so, so long as we are making thosejudgements, so long as we are notjust bbc news but other broadcastersions, probing on behalf of audiences, i think we keep that constantly under review. what about nicola sturgeon‘s news c0 nfe re nces 7 no other scottish party leader got that amount of airtime. well, i think obviously if you're in government, you are in a different circumstance that you are making policy, you are leading policy in any one of the four nations. so, clearly, there is a slightly different level of scrutiny but it's not different in terms of the impartiality of how we cover that. so, we'll still be inviting other politicians on for interviews, still looking at their pronouncements and theirjudgements on what the government policies are. one very specific question that has been aggravating many viewers all summer about those news conferences is why bbc reporters don't sometimes just ask one, short simple question? "it would be so much more effective." i think the nature of this crisis, this pandemic, is it is incredibly complicated and it may well be tidy and neat to ask one

nick bryant, bbc news, new york. that's all for me. stay with us on bbc news. hello.g of a north, south split. across much of england and wales we've got a fairly decent weekend ahead. it's looking largely dry, pretty warm as well with some sunshine on offer. but for scotland and northern ireland, a different story. here, things will be turning increasingly windy particularly through saturday and there'll be some rain at times. heaviest northwest of scotland on sunday. but here we've got this week weather front that's been slipping its way slowly south of the past 25 hours or so. a more active weather front waiting out in the atlantic. that is what will bring the rain to the northwest. 2a hours. saturday morning, we just got a band of cloud on this weak weather front pushing south could be the odd spot of drizzle for southern england first thing. much of the uk looking bright with some long spells of sunshine but there will be more of those blustery showers for scotland and northern ireland. more rain arriving by the weekend. temperatures on saturday will move to abou

daniel sandford, bbc news, croydon. nd where matt ratana was born. police there paid their tributes. commissioner andrew coster said: and prime ministerjacinda ardern has also issued a statement: while here in the uk, this is the east grinstead rugby club with their flag flying at half—mast in tribute to the life of their much—loved head coach. let's turn to paris, where two people have been wounded in a knife attack outside the former offices of the french satirical magazine charlie hebdo. the victims — a man and a woman who are staff members of a television company — were seriously wounded, although both are reportedly out of danger. two people have been ta ken into custody. our paris correspondent, lucy williamson reports. sirens wail in central paris today, the familiar scenes of a recurring nightmare — a knife attack that left two people seriously injured at a building once occupied by the satirical magazine charlie hebdo. the victims are employees of a television production company with offices there. translation:

judith moritz, bbc news, manchester. are made in laboratories and it‘s hoped they will boost the effect of the antibodies that occur naturally in people infected with coronavirus. some 2,000 patients will be given the treatment, to see if it‘s effective at fighting the virus. our science correspondent, rebecca morelle, has more. antibodies are the warriors of the immune system, playing a vital role by attacking the coronavirus. now they are being harnessed in a promising new treatment. currently, there are very few medicines to help covid—19 patients. the most successful was discovered by the uk‘s recovery trial. now it will be testing antibodies made in the laboratory called monoclonal antibodies. they‘ll be given to thousands of patients in uk hospitals to see if they work. i think the reason that monoclonal antibodies are so exciting is that this is the first type of treatment that is targeted for this specific virus. there are lots of good reasons for thinking it might well be effective in stopping the virus from rep

nick bryant, bbc news, new york. let's dig a little into the.desai is chief medical officer for the healthcare education platform 0smosis. doctor, i know you were previously an epidemic intelligence officer with the us centers for disease control, your backgreound is in public health. telling millions of people something you know is not true, evenif something you know is not true, even if your intentions are good, you want to avoid them panicking and keep them calm, it isa panicking and keep them calm, it is a risky strategy, isn't it? yes, i wouldn't even holiday strategy. i think it was basically a very dangerous thing he did and frankly i think it led to many, many more people dying and getting sick of covid. especially if you think about the fact that he knew about it, he knew it was very dangerous and deadly long before it was kind of widespread. that information was widespread. and then on the other hand, he was also advocating for less testing. you put those two things together, that you know it is dangerous and trying to get less testing

david willis, bbc news. this is bbc news. with record levels of infections being broken almost every day. experts are warning the pandemic in the country, could spin out of control. a minute's silence in beirut for the victims of the massive explosion, as rescuers search the rubble for a possible survivor, one month after the blast. it's the news that barcelona fans had been praying for — 10 days after saying he wanted to leave the club, lionel messi says he's now staying. arguably the world's greatest ever footballer, he told the website, goal.com, no—one could pay the 700 million euro release clause in his contract and he didn't want to take the club he loves to court. the president of the hotel association of the greek island of corfu has told the bbc that business will be badly affected if england imposes quarantine on people returning from greece. last year, around 40% of the 1.6 million tourists to visit the island were british. bethany bell reports from corfu. tourists are back on the sunbed of this corfu resort. many

