this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. 7,000 britishjobs to go at marks and spencers over the next three months, as the pandemic means even more of us shoppped online. universities call for urgent support from the uk government, after the u—turn over a—levels. the education secretary resists calls to resign, but does say he's sorry for the distress caused. this is not something that anyone wanted to,

whether it was from our perspective or from the exam board's or quual's perspective, but that's why we had to take action when we did. if you're a an a—level of gcse or btec student, what does the u—turn decision mean for you? btecs haven't been included in the u turn for some reason, no idea why. let me know your reaction. michelle 0bama launches a scathing attack on donald trump at the democratic party's virtual convention. whenever we look to this white house for some leadership or consolation orany for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy. a un backed court in the hague is due to deliver its verdict on the four men accused of killing

lebanon's prime minister, rafik al—hariri. calls to licence commercial dog walkers in the uk — the rspca says it wants to see higher welfare standards. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world 7 and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. marks and spencer has announced thousands ofjobs will be cut in the uk over the next three months. 7,000 posts will goright across the business, including customer assistants and support centre management. the company expects a significant proportion to go through voluntary redundancy or early retirement. these cuts are on top of an additional 950 that were announced injuly, as part of a store management revamp.

the company has just under 80,000 employees — that's around a tenth of the workforce that will be cut in total. marks and spencer says the coronavirus pandemic has made it clear there's been a "material shift in trade". group sales were down 19.2% year—on—year in the 19 weeks running up to 20th august. this includes the lockdown period. with me now is our business presenter ben thompson. what is the reaction been to the news that these jobs are going to 90, news that these jobs are going to go, ben? yeah, victoria, as you would expect, a company like marks & spencer known around the world, but particularly important here in its own market in the uk. it has told us this morning that, like many other retailers, it has to face up to an uncertain future, a future in which it needs fewer staff to do what it does. we touched on some of the

numbers there about how and —— m&s has seen a slump in sales. but also putting on some of the lessons it learned during lockdown. at the height of the pandemic what marks & spencer did, because remember some of its stores were able to stay open, those selling food, it meant many of the staff there multitask it. perhaps previously they worked in clothing or homeware, then they started to work in the food section. m said that was quite a revelation for those staff. they were able to multitask. it wants to do more of that. some of the jobs will go in head office, some in regional management, but many of them are in the shops themselves. 7000 announced today, on top of the 950 already announced. as you've touched upon, it is because the way we shop has changed fundamentally. a rise in sales in big out—of—town stores. but in town centres and city centres the retailer is still struggling to get people back through the doors. so much so it has told us it

has taken ona much so it has told us it has taken on a significant amount of stock storage space to put all of the stock it should have sold this year, into storage to try to sell to us next year, because simply the shops we re next year, because simply the shops were shut and we no longer need summer were shut and we no longer need summer clothing. so the retailer... a shift too in online sales. we know that if the deal m&s has signed with online delivery giant 0cado comes into force in september. that could mitigate some of the fall in sales in stores. but nonetheless, this is a message from the boss that the way that we shop and the way that m responds to those changing habits has changed forever, and they need fewer staff to deliver the service they offer. thank you very much, ben. a fresh scramble for university places begins in earnest today for those hit by the chaos over a—level results. the uk government's u—turn yesterday, that results would be given on teacher assessment, followed an outcry over students being graded down by an algorithm.

but it's not all over — that turmoil means that thousands have lost out on uni places they would otherwise have secured. now, universities say they face a major challenge fitting them in because they've already given those places away to others. dan johnson reports. when i heard the news, a huge wave of relief came over me, and it's just fantastic. i'm so happy. i feel like the government should've taken the grades that my expert teachers gave me from the start based on my performance. i'm frustrated that this completely unnecessary mess has set me back a year. the government has heard our voices and accepted that they were wrong and changed the decision because it's literally going to mean so much for so many students across the country. after a painful u—turn in every corner of the united kingdom the question is, what difference does this make for the future? i was in a state on thursday, atrocious. here's one family who felt disappointed by son riley's results

