demanding the resignation of president alexander lukashenko after his disputed re—election. the demonstrations have been fuelled by accounts of torture from protesters detained earlier in the week. estonia's foreign minister has said the election was not democratic or legitimate. ceremonies have been taking place in tokyo to mark the 75th anniversary of japan's surrender in world war ii. the emperor and his wife pay their respects and the countries prime minister pledged that japan would never repeat the devastation and tragedy of war. thousands of british holidaymakers have spent the day trying to return to the uk from france — before the requirement of a two—week quarantine comes into force. the new rule also affects five other countries, including malta and the netherlands.

labour has called on the government to act immediately to sort out what it describes as an exam's fiasco in england after almost 40% of a level teacher assessments were downgraded. the leader says they should follow the lead of scotla nd they should follow the lead of scotland and allow teachers grades to be accepted. the government maintains that would risk grade inflation and insist this —— disadvantaged students not been disproportionately affected. this boy feels he has lost a scholarship. it would have taken lost a scholarship. it would have ta ken stress off lost a scholarship. it would have taken stress off and i would not have had to pay for my own pocket for university books, resources. victor has

lost the university place he wanted. because of the two b finesse that i got, the college will appeal on my behalf and hopefully change those two as. connie has been accepted by oxford but with lower grades.” don't feel like teachers have been listened to and i don't feel like students have been listened to. fundamentally it is not fair because if somebody gets downgraded there is no way to know by statistics that that was the right person and it means the world to us right now. it literally changes the course of our lives. others who got lower—than—expected grades are getting places. universities say they are being flexible. the college says the result are nothing like recent yea rs result are nothing like recent years to the results that we have had a worse than three yea rs have had a worse than three years ago. big six forms say the system is not fair to them with grades more likely to be adjusted down. and students have lost out because they had

to rank them in each subject. we have 200 students doing psychology. we are asked to put those 200 students in rank order, which was number one, two, three, four, all the way down to 200. we were not allowed to have two students with the same rank order. even if those two students had the same mock results, the same key assessments and it was almost impossible for us to separate them, we were told to separate them. some students have been given the grades their teachers suggested. if you were in a very small group taking a subject at a school, the statistical model has not been used. or if it is the first time anyone has taken that a level at your college, there is no historical data so, again, the results have not been downgraded. a small protest in westminster today but many

calling for easier appeals and for the regulator to explain how it worked. they now need to go through it line by line and explained to schools and colleges how it has worked and whether or not it has disadvantaged students. the appeal system must be widened. colleges can appeal using them grades. the rules for that are still being written. students should hereby early september. now on bbc news, in this episode of witness history we hear from a survivor of the khmer rouge and the man who tried to find a cure for the common cold. a warning this programme contains scenes some viewers may find upsetting. hello and welcome to witness history here at the royal academy in london with me.

today we present five extraordinary moments in history, as told to us by the people who were there. coming up, we made the scientist who tried to find a cure for the common cold. the diver who discovered the lost plane belonging to the author of the little prince and the african man who ran away as a boy to live in the arctic. but first, it is 40 live in the arctic. but first, it is a0 years since the end of the brutal regime of the khmer rougein the brutal regime of the khmer rouge in cambodia. around 2 million people were thought to have been killed under x extremist rule. one man sub dived four years in what became known as the killing fields. a warning, this piece contains some distressing images. the cambodian people again for them is ofa cambodian people again for them is of a hideous experiment in communism that failed. the khmer rouge, the fanatical

communist gorillas, finally triumph in the spring of 1975. the manual emerged as the leader of the new cambodia was pol pot. it was a living hell. you could not imagine, no—one could imagine. for the communist regime, time began when they took over. for them, 1975 became year zero, grotesque social engineering with class slaughter and mass uprooting of the population. there were extreme. you zero means we start from scratch. no electricity, no books, no education, nothing. everyone educated had to be executed. doctors, teachers, bankers and if you wear glasses, spectacles, they say you were educated. i lost many of my

