this is bbc news — the headlines: this is bbc news with strikes and protests have been the latest headlines taking place across belarus — for viewers in the uk demanding the resignation of president alexander lukashenko after his disputed re—election. the demonstrations have been and around the world. fuelled by accounts of torture from protesters detained earlier in the week. estonia's foreign minister has said the election was not striking in support democratic or legitimate. 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 ceremonies have been taking place in tokyo to mark the seventy—fifth anniversary at the end of world war ii. of japan's surrender in world war ii. emperor naruhito and his new quarantine rules come wife empress masa ko paid their respects. into effect in the uk — the country's prime minister — as countries across europe shinzo abe — pledged thatjapan continue to fight the spread of would never repeat the covid—19. politics and the post office. how the mail has become devastation and tragedy of war. a divisive issue ahead of the us presidential election. a two week quarantine's come into effect for people arriving in the uk from france and a number of other countries — including the netherlands and malta. it's been imposed because of

concerns about rising numbers of coronavirus cases. thousands of british people rushed to beat the deadline. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first... the president of belarus has failed to suppress the demonstrations that have erupted across the country calling for him to quit — despite a violent response from the security forces. they've continued for a sixth day and more testimony is emerging from protesters who'd been detained, alleging serious human rights abuses. alexander lu kashenko says forces outside the country are behind the mass protests against his disputed election victory. just a warning you might find some of these images disturbing. you can see the bruises of men released in the last 2a hours or so. public anger has been fuelled by accounts of torture

and abuse of both men and women who've been detained. the eu has started planning sanctions against officials involved in the violent crackdown. and look at this earlier on friday, demonstrators held a peaceful protest, outside the parliament building in independence square in the capital minsk. at least two security officers lowered their riot shields, prompting women to run forward to hug them. it's not clear though whether there is wider support for the protesters among the security forces. our correspondent, abdujalil abdurasulov, sent this report from minsk. the opposition movement against president lukashenko is growing. "love, not violence" — that is the message of the demonstrators here in belarus. despite the brutal police crackdown, people continue to come out onto the street. protesters have gathered

in the main square of minsk. they are chanting "freedom, freedom". they have got flowers and balloons to show that their movement is peaceful. this is unprecedented for belarus, where authorities violently crack down on protesters. i have been living here for 28 years, and 26 of them, he was the ruler of this country, mr lukashenko. and i am really tired of it and i want to change it. at the notorious okrestina detention centre, a volunteer reads out the list of names of those who still remain inside. and as detainees leave jail, they show us bruises from vicious beatings. many tell harrowing stories of torture and abuse. sergiy was arrested on monday. riot police threw him into a police van before torturing him. they used batons and

electrocuted him with a stun gun. translation: whenever we moved or said a word, they would beat us. one of the police said, "if i was ordered to burn you alive, i would". they could do anything to you. the pain was unbearable and i begged him to stop but he carried on. opposition candidate svetla na ti kha novs kaya, who earlier had to flee the country, has called on authorities to stop the violence. translation: the people of belarus no longer want to live with the former regime. people don't believe in his victory at the elections. let's defend our choice. back on the square, special forces nervously keep an eye on the protesters. the president tried to soften the mood today by calling on security forces to be more gentle. but this may be too little, too late for the regime.

saturday marks the 75th anniversary of japan's defeat in the second world war. that's when emperor hirohito announced japan's unconditional surrender. injapan the day is known as the "memorial day for the end of the war" and a ceremony is held annually in tokyo usually attended by the emperor, empress and prime minister and thousands of family members of those who lost loved ones during the war, though the number of relatives this year has been reduced as a precaution due to the coronavirus pandemic. events got underway just over an hour ago. prime minister shinzo abe made a speech before a minute's silence was held — which is also observed across the whole country. emperor naruhito then made a speech in which he expressed "deep remorse" over the country's wartime past and prayed for world peace. he said he hoped the ravages of war will never again be repeated. naruhito is the grandson of emperor hirohito in whose

name imperial troops fought the war. he is japan's first monarch born after the war and ascended the throne last year after his father, akihito, abdicated. seijiro takeshita, from the university of shizuoka talked me through what the event means to people injapan. people are worried about whether the experiences and knowledge are being clearly transferred, transferred enough to make sure that these horrifying war memories have been clearly passed onto the next generations and people are feeling as they are running out of time. and that puts the politicians and the leaders there in japan politicians and the leaders there injapan in a delicate position. they have a difficult balance to strike dig if you look at the political situation, things are getting trickier. it is quite ironic.

