. what we don't want... what we need at this point is politicians to win our trust again and the optics on this are so bad. there they are, eating in restau ra nts there they are, eating in restaurants with subsidised meals, we need is not to behave like this. we need unity and we need them to come together and somebody like marcus can deliver that. all that

said, the government would remind people how many billions they are spending throughout this coronavirus pandemic onjob spending throughout this coronavirus pandemic on job support schemes, we know all about the economics of this, the figures are eye watering. is there a point at which some schemes have to give? there isn't a bottomless pit of money? well, of course there isn't, but there are priorities that you can choose. this is a priority. these are children, this is the future of our nation and, as a nation, leaving charity aside and all the wonderful people that marcus has been retweeting, we need to speak as a nation and say, we have a stake in our children, we believe in our children, we believe that we as a nation have a future and that future is in our children's hands and by not producing this policy, we are

washing our hands of those children. just a final thought. you mentioned at the beginning that you going to school is an awful lot. your work in that area is remarkable, what have the last few months been like for you and what have your thoughts been about the impact of this on children and families? well, obviously we have not been allowed to go into schools, we have been scoping schools, we have been scoping schools and doing zoom calls. the most remarkable thing is how teachers have risen to the challenge and been creative about keeping children minds off the situation, using stories, each using creativity to think about the bigger picture and think about the world that is to come that they are building, our children are building at will. frank cottrell— boyce, children are building at will. frank cottrell—boyce, very good to talk to. many thanks. the author and screenwriter frank cottrell—boyce. as we mentioned, greater manchester moved into england's highest level of coronavirus restrictions at midnight. many pubs and bars are now closed, while household mixing

is limited to parks and other large open spaces. dan johnson reports. we are closing our doors at ten o'clock. we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting bar pop... another round of restrictions, a further tightening of the rules means life here is now that little bit tougher. and what happens next is a major question mark. why we are here tonight, i think, is just to support our local scene, because we are concerned that some of them might not open again. we'll have to see how things turn out, i'm not sure these changes will make a big difference but we'll wait and see. good night, guys. closing time. and nobody knows for how long. we really don't know whether we'll be able to open up and whether staff will have their jobs when we come back to it. they say it will be in december, but we'll see. manchester has a huge, vibrant independent hospitality scene and i believe this could kill us. after a bitter row

about money to support staff, people across greater manchester woke to the reality of tier 3 restrictions that have been imposed by the government. this is a shutdown of people's workplaces, their businesses and, perhaps, the focus of their social lives, and it's getting more difficult to see your family and friends, but life is carrying on here. the shops are open, though it's really quiet this morning, and the reality is, for lots of people, they have been living like this now for months anyway. and the high level alert zone will creep further east into south yorkshire tomorrow, affecting more communities and livelihoods. i think there needs to be greater recognition that businesses here are already on their knees, they are lean, they have spent the bounce back loans. this virus isn't going anywhere, we have to find a way of having a functioning economy and keeping people safe and not one or the other. and concerns extend across the north, with a sense the drive behind the northern powerhouse is evolving as the pandemic involves.

for much of the past few years, it's been about northern transport and now it's gone into much more important issues than that, over education, skills, livelihoods and, in this case, everybody's health during the pandemic. and the government has got to be a lot more thoughtful. these measures are in place for at least a month, but there's a chance they'll last much longer. nottinghamshire and the north east are likely to face this in the days ahead and there's the prospect even tighter rules could follow. dan johnson, bbc news, in manchester. let's talk about what the coming days and weeks hold. well we can speak now to simone roche, founder, northern power futures & northern power women —and to eleanor keegan who is the host of the northern power futures podcast, which has been helping to support young people

in the region during the pandemic. good afternoon. simone, let's start with you. you have quite a lot of members and i'm just interested to have a sense of what your members have a sense of what your members have been saying to you, who these people are, what their concerns are. i think it's been really tough and one of the things, we launched a report two weeks ago, our levelling up report two weeks ago, our levelling up report and what we wanted to do over this lockdown period, because we didn't know how long this was going to be going on for, but we wa nted going to be going on for, but we wanted to see what we could react to. we wanted to see what we could make happen because it's challenging out there. women and our young people are the most disadvantaged by this pandemic. it is so challenging, so what are communities... is a seat at the decision—making table is, to invest in ourfemale at the decision—making table is, to invest in our female lead and black, asian and minority ethnic businesses

