hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. the president of belarus says he's willing to offer new elections the uk government makes an embarassing u—turn on exam results —— pupils will now get the grades given to them by their school or college. and in the us, democrats prepare to anoint presidential nomineejoe biden at a virtual national conference

welcome. the president of belarus has discussed holding fresh elections — eventually — as pressure mounts on the country's leadership. these are some pictures of protests from minsk earlier today. the protests began more than a week ago, over claims the election had been rigged, and have gathered pace despite mass arrests. president alexander lu kashenka has ruled the country since 1994, and according to the official result won the presidential election with eighty percent of the vote. until now he's held firm on the poll, even earlier today telling factory workers: "we held the election. until you kill me, there will be no other election". but he was jeered and heckled — here's what happened. here's more from the bbc‘s

sarah rainsford in moscow. i think there were scenes a public in radiation are very difficult for anyone to survive but belarus is an authoritarian state so as not normal in that sense so perhaps mr lukashenko can find some way to cling on and as those jeers and heckling were coming from the cloud, heckling were coming from the cloud, he stood there firmly, responded to the crowd. it was quite... fascinating psychological study of a man who must never have encountered this before in his 26 years of the presidency, but certainly, with every passing day, the number of groups, the companies, the different sectors of society who are now coming out and openly voicing their criticism of alexander lukashenko, the calls for him to go and their support for new elections, that crowd, that momentum is building all the time and it is very difficult seeing that tide turning out —— to seeing that tide turning out —— to see that tide turning now.

workers at state—run factories walked off the job last week, and the strikes have continued. this is what was broadcast on a state tv breakfast show after several presenters and staff resigned. as you can see the sofas are empty and there is music playing in the background. here's what one cooking show presenter said about resigning — she's already had to flee to ukraine. translation: they tried to frighten people but people got angry instead. and now it's impossible to stop things. no one will ever forget what they did. it's a point of no return. they will never forget this. the main opposition candidate in the election, svetla na ti kha novs kaya, who also fled the country last week, released this video today. translation: i'm prepared to take responsibility and ask —— act as the nations leader during this period so the country can settle down and get back to normality so we can release all political prisoners and prepare a

legal framework and conditions to hold a new round of presidential elections quickly. genuine, fair, and transparent elections that will be accepted without question by the international community. that id demands. —— that is the demands. it's not yet clear what will happen next. mr lukashenka says there will have to be a referendum on consitutional changes before there could be a new presidential poll. here's how one protester reacted to the news. actually... i don't believe it. he has previously said many times he won't let go of his power. and i think this isjust, i don't know, like a diversion tactic to gain time because this is going to be like more, he will have more time organising the referendums so maybe more people will be arrested, detained, beaten up and maybe more people will decide to stay inside and not

to go out and protest. what about the international reaction? eu leaders will be holding an emergency video summit on wednesday, after ministers agreed to place more sanctions on belarus last week. here's the chairman of the polish parliamentary foreign affairs committee. the problem, the real problem right now is that mr lukashenko is ready to discuss the future of his country with mr putin. and he has done it twice in the last two days but as long as we don't see any sign of willingness to find a common ground with protesters, in part with the emerging of civil society in belarus, we have every reason to be pessimistic. so what is not yet clear is how

how russia will react to the events in belarus — and remember russia has previously intervened militarily in the region. the russian president vladimir putin and mr lukashenko spoke over the phone on sunday — and here's the statement issued by the kremlin. it says: "the russian side reaffirmed its readiness to render the necessary assistance to resolve the challenges facing belarus based on the principles of the treaty on the creation of a union state". here's the james nixey, the director of the think tank chatham house's russia—eurasia and europe programmes. the least likely option here is that russia will do nothing. slightly less likely but still a possibility is that russia will intervene with muscularity militarily as it did in ukraine and in georgia in 2008 and 2014. i think more likely is that although lukashenko as you inferred is not a particularly popular person in the kremlin, he is nonetheless still an ally, he is anti—west and that counts a lot for vladimir putin. so it is most likely that russia

will try to intervene in these more underhand ways, so—called hybrid warfare whereby they try to undermine the opposition or maybe they try to get their way with the new people in power in fact. a little earlier i spoke with bbc russian‘s yuri vendik about what might happen next. i hear is all sorts of various comments and forecasts as to what russia might do and one of them you have just heard. well, russia might do and one of them you havejust heard. well, some people do argue, some hope, some fear that russia might help lukashenko to stay in power, even physically intervening in belarus, even by helping police or military force. but then many people argue that that would be extremely unwise of putin to intervene physically for many reasons, one of them is whoever

