and dozens of businesses and community groups come forward to back footballer marcus rashford's campaign to feed disadvantaged children in england during the school holidays. and 5,000 leaf fleas are being released in amsterdam — with hopes they will tackle the threat of japanese knotweed in the netherlands. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. millions of people across the uk are experiencing their first full day of tighter coronavirus restrictions. people across wales are now in a so—called ‘firebrea k‘ lockdown — which will last for 17 days. they'll now only be able to go out for a few reasons such as to buy food and exercise. meanwhile more than 1.3 million people in south yorkshire are now having to follow england's strictest coronavirus measures. the change means that about seven million people, all in northern england, are living with the very highest alert level. elsewhere in europe — tens of thousands of new cases have been reported in the last 2a hours. france has now passed a million infections — the second european country to do so. and in the united states, more than 80,000 new cases were recorded on friday — the highest daily figure so far. with a week and a half until the country goes to the polls — the handling of the pandemic has remained a central issue in the electoral campaign. much more on those stories to come — but first — our reporter john mcmanus takes us through the details across the uk. pulling down the shutters and hanging up the closed sign. wales has begun its first full day of a national lockdown which the cardiff government hopes will slow the spread of covid—19. all but essential businesses have closed — that means no more indoor exercise for a while. people can no longer meet others they don't live with, either indoors or out, and they‘ re discouraged from leaving home, except to buy food and medication, provide care or go to work. yesterday afternoon in cardiff, people made the most of the chance to grab a drink at a bar, though it wasn't long before the streets began to clear. and although supermarkets remain open, they have been told not to sell nonessential items. there is a bigger prize at stake here than whether you need to buy a candle or not. it is a straightforward matter of fairness. we are in this together here in wales. no individual and no organisation is above the effort that we are all required to make. over the border, police in gloucestershire say they're going to check that drivers heading out of wales have a good reason to be travelling. elsewhere, in england, 1.4 million people in south yorkshire have moved into the highest tier 3 restrictions, with households barred from meeting in venues, and pubs not serving food forced to close. absolutely everything that we've done complies with covid, and we are "covid—safe", as people are saying. the general consensus from the public is that they feel safer in a pub rather than going to a supermarket. warrington will follow south yorkshire from thursday, and coventry, stoke and slough are now under tier 2 rules. nottinghamshire, which is also in tier 2, is in talks about whether it should move to the very highest alert level. meanwhile, the scottish government has unveiled its own five tier alert system — restrictions will vary across the country. and all parts of the uk are now watching closely, to see if any one nation has discovered the magic formula to stop covid—19 in its tracks — or at the very least, find a way to live with it. john mcmanus, bbc news. well elsewhere in europe, several countries have reported coronavirus infection rates higher than during the first wave of the pandemic. in france, the government has imposed a six—week overnight curfew on two—thirds of the country. paul hawkins reports. another patient arriving at a hospital in paris. nearly half of france's intensive care beds are now occupied by covid patients, with the number of cases now passing 1 million. the french president says his country will be fighting the virus until at least next summer. in the meantime, new restrictions have come into force, covering two thirds of the country — that's 46 million people. translation: at this stage, we have no other choice but to slow down. meaning reduce social life as much as possible, to limit contacts, to break the spread. if we really want to preserve our health system, and our fellow citizens, we are forced to do this. in athens it's a similar story. greece will impose a night—time curfew in covid hotspots from saturday, with restrictions on movement in several areas, including the capital. coronavirus cases are increasing exponentially across europe. in belgium, staff at this hospital in brussels are under relentless pressure, with new covid admissions every day. there are real fears the hospital's intensive care unit could be overwhelmed, leaving doctors and nurses unable to give the level of care they want to. translation: i remember it from the previous time, it eats you up inside. because you want to do it right and when you can't do that, because of lack of time, or physical problems, you take that with you as a doctor and as a nurse. let's talk about our next section... in the us with ten days to go until america votes, polling shows coronavirus remains the most important election issue. we're fighting it and we're fighting it hard. there is a