and invest in our future talent because as we come through to whatever the new ways of working are in the new world of work, we need to make sure that we have a place for our future talent. we can't have a lost generation. and when you say it is women in particular who are struggling or dealing with this, is that something you say from a business perspective or is that the issues that we talked about so much earlier on in the pandemic when schools were shut and we know, a lot of women were suddenly expected to do home—schooling on top of working from home. it is that. and itjust continues on, and i think it's the traditional ways of working, i think one of the things that we put in the report about the new working styles, we need the accessibility to childcare to be able to continue to work, childcare is not a luxury, it's a necessity to be able to get us all back into that working environment. so one of the things

that we are trying to do is write the new rules, it's not about going back, its about what to do going forward , back, its about what to do going forward, we want to rewrite the new rules of working so there is a place for all of us to work and to grow and to build back... so it's really important that we've had that coming together, we've had hundreds of female leaders come together, six regions, but the focus is always about what we can do. in times like this, one of the quotes from one of our leaders was, in times like this, competitions make you go faster but collaboration makes you go further, so we focused on what we can do. the worry about our young people led us to creating the northern power futures podcast. eleanor was on that to be theirs and we use that to listen to the voices of young people and their concerns because it worries us all. i want to hear about

that, the podcast started fairly early on in the pandemic. just talk us through what younger people in particular were saying to you, the issues they were raising. we were hearing from a lot of young people about their mental health, they were struggling a lot not knowing what was going to happen with their future. when they heard that schools we re future. when they heard that schools were going to shut, that there university courses might not happen, that they might be online, they were wondering, what will happen with our future? and wondering, what will happen with our future ? and we wondering, what will happen with our future? and we created the podcast in response to that is because we speak to professionals across the north of england to answer their questions. they sent us their questions, anything they are worried about and we hit here from professionals who can offer them some advice. it's fascinating that you started that at the age of 19 as well. i'm so impressed. presumably,

this is something that keeps going because sadly, we are in this for a lot longer as a nation. but the slight difference i guess is that schools are open, that has been different to earlier in the pandemic, so has that changed any of the audience comments they're getting on the questions you are getting? we had some questions about, my friends are acting like everything is normal but i don't wa nt everything is normal but i don't want to bug them any more, i don't wa nt want to bug them any more, i don't want to bug them any more, i don't want to be going out after school, what can i do to speak to them about this? we had questions like, my school is back in but every two weeks, we have to isolate again because one of the other students has tested positive. we get ongoing questions about the different worries that young people are facing right now and it does change constantly, so trying to keep up is quite difficult but we are always going to be there because it's best to do something than sit around and

do nothing. good for you. trying to keep up is difficult for all of us, let me tell you. it's never—ending, isn't it? given that, today we are talking a lot about other parts of the country that are stepping up to the country that are stepping up to the highest level of restrictions now, we are talking about greater manchester, obviously there is a different scenario in wales, it varies where you live. i wonder what you might say to people who are, particularly younger people who you talked on the podcast, who are perhaps heading into very tight restrictions this weekend, they might be anxious, what would you say? i would say speak up if you are worrying about things, speak to your family members and friends, anyone who is in your inner circle and even if you don't have people you feel like you can talk to, speak to us, we can offer you some advice. don't keep things to yourself, mental health is one of the biggest issues that this pandemic has brought to light. don't feel like you are alone, there are so many people who

are going through the exact same thing as you. we are all, if we all stick together, we will all get through this perfectly fine. stick together, we will all get through this perfectly finelj stick together, we will all get through this perfectly fine. i hope so. reach out, i guess, through this perfectly fine. i hope so. reach out, iguess, is through this perfectly fine. i hope so. reach out, i guess, is one of your mottoes. simon, you were nodding through so much of that. your thoughts as well, as other parts of the country head into a tricky time. what are your thoughts on what you hope will come out of the work you are doing? for me it is highlighting the positive things you can do. especially in manchester, the home of the pankhurst, it's about deeds not words, so when we launched... we asked andy burnham, we said we want a seat at the table, we said we want a seat at the table, we need help to enable this to come to fruition and his quotation was along the lines of, actually the best way that you can make changes by doing it and we actually urge everyone, everyone can do something for someone else. when we ask businesses to respond to the voices

