this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm aaron safir. our top stories: france, italy and the czech republic become the latest countries to announce record numbers of daily coronavirus cases. with ten days to go, president trump casts his vote early in florida — a state he has to win to be re—elected. lee kun—hee — the korean businessman who turned samsung into one of the world's biggest electronics companies — dies at the age of 78. a mass mobilisation of law enforcement officers has been ordered in nigeria.

and — in—flight food — without the flight — the airline that feeds its passengers — but doesn't take them anywhere. more countries in europe are tightening anti—coronavirus measures with france extending a curfew and the italian government expected to announce more national measures. ten of spain's 17 regions are calling on the government to call a state of emergency. europe is now the epicentre of the outbreak with the polish president andrzej duda the latest world leader to be infected. his country's among a number

across europe to register a record daily high in coronavirus cases on friday or saturday. david campanale has the latest. alarm bells are ringing right across europe. the coronavirus pandemic continues to worsen in the czech republic, which has registered its worst daily figure yet for new infections — more than 15,000. over the past week, more people with the virus have died there, as a percentage of the population, than anywhere else in the world. but for top health agencies, concern extends to all but a handful of eu countries. they've declared now to be a critical moment. too many countries are seeing an exponential increase in cases, and that's now leading to hospitals and icus running close or above capacity and we're still only in 0ctober. we urge leaders to take immediate action. a string of countries, including russia, poland, italy, and switzerland, have again seen their worst daily figures yet for coronavirus infections. poland's second wave is far bigger than its first.

their number of new cases is 22 times higher than the highest number of cases in the spring, and deaths there over the past 2a hours have been the highest since the pandemic began. with the president admitting to testing positive, poland has moved to impose the highest level of restrictions across the whole country. work is under way to set up temporary hospitals. 500 beds are being installed in the conference rooms of the country's biggest arena, warsaw's national stadium. translation: we have an exceptional situation this year. i call for visits to the cemetery and family reunions, especially with the elderly, to be as limited as much as possible. in spain, the government will consider on sunday whether to bring in a new state of emergency. just days after registering more than one million confirmed

virus cases, their regions responsible for managing public healthcare have been heaping pressure on the government to give them the legal right to impose tighter restrictions. as in the first wave of the virus, the challenge is to ensure hospitals everywhere are not overwhelmed. but there are increasing reports of intensive care units under severe strain. in one particularly hard—hit area of belgium, liege, doctors have been likening the situation to trench warfare. in paris, a senior hospital administrator said the current second wave risked being worse than the first. restrictions across europe are being tightened, but many on the front line fear it's too little too late. david campanale, bbc news. to the us and developments in the last hour or so, vice president mike pence and his wife have both tested negative

for covid—i9. that is after his chief of staff, make short, tested positive and is now said to be self—isolating. mr short has been a key advisor to the white house coronavirus task force and is the second mike pence aid to does positive this week. a spokesperson said mr vance would maintain his campaign schedule. —— mr pence. with 10 days to go until the vote on november three, a record 57 million people have already cast their ballots. donald trump has voted in the us presidential election, in his adopted home state of florida. this is largely due to fears over coronavirus, with the country seeing record daily highs. both mr trump and his democratic challengerjoe biden have been campaigning in crucial states that could swing the contest in their favour. the bbc‘s lebo diseko reports. thank you, sir. thank you very much. donald trump, moments after casting his ballot. no surprises for who.

i voted for a guy named trump. laughter after that he was off on a whirlwind of stops in battleground states. he's hitting rallies in north carolina, ohio, and wisconsin. 2016 saw donald trump gaining momentum in the last two weeks. no doubt he's hoping to pull that off again. chanting: four more years! but today, the candidates presented two contrasting messages on the issue overshadowing this election. turn on television. "covid, covid, covid, covid, covid, covid." by the way, on november 4th, you won't hear about it any more. forjoe biden, a drive—through rally in pennsylvania, a chance to hit what he sees as his rival‘s achilles‘ heel. on friday, america reported its highest ever daily number of new coronavirus infections, more than 80,000. what i told in that debate, we're not learning how to live with it, you're asking us to learn how to die with it! and it's wrong! there's going to be a dark winter ahead unless we change our ways!

