this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a gunman killed by police during a deadly shooting in vienna was an islamist terrorist, according to the austrian chancellor. police are searching for accomplices. gunmen opened fire yesterday evening at six different locations in the city centre — at least four people have died and more than a dozen have been wounded. we saw the policeman in the street next to our restaurant, we saw the ambulance lining up next to our restaurant, we saw victims who seemed harmed. in england, people living in liverpool are being offered the chance to be tested regularly for coronavirus from friday as part of a mass—testing pilot.

if you want to get in touch with me on that or on any other story today i'm on twitter. you can use the hashtag #bbcyourquestions. the first polling stations will open this morning as president trump and joe biden spend their final hours campaigning in the us presidential election. the wales football manager, ryan giggs, says he is co—operating with police after he was accused of assault. the former manchester united player denies the allegations. and coming up this hour — after being badly hit by last year's australian bushfires, we check in on the health of the recovering koala population. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us

for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. the austrian chancellor sebastian kurz says the gunman shot dead by police in an attack in vienna last night was an islamic state sympathiser. in a news conference in the past half hour, the chancellor promised to defend the country against islamic attacks and hunt down those those behind the attacks. four people were killed when at least one man opened fire in the city centre. another 14 people were wounded — some are fighting for their lives. the shooting happened near vienna's main synagogue, as people gathered in bars and restaurants hours before the enforcement of new coronavirus restrictions. at least one suspect is believed to be at large. leaders around the world have condemned the attack. this report from mark lobel. austrian police order people to take cover. restaurants are locked down. we've been told that because of an ongoing attack in the city centre

that the restaurants are closed. at the moment we can't leave until the situation has actually been confirmed and cleared. news of the incident emerged at 7.53 — this tweet revealing a police operation under way. three minutes later, reports of shots fired. details are emerging of several rifle—wielding attackers in six locations. one witness recalls what he saw. we didn't know what's going on, to be honest. the only thing we heard of was the firecrackers, the sound of firecrackers. and then we only saw what happened sort of afterwards. you know, we saw policemen in the street next to our restaurant. we saw the ambulance lining up next to our restaurant. we saw there were victims who seemed harmed, in a way. sadly we also saw there was still a body lying down the street next to us. it's taking place in a vibrant

district of vienna — opposite a synagogue which was closed at the time — the night before a new 8pm coronavirus curfew kicks in for cafes and restaurants there. translation: we are living here in austria and particularly in vienna through difficult hours. we are victims of an appalling terrorist attack in our capital, which is still ongoing. i want to thank the emergency services. they are risking their lives to secure our safety. the police managed to eliminate one attacker but more attackers are on the run. i also want to thank the rescue services who are working at this difficult hour, and i want to assure the relatives of the victims that all our thoughts are with you. the president of the european council, charles michel, tweeting that europe strongly condemns this cowardly act that violates life and our human values. he says he stands with austria. french president emanuel macron says

the french people share the shock and grief of the austrian people. after france, he says, a friend of ours is attacked. this is our europe, our enemies must know who they are dealing with. we will not give up. and the british prime minister borisjohnson has tweeted that he is deeply shocked by the attacks, telling the people of austria the uk stands united with them against terror. the police say the operation remains active. they're urging people to stay at home or avoid public transport if they're out on the streets. translation: this is the hardest day for austria for several years. we are dealing with a terror attack, the severity of which we haven't experienced in austria for a long time, thank god. unfortunately we have several injured, several dead. our special forces have managed to eliminate a heavily armed terrorist, and with an automatic weapon. from what we know there is at least one perpetrator on the run.

austria's interior ministry says that video material has been seized at one attacker‘s home, and that the perpetrator police killed was an islamic state sympathiser and wore an explosive belt which police say was a fake. as the manhunt continues, the special forces are also searching beyond the capital. mark lobel, bbc news. our europe correspondent damien mcguinness is in berlin. hello damien mcguinness is in berlin. to you. what is th this hello to you. what is the latest on this investigation, this ongoing investigation? we are finding out more about who the perpetrator, who was shot dead by police minutes after the attack, actually was. it seems he was a 20—year—old man with austrian citizenship and also north macedonian citizenship. he had been known to police, he had a conviction already for wanting to go to syria to fight for is, last year. he was

jailed, released from jail last year in december. he was known to police. police had been keeping an eye on him but he managed to carry out this attack so it seems he was carrying a bag of ammunition, he launched a brutal attack on people just interface and bars in this lively area in the central vienna. saturday night, lots of people out, a lovely evening, a few hours before it new restrictions meant that bars and cafe is by closing. people were out enjoying themselves. four people we re enjoying themselves. four people were shot dead, two men, two women. 14 other people are still in hospital, many in a critical condition. just half an hour ago, austria's a chance to let sebastian kurz give an address and said it was a brutal attack and an attack on our free society. he also said we shouldn't fall into the tactical track of the terrace. this is not a fight between muslims and austrians,

but a fight with the terrorists. it was really a fight with people who wa nt to was really a fight with people who want to destroy free society. he calls the nation together call for we have not only the sadness and the commemorations of those people who we re commemorations of those people who were killed in this awful attack but also the ongoing worry of what could happen next. there could be that perpetrators are still out there on the run who could be potentially armed. still a very clear the clear situation. police are telling people to stay indoors and avoid any potentially dangerous situations. thank you. damien mcguinness in berlin. yan st—pierre is a counter—terrorism advisor and is chief executive of modern security consulting group. thank you forjoining us. a number of really big red flags about this individual who was shot by police,

the government had previously been to jail for going the government had previously been to jailfor going to syria the government had previously been to jail for going to syria to try to join the so—called islamic state. he was released early, many will be asking why he was released early and how he was able to carry out the attack if he was being watched. numerous red flags. it will be reminiscent of some of the attacks that occurred earlier in the year as well as late last year as to why it is possible for such criminals to be released early, especially if they are considered to be a potential threat. in this case it is even worse because the type of attack would suggest a certain degree of suggestion to the macro sophistication and access to various weapons, possible training. in this case it is major questions that the security forces in austria it will be hard pressed to answer. do you think it is coincidence we have seen these two recent attacks in france

and now this in austria? i am not suggesting they are closely connected by any means, but sometimes we do see spates of attacks happening like this in different countries. indeed. we can't exclude it as part of a product trend but the level of sophistication of this attack would suggest there has been a level of planning going on for a certain time now. it could be that there are several factors that could have triggered the attacker to commit his attack. that could be the impending lockdown, the last time possibly for him to have access to various targets. the other could be indeed what happened in france or in other places. right now it is difficult to determine what the trigger is but the type of attack would suggest longer term planning than what we saw in france earlier this month. given what is the first question was to you and there were a number of red flags around this individual. if we look more broadly at austria's

approach to counterterrorism, how successful has it been in identifying individuals who may be a threat or disrupting potential plots ? threat or disrupting potential plots? well, they have been very effective. one thing austria has done very well is work with its european partners and also other international partners in terms of information sharing. they have been very active in terms of prevention, de—radicalisation programmes. so in this sense, they have been very proactive. the question will be, was there enough follow—up once potential suspects or threats, terrorist threats have been identified? and this is where the lapse could have occurred. but it is not ina lapse could have occurred. but it is not in a bad position per se, it has been working hard to do this but u nfortu nately been working hard to do this but unfortunately it didn't work out this time. thank you very much, yan st—pierre.

in the uk, regular coronavirus tests are going to be offered to everyone in liverpool from the end of this week, in the government's first mass—testing pilot involving a whole city. troops will help carry out rapid turn—around tests on about half a million people who live or work in liverpool, even if they don't have symptoms. our political correspondent nick eardley reports. many of us have taken tests like this in the last few months. the government thinks they are going to be crucial to controlling the virus in future. yesterday, they hit a target with half a million daily tests available. and, from friday, a new mass—testing scheme is being rolled out here in liverpool, where the number of cases is among the highest in england. everyone — even those without symptoms — will be offered a regular test. they are going to be outside hospitals, universities, schools, mobile units going into care homes and other places where we see there is a spike or an increase in covid—i9 activity. 2,000 armed forces personnel have

been deployed to help. in what the prime minister hopes will be a new weapon against the virus. borisjohnson was in parliament yesterday to explain his plans for a new england—wide lockdown coming into force for a month from thursday. the modelling presented by our scientists suggests that, without action, we could see up to twice as many deaths over the winter as we saw in the first wave. faced with these latest figures, there is no alternative but to take further action at a national level. he said the measures would end in four weeks, and it would be up to mps what would happen next. leader of the opposition, keir starmer. but he's faced claims that he waited too long to act. as a result, this lockdown will be longer than it needed to be — at least four weeks — it will be harder. we havejust missed half—term. and the human cost will be higher.

labour will, though, back the measures in a vote tomorrow, so they will almost certainly pass. so england is heading for another lockdown. but there remain questions over the cost and the longer term exit strategy. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. let's get more from our political correspondentjessica parker who's at downing street. you were in downing street earlier but you are now at westminster. a cabinet meeting taking place this morning. as we look towards this new lockdown period in england and think about the measures that are happening in other parts of the uk, what are we hearing about furlough and the possible extension of the furlough scheme to other nations of the uk? yeah, because rishi sunak and the governors had resisted the idea of extending furlough beyond the end of october, but with the announcement that england would be going into a new, although different to the type of lockdown in march,

but a new kind of lockdown nevertheless, he has extended furlough over the coming month, so people who cannot work could claim 80% of their wages. but it costs of annoyance, anger. wales already in a firebreak and there were questions about, ok, in future, firebreak and there were questions about, ok, infuture, if scotland decides it needs to go into a folic lockdown, if wales, northern ireland decide they need to go into a fuller lockdown, will they get fellow? it was suggested that would be the case but we have not really had any detail on how that would work, what kind of criteria they would be to qualify for those furlough payments. ministers have stressed the fellow furlough scheme is uk wide, for eve i’yo ne furlough scheme is uk wide, for everyone who is eligible over the coming month. but nicola sturgeon is calling for urgent clarity. interestingly, earlier today,

calling for urgent clarity. interestingly, earliertoday, robert jenrick, the community secretary has been doing the media rounds, and suggested it was a decision for the chancellor. it is not exactly clear at the moment of what kind of criteria a nation would have to meet in order to get those furlough payments, which are crucial of course too many workers. of course, is various restrictions, measures, lockdown is come and go, we are a lwa ys lockdown is come and go, we are always seeking clarity on exactly what we can and cannot do. there has been a confusion this morning, hasn't there, from not one but two government ministers? yeah, it feels like we've been here before. new measures have come in, ministers have been grilled about them and haven't always got it quite right. including the prime ministerfor a specific area of england at one point. let's kick off with michael gove who last night appeared to suggest that singles tennis outdoors and the gulf with just two people and the gulf with just two people and maybe —— golf with two people would be a possibility which is odd because downing street made it clear earlier in the day that golf courses

and tennis courts would close. michael gove has sought to clarify his comments by saying he got it wrong. also this morning robertjenrick, who i mentioned a minute ago, the community secretary was being grilled about who you can and can't meet outdoors and seems to get things slightly wrong, suggesting a household could go and meet one of the person. i have checked in about these rules. a household can go out together for a these rules. a household can go out togetherfor a walk, some these rules. a household can go out together for a walk, some exercise. or you together for a walk, some exercise. oryou can together for a walk, some exercise. or you can have just together for a walk, some exercise. or you can havejust one on one meetings, so you could not have a household going to meet one of the person unless they were in a support bubble. it is all pretty complicated but i know there is quite an appetite for people to just know exactly what the rules will be going into thursday. 0k, thank you very much for that. jessica parker in westminster for us. just getting in the last few seconds some figures.

latest figures from the office for national statistics, which i will try to make sense of. the first thing i will tell you is the figures on all causes of death, all causes of mortality. the ons says is 11% above the level expected for this time of year. excess mortality is that we are talking about the deaths both front coronavirus and other causes, all cause mortality deaths, 11% above the level expected for this time of year. 12,292 deaths registered in the uk on the week of the 23rd of october according to the ons. of the 23rd of october according to the cns. of that, the 23rd of october according to the ons. of that, 1126 of the deaths registered in that week involved coronavirus. up by 48% on the previous week's figures. i think thatis previous week's figures. i think that is a key stat to pick out from this information just coming

that is a key stat to pick out from this informationjust coming in that is a key stat to pick out from this information just coming in from the ons. that news just coming this information just coming in from the ons. that newsjust coming in, so the ons. that newsjust coming in, so clearly deaths both front coronavirus and other causes overall mortality 11% above the level expected for this time of year says the office for national statistics. a few minutes ago we were telling you about the massive testing pilot that will be rolled out in liverpool from the end of this week. the first citywide pilot to be done by the government on mass testing. professorjon deeks is a bio—statistician at the university of birmingham, and a member of a working group of the royal statistical society, which is looking at the use of coronavirus tests. really good to have you with us to talk about all of this. what sort of testis talk about all of this. what sort of test is going to be used in liverpool? well, we can only get information from the newspapers. it is difficult to find out from the department exactly what is happening. but there is a mixture of tests being talked about, which

include lateral flow assays, small tests like pregnancy test which just require a bit of saliva or the swab from your throat put onto a small white plastic device which i meant to give results within about 15 minutes. there are also new laboratory minutes. there are also new la boratory tests, minutes. there are also new laboratory tests, lab tests, which area laboratory tests, lab tests, which are a lot faster than the existing pcr test we have been using for all of this year. in your opinion, how effective are these rapid turnaround tests ? effective are these rapid turnaround tests? this is a really important point because the government is racing to get these tests into use and they have gone a bit too fast in my opinion in terms of what evidence we have is to how well they work. the true answer for the rapid test is we don't know how well they will work. they have been evaluated in small studies in people who have really severe covid and those studies tell us how well they work

at detecting people who have lots of virus. in this mass screening programme it is important we are able to detect people who are presymptomatic, those who have been infected but not yet having symptoms, and people who are asymptomatic, people who are infected and will never get symptoms. we don't have any data at all to say that these tests work in these groups of people. normally we would never introduce a screening programme without being clear as to how well the test will work. it is a risk to us, actually, as to how fast the government is rushing to introduce these tests which have not been proven into use. so you are questioning, then, you know, how much use what they actually be in trying to bring the r rates down in liverpool which is the first to be tested in this mass pilot? of course we hope they are going to work but