aleem maqbool, bbc news, in kenosha, wisconsin. y's other news: authorities in germany have found the bodies of five children in a private apartment in the western city of solingen. police say they suspect the 27—year—old mother of killing them before trying to take her own life at a nearby train station. the cause of death is unkown. facebook says said it will block new political advertisements in the us during the week before the presidential election in november. the company says it will also act against posts that try to dissuade people from voting. the social network said that after the vote, it would also quash any attempts by candidates to claim false victories. the afghan government and the taliban say they've completed a controversial exchange of prisoners, paving the way for peace talks to start. the process had stalled for weeks because some of the detainees demanded by the taliban were described as serious criminals by the afghan government. the taliban is also thought to have freed afghan government captives, including

jonah fisher, bbc news, minsk. ed in a new book by president trump's former lawyer, calling them lies peddled for cash by a disgraced felon. michael cohen claims the man who employed him as a fixer for more than ten years was an ardent admirer of president putin, made racist comments about his predecessor, barack obama, and was guilty of the same crimes for which he, cohen, was jailed. a short time ago, i spoke to paul farhi, media reporter with the washington post. i asked him if we should be sceptical of cohen's account because he's been convicted of lying under oath. yes, i think so. his credibility is damaged by the fact that he was convicted of lying to congress. he had a tax evasion issue, and he's spending three years in prison. on the other hand, he was an intimate of president trump's long before he even ran for president. he has seen some things, he knows some things. you can take it with a grain of salt, but he's not a person who's an outsider — he's quite an insider. let's widen it out. his book is part

this is bbc news.navirus pandemic. we report from inside yemen as the country struggles to cope with tragedy upon tragedy. reports emerge that the uk government is considering overturning part of the brexit withdrawal deal, jeopardising trade negotiations. at least 250 protesters have been arrested across belarus, after tens of thousands of anti—government demonstrators took to the streets for the fourth weekend in a row. they're calling for the resignation of president alexander lu kashenko, following his disputed re—election last month. in the past week the belarusian security forces have intensified efforts to detain or intimidate protesters. our correspondentjonah fisher spent the day among the crowds in the capital, minsk. for the fourth sunday in a row, the people of minsk defied their president. crowd chanting riot police have been deployed on every street corner. razor wire used to block off squares and monuments. but the people here are no longer scared of alexander lu kashenko, or the balacla

paul hawkins, bbc news. t's get some of the day's other news: rescuers in beirut have found no sign of life in the rubble of a building destroyed in last month's massive explosion. a sensor detected possible signs of life on thursday, but after clearing 95% of the rubble, workers have not found the source of the reading. about 50 volunteers, including a team from chile, have been at the scene. teachers and students have been demonstrating in madrid, demanding better measures to protect against coronavirus at schools and universities, before they re—open. amongst their demands are a call for all class sizes to be kept below twenty, to allow for social distancing. the protesters, many wearing green, kept apart from each other on the march. police in the us city of portland have arrested 27 people, after protesters marched through the streets and refused to disperse. the demonstrations, which began after the police killing of george floyd, in minneapolis, have been going on for almost 100 straight nights. hundre

fergus walsh, bbc news. coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. that means the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week is 5,770. 13 deaths were reported of people who died, within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. on average in the last week, 30 deaths were announced every day. that takes the total number, across the uk, to 42,001. let's talk to our health editor, hugh pym. we editor, hugh pym. were talking about the tough ne restrictions we were talking about the tough new restrictions coming in on wednesday in the north—east of england, how likely is it that those will be spread elsewhere? well, the government at westminster has made it very clear that the north west of england is now being looked at very closely. indeed, conversations have been had with council leaders in merseyside, that has been made very explicit. just to repeat, the significance of the announcement today for the north—east, there are existing legal bans on some parts in england for gatheri

we hope to speak to a senior figure from bbc news.en't just speak to a senior figure from bbc news. and haven'tjust been the absence of some programmes which is caught the attention, some programmes have caught the attention, some programmes have stayed on air but looked rather different. now we are doing a very different programme tonight on question time for obvious regions. there is no studio audience for the first time. but we will be hearing from some prerecorded questions. sean k complained about the new format. but other viewers liked the change, including john. over the following weeks, bbc news bulletins attracted record audiences and plaudits from the lights of mick horner. the bbc‘s coverage of the coronavirus crisis in my mind has been the epitome of whatjournalism should be. but there were also rows, most notably over this introduction to an addition of newsnight in may, which generated tens of thousands of complaints, both for and against. dominic cummings broke the rules. the country can see that and it shocked the gove