joe biden is ahead in a number of these key swing states, but it's not something he can take for granted. in 2016, hillary clinton, too, was ahead at this stage in the race, and so he's pulling out all the stops, bringing out his greatest weapon, his former boss. hello, florida! we can'tjust talk, we can't just imagine a better future, we've got to go out there and fight for it! we've got to outhustle the other side! we've got to vote like never before, and we've got to leave no doubt! more than 5a million people have taken up the option of voting early, so they've already had their say. but ten days is plenty of time for president trump and mr biden to make their closing arguments for those that haven't. lebo diseko, bbc news, washington. a little earlier, i spoke to michael mcdonald, he's professor of political science at university of florida

and he's head of the united states elections project, which tracks voter turnout. i began by asking whether any votes were actually being counted yet. well, they're being prepared to be counted, but in some states those preparations can't begin until election day. and in a state like florida, actually, election officials are doing everything that they can to prepare those votes, all the way up to the point where they can be counted. so the election has begun, the counting hasn't. what we know than about these people who are out there, voting already? well, we have had a record number and, you know, all that grim news that we have just heard, that is a good new story. we were very concerned about the ability to cast votes during a pandemic and, fortunately, we are able to do that. we have sent out 85 million mail ballots to voters. voters are returning those in record numbers and they are voting

in—person in record numbers. we are conducting an election, despite many concerns it would be difficult to do so. and the fact that voters are spreading out the workload for election officials is also good news, because there was a concern with all the mail ballots, they would come back at the very end of the period and it would overwhelm the election officials. instead, we are seeing this come through in the early voting period and it is helping manage the election. michael, sorry to interrupt, do we know, these people who are now voting, do we know what age group they are in, which party they're voting for? what kind of information do we have about the votes that the parties can kind of count on as being locked in already? there is a lot of information to suggest the people who are voting at this moment are predominantly democrats. we have party registration data, we have some polling data who tells us that information. even the own parties when they model who they think their supporters are. they are saying that too. lots of democrats have voted

so far, particularly by mail. the in—person voting period will be very interesting to follow on election day. election day is when we expect a lot of republicans to be voting. so the numbers the parties are seeing now, they will take them, they'll look at them, and it will inform decisions they make the remainder of the race, right up until election day? absolutely. the biden campaign has a bit of a tactical advantage right now. they know all these people who have voted and they are crossing them off their list. they're no longer sending them mail, no longer making phone calls to their homes, and refocusing and retargeting methods onto those people who they want to vote who have not voted yet. the trump campaign, meanwhile, has to focus on a large universe of people they want to get to vote and they will probably have to wait until election day to get most of them to vote. and, michael, just one final question, just a bit more broadly, if you don't mind. when we see pictures of people

waiting in long lines to vote, i wonder sometimes if that is a sign of enthusiasm is that sign of something maybe not really working as well as it could in terms of there being enough polling places and people having enough options when it comes to voting? well, by design we have fewer polling locations for in—person early voting. it's not like we have a polling location in all the schools and churches around the country to vote on election day. in—person, early, you are going to get long lines. it's just the fact that we don't have enough capacity to handle the demand that is coming in right now. in most states, things have settled down after the initial rush and people are voting safely and they are voting quickly. there have been some isolated problems, extended lines longer periods, but for the most part once we get past the initial rush of people who want to vote on the very first day, those lines then tend to get

a little bit shorter. a man very much in demand at the moment. michael mcdonald. the chairman of the south korean multinational samsung electronics, chairman lee kun—hee has died. mr lee, who was 78, helped grow his father's noodle trading business into south korea's biggest conglomerate, with dozens of affiliates stretching from electronics and insurance to shipbuilding and construction. by the time he suffered a heart attack in 2014, it was the world's biggest maker of smartphones and memory chips. it is also a major global player in lcd displays. samsung's overall turnover is equivalent to a fifth of south korea's gross domestic product, making it crucial to the country's economic health. well, in a statement, the company said: "chairman lee was a true visionary who transformed samsung into the world—leading innovator and industrial powerhouse from a local business,".

it also said, "his legacy will be everlasting." a mass mobilisation of law enforcement officers has been ordered in nigeria. tensions have risen in recent days over allegations of police brutality. last week, in the commercial capital lagos witnesses said the security forces shot dead protestors. now, curfew restrictions have been reintroduced in parts of the central city ofjos, after a government food warehouse was looted, as mark lobel reports. in defiance of calls for calm, authorities are overwhelmed as sporadic looting continues. this government warehouse in central nigeria is now emptied of food aid earmarked to help during the pandemic. but that's not how the people here see it. translation: during the lockdown they were just hiding the food. it makes me wonder what kind of government we have. we've been suffering and many people have died from hunger.

