this is bbc news. i'm david eades with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a national coronavirus lockdown in france — tighter restrictions in germany. is europe reaching a new crisis point? a senior united nations official tells the bbc that al qaeda remains heavily embedded with the taliban in afghanistan. the taliban are talking regularly and at a high level with al-qaeda and reassuring them they would honour their historic ties. anthony fauci, the leading virus expert in the united states, tells the bbc that president trump's campaign rallies are bound to spread the coronavirus. when you have congregation of

people not wearing masks, not being separate from each other, crowds that clearly is a situation that will lead to outbreaks. and wooing the suburban housewife — we find out why president trump is failing to win over the wisconsin women. thanks forjoining us. it is a big question, isn't it? is europe heading towards a second lockdown? well, that is the route the french government has just taken, with germany also tightening restrictions and forcing bars and restaurants to close, along with gyms, cinemas, theatres, while hotels can no longer welcome tourists. the french president, emmanuel macron, told the nation

the current wave of cases across europe would undoubtedly be harder and more deadly than the first wave. germany's chancellor, angel merkel, said, "we must act. we must act now." this is what's worrying european leaders so much, infection rates surpassing those seen during the first peak of the virus earlier in the year. here's paul hawkins. covid—19 daily death in france are at the highest level since april. on tuesday, 33 new cases we re april. on tuesday, 33 new cases were confirmed, though on wednesday, and other national lockdown was announced. translation: if today we do not push a brake on contamination, a doctor will have to choose brutally between a person suffering from covid and someone suffering from covid and someone suffering a traffic accident and anything that threatens values and what france is unacceptable. starting on friday, no—one can leave home unless it is for

essential work or medical reasons. non—essential businesses such as restaurants and bars will close but schools and bars will close but schools and factories will stay open. it isa and factories will stay open. it is a similar story in germany. it may have a lower infection rate than other parts of europe but the speed of the virus spreading means another emergency lockdown will come into force from monday. restau ra nts, into force from monday. restaurants, gyms and leaders are too close, schools and kindergartens will remain open. translation: today has been a difficult day for us to make this political decisions. i wa nt to this political decisions. i want to stress that because we know what we are asking from the public but we have to find a way to make sure we avoid a national health emergency. while also ensuring that economic life continues as much as possible. the german government says it wants families and friends to meet for princess but not everyone agrees with that strategy. cha nts agrees with that strategy. chants i don't think the aim should be focusing on holidays like christmas. from a pandemic

point of view and with the fight against the pandemic in mind, that is far—fetched. we will have to do with that next christmas and the one after. let me make this clear. this is about a long—term strategy in how to master these pandemic well. infections are rising sharply across europe and in england, a new study by imperial college london says almost 100,000 people are catching the virus every day and unlike germany and france, the government is sticking to a regional strategy. paul hawkins, bbc news. elsewhere, the world's second—worst hit country india has passed 8 million infections, and is bracing for a new wave. the capital delhi recorded 5,000 new cases on wednesday, a record numberfor the city. authorities are expecting another surge after divali next month, and the prime minister has warned people about being

careless with precautions. 120,000 deaths recorded in india so far. and some perspective, this is a conspiracy. taiwan has just gone 200 days covert free. it just shows you that the extent of change in various countries around the world is significant —— covid—free. al-qaeda remains heavily embedded with the taliban in afghanistan. that is the clear message from the head of the united nations team monitoring the militants' activities. he told the bbc this was despite the taliban signing an historic agreement with american officials earlier this year, which promised to prevent al-qaeda from using the country to plot international attacks. in exchange, the us committed to withdraw all troops by next year. secunder kermani reports from kabul.

america's longest ever war began with the 9/11 attacks. the us hunting down al-qaeda, overthrowing the taliban regime that had hosted them. fast forward nearly two decades, the us desperate to leave afghanistan, promises to bring troops home next year if the taliban present — prevent al-qaeda from using their country to pot international attacks. but now the u.n.'s lead expert monitoring the militants has told us in an exclusive interview that al-qaeda has remained resilient, dangerous and in close contact with the taliban. the taliban were talking regularly and at a high level with al-qaeda and reassuring them they would honour their historic ties quite since that agreement was signed in february, have you seen any change? not substantively. al-qaeda are heavily embedded with the taliban and they do a