this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. as the who reports a record—one—day increase in global coronavirus cases of nearly 308,000, israel becomes the first country to re—imposed a nationwide lockdown. more than 20,000 firefighters are now tackling wildfires that have killed at least 30 people on the west coast of america. a heavy police response fails to deter anti—government protestors in belarus, who want the president to go. the ukjustice secretary defends the government potentially breaking international law, over changes to the brexit withdrawal agreement. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. israel has announced a new three—week nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of surging coronavirus infections. it will take effect on friday, making israel the first country to re—impose such blanket measure. it comes as the

now on bbc news... ir families played in the second world war. to come here today and to see where he spent a part of his life — a very difficult part of his life — is, i have to say, it's. . . it's quite overwhelming. this is one of the earliest pictures i've ever seen of him cos he would only have been about 20. this is where the miners would work. unbelievable. now, i remember when i joined the family, how pleased he was that i was from an indian family.

sally nugent, bbc news, manchester. you are watching bbc news.y to survive the next heatwave. it's a sculpture made entirely out of butter. the work, entitled "nourishing our future", is on display at the new york state fair in sirra—cyoos — and has, as you might suspect, been sponsored by dairy producers. —— syracuse. it shows a family using a laptop for some distance learning — while serving up some butter—based meals. it's a strictly look—but—don‘t—touch attraction. although the team behind say they hope people who see it will — ahem — "spread the news". from me on the team. see you soon. hello there. the first day of september was dry for most of us, but the second day of the month looks a good deal wetter. we will see some outbreaks of pretty heavy rain moving eastward through the day and with that, it will be fairly windy. now, if we look at the recent satellite picture, we can see this area of cloud heading in our direction. this is a frontal system which is going to bring some outbreaks of rain. it's all tied in with an area of low pressu

fergus walsh, bbc news. figures show, in the last 24 hours, 6,178 new coronavirus infections recorded across the uk. it means the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week is now 4,501. and 262 people being admitted on average each day to hospital over the last week. this number doesn't include scotland. in the past 24 hours, 37 deaths were reported of people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. it means, on average in the past week, 25 deaths were announced every day, taking the total number across the uk to 41,862. fergusjoins me now. when you look at the start of september, we were just over 1,000 new cases, now it is 6,000, just over, it is a big rise, isn't it? it is and it is going to mean more patients admitted to hospital with covid—19. now, sadly, we are going to have to learn to live with coronavirus this winter. scientists accept that we can't suppress it com pletely accept that we can't suppress it completely and that means that more deaths, sadly, are inevitab

that is in half an hour here on bbc news. hello and welcome to bbc news.eaked documents have revealed how some uk banks have helped criminals, money launderers and russians under sanctions — and have also failed to stop crime when they suspected it. the documents 7 known as the fincen files 7 were leaked to buzzfeed news and shared with the bbc by the international consortium of investigativejournalists. they indicate that london is a hub for money laundering 7 with billions of pounds worth of suspected dirty money moving through the system. richard bilton reports. most of his body was submerged under water. the files show the reality of fraud. it can be a messy business. he was bound. he had coverings over his face. you knew that he was deceased. raymond's body was found in a vineyard, and this is the dream that cost him his life. world capital market is managed by a team of experts... he was taken in by a scam. to make money, he needed to recruit other investors. when they lost money, he was murdered. ..asia and europe... he was a victim in a scheme. he

hugh pym, bbc news. tish government is planning new legislation that will override key parts of the brexit withdrawal agreement, risking the collapse of trade negotiations with brussels. the financial times says it's been told that the move could undermine the agreement on northern ireland that boris johnson signed last october to avoid a return to a hard border in the region. so, how is the eu reacting? 0ur europe editor katya adler has been explaining. if you have this international treaty, which was only recently signed a few months ago, between the uk government and the eu now being undermined by uk domestic legislation, you can expect a very strong reaction, notjust here in brussels but in paris, berlin and elsewhere. we've heard time and again during the current trade negotiations, which we know aren't going well anyway, but we've heard from the eu's chief negotiator that implementing the withdrawal agreement, the northern ireland protocol, is a key trust issue between the eu and uk, and he said it'

