this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. crowd chanting in belarus, huge crowds fill the streets in one of the biggest protests yet against the president. speaking own language but alexander lukashenko remains defiant telling his supporters he won't give up his country, after a week of demonstrations against his contested re—election. the democrats are calling for top figures of the postal service to testify at emergency hearings — after allegations of widespread mail delays and potential interference by president trump.

doubts cast on afghan peace talks — after reports of a delay in releasing controversial taliban prisoners — and an attempted assasination of a prominent women's rights advocate. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk and around the world and do stay with us with the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. we start in belarus where the largest anti—government protests since last week's disputed elections, have been taking place, with further calls for alexander lukashenko to step down. but he's vowing to stay in power, claiming belarus is under threat from foreign forces. mr lukashenko is accused of rigging the vote and unleashing a violent

crackdown against demonstrators. earlier today, for the first time, there was a pro—government rally in the centre of minsk, from where our correspondent, jonah fisher now reports. chanting a week after the disputed election, belarus is voting with its feet. the centre of the capital, minsk, taken over by hundreds of thousands of people. united in their demand that alexander lu kashenka, the only president this country has ever known, step down. do you think the president is going to go peacefully? i'm not sure about it but we will not go away today, tomorrow, next week, we will stay here on the streets. i spent all my life with president lukashenka and i don't want it any more. do you think that this sort of demonstration is going to convince the president to go? yes, we believe, and that is

why we are all here. all of minsk, all of our country. belarus has never seen scenes like this before. a couple of weeks ago demonstrations were extremely rare now there are people marching as far as the eye can see through the centre of the capital, minsk. there's a real sense of change in the air. but this isn't over. earlier in the day, president lukashenka held his own rally. the mood, was rather different. just a few thousand showed up. a disappointing turnout for a man who claims to have won 80% of the vote. translation: we don't need overseas governments. we need our government, our leadership. the fate of the president is likely to rest not on the streets but in moscow.

russia sees belarus as its own back yard, and military intervention remains a real possibility. jonah fisher, bbc news, minsk. the main investigative committee of the us house of representatives has called on top figures in the postal service to testify at an emergency hearing, amid allegations of widespread mail delays and potential interference by president trump. mr trump has warned the us is not ready for a postal ballot in the november elections, even though many americans are calling for postal voting because of the pandemic. speaking a short time ago top democrat senator chuck schumer said any attempts by the president to undermine the postal service should be called out in the strongest possible terms. to slow down the mail at any time is disgraceful. to slow it down in covid is despicable, and hurts people's lives. donald trump is aimed

at hurting the elections. he wants, he has said... this man has no limits. unlimited gall. he says he wants to slow down the mail to hurt the elections and make people doubt the results of the election. maybe he's worried he's going to lose — it doesn't matter. our elections are sacred. men and women have died for them, and the right to vote. and to do this is disgraceful. we can speak to hailey fuchs who's a reporter at the new york times and is in washington. why do democrats want postal service officials to testify to congress? what is it they want to ask them and hear? i think that across the country we are seeing delays in the delivery of mail. several reporters andi delivery of mail. several reporters and i looked in six swing states across the country and found that

people are expensing deliveries delays in their medication, with primaries over the past four months they have seen issues with ballots and delivery of mail and that has become a big issue looking forward to the november 2020 election. president trump is been quite vocal in his criticism of the us postal service. and on thursday we saw him speak again about his opposition to funding the postal service as well as his opposition to mail in voting. why is the postal service so crucial this time around? i know that many states have a history of doing mail in voting but there are many states equally who don't. right in november we are going to see a record number of people voting by mail and in the pandemic, and i think it is going to be in upwards of some estimate about 70% of americans voting by mail. how

much that this story resonate with americans? to the public actually care? in my conversations and other reports conversations with people, they are worried about the delays in they are worried about the delays in the mail now and how it could impact their ballots this november. and if we do see postal officials testifying to congress, what are we expecting them to be asked?” testifying to congress, what are we expecting them to be asked? i don't think we can say right now what they will be asked but i'm sure that house democrats want to dig into why these changes are being made including the elimination of overtime as well as the removal of machines from certain facilities that have led to slow downs of delivery of mail. haley fuchs from the new york times, thank you very much. there are reports from the somali capital mogadishu that islamist militants are holding hostages inside a hotel that they have stormed. at least ten people were killed and 28 injured in the attack

on the recently built elite hotel on lido beach which is reportedly owned by an mp and is frequented by government officials. hours after the assault began with a car bomb, government soldiers were struggling to gain control of the building. while no group has claimed responsibility, the al—shabab militant group has been targeting hotels in the city, which it claims serve as government offices and military barracks. 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 intra—afghan peace talks. further doubt was cast of the negotiations process earlier after a recent attack by gunman on negotiator and prominent afghan women's rights advocate fawzia koofi.

the taliban has denied involvment in the attack. ahmed rashid is a journalist and foreign policy author focusing on afganistan, the taliban and the wider region. hejoins us from madrid thank you forjoining us. do you have hope for this peace process this time around? i think it's becoming very difficult to see how it will succeed. it has already taken several months to reach to this position whereas when after the american title band deal was signed in february, we were hoping for a meeting of the title band and the afg ha n meeting of the title band and the afghan government by march. that has not happened. this precedent issue has weighed every thing down. and now it's becoming more acute. the americans were urging the afghan government to freak these 400 extremist prisoners were one for terrorism and kidnapping and other

heinous acts. —— to free these. and clearly the americans did not confer with their nato partners and what happened was that a lot of the afg ha ns happened was that a lot of the afghans —— these terrorists were responsible for killing nato soldiers, the french government was public on this and nato governments are demanding these presidents not be freed. and that's what really made a big blow to the americans and to the afghan president. what is next step than you think in this process ? next step than you think in this process? obviously the americans are going to try to appease their nato allies it is therefore for not conferring with their nato allies but now they have to piece them in some way and allow these 400 to be free. —— their fault.

some way and allow these 400 to be free. —— theirfault. if not, the whole process will come to a grinding halt. while this is all brewing and going on, afghanistan is also battling its own battle with coronavirus outbreak as well. yes, it isa coronavirus outbreak as well. yes, it is a very chronic situation. you can imagine the medicalfacilities where supplies is the minimum. there is not an estimate as to how much of the population has got the virus. and there are of course very little ability for the government for area test —— carry out testing and put people in hospitals and there are very few hospitals who can't cope with this crisis. going back to negotiations and peace talks, how much pressure you think there will be now from the united states on afghanistan to come to the negotiating table? the government is ready to come to the negotiating

table, it has been ready for the last 6—7 months. the problem is the taliban, they keep upping the demands. at first they wanted some prisoners freed and then they wanted 10,000, and they wanted the worst of all to be freed. so the problem is the taliban and also at stake of course is a cease—fire. the president has insisted that a cease—fire take place immediately as talks start with the taliban and the government and that works very unlikely now also. —— the afghan president. ahmed rashid it is good to talk to you. thank you very much for talking to us on bbc news. thai protesters have been staging another anti—government rally in central bangkok to demand political change. as well as a revision of the constitution, the demonstrators are also calling for reform of the monarchy. it's a sensitive subject in thailand where anyone convicted of insulting the royal family can face up to 15

years in prison.