Transcripts For BBCNEWS Outside Source 20201007

Coronavirus restrictions are coming into force in scotland to try to drive down infection rates. All pubs and drive down infection rates. All pubs a nd restau ra nts drive down infection rates. All pubs and restaurants will close. We will look at three different prices in belarus and which in indefinitely mean russia has plenty to think about an exterior of influence. We will begin in the us because in a last human if its been reported that the former Police Officer who was charged over the death of george floyd has been released from prison after posting 1 million in bail. He was filmed on may the 25th pressing his knee on the handcuffed George Floyds neck until he passed out on the street. She is at this from london washington. What do we have on the circumstances of this release . We know that he has posted 1 million in bail. His trial is there to be next march and a of course, at the end of may, those pictures went around the world of derek with his knee on the object neck of george floyd, filmed for nine minutes as george floyd pleaded to have that me removed from his neck because he could not breathe. He was charged with three different cou nts he was charged with three different counts and he has now been released from its maximum securityjail in minnesota as though that it details as we have been at the moment but remember of course that case launched a period of racial reckoning here in the United States of the legacy of how African Americans are of the legacy of how african america ns are treated of the legacy of how African Americans are treated of a brutality. The legacy of slavery is so brutality. The legacy of slavery is so much more, they were peaceful protests across america, some of those in some places they turned violent and until President Trump went down with coronavirus he was trying very hard to make law and order a central theme of this connection. Thank you for that update. We will come back to you in a few minutes to talk about other stories in the us. We will return now to the fact that two members of the Islamic State group have been asked to make it to america to face trial for asked to make it to america to face trialfor murdering asked to make it to america to face trial for murdering western hostages in syria. They have been in detention in iraq while fighting extradition. There are originally from london and because of that some of their hostages in syria nicknamed them beatles. Their victims include foreign journalists and aid workers all were beheaded and then their merger is murders were filmed and shared on social media. Although we cannot bring back your children we will do all we can to obtain justice for them and for you and for all americans. As for kotey and elsheihk like many other terrorist before then they underestimated the american resolve to obtain justice for our fellow citizens who are harmed orfilmed by terrorists anywhere in the world. These men will now be brought before you in the United States ct. To face justice for the depraved acts alleged against the in the indictment. Help me understand the process from today three to when the trial begins. We have a press conference a little while ago talking about the charges and that men are being charged for their involvement in a group that was retained hostages, western hostages and abuse them. Now the specific charges are that they were involved in supervising the detention and that they were using the prisoners and they were involved in negotiating ransoms. And they were involved in negotiating ra nsoms. They and they were involved in negotiating ransoms. They themselves have previously said they were not and did not take part in those with some things that we saw the videos of in 2014 but the charges are phrased in such a way that they are looking at the whole process of the hostagej hostage taking which led to death and it officials said that according to american lobby can be held accountable for Co Conspirator actions itself this member of their group, to heidijohn was his nickname who carried out the executions, what is going to happen here today, they will be brought to the courthouse and they will have the courthouse and they will have the charges made against them presumably be given a chance to respond and they will be offered counsel if they dont have it and then they will be held in a nearby facility, the department ofjustice officials made clear or emphasised i should say that this would be a place that was sanitary and daily get three meals a day and medical ca re if get three meals a day and medical care if they need it unlike the hostages and made the point of saying. Might be a face the Death Penalty if they are found guilty . This is a really long side about which i will try to summarise what is that the americans have been asking the uk for the evidence that the government has on the ciman and b have been doing this for some yea rs b have been doing this for some years in britain was reluctant because it knew that this would be a Capital Punishment case and britain does not have the Death Penalty. Eventually in 2018 the British Government decided to hand over the evidence anyway but then one of the family members of one of the defendants went to court and said no, this is not lawful. In the meantime there was turbulence in Northern Syria where these two men we re Northern Syria where these two men were being held by kurdish allies in United States which had captured them as isis was falling apart at them as isis was falling apart at the end of that groups existence and then during this turbulence the us took some of the high profile prisoners and brought them to a military base in iraq where they had been held since at the pentagon has not been happy about this because it is not set up to hold prisoners so he was putting pressure on the government here seem get this done, we wa nt government here seem get this done, we want to get this over with and eventually the attorney general said 0k, eventually the attorney general said ok, we will not make this a Capital Punishment case even if a jury decides on a death sentence we will not carry it out but yet but British Government to sort this out at which point is less settled in here we are. The two men deny involvement in the murders of hostages here is some are interviewing and in detention in iraq. As to the specific details