to political pressure. we'll be speaking to them in the programme. —— file not to bow to political pressure. there have been many dramatic moments in the brexit story. there was another one today. this is the northern ireland secretary brandon lewis. yes, this does break international law in a very specific and limited way. we are taking the power to disapply the eu law concept of direct effect, required by article four in a certain very tightly defined circumstance. so breaking the law — but in "narrow circumstances". the uk government argument is that this proposed change to the northern ireland protocol is a back—up in case the uk and the eu fail to cut a new trade deal — a so—called no—deal brexit. but the protocol was specifically drawn up in case these talks went wrong. peter foster from the financial times broke this story on sunday. here he is today... borisjohnson‘s predecessor as prime minister theresa may has also go involved. this was in parliament earlier. the united kingdom government signed the withdrawal agreement with the northern ireland protocol. this parliament voted that withdrawal agreement and uk legislation. —— into uk legislation. the government is now changing the operation of that agreement. given that, how can the government reassure future international partners that the uk can be trusted to abide by the legal obligations of the agreements it signs? the government has been downplaying the significance of this, saying it hopes it will not be necessary to follow through on this. and trust is very important here. northern ireland was the single biggest obstacle to the withdrawal deal getting done. the issue has always been the border on the island of ireland. northern ireland is part of the united kingdom — it shares a border with the republic of ireland which is in the eu. and because of northern ireland's violent past and its successful peace process, the status of that border is highly sensititive. the question has always been — how do you avoid a hard border on the island of ireland — and take all of the uk out of the eu's single market. to get round this, the uk agreed to some checks between great britain and northern ireland. vicki young has more. it agreed that northern ireland would continue to follow some eu customs rules — that would mean extra paperwork, checks, and tariffs for some goods moving between great britain and northern ireland. now the government's introducing its own law, so that uk ministers could decide how to apply the rules without the eu's agreement. the problem is that if the uk reneges on its international obligation to carry out internal checks, then we come back to the same question everyone‘s been wrestling with — how to avoid customs checks on the border with the republic of ireland. or to put it another way — having said initially they wouldn't agree to checks in the irish sea, the uk then did agree do that to get a deal, and is now actually in some circumstances it won't do that after all. the labour opposition leader told the bbc the government's focus is wrong. what the government's doing — which, in my view, is wrong — is reopening old arguments that have been settled. a deal is there to be had. let's negotiate, let's get that deal — that's what the public want — and move on. and also this week, the latest round of trade talks are beginning. let's bring in nick early from westminster. i guess... that's right, because the uk government wa nts to right, because the uk government wants to persuade voters in the uk, but also persuade the eu negotiators that it but also persuade the eu negotiators thatitis but also persuade the eu negotiators that it is prepared to walk away from this and that it has a plan. and it strikes me that a lot of what we are hearing about northern ireland is related to that. because essentially what ministers are saying is that if there is a dispute over what is going into northern ireland and whether it's going to end up in the european union and should thus face tariffs, if they can't agree with the eu, the uk will make a unilateral decision. the argument that's being made in downing street as that is the most sensible thing to do because it would avoid some sort of default where suddenly everything going into northern ireland from great britain needs tariffs. but as you say, there's a real concern at westminster that this is potentially really undermining the uk's place in the international community, especially after that pretty astonishing admission today from the northern ireland secretary that yes, it could mean in some circumstances breaking international law. 50 that's breaking international law. so that's one big familiar issue. the other issue is the level playing field, the idea that if the uk want to trade deal with the eu, it needs to trade deal with the eu, it needs to agree to certain eu regulations. where have we got to with that one? basically uk ministers don't want to be tied to eu rules. some want the freedom to get big cash grants to struggling businesses or put money in certain industries they feel are really important. they don't want to feel constrained by european rules on that. so they seem pretty adamant that they won't sign up to anything that they won't sign up to anything that would allow them to do that. it's not totally clear why that is such a sticking point because there's a debate going on inside the uk government about just there's a debate going on inside the uk government aboutjust how important it is, whether they want to end up with these massive subsidies anyway. and it is probably the main sticking point in the talks between brussels and london at the moment. the other one is fishing quotas in the uk — if you think back to the referendum, fishing was a systemic issue where europe was seen as having far too much ability to fish in uk waters. the government seems to be holding really firm on that as well. those are the two main things. they've been the two main things. they've been the two main things for a few weeks now, and these talks are stuck. the big question is, will anyone blink? nick, thanks very much. there's much more coverage on brexiteers on the bbc website. —— brexiteers. more important developments in belarus. we now have a clearer idea of what has happened to one of the country's main opposition leaders, maria kolesnikova. she was last seen in minsk being bundled