last week, and worried about his sister's gcses on thursday. it's a lot of stress off my shoulders, especially... ..especially where the university's concerned because... ..because of the decision now, i don't have to go through the appeal process. it's been such a surreal year and i feel like the past few days have just been all over the place, and it's just great to know that everything — providing they stick to what they've said — isjust going to work out the best it can with the situation we're in. the computer models used to standardise grades agreed by teachers produced inconsistent results. there have been apologies from ministers and officials who got their maths badly wrong. but reverting to teachers' estimated grades isn't a simple solution. universities had been busy matching students with available courses through clearing. now some unis will have more students with the right grades than they have places

remaining. there's certainly a lot of work for us to do, going ahead. so i think obviously our concern is that the best outcome is available for all students. but at the moment, it's not quite clear to us how we will get the new results, how we have to process them. but we've got our students' interests at heart. i haven't really had any communication from first—choice university or indeed my insurance choice. clearing now feels more like clearing up — after a mess that put the futures of many young people in jeopardy and leaves question marks over the futures of those in charge. dan johnson, bbc news. speaking to the bbc, the uk education secretary gavin williamson defended his handling of the situation and offered an apology to students. what did become apparent and what the mounting evidence was, was that there were too many

students not getting the right grades that they should have been getting. and as i touched upon, an appeals process, no matter how robust, and we had taken action to strengthen the appeals process, make sure that it was incredibly open, incredibly wide and incredibly generous, was still not going to be robust enough for those youngsters who have potentially been awarded the wrong grade. that is why we took the action. as someone who went to a comprehensive school, and went to a sixth form college, i'm not going to be sat there when the evidence is there that there are problems. action has to be taken. that is what we did yesterday. and of course, as you can absolutely imagine, i am incredibly sorry for the distress that this has caused for those youngsters. and incredibly sort of, you know — this is not something anybody wanted, whether it was from our perspective or from the exam board's or 0fqual‘s perspective. that is why we had to take action when we did.

with me is sarah raffray, headteacher at st augustine s priory, a girls independent catholic day school. also, i'm joined by 18—year—old georgia carroll, who recently received her a—level results. welcome to both of you. georgia, what does this u—turn mean for you? it doesn't really affect me in the sense that i am still going into the university that i applied through through clearing, but now it does mean that if this had have happened on to —— where there is that i could have gone to my first choice university. there is some uncertainty surrounding that, if people who want to go to the university are now going to have the grades, that wasn't my original choice, i'm not sure what is happening in that aspect. from what i have been listening to, from what i have been listening to, from what i have been listening to, from what i have been reading, if you have been offered a place, that it now, you are sorted, that is my understanding. and i can

see you nodding your head in agreement. understanding. and i can see you nodding your head in agreementm that right? well, i think there is always still the possibility for students to contact the first place offer if they have now met the grades. 0h, offer if they have now met the grades. oh, yes. don't assume the doors are closed. but our advice to students is, keep calm. whatever is happening. don't scramble to accept something just because you can. of course there are many fears now that evenif course there are many fears now that even if you are now eligible for your first choice, the accommodation may have gone. you mayjust need to sit still and ask some really good questions about what is on offer for you when you get there, if you get there. we have been hearing from a vice—chancellor this morning that some courses are now full. so even if you get higher grades with this u—turn, you may not be able to go this year. potentially next but not base? that's right. we are advising students, if necessary, don't be

afraid of a gap year. and do what? let me bring georgia in. i know it is not going to apply to you, because you are going to go in 0ctober. but if you felt you needed to have a gap year this year to take up to have a gap year this year to take up yourfirst to have a gap year this year to take up your first choice of uni and course next year, what would you do in that gap year? i don't know what ido in that gap year? i don't know what i do because there is so much uncertainty around travel, so there is no guarantee i could go travelling. so much uncertainty aboutjobs, so there is no guarantee i could work and save some money. i feel if i was to take a gap year and it didn't work out it would feel like i was in lockdown again. i don't know. if there is more people ina similar don't know. if there is more people in a similar position we are all fighting forjobs against each other andi fighting forjobs against each other and i would feel i have wasted a year. yeah, i understand that. the advice we are giving is there is still the opportunity for volunteering, enormous life experiences. this generation of students has been through the most

