this is bbc news. the headlines at five. as students protest against the downgrading of a—level results in england, more confusion as the exam regulator withdraws its guidance on appealing against grades just hours after publishing it. the common thing is anger. a lot of people are really sad and the stress, it is a really stressful time. like, yourfuture is uncertain. i think the general attitude is, people want change. people want the government to be held accountable. it's about time that boris johnson takes personal responsibility for this and stops making it up as he goes along, because it's far too serious for that, and i think in the next 24 hours he's got to come and explain to students, parents and teachers, how he will address this historic injustice. the search for two teenage brothers who went missing in the sea near lytham st annes in lancashire is called off by the coastguard. a huge crowd of opposition supporters gathers in the centre

of the belarussian capital minsk to protest last weekend's disputed election. and world champion lewis hamilton sweeps to victory in the spanish grand prix and extends his lead in the drivers‘ championship. and coming up, philippa thomas hears from people around the world about their extraordinary experiences during the pandemic and how covid—19 has changed their lives. there's more uncertainty and confusion for hundreds of thousands of a—level and gcse students today. 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—levels. here's our political correspondent peter saull. in ordinary times, they'd know what their 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, but just hours later, the document disappeared. in a statement, the regulator said... "earlier today we published information about mock exam results in appeals. this policy is being reviewed by the quual board and further information will be published

in due course." 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 is simple, people understand it. there's 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, yes, no situation would be ideal, whenever you're predicting grades, there are going to be some concerns but they failed to learn the lessons from scotland, they've failed to get a grip on what's going to happen with the a—levels. 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. i mean, 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 who 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 this storm is far from over. hundreds of thousands of gcse students will get their results on thursday. peter saull, bbc news. more than 250 a—level students have gathered in westminster for a protest against the downgrading of thousands of results. many chanted "trust teachers, not tories”'and carried signs calling for the education secretary gavin williamson to resign over the grading system.

the common theme is anger. a lot of people are really sad, and the stress...it‘s very stressful time. like, yourfuture is uncertain. i think the general attitude is, people want change. people want the government to be held accountable for the complete lack of fairness that for five months, they knew this would happen, and that gavin williamson has just completely ignored the needs of young people. i was predicted aaa and i got given bcc, and ijust think it's unfair that we got given these grades even though we didn't actually sit the exams in the first place. my centre assessed grades were a‘a‘a and the grades i received was a‘a‘b from the algorithm, and because of that, i missed out on my aaa offer for history and politics. i got a b in politics and now i can't go to university as a result. i don't really know what to do. the only thing i have left to do is wait for the government to reveal a fair appeals process because even what they published yesterday and what they have withdrawn wouldn't have helped me. well, labour's deputy leader angela rayner has called for the prime minister to hold a press conference on the a—level situation in the next 2a hours.

it is completely and utterly shameful that the government have done what they've done. they've had months to sort out the exam situation. they've devastated the lives of young people with what's happened, where some have had their life chances literally pulled from under their feet through no fault of their own, and it's about time that boris johnson takes personal responsibility for this and stops making it up as he goes along, cos it's far too serious for that, and i think in the next 2a hours he's got to come and explain to students, parents and teachers how he will address this historic injustice and fix the mess, quite frankly, that his government's created. we can speak now to ani magill, the ceo of xavier catholic education trust, which is made up of 15 schools in surrey, three of which are seconday comprehensive schools. how different were your awarded grades to your predicted grades? they were down overall about 20%.

what i think the government needs to remember, that at the centre of this are actual children. these are stu d e nts of are actual children. these are students of the students that did not get to sit the exams that they had worked so hard for, and they didn't get to take part in all those events that mark the end of their school life, like their prom and saying goodbye to their friends and everything. but it's really not good enough to say, well, it's ok because lots of people are going to university. if you have worked really ha rd on university. if you have worked really hard on your teacher tells you you're going to get three a grades and you open up a bit of paper and the formula says you have got three bs instead, or even worse, you were meant to get to three ds and the formula says that you failed and the formula says that you failed an exam you didn't even sit, we all remember our a—level results forever. i think we need to treat these children properly and give them the grades they deserve. at the

moment, it'sjust such them the grades they deserve. at the moment, it's just such a shambles, isn't it? i call on the government to do the right thing. where a school's central assessment grades is broadly in line with previous performance, award them the grades. if there is a big discrepancy, they can ask for more information. do you understand why the algorithm why it would have marked down your education trust based on historical exa m results ? education trust based on historical exam results? yes, i do. can you just explain it for our viewers? because that is key. i think a lot of people are not clear about why the algorithm is designed in that way. 0k, the algorithm is designed in that way. ok, so what happened is, if you have got small a—level groups which a lot of private schools have, and a lot of small sixth forms have, then the centre assessment grades were awarded because statistically it would not have been fair to use the algorithm. if you are a new school and you have the first sixth form,