good deal of military action and training action with the taliban, and that has not changed. al-qaeda is a strengths certainly has been diminished over the years but its global media and other seniorfigures are its global media and other senior figures are believed to be here in afghanistan, sheltered and protected by the taliban. the us may be preparing to withdraw forces but its mission to completely eradicate its bitter enemy al-qaeda is not yet over. american officials insist their withdrawal will depend on the taliban is actions on al-qaeda. some suggest the islamic state group is now the bigger threat with the taliban, css as rivals and al-qaeda as rivals. this weekend, afghan forces announced they killed the senior al-qaeda member in a taliban control district. this manuscript be a taliban commander. now he is part of

the government. the americans may think that the agreement they signed with the taliban will sort everything out but time will prove that is not the case. maybe they have been given assurances but no—one has seen any evidence yet of the taliban separating from al-qaeda. what happens to al-qaeda. what happens to al-qaeda could determined what happens to the already fragile peace process. the taliban insist they will not allow attacks abroad to be planned from afghan soil but amidst rising violence, when america trust them to tackle their old comrades? secunder kermani, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. the hong kong pro—democracy activist tony chung has been charged with secession, money laundering and conspiring to publish seditious content. mr chung was detained by plainclothes police officers close to the us consulate in the city on tuesday. a group called friends of hong kong said he had planned to seek asylum. hurricane zeta has struck

the coasts of louisiana and mississippi in the united states, bringing winds of 175 kilometres per hour. the governor of louisiana urged all residents to take shelter, and to prepare for evacuation in some low—lying coastal zones. the hurricane is heading towards new orleans, where transport services have been stopped. a curfew is in force in the us city of philadelphia after two days of protests and looting following the police killing of a black man. the family of walter wallace jr says he was suffering a mental health crisis when he was shot by officers. police say he had refused to drop a knife. pro—choice protesters in poland have marched through the streets of warsaw for the seventh day. they are opposed to a court ruling that introduced a near—total ban on abortion in the mainly catholic country. the decision means terminations are only valid in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the mother's life.

the appointment of nigeria's former finance minister to lead the world trade organization has been thrown into doubt after the us opposed the move. on wednesday, a wto committee recommended the group's16li members appoint ngozi okonjo—iweala. she would be the first woman and first african to lead the wto. the countdown clock keeps ticking. campaigning is intensifying with the candidates going with just six days to go before us election day, campaigning is intensifying with the candidates going from state to state to drum up support. still, the major issue appears to be the impact of the coronavirus and now anthony fauci, who heads the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases, has criticised president trump's rallies, telling the bbc that the events are bound to spread covid—19. david willis reports. the worst health crisis in more

than a century is driving americans to the polls in record numbers. 75 million have so far taken the opportunity to vote early and avoid cramming into crowding polling stations and there are still five more days to go. among the early voters was joe days to go. among the early voters wasjoe biden. he and his wife, jill, cast ballots in the home state of delaware and the home state of delaware and the democratic nominee properly took aim at his opponent, calling president trump's handling of the crisis and insult to its victims. we have lost more than 220,000 lives with his virus already but this administration hasjust with his virus already but this administration has just given up. over the weekend, the white house chief of state mark meadows went on television and admitted they waved the white flag and declared surrender and he said "we are not going to control the pandemic". the american people deserve so much better than this. in contrast to the more cautious approach of his rival, donald trump

continues to campaign vigorously, two events in the swing state of arizona where lax rules on social distancing make rallies of this kind easier. in bullhead city, arizona, the president said that while he planned to kill the virus, his opponent would kill the american dream. biden and the democrats socialists will delay the vaccine, prolong the pandemic, shake your schools and shut down the country. annual state is open, right? your state is nice and open. your state is nice and open. your state is nice and open. thank you. such rallies continue to concern mr chimes own medical advisors, among them, america's top infectious disease expert, doctor anthony faucl disease expert, doctor anthony fauci. they are potentially super spreading events because in situations historically over the last month we have seen that when you have congregations of people not wearing masks, not being separate from each other,

crowds, that is clearly a situation that will lead to outbreaks. polls show that the majority of americans disapprove of president trump's handling of the pandemic and given the sudden surge in coronavirus cases there, it is the one issue that could determine the outcome this election. early turnouts traditionally tend to favour democrats and joe biden continues to lead in the polls. if you learn anything from the presidential election four yea rs presidential election four years ago, it is this, it doesn't do to take anything for granted. david willis, bbc news. more on the us election later in the programme and there's full coverage on our website, including this article about what to watch for on the election night itself. that's all at our website or you can download the bbc news app.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: meet the sniffer dogs being trained to detect coronavirus at helsinki airport. indira gandhi, ruler of the world's largest democracy, died today. only 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: as coronavirus infections continue to rise across europe, france imposes a second national lockdown and germany orders gyms and restaurants to close for a month. a senior un official has warned that al-qaeda remains a global threat despite the taliban promising to stop the group from launching international attacks from afghanistan. with just days to go to the us election president donald trump has been doing his best to woo women, specifically suburban women voters whose support could prove to be crucial

