this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. thousands of protesters more confusion for students after quual withdraws its advice. this is just unacceptable in my view, people, the students and teachers are incredibly anxious, particularly the students who are worried about their future. this has the students who are worried about theirfuture. this has got the students who are worried about their future. this has got to the students who are worried about theirfuture. this has got to be sorted out. a two week quarantine rule has kicked in this weekend for british travellers returning from france, the netherlands and four other countries after thousands rushed home to beat the deadline. donald trump's younger brother, robert, has died in hospital in new york.

he was 71. and another missed opportunity. manchester city are knocked out of the champions league after a series of blunders hands victory to lyon. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. there's further confusion for school leavers in england as the exams regulator, quual, withdraws its guidance on appealing against a level grades just hours after publishing it. the government is facing mounting criticism over its handling of a—level results, with thousands

of students left devastated. we decided using an algorithm to look at ranking of ability but also looking at how their school or couege looking at how their school or college it performed in recent yea rs. college it performed in recent years. that was resulted in 30% being marked down. it will cover the cost of schools in england appealing against exam grades but the appeals process itself has been left confused following the decision to withdraw guidance late last night. students who feel they have been failed by the system. anger at the government's handling of a—level results in england. we want a u—turn like has been done in scotland where they admitted they were wrong and were sorry and that is what we need as well. we organised the protest today

because it is simply not fair. students across the country have been let down by the system. there is no idea what is going on about the appeal process and that is my future hanging in the balance. students hoping to appeal against their allocated grades had given some guidance yesterday on how their mock exam results could be used. but hours after the exams regulator published details on how an appeal based on mock results would work, it was pulled, and late last night a statement from quual said: earlier published information about mock exam results and appeals. the policy is being reviewed and further information will be published in due course. no reason was given for the decision and the department for education, which had welcomed the guidance, appeared to be unaware of what had happened and why. students getting results without taking exams this year have faced added uncertainty.

now those who feel they have been unfairly marked down will face further confusion about how to appeal and there will be added pressure on the government over its handling of the whole exams process. our political correspondent peter saull is with me now. this is yet another element of confusion added into the mix. relatively late in the process as well. the class of 2020 will go down in history as having the most difficult, unlucky year because of the covid—19 pandemic is stop it was a lwa ys the covid—19 pandemic is stop it was always going to be difficult giving them grades without taking exams in them grades without taking exams in the first place. this saga continues. we finally got the criteria for the appeals process and it came quite quickly because it was only the day before results were announced that the government said stu d e nts announced that the government said students could use their mock

results if they wanted to appeal. it came yesterday, details on what constitutes a valid mock exam but thenit constitutes a valid mock exam but then it was taken down. it shows that more chaos, perhaps the government does not have a handle on things was that this was the reaction from the chair of the commons education committee. that is a huge mess, goodness knows what is going on at quual. it brings confusion amongst pupils, teachers and it is the last thing we need at this time. we need a strong appeal syste m this time. we need a strong appeal system that is simple, people understand it, that it is fair and helps young people climb at the education ladder of opportunity. as far as he is concerned, the most important thing is the appeals process is up and running as quickly as possible, it is fair and painless as possible, it is fair and painless

as possible. the government still sticking by the system, the algorithm that you mentioned before that has been so controversial but he also mentioned that if the appeals process can't be sorted out then there is no other option than to fall back on the predicted grades, especially if there are more problems when the gcse results come out on thursday. thank you very much. and i should say we are going to bejoined later in this half hour by the shadow for the education minister, talking to her about labour bats response to the latest developments because it has a big on the perspective young people hoping to study later this year. the president of belarus is facing another day of protests a week after the disputed general election result which claimed he had taken 80% of the vote. he is accused of rigging

it and unleashing a violent crackdown on those who object. there we re crackdown on those who object. there were noisy scenes outside state television buildings with crowd angry and the anti—government viewpoints had been censored. the president has reached a security agreement with vladimir putin. many interpreted this as a threat to shut down the protests by force if necessary with the kremlin‘s help. our reporter is in minsk. it seems that anger has defeated fear and people are now willing to come out onto the streets in big masses. there's thousands and thousands of people who come out to the streets every day and now most protests are taking place during the daytime and that's why people are bringing balloons and they're bringing their children, the family to show the world and to show the authorities that