enormous trauma, which has been exacerbated by this, by the way the exams have been handled. sol exacerbated by this, by the way the exams have been handled. so i think thatis exams have been handled. so i think that is what we are saying. just ta ke that is what we are saying. just take stock, take advice, schools are all here to support students. and we've got a world of experience with students at the heart of everything we are doing. so, be calm if you can't, that is our advice. you used the word trauma. georgia, i keep getting messages from teenagers about mental health issues that they have been experiencing in recent months. is that an issue for yourself, or your friends? what would you say? i have got friends who were... for myself, i was panicking about where i was going to go and what i was going to do, but that has worked itself out for me. i have kind of got relief in that sense. but i have got friends who have missed out

on medicine courses because there a was downgraded to a b. that has meant that those who wa nted b. that has meant that those who wanted to do medicine for years have had to settle for a different course. then it's a whole gap year. can she find a place? it has had an impact. we were the nine to one gcse year. now this. it is great it has been changed. the timing is very off. for anyone to get a sense of like, yes, it has been changed. do you have any confidence in the education secretary in england? does it matter to you who is in thatjob? it does, because our future has been, the rest of our lives have been, the rest of our lives have been affected by this. so yeah, it's massive. a big deal, yeah. been affected by this. so yeah, it's massive. a big deal, yeahlj been affected by this. so yeah, it's massive. a big deal, yeah. i am going to ask you to push your camera down a bit, or back a bit.

yeah, thatis down a bit, or back a bit. yeah, that is perfect. are you comfortable with gavin williamson continuing as education secretary? not really, no. if this had happened even on friday or saturday, then more people would have been going where they wanted to go. it'sjust have been going where they wanted to go. it's just now everywhere, have been going where they wanted to go. it'sjust now everywhere, i've been to declined from places because they were full. so i have been rejected again. it was just such a scramble to find a university. and i had overcome a well, throughout all the open days i had a list of places i wanted to visit and i could see myself going to come and now i've had to go to university i have never seen before because none of the places that i visited had clearing positions or would take me with a b and notan positions or would take me with a b and not an a star. but the education secretary did change his mind. you would say presumably now that he has done the right thing? butjust

to lead, yeah. can ijust say i think it is really important we change the language of this generation? we need to stop talking about conflated grades and we need to make sure that students now that they deserved these grades and the really unfortunate thing about the u—turn is that it's diminished the value of them. the word inflated has got to go because it makes it sound like, as head teachers and teachers, we sat around and filled balloons with hot air. we didn't. we took the process really seriously. so every grade that every student now has is deeply deserved. and actually that is the bit that this generation of students has got to go away knowing that as experts, we believe in them and that will take them forward in the future. and actually, the university situation will resolve itself. the universities do care about students. we have

all come as adults now, got to show to students that we are reliable and trustworthy and we are always there for them, whatever is going on politically, the human beings in front of them are right here for them. and now i know why you're a head teacher. thank you so much. thank you very much. sarah referee. and georgia, good luck. absolutely. georgia carroll, who is were downgraded. the democratic convention has got underway in the united states. but like everything these days, it looked very different, with none of the razzmatazz usually on show when america s major political parties meet to elect their presidential nominee. instead of speeches in front of cheering crowds, during a two—hour televised event, there was series of live—streamed and pre—recorded appearances by the party s — and some republican — big names. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, reports.

remote, virtual, and very unconventional. a political gathering in the era of coronavirus. with no fanfare, it was a scaled—down, made—for—tv event introduced from a studio in los angeles by a hollywood actress. good evening. i'm eva longoria baston and welcome to the 2020 democratic national convention. on its first night, the convention showcased the stories of ordinary americans. it also highlighted the issue of racial injustice after weeks of protests around the country. the grim death toll from covid—i9 was a running theme with speaker after speaker condemning the trump administration's record on dealing with the virus. the main task of the week is to anointjoe biden as the democrats' choice to take on donald trump. the former first lady michelle 0bama said the former vice president had the experience needed to tackle the coronavirus crisis, and when it came to the president,

she didn't hold back. so let me be as honest and clear as i possibly can. donald trump is the wrong president for our country. he has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. he cannot meet this moment. he simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. it is what it is. with a theme of uniting the country, the convention also heard from several republicans who believe the next president should be a democrat. many of us have been deeply concerned about the current path we have been following for the past three years. it is a path that has led to division, dysfunction, irresponsibility and growing vitriol between our citizens. continuing to follow that path will have terrible consequences for america's sol.