come election day. his appeals have ranged from openly begging for their support, to promising to get their husbands back to work. but current polls indicate educated women are not listening to what some are calling his tone deaf and outdated appeals. our west coast correspondent sophie long reports from wisconsin. and somebody said, i don't know if the suburban woman likes you. isaid if the suburban woman likes you. i said why? why? why? echoed women's voices across the key battleground state of wisconsin. here is why. because he has pretty much done everything he can to destroy our rights. he has no clue what it is like to shop, to pay medical bills, to do anything, to work. he is disrespectful towards women. disrespectful towards women. disrespectful towards underrepresented minorities. i hope he has a lot of problems this election.

minorities. i hope he has a lot of problems this electionlj don't of problems this election.” don't think he has any clue what goes on in the real world stop i think he is a jack as and the sooner he is out of office, the better we will all be. president trump has his very own style, and that many educated women in the suburbs embraced. some feel like they got what they paid for but others felt a creeping sense of buyer's remorse. and in an election year played by process and a pandemic, that has only increased in intensity. they can't get a refund of course but now is their chance to exchange. and in a swing state like wisconsin, that is a worrying prospect for the president. but chaos and violence erupted on the streets of wisconsin this summer stop the small city of kenosha still bears the scars. and women like kimberly warner who shop was targeted believes the president's decisive action has earned him four more years. the governor said yes, we're going to that the president bring in the federal troops. it was seconds and everything had

switched. so we felt safe again. wendy president came, that was his message. he wanted us that was his message. he wanted us to feel safe. he wanted us to know that we were not alone and he was not going to allow this to happen to our small town. the president's still has great support here but some who had previously voted republican say they can't bring themselves to do that now and they are trying to persuade others to vote democrats just this once. you don't ever have to vote for a democrat again. you can vote forjoe biden as a protest vote against donald trump and then go back and vote republican again if that is what you want to do. but this is too important. go biden harris, yeh! women campaigning against the president believe his support here is following like the autumn leaves. he won wisconsin by a single percentage point. every vote will count. sophie long, bbc news, wisconsin. let's catch—up with the sport now.

hello, i'm marc edwards and this is your thursday sport briefing. it's 2 wins out of 2 for barcelona in the champions league. they've set aside their rather stuttering league form with a morale boosting 2—0 win overjuventus in turin to stay top of group g. ousman dembele opened the scoring in the fourteenth minute when his deflected shot looped over wojek szczesny. juventushad merih demiral sent off late on, before lionel messi wrapped up the win in stoppage time with a penalty. and not just content with everything he's doing off the field — on it, marcus rashford is on fire. he put in a sublime supersub performance helping manchester united thrash rb leipzig 5—nil at old trafford. the england international came on just after the hour mark and netted three goals in 16 minutes against last seasons champions league semi finalists. rashford is only the second united player to score a hat—trick after coming on as a substitute. want to guess who was the first? well it was his current manager.

asa sub as a sub coming on, sometimes thatis as a sub coming on, sometimes that is the best time to come on when your team is winning. there are spaces everywhere and marcus took his chances incredibly well. he had space in front of him. i think the players — you could see the players — you could see the players looking for each other, and playing that extra pass now. i'm very pleased with the response. talk about mixed emotions. la dodgers world series victory has been overshadowed somewhat by a covid case that was discovered during their series clinching victory over tampa bay rays. dodgers player, justin turner, had tested positive mid match. he was withdrawn straight away but then returned to join his teammates for their celebrations. it was their first world series win since 1988 but the players seemingly blase approach to turners' condition hasn't put the team in the best possible light. and spurs' manager jose mourinho says that gareth bale will start against royal antwerp in their europa league match on thursday. bale made his first start since the returning to the club

in last thursday's 3—0 win over lask in the competition but was an unused substitute at burnley on monday as he returns to full fitness. mourinho though is backing gareth bale all the way. well, when thing is his reputation and the other thing is the facts. i would love to have, i would love to have his reputation and for the champions league. i have only two. the vuelta a espana continues on thursday with a 157.7km stage 9 from castrillo del val, a couple of hundred kilometres north of madrid to aguilar de campoo. ecuador‘s richard cara paz of ineos grenadiers, retains the leader's red jersey but his lead has been cut to 13 seconds. it was primoz roglic who took stage 8 for his second victory of this year's race after winning the opening stage just over a week ago.