relatives and theyjust executed them. took them away and we never saw them again. truly millions of people were marched out of phnom penh to the countryside to begin building the new society. at the time i think i was 17. that morning we were in the kitchen having breakfast. i heard a knock at the door and saw two soldiers. they both pointed the gun at me, shouted at me saying get out of your house right now ori get out of your house right now or i shoot you. everyone packed on the road, people on bicycles, on motorbikes, walking, everyone seemed to be panicked. if you stopped all you were not moving they shot you were not moving they shot you again. they shout, they point guns that you and they we re point guns that you and they were all young soldiers aged between 12, ia, 15. the young gorillas were brainwashed by the communist regime of the

khmer rouge. they look at you like you are the enemy. they hated you so much. one of my cousins was taken right in front of me and his mother digging the pol pot army, the communist, please release my son he isjust a student. they said no. if you ask again or he cries i will shoot you at the same time as your son. they took him away and we never saw him again. i heard the screaming, the begging, the crying, the children crying. it's a horrible atmosphere. many can see the bloodstains. they send me to work on the rice patties. basically you have got to work all day. my food allowance was a small bowl of rice for one day. it seemed to me that we were treated not like human beings. and when

they execute people we never saw where they took them till the floods came and we could see ids flooded everywhere. i saw many things and i got used to it. by the end of the khmer rouge's year zero, nearly half of cambodia's people were dead. intelligentsia, dock is, teachers, professional people systematically murdered. you cannot imagine what humans can do to human beings. how could anyone at the age of 12 or 13 shoot you or kill you because they have been brainwashed. this could happen to any time, anybody. it could happen anywhere if you are not aware of it. he regularly speaks to children in schools about the dangers of political extremism.

injuly19aa dangers of political extremism. injuly 19aa the dangers of political extremism. in july 19aa the author of the world famous children's story the little prince disappeared in his plane over the south of france. a french diver tells us how he solved the mystery of antoine de saint—exupery‘s missing plane. translation: after so many years searching across the mediterranean it is here that we found the wreckage of the plane longing to the author of the little prince, upon mac. —— antoine de saint—exupery. this place has become inhabited by the little prince. for me he now lies here in dc near marseilles. it is his refuge. antoine de saint—exupery is universally revered in france, notjust as the author of the poignant

children's tail the little prince but as a pioneering airman and romantic freeze who completed the myth surrounding his death. translation: i became interested in the disappearance of antoine de saint—exupery because i read his books when very young and his books when very young and his thinking came to influence me throughout my life. in france we tend to say that you need to read the little prince at two different stages in your life. but it was not until i was a0 that i came to understand it in all its su btlety. understand it in all its subtlety. on july 31 19aa understand it in all its subtlety. on july 3119aa at 7:a5pm, antoine de saint—exupery took 0f. of. towards the end of the second world war, he simply disappeared. no—one knew if he

had been shot down by the germans or simply crashed, and no—one knew where. germans or simply crashed, and no-one knew where. translation: we think he was spotted by a german gunner into loon who saw a twin—engine plane flying towards marseilles. he was aa yea rs old towards marseilles. he was aa years old and one of the oldest pilots in the war at the time. when i used to dive in that area i would find bits of planes that i always thought that i would find a german plane. in 1988 a fisherman found a piece of plane in his net, together with a little bracelet. to my surprise, on that bracelet was written the name upon mac. —— one mac. i knew those bits of wreckage and so knew those bits of wreckage and soi knew those bits of wreckage and so i decided to investigate. —— antoine de saint—exupery. the main part of the wreckage was at the depth of 87 metres. it was two kilometres from the

coast. we did not find any visible human remains but while i was at the back of the wreckage i caught sight of a white cloth. i tried to grab it. i put it around my neck like a scarf and the image that came into my mind was that of the little prince on his planet with the big scarf floating in the wind. on that day under the water i was convinced i had found the correct plane because of this totally unscientific detail. i then formally identified the plane. because of its markings it could only have belonged to antoine de saint—exupery. these days i like to give the little prince as a gift to young people. it is a book that contains truths that have

become universal. like when it says that it is only with the heart that one can see clearly. what is essential is invisible to the eye. and the little prince is still one of the bestselling children's stories worldwide. now, a story about the hunt for a cure for an affliction that affect us all. the common cold unit was a remarkable scientific institution set up after world war ii to investigate the illness. and it became perhaps the only place in the world where thousands of volunteers went on holiday knowing there was a strong chance that they would get ill. the unique aspect of the common cold unit was the volunteer set up. they would come to catch a cold. it was a crazy thing, really, but people did. let's have you back on the bed. this is the virus. and we will put it into your

