this is bbc news. the headlines at six... south yorkshire is the latest region to move to england's top level of restrictions. local leaders in sheffield call for an exit plan. the question is, at what point will come out of tier 3? no one's able to answer that question. even the mayor is asking that question and, well, the mayor should have asked that question when he was negotiating with the government for the last ten days. police in gloucestershire begin border patrols to stop nonessential travel as wales begins its first full day of a ‘firebreak‘ lockdown. marcus rashford says he is proud of the community response to his campaign to feed disadvantaged children in england during the school holidays. i voted for a guy called trump.

president trump casts his vote for the us election in the key state of florida, where early voting is under way. strictly come dancing returns this evening with stringent measures in place to ensure it's covid—safe. and at 6.30, sportsday will bring you the latest on the six nations after ireland beat italy 50—17. good evening — welcome to bbc news. millions more people are now living under the highest level of coronavirus restrictions in england as the number of cases continues to rise.. just after midnight around 1.4 million people in south yorkshire — including doncaster, rotherham, barnsley and sheffield — joined the tier 3 alert system.

no household mixing is allowed and much of the hospitality industry has had to close. with lancashire, greater manchester and the city of liverpool region, it brings the total number of people in england subject to the tightest restrictions to over 7.3 million. the labour mayor of sheffield city region has urged the government to set out precisely how the area will exit the new restrictions. fiona trott reports. nervously watching, and waiting, for what happens next. these days, it's not so different in the human world. it's definitely made us think of where we go and what we do, as a family. we do a lot more outdoor things as opposed to indoor, just so we can be away from people. i think there's a lot of vulnerable people. that could be affected quite hugely by this, so i think if everyone

does their part, the sooner we get it over and done with, the quicker we'll be on the other end, ithink. and, in the meantime, this wildlife park is a welcome distraction. but from today strict travel guidance means it can only rely on local people. but is it enough to keep it going? looking forward, it's a really scary time for us, as you can imagine. all these wonderful animals that were entrusted into our care, we need to make sure they are kept safe and their welfare is not impacted by covid. it's important that people can come to us so the money keeps coming in so we can keep looking after these wonderful animals. how different it feels in the city centre. this pub has been forced to shut. very stressful. and sad. it's notjust the business that is at risk. dave lives here too, but he's still thinking of others. the customers miss us. we miss them. we usually do the shopping for some of them. we're going to be limited now because we can't go to their house.

we'll have to leave it outside the door for them. which a lot of people do anyway. but that's the type of person we are. you know, we are a community. you just don't know if you're coming or going. it feels like the world's coming to an end slowly. it really does. it should never have happened in the first place. we should have stayed in lockdown all them months ago. but for the next month it's about making the most of what they can do. it's just nice to come out and try and have, you know, family time, and a sense of normality, especially for little ones. while some are used to the cold weather, others are now embracing it — the new way to live life in south yorkshire. fiona trott, bbc news, doncaster. more than three million people in wales are being asked to stay mainly at home for the next 16 days after the country began a new national lockdown to try to slow the spread of coronavirus. supermarkets are still open but there's been confusion over rules banning the sale of nonessential items. our wales correspondent, tomos

morgan, reports from caerphilly. there's a sense of deja vu in wales today. as the firebreak starts, the country is back under national lockdown for the next two weeks. caerphilly was the first area in wales to be put under strict local measures at the start of september, meaning it's been illegal for households to mix and for people to enter or leave local lockdown areas without good reason. we need it. if it's going to stop the spreading, 0k, it might hurt the economy, but they're doing it for a reason at the end of the day. ithink, you know, six weeks of a lockdown, itjust seems like a long time, do you know what i mean? it just seems never—ending. the rules now are much like in march. all nonessential businesses have been closed. but, this time around, those that are open have been stopped by the welsh labour government from selling nonessential goods. the new rule, though, has sparked frustration and confusion. we've got things like hardware.

