this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. speaking french. a tough message from a sombre president macron — france is to go into a second national lockdown. translation: if we do not apply a brutal break on the contamination today, our hospitals will quickly be saturated. tough new measures in germany, too — bars, restaurants, gyms and theatres will close from monday. with just six days to go before the us election, joe bidenjoins a record 75 million americans in voting early. and will black voters in the us play a decisive role in the election? we test the temperature in arizona.

leaders of the european union's two biggest economies, france and germany, have announced new national lockdowns in an attempt to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. in france, people can only leave home for essential work or medical reasons. in a televised address to the nation, president emmanuel macron said the second wave will be worse than the first. in germany, bars, restaurants and leisure facilities will close. we'll get the latest from our correspondent in berlin in a moment, but first here's lucy williamson from paris. for france, these will be nights to remember. the last hours of freedom and friendship before a new national lockdown.

from monday, no—one can leave home except for school, health care, caring duties, or shopping forfood. watching the president's announcement tonight, relief that schools are this time staying open. they are all teachers. but outside work, how does the prospect of another lockdown feel? anxious. the last time it was really hard. the apartments here are very small and we will be locked in them again. but at least the schools are open and i will be able to work, which is a good thing. president macron said france needed to hit the brakes hard. translation: we have all been overwhelmed by the acceleration of the epidemic. the spread of the virus has taken everyone in europe by surprise. we are all in the same place, submerged by a second wave that will no doubt be stronger and deadlier than the first. president macron had been counting on local restrictions to curb the rise in infections, but with hospitals across the country raising the alarm, tonight he acknowledged this

was a national problem and it needed a national response. earlier today, a critically ill covid patient left avignon for a hospital 700 miles away. last spring, transfers like this were a life—saver for patients and hospitals alike. but the virus is now so widespread doctors fear there'll be fewer and fewer places able to take them. one chief of infectious diseases told me today that his hospital was doubling the number of icu beds to keep pace with demand and that pressures on staff were immense. translation: i caught covid—i9, and i worked every day while i was sick, because there was no other choice. nearly 80% of the staff in my ward were infected with covid at some point. we are told that if we're well enough to come to work, then we must work while socially

distancing ourselves. the growing restrictions here have already brought back memories of the lockdown last spring, but winter is a tougher battlefield on which to fight this epidemic. faced with a virus that dies of loneliness, mr macron has decided that isolation is the best weapon and the best defence. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. germany has also announced new coronavirus restrictions, which includes the closure of restaurants, gyms and theatres. chancellor angela merkel said today new cases had doubled from a week ago. our berlin correspondent jenny hill has the latest. as of monday, this country enters a partial lockdown. as you say, bars, restaurants, leisure and arts facilities will all close for a month. slightly different from the restrictions we saw earlier in the year in that schools, nurseries and shops will stay open. private gatherings are to be restricted, a maximum of ten people from just two households. professional sporting events will go ahead as planned, like the bundesliga, but those matches will once again be

played behind closed doors. all this in a country which came relatively successfully through that first wave. if you look at germany's case numbers, you'll see case numbers, you'll see they‘ re still far lower than those we're seeing in france and indeed britain. but two developments are spooking the authorities here in berlin. first, the speed at which this virus is now spreading to the country. and second, this, germany has relied on a strategy of track and trace. identify the source of an outbreak, then trace and break any subsequent chains of infection. tonight, angela merkel said in many parts of the country, that is simply not working any more. and she's warned that if the current trajectory continues, then german health care facilities will be at capacity within weeks. this is not good news, of course, for germans. angela merkel herself acknowledging tonight it's been a hard day. campaiging in the us election is intensifying. with less than a week to go before polling day,

a record 75 million voters have now voted early. democratic candidate joe biden has become one of them, casting his ballot in wilmington, delaware. before that, he gave a speech where he criticised the president over his handling of the pandemic. we've lost more than 220,000 lives to this virus already. but this administration has just given up. over the weekend, the white house chief of staff mark meadows went on television and admitted that they've waved the white flag and declared surrender. he said, "we're not going to control the pandemic. " the american people deserve so much better than this. well, president trump is campaigning in what's become the key swing state of arizona. at a rally in bullhead city, the president accused the democrats of changing medical standards after he had caught the coronavirus. and until i came along,

right, if they said, "if you have it, you get better. you're immune for life. " but when i said i had it, i got better, they said, "you've only got four months." they've changed the whole medical standard. if it was anybody else, it was good for life, right? but with me, they said i'm now good for four months. no, i think it's a much longer period. the election is six days away, which normally would mean that in seven days' time, we would know who will be the next us president. but this time, it might not be that simple. the huge numbers of early and mail—in votes this year could mean the result isn't clear on election night. that could mean a protracted legal battle over the results, something both sides are gearing up for. joining me to discuss this is richard pildes, one of america's leading scholars of legal issues concerning democracy. thank you so much for coming on the programme. always glad to be on the bbc and talk to my friends in the uk and around the world. excellent. we

