this is bbc news, the headlines at 7: prince charles leads commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of vj day — the day world war 2 ended with victory over japan. we salute all those who remain among us and offer our most heartfelt and undying gratitude for those who are gone before. the prince of wales and veterans lay wreaths at the national memorial arboretum as part of the remembrance service. music: the last post

we'll have the latest from events in the uk and around the world — as we remember the day world war ii ended. the exams regulator sets out the criteria for appeals against downgraded a—levels in england after nearly 40% were marked lower than predictions. minimum i needed a a, b, b. i only actually needed three cs to get into the foundation course for the veterinary foundation, which was my back—up, but on thursday i discovered that i had just been awarded three ds. also, thousands of holidaymakers have arrived back in the uk after a last—minute dash to avoid a mandatory two—week quarantine. and the world snooker championship final is under way in sheffield — it's being played in front of spectators — as part of the easing of lockdown restrictions. that and the rest of the day's sport

coming up in sports day later. at 7:45pm. good evening and welcome to bbc news. iam martin i am martin cox. the prince of wales has led commemorations for the 75th anniversary of vj day, whenjapan surrendered to the end of the second world war. hejoined surrendered to the end of the second world war. he joined veterans and military personnel at the national memorial arboretum in staffordshire. they paid tribute to those who fought in the far east, saying their service and sacrifice would echo through the ages and he remembered all of those whose lives were blighted by the conflict. he was a reporter. a lone piper at dawn, aboard hms belfast, marking the fact that 75 years ago this morning, the world awoke, finally, to peace.

in the open spaces of the national memorial arboretum in staffordshire, a carefully choreographed commemoration attended by a0 veterans who fought in the fourteenth — sometimes forgotten — army against a ferocious enemy in some of the most challenging of conditions. many tens of thousands of allied troops from many different nations lost their lives in the jungles of southeast asia and tens of thousands more died injapanese prisoner of war camps. they shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. at the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. music: the last post after the sounding of the last post

by a royal marine bugler, a two—minute silence was led by the prince of wales. and in remembrance of lives lost from so many nations, from british, pre—partition indian and other allied armies, wreaths were placed at memorials here and in many of the nations that were involved in the conflict. today, in this hallowed place, and in the presence of all those gathered here or in their homes, or wherever they may be, let us affirm that they and the surviving

veterans are not forgotten. rather, you are respected, thanked, and cherished with all our hearts and for all time. 75 years on, the forgotten army was remembered and its last survivors cherished. it was honoured. nicholas witchell, bbc news. the exams regulator quual has set out the criteria for how appeals of gcse, as and a levels in england can be made. because of coronavirus — no exams took place — and grades are being awarded using a controversial modelling system. schools and colleges will be able to appeal on behalf of students from monday. the bbc‘s education correspondent elaine dunkley explains how the appeals process will work. after the

anxiety and adrenaline of a—level results day many students will now go through those emotions again when it comes to the appeals process. the exa m it comes to the appeals process. the exam board regulator quual has now set out the criteria schools must follow in order to challenge the grades awarded to students. there are eight different requirements that must be met. appeals can be made where a student has been awarded a grade lower than the one achieved in the mock exam. it can also include non—exempt assessments, which could include coursework. this also applies to gcse results, which will be out next week. is all they say it has been fair and there has been an increase in the number of top grades given to students. but this has received a backlash across the whole of the uk and there have been calls for a u—turn, which we saw in scotland earlier this week with the government there apologising and thousands of stu d e nts apologising and thousands of students grades updated to their predictions. here, no such thing has happened and a lot of students are expected to appeal, after almost 40% of a—level grades were moderated down. the exam board has confirmed

they will be ready to process these appeals from and if. this is a head teacher in stratford, east london and he told us how disappointed his stu d e nts and he told us how disappointed his students are by the changes. two children, they are really upset, theirfamilies are children, they are really upset, their families are upset and all the things you would expect. the biggest feeling though is that of consternation, which is how can stu d e nts consternation, which is how can students who have worked incredibly hard, you know, in the context of a pandemic that has changed everything and yet quual and the government, despite i am sure best intentions, have come up with a system that has doubled down on disadvantage. we have got to remember inequality is rife in our education system already and this willjust widen it, so we have heard the stories of small groups and private schools that haven't had their grades knocked back and that is no criticism of private schools, it is just the algorithm that did it and we have