because we're being taken down the wrong road by a president who has pitted one against the other. bernie sanders, joe biden's one—time rival for the party nomination, said they we re for the party nomination, said they were now united in a mission to defeat donald trump. the future of our democracy is at stake. the future of our economy is at stake. the future of our planet is at sta ke. the future of our planet is at stake. we must come together, defeat donald trump and i liked joe biden and kamala harris as our next president and vice president. the opening salvo of a convention season like no other. steve bowes, bbc news, los angeles. more now on the uk government's u—turn over exam grades for a—level and gcse students this year. what about other qualifications like be taxed? amy what about other qualifications like be taxed ? amy jefferies what about other qualifications like be taxed? amyjefferies is a btec student who was

downgraded. hello. hi. we are broadcasting around the world. explain what a btec is?l btec is essentially an equivalent to doing a—levels. so it depends on the level of your btec. a level two btec would be equivalent to two levels. i do level three, which is an extended diploma in performing arts. it is equivalent to doing three a—levels. yeah. so you were downgraded. we have had of these u—turn yesterday involving a—levels and gcses in england. at no mention of btecs. what is going on? so no. i think it is really ha rd what is going on? so no. i think it is really hard to sort of express what it feels like, if that makes sense. i think overall it should be a playing field for everybody when it comes to getting into university. but by introducing the u—turn it means that a—level students are getting teacher assessed grades but btec students are still left in

limbo and won't necessarily get the right —— same treatment, which is undoubtedly quite unfair. why do you think they won't necessarily get the right —— same treatment? think they won't necessarily get the right -- same treatment? a lot of btec is seen as 100% coursework. after new btecs were introduced in 2016, that isn't the case any more. so now a lot have a substantial amount of assessed students. 40% of my final grade is externally assessed. it is those externally assessed. it is those externally assessed units which have been downgraded. so i think because the other 60% is still internally assessed, we have been treated differently and we have not heard anything. gavin williamson, the education secretary for england, says his department was working with the awarding body, pearson, to extend the change to the vocational qualifications and make sure there was no further delay to the results.

so it sounds like, i read that as, you are going to get the same treatment, it is going to be the same as a—levels and gcses, but i just don't know why it is taking the time? yeah, i don't know why it has taken the time either. they were hoping that btecs would be included. i think it should be a lot more like, going out of their way to do something. i think it should be more than hoping. i think btec students wa nt to than hoping. i think btec students want to know what people are actively doing to rectify it. i mean, it's theirjob and i think we should have heard sooner. i think at the end of the day it is our education, are lives and our future is that we are talking about and it should be taken a bit more seriously. thank you very much. thank you for talking to us. wish you all the best. stay tuned to bbc news because there if there is a change on btecs that is where it will hear it first. let's talk to professorjulia buckingham from universities uk, which represents universities in england, wales, scotland

and northern ireland. hello. what does this u—turn mean for your members? well, like to start by saying it is very good news for students, and i think students need to be at the heart of this. and i'd like to start by congratulating them on their great achievements. and i want to reassure them that universities will do everything they possibly can to try to help them get the place they want. but i do have to say that there are some restrictions on what we actually can do. and i think we've got to take time to work through the possibilities, working very closely with those students who have been affected. we have already heard, of course, that some courses are already full. and there are some courses, like medicine, veterinary medicine, that actually have restricted numbers on them. so i believe there are discussions ongoing at the moment as to whether numbers can be expanded. but it is quite a challenge to do that. there

are some issues we have got to try to address and deal with as quickly as we possibly can. those restrictions, how does that fit with the fact that mr williamson has lifted the student numbers cap on university is in order to be able to ta ke university is in order to be able to take the extra capacity? well, the universities themselves have to think about how they are going to deal with the extra capacity. as i am sure you will be aware, next year is an unusual year anyway. in that we are going to have to handle social distancing on campus. that is very important. universities have worked very hard over the last few months to work out exactly how every single room on the campus is going to be used, to make sure that our face—to—face teaching can be done in a socially distanced way. and often this means rooms operating at only 2596 this means rooms operating at only 25% of capacity. so that's a big challenge for us. there is a

