welcome to bbc news. i'm ben boulos. our top stories: a second night of violence in the netherlands as new coronavirus restrictions draw protesters onto the streets in the hague. the world health organisation says it is very worried about the number of cases in europe, as the virus once again becomes the continent's biggest killer. success today does not mean success tomorrow because no country is an island. the missing tennis player peng shuai — new videos chinese media says were filmed this weekend fail to allay the fears of the international community. the us secretary of state warns of "real concerns" over russian military activities at the border with ukraine. we don't know what president

putin's intensions are, but we do know what's happened in the past, we do know the playbook. as the netherlands battles record coronavirus infections, a second night of rioting has broken out as people object to restrictions on their movement. hundreds of people lit fires and pelted the police with rocks and fireworks in the hague. it follows friday night's violence in rotterdam, when at least fifty people were arrested, and several others received gunshot wounds. our correspondent in the hague, anna holligan, reports. explosion. another dutch city rocked by discontent. in the hague rioters burnt bicycles and pelted police with

stones and fireworks. officers used horses, dogs, batons and bikes to chase them away. earlier, anti—vax demonstrators brought music to the southern city of breda. while most dutch people accept the need for tougher rules, the distrust is spreading. in my opinion about the coronavirus rules is that it's not acceptable any more. we have to live with corona so please invest in the healthcare in holland so we can handle all the corona infections in the hospitals. the night before, there were rampages in rotterdam. riot police fired live rounds. a number of demonstrators were hit and hospitalised. an investigation is under way to find out if their injuries were caused by police gunfire.

restrictions in the netherlands began last saturday and will remain until at least the start of december. the netherlands is amongst several european countries battling record infection rates and many governments are considering or implementing tougher measurements targeting the unvaccinated. in austria, supporters of the country's far—right freedom party marched against mandatory coronavirus vaccinations. a 20—day lockdown will start next week. denmark's capital copenhagen witnessed discord, too. the uk is not yet seeing such a rapid increase in infections and these are some of the reasons why. many countries in europe were faced with delta a little bit later so they are dealing with it now and some of them opened up slightly later than we did so that is a factor. the second point is there's differences in vaccines. you've got high levels of non—vaccine uptake in some populations in some

european countries. in the uk high infection rates also helped to build up immunity. now, the push to get boosterjabs in continue. now, the push to get boosterjabs in continues. as a fourth wave crashes across the continent, countries are struggling to ease pressure on the health services and the streets. anna holligan, bbc news, in the hague. journalist stephanie van der berg is in the hague and told us more about what's driving the protests there. well, the main point of the demonstration is not that they have a current lockdown like in the netherlands, where bars, restaurants and clubs and other public spaces are closed at 8:00pm, but the government announced that if that doesn't work, bringing down the record numbers of infections we are seeing the netherlands, that they might have to look at a system were unvaccinated people no longer will be able to have a green check in the corona app

and therefore cannot access bars and restaurants, so they would be restricted in their movements, especially going out, and that is what a lot of people are protesting about, the possibility of having separate measures for the unvaccinated. thousands of croatians have also taken to the streetsof the capital, zagreb, in the biggest gathering in the country against covid restrictions and mandatory vaccine certificates, since the beginning of the pandemic. from monday, only people with covid passports can enter government and public buildings in croatia. the world health organisation has called for an urgent tightening of measures across europe, warning that half a million more deaths could be recorded by march, unless urgent action is taken. the un body says, at the moment, one person is dying from the virus in europe every 15—to—20 minutes. dr hans kluge, the who's regional director for europe, spoke to the bbc earlier.

we are definitely worried. but the good news is that we know what to do. let's look to the positive side — portugal, spain, where i have been recently, they are implementing what i call a vaccination plus path. they are vaccinating, now they are boosting but also implementing the basic measures like masks. average 48% of the european population is wearing a mask indoors. any percentage above that will have an immediate effect. much more attention to be paid to ventilation. and, finally, two new treatment protocols which have to be standardised. chinese state media has posted three videos which it says shows the missing chinese tennis player, peng shuai. the editor of the global times newspaper posted the videos, saying they were taken this weekend. the former world number one disappeared earlier this month, after she alleged she was sexually exploited by a former

vice premier of china. our china correspondent, john sudworth, joins me live now from taipei. what are we to make of this video? it what are we to make of this video? , ., , , ., video? it first appeared under the social— video? it first appeared under the social media _ video? it first appeared under the social media account - video? it first appeared under the social media account of. video? it first appeared under the social media account of a | the social media account of a fiercely loyal communist party editor here but it has since appeared also under the chinese social media account of the tournament organisers in beijing so this looks like the first real evidence of peng shuai's whereabouts since she disappeared at the beginning of the month since making these allegations. there have been other purported evidence, and e—mail, photographs, video, but there have been questions about