got to remember that these were choices that were made. no exams we re choices that were made. no exams were sacked. so these traces have been made and we need to try to correct them if we can. when you look at this, i was just looking through this guidance that has been published by the government... do you think it is going to make much difference to the students' grades over the coming days? because many stu d e nts over the coming days? because many students will be thinking, well, i will go through the appeal or i'm going to have to research. how much of the difference do you think it is going to make? the first thing to think about is if the appeals are overturned will the university hold their places. an example of a student who missed an oxford or cambridge grade by one is overturned on appeal, will be university say yes, we will have you in? and other universities are prepared to have higher numbers of students? so that isa higher numbers of students? so that is a key question. the second question is if these appeals are broad and many of them are put through, which i hope they will be, will be government stop the cap on

university places and fund the additional places? i know don't the a nswer to additional places? i know don't the answer to that, but those seem important questions. head teacher ollie speaking earlier to a reporter. let's return to our top story now, the 75th anniversary of vj day at the end of world war ii. juliet gardiner is an eminent historian and author and she joins us now historian and author and she joins us now from east london. thank you for joining us now from east london. thank you forjoining us. what was the feeling in britain after the d—day, when people knew that fighting was still happening in the pacific? —— after ve day. i think after d-day, the feeling was one of... big war had ended definitively and that was what they wanted, basically. but of course there was a bit of an anxiety

because the dropping of these deadly atomic bombs on hiroshima first and then nagasaki. the imperial emperor ofjapan, then nagasaki. the imperial emperor of japan, emperor hirohito, then nagasaki. the imperial emperor ofjapan, emperor hirohito, had been sent an ultimatum that if he didn't cease hostilities and surrender then bombs would rain down onjapan, the life of which —— like the like of which had never been seen and would bring mass disruption, and he was right. how much to people in britain know about what had been going on in japan, particularly the atrocities committed? it is very hard to find out how... prisoners would write

about things, but of course it would be redacted, as we say now, or censored. it is quite hard to know what these people, the japanese pow camps and it was really in a sense the americans' war. that doesn't mean that the british didn'tjoin in. but it was essentially america that was... because after all it was in the pacific and the... on pearl harbor bombing, which brought the americans into the war because then

fighting in europe a bit, but then they had been fighting in the far east and sorry, i have lost your thread slightly. that's ok, i was just going to say that of course vj day signalled the end of world war ii in its entirety but the impact went on, the effects were still felt for many years. how were children in particular are affected by the war? by particular are affected by the war? by the end of the war, by vj day and leading up to it, it depends where they were. british children, an awful lot of them had been evacuated from the big cities and this was because of germany. the germans attacked in britain and so they had been evacuated and scattered, as it were, with houses where people were

prepared to have them filleted. they we re prepared to have them filleted. they were supposed to be lasting there until the end of the hostilities, but of course they didn't. a lot of them retreated pretty badly —— were treated pretty badly. some of them very badly treated and didn't get on with their foster parents, but some others would didn't want to go home and came to it. i don't think though that children knew much about the a—bomb, the atomic bomb. the country had hope that d—day would be the answer. after d—day, when the british and the americans, and the australians had got a foothold in europe for the first time since

1942, then... sorry, you asked... no, you answered my question perfectly. we were talking about the impact of the war and you answer that perfectly. juliet gardiner, historian, it is great to have your reflections on vj day. thank you very much forjoining us. also, thousands of holidaymakers have arrived back in the uk after a last—minute dash to avoid a mandatory two—week quarantine. andy moore reports. there were long queues at calais early this morning as people scrambled to get back to the uk ahead of the 4am deadline. at passport control to get this far, they told us we should be fine to get back to the uk

for the 4am deadline. on one of the last ferries out of france, from dieppe, some exhausted travellers. this i've been told that the ferry people know that we need to get to the uk before four o'clock. so we'll see you later. the ship docked in newhavenjust before the deadline. 3:58am in the uk. we are on land. fantastic. one group of edinburgh—based musicians who had been performing in normandy hired their own fishing boat to get back in time. after an eight hour crossing, they landed at hayling island in hampshire ten minutes before the deadline. the airports were also busy with flights to the uk. and the queue just keeps going and going and going. this was nice last night. we've just boarded the plane, at about ten o'clock. been a really long, hard day. so many people at the airport.

flying out on flights. at gatwick airport this morning, some of the first passengers arriving back from france, who will have to go into quarantine. we were five hours too late for the quarantine, so now we all have to quarantine. my husband is losing money, for two weeks. it's ridiculous. the passengers arriving here from france are going into a very strict form of self isolation for two weeks. they won't be able to go out for exercise, they won't be able to walk the dog, any shopping will have to be brought to them. and the penalty for breaching those rules starts at £1,000. andy moore, bbc news, gatwick airport. callu m callum yates is a result manager who joins us now from france. what a year it has been, callum, for companies like yours. tell us what happened at the beginning of the year. you just lost everybody and

