welcome to bbc news. i'm aaron safir. our top stories: chanting in belarus, huge crowds fill the streets in one of the biggest protests yet against the president. but alexander lu kashenko remains defiant, telling his supporters he won't give up his country after a week of demonstrations against his contested re—election. new zealand's general election is postponed because of a fresh outbreak of covid—19. house speaker nancy pelosi announces a vote to prevent changes in postal services ahead of the us election. and in thailand, more anti—government rallies in bangkok,

with student activists demanding political change and reforms to the monarchy. hello and welcome. in belarus, the largest anti—government protests since last week's disputed elections have been taking place with further calls for president 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 against demonstrators. it's thought as many as 100,000 people took to the streets in the centre of the capital, minsk, from wherejonah fisher has sent us this report. all chant.

a week after the disputed election, belarus is voting with its feet. the centre of the capital, minsk ta ken over by hundreds of thousands of people. united in their demand that alexander lu kashenko, the only president this country has ever known, leave office. well, i really hope that when he sees all these people, he will step down. do you really think that's likely? he's been here a long time. maybe, it's. .. i hope so. do you think this sort of demonstration is going to convince the president to go? yes, we believe. this is why we're all here. all minsk, all our country. belarus has never seen scenes like this before. a couple of weeks ago, demonstrations were extremely rare and usually brutally snuffed out by the government. 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 for now, president lukashenko clings on to power. this was his rally today in minsk. just a few thousand showed up — an embarrassing turnout for a man who claims to have won 80% of the vote. in a defiant speech, he rejected calls for new elections, telling his supporters that nato tanks were near the border. chanting "leave, leave", they chant, but exactly how that happens is far from clear. 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 sit here on the streets, and i would like to say that i was born in 1998

and i spent all my life with president lukashenko and i don't want it any more. this was a day when belarusians found their voice. all chant. "lukashenko, lock him up", they're saying here. europe's longest serving leader may have passed the point of no return. jonah fisher, bbc news, minsk. a little later we'll hear from an expert on the region on why he thinks president lukashenko won't be able to stay in power. the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi, says she's recalling the chamber later this week to vote on legislation to protect the country's postal service. in a letter, ms pelosi accused president trump of a "campaign to sabotage the election". of mail ballots may not arrive

in time to be counted in november's election. in north carolina, protesters gathered again outside the home of the head of the postal service, postmaster general louis dejoy. he's a loyal supporter of the president and a republican donor. critics blame him for a slowdown in deliveries, and say he's intentionally gutting the postal service to help president trump. earlier i spoke to steve herman, the white house bureau chief at the voice of america, and asked him if a vote on legislation would put an end to the dispute. maybe not. it really remains to be seen if there will be enough pressure put on republican senators to act on whatever the house presents to them. normally, you would be right, that something that would come from the democrat—controlled house would really not go anywhere with the republican—controlled senate. but what we do know is this

issue with the post office is affecting some rural districts where there are republican senators who are feeling vulnerable in this november's election and they're also pushing back on what the president has been saying and what the postmaster general has been doing. so it's interesting to see the post office is obviously a very important aspect of people's daily lives. it's rarely in the headlines. why has this story gained so much traction? why has it gained so much enthusiasm and alarm in the us? it's a bit of a perfect storm. because of the coronavirus pandemic, we're going to see a record number of people who are casting mail—in or absentee ballots, something the president's been talking a lot about and keeps saying absentee ballots are fine but mail—in ballots are not, where election districts mail out mass ballots to people who the president contends could be a reason for there to be fraud,

although there's no concrete evidence of that beyond a very, very tiny percentage. also this new postmaster general, who was a political appointee, a donor to donald trump, has been coming under a lot of suspicion, he's been removing sorting machines and even mailboxes in cities. he says this is all in a move to increase the efficiency of the post office, which has been losing billions and billions of dollars per year and it's really not political. democrats, of course, are not buying into that, they feel that this is just a move to throw sand in the gears of the postal service and really cause chaos about all these mail—in ballots, which conceivably would be something that would help the president. we're talking about the us postal service in the context of the election

and mail—in ballots but of course people get a lot of other stuff, people rely on the postal service for a lot of other things, medicine, social security. is there alarm around those issues, too? that's what lawmakers, including republicans, have been hearing from their constituents, that their medicines are not showing up. other pieces of mail that normally would take a couple of days to get somewhere else are now taking weeks or not been delivered at all. so it is becoming, to some degree, a bipartisan issue with the president on one side, the democrats entirely on the other side, but also now some republicans as well. somali special forces say they have ended a siege at a hotel in the capital, mogadishu, that was stormed by armed militants. reports say more than 20 people were killed when a car bomb exploded on the recently built elite hotel on lido beach, which is reportedly owned by an mp and is frequented by government officials.