and these questions of young people on the podcast, we are overwhelmed by great support, so whether it is large corporate organisations that we work with, or fantastic academic institutions, we have some brilliant people that we are working with, but people that we are working with, but people want to help, people want to invest in our future, so totally echoing what eleanor says is that you do not be alone here. we are absolutely better together and we have to find the spirit to get us through this. it is tough, we have a journey to keep going on but actually, we were in it together and actually, we were in it together and actually we can get through this together. fantastic to speak to you. thank you for your time. nicola sturgeon has announced a new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions for scotland, which will come into force a week on monday. unlike england, it will have five levels. our correspondent, james shaw,

gave us more details about what ms sturgeon had to say. level zero, that the first one, is essentially as close to normality as you can get, until there is an effective vaccine. and then the restrictions ramp up through levels one, two and three and nicola sturgeon explained that level three is similar to the restrictions that are in place, quite tight restrictions, in the central belt of scotland at the moment, so households, different households are not to meet indoors, most licensed premises closed and then level four, close to the kind of lockdown to be experienced in march of this year, although some activities will be able to continue, so schools will stay open, construction and manufacturing will continue but this is how nicola sturgeon explained her thinking. we do not envisage returning to a situation as severe as the first lockdown imposed back in late march. i hope that helps to reinforce

an important point. we are not back at square one. we have made progress in tackling the virus and we have more tools now at our disposal to help control it. today's framework will help us, i hope, to make further progress. and one other thing that the first minister was keen to stress in laying out these plans is that she wants to hear from stakeholders, in other words, people who will be affected in particular hospitality businesses, which we know have really felt the brunt of the restrictions in scotland and other parts of the uk. we will listen, she promised, although she didn't promise that she would be able to respond to all the requests that they made. the areas that will be affected, how the restrictions will affect different parts of scotland, that will be decided over the next week. the scottish parliament will vote on these proposals on tuesday and they will come into effect, we expect, a week on monday, the 2nd of november.

james shaw talking about the announcement of the five tier system in scotland a week on monday. the last of the rain clears the south—east of england during this evening and we will have some clearer skies for a while but there is more cloud from the atlantic bringing more rain, almost a repeat of last night except the wins will be much stronger is that rain moves in. ahead of that, temperatures down to 45 degrees. tomorrow morning, some bright weather and sunshine across the midlands, eastern england before this band of rain moves eastward, quite heavy rain and the could be a short, sharp burst of quite intense rainfall and then the sunshine follows with some showers in the north—west. a windy day tomorrow, particularly windy is that rain arrives. the windows tend to

ease as the rain clears away and we get the sunshine following, but ahead of the rain, temperatures in the south—east could reach 17 degrees. it will be cooler on sunday, the winds won't be quite a strong, there will be some sunshine and some blustery showers.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: tougher coronavirus rules for millions of people across the uk. tier three restrictions are now in force in manchester. a firebreak lockdown starts in a two hours in wales. two weeks is probably... it's probably not long enough. but it depends if people adhere to it. it is very, very scary. especially when people live on their own. warrington in cheshire is the latest part of england to agree to follow the toughest tier three restrictions —

no clear winner in the final us presidential debate but donald trump and joe biden clash over claims of corruption and coronavirus. manchester united star marcus rashford won't accept defeat in his campaign to extend free school meals in england. sport — and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. the manchester united manager ole gunnar solskjaer says the media are targetting 18—year—old striker mason greenwood ever since he was sent home by england for breaching their strict bio bubble rules whilst on international duty in iceland. he also praised the player's professionalism amid speculation

he's turned up late for training. he's made a mistake this summer with england, and suddenly the whole english press go after him. that's something that we have got to look after. he is a fantastic boy to work with. i have to disappoint you — he's never late for training, he's never a problem in the training ground, he's always on time. i have seen some of the stories, some ex united players talking about him and they don't really know what they are talking about. that's something we have to deal with with many other players at united. the rfu have taken the decision to call off england's game with the barbarians at twickenham on sunday after discovering a second breach of covid rules. 12 players had already been dropped putting the fixture at risk, but the discovery of a second transgression by members of the squad, the rfu have deemed it unsafe to play the fixture. andy swiss has been