as to what i was doing, the question i would prefer to decline to answer at this present stage. For legal reasons. Do you still deny that you area reasons. Do you still deny that you are a member of the group known as the beatles which carried out executions and beheadings . Yes, of course. Same question . Yes. The man behind the executions list as man, doug johdi john, behind the executions list as man, doug johdijohn, he was behind the executions list as man, doug johdi john, he was a ringmaster ofa group doug johdi john, he was a ringmaster of a group of four who present and to and put and of a group of four who present and to and putand he of a group of four who present and to and put and he was killed in a restau ra nt to and put and he was killed in a restaurant strike. Here he is asking them whether he knew him. He is a friend of mine. To heidi john . Them whether he knew him. He is a friend of mine. To heidijohn . He was nicknamed that. He was an execution, someone who has been called a psychopath, somebody who will be remembered for his cruelty and brutality. That is their way to choose to remember him. I choose to remember him differently. Condemn his torture and beheadings of the likes of james foley. I took the position of not speaking of him at all ina position of not speaking of him at all in a negative way. Lets speak to the bbcs security correspondent frank gardner. What expectation do we have that we may learn more about how isis operated from the trial that will follow in the us . I think we will hear a great deal more especially in terms of testimony from those who divide because while todays indictment mentioned several times the four american hostages who were murdered and they should just say very important you mentioned that there are alleged victims because there are alleged victims because the two defendants deny any part indicating of these hostages although they are not now denying that they knew them, that they had interaction with them. But the european hostages where ransomed reportedly by their government for millions of euros. They eventually escaped and have come up with some pretty damning testimony which i think we are likely to hear in court. There is of course we should mention though to british victims as well. The familys are feeding an enormous sense of relief and also trepidation because it is going to be very tough for them to relate the horror of those months and years but at least they are seeing justice. Only a month ago the two defendants we re only a month ago the two defendants were held in a legal limbo and there was a chance that they would be returned to the iraqi court they would have faced justice or quite possibly the Death Penalty. Thats not going to happen. If youve never convicted be able to face life in prison probably in a super max prison. What do you understand about how these young man came to travel from london to play some role within the conflict in syria . They went fairly early on, more than eight yea rs fairly early on, more than eight years ago in the case of elsheihk he and his brother joined years ago in the case of elsheihk he and his brotherjoined Islamic State from saddam i think that one state and the brother was killed out there. There were four alleged members of the beatles and a fourth members of the beatles and a fourth member is in turkey serving a jail sentence which will expire in 2024 and nine it was killed in a drawn strike by the us in late 2015. These two, they went out as many britons they give syria. We dont exactly know what was going to their minds at the time. Some people went out perfectly that aims to try and help Syrian People in their time of suffering but these two i think have a different path. I dont want to say any more about it because theyre coming up to trial. Thank you very much indeed. Well stay in the us an awful lot talk about. First President Trumps aides are preparing for him to return to the oval Office Despite it being likely hes contagious with coronavirius. The president s doctor has released a memo saying. And, as youll know, he came back to the white house from hospital on monday. Heres his chief of staff mark meadows. His schedule right now is fluid, we are looking at his prognosis on a health standpoint. He wanted to go to the overall yesterday was that if he decides to go to the overall rehab by 50 protocols there that are not only from a ppe standpoint but from a ventilation standpoint in the overall where we can actually work back and as well. The white house is the centre of a covid outbreak of its own. 16 people close to the president are known to have tested positive including white house staff and republican senators. Several military leaders are also quarantining, after a senior coast guard official tested positive. There are no signs however that the president will be following us guidelines on what to do when you have the virus. Relevant to that is the white house refusing to say when President Trump last tested negative. Officials believe he was infected at an event at the white house on saturday september 26th. And we know that after that event, the president attended a number of other events including the first president ial debate againstjoe biden. Heres axios White House Correspondent alayna treen has tweeted. No sign of that answer being provided. Next element of the story is the president pulling the plug on negotiations over a stimulus package to help the us economy . He says hell deal with it after the election. He tweeted. Heres Nancy Pelosis response at a virtual town hall in new york. I dont want to wait two and a half months for a new i would hope that this resident now at this moment of his own experience would say that us prevent this from happening to someone prevent this from happening to someone else. Let is take care of those to whom this happened. Furthermore as a nation those who have lost their lives. The Washington Post describes it this way. Thats the the headline. The article goes on. It goes on. The act as white house reports or treat treated Laura Trevelyan is in washington. Help us understand what theyre president s thinking is here. Why is he pulled the plug that the stage . He has pulled the plug but he has also opened the door to some relief because now what he is doing and by the way, he has to eat it and we treated over 50 times today to show that he is indeed working even though he