rebecca bailey, bbc news. rt of a new school year. the pandemic has meant major changes, of course, to school procedures. all nurseries and schools in the chinese city of wuhan, where the pandemic began, have opened. children having to wear face coverings when travelling to and from school. they also have to wash their hands and disinfect shoes. in hungary, pupils queue to get into schools, which are disinfected daily. class sizes are being reduced to help with social distancing. where schools have opened in cuba, hands are sanitised and face masks worn on the property by both students and teachers. students are seated a safe distance from each other. in vietnam, children have their temperature checked as they arrive and hands sanitised. where social distancing can't be observed, masks are worn. in russia, schools and colleges have reopened, just as the number of confirmed cases there is expected to pass1 million. staff have been tested, contact between different year groups is being kept to a minimum, and the

and coming up on bbc news...ng his bags — gareth bale is set to fly to london tomorrow, to complete his move on loan from real madrid back to tottenham. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. almost two million people in the north east have had tougher coronavirus restrictions imposed, after a spike in local cases. people living in northumberland, newcastle, sunderland, north and south tyneside, gateshead and county durham will now not be able to socialise with other households outside their own homes or support bubbles. leisure and hospitality venues will have to close between the hours of 10pm and 5am. and restaurants and cafes will be required to provide table service only. the health secretary matt hancock told mps the government did not take these decisions lightly, but the data said they must act now. it comes as new figures show the uk has recorded its highest daily covid19 cases since may. our correspondent fiona trott reports. northeast night out. during the pandemic. like many towns and citi

tanya dendrinos, bbc news. f the second world war, and some bbc colleagues have been telling the stories of their families' role in the war effort. mishal husain looks at the part played by her grandfather and the indian army. they served in deserts and jungles, from african battlefields to asia and in europe. and without what was then the british indian army, the war might not have been won. it's all commemorated here at the royal military academy sandhurst, which has trained officers for generations, and where this entire room on is the contribution of south asian troops through successive conflicts in different parts of the world. my grandfather, syed shahid hamid, was at university in northern india when he found out he'd won a place at sandhurst. it was 1932, and he was one of the few indian cadets. i'd like to show you this lovely photograph of your grandfather as part of the royal military college second six tennis team, named there, and you'll spot him there. yes! this is one of the earliest pictures i'v

mark lobel, bbc news. ing a press briefing on monday. the reporterfrom reuters news agency was trying to ask a question — he said he would speak up but did not remove his mask. here's the exchange. you are going to have to take that off, please. how many feet are you awake? if you do not ta ke are you awake? if you do not take it off, you are very muffled so if you would take it off it would be much easier. that's better, yes. better. the wearing of face coverings has become highly politicised in the us. the president has refused to order americans to wear them and mocked his presidential challenger, joe biden, for wearing one. the british prime minister has declared that if a trade deal with the european union is not reached by the 15th october, both sides should move on — that seems to mean the uk would go on to trade with european states on international trading terms. with the latest round of negotiations due to get under way, it's reported the government is planning a new law which could change parts o

this is bbc news.a peace deal with two arab countries. former british prime minister tony blair served as middle east peace envoy and he attended today's signing. he spoke to katty kay and james reynolds earlier. you're not sidelining the palestinians. look, you're not going to geta — i've studied this now for...best part of 20 years. i was heavily involved as prime minister, i was involved afterwards as the quartet envoy. i've spent the next five or six years working on the arab—israeli relationship. you're not going to solve it unless two things happen. you've got to get a palestinian politics that's unified and in favour of peace and you've what to bring the arab nations alongside the palestinians in that peace effort. and so when people say, and there are people of course on the palestinian side who say, no, you should have nothing to do with israel until the palestinians have resolved. they do say that. but the strategy they've had up to now has not worked and it won't work in the future. the righ

tim allman, bbc news.y kenosha, wisconsin following notes of what he called domestic terror. joe biden has stayed away. there is much more on all the news, national and international, on our website. and on our twitter feeds as well. thank you for watching. hello there. the first day of september was dry for most of us, but the second day of the month looks a good deal wetter. we will see some outbreaks of pretty heavy rain moving eastward through the day and with that, it will be fairly windy. now, if we look at the recent satellite picture, we can see this area of cloud heading in our direction. this is a frontal system which is going to bring some outbreaks of rain. it's all tied in with an area of low pressure drifting to the north—west the british isles. you can see quite a few white lines, quite a few isobars squashing together on the chart, that it will be fairly windy, and we will see a break of rain pushing from the west toward the east. now, the rain will be moving quite erratically eastwards. it

iain watson, bbc news, westminster. f new infections, since the recent surge began. with 11,1122 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. that means the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week is 3,598. and as new infections have climbed, so too have daily hospital numbers, with 227 people being admitted on september 17th. this figure doesn't include scotland. 27 deaths were reported of people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test, and that means on average in the last week, 19 deaths were announced every day, taking the total number across the uk to 41,759. 0ur health correspondent naomi grimley is here. the prime minister is weighing up his options but does not want a full national lockdown so have the government characterising the change? they are using the term circuit breaker because they are trying to target those areas of our lives where they think the virus transmission is happening most. in other words, our social lives. if transmission is happening mo

