this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm james reynolds, our top stories: anger on the streets of beirut — protesters call for reform as donors pledge $300 million to rebuild the lebanese capital. for years, lebanon has been buffeted by political corruption and mismanagement. but it's this catastrophe which has brought the country to its knees. aides of the hong kong media tycoonjimmy lai say he's ben arrested for suspected collusion with foreign forces. clashes in belarus after pro—government exit polls suggest another landslide win for president lukashenko. australia's victoria state reports 19 coronavirus deaths in the past 2a hours — the country's deadliest day

of the pandemic so far. hundreds of volunteers in mauritius are frantically trying to stop a massive oil spill from reaching the island's pristine beaches. hello and welcome. international donors have pledged $300 million in aid for lebanon five days after the explosion which devastated a swathe of beirut. there've been clashes on the capital's streets for a second day. protesters are angry at what they see as government corruption and incompetence. officials now say 220 people died, and more than 7,000 were injured in the explosion. 0ur middle east correspondent quentin sommerville has the latest from beirut. here's the momentjust before beirut‘s ruin. the warehouse full of explosive chemicals is alight. sahar fares, a firefighter

medic took the video. moments later, she and nine of her colleagues were gone. sahar loved herjob. she'd even visit the station on her days off. she sent the video to her fiance, gilbert. he told her, "get out!" they found her body by the port's grain silo. all he has left is her engagement ring. translation: i video called her instantly. she was terrified and disoriented. so i told her to run and i was shouting, "run, run, run." and then the video cut. we were to marry. this is her ring, it was in her hands and now it's around my neck. i wanted to take her in a white dress, instead i took her in a white coffin.

sahar fares was 27 years old, she's one of 220 now confirmed dead by the blast according to beirut‘s governor. so much was lost in this disaster and lebanon is in crisis. even before the blast here at the port, its government was broke. this was a large part of the country's grain supply. here, people were already going hungry. its leaders didn't get round to building up an emergency food reserve. the little they had is now lost. there's no greater symbol of the country's dysfunction than this disaster, but for years lebanon has been buffeted by political corruption and mismanagement. but it's this catastrophe which has brought the country to its knees. french emergency workers are lending a hand. but hope has vanished.

they're now only using dogs that find human remains rather than those that find survivors. beirut is in pieces. the cost of rebuilding here will be more than £2 billion. britain is playing a part too. these rescue workers got here within 2a hours of the disaster. suzie cooper is the team's structural engineer. what we're looking at right now is quick assessment to make sure that the really risky structures are being evacuated and the ones that are safe, we can get people back into. the uk government today pledged another £20 million to help lebanon rebuild. for the second day, protests in beirut. they're still small and police and army push back hard. two government ministers have now resigned but the demonstrators want much more — to sweep away the entire political system.

and the world seems to agree. its pledged millions to help them but only if their leaders break the corrupt habits of a lifetime. among the voices pledging support for lebanon is the world bank. i spoke with its managing director axel van trotsenburg a short time ago — and asked him what the world bank plans to do. we would like to help the lebanese people. but it is also clear that a lot needs to be done. the first being what we want to do is a rapid damage and needs assessment that could serve as a basis for a short to medium term recovery and reconstruction plan. and it is very clear that what the people of lebanon want is that these plans are translated to benefit the lebanese people, and therefore this is the challenge for us. that how we can best design

programs that directly benefit the people. and we have been offering direct support, for example, a social protection program that could help half a million of the poorest people in lebanon. but it will require also the cooperation of the government. right, and that's the key point you talk about, direct action. will you then bypass a political elite which is widely seen as corrupt, and if you don't bypass it, what is the point? well, here is the thing, we have to put systems in place that are radically transparent, inclusive, meaning reaching the people and with good government. with good government is with all the anti—corruption measures you can imagine in place. none of that is in place in lebanon though. no, we know, and therefore

we are pushing this and therefore we have been holding back. but we also see the suffering of the people and therefore we are trying to see how we can design it. i think today's meeting of the friends of lebanon, the voices were all of support, of solidarity. people understand that we need to provide humanitarian assistance but at the same time, most governments are also saying that we need profound changes and that is what we are asking that lebanese policymakers take to heart and act now. profound changes, does that mean then dismantling the spoil system which has been in place since the end of the civil war which guaranteesjobs to different sects, and promotes patronage and corruption. the system there is surely corrupt itself. i think that the lebanese people should decide how they want to reform the system.