is to isolate that because he has coronavirus. But essentially, very soon he has coronavirus. But essentially, very soon after the president to be fed back to the us and being negotiations with democrats over a new stimulus bears event to said, let us have Congress Passed separate stand alone bills, one to help the Airline Industry and another one to send people 1200 stimulus checks. Thats why the markets have bounce back this morning because they think it is the prospect of some much needed they do it aid insight. What is unclear in all of this is why there democrats will agree to be stand alone bills because they want a big stimulus package that is going to help those big cities across america which are running out of money because tax revenue is down and they are now facing the prospect of cutting public services. So, you have a president ending the negotiations also holding out the prospect that he wants something to happen ahead of the election. Prospect that he wants something to happen ahead of the electionm prospect that he wants something to happen ahead of the election. If it just that both sides are a long way apart or is this more election and if we were further from the election perhaps ideally get done . if we were further from the election perhaps ideally get done . I think it isa perhaps ideally get done . I think it is a fundamental issue of money going to hard hit states. Republicans are saying that they do not wish money to go. For example to new york city. They are seen decades of financial mismanagement in new york is why the in such desperate trouble. Democrats are saying that is untrue. It is the fact that for example no one is riding the subway. So there is no income coming in. Lots of people have left new york city because of the coronavirus so the tax base is down. Say you have a fundamental issue about the role of government and republicans are saying what about all the big pension commitments that new york city has. But against the backdrop of this was the chairman of that Federal Reserve warrant yesterday that there could be tragic consequences if that was not my federal relief. There are millions of americans out there facing rent, credit card bills, with no ability to pay bees, facing the prospect of having to leave their house. So it is an urgent moment. Thank you very much. Almost all the people she described will be voting in the election under a month and they will be reacting to the democrats and republicans and off. Now heres our latest global round up on covid well look at new zealand, Czech Republic and belgium. First, the uk. In scotlands all pubs and restaurants in edinburgh, glasgow and other central areas are to close for 16 days. Pubs and restaurants n other parts of scotland can open but only serve alcohol outdoors. The new rules come into force at 6pm on friday. This heat map shows how infection rates have risen sharply in recent weeks. And the Scottish Government says that without this action infection rates with return to levels last seen in the spring. Heres the bbcs scotland editor sarah smith. They will not be any of that this weekend. There will be no drinking inside bars and restaurants in scotla nd inside bars and restaurants in scotland for over a fortnight. The news that no one wanted to hear from a politician who knows this will be unpopular but she says sharp measures are required. Without them, there is a very real risk that the virus will run out of control by the end of this month. But with them, we hope to slow down the spread and that will help us keep schools and businesses including Hospitality Businesses including Hospitality Business is open over the winter. And fundamentally it would also save lives. It is an announcement that could be hard to swallow. If its a short time fixed and so be it. But for something that carried on for the next few months and its obviously not going to be ideal. Thats the hard truth of it. If you are stopping alcohol at a certain time people may be forced to go into each other house is anyplace i dont see the point. Venues like this take so many anti covid 19 precautions, they dont believe they really pose a risk. We have not picked up one case on track and trace and its not happening here. We have got our rules and regulations and and hand sanitiser. We are our customers and our staff and people arent doing that in homes where theyre going and getting in groups. Its already the case that to be tenant such a night in each others homes in scotland. Now people cannot meet for a drink in a bar or a restaurant either. It sounds harsh but the Scottish Government says it will if it was not for them me to think aboutjobs it was not for them me to think about jobs and peoples it was not for them me to think aboutjobs and Peoples Health and well being it would go even further. Next england the number of Covid Hospitalisations has doubled in the past fortnight. Manchester is a particular concern it has 561 cases per 100,000 people. Not far away, liverpool is at 516 cases. For context england as a whole is 55. Well lets hearfrom nottingham another english city causing concern it has 440 cases per 100,000 people. Phil mackie is there. Just to give you a sense of how theyd the outbreak is here, we are in one of the big areas where there isa in one of the big areas where there is a particularly large outbreak at the moment. Let the students live around here and just around the corner is a postbox where they almost had to put extra staff on for collections because so many of these have been posted there at the moment but the postbox is getting full. People are bracing themselves for extra restrictions and be able hear what they are tomorrow. Lets look at the numbers across the uk. There are more than 532,000 recorded cases and over 42,000 people have died. And once again in Prime Ministers questions, the opposition leader, keir starmer, turned to the government handling of the crisis. 