because of excessive aggression from china, japan must increase the level of forces but u nfortu nately the level of forces but unfortunately the western alliance is starting to crumble because of the leadership of mr trump. it is dividing the coalition of the west and not putting it together. basically the environment that japan faces is very tricky, as you noted, and very difficult. we would like to think that things will improve after the us election but we do not know that yet. there is a lot of ambiguity about the political fa ct ambiguity about the political fact is as we speak. and back to internal matters within japan, especially the right—wing nationalistic support for this day. how do you view that now? it is not only the right wing. the western media focus is all on the right but the fact of the matter is that these events along with nagasaki and

hiroshima are also being realised by left—wing organisations, both right and left and this is disgusting that they are utilising it. but the fact of the matter is that it is. and what letter than pointing fingers at other people to make your own group firmer? again i think it is about time, 75 years on we should realise that pointing fingers has no meaning because if you are pointing fingers at someone if you are pointing fingers at someone else if you are pointing fingers at someone else you are if you are pointing fingers at someone else you are pointing out yourself. so i do feel that these agendas and the ceremony being utilised for certain organisation should be halted and we must go back to the basics. all these strategies happened because we had a lack of respect for others and an ultimate level of arrogance. that is what it boils down to. could i ask you a slightly personal question? what does this day mean for you? what do you reflect on today? sadness

and gratitude towards people who have built japan and gratitude towards people who have builtjapan because it is their sacrifice that japan today. including, you know, my family and relatives and friends, obviously, this is a special day. it is a start, a kick—off of new japan after world war ii, which we live in. so in that sense it is a special day for all of us, myself included. just an hour ago, the uk imposed a new quarantine rule on travelers coming back from france, the netherlands and a handful of other countries. this comes as europe is seeing rising covid infection rates across the continent — leading many governments to re—impose border restrictions and issue new travel warnings. alanna petroff has the latest. it's peak holiday season in europe. typically a time for cross—border travel,

sights and sun. in the midst of this pandemic, though, european border restrictions are coming back, making it increasingly difficult to move across the continent. germany is grappling with rising cases. the increase is being blamed on tourists coming back from their holidays. spain is particularly popularfor germans, but it's seeing a spike in cases. those returning, now, have to do new mandatory tests at the german border. then, quarantine at home until they get a negative result. tourists coming home may not like the hold up, but they understand it is for the greater good. it was relatively quick. the medical staff were friendly. everything went well. in neighbouring austria, the government is urging people to avoid travel to the popular hotspot croatia. they are finding too many people are coming back

with the virus, and croatia just reported a record daily number of new infections. translation: it is an abrupt decision. i'm aware this is uncomfortable for travellers but i ask people to take note. we are still in the middle of this crisis. the pandemic is not over. the coronavirus is not on vacation. greece is also implementing new border restrictions, specifically for albanians. under new rules from athens, daily arrivals from albania will be capped at 750, starting next week. the new headcount restrictions has led to a 20 kilometre queue at the border. albanian workers are trying to come back from their summers at home for theirjobs in greece. at french ports, airports and train stations, british travellers packed in to get out. the uk government now requires

people returning from france and five other countries to quarantine for 14 days. the decision was short notice. these travellers rushed to beat the deadline, to avoid isolation requirements at home. i've driven for, what, 11 hours with breaks, so, getting back to make sure that i don't have to self isolate. that's it, really. france didn't take the uk announcement well. the country warned it would take reciprocal measures. it is all causing deep anxiety for travellers at a time that is generally reserved for relaxation. the united arab emirates' minister of state for foreign affairs, anwar gargash, has told the bbc that the peace deal with israel was critical to prevent tel aviv‘s plans to annex parts of the west bank.

on thursday, israel and the united arab emirates announced a historic agreement to normalise diplomatic ties. the deal was brokered by president donald trump. mr gargash spoke to the bbc‘s middle east business correspondent — sameer hashmi in dubai. we have worked very hard within the arab league and within our own diplomatic corps to try and impress on the importance of theissue impress on the importance of the issue of annexation. the annexation that would have killed a two state solution for good. our assessment here was that a formal relationship with israel is a matter of time. we can be very careful about it and conservative but it will happen next year or the year after. but if we can link this and the israelis will commit

towards freezing annexation then we have a win—win situation. the israelis are saying that they have only delayed that annexation and that option is ill on the table. political statements, for me, they come and go depending on where you are with the political statement. i would not put a lot of weight into it. i would say that we have gained a freeze on annexation. i will not say that this is in perpetuity but i would say that we have gained it and the important thing now is for the palestinians and israelis, with good offices of the united states and other arab countries, to kick off negotiation protests. the palestinians are happy with the deal. the palestinians are the