their movement is peaceful, they do not want violence and they want a rerun of the elections because they think that this is the only way for belarus to move forward. michael mcfaul is a former us ambassador to russia. this is his assessment of what president lukashenko's position would be if russia's president putin intervened. he would be just a puppet figure, reminds me of what the soviets used to do in eastern europe, that would be his fate. he is in a very weak position right now. i actually think his best option is to seek mediation from the west, from the europeans, perhaps with the trump administration and russian representation. that might be the least bloody way for him to solve the situation and maybe it doesn't mean that he stays in power but maybe it means he avoids jail and maybe the rest of his government can also stay in power. after all, there are historical

experiences where members of the old regime, the old autocratic regime sat at the table with the opposition and crafted a peaceful pact to allow for free and fair elections and eventually democracy. and i really hope people in the west will lean into that option because the other option, ithink, is martial law, violence and maybe even civil war and maybe even russian military intervention. donald trump's younger brother robert has died in hospital in new york at the age of 71. the president said he mourned robert's death with a heavy heart, calling him his best friend. robert trump, who once said he backed his older sibling 1000%, died in hospital in new york, reportedly suffering bleeding on the brain after a fall. president trump visited him on friday. it's have been paid. from a barack

obama's daughter. the mayor of new york said he did a lot to like to contribute to the city. president trump has warned the united states is not ready for a postal ballot in the november elections, even though many americans are calling for postal voting in the midst of the pandemic. speaking at a press briefing in newjersey, mr trump said that universal mail—in voting would be catastrophic — without offering an explanation. his critics say he's trying to suppress voters. alanna petroff has the story. the us postal service has a motto. "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." but apparently they may not be so swift for the us election. president trump reiterated this weekend his claims that universal mail—in voting just won't work after saying on thursday

he was blocking additional funding for the service to help with the election. you are going to have a catastrophic situation with universal mail—in votes. he is predicting catastrophe, yet he just appointed a new postmaster general, who is a big trump donor. he is a fantastic man. he wants to make the post office great again. did you ever hear the expression? he wants to make the post office great again. critics have blamed trump's new postmaster general louis dejoy for a slowdown in deliveries. and as the election approaches, protesters took to the street outside dejoy‘s home. there is no safer way for people to vote than to vote by mail. and this administration is actively trying to dismantle that system so that people cannot vote. and that flies in

the face of democracy. in addition to these protesters out on the street, people inside of the postal service say they are concerned. he wants to suppress the vote so that people he doesn't think are going to vote for him, he doesn't want them to have the ability to vote. former president barack obama echoed this sentiment in a tweet this week, saying the trump administration is more concerned with suppressing the vote than suppressing the virus. he would have that the underfunded, politically unloved mail service could become so controversial in the year 2020? travellers who are unable to book onto scheduled commercial flights, are turning to private jets to get them home following the changes to the uk's quarantine list. many charter companies are reported to have had a huge increase in demand after the government imposed new quarantine restrictions on people entering the uk from france —

with one operator, privatefly, saying bookings had trebled. earlier i spoke to the chief executive of the company and asked him if friday was a busy day. yes, it was, but it is not that uncommon that private aviation. we tend to a lwa ys that private aviation. we tend to always have a surge in enquiries and bookings when there is disruption to the travel industry. what was it like on friday? these were people who had not expected to use your services so lots of people approaching you for the first time and talking about big sums of money for people if they wanted to get home. that has been the general trend since the start of the crisis, private aviation... private aviation has been there before to step up when airlines have a pilot strikes or the annual air traffic control strikes, private

aviation steps up and thereafter new customers, passengers using oui’ services for the first time. since covid—i9 has struck, this has really increased, so normally in the industry, we would see 25% of new customers. that has turned on its head and now 75% or more using private aviation are doing so for the first time. the headlines on bbc news: more confusion for a—level students as the exam regulator withdraws its guidance on appealing against the grades awarded hours after guidance published. thousands of protesters are expected to gather in belarus culling for lukashenko to win it resign. it will kicks in for british travellers travelling back from many countries in europe. thousands rushed home to beat the deadline. to afghanistan now. a high profile member

of the afghan team that's due to hold peace talks with the taliban, has been wounded in a gun attack near kabul. fawzia koofi is a leading women's rights campaigner and a former member of parliament. the taliban denied they were involved in the incident. jamshayda young has the latest. koofi has now survived two assasination attempts. the trailblazer rose to prominence as a politician after the us led invasion of afghanistan in 2001. the year the taliban was ousted from power. she served as deputy speaker of afg hanistan's parliament. she campaigns for women's rights in a nation considered to be the one of hardest places in the world to be female. she is part of the negotiation team for afg hanistan's peace talks with the taliban, aimed at ending 19 years of conflict.