nose. it did give us the ability to study a virus in its natural host. this is still a very rare thing. the common cold unit was set up by the medical research council after the second world war to try and discover the cause of the common cold, because the number of working hours lost through people catching colds and taking time off was enormous in terms of the productivity of the nation asa the productivity of the nation as a whole. the common cold unit advertised for people to come there in a voluntary status. they were only paid pocket money and rail fare and there keep while they were there. they lived at salisbury for about ten days. these bright young people are

starting a holiday at government expense. they answered an appeal for volunteers to enable scientists to find out more about the common cold. so they'd come and be divided up into two sets, those which were infected and those which were infected and those which were infected and those which got a placebo. so it was a good deal because the chances of getting a cold were pretty slim. they have all different motivations. some of them come for a rest, some for a holiday. some students come for studying, and we have a large body of housewives who just come for a great rest. people did meet, and there were these lovely stories of these romances. people could talk to each other, but they had to stay ten yards apart. ten yards was the magic distance over which the common cold virus couldn't jump. which the common cold virus couldn'tjump. 18,000 volunteers are now believed to have spent time in isolation at the unit, but a cold cure remains elusive. about the time that ijoined

remains elusive. about the time that i joined the remains elusive. about the time that ijoined the unit, they discovered how to grow the virus in cell culture, and then the science took off. it turned out there wasn't one common cold virus but hundreds of them, and that makes vaccines very different. so we thought about why people were resistant. we thought about developing tests for new viruses. we thought about developing drugs which would cure colds or prevent them, evenif cure colds or prevent them, even if we couldn't get vaccines. myths were tested as well. for instance, if you went out in the cold, particularly in the rain in the cold, this predisposed due to catching colds. there was no evidence at all that any of these things effective the incidence of the cold. at the end, the common cold. at the end, the common cold unit was closed for economic reasons. i cold unit was closed for economic reasons. i think it was a big loss scientifically because of the volunteer setup. such facilities are very

valuable, and there are very few of them. two scraps into each nostril. a cure for the common cold — people are looking still. commercially it still a very attractive proposition. no—one has yet managed to find one. but i will a lwa ys managed to find one. but i will always be optimistic. professor nigel dinnock, the eminent biologist. remember, you can watch witness history every month on the bbc news channel or you can catch up with all of our films or you can catch up with all of ourfilms along or you can catch up with all of our films along with more than 1000 radio programmes on our online archive. just search online archive. just search online for bbc witness history. next, the remarkable story of the boy who ran away from his village in togo to live in the arctic. he spoke to witness history about his odyssey.” started a journey of discovery

only to find that i was being discovered. i was one of them. i became kind of the african eskimo. i was born in 19a1 in togo, west africa. i grew up in just an ordinary african way, an ordinary african boy. one day i was on top of a tree, and suddenly there was a snake. i fell. and i was badly injured. after my convalescence, i went to the missionary bookshop, and i saw to the missionary bookshop, and isawa to the missionary bookshop, and i saw a book — eskimo is from

greenland to alaska. i learnt it was so cold in greenland that there are no snakes. where is that paradise? i was obsessed with eskimos. people said, yeah, you are completely mad. i run away from togo. i was 16 one half. it took me eight years to get to greenland. i was the first black man they had ever seen. as soon as they saw me, all talking stopped. and the children were so afraid some started weeping, but i was a lwa ys started weeping, but i was always welcomed by eskimo hosts who became my friends. i went

to the north. that is very beautiful. and i saw the eskimos living according to their traditions. i had to learn everything from them. i had to learn their language. we used also to eat seals and the skin of the white whale, which ididn't skin of the white whale, which i didn't appreciate at all in the beginning. i was afraid for my stomach. but slowly by slowly i became accustomed to the climate. i was happy, because i really conquered my freedom. i really wanted to live for ever in greenland, but

my countrymen have never seen a polar night before. they had never seen polar night before. they had never seen the polar light before. and i said to myself, after the slavery and colonialisation, why can't i write for my people to see the eskimo through our eyes? so i decided to go back. it took me five years to write it. but my deepest wish would be to end my life in greenland. it is my country — yes. life in greenland. it is my country - yes. the extraordinary tete—michel pomassie. finally, tunisia became one of the first muslim

