welcome to bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories. optimism from health experts as a pill developed to treat severe coronavirus reports positive trial results that could halve the chances of dying. after the murder of sarah everard by a serving police officer, london's metropolitan police tries to regain the public trust. two new streams of lava pose a further threat of destruction as the la palma volcano forces thousands to flee. nobody knows how much more lava is going to flow into the sea. there is no sign of this ending anytime soon. europe's first mission to mercury is making a flyby

approach on the night side of the planet. and let's dance, a new album of previously unreleased david bowie tunes is due be made public. we talk to the records producer later. hello and welcome to the programme. they could be breakthrough in the way we treat covid—19. a new drug because the risk of hospitalisation by about half. if authorised by regulators the new drug, which comes in the form of appeal, would be the first oral antiviralfor covid—19. this is the first covid pill. trial results suggest it can cut hospitalisations

or deaths by half. the news of the efficacy of this particular antiviral is obviously very good news. the company, when they briefed us last night, had mentioned that they will be submitting their data to the fda imminently. the data are impressive. pills were given to 775 elderly or medically at—risk patients within five days of them showing coronavirus symptoms. the data from a phase three trial showed 7.3% of patients on the drug were hospitalised, compared to 14.1% of those who did not take the tablets. eight patients who were given a placebo — or dummy pill — later died of covid, but there were no deaths in the group taking the pill. the trial was stopped early because the pill was so successful. the data still needs to be peer—reviewed.

so how does it work? as coronavirus replicates itself inside your body, these antiviral pills trick it into using the drug, which then inserts errors into the virus�*s genetic code, blocking the virus from replicating. there are existing intravenous treatments, but this is the first pill and, as long as it's taken early on, would offer an alternative at a third of a price — at $700 a treatment. accessibility is a problem with monoclonal antibody. for this one, it's a simple pill, so obviously a lot easier to administer it and a lot easier to administer as an outpatient as well. merck says it's making 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of the year, with 1.7 million of those already paid for by the us government. "game changer" is probably a bit of a stretch, but absolutely helps push us forward. and that's kind of how we see it is this moving back to a normal society,

and this is just the next step. the us drug company is seeking emergency approval for the drug, which us authorities say is no substitute for preventative vaccines. but this is an exciting development, as the first company to report trial results of a pill to treat covid as other companies also work on similar treatments. mark lobel, bbc news. earlier i spoke to epidemiologist and health economist dr eric feigl—ding, and asked him how much of a game changer this new drug is in the fight against covid. this pill is quite remarkable. it is not based on any spike proteins like the vaccines are, it is agnostic to variants, because it targets the molecular machinery of the virus. it adds lots of nonsense code. it completely corrupts the genome of the virus, so that it can't replicate. and that's the beauty.

then even if the virus mutates, it can still be useful. people are talking about this, if we have another coronavirus pandemic in the future this drug will still work for that coronavirus, because it agnostic to variants. and that, i think, is what makes it a gamechanger. but this is not preventative, is it? this is given to people when they have already been diagnosed with the disease? right, this is not like a vaccine whatsoever. it's not preventing illness. you get this after you test positive. but this is not like dexamethasone which is for severe cases only. and it is a pill, unlike intravenous antibodies, remdesevir, all of those are extremely invasive and needing to go to the clinic to get the treatment. this could theoretically be over—the—counter, although i don't think they will offer it over—the—counter anytime soon.

but the simplicity and the mass production is also much simpler. tell us more about that. how does mass production works, how much it is likely to cost? so, the process for producing this is a very conventional process. unlike monoclonal antibodies, which require these bioreactors, it's very tedious to produce monoclonal antibodies, but this one can be mass produced pretty conventionally, and they have already licensed it to eight different generic drug makers in india, which should be able to set it up to mass—produce it very quickly. and, you know, the $700 price is obviously not low, but compared to remdesevir, which can be up to $3000, or monoclonal antibody treatments, which is $2000, this is much, much cheaper, although it is still not nearly as cheap as a vaccine, of course, which i want to point out, this lowers risk by half, but the vaccine lowers hospitalisation risk tenfold to 100—fold. so it is still orders of magnitude not as powerful as a vaccine. that was dr eric feigl—ding