responding to the looting, the state's governor reinstated around the clock curfew. he said in a statement: the looting comes after two weeks of angry calls for change from young nigerians. it has become necessary for me to address you... president buhari's initial response on thursday failed to placate them. on saturday night he blamed hooliganism for dozens of civilian deaths. but amnesty international says they include at least 12 peaceful protesters who were killed by the nigerian army and police at two sites, including at this toll—gate in lagos on tuesday night during demonstrations against police brutality. this protester‘s injuries means the 24—year—old has been told he needs his leg amputated. david varogbo remembers running away as a bullet hit his leg, breaking a bone. luckily, he says, those around him quickly dragged

him to hospital. these are a week. and they don't want to go back to sleep. i'm not happy with the government. they can kill me right now for all i care. but the fact is i'm not happy with whatever they have been doing — right from childhood to this age i have nothing to write home about. lagos‘s curfew has now been lifted, but the clean—up won't sweep away the tensions. unrest and looting has spread to several states. the head of nigeria's police force on saturday told his officers "to use all legitimate means to halt a further slide into lawlessness". he's also called for nigerians not to panic and help protect their communities from what he called "criminal elements".

but his call may well fall on deaf ears in a country where the young are no longer eager to listen to the authorities. mark lobel, bbc news. in the last few hours, colombia has become the eighth country in the world to reach more than one million confirmed coronavirus cases. the number of deaths from covid—19 is now above 30,000 there. megan janetsky, a journalist in the country, told me more. we saw an aperture in columbia after five months of quarantine, and now we are starting to get back to the new normal. so we are seeing restaurants, we are seeing bars, we are seeing x, y or z. people mixing large groups, often. so it is a variety of factors, all contributing.

but the basic factor of it is just a lot of the country being more open. we have heard from the start from the who and others about the importance of testing. test, test, test, is what we have been told. how easy is it to get a coronavirus testing colombia? it depends. i think it depends especially on where you stand economically, so, a lot of poor populations in the country really do not have access to tests, and especially, in more rural and far—off zones in colombia you do not have this medical infrastructure that you might have in cities. so, tests can be harder to access. and how has the government responded? france has recalled its ambassador to turkey for consultations after president recep tayyip erdogan insulted his french counterpart. ambassador herve magro had only been accepted as the french envoy in august this year.

he has been recalled following remarks mr erdogan made about president macron. translation: what can one say about a head of state who treats millions of people from a different faith group in his country this way? first of all, check your mental health. president macron, speaking after the beheading of a teacher in a suspected islamist attack, described islam as a religion "in crisis" worldwide and said the government would present a bill in december to strengthen a law that separates church and state. the french presidency condemned mr erdogan‘s statements, saying outrage and rudeness were undiplomatic, and urged mr erdogan to change the course of his policy. on friday, president trump announced that sudan had agreed to normalise relations with israel — the third

arab league country to do so in two months. but perhaps things are not as simple as they seem. some officials in sudan's transitional government say the agreement needs to be ratified by a legislative council — and that doesn't exist yet. and political opposition against the deal is growing too: sudan's former prime minister sadiq al—mahdi, has said the agreement could help ignite a new war in the middle east. a little earlier i spoke to hajooj kooka who is a sudanese member of girif—na who describe themselves as a non—violent resistance movement. i asked him how surprised he was to hear that sudan had normalised relations with israel. it was more than a surprise. we were at a sit—in because we had another protester killed on the 21st of october at a march we had. we were all at the sit—in trying to deal with that and at night, the news came out. it was a tweet, we heard from a tweet and we were shocked. it was a tweet from trump.

at the time, it was total denial for most of us. we went to the internet and tried to see if our prime minister said anything. we couldn't find anything and the government didn't say anything. we were like, is this true? because the reason we were shocked is because a few weeks earlier, our prime minister said this government, the transitional government of sudan, it does not have the mandate to actually do this, to normalise relations with israel, this would be left to the democraticly elected government that will come after them. and for the parliament that is going to come. so we were surprised and shocked and obviously not happy and disappointed in our government for that. a major cleanup has begun to deny chronic syrian castle.

vegetation at the site is being cleared. with taxes and shovels this group of young volunteers have been working tirelessly to clea n been working tirelessly to clean up one of the worlds test preserved castles. years of neglect and fighting have blessed that mac left marks on the walls. but recent foreign fires in the region ignited fears of further damage and prompted conservationists to act. translation: the wildfires that broke out in the area pushed us to make this plan because they were everywhere. fires were successfully pulled out on the 16th of this month and we were scared for the castle. so we launched this plan. the fortress was built in the 12th century by a mediaeval catholic military order called the knights of stjohn. unlike in times, the castle became aim

measure battleground during the countries long civil war. it fell into rebel hands in 2012 and endured heavy bombardment. before it was recaptured by government forces. translation: the castle is now recovering and we can say that we have moved one step in that direction. in 2018 the castle opened its doors to visitors and around 23,000 people visited. it might be some time before tourists return to snap pictures from the top of its massive walls. but for now it has been given a makeover which will hopefully preserve it for generations to come. a week—long fashion extravaganza has just kicked kicked off in beijing. the garment industry in china was badly affected by the emergence of covid—19, but, as gail maclellan reports, there are signs of a recovery.