ones who will actually decide ones who will actually decide on the future of the negotiations, on the nature of the peace that they seek. and you will never really pick a perfect time. you have to take a old decision and i think the shake was very courageous in making a bold decision in a polarised world and there is no perfect moment for them. unsurprisingly the iranians are not happy. even turkey has said it may come out and suspend diplomatic ties with the united arab emirates. president erdogan has made a statement to that regard. the region is polarised. i would that regard. the region is polarised. iwould be that regard. the region is polarised. i would be surprised if tehran welcomed the deal. turkey on the other hand has a thriving relationship with

israel — $2 billion in trade, 550,000 israeli tourists go to turkey. there is a turkish embassy there. this is not about that. it's about regional countries trying to play top dog in the arab context. going back to our main story — the protests and brutal crackdown in belarus — brian whitmore is senior fellow at the centre for european policy analysis. he told us that the size of the protests in belarus is very unusual. this is highly unusual. you have had a small contingent in minsk who would periodically protest against lukashenko but nothing on this scale that i have seen. by way of context, we have to bear in mind that lukashenko has been in power since 1994, so for 26 years. just to put that in perspective, when he came into powerjohn major was the british prime minister,

francois mitterrand was the french president and bill clinton was just starting his first term as us president, helmut kohl was german chancellor, and brian mulroney was canadian prime minister. he has been a power for a very, very long time. given that, why now do you think, why has this given people, whatever‘s happened, has given people confidence or perhaps desperation or whatever it is, to come out on the streets and do this? well, belarusians have been historically very politically passive and the lukashenko regime has survived on this passive acquiescence. and he has living standards for most of his reign relatively high by bela rusian standards. now this has been on the backs of russian subsidies. the bela rusian economy effectively runs on importing heavily subsidised petroleum products and then exporting refined petroleum products. now, since 2015, russia has steadily cut those subsidies, which has also cut into the standard of living

of belarusians. also, lukashenko's handling of the covid—i9 pandemic has been nothing short of abysmal. he was saying it's nothing to worry about. it's not anything serious or real. nothing that can't be cured without some vodka or a sauna or a good game of hockey. and this has seriously cut into his popularity, so i think the belarusian people are saying enough is enough right now. interesting. you mention the role of russia. it is interesting they have cut the subsidies. i presume they want to maintain their influence in the country. yes, they certainly do. the relationship between vladimir putin and alexander lukashenko has been very tense. they personally do not like each other. in fact, they despise each other. it is kind of this forced marriage, if you will, as belarus is considered very important by the russians. it is what they consider part of the strategic depth.

you can translate that as passive and obedient countries on the western border. vladimir putin has always viewed this relationship as imperial. lukashenko has viewed this as transactional. "i'm glad to be your ally if only you'll pay me." this has survived, the tense relationship has survived, but now is coming to a head. russia has long sought a military base in belarusian territory, which lukashenko is loath to give him. so russia has turned up the pressure and of the screws in order to get him to capitulate on this. fascinating. i'm afraid i'm going to get you to answer this in one word if you can — or —ish. do you think this spells the end, finally, for this regime? is this a revolution about to happen? i certainly wouldn't rule that out. if you asked me for one word i would say maybe. because i don't like to be in the prediction business. this regime has never been in as tough a situation as it is now, but the thing to watch, even if this regime

does fall, which i am saying is by no means guaranteed, watch what russia does because russia is not going to lose belarus without a fight. as the us presidential election gets closer, and the coronavirus outbreak in america continues to spread, there's been an increased focus on using postal votes. there are questions over whether the us postal service could cope with the increased demand. the usps says some states have reported election mail volumes which are ten times higher than any previous year. it's advising several states they may need to expand their voting by mail deadlines to allow the system to cope. the issue has been put in the spotlight for two reasons. firstly, the postal service has been struggling financially, which some people blame on changes to regulations dating back several years. and secondly, president trump has made claims

about the possibility of electoral fraud through postal voting without providing evidence. he was asked about whether he would give the usps extra funding at a news conference a few hours ago. if the democrats were to give you some of what you want, what you articulated in a series of tweets in the last hour, would you be willing to accept the $25 billion for the postal service, including the $3.5 billion? it is not what i want, it is what the american people want. here's our north america correspondent david willis. the us postal service is a beleaguered service at best, it is $160 billion in debt, and of course postal voting is expected to be conducted in unprecedented numbers this year because of concerns over the coronavirus. now president trump doesn't like that notion at all, he has warned that increased mail—in balloting will lead

to massive election fraud, though he has yet to produce any evidence to support that claim. but he has also conceded that the use of postal ballots writ large tends to lead to larger turnouts, which tends to favour the opposition democrats. so he is blocking additional funding, billions of dollars of additionalfunding, to the postal service. today the washington post reported that the postal service chiefs wrote to about 46 different states warning that their deadlines are too tight and that millions of people could potentially be disenfranchised, and votes will not count because they will not be received or delivered early enough. democrats, as you can imagine, are up in arms over this, and they have said that postal voting is a health issue in this election, given the spread of coronavirus, and former president barack 0bama has accused donald trump of kneecapping the postal service as he put it, in a bid to discourage people from turning out to vote.