according to one government source more than 200 people, including cabinet ministers and members of parliament, were evacuated from the beachside hotel. the al—shabab militant group has claimed responsibility. australia has seen its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic after the state of victoria recorded 25 deaths in 2a hours. victoria's previous daily record was 21, recorded last wednesday. there were 282 confirmed cases in the state in the past 2a hours. the total death toll from covid—19 in australia stands at 421. new zealand's general election has been postponed because of the recent outbreak of covid—19 in auckland. the poll had been due to take place in september, but the date has been pushed back by four weeks to the 17th of october. the prime minister, jacinda ardern, took the decision after consulting the other political parties.

i have sought and received advice from the electoral commission on a range of options, including retaining the current date of the 19th of september, moving the election by four weeks to the 17th of october and the final possible date the electoral commission considers the election could realistically be held, which is the 21st of november. having weighed up all these factors and taken wide soundings, i have decided on balance to move the election by four weeks to the 17th of october. at the end of last week, i was advised that this date is achievable and presents no greater risks than had we retained the status quo. i've also been advised that in moving to a 17 october election day, the commission will be able to leverage and draw much of the work already undertaken to deliver the election. so how have new zealand's other

political parties reacted to the delay? here's tvnz correspondent ryan boswell in christchurch. well, they're very pleased. national and act were pushing for the election to be delayed and evenjacinda ardern‘s coalition partner, new zealand first, wanted it pushed out too, saying that there simply wasn't enough time in midst of this pandemic to debate some of the issues that kiwis really need to get stuck into. remember, new zealand not only has an election, it's also holding referendum on euthanasia and cannabis and of course every kiwi is interested to see what direction the next government does take when it comes to tackling this pandemic. it's interesting to think that the other parties are supportive because of course jacinda ardern is broadly viewed as having handled this crisis quite well. she's on tv every day. she's got the attention of the media, notjust in new zealand. i wonder if the other parties

are struggling to make any impact during this crisis. well, it does work for the prime minister at the moment, having this covid crisis take place in the midst of an election. like you say, she does dominate the headlines, and people are watching with interest as to what the government does do moving forward, and it really does suck oxygen from the other parties and what we have seen over here is that those minor parties and even the opposition party is really struggling in the polls right now. jacinda ardern could quite comfortably govern alone with her party, labour, without any need for any other party to be part of that government. so she is sending or putting out a very commanding presence at the moment here in new zealand and many kiwis are quite happy with the direction that she's taking. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: he's not donald trump. is that all democratic challengerjoe biden

has going for him? we investigate ahead of the national convention. washington, the world's most political city, is today assessing the political health of the world's most powerful man. indeed i did have a relationship with ms lewinsky that was not appropriate. in fact, it was wrong. in south africa, 97 people have been killed today, in one of the worst days of violence between rival black groups. over the past ten days, 500 have died. czechoslovakia must be free! russia is observing a national day of mourning for the 118 submariners who died on board the kursk. we all with them now. with — in our hearts. the pope has celebrated mass before a congregation of more than 2.5 million people in his hometown of krakow. "stay with us, stay with us",

chanted this ocean of humanity. "well, well", joked the pope, "so you want me to desert rome?" this is bbc news. the main story this hour: tens of thousands of people have turned out at one of the biggest demonstrations in the history of belarus, to protest against what they see as the rigged election victory claimed by president lukashenko. let's have more on that. mitchell a. 0renstein is professor of russian and east european studies at the university of pennsylvania, says he believes president lukashenko will be unable to hang on. i simply cannot imagine how a dictator who has ruled his country so brutally over so many years can stay in power when no—one‘s any more afraid of him. as you can see in minsk today, there's hundreds of thousands

of people on the street. the regime tried to crack down and brutally beat protesters for several nights and finally had to admit that they simply didn't have the man power, the will, the ability to beat enough people to keep them off the streets and i think that's such a shocking victory for the opposition forces, i think it's the beginning of the end for lukashenko, in my view. why do you think we're seeing such big protests now? the president's been in power for nearly three decades, this is hardly the first election that's been described as rigged and not the first time people have protested. why do you think they've gained so much momentum this time round? i was thinking of this during your report, and the key thing your your viewers need to understand is that most likely lu kashenko lost this election massively. in other words, he claimed he won 80% of the vote, the reality is most likely exactly the opposite —

