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Almost one million women in the UK have missed vital breast screening due to coronavirus, a leading charity has estimated.

Breast screening programmes were paused in March as the NHS focused resources on tackling the pandemic.

Breast Cancer Now calculates that around 8,600 women who have not had a scan have undetected breast cancer.

The scanning programme is running again, but social distancing measures have reduced capacity.

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Up to 200 students are believed to have gathered for a party, flouting coronavirus restrictions.

Police said officers had attended halls at Coventry University in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Officers have worked with the management of Arundel House to close some communal areas and increase security, West Midlands Police said.

The university has said it is "deeply concerned" over a video of the party and condemned the "blatant breaches" of rules.

Current government guidance states that only groups of six people or fewer are allowed to meet and students have been told they must limit socialising, staying within separate "households" and being taught in managed groups.

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Royal Dutch Shell has said it plans to cut 7,000 to 9,000 jobs as it responds to challenges including the slump in oil demand amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The oil giant said the cuts would be implemented by 2022 and included 1,500 people who were taking voluntary redundancy.

It gave no indication of where the job losses would happen.

The move comes five months after it cut its dividend for the first time since World War Two.

Read more here.

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"We are in the process of risking everything we've achieved in recent months ," German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned, in a passionate address to the Bundestag.

Responding to the rise in infections in recent weeks, she appealed for Germans not to let down their guard against coronavirus, as rules and restrictions would be a waste of time if people did not observe them.

"I'm sure that life as we knew it will return," she told MPs as she defended the billions of euros of extra debt Germany was facing in 2021.

Germany was facing a difficult phase, she added. Health officials reported 1,798 new cases on Wednesday and another 17 deaths.

The chancellor agreed with 16 state premiers on Tuesday that private parties should be limited to 25 people, with fines for anyone failing to give correct details to help contact tracing.

But she held out hope too.

"Families will party again; clubs, theatres and football grounds will be full again. And what joy that will be," she said. "But we now have to show we can carry on acting patiently and sensibly, and in that way we can save lives."

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Business Secretary Alok Sharma has hinted that concessions could be on their way as the government looks to quell a Commons rebellion over coronavirus laws.

MPs are to vote today on extending emergency powers given to the government in March to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 50 Tory MPs have backed an amendment calling for a debate and vote on any future curbs on people's freedoms.

Mr Sharma told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The reason we are sometimes having to bring these in pretty quickly is to actually keep people safe - and I know all parliamentarians, Steve [Baker] and others totally get that - and the issue is the scrutiny.

"It is the case that when we've introduced restrictions, we have to make sure there is a vote within 28 days or they lapse.

"But what colleagues are asking for is if there is some way, prior to decisions being made, whether they can be involved and I know that is something that we are looking at in government and we will come forward with some suggestions."

Pressed on whether there were concessions coming, the minister said: "We are having a look, as I said - I don't want to pre-empt anything that comes out."

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North Korea - one of the most secretive countries in the world - has not confirmed any Covid-19 cases, although observers doubt it could have escaped the pandemic entirely.

Pyongyang closed its border with China in January, and the country is thought to be operating a shoot-to-kill policy at its borders to prevent the virus entering the country.

But North Korea's approach has come under scrutiny in recent days because of the shocking way it shot dead a South Korean official who was found floating in the North's waters.

On Wednesday, the official KCNA news agency reported that "some faults" had been discovered in North Korea's efforts to prevent an outbreak, during a recent meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party – attended by leader Kim Jong-un.

The report did not state what those faults were but the meeting “stressed the need to strictly guard against self-complacency, carelessness, irresponsibility and slackness”.

Kim Jong-un issued a rare personal apology to the South last week, over the killing of the South Korean official.

A Bradford mosque is trying out new equipment designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Here, the BBC looks at how other places of worship have been adapting to pandemic conditions.

Dominic Casciani
Home Affairs Correspondent

Across the UK, normally law-abiding people are harbouring a guilty secret.

They are the Covid holiday quarantine-breakers.

They travelled to holiday spots where the beaches were drenched in sun and where coronavirus infections were starting to surge.

When they came home, they didn't shut themselves away for a fortnight. Instead, they broke the law.

We don't know how many people have been ignoring the self-isolation law after coming back from a Covid-19 hotspot.