into a van by masked men on monday. this is footage released by the belarussian border guards which — they say — show three opposition leaders including maria kolesnikova at the border with ukraine. this is ukraine's deputy interior minister. translation: yesterday in minsk, three members of the opposition coordination council, including maria kolesnikova, were kidnapped by men in plain clothes — allegedly special service officers of belarus state security committee. afterwards, those citizens were driven to the border with ukraine, where theirforceful expulsion from belarussian territory was planned with an intention to use this fact as if opposition leaders betrayed hundreds of thousands of their followers and stopped fighting against the lukashenko regime. in the last few hours, those two members of the opposition coordination council have been giving a press conference. jonah fisher was there. here he is speaking with one of them — ivan kravtsov — who was with maria kolesnikova at the border. at that moment, maria was forcefully put into the car. she literally tore her passport into small pieces. exactly. it was lying in the car and she took it immediately and tore it up. then she climbed out the car through the rear window because the doors were locked. then she crawled to the belarussian territory. so this was in no man's land? yes, and i think it is heroic. it's really fantastic what she did. so she was very clear with them that she did not want to be forced into the ukraine? you might want to seem absolutely clear with that, yeah. and do we know where miss kolesnikova is? this is a big problem, we don't know exactly where she is because i think on seven september, she was in the kgb. but we don't know where she is now, and this is a real problem. the other important development comes from belarussian president alexander lu kashenko — he's said he won't step down after weeks of protests. that bit we could have predicted, but according to russian media, he hasn't ruled out an early election. here's more... and that, of course, is always a concern for people who've overseen oppressive regimes — they worry they may face justice when they lose power. but we're not at this stage yet. the un's special rapporteur on belarus has weighed in. she says there are alarming signs that mr lukashenko's administration was becoming increasingly unhinged as it tries to find ways to respond to the protests. there has never really been any respect for the rule of law in belarus. but what we have been witnessing for the last four weeks is more like lawlessness, a sense of anarchy. when a state tries to expel its own citizens, itjust isn't a cce pta ble its own citizens, itjust isn't acceptable from the perspective of international human rights law. the main opposition presidential candidate has also been speaking out today. svetla na ti kha novs kaya, who was forced to flee after she complained that the election was rigged, has called for sanctions against mr lukashenko's government. hundreds of people are jailed, beaten, raped. this should not be the norm in europe. this can't be the norm in europe. this can't be the norm in of the civilized world. but the power of sanctions seems limited. mr lukashenko has been in power since the ‘90s, and only one of two things would change that — the police and army would need to turn against him, or vladimir putin would need to tell him to go. at the moment, despite huge opposition pressure and some international pressure, those things haven't happened. joining me now is evelyn farkas, the former us deputy assistant secretary of defence for russia, ukraine and eurasia. thank you very much for your time today. we appreciate it. do you think there's more that the international community can do to apply pressure? absolutely! first of all, we need to be engaged, we meaning the international community, more actively in diplomacy and trying to essentially engineer a transition, much as we did in the ukraine. ultimately we know the ukrainian transition didn't work because the leader who had been discredited and basically forced by his people from his position lost his people from his position lost his nerve and fled to russia. but before that happened, the eu, the us and even russia brokered a transition for the ukrainians so they could go to elections. in the case of belarus, they did just hold elections, so that's not the issue. the issue is whether the elections will be recognised by the opposition. they were largely discredited by eyewitnesses who saw the ballots and understood that the victor was actually not lukashenko. so we need to have the international community involved in trying to broker a transition, including the russians. but if that doesn't work, certainly sanctions need to be a threat out there so that the government, the bela russian threat out there so that the government, the belarussian armed forces and the russians maintain an observance or do better when it comes to human rights. they are obviously violent rating human rights in belorussia left, right and centre. but to push for change, you have to be contrary to my her confident that country can create something long—term and solid. history is littered with examples, libya and iran being two examples, that even when the west pushes for support and change, that's not exactly what the west wants. first of all in the this case, the west is not pushing for a regime change. this was something the belarussian people decided amongst themselves. they wanted to change. and enough of them voted for set lotto tickets for scalia —— svetla na them voted for set lotto tickets for scalia —— svetlana tikhanovskaya. but they wanted to protect the freedom for the belarussians to pick their own government, and freedom for them to not be abused and have their human rights violated by their own government. that's where the human rights —— international community has an interest. and we don't want bloodshed. in terms of the viability of democracy in belarus, that's up to the belarussian people, and if they want help from the west, they can ask for it. the opposition leadership has been very clear that they are not looking to necessarily align with the west. they just want to looking to necessarily align with the west. theyjust want to be able to determine their own future and pick their own leaders, and they did not want alexander