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 seventy—fifth anniversary of japan's surrender in world war ii. emperor naruhito and his wife empress masa ko paid their respects. the country's prime minister — shinzo abe — pledged thatjapan would never repeat the devastation and tragedy of war. 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.

the government has signed deals to purchase two more experimental coronavirus vaccines. 90 million doses have been purchased. written now has 340 million doses on orderfor six different vaccines, enough to give everyone in the country five doses. but it is still unclear whether any of them will work. a coronavirus vaccine. it would be the solution to the pandemic, a way to protect the vulnerable, to end social distancing. how do you feel? i feel fine. good. such is the pressing need, countries are placing orders long before clinical trials are finished, and they know whether any of the vaccines protect against the virus. the uk is said to have one of the world's biggest stockpiles of coronavirus vaccine. 340 million doses have been ordered of six different

vaccines, the latest deals are with a belgian company, janssen, and a us biotech, novavax. now, even though most of the vaccines require two doses, it'll still mean there will be enough to inject everyone in the uk five times over. it's a recognition that most vaccine trials end in failure. vaccines are a great force for social good. the woman in charge of buying coronavirus vaccines for the uk says the government has to hedge its bets. we don't know if any of these vaccine formats that we have acquired will actually work. there are no licensed vaccines for any human coronavirus. so our priority is to ensure that we have sufficient vaccine for the populations in the uk who are most at risk for coronavirus infection. britain has a strong record in supporting global health, but one of the world's biggest research charities is concerned

that developing nations could lose out in the scramble for covid vaccines. it's critically important that countries that cannot afford to self—finance these vaccines have a way of accessing some of those early doses. if we are to deliver maximum public health impact around the world, countries mustn't secure too many doses for their own citizens. so when will we know if we have an effective vaccine? early signals might come at the end of the year. more trials are due to begin in britain soon. the more people who sign up, the sooner we'll get an answer. fergus walsh, bbc news. now on bbc news, the travel show. this is the mighty river sava. flowing from the alps in slovenia through to l grade ——

belgrade. it is the longest river within the balkans, a vital artery that has borne witness to so much history stretching all the way back to ancient and mediaeval times and the turmoil of recent decades. today, the sava connect four countries that just a generation ago were at war. 0n my journey i will generation ago were at war. 0n myjourney i will be exploring how today this river is helping to heal those wounds by boosting trade and tourism and creating a new identity for the region. and finding out why locals call this the vital heart of the balkans.

a nation ofjust 2 million people, slovenia prides itself on its close relationship with nature. it is one of the most densely forested countries in europe and nearly two—thirds of its landscape is green space. this river, the sava, has been a crucial trading route for centuries, dating back to 400 bc and the celts named it after their river god, he who protected merchants and travellers. and this is the source of the river. the magnificent waterfall bursting from two separate points on the cliff face there. and my intention is to follow the river from here at its beginning until it meets the danubein beginning until it meets the danube in belgrade. it is a near 1000 kilometre course flowing through four countries that just over 25 years

flowing through four countries thatjust over 25 years ago we re thatjust over 25 years ago werejoined as part thatjust over 25 years ago were joined as part of yugoslavia. the emerald waters sneak through the cliffs and then widen into one of the main tributaries of the sava which has now become famous for water sports. and i am getting a face first perspective. this is billy acting. and there is a hint in the name. it looks like a kayak that you lie on top of and you use your hands to paddle. like many slovenian children, luca grew up in the countryside and the sava was a huge part of his childhood. countryside and the sava was a huge part of his childhoodlj spent huge part of his childhood.” spent my whole life in the same house about 50 metres away from the river so when i wake up, if i have my window open i can already hear it. here in

slovenia, the river is notjust used for water sports. it is an important source of hydropower and luca thinks the river also has an important role to play in uniting the communities throughout its course. we will formally part of yugoslavia so we are still sort of connected but while our languages may not be similar they still have the same origin so we are still sort of one nation and it is so nice to have the sava connect us nice to have the sava connect us all. the river is not always this placid. it can rise one metre higher in autumn and winter and turn a lot more aggressive. frankly, the relative calm of these rapids was more than enough for me to deal with. not sure if

belly—aking is the sport for me. further down the valerie —— valley, two tributaries merge and the river starts its journey proper. at the fork in the river lies this majestic show piece, leaked letter and the castle of the same name. this is slovenia's oldest castle, first built in mediaeval times. it has a fairytale ambience to it and because of its location it has been a strategic lookout for 1000 years and standing here i can kind of understand why. you can kind of understand why. you can see for miles. this place is legendary in slovenian

history. on the banks of the la ke history. on the banks of the lake still sits the former holiday home of the father of post—world war ii yugoslavia, president tito. tito took the helm of the newly formed federal republic and more or less country together until his death in 1980 when yugoslavia began to fall apart. slovenia became the first to break away with a short lived war that lasted just ten days. it has been a sovereign nationstate since 1991. my next stop down the river is the capital city. the city centre is made up of vast squares lined with baroque buildings and the streets are packed with tourists ambling around. but it was not always like this. just over one decade ago, it was clogged with traffic in the city's main piazza was a car park. but in