But rates of infection from people who have recently travelled overseas, have been rising, says the Office for National Statistics.

Read more here.

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President Donald Trump and his challenger Joe Biden clashed fiercely in the first White House debate - one of the most chaotic and bitter debates in years.

Some 20 minutes of the 90-minute debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was taken up with the pandemic and the 200,000 American lives it has claimed.

The discussions ranged from the economic impact of the pandemic, vaccines and mask-wearing to the president's handling of the crisis.

Mr Biden rubbished Mr Trump’s leadership, saying: “He panicked or he looked at the stock market”.

“A lot of people died and a lot more are going to die unless he gets a lot smarter, a lot quicker,” Mr Biden added.

Mr Trump’s responded by objecting to the use of the word “smart”, telling his opponent: “You graduated either the lowest or almost lowest in your class”.

Local rules required everyone in the room to wear masks, but of the president's family members present only US First Lady Melania Trump donned a face covering during the debate.

You can read more on our Debate Live Page here.

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The government has been under scrutiny after Prime Minister Boris Johnson misspoke when asked to clarify details of new restrictions in north-east England.

Yesterday, education minister Gillian Keegan was unable to clarify whether people in affected areas could meet in pub gardens, and the PM initially suggested people in the North East could meet people from other households outdoors - before later apologising and saying people should "also avoid socialising with other households outside".

Business Secretary Alok Sharma was grilled about this today, with BBC presenter Martha Kearney asking: "If the prime minister can't get the rules right, what hope for the rest of us?"

Mr Sharma insisted "people do understand this", adding, during the interview on Radio 4's Today, that "there is an element of sort of slightly gotcha about this in terms of line of questioning. You are a flagship programme when it comes to serious news - it's not a quiz show."

Asked whether he thought that calling on ministers to explain what their coronavirus regulations were was as "trivial as a quiz question", he said: "No, absolutely not."

"But what I'm saying to you is that what is important is if people want to understand the precise restrictions that they have in areas which are more restricted, then they should go on to the [local authority] websites."

In response, Labour's shadow foreign secretary, Lisa Nandy, tweeted, external: "The Prime Minister doesn’t know what his new lockdown rules are and the Business Secretary compares questions about them to a quiz show. Meanwhile the rest of us can be fined for breaking them. Can someone in government please get a grip on this?"

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Belgium's official coronavirus death toll reached 10,001 today, after recording 14 more deaths in the past 24 hours. Infections now stand at 117,155, according to Sciensano research institute.

The numbers may not seem high to everyone - but bear in mind Belgium has a population of just 11.5 million, and the country has one of the highest recorded rates of Covid-19 deaths per capita in the world.

Johns Hopkins University ranks Belgium as third for coronavirus deaths , externalin relation to population size - coming after San Marino and Peru.

So why is the death rate in Belgium so high? One reason is that, since the start of the pandemic, Belgian officials have included deaths in care homes that are suspected, not confirmed, as Covid-19 cases, in their toll.

Another factor is that many more people here put loved ones in care homes than elsewhere in Europe.

Early September saw a sharp rise in cases as people returned to school and work after the summer holidays, although the number of cases has slowed in the past week.

As of Wednesday, anyone in Belgium can download the corona app Coronalert, external.

Some relaxing of restrictions are due to come into force from Thursday. This includes reducing the quarantine period from 14 days to seven days, and wearing face masks will no longer be compulsory outside except in heavily-crowded areas.

Read more: Coronavirus: Why so many people are dying in Belgium

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Business Secretary Alok Sharma has said the UK government has given "a lot of specific support" to the hospitality sector, after more than 100 businesses wrote a letter raising concerns about the 22:00 curfew.

"I completely understand that they have concerns about a restriction at 10pm, but actually they are able to operate through large parts of the evening," he told BBC Breakfast.

"There's a range of measures that we've introduced in the last few days, the reason is to keep this thing under control.

"If we didn't do that, what we might end up having to do is something more draconian, and nobody wants to do that."

He said the policies would be kept under review but added the 22:00 curfew in areas with local restrictions "has worked".

"Nobody wants this to get out of control and for us to go back to where we were in March, which is a lockdown affecting large parts of our economy. I think that would be absolutely terrible, particularly I think for the businesses that have written this letter," he added.