spike and... more than 80,000 new cases were recorded on friday, the highest daily number since the pandemic began. the grim milestone comes as pharmaceutical giant astrazeneca says it is resuming vaccine trials after they were stopped for seven weeks because one of the participants became ill. president trump has said he wants any potential vaccine to be freely available, and now, his challenger has matched that promise. once we have a safe and effective vaccine it has to be free to everyone. whether or not you're insured. but the two differ on when a vaccine might be available. igoto i go to every governor and asked them to mandate mask wearing in their states and if they refuse i'd go to the mayors and county executives and get local masking in place nationwide. i'll put a national testing plan in place with the goal of testing as many people each day as we are currently testing each day as we are currently testing each week. a sevenfold increase. but the two differ on when a vaccine might be available. the president says weeks. joe biden — and most scientists — say months. paul hawkins, bbc news. and our north america correspondent, peter bowes, says it's joe biden‘s most detailed plan for fighting the virus. he is matching what the president has said in terms of a free vaccine for everyone around the united states, but the significant difference is thatjoe biden is acknowledging that we could still be several months away from that vaccine being available. donald trump is still sounding optimistic that that time could come before the end of this year. joe biden spelling out lots of other plans that he has to fight the coronavirus as well, and the main one being the mandating of wearing masks. he can't do that at a national level, but he is saying that he will speak to governors around the country, and if they won't agree, he will go to the mayors and ask them to mandate the wearing of masks in their areas. the president could mandate the wearing of masks in federal buildings and also in transportation, especially as it crosses state lines. i think the theme is going to change very little. i think we are set into this pattern now of the coronavirus being the central theme and certainly the biggest concern of americans. we are hearing every day now the number of new cases is increasing. at the moment, the latest figures, at least the highest for three months, and in more than half of all us states, we are seeing spikes in those areas and it is perhaps significantly in some of those battle ground states like florida and wisconsin, especially where some of the hospitals are talking about being overwhelmed. that's the subject that's on the minds of americans and especiallyjoe biden and his camp, they will hammer away at that issue, especially as long as the president continues to sound optimistic in terms of beating coronavirus, whereas the democrats, joe biden, says that is unrealistic as the state of affairs exists at the moment. other news — and donald trump has boasted of a foreign policy win, after sudan agreed to normalise relations with israel. it's the third arab league nation to do so in two months. the palestinians have condemned the deal, describing it as a further betrayal. nomia iqbal reports from washington. the state of israel and the republic of sudan have agreed to make peace. president trump invited reporters into the oval office to witness his exchange with the leaders of israel and sudan on the phone. and he couldn't help but take a swipe at his democratic presidential rival joe biden, as he spoke to the israeli leader binyamin netanyahu. you think sleepyjoe could've made this deal, baby? sleepyjoe, i think... do you think he would have made this deal? somehow i don't think so. well, mr president, one thing i can tell you is we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in america, and we appreciate what you have done enormously. yeah. in return, sudan has been removed from a us list of state sponsors of terrorism, which now allows the north african of terrorism, which now allows the north african nation to receive much—needed economic aid and investment. mike pompeo visited sudan's capital khartoum in august. he was the first us secretary of state to do so in more than a decade, to help make way for what is now the third arab league country to formally recognise israel this year, after the uae and bahrain. this gives credibility to donald trump's reputation as a deal maker, and is a huge foreign policy win for him. he's trying to push this as steps towards getting what he considers the deal of the century — peace between the israelis and the palestinians. but palestinian officials have called this latest move a further betrayal. we are totally denouncing this deal, and we are sure that the sudanese people intellectuals, sudanese national parties, the people of sudan, also will reject this deal because sudan and the people of sudan, they have firmly stand with the palestinian cause. it was in khartoum back in the 60s when arab nations agreed to never negotiate with israel until an independent palestinian state was established. but priorities are changing for some countries, who now see the benefit of working with a us president who is open to making deals. and that is increasingly leaving palestinians sidelined. nomia iqbal, bbc news, washington. ethiopia has