lukashenko any more. thank you forjoining us. more tension in the himalayas on the disputed border between india and china. both sides accuse the other of firing shots in the air on monday night. the disputed area is around what's called the line of actual control or the lac — it runs between indian administered kashmir and chinese administered aksai chin — and this tension isn't new. back injune, 20 indian soldiers were killed in clashes. we don't know china lost soldiers too. that clash took place in the galwan river valley — and was reported to involve hand to hand combat and spiked bats. and while that was highly unusual — military patrols often get close because there is no marked border. the significance of monday night is that it involved firearms. for decades, both sides have stuck to an agreement to avoid using guns in the disputed territory. now as you'd expect — both sides are blaming each other. first, here's the chinese foreign ministry. translation: on 7 september, indian troops illegally crossed the line of actual control and entered the southbank of the lake at the western sector of the china—india border. the indian troops blatantly fired threatening shots at the chinese border patrol troops, who were there for negotiations. and the chinese border troops were compelled to take countermeasures to stabilise the situation. the indian army denies entering territory it shouldn't have — orfiring shots. what is certain is the language around these moments continues to escalate. this is the editor of the chinese state supported global times... the bbc‘s south asia editor, anbarasan ethirajan, joins me live. thanks for your time today. how do you read what's happened on monday night in the context of the tensions earlier in the year? what is interesting is the change of language on both sides, both china and india. and if you look at the chinese military statement on monday night, it was very, very blunt. they said they had to take countermeasures and they strongly criticised india and warned that china would be forced to take harder steps though the indian troops will not intrude into their territory. for months, the indian defence read just the micro... but the indian army was very swift this morning and issue a statement saying they did not fire a shot, and it was the chinese who fired in the air towards the area. it shows things are really getting hot along the border. both sides are now not onlyjostling for space and they want to dislodge each other from the territories. no you must understand this is a very punishing territory. we are talking about 10-15,000 punishing territory. we are talking about io—is,000 feet high, it is called snow desert mountains and no one can live there during winter, and this is where two of the world's biggest armies are locked in the micro and are in an eyeball to eye ball micro and are in an eyeball to eyeball situation. that's a difficult situation because one wrong step from either side can lead to escalation. i'm sure there's a few people listening, wondering why china and india are so concerned with this border? why are they investing so much capital into it? it goes back to the colonial period, because the british indians signed an agreement with saivet, and after the knock down, they refused to accept what british india signed with tibet. so this is important— first of all it gives access so if the indian troops want, they can cross the area. this is a key hybrid between the two provinces, and that is what china has always been worried about. they want to continue that link with saivet. on the other hand, to go north in the ladakh region, it connects pakistan with china, china has invested more than $60 billion in terms of the economic core door all the way to southern packet and dust corridor. they don't wa nt packet and dust corridor. they don't want india to build more infrastructure on the contentious territory. that's why china is very keen. on the other hand, india thinks that it will lose its military edge. thank you very much. relations between australia and china have been getting worse all year — that's carrying on. two australian journalists have fled china because of fears they were going to be detained. here, they're boarding theirflight home. that's mike smith on the right — he works for the newspaper the australian financial review. and that's bill birtles on the left. he's from the abc — australia's national broadcaster. they spoke to the press when they arrived in sydney. it's so good to be home, so happy. i can't say any more at the moment, but it such a relief to be home. so really happy... did you feel threatened at all when you were over there? a little bit, yes. very disappointing to have to leave under those circumstances. and it's a relief to be back in a country with genuine rule of law. this is a really significant moment. these men were the last two journalists working for australian media organisations in china. here's bill birtles tellign the bbc more about what happened. it's a whirlwind week where, to me, this kind of came out of nowhere. last monday, i got a call advising me that i needed to leave china immediately. this was the australian officials, and they had received some sort of warning or advance — they never specified what — but they said, "our advice is for you to get out quick" — which isn't easy because of covid. well, bill birtles was preparing to take that official advice when things escalated. here he is on how. sure enough, at midnight on the wednesday, six state security police plus a translator were at my door in beijing — not to detain me, but to inform me that i'm involved in a national security investigation, that there's an exit ban placed on me, and i'm not allowed to leave the country. the national security investigation he mentions there is a reference to the case of this journalist, the australian citizen cheng lei. she's a respected business presenter and reporter for china's state—owned television network cgtn. in august, she suddenly stopped appearing on screen and ceased all contact with friends and family. her profile and interviews were also wiped from cgtn's website. now the chinese government has confirmed that she's been detained and she's being accused of spying. here's china's foreign ministry spokesman. translation: the relevant departments recently took compulsory measures in accordance