big challenge for us. there is a big challenge with staff, of course, if you got a large number of extra stu d e nts you got a large number of extra students we've got to make sure our staff ca n students we've got to make sure our staff can cope with that. and of course there are issues around it support and those sorts of things. but also, thinking about the broader student life, accommodation, if there are lots of extra students, accommodation will be a challenge. halls of residence may well be full by now and there it may be difficulties getting local accommodation, so we've got to work very closely with the local community to make sure the students can be properly accommodated, properly supported, that the campuses are safe for them, and also that we have worked with our local communities to make sure that we are ensuring that the whole community is safe, because the start of term in any big university is going to see a large number of students coming into an environment that has been quite quiet for some time. lots of things for universities to think about. the

important thing is we want to have stu d e nts important thing is we want to have students and i absolutely want to emphasise that over and over again. we will do our very best to accommodate students. so my advice to stu d e nts accommodate students. so my advice to students is to contact your first choice university as as soon as possible, to be patient because i am sure there are a lot of you and it may not be possible to get through immediately, but please contact your university and talk to the admissions tutor, find out the possibilities. i'm sure they will be some disappointments. i'm sure there will be cases where it might be necessary to defer until next year. please rest assured, our heart is with you and we want to help you. thank you very much. thank you. julia buckingham from universities uk. jennifer tweets to say, please don't let the btec kids be forgotten. my son hasn't even received results. no explanation why. the college is now nothing and of university places are evaporating, please fight for these kids. joanne says of the education

secretary in england, gavin williamson, one thing we have learned is that ministers are not robust any questions they asked. we don't need to hear that everything is going to be world beating when it doesn't work. we need fit for purpose systems and politicians. and another says anyone who's ever dealt with would have looked with —— at one graph and realised that there was a problem with the algorithm. the education secretary knew how important this was, he had plenty of time to check all details before universities got the grades. let alone young people receiving the greats. thank you for those. if you are getting in touch, you are very welcome. ten people, including four children, have been injured in the afghan capital, kabul, by a rocket attack. some of the rockets fell near the presidential palace where the president, ashraf ghani, was leading a ceremony to mark independence day. it's not clear who fired them. a un—backed court in the hague is due to deliver its verdict

on four men accused in the assassination of the former lebanese pm rafik al—hariri in beirut in 2005. the accused men, tried in absentia, are from the powerful lebanese group hezbollah. it denies any involvement. a fifth man, a senior hezbollah commander, was originally indicted before he was killed in syria. 0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen reports. it's still time for anger in lebanon after the catastrophic explosion in beirut docks. it is too soon to say whether they will get the change so many are demanding. another shattering event 15 years ago produced as much shock and similar calls for reform. 0n the 14th of february, 2005, a massive bomb blew up february, 2005, a massive bomb blew up the motorcade of rafik hariri,

the former prime minister, who was campaigning for election. it killed as to and 21 others. 0ne campaigning for election. it killed as to and 21 others. one of the first to reach him was his long serving bodyguard, who wants justice. translation: to start with i couldn't tell if it was him from his face. some of the guys told me to check his face, his back or is here to see if it was him. but i could only tell it was him from his wedding ring. at the funeral his supporters were already accusing syria's president of ordering the killing. a few months earlier assad has threatened him for questioning syria's right to dominate lebanon. during the election campaign mr hariri chose his words carefully when i asked him who run lebanon. syria helps so much in assuring the

security and stability in lebanon. but on a political basis, there is a cooperation between the syrians and the lebanese, and the lebanese leaders and so on. they have no influence beyond that. at many rallies over 15 years has denied the accusation that its men carried out the assassination. —— hezbollah. its leader refused to allow the arrest of the four indicted hezbollah men, who otherwise would be in court to hear the verdict. to me its closure. it has been a long 15 years. us as a family and the lebanese. rafik al hariri's eldest son believes the demand for reform in lebanon cannot be stopped. i have never seen the lebanese in unison the weighted be now. they're not going