it will be far better for the government to do this pilot as a proper study to test whether they work and i have not heard that that is going to happen. that is interesting. i was about to ask is that we don't know, then, if there is going to be this study of how well they are working beyond the actual roll—out of the test to try to come at a very basic level, determine whether someone has the virus or not. absolutely, and the same is happening at university studies which have been commissioned. the university of durham are about to use one of these tests. what they will do is confirm the positive results in durham with a profit pcr test, but they are not doing anything with the negatives and a big risk with these tests is that they cannot detect these lower levels of virus which will be present in people in very early presymptomatic stages and in asymptomatic people. they know these tests do not pick up low levels of virus and so this is a risk that people will be told they have a

negative result which is a false negative, and then they don't take the measures they should take to socially distance and so on from that. it will be better, far better, to run this current pilot right now with a pcr test being done alongside these new tests to establish how accurate they are because that data does not exist for several of the tests that the government are about to use. is anyone listening to what you are saying on this, anyone in government with the power to do what you are suggesting and to really, you are suggesting and to really, you know, get the utmost value from this pilot? it's very difficult to get conversations going with the right people, it's very difficult to find out who the people are. the royal statistical society is engaging with the department and we are trying to get to the right people. we hope they are listening because we are not involving the experts in this country at the moment in this. we have a national screening committee in the uk who

are at the worlds experts, they are pa rt are at the worlds experts, they are part of that committee, to help decide when we all do more good than harm when a screening. those experts have not been consulted by the government in terms of setting up these screening programmes. finally, briefly, you will obviously wait and see what difference, if this makes a difference in liverpool and hopefully it doesn't. we can help but it would be better if we knew it and hope to but i'm not sure that even whilst we are doing this we will collect the right information to be able to work out whether these tests have worked or whether something else has worked. we need to ta ke something else has worked. we need to take this opportunity to do the science properly and learn from this pilot as to how accurate these tests are when they are being used in the community. they have only been evaluated in a laboratory at porton down, which is very different than doing it in liverpool. we need to know how well they will detect the disease when being used in liverpool and that requires appropriate scientific study which at the moment

i cannot see is being planned to be done. interesting to talk to you, professorjon deeks from the university of birmingham. on cue. thank you. more now on the austria shooting. sebastian kurz has been talking about this. he says he is deeply affected in what he calls that dart hours for our republic. yesterday, austria and our people were the target of a brutal terror attack. four defenceless civilians were murdered in cold blood at close range. an elderly man, a elderly woman, a young passer—by and a waitress had their lives ripped away suddenly and unexpectedly. i'm going to find out if we can bring you a clip of that. we don't have the cliff but let me tell you more about what the chancellor of austria was saying.

an law enforcement officer who bravely put himself in the way of the attacker was shot atand injured. in total, 1a more people, some of them seriously injured and some of them are still fighting for their lives. he was very clear in his statement that he believes that this was an islamist terrorist attack and said austria would not give into extremism. after weeks of intense, and at times bitter campaigning, it is now presidential election day in the united states. inline with tradition, at the stroke of midnight, votes began to be cast in the new hampshire hamlet of dixville notch. in a final push on monday, bothjoe biden and donald trump encouraged supporters in key battle ground states to get out and vote. president trump, with vice president mike pence by his side, delivered his closing pitch to voters in grand rapids in michigan. he promised to prove the pollsters

wrong by winning the election, in a similar manner to four years ago. meanwhile, businesses in the nation's capital — washington dc — and in new york city have been seen boarding up their premises due to concerns about unrest after the vote. our washington correspondent ben wright has more. across the united states, in person and by mail, americans have voted in vast numbers already. nearly 100 million people have cast their ballots early and more will have their say at polling stations today. for both candidates, monday saw a final sprint for votes around key swing states and both made campaign stops in pennsylvania. lagging in the polls, donald trump has been rallying his supporters at a punishing pace. the president surprised the world by winning four years ago and believes he can do so again. so get your friends, get your family, get your neighbours, get your co—workers, grab your boss by the tie and say, "come on, boss!

we've got to get out and vote, get out and vote." and you are going to have a day tomorrow, the likes of which i think people haven't seen in a long time. his democratic rivaljoe biden has also been campaigning intensely in pennsylvania, arguing america must come together and get a grip on the pandemic. the first step to beating the virus is defeating donald trump. car horns blaring. it always matters who sits in the white house, but the choice facing americans today is stark. this feels like the most pivotal presidential election in decades and the huge early voting turnout reflects that. it is also a big test for america's democracy and whether it can peacefully steer this nation through a deeply polarised moment. # i'm off the deep end. # watch as i dive in. # i'll never...#. tonight, lady gaga joined joe biden at a drive—in campaign event in pittsburgh.

after decades in public life, mr biden could be on the cusp of the presidency. donald trump is in the fight of his life, still thrilling his crowds, still predicting possible bedlam after the election. this evening he stopped in wisconsin before wrapping up his travels in michigan. a campaign going to the wire. ben wright, bbc news, washington. twitter and facebook have labelled a post by president trump as "misleading" after he claimed that postal ballots in the key swing state of pennsylvania could lead to rampant fraud and street violence. mr trump alleged — without evidence — that a supreme court decision allowing mail—in ballots in the state to be counted three days after the election was dangerous and undermined the rule of law. the platforms also added a link, inviting people to learn that mail—in ballots are safe.

let me tell you a bit about our coverage of the election results. you canjoin us tonight from 11.30pm for our us election special results programme on bbc one and the bbc news channel. you can follow all the expert analysis online as the results come in at bbc.co.uk/news and on the bbc news app. there'll also be coverage across bbc radio 4 and the world service from 10pm, and 5 live from midnight. temperatures are on the rise but we will see the return of some rain. we have got you absolutely covered for all of those results as they come in. the wales football manager ryan giggs has strenuously denied allegations of assault, after the sun newspaper reported he'd been arrested following an incident involving his girlfriend at his home in greater manchester. the wales team have cancelled a scheduled news conference today. a spokesman said he's cooperating fully with the police and their investigations. our correspondent andy moore explained what we know so far. we have now got a few brief

state m e nts we have now got a few brief statements that confirmed the bare bones of the incident. firstly, we've got a statement from greater manchester police. it doesn't name ryan giggs but it does say police we re ryan giggs but it does say police were called at 10.05 on sunday evening at reports of a disturbance atan evening at reports of a disturbance at an address in wesley. they say a woman in her 30s sustained minor injuries but did not require any treatment. the 46—year—old man was arrested on suspicion of section 47 assault and section 39 common assault and section 39 common assault and section 39 common assault and has been bailed pending further inquiries. subsequent to that we have had a statement from ryan giggs' personal representative, it simply says, mr giggs denies all allegations of assault made against him. he is cooperating with the police and will continue to assist them with their ongoing investigations. and then finally, a comment from the welsh fa, they say they are aware of an incident involving the men's national team

manager, ryan giggs. he was due to announce the squad for an upcoming round of friendlies this morning, that press conference has now been cancelled. hello this is bbc news with anita mcveigh. the headlines: a gunman killed by police during a deadly shooting in vienna was an islamist terrorist according to the austrian chancellor. police are searching for accomplices. gunmen opened fire yesterday evening at six different locations in the city centre — at least four people have died and more than a dozen have been wounded. in england, people living in liverpool are being offered the chance to be tested regularly for coronavirus from friday as part of a mass—testing pilot. the first polling stations will open this morning — as president trump and joe biden have spent their final hours campaigning in the us presidential election. the wales football manager, ryan giggs, says he is co—operating with police

after he was accused of assault. the former manchester united player denies the allegations. more now on the attack in vienna. the austrian chancellor sebastian kurz says the gunman shot dead by police last night was an islamic state sympathiser. earlier i spoke to eric fry, senior editor of der standard newspaper, he say we are no clearer about the number of suspects police are looking for. what we know is that the reports that came out last night, there may be six attackers and was probably armed and the likelihood is it was a sole, single attacker who was doing the shooting yesterday. whether there is an accomplice who is now actually armed and at large is unclear but the police statements and the statement of the interior

minister, they think it is just one person but they would like to find more out about his background and the people in his network. the people who have been also detained this morning and questioned seem to be not involved with the shooting like last night directly, but seem to have had contact with him and his islamist background. so the authorities clearly have some level of information about the gunman who was shot dead, given what they've said this morning. have they been able to search any properties or carry out any other searches which have led them to make this statement? yes. immediately somehow they identified the person, they found his apartment which is in a working class district in vienna. in there, apparently they found signs for his sympathy for the islamic state, for radical islamist and what they know now is he is 20 years old, he has a criminal record, so he has been known to the police but this is about all we know. we don't know where he got his guns and

his weapons from and we don't know whether he has been actually involved in any kind of political activity before. tell us more about the area where this attack began last night. it was apparently, the first shooting happened right in front of the main synagogue in vienna, so it seems like this was actually the target, but this area is also one of the main party and club and cafe districts and going out districts in vienna. last night it was full because this is the last evening before the curfew kicks in and the weather was nice, the weather was warm, so there were hundreds, thousands of people in the streets and in cafe is and bars, and the shooting happened right in this vicinity, so he went from one place to the next, he was running or escaping, shooting at various places, and all this was a place with a lot of people on the street and a lot of activity. he did not get very far.

basically 15 minutes, 20 minutes after the first emergency call, police were there and they stopped him and shot him dead. so the police intervention came very fast and safe probably a lot of lives. lukas mandl, austrian mep in the ruling austrian people's party, says he really appreciates the work of the emergency services during this time. what they do is seeking out each and everything that can be found about the islamic state terrorists and due to the fact that at least six sites were attacked in the heart of vienna in the city centre, which i know very well, i can't imagine there was more than one terrorist. but it really on behalf of the police and the authority has of the police and the authorities

to seek everything out, everything that's connected with that. and the terrorists, the islamists can be assured we will not stand back and we will fight this sick ideology as much as we can in austria, in europe and all over the world, because we will defend liberal democracy, it is the rule of law, it is freedom, it's human dignity, it's our european way of life. the investigations are ongoing and the terrorists will be found. it is all the more shocking for austria, isn't it? because there hasn't been a terrorist attack, an attack of this nature for a very long time, has there? that's actually true. i, myself, was remembering in the very first minute in this whole attempt of the attack in strasbourg where the european parliament has its seat, nearly two years ago. i was there as well as i was in vienna yesterday. but things in vienna really got very, very severe and serious

and that's why it's so important we stick together. that's why i'm so grateful for many sympathies and condolences from all over the world, from all parts of the world, especially within europe where we stand strongly together and fight this ideology in order to defend for us and future generations, for our children, our values and european way of life. in a very broad sense, given we've had the two recent attacks in france, do you think there may be either individuals or groups of people who have looked at that and thought, we will launch an attack now as well? do you think it works like that in terms of where these people take their inspiration from, if i can use that word? i don't want to speculate, but what we can say as of now is that there is a connection to this sick ideology of islamism, political islam.

this is true for france and we sent a lot of sympathy to france last week. we also experienced in the last days before yesterday's attack, right in the evening before the lockdown has started due to the coronavirus pandemic, before that ahead of yesterday's attack we have seen vandalism in churches in vienna. we have seen a catholic nun attacked in another part of austria. everything within three or four days. so may be due to the pandemic, what you have broadcast right before this now, due to the pandemic may be our societies are more vulnerable? and that's why it even more important to stick together and to fight against islamist terrorism.

lukas mandl, austrian mep, talking to mea lukas mandl, austrian mep, talking to me a little earlier. how will the us election result affect the country's relationship with the uk especially during brexit? our reality check correspondent chris morris is here and has been finding out. there are some long—standing relationships between the united states and the uk on things like security, intelligence and defence, which are going to continue no matter who wins the presidential election. but politics matters. and it's worth asking what the election could mean for this country as it moves into a post—brexit world. some european governments suspect borisjohnson is waiting to see the political outcome in the us before deciding whether to push for a trade deal with the eu this year, or settle for no deal. downing street has denied this, with the prime minister saying specifically: "the two things are entirely separate." but there's not much doubt that while mr trump might be enthusiastic about no deal, and a more radical uk

split with the rest of europe.mr biden is not. he thinks brexit was a mistake. and his position will be much closer to the eu, and more specifically the irish view, of what brexit means. mr biden is aligned with the powerful irish lobby in congress, which would take a very dim view of any attempt to roll back the terms of the northern ireland protocol, in the brexit withdrawal agreement. and that matters for the uk's separate trade negotiations with washington. last year the us accounted for 20% of uk exports and 13% of uk imports. but congressional democrats have said there'd be little hope of an early free trade deal with the uk, if the brexit agreement on ireland isn't respected. donald trump has been pushing to get a deal done — but whether it's a republican or a democrat in the white house, any president is going to strike a hard bargain. and that's one of the reasons why personal relationships

donald trump has repeatedly boosted boris johnson and called him "‘britain trump'. joe biden seems to agree with the description, but in a less flattering way. after the prime minister won last year's general election mr biden called him "a physical and emotional clone" of the president. and plenty of influential democrats still feel the same. ben rhodes, who was barack obama's deputy national security advisor when mr biden was vice—president, recently wrote on twitter... "i'm old enough to remember when borisjohnson said obama opposed brexit because he was kenyan." so if mr biden wins, some bridge—building might be needed. but next year the uk will play a big global role — chairing both the g7 group of industrialised nations, and the big un climate summit cop—26. a starring role in restoring cooperation between western allies, and joint leadership on climate change, could mean past disagreements are quickly forgotten. donald trump's views on climate change, on the other hand, might be far more difficult for the uk to manage. so you can find pluses and minuses whoever wins, but under president trump thejohnson government has been america's best friend in europe.

