good afternoon. there's more uncertainty and confusion this lunchtime for hundreds of thousands of ‘a' level and gcse students. the exams regulator quual withdrew its advice for those wanting to appeal within hours of making it public. the government has been under fire since thursday's ‘a' level grades were awarded — with nearly 40% downgraded by quual. gcse results are due this week — having been assessed using the same algorithm as a—lkebvels, ' level grades. here's our political correspondent peter saull. in ordinary times, they'd know

what the next step would be by now. and the class of 2020 is facing more uncertainty. three days after the results came out, here, or so we thought, was the criteria for appealing. on this page of quual's website, students and teachers could find out what a valid mock exam looks like butjust hours later, the document disappeared. in a statement, the regulator said... that is a huge mess, goodness knows what is going on. quual is sowing confusion amongst pupils, head teachers, school teachers and it's the last thing we need at this time. we need a ronseal appeals system that's simple, people understand it. there is no official reason why the criteria was taken down.

but some pointed to a section that suggested if a student's mock exam result was better than their predicted grade, the predicted grade would stand. i think this shows the government are making it up as they go along and theyjust simply haven't got a clue. i mean, five months ago they were presented with this problem, and no situation would be ideal, whatever your predicted grades, there are going to be some concerns but if they were to learn the lessons from scotland, they've failed to get a grip on what's going to happen with the a—levels. —— they've failed to learn the lessons from scotland. as the confusion over grades continues, the scramble for university places is well under way. some institutions are offering places regardless of the outcome of appeals. but head teachers want leniency across the board. it's really not good enough for us to be finding out information last night, which our members are going to have to implement, one head teacher said they're going to have 900 appeals across the school at a time when they are trying to do

the logistics of this pandemic. there has to be a sense of government, the regulator, working with the very people who are responsible for young people and to have to implement these ideas. what a time to be education secretary. he says the system must be fairto all yeargroups, notjust this one. but the storm is far from over. hundreds of thousands of gcse students will get their results on thursday. peter saull, bbc news. and peter saulljoins me now. this is only going to intensify the pressure on the government, isn't it? there is no doubt the government is feeling the heat, sir keir starmer, opposition leader, said it is time to stop the fiasco, backbenchers say the system will not be able to cope with the sheer number of appeals expected to flood in. gcse results have been calculated also using a standardised system so there could be further heartache for teenagers this thursday. but ministers continue to stress, though, is the importance of avoiding grade inflation stop it can't be unfair to this year ‘s

stu d e nts can't be unfair to this year ‘s students who may end up with a better set of results compared to next year ‘s a—level and gcse students. another area of public concern is the handling of the pandemic. suggestions the government may be about to change the organisation that in england, at least, is a responsible for it? public health england, the government not denying some newspaper reports this morning a public health england set up in 2013 has quite a large brief, ultimately a nswera ble to has quite a large brief, ultimately answerable to the health secretary. as you say, it has come in for some criticism for its role during the pandemic over testing and the reporting of death figures. what is understood to be happening is that a large part of public health england ‘s responsibilities will be transferred over to a new body, merging with nhs track and trace while in the short term, it will continue working on things like tackling obesity but change, it seems, is afoot. peter, thank you. the president of belarus is facing another day of demonstrations over last

weekend's disputed election result. aleksander lu kashenko is accused of rigging the vote and unleashing a violent crackdown against demonstrators. but for the first time today his supporters have taken to the streets to defend his re—election. the bbc‘s abdujalil abdurasulov in minsk. i'm at the main square in the capital, minsk. this is a rally in support of president lukashenko. the atmosphere here is rather different from what we have witnessed at opposition rallies earlier this week. it is quite subdued. what is interesting, we've been hearing reports that state police were forced to come to attend this meeting. we tried to talk to some participants here but most of them refused to speak to us and this is what those who agreed told us. translation: maybe at some polling stations there were some mistakes, maybe some officials made mistakes because the country is huge, so it's possible. translation: we want a constructive, step—by—step dialogue without any revolutions and mass clashes.