all your staff because of coronavirus? yes, so we were running a full winter season as normal. we had about nine properties out here all full of guests and shell chalets and everyone had to up and leave and tha nkfully and everyone had to up and leave and thankfully lockdown came in over the weekend and that solved all logistical plans, but a few days after that all the staff had to leave as well and they were back in the uk by the tuesday after everything had closed down. but your hopes must have been raised that summer hopes must have been raised that summer would have been different. how did you approach it? well, we we re how did you approach it? well, we were in constant communication trying to sort something out and plan for the best. as soon as we we re plan for the best. as soon as we were aware that travel plans may be able to go ahead and borders may be open again, that they would be something to salvage from the summer season, something to salvage from the summer season, so something to salvage from the summer season, so we something to salvage from the summer season, so we were all working pretty ha rd season, so we were all working pretty hard trying to make sure that everything was as it should be and everything was as it should be and everything was as it should be and everything was run as normal, or as normal as possible, inside as many

coronavirus regulations as possible. but now the uk has said that anyone returning from france is subject to quarantine. what impact does that had a new? a lot of guests who were staying here have left on the thursday or the friday as soon as they heard the news. it has lost a lot of our guests early doors. we have lost a lot of bookings for next week and the rest of the season. we have got one last week of bookings this week and then that is us finishing early for the season again. so yeah, it has had a huge impact on us. we had one about biggest chalets this week was due to be full of multiple families and a big booking that brings a lot of money in for the company and that has all gone out of the window now, so it is very, very frustrating. how likely is it that french visitors could make up some of those losses? imean we could make up some of those losses? i mean we have had french visitors before. we advertise on booking

dot—com equivalents in france and we try to do that as much as possible to french guests. it is potentially likely. it is difficult to say at the moment, i think, difficult to say whether france is going to bring in more lockdown measures, which would impact us further. hopefully not and hopefully we can get some french guests in and sort of finish the season strongly with some more bookings. how far into the future day you look? optimistically, we have got people interested, we have got bookings prospectively and for winter. winter is fundamentally the bigger season for us here. we do have people who do seem keen to come. it is tough to look too far into the future though, at the end of the day we don't know what is going to happen tomorrow or next week. we don't know if we're going to have another late night quarantine announcement from the uk or more restrictions brought in. it is so difficult to say. i don't want to look too far into the future, but

fingers crossed. yes, everyone needs uncertainty, don't they? callum yates, thank you very much for joining us. the headlines on bbc news. prince charles has led commemorations to mark the 70th anniversary of vj day, the day that world war ii ended with victory over japan. the exams regulator has set out the criteria for appeals against downgraded a—levels in england after nearly 40% were marked lower their predictions. thousands of holiday—makers have arrived back in the uk after a last—minute dash to avoid a mandatory two week quarantine. debenhams has asked an advisory firm that specialises in store closures to draw up plans for possible liquidation. but the struggling retailer insists the move isjust a "contingency plan" and would be a last resort. our business correspondent vivienne nunis told me what more debenhams have said on the matter.

debenhams have said this is really just a procedural matter. yes, they have appointed this firm hillco c capital, a possible liquidator, but they say that is just a last resort and is very unlikely that stores would close and they would go into liquidation. once you go into administration, which debenhams did earlier this year, it is powerful because for them to look at possible outcomes for the company, they look at where next for debenhams if it is in trouble. one of the options if the business can't be sold as it could go into liquidation, but debenhams says that is very unlikely. we the company has been in trouble for a while now, hasn't it? it has. it has been in trouble for quite a few years now. basically, debenhams have said recently that things are turning around, butjust a few weeks ago, as we went into lockdown debenhams obviously had to

close all of its stores, like other companies did, but it's has closed its doors permanently, so crucially in may 6500 people lost theirjobs debenhams all that is the total of people we have seen them lose their jobs since may anyway. that is a very worrying situation there and the point is that hillco capital could race and flags. this is a company that is known for assisting stores in trouble when they need to close their business. but as i say, debenhams insists this isjust close their business. but as i say, debenhams insists this is just a normal procedure, that is a last resort and it is pretty unlikely we'll get to that. the number of new coronavirus cases in the uk has by 1012 from the previous day. there has been an increase in the number of confirmed uk cases recently. as this graph shows, the uk has averaged just over 1000 cases per day just over the past averaged just over 1000 cases per dayjust over the past week, although this comes in the context of increased testing. meanwhile the trend of the number of daily deaths in the uk has slowed down. in the