vowed not to cave in to aggressions of any kind — hours after the us president donald trump said egypt would end up blowing up the country's giant dam on the river nile. ethiopia has been locked in a bitter dispute with its neighbours — sudan and egypt over the filling and operation of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam. talks are continuing between david frost and michel barnier in london on the uk—eu future relationship. negotiations stalled last week after a summit in brussels where eu leaders called on the uk to "make the necessary moves" towards a deal following a week—long standoff. dozens of businesses and community groups have given their support to the england and manchester united footballer marcus rashford's campaign to feed disadvantaged children during the school holidays. the footballer has called them the "superheroes of the nation", after a labour proposal to extend the meals beyond term time in england was voted down. the government says they have provided substantial support to families facing difficulties. earlier i spoke to our political correspondentjessica parker. she said marcus rashford has changed public debate around free school meals. yes, marcus rashford has been campaigning but then labour brought this motion in saying they wanted to bring free school meals and vouchers in over the holidays and that was voted down opposed by most, although not all, conservative mps. the government says it is provided targeted support to the rubble targeted support to vulnerable families and increasing the amount available in welfare as well but undoubtedly there is political pressure on ministers, and mp5, among them ben bradley, the conservative mp for the mansfield, who has come under particular criticism after on social media he appeared to suggest free school meal vouchers meant in some cases money effectively going to dens and brothels". he said his words have been taken out of context. there are kids who live in really chaotic situations, really difficult lives, where actually giving them an unrestricted voucher to spend on whatever isn't helpful. the point i am making is we need to wrap our arms as a society around those families. that is why government has given that money to local government because they are best placed working with social services, working with schools to be able to find those families, to target them to help them in a kind of more holistic way than meal vouchers. the labour party have called on him to apologise. meanwhile, the conservative party are calling on keir starmer to make an apology for something that his deputy angela rayner said in the house of commons this week during a debate about the financial support on offer to areas in tier 3, the highest tier of restrictions. she has already apologised for using the word "scum" during a parliamentary debate whilst a conservative mp was speaking but overnight we have seen a letter from the co—chair of the conservative party and 100 conservative backbenchers who are saying the comment made by angela rayner resulted in widespread abuse towards members of their party and they‘ re calling on keir starmer to also apologise for what has happened. i have asked the labour party for a response and i will bring you that when i have it, but i think it does show you it has been a pretty fraught week in parliament. jessica parker, thank you. the headlines on bbc news... millions of people across the uk face tighter covid—19 restrictions, as residents in wales begin a 17—day lockdown and south yorkshire comes under tier 3 rules. countries across europe take action as infections surge, with some imposing more social limitations than during the first wave of the pandemic. as us coronavirus cases hit a new daily record — democratic presidential candidate joe biden makes his pledge to provide free vaccine for all — but president trump accuses him of overstating the crisis. headteachers in england say they're "bitterly disappointed" that the number of laptops they're given for deprived children has been cut by 80%. the government says the devices will be sent to the areas of greatest need. 0ne school says it will receive 66 computers, rather than the 332 it was promised. chris dyson — headteacher at parklands school in leeds. his allocation has also been cut similarly dramatically and he joins me now. thank you very much for being with us on bbc news. first of all, how many computers were you expecting and when did you find out how many of them you are actually going to get? i'm absolutely destroyed, still. we got an e—mail at six o'clock last night from the lovely guys at the bfp, the start of half term which has been such a challenging, the most challenging half term probably on education record, celebrating the fact that the government have secured another 100,000 laptops but they were changing the way they were allocating them so excitedly i've logged on to see if my allocation had gone up from 61, i actually needed 168, so i logged on expecting to hopefully see my 61, and it destroyed me, it flattened me when i saw that has actually been cut to 13, 13 laptops, in the worst—case scenario to 13, 13 laptops, in the worst—case scenario to serve 13, 13 laptops, in the worst—case scenario to serve amongst 380 children. i thought it was absolutely scandalous. the government says, well it two