2006 the city's mayor made the decision to ban cars from the centre. now the only vehicles allowed a re centre. now the only vehicles allowed are these so—called cavaliers, electric cabs that give free lifts to those with luggage or those who need help getting around. if you had to compare how this city looked ten yea rs compare how this city looked ten years ago to now, can you tell me the difference?

the children are still following you! and it is not just kids who are using the car free streets as a playground. philip and blaschke are ambassadors for the city. they met when one was a juggler and the other a gymnast and together they became a social media sensation with their urban acrobatic antics. we tried to put the city on the map in our videos. so if you can imagine running in a circle you would run off a building. so you got to run off a building?! philip and blaschke have good reason to keep the city centre, which doubles as their performance space, spick—and—span. and they have been part of the effort to keep it that way. wow! thank you.

0nce it that way. wow! thank you. once a year we have a big action when the whole of slovenia is cleaned up and the river, they have divers to pick up river, they have divers to pick up all the bicycles. and you ta ke up all the bicycles. and you take a big part in those campaigns. we try to help. we are strong so we lift the heavy stuff and help them keep it clea n stuff and help them keep it clean and on the next level. citywide cleanups and specialist waste disposal points help the capital when the accolade of being europe's greenest city in 2016. and philip and blaschke are keen to encourage other locals and tourists to see the potential in this. streets. and the gym this is ourfirm believers in this. streets. and the gym this is our firm believers that anyone can be taught to do this. just change your arms.

and three, two, one, go. see! i told you it is simple. push—ups. three, two, one!” don't know how i manage this. such superhuman strength. time to leave this urban oasis and had downstream again. this region is densely forested and has a thriving timber industry. nice to meet you. how are you doing? hundreds of years ago, sava was the only way to get huge logs across to cities. and iam here huge logs across to cities. and i am here tojoin other huge logs across to cities. and i am here to join other tourist to get a taste of those rafting journeys. we managed to revive

this tradition because otherwise people would forget all that. and it was important because it was alive more than four —— 500 years ago. because it was alive more than four -- 500 years ago. she sees the river playing a much larger role in the region in the near future. now there is a perception of sava as a connector. connect with who? with other communities around the river and, most important, connect across borders. in croatia, bosnia, serbia and we already started to connect. baby already started to connect. ba by ste ps. already started to connect. ba by steps. we already started to connect. baby steps. we are connecting now along the sava river. before i had across to my next country on the sava, she tells mei country on the sava, she tells me i must be fully initiated into life on the river with this time—honoured tradition. this is a beheading? no, we don't do that anymore. but if you want to be a member you have to show us if you are able

to sharpen the wooden stick. you show me. and just when i thought the wood chopping was bad enough... you need to go on your knees. with the head down — yes. baptised by the water of the river sava.

next n ext sto p next stop on my voyage down the longest river in the balkans, croatia's capital, zagreb. croatia's capital, zagreb. croatia was part of the austro—hungarian empire until the end of the first world war, and you can see much of that architectural influence around zagreb. the city has been fought over by competing armies for centuries. in the 15th century, so the story goes, the 0ttoman army was camped on the other side of the sava river just over there, preparing to attack the city. to deter them attack the city. to deter them a cannonball was fired with such pinpoint accuracy it landed on a chicken intended for the commander's dinner. so freaked out were the turks by this that they started and never returned to the city again — so the legend goes. but

ever since 1877, as a nod to this alleged act of defiance, a cannon has been fired every day at noon from this tower. wow, that's incredible. alan is a trained engineer who used to work on the zagreb trams before he saw an advert for the position of canon man in 2008 and landed the job. what does it do? the cannon firing has become a big tourist attraction in zagreb.