here's a little clip thats been doing the rounds on social media. with one of his biggest fights coming up on saturday against dereck chisora, how would you think oleksandr usyk has been spending his prep time? dancing to bonnie taylor of course. # i needa # i need a hero! questionable moves there from the big guy. think he boxes slightly better than he dances, not that i'd ever say that to his face. anyway, you can get all the latest sports news at our website — that's bbc.com/sport. but from me marc edwards and the rest of the sport team, bye bye. in finland, a pilot project using sniffer dogs to provide instant and pain—free coronavirus testing at helsinki airport is showing promising early results and proving popular with travellers. research earlier this year found the dogs can detect the virus with close to 100% accuracy. aruna iyengar has this report.

meet these three dogs, the dogs are proving to be effective coronavirus detectives, sniffing at 2200 samples and finding the virus in 0.6% of cases. that means that nurses produce the same results as the nasal swab test we sent off to test a n nasal swab test we sent off to test an hour quicker also. research by the helsinki university in the first what major wave of infection suggest the dogs can detect the virus with close to 100% accuracy. and crucially, afterfive days earlier than a pcr test. researchers from the university been working with sniffer dog specialists, wise knows. translation: customer feedback has been extra but optionally positive. the test is a dreamily fast, about two minutes from taking the sample to getting the results. in the

afternoons, we have had people queueing up. they don't complain, in fact, queueing up. they don't complain, infact, it queueing up. they don't complain, in fact, it is the opposite. early travellers have waited for us to arrive at the airport. around 100 travellers airport. around 100 travellers a day have been queueing up for the test. you wipe a swab over your skin which is then put in front of the dog. the dog sent detector will ignore the negative sample but finds the positive ones much more attractive. sniffer dog trials have been undertaken elsewhere, such as in the uae, france, russia and chile but have not yet been widely adopted, partly because they have a lack of peer—reviewed literature. dog handling charities have obviously worked with dogs to detect cancer, parkinson's disease, and bacterial infections, using samples taken from humans. researchers here hope their results will persuade the finnish government to fund a rollout for the dogs to fund a rollout for the dogs to other venues, like tourist hotspots and large public gatherings. aruna iyengar, bbc news.

that is encouraging and so is this. after four months that is encouraging and so is this. afterfour months in an induced coma, 209 days in a coma, this man from manchester has been released from hospital after battling against the coronavirus. no wonder he got in applause there. he says it is good to be asked to see his family and breathe the fresh air. i never thought for a minute i would catch it. let alone be that close to not coming back. nice to have the smile there, isn't it. and finally, while wildfires continue to ravage southern california forcing thousands to evacuate, there has been some news to smile about. firefighters from the orange county fire authority were able to rescue this barn owl from the flames of the silverado fire, which has burned through more than 13,000 acres. crews happily reported the creature is safe and sound, now in the hands

of animal carers. stay with us, the business coming right up. hello there. 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 some heavy rain through thursday. but between these two weather fronts, there is a wedge of mild air. so, although we're expecting some wet and windy weather through the day ahead, it will turn a little bit milder. so, here comes the rain. some very heavy and persistent rain moving in from the west as we go through the day, pushing its way northeastwards across wales, england, northern ireland, getting up across much of scotland. now, the heaviest bursts of rain are likely to be across hills of north wales, north—west england, south—west scotland. could be some localised flooding issues here. and it will be windy. gusts of a0 to maybe 50 mph

or a touch more than that in the most exposed spots. the far north of scotland will hold onto brightness. we'll see something a little drier towards the south—west later. and it will feel mild, highs of 11—15 degrees. through thursday night into the early hours of friday, we keep a pipeline of cloud, some outbreaks of rain in places, particularly over high ground in wales, north—west england, also some rain working back into north—west scotland. temperatures between 9—13 degrees, an exceptionally mild night, a very mild start to friday. now, as we go through the day, outbreaks of rain will increasingly become confined to southern parts of england, south of wales. further north, we'll actually see brighter skies developing, some spells of sunshine here and there. but it will cool off through the day across northern areas, whereas the south and south east will hold onto some mild air, 17—18 degrees. and then we get to the weekend, and here comes another area of low pressure. look at all the white line squashing together,