that 70—80% of people in the country voted for svetla na tikhanovskaya, the main opposition candidate, and lukashenko may have only received 6—10% of the vote. so when you take a country which everybody i think on the street knows that they all voted for the opposition and you come out and say to them, oh, i won 80% of the vote. it's just, it was just too much. it was too much. he could claim victory — maybe he got 45% and he could claim he got 60%, but when the proportions are like that, i think everybody on the street knows that he lost the election

and they're not going to go away, in my view. what's happened, in fact, is they've created a national movement probably for the first time in belarus. what you're seeing is the standing up of a nation, very similar to wenceslas square in 1989 in prague. something like that is, i think, a unique moment for belarus. you're a professor of russian and east european studies. the role of belarus‘ neighbour russia is going to be in the back of minds of many people out on the street. talk us through what the relationship is between those two countries and the two leaders. it's very complex. russia and belarus have played an interesting dance for a long time and lu kashenko's sort of perfected it, where russia really wants to dominate belarus. russia looks at belarus as a domestic issue. it has a customs union with belarus, and it wants belarus to no longer be a sovereign independent state. it has been pushing vocally and visibly, publicly, lukashenko, this year, to have more political integration with russia, which means a path towards basically becoming part

of russia or some type of soviet union 2.0. lu kashenko has valiantly resisted, since 1994, this type of pressure by very cleverly playing the west off against russia, tacking this way, tacking that way and he in fact has maintained belarus as a relatively independent nation which is why he's making these arguments that he thinks "l'etat c'est moi", you know, "it's me who is belarus". in other words, "without me, belarus simply won't exist, we're in threat of invasion, we're in threat of a moscow takeover, i'm the only one who can solve the situation". in the past, that argument convinced enough people but now i think the belarusian nation has defined itself that exists without lukashenko, or rather, in opposition to lukashenko. in thailand, an estimated 20,000 people havejoined a protest in bangkok calling

for sweeping political reform. the thai government has successfully contained the coronavirus, but the tourism—dependent economy was badly hit and a series of other blunders have eroded its popularity. however, it is the student movement's unprecedented call for reform of thailand's monarchy, which has stunned the country, where harsh laws criminalise any negative comment about the royal family. jonathan head reports. they haven't seen a protest this big in thailand since the military seized power six years ago. and for these youthful demonstrators, the military‘s influence is still too great. its performance in government on freedom, human rights, and in managing an ailing economy is now a burning grievance. this large gathering at the monument the military‘s influence is still too great. its performance in government on freedom, human rights, and in managing

an ailing economy is now a burning grievance. this large gathering at the monument which has always symbolised the hopes for a real democracy in thailand is the culmination of weeks of student—led protests demanding wholesale reform of the political system. but that is not all they are demanding. they are also asking for significant changes to the monarchy, an institution that is officially viewed as sacred and untouchable. and in a country where few have even dared to broach the subject before, that is revolutionary. it is almost unimaginable. only a couple years ago, saying what the youth are now demanding on stage as part of their manifesto for reforms. they seem to be

unafraid i would say. they haven't been held back by the concerns that previous generations had before, not even to talk about, not even discuss about the monarchy. complaints about the monarchy have been heard at protests in recent weeks. but it was the manifesto read out by this young woman at a university rally last monday that sent shockwaves through thailand. for the first time, it demanded an accountable monarchy. one that limited its power and its spending. the king, making a rare visit back to thailand this week from germany, where he stayed during the covid—19 crisis, has said nothing. the prime minister, while acknowledging the students‘ right to protest, said he would investigate who was behind them and punish any who had broken laws. the students, though, seem undaunted by threats of prosecution or worse. we have to try to start talking about and making it a new norm for the society that it is ok to talk about the monarchy. do you think many thai people agree with your programme? i think the silent majority itself want to talk about it, and the monarchy, because if you don't act on something or reform something, nothing will happen, and it will collapse on itself. this is a historic moment for thailand. a taboo has been broken

by a younger generation who have lost faith in the old, royalist establishment and want change. it is though hard to imagine that they will be allowed to go on saying what has always been unsayable here. the democrats will host their national convention on monday, wherejoe biden will be confirmed as the party's nominee for us president, in november's election. the event has been scaled down due to the coronavirus pandemic. mr biden knows there are some in the party less than enthusiatic about his nomination, particularly

on the left. but there is a belief his choice of running mate (ani) senator kamala harris, can help him unite the party and turn a healthy lead in the polls against donald trump, into victory. folks, thanks, i understand there are thousands of you on this zoom... campaigning, covid style. this is a socially—distanced fundraiser. but there are no phone banks, just thousands on a zoom call. and since kamala harris joined the ticket, the money's been pouring in. $48 million raised injust 48 hours. the excitement is palpable! at least i'm excited. but enthusiasm is hardly the right word. even among democratic voters, like these college kids. he's getting older. i don't think h's the strongest candidate that was out there, but he is the lesser of two evils, definitely. maybe not the most, like — the person i would want if i had any option, but, yeah, definitely the lesser of two evils. i'm voting for him, sadly. um, because at the end of the day, electoral politics is... it's basically damage control.