you have no history so for those schools, the centre assessment grades have been awarded. then in order to keep the normal distribution curve, that means that the rest of us have had our grade downgraded in order to maintain the numbers across the whole system and thatis numbers across the whole system and that is why it is unfair. and some would say that that is actually cementing structural inequality in an institution. all this idea about social mobility or educational mobility through academic attainment, it's questionable like that. on the point of grade inflation, though, do you accept that quual has responsibility as a government body, an independent body, in fact, to stop grade inflation? if you look at the scottish model, their highest pass rate was 89% this year as opposed to 7996 rate was 89% this year as opposed to 79% last year. —— the pass rate for

the hires. is that an acceptable outcome? then you mustn't take the sledgehammer to crack the nut. there are only 5000 secondary schools. how difficult is it just are only 5000 secondary schools. how difficult is itjust to look at are only 5000 secondary schools. how difficult is it just to look at the centre assessed grades, look at the school's history, and the great majority of them will be aligned. and if they're different, do the investigation with those schools, don't punish all of the students across the country. 40% of all the grades went down. so teachers predictions, is that the sensible, simplest way forward ? predictions, is that the sensible, simplest way forward? yes, except if there is a huge disparity. and then quual need to do a bit more digging. if there is a huge disparity between the grades that the centre assessed grades, and the school's history, they should do more digging. that is for a very small minority of schools. and for the rest of us, give the students the rest of us, give the students the grades that they deserve. and the grades that they deserve. and the grades that should have. thank you very much for speaking to us.

what did you say? can ijust say something else? there is a wider issue here. the reality is, in two weeks' time, we are preparing to have all of the students back, teachers and support staff have worked so hard on keeping schools open throughout covid. and now we have got 82 different sets of guidance and we are trying to do the right thing for children. so we need a leadership that we can believe in and the heads have lost confidence in the current leadership. and we have gcse results as well this thursday so it's only going to get more completed. thank you very much indeed. thank you. a search for two teenagers missing off the lancashire coast since saturday night has been called off. the coastguard, rnli and police were called after reports of three youths in difficultyjust before seven o'clock last night. a 15—year—old boy managed to swim to safety. our correspondent fiona trott is in lytham st annes. i asked her why the

search was called off. well, the coast guard is coordinating this operation. they took that decision one hour ago. what we have heard over the past hour is that the police have confirmed the names of the boys that everybody was searching for overnight. 18—year—old muhammad shabir and his brother, 16—year—old ali shabir. they are from dewsbury in west yorkshire and we understand that they were here with their family at lytham st annes yesterday enjoying the good weather. we understand that they got into difficulty in the sea. a 15—year—old boy who was with them managed to swim to shore. he's in hospital at the moment being treated for hypothermia, but there has been a massive search. overnight, there were five volunteer lifeboats, the coast guard had the helicopter out, then this morning three more lifeboats were out,

a fixed—wing aircraft by the coast guard, police, helicopter too and of course don't forget you will have all the patrols on the ground as well, police patrols, coast guard patrols too but the very latest statement we have from the coast guard says this — following a comprehensive search effort made by all, sadly the brothers have not been found and a decision has been taken to suspend the search. our thoughts are with the family and friends of those involved. four young men have died after a car crashed into a house on the a4 in wiltshire in the early hours of this morning. wiltshire police said the collision took place on the a4 in derry hill, near calne, at 3am, when a vehicle crashed into the side of the house and caught fire, killing all four of the ca r‘s occupants. a record number of people have crossed the english channel to reach

the uk in the month of august. it's confirmed that 65 people reached the uk yesterday in five boats crossing the channel. it brings the total number of migrants reaching the uk this month to 1,120. channel authorities say the crossings are illegally facilitated by criminals who are making money exploiting people desperate to come to the uk. they say they're working as a matter of urgency to resolve it. huge crowds are on the streets of belarus in the biggest protest yet against president alexander lukashenko. but he has again defied calls to quit, claiming the nation is under threat from foreign forces. tens of thousands of opposition supporters have joined a "march for freedom", moving through central minsk and chanting that the president should go. meanwhile, in an address to a smaller crowd of several thousand, mr lukashenko called on supporters to defend their country and independence.