with the law against australian national cheng lei, who was suspected of criminal activity endangering china's national security. and we are conducting an investigation. her various rights and interests are all receiving full legal protection. the treatment of cheng lei prompted australia's government to warn bill birtles and mike smith to leave. they then took refuge in the australian embassy for five days while diplomatic negotiations secured their freedom, but they weren't allowed to leave china without submitting to police interviews first. and during those interviews, they were asked about cheng lei. here's bill birtles again. it did know her particularly well. it didn't really seem like i would be the most logical person to interrogate if you wanted evidence about her case. so they did ask me about that, they also asked me about hong kong national security law and, when i report on that, what sort of channels do i go to to get my information? there was also a bit of back—and—forth about the general australia—china relationship. you just got the general sense from the whole process that this was all part of a bigger political game — and myself and mike smith, the otherjournalist, we were simply small pawns in a much bigger dispute. now we should definitely see this story in the context of worsening relations between australia and china. and there are a number of reasons behind this. australia has raised concerns over china's treatment of uighur muslims and over its treatment of pro—democracy activists in hong kong. australia has also banned the chinese company huawei from involvement in building australia's 5g network, and it's stopped australian state governments from doing business deals with beijing independently. and perhaps most significantly, in april, australia called for an international investigation into how the coronavirus pandemic started, and so put a question mark against china claim that it's been transparent about what happened. here's our sydney correspondent, shaima khalil. look, this has been going on for weeks and months now. you mentioned australia wanting and backing an international investigation into the origins of covid—19. that infuriated beijing even though they wouldn't admit it. they said that this was political targeting for china. and since then, really, there has been back—and—forth accusations and counter—accusations. now relations with china matter a great deal to australia. china is its biggest trading partner and acounts for more than 30% of australia's exports. china knows this all too well, and is putting the squeeze on. it's put an 80% tariff on australian barley exports, it's suspended some australian beef exports, and it's floated the idea of boycotting australian wine. the treatment of these australian journalists is perhaps another form of retaliation. here's shaimaa again. by anybody's standard, what happened with those twojournalists is a worrying development. china is not only australia's key partner and the biggest customer for its natural resources, but, as the abc's news director gavin morris says, it is one of the most important stories. china, understanding china, the relationship between our two countries is probably the biggest story of our time. and having our people on the ground working with a local team to tell that story is absolutely critical to the abc. australia is of course a strong supporter of media freedom, freedom of the press and that it is disappointing that after many years, australia will not have a media organisation present in china for some period of time. bill birtles and michael smith were the last two correspondents working for australian media in china. their evacuation means that now for the first time since the 1970s, australian media organisations do not have accredited journalists inside the country. have a look at these low pictures coming in from colorado. it may only be the 8th of september, but that is snow falling. in a few minutes we will go to the us to talk about unusual and extreme weather, because in california, there's a very serious wildfire situation. we will update you on that. hello. it's been quite a humid day out there, but for some of us, very warm. in fact, all parts of the uk recording somewhere with a temperature above 20, but some spots into the mid—20s saw plenty of sunshine across parts of eastern scotland, whereas in the west, it's been turning wetter. this cold front is about to move south across the uk into tomorrow, and that's bringing cooler and fresher air with it. now some rain then for scotland and northern ireland to end the day, running in the parts of northern england and north wales as the night goes on. it's to the south of that where we hold onto a lot of cloud, and mild, muggy air with some spots around 15—16 celsius as we start the day tomorrow. this is a cold front, this area of cloud and rain weakening all the while as it moves further south during the day, not a whole lot of rain left on it. won't clear from the south of england until right at the end of the afternoon. but behind it, you've got the sunshine — and it is a cold front, so behind it, you get the cooler, fresher air moving in with a few blustery showers moving through northern scotland. now the wind just tilting around for a west—northwesterly out of the south—west today. and that is that fresh air moving in. but where we see temperatures today into the low 20s, they'll be down towards the mid—to—high teens. so still very pleasant where you get that sunshine through the afternoon, but bear in mind with largely clear skies that's been going through wednesday evening, it will be a much cooler night into thursday morning, with temperatures quite widely into the single figures. with an area of high pressure nosing in for thursday, that brings a lot of fine, settled weather. a good deal of sunshine to start the day, there will be some cloud building and probably more so towards the west, especially towards northern ireland, north west england, and western scotland. another atlantic weather system pushing a weaker front end which will give some patchy rain and a fresh new breeze once again. and temperatures for the most part on thursday are in the mid—to—high teens. now there will be a stronger weather front initially coming into scotland on friday, so expect stronger winds and heavy rain moving through scotland on friday, through northern ireland, again feeding down towards parts of northern england and north wales later in the day. whereas to the south of that, you stay dry with heavy showers running into western scotland — again, temperatures running into the mid—to—high teens with something warmer by the end of the weekend. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. our lead story concerns brexit. this does break international law in a very specific and limited way. we'll work through the ramifications of the uk government admitting it may break international law. the latest tactic from the government to try and get a favourable trade deal from the european union. belarus president alexander lukashenko hints at an early election, but says he's not ready to stand down. and the opposition leader who was snatched by masked men on monday has now crossed into ukraine. she ripped up her passport while she was on the border and threw it out the window. the vaccine will be very safe and very effective, and it'll delivered very soon. you could have a very big surprise coming up. president trump says he may announce a covid a vaccine in october. today, drug companies have vowed not to bow to political pressure. we'll hear from them. there are signs that governments may be willing to cut corners or fast—track the process, depending on your point of view. russia has already licensed its vaccine — it's called sputnik 5 — before test results were even published. they have now released the results of the trial, but experts say it wasn't a large or rigorous enough to meet international standards. it's notjust in russia this is an issue. in the us, the presidential election in november presents a huge incentive for donald trump to get a vaccine out there now. he's not shy of speaking about it. it's going to be... it's going to be done in a very short period of time. could even have it during the month of october. the vaccine will be very safe and very effective, and it'll be delivered very soon. you could have a very big surprise coming up. the regulator, too, is keen to speed things up. the head of the us food and drug adminstration says he would be willing to bypass the normal approval process for licensing a vaccine. stephen hahn told the financial times... thomas cooney is director—general of the international federation of pharmaceutical manufacturers, which represents the companies who signed the pledge. he's with us live on outside source. think for your time. i wonder why you felt it was necessary to put out this pledge? i think it is really important to reassure the public, but also send a message to regulators. we all desperately want a vaccine against the coronavirus, we wa nt a vaccine against the coronavirus, we want a vaccine that is also safe, effective and of high quality. we can't afford to cut corners and that is why the message from the ceos and oui’ is why the message from the ceos and our member companies was important. is russia cutting corners? when you look at the speed with which that vaccine was licensed, i am concerned that some corners were cut. because when you talk about and look at the pledge which was issued today, everybody agrees that you need phase three trials which cannot be done without testing the vaccine on 50 or so volunteers. we are talking here about clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people. for example, the trial which is far advanced, they talk about 30,000 volunteers, of which part of them get the vaccine, part of them get a placebo. and you will need to look where people do still get infected, or whether they do get covid—i9, and then you need to check whether those who get it got the placebo, whether the vaccine works or not— all these things do need time. we are talking about fast development, but you really need to move as fast as possible, but at the same time as slow as needed... but if i could just come in here, you mentioned that everyone agrees you need phase three click trials, but the fda in the us is suggesting that's not necessary , the us is suggesting that's not necessary, so you are out of sync with the americans? not quite when you look at the manufacturers. they are the ones submitting the dossier for approval, all of them in their pledge today committed to large clinical trials... pledge today committed to large clinical trials. .. so pledge today committed to large clinicaltrials... so the manufacturers are saying that, but just so these huge pharmaceutical manufacturers are essentially saying the primary authority on this matter in the us is wrong? not quite, because when you look at the guidance from the fda which hasn't changed, everybody expects large clinical trials. but it's also important that the companies commit to publishing the results of the clinical trials, whether they are good or bad. they are committed to full transparency, and last week, we had the big global media briefing where some ceos who signed the trial m, where some ceos who signed the trial in, they said they were also in favour of an independent external advice committee helping the fda to reach the right conclusion. so there is the temptation for politicians to push a vaccine for approval faster than might be good for the testing. but the facts are clear they do not wa nt but the facts are clear they do not want that to happen. in which case, could you be clear with me here? we heard donald trump yesterday saying heard donald trump yesterday saying he thinks a vaccine could be possible by october, which would raise the expectations of notjust americans, but people all around the world. is he wrong to suggest that's possible? i think it's challenging. we can expect some results of these large clinical trials may be by the end of october, but then you still need to look at the data, you still need to look at the data, you still need to look at the data, you still need to validate the data. i think it is fairly unlikely that we will have a vaccine approved or, in particular, distributed on a large scale before the end of this year. we may be surprised, but clearly the manufacturers do not want speed above quality. finally, can i ask you about whether you are certain a vaccine is possible because a vaccine is possible because a vaccine of this nature has never been created before. are we not at the stage in research where we can safely say that this will