if it's to be a biden presidency, though, the uk would be heading into a new relationship with europe with a very different administration in washington as well. i wonder, will we know tomorrow or will it be a few days. chris, thanks very much. as different countries around the globe try to tackle the second wave of coronavirus, one country is increasingly being looked to, as the place to show how the pandemic can be defeated. taiwan has now gone 200 days since it recorded its last covid—19 case, back in april. the east asian island did so by using tight border controls, a comprehensive track and trace system, as well as already having a culture of mask wearing. so does it have lessons to teach other countries? we can speak now to professor chan chang—chuan, who's dean of the school of public health at the national taiwan university. he joins us live now

from taipei, taiwan's capital. good to have you with us. speed of reaction and experience have been key to taiwan's success in dealing with the virus? yes it is. many countries are looking to learn how and what we have done over the past several months. border control in the very early stage, as back as december the 31st 2019. these are critical things. then you have quarantine with some digital way to make sure people followed the government's quarantine

policies. these two are very important foot what i have seen, in many countries are specially in democratic societies, in europe and the us, it is very difficult to enforce. but i think this is very important to meet these pandemic challenges. the other one is wearing masks. we learned from sars. wearing masks. we learned from sars. wearing masks from the beginning, so that percentage went up from 75% to almost everyone. they are wearing masks during transportation and indoors. so how important has the attitude and response of the public been when you compared the successes of somewhere like taiwan to the problems in other countries of getting the number of cases of the virus down and keeping those cases

down to low numbers? it is very important, during sars we saw doctors and nurses dying in hospital, which should be the place for patients. that lessons allows the government to work together. we have prepared for 17 years to have this infection control in hospitals and civilisation of hygiene. washing our hands, wearing masks and every family in taiwan, before this pandemic had some stocks of mass. it has become the culture and society is also very important. it has become a cultural thing and clear the experience of sars has led more people to be willing to wear masks

to protect themselves and other people. you are not at the pre—covid era entirely in taiwan, but what is life like there now? what can you say to people in other countries, if you follow this example this is the kind of life you could be leading now? we are looking quite normal, we socialise. we have postponed our class opening in february. other than that, we are opening our schools and the majority of companies are doing remote working half, and then physical presence, hearth. and the transportation and socialising, are quite normal. only one limitation, we still have strict

border control. like the uk, we are an island nation and we are very afraid of imported cases. so we don't go freely and we don't allow travellers to come to taiwan yet. so people are so limited in travelling, but we have encouraged more domestic travelling, even pretend you are going abroad. 0k, professor, the tight border control has been really key. not sure if we have a problem with the line. i think we maybe have lost the professor. you are back. we thought we had lost the line to you. so tight border controls, you are

saying are really important? briefly, this is really interesting, tell us about how your test and trace tell us about how your test and tra ce syste m tell us about how your test and trace system has worked, why has it worked so effectively? we will test people who have symptoms first and then all the possible contact people will be tracked and tested and in isolation. we use gps data from mobile phone and try to track every possible person. this is important. if you only test some people, it is only half done. i would advise every country. this is the only way we can

compete with the transmission of the virus. professor, thank you so much. really interesting to talk to you, thank you. while today's attack in vienna has been condemned by world leaders, france is still reeling from two incidents in the past two weeks. schools held a minute's silence today in memory of the teacher who was beheaded, samuel paty. meanwhile, muslim leaders in france have called for calm as anti—french protests continue around the world. freya cole reports it was the first day back after the gruesome murder of a french history teacher. these children were never taught by samuel paty, but his lesson has become a national legacy. translation: it is not right what they did to this man, he has a right

to express himself and say what he wa nts. to express himself and say what he wants. he had the right to teach freedom. french prime minister has joined teachers and children for the emotional return to samuel paty‘s school. he said the teacher taught every child of the republic to become a free citizen. but the french president, emmanuel macron, has become the target of boycott france rallies around the world. he has enraged conservative muslims for describing islam as a religion in crisis. in bangladesh, tens of thousands of men stormed the french embassy in an act of revenge. translation: we are here to protest against the french president for insulting our prophet muhammad. we will seize the french embassy to show our anger and demand a boycott of french goods. but muslim leaders

in france have called for calm. translation: we condemn terrorism and all forms of violence made in the name of our religion. we encourage our youth not to let themselves be dragged into this winding path that can only lead to destruction. but the calls for unity are up against a society which is grieving and remains divided over what should be the limits of freedom of expression. another child has been rescued from rubble in the turkish city of izmir, 91 hours after friday's earthquake. there were shouts ofjoy as the three—year—old girl named as ayda gezgin, was pulled from a collapsed building in a suburb of izmir. her mother is believed to be

still trapped beneath the rubble. the latest rescue comes a day after a four—year—old and a 14—year—old were found alive. 100 people are now known to have died following friday's quake, the vast majority in the city of izmir. the bushfires that raged across australia this time last year caused devastation. as well as claiming more then 30 lives, the country's wildlife was also badly hit. the koala population was decimated — and ever since volunteers on kanagaroo island have been doing their best to help them recover. our australia correspondent shaimaa khalil reports. they survived australia's fires. now these koalas are ready to go back where they belong. it's a very different scene from nearly a year ago. pictures of the badly burned animals shocked the world. hundreds were brought to this wildlife park when the flames tore through the island. as well as being faced with the burns and the starvation and the dehydration, they were also very mentally affected as well. a lot of them were just feeling so terrible that they were just kind of cuddled in a ball that they didn't have that fight response,

which a wild animal should. of the 50,000 koalas living on kangaroo island before the bushfire, it's feared most of them were killed. images of the destruction and the loss of wildlife were seen across the globe, prompting millions of dollars in donations. it was just incredible to see how many people from pretty much every country in the world jumped on board to donate to looking after and saving as much wildlife on kangaroo island here as we could. helping koalas survive here is vital for australia's ecology. it's the one place where the animals are disease free. for months now, hundreds of koalas have been looked after in the wildlife park, and it's been a long and tough journey for many of them. the aim is to get them strong enough to survive on their own here in the wild. and today, one of them is being released. after ten months of care, it's time for merton's big move today. ready? are you watching? here goes the koala.

oh, here he goes! for dana, it's a bittersweet separation. there's no better feeling watching someone that you've helped either raise from a joey, or get through all of that treatments, and then get them back out to the wild, watching them climb back out of a tree where they're meant to be. it'll take years for the island to recover, but it's hoped koalas like merton can still thrive in a much changed habitat. bye — bye. bye—bye, koala. bye — bye, koala. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, kangaroo island. efforts to refloat more than 60 pilot whales stranded off sri lanka's west coast have paid off. the country's navy, with help from environmental protection officers, police, and local residents, have saved all of the whales except for one. it's thought to be the largest stranding in sri lanka but the cause is currently unknown. a marine biologist said the whales, which measure about five metres long, were clearly exhausted

by the long ordeal. you're watching bbc news. joanna gosling will be here with you in the next few minutes. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. after a thoroughly wet start to the day across parts of scotland and england especially, things turning a little bit drier now and into the afternoon. there will still be a few showers dotted around but, equally, a little bit more in the way of dry and sunny weather and there is a trend to drier weather through the rest of the working week. high pressure down towards the south—west of us with a cap on the atmosphere. that means the rain clouds don't pop up. it will spread across most areas, at least, keeping things dry through thursday and friday but the return of some frost and also some mist and fog. out there at the moment, though, into the afternoon, the rain across some eastern areas gradually clearing away, allowing the sunshine to develop and for most,

actually, it's an afternoon of sunshine and one or two downpours. downpours most frequent in the west — some of those on the heavy side. after the gusty winds of this morning, this afternoon — certainly relative to recent days — the wind is much, much lighter. but even with the sunshine it is going to be a cold day — eight or nine degrees, well down from where we should be for the time of year for the vast majority. maybe a high of around 11 in southern counties of england and wales. now, after a cold day with longer nights, the nights are going to be chilly. showers dotted around to begin with, though — they will carry on through the night in northern parts of scotland. one or two dotted towards western parts of the uk, as well, but most become dry, clear and tonight — across england and wales, especially — there will be the first widespread frost of the season. but whilst it's frosty tomorrow morning it will be a lovely, crisp sunny one for many and it will stay that way for much of england and wales. maybe a few showers east of northern ireland, isle of man, towards north west england, north west midlands, north wales first thing. they will fade into the afternoon. more cloud for the afternoon across scotland and northern ireland and, in the highlands and islands, it turns increasingly wet. temperatures up a little bit on today's values.

another chilly and frosty night to take us into thursday. mist and fog becoming more of an issue, though, across southern counties for england and wales. for some it will linger all day long. south—westerly breeze for scotland and northern ireland introduces a bit more cloud. bit of drizzle around some western hills. most, though, will be dry and, with some sunny breaks in the north—east of scotland — 15 or 16 here. where the fog lingers — central, southern england — maybe only around six or seven. but as high pressure builds a bit further north by the end of the week, fog will become more of an issue across parts of scotland and northern ireland, too, and it stays cold where that fog lingers. most places, though, dry through friday into the start of the weekend, but through saturday, then into sunday, whilst temperatures are on the rise, we will see the return of some rain. see you soon.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 11... the austrian chancellor says the gunman killed by police during a deadly shooting in vienna was an islamist terrorist already known to the police. gunmen opened fire last night at six different locations in the city centre. at least four people have died and more than a dozen have been wounded. police are searching for accomplices. we saw the policeman in the street next to our restaurant, we saw the ambulance lining up next to our restaurant, we saw victims who seemed harmed. people living in liverpool are being offered the chance to be tested regularly for coronavirus from friday as part of a mass testing pilot. polls are starting to open

on the us east coast, as voters decide whether to elect donald trump orjoe biden as the next president. the wales football manager, ryan giggs, says he is co—operating with police after he was accused of assault. the former manchester united player denies the allegations. and coming up this hour... after being badly hit by last year's australian bushfires, we check in on the health of the recovering koala population. the austrian chancellor has said yesterday's shootings in vienna were clearly an islamist attack, and promised to hunt down those involved. the gunman shot dead by police was 20 years old and a known islamic state sympathiser.

he had served a prison term for attempting to travelto syria and join islamic state. four people were killed when at least one man opened fire in the city centre. another 1a people were wounded, some are fighting for their lives. the shooting happened near vienna's main synagogue, as people gathered in bars and restaurants hours before the enforcement of new coronavirus restrictions. at least one suspect is believed to be at large. leaders around the world have condemned the attack. this report by mark lobel. austrian police order people to take cover. restaurants are locked down. we've been told that because of an ongoing attack in the city centre that the restaurants are closed. at the moment we can't leave until the situation has actually been confirmed and cleared. news of the incident emerged at 7.53. this tweet revealing a police operation under way. three minutes later, reports of shots fired. details are emerging of several rifle—wielding attackers in six locations.

one witness recalls what he saw. we didn't know what's going on, to be honest. the only thing we heard of was the firecrackers, the sound of firecrackers. and then we only saw what happened sort of afterwards. you know, we saw policemen in the street next to our restaurant. we saw the ambulance lining up next to our restaurant. we saw there were victims who seemed harmed, in a way. sadly we also saw there was still a body lying down the street next to us. it's taking place in a vibrant district of vienna, opposite a synagogue which was closed at the time. the night before a new 8pm coronavirus curfew kicks in for cafes and restaurants there. translation: we are living here in austria and particularly in vienna through difficult hours. we are victims of an appalling terrorist attack in our capital,

which is still ongoing. i want to thank the emergency services. they are risking their lives to secure our safety. the police managed to eliminate one attacker but more attackers are on the run. i also want to thank the rescue services who are working at this difficult hour, and i want to assure the relatives of the victims that all our thoughts are with you. the president of the european council, charles michel, tweeting that europe strongly condemns this cowardly act that violates life and our human values. he says he stands with austria. french president emmanuel macron says the french people share the shock and grief of the austrian people. after france, he says, a friend of ours is attacked. this is our europe, our enemies must know who they are dealing with. we will not give up. and the british prime minister borisjohnson has tweeted that he is deeply shocked by the attacks, telling the people of austria the uk stands united with them against terror. the police say the operation

remains active. they're urging people to stay at home or avoid public transport if they're out on the streets. translation: this is the hardest day for austria for several years. we are dealing with a terror attack, the severity of which we haven't experienced in austria for a long time, thank god. unfortunately we have several injured, several dead. our special forces have managed to eliminate a heavily armed terrorist, and with an automatic weapon. from what we know there is at least one perpetrator on the run. austria's interior ministry says that video material has been seized at one attacker‘s home, and that the perpetrator police killed was an islamic state sympathiser and wore an explosive belt which police say was a fake. as the manhunt continues, the special forces are also searching beyond the capital. mark lobel, bbc news.

dr farid hafez is a political scientist at the university of salzburg and scholar at georgetown university's bridge initiative, a research project on islamophobia. he joins us from vienna. thank you very much indeed for joining us. can you just tell us actually what the latest that you are hearing is first of all in terms of this being an ongoing situation? yes, first of all thank you for having me. ithink yes, first of all thank you for having me. i think the austrian population is quite paralysed because of this is the first time something like this has happened in austria. obviously people consume news from around the world but it has never happened before on the soil, austrian soil, a terrorist attack, after 9/11 had taken place, here. currently, we had a speech by

the chancellor, sebastian kurz who had it made it very clear that i think it was a very rational approach to the whole issue, because he made clear this is not a war, a battle between muslims and christians, immigrants and austrians, that's the way he called it, so i think that was an important step because i fear also since the christian democratic party, the austrian people's party has mobilised a lot on islamophobia within the last three years and basically co—opted the far right agenda, that there was a possibility that they could also mobilise on that, but the opposite happened. he had a very reasonable stance yet. i think what we have to see at this point in time is because there had been rates by the ministry of the interior, we have to wait what will happen afterwards. we have seen in france in the last ten days that there were raids on organisations

and individuals who are not at all connected to the terrorist attacks and have been suffering under this crackdown on muslim organisations. again, this has not been the case here in austria, so that is where we are at this point in time. tell us a bit more about what the issues are with islamism in austria and how things have evolved, the scale. austria was always a hotspot. it's a small country with a few people, but in terms of percentages it's a high percentage of people who have joined the war of percentage of people who have joined the warof die in syria. there is a large amount of people who came from war—torn

countries who travel to syria, it's nothing related to the muslim community which has been here for 50 yea rs community which has been here for 50 years but rather it has been an issue for people who came in the recent ten, 15 or 20 years. so this is the situation. it's not a big amount of percentage of the overall muslim community. we have nearly 9% of the whole population being muslim and extremists are a very, very fringe, small minority within this community. in terms of security services monitoring any problems, we know that this attacker who was 20 had actually served time in prison for his sympathies and views. tell us more for his sympathies and views. tell us more about how much was known by the security services. the security

services and secret services were surveilling this person, the perpetrator of this terrorist attack, so they had knowledge about him. he was as you said, he was in prison before, so this i think poses a lot of questions, which is the secret service already surveilling him, what does that mean that they we re him, what does that mean that they were not aware that something like that could happen? and that is i think the political debate that has to start at this point of time. how effective are surveillance techniques implemented by the austrian secret service? and how effective are so—called the radicalisation preventing extremism projects which have also been in place in austria since at least five or six years now. in larger amount of money has been invested. thank you very much forjoining us. thank

you. we'll have more on the latest from austria in a short while when we hear from our correspondent bethany bell who is in vienna. here, regular coronavirus tests are going to be offered to everyone in liverpool from the end of this week, in the government's first mass—testing pilot involving a whole city. troops will help carry out rapid turn—around tests on about half a million people who live or work in liverpool, even if they don't have symptoms. our political correspondent nick eardley reports. many of us have taken tests like this in the last few months. the government thinks they are going to be crucial to controlling the virus in future. yesterday, they hit a target with half a million daily tests available. and, from friday, a new mass testing scheme is being rolled out here in liverpool, where the number of cases is among the highest in england. everyone, even those without symptoms, will be offered a regular test. they are going to be at sites in hospitals,

universities, schools, mobile units going into care homes and other places where we see there is a spike or an increase in covid—19 activity. 2000 armed forces personnel have been deployed to help. in what the prime minister hopes will be a new weapon against the virus. borisjohnson was in parliament yesterday to explain his plans for a new england wide lockdown coming into force for a month from thursday. the modelling presented by our scientists suggests that without action, we could see up to twice as many deaths over the winter as we saw in the first wave. faced with these latest figures, there is no alternative but to take further action at a national level. he said the measures would end in four weeks, and it would be up to mps what would happen next. leader of the opposition, keir starmer. but he has faced claims that he waited too long to act. as a result, this lockdown will be longer than it needed to be, at least four weeks. it will be harder.