mr lukashenko says he's worried about nato military exercises being carried out in poland and lithuania, and has reached a security agreement with russia. many in belarus see this as a threat to shut down the protests by force with help from president putin. the bbc‘s abdujalil abdurasulov is in minsk. i'm at the main square in the capital minsk. this is a rally in support of president lukashenko. people are coming here bringing flags, the nationalflags of belarus, and gathering in front of the main stage over there where you can hear the music is playing, and we have been hearing reports that a number of state employees were forced to come and attend this meeting. we try to speak to some of the protesters here but most of them refused to talk to us and turned away. and this is the opposition rally which is taking placejust a couple of kilometres away from the pro—government demonstration. people are chanting here, "leave, leave to mr lukashenko." they're saying that

after the violence that authorities used to disperse the crowds on the streets, he can no longer be their president. they demand a rerun of the vote because the elections, they're saying were rigged, and and their votes were stolen. these people are ready to come out onto the streets every day until their demands are met. security officials in somalia say at least five people have been killed after gunmen stormed a hotel in mogadishu. local reports say the gunmen targeted one of the biggest hotels in the capital located in the lido beach area. no group has yet said it carried out the attack, but the al—shabab militant group has targeted at least half a dozen hotels in the city in the past few years. the headlines on bbc news. anger and confusion for thousands of a—level and gcse students in england, as the exam regulator withdraws its guidance on appealing against grades — hours after publishing it. the search for two teenage brothers

who went missing in the sea near lytham st annes in lancashire is called off by the coastguard. an enormous crowd of opposition supporters gathers in the centre of the belarussian capital minsk — to protest last weekend's disputed election. the number of new coronavirus cases in the uk has risen by 1,040 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. meanwhile, the trend in the number of daily deaths in the uk has slowed down. in the same 2a hour period a further five people with the virus died, taking the total number of deaths to 41,366. these figures were counted using the governments new methodology

to record coronavirus deaths. the department of health and social care has neither confirmed nor denied reports that there's to be a shake—up of public health england. the sunday telegraph reports today that the organisation's pandemic response work was to be merged with nhs test and trace, into a new body called the institute for health protection. the department of health says it's important to "learn the right lessons" from coronavirus for the future. earlier i spoke to professorjohn ashton, who is a former regional director of public health in the north west of england. i asked him if he thinks public health england has been a failure. i think the fact that public health england is in the line of fire is no surprise to those of us who are familiar with this territory.

i mean, we were very excited when it was created in 2013 but it has not lived up to its promise. it has made a whole series of bad mistakes over the last seven years, and it really has had a very poor pandemic, but it's not alone in that. and, you know, we're seeing now the scapegoating of all sorts of organisations. you know, you don't deal with the problem of than overcentralised, dysfunctional organisation by creating another overcentralised, dysfunctional organisation, which is what's being proposed. so the real problem over the last few months has been the weakness of local public health and the way in which public health england has centralised that. the private sector through deloitte and serco hasn't done well either, and what we're seeing is a government which is trying to do more centralisation again with folks that don't have a health background

from what one hears. you don't change horses in midstream and this pandemic and still got a long way to run. what we need is reform and strengthening of public health in england. we need a national public health agency, but it needs to have people there who've really done the job before in a practical hands—on way at a local level. sources in the afghan government say the release of some of the most controversial taliban prisoners is being delayed because of objections from foreign governments and from within kabul. last weekend, a grand council approved the release of 400 remaining detainees, demanded by the taliban as a pre—condition to the start of peace talks. further doubt was cast of the negotiations process earlier after a recent attack by gunman on a negotiator and prominent afghan women's rights advocate fawzia koofi. the taliban has denied

involvment in the attack. 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 1,000%, died in hospital in new york. president trump visited him on friday. on twitter, tributes have been paid. president trump's daughter ivanka said "we will always love you and you are in our hearts and prayers". the former mayor of new york rudy giuliani says "robert trump did a lot to help new yorkers in need and we have lost a really good man." and sends his condolences to the trump family. two of the uk's biggest fitness chains say opening pubs before gyms in scotland was unfair, unscientific and bad for the nation's health.

the scottish government says fitness centres may be able to reopen on september 14th but the big firms say there's no reason to wait so long and many small gym owners are struggling to keep their businesses alive. our correspondent james cook reports. 2020 has been a year of trauma and turbulence. it has forced us to find new ways to keep fit and stay sane, to leave the stress of the pandemic behind. i had to find a way to combat the lockdown eating. i was quite determined that i wasn't going to go backwards having done quite well at the beginning of the year. so this was a great way to be able to do it. i used to go to the gym before lockdown and you're kind of looking for different things to do. someone suggested swimming in the loch. first of all, you think that is a bit of a mad idea, but then you give it a go and it is fantastic. but not everyone has the luxury of swimming in the great outdoors. this gym in north glasgow

specialises in mixed martial arts. they have been shut since spring. we have taken away all the lockers... and they are working hard to make it safe to open up again. it is heartbreaking. my wife and i, who are business partners, we are devastated. and everyone in our community is devastated. we feel like we have been overlooked in comparison to other sectors. what effect has it had on the community? physical and mental health go hand in hand and it is such a crucial thing, particularly for deprived areas, like maryhill for example, who have crime rate, high mental health issues and it is a really impoverished area. to have that part of the community ripped out here is a difficult thing. for now, david is holding small training sessions in a park. he wonders why bar staff can go to work but not fitness instructors.