20 local areas in england have been under restriction for two months. In 19 of those 20 areas, infection rates have gone up. In roslindale, they have gone up tenfold. All the payment is to have to say is it is too early to say if prescriptions are working but its obvious that something has gone wrong here. That was the question, and it is here to Prime Ministers answer. Was the question, and it is here to Prime Ministers answerlj was the question, and it is here to Prime Ministers answer. I wish i could pretend that everything was going to be rosy in the midlands or in london where we are also seeing infections rise. That is why we need a concert that national effort. We need to follow the guidance. We need hands and getting a test if you have symptoms and obey the rule of six. The failure of the testing system to cope and demand in recent weeks has been documented and there has been a story relevant to that today. Well now the swiss pharmaceutical firm, roche, has admitted to a failure in its supply chain of key nhs tests including one for covid. Were told a move to a new warehouse had affected its processing capacity. In a statement, roche said. And heres the nhs reaction. Iain watson is at westminster for us. A number of Different Things to talk through. Good to see you. Let us start in scotland. This is a risky political strategy from the first minister. Based is the second strategy that has been talked about by the Prime Minister and others at westminster as well. He stopped short of doing that and introduce bed 10pm curfew in hospitality but Nicola Sturgeon has gone further. They effectively close hospitality in the most populous parts of scotland, two major cities and everywhere in between and in effect the Hospitality Industry has been limited to takeaways in those areas and that is potentially political rescue because first of all she has been asked by the opposition in scotla nd been asked by the opposition in scotland what is the scientific basis for this and secondly of course there are theories about unemployment in the hospitality sector because at the end of the month, the furlough scheme which has kept some people effectively in fundsif kept some people effectively in funds if not directly in work and theres going to be a replacement scheme in the end but some people believe that areas have been targeted by the first minister and some of the thing businesses will not come back to life after this date of period and there is some confusion about that 60 day period being extended if the infection rate does not come down any further but from her point of view protection of schools and its far more important that you would the children back to school more than the Hospitality Industry and there are some areas where its more relaxed. But there are restrictions in terms of how many households can meet and indeed where they can be as well. So its something where if it works she will probably get some praise and if infection rates continue to rise and jobs look even more vulnerable in the Hospitality Industry that it will turn out to be a huge political gamble. North of the border in scotland there are political calculations and lessons for Boris Johnson there are political calculations and lessons for borisjohnson and his collea g u es lessons for borisjohnson and his colleagues in terms of what restrictions to bring in or not to bring in in england in the coming weeks. In a few minutes we will turn our attention to the Vice President ial debate in america. Let us president ial debate in america. Let us hope it is better than the first president ial debate which was not too enlightening i think its fair too enlightening i think its fair to say. Here are pictures coming in from Salt Lake City. That is rated debate be happening. We will be live there in a few minutes time. See you then. Good evening. Good evening. We have seen fewer showers across the uk today. Yes, they have been prevalent across the four far northwest but we have sunshine in between. This was the picture. The sunshine coming through in nottinghamshire earlier this afternoon. The reason forfewer showers is because we had the next area of low pressure and its massive crowd advancing. That is deepening the area of low pressure and already throwing cloud and rain and that will take centre stage as we go through the rest of this evening and overnight. A few showers to come in the north. Its likely to stay dry. However we will see a spell of wet weather for Northern Ireland and england and wales as well. 33 to 40 mm over the hills of wales and it could lead to local flooding and having conditions and a strong wind. It will be mild under the here father as well. Further north its on the chilly side and it could be misty as well. Rain is with us in the morning. A damp start to the bay. Wet at times that heavy rain for the morning. Across seven and eastern areas. Still a bit of crowd and showers packing in. For parts of scotla nd and showers packing in. For parts of scotland it will be a bright start fog. They showers will get their act together in the afternoon and become heavy. With them thunder. Further south rain is slower to clear. Still quite heavy but after that it looks dry and bright. Sunshine, not feeling too bad. Temperature is around 15. At its a bit lower than today further north. Through the evening and overnight the rain then continues its way eastwards. We have another area of rain coming in. To the north of that it will be chilly again and with the dry weather further south i had of that reign it would be a chilly night as well. Single figures by friday as you can see it is shaping up again. Some uncertainty where it look like if all showers follow with the northwestern wind. Feeling cooler in the north on friday. Temperature is in the south with the rain and into the weekend. We have a northern breeze. It will feel chilly for most of us. Mostly in the east. The mornings are on the website. Hello, im ros atkins. This is outside source. The us has charged two alleged Islamic State executioners, known as the beatles for murder. You will face american justice in an american courtroom and the prospect of many years in an american prison. The two men who are originally from london have been extradited from iraq and are now in fbi custody. Also in the programme, well be live in Salt Lake City where tonight Kamala Harris and mike pence will go head to head in their first and only Vice President ial debate. Nada tawfik will talk us through what to expect. Facebook and instagram are banning all accounts linked to the far right qanon Conspiracy Theory group, after classifying it as dangerous in a few hours, its the us Vice President ial debate. Mike pence for donald trump versus Kamala Harris forjoe biden. And after the shambles of the president ial debate last week, americans may be hoping for an improvement. The debate is taking place in