nick bryant, bbc news, new york.eachment proceedings against president martin vizcarra — who's accused of misusing public funds. 0pposition leaders have accused the president of paying a large sum of money to a singer, richard swing, to deliver pro— government motivational talks while peruvians faced economic hardship from the coronavirus crisis. mr vizcarra has denied any wrongdoing. britain's coronavirus epidemic is once more on the rise. for the first time since march — the r numberfor coronavirus infections has risen above the crucial level of one, meaning the virus is now spreading again. that appears to be backed up by the latest daily figures for the last 24 hours which show the highest number of new infections in almost 4 months. 0ur medical editor fergus walsh reports on the rising coronavirus levels. how do you ensure people have the freedom to socialise and spend money — as in london tonight — while keeping coronavirus in check? more and more evidence is showing the virus is on the rise, including a massiv

nick bryant, bbc news, new york. i've been speaking to dr rishi desai — chief medical officer for the healthcare education platform 0smosis and a former epidemic intelligence officer with the us centers for disease control. i asked him what he makes of the president's strategy to try and avoid mass panic. yes, i wouldn't even call it a strategy. i think that it was basically a very dangerous thing he did and frankly i think it led to many, many more people dying and getting sick of covid. especially if you think about the fact that he knew about it, he knew it was very dangerous and deadly long before it was kind of widespread — that information was widespread. and then on the other hand, he was also advocating for less testing. so if you put those two things together, that you know it is dangerous and you're trying to get less testing for it, then yes, it is a really dangerous strategy and that is what he did. it's how we got here. let's work that through. if the president said publicly, what we now know he was sayi

gordon correra, bbc news.our moscow correspondent he explained how the kremlin has reacted to the accusations. the reaction from moscow is pretty much what we've come to expect from here, really — not guilty, you know, we heard from the russian foreign ministry which said that germany had provided no evidence, no facts that this was an information campaign against russia. the kremlin‘s reaction, "poison, what poison? "no poison was found in his body," the kremlin said before he was airlifted to germany. and we have this kind of thing time and time again here — whenever russia is accused by the west of doing something — undeeradimir putin, the default reaction here is to deny it, to try to confuse, to try to muddy the waters. we saw that in salisbury, we saw that with accusations of russian meddling in the us elections, accusations of russian intervention in ukraine. but a denial isn't going to convince chancellor merkel or president macron, but does russia care? increasingly, i get the impression that russia d

freya cole, bbc news. an oil of the sri lankan fire says the fire on an oil tanker of the sri lankan fire says the fire on an oil tanker has of the sri lankan fire says the fire on an oil tanker has been distinguished greatly reducing threats of an ecological disaster. the tanker is is carrying nearly a quarter million tons. in melbourne, a lockdown continues. has a been under lockdown for six weeks. the premier said measures will remain in place until the 28th of member. a typhoon battering in the southern highlands of japan with heavy rain and high winds. thousands of homes are without power and they have been mass evacuations. the weather agency wanting a potential butterflies, and the risk of rivers flooding. it is the second typhoon to hit the region within a week. tennis and the men's number one seed, novak djokovic, has been disqualied from the us open. it follows an incident where he accidentally hit a line—judge with a ball. tim allman reports. a moment of madness and a bid for glory comes to an i

iain watson, bbc news. gures show the daily number of new infections remains high, with 3,899 cases recorded for the previous 2a hours. that means the average number of new cases per day in the last week was 3,679. the daily hospital numbers have also risen. 233 people were admitted on september 18th. this figure doesn t include scotland. there were 18 deaths of people who'd had a positive covid—19 test in the previous 28 days. on average in the last week, there were 21 such deaths per day, taking the total number across the uk to 41,777. meanwhile, ministers are closely watching covid cases elsewhere in europe and the measures taken in other countries. 0ur health correspondent catherine burns reports. the intensive care unit in marseille, one of the worst affected areas of france, a familiar sight across the world in spring and one becoming more common in parts of europe as winter approaches. in spain, this neighbourhood of madrid and many others will go back into lockdown tomorrow. people are concerned. i