we havejust missed half—term. and the human cost will be higher. labour will, though, back the measures in a vote tomorrow, so they will almost certainly pass. so england is heading for another lockdown. but there remain questions over the cost and the longer term exit strategy. nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. we can speak to our political correspondent, ellie price. she's in our westminster newsroom. furlough scheme has been extended. what are the details on that? as you say, it has been extended, it was taken up to the wire because it was meant to end at the end of october but will now continue through this many lockdown, four—week lockdown to the 2nd of december. the lockdown we're talking about is england wide, there are different rules in

scotland, northern ireland and wales. wales is going through a two—week circuit breaker, similar in essence as many lockdown. the big question was whether the furlough scheme would apply to devolved nations if they decide in the future to go into lockdown. scotland at the moment has a number of the tiered system has varying degrees of restrictions for different areas and one question asked by the scottish conservative leader douglas ross was that should scotland go into a full lockdown, in the future, would scottish people, the scottish government be able to access a furlough scheme? because a devolved government cannot introduce their own furlough scheme because they need the treasury because they cannot borrow money. the answer from the prime minister was yes it would be available to the devolved nations should they go into it but there seems to be a little bit of a question over whether that means cotton for exa m ple question over whether that means cotton for example or any devolved nation could access the furlough ——

scotla nd nation could access the furlough —— scotland for example, if england was not in the lockdown and the treasury and number ten have not clarified as yet. interactive another issue around testing. liverpool has mass testing starting at the end of the week. there will be a lot of eyes on that to see how it works and how much it could potentially be rolled out. what is the view there in westminster about what the potential scale could be? i think there is a sense that this is four weeks of lockdown that we saw a number of criticisms coming from the government's own mps, conservative mps, that this four weeks needs to not be squandered if you like. something needs to be done in the four weeks and there is a sense the testing regime needs to be strengthened and seeing if it can work because to some extent the testing regime is the great hope of how we might get back to some sort of normal, if indeed this virus and it looks like it will be around for

some time. if a vaccine cannot be made available on huge scale so this idea that testing would be hugely important effort could be mass testing rolled out then in theory we would all know whether we were infected and there would be some sense of normal creeping back so there is a great sense of hope that this could work but clearly needs to be tested and the pilot you are talking their is the first great hope so as i say, i think it is a sense that the next four weeks will be crucial in seeing whether that can be brought up to speed. the government announced yesterday its a great aspiration to get the capacity to do 500,000 tests a day. had been met. doesn't necessarily mean nationally 500,000 are being done but it could be met and there is a sense that will need to be rolled out quite considerably if it is to be done on a national scale. thank you very much. we can speak to the director of public health for liverpool, matt ashton. he joins me from the city. welcome, thank you forjoining us.

as the capacity therefore this to run smoothly and liverpool? the capacity as they are. it's an exciting opportunity for us to pilot that mass testing over the next couple of weeks, drawing the opportunity that national lockdown presents us with and hopefully get on top of the virus and exit out of national lockdown in a much stronger position. how many tests are available? we have the ability to test the entire population of liverpool every 7—10 days, there are half a million people in liverpool so we have significant capacity. it's not just about so we have significant capacity. it's notjust about capacity but the system that wraps around that and we are busy working that out now. and it's about people coming forward for the testing. how are you managing that? absolutely. communication is essential. this is not a top—down approach given to us by national government. this is something we have locally asked for a right to wait through the pandemic liverpool has been proactive and keep citizens

safe and the city safe and this is no different from that. we have asked for the opportunity to test out new testing technologies and policies and that's what government has agreed to work with us on. communications is incredibly important and this is about understanding people's motivations for wanting to be tested in the first place. it's not mandatory if people don't want to be tested they don't have to, it's just that knowing your individual status, positive and negative, gives you additional information and allows you to manage yourself and interactions with school, university, health care services and so on. might motivations be different in a lockdown scenario versus when we're not in that situation any more, because with an estimated four fifths of the population not actually showing symptoms of covid—19, if someone is facing the possibility of being told that they did not think they had any chance of having the virus and they

do, that might mean they are not in work and earning, motivation might change at that point? absolutely, this is a national pilot and we need to ta ke this is a national pilot and we need to take all of the learning over the month and apply it locally and across the country. but we know asymptomatic transmission is a key issue for us so the more we can get people to understand their personal status, the more we can encourage people to act appropriately and accordingly. what has happened in liverpool since restrictions were first announced ? you liverpool since restrictions were first announced? you were one of the first, i think the first to go into tier 3 and there were restrictions prior to that. as things stand now, how hopeful are you you are heading to be ina how hopeful are you you are heading to be in a lower tier when lockdown ends on december two? erik lamela have responded brilliantly to the measures put in place as they have done right the way through the pandemic and we are

infection rates are coming down the other side but we need to be really clear, they are really, really high. they are so much higher than during august and the start of september and asa august and the start of september and as a result of those high infection rates in the city and as a result of the infection rates being widespread community transmission and knowledge goods we're seeing a lot of pressure on front line health services and that's why we find important to confront this virus. why have they gone up so dramatically since the section is what introduced? they are coming down since restrictions were introduced, but this is the nature of the virus, you know, the vilest rise in social contacts of the way to stop it spreading this to stop —— virus spreading. reducing that social contact is incredibly important but there is an element of everybody, communities and across the country, understanding the importance of covid—19 being with us for some significant time and therefore us all having to adapt the way we live our lives. thank you

very much. thank you very much. uk deaths were significantly above the rate expected at this time of year, according to the latest figures from the office for national statistics. our health correspondent nick triggle is here. talk us through the stats. they show in the week up to 23rd october there we re in the week up to 23rd october there were 12,292 deaths registered across the uk, more than 10% above expected levels for this time of year and as we can see on this chart, more than, almost all of this excess was linked to covid—19. the covid—19 deaths are shaded in red and there were just over 1100 over 19 deaths during that week, up nearly half on the figure from the week before and what we see is deaths doubling every fortnight orso, is deaths doubling every fortnight or so, but it's important to remember that the deaths that happened here reflect the infections

that happened in september and we know since then the infection rate has continued to rise, so sadly, we will be seeing this figures go up in the coming weeks. overall, over the course of this year, there has now been over 60,000 deaths where covid—19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, out of nearly 430,000 deaths across the whole of society. we are about to enter a national lockdown for weeks, and the picture will hopefully change. when would you expect changes to start to filter through in statistics? would you expect changes to start to filter through in statistics7m does take some time because of the nature of the virus, and the incubation period, it can be some weeks before people develop symptoms and therefore go for testing. we certainly expect infections to start to fall, one or two weeks before

that happens and then in terms of hospital cases because we're hearing a lot of the pressure the nhs is under uncertainty deaths, it could be towards the end of november before they to change. thank you, nick. let's return to our lead story this hour and last night's shootings in vienna: two people have been arrested near the austrian capital, as a manhunt continues for any other perpetrators. our correspondent bethany bell is in vienna — and where one of those attacks took place. that very close to the site of one area, i step aside because the police barrier bacteria, as historic centre have cordoned offjust a few minutes walk from area where the

gunmen who shot dead by police. authorities say they are still searching for possible accomplices, people nbn i have warned state indoors as much as possible and get details about and himself. he is according to the interior ministry someone according to the interior ministry someone had already served conviction for terrorist activity. was convicted of having tried to go to syria to try to join in the manic state. he served jail but —— islamic state. they have made other arrests waiting for details on those but they are also not sure whether are other accomplices still at large. studio: what is the latest injured

condition is? that four people were killed, one waitress. it happened yesterday that 8pm on a very out restau ra nts yesterday that 8pm on a very out restaurants on the last eight before austria entered a strict lockdown. this was the last night, and restaurants. there were quite a lot of people out in the city. there was shooting exchanges and several other places dotted with historic centre. several other people still in hospital, some critical condition, as listed and also, this is that is shocked because the city

that escape large—scale attacks that cities like paris has in recent times. austrian chancellor sebastian kurz said it was attack society and said they would best but he also said they would best but he also said it was important not to fall in trap that the attackers were trying to set that must division society said it was never a question of religions. thank you very much. after weeks of intense, and at times bitter campaigning, it is now presidential election day in the united states. in line with tradition, at the stroke of midnight, votes began to be cast in the new hampshire hamlet of dixville notch. in a final push on monday, bothjoe biden and donald trump

hamlet of dixville notch. in a final push on monday, bothjoe biden and donald trump encouraged supporters in key battle ground states to get out and vote. president trump, with vice president, mike pence by his side, delivered his closing pitch to voters in grand rapids in michigan. he promised to prove the pollsters wrong by winning the election, in a similar manner to 4 years ago. meanwhile, businesses in the nation's capital, washington dc, and in new york city have been seen boarding up their premises due to concerns about unrest after the vote. our washington correspondent, ben wright has more. twitter and facebook have labelled a post by president trump as "misleading." after he claimed that postal ballots in the key swing state of pennsylvania could lead to rampant fraud and street violence. mr trump alleged, without evidence, that a supreme court decision allowing mail—in ballots in the state to be counted three days after the election was dangerous and undermined the rule of law. the platforms also added a link, inviting people to learn that mail—in ballots are safe. we can speak now to jason reifler, who's professor of political science at the university of exeter.

welcome. the statistics on our extraordinary. half of registered voters have already voted, around one. there are pictures of the highest turnout was late. that indicate potential? , indicated that the american public as a whole is incredibly well engaged politics like that public selection. it probably favours joe public selection. it probably favoursjoe biden. public selection. it probably favours joe biden. a public selection. it probably favoursjoe biden. a lot

even with the polls putting joe biden pretty comfortably ahead. what is your view on what the likely outcome is going to be?|j is your view on what the likely outcome is going to be? i think the likely outcome is a biden when. the polls put biden in a much stronger position than clinton four years ago. the leads that biden has in his key midwestern states, michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin is larger. the polling from 2016, most pollsters should be able to correct for, —— the polling error is. so they are anticipating higher

turnouts from those particular groups that turned out in record numbers in 2016. biden has the additional advantage that he had in several other key states. essentially, trump can afford to lose one states that he carried in 2016, but not two. if you lost them, that would cost him the election. we just have pictures coming in from arlington, virginia, they havejust gone as we went to them, as people voting. just to tell us what we need to be looking for and what we will know when. so, one of the main things we want to look at is where biden is doing well. if biden is doing particularly well in florida and florida it may be able to call, or we may be able to have a clear indication of what candidate won

florida today, then it is extremely likely that biden will win the presidency. the same thing with those key midwestern states. although we will not have an outcome from pennsylvania for several days, as the lead into the segment talked about, pennsylvania will not count all of its votes for several days. the states of florida, my home state of north carolina, arizona, pennsylvania and michigan, wisconsin, this is where everything... the race is going to be decided. and if it is really close, if it is a few thousand votes either way, then we probably will not know for quite some time and the outcome is going to be heavily contested and so we may not know for a while. if it is a decisive biden victory, we should be able to know that within about the next 24 hours.

so potentially how messy could it get? obviously, when you talk about things could go on for a while, it is important to remember that whatever the result is, president trump remains president actually until the start of next year. yes, so the new president will be ignored rated on january the 20th 2021. so the new president will be ignored rated onjanuary the 20th 2021. —— inaugurated. in terms of how messy it could get, there are a number of incredibly and outlandish but not out of the question scenarios that could be incredibly messy. so, you could be incredibly messy. so, you could imagine that there is a state like pennsylvania that biden wins and if this state were to switch, it will go over to trump and they have a republican state legislator, they could try and see different electorates to go to the electra couege electorates to go to the electra college to vote for trump four dot i doubt that that would be successful, but it is not out of the question

that it would be attempted for doctor in terms of what are the craziest that one could imagine, thatis craziest that one could imagine, that is probably up there. given the last several years, i do not rule out any outcomes, even if they are very out any outcomes, even if they are very rare. out any outcomes, even if they are very rare. i take you'll be staying up very rare. i take you'll be staying up and watching? i will be up all night, that will have no difference on the outcome, but i will do it anyway. we can't not really, can we? thank you very much forjoining us. you canjoin thank you very much forjoining us. you can join us thank you very much forjoining us. you canjoin us tonight thank you very much forjoining us. you can join us tonight from 11:30pm for our us election special results programme on bbc one and the bbc news channel. you can follow all the expert analysis online as the results come in. there will also be coverage a cross results come in. there will also be coverage across bbc radio 4 and five live from midnight. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here'sjohn watson.