speaking to me earlier. the metropolitan police here in london are trying to reassure women after serving officer was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the rape, kidnap and murder of a woman walking home alone in london in march of this year. the number of deaths in the united states caused by covid—i9 now exceeds 700,000, according tojohns hopkins according to johns hopkins university according tojohns hopkins university in maryland stop in the number is the highest for any country in the world, far exceeding other badly affected countries such as brazil and india. is facing a further resurgence in cases due to the prominence of the highly contagious delta variant. the metropolitan police here in london are trying to reassure women after serving officer was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison for the rape, kidnap and murder of a woman walking home alone in london in march of this year.

in court, it emerged wayne couzens had used his police id and his handcuffs in the attack on sarah everard. daniel sandford wayne couzens, the police officer turned killer who has so damaged public trust, today beginning the life sentence in prison from which he will never be released. his abduction, rape and murder of sarah everard, using his police warrant card and handcuffs, risks undermining confidence in officers right across the uk. i think it's very important that people should have confidence in policing and what the police do. and i do, let me stress that. but what i want to do is to use this moment to make sure that we deal with what i think is a huge and justified feeling, by millions of people up and down the country, and i'm afraid overwhelmingly women, that their complaints and their anxieties are not taken seriously enough by the police. the wider problem is illustrated by a whatsapp group in which wayne couzens swapped misogynistic messages with officers from the metropolitan police,

the civil nuclear constabulary and the norfolk constabulary. all are being investigated for gross misconduct. two of the met officers face a criminal investigation for allegedly sending grossly offensive messages. i am so sorry. couzens�*s horrific crimes have left the head of london's police force, dame cressida dick, in a precarious position. her force had failed to link wayne couzens to at least two incidents of indecent exposure, one before he joined the force and one just three days before he killed sarah everard. women who now feel concerned when stopped by officers are being advised to ask to speak to the control room on the police radio, and, if still concerned, just run, but labour want to hear more on what the police will be doing. what we need right now is clear communication to women, who are particularly concerned not about what they have to do differently but what the police are going to do to reassure them about the way that they're

going to police this situation. she's ready to take action, to do the right thing. and while the force has been celebrating 100 years of women in policing, some former officers have said misogyny, contempt for women, is widespread, and people are afraid to report it. there are some people who challenge, and they become marginalised, and they become almost like the pariahs of the team. that needs to stop. that's why i talk about, there needs to be the support network, and those officers need to be actively encouraged to come forward. the confidence issues go far beyond the capital. the force in manchester has been repeatedly criticised for how it handles domestic abuse. young women in the city today said they have lost trust in the police. they're there to keep you safe, and the idea that they're not and they're doing quite the opposite's quite scary, i feel. i don't feel like i could go to the police now. i feel like we have to kind of stand together, rather than go to the police.

we have to kind of have back—up from other means. the senior officer who will lead the national effort to address those concerns said this is a watershed moment. i think this is a marked moment in society, to stand and look at ourselves about the level of violence against women and girls. and the case of sarah everard, murdered by a police officer as she walked home, might also be the moment when forces have to address the toxic attitudes that some men in their ranks hold towards women. daniel sandford, bbc news, at new scotland yard. let's get some of the day's other stories now. the former president of georgia has been arrested within hours of return to the country after years in exile. has said he was returning from ukraine on the

eve of new miscible relaxants to urge voters to abandon the governing party. the president has reportedly said she will not pardon the returning politician. ecuador has said it will pardon 2000 inmates from its overcrowded prisons to prevent further violence following the worst prison riot in the country's history. priority for release would be given to the disabled, the elderly, terminally ill and women. at least 118 inmates in the western city of ecuador were killed in clashes between rival gangs which began on tuesday. a supreme courtjudge has refused to block a requirement that all of new york city's public school teachers and employees be vaccinated against covid—19. the justice rejected a challenge by a group of four teachers and teaching assistants. and the coach of an american women's soccer team has been sacked of claims of