look forward to you explaining this complicated area to us. first off, why might we not know the election results on election night? welcome of the concern is as you know that this year because of the virus we are going to have a massive surge of absentee voting. very different from normal times. some of our states don't allow their election officials to deal with these absentee ballots until election day. places like pennsylvania, they get 2 million of these ballots and they cannot start processing them until election day. that will inevitably delay the count in those states. i do want to put one know of optimism in here, though. we may know a lot on election night or by the early morning. we may not be able to declare a winner but there are important states in the us such as florida, north carolina, arizona that are likely to be able to give us that are likely to be able to give usa that are likely to be able to give us a fairly complete or complete count by the early hours of the next

morning. so even if pennsylvania is slow or wisconsin is slow and we may not officially be able to declare a winner, we may know in effect who has one earlier than some people think. and if there are legal challenges and we have been told that both sides have been amassing lawyers at the ready, what are the grounds for legal challenges that we can see? we will see if we get to that point. in the states that have not processed their absentee ballots, significant challenges to the validity of balance. should these ones be counted, should those be counted ? these ones be counted, should those be counted? we have lingering issues about state laws that have been changed by state courts in ways the us supreme court could conceivably decide our unconstitutional the election. we have requirements that state treat votes the same way across the state. that may be a problem across different counties in different states. and believe me, as

you say, both sides are fully locked and loaded with resources and lawyers. to fight every single inch of terrain in an election in which obviously many people on both sides believe a true amount is at stake. and there is a feeling certainly that the legal system is becoming more openly politicized recently. do you think that has a potentially damaging impact in a circumstance just like this? absolutely because in the us unlike many democracies, we do not have sort of independent election dispute institutions to resolve potential disputes. by default, our courts end up playing a major role. in the highly polarised culture of the us now, almost all of oui’ culture of the us now, almost all of our institutions have been swept up into that dynamic so many people on both sides perceive the courts to also be be very polarised and partisan whether right or wrong. that will make it very hard if we get to that point for any

institutional framework to be able to provide a result that would be broadly accepted as legitimate if it is incredibly close and highly contested. fingers crossed of course that none of this gets to court and we have a smooth exercise in democracy but if we don't, we will have to have you back on to talk us through it. for the moment, thank you so much for your time. we really appreciate you coming on and your expertise as well. thank you, professor. thank you. well, staying in the united states, and authorities in philadelphia have imposed an overnight curfew after two nights of protests and looting following the killing by police of a black man. police say they shot walter wallace after he ignored orders to drop a knife he was holding. his family, who have appealed for calm, say their son was mentally ill and should not have been shot. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, as covid cases soar in europe and asia, we ask why asia has fared so much better at combating the virus.

music. indira gandhi, ruler of the world's largest democracy, died today. 0nly yesterday, she'd spoken of dying in the service of her country and said, "i would be proud of it. every drop of my blood will contribute to the growth of this nation." after 46 years of unhappiness, these two countries have concluded a chapter of history. no more suspicion, no more fear, no more uncertainty of what each day might bring. booster ignition and lift—off of discovery with a crew of six astronaut heroes and one american legend. enjoying the show is right, this is beautiful. a milestone in human history.

born today, this girl in india is the 7 billionth person on the planet. this is bbc news. the latest headlines — france has announced a new national lockdown starting on friday to continue till at least the end of next month. germany has also brought in a partial lockdown — shutting bars, restaurants, gyms and theatres. let's return to our top story of a coronavirus second wave in europe. here in the uk, as the number of cases rises, there are new calls from scientists for more action to protect people and, in an echo of the warnings in france, to prevent a much worse second wave. 0ne expert has warned of at least 500 deaths a day by the end of next month. the latest government figures show

that in the last 2a hours, 310 people are reported to have died with the disease, with an overall total of 45,675 deaths across the uk from coronavrius so far. 0ur health editor hugh pym has been looking at the figures across the uk. a hospital at the heart of one of the virus hotspots. case numbers in the local derry city and strabane council area, relative to the population, were among the highest in the uk. sandra is one of 20 seriously ill patients in this covid ward at altnagelvin hospital. she was admitted as her condition worsened eight days after testing positive. i thought i was going to die. that's how bad i was. the hospital, doctors and nurses, work round—the—clock to try and save you. that's what they done with me.