there's a little bit of gifting, cards, all the usual things you'd expect to see in a supermarket, and, you know, i'm sure that's replicated up and down the country, so not only are we possibly not allowed to sell those going forward, it's how we would go about doing that. it's estimated that this firebreak could cost the welsh economy a further £500 million. so what retailers, hospitality, cafe, bars and restaurants will want from the welsh government is a guarantee, or at least a strategy for reopening, so they can make some profits again in the run—up to christmas. tomos morgan, bbc news, caerphilly. earlier i spoke to councillor shaffaq mohammed, who leads the lib dems on sheffield city council — and whose area is now under england's top tier of restrictions. he said he wanted clarity for the city's residents. look, i think sheffield's been in a very difficult place for the last two weeks in terms of high infection rates. clearly something had to be done.

i'm not really convinced by these tiers, if i'm going to be honest with you. what is the difference between tier 2 and tier 3? how on earth do you move from tier 2 to tier 3? no one has yet to explain that to me, but i think what we do need is some action in sheffield, and therefore that's why i'm keen to save lives and actually bring that certainty to people, because this has been hanging over us for the last ten days, whether we're going to go from tier 2 to tier 3. you mentioned the uncertainty. how confident are you that people not only understand the rules and restrictions but also will comply with them 7 well, at the moment, it seems that there's a lot of confusion about what the actual legislation is, so what's been said, so i know earlier this week the leader of the council here in sheffield was talking about the fact that bingo halls were being closed, but when i looked at the legislation there were no mention of bingo halls in south yorkshire closing, but when i looked at the legislation further in manchester it

did say bingo halls, so there's some confusion from the government's point of view in terms of what it's doing, and it's clearly affecting confidence in businesses here. a lot of businesses are just wanting to know whether they're going to be able to open and, if so, how can they open, what safety measures do they need? lets talk a little bit about clarity, because tier 3 restrictions will last for 28 days and then they'll be reviewed, won't they? how clear are you about what it will take to get out of tier 3? i am absolutely in the dark. iam fru... i'm angry with the government, but i'm also very disappointed with the mayor here in sheffield and the four leaders of rotherham, sheffield, doncaster and barnsley council. they've gone into this deal with the government to go into tier 3, but nobody knows what's actually triggered it, so the first question you asked me about moving from tier 2 to tier 3, but the question is, at what point will we come out of tier 3? no one's been able to answer that question. even the mayor now‘s asking that question. well, the mayor should have asked that question when he was negotiating with the government, for the last ten days,

and it's really difficult. how can i motivate my residents here in sheffield? to say, "look, make some personal sacrifices for the next 28 days and then we'll come out of this because we'll hit this benchmark." there is no benchmark of coming out of tier 3 that i'm aware of, just as there doesn't seem to be any benchmark of coming from tier 2 to tier 3. there's a lot of confusion, and i'm disappointed that locally, despite making a lot of noises the mayor is now asking the same questions that i was asking him a week ago, and i think it's not because i'm asking the questions, it's because people in sheffield, barnsley, rotherham and doncaster need to ask that, need that certainty about what they have to do to bring the infection rate down. now, look, you could have a number of measures, and i can throw some at you that i'll be looking for. the new case rate, for example, could be one we could have. the rate of increase could be another, and, in particular, the rate of increase in over—60s and how many of those people are going into hospitals, and obviously the tragic number of deaths that we've seen — and i've seen that first—hand

from my own immediate, extended family. we've lost people here in sheffield. i've also lost friends where i live locally, our mother there has died, so i see this. this is raw, you know, this is personal. it's not something happening to somebody over there, it's happening to people i know, in my home city, that's been my home, notjust for me but for my father and grandfather for the last 50 years. a sheffield councillor there. now, the latest government figures show there were 23,012 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period, which is a rise of nearly 2,500 cases on yesterday.