Salt Lake City in utah and sophie long is there. Judge kavanaugh, i am concerned whether you will treat every american equally. She is a senator from california known for her incisive questioning of President Trumps nominees for the supreme court. I know full well the importance of president ial leadership. He has been President Trumps right hand man for the past four years. Tonight they will take to a specially adapted stage for a debate that will be watched by tens of millions of voters. Vp debates are not normally the headline act of a president ial Election Campaign but this one is anything but normal. Given the age of their bosses and the fact that President Trumps recent hospitalisation with coronavirus means we dont yet know if the remaining two president ial debates will even take place, tonights meeting between Kamala Harris and mike pence will be the most important of its kind in history. They take over under the death or the resignation of the president of the United States. When you have one candidate thats fairly old and one candidate thats sick right now, everyone is talking about that. Theres no way that you cant talk about that particular issue because there is at least some track where one of these two candidates could end up being the president of the United States. Tonight, mike pence will go into battle for the current commander in chief against a former prosecutor fighting for his competitor, joe biden. With less than a month to go and a campaign thrown into chaos by covid 19, the stakes are high. The debate is an hour and a half and takes place at the this hall at the university of utah. Because of covid, itll be largely empty. And there are plenty of covid guidelines especially after Donald Trumps family and colleagues broke the mask wearing requirements at the president ial debate. This time, Kamala Harris and joe biden will both be tested for covid 19 beforehand. During the debate theyll be separated by a plastic barrier and will be seated. How far apart theyll be is one focus. Politico reminds us. And generally theres a lot of attention because of what happened at the president ial debate. Here are pictures from last week. Heres Melania Trump wearing a mask on left and without it on the right. And we know several other trump family members also took off their masks during the debate or didnt wear one at all thats despite it being against the states guidelines. So this time the Election Commission is cracking down. It says. Though its not clear how that will be enforced. Or indeed why it didnt say that first time around. The first president ial debate was heavy on insults and interruption, very light on policy. Well see if this debate enlightens us a little more. Lets hear some expections in utah. Im looking for some respect from both candidates, honestly. Im looking for information to be provided on what each candidate is willing to offer to us, something we didnt get the last debate. Ijust felt like it was a complete mess. Even with how polarised our country is, theyd didnt even get to discuss issues facing everyday americans. It was either candidates talking over each other, there was no breaks in between for each one to give their answer. And so for this one, im hoping to actually hear a full thought out answer. I hope they will listen to each other and have real answers this time. Instead ofjust interrupting each other. Its kind of embarrassing for a whole country. Nada tawfik is in Salt Lake City. We all saw the president ial debate, having got some rules in place to make sure this one perhaps goes more smoothly . Yeah, certainly. The Debate Commission has really been working on that and were talking about muting mics of those who speak out of turn but i have to say even those i have spoken to here on the ground really dont think that these two will have any trouble having a more civil discourse compared to the president ial debate. They point out that they are both seasoned debaters, you have mike pence on one hand who is very even tempered, was a former local radio host when he was a congressman and then you have Kamala Harris as a former prosecutor who is knowledgeable on where to hit to make her point. She is a little bit thrown off sometimes when she is put on the defence in these debates which is what we saw during the democratic primary but certainly i think this is going to be a much different debate than we saw during the president ial election. Different debate than we saw during the president ial electionlj different debate than we saw during the president ial election. I assume though he is not there, a great deal of this will revolve around the president , his handling of his own health and his handling of the pandemic. Absolutely. We already note that Kamala Harris is going to really hone in on the coronavirus. How could you not . More than 210,000 americans have died from the coronavirus. Here in utah, there was a man outside the gates of the University Holding up a site saying trump failed us. And when asked about other policies he wants to hear about during this debate he said, what else is there besides the coronavirus . Said, what else is there besides the coronavirus . It said, what else is there besides the coronavirus . It affects him seeing his grandchildren and going to work. He travelled 234 miles from michigan across the country to be here to get that message out to voters in utah. Certainly Kamala Harris is going to hit Vice President mike pence as a leader of the Coronavirus Task force and point out that with his policies did not stop the president of the United States from getting coronavirus himself and how they have downplayed the virus instead of really letting americans know that it is a risk that remains in this country. She will be wanting to draw a real deep redline between joe will be wanting to draw a real deep redline betweenjoe Kamala Harris of ministration compared to a trump pence ticket. And for Vice President pence, will for him to try to separate Kamala Harris from joe biden pointing out that she was more to the left of him wanting policies like medicare for all. That is a strategy they have been trying to hammer in to get conservatives who might be thinking of moving over to joe biden who is seen as a moderate to rethink that and cast him as a bit more liberalfor to rethink that and cast him as a bit more liberal for their taste. Nada tawfik thank you very much