her attacker shot at her outside the capital. her official facebook says her right arm was injured but it is not life—threatening. her friends spoke out on her behalf, the chief of afghanistan's independent human rights commission called for an investigation. she noted a worrying pattern of targeted attacks that can negatively impact confidence in the peace process with the taliban. the shooting comes as afghanistan's government has been releasing caliban prisoners. some have been accused in connection with horrific attacks. as the negotiation approaches, many have concerns about the protection of women's rights. during taliban rule, women were banned from education and leaving the house without a male relative. koofi does not want peace with the taliban to hurt women's standing.

if they want to be part of the political structures, they have to adapt to the current situation. the upcoming talks have been a long time in the making, women are understandably wary and this latest attack shows how high the stakes are. there is said there are fears that the peace talks could be further delayed. as we have followed the news and information, freeing these prisoners, the 500 who were at high profile and killed thousands, scores of afg ha ns profile and killed thousands, scores of afghans as well as internationals, it seems like this was in the past really one of the

breakthroughs and the main reasons there has been a hurdle. the bad news at the moment is this, prisoners are released, to make dates were given, the 13th of august by the afghan government, did not happen. it was supposed to start today and we have no news or indication of the delegation from afghanistan travelling to qatar. there are hurdles, more excuses which worries us that there is no genuine honesty and truly having a dialogue that can result in any ceasefire. and there is external pressure from some countries saying we don't want these prisoners released because they were responsible for killing some of our people. absolutely, as a matter of fa ct, people. absolutely, as a matter of fact, in the afghan was since 2001, over 157,000 afghans have been killed. at the same time, a number

estimated of over 3000 internationals being killed. as we know, the world doesn't care about the over 100,000 afghan lives but these calls from france yesterday and a few days ago from australia concerned about are those that have been involved in killing their nationals are not to be released. so there is a blanket amnesty, a blanket bypassing the systems in afghanistan which is going to have its own consequences. the afghan gulf government is somehow fast to agree on the release because the choices given to them during the grand council was this— do you want to agree with the freedom of these 500 prisoners or the continuation of war. more now on our main story.

the a—level results process has been plunged into further disarray after the exams regulator for england withdrew its guidance on appealing against grades — just hours after publishing it. on saturday, the watchdog 0fqual outlined details on how mock exam results could be used in the appeals process. but late last night it deleted the advice from its website, saying further information will be published "in due course". talking to emma heidi, the shadow minister for further education and universities and speaks for labour on this subject. thank you for being with us. what do you make of 0fqual‘s move? with us. what do you make of 0fqual's move? i think it is a fair example are the utter chaos in government at the moment. the confusion out there for teachers and pa rents. confusion out there for teachers and parents. i've heard for teacher saying they started working on the appeals process based on the 0fqual guidance only to find their work is now unneeded because the appeals

process can't be used. the government simply have not got a clue what is going on and there is further chaos and incompetence and it is going to harm the future chances of so many students, particularly students from disadvantaged backgrounds. there did appear to be disadvantaged backgrounds. there did appearto bea disadvantaged backgrounds. there did appear to be a conflict between white gavin williamson were saying about a triple lock which meant stu d e nts about a triple lock which meant students could use the highest result out of three different potential options, the teachers' predictions, mock exams they have sat oran predictions, mock exams they have sat or an actual exam they sit in the autumn. 0fqual then saying the mock result was higher, tough, it was the teacher is not about prediction that would count. to think it is a question simply of the government and regulator not talking to each other or something more fundamental? being completely honest, i think it shows the

government are making it up as they government are making it up as they go along and have not got a clue. five months ago they had a remedy for this problem and nothing is ideal, there will be some concern. but if they are able to learn lessons from scotland, they failed to get a grip on what will happen with the a levels. wouldn't even consider ideas of providing results in allowing a pre—appeal service, then they were going to allow appeals to happen and then they said appeals to happen and then they said appeals would be free and now they haven't even realised yet and i am waiting for this announcement when they say how many appeals will happen and whether or not 0fqual have the capacity to deal with the 25,000 because that is the number of stu d e nts 25,000 because that is the number of students being downgraded by more than two grades. they haven't got a grip on the whole situation. had as they have gone from mistake to mistake, the whole situation becomes more farcical to stop what we must

