this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm lukwesa burak. gunfire. france raises its terror alert to its highest level after three people are killed in a knife attack at a church in nice. a 21—year—old tunisian man is held on suspicion of the killings. president macron visits the scene of the attack and calls it an act of islamist terrorism. he says it's time for people to end their divisions. translation: i ask for unity from everyone. that is the message that i wanted to express here in nice today. europe scrambes to deal with a surge in

coronavirus infections. the german chancellor warns of a long, hard winter as the country prepares to goes back into full lockdown. in texas, drive—through polling stations help to break early voting records, but campaigners fear there's scope for voter suppression in the lone star state. hello, and welcome. every region of france has been placed on the highest level of security alert after three people were killed in a knife attack in a church in nice. the suspect, reported to be a 21—year old tunisian national who is understood to have travelled to france from italy last month, is in a critical condition in hospital after being shot by police. the attack happened less than a fortnight after an islamist extremist

beheaded a teacher outside a school in the suburbs of paris. lucy williamson sent this report from nice. gunfire. notre dame today was not a place of refuge. not for the attacker, nor for those he killed. inside these walls, a churchwarden and two worshipers became the latest targets of a terrorist attack. translation: i still imagine him, i still see him walking, lighting the candles and now i'm thinking, he's not there any more. one, a 60—year—old woman, was decapitated. the churchwarden was 55—year—old vincent loques. a colleague tonight described him as a cheerful man who took good care of people. another of the victims managed to escape. according to local reports, she spoke a few words before dying of her wounds. "tell my children i love them," she said.

around her, the panic was already spreading through the streets. president macron, arriving in nice after a crisis meeting, said attacks like this would never work. translation: if we've been attacked again, it's because of our values, our taste for freedom, the possibility there is here to believe freely and not to give in to any terror. let me say this very clearly again, we will never give in. france's prosecutor said tonight that the suspected attacker is a 21—year—old tunisian man who arrived in europe just a few weeks ago. the treasurer of notre dame new vincent loques well. he found his body at the entrance to the church this morning. translation: i'm utterly devastated. you dedicate your life to helping people

and then this happens. it creates a big hole. it's less than two weeks since france mourned its last terrorist attack, the decapitation of a history teacher in a suburb of paris triggered a wave of secular defiance here. the message today, faith offers no protection, and france no place of refuge from attack. this afternoon, churches across nice rang out their bells for the victims. they weren't symbols this morning, just three local people, a churchwarden, worshipper and mother whose last words were of love. lucy williamson, bbc news, nice. professor bernard haykel, an expert on jihadism from the princeton university, says the islamist threat that europe faces is not only homegrown. what it says is that there is a jihadist movement that is global. it's not just confined to france or to muslims in france who are descendents

of immigrants. and that this is a movement that is determined to... that has an ideology and that is determined to commit violence throughout europe, notjust in france. so, i think all of europe is at risk from attackers like this and that a single country cannot actually defeat this ideology or the movement. it has to be a global effort. ok, so how do you monitor and fight a threat that is not home—grown? because a lot of countries' attention, their security forces, has been focused on trying to get a grip on this home—grown threat. if they're coming from the outside already radicalised, how do you approach that? well, first, the only way to really to fight this movement is to bring onside the vast majority of muslims who are themselves victims of this jihadist movement and who are against it.

so, this is a battle that will require security operations, intelligence, but also, i think, mostly other muslims who will help you dismantle this group. many people are pointing out that recent comments, both by president macron and turkey's erdogan, have not helped what we've seen over these last few days. yeah, i think actually president erdogan in particular has not helped. i mean, he has agitated muslim sentiments against france and against president macron deliberately, i think, for purposes that have to do with domestic turkish politics. i mean, turkey itself has been a victim of this movement and will not tolerate this movement. it has cracked down very hard on it. but for the turks and for president erdogan in particular to be playing with muslim

sentiments on issues of blasphemy and so on is really playing with fire. and he should not be doing that. could i just jump in very quickly? i don't know if you could put it succinctly for us, france secularism and religion. what do we need to know? well, what we need to know is that if you insult islam as a religion in france, you will be prosecuted. brigitte bardot, the famous french actress, was prosecuted five time for insulting islam. but in france, they have a view that religious... historical figures can be insulted in caricature and that is not an attack on the religion. so, there's a particular specificity to france that i think has to be understood. and france is not a state that is against islam. in fact, it prosecutes people who attack islam. authorities in europe are scrambling to deal with a surge in coronavirus infections. new research shows nearly