and he's not the only one. our swiss businees opened in the middle of may and our danish business in early june. we have had four million visits to our gyms across those two businesses without a single incident of a transmission or infection taking place. so it is surprising that scotland is leaving gyms so long, two months after pubs and restaurants. at the david lloyd chain, they are also raring to go. the firm runs 123 fitness clubs in the uk and abroad. all are open, apart from the eight scotland. are you disappointed that it is taking so long to reopen in scotland? absolutely. we are devastated, to be honest, and i think what is more frustrating for myself is i have seen it be so successful in seven other countries that we operate in and we are doing it safely, the members are exercising, they are loving it. and yet we are still sitting here in scotland just waiting to be part of the solution. here they are aiming to reopen as soon as they are allowed —

probably on september 14th. but other gyms have closed, jobs have gone and the battle against obesity has been set back. in more ways than one, the virus has hit the nation's health hard. 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.

aisling mcveigh, bbc news. popstar taylor swift has been on five sell—out world tours. but it seems of all the places she's visited, she was particularly taken by one of britain's tourist hotspots — the lake district. her new album, folklore, features a song dedicated to the area. ian haslam has been to find out why. # now take me to the lakes where all the # poets went to die. # i don't belong. it is an unexpected tribute to an area taylor swift has apparently visited. among those to get a mention, one of the lakes' famous 19th century poets. # tell me what are my words worth. and this is william wordsworth‘s former home. i think we can make a connection between wordsworth and taylor. taylor is only 30, you can imagine wordsworth at the same age as taylor. she is trying out new things, she is finding a new style in her new album and she has been inspired by the lake poets as well. a lot of people will say this is quite a nice place

and she was writing about it as a place where poets came to die, it's a place to come and cry, which isjust a different interpretation, i guess. well, it's not true, is it? no, i don't think so. it's a tourist area. # i knew you were trouble when you walked in. # shame on me. we know all about wordsworth, here is some of taylor swift's lyrical work. "heartbreakers gonna break, break, break and the fakers "gonna fake, fake, fake. "baby, i'm just gonna shake shake, shake, shake, shake. "shake it off." what do you think? it's got some good rhymes in it. one of wordsworth‘s big things was that he wanted to speak in the language used by the everyday people. so he might admire taylor swift in her ability to write in the language used by everyday people nowadays. you can't expect to wander lonely as a cloud in the lakes on days like this, but that you might get asked about taylor swift's

musical tributes. they are quite opposite things, aren't they? yeah, i wouldn't expect it. perhaps she is tapping into the whole staycation thing that's going on at the moment. we're from london. this is the first time we have been here because it's difficult to travel abroad at the moment. i thought you were going to say purely because of taylor swift's song. well, that too. big fan. she is inspired, we are all inspired when we visit the lake district and cumbria and it's great that she's an american artist and she is selling the lake district and cumbria to the american audience. i could be wrong, but it's my guess that taylor swift probably watches this very programme. if she is watching, what is your message to her? taylor, you will be really welcome to come back, you can help us create some fantastic content that we can get out there to the us audience and invite lots of your fellow country people to come and enjoy the lake district as well. chuck in a couple of i heart lake district t—shirts, she'll be down here in a flash. let's hope so. ian haslam, bbc news,

grasmere in the lake district. we'll keep you posted! lewis hamilton has won the spanish grand prix for the fourth consecutive year. he finished over 24 seconds ahead of red bull's max verstappen in second and mercedes‘ team mate valteri bottas, in third. hamilton is now 37 points clear in the drivers‘ championship. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with tomasz schafernaker. well, downpours for some of us again today, there is bound to be some thunder and lightning as well. but for some other parts of the country, just another cloudy, sort of murky, drizzly day, bit like in the last couple of days and you can see just how much cloud there is across the uk. also a lot cloudier in the north—west of the country compared to what we had yesterday. western scotland is not doing so bad, some sunshine there in the western isles. these are the early evening temperatures, around 23 in london, pleasant enough, but fairly cool air on the north sea coast. here are the storms moving across the south to the north