the third arab state to do so in two months. the announcement was made by president trump, whose government brokered the deal. palestinians have reacted angrily, describing it as another stab in the back. protests are spreading across poland after a court ruling banning virtually all abortions with exceptions only for cases of rape, incest, or where the mother's health is at risk. poland already has some of the eu's strictest abortion laws. several countries in europe have reported coronavirus infection rates higher than during the first wave of the pandemic in the spring. in france, the government has imposed an overnight curfew on two—thirds of the country, which will operate for the next six weeks. the test and trace system

in england came underfire this week over longer waits for test results. in an effort to track of the spread of the virus, the government has rolled out a new scheme. after a successful trial, 90 waste water treatment sites in england, wales and scotland are to start testing sewage for traces of the virus to try to detect local outbreaks before they spread. here's our health editor hugh pym. it's a new approach to tracking down coronavirus — monitoring sewage in local communities. this is an early warning system, as fragments of genetic material from the virus can be detected in waste water. scientists say its real value is in areas where there might be people who are infected but showing no symptoms. the beauty of this technique is that we can detect people who are in that situation and don't know they've got the virus but they are still shedding it, and we can still find it in the waste water and we can find it

in advance of there being any positive tests in a catchment. samples from sewage plants reach labs for testing the next day. the results are passed on to local health leaders. in plymouth, an outbreak was detected despite relatively low numbers of people going for tests. data is also shared with national experts at thejoint biosecurity centre. the aim is to support the work done by test and trace staff. but in england, the testing and tracing system has come under intense strain. performance figures for times to get results back and tracing of contacts have fallen to their lowest levels since the launch in may — though it has had to deal with rapidly rising case numbers. perhaps we wouldn't have seen ourselves in the situation we are in now if that had been a bit more optimal. some experts argue that the national system could have been better planned and prepared. i think the intention behind setting up test and trace was well—intended and well—meaning and actually, was there to meet a desperate need that we had at the time.

but perhaps it wasn't as familiar with the challenge that it faced and perhaps therefore does not have the capacity set up to deal with it adequately. while the national set—up can be struggling, local public health teams like here in hertfordshire are taking on more of the tracing work to try to ensure infections don't spread and get out of control. we have a call centre. if we don't get through, we can go and knock on doors. that of course is reassuring for people when they see someone and hear someone, and also then to collect the information that we need that helps us identify locally perhaps the sort of clusters and where the infection might be spreading that the national information may not be getting. sewage monitoring will add to the range of techniques health officials can use at this critical stage in the bid to seek out and control the virus. hugh pym, bbc news. now on bbc news, how is tiktok

changing us politics and what influence will it have on who the next resident of the white house will be? tiktok. one of the fastest—growing social media platforms the world. and downloaded over 2 billion times. it has a bottomless well of co nte nt times. it has a bottomless well of content and that means hours of content and that means hours of engagement every day. normally the home for lip syncing teens and out of control pets, its phenomenal growth means it's starting to change the world. we are seeing on tiktok i think we know more about politics and about the latest news. and nowhere more than in the us election where donald trump and joe biden supporters are fighting for the future of their country. on tiktok. i am a conservative and iama tiktok. i am a conservative and i am a drum supporter. any time he opens his mouth... it is good for content creators. more than 800 million of us have downloaded tiktok. i sophia smith galer, bbc reporter and

tiktok creator and have been following political content on the upperfour following political content on the upper four months. following political content on the upperfour months. and it is not all good. there's clearly a huge amount of hate speech, is clearly amount of divisive rhetoric. will the influence of tiktok and its millions of young voters have a say in who gets the keys to the white house? with polling day less than two weeks away, the 2020 us presidential election is racing to the finish line. for months, the candidates have been vying for votes with online platforms becoming more and more important. but there is a new app in town that is blurring the lines between comedy entertainment and politics. tiktok is the most dense content format known to man. josh considine is a technology expert and investor in social platforms like tiktok. content density is harmonies oohs aahs

and ha has density is harmonies oohs aahs and hahas are contained in a piece of content and how addictive it is and how quickly it gets to the point. tiktok videos last from a few seconds to one minute. it's rapid rise in popularity means it now has over 800 million users worldwide. and forjosh, it is down to content density. there is some amazing examples of content density like this one, where two creators recreate the harry potter theme song using their washing machine. and they spent hours figuring this out and then nailing the exact button pushers. it has 100 million monthly users in the us and is transforming how we consume online content. content thatis consume online content. content that is increasingly becoming political. we cannot let the left ta ke political. we cannot let the left take over the country. and also make sure they vote for democrats. democrats take money from the kkk. because this content from the kkk. because this co nte nt gets