good morning. government minister michael gove has apologised after saying golf and tennis may be allowed to continue during the lockdown. prime minister borisjohnson stated yesterday that they would not be exempt from the rules, but during a live 0&a facebook session in his surrey constituency last night, gove suggested otherwise. he tweeted this morning... campaign groups have been arguing against the government's decision that all children's sport outside school must stop for the four—week lockdown period in england. former premier league and wales footballer robbie savage has launched a petition, calling on the government to allow supervised youth team sport to continue. and he's been speaking passionately about what he described as the "nonsensical" rules.

if schools were to close and grassroots was to stop, i totally get it. but the inconsistency about the tweet last night to stop households mixing. and the parents, what we have been doing as official grassroots club, every time a player enters they have their temperature checked, everything is sanitised and there is track and trace. in the 23 games we have participated in, there has not been one case of covid because we do it right and the proper way. parents, one parent to child on the sidelines, social distancing. they can pick up or drop off, if that was the case. we all have our safeguarding certificates, we are all dbs checked and have our coaching licenses. tell me why allowing school to continue but thousands of youngsters, for their mental and physical well—being cannot participate. it is their out, kids can choose different pathways. these kids need a mental and physical activity to stimulate themselves on

a weekend. it is ridiculous. one of robbie savage's former teams, leicester city are flying high in the premier league — they're nowjust a point behind leaders liverpool, after a comfortable 4—1 victory at leeds. jamie vardy made leicester's first two goals before scoring the third himself. that's now five wins from their first seven matches. and fulham have theirfirst win since returning to the premier league — it came at the expense of west brom, this rocket from ola aina helping them to a 2—0 win. that takes fulham out of the bottom three. rugby league has been hit by yet another coronavirus outbreak in the latest round of testing. hull kr have ended their super league campaign early, saying they're unable to field a team for their last three games. three players have tested positive and two more received inconclusive results,

with another five forced to self—isolate, in line with track and trace protocols. they already had nine players sidelined by injury and they're at the bottom of the table. leinster‘s remarkable run in rugby union's pro 14 continues. they've now won 23 matches in a row in the competition, the latest a 32—19 victory at glasgow. that takes them ahead of ulster to the top of the table. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. thank you very much, john. see you later. the prime minister has warned that the nhs in england could be overwhelmed if the country does not go back into lockdown for four weeks. some hospitals have already seen a huge increase in the number of coronavirus patients. liverpool university hospitals foundation trust is treating around 450 people with covid — that's more than at the peak of the pandemic in april. our medical editor, fergus walsh, has been speaking

to patients and staff there. if you're wondering how the nhs might struggle this winter, look no further than liverpool. staff at the royal liverpool say they're under more pressure now than in the spring. and it's notjust this city. in the past week, around ten critically ill patients had to be transferred between hospitals in the cheshire and mersey region, because units ran out of beds. it is extremely concerning. it is a symptom of the stress the system is under. it is a big warning to us all. we do not normally see these numbers of non—clinical transfers. the nation is no longer clapping for carers. that shared moment of solidarity is gone. now there's disagreement over whether restrictions are needed. i get why people are frustrated, and i get why people are angry. we see it on a different level being here in intensive care.

we're seeing people who are sick, really sick. patients are dying of covid. not everybody in the community sees that, so i understand the disbelief. health service leaders were determined to keep all services going this winter. but liverpool university hospitals have cancelled nearly all non—urgent surgery, such as joint replacements and hernia repairs. half the operating theatres across liverpool university hospitals, like this one, are closed due to covid—19, mostly so that staff can be redeployed to intensive care. so coronavirus is impacting on patients with a whole range of medical conditions. most cancer treatment is continuing as normal, but the shortage of intensive care beds has meant a few urgent cancer operations have had to be postponed. staff say it's devastating for patients, and warned things will get worse unless the virus

is kept in check. we're very close to the limits of what liverpool hospitals can cope with, in terms of the number of patients with covid in the hospitals, and particularly what we can cope with without having to postpone more of those urgent surgical procedures. jay is just 44, a freelance writer. he's had blood clots on his lungs due to covid. his breathing is still laboured. you can't take it as a joke or something. you could get something serious. all the doctors, nurses and patients i met had the same message. don't dismiss coronavirus, don't neglect hand hygiene, and above all, keep social distancing. these are the fundamentals behind controlling covid this winter.

fergus walsh, bbc news, liverpool. so, from thursday pubs, restaurants, gyms and nonessential shops will close for four weeks, which could have a huge effect on businesses around the country. our business correspondent vivienne nunisjoins me now. good morning, yes, we are hearing from businesses all over the country about just how worried from businesses all over the country aboutjust how worried they from businesses all over the country about just how worried they are going into this four—week lockdown starting on thursday. some of those businesses, nonessential retail perhaps, may be able to move some of that business online. but there are those who will not be able to do that at all, for instance hairdressers. we are joined that at all, for instance hairdressers. we arejoined by that at all, for instance hairdressers. we are joined by a salon owner in chester. nicola runs her hairdressing salon there. thanks for joining her hairdressing salon there. thanks forjoining us. how is your business looking, going into this lockdown? because you are quite close to the wales border and have already been hit by the fai breakfast up yes, we are not looking very strong, to be honest. -- hit by the firebreak.

have to having already been closed down in wales, it is completed with clients booked in for the future, thenl clients booked in for the future, then i have to cancel, it isjust really difficult to know what is going to happen. what has it been like communicating with your clients? are they aware of what is allowed, when they can come to your salon, when they cannot? not really, to be fair. we fortunately have really good at systems in place, so we send text messages out before, we consta ntly we send text messages out before, we constantly ring them and make sure that they know exactly what is expected, the reassurance more than anything, but everyone is a little confused and do not know what rules are happening. with wales, obviously they can come out on the 9th of november, but they cannot come to us, so it is the disparity between the two regions which is really difficult. presumably you will put your staff on furlough for the month of november, but can you apply for business grants and how much they hope will that be? i am able to

apply and that will make a significant difference, but obviously we are struggling, is the honest answer. my staff are all cove red, honest answer. my staff are all covered, but i'm not, i honest answer. my staff are all covered, but i'm not, lam self employed. the grants will not cover all of the outgoings. we have more outgoings than we will have incomings. we are already chasing our tails on the lockdown and certainly certain things we have not been able to open up, it is a testing time. i imagine it is difficult to plan at the moment, can you plan at all? not really. you put lots of plans in place and then the government changes the regulations with not a lot of notice and suddenly the plans you had disappear into thin airand suddenly the plans you had disappear into thin air and heat you are left just clinging to desperate hope. thank you, nicola, forjoining us this morning. that is nicola, a salon owner in chester. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news: the austrian chancellor says the gunman killed by police during a deadly shooting in vienna

was an islamist terrorist already known to the police. people living in liverpool are being offered the chance to be tested regularly for coronavirus from friday as part of a mass—testing pilot. polls are starting to open on the us east coast, as voters decide whether to elect donald trump orjoe biden as the next president. the government says it has been left with no option but to impose a second lockdown, but what effect is this likely to have on our well—being? recent research from the charity age uk has highlighted ways it has been particularly hard going on the day—to—day lives of the older population. it found that as many as one in three older people were already struggling with anxiety, depression and loneliness brought on by the pandemic and initial lockdown. we can get more on this and speak now to caroline abrahams, director of the charity age uk. welcome, thank you very much for joining us. do tell us more about

what you have established about the impact of the first lockdown on the elderly. yes, all the people are all in very different situation is. it is an enormous in very different situation is. it is an enormous group in very different situation is. it is an enormous group of us, if you ta ke is an enormous group of us, if you take it from 65, 70 upwards. some have come through the pandemic pretty well so far, particularly if they are better off, perhaps they have a partner. i suspect we all know people who have taken it very positively and are in good health and have been able to do things like go on bike rides and maybe learn spanish, which they always wanted to do. that is at one end of the spectrum. at the other, as you rightly said, we found about one in three of people are really struggling. they were more likely to be living on their own, they might be living on their own, they might be widows or widowers for example and a lot of older people are living on their own. they might not have a very much money, so they could not use the extra comfort, they properly we re use the extra comfort, they properly were not online. if you are able to cut xoom or skype at the moment, it

does make life a lot more friendly because you can speak to other people and they may be did not have good family networks nearby or neighbours either, so there were very much on their own. if they were not very well as well, they were deeply concerned about getting this terrible virus only what it might do to them, that is a lot to cope with. for those who have not been faring as well, another stat i saw was one in five are hiding it hard —— finding it harder to remember things and are less steady on their feet. it has actually been quite a sharpest decline in a short period of time, would you expect that to come back or is that going to be something that has a long—term impact on premature ageing of some? i'm afraid the rescue when you get all that is, people say it use it, and if people have not been able to walk around as much for example, the chances are that they will find it difficult to reclaim at that level of physical activity that they had

before the pandemic. to a degree, the same may be true of people's mental state. i think the message that there is the more that everyone can do to stay active physically and mentally, even if they cannot go out very much, or do not feel safe too, the better. every little counts. very much, or do not feel safe too, the better. every little countsm isa the better. every little countsm is a message everybody knows and eve ryo ne is a message everybody knows and everyone knows they should be looking out for their loved ones and perhaps those in the street who they do not even necessarily really think about normally but they are there and may be on their own, but in terms of these things actually happening a way, what is your advice? what do you say to people? individuals themselves, all the people themselves, i think some good tips we put out to people i things like try to remain interested in the things you are interested in. if you area things you are interested in. if you are a knitter, make sure you have enough wool, that sort of things, hobbies are credit be important, help you pass the time and give you something else to think about rather than worrying about the pandemic for —— incredibly important. stay in touch with family and friends,

however down you are feeling, it may be that there are other p we know who are feeling worse than you, so reaching out, not only helps them out but probably you as well. every little helps and i think for the rest of us, the more we can do is just rally around the old people in our lives better and just being friendly and may be putting a note through the door for other people who live by hugh perhaps we know do not have family who come to visit very often would be greatly appreciated, even just to very often would be greatly appreciated, evenjust to know very often would be greatly appreciated, even just to know that people there are not forgotten and we do care. thank you. the wales football manager ryan giggs has strenuously denied allegations of assault, after the sun newspaper reported he'd been arrested following an incident involving his girlfriend at his home in greater manchester. the wales team have cancelled a scheduled news conference today. a spokesman said he's cooperating fully with the police and their investigations. our correspondent andy moore explained what we know so far. we have now got a few brief statements that confirm the bare

bones of the incident. firstly, we've got a statement from greater manchester police. it doesn't name ryan giggs but it says police were called at 10.05 on sunday evening to reports of a disturbance at an address in worsley. they say a woman in her 30s sustained minor injuries but did not require any treatment. the statement goes on. a 46—year—old man was arrested on suspicion of section 47 assault and section 39 common assault and has been bailed pending further inquiries. now subsequent to that we have had a statement from ryan giggs' personal representative. in a short statement it simply says, mr giggs denies all allegations of assault made against him. he is cooperating with the police and will continue to assist them with their ongoing investigations. and then finally, a comment from the welsh fa. they say they are aware of an incident involving the mens' national team manager, ryan giggs. he was due to announce

the squad for an upcoming round of friendlies this morning. that press conference has now been cancelled. a major theme of this election has been falsehoods going viral. could online disinformation have an impact on the way the vote might turn out or the democratic process itself? the effects might be impossible to quantify, but our specialist disinformation reporter marianna spring has been investigating. for the millions tuning into the us election online, the conversation has been dominated by viral conspiracy theories. whether that is about rigged voting, trump catching coronavirus or allegations of file crimes. disinformation is notjust lurking in the internet‘s dark corners. it has been promoted by public figures, partisan media outlets and the president himself. where is it coming from? this year,

what we have to worry about is actually coming from inside the house. russia and china are amplifying the domestic disinformation that we are seeing being shared by elected officials in the media. the experts warn that claims about voter fraud in particular could lead to a rejection of the results. everyone has always, you know, really trusted in the democratic process and to have the president himself airing rumours about rigged elections and mail—in ballot fraud and ballot harvesting, these sorts of things, that really deals a blow coming from the highest office in the land to our democratic system for yea rs office in the land to our democratic system for years to come. jade is a 24—year—old from houston, texas. she says her friends have 24—year—old from houston, texas. she says herfriends have been sharing posts about queueing on, a conspiracy theory which claims that president is waging war against the paedophile ring. —— posts about

qanon. a lot of my associates did not vote this election because they believe that their votes do not count. i fish or believe that it is because of conspiracy theories and lack of knowledge of how the government actually works that makes people believe that their votes do not matter. social media companies have cracked down on qanon. facebook is banning campaign ads around polling day, but it is very difficult to undo the conspiracy worldview to which some have subscribed. that could be the lasting legacy of this election. let's just take you to the anna. —— vienna. austrian chancellor sebastian kurz has been laying a wreath for those killed in last night's attack. four people have been killed after a heavily armed gunmen opened fire in

central vienna. two men and two women have died of their injuries and at least 15 people are seriously injured. the suspected perpetrator also died. he was shot by police shortly after the attack, but that are suspicions that other attackers could still be at large and there have been raids on a number of apartments and people have been arrested connected to the government. —— de gunman. there has been condemnation voiced by many world leaders after what has been described by it sebastian kurz as a repulsive terror attack. donald trump has said that these are evil attacks against innocent people and must stop. the us stands with austria, france and all of europe in the fight against terrorists, including radical islamist and the european council chief has said european council chief has said europe strongly condemns this

cowardly act which violates life and human values. it is at seven minutes to midday. the bushfires that raged across australia this time last year caused devastation. as well as claiming more then 30 lives, the country's wildlife was also badly hit. the koala population was decimated and ever since volunteers on kangaroo island have been doing their best to help them recover. our australia correspondent shaimaa khalil reports. they survived australia's fires. now these koalas are ready to go back where they belong. it's a very different scene from nearly a year ago. pictures of the badly burned animals shocked the world. hundreds were brought to this wildlife park when the flames tore through the island. as well as being faced with the burns and the starvation and the dehydration, they were also very mentally affected as well. a lot of them were just feeling so terrible that they were just kind

of cuddled in a ball that they didn't have that fight response, which a wild animal should. of the 50,000 koalas living on kangaroo island before the bushfire, it's feared most of them were killed. images of the destruction and the loss of wildlife were seen across the globe, prompting millions of dollars in donations. it was just incredible to see how many people from pretty much every country in the world jumped on board to donate to looking after and saving as much wildlife on kangaroo island here as we could. helping koalas survive here is vital for australia's ecology. it's the one place where the animals are disease free. for months now, hundreds of koalas have been looked after in the wildlife park, and it's been a long and tough journey for many of them. the aim is to get them strong enough to survive on their own here in the wild. and today, one of them is being released. after ten months of care, it's time for merton's big move today.