all the isobars. this is a deep area of low pressure that will bring some very strong winds, 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, well, 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 news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the french president, emmanuel macron, has announced a second national lockdown until at least the end of november. as the battle for the us presidency continues, the us will release growth figures today, and no doubt president trump will take credit, but are the numbers reflecting what's happening now or more importantly in the near future? and we take a closer look at one sector that's thriving during the lockdowns — non—alcoholic drinks

the french president, emmanuel macron, has announced a new national lockdown — for at least the whole of november. from friday, he says, people will need to fill in a form to justify going out, eitherfor work, shopping for essentials, or emergencies. restaurants and bars will close, and social gatherings will be banned, and people will work from home where possible. but schools and factories will remain open. he said otherwise hospitals would be overwhelmed with coronavirus cases. germany has also announced a partial lockdown from monday for a month. bars, restaurants, gyms, cinemas and hotels are to close, but schools and shops will remain open. so, as lockdowns are spreading across europe, what are the economic cosequences? joining me now is george buckley, chief uk and euro area economist, nomura.

thank you forjoining us. it is almost blindingly obvious, more lockdowns on this scale and any little advantages or improvements we see in the last few months, we just waved goodbye to those i suppose? that's right, we have been recovering reasonably well, not a v—shape recovery but a strong one and we will find out from the us how quickly it's recovered in the third quarter and how we find out about the euro area and france and spain tomorrow. all these numbers are likely to be, to bounce relatively well. the problem is they are bouncing to levels well below where we were in terms of output before the virus. now we have got this return of the virus, what looks possible is that we start to see gdp begin to contract again and that is certainly the big risk now over the winter

months. what you expect governments to do about it? we have seen that first welter, in some cases a second of stimulus effo rts some cases a second of stimulus efforts of support, can they carry on doing this indefinitely? we have seen fiscal policy come to the rescue fiscal policy come to the rescu e a cross fiscal policy come to the rescue across governments, a lot of money and was then that across the entirety of europe both at the country level and european level as well. that is been helpful of course. we have seen central banks swinging into action. we've had rate cuts, quantitative easing and not much more to do in terms of rate cuts that they can do because interest rates are already at low levels but they can doa already at low levels but they can do a lot more in terms of announcing more asset purchases and that will help. of course what will be more important is the fact that these lockdowns will restrict mobility, they will restrict mobility, they will restrict mobility, they will restrict spending and they will restrict spending and they will have sizeable consequences

for the economy so however much the central banks do and governments do will have a limited effect because these lockdowns will be very significant on spending. thank you very much indeed. the latest economic growth figures for the us are released later today. they will likely show a big expansion of the american economy between june and september. president trump will no doubt boast about that strong growth as his campaign for reelection enters its final days. but as samira hussain explains, today's big number could be misleading. he got elected four years ago promising an economy the likes of no—one has seen before. he may have accomplished that but not for the reasons he wanted. after more than a decade of economic growth, there was largest economy took a hit. from january— march the

american economy shrank at a rate of 4.8%. between april —— june, economic growth created further, shrinking at a rate of 31%. these contractions are the worst this country has ever seen. we got the greatest economy in history, the greatest economy with ever had. the greatest economy the world has ever seen. and in the play came in from china and we did the right thing, we closed it down on our opening up. now the question is who can rescue the ailing american economy. unsurprisingly, the democratic challengerjoe biden says the president has it all wrong. he has no plan on economic recovery how he will open the economy or no plan on covid. this election is a referendum on the last four years under the president. mr trump says he has created the strongest economy the country has ever seen but the pandemic is made that a much tougher sell,

especially to the millions of americans who have lost their jobs in the last eight months. issues around technology and innovation were changing the world even before the pandemic but since then millions of lost jobs and there have been warnings coming from the likes of the international labour organisation, the oecd, predicting unemployment rates could double by the end of this year. get yourself ready for another warning, this time from linkedin, and according to them, the recovery in the labour market is stalling and avoiding lockdowns is not necessarily going to help to savejobs. joining me now is karin kimbrough chief economist, linkedin. a few things to work through but i'm interested in the point we drew up their that avoiding

lockdowns isn't necessarily going to help? that is right. avoiding a broad—based lockdown to preserve economies is not going to help. we see that in looking at sweden, brazil, both of whom avoided hard lockdowns and yet still facing problems with getting hiring rates back up with getting hiring rates back up and seeing a consistent momentum of growth. conversely, in france, which did have quite a few lockdowns and going back into another one, they had a much more robust hiring recovery. in either sweden or brazil. so no real reason to think that one type of approach to containing the pandemic is going to preserve your economy. right, what will help most? we said at the start that areas of taken digital, they are beaming anyway, surely even more now than relative to other sectors than relative to other sectors than ever before? absolutely.