all of them. this one where we see peng shuai standing alongside other dignitaries on sunday morning looks to be different. the question, of course, is if this is proof of life but what critics were asking for is not proof that she was alive but genuine proof that she is free and able to speak and move as she wishes and i think, although this video does appear to be genuine evidence, those questions will not go away. evidence, those questions will not go away-— evidence, those questions will not go away. outside china, we hear a lot _ not go away. outside china, we hear a lot about _ not go away. outside china, we hear a lot about the _ not go away. outside china, we hear a lot about the criticism i hear a lot about the criticism and concerned voiced. how much of the international reaction and concern is resonating within china about peng shuai? as you might expect, at the heart of this is an allegation

made by peng shuai against one of china's most powerful politicians coming do not get more senior than zhang gaoli. he was a former vice premier. these are extraordinarily explosive allegations and despite all of the international concern coming not just from the international concern coming notjust from the tennis governing bodies, notjust from otherfellow governing bodies, notjust from other fellow star tennis players but from governments as well, all of that concern has been a very muted in china. as you would expect, the censorship machine is in overdrive at the moment. this is about as sensitive as story as you can get and that is where the concern for her well—being comes from. anybody watching china for the past years knows you cannot make this allegation with some kind of political are consequences.

any concerns in china about... the chinese authorities have pushed back strongly against any call for a boycott of the winter olympics which have been at that, as you say, in the run—up to these games over a host of issues. china's crackdown under the democratic freedoms of hong kong, its treatment of the uyghurs in the internment camps. this one is different because sport is at the heart of it and china facing calls notjust from human rights organisations, what it might consider the usual voices, what it might consider the usualvoices, it what it might consider the usual voices, it now faces a really difficult and escalating public relations disaster under fierce criticism from sporting stars and global sports bodies

themselves. international olympic committee has so far been muted. i think the pressure on the olympic governing official to speak out will grow as well. this certainly adds to that pressure on the china and it is very difficult to see how this is resolved. of course, the suspicion is these appearances, videos, the evidence put out is meant of course to persuade people that she is safe and well but the more it is done so, the more the questions have grown so it does not look like those calls and criticisms are going to be diminished by any of this at all. for going to be diminished by any of this at all.— going to be diminished by any of this at all. for the moment, and q of this at all. for the moment, and 0 very _ of this at all. for the moment, and q very much. _ sophie richardson is the china director at human rights watch. i asked her what she made of the videos. we are extremely sceptical about the veracity of it

and certainly would not think for a moment that it proves anything about peng shuai's safety or her well—being. it is worth pointing out that the chinese government really has form when it comes to notjust coercing confessions from people but finding ways to broadcast them. what you're correspondent described is entirely consistent with what we have seen used, for example, from swedish publisher, gui minhai, a few years ago, who was forced to go on camera and said that who was forced to go on camera and say that he was fine and happy to stay in china and was sorry for the mistakes that he'd made. this happens fairly regularly. that it is happening at such a high profile educates the world about what the rule of law does not involve inside china. obviously beijing is due to host the winter olympics in a matter of months from now. what do you think the rest of the world needs to do, what does the international olympic committee need to do to send a clear message

that this kind of treatment, if it is as people suspect, is simply not acceptable? she's also an olympian and when a government does this, just before it hosts an olympics, to an olympian it is really not a good look. we have argued for a long time that the chinese government should not be awarded the games and, after 2008, made that argument even more strongly because the government failed to fulfil any of the human rights related promises it had made to get the games. we can see that the situation inside the country has deteriorated significantly. one really wonders if players now even feel safe to go and compete there. we have argued for a diplomatic boycott but i think this development may actually lead to athletes themselves not wanting to go to compete in a beijing, and i was just looking at a tweet from martina navratilova saying to the ioc

where are you in protecting athletes' human rights? so i think there is a real lack of confidence in some of the bodies governing sport to take care of athletes's safety and well—being. given the outright there has been over this, even if say some big countries, big olympic players like the us, the uk, for example, were to boycott unilaterally those winter olympics, do you think that would deter china at all? do you think it would just carry on with what it is doing regardless? i think one has to try to pull the levers that are available. let's think about this — this is the second most powerful government in the world that sees fit to notjust take an olympic athlete off the grid but it is currently committing crimes against humanity targeting millions of uyghur muslims. it has disappeared everyone from artists like ai weiwei, to senior tibetan monks,