what is for us important is where can the world bank help. we're an institution that has been created to help reconstruct europe and countries in crisis but also have a development perspective. we can do wonderful work in lebanon provided we do this on this basis of transparency and inclusion and good governance. and we are willing to act on this because it is also a fact that, james, right now, 45% of the population is poor and 22% is living in extreme poverty. that is not an acceptable state of affairs and the bank wants to help. hong kong police say they've arrested seven people on suspicion of breaching the city's new national security law. they include the tycoon

jimmy lai, one of the highest profile figures to be held so far. the offences include collusion with foreign powers. here's our correspondent, danny vincent in hong kong. jimmy lai is one of the most outspoken pro—democracy activists here in hong kong. he's also a media mogul. he's the owner of apple daily, a newspaper which very frequently challenges the authorities and beijing with its journalism. so he's a very important figure, he's very high—profile. he's made no attempt really to restrict his criticism of the authorities over the years. and since this new national security law was enacted, it's been thought that he was perhaps the number one target of the authorities. now, this morning, he has been arrested under suspicion of violating the new national security law. the allegations are that he colluded with foreign forces — critics will say that's a very vague expression.

it's not clear exactly what this means at this time. but what we do know is that it's been reported that jimmy lai has been arrested and that will definitely be seen as, once again, another example of how this city is changing quite dramatically since this new national security law was introduced. what impact might this have on the rest of the pro—democracy movement? well, for weeks now, i mean, it's been more than a month since this law was enacted and many of the pro—democracy activists, they sadly expected something like this to happen. but the same time, people are also surprised at how quickly this city is changing. people were very worried about what they say is the vagueness of this law. they say it's incredibly wide—ranging and they say it can be used by the authorities to simply target people that

are critical of beijing. so this will definitely be seen as another example of the chilling effects here in hong kong. i think pro—democracy activists will say it's an example that the authorities are trying to send a message to them and also to the international community that hong kong is obviously a part of china, but also that beijing seems to be taking more control and people that are criticising the authorities, criticising beijing, may well be punished under the full power of this new law. let's get some of the day's other news. at least 43 bodies have been recovered after a massive landslide was triggered by monsoon rains in southern india. nearly two dozen people are missing from a tea plantation in kerala according to local media. the landslide happened while people were sleeping and rescue efforts continue. gunmen in niger have attacked a party of wildlife tourists, killing six french aid workers, their guide and a driver. the gunmen arrived

on motorcycles and opened fire on the group, who were taking part in a wildlife tour. jihadists have become increasingly active in the area. the american health secretary, alex azar, has met with the taiwanese president tsai ing—wen — one of the highest level us visits in a0 years. the trip has already angered china, which considers taiwan its own territory. the us said the trip was arranged to discuss taiwan's success in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. police in washington dc say one teenager has been shot dead and about 20 other people have been injured after gunmen opened fire on an outdoor gathering which appeared to ignore social distancing rules. the police chief in the us capital said at least three shooters were involved. anti—government protests have broken out in cities across belarus in eastern europe after official exit polls announced another landslide election victory for the country's authoritarian president. state—run television said alexander lu kashenko — who's been in powerfor 26 years — won nearly 80% of the vote but the opposition

says the vote was rigged. paul hawkins reports. chanting. across cities in belarus, thousands took to the streets, including here in the capital minsk. "go away," they chant. after 26 years of president lukashenko, they've had enough — saying he rigged the election result. the man dubbed by some as europe's last dictator hit back with stun grenades, tear gas, water canons and riot police. a violent end to an election day with unprecedented numbers queueing to cast their vote, eagerfor change. while the president arrived to cast his ballot, confident of another landslide victory. and why not? he controls the media and the vote count. he was scathing about his female opponent.

translation: i don't consider that person my main rival. it's you who made the poor little thing my main rival. but she says quite honestly that she has no idea what she is doing. which isn't how sviatlana tsikhanouskaya looked on the campaign trail. a few weeks ago she was a stay—at—home mother. then her husband was banned from running for president and thrown in jail, so she stepped in. and while she never expected to win she always vowed to defend her vote and her supporters are doing just that. but can they make a difference? if they do not muster at least 100,000 then i'm afraid the momentum will fizzle and it will be business as usual, lukashenko will declare victory, hound down the remaining restless souls and embark on his sixth term. over 100 people have already been detained.

the authorities say they're in control, for now. paul hawkins, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: how a love of rugby league — and the support of her partner — helped a paralysed fan on the road to recovery. the big crowds became bigger as the time of the funeral approached. as the lines of fans became longer, the police prepared for a hugejob of crowd control. idi amin, uganda's brutal former dictator, has died at the age of 80. he's been buried in saudi arabia, where he lived in exile since being overthrown in 1979.