from the kkk. because this content gets its point across so content gets its point across so quickly you can trick people into hearing your message even if they would have normally be opposed so when you make you ca re opposed so when you make you care about the issue with a very high quality, quick succinct tick—tock. —— tiktok. we are looking at tiktok, we may be banning tiktok. in the run—up to this collection president trump had threatened to shut down tiktok‘s us operations. and joe biden‘s campaign squad were effectively barred from using the video sharing app. but this has not stopped their fans using it. hey, my name is ellie and i'm your average teenage tiktok nerd and someone who is voting in this uptime election as a first—time voter i think the politics of social media platforms and especially tiktok can be very influential, thank you and don't forget to vote. under 20 and female, selby is your average tiktok user. she is also classicjen the, the cohort born from the mid— 90s and early 2000 and for the most part, first—time voters. —— gen

z. pay political ads on tiktok are banned but it does not mean people are not using it to campaign orsimply learn people are not using it to campaign or simply learn about politics. us voters! i report on tiktok... i made a tiktok to see what americans had to say. i want to hear from you. answer my questions, what do you think about politicians using this app and do you follow any?” think it is a great vehicle for people to express, like, what they support. do you follow people who post about politics on here and other reliable and do you learn much from them? people are not necessarily political but they speak on issues and i like to think i do that also. do you think tiktok and the contador he could influence how you vote in the selection? for sure, it is definitely influenced the way i am voting. and there is one tiktok moment that summed up the app and its potential impact on voting. and the election. i took part in the infamous tulsa rally prank on donald trump. fox news and

breitbart, fascism four days, these are a few of trump's favourite things. meyer is a tick—tock creator and is famous for her freestyle wraps and has about 200,000 followers, which she follow—up of all mobilised injune. it she follow—up of all mobilised in june. it was she follow—up of all mobilised injune. it was in that month that donald trump organised the rally in tulsa, oklahoma. for him, it was a huge event, i come back rally to kick—start his re—election campaign after lockdown. massive shout-out for this epic idea. google tulsa rally, you can put in fake information. i made a short video about how easy it was to go to donald trump's website and sign up to like reserve a seat. and you are all set, sit back and remember don't actually go. he was... very convinced that there was really 1 convinced that there was really i million people that wanted to go to his tulsa rally. and inside, acres of empty seats. the arena has a capacity of 19,000. the fire marshal today

confirmed there were only 6200 present. that was a great, one of my favourite forms of activism. harnessing the power of tick—tock may have felt grateful tick—tock is maya nepos but for one person, it was anything but. it is not just individuals who are trying to get their political message across. trump did nothing wrong. there are now organised political collectives on tick—tock and they are called hothouses. i want to show you one of the funniest political as i've ever seen and comes from... my name is aidan, i am a 16—year—old and my tiktok username that i regret making everyday is a political due. i'mjewish, i everyday is a political due. i'm jewish, i have everyday is a political due. i'mjewish, i have a question everyday is a political due. i'm jewish, i have a question a few times, are you jewish? why would ijoke few times, are you jewish? why would i joke about few times, are you jewish? why would ijoke about being jewish? it is a weird thing to joke about. and i post mainly political and comedic content. iamso political and comedic content. i am so excited for the presidential debate tonight, i just cannot wait, it is going to be so entertaining and so good! that was the worst 90 minutes of my life. aidan is a

prolific tiktok poster and knows all about the hive houses. they are basically group accounts, people don't live together necessarily but they have the account password and username and they post videos on there. so there is the republican hive house, the conservative hive house, the democratic hive house which i am part of... us 16, democratic hive house which i am part of... us16, you cannot even vote yet but why are you spending so much time then on tick—tock, talking about political issues —— hype house. i think that growing up in dc and having very political pa rents and having very political parents and in a political environment inspired me to a certain degree of when i got tiktok i was like what videos ami tiktok i was like what videos am i going to make what do i talk about the most politics. do you support cancel... not really. the cosmopolitan elites of nancy pelosi, chuck schumer and joe biden. yes, of nancy pelosi, chuck schumer andjoe biden. yes, i do. of nancy pelosi, chuck schumer and joe biden. yes, i do. do you believe in american greatness. not really. believe