following developments. the rfu were already investigating a breach of the curve of the rules when it emerged that a number of the barbarians players had left their hotel and went to dinner at a hotel in london. they discovered that there had actually been an earlier breach of the covid rules on tuesday when a number of barbarians players had gone out from the hotel without permission. they say because those players that not isolate afterwards they have had no alternative but to cancel the game against england. bill sweeney, the head of the rfu, said that there were all disappointed and frustrated with the actions of a number of barbarians players, they no longer feel safe it is safe for the game to go ahead. we have heard from some former players,

richard wigglesworth, another of the barbarians players who broke the covid rules, said he was embarrassed and beyond the gutter. he said he had that there are a lot of people down, including himself, and he wished he had done it differently. england were looking forward to a warm up game against barbarians ahead of the crucial six nations match against italy next weekend but now all the plans have been thrown into utter disarray. england men's centrally contracted cricket players have agreed to a 15% pay cut for the 12—month period starting from 1st october. it comes after what the ecb has described as a "substantial shortfall" in revenue as a consequence of the covid—19 pandemic. the 15% cut will apply to players retainers, match fees and win bonuses. there has been drama at second practice for the portugese grand prix.

valtteri bottas is quickest so far after also topping the time sheets in first practice. pierre gasly had to take quick action when his alpha tauri car set on fire. the french driver managed to escape from the car and marshalls quickly extinguished the blaze. the race in the algarve is portugal's first since 1996. now, finally, we must say happy birthday to one of the world's greatest ever footballers — pele — who's 80 today. some of his greatest goals were at the 1970 world cup finals. a giant pele street mural will be unveiled in the coastal city of santos today to mark 80 years of footballing greatness. that's all the sport for now.

we are going to talk about the r number, they could run a virus or number, they could run a virus or number ina number, they could run a virus or number in a moment. bringing you the latest statistics that enter coming around this time every afternoon. the number of coronavirus cases in the uk in the last 24 are worries. the uk in the last 24 are the the number of coronavirus cases in the uk in the last 24 are the number of deaths recorded across the uk, 224, which is higher than the day before. that has been an increase, 224 further deaths recorded in the uk. the reproduction number, or r value, for covid—19 has fallen slightly and there might have been a slow down in the daily growth rate.

latest figures from the government show the r number is 1.2—1.4for the uk. that's down from 1.3—1.5 last week. the latest figure means that, on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 14 other people with coronavirus. let's talk to dr margaret harris from the world health organization. your thoughts on the r number are still not below one, but it is falling? i think we need to look at

a lot more than simply one figure. we need to look at where these transmissions are happening, where it is most intense, is it happening in clusters? and what is happening in the hospitals. the critical thing is if the hospitals are filling up, ifi is if the hospitals are filling up, if i see you birds are reaching capacity, because this is winter and there will be so many other illnesses that need to be today. —— i see you birds. europe is now recording record after record every day. we have thousands of new cases reported to us in the last 24 are worries, the european region accou nts worries, the european region accounts for almost half. so we are ina accounts for almost half. so we are in a really intense outbreak in the region and we really have to take action. when you say take action, what do you mean by that? we do know with this particular virus, it's never too late to turn it around.

you need strong leadership, clear and comprehensive strategies, clear strategies that everybody understands and can do. those have to be communicated very consistently and clearly. if do what you're asking to do these things, you have to make sure it is possible. i'm sure that they really can self—isolate and support them to do it. you're talking about clarity and making everything easy to understand. you will know that there isa understand. you will know that there is a debate in the uk about the fact that the rules vary enormously depending on which part of the uk you live in and they change frequently. there is a school of thought that says, it's really hard to keep up, you really have to google it if you want to know what the restrictions are in your area. i just wondered what you think about that? this is a struggle that happens in many countries. it is critical that if you are asking people to do something, they need to know why they are doing it and how