in mexico, the popocatepetl volcano is starting to show signs of eruption. here it is sending massive ash columns 600 meters into the sky. its name comes from the aztec word for "smoking mountain" and is one of the country's most active volacanos. most of its eruptions are small and cause little damage. one of the countries hit earliest in the coronavirus pandemic was south korea. the authorities there were praised for their quick and efficent response to the outbreak. public transport is a potential area where the virus could spread. but in seoul they're trying to make it as safe as possible, as the bbc‘s tim allman explains. in the age of covid—i9, travelling by bus can be a hazardous business.

but in south korea technology is your friend and this is a bus stop unlike any other. called a smart shelter, it's air—conditioned, sterilised and open only to the coolest of travellers — literally. translation: we connected a thermal imaging camera with a door so that people feel safe here. after checking body temperatures, the doors will be open for only those whose temperatures are lower than 37.5 celsius. we also set up air sterilisers which can remove 99% of viruses. ten of these high—tech bus stops have been set up in the capital, seoul. each one costing more than $80,000. but for these customers that seems to be money well spent.

translation: i felt uncomfortable at first as i had to take my temperature before i entered. but it didn't take long so it was good. there are air—conditioners and sterilisers which remove viruses. so i feel safe here compared to normal bus stops. translation: if there are many people gathering at a bus stop i feel worried about coronavirus and uncomfortable with people sitting next to me but i feel safe here. more smart shelters are being planned — south korea determined to do what it can to combat the virus and keep passengers safe. tim allman, bbc news. i'll be back in a couple of minutes' time with the headlines. there's always more on the website and on the bbc news app. if you are online, you can get in contact with me.

you can let me think about the stories we are covering on bbc news. i am stories we are covering on bbc news. iam lewis stories we are covering on bbc news. i am lewis vaughanjones and this is bbc news. goodbye. hello there. over the last few days, temperatures have slowly been coming down, something a bit more comfortable both by day and by night. although we'll hold on to the humidity across england and wales as we head on into this weekend. but for this weekend, it's generally pretty similar to how the last few days have been. rather cloudy, a bit of sunshine in northern and western areas. humid in england and wales, where we'll continue to see showers and thunderstorms at times. now on saturday, the pressure chart shows higher pressure to the north, lower pressure to the south. that's why we'll start off with showers and thunderstorms across some southern portions of wales and southern england. further north, it'll be rather grey, pretty much grey everywhere, but the sunshine will break through central and western scotland, northern ireland, north—west england,

perhaps a few sunny spells across the south—east of england. this is where we'll see some of the heaviest of the downpours into the afternoon. temperatures low to mid—20s where you get the sunshine, but quite cool across some north sea coasts where we hold on to the cloud and mist. as we head through saturday night, the threat of showers and thunderstorms drifts a little bit further northwards into northern england, southern scotland, north wales. and for many of us, that cloud will roll back in, so it will be another fairly mild night, quite muggy again for england and wales. on sunday, subtle changes. 0ur area of high pressure drifts northwards. that allows this area of low pressure to push north across the country. so we'll start off plenty of showers across central and northern parts of the uk, although much of northern scotland will stay dry with some sunshine. we'll start with some sunshine across southern england and wales, but then as that temperature rises, then thunderstorms will break out here into the afternoon. some of them could be quite heavy. again, temperatures low to mid—20s across southern areas, cooler where you hold on to the cloud and mist on the eastern coasts. 0n into monday, that area of low pressure sits on top of the uk. quite a weak feature,

so these showers and storms spiralling around across the country will be moving quite slowly. the lion's share of the storms, though, will be across england and wales. fewer for scotla nd and northern ireland, where we should see a little bit of sunshine at times. those temperatures ranging from around 17 to 23—24 degrees in the south. then big changes as we head on into the middle part of next week. something we haven't seen for a while, a deep atlantic low will sweep in to bring much fresher conditions, some strong winds at times through wednesday, particularly into thursday. we'll see a band of rain followed by sunshine and showers, and it will be turning cooler and fresher for all by the end of the week. 00:28:42,530 --> 2147483051:51:05,980 polarised world and there is no 2147483051:51:05,980 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 perfect moment for them.