in yourself. no. american trump. and definitely not. individual and personal responsibility. yes but not in the way you do. a lot of people say that generations the is not politically engaged. that is not my experience, what we are seeing on tiktok and 24—hour news and just this constant media storm all the time, i think we are learning and we know more about politics and about the latest news. generation the is totally passionate and totally —— generation z wants to be the political generation. the design of tiktok means the first page you land on is called the four you page and that will serve him left—leaning content because it brings you videos based on your viewing habits. it is one of the most powerful recommendations algorithms on the internet. but it is not just liberals posting content. the study revealed 60% more videos are created by republican leaning users than democrat ones on the platform.

j°ey democrat ones on the platform. joeyis democrat ones on the platform. joey is definitely a republican leaning user and creator. pro—choice or pro—life? and i death penalty or project? follow parts of the constitution or not follow parts of the constitution? do belongs to the republican girls, a hype house with a huge following on the platform. we are all about republican and conservative them, creating a union of associated with today's america but also these girls are like my sisters. i mean, we have each other‘s backs and we want to show that girls are age, gen z, girls that you can be a republican, it is ok. are you excited for dc? super excited for dc. could you talk us through the growth of republican girls and where you are at now? so whenever i first joined republican girls we had around 40.5 k followers. and from there, we just took off. i mean, we grew 200,000

followers in a matter of four months. which is insanity. and i'm officially a co—owner of the account and i mean, i'm officially a co—owner of the accountand i mean, i i'm officially a co—owner of the account and i mean, i take so much pride in our account. it's just boomed. so much pride in our account. it'sjust boomed. good morning my neighbours! you! videos that do best and definitely those that have humour in them, gen z isa that have humour in them, gen z is a safe space for people who wa nt to ta ke is a safe space for people who want to take a break from reality and see humourous fund videos —— tiktok. reality and see humourous fund videos -- tiktok. we try to incorporate humour in all of them so we can get the full 15 seconds, 60 some accounts for the view but also gives out the message that we are trying display to our viewer. go home. bye. go home to mummy. a number of voter registration initiatives have been partnering with content creators to persuade more young people to register to vote. he, benedict donald. we are kicking you out in 86 days. meyer colla borates you out in 86 days. meyer collaborates with one of the initiatives. 86 data will be 86 you. top the vote is at tiktok

account that creates content was waiting gently to vote. let's fight and help him brighten up our starless night. i don't know specifically how many people like gen z that i have pressured to vote but i know that 8000 people have clicked the link in my bio that ta kes clicked the link in my bio that takes them to register to vote. so speaking to gen z where they are is probably the best way to get them engaged and politics and just getting them registered to vote. tomorrow is the first presidential debate. her success with her politically charged videos has not gone unnoticed by some big hitters in the campaign trail, who want to use her online presence to garner more votes was been working with big—time creative for about a month, they were created to support they were created to support the democratic primary campaigns. they sponsored one

of my posts to inform jenvey on why this should register to vote. i don't want to make everything political, but we have to work. they want to pay me to post them, so that is awesome. some people might be surprised that content creators are paid to do some of these videos. it seems really easy, especially when it is like a 45 second video, or a 15 second video, but it takes a lot of time and also things like your equipment, like a lot of creators have ring lights and microphones and things like that. whenever someone is paid to create content on tiktok, they should, according to us government rules and regulations, disclose that payment in the video. but plenty of creators like maya do not always do this. the problem is, if you promote or attack a political candidate in the same video, it might quickly be construed as a political ad,

and tiktok are completely banned these. tiktok were made aware of some of these videos on its platform, and they have since been removed. but what about the politicians themselves? are they able to keep on side with tiktok? well, deepin keep on side with tiktok? well, deep in suburban minnesota there is a savvy incumbent who is showing that politicians can play by the rules and be done with the kids. small vibe, right? all right. cross arms this time. state senator matt little is a rarity. a politician who has fully embraced the site, promoting himself, not his party stop stop the most successful videos are alljust stop the most successful videos are all just self—deprecating about either me or kind of my profession, i guess, as an elected politician. so, our most successful video by far is