happen, it's just a matter of when? safely say that this will happen, it'sjust a matter of when? i'm personally optimistic. having discussed this with many scientists involved, i believe we will get a vaccine. it is just a involved, i believe we will get a vaccine. it isjust a question involved, i believe we will get a vaccine. it is just a question about when. it is also a question of, will the vaccine have the same effect on all sorts of the population, the young as well as the elderly? because the early trials have basically been done on the younger populations. and we don't know yet how long the immunity will last. but i'm optimistic we will see a vaccine. we appreciate you joining us on vaccine. we appreciate you joining us on outside source, thank you very much. three coronavirus stories in the uk. in a moment, local lockdowns and testing. first, the figures. the number of deaths for each 2a hours has moved from three on monday to 30 today. recorded cases have also risen to over 2&00 cases, and there's this warning from the uk health secretary. so, this must be a moment of clarity for us all. this is not over. just because we've come through one peak, it doesn't mean that we can't see another one coming towards our shores. but together we can tackle it. so long as we remember that in a pandemic, our actions today have consequences tomorrow for the people we love, for our communities and for our country. yesterday, matt hancock specifically asked young people to stick to social distancing rules, and he made that case again today. we've seen all across the world how a rise in cases initially among younger people then spreads, leading to hospitalisations and fatalities. in spain, where the rise in cases started around two months ago, hospitalisations have risen 15 times since mid—july. the number of daily deaths there has reached 184. in france, hospitalisations have more than tripled in the same period. and for the first time, i think i see a trend that this is no longer about disease in those specific hotspots such as leicester a few months ago, the north west more recently, but there is a more general and creeping geographic trend across the uk, across england, that as these levels are now beginning to turn up on a wider basis, wider geographical basis. and that again is really a signal that we've got to change this now, got to start taking it seriously, very seriously again. that was a deputy chief medical officerfor england that was a deputy chief medical officer for england following on from the uk health secretary. there is evidence the virus is affecting more young people. but the question is how are the numbers comparing to earlier in the pandemic? here's our medical editor fergus walsh. so, fergus, this is one of the bays of our intensive care unit that was full back in april, may with patients with coronavirus. for weeks now, london's university college hospital has hardly seen any coronavirus patients across its 500 beds. what a difference from when we filmed here at the peak. then, the intensive care unit had to double in size to cope with the influx. now, it's empty of covid patients. but confirmed cases of covid infection have risen four—fold since four—fold since mid—july. as this graph shows, it is mostly people in their 20s and 30s who are testing positive. those figures showing who is getting coronavirus help explain why this and other intensive care units are not filling up with covid patients. the young are generally at low risk from the virus. but there's concern that if it spreads further in the community, things could change here in the coming months. we're always used to any way having more people come to hospital with respiratory virus infections in the winter. the worry is that the sort of people who would get infected are the sort of people who we saw previously, the older population, the people with co—morbidities, the people with other risk factors for doing badly and ending up in hospital. the nhs is open for business, but uch says many patients are still too scared to come to hospital because they fear catching coronavirus. if that's what's happening to case nunbers, next there's the issue of testing. last week, we heard the uk testing system was struggling with demand. some people were being told to travel long distances to get a test. for example, some people in london were advised to book a test in cardiff. that is 244 kilometres away. today, the director of england's test and trace programme, sarah—jane marsh, offered this explanation. and matt hancock echoed that message in parliament. we've seen a rise in demand for testing, and the capacity, the supply has been increasing, too. we had some short—term problems with contracts, and before the summer i came to the house and described the problem with a particular contract to do with the swabs and the cleanness of the swabs. but the bigger challenge is to make sure the capacity stays ahead of the demand. as infections go up, testing is being increased and localised restrictions are being used more and more. bolton, in greater manchester, has the highest infection rate in england. all hospitality venues there have to close between 10pm and 5am. next is caerphilly in south wales. in the past two hours, new restrictions have come in. hywel griffiths is there. people who live in this county, about 180,000 of them, will be told not to go in or out of the county unless they have an essential reason to do so. for example, travelling to work if they can't work from home or for a medical appointment. but they shouldn't be going a few miles down south to cardiff shopping for example. now, that will be familiar from earlier on this year. there was a five—mile travel restriction in wales, you remember, untiljuly but people here had hoped they had been to the worst of it. in fact, at the end ofjuly, caerphilly was for a week or two covid—free. but this has come back very suddenly in the last week. we're told almost 100 cases in the last seven days. and according to the welsh government, a large part of that is that people breaking the social distancing rules. the health minister saying in a press conference in the last half—hour that people have been deliberately flouting the rules, hosting house parties, mixing in each other's houses when they're simply not meant to. and so he says these measures are essential. stay with us on outside