succeeds lukashenko, reasons, one of them is whoever succeeds lu kashenko, that reasons, one of them is whoever succeeds lukashenko, that person by no means will be anti—russian or pro—european for that matter because none of the candidates are, none of the leading politicians of the opposition, if there is any organised opposition, have made any anti—russian statements or gestures because the two countries and the two people are as close as it gets and, asi two people are as close as it gets and, as i say, however, as they say, succeeds lukashenko, and, as i say, however, as they say, succeeds lu kashenko, will and, as i say, however, as they say, succeeds lukashenko, will be pro—russian dolls up and it depends on the belarussian economy, the belarussian economy on the belarussian economy, the bela russian economy —— on the belarussian economy, the belarussian economy —— will be pro—russian. the bela russian belarussian economy —— will be pro—russian. the belarussian economy depends on the russian economy. they fear it would be unwise for britain, in principle, does not want any new colour revolutions on his birders and that is why he will be rather —— on his borders. let's come to the uk

now. thousands of students in england will be given their predicted grades for a—level after an embarrassing u—turn by the british government a few hours ago. the decision — which came hot on the heels of similar moves in wales and northern ireland — overturns last week's results which were calculated by an algorithm. the actual exams had to be cancelled during the coronavirus pandemic. here's the education secretary of course, incredibly sorry for all those students who have been through this. when we came up with the system, which was broadly supported across the spectrum, of calculated grades, what we were doing was to ensure that we have the fairest possible system making sure that we look after the interests of all students. but when it became apparent that there were unfairnesses within the system, it was the right thing to act. this is a huge u—turn for the government — and for the education secretary. just on saturday he gave an interview to the times

criticising scotland's government for switching to teacher assessments. he said in england there would be "no u—turn, no change". "this is it" he said. well, it clearly wasn't. the opposition labour party had this to say. this should've been thought through from the start. this problem has been there for months and the government has not sorted it out. it came to the wrong decision last week, refuse to change his mind week, refused to change its mind until today and now there's a huge lot of unraveling that must be done. but do not underestimate the stress and anger at this has caused thousands of young people who have seen their futures all over the place over the last few days. the algorithm used by the government sought to "standardise" the predictions schools had made for their pupils. many students had their university places withdrawn after the system gave them a lower result than expected. today's decision has met with a variety of responses from the teenagers affected. so happy for my future, my peers and my college, everybody else affected.

everybody else has been heard finally. unfortunately, i cannot go to queen mary because the course is fulland i had no chance after being given a grade d in chemistry. if we get given our teacher's assessment grades, i think this will give more assurance to many students in this position. but personally, for me, it is still a bit of a roller—coaster. our education editor branwen jefferies says students and universities are in for a bumpy few weeks as they try to figure out a way through all the turmoil. around 70% of students following the results they got last week, have been accepted onto the first choice places. but of course, that leaves 30% who have not. so what should they do? well, they are being advised to speak to their teachers, their parents, to consider their options. do they accept a second choice that they have already made? do they try to go back

to their first choice to fight for a place? in england, the numbers in university had been limited by the government to only a 5% increase this year. today, gavin williamson has lifted that cap on numbers. in theory, this allows universities to take many more students, but of course there are other considerations. we are going into a university term where universities will have to be covid—secure. they are thinking very carefully about how many they can fit into seminar rooms or lecture theatres. many lectures, of course, have moved online. but one thing that has not is student accommodation and there, again, they have limits on the numbers they are putting into their accommodation. often a key part of the experience of going away from home for the first time is being alongside other first—year students. it is not clear how they are going to manage those difficulties. the change of policy at westminster

came after ministers found themselves under increasing pressure from fellow politicians and the public. the decision makes england the last part of the united kingdom to rethink the way grades are decided. the welsh government announced this afternoon that both a level and gcse students will now be awarded the grades predicted by their teachers. northern ireland earlier confirmed this would apply to all gcse results on thursday. and scotland announced their decision last week that exam results would be based on teacher assessments and not the ill—fated algorithm. earlier i spoke to nick eardley in westminster. there have been a number of things that have happened over the last few months as a result of a pandemic that have been hard for the government, frankly. they had to act quickly to try and resolve. this is not one of them, we have known since march that exams were not going to happen in the government would have to come up with a new system to replace it. now, the argument that