to pick a swiss knife to fight each other. they are innocent. they want to get rid of this configuration for once and for all. rafik al hariri's statue looks down in beirut, the city rebuild. if hezbollah‘s men are convicted of his assassination, the blame to their organisation, and its backers in syria and iran, will increase. and in turn they'll spike. jeremy bowen, bbc news. the headlines: 7,000 britishjobs to go at marks and spencer's over the next three months — as the pandemic means even more of us shoppped online. universities call for urgent support from the uk government, after the u—turn over a—levels. the education secretary resists calls to resign, but does say he's sorry for the distress caused. this is not something that anyone wanted, whether it was from our perspective, or from the exam boards, or 0fqual‘s perspective, but that's why we had to take action when we did. michelle 0bama launches a scathing attack on donald trump at the

democratic party's virtual convention. whenever we look to this white house for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy. a un—backed court in the hague is due to deliver its verdict on the four men accused of killing lebanon's prime minister, rafik al—hariri. calls to licence commercial dog walkers in the uk — the rspca says it wants to see higher welfare standards. let's bring you more on what michelle 0bama said to the democratic convention yesterday. as we've been reporting, michelle 0bama has launched a scathing attack on us

president donald trump's fitness to continue in office, in a recorded message to the democratic convention. the former first lady argued the president is incapable of leading the country during what she described as a moment of crisis. when my husband left office, withjoe biden at his side, we had a record—breaking stretch ofjob creation. we'd secured the right to health care for 20 million people. we were respected around the world, rallying our allies to confront climate change. and our leaders had worked hand—in—hand with scientists to help prevent an ebola outbreak from becoming a global pandemic. four years later, the state of this nation is very different. more than 150,000 people have died and our economy is a shambles because of a virus that this president downplayed for too long. and here at home, as george floyd, breonna taylor and the never—ending list of innocent people

of colour continue to be murdered, stating the simple fact that a black life matters is still met with derision from the nation's highest office. because whenever we look to this white house for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy. when we close out the noise and fear and truly open our hearts, we know that what's going on in this country is just not right. so let me be as honest and clear as i possibly can. donald trump is the wrong president for our country. he has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in

over his head. he cannot meet this moment. he simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. it is what it is. so if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this: if you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don't make a change in this election. if we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote forjoe biden like our lives depend on it. i'm joined by the chair of democrats abroad uk, inge kjemtrup. thank you very much. in two. what did you think of what michelle 0bama had to say? she was her usual, eloquent, straightforward, her personality, it is wonderful to see

the former first lady take on trump but also talk about the big battle we have ahead in order to bring back our country, the challenges we have with the coronavirus crisis, the challenges with our economy and so many other things. it is wonderful to see her eloquence and speaking so directly and from the heart, it was a really moving moment. you'd think she had enough to say aboutjoe biden? she said he was a profoundly decent guy. is that it? i think she has a lot of other things to say about him as well, she talked a lot about him as well, she talked a lot about his empathy, in this day and age that is important. his decency and how he has a moral compass. there was a lot of comparing and contrasting, which i think is necessary at this point. she, like all the other speakers, mentioned how there are real problems and solutions. it is also interesting

to hear from senator solutions. it is also interesting to hearfrom senator bernie solutions. it is also interesting to hear from senator bernie sanders, when he talked about the same issues, he said this is not normal and we should not treat it as if it is, he strongly urged his supporters to support vice president biden because if not then all the progress they have made, all the movement that senator sanders' followers have made, will be injeopardy, as will the fact, without putting it too dramatically, will the entire democracy. why do you say that? are you thinking about the postal service? as an overseas american voter i really think about that, because i have to vote by post. we have an audience from around the world, so for those who want to learn more about this, donald trump has indicated that he wants to defund the postal service, obviously postal ballots will be really important in understand the

coronavirus heading up to the november presidential election, why is that significant undertaking for the democrats? in part because so many people will not be able to make it to the polls in person, people who are suffering because of health issues, because of social distancing, and in addition to wanting to close down the post 0ffice, essentially, lots of polling places are being closed. i think trump can't win by appealing so he is making it harderfor people trump can't win by appealing so he is making it harder for people to vote and shutting down the post office is one of those weights. people get other services from post offices, medications, key things in the post, it is notjust affecting voters but the whole country. i think people are fairly appalled, i know we are. when we sent out our ballots, we had to send them as overseas vote rs , you

