this is bbc news, the headlines at 8pm at. prince charles at commemorations to mark the 75th anniversary of vj day, the day world war ii ended with victory overjapan at. we salute all those who remain among us at. we salute all those who remain among us and offer our most heartfelt and undying gratitude for those who have gone before. the prince of wales and veterans laid a wreath at the national memorial arboretum as part of a service of remembrance. the exams regulator arboretum as part of a service of remembrann criteria exams regulator arboretum as part of a service of remembrann criteria for 11s regulator sets out the criteria for appeals against a—levels in against downgraded a—levels in england after nearly 40% were marked lower than predictions.”

england after nearly 40% were marked lower than predictions. i needed a, a, b, lower than predictions. i needed a, a,b,i lower than predictions. i needed a, a, b, ionly lower than predictions. i needed a, a, b, i only needed b, b, lower than predictions. i needed a, a, b, ionly needed b, b, cto lower than predictions. i needed a, a, b, i only needed b, b, cto get into the course which was my back—up but on thursday i found it out i had been awarded three dees. thousands of holiday—makers arrived back in the uk after a last—minute dash to avoid a mandatory two week quarantine. and in half an hour here on bbc news, under the skin of covid—i9, investigates why people from ethnic minority backgrounds have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the prince of wales has led commemorations for the

75th anniversary of vj day, when japan's surrender, ended the second world war. he joined veterans and military personnel for a service at the national memorial arboretum in staffordshire. prince charles paid tribute to the courage of those who fought in the far east, saying their service and sacrifice would "echo through the ages," and he remembered all those whose lives were blighted by the conflict. here's nicholas witchell. bagpipes play. 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 14th, 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. tens of thousands more died in japanese 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. and the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. last post plays. 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, which were involved in the conflict. today, in this hallowed place, and in the presence of all those gathered here, or in their homes, 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 honoured. nicholas witchell, bbc news.

50,000 british and commonwealth troops died in the war againstjapan, half in prison camps. some of their relatives have joined veterans, at the national memorial arboretum today, and our correspondent, sian lloyd spoke to some of them. 96—year—old joan burfield, known asjohnny since her navy days, one of the remaining few who remember vj day because they were there. she was then a wren, aged 21, stationed in the far east and tasked with decoding signals, one of a group of young women who'd joined the navy to serve their country. 75 years on, she hasn't forgotten the most important message she came across. we were receiving signals, you know, from all over the place. and, well, somebodyjust shouted, "it's over!" "it's over! the war‘s finished!"

but we still had to carry on. for sergeant francis raley, the japanese surrender signalled the first steps towards freedom. like thousands of others, he had endured years of suffering in prisoner of war camps. his daughters proud to be here today. he was taken captive by the japanese and taken to sumatra and he was there for three and a half years, where he saw the most horrendous torture of people. he was lucky that he didn't receive, you know, too much bad treatment, in that respect. but it must have been horrific for him. gosh, if he was here today, he would just... well, he would say, his buttons would be popping off his chest, that'sjust how he was. he would just be thrilled to be here. it was an event to mark a historic day. it's been a lovely service. it's brought back lots of memories, especially when they talked about the prisoners, because those men,

they were half starved, could hardly walk... remembering those who finally brought the second world war to a close. sian lloyd, bbc news, staffordshire. professor lara feigel from king's college london is a historian and literary critic, specialising in twentieth century literature and culture. shejoins us now, thank you very much forjoining us here on bbc news. how much comfort for some, those who apparently lost everything, did vj day bring to them? vj day was i think experienced very differently in britain and america. in britain, we had already had ve day and churchill announcing that this is the greatest day of our lives. the war, for so many people in britain, had been a war against the germans, so when the war in europe ended, there was this sense of celebration, but between ve day and vj day, there had been three months in which people started to

