With ministers at loggerheads with regional leaders over England's three-tier system of Covid restrictions, a senior scientific adviser warns the stand-off is "very damaging to public health". Talks over moving Lancashire and Greater Manchester to the toughest tier of rules are due to resume later, with the government accused of treating northern England with contempt. However, Wellcome Trust director Prof Jeremy Farrar argues: "We've got to come together as a country... making this either a north-south or a party political issue, that's a very dangerous route." As our political correspondent Nick Eardley points out, the Conservative government is facing resistance from its own MPs in Greater Manchester. They fear its plans are too strict, while regional leaders continue to argue for more support for businesses and employees.
Prof Farrar, who sits on the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, says countries that have best controlled the virus so far have a "national consensus about the way forward". He tells the BBC's Newscast he prefers national restrictions and, for the current three-tier system to work, its restrictions would have be "substantially" tougher. From Saturday, London, Essex (barring Southend and Thurrock), York, North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield, Erewash in Derbyshire, Elmbridge in Surrey and Barrow-in-Furness will move to the second highest tier.

With 19 days until polling day, the coronavirus-disrupted US election campaign was marked by yet another unusual feature. On a night that was scheduled to feature the second head-to-head presidential debate, Donald Trump's refusal to take part in a virtual event following his Covid-19 diagnoses meant the candidates instead took questions from audience members in events that aired simultaneously on different channels. On NBC, Mr Trump refused to disavow the QAnon conspiracy theory - that he is battling a clandestine "deep state" network of political, business, media and entertainment elites, often involving Satanic plots and child trafficking. Meanwhile, over on rival ABC, Joe Biden was no less equivocal when pressed on whether he supported adding justices to the US Supreme Court to sway its ideological make-up. In the eyes of our North America reporter Anthony Zurcher: "Mr Trump's forum made for more entertaining television - and almost certainly will have attracted more viewers. But that could be a blessing and a curse if what American voters want in November is something a little more, well, boring."

Remember those simple days, long before a global pandemic and arguments over Brexit, when everyone obsessed about the weather? Well, it turns out the Saturday before last was the wettest day UK-wide on record. The downpour that followed in the wake of Storm Alex saw an average of 31.7mm (1.24in) of rain across the entire UK on 3 October, according to the Met Office. Its researchers calculated the deluge was enough to exceed the capacity of Loch Ness. The previous wettest day was 29 August 1986.

Tensions between central government and regional leaders over coronavirus restrictions feature on many front pages. The i highlights how some Conservative MPs backed Labour Mayor Andy Burnham in his "revolt" against the prime minister's intention to impose the highest level of restrictions in Greater Manchester. He is, says the Metro, "No 10's night mayor". Quoting Mr Burnham in its headline - "we must not make the north a sacrificial lamb" - the Guardian says Downing Street's key policy for tackling the virus, based on three tiers of restrictions, has "descended into chaos". Meanwhile, the Daily Star depicts PM Boris Johnson as a clown taking a custard pie to the face. The result of the stand-off, says the Daily Telegraph, is that the government is being pushed towards national lockdowns, with scientific advisers believing one could potentially be needed every school holiday until the virus is under control. Read the review.

Watch our report on how baby Amina - shot in the legs when she was two hours old during the attack on a maternity hospital in the Afghan capital, Kabul - survived to become a symbol of hope in a country experiencing daily violence. Read about the new jets promising to revive supersonic travel. And, for some Friday fun, test yourself in our quiz of the week.

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