ballots, we had to send them as overseas voters, you can go ballots, we had to send them as overseas voters, you can go to a website if you are american and you should probably get your ballot today. we have to move quickly. thank you very much, inge, for talking to us this morning. inge kjemtrup, she is chair of democrats abroad uk. thank you for your messages, if you are an a—level student, a gcse student, a btec student, a gcse student, a btec student in the uk then certainly the westminster government has announced a u—turn on how exams will be graded, that came yesterday. e—mail is from thomas quigley, a fixed phone a—level student at liverpool and is talking about a friend who was given a u for chemistry on results day after working hard for the last two get unpacking his knocks, how does that work? he has decided to reset in october and take a cap yet but things like this have affected university places and now some people can't go to university

because the places have been furlough —— take a gap year. it has been a disastrous week and i hope the government project themselves, they have messed with our futures mental health. this on instagram, as a gcse student the u—turn is a major relief, it would have been impossible to relearn five years the row co nte nt impossible to relearn five years the row content in a few weeks ahead of the reset and i trust my teachers' predictions way more than a computer—generated great. i have had one e—mailfrom computer—generated great. i have had one e—mail from a computer—generated great. i have had one e—mailfrom a woman computer—generated great. i have had one e—mail from a woman called irene who says please remind people that the majority of students got what they needed to go to their first choice university place. i have just done that. the political crisis in belarus continues over the disputed election. 0pposition protesters in belarus have been on the streets again calling on the president, alexander lukashenko, to go. they've dismissed his offer of a constitutional referendum — followed by a possible fresh election — as a ploy. russia's president vladimir putin has offered president lukashenko military help in the event of an external military

threat — it comes as the eu, uk and usa denounced the election. earlier on monday, mr lukashenko was jeered by protesters when he addressed a group of workers in the capital minsk. with the latest from there, here's our correspondent abdujalil abdurasulov. the strikes are continuing. many factories and plants across belarus, they are saying that they will continue their strikes until their demands are met. the workers are saying that all political prisoners and detainees who were arrested during the violent crackdown on protesters, they must be released. they want a rerun of the vote, because they believe the elections were rigged, and they are saying that they are ready to continue their strike. however, we also spoke to many workers, not all of them are on strike, many of them are reluctant to join the movement even though they are sympathetic with the cause, they are saying that their families are dependent on their salaries. so it is not clear how

long will these strikes continue. however, these factories that are on strike, they are key for the economy of belarus, they are very important. budget revenues and therefore these strikes are posing a serious threat to president lukashenko. federal officials in australia will face a parliamentary committee over a cruise ship scandal that fuelled the country's coronavirus crisis. more than 2,500 passengers were allowed to leave the ruby princess without being tested after it docked in sydney in march, despite suspected covid—19 cases on board. the new south wales state government has apologised and has admitted monumental mistakes were made. at least one person has been killed and more than a0 injured in an earthquake in the philippines. the tremor, which had a magnitude of 6.6, was centred near the central town of cataingan. several houses collapsed, and patients were moved out of a hospital after

cracks appeared in its walls. i answer sorry if i pronounce that incorrectly. —— i am so sorry. here, the health secretary matt hancock will outline plans for the future of public health in england later. he's expected to announce a new agency, which will take over many functions of public health england — one of the organisations at the heart of the response to coronavirus. the body has faced criticism over its handling of the crisis, but some argue it's been made a scapegoat for failings elsewhere. now to a special report on drug dealing on social media. britain's most senior police officer says when it come to drugs, social media companies bosses would do more if it was their children dying from drugs bought this way. he was speaking to radio 1 newsbeat‘s politics editorjim connolly. jim's been following the stories of three families with very personal experience of this. three mums brought together by grief after their teenage children died taking illegal drugs.