two billion people around the world have seen the last total eclipse of the sun to take place in this millennium. it began itsjourney off the coast of canada, ending three hours later when the sun set over the bay of bengal. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: police and anti—government demonstrators in the lebanese capital, beirut, have clashed for a second night as anger continues in the country following tuesday's massive explosion. police in hong kong have arrested seven people including the prominent pro—democracy activist, jimmy lai. he's thought to be the most high profile person to be arrested under a controversial new national security law.

there have been another 19 deaths from covid—i9 in australia in the past 2a hours — the deadliest day since the pandemic began. the previous record was 17 which was announced on sunday. all the deaths were in the state of victoria which is now entering its second week of level four lockdown. meanwhile new zealand has gone 100 days without recording a locally transmitted covid—19 case. doctor suzy wiles, a microbiologist and infectious disease expert at the university of auckland, joined me a short time ago to discuss the situation, starting with australia. it's good to see that the rolling average is starting to trend down now. we have obviously been very concerned. the problem was that they didn't go into a lockdown soon enough. they have lost a few weeks, really, but now that they are in this level four, hopefully we will see the cases start to drop and continue to drop. you are of course in new zealand where things are very different. i think the country has gone

about a hundred days without any community transmission. i imagine people there are tempted to declare victory, too soon? oh, yes. we are very much back to normal, apart from the fact that we don't have any tourists and we aren't travelling anywhere. so we are doing all of the kinds of things that if we ended up letting covid—19 back in it would allow the virus to spread very fast. while we are all excited, it's actually 101 days is, we'vejust had... i mustn't sell you short, 101! but we know that our borders are where we have to control the virus. yes, we also note that numbers are growing overseas and we're not taking this for granted. it is a marathon, not a sprint. what can other countries learn from new zealand's experience? i think that we acted very hard and very fast. so i think that when the virus is around, that is exactly what you have to do. what's going to be very interesting for new zealanders is if we do end up with another case of community transmission, quite how we respond to that

because it is very clear around the world, people are getting very tired of having to go in and out of lockdown. so yes, we haven't faced that challenge yet. the question is whether we'll all come together like we did the first time. are people still able to come and go from new zealand? how does it work? we have a mandatory 14—day isolation when you come into the country and at the moment, the only people allowed in are new zealanders. there are exemptions for necessary workers and at the moment it is about managing that isolation. so, do we have the capacity to expand it anymore? and at the moment, the government are saying no. hundreds of volunteers in mauritius have joined efforts to stop a huge oil spill from reaching the island's pristine beaches. they have been creating large net barriers stuffed with straw and plastic bottles. 1,000 tonnes of oil have spilt from a japanese—owned ship which ran aground two weeks ago. tanya dendrinos reports. this normally pristine coastline is now the scene of an ecological disaster. 0il washing ashore and local volunteers scrambling to do everything in their power

to stem the impact. from all around the country, volunteers have come to the south—east of the island to do their part for their country. people are coming in with boots and shovels to pick up the oil from the shore. they are building kilometres of floating booms to contain the spillage and they are cutting hair to donate because hair is a great absorbent for oil. the bulk carrier had around 4,000 tons of fuel aboard when it ran aground on a coral reef just off the indian ocean island on the 25thjuly. it's believed more than 1000 tons of oil has now leaked into the water. the operator of the stranded japanese tanker offering a public apology but concerns have been raised over the time it's taken for action. you know, it's only the last

three days since the oil started leaking that people have actually been taking action. before that, the government really hasn't done too much to actually control the situation and obviously it's been hard because nobody‘s really, nobody really knows what's going on. and already the impact is severe. greenpeace warning animal species are at risk with potential for dire consequences for the mauritian economy, food security and health. this oil is so deep inside mangroves, in between rocks, under trees, inside the lagoon, that it's not something that's going to be easily fixable to get all of it out. so it's going to be a very challenging process. on friday, the prime minister declared a state of emergency and appealed for help. france has sent a military aircraft with pollution control equipment, with japan dispatching a team to help with the effort. tanya dendrinos, bbc news.

riona kelly was paralysed in 2015 after suffering a rare spinal stroke. she and her partner, the former rugby league star, keith mason, have been posting updates about about her recovery on social media. they've become a lockdown hit. i'm now disabled, i'm paralysed, i'm on my own, i'm a single parent. who the hell is going to want me? and ijust resigned myself to be on my own for the rest of my life and then i bagged myself and ex—international hunky rugby star, so it's like... if she overcomes something, i overcome it. we're a team. if i succeed in life, you know, riona, she's there high—fiving me and it's the same with her. this leg first. i couldn't believe that i would never walk again. everything that's done for you that you used to do for yourself has been taken away. i wanted to die.