and this continues to happens partly because there is never any real consequence for the government officials responsible for it. and we've been arguing hard, especially in the case of crimes against humanity, that holding chinese government officials accountable is essential to breaking this cycle of total impunity and hopefully part of what comes out of this experience is notjust peng shuai's well—being and her safety but also a renewed diplomatic willingness to actually use the mechanisms through the united nations, through domestic courts to produce that kind of accountability to deter future violations. sophie richardson is the china director at human rights watch. you are watching bbc news, let's just remind you of our top stories the sour: —— this hour: a second night of violent demonstrations against covid restrictions in the

netherlands, after the city of rotterdam was rocked on friday night. new videos reportly of the missing tennis player peng shuai, out with friends this weekend, fail to allay the fears of the international community. the us secretary of state antony blinken says his european allies share "real concerns" about unusual russian military activity on its border with ukraine. mr blinken�*s remarks came as american reinforcements for ukraine's navy sailed into the gateway to the black sea. kyiv has raised fears that russia may be preparing an attack. russia's president vladimir putin has accused the west of escalating tensions. our north america correspondent peter bowes has more details. he is speaking on this again while visiting senegal, he spoke about it two weeks ago at the state department after meeting with ukrainian foreign minister when he also expressed concern, which we heard repeated by other leaders around europe that the russian authorities are building up their military hardware and troops around the border with ukraine, especially with 200 miles of the border and mister lincoln describing this as unusual

and of great concern. and that is the very reality of what is happening now, he also said he is concerned about the precedent of his history of what happened in 2014, the invasion by russian crimea and he refers to this as a playbook in other words, a routine that is been seen before, the accumulation of forces, troops, the hardware followed by an invasion and the reason they're being given essentially russian, russia was threatened, it was a response and so they're saying they seen this before and that is why there is concern about it potentially happening again. there have been calls for calm in the united states after friday's court verdict that cleared a teenager of murder.

18—year—old kyle rittenhouse had argued he was acting in self—defence when he shot dead two men and injured a third during unrest last year over the police shooting of a black man. the not—guilty verdict has divided the country, as our north america correspondent nomia iqbal now reports. whose streets? all: , , whose streets? our streets! hundreds of people marched through new york in protest at the verdict. in the city of portland, a riot broke out after protesters smashed windows and threw rocks at police, but nothing on the scale of last year's unrest. i'm alive but what could've happened? after the verdict came out, kyle rittenhouse spoke to one of america's most conservative talk show host, tucker carlson. the jury reached the correct verdict. self—defence is not illegal. and i believe they came to the correct verdict and i'm glad that everything went well and it's been a roughjourney, but we've made it through it. we made it through

the hard part. the case goes beyond what happened in this courthouse in kenosha. for most republican politicians, kyle rittenhouse is a brave patriot who was simply defending himself that night after being chased. but many democrats are worried that by not being held accountable for killing two men and injuring a third, it sends a dangerous message. the vice president said the decision reflected poorly on the justice system. the verdict really speaks for itself. as many of you know, i've spent a majority of my career working to make the criminaljustice system more equitable and, clearly, there's a lot more work to do. president biden says he understands the anger and concern by some, but struck a more measured tone. i stand by what the jury has concluded. the jury system works and we have to abide by it. this case has exposed so many divisions that already exist in america — about gun laws,

racism and left versus right. the story of this teenager will do almost nothing to bring the sides together. nomia iqbal, bbc news, kenosha. french authorities are sending police and counter—terrorism officers to the caribbean island of guadeloupe to quell street violence. dozens of businesses in two main towns were looted after protests against a covid health pass turned. gail maclellan reports. barricades burn after five days of protests in the french overseas territory. trade unions launched an indefinite strike earlier in the week to protest the compulsory vaccination of health workers and covid-i9 vaccination of health workers and covid—19 health past requirement. despite a curfew being imposed, shops were looted and buildings burned through the night. the french interior minister announced to the departure of additional forces sent to the island to help restore order.

translation: �* ., ., translation: among them are about 50 agents _ translation: among them are about 50 agents of _ translation: among them are about 50 agents of the - about 50 agents of the counterterrorism unit and the elite police force. we have ascertained that not only is there disorder but live ammunition was used against law enforcement officers and that looting which has idsa nothing to do with the protests is now taking place on the island. in taking place on the island. in the summer, hospitals on the island became overwhelmed with coronavirus cases. doc is, nurses and firefighters flew to the island to assist, and lockdown was imposed and tourists advised to leave. but the vaccination campaign has struggled to find support. unlike on mainland france where most people have had two doses of the vaccine, in akron one, only 46% of adults have received one jab.