indeed. You will be with us for the next few hours for the build up in the debate itself. Well have full coverage of the Vice President ial debate from Salt Lake City. You can follow it here on bbc world news in a special programme from 0 30 gmt. If youre outside the uk, half past midnight here in the uk as well. Facebook is banning all accounts linked to the qanon Conspiracy Theory movement. If youve not encountered qanon, its built around the idea that President Trump is waging a war against elite satan worshipping paedophiles. Stephanie hegarty can explain a little further. A bizarre Conspiracy Theory has taken root firmly on the fringes of the american right. Where we go one we go all. These people are taking an oath to qanon, a mishmash of conspiracy theories which holds donald trump as the saviour of the world. Followers belief that a cabal of paedophiles runs the United States. They controlled the media, hollywood, and politicians and the only person that can stop them is donald trump. Well, President Trump was asked about qanon in august. I dont know much about the movement other than i understand they like me very much. The crux of the theory is this belief that in you are secretly saving the world from this satanic cult of paedophiles and cannibals. Does that sound like something you are behind . Welll have not heard that but. Is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing . If i can help save the world from problems, im willing to do it, im willing to put myself out there, and we are actually. We are saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country. Qanon is nothing new its been around for several years. And critics of facebook say this move is far too late. On that, heres the bbcs misinformation reporter marianna spring. Facebooks exclusion of action against qanon has been widely welcomed it has also been criticised because many feel that qanon has been allowed to get so big and reach into new space at that it would not have other have had the social media site acted earlierfor have other have had the social media site acted earlier for some and that music could have already influenced us voters or others who have had family members radicalise and sent down the qanon rabbit hole. When Facebook First crackdown on qanon backin Facebook First crackdown on qanon back in august itjust remove groups and pages they felt were promoting violence but it did not remove all of the people who support this Conspiracy Theory and who have been plugging a range of disinformation from coronavirus to narratives about the us election. I have seven to a number of us voters who told me that their next or neighbours and their friends now belief false claims or bases claims that have been promoted by qanon about the democrats running a child trafficking ring or about joe biden being a paedophile. Theres no evidence to substantiate these but the people that i have spoken to said that those that they know are changing how they vote or whether they vote at all as a consequence of that disinformation. Every day we bring you the biggest stories from around the world. Were going to focus for a moment on three crises all in russias sphere of influence belarus, the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh and kyrgyzstan. All three were part of the soviet union until its collapse. Lets start with kyrgyzstan, where its not clear whos in charge. On sunday there was a election. Then there were violent protests disputing the result. And on tuesday the Prime Minister resigned. These were the scenes outside the hotel in the capital bishkek where a new Prime Minister was appointed. Opposition groups had already and Electoral Commission results annulled the result. Heres Almaz Tchoroev from bbc kyrgyz. Purchase and is in a deep political crisis right now with the virus groups various groups fighting for control. We do not know who is in charge right now. We do not know who is going the shots, who is making the decisions on whether they have the legal rights to do so. One thing we dont know is where the president is. Hes in hiding but hes spoken to the bbc. Translation lam translation i am ready to give responsibility to strong leaders. I am even ready to help them. Exactly what that means is not clear. Protesters want the president impeached. Thats a reverse after most of the parties that were elected to parliament on sunday have close ties to him. This is the oppositions view of where weve got to now. Translation the Coordination Council is not concerned with any trading over government positions. Our main goal is to make sure we govern legitimately. Who will be president , who will be speaker and Prime Minister is not important. Vladimir putin has expressed concern at all this. Here he is. Translation we are in contact with all parties to this conflict. And i hope that after the internal political situation normalizes, we will continue to implement all of her plans for the country. For russia, this instability in kyrgyzstan is another concern is a region which is offering plenty at the moment. Heres how the former Us Ambassador to russia, Michael Mcfaul described the situation. And heres how the Financial Times characterised it. Russias hesitancy to come to the aid of the leaders of belarus and kyrgyzstan may encourage opponents to regimes elsewhere in the region. In Nagorno Karabakh theres a different set of calculations. If you havent been following that story its an enclave that according to International Law is part of azerbaijan. But since the 90s, its been run by Ethnic Armenians who declared independence and effectively made the area part of armenia. Theres been a resurgence of conflict there since the end of september. And russia risks being dragged further into the conflict. This was the armenian Prime Minister speaking to the bbc on tuesday. Just to be very clear in your discussions with president putin over the last week or so, he has reaffirmed that commitment that if armenian territory is hitched, that armenian territory is hitched, that armenia will get Russian Military support. Translation i cannot answer your question and put what terms in the way that the Russian Federation has assured that its undertakings which are defined in treaties, it will uphold them, yes. And other regional powers are paying attention today irans president Hassan Rouhani weighed in, saying so thats Nagorno Karabakh lets look now at the