we're seeing a lot of undercurrent of strength and technology, anything digitally related, any skills digitally intensive are demand. so that technology undercurrent is probably a long—term trend in the global economy, unlikely to go anywhere but what will get us go anywhere but what will get us back is having workers that have portable skills that allow them to be more resilient to any shock. what will get us backis any shock. what will get us back is having the ability for people to be able to make jobs when they want to to career paths that may be offering more opportunities and that something that linkedin is linked on. the last thing i would point to is what will get us would point to is what will get us back is getting off the rollercoaster. and start shutdowns. and getting to the point where the service economy can come back because the service economy is very labour intensive and that's all the

jobs are. but that point of getting off stop and start is out of our control. let's wait for the vaccine and maybe we can move in that direction. easy message from linkedin is one saying particularly to governments in a way, you have to train people up for these digital jobs. to train people up for these digitaljobs. i to train people up for these digital jobs. i presume to train people up for these digitaljobs. i presume you are still getting rafts of those coming through your books? we do have quite a lot ofjobs in the technology sector, millions of them, and we think there will be millions more, maybe as as 150 million more techjobs globally over the next five yea rs globally over the next five years will be created. absolutely the best way forward is if we and other companies can partner with governments to help create a labour force that really does have skills that are portable. i think we're doing our we have something, we have where you can come on the website and putting skills you have and do not have and look for other career opportunities

that exist with realjobs that are open and available your location. that is a career export tool we have just launched and we are super excited about it. and a good pitch there, well done! india's official coronavirus contact tracing app has been engulfed in controversy this week. it comes after the country's central information commission issued a notice to the government for its evasive a nswe rs over who created the app. users have to fill in their personal data, including their history of illness. concerns over the apps data safety mechanisms and privacy existed from early days of launch. the appointment of nigeria's former finance minister to lead the world trade organisation has been thrown into doubt after the us blocked the move. on wednesday, the wto's nominations committee recommended that the group's 164 members appoint ngozi okonjo—iweala. but the trump administration, which has been critical

of the wto's role as the global trade watchdog, wants another woman in the role, south korea's yoo myung—hee. ford has reported a big jump in quarterly profits, with strong sales of its pickup trucks and suvs in north america. profits surged to $2.4 billion, more than five times the earnings in the period one year earlier. the car maker's new chief executive, jim farley, said the company was on a good track after a difficult run that included manufacturing stumbles and questions over strategy. samsung electronics has reported an almost 50% rise in third—quarter net profits, compared to a year ago, but, it expects profits to fall in the current quarter. let's go to our asia business hub where sharanjit leyl is following the story. whenever you mention samsung you know you are dealing with a large part of the south korean

economy so this really matters? it does matter, absolutely, david, and got this big boost really for a series of 1—off reasons and isn't expecting these gains to last so i should put a caveat on the games. basically it chalked up a profit of over $8 billion in the third quarter, is highest in two years, many thanks to a 50%jump in in two years, many thanks to a 50% jump in smartphone sales but samsung we know makes microchips and its profits from that part of the business has also rocketed but what's interesting is that it's fine sales have mainly been boosted by us sanctions against its chinese rival, huawei. samsung has been able to eat into huawei market share and the restrictions are been hitting the giant hard and also may have gotte n the giant hard and also may have gotten a pickup from apple delaying the launch of iphone 12 and buried mine samsung has not had to spend as much on

marketing and advertising because people aren't out and about due to the coronavirus lockdowns this year, so they have saved money there. samsung saw its big chip profit, a whopping 82% gain last year, due to also impart because of huawei, they had to have an inventory buildup of chips from huawei ahead of us restrictions on the company and all of that is expected to end as all major phone makers come on board. not just apple, you have many others vying to take over the market share of huawei and samsung is projecting that it chip shipments will drop 5% and wea k chip shipments will drop 5% and weak demand in service, leading to lower prices in that part of business. they've also warned about disruption in the pandemic and us—china trade tensions in the short term. the bosses of twitter, facebook and google have been