venezuelans go to the polls on sunday in regional elections. for the first time in a number of years, the opposition will be taking part — and president nicolas maduro has also invited eu observers to monitor the vote for the first time in more than a decade. but will this make for free and fair elections? our south america correspondent, katy watson now reports from the state of miranda. "do you want change or more of the same?", asks opposition candidate david uzcategui. he's doing his best to win over the people of milagro — spanish for miracle. pretty apt for a place where people have more faith in divine intervention than in politicians to lift them out of poverty. translation: we can see - that the best leaders are those in the community, in unions, in neighbourhoods. they allow a movement to grow from the bottom up, disrupting politics and that

can triumph over the political stalemate that president nicolas maduro has created. this, though, is a country where people are so desperate the political language most understand is handouts. in this case, it's medicine. across the road, nada and her two—year—old grandson darrel are queueing for construction vouchers. she wants to finish building her house. nowadays, it's feeling empty — darrel�*s mum left to find work in colombia when he was a few months old. "he is helping us with things we need," nada tells me. she used to support the government, but no longer. "things have to change here." the campaign event for rival hector rodriguez has a totally

different vibe — a sensation that they've already won. many here are members of youth groups and community leaders, all convinced the status quo is the best option. translation: the opposition isn't united, it doesn't give . young people any opportunities, but the government is a means to an end. horn blares. venezuelan people have a choice in these elections but there's a real power imbalance between the opposition and the government. take these buses, for example. they've been put on by the organisers to bring supporters to the rally. in the hills overlooking caracas, an abandoned tunnel project. and an abandoned community who has given up on politics altogether. voting doesn't feel like a priority when there's no

power at home. and their taps have run dry. maria comes here once a week to collect water for the family. she's angry and fed up. translation: to be honest, i don't want to vote for either side, but you need to take part. these elections mark a change with both sides now participating. but people here have got used to neglect. few think sunday's vote will make any real difference to their lives. katy watson, bbc news, venezuela. one more story from venezuela for you before we go. in caracas, the world record has just been set for the world's biggest orchestra, have a listen. music plays there you have it, maracas in

caracas. it's venezuela's youth orchestra. more than 12,000 musicians played a classical piece together for more than five minutes to beat the record that was set in russia two years ago. and why don't we let them play us out of the programme? hello. it may have turned colder but along with that change, the skies in many areas on sunday will be a good deal bluer. in fact, that change took place on saturday in scotland once the colder air had moved on through. in fact, that's now spread south right towards the uk. along with the sunshine, though, there is a chance of catching a shower — and more especially across eastern areas of the uk. so this cold front is moving away so behind it the colder air, along with the clearer skies, across the uk but, yes, that colder air has arrived. now, it will feel very different from everything we've had so far this autumn, but it's not at all unusual for the time of year. and there will be a touch of frost in parts of scotland and northern england as the day begins, and as i mentioned

earlier, once it's up, plenty of sunshine around, with a scattering of showers in northern scotland, wintry on hills and a few early on in north east england, becoming more widespread across the eastern side of england as we go on through the day. one or two heavier ones in there as well. whereas for much of south west scotland, northern ireland, wales, the western side of england, bar an isolated shower, it'll be dry and sunny. and there's a brisk breeze adding a chilly to average speeds around some coasts of northern scotland, north sea coasts, a0 mph gusts, and temperatures for the most part in single figures — just io—ii around some of the coasts of wales and south west england. we'll keep a few showers in the east overnight and into monday and cloud increasing in northern scotland with a few outbreaks of rain moving in. with the cloud here, temperatures are holding up with the wind along the north sea coast, whereas elsewhere, there will be a more widespread frost as monday begins. now, monday for england and wales will deliver quite a bit of sunshine. some cloud increasing in northern england. still the chance for a shower towards the north sea coast, parts of south east england. notice cloudier skies for northern ireland and scotland.

some patchy rain in northern scotland. with that, though, temperatures are edging up again a few degrees. so temperatures actually rally for a few days in the week ahead before, later in the week, we have another push of cold air spreading its way southwards and likely to be a touch colder than the air we find ourselves in at the moment. quite a lot of dry weather around this week — just a few showers here and there — and the showers, as the colder air moves in by friday, will be wintry in places.

this is bbc news, the headlines: rioting has broken out for a second night in the netherlands over new coronavirus lockdown restrictions. hundreds of people have lit fires and pelted the police with rocks and fireworks in the hague. the protests mirror friday night's violence in rotterdam. the world health organisation says it's very worried about the rise in covid—i9 cases in europe. it's warned without serious action there could be a further half—a—million covid—related deaths on the continent by march, estimating one person is dying from the virus there every 15 minutes. the women's tennis association says new videos, allegedly showing missing tennis player peng shuai this weekend, are not enough to guarantee she is safe. her whereabouts have been uncertain since she accused a high—ranking chinese official of sexual harassment. the wta says it's prepared to cancel tournaments in china.