same 24—hour period a further three people were recorded as having died of coronavirus, having take taking the total number —— 241,361. these figures were counted using the government was like a new methodology to record coronavirus deaths. more than 100 pilots atjet—2 are to be made redundant after a collapse in demand caused by the pandemic. the airline said it deeply regretted having to make the cuts, which were caused entirely by the current situation. the pilots' union, balpa, described the decision as a "kick in the teeth" for its members, especially those who joined jet2 after losing theirjobs at thomas cook last year. two men given the death penalty for killing two british backpackers in thailand, have had their sentences reduced to life in prison. the bodies of 23—year—old hannah witheridge from norfolk, and 24—year—old david miller from jersey, were found on a beach on the thai island of koh tao, six years ago. two burmese nationals were convicted of their murders in a thai court in 2015. they'll now serve life sentences

instead of facing the death penalty, following a royal decree. massive crowds have rallied in the belarussian capital minsk to commemorate a man who died on monday at one of the protests against the contested re—election of president alexander lukashenko. protests have gathered pace following a brutal police crackdown. the prime ministers of the three baltic republics, latvia, lithuania and estonia, have called on belarus to rerun the election. our correspondent, abdu—jalil abdura—sulov, reports from minsk. here has been replaced —— mcafee has been replaced by anger. thousands of people in belarus continue coming out onto the street to voice their protest against the death of this protest. one of the protesters that

died during the violence here in minsk. they are chanting, we will never forget minsk. they are chanting, we will neverforget a! we minsk. they are chanting, we will never forget a! we will never forgive! such scenes were unimaginable in belarus just forgive! such scenes were unimaginable in belarusjust a week ago. we are sure everything will change. we believe in our victory. that is why we will come in the streets every day. every single day. i was calling my friends and telling them, you should go to the city ce ntre them, you should go to the city centre when these girls are out there with the flowers because you can have the freedom for the first time in almost all of your life. hundreds of people gathered to attend the funeral of alexander, the protester who died. people are saying the opposition —— sang the opposition anthem and bade farewell to the man who has been a symbol of change in belarus. president lukashenko has change in belarus. president lu kashenko has never faced change in belarus. president lukashenko has never faced such a challenge in his 26 years of being in power. today he spoke to russia's

president, vladimir putin. both sides expressed confidence that the situation would soon be resolved. observers say that russia's support will be key for mr lukashenko to hold onto power. but this crowd may bea sign hold onto power. but this crowd may be a sign that he has reached the point of no return. bbc news, minsk. 95 yard garni and world war ii vetera n, 95 yard garni and world war ii veteran, private joseph hammond, became worldwide known for his effo rts became worldwide known for his efforts to fund raise for health ca re efforts to fund raise for health care workers fighting covid—19 in africa. he is friends with prince harry and has received a queen's honourfor his efforts. harry and has received a queen's honour for his efforts. but hammond was one of hundred thousand people who fought for the... during the burma campaign. but hammond has been reflecting on his time in burma.|j

see the fighting, artillery, the position of plain i met two officers at the recruitment centre. they took a liking to me. i was ready to go to the war in india and burma. the fighting was so ferocious. i have never seen anyone fight like the japanese. when you see an enemy, you know they will kill you straightaway, but we were not sluggish. we were... to kill all or be killed. and sometimes were in the weather up to a neck like this. the bullet touches your brother... and he fell. you have no right to go

back, touch them or do anything. you keep moving. when you wake you be court—martialed. you wipe your face, so nobody sees your tears. we are black. japanese snipers, they don't see the black colour. but every morning you see that six or seven fights were attacked, but no one will die. so people use black ointment to cover their face and the killing stops. sometimes we used to say, we are black, they don't see us! you see? soldiers are more than... comrades, chip, the relationship is excellent.

their fathers fought with spears, but these manhandle their modern experts as —— their modern weapons as expertly as other soldiers. you come outside there is no... past memories float back to you. i see the fighting, artillery, the bonds plaguing japanese aeroplanes. it is madness. what is never good. i have experienced it. iam madness. what is never good. i have experienced it. i am 95. madness. what is never good. i have experienced it. iam 95. i have experienced it. iam 95. i have experienced it. i have seen. what we did, we laid down our lives for humanity. to save others. to enjoy

the peace. joesph hammond. time for a look at the weather the weather continues to be very humid across the uk. lots of moisture in the atmosphere, but the big difference between last week and what we have got at the moment is for most of us we have extensive cloud. that is low cloud we will have through the rest of the night, turning misty and murky around the coast and hills, extensive drizzle for england and wales, just an occasional heavy burst in it stays muqqy' occasional heavy burst in it stays muggy, 17 degrees for cardiff and london by the end of the night. looking at the chance for sunday, better prospects of seeing a bit of sunshine across southern areas, but the best of the day's sunny weather right across the scotland. in the morning, we will probably see another batch of thunderstorms moving at parts of south—east england before east anglia, the midlands and perhaps wales as we head toward sunday evening. these

thunderstorms capable of