see that peace might be anti—climactic and that the cost of what had maybe been, partly humanitarian the commit been made, witnessing the liberation of the concentration camps, the rubble of the german cities, people started to feel less victorious. rationing was going to continue without the energy that had been putting them through. the celebrations were slightly more muted than the main ones had been. people were used to london at being let up, it was not such a revelation to have the searchlights flooding the city. it was a rainy day, the queens hat collapsed in the rain on the way back from opening of parliament. but this was the end of

the what. it in america, this was the what. it in america, this was the moment there had been waiting for, almost everyone knew someone who had been in the far east and this was the day when the new york times described it as a coast—to—coast frenzy of kissing. we have all those great photos of people kissing strangers in the streets. there was a feeling, people stormed the white house, shouting for the president, wanting to congratulate him themselves, so it was quite a different time in the two places and then it ushered in an area of peace that in some ways, the labour government had just come in and there was a sense that the war might have been a war that was fought for the people and would bring in changes. vj marked the nationalisation of the call industry, but there was also the sense that the piece would be as long fight as the war itself. most

importantly, the age that vj day brought in, that it had been heralded by the dropping of those two atomic bombs, which brought, i think initially, the newspapers in britain were quite triumphalist about it, but then they realise that public opinion was really against it. there was a real fear, public opinion was really against it. there was a realfear, this public opinion was really against it. there was a real fear, this was the beginning where the term of the cold war was coined after the bombs dropping. there was the feeling a new error was about to begin which was going to be as frightening as the war but played out in a different climate. —— a new era. the war but played out in a different climate. -- a new era. how important as redemptive powers were cultures and the arts after the war? so, certainly, and i think this is interesting both in germany and japan, but in the occupation in germany, the british and the americans flew in culture as they flew in a food. a lot of cultural figures rushed in, billy wilder came to reform the film industry in

germany. and the idea was that they could return at the germans back into a peace loving people, partly through bringing in the arts from democratic nations and something of the same happened injapan. i think the same happened injapan. i think the reconstruction of the pan can be forgotten that that it was a similar success story to germany. net reconstruction of japan. the arts we re reconstruction of japan. the arts were an important part of that and at my own work has looked at that. it has looked particularly, when i say that vj day was an ambivalent day, that is partly because i'm interested in the people who, perhaps it has all along been less nationalistic than their governments and had known at germans orjapanese people and had sympathised with them and thought they may not be quite a difference between them and us, as the propaganda that sometimes had us believe and the arts was one way in which that bridge could be crossed after the war and in which people could feel that in reconstructing the defeated nations, they were also

enabling change that they could sign up enabling change that they could sign up to. how conscious though a decision was it to use the arts as a way of turning countries away from military traditions? in germany, it was very conscious. there was a whole army division set up to be in charge of the media and the arts. in some ways, it seems counterintuitive to us that germany, who had this great cultural tradition of their own, think of germans, classical music or literature, needed britain to send an army loads of books. they we re to send an army loads of books. they were sending in agatha christie novels, but that was part of it. that somehow, if our culture had a democracy and theirs hadn't come if they could have more if i was then perhaps they could change. i think what was great about this was the people who are sent in had a very nuanced views of the situation, so

you had stephen he was sent to the british zone to be in charge of library is and universities and he lived in germany is in the 30s and he had lots of german friends and he saw it as his chance to create bridges again by people who had been separated and had been in touch for several years and to make sure that the people in germany were given some sort of authority now. people going in there could not know who are the people who really had fought against hitler, because everyone claimed they had been in the resistance. so that was partly the role of these cultural figures, to discover who really had had an anti—nazi voice both in the lead up to the war and during the war and try to make sure that they were the people leading the country and it was not always successful, but it was not always successful, but it was in many ways a laudable effort.