countries to introduce far—reaching equal rights for women. in 1957, the president said women should be able to vote, go to school, to divorce and to marry on their own terms. he allowed abortion, access to contraception and he banned polygamy. saada al—gayed was part of the tunisian women's union. the women who ten yea rs women's union. the women who ten years ago had no rights, we re ten years ago had no rights, were contracted to marriage by pa rents, were contracted to marriage by parents, covered their faces when they left the house — these tunisians are not doing at all badly. this is, one imagines, as emancipated as any girl can get. swinging tunisian dolly birds represent one of the most remarkable social transformations of present times. translation: the equal rights law was the biggest ever going for tunisian women. the president said he was notjust

the liberator of tunisia but liberator of tunisian women as well. bougiba is tunisia. for 30 years he has fought for his country. firstly he battle for independence from france and was jailed and exiled for his trouble. since independence he has been his nation's leader. i knew president bougiba during the struggle against colonialism. in equal rights law he banned polygamy, he gave women social, political and economic rights. he introduced the law on the 13th of august 1956. thanks to this law, women we re 1956. thanks to this law, women were allowed to vote and also become politicians. i am one of the founders of the tunisian women's union, and president bougiba relied on others. in this school 100 miles from tunis, a teacher hammers home the newly discovered facts of teenage life to 60 teenagers.

there are 13 such skills and tunisia organised and staffed by the tunisian women's union, a powerful and militant body of opinion in the land. the teacher leaves them in no doubt about women's rights. he tells them, you are not slaves anymore. you are like women from europe. you have equal rights with men. this you must understand. this lot protected girls. fathers were no longer able to force their daughters to marry against their will. president bougiba encouraged us to make sure families were not stopping girls from getting an education. they talked about contraception, abortion and the laws giving them equal rights. after three months here, they returned to their villages to spread the word, because it's here in the tunisian countryside that the modern tunisian women has to fight for equality in territory that for centuries has been the unassailable stronghold of tunisian men. we spoke to men

more than we did to women, because we face opposition from them. we spent a lot of time eating men and explaining the law to them. —— meeting men. family traditions used to oppress girls. but now they are free to choose who to love. tunisian women were given yet another safeguard against massive families when they became the first women in any muslim country able to have abortions. the law at present is that any tunisian woman with four children can have an abortion without her husband's consent. the operation is paid for by the government. president bourguiba told us to make women feel like we have a role to play. that they have the right to live in dignity and to trust themselves and their soul. he said he gave women these rights not as a

gift but because he saw women's power to lead a postindependence society. saada al—gayed continues to write and campaign on women's issues in tunisia. that's all from witness history this month here at the royal academy. we will be back next month with more first—hand accounts of extraordinary moments in history. but for now, from me and the west of the witness team, goodbye. —— the rest. hello there. very little change to our weather as we head on into the weekend. it looks like it's going to stay largely cloudy, with the best of the sunshine across the north and the west of the country. we'll have further showers or thunderstorms across england and wales where it's

going to be quite humid at times, though not as hot as it has been. so, saturday, we start off with quite a lot of cloud across the country, some mist and murk. showers and thunderstorms across southern areas, but the best of the sunshine appearing across western scotland, northern ireland, north—west england and the south—east of england. so, here, temperatures low to mid—20s celsius, but cooler across eastern areas where we hold onto the cloud and the mist. through saturday night, those showers and thunderstorms drift a bit further northwards into central areas. a lot of cloud rolling back in. it's going to be another fairly mild night. quite muggy again for england and wales. for sunday, we'll start off with showers through central areas. quite a bit of cloud around, but the sunshine will tend to break through across the north and the west. off to a bright start in the south, showers and thunderstorms developing here, too. some of them will be quite heavy. those temperatures reach the mid—20s celsius.

ability to study a virus in its natural host.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. striking in support of the protesters. workers in belarusjoin the public outcry over disputed elections, as more stories emerge of torture and abuse by police. ceremonies take place in tokyo to mark the 75th anniversary of japan's surrender at the end of world war ii. new quarantine rules come into effect in the uk — as countries across europe continue to fight the spread of covid—19. politics and the post office. how the mail has become a divisive issue ahead of the us presidential election.