but new daily infections in the area have dropped by nearly half. doctors say the imposition of tough local restrictions three weeks ago was a major factor. we are all in this together. if all of us are not in together, there will be lives which will be lost, and you can see it that as soon as the lockdown happened the hospital admissions did come down. as northern ireland assesses its widespread restrictions, there's renewed debate about whether a further tightening of the rules in england is required, with expert government advisers warning that the uk's covid numbers will get worse. things do look very serious indeed. i mean, i've been looking at the deaths. we had a very large number reported yesterday, but they're going over 150 a day and doubling every two to three weeks.

and that means that it's quite plausible that by the end of next month, there would be 500 deaths a day. deaths within 28 days of a positive death are reported daily. the previous peak was back in april, when sometimes more than a thousand were reported on a single day. the solid line shows the rolling seven day average. there was a decline through until august. since then, the total has picked up, but it's still well short of that april peak. some argue we shouldn'tjust look at covid numbers — with more illness each winter, what matters is the overall number of excess deaths. in any effect, watching the excess deaths gives us a much better understanding of whether the disease is having a significant impact, notjust on covid, but on all of the diseases. in fact, it's generally worse in december and january, when we see most hospitalisations and most deaths occur at that point. further moves to curb the virus or protecting the economy — ministers are faced with some very tough decisions as winter approaches. hugh pym, bbc news. while a surge in coronavirus infections is forcing us states and european countries to shut down bars, open hospitals and limit social gatherings, these measures are becoming distant

memories in much of asia. the us is by far the worst—hit country in world, with more than 8.8 million cases, but a second wave is now hitting countries across europe, like the uk and czech republic. meanwhile, china — where covid—i9 first emerged — has gone largely back to normal, with less than 300 active cases. south korea and japan have also managed to flatten their curves. ba rs a nd restau ra nts have long been open, or injapan‘s case, never shut. subway trains are packed and spectator sports have resumed. ben cowling is a professor at the university of hong kong's school of public health, and hejoins me now. thank you so much for coming on the programme. good afternoon, evening for you. we are 24 hours all around the world so you are right with any

of those. let's pick through some of these reasons why many asian countries seem to be doing a better job. first off inside it is this idea of contact tracing, isolating. why asian countries who have done well here are they better at that contact track and tracing? test and trace is really important so if you can find out now with the cases of covid—i9 but also who they have passed on cases too, if you trace them and put them into quarantine so if they been affected and get ahead of the virus, it really helps stop transmission in the committee. it's very disruptive for those who get put into quarantine because they are stuck for 14 days what it means you don't need to have as much disruption for the rest of the community. i think that is one of the estimations why asia has done better because asia and many parts have been very good at test and trace and they have good public health infrastructure for doing that. why have they been good at it?

you mentioned at the end there infrastructure but is it a good grip on technology or as of the public sector having greater access to citizen's data? sector having greater access to citizen's data ? what sector having greater access to citizen's data? what are some of the reasons? it is the infrastructure are there to do it but not necessarily the technology because some places are not using a lot of technology when they do testing trace, they are doing it the old—fashioned way with telephone calls and paper and pen and so on. but it is really the compliance as well with the local population going on with it and agreeing to be quarantined and really the manpower, the boots on the ground to do the contact tracing is really important. you mentioned there the agreement people to go along with it. is it fairto people to go along with it. is it fair to characterize countries in that way? the asian countries are more used to be more compliant to government orders? when i say agreement, some of these quarantine orders are mandatory legal orders. so it is not so much an individual could refuse to go along with it but the community has to be ok with the whole idea of doing that and so we

saw and mainland china probably the most aggressive responses where entire cities were locked down and people were forced to stay in their homes for weeks and weeks and weeks. and they went along with it without too much trouble. i don't think there will be possible in other parts of the world. and of course much of asia had experience with sa rs much of asia had experience with sars earlier and much of asia had experience with sa rs earlier and they much of asia had experience with sars earlier and they had things in place to ready to go. where you are sitting with the only background behind you, you're looking at the us and europe with a second wave coming. any words of wisdom you think they can use here?|j coming. any words of wisdom you think they can use here? i think you will be very difficult for the next six months until vaccines start to become widely available and make a big impact. ithink become widely available and make a big impact. i think right now there is going to be decisions about whether to do second lockdowns but actually there could be in a few months' time about whether there should be a third round to keep numbers at bay. i don't think the numbers at bay. i don't think the numbers will ever get back down to zero in many parts of europe and the us so it will be kind of a balancing

act and not let numbers get out of control at the same time lockdowns cannot be kept in place for too long. it is to economically disruptive. that is with the dilemma that we see right now. lockdowns are needed for public health over economic reasons are really difficult. thank you for coming on so much. back to america now, and we've mentioned president trump has been campaigning in the southern us state of arizona, a crucial state in which the votes of black americans could be key. in the second part of his series on the election, clive myrie has been speaking to black activists in arizona. his report contains some images viewers may find disturbing.