thank you very much for talking to us thank you very much for talking to us this evening. the exams regulator 0fqual has set out the criteria for how appeals of gcse, as and a—levels in england can be made on the basis of mock assessment results. 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. 0ur education correspondent elaine dunkley explained how the appeals process will work. after the anxiety and adrenaline of a levels result stay, many students will now go through those emotions again when it comes to the appeals process. the exam board regulator 0fqual have set out the criteria which schools must follow in order to challenge the grades awarded to students. there are eight different requirements that must be met, peels can be made where a student has been awarded a grade lower than one achieved in a mock exam and it can occlude a non—exam assessment which could include cosmic. this applies

to gcse results which will be out next week. the government says that overall the system has been fair and there has been an increase in the number of top grades awarded to students, but this year's results as ina students, but this year's results as in a backlash across the whole of the uk and there have been calls for a u—turn which we saw in scotland this week with the government apologising and thousands of results upgraded to teachers predictions. here, no such promises, but the gunmen have said it will refund schools who successfully appealed. it is —— the government have said it will refund schools. examples have confirmed that they will be ready to process these appeals from monday. —— exam boards have confirmed. 0ne teacher expand how disappointed his stu d e nts teacher expand how disappointed his students are by all of the changes. we have had children, really upset, theirfamilies we have had children, really upset, their families upset, all the things you would expect, but the biggest

feeling is how can it students who have worked incredibly hard in a context of a pandemic that has sent everything... changed everything, but yet 0fqual and the government, despite best intentions i'm sure, have come up with a system that has doubled down on disadvantage. we have to remember that inequality is rife in our education system already and this will widen it much that we had the stories of smaller groups and private groups that have not had the grades knocked back, it is no criticism of private schools but the algorithm that did it. these were choices that were made, no exams we re choices that were made, no exams were sat, these choices were made and we need to try and correct them if we can't. when you look at this, i was just looking through this guidance that has been published by the government, do you think that it is going to make much difference to the students grades over the coming days? because many students will be thinking, well, iwill go

days? because many students will be thinking, well, i will go through the appeal or i am going to have to reset. how much of a difference do you think it will make? the first thing to think about is, if the appeals are overturned, will universities hold their places? an example of a student who missed an 0xford or cambridge or manchester grades by one and gets overturned by appeal, when the university say we will have you on? and other universities prepared to have higher numbers of students? that is the key question and the second one is, if these appeals are broad, and many are put through, which i hope they will be, with the government stop the cap on inverted places and fund additional places? do not know the a nswer additional places? do not know the answer but they seem to be important questions. the welsh government has announced that students will be able to appeal their a—level grades if there are evidence that they should have received high grade. the minister said that all appeals will

be free. thousands of british holiday—makers have arrived back in the uk after a last—minute dash to avoid quarantine rules. travellers from france, the netherlands and for other countries would have been subject to 14 days suffers latent after concerns of a rising trend of rice cases abroad. —— coronavirus cases abroad. 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. and i'm told the ferry people know we need to get to the uk before four o'clock, so we will see you later. the ship docked in new haven just before the deadline. 3:58am in the uk. they laugh. fantastic!

one group of edinburgh—based musicians who had been performing in normandy... classical music plays. ..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. the queue just keeps going and going and going. this was nice, last night. we've just boarded the plane, it's about ten o'clock and we had a really long, hard day. so many people in the airport, but we're finally on a flight. 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's 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 and 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 is a resource manager at the british travel company and he told us british travel company and he told us how the businesses survived during the pandemic. we were running a full season as normal, we have about nine properties out here, all full of guests, chalets, and eve ryo ne full of guests, chalets, and everyone had to up and leave. thankfully, lockdown came every weekend, so it fit in with our normal logistical plans. so if you do is after that, all the staff had to leave and we are back in the uk by the tuesday after everything had closed down at. but your hopes must have been raised that summer would be different, how did you approach

it? we were obviously in constant communication, trying to sort some thing out, trying to plan for the best, planned for as soon as we were aware that travel plans may be able to go ahead and borders may be open again that there would be something to salvage from the summer season at. so we were all working pretty ha rd to at. so we were all working pretty hard to make sure that everything was as it should be and everything would run as normal or as normal as possible. inside as many coronavirus regulations as possible. now the uk has said anyone returning from france are subject to quarantine, what impact has that had on you?l lot of guests here who are staying have left early, they left on the thursday or friday as soon as they heard the news. it has lost a lot of oui’ heard the news. it has lost a lot of our guests early doors. we have lost a lot of bookings for next week and for the rest of the season. we have one last week of bookings this week and then that is us finishing early for the season again. so yes, it has