and these students aren't exceptional. a newly published pew research poll asked democrats why they'd be voting for biden. a staggering 56% said it was because he wasn't donald trump. the next most important was his leadership performance. just 19% said that would be the reason for backing him. butjoe biden has likeability. ask the owner of this diner in his home town of wilmington, where the biden family have been regulars for decades. i wouldn't just vote democratic, ijust... i'm on his side. you know, iagree with his policies and hopefully that's going to get us out of a big mess. for the past five months, joe biden has scarcely emerged from his basement hideaway in the house behind me. and keeping such a low profile, paradoxically, has served him well. his poll numbers keep going up. but, surely, in the next three months, he's going to have to campaign hard if he wants to win the presidency. trump campaign ads have sought

to portray the 77—year—old as a man who is losing it. i'll make sure that we are... ..in a position that... go ahead. oh, no, probably best i don't. certainly, biden is gaffe prone. if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or trump then you ain't black... and that i'm going to beatjoe biden. we hold these truths to be self—evident. all men and women created by the... you know the... you know the thing. the next vice president of the united states of america! in 2008, when a youthful barack 0bama stood with joe biden as his running mate, the optimistic and positive message was hope and "yes, we can". ready, set, go. in this strange 2020 election, not being donald trump might be

joe biden‘s biggest plus. you can reach me on twitter. plenty more on the website. hello there. we had lots of thunderstorms across england and wales on sunday, there was a slight little snippet there are catches you out but it's not every day you but i am on see one of these. yes, a waterspout that formed out in the bristol channel, and this was seen by a number of our weather watchers, actually, from north somerset. it was also spotted around the newport area of south wales as well. that was all associated with this low pressure across northern france. we can see an occlusion. this band of cloud that brought some thunderstorms across eastern england, they were torrential. 28 mm of rain on sunday fell in bedford. looking at the weather at the moment, this system, essentially, is going to split into two bits, with this branch not really making much progress further north. that means the rain will continue to affect greater manchester, lancashire,

merseyside along with wales for a time before easing later in the night. it won't really push that much farther north. that means the far north of england, northern ireland and scotland stay largely dry over the next few hours, but with low cloud. there'll be some mist and fog patches, and maybe a little bit of drizzle around some of the eastern coasts in scotland as well. for the rest of monday, the low pressure will continue to move its way in, and that will bring showers. this time, showers will be affecting scotland and northern ireland through the afternoon, but further south across england and wales the day's heaviest showers are most likely to be. 20—30mm in the space of an hour. again, enough to cause some localised flash flooding. in between those showers in the sunshine, still feeling warm, still a little on the humid side. but we're not finished with the showery story just there, because tuesday will be another showery day. this time, the heaviest showers look more set to go in across northern england and scotland. lots of thunder and lightning, a bit of hail mixed in with some of these. fewer showers in the south. still one or two fairly pokey ones as we go into the afternoon.

beyond that, we see some changes in the weather. this area of low pressure, slow—moving, will be with us for much of the rest of the week with fresher air following this cold front through. it means on wednesday, many of us start off on a dry note, but the cloud and rain will spread in across northern ireland, england and wales. eventually, it will turn a fair bit windier across the south—west. gusts of around 30—110 miles an hour, all the while staying largely dry in scotland through the afternoon with sunshine. fresher air then arrives from thursday onwards, but not an end to the wet story. unsettled with rain or showers to take us into next weekend.

this is bbc news, the headlines: an enormous crowd of opponents of the belarusian president, alexander lu kashenko, has gathered in minsk to demand his resignation. it comes amid growing anger over alleged poll—rigging, and police violence at subsequent protests. but the president has vowed to stay in power, claiming belarus is under threat from foreign forces. the speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi, has said that she will recall the chamber later this week to vote on legislation to protect the postal service. democrats have accused president trump of trying to hamstring the cash—strapped postal service to suppress postal voting in november's election. new zealand's prime minister has announced that general elections due to take place in mid—september have been postponed because of a fresh covid—19 outbreak. jacinda ardern said date has been pushed back to october the 17th.