source. still to come, firefighters are battling california's worst ever wildfires season. south africa's economy has shrunk by a staggering 51% in the second quarter of 2020. from march, the continent's most industrialised economy implemented one of the strictest lockdowns in the world as it battled covid—19, but it's taken a heavy toll. here's the bbc‘s vumani mkhize in johannesburg. these numbers are indicative of the severity of south africa's lockdown and the perilous economic situation that we're in right now. and these figures also defied market expectations. economists were suggesting that the decline was going to be around 47%. even the south african reserve bank was projecting at around 40%. so, at 51%, it's a very big number indeed. most sectors of the economy were virtually hammered, except for agriculture which saw a bit of a 15% growth. mining, manufacturing, and so on saw declines of over 70%. and these industries are crucial for the economy. they are labour—intensive and they generate foreign capital as well. so, with such a dramatic decline in productivity and economic output, it severely impacts south africa's economy and any prospect of being able to generate an economic recovery. you must remember that south africa's economy was already in recession entering this year, so getting to pre—covid levels would mean for the country to go back to a recession which is already in a bad way. and in terms of the recovery itself, the good news is that we are in level two of lockdown regulations, so virtually all sectors of the economy have been allowed to reopen. people can now book hotel accommodation, they can now travel within the country using air travel as well, so we are seeing pockets of recovery, but it is going to take a long time. the pleasing thing that was announced by the president today after the announcement was stating that infrastructure programmes are going to be needed or going to be utilised in order to create economy in this economy and that is going to be massively important because infrastructure generates a lot of employment. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is — a british minister admits that uk plans to change the brexit agreement would "break international law". it is california's worst ever wildfire season, and strong winds are making hampering efforts to control them. already dozens of homes have been destroyed, thousands of people have had to evacuate and over 2 million acres have already burned this year. so, already the worst on record, and bear in mind september and october are usually are the worst months for fires and we're eight days into september. these are the latest pictures. this is the creek fire. it's the largest currently burning. you can see what firefighters are up against. let's hear from a spokesperson for their union. throughout the state of california, my members have been running up and down the state dealing with over 300 active fires at one time, and now 25, so they've been going three weeks straight without a break. when you have smoke that's blocking out the sun, filling your lungs, making it hard to breathe as you're trying to pull hose around homes and protect them, and like i said flame lengths up to 100 feet and temperatures anywhere from 500 to 1000 degrees along the fire lines. needless to say, hotter, drier conditions lead to more intense fires. look at this report from the us environmental protection agency in 2016. it says... and we know california is becoming warmer. the report goes on... and so it is proving. there are over 20 major fires. this is the bobcat fire. it's burning out of control in the angeles national forestjust outside los angeles. it's burnt almost 5000 acres, or more than 2000 hectares. here's the latest update from authorities. it become apparent yesterday based on the activity going on, not only throughout southern california but throughout california at large the number of incidents that we are going to be challenged with the resources to make an aggressive attack not only through the afternoon but through last night. we really need you to pay attention to any instructions on evacuation as the fire is likely to move south towards six communities. we learnt yesterday that another fire in southern california was caused by a firework at a gender reveal party. this is soon—to—be parents gathering with friends and family to find out the sex of their baby, often in extravagant ways that then make their way onto social media. but some have gone wrong. in 2019, a woman was killed when a device meant to release pink or blue smoke exploded like a pipe bomb. and there was this video widely shared in 2018 where a man got his pet alligator to bite into a watermelon to reveal blue jelly. well, the woman who's believed to have started the craze back in 2008 has spoken out. jenna karvunidis tweeted... you imagine fire officials would go along with that. they say the el dorado fire in san bernardino county is "one of the most dangerous" they've seen in the area. it has burnt through more than 10,000 acres, or more than 4000 hectares. let's look at some of the day's other news... the uk foreign office says new charges against british—iranian nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe are "indefensible and unacceptable". ms zaghari—ratcliffe is facing a new indictment in iran. she was previouslyjailed there after being convicted of espionage. she has always denied the charges. it's not clear what new charge she is facing. rising nile floodwaters are threatening to swamp an ancient archaeological site in sudan, after some of the highest ever recorded river levels. teams have built sandbag walls and are pumping out water to prevent damage at the ruins of al—bajrawiya, a former royal city dating back two millenia. caster semenya has lost her appeal over a rule forcing female atheltes to limit their levels of testosterone. in a statement released after the ruling in switzerland, semenya said she "won't let world athletics drug me or stop me from being who i am". it now looks unlikely the south african will defend her olympic title in tokyo next year. tik tok is trying to take down a graphic clip of a man who has taken his own life. the footage was originally live—streamed on facebook. it's being shared so often on other social media, it's proving hard to remove. lots of people are posting messages