accused of political censorship in the us over the way they deal with controversial material. republicans claim that they're biased against conservatives. democrats believe they don't take down enough fake news. the accusations came during a senate hearing over the future of the law governing whether tech giants should be held responsible for what's posted on their platforms. james clayton reports. three social media companies that dominate the internet, google, facebook and twitter. these platforms referee themselves, they decide what content is promoted, taken down or left up. the question at the senate today in washington — is that too much power? but first it was good to know that even tech bosses have moments when the computer says no. we are unable to make contact with mr mark zuckerberg. thank you, chairman. i was able to hear the other opening statements, i was just having a hard

time connecting myself. the line fixed and the hearing quickly moved to the subject of bias. do these social media companies use their power to unfairly pick on republicans? trump certainly thinks so. i'm running against the left—wing corrupt media and big tech. what does he mean by that? it all comes down to moderation. here's an example. during the protest in minneapolis after the death of george floyd, donald trump posted on facebook and twitter saying, "when the looting starts, the shooting starts." facebook allows this, twitter said it violated rules on glorifying violence and labelled it. so, should these tech bosses have this power to censor? senator ted cruz thought not. mr dorsey, who the hell elected you and put you in charge of what the media is allowed to report and what the american public is allowed to hear? we realise that we need to build more trust. we realise that more

accountability is needed. democrats said big tech was not acting on fake news and said republicans are trying to bully tech titans. this is a scar on this committee and the united states' senate. we are seeing an attempt to bully the ceos of private companies. but away from the theatre of the hearing, the debate was about something far more important to the future of silicon valley, something called section 230 which says no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher. without 230, platforms could be potentially held liable for everything people say. they would face much more pressure to take down content to avoid legal risk. i would urge the committee to be very thoughtful about any changes to section 230. if section 230 goes, the responsibility for

what you say could fall at the feet of the tech giants, which could mean your favourite social media platforms could look very different in the years to come. james clayton, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: we take a closer look at one sector that's thriving during lockdowns — non—alcoholic drinks and now for some news here in the uk. a study on the spread of the coronavirus suggests that nearly 100,000 people are becoming infected in england every day. scientists at imperial college london — who carried out the analysis — say the pace of the epidemic is accelerating in every region of england, and the number of people infected is now doubling every nine days. the estimates are based on swabs taken from almost 86,000 people. we have seen a consistent pan

of the number of infections going up and that is generating hospitalisations and deaths. the patterns we are seeing in our most recent data suggest that those rates of hospitalisations and death are u nfortu nately, hospitalisations and death are unfortunately, likely to increase. the welsh government has been advised to scrap next year's gcses and as levels. the exams regulator, qualifications wales, says grades should be awarded based on course—work and assessments. it recommends that a—level exams go ahead as planned. ministers make a final decision next month. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: as coronavirus infections continue to rise across europe, france imposes a second national lockdown and germany orders gyms and restaurants to close for a month. a senior un official has warned that al qaeda remains a global threat despite the taliban promising to stop the group from launching international attacks from afghanistan.

one area where jobs have been heavily affected by coronavirus is the airline industry, with many people finding their roles have gone, or are under threat. what are the prospects for those who work in the sector? well, one woman has capitalised on her long—haul cabin crew skills to set up a floristry business — and she thinks people like her have a lot to offer. anyone who is thinking of setting up a business at this time, 100% you should. it's an amazing time to do it and you don't want to be the person who ina years don't want to be the person who in a years time says, why didn'ti in a years time says, why didn't i do that, why didn't i ta ke didn't i do that, why didn't i take that time and start a business i always wanted to do?

cabin crew have amazing skills. they can self manage, what we also do well is working in a team. we are brilliant at anticipating customer's needs. we have amazing customer service skills and you can bring that into any business. the airline i work for, we did a lot of long haulflying and so to have the stamina and endurance to perform those flights, you can put into your business as well. being self—motivated, you can just put everything that you have into it. sober october, as well as dry january

are months that many people choose to avoid alcohol. but according to the latest industry data, many consumers are increasingly choosing to avoid alcohol throughout the year. sales of these drinks — nonalcoholic beers, wines and spirits — were up by 44% in may in the us compared to a year earlier. and its people from all generations that are opting into this trend, notjust millennials and baby boomers. joining me now is arwen finlayson, global analytic leader for beverages at nielsen. thank you forjoining us. i've got to say, i didn't see this coming, particularly in the time of coronavirus. what do you put it down to? gas, so i mean, if we take a look at the beverage industry leading into this year, we have seen beverages, including alcohol, performing very strongly this year. and that non— alcohol