174 deaths were reported of people who have died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. and that brings the total number of deaths across the uk to 44,7115 the government's continuing to resist growing pressure to provide free school meal vouchers for children during next week's half term in england. local councils have joined many restaurants and cafes in offering to feed those who would otherwise receive free school meals, in response to a campaign by the footballer, marcus rashford. he's said he's overwhelmed and thankful for the support. the government has said it has provided substantial support to families facing difficulties. elite on the bail is a fish and chip restaurant in lincoln that has backed the campaign — russ kelly is the manager. from next week, tuesday, we are offering three children to eat free at any one time in our restaurant until 6pm in the evening. and is this all children, ross? is this all children? all children up to the age of 16. not just under—12s or under—5s, is under—6s, it is under 16,

so any child under 16. 0k, and why did you decide to get involved? because one day last week, being a big football fan myself, me and the head chef myles was having a discussion about the rashford campaign on twitter, what's we'd seen, and having a tough childhood myself, it sort of pulled on the heartstrings a bit, so, me and miles the head chef, we got an idea together, and we put it to our owner adrian tweedale, and he said go for it, let's do it, let's help people where needed. difficult times for restaurants, of course, at the moment anyway. have you got any sense of how much this might cost you? er. . .we‘ve not really thought about it from that point of view, really. we're just doing it as just giving something where we can. you know, it's been a tough time for everybody but we'lljust keep trying to support the local community the best we possibly can, and hopefully, at the end of it, they'll support us back. and what sort of response have you had from the local community? we've had a fantastic

response so far. we've had loads of people ringing up to see if they can book tables, lots of positive comments on social media... it's been really, really good. better than we thought. 0ur political correspondent jessica parker explained that the government's support to those families comes through funding local authorities. i spoke to her earlier. we've seen a number of conservative mps coming out today sort of defending their stance, i think possibly, to some extent, in reaction to that pressure and what they are saying and the government is saying is they are providing support for money to local councils and those local councils can do more targeted long—term action and that is in itself more effective in helping low—income struggling families. however, one particular conservative mp who has come under fire is ben bradley, the conservative mp for mansfield, and that after on social media he appeared to suggest that free school meals meant in some cases money effectively going to crack dens and brothels. he has been speaking to bbc today

and says his comments were taken out of context. there are kids who live in really chaotic situations, really difficult lives, where actually giving them an unrestricted voucher to spend on whatever isn't helpful. the point i'm making is we need to wrap our arms as a society around those families. that's why government's giving there's money to local government because they are best—placed, working with social working with schools to be able to find those families and target them to help them any more kind of holistic way than meal vouchers. meanwhile, on different subject, labour is also pressure, meanwhile, on a different subject, labour is also pressure, isn't it? yes, so this goes back to a different debate because mps debated free school meals this week

but they also debated the money available for tier 3 areas, those in higher level of restrictions, and during that debate angela rayner, the deputy leader of the labour party was heard to utter word "scum" while. .. was speaking. she later apologised. quite a large number of conservative mps have now written to keir starmer calling him to apologise because they say the comment made by his deputy resulted in widespread abuse towards members of our passes i think what that tells you as it is quite a fraught week in parliament. jessica parker there. the headlines on bbc news... south yorkshire is the latest region to move to england's top level of restrictions. local leaders in sheffield call for an exit plan. police in gloucestershire begin border patrols to stop nonessential travel as wales begins its first full day of a ‘firebreak‘ lockdown. marcus rashford says he is proud of the community response to his campaign to feed disadvantaged children in england during the school holidays.

headteachers in england say they're "bitterly disappointed" that the number of laptops they're given for deprived children has been cut by 80%. the government says the devices will be sent to the areas of greatest need. 0ne school says it will receive 13 computers, rather than the 61 it was promised. we got an e—mail at six o'clock last night from the lovely guys at the dfe, at the start of half term which has been the most challenging half term probably on education record, celebrating the fact that the government secured another 100,000 laptops but they were changing the way they're allocating them. so, excitedly i logged on to see if my allocation had gone up from 61 — i actually needed 168 — so i logged on expecting to hopefully see my 61 had gone up and it destroyed me. it flattened me when i had seen that it had actually been cut to 13. 13 laptops. in a worst—case scenario to share amongst 380 children.