latest in belarus. Here are some pictures of protests in belarus from monday these Anti Government protests have continued for two months since the disputed re election of president alexander lukashenko. Thats despite arrests and violence by security services. Several opposition leaders have been forced to flee the country. And the stand off looks set to continue. Together, these three crises represent a concern for russia. Heres a tweet from steve rosenberg. Here he is with more from moscow. It is not black and white. There was a time where america called the soviet union the evil empire but its colla pse soviet union the evil empire but its collapse unleash a whole string of ethnic conflicts and rivalries and territorial disputes some of which predated communism. Others were caused by the soviet union and some of which remain unresolved today like karabakh. The other point to make is that 30 years after the fall of the ussr, democracy and Civil Society really have not struck deep roots in this part of the world. Not everywhere, but certainly in many parts here. There are very few checks and balances. Institutions are weak, you take belarus which has been run for 26 years by one man alexander lu kashenko. But been run for 26 years by one man alexander lukashenko. But the interesting about belarus is amid the recent protests there against Police Violence and against a stolen president ial election, what we are seeing is people mobilising and Civil Society developing and building very fast. At the last point to make is about russia who sees this part of the world very much as within its sphere of influence. Russia doesnt intervene and interfere in all these countries but it does intervene when it believes its National Interests are under threat and we saw that with ukraine, russia pots like annexation of crimea and its military prevention in eastern ukraine, and Russian Support for alexander lukashenko. Thinks too steep for that. Stay with us on outside source still to come. Riot police have broken up anti fascist demonstrations after a court rules that the far right Golden Dawn Party is a criminal organisation. Next Years National five exams which are sat by 15 and 16 year olds in scotland are to be cancelled. Theyll be replaced with teacher assessments and coursework. Our scotland correspondent, lorna gordon explains. At this high school, these fourth year pupils peoples are setting for the national five qualifications equivalent to gcses. Now the exams they have been working towards, they have been scrapped and will be based on continuous assessment instead. I think that it is pretty bad because it is very difficult for us to go on and it would depend. The tests and the class. It is too much pressure to have one big test determine your whole life. Scotland bonsai education cemeteries insist this is a system of rewards that can be given despite disruptions caused by current first. Given despite disruptions caused by current first. It given despite disruptions caused by current first. It puts a verbose system in place in which us to where the basis of their professional judgement. I believe it is fair, i believe it is rigorous and of greatest importance, it gives us the opportunity to recognise the achievements of young people in scotla nd achievements of young people in scotland in these challenging days of. At this quote they artie had plans in case any exams were dropped. We knew this would be a year of disruption and young people who might have to self isolate for a significant amount of time. And therefore from day one we have talked about in school about continuous assessment about how we gather evidence. Scotland was the first to reverse the controversial results from last years cancelled exams to base them and set on teachers estimates for some it is now become the first to decide what to do about next years exams as well. Schools in england are expecting a decision on this in the next few weeks with wales and Northern Ireland to follow giving clarity to young people at such a crucial time of their lives. This is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. Our lead story is a us court is to charge two members of isis nicknamed the beatles with murder, for killing western hostages in syria. The former minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin charged with the murder of george floyd is being released from prison after after posting 1 million in bail. Hes been held there since may. Covid infection rates conitnue to rise in many places in europe. In france, covid 19 patients are taking up more than 40 of intensive care beds in the paris region. Italy has now extended its coronavirus state of emergency to the until the end of january. And Wearing Masks outside will be compulsory from thursday. Next belgium. Brussels has ordered all bars and cafes to shut down for at least a month from thursday morning. People are also banned from Drinking Alcohol in public. The brussels infection rate is the second highest of eu capitals. 502 cases per 100,000 people. Only madrid is higher. Heres the regional leader. Translation the situation is not comparable to march in terms of march it is true but we are in another world. We are testing a lot more and never the less the main focus is to maintain the balance of the Health Care System. We must remind the population of this because they may have the feeling that it is less serious than march. Theres a surge of cases in the Czech Republic. The government is warning new restrictions targeting leisure activities including parties in peoples homes. At the moment, indoor gatherings of up to ten people area allowed. The countrys also reported a new Record Number of cases in one day close to 4500. The overall total is more than 90,000. And nearly 800 people have died. Heres the czech health minister. Translation the numbers are not very favourable. We are in a situation of relatively intense growth. That is why it is clear that on friday we must institute measures that will be more radical. It must lead to a flattening of the curve because with such increases we would jeopardise the capacity of our Health Care System within three mix and therefore in the measures will be taken. And finally some good news. Coronavirus restrictions have been lifted in new zealands biggest city, auckland. It nowjoins the rest of the country at the lowest alert level. Shaimaa khalil has more on this. After