never forget addy students who are the victims at the centre. those that have had their learning disrupted and been through a difficult year now having their life chances put on hold and potentially changed because of a government that doesn't know what it is doing. the other problem will be those institutions and organisations who are providing places for people to study, whether it is in higher education or not who have to plan and budget, the money, the number of stu d e nts and budget, the money, the number of students you get is the money you get. the appeal process delays that further, then it becomes a real crisis in that sector. both the financial and educational one. absolutely spot on. this crisis has a ripple effect of the entire educational system and what you have

alluded to is absolutely right, we already know that universities are facing a really difficult and vulnerable financial situation. the iss said 13 higher education institutions are at risk of becoming bankrupt and going under so they need the figures so they can accurately set their budgets for the forthcoming year. many institutions and universities are hanging on, waiting until they know the number of stu d e nts waiting until they know the number of students before they make decisions cutting classes or redundancies and all of that has been thrown up into the air because the university does not know how much money they have coming in because they don't know how many stu d e nts because they don't know how many students they have coming in because of the chaos that the government have created. this isn'tjust a problem for students, it is a problem for students, it is a problem for students, it is a problem for schools, teachers, pa rents, problem for schools, teachers, parents, a problem for universities as well and i are you all so it is a huge problem for social mobility because it has disseminated against

pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. and this is notjust the labour party saying this. reading an article from the northern powerhouse, they believe this will further entrench the north—south divide. this has a run it like a long running consequences. that is ruining the chances are so many young people out there in the communities and that is why they must urgently now agreed to take the centre assessed grades from the teachers. emma hardy. shadow ministerfor further education and universities. thank you very much for being with us. in australia, a man has taken on a great white shark, apparently punching it to save his wife during an attack. chantelle doyle was attacked by a shark up to three metres long while surfing at shelly beach in new south wales. phoebe hopson reports. beaches in the area were closed

after the incident. life—savers are providing surveillance to help spot the shock. she suffered severe lacerations to her leg. now let's take a look at the weather. hello. we have now lost the very intense heat of the past week. what we haven't lost, though, is the potential to brew up some really punchy thunderstorms. and it's the southern half of the uk that looks like it could encounter some issues as those thunderstorms surge up from the south through the afternoon. a band, if you like, of showers swirling their way across the south—west of england into south wales, the midlands and the south—east. if the sun comes out, warms things up, a little extra energy in the atmosphere will mean those showers turn very nasty in some places. northern scotland wins out for the best of the sunshine today. to the south, a bit more cloud, a few showers for the borders through the afternoon, the odd one to the east of northern ireland.

becoming a little drier, i think, for northern england and north wales. but these showers, as you can see, localised across parts of southern england and south wales. butjust because they're localized obviously doesn't mean they can't cause some significant problems. yesterday, for example, in parts of essex, we saw a0 millimetres, a month's worth of rain, fall in the space ofjust an hour. and it's a similar threat that we're talking about as these showers push their way increasingly then across wales into the midlands and east anglia through the evening. they may calm down a little as they end the night across wales, but some heavy rain for northern england as well. so not all areas will get the torrential rain, but if you do, you'll certainly know about it. warm, muggy again overnight. 15 for birmingham, 16 in london. and that will mean again, rather like today, quite a grey, misty and murky start for much of the uk. monday, low pressure drifts further north so a greater risk of rain across southern scotland first thing and then this whole band of rain swings across towards northern ireland for monday.

so after a couple of dryish days here, much wetter weather come monday afternoon. for england and wales, yes, they're small, those little spots, but they could be very intense. there's that risk, again, of thunderstorms breaking out through monday afternoon. temperatures back closer to average values for the week ahead. looks like it'll calm down thanks to this little bump of high pressure through the middle part of the week. but then thursday, friday promises this area of low pressure to come rolling our way. looking at a much deeper feature than we'd normally expect during the summer, more like something we'd get an autumn. thursday and friday could herald the arrival of some heavier, more persistent rain, but more concerningly quite widespread gales.

hello, this is bbc news with shaun ley. the headlines: news with shaun ley. more confusion for a—level students and teachers in england,

as the exam regulator withdraws its guidance on appealing against grades — hours after publishing it. thousands of protesters are expected to gather today in belarus to call for president alexander lukashenko to step down. a two—week quarantine rule has kicked in this weekend for british travellers returning from france, the netherlands and four other countires — after thousands rushed home to beat the deadline. now on bbc news, as wales begins to emerge from lockdown, bbc wales investigates looks at why people from ethnic minority backgrounds have been disproportionately affected by coronavirus.