the education secretary, gavin williamson, is making today as it was only the weekend that the extent of the problems became clear. he got an external advisers, spoke to quual and they realise there were too many anomalies, too many kids who were not getting the results they deserved. however, it has been warned about for months. there have been tory mps who have been warning for several months now that there could be a problem. there was the example in scotland last week where we saw the government forced into a dramatic u—turn after criticism from teachers, parents, and peoples. and it did take gavin williamson at the best pa rt it did take gavin williamson at the best part of a week to decide that this was going to be the cause of action —— and pupils. there are many pa rents, action —— and pupils. there are many parents, teachers and pupils in that time who would have been because a great deal of stroke stress —— distress. many mps are questioning how much longer mr williamson can

see in hisjob least an eight we have finally some clarity for those people who are hoping to go to university. nick with the latest on westminster there. stay with us on outside source — still to come. we'll look ahead to the beginning of the us democratic national convention — where the democrats will firmly selectjoe biden as their presidential challenger. across the world the number of new coronavirus infections continue to soar. the us and india are among the worst affected countries — recording tens of thousands of deaths. here's fergus walsh. there are now more than 21 million confirmed coronavirus cases around the world. that figure is rising by more than 250,000 new cases every day. the global death toll now exceeds 750,000. in the past 2a hours, the world health organization recorded nearly 6000 deaths linked to covid—i9.

a grim statistic, and yet it is less than one quarter of the daily deaths globally from cancer. worldwide, nearly 10 million people a year die from cancer. the number of new covid infections in the four worst affected countries, the us, brazil, mexico and india is trending upwards, and the death toll is rising, too. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is... the president of belarus has said the country could hold fresh elections, but he was heckled as he made his speech. let's look at some of the day's other news the israeli president has invited the crown prince of the united arab emirates to visit israel, following an agreement to normalise relations between the two countries. in another development, israel's prime minister, said his administration is working

on establishing regular flights to abu dhabi, via saudi arabian airspace, which is normally closed to israeli airliners. the spanish royal family has confirmed that the former king, juan carlos, has been in the united arab emirates since leaving spain earlier this month. he left amid a financial scandal, saying he didn't want to undermine his son, king felipe. juan carlos has been linked to alleged corruption involving a high—speed rail contract in saudi arabia. japan's economy has suffered its most severe contraction in modern history because of the pandemic. in the second quarter of this year, japan's gdp shrank by nearly 8%. that's more than 27% on an annualised basis. the world's third—biggest economy was already struggling with slow growth before the pandemic. tonight will be the first night of the us democratic national convention, kicking off four days of speeches, receptions and rallies leading up to the main moment,

announcing the presidential nominee, joe biden. of course, this year, things are going to look a bit different. officially, it's being held in a convention centre in milwaukee, but concerns over covid—i9 mean only people orchestrating the event will be there. instead, it will be aired on news channels and streamed on social media. not even the presumptive democratic candidatejoe biden will be there. he will be dialling in from his home state of delaware, and he will deliver his speech from the chase center in wilmington. as well as former presidents and other dignatories, the line—up of speakers includes educators, gun safety advocates, health care workers , and even some former republicans. our reporter nada tawfik has more. tens of thousands of people should have been descending on milwaukee to mark the start of the democrat's general election campaign. instead, the party will be holding an unconventional convention because of health concerns surrounding the pandemic. this is what it should look like.

but the normallyjam—packed arenas will be replaced by two hours of virtual programming each night. over the four days, speakers will include party heavyweights such as the obamas and clintons and a mix of moderates, progressive stars such as bernie sanders and alexandria ocasio—cortez. heading into the convention, this pollster says the biden—harris ticket is in a good position, leading by a comfortable margin. conventions really don't play a large role in the election anyway, so it's not going to really matter. in fact, it could just help it further. what we've seen is him staying in place, staying in the shadows, letting president trump, you know, fall over his own rhetoric and his own handling of the pandemic and the protests and the economy. that has worked for biden really well in the past couple of months and we see that in the polls. his low—profile campaign dubbed invisible by the republicans, has certainly helped him control his image, avoiding the rigours of the campaign trail and grabbing attention at key moments. there is nothing ordinary about this election season. the typical issues that preoccupy