ready? are you watching? here goes the koala. oh, here he goes! for dana, it's a bittersweet separation. there's no better feeling watching someone that you've helped either raise from a joey, or get through all of that treatments, and then get them back out to the wild, watching them climb back out of a tree where they're meant to be. it'll take years for the island to recover, but it's hoped koalas like merton can still thrive in a much changed habitat. bye — bye. bye—bye, koala. bye — bye, koala. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, kangaroo island. now it's time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. hello. after a thoroughly wet start to the day across parts of scotland and england especially, things turning a little bit drier now and into the afternoon. there will still be a few showers dotted around but, equally, a little bit more in the way of dry and sunny weather and there is a trend to drier weather through the rest of the working week. high pressure down towards the south—west of us with a cap on the atmosphere.

that means the rain clouds don't pop up. it will spread across most areas, at least, keeping things dry through thursday and friday but the return of some frost and also some mist and fog. out there at the moment, though, into the afternoon, the rain across some eastern areas gradually clearing away, allowing the sunshine to develop and for most, actually, it's an afternoon of sunshine and one or two downpours. downpours most frequent in the west — some of those on the heavy side. after the gusty winds of this morning, this afternoon — certainly relative to recent days — the wind is much, much lighter. but even with the sunshine it is going to be a cold day — eight or nine degrees, well down from where we should be for the time of year for the vast majority. maybe a high of around 11 in southern counties of england and wales. now, after a cold day with longer nights, the nights are going to be chilly. showers dotted around to begin with, though — they will carry on through the night in northern parts of scotland. one or two dotted towards western parts of the uk, as well, but most become dry, clear and tonight — across england and wales, especially — there will be the first widespread frost of the season. but whilst it's frosty tomorrow morning it will be a lovely, crisp sunny one for many and it

will stay that way for much of england and wales. maybe a few showers east of northern ireland, isle of man, towards north west england, north west midlands, north wales first thing. they will fade into the afternoon. more cloud for the afternoon across scotland and northern ireland and, in the highlands and islands, it turns increasingly wet. temperatures up a little bit on today's values. another chilly and frosty night to take us into thursday. mist and fog becoming more of an issue, though, across southern counties for england and wales. for some it will linger all day long. south—westerly breeze for scotland and northern ireland introduces a bit more cloud. bit of drizzle around some western hills. most, though, will be dry and, with some sunny breaks in the north—east of scotland — 15 or 16 here. where the fog lingers — central, southern england — maybe only around six or seven. but as high pressure builds a bit further north by the end of the week, fog will become more of an issue across parts of scotland and northern ireland, too, and it stays cold where that fog lingers. most places, though, dry through friday into the start of the weekend, but through saturday, then into sunday, whilst temperatures are on the rise, we will see the return of some rain. see you soon.

this is bbc news. the headlines... the austrian chancellor says the gunman killed by police during a deadly shooting in vienna was an islamist terrorist already known to the police. police are searching for accomplices, after gunmen opened fire last night at six different locations in the city centre. at least four people have died and more than a dozen have been wounded. translation: in the last few minutes austria's chancellor has been paying his respects to the victims. he has criticised the attack translation: it was an attack of hatred of our values and way of life. hatred of our democracy where all people are equal in rights and dignity. people living in liverpool are being offered the chance to be tested regularly for coronavirus from friday as part of a mass—testing pilot.

polls are starting to open on the us east coast as voters decide whether to elect donald trump orjoe biden as the next president. the wales football manager, ryan giggs, says he is co—operating with police after he was accused of assault. the former manchester united player denies the allegations. and coming up this hour... after being badly hit by last year's australian bushfires, we check in on the health of the recovering koala population. the austrian chancellor says yesterday's shootings in vienna were clearly an islamist attack, and has promised to hunt down those involved. the gunman shot dead by police was 20 years old and a known islamic state sympathiser. he had served a prison term

for attempting to travelto syria and join islamic state. four people were killed when at least one man opened fire in the city centre. another 14 people were wounded, some are fighting for their lives. the shooting happened near vienna's main synagogue, as people gathered in bars and restaurants hours before the enforcement of new coronavirus restrictions. police are searching for accomplices. leaders around the world have condemned the attack. a warning this report by andy moore contains distressing images. the austrian authorities say several suspects, armed with weapons, were involved in what was described as a repulsive terror attacked. one was shot dead by police, but at least one other is believed to be on the run. gunshots shouting in this unverified footage, a man can be seen firing a handgun

into a doorway before moving on down the street. one of the victims is believed to be a waitress. the attack happened in a busy part of vienna. people were enjoying the last hours of freedom before a coronavirus lockdown was due to come into effect. a synagogue was in the area, but it's not known if that was the target. this rabbi said, "i saw how the heavily armed attacker with a long rifle aimed and shot at people outside bars and pubs. it was a warm evening and the night before the lockdown and a lot of people probably wanted to go out." a nationwide search is under way for any suspects on the run. people have been urged to avoid central vienna and keep their children at home. the gunman who was killed has been identified as an islamist terrorist. the austrian chancellor said these were dark hours

the authorities see the short gunman was resident in austria but had north macedonian roots and had tried to travel to syria. until now, austria had been spared the terror attacks afflicting other european countries. there have been messages of support from many european leaders. president macron said the french people shared the shock and grief of the austrian nation. earlier i spoke to our correspondent bethany bell who's at the site of last night's shootings. that very close to the site of one area, i step aside because the police barrier bacteria, as historic centre have cordoned off just a few minutes walk from area where the gunmen who shot dead by police. authorities say they are still

searching for possible accomplices, people here in vienna have warned stay indoors as possible and we are getting details about and himself. he is according to the interior ministry someone who had already served conviction for terrorist activity. he was convicted of having tried to go to syria to try to join in islamic state. he was released in december because of his youth. they have made other arrests, we are waiting but they are also not sure whether are other accomplices still at large. dr sajjan gohel is an expert in international security at the uk—based think tank, the asia—pacific foundation. thank you forjoining us. what is

your reaction to this? what are your thoughts on where things have been going in terms of islamist extremism in austria? the situation is still very tense because the authorities are looking for people that are believed to have carried out this attack and are still on the loose so thatis attack and are still on the loose so that is a manhunt now ongoing, potentially not just in that is a manhunt now ongoing, potentially notjust in austria but it could extend to neighbouring countries as well. austria has not had the same type of problem as some of the other major european countries when it comes to transnational extremism. around 300 of their nationals went to join isis, some 45 died, about 90 returned and about 50 were prevented from leaving the country. one of the people believed to have died yesterday, one of the gunmen, fits into that category. also look at the timing of it. vienna was about to go into a lot denser perhaps they select to try and carry out the

attack before lockdown. there was warning from counterterrorism agency that terrorists may want to use the symbolism of the day that to carry out the attack. do you see any link with what has happened in france recently? it may not be directly tied to the attacks we have seen in france, in paris and nice but we have seen a connection any the extent that groups like al-qaeda and isis have been active on social media encouraging attacks in europe following the republication of the controversial charlie hebdo cartoons. what has made worse has been the somewhat irresponsible action of some political leaders such as imran cannot pakistan, president one who have been stirring up tensions

and instead of playing the role of easing the situation have actually condemned the response of the french government, not condemned the actions of the attackers and that has fed into the problems that no doubt have seeped into austria as well. to focus on security services and as you mentioned, the person who was killed, the 20—year—old, had served time in prison and was known to the security services. how much better our security services these days that joined better our security services these days thatjoined up thinking and monitoring? the austrians have a good intelligence apparatus, they have been able to monitor the activity of individuals within the country. whether it is jihadist or far right but keep in mind that counterterrorism is not an exact science. this individual was

prosecuted for espousing sympathetic views with isis but because he had not been taking part in an act of terrorism could not be detained indefinitely. no doubt austria will have to have analysis as to the counterterrorism laws, whether they are sufficient in the current situation and keep in mind austria has not experienced terrorism since the early 1980s. it was carried out bya the early 1980s. it was carried out by a palestinian group at a synagogue, ironically the same synagogue, ironically the same synagogue that was targeted yesterday and in 1995 the also targeted the vienna airport. since then there have been more plots rather than attacks and the austrians have been effective in foiling and disrupting terrorism. you mentioned the synagogue and that it was targeted yesterday, it's not clear as i understand it, whether it was the target but you believe it

was? i think it was certainly seen asa was? i think it was certainly seen as a target of symbolic nature. these individuals wanted to carry out multiple coordinated attacks. six different locations. it brought back you a similarities to the 2015 marauding attacks we witnessed in paris, not on the same scale tha nkfully paris, not on the same scale thankfully but nevertheless you see a tactic that isis for example certainly encourages and what worries me is the fact that some of these individuals are still on the loose so unfortunately this plot lingers and coincides with the us presidential elections and u nfortu nately presidential elections and unfortunately what these two events running side by side. thank you very much forjoining us. pleasure. here, regular coronavirus tests are going to be offered to everyone in liverpool from the end of this week in the government's first mass—testing pilot involving a whole city. troops will help carry out rapid turn—around tests on about half a million people who live or work

in liverpool, even if they don't have symptoms. uk deaths were significantly above the rate expected at this time of year, according to the office for national statistics. 12,292 deaths were registered in the uk in the week of 23 october. that's11% above the level expected for this time of year. these figures have been doubling roughly every fortnight since their low point on the week of september the fourth. we can speak to our political correspondent ellie price. what will happen in the future if there are shutdowns in scotland, northern ireland and wales if for lockdown ends in december. our you getting clear answers?”

lockdown ends in december. our you getting clear answers? i wish. there is an urgent question in the house of commons for the treasury minister and we may hear about it. it was something the prime minister was asked about yesterday. by the conservative scottish leader who said well the furlough be made available in scotland should scotla nd available in scotland should scotland go international lockdown, if england is not in a lockdown. don't forget the england wide lockdown ends on second december so the question was would scottish people access the furlough even if there was not one in england. the prime minister said this would apply not just now but prime minister said this would apply notjust now but in the future as well. many scottish politicians and welsh and northern irish trying to get clarity on whether that means after december two when england isn't enough or lockdown and has not been clarity so a lot of the technical issues being asked exactly how it will all work in practice and

we have heard plenty of that before in the past but i think that's one of the big issues. don't forget the devolved nations don't have the power to run their own furlough system because they don't have the power to borrow money so this has to bea power to borrow money so this has to be a treasury in westminster decision. on the matter of testing, mass testing being rolled out in liverpool in a pilot scheme, eve ryo ne liverpool in a pilot scheme, everyone is going to be looking at that to see how it works and wondering what the possibilities would be on rolling it out more widely, the capacity. what are the a nswers ? widely, the capacity. what are the answers? again, i wish i could tell you but that's the point of a pilot. a lot has been made of whether that could be mass testing around the country and in the absence of having a vaccine that the whole country could be vaccinated with then a lot of faith has been put in whether mass testing, something the pm sounded excited about in his statement so certainly we will be

watching very closely to see what's been happening in liverpool. thank you very much indeed. you're watching bbc news... after weeks of intense, and at times bitter election campaigning, polling stations are open in america's eastern states. millions of americans are heading to the polls in person, adding their ballots to the more than 99 million already cast by early voters. these are pictures of early voters in arlington in virginia. donald trump wants to avoid becoming the first incumbent president to lose a re—election fight since george hw bush in 1992. national opinion polls show democratjoe biden with a broad lead, but the race is close in key battle ground states needed to win the presidency. in a final push yesterday, bothjoe biden and donald trump encouraged supporters in key battle ground states to get out and vote. the president delivered his closing pitch to voters in grand rapids in michigan. he promised to prove the pollsters wrong by winning the election, in a similar manner to 4 years ago. meanwhile, businesses in the nation's capital, washington dc, and in new york city have been seen boarding up their premises due to concerns

about unrest after the vote. our correspondent lebo diseko is in virginia. is their brisk voting underwear there? a steady trickle i would say of voters. when we arrived some people had queued up for an hour or 1.5 hours to make sure they were amongst the first people there. they had seen the queues around the country over the last few days and wa nted country over the last few days and wanted to try and avoid that. a couple of them told me they were concerned if they voted early or done mail—in ballots they might not have reached in time and that is

certainly a worry amongst a lot of democrats and certainly donald trump has also been casting doubt on the safety of early ballots although there's very little evidence that they are unsafe or open to fraud. thank you very much. we are expecting to shortly hear from nicola sturgeon about to give her daily briefing. lets cross over to edinburgh and have a listen. finally, i regret to say that a further 28 deaths have been registered in the past 24 hours of patients who first tested positive over the previous 28 days and that means the total number of deaths under the daily measurement is now 2877. that reminds us again of the heartbreak that this virus is continuing to cost to families the length and breadth of the country and againi

length and breadth of the country and again i convey my condolences to eve ryo ne and again i convey my condolences to everyone in that position and who is mourning a loved one. i am joined today by the social security officer and the chief medical officer will talk ina and the chief medical officer will talk in a moment about the scottish child payment applications will open soon child payment applications will open soon and we are encouraging all eligible families to apply. this will be a valuable source of additional support for eligible families and many struggling right now as a direct result of the pandemic which is why it's appropriate to draw attention to that. i also want to highlight that later today the health secretary is giving a statement in parliament where she will set out plans for aduu where she will set out plans for adult social care over the winter which is obviously extremely important. in my remarks today i wa nt to important. in my remarks today i want to return briefly to an issue that i covered yesterday, the availability of money from the uk furlough scheme since there have

been some seemingly significant developments since i stood here last yesterday. in particular, the prime minister appears to have agreed that access to the furlough scheme at the higher level of 80% of wages will be available to scotland after the 2nd of december if that is required. i welcome that commitment although i do so with i suppose a necessary degree of caution. we have not yet seen any degree of caution. we have not yet seen any detail of what that commitment means when translated into ha rd commitment means when translated into hard practice and in particular we have not yet had confirmation from the treasury that continuation of furlough in scotland beyond the 2nd of december would be at the 80% level. we have always known there would be some form of furlough scheme continuing after december the 2nd, that has never been the point at issue. the point is at what level and we await confirmation it will be on the same basis eligibility and

the 80% level that will apply throughout november. obviously there has been some doubts cast over the prime minister's comments by an under a member of the cabinet on the television this morning but notwithstanding that we still hope that the prime minister is commitment will hold and furlough payments will be available after the 2nd of december on the same terms as being made available in november. but obviously we cannot be certain of that until we see the commitment translated into certainty by the treasury and we are pressing urgently for that clarity. this issue of furlough payments is important, very important actually for the reasons i spoke about yesterday. first and foremost it's for the sake of people across the country who are worried aboutjobs and wages but also important for the scottish government and the welsh and northern ireland government's ability to plan and steer the best course we can through this pandemic.