yes, it is a mask, but not as we know them, and social distancing, certainly practised on the runway. not, however, in the audience, and only sporadically backstage. china's nine—day fashion week has begun in beijing following an easing of coronavirus restrictions, with nearly 200 brands from home and abroad floating down the catwalk. it might cheer the global fashion industry to hear that in china, where the coronavirus began last december, fashion is starting to recover from a slump. translation: this year's data looked better and better, month by month. in august, the domestic consumption of clothing increased by 4.4%. china has had just over 90,000 coronavirus cases and close to 5000 fatalities, but it is beginning to experience what looks

like an economic recovery, with the sales of consumer goods rising, and chinese consumers are a major source of earnings for global brands. it might be hard to imagine yourself wafting down to the local shops in this outfit, but at least in china, there is some optimism that the shops might still be there when you do eventually get to visit them. gail maclellan, bbc news. the coronavirus pandemic has meant many countries have closed their borders — and few people actually want to fly. in singapore — they're encouraging customers to return to airports — but they'll be staying firmly on the ground. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. doesn't this all look reassuringly familiar? check—in at changi airport, it's as if covid—19 didn't exist. but these passengers know, they won't be travelling very far. instead, they have paid for the pleasure of in—flight food

without the actual flight. the food is pretty amazing. it's better than the one they sell here on the flight. as with any normal plane, there are different levels of service on offer. for $40, you can slum it in economy. for the best part of $500, you'll have a first class suite all to yourself. looking forward to bringing some singapore airlines hospitality back to the sky but also we're on the ground obviously. the a380 dining experience will be a wonderfuljourney for many, many people today. everyone has allocated seats to make sure nobody gets too close to one another. and in—flight entertainment is available to distract the youngsters. let's face it, this is unlikely to be the salvation of the airline industry, but it is a start. tim allman, bbc news.

i can't say it has my appetite going. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter. hello. saturday brought some extremely wet and rather blustery weather for many parts of the uk. it was a particularly soggy end to the day in eastern and south—eastern parts of england. not quite as wet for most of us on sunday. still some heavy showers around, some blustery winds, but some sunny spells in between. you can see the speckled shower clouds here pushing in on our earlier satellite image. and it's this stripe of cloud here that brought the heavy and persistent rain for many during the first half of the weekend. that is now clearing away. low pressure still very much driving the weather, so it is going to be another windy day and that wind coming in from the west will drive a fair few showers across parts of northern ireland, western scotland, the western side of england and wales, and quite a few i think blowing in across southern counties of england as well.

not as many showers across the north—east of england or eastern scotland. and we will see some spells of sunshine. but it's going to be windy for all of us. these are the average wind speeds. the gusts will be higher than that. we could see gusts of 50 mph or more in the most exposed places in western scotland, where the showers could well turn into a spell of more persistent rain through the afternoon. temperatures 11—14 degrees, a fairly cool feel. and it stays rather cool and blustery as we head through sunday night and into the early hours of monday. as you can see, there'll be further showers moving in from the west. some clear gaps in between those downpours, and temperatures generally in a range between 5—8 degrees. now, monday is another sunshine and showers day, but a bit of a shift in the focus of those showers. they will increasingly become focused across northern ireland, england and wales, whereas for scotland, i think things should start to turn a little bit drier and we will see some spells of sunshine.

not as windy by this stage, but temperatures still struggling a little bit between 11—14 degrees. it does stay unsettled, though, through the coming week. low pressure taking up residence to the north—west, a deep low out in the atlantic, so that'll drive strong winds and showers across the uk, some longer spells of rain at times. and it may well be that for the end of the week, this weather system brings some more persistent wet weather, so the outlook looks like this. there will be some heavy rain at times and some brisk winds, a very unsettled autumnal week on the way.

this is bbc news. the headlines:

covid—19 continues its fast spread throughout europe. many countries are hoping to slow transmission by imposing new restrictions. france, the czech republic and italy have seen a record number of daily cases. poland's president, andrzej duda, has tested positive for the virus and is in self—isolation. donald trump has voted early in the us presidential election in his adopted home state of florida. with 10 days to go, a record 57 million people have already cast their ballots. this is largely due to fears over coronavirus with the country seeing record daily highs. and lee kun—hee, the chairman of the south korean tech giant samsung electronics has died at the age of 78. mr lee helped to transform his family's small business into the country's biggest conglomerate. samsung rose to become the world's largest producer of smartphones and memory chips.