i thought it was absolutely scandalous. mary bousted is the joint general secretary of the neu teaching union — she called the department for education ‘inept and chaotic‘ just two weeks ago, the government voted into law that if children are at home they have to be given remote education. they made a huge point about online learning, so our calculations are that, you know, the government, there are now something like nearly half a million children and young people at home who either don't have access to the internet with a device which can support learning like a laptop or tablet, and 60,000 don't have access to the internet at all. so, on the one hand, we have the government making it into law that, you know, remote learning must be provided, and then giving the directive with one hand and taking away the means to fulfil that directive, particularly for schools

in poor areas with deprived pupils. that makes it, that makes the requirement that they provide remote learning and takes away the means to do it. it's just learning and takes away the means to do it. it'sjust another example learning and takes away the means to do it. it's just another example of the chaos and ineptitude surrounding this government's education policy. we did ask the department for education for an interview — no one was available but they did give us this statement. "the scale and speed at which the department has delivered laptops and tablets to children who need them over the past six months is unprecedented, with deliveries now set to total over half a million by christmas. "as we move into half term, and in the context of significant global demand, we're updating our allocation process to more accurately align orders with the number of students schools

the metropolitan police are appealing for witnesses — after a 17—year—old boy was fatally stabbed in east london last night. officers were called a little after 9pm to an address in walthamstow. paramedics pronounced the victim dead at the scene — there have been no arrests made yet. and a murder investigation is under way after the body of a woman was found in rural 0xfordshire last night. the body was found on the watlington hill national trust estate. the victim is believed to be in her 60s. a man has been arrested on suspicion of murder; he's being treated for serious injuries. president trump has cast his vote in the upcoming us election. early voting has begun in the states of new york and florida — where mr trump voted. coronavirus fears have driven

a record 50 million american voters to cast early ballots, in person or by mail. it was a very secure vote. much more secure than when you send in a ballot, i can tell you that. everything was perfect, very strict. really by the rules. when you send in your ballot it could never be like that, it could never be secure like that, but they've done a fantasticjob over here, great people inside. but it is an honour to be voting, it's an honour to be in this great area, which i know so well. i hear we're doing very well in florida and we're doing very well, i hear, every place else, so thank you very much and you're going to be very busy today because we are going to work you very hard. who did you vote for today? i voted for a guy named trump. laughter. thank you very much, everybody. 0ur washington correspondent lebo diseko explained why trump chose to vote in florida he is resident there. he has a home there. he was resident in new york before

and he changed to florida but, yes, it is a really important state. 29 electoral college votes and, as you know, that is what wins the election here. it's not who has the popular vote, as hillary clinton will have learnt, it is who gets the most number of electoral college votes and the race is to 270. so donald trump is going on to a number of other states later on in the day. he'll be in north carolina, wisconsin and ohio as well, all key battle ground states, and joe biden will be in pennsylvania, which the trump campaign have said, they win that, they win the election, so that's how important that state is. lebo, we heard president trump saying there, "i hear we're doing very well in florida." do the polls bear that out? well, looking at the poll aggregates, joe biden isjust marginally ahead in florida, 1.5% ahead in florida, so that's an aggregate.

it is still fairly close, so we don't know how it might turn out on the actual day, but, yeah, it's not quite as rosy a picture as donald trump really wanted to portray, but that is why he's in florida. he's trying to shore up his base. he's also trying to encourage new voters or people who may have been wavering to vote for him. interestingly, he spent yesterday, he went to one of the largest retirement communities in the country. older people are much more, very highly represented in florida, they‘ re really important voters there, so he's really pushing that. 35 of the uk's leading cultural organisations and venues will be the first to receive grants between one and three million pounds from the government's coronavirus culture recovery fund.

the money is intended to protect some of the nation's most significant stages including newcastle theatre royal, birmingham hippodrome and sha kespeare‘s globe. earlier i spoke to margaret casely—hayford cbe, chair of the board of trustees for shakespeare's globe. £2.98 million. even though we've been really prudent, we trimmed our costs dramatically, well, not trimmed, we cut them dramatically, we had basically chomped through our reserves and we were basically in a desperate state, so it really is vital and i can't say how much of lifeline it is because essentially we are going to have to think long and hard about how we prepare to be open in due course when we can open, because we don't have state funding, and i don't think many people realised that before we started