to. when you do something, they need to. when you do something, they need to know why they are doing it and how to. when you do those things, when you regularly and clearly communicate what people really do. you just had a story about people going out there and not abiding by the bills. if people think the rules and are being put there for a serious reason or aren't being taken seriously, then they don't take them seriously, then they don't take them seriously, so is related critical that people understand why they are being asked to do this and they do it. you're essentially saying, make it. you're essentially saying, make it simple and make it clear? yes, i'd make it possible and doable as well. and do not blame people for not doing it necessarily. look at the reasons why they are not doing it so they really can do it. things like wearing your mask when you go to the shops, you forget to bring your mass, do you have a means of making people can wear a mask before

they go in the shop. that kind of thing. is there a crunchy of reaching that you look at and you think that they are doing really well and you wish that other countries would copy them? —— is there a country. a number of countries in east asia have dealt with quite large spikes and clusters but they have always brought it down, that is why we say with confidence that you can turn it around. they have had the experience of sars, they know what us witchery disease like this can do to the population. for people in those countries, it is culturally different, east asia isjust countries, it is culturally different, east asia is just as different, east asia is just as different as your group is, but they do listen to what they are asked to do. having spent time there, it is a bit easier to do these things because the mechanisms are in place.

very good to talk to you. we will talk more about the figures and where we are with our health correspondent. just explain what the latest figures show us? that data has just latest figures show us? that data hasjust come latest figures show us? that data has just come out in the past ten minutes or so, so i'vejust been going through and looking back at what we have seen in the past week or so. firstly, i what we have seen in the past week orso. firstly, ican what we have seen in the past week or so. firstly, i can confirm they have been if they'll let you in on 24 deaths, that covers those who have died within 28 days of a positive test, that is up from 189 yesterday. as we are seeing, deaths are slowly rising. looking at the past week's data, we are seeing increases with admissions, patients in hospital, and those on ventilators. today the data shows that there are 1058 covid patients are admitted. an rdp, it was around

3000. more than 700 people now on ventilators, so we are seeing this gradual increase. one potential consequence could perhaps be that there have been a further 2530 new covid cases recorded, a slight fall compared to yesterday, 5000 less than wednesday. if there is a slight slowing of trend in cases of infections, the first place we will see is in the cases, new hospital admissions, ventilators, now are two weeks down the line so will lie. and regional variations, the government looks at data like this because it informs decisions as to where it does or does not face greater restrictions? absolutely, all these bits of data is that we hear about,

they all influence decisions that are made and give us an idea of what is going on. earlier this afternoon, they knew r number was published, it decreased slightly, is now estimated to be between 1.2 and 1.4, which means that every ten people who are infected with the virus would then pass it on to a 12 or 14 others on average. the number of new infections is still growing as well, with 3% and 6% a day. the scientific advisers to the government, sage, say that they too are number is likely to lie within those estimated arrangers. so it is not necessarily mean that things are going down, the epidemic is still increasing, we are seeing rises, but there is a potential slowing. thank you for taking us through that wealth of data, and are. we will turn our attention now to the situation in

scotland. nicola sturgeon has announced a new tiered system of coronavirus restrictions for scotland, which will come into force a week on monday. unlike england, it will have five levels. with me now is deputy first minister of scotland, john swinney. what is your thinking behind having five tiers? we wa nt we want to set out the information as clearly as we possibly can do to members of the public and demonstrate that there will be differences in the way in which we apply any measures around the country to deal with the prevalence of coronavirus. we have very varying rates of coronavirus in different parts of scotland, and the framework set out today essentially makes it much clearer to different parts of the country the likelihood of restrictions that will be in place

given the prevalence of the virus in different parts of the country. you have had pretty severe efficient along the central belt which is millions of people, a large population, what are the signs as to the extent to which those are working? i think i would reinforce what your correspondent just shared with you. the data shows that it although the prevalence of cases is rising, it is rising at a slower rate than would have been envisaged weeks ago. that gives us some confidence that the measures put in place some time ago to restrict, for example, household visiting, it is not possible in scotland for people to be inside other people's houses, and it hasn't been for some weeks. no calmative effects of those measures and no more restrictive measures and no more restrictive