100,000 people are catching coronavirus every day in england. the uk government has said they want to "try to avoid having a national blanket approach" to coronavirus restrictions, but the report authors say england is at a "critical stage" and "something has to change". belgium is worst affected. it now has the highest rate of coronavirus infections per 100,000 citizens in the whole of europe, and there are fears that intensive care units could be at capacity within two weeks. spain's parliament has approved a six—month extension of the nationwide state of emergency. the move spares the central government from having to renew it every two weeks. the german chancellor, angela merkel, has warned of a long, hard winter as the country goes back into a partial lockdown on november 2nd for a period of four weeks.

authorities in sweden are now recommending part of the country to limit contacts with people and avoid enclosed spaces as the country registered an official record of 3254 new cases in one day. and in france a new national lockdown will start on friday and last at least until the end of november. all bars, restaurants and offices will be closed while president macron said people would only be allowed to leave home for essential work and shopping, exercise or emergencies. meanwhile, the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, has urged people not to travel between eu countries. she warned the spread of the virus will overwhelm europe's helath services unless decisive action was taken now. cases are rising, numbers of hospitalisations are rising, numbers of deaths are rising.

not as fast, fortunately, because we understand better today how to treat covid patients and how to deal with the disease. but the spread of the virus will overwhelm our health care systems if we do not act urgently. scientists in liverpool have started trials of a new treatment against coronavirus. the antiviral drug is one of several potential treatments aimed at curbing infection in the early stages and reducing the risk of people developing serious illness. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh went to meet some of the first volunteers who'll be receiving the experimental medication. the preparations are meticulous. safety para mou nt. mention clinical trials, and many still remember

when six volunteers in london fell dangerously ill within minutes of receiving an experimental drug. now, doctors must wait 2a hours after the first person is dosed. after northwick park, it was recognised that we must have a pause between dosing our first individual and dosing the rest of a cohort, so 2a hours is a reasonable time period for most medicines. it gives that time for the emergence of any unusual side effects. so, we have the go—ahead. yesterday's volunteer is fine, so that means catherine, a nurse, can be given the trial drug — these antiviral tablets, which are designed to prevent her covid infection getting worse. i've got it quite mild, so i can stay at home. i don't need a hospital admission. so, if we could treat more people in the community with this medication if it does

work, it will reduce hospital admissions. the research team wants to see how quickly the drug, called molnupirivir, is absorbed into her blood stream and her saliva, where it should get to work. when coronavirus infects human cells, it hijacks the machinery within to make multiple copies of itself. molnupirivir is designed to incorporate into the virus' genetic code, introducing mutations which will hopefully neutralise the virus and prevent it from infecting more cells. there are several medicines against coronavirus which looked promising in the laboratory and animal trials, but the only way we can know if they work and don't have unwanted side effects is through rigorous clinical trials. it will be months before we know if molnupiravir

is the next big thing orjust another failed experiment. the answers will come only through the dedication of research staff and volunteers, working together to find new ways to beat coronavirus. fergus walsh, bbc news, liverpool. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, living in a city that never sleeps? the town in arizona that's dimming its street lights to measure the environmental impact on daily life. 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 raises its terror alert to its highest level after three people are killed in a knife attack at a church in nice. a 21—year—old tunisian man is held on suspicion of the killings.

europe scrambles to deal with a surge in coronavirus infections. the german chancellor warns of a long, hard winter as the country prepares to goes back into full lockdown. to the united states, and with just five days left before election day, both president trump and joe biden have been making a final push for votes in the crucial state of florida. a few hours ago, mr trump made a stop at the western city of tampa, where he appeared in front of a packed crowd. as you can see, not much social distancing and mask—wearing going on. president trump has lavished attention on florida, a clear marker ofjust how important the state is to his electoral strategy. mr biden has also been in tampa and in broward county. in contrast with president trump's campaign style, the former us vice president's events were socially distanced affairs. and as you might expect, their contrasting approaches to the pandemic were at the heart

of their speeches. this is historic prosperity. another major tax cut to go along with the biggest tax cut in the history of our country. and record job growth. and joe biden‘s plan is to deliver a punishing lockdown. he's going to lock you down. at the debate last week with trump, he said, "we're rounding the corner. it's going away. we're learning to live with it." well, you remember what i told him? he's asking us to learn to die with it! that's what's happening! donald trump has waved the white flag, abandoned our families and surrendered to this virus. but the american people never give up! let's speak to our washington correspondent nomia iqbal.