with vitally important decisions having to be made by all governments day after day just now having to be made by all governments day after dayjust now it's not helpful for any of us to be distracted by a lack of clarity from the treasury and it's obviously far from ideal as i tried to set out yesterday if vital public health decisions for scotland, wales or northern ireland have to be in any way distorted by the need to access financial support that only takes account of the situation in england. instead, what we want to do and what we are determined to do is continue to follow the careful cautious public health driven approach that we have taken so far in scotland. not least because it has put us relatively speaking with no shred of complacency in a strong position. we face difficultjudgment complacency in a strong position. we face difficult judgment for the future and we have no room for complacency and i will return to that point in a moment but as of now, prevalence of covid—19 is lower and other parts of the uk and that

we believe partly down to the plan we believe partly down to the plan we have been following and obviously it is very much down to the sacrifices people all over the country have been making. we want to continue to base decisions on the best evidence we have and that is what we intend to do. we will closely monitor progress this week ahead of the scheduled review of the allocation of levels next tuesday. the fact that we weekly acted to control the pandemic in september and october means that we are now, we think, seeing some encouraging signs in the figures for new cases. the last few weeks appear to show the rate of increase in cases slowing down and that's good and positive and as i said a moment to go down to the sacrifices all of you have been making but as we know, day—to—day figures will reflect in pa rt day—to—day figures will reflect in part fluctuating demand in testing and case numbers and crucially the

test positivity rate, you will see that, get remain high. so we cannot be complacent in anyway, shape or form. the situation we face in common with countries the world over isa common with countries the world over is a fragile one and we must proceed with great care and caution. so we will be assessing throughout this week whether we might be starting to see a sustained improvement leading toa see a sustained improvement leading to a fall in the number of cases which is what we are hoping for or on the other hand whether case numbers are instead reaching something of a plateau and that's important and something of a plateau and that's importantandi something of a plateau and that's important and i want to take a little bit of time today to explain more fully why that is important and i will do that with reference to experience over the summer and so far. the fact is, we cannot really ta ke far. the fact is, we cannot really take any far. the fact is, we cannot really ta ke a ny comfort far. the fact is, we cannot really take any comfort in a situation where case numbers are continuing to rise, even if they are rising at a slower rate now than was the case a

few weeks ago and we certainly cannot take comfort in a situation where case numbers simply plateau and stay steady but at the current high levels of around 1000 today. let me explain that with reference to our experience over the summer. one reason why we might be, we think, ina one reason why we might be, we think, in a slightly better position than england is just think, in a slightly better position than england isjust now, edit in addition to the early stages is that we reduced cases to a low level over the summer. what that means is that even when the r rate started to rise above one, that increase was from a much lower baseline. had we come out of summer with higher prevalence than we did, we would probably be in a much more severe situation right now. so that baseline point matters and it matters just as now. so that baseline point matters and it mattersjust as much, in fa ct, and it mattersjust as much, in fact, possibly more so now as we head deeper into the winter period.

a high level of cases, even if they we re a high level of cases, even if they were quite steady or growing only slowly, would not be a stable position. it would mean that if the r rate was to rise at all during the winter, which with more people inside is quite likely, it would start to drive increased transmission from a high baseline and that risks the situation very quickly potentially running out of control and that would mean more deaths and a possible overwhelming of our nhs. the point i need to stress and i am stressing it to try to develop the understanding we all have all the factors we have to wait up have all the factors we have to wait up over the next period. the point is this one. we need to be confident not just that the situation we face right now is not deteriorating, we also need to be confident that at current levels of intervention, the situation is improving significantly enough. if we are not confident of that, it may be that we cannot move

areas down a level, and it may also be that we have to move some areas up be that we have to move some areas upa be that we have to move some areas up a level and whilst we hope that this will not be the case, that analysis also means that we cannot rule out having to move some levels, some areas of the country to level fourfor some areas of the country to level four for a some areas of the country to level fourfor a period. we have not reached those decisions yet and this isa reached those decisions yet and this is a judgment we will be considering as we are the data in the days ahead. iam as we are the data in the days ahead. i am also aware that when i talk like this, it can fuel media speculation about what is going to happen and that's understandable, it is theirjob to work out and report what might lie ahead so that's in no way a criticism, but the view i have taken way a criticism, but the view i have ta ken throughout this way a criticism, but the view i have taken throughout this pandemic is that it's better for me to try to be open and at times discursive about the factors driving our decisions so that you understand notjust what the factors driving our decisions so that you understand not just what we are asking you to do, but why we are asking you to do it, so i will continue to try to keep you informed

of rethinking and of the factors we are taking account of as we head towards the first review point of our new level system which is due next tuesday. but let new conclude on this point, because it's an equally important one, in the meantime, all of us have a vital pa rt meantime, all of us have a vital part to play in trying to ensure that the situation does improve and we do not need to impose more severe restrictions. i want always everybody to remember that none of us are powerless everybody to remember that none of us are powerless in the face of this. the best thing all of us can do and we all can do it, to reduce the likelihood of further restrictions, is to abide by the rules now and try to limit as much as we reasonably can, the contact we are having with people in households. and abide by the spirit of the rules. as i said yesterday, please do not look for loopholes, do not try to put your own twist or

interpretation on the rules. if this is to continue to work as we believe it is although we are not yet sure it is although we are not yet sure it is although we are not yet sure it is working fast and far enough, thenit it is working fast and far enough, then it takes all of us abiding by these rules to the letter and in the spirit of them. let me finish by recapping right now on what we are asking people to do. if you live in one of the areas at level three, most parts of the central belt and now also dundee, you should not travel outside your own local authority area unless it's essential. i essential, we mean work that cannot be done at home or caring responsibilities, and people in other parts of scotland, please do not travel into level three areas except for the same essential purposes. we are also, and this is important, we are asking people not to travel outside of scotland. not to travel outside of scotland. not to travel outside of scotland. not to travel to other parts of the uk, england, wales and northern ireland and not to travel overseas unless you have an essential purpose for doing so. abiding by travel

restrictions is essential, within scotla nd restrictions is essential, within scotland it's essential to avoid us taking the virus from high prevalence areas to low prevalence areas so prevalence areas to low prevalence areas so that was low prevalence areas so that was low prevalence areas do not stay low prevalence areas do not stay low prevalence areas and more widely it's important for all countries as they try to suppress the virus within their own borders to minimise the chances of importing it from other countries. in addition, none of us, anywhere in the country right now should be visiting each other‘s homes, again, except for specific purposes like childcare or if you have to look after an older or vulnerable person or if you are part in extended household, so it is a really tough restriction and i speak from experience when i see it gets tougher with every day that passes not to see close family members, but we know that limiting contact with people outside of our own households and inside homes is one of the most effective things we can do to reduce transmission of the virus. when

you're meeting people from other households outdoors which were permitted to do or in door public places remember the limits. you should not meet more than six people from a maximum of to households to limit the chat chances of it spreading from one household to another. avoid car sharing if you can, work from home if you can, make sure you have the protect scotland at on your phone if you are able to haveit at on your phone if you are able to have it and finally the five key roles that help keep all of us safe, reduce the risk of us getting the virus and crucially reduce the risk of us having the virus passing it on to other people. remember to wear coverings, clean your hands regularly and thoroughly clean hard surfaces that you might be touching or other people might have touched before you and remember to keep two metres distance from people in other households if you are coming into contact with them and lastly

self—isolate and get tested immediately if you have any of the symptoms of covid—19. these rules do help us protect ourselves, the undoubtedly help us protect our loved ones and those around about us, but they also help wider communities and they definitely protect national health service and ultimately be helped to save lives. let me conclude with a summary, couple of sentences here. we are right now in a difficult position in scotla nd right now in a difficult position in scotland but it's not without its encouraging signs. we have to satisfy ourselves though, that those signs are encouraging enough and going firmly enough in the right direction so there are some difficultjudgments that lie direction so there are some difficult judgments that lie ahead of us and that will continue to be the case week on week as we go through winter, but all of us have a pa rt through winter, but all of us have a part to play here. the reason we have these encouraging signs is because we acted quickly and all of you have a braided by what we have asked you to do. if we keep that up, then we can be cautiously optimistic that we can continue to see progress

through what undoubtedly will be a tough winter but one that we have to get through and get through together. thank you very much for listening, i will ask shirley and to say a few words before we take questions from the media. tacking inequalities and poverty is as one of the scottish government's key priority then we recognise the economic impact that the covid—19 pandemic is having on low income families. that is why we are determined to prioritise the introduction of the scottish child payment. last june, introduction of the scottish child payment. lastjune, when the scottish government announced the introduction of the scottish child payment as a key element of our tackling child poverty plan, it was rightly described by stakeholder is asa rightly described by stakeholder is as a game changer. now it is more important than ever. and therefore delighted to announce today that the scottish child payment for families with children under six is opening the applications next monday the 9th of november. given the scale of

demand, we are taking applications now. this is so we have all the information to make the payments as as soon as information to make the payments as as soon as possible after the benefit officially starts on monday the 15th of february 2021. this is almost two years ahead of the original commitment for the full new benefits to be introduced. it is my intention to roll out this payment for all under 16 by the end of 2022. this is subject to the department for work and pensions providing the data on qualifying benefits. a timetable of under 18 months from the announcement to the delivery of a benefit is unprecedented in the uk andi a benefit is unprecedented in the uk and i believe this is a testimony to the priority that this scottish government has put on a tackling child poverty. significantly more families are now relying on benefits due to the coronavirus pandemic and many perhaps for the first time. indeed, recent estimates from the scottish fiscal commission now suggest that 194,000 children could

be eligible for the payment of this financial year. that is an increase of 34,000 children since the pandemic began. this scottish child payment will be delivered by a social security scotland and will pay the equivalent of £10 a week per child over every four weeks to eligible families who are in receipt of existing low income benefits. there are no limits to the number of children orfamilies there are no limits to the number of children or families who can receive this benefit, unlike the approach taken to universal this benefit, unlike the approach ta ken to universal credit this benefit, unlike the approach taken to universal credit and the child tax credit by the uk government where payments are of course limited to two children. the payment together with the best start grantand payment together with the best start grant and food will provide financial support for families by the time theirfirst financial support for families by the time their first child turns six, for second and subsequent children, this will provide £4900. we are expecting significant demand for this payment, which is why we are opening the applications early from monday the 9th of november and i would encourage all payments and

ca re i would encourage all payments and care “— i would encourage all payments and care —— parents and carers and i'm asking families to get applications in early so we can start making payments as quickly as possible when they start in february next year. i'm very proud that scotland is the only part of the uk to provide this additional support to children. so i would urge all eligible families to apply by calling or visiting the government website. we are now open to question. i will go firstly to stv. thank you. ijust to question. i will go firstly to stv. thank you. i just wanted to clarify really, if you do not get the confirmation that you are looking for from the treasury, do you get to a point we have to make a decision on further restrictions to make the most of this window? tricks

apple, could changes be introduced before the first review of the levels next week? -- for example. i decided i said now that we're going to stick if we can to our scheduled review period, think that is probably on balance the best thing to do. if we do not get the commitment translating into practice, then clearly that has implications for the length of time we would then have access to the more generous furlough scheme, but i cannot base my... i have a duty to ta ke cannot base my... i have a duty to take audit, rational as well thought through decisions for the people of scotla nd through decisions for the people of scotland in an unpredictable situation and i cannot allow myself day—to—day to be thrown off course by chopping and changing of positions from the uk government and you can probably detect a degree of frustration in my voice and that is because it is frustrating, but i need to focus on trying to take the best decisions. i should insert a caveat here which is notjust about

volley, we never rule out taking quicker decisions than a scheduled review point if the evidence merits it was not —— notjust about furlough. if you cast your mind back to last thursday, said that lanarkshire, which we decided on balance to keep at level three and not me to level four, we are looking at that very closely on a day—to—day basis. the area has not got worse since then, so we do not need to move more quickly at this stage, but we are looking at that on a daily basis. so i am going to try and stay ona basis. so i am going to try and stay on a sensible, rational path here. it is in nobody‘s interest the public have decisions to be distorted by the need to effectively try to game a financial system. we should all have access to the same financial support. scotland, wales, northern ireland should not be at a disadvantage to england, north should we be at an advantage was that they should be a level playing field and i hope we get to the level playing field. —— nor should we be

atan playing field. —— nor should we be at an advantage was up i need to stay focused on trying to take sound and rational decisions and continues to steer a path through this virus. bbc. thank you, good evening, you are live on at lunchtime on bbc radio is colin foster we have just broadcast an interview with a man who contacted this programme some time ago that vulnerable patients like his dad were being placed alongside covid—19 patients on poorly ventilated boards for he said he raised his concerns a consultant who agreed that it was a situation that he could not do anything about. his dad then it did go on to contract covid and died from it. he wants to know why we are putting vulnerable patients at risk in this way and what you actually be comfortable with your elderly relative being pace in a bed alongside a covid patient? can i firstly say i want to convey my

deepest condolences to the gentleman you have interviewed on your programme. anybody who has lost a loved one to this virus has gone through, and is going through, unimaginable greece and that would be compounded in any case where family believes that, for whatever reason, but their loved one has not had the standard of care that they had the standard of care that they had a right to expect. —— unimaginable grief. my condolences go to the gentleman and the family. i have not heard the interview obviously and i do not know beyond what you have told me, the wider circumstances, so it would be not fairto circumstances, so it would be not fair to the circumstances, so it would be not fairto the family circumstances, so it would be not fair to the family and is not fair to the wider public listening to this for me to try to comment on an individual case that i do not know the detail of and i'm going to head over to the chief medical officer who was a bit more about how patients are managed in hospitals, but we have asked hospitals that since the start of the pandemic to operate what we have called red and green zones, which is about the