to make our case to the dcms, that we are independently funded. if we don't open, we don't have the revenue, so as soon as lockdown hit, that was it. that was the end of our revenue. so it's been a very tough time for us. and what will the money be spent on? because i have talked to some organisations who have admitted that a lot of it will end up going on rents and rates in staff costs rather than necessarily on what people will see on stage, so how will you divvy it up, for want of a better phrase? well, to survive. i mean, it's all of those things. of course it is the rent, it's the rates and so on, because we have actually two theatres but we also have education and rehearsal establishments because we actually run workshops for schools, we also have graduate and postgraduate facilities, so we are more than one theatre, they are the vents to pay, the race to play, there's a hint of that

and of all the administrative so we are more than one theatre, they are the rents to pay, the rates to pay, there's a hinterland and of all the administrative and technical people who run the organisation and help to create the magic along with all the creatives and wonderful people who come together to make it happen so there is an enormous amount that we need to do to stretch this money so even though, you know, it's just under £3 million, sounds an enormous amount of money, i mean, ordinarily, in the good old days, when we had a £25 million turnover, that's what we needed to keep the show going forjust over a month so now we've got to try to stretch the audiences back that for as long as we can as long as we can get the audiences back in the normal way and, as you know,

even if we were to open now and welcome people back if they were bold enough to come back, which we hope they will be as soon as they can, we have still got to socially distanced, which means that they can't have a normal capacity by any stretch of the imagination that we would ordinarily need to bring in the revenue. that is the difficulty, isn't it? that social distancing stops most theatres, including yours, staging what are effectively economically viable events. when do you think you might be able to reopen? well, we have been talking about trying to get something for christmas but what we have got but we definitely would like to pilot is a sort of screening, so that it's like a socially distanced screening within the theatre complex. which we're going to trial in the first week of november to see how that

goes on and how audiences warm to that contexts and then we have been talking about, we had plans for something at christmas and we have tried to do that so that people reallyjust are alive to the fact that we are still around and we can get our supporters, really, back and our audiences back as soon as we can, but we have a seasonal calendar, as you can imagine, because our main theatre is open—air, and so we look to start, in earnest, in april. that's when the open—air theatre starts, because, obviously, for reasons of weather, and we want to come back with all guns blazing then. margaret casey—heyford from sha kespeare‘s globe. the race for strictly come dancing's glitterball trophy begins in the next hour with the first live show of the new series. stringent measures have been put in place to ensure the programme is covid safe. but despite the stricter rules, the show‘s hoping it can preserve

the old strictly atmosphere. david silito reports. # you're free to do what you want to do...# 0n last week's launch show we got a first glimpse of what a covid—safe strictly involved. claudia and tess two metres apart... it has never felt so good to be back. the judges all on separate podiums. ..and the professional dancers are going to have to live on their own while they're on the show. one half of the couple will be living on their own — at least one half, and on occasion both are on their own — and the other half could remain with their household, quite a few of the celebrities living outside of london have actually moved down to be nearer. but outside the couples, there will be no hugs, no high fives or crowds around claudia. instead, there'll be a smaller audience, regulartesting and a lot more distance. 0ne contestant, harvey,

tested positive just before the show began, but has recovered just in time to take part. if anyone else tests positive, they'll be off the show and straight into quarantine. but, at a time when so much else has been cancelled, strictly has found a way to keep dancing. david sillito, bbc news. now, the weather with ben rich. good evening. don't forget the clocks go back and hour tonight. you'll get an extra hour in bed but it does mark the end of british summer it does mark the end of british summer time but as far as the weather goes, it feels as if we have left some a long way behind. very autumnal weather to take a certain night, heavy rain continuing its journey eastwards across england, clipping into scotland for a time, plenty of showers following on behind other there will be some clear spells, the wind is easing a bit compared with the daytime today but it stays quite blustery, temperatures generally between four and 10 degrees and then full tomorrow, a blustery day with a mix

of sunny spells and heavy showers. the showers most plentiful across western areas south through western scotland, northern ireland, north—west england, wales and the south—west, some will also blowing through the english channel into southern counties of england. may well avoid some of the showers and stay for a new driver some sunny spells. it is a windy start for all and afairly spells. it is a windy start for all and a fairly cool one with temperatures between 12 and 13 degrees.