this man's words are powerful and now he lead to protest outside the courtroom. when we fight can we build a legacy fighting a battle and a warm that you never see the outcome. if i continue to fight, hopefully that passes along to my five kids. and if they continue to fight, it passes along to their kids. and it gets to a point where maybe we can. why are you doing this? until then, this is what must be overcome. before george floyd in 2017, there was this man, here in arizona. relax, dude! relax, dude. the unarmed black man died after being held up by four police officers commit one of whom kneeled on his neck for close to eight minutes. i cannot breathe! no one

was disciplined and you only hear the case now because the controversy over george floyd and it was in this area where he was pinned down and was clearly heard to say i cannot breathe. he knows that his life is about to be taken from him... jazmine is 21 and part of a new younger breed of civil rights activist, spurred by the urgency of the time. it makes me feel like my life can be taken at any given time just because i have brown skin can be because i'm black. not far away, a reunion. a proud father embraces a relieved sun who is fresh out of jail. his name is percy christian and he is 27. you know, jail is a place where they want to rob you of your hope. the subject of the courthouse protest to get him freed. he served at seven days, arrested during a demonstration against police violence. i am willing to do

whatever it takes. i'm willing to put my life on the line to bring awareness to the issue, and that that police brutality is real. that is that our police system is set up and designed to hold a certain group of individuals back and that's my people. and what of the dreams of the father? a pastor having seen his sun fight the same battles he fought yea rs sun fight the same battles he fought years ago. the battle has not changed but what has happened is that there is a denial of the reality that people of colour experience in this nation. and so we are proud of our sun. i would not be 0k are proud of our sun. i would not be ok if he decided to shrink back. you

cannot shrink back now. gentle tales of african—american manhood rarely reported. but they are as a norm and while both the candidates for president say they want to banish racial injustice, bruce franks says he won't wait for others to act. his own sun's future is on the line. we have just got to make sure he is equipped for and is ready for it. i'm not fearful because i teach him how to love and what love is and how to have love for his people. now, one man's good news story. afterfour months in an induced coma and a staggering 209 days in hospital, esse khanzadeh from greater manchester has come out of hospital after battling coronavirus. he says it's good to be out to see his family and breathe the fresh air.

congratulations to him. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @lvaughanjones. hello. the weather shows no real sign of calming down over the next few days. more heavy rain, more strong winds in the forecast. we've got low pressure spinning here. you can see that on the satellite picture. you can also see this pipeline of cloud that is now ploughing in towards the british isles. a set of weather fronts bringing heavy rain through thursday. between these two weather fronts, there is a wedge of mild air. although we are expecting wet and windy weather through the day ahead, it will turn a little bit milder. here comes the rain. some very heavy and persistent rain moving in from the west as we go through the day.

pushing itself northeastwards across wales, northern ireland across much of scotland. the heaviest bursts of rain are likely to be across hills of north wales, northwest england, southwest scotland could be some localised flooding issues here. it will be windy. gusts of 40—50 mph or a touch more than that in the most exposed spots. the far north of scotland will hold onto brightness. we will see something a little drier towards the southwest later. 15 degrees. through thursday night into the early hours of fighting we keep a pipeline of cloud, some outbreaks of rain and places particular over high ground and well. northwest england also rain working back into northwest scotland and the temperatures between nine and 13 degrees. exceptionally mild night, a very mild start to friday. as we go through the day outbreaks of rain will increasingly become confined to southern parts of england and wales. further north will actually see brighter skies developing. some smells of sunshine here and there. it will cool off to the day across northern areas. it the south and southeast will hold onto some mild

air, 17 or 18 degrees. then we get to the weekend, and here comes another area of low pressure. look at all the white line squashed together. isobars, this is a deep area of low pressure that will bring some very strong winds and some outbreaks of heavy rain pushing eastwards. those winds gusting up to 50, 60, maybe 70 mph. in exposed places in western scotland. temperatures through saturday, it will be another fairly mild one. 12—17 degrees. and for sunday, it looks as if we're going to see another spell of heavy rain pushing in from the west and it will be another very windy day. that's all from me. bye for now.

this is bbc world news, the headlines. a new national lockdown in france will start on friday and last at least until the end of november. announcing the measures president macron said people would only be allowed to leave home for essential work and shopping, exercise or emergencies. germany's chancellor merkel has also announced a partial lockdown to stop the spread of the virus. measures include shutting bars, restaurants and much of the leisure sector for the whole of next month. election campaigning has intensified with fewer than six days to go before the us election joe biden has been in delaware while donald trump is in nevada. more than 75 million people have now cast their votes. turkey has threatened france with legal and diplomatic action, after a french magazine published cartoons mocking president erdogan. france has said it will not be intimidated.