hello there. a busy few days ahead for both gentlemen. absolutely. and i guess that is what we expect we just a few days ago and as we saw there, coronavirus is still very much theissue coronavirus is still very much the issue that both men, although they are talking about it, donald trump is trying to avoid talking about it too much because it is something people still care about. it is still the number one issue here. just a day in the final stretch, new single depth case records have soared to an all—time high, topping about 88,000 coronavirus cases and also in the battle ground states which both men need to win, notjust florida but also 0hio, both men need to win, notjust florida but also ohio, michigan and wisconsin, we have seen cases go up. and wisconsin, we have seen cases go up. but both men have a different view on how to handle it not just a different view on how to handle it notjust with their words but as you mentioned there by the way they are holding their rallies in com plete holding their rallies in complete contrast to each other. i believe the us has now hit this 9 million mark of

cases, which joe biden hit this 9 million mark of cases, whichjoe biden can use in his favour. meanwhile, president trump talked about the economy. why? well, the economy is him and he prefers to use that as his way of trying to convince people that he is still the president that they need come after the 3rd of november. it does really well in the polls as well. the economy is a people care about when you ask them. and just on the polls as well, it'sjoe biden still does have a considerable lead, especially in those key battle ground states. of course when everything about polls, people do get worried because they say the polls massively underestimated the results last time. it could be different this time. possibly polling companies have made lots of changes now to the way they talk to people and what they include. but you never know what could happen. i should also mention that even though joe biden is leading, there is

a lot of people who say they will vote democrat and don't actually end up voting for some hope ultimately it will come down to turnout. working we expect over the few days? we can expect lots of relics. that is at the end of the appearances in florida. donald trump is holding about five rallies in florida. it is a key battle ground state. he will be the state that projects early and we get a sense of where the election is going. if donald trump loses it, it can be pretty ha rd trump loses it, it can be pretty hard for him to get a path to the white house were asked joe biden could afford to lose it as he has california which tends to go blue. but florida is a very personal state for donald trump notjust politically. he lives there, it is his adopted home state. but to see more of these rallies in the next few days. 0k, thank you very much. more people have voted early in texas than in any other state, but as our north america

correspondent nick bryant reports, there have also been accusations of attempts to suppress voting among minorities. houston, we have a problem. how to engineer the mechanics of a presidential election in the midst of a planetary pandemic. the city that helped put a man on the moon has come up with a solution and borrowed from the coronavirus playbook to do so. drive—through polling stations that resemble drive—through covid testing centres. good afternoon. how are you? good, good, thanks for asking. and thanks for coming out to vote today. are you excited? yeah. all right... we were just spectators, not participants, and what we witnessed was the great paradox of the 2020 election. even though much of america remains in lockdown, record numbers of people are coming out to vote. in texas, turnout is three

times higher than it was at this stage four years ago. it's been a very, very good experience so far. so, covid has actually made you find a more efficient way of voting? i guess you could say that, yes, sir. performing your civic duty is as easy as ordering a burger. this is your "i voted" sticker. drive—in voting has actually been a huge success, but the local republican party has tried to shut it down. the state's republican governor has also limited the number of places where you can physically deliver your mail—in ballot, and that's made it harder to vote. in a city of almost 5 million people, it's meant long car journeys and fuelled complaints of voter suppression targeted at minorities. it's idiotic to me. this is not america, this is not democracy at all. voting shouldn't be hard. you know, voting should be everyone's privilege and everyone's right. it's just a deterrent, that's all it is. that won't work. yeah! texas now has a non—white

majority, and that presents a demographic dilemma for a republican party that relies on a mainly white base. with each new generation, this conservative stronghold has turned more democratic, so suppressing turnout is becoming a more urgent political necessity. at this counting centre, officials are not as busy as they should be because the republicans have blocked efforts to expand postal voting, restricting it in the main to those aged over 65. even those worried about catching the coronavirus have to vote in person. daniel, from a nonpartisan community group, says those tactics are blatantly undemocratic. the united states will brag about the strength of its democracy, how fair and equal it is, but it's actively suppressing the vote of its very own citizens. in this epic nationaljourney, texas has already reached the point where the country will arrive at in 25 years' time, when white voters nationally will be