this is bbc news. ng the world's most affected countries, the number of new infections is growing fastest in india by some margin. india is currently recording almost 82,000 new cases per day. people in lebanon have observed a minute's silence a month after a massive explosion in beirut killed almost 200 people and left 300,000 homeless. rescuers are continuing to search in the rubble for possible survivors after some signs of life were heard on thursday. there's been condemnation of the appointment of the former australian prime minister tony abbott as an advisor to the new uk board of trade. he has previously been accused of homophobia and misogyny. downing street said that he negotiated a number of trade agreements while pm. now on bbc news, it's click. this week: the largest cache of terrorist content ever discovered online. but why is it so hard to take down? unfurling the latest phone. and, stand—up comedy in lockdown:

tom bateman, bbc news, jerusalem. stay with us on bbc news. this is bbc news.eople in the us state of oregon are fleeing deadly wildfires that are raging across the pacific northwest. at least ten people are reported to have died and dozens more are missing. bahrain says it is normalising relations with israel, in a move that further erodes the arab world's boycott of the jewish state. migrants on the greek island of lesbos have been protesting on the streets, demanding the freedom to travel on to mainland europe. more than 10,000 people were left without shelter this week after europe's largest refugee camp was gutted by fire. protesters approached riot police cordoning off the road out of the moria camp. 400 unaccompanied children from the camp are to be taken in by eu countries. the european commission says the destroyed camp will be rebuilt — a plan strongly opposed by authorities on the island. our correspondent bethany bell is on lesbos. many, many migrants are sleeping and living rough after the moria camp burnt down. they‘ re camping out on the sides of

katy austin, bbc news. lly confirmation that gareth bale will indeed be rejoining tottenham. 0f course he is therefore a period from reality and he confirmed on his twitter page. there it is. to all the spurs fans after seven years i back. more on this of course in sports day at 6:30pm. in around 15 minutes' time. the headlines on bbc news... boris johnson considers tightening covid—i9 measures in england. latest figures show a further 4,422 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the uk, the highest daily rate since may. local lockdown restrictions have come into force in some parts of the uk, with bars and restaurants closing early in north—east england. tributes are paid as the pioneering us supreme court judge and champion of women's rights, ruth bader ginsburg, dies at the age of 87. a new cancer task force set up by nhs england will meet next week, to support the recovery of cancer services and to try and increase the number of referrals. figures from cancer research uk estimate there were 350,000 fewer urge

imogen foulkes, bbc news, bayer. —— no final say. e news... india's president has signed three agriculture bills into law, despite large scale protests by farmers. the laws will open up the indian farming industry to the private sector, a move the government says is much needed. but many farmers say the reforms remove support and protection, such as minimum prices for their produce. firefighters are tackling a wildfire burning in a natural park on the spanish island of mallorca. a plane is also being used to drop retardant on the flames, which have been fanned by heavy winds. a number of homes are threatened. italian army disposal experts have safely removed a world war two bomb, discovered by construction workers in the centre of the northern city of bolzano. 4000 of the closest residents had to evacuate their homes for several hours. there's no cinema there, no venue to show case a film, but an international film festival has taken more than 50 films to an unusual place, a refugee camp in war torn syria. jiyar gol from bbc persian h

iain watson, bbc news.o been rising with governments introducing various measures to try to contain the virus. 0ur health correspondent catherine burns reports. the intensive care unit in marseille, one of the worst affected areas of france, a familiar sight across the world in spring and one becoming more common in parts of europe as winter approaches. in spain, this neighbourhood of madrid and many others will go back into lockdown tomorrow. people are concerned. i think there is an awareness or a realisation that we relaxed too much, as many other countries did. the question is, how do we compare to other countries across europe? well, over the last fortnight, if you look at cases for every 100,000 people, spain is on the highest at around 300. france is approaching 200, belgium and the netherlands are just over 100 and we're lower than that on 69 cases for every 100,000 people. but other countries are much lower still. italy, sweden and germany are allaround 30, and cyprus isjust under ten. so the uk is

hugh pym, bbc news. es show there were 3,395 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24 period. that means the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week is 3,354. 21 deaths were reported of people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test, and that means, on average in the last week, 14 deaths were announced every day, taking the total number, across the uk, to 41,705. so, new local lockdowns, rising infection rates and more hospital admissions. what are we to make of it all? and is the uk doing worse than other countries in europe? 0ur medical editor fergus walsh has this assessment. let's start by looking at the areas of the uk which are subject to extra restrictions, marked here in blue. by the end of the week, it's thought around 9 million people in the uk will be subject to extra controls. that's around one in seven people. it's all because of the rise in cases across the uk. we are in a much better place than we were back in mid—april, when cases were peaking

lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. let's get some of the day's other news. of migrants crossed the english channel from france on wednesday according to the uk borderforce. authorities say they've dealt with 27 incidents so far, involving 409 people. the previous daily high was 235. anti—government protesters in bulgaria have clashed with police in front of the national assembly in the capital, sofia. police used pepper spray to disperse thousands of demonstrators, who in turn attacked officers and police vehicles. the protesters are demanding the resignation of the prime minister over allegations of corruption. truck drivers in chile have ended a 7—day strike that blocked roads and affected supply chains across the country. the government has promised to fast—track legislation to improve safety and punish those responsible for a recent wave of attacks on drivers. the us has imposed further sanctions on the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, fatou bensouda. the secretary of state, mike pompeo, has described the icc as a kangaroo court, acc

vicki young, bbc news, westminster. committee which works with the home office says bricklayers, welders and butchers are in such short supply and that businesses should be able to recruit them from abroad. the committee says senior care workers and nursing assistants shoud also be added to the list of occupations under which migrants can work in britain more easily. it also wants those working in social care to be paid more. tonight, us president donald trump and his democratic challenger joe biden will face off in the first televised head to head debate of the us presidential electoral campaign. tens of millions of us voters will tune in to watch the event from cleveland, ohio, in what will be the first of three debates. 0ur north america editorjon sopel is in cleveland for us now. jon, a lot has happened in the past few days, do we have any sense of what the flashpoints in this debate will be? i thinkjoe biden would love the flashpoints to be the taxes of donald trump, how he only paid $750 in the whole year of his fi

mark lowen, bbc news, lesbos. let's get some of the day's other news. will attend the long—delayed afghan peace negotiations taking place in qatar on saturday. mr trump's statement followed an afghan taliban announcement that it was ready to take part in the talks. a large fire has broken out in the port area of the lebanese capital, beirut, in a warehouse where food aid is stored. the blaze is very close to the scene of last month's massive explosion which devastated the heart of the city. security sources injordan say there have been a series of large explosions at an army base in the city of zarqa — near the capital amman. initial reports say the blasts took place at an ammunition depot. ajordanian security official said two people were killed and another three injured. it is unclear what caused the blasts. portugal has been added to england's coronavirus quarantine list. anybody arriving in england from portugal, excluding the azores and madeira, after 4am uk time on saturday will need to self—isolate for 1h days. hungary, french polynesia and reuni

freya cole, bbc news.am and attacked eight people with a knife, killling one and wounding the rest. detectives have released cctv images of a man they want to trace, and have warned the public against approaching him. 0fficer say they believe the attacks, at different locations, were random and not linked to terrorism. the white house has dismissed allegations raised in a new book by president trump's former lawyer, calling them lies peddled for cash by a disgraced felon. michael cohen claims the man who employed him as a fixer for more than ten years was an ardent admirer of president putin, made racist comments about his predecessor, barack 0bama, and was guilty of the same crimes for which he, cohen, was jailed. paul farhi is media reporter with the washington post. he's in washington. in 2018 mr coleman pleaded guilty to perjury or lying under oath, should we be sceptical about what he writes in this book? i think so. his credibility is damaged by the fa ct credibility is damaged by the fact he was con

nick bryant, bbc news, new york.turned the sky blood—red over san francisco. we have photos right now of the bay area, in a haze, sorry, thatis bay area, in a haze, sorry, that is the bay bridge. fires burning out of control across swathes of california along with other pacific coast states of washington and oregon, fuelled by strong winds and searing temperatures. 0ur correspondent david willis is in los angeles and a little earlier gave us this update on the fires. thousands of people here awoke to apocalyptic grey 01’ in some cases orange skies this morning, the horizon clouded by a thick layer of smoke. california, oregon and washington state, the worst affected states, and it is very rare for fires of this ferocity in oregon and washington state because of the cool and wet climate there. yet the oregon state governor kate brown is warning of the worst fire season in history in that state. both in terms of the number of buildings destroyed and the number of lives lost. she has not specified however how many peopl

daniel sandford, bbc news, croydon. e issued a statement. police where he was born have responded. commissioner andrew coster said that: "while sergeant ratana spent most of his career in the uk, anyone who serves here will always be a part of our new zealand police whanau." and prime ministerjacinda ardern has also issued a statement — saying that it was "incredibly sad to hear the news" and offered her condolences to sergeant rata na's whanau across the world. here in the uk, this is the east grinstead rugby club this evening. the club's flag is flying at half—mast in tribute to the life of their much—loved head coach. us media reports that president trump has decided to nominate federal judge amy coney barrett to the supreme court. i'm joined by ilya shapiro who is the director of the robert a levy center for constitutional studies at the cato institute. he also recently published a book about the supreme court — ‘supreme disorder‘. he is in washington. thank you very much for talking to us. i can see lots of copies o