the pain wasjust, i couldn't even get over it. i have very, very little sensation in my legs whatsoever so actually getting up to walk, they said was going to be a no—no. but my doctor is a real optimist, he's open to anything and he did say it's not impossible to learn how to walk again. we're in the gym working out... and the strength she had to turn up to a gym, to start building herself back up was something that struck with me. when you leave sport behind and that's what you're good at doing, the transition to normal civilised life is difficult so i was feeling in a bit of a doubting place myself, and ultimately, me and riona pulled eachother out of the darkness into the light and what we're doing now, inspiring millions of people. never give in and persevere, because life is tough

and i think when people see me and riona, and they see a lady who can't feel her legs, who's trying to get back on her feet, i think it puts life in perspective. he put a post up the other day and i was in pain, i said you need to show this. you need to show when i'm struggling because it's ok people seeing me struggling to walk and then a big smile on my face when i achieve it, but they need to see that i have those really, really, really dark days as well. the right person willjust see you and want to help you be the best you, not force you to do things that you're not ready to do, not force you to do things you don't want to do, but when you're down, they're not down there with you, they're happy to go down to your level to support you at that level, to bring you back up to where you need to be.

have a look at this world record: it's the biggest string dance in the world. more than 3,000 people performed the traditional folk dance in tibet, accompanied by a xianzi, a type of stringed instrument. the dance itself is more than 2,000 years old. a reminder of our top story. fresh clashes have broken out in the lebanese city of beirut between police and protesters, who are angered at the government's response to tuesday's massive explosion. some demonstrators tried to breach the barricades surrounding the parliament building and threw stones towards the security forces, who fired tear gas in response. at sunday's online summit, international donors pledged nearly $300 million in emergency aid. 220 people died

in the explosion, and 300,000 residents were left homeless, do stay with bbc world news. hello there. this heatwave continued across southeastern parts of the uk on sunday. the highest temperature was recorded in herstmonceaux in east sussex, 3a degrees, closely followed by 33 in farnborough in hampshire. more comfortable temperatures, more comfortable humidity through bedford and prestwick. it is going to be southeastern areas that continue to see the extreme temperatures over the next few days. but even here, temperatures will drop a bit by the end of the week. together with the heat and humidity, there's an increasing risk of catching some torrential rain with some heavy and thundery downpours. although, pinning down the detail is going to be rather difficult. as we head into the morning, we start with a fair bit of cloud around. maybe some showers or rain developing, particularly across wales in the southwest. these could turn heavy and thundery, drift their way northwards through the irish sea, threatening northwest england, northern ireland and heading into southern scotland. there could be the odd sharp shower further east,

but there will be a lot of sunshine around as well. it's going to heat up very quickly in england and wales, may well be a hotter day through the midlands — 29, or even 30 degrees here. it gets more humid as well overnight across england and wales, temperatures perhaps dropping no lower than 17—19 degrees. also be a bit warmer in scotland, and probably feeling a bit more humid here, i think, on tuesday. there may well be some further heavy and thundery rain to clear away from overnight, moving northwards, but the details have changed already for tuesday again with a scattering of showers developing further south, but also many areas still dry with some very warm sunshine. those temperatures peaking at 311—35 across the southeast of england. and probably a little bit higher across yorkshire and lincolnshire on tuesday. as we head into the middle part of the week, we are going to find a weather front developing across the uk. we're also finding falling pressure coming up from biscay heading across northern france.

so every likelihood that there will be some further heavy and thundery rain, giving the risk of some flash flooding. one area of rain pushing across scotland, northern england, then we will see a scattering of heavy thundery downpours developing more widely later in the day probably for england and wales. still 33 degrees perhaps in the southeast. seven days in a row with temperatures above 30 celsius. it will be cooler, fresher across scotland and northern ireland. so, the threat of some very heavy rain and a lot of thunder and lightning over the next few days. gradually, the temperatures will get back to near normal by the end of the week and continue that way into the weekend.

this is bbc news, the headlines: fresh clashes have broken out in the lebanese capital beirut between police and protesters, who are angry at the government's response to tuesday's massive explosion, which killed 220 people. international donors, who have pledged $300 million, are also seeking political reform. police in hong kong have arrested seven people, including a prominent pro—democracy activist, jimmy lai. his aides say mr lai has been accused of colluding with foreign forces. he is thought to be the most high profile person to have been arrested under the controversial new security law. australia's victoria state has reported 19 cornavirus deaths in the past 2a hours — the country's deadliest day of the pandemic so far. the state is the epicentre of the nation's second coronavirus wave. a majority of the deaths were linked to care homes. now on bbc news, hardtalk.