had a huge impact on us. we had one of our biggest chalets full this week, multiple families, a big booking which brings a lot of money for the company and that has all gone out the window now, so it is very frustrating. how likely is it that french visitors could make up some of those losses? we have had french visitors before. we advertise on hooking dot—com equivalents in france and try to promote as much as possible to french guests. —— we advertise on a booking.com dot—com. it is difficult to know if france will bring in more measures that will bring in more measures that will influence as a further, but hopefully not and hopefully we can finish the season strongly with more bookings. how far in the future day you look? optimistically, we have

people interested, bookings respectively in for winter, winter is the biggest season for us here. we do have people who do seem keen to come. it is tough to look too far into the future, we do not know what will happen tomorrow or next week. whether we will have another late night quarantine announcement from the uk or more restrictions bought m, the uk or more restrictions bought in, it is so difficult to say, i do not want to look too far into the future, but fingers crossed. the number of new coronavirus cases in the uk has risen by 1,012 from the previous day. there has been an increase in the number of confirmed new cases recently. as this graph shows, the uk has averaged just over 1,000 new cases per day over the past week although this comes in the context of increased testing. the trend in the number of daily deaths in the uk has slowed down at. in the same at 2a hour period, a further three people with the virus

we re further three people with the virus were recorded as having died, taking the total number of deaths to 41,361. these figures were counted using the government's new methodology to record coronavirus deaths. 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 is just a "contingency plan" and would be a last resort. are business correspondence have told us what mort debenhams has said on the matter. they have said it is just a procedural matter. yes they have appointed a firm, a possible liquidator, but they said they last resort and it is very unlikely that it is 124 stores would close and it would go into liquidation. they say, once you go into administration, which debenhams did earlier this year, it isjust which debenhams did earlier this year, it is just part of the course foran year, it is just part of the course for an administrator to look at the possible future outcomes for the company, they look at where next for

debenhams, because we know it is in trouble. 0ne debenhams, because we know it is in trouble. one of those options, if the business cannot be sold, as it could go into liquidation, but debenhams says it is very unlikely. the company has been in trouble for a while now, hasn't it? it has, it has been on a downward slide for a few years really, as we have seen high street department stores struggle for quite a few years now. debenhams have said recently though that things are turning around, but just a few weeks ago, as you went into lockdown, debenhams had to close all of its stores, like other retailers, but during that lockdown, and above stores were closed permanently, so 20 have not reopened and will not be reopening and crucially in may, six and a half thousand people lost theirjobs crucially in may, six and a half thousand people lost their jobs from debenhams, or in total that is how many people have lost theirjobs since may anyway. 0bviously that is a worrying situation and the appointment of the company could race and flags, it is a company that is known for assisting stores in trouble when they need to close a business, but as i said, insist that

this is a normal procedure, that is a last resort and it is pretty unlikely they will get to that. jet2 says it deeply regrets having to make cuts which were caused entirely by the situation. it was described as a cake in the teeth, especially after many lost theirjobs at thomas cook last teeth, especially after many lost their jobs at thomas cook last year. many crowds have rallied in the belarus capital. protest 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 at. our correspondent reports now from

minsk. fear has been replaced by anger. thousands of people in belarus continue coming out onto the street to voice their protest against president lukashenko. people are gathering at the sideway. alexander taraikovsky, one of the protesters who died during the violence here in minsk. they are chanting, we will never forget, we will never forgive. such kind of 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 street every day, every single day. i was calling my parents to tell them to go to the city centre, where the girls are out there with the flowers, because you can raise the freedom for the first time in almost all of your life. hundreds of people gathered to attend the funeral of alexander taraikovsky.

people sang the opposition anthem and bode farewell