at the same time, in other rallies taking place around the city, that's the opposition march for freedom, they called this day as the most important day for the movement. they are protesting against the violence that authorities have been using to disperse the crowds. they demand a rerun of the vote because they believe that elections were rigged. abdujalil abdurasulov reporting from minsk. in the last half hour the coastguard has called off the search for two teenagers who were went missing in the sea near lytham st annes in lancashire last night. fiona trott‘s in lytham for us. fiona. the past few minutes, lancashire police have confirmed the names of the teenagers that search teams have been looking for throughout the night. they are 18—year—old mohammed and his brother, 16—year—old ali. but the fact that this search has been suspended will be deeply

upsetting for the family from west yorkshire, they were here yesterday enjoying a family day out. it's understood the teenagers got into difficulty. a 15—year—old boy who was with them managed to swim to safety. he's in hospital at the moment, being treated for hypothermia. there has been a massive search throughout the night. the police, the rnli, the coast guard, the rnli had a boat out for 15 hours during the night but the latest statement we have from the coastguard has said because they have not been able to find the boys, decision has been taken to suspend the search stop our thoughts are with the family and friends of those involved. fiona, thank you. more than 100,000 people in wales — considered the most at risk from coronavirus — can stop shielding from today. vulnerable patients had been advised to stay indoors when the pandemic took hold in march. the welsh government says the situation could change if cases begin to rise again. ashling mcveigh reports.

just over two weeks after the rest of the uk, people who are shielding in wales will no longer have to stay indoors. around 130,000 people with underlying health conditions had been advised not to leave their homes after lockdown measures were announced. the welsh government now believes that risk is much lower. at the moment, we are seeing very new few cases in wales and that means we have scope now to say to those people who have been in the most vulnerable group and who have been shielding, that they can now come out of shielding, that they can start to re—engage with society, get back, start to get back to their normal lives. as with the rest of the uk, support has been available to those who have not been able to venture out but some of it, like the direct food delivery service, will come to an end. despite that, some charities are advising patients to continue to shield. people who continue to be clinically extremely vulnerable deserve to have all the protection they can get from the government and people

who've been lucky enough to have a transplant, for the first three months afterwards, they need to continue to shield, they need to completely self—isolate, to look after that precious kidney and the chance they've been given. the welsh government acknowledges that the relaxation will be an anxious time for some people but it has reiterated this is just a pause and there may be some form of shielding in the future, if the virus increases. ashling mcveigh, bbc news. an australian endurance swimmer has completed four channel swims in 16 days. chloe mccardel is now the second on the list of the most channel swims and broke the men's record in the process. john mcmanus reports. this was a midnight swim with a difference. chloe mccardel stepped into the water near folkestone in kent at 8pm last night to start her fourth crossing of the channel in 16 days. it took her ten hours and a0 minutes, swimming through the dark and the busiest shipping lane in the world.

her safe arrival at calais just before seven this morning means miss mccardel moves to second on the list of those who have achieved the most channel swims but she's surpassed the male record holder, leaving her one place behind briton alison streeter. the australian's already been renowned for endurance swimming but this triumph was also a different kind of challenge for her. as a survivor of domestic abuse, mccardel wanted to raise awareness of those who may have suffered under lockdown. now, back on british soil, she says she's been reassured that, unlike other arrivals from across the channel, she won't have to quarantine for two weeks. john mcmanus, bbc news. that's it for now. the next news on bbc one is at 6:35pm. have a good afternoon.

you're watching the bbc news channel. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's gavin. good afternoon. we start with cricket and there's been some play... ..and more rain, on day four of the second test between england and pakistan in southampton. pakistan added just 13 quick runs this morning before losing their final wicket — all out for 236. but england have lost an early wicket of their own — rory burns out for a duck after just four balls. england were on 7—1 before the covers came on — as rain stopped play. time very much running out for both sides to try and get a result. after disappointment for manchester city in the champions league, tonight, manchester united will hope to fare better, as they play five time winners sevilla for a place in the europa league final. united have lost both their semi—finals this season — in the fa cup here and league cup — but ole gunnar solskjaer