nick bryant, bbc news, new york.e past few hours, mr trump has been putting his point across in the white house press briefing room. his main point was that the democrats were to blame for the violence in portland and other cities, and he could solve the problem swiftly if they were willing to co—operate. they are, in all cases, democrat—run — but we're doing the best we can to help them without really much of a consent. we'd like to have the consent — as an example, in portland, we could solve that problem in approximately one hour. but the mayor refuses, perhaps for political reasons, i don't know if it's good for him to have a city that's falling apart. and it's under siege now for 94 days. but really, it's been under siege for years, if you know portland. so to the mayor, i say, whenever you're ready, let us know and we'll solve your problem of violence, we'll solve your problem of crime, we'll arrest those criminals very rapidly, and you'll be able to have some nice evenings in portland. all people living in hon

this is bbc news.g more mass protests against president lukanshenko. maria kalesnikova was seen being bundled into a van by masked men. two dozen wildfires blaze across california. one is believed to have been started by a firework at a party. meanwhile the heatwave sees los angeles hit its highest ever temperature the british prime minister borisjohnson has declared that if a trade deal with the eu is not reached by the 15th 0ctober, both sides should ‘move on‘, meaning the uk would go on to trade with the eu states on international trading terms. as the latest round of negotiations is due to get under way, the government is reported to be planning a new law, which could change parts of the uk‘s divorce deal with the eu. the bbc‘s political editor laura kuenssberg explains. by the time the branches are bare, the wrangling over business after brexit is meant to be done. yet the trade deal that was meant to be easy pickings is proving difficult to conclude. the prime minister declared if it is not done

bethany bell, bbc news, lesbos. ominic thiem has won the us open trophy, he beat world number seven alexander zverev in a five set game. that is it from me. bye—bye. hello there. the weather is set to get quite a bit hotter across england and wales for the next day or two, but taking centre stage more recently has been this weather front stretching thousands of miles out into the atlantic. and that's been bringing some very heavy rain, some large rainfall totals building in across the highlands. we've had over 140mm of rain recorded, bringing reports of some localised flooding. and we've had this landslide effect at the a83, at the rest and be thankful. looks like that route is going to be out of action for a little while. now, looking at the weather picture at the moment, we've still got some of the rain coming down in the highlands. the rain eventually is going to turn a little bit lighter and patchier, but nevertheless some spots of rain still around for the highlands, the hebrides, orkney islands and shetland as

peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. kong can now get a free coronavirus test under a new scheme backed by the chinese government. but a number of pro—democracy leaders, and some healthcare workers, are calling for a boycott. rebecca bailey reports. early morning in hong kong. a sleepy start of the first day of mass testing. over half a million people have signed up in advance to take free tests, but there's opposition to the scheme, too. "boycott the coronavirus testing," chant some familiar faces. joshua wong and lester shum, prominent pro—democracy activists. the involvement of the chinese central government in the testing has turned what's on the surface, a public health scheme, into a political row. activists have suggested people's dna will be collected and abused under the cover of testing. the hong kong government says no dna will be taken and no tests will go to mainland labs. there are different objections from medical experts. for me, the concern about mass testing is the concern about why we are spending so mu

fergus walsh, bbc news. coronavirus are among young people. and that includes students preparing to start the autumn term. today, the five universities in greater manchester have written to students with an official reminder of their responsibility to the local community and a warning that they could face sanctions if they fail to stick to safety guidance. 0ur education editor bra nwen jeffreys reports. across manchester, students are returning — 100,000 in this city. i think campus will feel completely different. some new, others like rhys staying on, the start of term is normally party time, when students meet up with friends. it's very easy to do that and to make plans like that, and actually not think what we are doing, "oh my goodness, it's completely out of order." you start university and you meet new people and you are excited. and of course people are silly, they are badly behaved when they're in that mind set, so it will be really, really difficult. in term time, this canteen would be humming with

this is bbc news.hot during protests by thousands of people in louisville, kentucky, at the news that no officer will be charged with the killing of the black medical worker breonna taylor, shot by police in her own home in march. there are protests in several other cities. 0ne officer has been indicted, accused of the lesser offence of wanton endangerment. there've been large protests into the night in belarus, against the inauguration of alexander lu kashenko for a sixth term as president. last month's election result is still being angrily disputed. some demonstrators in the capital, minsk, wore fake crowns to mock his swearing—in, which went ahead unannounced. riot police have been out in force. the united states has begun three days of tributes to the supreme courtjustice ruth bader ginsburg, who died on friday aged 87. her casket is lying in repose on the steps of the court in washington as the public pays its respects.