things, apart from as you say, lauding the fa ct apart from as you say, lauding the fact it has got it says in total half a million by christmas will be delivered and it says it has purchased another 96,000 laptops but it does say that demand internationally is making supply difficult at the moment. it says that that's been one issue, so it says the context of significant local demand. it also says it's updating allocation to accurately align all those with the number of student schools typically have self—isolating. what you make of that argument that actually this needs to be focused on those kids who need to be suitable for health reasons because family had got covid because somebody else in a public school has got covid or whatever and that has to be the priority? , there's be no phone calls, there's been no communication, it is another algorithm that the government are running out to work out how many la pto ps you running out to work out how many laptops you actually need. when i actually got my 61 laptops i did a questionnaire among students, pa rents. questionnaire among students, parents. i found that i actually needed 168. now, obviously 61 is still a nice little number to work with but to cut down to 13 and significantly what has really frustrated all the head teachers and other such people is that the day before on thursday it became statutory that all schools must provide remote learning in the case ofa provide remote learning in the case of a lockdown and if we got to be to produce and promote learning for the most disadvantaged children and then the following day they are taking away 80% of the laptop allocation it's nothing short of a scandal and robbery. so how will you decide, now, who gets one? well, it's names into a hat and dropping out because 13 laptops when i needed, as i said, 168 is peer than simply a lottery so the end result of trying to level out this playing field between disadvantaged and non—disadvantage, the end result is that a lot of schools like mine are going to have to go back to the old paper copies and printing out homework for people to just and printing out homework for people tojust do on paper as and printing out homework for people to just do on paper as opposed to having the real—life lessons that we wa nt having the real—life lessons that we want the children to have if they're stuck at home self—isolating when a bubble... what presumably with his rich you have to look that far down the road to see to your three restrictions in other parts of yorkshire. —— what presumably were easy. we know that with winter infections anyway we knew that was going to happen. presumably a big fear is that you find yourself in a situation where the government says it will keep schools open in all circumstances but where significant numbers of your pupils are having to work from home and you can't provide them with any technological option. to build a house, you need tools. to get education, to get the quality of learning environment for children at home, you need laptops and you need broadband and that's a simple solution. so therefore to cut an allocation by 80% is absolutely heartbreaking. i know that you're in the situation, apart from his dough everything out on paper, what other options you have? —— printing everything else out on paper. 0ther options that you could move it from one household to another week to week and how far would that compromise learning? again, it is now on head teachers to source all these things out. we can't really be passing laptops in one household to the other because that goes against everything about looking after the sole survivors. having paper copies means that if a child is self—isolating somebody has got to come to the school to come and collect it where as if things are done remotely as it was promised on a laptop where children can access from home it would have made a worse case scenario slightly better. —— if or that was a lead head teacher. thank you very much. indian cricket legend kapil dev is on the road to recovery after undergoing emergency cardiac surgery in new delhi. the 61—year—old was rushed to a hospital in the capital after complaining of chest pain on friday. doctors say he suffered a heart attack but he's now in a stable condition. kapil dev led india to their first world cup title in 1983. plans to scrap tax—free shopping at airports could cause "wholly unnecessary job losses" in the aviation sector, according to a group of mps. from january, shops at airports will no longer be able to sell items like perfumes and electronics to international passengers. the cross—party "future of aviation group", has urged the chancellor to reverse the decision. the treasury said the lower prices were not consistently passed on to consumers. 