says his team are ready for tonight's match in cologne and called for his players to deliver. when you come to a semifinal, you're playing against big teams, good teams with quality. it's time to step up for big players, big game moments. you have to have 100% focus because any little moment can change a because any little moment can change 9, because any little moment can change a game, can win you the game or lose you the game and we've learned that it's very painful to lose a semifinal. from the riches of european football to worrying times in non league football. the pandemic means clubs at the lower levels of the game have struggled with no matchday revenue from ticket sales. now, some are calling on the government to allow supporters back in time for the new season — or risk teams going out of business. patrick gearey has the details. bradford again. oh, what a goal! dig down beneath the professionals and you'll find english football's muddy soul. this is non—league, the game

at its most natural, but vulnerable. the pandemic‘s made the new season a daunting prospect. fans are set to be kept out until october — at the earliest. it's been six months since anyone stood here to watch a football match here at main road fc in manchester. and with a new season nearly upon us, there's still no date as to when fans will be allowed back in here. with no matchday income, clubs at this level simply don't know how they can restart. it will be very, very difficult because, from our perspective, that crowd gives us the income we need to cover oui’ day matchday expenses. without that, we're digging into a bank account that isn't very big. it's a problem widely shared. clubs have taken to twitter to lobby the government using the hashtag "let fans in". they say their smaller crowds makes social distancing far easier than other activities which are permitted. going to the pub, going to the beach, cricket matches, speedway — there's lots of things that are going on in this country and it's like we're being discriminated against. i can see some clubs having some

real issues and there'll be lots of clubs that will fall away. there are plans to allow fans into some sporting events as a pilot, but it's not yet clear whether that will include non—league football. the fa say they're working to get fans back as soon as is feasibly possible. the government told us they will only allow the doors to open when it is safe to do so, based on guidelines, including social distancing and transport provision. in the meantime, clubs are relying on ingenuity and generosity. bradford park avenue's adam nowa kowski has offered to play for £1 a week, in a league where £400 a week wouldn't be unusual. non—league's been great to me, i've been really fortunate, so i thought it'd be a great gesture to give something back to bradford as a club. it's like an extended family, supporters, fans — the sooner they get back to that normality, not only financially, but mentally, i think it'll be massive. adam says most players won't be able to make the same sacrifice, so if non—league's doors can't reopen soon, they may remain locked. patrick gearey, bbc news. well, there are fans in the stands at the crucible —

around 300 of them — and they could be in for a treat as snooker‘s world championship final resumes in 15 minutes, with ronnie o'sullivan on track to claim a sixth title. he leads against kyren wilson who came from 8—2 down, but missed this chance to close that gap to 9—8. nd o'sullivan took advantage. he's now 10—7 ahead. o'sullivan had voiced his concerns about crowds being back in attendance in sheffield, describing it as irresponsible! well, here's what world snooker chairman barry hearn made of those comments. we have to get the whole country back on theirfeet we have to get the whole country back on their feet or the recession that will follow if we don't get back to some type of normality will affect our children and our children's children. so let's keep it in context, this is a game of snooker, it's no more, it's no less. it's important for the sport that we have the showpiece and it's important for the players as they

99.9% understand we are doing an amazing job keeping their livelihoods going and ronnie should perhaps understand that as well. victories, defeats and extreme emotions are all part of an elite athlete s career, but for olympic hopeful kimberley woods, there've been nearly as many battles to overcome outside of her professional life. she's overcome childhood bullying and mental health issues in her ten yearjourney to team gb. bbc olympic sports reporter, nick hope, has been to meet her. throughout school i was bullied for as long as i could remember, whether it was on the shoes i wore or how i look because of being so muscular when i was littered, because of paddling and doing all kind of sports i was a bit of a tomboy and i was getting pushed around. there we re was getting pushed around. there were numerous times where i would be crying on the busjourney were numerous times where i would be crying on the bus journey home. were numerous times where i would be crying on the busjourney home. it was a lot to deal with. kimberley woods found opening up to herfamily challenging and sought emotional