harassment and sexual misconduct towards players. paul riley led north carolina courage to two league titles. he denies a string of allegations dating back several years. this weekend's league games have been cancelled in light of the revelations. red hot lover from a volcano erupting on the spanish island of la palma continues to flow into the sea. these are life pictures now, we can bring you, it is sending out vows to make vast clouds of toxic gas into the atmosphere, many homes and crops have been destroyed, thousands of people have been forced to flee. the eruption began 11 days ago, and our correspondent danjohnson is correspondent dan johnson is there. a volcanic island extension that is growing all the time. welcome to the newest part of la palma — a volcanic island extension that is growing all the time. and all this lava has destroyed 900 homes and forced thousands more to be abandoned. emily and augustine are the latest to pack up ready to leave, fearful it is heading their way.

it won't stop, that's my one big fear. we are onlyjust seeing the beginning. and there is augustine's mum and aunt fried, 96 and 97. they've both lived through two previous eruptions, 19119 and 1971, but now they've had enough. "this is much worse than the other eruptions," she says. "i'll be much calmer when i've reached the other island." everything's horrible. i mean, we are still lucky. we have the house. i mean, hope is always stronger than fear, and we hope we'll stay. i have so many friends who lost their houses and everything. around the clock the lava keeps flowing, and new vents have opened up, threatening other villages. ash is continually clouding these skies, so janet's work is never done, because this volcanic gritjust keeps falling. translation: it's not easy. we never imagined this could happen. it's hard to see people without anywhere to live. on this island, we are family. there is a huge exclusion zone

being patrolled by the coast guard because, although that is mostly steam being given off when the lava hits the water, there is also the risk toxic gases are released as well, and nobody knows how much more lava is going to flow into the sea. there is no sign of this ending any time soon. fishermen like elian can only watch and wait. it is said the fish all swam awayjust before the eruption. translation: we don't know what the future will be like, i because there are fewer fish. i don't see a future here if they don't help us. do you think you'll leave la palma? si. others are adapting to this strange new way of life, dominated by the deep rumbling of the volcano and the unpredictable threat of its ever—flowing lava. danjohnson, bbc news, la palma.

developed to treat coronavirus could halve the chances of dying. and after the murder of sarah everard by a serving police officer, london's metropolitan police tries to regain the public�*s trust. texas still has the strictest anti—abortion law in the us with the procedure effectively banned after six weeks. a so—called heartbeat bill. 0ur correspondent went to san antonio to meet michel, who has chosen to get an abortion and tries to negotiate a new reality there, and michaela who has been flooded for highs —— cries for help since texas introduced its strict abortion law. someone's coming over right now because they're a little scared about the aftercare for their abortion because they've never had an abortion, they don't

know anybody who's had an abortion. makayla helps people in texas access abortions. how have you been doing? how has accessing abortion right now been for you? i feel a little stressed, but very relieved. i'm here picking up, like, my care package, so i feel a little bit more safe, especially because you're more knowledgeable in sexual health. everybody needs to have a plan in place right now. a controversial new law in texas is now the strictest in the country. it made everything so much more intense and so much worse. we want to see an end to elective abortion in our state from the moment of fertilisation, that moment the new human being is created. it's crazy, to think about how we had access to safe abortions and now that's taken away from us. it is nearly impossible to get an abortion in texas. the texas law bans abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. it also allows anyone who helps a woman get an abortion to be sued. people are panicking a lot right now about possibly

being pregnant, because they don't know what that's going to do, they don't know what that access is going to look like if they are pregnant. me and my partner came to a mutual agreement, i where we honestly thought it was the best to get - an abortion. one, two, three... abortion! 2021 has seen the most abortion restrictions enacted nationwide since the roe v wade decision in 1973. the law passed in texas, called sb8, is the most severe yet. this is a controversial issue. it's one that people disagree on ardently. but at the end of the day, the question we ask is, "what is the pre—born child? "what is in the mother's womb? "is it a human being worthy of legal protection "and inherent with moral value and dignity?" and if so, that's what we're fighting for. that's why we're fighting to end abortion. the demand for makayla's help has increased exponentially