measures in the central belt for the last two weeks are beginning to have the type of effect that we need to have tub won of the growth in covid. i would say that it is very much that we are sustaining the pace of increase, not that we have managed to reduce covid so far. the framework put in place is designed to give that clarity to different parts of the country, because we have quite a substantial variation in the prevalence of the virus in different parts of the country. you will know that jason leitch, the national clinical director, has been talking about christmas and said to prepare for a digital christmas. do you accept that is what is awaiting the people of scotland? christmas is quite a bit away. my message would be is that we need to make sure that we use every available opportunity that we have now today, every single

day at the present moment, to reduce the prevalence of the virus so that we can look forward at the earliest possible opportunity to be able to have a bit more freedom and flexibility in our lives, that of course might include the period around christmas. in scotland over the summer and we managed to reduce covid to a very limited extent of presence within the country. it's made a reappearance. we are saying to people that we know that we can put covid at bay, we have done it already, and we just need to re— i nte nsify already, and we just need to re—intensify our efforts to make sure that is the case just now. i think if we have that intense focus by every citizen, members of the public have cooperated phenomenally with the restrictions we have put in place willingly and accepted great sacrifices, and it's place willingly and accepted great sacrifices, and its beginning to have a further effect beyond what we achieved in the summer. i would encourage people to stick with it

and work with us to try to reduce the prevalence of the virus. so if it's the prevalence of the virus. so if its beginning to work and help, we talked about the central belt, is at your message to people living and running businesses in that area that you just have to stick with it, grit your teeth and this is the only way to do with it? the framework is essentially trying to map out to people how we can essentially get on with our work lives with restrictions while we have the presence of covid. we can't magic covid away. we did really well in reducing its strength over the summer but it has made a comeback. we have got up like various measures and restrictions to get into a stronger position. comparatively speaking, we are in a much stronger position today than we were back in march when we were facing a very serious threat from covid. our message to people in scotland, businesses and individuals, is

cystic with the requirements put in place. if we do that we can get on with the virus and enjoy life at the earliest possible opportunity. none of us want to apply these restrictions and constraints but we are having to do it because the level of cases is still rising at a significant level, we are seeing more presence of cases appearing in hospitals. those cases are getting more serious. we are seeing it creeping into older age groups where it becomes much more significant in its impact on pupils health and well—being. so a collective effort to get on top of the curve it at this time will get us into a stronger place later in the autumn. thank you for your time. we will talk much more about that in the

next hour. we will take a look at the situation in the states. donald trump and his democratic rival, joe biden, have clashed over coronavirus — and accused each other of financial corruption — in their final debate before the presidential election next month. it was a calmer debate than last time, with few interruptions or insults. but millions of voters have already cast their ballots, and with the president trailling in the polls, it's not clear whether mr trump did enough to see off his challenger. barbara plett—usher watched the debate in tennessee. applause. we welcome to the stage former vice presidentjoe biden and president donaldj trump. the sequel to the most out—of—control presidential debate americans had ever seen turned out to be the kind of traditional election face—off they would normally expect. the two men started by offering sharply different visions over how to handle the surging coronavirus pandemic. there's not another serious scientist in the world who thinks it's going to be over soon.

president trump, your reaction? i don't say "over soon". i say we are learning to live with it, we have no choice, we can't lock ourselves up in a basement, like joe does. learning to live with it — come on, we're dying with it. president trump seem poised to take responsibility for failures with covid—19. and then he didn't. i take full responsibility. it's not my fault that it came here, it's china's fault. the much—anticipated mute button saw some action, but even when the microphones were open, president trump held off the constant interruptions of last time. what was supposed to be a discussion on national security got tangled up in accusations of personal corruption involving foreign governments. i don't make money from china, you do. i don't make money from ukraine, you do. i don't make money from russia. i have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life. we learned that this president paid 50 times the tax in china, has a secret bank account with china, does business in china.