support through relationships but in 2015, she found herself alone. support through relationships but in 2015, she found herself alonelj support through relationships but in 2015, she found herself alone. i had quite a lot of breakdowns in that period. it got to a point where i was just keeping period. it got to a point where i wasjust keeping going period. it got to a point where i was just keeping going through canoeing, i won the senior championship that year and away from canoeing you would think everything was going well but it really wasn't. how low were you at that point?m got to its lowest in november, when i had to have a knee operation. i was so drained from not being able to go paddling and always have that release. i was with my thoughts 20 47 and that was the worst place i could have been. it was pretty co nsta nt could have been. it was pretty constant and it was a cry for help, i guess. how important was your coach's intervention? his intervention was very important. i think i would probally say i wouldn't be going to the olympics next year without that. opening up about her problems and receiving treatment at a private mental health hospital helped her find a new way to cope. whenever i was close to

self harming, i would do is have a hairband on my wrist and would end up hairband on my wrist and would end up flicking it to almost have a bit ofa up flicking it to almost have a bit of a distraction. throughout the lockdown, i would have definitely struggled if that happened a couple of years before. it never even occurred to me, the fact i'm not going to be in a boat for a while i need to self harm because i've got this whole support group around me now. what advice would you have for any young athlete out there who are struggling? i think it's quite a normal thing now, to have mental health struggles, so just be open and communication can be the key to just being happier in general. another thing would be just fine the love in yourself, don't try and seek it from others. nick hope talking to kimberley woods there. and stand by for one of the most dramatic motorsport crashes you're likely to see. keep an eye on the middle of the screen, as a rider comes off his bike in the moto

gp2 race in austria. most managed to avoid it, but not hafizh syahrin. the bike appearing to be cut in half. here's another look. and remarkably he only suffered bruising to his pelvis. thankfully, he's ok. that really is some crash, isn't it?! good news he is all right. all‘s well that ends well. that's all the sport for now. there's build up to formula one's spanish grand prix which starts just after 2pm on the bbc sport website. lewis hamilton on pole for that. more from me later. gavin, thank you. i'm glad it had a happy ending. there were many gasps u psta i rs happy ending. there were many gasps upstairs as we were watching that. good to know that he got out safe and sound. thank you so much, gavin. let's return to our top story, the mounting confusion for school leavers after the exam again later quual withdrew its guidance on appealing a—level grades hours after

it published. the government is facing mounting criticism. one student received his grades earlier this week and he had very good grades but he is pretty unimpressed by what is happening elsewhere in the system, particularly as he had seen other students at his school in west london with the faces of disappointment as they receive their results. he has launched a judicial review which is challenging the government's system for deciding this's results. he told me what legal grounds the challenge was examining. primarily we are looking at whether or not quual is acting within its statutory abilities and creating a system that effectively grades the school rather than the student. their system is starting from looking at the school's history and then only at a much later stage adding in any evaluation of what the individual student was looking at. quual‘s statutory responsibility is to create a system or cue to systems that measure individual achievement and attainment and we don't believe

the system fairly does that. so we are addressing that issue and also addressing different issues relating to data protection and if quual has gone through the required processes necessary to make sure people's data is being protected. you're involved with the charity which works in this area of the law and does a lot on ensuring that people's digital rights or data protection rights are not eroded. what we do hope they judicial review would achieve because the process is simply getting government, if it's found to have breached the law, it has to ta ke have breached the law, it has to take the decision again, and arguably that wouldn't help students? what we are looking for at the very minimum is for the government to ensure there is a free appeal system open to any people on academic grounds. we have seen yesterday coming from the government this appeal is guidance on how all these mock appeals of this triple lock system would work. they have

now withdrawn the guidance but that guidance actually said effectively within it, we accept that centre assessed grades, teachers grades, area assessed grades, teachers grades, are a better predictor of somebody‘s final exam results than previous mock exams would be but we will only use them if they would be lower than what they mock would tell them. so they would come under the previous policy set out yesterday, they would accept a grade which was lower than the mock grade but not accept a higher one than they mock grade, which seems particularly ridiculous. it seems silly that the system trusts teachers only when it's less than the previous grade they have got. we are looking at a number of different issues around that as well but we want to make sure there is a system in place that works the students, to be able to appeal their grades based on the fact they and their teachers agree the grade they have been given is fundamentally not representative of the work they have put in and the grade they would have got. this could be an entirely