since the law went into effect. this person says they're going to have to go to oklahoma because of the new law. this person was six weeks and one day, and they said, "i want more information on travelling expenses, "because i have to go out of state." her biggest challenge, though, is to help people access abortion care in texas before it's too late. "i was sexually assaulted and i'm terrified of being "pregnant, especially with the new abortion law. "please help me." when i was 18, i had gotten pregnant and needed to access an abortion and had a lot of trouble. people helped me access an abortion, and i owe the rest of my life to my abortions. i know what opportunities abortion can give to people, so why notjust spend the rest of my life doing it? europe's first mission to mercury is completing its first flyby. the spacecraft will

flyby. the spacecraft will flyby the planet at high speeds, taking photographs and sending them back to earth. it is moving too fast to go into orbit but will begin more detailed observations in four years time. earlier, i spoke to the planetary scientist emily locked awhile up. she is following this mission closely and told me what she wants to achieve. . , and told me what she wants to achieve. ., , ., , , achieve. there has only been two previous _ achieve. there has only been two previous missions. - achieve. there has only been two previous missions. this i achieve. there has only been i two previous missions. this one is designed to answer a lot of the questions raised by the messenger mission. you mentioned _ messenger mission. you mentioned in _ messenger mission. you mentioned in the - messenger mission. you mentioned in the introduction the spacecraft is shooting past mercury, not actually landing on the planet. what are we watching for in the coming hours? ., , _ hours? the main thing the flyby is meant to _ hours? the main thing the flyby is meant to accomplish - hours? the main thing the flyby is meant to accomplish is - hours? the main thing the flyby is meant to accomplish is to - is meant to accomplish is to alter the orbit, the trajectory of the spacecraft as it goes

around the sun. i would love to be able to enter orbit because thatis be able to enter orbit because that is the goal of the mission, to orbit for a couple of years and have a of data, but it's difficult to enter orbit at mercury because it is small and the gargantuan gravity of the sun is close by so they will have to fly past a total of five times before finally entering orbit in 2025 to really, all they really want to really, all they really want to hear is that the craft is safe and its trajectory is what they want they will also get some science data from this encounter. some science data from this encounter-— some science data from this encounter. ., ., encounter. you mentioned the aircraft staying _ encounter. you mentioned the aircraft staying safe, _ encounter. you mentioned the aircraft staying safe, it - encounter. you mentioned the aircraft staying safe, it is - aircraft staying safe, it is obviously very close to the sun so how does the spacecraft protect itself from the heat and radiation? it protect itself from the heat and radiation?— and radiation? it carries a sunshield, _ and radiation? it carries a sunshield, it _ and radiation? it carries a sunshield, it has - and radiation? it carries a sunshield, it has one - and radiation? it carries a sunshield, it has one side and radiation? it carries a i sunshield, it has one side of the spacecraft designed to be pointed out the hot surface of the sun, and a lot of the other instruments and systems hide underneath it like an umbrella and so it limits the directions of the spacecraft and once they are in orbit around mercury, the instruments are designed to

stare down the surface of mercury but until then a lot of those instruments are completely hidden inside the spacecraft so a lot of them don't actually have the view out but many don't need a field of view, there are magnetometers and other stuff operating find through the flyby and will be taking data throughout.— flyby and will be taking data throughout. david bowie may have left us _ throughout. david bowie may have left us for _ throughout. david bowie may have left us for another - throughout. david bowie may| have left us for another planet five years ago but his legacy lives on. ahead of what would have been his 75th birthday, the new album is due to regularised. —— released. it was recorded in 2001, a combination of new material and revamped versions of earlier songs. his producer told me how the album came about.

