this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan—jones. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. our top stories: more troops are deployed to protect religious buildings in france, after three people died in a knife attack in nice. the country is now on the highest security level. president macron described the attack as islamist terrorism. translation: i ask for unity from everyone. that is the message that i wanted to express here in nice today. as europe struggles to cope with a surge of coronavirus infections, the president of the european commission says it's essential to prepare

the infrastructure for a mass vaccination programme. the member states will all get vaccines at the same time and at the same conditions based on their share of the eu population. drive—through polling stations help to break early voting records in texas, but campaigners fear there's scope for voter suppression in the lone star state. voting should not be hard. voting should be everyone‘s privilege. france is now in 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'd only recently arrived in the country 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 knew 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 ina 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. the president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, has said work should start now on preparing the infrastructure for a mass vaccination programme across the entire region. she was speaking during a video conference call with eu leaders, who called for vaccines to be made available europe—wide once they had been approved. paul hawkins reports.

lockdown eve brings anger on the streets of paris. translation: we do not want to be locked down. we're sick of the curfew and everything. we understand that it is for the disease but should not get carried away. from midnight tonight we all have to stay—at—home. it is too much, i am not going to. i will stay here. from friday, no—one can leave home unless for essential work or medical reasons. france limiting the liberty it is famous for embracing. this woman goading the authorities, telling them she does not care if she is fined for breaking lockdown. the french president insists a national lockdown is essential to drive down infection rates before hospitals are overwhelmed.

meanwhile, germany's new measures which come into force on monday are not as far—reaching as france but they do include the closures of gyms, theatres, restaurants and bars. translation: for the coming times i wish for one thing, that we all show solidarity to one another and with one another. this is the only way we will get through this historical crisis. this winter will be hard. four long difficult months but it will end. spain's parliament, meanwhile, has approved a six—month extension of a countrywide state of emergency. 80% of the population is now limited on what it can do and where it can go. infection rates are soaring across europe and with that in mind, the president of the european commission has said that preparations should begin for a mass vaccination

programme across the eu. member states will get vaccines at the same time and at the same conditions based on their share of the eu population they have and this is already fixed with the member states, we have already agreed on that. until then it is a return for some europeans to almost empty streets. let's get some of the day's other news. the big tech companies have reported their latest results with demand for their products surging during the pandemic. amazon continues to be one of the biggest winners, with sales of $96 billion dollars in the last quarter. facebook reported 2.5 billion daily users on average across its platforms in september, up 15% from a year ago. the uk labour party has suspended jeremy corbyn over his reaction to a highly critical report on anti—semitism within the party under his leadership. the report found the party had been responsible for unlawful harassment and discrimination. the current leader, sir keir starmer, has promised to implement key recommendations.

hundreds of families living in a camp in buenos aires have been evicted after police destroyed their makeshift homes. the owners of the land have been trying to reclaim it in court. about 2,500 people were living there, although many agreed to leave before the eviction started. a nasa probe sent to collect rock from an asteroid is back on track after some technical issues. officials behind the osiris—rex craft were worried after a rock wedged open the door of a container. nasa says the rock samples have now been safely sealed inside and the probe is ready to return to earth. with just five days left before the us election, both president trump and joe biden have been making a final push for votes in the crucial state of florida. donald trump made a stop in tampa, where he appeared in front of a packed crowd. he's lavished a lot

of attention on florida, a clear marker of just how important the state is to his electoral strategy. joe biden also visited tampa and broward county. in contrast with president trump's campaign style, the former us vice president's events were socially distanced affairs. on thursday the us broke another grim covid record, registering its highest number of daily cases since the outbreak began. and as you might expect, the candidates‘ 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 punishing lockdowns. 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! our washington correspondent, nomia iqbal explained more about the candidates' approach to the pandemic. it is not just what they are saying but in terms of physically the way they hold their rallies and events. different approaches on the pandemic but it is impacting the election, notjust in terms of who is being voted for, who has been the best leader but how they are voting. more than 50 million americans have already cast a ballot because of not wanting to be in a queue on election day and that is around about 50% of the total ballots cast in 2016. let's try and work out what those ballots will mean.

what do the polls say at the moment? they show thatjoe biden has a decent lead, nationally, and in the key battleground states. of course people are very cautious whenever you talk about polls because they say in 2016, donald trump supporters were undercounted and on november 3, many will show up in person to vote which could change things. trump supporters generally do not talk to pollsters, they do not trust them, so they are not reflected in the polls. also many democratic supporters who say they will vote forjoe biden but they may not turn up because of concern of voter suppression. in the end it comes down to voter turnout but the results that matter, to use the cliche, are the ones we hear on election night. stay with us on bbc news. still to come, the volunteers involved in a new drug trial to find a treatment for the early stages of covid—i9. 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 seven billionth person on the planet. charlie hebdo

this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: a 21—year—old tunisian man is being investigated on suspicion of killing three churchgoers in the southern french city of nice. as europe struggles to cope with a surge of coronavirus infections, the president of the european commission says it's essential to prepare the infrastructure for a mass—vaccination programme. let's return now to the us election. more people have voted early in texas than in any other state but, as 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. you guys excited ? yes. alright... 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 meza, 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. for a closer look at voter turnout, democratic pollster and hit strategies co—founder and partner, roshni nedungadi,