5,000 japanese "jumping lice" are being let loose in the netherlands — to tackle the threat from japanese knotweed. the invasive plant has become a menace across europe. it grows fast, has roots tough enough to break through concrete, and is very hard to eradicate. susanna lommen is a biologist working at university of leiden and is co—ordinating a trial of thousands of these jumping lice being let loose in the netherlands. welcome to the programme, susanna. who discovered that jumping welcome to the programme, susanna. who discovered thatjumping lights might bea who discovered thatjumping lights might be a solution and how come they are so effective? it was actually your colleagues from the uk so actually your colleagues from the uk so that as of the singing institute is itself specialises in biological control near london and they were actually sponsored by the uk government to go in search for solutions for japanese knotweed government to go in search for solutions forjapanese knotweed so they set out to do an expedition to japan to investigate what sort of natural enemies live on that plant and out of all the tens of species that live from the plants they then have done years of research in order to select the best suitable one and suitable means that they are effective, that they have negative effects on the plant, and also that they are safe so they're not attacking other species. so they love to eat knotweed and are they right in saying that this is what the, period? only live on knotweed. they are going to be very sorry if they don't get in its native but thatis they don't get in its native but that is not our problem to worry about. —— don't get knotweed eliminated. japanese knotweed has been around for a while but it is we have only just realised been around for a while but it is we have onlyjust realised in europe how big a problem it was for the other plants. i think initially it was kept in gardens and it has to do a lot with anthropogenic activities like we do a lot of soil movement, dig into the soil, build new houses, and their roots in the soil cover very small pieces of them can go out to new plants and by moving coil around we're spreading this plant around we're spreading this plant around everywhere and managing our river sides were actually spreading it further with the machines and one pat end up in rivers so actually i think it is mainly human activity thatis think it is mainly human activity that is because the recent spread. susanna, i'm going to ask you to stay with us if you would forjust a couple of moments because at this point of view is from around the world leave us. don't forget you can keep up—to—date on all the stories on bbc news on our website. that's bbc news dot—com, the very latest on the us presidential election and also events all around the world. you are watching bbc news. now, susanna, i wanted to keep you with us susanna, i wanted to keep you with us for viewers in the uk because this has become a huge question for gardeners. how quickly could they expect to see the jumping lice perhaps in this country, something that we could perhaps literally buying a gardening shop apply to our own knotweed? i don't think that is the intention of this way biological control because it is a message or method that will only pay off in the long term because what we do is we release thousands of these individuals but the idea is that they form and that they establish in they form and that they establish in the ecosystem that the population is growing year by year that they've reproduced that they spread on in the end they form such high densities that he really cause damage but you can imagine you need thousands in order to cause damage. it is not that you put thousands on your planner you'll see the result tomorrow see that they need a large group of organisms that is reproducing in that their offspring and their offspring and their offspring is generating large density is high enough to the damage. that is a biologist at the university of leyden in the netherlands. fascinating results. now for the weather prospects. spells of some wind and heavy rain but there will also be some sunshine are bound to come are not going to bea are bound to come are not going to be a complete wash—out. much brighter behind the rain band, few blustery showers, rain lying across large prospects of england and wales, very heavy rain on it as it moves eastward, looks like the rain will tend to stay dry until after dark. gusty winds and that rain band, mild and the south—east, colour behind the main pant with the low teens there but at least you have this and trying to compensate. as we had to saturday that rain band eventually clears away and on sunday low pressure still nearby so it was not going to be another day, maybe not going to be another day, maybe not quite as windy as we have had today, sunshine and showers, most of these in the north and west in some areas it was these will tend to stray dry together but it will feel a little bit cooler than today. this is bbc world news, the headlines. several countries in europe have reported coronavirus infection rates higher than during the first wave of the pandemic. in france, the government has imposed a six week, overnight curfew on two—thirds of the country. the us recorded more than 80,000 new cases on friday, it's highest daily increase since the pandemic began. democratic candidate joe biden has pledged a free coronavirus vaccine for all if he wins. sudan is to normalise relations with israel, the third arab league state to do so in the last few months. the deal was announced by donald trump from the white house. palestinians have described it as another stab in the back. protests are spreading across poland after a court ruling banning virtually all abortions, with exceptions only for cases of rape, incest, or where the mother's health is at risk.

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