this all sprang from a show called vh1 storytellers in 1999. the idea there was you'd play a song and then you'd tell a story about the song and what was happening, what inspired the song. and he wanted to play something from his early period, from the mid—60s, so we played a song called can't help thinking about me, which he had never done. and he really enjoyed doing it. we all really enjoyed playing it so much that we continued to play it on the tour that followed. an idea kind of sprung that maybe it'd be fun to rerecord a lot of those early songs with one band, instead of — the early songs were all split between different producers, different studios, musicians. they all sounded very different, not very cohesive. and the idea was we would select a batch of these songs and rerecord them with one group of people, with us producing all of this. and tell us about the recording

experience, because the two of you worked incredibly closely together, didn't you? yeah, it was unlike something i'd done up to that point. for the most part during the �*90s, most records were done in more of a piecemealway, multitrack, and sometimes the songs wouldn't even be written when an artist would come to the studio. songs would be built up piece by piece, layered, and things like that. which was a very cool process, and the first two records i did with david were very much in that vein. but this time we thought we would go more of an old—school route and rehearse the band. the band would then go out and perform and kind of get to know each other really well musically and get on that wavelength together. we did that by playing glastonbury together and bbc radio theatre, and performed a couple of toy songs then. after that we came back to new york, took a couple of days off and then went right into the studio to start recording them.

and it was really quite different, as well, musically, because we were all on such a collective wavelength together. the mood was great, it was exhilarating. it was kind of empowering and humbling at the same time playing with some of these legendary people, as well as just the vibe we all had together. a lot of that came from david himself, who was in a very great place, i think. it had been a smashing success in glastonbury and he was going to be a dad again, and that was infectious to all of us. he sang his heart out and we went right along with him. before we go, time to bring you some pictures from australia's northern territory of a mission which went slightly wrong. this drawing was being used together footage crocodiles when one of them decided to take a bite. in case you missed it, here it is in slow motion. amazingly, the

drone kept filming but when it was recovered, it had suffered quite a bit of damage. that's all from us. goodbye for now. more rain and wind on the way. it is autumn, after all, but for some of us saturday may end up being a bit of a write—off. and in fact, over the next few days, the weather will remain very unsettled — spells of heavy rain, gales at times and even the possibility of some travel disruption. and the atlantic is looking a lot more vigorous in its weather patterns in the last few days. we're seeing low pressures forming, propelled by a powerfuljet stream and you can see a low pressure anchored just to the north—west of the uk, another one to the south forming, and that's the one that's going to bring the particularly wet spell of weather on saturday, so through the early hours, we're already expecting some rain across western

areas of the uk but ahead of that there is plenty of clear, dry weather, so eastern and central areas may actually wake up to some sunshine. that sunshine may even last until mid—morning or perhaps early afternoon in the extreme east but very quickly, those clouds will increase and we've got some particularly wet weather there for the south and the south—east and some strong winds, too. further north—west in the afternoon, it's going to be more of a mixed bag, so for belfast and glasgow i think some sunny spells certainly in the forecast. so here's saturday night. that low pressure and its extensive rain front moves out of the way and then the weather opens up a little bitjust in time for the marathons on sunday. so for the london marathon, expect some sunshine, the marathon in belfast as well. nowhere will be completely dry. in fact, showers are expected on sunday with a keen westerly breeze, but at least we're not going to have that really prolonged rain. now, the temperatures both on saturday and sunday will be around the mid—teens — not that it'll feel like it because of the strength of the wind and also

the prolonged rain. and then, on monday, the next area of low pressure heads our way. so early on monday, there could be some sunshine around, but certainly by monday afternoon and evening, we'll start to see the next area of wet weather approaching south—western parts of the uk. so a very unsettled spell of weather over the next few days — quite typical for october, really. here's the summary. you can see a lot of rain shower icons there. temperatures mostly in the mid—teens. there's just a hint that, some time later next week, things will settle down at least for a bit. bye— bye.

you are watching bbc news. the headlines: provisional clinical trials of a new experimental drug for severe covid suggests it cuts the risk of hospitalisation or death by about half. if authorised by regulators, the new drug which is a pill, would be the first oral antiviral medication for covid—19. after the murder of sarah everard, the british prime minister has urged the public to trust me police despite the revelation that her police that her killer was a serving officer. borisjohnson said the government was examining how cases of violence against women are handled. and the volcano that has been erupting for over a week on the spanish island of la palma is spewing out two new streams of lava, threatening further disruption that destruction and forcing thousands more to flee. hundreds of buildings have already been damaged on the spanish island.