in the minority. the face of america is changing, a trend line that currently favours the democrats. nick bryant, bbc news, houston. as part of our us election coverage, we are tracking how the candidates are faring in the national polls, and as you can see, democratic challengerjoe biden is currently ahead with 51%, while president trump is on 42%. you can find all the details on our website, bbc.com/news. an entire us city has dimmed its street lights for ten days. it's an experiment to assess the impact artificial light is having on the environment. the experiment is aimed at finding out whether light from other sources, like shop signs and billboards, is also contributing to the problem. here's our science

correspondent victoria gill. when the natural light fades, our towns and cities begin to glow in the dark. but all this artificial light being shone into space, as these views from the international space station reveal, competes with the light from the stars. as well as obscuring our view of a naturally dark sky, and of the stars as well, with that all—too—familiar orange glow, artificial light at night can disrupt our sleep and that affects our health. and it also affects wildlife because it disrupts the natural light—dark cycle that insects, birds and other animals are tuned into. to find out the source of the problem, an international team of scientists asked an entire us city to turn down its streetlights. for ten days, tucson in arizona dimmed its ia,000 streetlights, while researchers used a satellite to measure the effect. these pixelated views

from space reveal that the vast majority of city light that was wasted by being beamed upward wasn't from streetlights, that included billboards, signs, floodlights and shopfronts. we really need to start thinking about, 0k, how many signs are we going to have in the city? how big can they be and how bright can they be? we're in the midst of a climate crisis and a biodiversity crisis, and light plays a role in both of those issues. so late at night time, if we can find ways to use less electricity for light, it will help us with the climate crisis, and also it will help us with our energy transition, if we can instead use that electricity, for example, for charging batteries, doing energy storage. as so many of us think about the ways to reduce our energy use and our carbon footprints, these scientists say that part of the problem could be solved while we sleep, just by turning off the lights. victoria gill, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter.

i'm @lukwesa burak. hello. the phrase it's raining again has been used rather too much this month, it will be used again before the month is done. if the phrase it's raining again has been used rather even into the first part of november, more rain on the way. strong winds, looking quite stormy on saturday. so, a chance of further flooding and disruption as a result. and now this is friday's big picture. this weather front producing some more rain, particularly into wales to start the day. scotland and northern ireland, though, behind it will see some sunshine. a mild start to the day for many of us. for scotland and northern ireland, a few showers around to begin with. they will tend to clear. we'll get more in the way of sunshine arriving here. just a few showers towards north west scotland into the afternoon. northern england brightening up as well, and the early heavy rain in wales gradually easing. but for south east wales, the midlands, east anglia, southern england, it will stay cloudy.

there will be further outbreaks of rain at times, although actually here is where we get to see the higher temperatures. still quite windy. not as windy as it was on thursday. but overnight and into saturday, this is where the winds start to pick up once again. and we'll see more rain pushing north across the uk. ahead of its arrival in scotland, it will be quite chilly. and it does look quite stormy, then, as the weekend begins. a deep area of low pressure to the north—west of the uk, so winds picking up across all areas. gales or severe gales are possible. and another band of rain sweeping east across the uk. some of this rain will be heavy, perhaps including some torrential bursts as well and really quite squally winds as it moves on through. behind it, though, you get to see the sunshine and a few showers. strong southerly winds, a few gusts here, but widely towards the north and west of the uk — 60 mph. maybe a bit more, elsewhere 50 mph. again, maybe a bit more, particularly when the heavy rain moves on through. it will be a mild start to the weekend for what it's worth.

it's still looking windy on sunday, particularly across the north west of scotland. an early spell of rain clearing east, then brightening up to a few showers. then with uncertain timing, the arrival of some more rain pushing in from the west later in the day especially into sunday night. there are some met office weather warnings out. do get across those online for what that means for where you are. and after a windy and at times wet start to next week and of course early november, after that, something quieter, drier and calmer.

this is bbc news, the headlines.

france has raised its terror alert to its highest level after three people were killed by a man wielding a knife at a church in nice. a 21—year—old tunisian man is being held on suspicion of the killings. president macron has described the incident as an islamist terror attack. europe scrambes to deal with a surge in coronavirus infections. the german chancellor warns of a long, hard winter, as the country prepares to goes back into full lockdown. there are now only four days left until the us election. as president trump and joe biden continue campagining, early voting has hit record leverls. in texas — drive—through polling stations are contributing to the high turnout. some campaigners have expressed fears of voter suppression now on bbc news, hardtalk with

stephen sackur.