a video of another senator who comes into my office. 0h, hi, thanks for checking in. i am # still a piece of garbage. you have told your tiktok fall as you are still a piece of garbage? yes we told them about any of your policies? we absolutely have, in terms of education and healthcare, a lot of the work i have done to lower pharmaceutical prices in the us. if it wasjust lower pharmaceutical prices in the us. if it was just purely a popularity contest, it wouldn't be as useful for us as a platform. if we compare it to other platforms where you do have to pay money, basically, to get noticed, have you observed higher organic growth from tiktok than those other platforms? i would say no other platforms? i would say no other platform in my political career has got me an interview on bbc world news. so, i'm pretty happy with the success of tiktok in getting our message out to a wide audience! we have

gotten a lot of anecdotal stuff while we're out and about, like i love your tiktok, i love your videos. in the last few days we have had two people say i only know you my daughter knows you from the tiktok. matt little, with over 150,000 followers, is one of tiktok‘s most followed american politicians. but this comes with its own problems. well, certainly my opponent was making is trying to use that against us and say i'm not very serious. but when it comes time, and i'm on the senate floor, and i'm passing bills, i don't care how many tiktoks i have made or how many tweets i have made or how many tweets i have sent. i'm getting stuff done. this is all about soft power, influencing with comedy while getting out his core messaging, but for me in the upcoming state election. looks good! but with a huge rise in political content on social

media platforms like tiktok, some of the messages are more opaque. if someone approaches you and says this tiktok looks dodgy, how long does it actually take? i'm with the institute for strategic dialogue in london, who scoured the internet, checking the veracity of online content. we are veracity of online content. we a re interested veracity of online content. we are interested whether it is being used as a place to spread hate, disinformation and malicious content around the election. have you found any evidence of tiktok videos being used to spread election this information? a huge amount. and the reality is you don't have to dig around to find it. one example, which is the very first video that comes up if you do a blanket search for #votebymail on tiktok. 2020 is an important year, and as i come from south africa, a communist country... the dot recommendation is from a south african born american citizen. after they have ta ken everything, then they start to

come for your land. so your freedoms will be gone. it's usually divisive, very scaremongering. let's not vote by mail, because that is a huge piece of fraud. tiktok are facing a very similar set of challenges to all of the other technology platforms over the la st technology platforms over the last few years, they are just facing them a lot more quickly as they have entered this space just before the election in november, really. it's really an issue of enforcement, and is ina sense an issue of enforcement, and is in a sense that tiktok haven't gotten way further ahead of the curve in terms of how to do without platform — — curve in terms of how to do without platform —— that but form. this is a drop in the ocean, there is a fair number of videos like this on the website. and it is notjust information that has got in the isd worried. what are the main conspiracy theories that are being spread on tiktok, regarding the election? what we're seeing here is a lot of conversations around the potential for through mail—in ballots, we have also seen

covid—i9 conspiracy is of bleed over to political discussions. one hype house account had a video two days ago, saying they can't wait for covid—i9 to disappear after november three, kind of left it hanging there, and the logical leap that people made in the comments made was covid—i9 has been used and manipulated by the democrats to bash and criticise president trump, and that after november three, it's going to simply disappear. this video was uploaded two days ago and by last count has 440,000 views, which are more than some news organisations could ever hope for some of their content. this video was posted by the republican girls hype house. what does joey think about those videos? misinformation, it is very hit or miss. this is where conservative censorship really ta kes where conservative censorship really takes place. if

something gets told that it has a wrong source, we taper down immediately. if something is debunked and we check it with fa ct debunked and we check it with fact checkers, and there fact jack is wrong, that is a red flag on their behalf. so, you ta ke flag on their behalf. so, you take it down if you realise it is wrong? yes, absolutely. the last thing we want to do is spread misinformation. so, what is tiktok doing to police their site? eric hand is in the republican girls head of safety in the us. our strategy has or has been the same. the tax, change and prevent. one thing we owe is recognise as well as we owe is recognise as well as we are always going to try to get to 100% as quickly as we can, but also recognise that, hey, we're 99.9% that 01 —— zero .i% could lead to many