ireland needs at least 15 minutes a day to prepare, and in his nine years doing the job, he has never had a misfire. maybe we should pray. no. just wait. just wait. 0k. please, stay here. thank you. it is 11.58. 0k. one minute till it is 11.58. ok. one minute till the shot, please. iam i am feeling a bit nervous. a bit tense. he is very focused. waiting for

that clock to change. bone. even though i knew it was coming, that was still a bit of a shock. it still surprised me. -- bang.. a shock. it still surprised me. —— bang.. look at this. he is milking the applause. another day — job done. well done. milking the applause. another day - job done. well done. have a nice day. thank you. croatia's struggle for independence from yugoslavia was more prolonged, complex and bloodied than the slovenian ‘s‘. today, though, it's a country of 5 million, and a very popular travel destination, especially zagreb, dubrovnik and the rest of its spectacular adriatic coastline. but venture away from the capital down the sava and you come across a lesser—known city. cisac lies on the

co nflu e nce city. cisac lies on the confluence of three rivers and is home to croatia's biggest river port. the town of cisac is where the river sava actually becomes wide enough for ships like this to go downstrea m for ships like this to go downstream to belgrade and serbia, and that's what has made it such an industrial centre. cisac has a rich cultural history, but in recent times it's been characterised as dull and dreary. most guidebooks don't mention it. but that is changing.” guidebooks don't mention it. but that is changing. i am the fourth generation born here, andi fourth generation born here, and i lived with this town, grew up with this town, and when you are reading something about your town and you are reading the bad news and you are thinking — what are you talking about? this is not how it is here. so last year dana and her team set up rethink sisak, an arts festival that

uses the term's buildings for a rts uses the term's buildings for arts murals. this was one of the first to be created. it's the first to be created. it's the biggest mural in croatia and took 23 days and 400 cans of spray paint to complete. and how do the locals feel about this? well, at first, we had to have the permission, and they we re have the permission, and they were first — what are you going to do with this? but then when it all started they came every day here. they brought him lemonade and cookies and they we re lemonade and cookies and they were very, very proud of it. they got really emotionally involved. people from this building call this our mural, which is what we try to accomplish — for people to accept them as their own. the murals are scattered around the city, each with a different theme or message. dana shows me one that highlights a particularly painful part of sisak‘s history. particularly painful part of sisak's history. during world war ii, this was the place

where the children were gathered to be put in the only concentration camp for children. really, just here? yes, in this general area. the camp was set up by the nazi affiliated regime during world war ii. the victims were serbian, jewish and roman children. this mural is dedicated to their memory.” believe that the artist gave them a tribute that they deserved and may be a place of remembrance for all those children who didn't make it. we called him to be a part of our festival because we as a team decided that his work does have that certain dark undertone that certain dark undertone that maybe we kind of luck in the festival. and needed to portray this as well. of course, because the art has to provoke thinking, notjust be

pretty. the festival has been such a success they've decided to keep painting. mind you, people don't come to this part of croatia just for the art. they come to the country's largest wetland, which i am heading through on my next stop through the river sava — the marshlands of brodsky varosh, where i encounter a man on an unusual fishing where i encounter a man on an unusualfishing expedition, because stepan goes out to collect food for this family of storks. stepan found the mother 23 years ago after she had been shot uncritically disabled by hunters. she still can't fly. because she can't hunt, stepan has to help feed the cheques.

—— chicks. the fact i can get so —— chicks. the fact i can get so close, it's incredible, and they are beautiful. well, congratulations. 0ver they are beautiful. well, congratulations. over the yea rs, congratulations. over the years, a male stalker became her mate, but each winter she has to say goodbye to klepitan and her brood of babies storks as he migrates to africa for the winter. this bond between stepan and malina has become internationally famous and is even the subject of a brand—new

documentary, the old man and the stalk. —— stork. and so the first half of my journey down the sava is complete, and i'm beginning to grasp how important the river is to the people who live along its banks. next week i'll be heading to bosnia and herzegovina and then east all the way to serbia's capital, belgrade. i'll find out how a

generation who were born by the sava after the war in the 90s have new priorities and why the river has become so important to the future of serbia's capital, and i hope you will join me.

0ur 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 anotherfairly 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 celsius 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 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.

good morning. welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. 0ur headlines today: the scramble to beat the quarantine deadline. thousands travel through the night to leave france before new restrictions come into force. it is three o'clock in the morning. we just it is three o'clock in the morning. wejust got off it is three o'clock in the morning. we just got off the channel tunnel. it cost us £200 extra. we have been driving for 12 hours, from the south of france. but we've made it. after days of anxiety over exam grades, schools in england are told they won't have to pay to appeal against a—level and gcse results. a day of events begins to mark the 75th anniversary