president trump got in a couple of sharp hits. he turned a question on black lives matter into an attack onjoe biden's record on race and criminal justice reform. i am the least racist person. i can't even see the audience because it's so dark, but i don't care who's in the audience — i am the least racist person in this room. not since abraham lincoln has anybody done what i have done for the black community. abraham lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we've had in modern history. he pours fuel on every single racist fire. iran because of you, iran because of barack obama, because you did a poorjob. if i thought you did a good job, i would have never run. climate change got serious attention this time. he thinks wind causes cancer, windmills. it's the fastest growing jobs, and they pay good prevailing wages, 45—50 bucks an hour. we can grow, and we can be cleaner. the fumes coming up to make these

massive windmills is more than anything that we're talking about with natural gas, which is very clean. overall, joe biden put in a steady performance and, crucially, scored points on everyday issues that matter to americans, like health care. people deserve to have affordable health care, period. period, period, period. president trump showed restraint and so didn't do himself damage, but neither did he inflict much damage on mr biden, who is the frontrunner. voters were the winners — they got a debate that was focused on substance rather than hijacked by style. barbara plett—usher, bbc news, nashville. some preliminary viewing figures coming in from the us about last night's debate. the estimate is that just over 21 million people watch that on us television. these are only preliminary figures, we will

a p pa re ntly only preliminary figures, we will apparently get updated figures later today, but that is according to reuters, at least 21 million people watch that debate last night. if you want to see how the two candidates are performing in the polls, you can check out our poll tracker online, which tracks all the national polls and calculates the trending result. head on over to bbc.co.uk/news or the bbc news app for this and more about the us elections. a former music teacher living with dementia has been reunited with some of the pupils he inspired, after video of him playing the piano became an internet sensation. the clip of paul harvey improvising went viral, and has prompted his former students to speak about his enduring influence. graham satchell reports. this is 80—year—old paul harvey doing what he loves best. paul was diagnosed with dementia last year.

his memory is slowly deteriorating. b natural. a few weeks ago, paul's son nick gave his dad four notes and asked him to improvise a tune. he plays slow, romantic-style melody. this video has now been watched almost two million times on social media. and, yes, itjust took off. it was ridiculous. in the ‘70s, paul became a teacher. we set up a quick video call with some of paul's former students. hello, there! paul, hello, i'm dominic, dominic glynn. you did doctor who! there's no way i would be having a career as a composer now, if it hadn't had been for you, paul. my name was griffiths in those days, alex griffiths.

oh, ido... i run a charity which brings people together through music. so i run a choir for people with and without communication disabilities. it communicates from the heart and from the soul. it's not from the brain, it's from somewhere deeper. and you brought that to your students. # ijust died in your arms tonight... my name is nick eede. oh, for goodness' sake! i've got pictures of you. we've been looking at pictures of you. we were so proud of you. crikey, it was wonderful. you made it so inclusive that kids who were just sitting around, you know, not really doing great academically, would shine on stage. i find that pretty emotional myself, you know? you gave people a chance they wouldn't normally have had. wow, wow.

it's been very emotional, it's been wonderful to speak to you all. it really has. paul's improvised piece has now been adapted by the bbc philharmonic orchestra and will be played for the first time on sunday. we are living in a very peculiar world at the moment, and things aren't good. if it gives people pleasure, or being moved is pleasure, that's great. something in my eye after watching

that. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. as the rain moves east which today has been turning very light and patchy, the last of a clearing in the south—east of england during this evening. clearer skies for a while, then more cloud from the atla ntic while, then more cloud from the atlantic brings more rain into northern ireland and western scotland, the winds will be much stronger than last night as the rain moves in. tomorrow morning could see some bright weather and sunshine across the midlands, eastern england, before rain moves words heavy rain. this could be short bursts of intense rainfall accompanied by squally winds. it will be a windy day tomorrow, they will be a windy day tomorrow, they will tend to ease as the rain clears away, then the sunshine follows. head of the rain, temperatures in the south—east could reach 17 degrees. it will be cooler on a

sunday, when is it not quite as strong, some sunshine and blustery showers.

this is bbc news i'm jane hill. the headlines: tougher coronavirus rules for millions of people across the uk. tier 3 restrictions are now in force in manchester. a firebreak lockdown starts in wales in an hour's time two weeks is probably not long enough but it depends if people adhere to it. it is very, very scary. warrington in cheshire is the latest part of england to agree to follow the toughest "tier three" restrictions — nottingham is expected to be next. no clear winner in the final us presidential debate but donald trump and joe biden clash over claims of corruption and coronavirus.