Concerns have been raised by both businesses and community groups that the new curfew encourages customers to all leave at once and to carry on drinking together at one person's home.

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MPs will vote later on whether to renew the legislation that gives the UK government power to impose coronavirus restrictions without parliamentary approval.

Ministers say they need to be able to react quickly to contain outbreaks but dozens of Conservative MPs are demanding more parliamentary scrutiny of new restrictions, amid concerns that recent interventions, such as the "rule of six" limit on social gatherings, and the 10pm closing time for pubs, have been announced with little warning and without being considered by MPs.

Now the influential Commons Liaison Committee is warning that introducing further measures without giving MPs a say would "not be acceptable".

Steve Baker, who is part of the group of Tory MPs threatening to rebel, told Radio 4’s Today programme MPs felt "increasingly helpless as they find themselves unable to stand up for their constituents".

“The rule of law is based on ideas like certainty, predictability, clarity and stability, and I think we’ve seen that they are all going out of the window with this virus,” he said.

Mr Baker added that today was a "fork in the road".

"Either later today we will face a reasonable offer [from the government] which we can accept, back down and gladly, or we will end up that these members of parliament are not going to go away and we will have to keep on battling on, as I say, with a fierce resolve to preserve the institutions which we are proud of and which we wish to defend in the public interest."

Image source, Reuters

One million people in Madrid already have restrictions on their mobility and social contacts, but it could soon become city-wide. After a drawn-out political row, Spain’s health ministry has agreed lockdown terms with Madrid officials that will apply to all cities of more than 100,000 people. Cases would have to top 500 per 100,000 of the population, the rate of positive tests should reach 10% and over 35% of intensive care beds should be full. Madrid has hit all those limits.

Belgium has reached 10,000 Covid related deaths – it’s seen 14 more deaths in 24 hours and has an infection rate of 181 per 100,000.

Dutch musical Soldier of Orange has been halted until Sunday because half the 30-strong cast have tested positive – it only got going again this month after a six month pause because of the pandemic.

Albania has pushed back the start of the school year back a month to November, after 127 new cases were reported on Tuesday.

Ukraine has hit a new daily record of 4,027 cases in the past 24 hours. And Finland is shutting bars in Helsinki from tomorrow at 11pm because the epidemic is in an “acceleration” phase – 149 cases were recorded nationally on Tuesday.

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Meanwhile, here is a round-up of the main UK stories this morning:

• PM Boris Johnson will lead a Covid-19 briefing later today, after the UK recorded the highest number of daily coronavirus cases since the outbreak began. The prime minister will be joined by England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, and the government's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, in what will be the 100th coronavirus briefing since the pandemic hit the UK
• Almost one million women in the UK have missed vital breast screening appointments due to coronavirus, a leading charity has estimated. Breast Cancer Now calculates that around 8,600 women who have not had a scan - after screening programmes were temporarily paused in March - have undetected breast cancer
• Introducing further Covid restrictions without Parliament's direct approval would "not be acceptable", a group of senior MPs has said. The intervention from the Commons Liaison Committee comes as MPs are to vote today on extending emergency powers given to the government in March to tackle the coronavirus pandemic
• Millions of the UK's poorest households could see their incomes cut by £20 ($26) a week from April unless a "lifeline" payment introduced during the pandemic continues, charities warn. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and others are calling on the chancellor to make a temporary rise in Universal Credit, plus other benefits, permanent

Good morning from the BBC’s live page team in London - it's Helier, Penny and Alex with you today. We'll be bringing you the latest developments on the coronavirus pandemic from around the world.

Here are some of the key stories today:

• Belgium, which has one of the highest rates of death per capita in the world, has now lost more than 10,000 people to the virus
• The pandemic in the US – its economic impact, vaccines, masks and handling of the crisis - was the subject of fierce debate during the fractious first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden

• Disney is to lay off 28,000 employees, mostly at its US theme parks, which have been hit hard by the pandemic
• New York City’s mayor says anyone refusing to wear a mask in public could face fines of up to $1,000 (£779) as cases begin to rise
• Cases in India have risen to 6.23 million after 80,472 new infections were recorded in the last 24 hours, the health ministry reports.
• The world has seen more than 33.6m coronavirus cases and 1m deaths, with the US, Brazil, India and Russia making up more than half the cases, according to Johns Hopkins University