Your morning briefing: What you should know for Thursday, September 17

Johnson warns UK must be 'tough now' to stop Covid surge and protect Christmas

Boris Johnson has warned that actions to stop a second surge of Covid-19 must be "tough now" in order to "protect" Christmas.

His words came as stricter new measures were expected to be announced for the North East of England , where cases are on the rise.

The Prime Minister said people have to be "both confident and cautious" and that it is "crucial" the country does not re-enter "some great lockdown again that stops business from functioning”.

Local lockdown restrictions to come into force across North East

Local lockdown restrictions are set to come into force tonight across the North East following a spike in coronavirus cases.

The measures are expected to include a 10pm curfew on licensed premises including pubs and restaurants, according to reports.

People are also to be banned from meeting anyone outside their household under the new rules due to come into force.

Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, County Durham and Sunderland are all said to be included in the lockdown measures.

Biden says Good Friday peace deal in Northern Ireland cannot become 'casualty' of Brexit

Joe Biden has insisted that the Good Friday peace deal in Northern Ireland cannot become a "casualty" of Brexit.

In a pointed intervention, the Democratic Party nominee for the White House said any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for the agreement.

It came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced concerted opposition to Government moves that would override the divorce deal with Brussels regarding trade with Northern Ireland.

Hurricane Sally makes landfall in US

Hurricane Sally has lumbered ashore on the US Gulf Coast, killing at least one person, swamping homes and forcing the rescue of hundreds as it pushed inland.

The death happened in Orange Beach, Alabama, according to mayor Tony Kennon, who said that one person was missing.

Sally cast boats onto land or sank them at the dock, flattened palm trees, peeled away roofs, blew down signs and knocked out power to more than 540,000 homes and businesses.

Man named world’s shortest bus driver measuring 4ft 5.6 inches tall

A man has broken the Guinness World Record for shortest bus driver - measuring 4ft 5.6 inches (136.2cm) in height.

Frank Faeek Hachem drove a regular car for more than 20 years, but in 2017 decided to take his bus driving test.

With no special modifications required for his bus, all he has to do is adjust the seat and steering wheel before setting off on his route.

Mr Hachem, from Hampshire, is just one of a group of new world record-holders revealed by Guinness with the launch of the 2021 book of records.

On this day...

1745: The Jacobites, under the Young Pretender, occupied Edinburgh.

1787: Some 39 delegates (out of 42), under the chairmanship of George Washington, approved the Constitution of the United States of America.

1827: Wides in cricket were first scored in the Sussex v Kent game at Brighton.

1894: A Gaiety Girl opened at Day's Theatre, New York, the first British musical on Broadway.

1908: Lt Thomas Selfridge of the US Army Signal Corps was killed in a plane crash in Fort Myer, Virginia. Pilot Orville Wright was also seriously injured. Selfridge was the world's first military aviation fatality.

1931: Long-playing records (33rpm) were demonstrated in New York by RCA-Victor, but the venture failed because of the high price of the players, and the first real microgroove records did not appear until 1948.

1944: The British airborne invasion of Arnhem and Eindhoven in the Netherlands began as part of Operation Market Garden. The objective was to secure a bridge over the Rhine as part of an Allied invasion of Germany, but after a battle which lasted until September 27, the attempt failed.

1944: Blackout regulations were lifted to allow lights on buses, trains and at railway stations in Britain for the first time for five years.

1961: One of London's biggest "ban the bomb" demos ended with 830 arrested, including actress Vanessa Redgrave and playwright John Osborne.