separation... studio: nicola sturgeon's daily news conference. just to bring you up—to—date with the latest figures that she revealed there in terms of covid hospitalisations and deaths, 1254 people in scotland in hospital, thatis 1254 people in scotland in hospital, that is up from 29 from yesterday and another 28 deaths have been registered in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths in scotland to 2877. one of the things that she wasn't talking about in particular is that wanting to know what will happen with the furlough scheme once it ends at the end of the england lock down and in a few moments we are going to be hearing from the chief secretary to the treasury answering an urgent question from his opposite number on the financial support available during the lockdown, so whether there will be an answer to that question, we do not know, but let's just go now. anneliese dodds asking that question. to ask the chancellor

of the exchequer if he will make a statement on economic support available to individuals and businesses during and after the recently announced lockdown. yesterday, the prime minister set out why we are introducing new measures to tackle a corona decision... i do not need this all the way through. i do not need the backbenchers. .. thank you, mr speaker. yesterday the prime minister set out why we are introducing a new measures to tackle coronavirus. this decision is not one we would wish it to take, but it responds to the soaring infection rate. just as we have a responsibility to protect lives, we must also safeguard livelihoods. that is what the government has provided unprecedented levels of financial support throughout this

process. eight package described by the imf of one of the best examples of coordinated action globally. this includes an extension to the coronavirusjob retention includes an extension to the coronavirus job retention scheme, employees will receive 80% of their usual salary, at a maximum of £2500, while employers need only pay national insurance and pension contributions. we will provide more support to be self—employed but we are increasingly self—employed income from 40% to 80% in november. this beast from 40% to 55% from november to january, at total of 185... they'll continue to claim a six month mortgage holiday and business is required to close can receive nonre payable grants business is required to close can receive nonrepayable grants with up to £3000 a month. in total, mr

speaker, these grants are worth over £1 billion. a month. we are also planning to extend the existing business loan schemes and the future fund to the end ofjanuary. as well as making it possible to top up bounce back loans for top local authorities will also receive £1.1 billion to support businesses more broadly and up to £500 million to support the local public health message. through the contain outbreak management fund. we will also uplift the barnett guarantee this week to give it scotland, wales and northern ireland further certainty over their upfront funding. mrspeaker, certainty over their upfront funding. mr speaker, these measures build on the government's economic package that now totals over £200 billion. they will provide security to millions of people while giving businesses the flexibility to adapt and plan. they underline our

unrelenting focus on listening and responding to the damaging part of this virus. thank you very much for granting this urgent question, mr speaker. the circuit breaker labour proposed three weeks ago would have been shorter and more effective, so it less damaging comic to jobs and businesses than the government's last—minute but lengthy lockdown. the cost of that conservative delay will be counted in lives and livelihoods. so can i ask, was it the chancellor who vetoed the circuit breaker? why did he tell the welsh government it was impossible to extend furlough? and why did he dismiss those in the north who said his plans would lead to hardship? i heard from one restaurant about the strain caused by this panicked last—minute approach is that rumours ofa last—minute approach is that rumours of a lockdown circulated on friday, staff wiped away tears before

putting on a brave face to customers. they did not know whether they would be working as it normal they would be working as it normal the following week, face redundancy, be paid at a 67% of their normal wages or be paid at 73%. similarly, the self—employed enjoyed intransigence, then a rumour, before a last announcement yesterday which still leaves many people with nothing. businesses need to know what support they will receive if their area faces further restrictions at the other side of lockdown, but the prime minister yesterday said they will not find out until just yesterday said they will not find out untiljust before those restrictions are imposed. to can achieve secretary tell me how can any business plan on that basis? how can people cope with at that level of insecurity? the lack of any plan for economic support is making a very, very difficult situation even worse. will be chancellor and his ministers finally get a grip and set out that plan for the next six

months? will be indicate how the different scenarios facing us will be dealt with, not retrospectively, not at the last minute, not once businesses have gone bust and jobs have already been lost, but in advance? will they set out a plan that support if the lockdown is extended? or if different regions or devolved nations remain under restrictions afterwards? and finally, will i continue having to drag government ministers here week after week as this government stu m bles after week as this government stumbles from one crisis to the next? thank you. thank you, mr speaker. the right honourable lady started by saying that the circuit breaker would be shorter, but her own front bench when interviewed repeatedly said that a second break—up would have to be repeated. and the point is that... —— a circuit breaker would have to be repeated. he was clear when he said

that a second national lockdown would not be appropriate because the virus was very low in certain areas at that time and the damage economically would be disproportionate. i still expect some has to argue that, but the economic spokesman for the front bench would be... simply, quoting the deputy chief officer whose advice was it would be the wrong action at that time and i'm pointing to the economic damage which the right honourable lady seems to see as trivial and something to be disregarded. so, she then asked about whether the government, or claims that the government had in some way dismissed certain parts of the united kingdom. ifi some way dismissed certain parts of the united kingdom. if i canjust gently point out that the furlough had not ended, mr speaker. before lowe continued to the end of

october, has now been extended, so there has been no gap in the furlough provision. the furlough has continued to all parts of the united kingdom without any gap in its provision. she then says, as to whether the government has a plan in place, mr speaker, my right honourable friend the chancellor came to the house on the 24th of septemberand came to the house on the 24th of september and set out a white winter plan forjobs. it included things like the kick—sta rt plan forjobs. it included things like the kick—start scheme which has already launched, already up and running, providing much needed training to our constituents across the country and that is part of the winter plan that my right honourable friend set out. but at the same time, when doing so, he was candid in saying that if the pathway of the virus changed, then this government would listen and adapt in response to that and that is exactly the action we have taken. finally,

somewhat strangely the right honourable lady then said that she needs to drag ministers to the chamber in orderto needs to drag ministers to the chamber in order to set out... she is repeating a point. i thought the prime minister was here yesterday in order to give a cemetery has put up to somewhat strange to say that the day after the prime minister gave a statement to the house, that ministers are being attracted to the chamber in orderto ministers are being attracted to the chamber in order to give an update on the position that he set out. order, i think to set myself that decides whether we have an urgent question and i'm sure you will be questioning my judgment on question and i'm sure you will be questioning myjudgment on that. mr speaker, i would questioning myjudgment on that. mr speaker, iwould hope questioning myjudgment on that. mr speaker, i would hope you know me well enough that i would never do so and ifany well enough that i would never do so and if any impression of that was given, i would like to have that record, diligence on updating the house was demonstrated by the prime

minister yesterday in the statement he gave at. we will leave it on this. it is no good when it is played through the press saturday, sunday, where everybody already knows, there is no shot by monday, thatis knows, there is no shot by monday, that is why there is an urgent question. we have all raised demonstrate we will listen and adapt and that is what this government is doing and has set out a competitive package of support to protect as manyjobs package of support to protect as many jobs and livelihoods package of support to protect as manyjobs and livelihoods as possible for —— comprehensive package. chair of the select committee. thank you, mr speaker. i broadly welcome the new measures that the government has brought forward to support jobs, that the government has brought forward to supportjobs, in particular at the increase in support for the self—employed and 40% to 80% under the seis as arrangements for top is my right honourable friend will know, a

report was produced earlier this yearin report was produced earlier this year in which we identified over a million individuals, particularly the self—employed, were missing out on this kind of support, so could my right honourable friend update the house as to whether any of those identified in that report are now receiving support under these new measures where they were not receiving them before? and if the answer is that there are known, could i ask him why that is the case? secretary. my right honourable friend is right to point to the fact that there were some that were not covered and in fact that has been an area of much debate within this house. he will understand there is a distinction between those who are employees who, because they details had not been notified h massey at the cut—off point last time, had been excluded —— micro hmrc, and now will be included moving forward. so there are some of that population cohort that are covered. in respect

of the cohort in relation to the self—employed, he will also be aware that we have offered over £30 billion of support so far to the self employed, which is generous by international standards. but he knows that within that there are different cohorts, there is the cohort relating to company directors, where the issue remains the same and what is it dividend income and what is not. he will know another part of the group is those earning above £50,000 where we made a decision to target to support below that threshold. he will know that some of those that relate to people who are self—employed, if it's not the majority of their income, so less than 50% is through their self employed and we targeted funding on those where their self—employment was their main provision. said there were different cohorts within the excluded population, but those who are employed will be covered by the furlough extension. spokesperson. this uk government continues to lurch around an absolute chaos,

prime minister foster come on tv due to the leaks of his plans hours of delay, squeezing in before strictly announcing an english lockdown and the extension of furlough, just before it's due to expire stop we have been telling him it needs to be extended for months. while i welcome this extension, it will be no comfort to those who have already lost jobs comfort to those who have already lostjobs due to this,'s incompetence was up the business is in my constituency who have done the base to support their staff and now have no idea where they stand. no comfort either to those he continues to ignore, those excluded from the additional support facing a bleak winter ahead. will he ensure they do not lose out again? and so many sectors of the economy that cannot yet go back to normal. the overwhelming sense from many of us here is that this is not a union of equals at. when wales, northern ireland, scotland and parts of the north—east of england as first volley to be extended this autumn, they were told the chancellor's money tree had lost all its leaves,

but yet when the prime minister decided england needed to going to urgent lockdown, it turned out the magic money tree was in fact an evergreen. mr speaker, the prime minister gained his answers in furlough and this has yet to date in an attempt to make the honourable member look good, but he was considered by the secretary of state on sky news this morning when he said it would be up to the chancellor to decide if a furlough would be available to the devolved nations after the 2nd of december. in an act of further disrespect, the chancellor is not even here today to a nswer chancellor is not even here today to answer this question, so will he be clear and will he be honest, will be treasury make furlough and make available at 80% to any part of these oils that requires it after these oils that requires it after the 2nd of december? well, mr speaker, the honourable lady started by saying that we were disrespecting parts of the united kingdom. i was on call with the first secretary of state, the home secretary and others with the first minister of scotland,

wales and deputy minister of northern ireland yesterday as part of our regular dialogue with them, so of our regular dialogue with them, so that continues across the united kingdom. and indeed at official level, the chief medical officers liaise extremely closely together. second,it liaise extremely closely together. second, it is somewhat surprising and disappointing that the fact that the government has listened and introduced, for the first time, an upfront guarantee, which has provided the scottish government with £7.2 billion of funding at an earlier point than would traditionally be the case, recognising the volatility of the situation with covid, amongst the various grievances that the honourable lady... to is recognising that this is different and on the call yesterday signalled to the first minister that we would update this week with a further uplift again following that unprecedented action to give more clarity in terms of the guarantee and the consequence

was that flow. thirdly, the point is that a number of these schemes are uk—wide scheme, so we have extended the loans, we have extended the cj ris, the self—employed income support scheme. —— cjrs. these can be delivered through the broadsword that the united kingdom offers for top distro is true that capacity to act one united kingdom that we have been able to protect up to 1 million jobs in scotland and i think it is important that we work together. that is why we are engaging with the scottish government and that is why more can be achieved if the scottish comet and you can come and work together and that is how it protected today up to a million jobs andi protected today up to a million jobs and i think that is the best way forward. as we have just seen, and certainty in scotland is always a basis the grievance for the snp. my

honourable friend can enter that uncertainty by simply clarifying that should a scientific evidence demand a further lockdown in scotland... we are just going to leave the commons now as we get ready to bring you the one o'clock news. that was the chief secretary to the treasury, steve barclay, answering a question from labour about the financial support during the lockdown and of course the furlough scheme extended now to the 2nd of december but questions remain about whether there would be a future furlough payments if scotland, wales and northern ireland we re scotland, wales and northern ireland were to decide to have shut downs in the future. the one o'clock news coming up with simon mccoy. first, let's catch up with the weather. there are some spectacular autumn cove rs as there are some spectacular autumn covers as an about and we should get the weather to get out and about in this couple days as well because it has been very stormy following on from the rain from yesterday overnight, there are still flood warnings in force, but they should be coming down in the next day or

two, because of high pressure is being invited in from the atla ntic atlantic for wednesday, thursday, friday and for some, even into saturday as well before it finally meets at the way. perhaps three or four days of dry and unsettled weather, but for the rest of the day there are still lively it has put up early morning rain is clearing out the way, but these showers are producing smell and tender, some sleet on the hills but it is still chilly for all, despite the wind being a little lighter or less ferocious than it was yesterday forced up the winds continue to ease and that ridge of high pressure. so much so that for england and wales, it will be our first widespread frost of the season. temperatures why date zero or below in the countryside, even in some towns and cities. not quite as cold across scotland, especially in the north—west. they could be some mist and fog first thing tomorrow morning to watch out for, once that clears, there will far fewer showers. the main chance of showers really across

the northern isles, the western isles, far north—west of highland scotla nd isles, far north—west of highland scotland as well. still a little wintry on the hills, temperate as recovering a little tomorrow, because there are lighter winds and it little sunshine. is going to thursday, another cold start. you can see that windy out, cloudier weather in the north again with much of scotla nd weather in the north again with much of scotland are escaping a thrust, but another cold night further south, particularly in the countryside, but fog becomes the main issue for thursday, particularly for england and wales with the light went. it can leak get till late morning and some places all day. here it will be called by the fog lingers, but for most outside the fog, a little bit warmer across scotland because you have that south—westerly, in effect across eastern grampian there. we progressed was the end of the week, they went full lighter further north, that fog is like to become more of an issue for scotland and northern ireland. hopefully as i say that dry weather hanging on telly is

the first have the weekend, then it is potentially more more on the website.

police make more arrests in austria following a series of shootings last night in vienna. four people died and many more were injured after gunmen shot people in bars and restaurants across the city. the austrian chancellor described the shootings as cold blooded and an islamist terror attack. translation: it was an attack of hatred — hatred of our basic values, hatred of our way of life, hatred of our democracy, where all people are equal in rights and dignity. translation: i saw the heavily-armed attacker with a rifle take aim and shoot at people outside bars and pubs last night. it was a warm evening and the night before the lockdown, so a lot of people wanted to go out. we'll be getting the latest live from vienna and getting reaction from our security correspondent. also this lunchtime: the city of liverpool becomes

the first place in england