m ista kes zero .i% could lead to many mistakes was that that is the environment we live in and what we are fighting again. it hasn't been very long, but you have been able to report a tiktok for misinformation now. why do they take so long to implement? we also recognise we area implement? we also recognise we are a two—year—old company, but to your point, we are seen as a ten—year—old brand. isaw to your point, we are seen as a ten—year—old brand. i saw a tweet that said tiktok is speed walking through everything the rest of the social platforms had 10-15 rest of the social platforms had 10—15 years to go through, right? that includes our transparency reports, that includes making sure our reporting functions are there, andi reporting functions are there, and i think if you were to comparison to our peers, and you look at the whole landscape, there have been times in situations where i think we have caught things faster. for example, the nancy pelosi video that was manipulated to make it look like she was inebriated. then she had a press conference in the rose garden with all of this... we got that really quickly. and not reach more

than four quickly. and not reach more thanfourdigits, quickly. and not reach more than four digits, whereas other platforms, and it is easily discoverable. the fact that millions and millions of people could have seen this. i think there are going to be moments like that and times where it is going to be much harder to catch information like that. as the 2020 presidential race and has its final phase, the volume of tiktok election videos has intensified, and pipe houses are pushing out their messages. do you think tiktok is going to sway the election? absolutely. a lot of younger people who may not have been as engaged in politics are more engaged now because of tiktok. i don't think that republican girls will sway the election itself, whether donald trump will win or lose, i do believe more people will register to vote, i believe more people go out and vote trumpet because of our influence. i think tiktok is going to make a difference in

this election. on november two, or even on november three, you see a new page. today's election day, people will be like, i've got to go vote.” guess content producers would say this, but what aboutjosh considine, the tech expert? jensis considine, the tech expert? jens is the latest generation to gain access to the vote, and winning them could be crucial to the election. i think this app could really get people out of their house and get to the polls. if you can go and shoot a tiktok over and over to get that perfect takes, you're going to be willing to get out there and get to the polls. people talk about tiktok like it is any other social media app, but that ignores this whole of the world that is going on there. you don't only miss what is starting to dictatejens miss what is starting to dictate jens the miss what is starting to dictatejens the culture, you also miss how older generations are trying to influence young people. if they do turn out to vote in this election, chances are tick—tock may well have had are tick—tock may well have had a lot to do with it. —— tiktok may well have had a lot to do

with it. hello. if you're hoping to get out and about this weekend, the weather may have an impact on your plans. it is looking decidedly unsettled. it'll be windy, there will be heavy rain at times but not all the time, there will be some drier, brighter moments as well. low pressure in charge of the weather at the moment, quite a big low, quite a deep low as well, lots of white lines, lots of isobars crossing together, that shows we will have some strong winds and the strongest of the winds will be in association with this band of rain. so the wettest, windy is whether to start saturday across the western side of the uk, this rain band will push its way eastwards through the day. you can see the bright green and yellow colours showing up,

a short, sharp burst of really intense rainfall accompanied by really squally winds pushing eastwards as we go through the day. towards the far south—east it's likely to stay dry for a good part of the day, sunshine and showers following on from the west. windy here with the strongest winds along the line of our rain band, and temperatures 17 degrees across the south—east corner and perhaps cooling from the north as the rain band clears its way through. the rain will persist across east anglia and the south—east for a good part saturday night. clear spells and showers following on from the west, and don't forget the clocks go back an hour through the early hours of sunday. the end of british summertime, but as far as the weather goes, summer has long since left us. it's an autumnal weather chart for sunday. low pressure up to the north—west of the uk, some pretty brisk winds on sunday, perhaps not quite as windy as it would have been on saturday, there will be some spells of sunshine but some showers, too. the showers most frequent,

most plentiful across western areas, and i think we we'll also see quite a few running and across english channel coasts. it will be windy, strongest winds across the west of scotland, these are the average wind speeds, just be stronger than that. temperatures between ii and 14 degrees. as we head into the new working week, low pressure still with us. this low will lose some of its intensity as we go on into monday, so the winds will ease a little bit but there was to be some showers and spells of rain around, and it is looking like a very unsettled week ahead. that is all from me for now. enjoy your weekend.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. sudan is to normalize diplomatic relations with israel — the third arab state to do so in two months. protests spread across poland after a court ruling bans virtually all abortions. the demonstrations take place despite tight coronavirus restrictions. as coronavirus infections surge in europe again the world health organisation warns of a critical moment in the pandemic. we are at a criticaljuncture in this pandemic, particularly in the northern hemisphere. the next few months are going to be very tough.