campaigns have been overshadowed by the unprecedented challenges facing economic and social well—being of americans and that means inevitably the incumbent president trump will ultimately face more scrutiny than his challengerjoe biden. nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. joe biden and his running mate, kamala harris are leading president trump and mike pence in the polls, but by how much — in the polls, but by how much is up for debate. a joint abc — washington post poll hasjoe biden ahead by 53% to 41% among registered voters. however a cnn poll says that 50% of registered voters will back joe biden and 46% will support donald trump. i've been speaking to julia manchesterfrom the hill news website to find out what the democrats are hoping to achieve with this convention. we will definitely be hoping to rev up we will definitely be hoping to rev up their base while at the same time

trying to follow the social distancing and public health guidelines that have been put in place during the pandemic —— they will be. there is a risk that the democrats are making by making this mostly virtual and pass conventions you have seen people crowding on at the convention floor. it is essentially a big party, there are balloons, all the dressings, etc. this unit is just going to be virtually streamed speeches and maybe some live performances that make this year. but democrats are looking to put out a message that the biden campaign has been pushing very well right now that they are trying to set an example for the proper administration to the american people that they want to follow public health guidelines in an effort to stop this coronavirus is played. even if that means paring back the convention. that is interesting. we want to talk about the pollen, we do not talk about it too much here and you're welcome to tell us to forget the polls because it is too far away or whatever, but how do you think that or candidates

are standing? -- polling full stop biden is leading trump by quite a large margin. if you look at a number ofa large margin. if you look at a number of a swing state polls, states like florida, arizona, michigan, pennsylvania, you see biden leading trump by quite a bit. also they read a state of texas which are the republicans have been successfully to control very well, biden is leading there. you have seen the trump campaign clearly notice about this because they have wrapped up their advertising in those states making florida —— revved up. pulling is one thing, but i think it is important that we pay attention these swing states that really give us a bit of a closer look —— polling is one thing that give us a closer look on the ground. the election is still over two months away, the 3rd of november, but there are major concerns about how many people will be able to vote by mail. president trump has repeatedly

said mail—in ballots will lead to voting fraud, something experts say is not the case. here is the president speaking on fox news earlier i go by the election. with that being said, i have to tell you that if you go with this universal mail—in, where you send millions of votes... in california, tens of millions of ballots being sent to everybody and their dogs. the dogs are getting them, ok? people that have been dead for 25 years are getting them. you have to see what is happening. then you are never going to have a fair election. despite his criticisims, president trump is clearly not that averse to using mail ballots. joe biden has tweeted voting by mail is safe and secure, take it from the president, donald trump, who has himself requested a postal vote for the florida primary on tuesday. nancy pelosi, the democratic speaker of the house of representatives, has written a letter to congress calling for a vote on a bill to protect the us postal service, to counter what she called the "president's campaign to sabotage the election by manipulating the postal service

to dis—enfranchise voters". in the letter, pelosi is particularly critical of this man, postmaster general lewis deejoy, who she describes as a trump mega—donor and a complicit crony — alleging he has changed the operations of the postal service to delay the mail and make postal votes precarious. here's an election law expert from harvard business school to explain more. we are expecting a huge surge in the volume of people who decide to vote by mail. and all states, or most states, also have certain deadlines by which mail—in ballots have to be returned to the state authorities. the post office has announced over the last few weeks that it is cutting overtime, it is requiring postmen not to finish delivering the mail for the day if they hit 5pm. they have reduced the number of post office boxes, they have reduced the number of mail

sorting machines, and all of this delivered slower than it they have reduced the number of mail sorting machines, and all of this kind of gums up the works and makes the mail be delivered slower than it typically is delivered. here's more from julia manchester at the hill, on how the postal service has found itself in the centre of a debate about american democracy. i would point out this is already taking place during a pandemic in three months out of election. at present from bringing this up when he's done in the polls like he was before, when he is so close to his real action when americans are unhappy with his administration's coronavirus response, it really does speak volumes and just makes the timing seem all that more interesting and maybe even suspicious. so nancy pelosi really not skipping a beat to get into this political battle, colin b has back into session or saying it should be culled back into session, —— calling the house back into session to protect post offices. republicans

have come to her side in this saying that the service needs to be protected. our thanks to julia. this outside source, goodbye.