one—off issue, we hope, in terms of the pandemic and people not being able to sit exams. is your worry from what you have been through, and i know you did extremely well with your a—levels. congratulations for that because you have an achievement and you can now think about other people and how they have missed out. is there a longer, bigger issue here that should cause us to reflect on the way we evaluate people through exa m systems 7 the way we evaluate people through exam systems? because the use of algorithms is something that is becoming more and more widespread. it isa becoming more and more widespread. it is a fair question, i think it's a difficult question to answer. there are obviously plenty of far, far cleve rer there are obviously plenty of far, far cleverer people than i am who have been looking at this for a much longer time. i do think it is important that we take a look at how oui’ important that we take a look at how our examination and assessment systems work but right now, the most important thing we can possibly do is to make things right for the young people who have already been affected by this. whatever happens, there will be many people who have already received their a—level grades and have been rejected from

university and have had to go through clearing not been able to make their apprenticeship offers a whatever path they were looking to go through. so some people have already been potentially affected for the rest of their lives through this. we want to minimise that as much as possible. we can look at how things work in the future at a later stage but right now we need to focus on people who have already been hurt by this. curtis talking to me a little earlier. 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 restrictions on people entering the uk from france — with one operator, privatefly, saying bookings had trebled. earlier, i spoke to adam twidell, the chief executive of privatefly. i started by asking him if friday was a busy day. yes, it was but this is not that uncommon for 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? presumably these were people who had not expected to need your services, so a lot of them were people approaching you for the first time, presumably? we're talking about quite big sums of money for people, if they wanted to be able to get home? yeah, that has been the general trend since the start of the crisis. private aviation, as ijust mentioned, has been there before to step up when airlines have pilot strikes or the annual air traffic control strikes that we see in france, or when snow and ice closes airports, private aviation steps up and there's often new customers, new passengers using our services for the very first time. but since covid—19 had struck, this has really increased. so normally in the industry, we would see 25% new customers. that's turned on its head and now 75% or more of people

using private aviation are doing so for the very first time. ajapanese—owned tanker that ran aground on a coral reef off mauritius has split apart. the mv wakashio was carrying nearly 4,000 tonnes of fuel when it ran aground on the 25th ofjuly, causing a huge oil spill. as the ship breaks up, the remaining fuel is now spreading into the clear waters. gail maclellan reports. already, the oil has poisoned fish, birds and coral reef in the pristine water. since the end ofjuly, thousands of tonnes of thick, black, toxic liquid have spilled from the japanese—owned tanker, mv wakashio, into the sea and onto the beaches of mauritius. now, a new leak threatens more damage to the environment and to the livelihoods that depend on it, as the ship breaks in half. there is much anger. the government has been criticised for doing too little in the week after the ship ran aground. environment agencies have demanded

to know from the ship's owners why the vessel was allowed to come so close to the shore. the condition of the tanker is expected to deteriorate as the weather worsens, with waves of up to 11.5 metres expected. in recent months, the coronavirus has devastated the tourism on which mauritius relies. the oil spill is a further bitter blow which it's believed will affect the island's economy for decades. gail maclellan, bbc news. president trump has claimed that 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's 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 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. who would have that the underfunded, politically unloved mail service could become so controversial in the year 2020?

firefighters are still tackling a huge fire in the lake hughes area of california, as record high temperatures in continue to fuel wildfires. hundreds of people have been forced from their homes. a surge in household electricity consumption, as people try to keep cool, has also led to localised power cuts. 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, thought to be up to three metres long, while surfing at shelly beach in port mcquarrie in new south wales. phoebe hopson reports. it's a surfer‘s worst nightmare and it's an encounter you're lucky to survive. chantelle doyle was enjoying a day on the waves with her husband when she was attacked by a shark on shelly beach at port macquarie, new south wales. she made a lucky escape after her husband jumped off his surfboard and punched the shark repeatedly until its released its grip on her leg. he then helped her to safety. yes, she was conscious and breathing.