trend is also no exception. we select going faster than alcohol in most instances. in the us, we are seeing now 39% growth on no alcohol. europe is not exempt from that. when you ta ke not exempt from that. when you take a look at the us — uk apologies, we see 20% growth, very strong double—digit growth. there are two key drivers behind this trend in the movement we are seeing. the first of which is around health and wellness which is not an unfamiliar trend in the sense that we have seen a global trend around increased focus on health and wellness in terms of consumer priorities. in particular, within the food industry and this is starting to have a knock on effect into alcoholic beverages. we are seeing consumers being attracted to non—alcoholic drinks, the same reason they t drinks, the same reason they opt for a lower sugar snacks or chips with lower fat in them. that's interesting. is this also replacing than some of the

more familiarfizzy also replacing than some of the more familiar fizzy drinks? are they going other direction? no, we're starting to see some growth come through in non—alcoholic beverages. certainly, we are seeing the growth at a slower pace compared to alcohol. i think there is an element of category blurring at play in the sense that we are seeing historic alcohol manufacturers now looking to move into the space of non—alcoholic offerings. and i think this has really been driven by a need to meet consumers and that's bringing that to the fore. and is it the usual suspects in terms of those who are capitalising. the big alcohol distributors or are we seeing some new faces on the market? i think it's an interesting space at the moment. you are quite hard—pressed moment. you are quite ha rd—pressed to walk moment. you are quite hard—pressed to walk into a major supermarket at the moment and not find a non—alcoholic beverage on offer. we are seeing most of the major beverage players who are quite

well—placed to develop these products or either already have a offering or in the process of creating ones. so you see some familiar brand names and you are also seeing some new brand names to which is equally exciting. but we are also seeing some new niche players emerging in the space as well. especially as it expands.” emerging in the space as well. especially as it expands. i for one am looking forward to the end of dry october. thank you, it's an interesting trends development there. looking at the markets really quickly. it is not a pretty picture. this is the asian perspective. not a lot to be honest but it followed on from wall street and looking at the us markets, they took a bit of a beating as you can see. across the piece there really, shares in google, facebook, twitter, down more than 5%. if you look back at the grilling their bosses were getting by senators. they are continuing more of a global sell—off,

triggered by growing concerns that rising coronavirus cases are going to style economic recovery and it is around the world. you are watching bbc news, thank you for being with us. hello there. 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 some heavy rain through thursday. but between these two weather fronts, there is a wedge of mild air. so, although we're expecting some wet and windy weather through the day ahead, it will turn a little bit milder. so, here comes the rain. some very heavy and persistent rain moving in from the west as we go through the day, pushing its way northeastwards across wales, england, northern ireland, getting up across much of scotland. now, the heaviest bursts of rain are likely to be across hills of north wales, north—west england, south—west scotland. could be some localised flooding issues here.

and it will be windy. gusts of 40 to maybe 50 mph or a touch more than that in the most exposed spots. the far north of scotland will hold onto brightness. we'll see something a little drier towards the south—west later. and it will feel mild, highs of 11—15 degrees. through thursday night into the early hours of friday, we keep a pipeline of cloud, some outbreaks of rain in places, particularly over high ground in wales, north—west england, also some rain working back into north—west scotland. temperatures between 9—13 degrees, an exceptionally mild night, a very mild start to friday. now, as we go through the day, outbreaks of rain will increasingly become confined to southern parts of england, south of wales. further north, we'll actually see brighter skies developing, some spells of sunshine here and there. but it will cool off through the day across northern areas, whereas the south and south east will hold onto some mild air, 17—18 degrees. and then we get to the weekend, and here comes another area of low pressure. look at all the white line squashing together, all the isobars. this is a deep area of low pressure that will bring some very strong winds, 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, well, 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.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. our headlines: almost 100,000 people are catching coronavirus every day — the stark finding from senior scientists, as they warn the pandemic is at a critical stage. france will enter a second national lockdown tomorrow, to last to the end of november at least. tough new covid restrictions for people in nottinghamshire, including a ban on alchohol after nine at night. more businesses are laying off staff. new figures show firms making redundancies spiked in september. i'll have the details. the man of the moment is back in the spotlight,