joined me from washington. joe biden is seeing a huge advantage right now in people who are going out to early vote. we're seeing younger voters, people of colour, women, white women in the suburbs going out to early vote right now all around the country. and all of these groups of people are favouring joe biden in their polling. we recently conducted a poll of black voters nationwide and 43% had already voted. and of those people who had already voted, 88% said that they would supportjoe biden versus only 3% who said they would support donald trump. the interesting thing i suppose, the interesting question perhaps unknowable, is that are these voters people who would have voted on the day anyway, or are they new, extra voters who wouldn't have voted on the day so could actually make a significant difference? yeah, that's a question that i'm not sure we will quite

know the answer to but what we do know is that we're seeing large groups of new voters who didn't vote in 2016. about 25% of voters who have already voted in both florida and arizona — florida and north carolina excuse me, are voters who did not show up to vote in 2016. and almost a third of voters who have already voted in arizona were voters who did not show up to vote in 2016. so there is a lot of enthusiasm and despite the pandemic, despite trump and republicans trying to suppress the votes of all of the minority communities as your last segment mentioned, we're seeing really big turnout amongst these voters. let's focus on young voters because traditionally, obviously, everyone wants young voters and traditionally, young voters just don't vote. do you think this is

a significant change this time? i think there is a significant change this time and we're already seeing increased turnout among young voters who traditionally don't actually vote early or vote by mail. they tend to be more likely to vote on election day. as it stands now, we're already seeing an increased share of young voters in the existing electorate. in 2016, they were about 9% of voters, right now at the same time as today. right now, they are about 11% of voters so they are increasing their share of the electorate already. ok, let's move onto this idea of voter suppression. you mentioned there and we saw bits of it there in nick bryant's report. how significant do you think it is? i think that's yet to be seen but we do know that states like texas, states like florida, have been trying to suppress the vote of minority communities, of young voters, and it

doesn't seem to be working. texas is on par, either tomorrow or the day after, to hit 100% of their total vote from 2016. so there are huge numbers of voters going out already despite all the barriers that are being put in place. and in fact, while we see confidence among democratic groups, like people of colour and young voters in vote by mail, more confidence in how to vote by mail and how to vote early, we're seeing less confidence amongst republican voters and trump supporters in voting methods, like vote by mail and early vote. so we might actually be suppressing the votes of trump supporters with all of the policies they have put in place. as part of our coverage of the us election, we are tracking how the candidates are faring in the national polls and, as you can see, joe biden is currently

ahead with 51%, while president trump is on 42%. as always, a big health warning with poles. you can find all the details on our website — or you can downlod the bbc news app. 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. our medical editor, fergus walsh, went to meet some of the first volunteers who'll be receiving the experimental medication. the preparations are meticulous. symptoms of covid which began within five days. 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.

that was 1a years ago. it is probably 11:15 — the first patient. now, doctors must wait 24—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 bloodstream 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 look 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. jake is the other volunteer today. he's not worried about being on a drug trial but his mum is. when she found out i was taking part in one of the trials, she wasn't happy whatsoever. why's your mum worried? the risk involved, she worries about everything really. she looks at the worst possible

scenarios that have happened. but you're just trying to do your bit. yeah, i'm just trying to help out really and obviously it could help me as well. once the follow—up checks are done, jake and catherine will take the rest of their five—day treatment at home. think about what a potent antivirus could achieve. schools could stay open, trains could run and planes could fly. the whole economy could get back on its feet and we could somehow get back to life as we once knew it. it'll be months before we know if molnupiravir is the next big thing or just 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. traffic leaving paris hit record levels just hours before a new national lockdown came into force across france.

cars stretched for a cumulative total of 700 kilometres in the ile—de—france region early on thursday evening. french media say parisians left the capital to spend lockdown in the countryside. asimilar a similar exodus happened in march, causing hostility in other parts of france. we have all heard the phrase, dogs are man's best friend. well, it isn'tjust a saying — it's the honest truth. a new study of the canine's dna has shown that human beings have been close friends with them for so long that by the end of the ice age there were five different types of dog. scientists says the data confirms that dogs were domesticated before any other known species. traces of these ancient breeds survive today in every corner of the world. that's it from me. you can reach me on

twitter — i'm @ lvaughanjones. this is bbc news. bye—bye. hello. if the phrase it's raining again has been used rather too much this month, it will be used again before the month is done. 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: police in france, italy and tunisia are investigating a 21—year—old tunisian man being held in hospital on suspicion of killing three churchgoers in nice. it's reported that he migrated to europe last month, landing on the italian island of lampedusa. president macron has called the attack islamist terrorism. as europe struggles to cope with a surge of coronavirus infections, the president of the european commission says work should start immediately to prepare the infrastructure for a mass—vaccination programme. the scale of the problem was outlined by the german chancellor, who warned of a long, hard winter ahead. there are now only five days left until the us election. as president trump and joe biden continue campagining, early voting has hit record levels. in texas, drive—through polling stations are contributing to the high turn—out. some campaigners have expressed fears of voter suppression aimed at minority communities.