ten consecutive days of no Community Transmission covid 19 cases, the last Six Community cases from that outbreak that happened backin from that outbreak that happened back in august have recovered according to health officials. You remember new zealand was celebrating being covid free for 100 days earlier in the year after that Strict Lockdown and the restrictions having eased but then in august another outbreak hit auckland, the biggest the country has seen, 180 cases linked to that very cluster and then auckland went into lockdown. Now Jacinda Ardern and then auckland went into lockdown. NowJacinda Ardern has said she is confident this cluster is now almost completely illuminated, about 95 eliminated and that is why they are easing those restrictions which means there will be no 100 people limit on gatherings for example, no social distancing required at bars and restau ra nts, distancing required at bars and restaurants, things going back to normal at a crucial time because this is happening just over a week ahead of a general election. Much more on the pandemic on the bbc news website. A court in the greek capital athens, has ruled that the far right neo nazi party, golden dawn, is a criminal organisation. This is its leader, nikos michaloliakos. He and six other senior members, all of them former mps, are among those whove been found guilty. The court also convicted golden dawn supporters of various attacks, including the murder of this man, pavlos fyssas, a left wing anti fascist rapper who was killed in 2013. Golden dawn rose to prominence during the countrys debt crisis. Our correspondent mark lowen observed their rise to prominence while he was based in the country. In 2012 it stunned the country by getting into parliament, notjust getting into parliament but getting 7 of the vote, 21 mps at its height. This was a party which has always denied being a neo nazi party, but its leader denied the gas chambers, nazi paraphernalia was found at the houses of its mps, one of its mps was recorded filming. Recorded telling children how to do the nazi salute and say heil hitler, and very worryingly it was a party which was engaged in widespread violence against political opponents and against migrants as well. And then in 2013 there was a killing of a left wing musician, pavlos fyssas, by a self confessed member of golden dawn, and that led to the party being tried, standing trial for being a criminal organisation. It has now been convicted, the leadership of the party has been convicted, seven of its former mps including the party leader has been convicted along with several dozen members of the party, and really it has all but collapsed in support since then. There was a lot of anger against golden dawn, of course, outside the court. You have seen pictures there are thousands of people protesting, greek police fired tear gas into those antifascist protesters. Thanks to mark there on the situation in athens. That ends this hour of outside source. Thanks very much for watching, i will see you in a minute. Good evening. Weve seen fewer showers across the uk today. Yes they have still been prevalent across the far north and north west of scotland but even here we had some sunshine in between. This was the picture in perth and kinross. This the sunshine coming through in nottinghamshire earlier this afternoon. Through in nottinghamshire but the reason for fewer showers is because we have had the next area of low pressure and its massive cloud advancing. That is deepening that area of low pressure and already throwing in cloud and rain to the south west approaches and that will take centre stage as we go through the rest of this evening and overnight. Still showers come in the far north but north and personal scotland it is likely to stay dry. However we will see a spell of wetter weather for much of Northern Ireland, much of england and wales as much as 30 40 mm over the hills of wales and that could lead to some local flooding. Certainly some tricky travelling conditions and a strong wind to boot. So it is going to be mild under that hill fog as well. Further north under the starry skies it will be on the chilly side and it could be a bit misty as well. As we go through the morning that rain is still with us, a damp start to the day, which at times with heavy rain for the morning rush across southern and eastern areas. Behind still a bit of quiet and shy respecting it but for parts of scotla nd respecting it but for parts of scotland it will be a bright start, chilli with some fog in the glens but the showers will get their act together becoming heavy, one or two rumbles of thunder. Further south the rain slover teek clear but still after that, it looks drier and bread with some sunshine but not feeling too bad with temperatures around 1517 too bad with temperatures around 15 17 degrees. Through the evening and overnight, as that one rain bank continues it brings potentially more rain coming in. To the north of that it will be chillier with the drier weather for the south is well ahead of that rain it will be hiv or night in single figures. Friday is shaping up in single figures. Friday is shaping up quite cloudy with spells of rain and uncertainty where that is going to fall. And showers follow with that northwesterly brisk wind. Cooler in the north on friday with temperatures down with the rain and then into the weekend, we have a northerly breeze. It will feel chilly for most of us with the showers and then mostly in the east. The warnings are on the website. For the south is well ahead of that rain and it will be chillier. This is bbc news im kasia madera. The headlines at 8pm. Tougher restrictions in scotland as pubs, restaurants and cafes that sell alcohol across the countrys central belt including glasgow and edinburgh are ordered to shut to slow the spread of coronavirus. Without action, and this is perhaps the starkest warning in todays evidence paper, we are likely to return to the peak level of infections we had in the spring by the end of this month. And, the new Restrictions Mean no unnecessary journeys on public transport and face coverings will soon be mandatory when moving around workplaces in scotland. As infection rates soar in some cities there are warnings that some hospitals in Northern England are already seeing admissions levels similar to those back in april. Four men have gone on trial over the deaths of thirty nine