like this. facebook says it's removing copies of the video. tik tok is automatically detecting as best possible. it says... jane wakefield, bbc tech reporter, is with us. the problem is the scale of these platforms mean it is almost impossible to stay on touch of what people are sharing. absolutely. there are lots people who have downloaded this clip and are now uploading to all these different platforms and some in particular nasty attempts are trying to disguise it as well so it is in behind pictures of cute kittens for instance. and the problem is made worse by the fact that there is at a full page on tik tok which will serve up videos from all around the tik tok ecosystem. we don't know what you were going to get in as you are scrolling you watch the muddy dance away in the next minute watch something as horrific as this. i did actually speak to a parent, a mother, whose14—year—old daughter had donejust mother, whose14—year—old daughter had done just that. mother, whose14—year—old daughter had donejust that. she mother, whose14—year—old daughter had done just that. she was looking casually at tik tok and came across this footage and was obviously incredibly traumatised by it. her mother said to me that she does not know if her daughter will have posttraumatic stress disorder from this or all she did was go online. she did not sleep and did not go to school and keeps asking her mother how she can make the pictures in her mind go all the —— go away. how she can make the pictures in her mind go all the -- go away. it is a broader problem as well? this video is terribly upsetting but not the only upsetting video available on tik tok elsewhere presumably. all the big platforms, youtube, facebook, twitter, and tik tok have got to get to grips with this and increasingly we have seen regulators around the world demanding that they put more action into making sure that this stuff cannot circulate. but whenever there is an incident like this, we see how very easy it is for this stuff to get around the world very quickly and how sadly very difficult it is for these platforms similar to do anything about it. thank you very much indeed, jane. now, if you've been affected by this story, help and support is available. you could visit befrienders worldwide for more information about support services in your country. here's the website. or in the uk, you can call the samaritans free on 116 123. don't forget, you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter. more context, more explanation, the website is a great place to head. if you want more on that tech tik tok story, click on the tech tab and you will find it there. also if you don't have it and you do have a smartphone, download the bbc news app and you can find that through your app store where you have an apple oran your app store where you have an apple or an android come bbc news into the search and you will find it very easily. thank you for watching this addition of the programme. i will see you in a few minutes' time for updates on all the stories we are covering. hello. it's been quite a humid day out there, but for some of us, very warm. in fact, all parts of the uk recording somewhere with a temperature above 20, but some spots into the mid—20s saw plenty of sunshine across parts of eastern scotland, whereas in the west, it's been turning wetter. this cold front is about to move south across the uk into tomorrow, and that's bringing cooler and fresher air with it. now some rain then for scotland and northern ireland to end the day, running in the parts of northern england and north wales as the night goes on. it's to the south of that where we hold onto a lot of cloud, and mild, muggy air with some spots around 15—16 celsius as we start the day tomorrow. this is a cold front, this area of cloud and rain weakening all the while as it moves further south during the day, not a whole lot of rain left on it. won't clear from the south of england until right at the end of the afternoon. but behind it, you've got the sunshine — and it is a cold front, so behind it, you get the cooler, fresher air moving in with a few blustery showers moving through northern scotland. now the wind just tilting around for a west—northwesterly out of the south—west today. and that is that fresh air moving in. but where we see temperatures today into the low 20s, they'll be down towards the mid—to—high teens. so still very pleasant where you get that sunshine through the afternoon, but bear in mind with largely clear skies that's been going through wednesday evening, it will be a much cooler night into thursday morning, with temperatures quite widely into the single figures. with an area of high pressure nosing in for thursday, that brings a lot of fine, settled weather. a good deal of sunshine to start the day, there will be some cloud building and probably more so towards the west, especially towards northern ireland, north west england, and western scotland. another atlantic weather system pushing a weaker front end which will give some patchy rain and a fresh new breeze once again. and temperatures for the most part on thursday are in the mid—to—high teens. now there will be a stronger weather front initially coming into scotland on friday, so expect stronger winds and heavy rain moving through scotland on friday, through northern ireland, again feeding down towards parts of northern england and north wales later in the day. whereas to the south of that, you stay dry with heavy showers running into western scotland — again, temperatures running into the mid—to—high teens with something warmer by the end of the weekend. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. we'll start with more detail on the uk's brexit strategy this does break international law in a very specific and limited way. we'll work through the ramifications of the uk government admitting it may break international law. belarus president alexander lukashenko hints at an early election — but says he's not ready to stand down. and we've also been hearing how the opposition leader who was snatched by masked men on monday ripped up her passport and then threw it out the window on the ukraine border — in an act of defiance. also remember donald trump saying this. the vaccine will be very safe and very effective, and it'll delivered very soon.

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