she was funny, sassy, a bit of a diva, a bit of a drama queen. loved to sing. sarah's daughterjodie died after taking ecstasy that she'd bought on snapchat. fiona is leading their campaign to get social media companies to act to stop the trade of illegal drugs on their platforms. how can it be that drugs can be offered to children so openly and apparently nothing done? i want to find outjust how easy it is to find drugs in this way on social media, so i've set up a snapchat account, i've set up an instagram account and i'm going to search for a few phrases and see what comes up. turns out, very easy. within minutes i was being offered class a drugs. and i decided it was time to challenge the people selling them. i'm actually a bbcjournalist and i just want to ask you, you've made no checks as to who i am and you're willing to sell potentially very dangerous drugs through the post. i could be anyone. do you have a problem with that? you don't care who you sell

the drugs to, do you? no, not that i don't but, like, i'm just trying to, like, make sure that, you know, i get my product moving. i could end up dead from the products you're selling. research suggests that a quarter of 16 to 2a—year—olds have seen adverts for drugs like these on their social feeds. and drug workers have told me that with nightclubs and festivals closed because of coronavirus, more unregulated raves have sprung up, meaning buying drugs online is more popular than ever — creating a new challenge for the police. jason harwin is the uk's most senior police officer when it comes to drugs. if that was a son and daughter of one of the social networks that are providing or allowing this to take place, would they be thinking we should do more about this? i'm certain they would. fiona is delivering her letter from what she calls her mums' army. it's to snapchat and here at facebook, which owns instagram. neither would agree to being filmed. snapchat told fiona that it's more difficult to deal

with their platform than other social media, and it's committed to take further steps to ensure the safety of its users. it's also agreed to meet the mums soon. instagram, which is owned by facebook, said... and they have given fiona a video call and invited her to work with them. so some progress for fiona and her campaign, but both she and the police say this billion pound industry has the technology to block more drug dealing. jim connolly, bbc news. with around nine million dogs living in the uk, services such as walking, training and grooming have become big business. now the rspca is calling for better regulation of the industry, after reports some pets are being put at danger. and just a warning that there is some distressing footage in claire jones' report. i was horrified, i was in shock. i just couldn't believe what i'd seen.

she's hit her. we are a nation of animal lovers and care deeply about our dogs. but we've been investigating the repercussions of people with little experience or any qualifications who are looking after our animals. they're dog walkers, dog trainers and dog groomers, and they could be putting our animals in danger. sam gaines is the head of companion animals at the rspca, which is calling for these professions to be regulated through a licence from the local authority. if you're a commercial dog walker, you don't currently have to be licensed in england. there will be some that do actually have a licence — some local authorities require that — but it's a complete postcode lottery. and the rspca really wants to see dog walkers regulated, as well. are your work commitments getting on the way of you walking your best friend? a dog walker from leeds put together this promotional video for her dog—walking business. but jacqueline wilkins, who ran wilkins walkies, was caught on cctv hitting a boxer she was paid to look after. you've been a naughty

girl! gary hatch contacted wilkins after his partner, louise, suffered an injury which meant she couldn't walk their boxer bella, or their sprocker spaniel cocoa. she came and started taking bella and cocoa out in the morning and evening for me. after a couple of weeks, bella's behaviour started to change and this one fateful night we were coming back from work and we saw the dog walker on the camera that we've got hitting bella. wilkins pleaded guilty to a charge of failing in her duty to ensure the animal's welfare, and was handed a 12—month community order, 100 hours of unpaid work, and to pay £385. she's also been disqualified from owning or keeping dogs for two years under the animal welfare act. solicitor tina wagon is a specialist legal advisor to the dogs trust. she has represented numerous dog owners when their animals have been injured from inexperienced walkers and trainers. anybody can set themselves up as a trainer, a groomer or a walker tomorrow with no qualifications

— not even any experience, really! no insurance, there's no regulatory body. without some standardisation of qualifications it's very hard for people to understand how qualified, if at all, their dog trainer is. the government told us... until such regulation and licensing exists, dog owners will have to trust in the people calling themselves the professionals. claire jones, bbc news. here, the home office says it is "working incredibly closely" with kent county council, after the local authority warned it would no longer be able to care safely for migrant children who cross the channel.

more than 400 under—18s have arrived unaccompanied in kent this year — including thirteen in the past few days. keith doyle reports. amongst the hundreds who've arrived on the kent coast after making the dangerous journey in recent days were 13 unaccompanied children. more than 400 under—18s have entered kent county council's care so far this year — most of whom crossed the channel in small boats. the council's leaders said the latest arrivals had tipped the balance and the authority could not safely accommodate any more. the home office said this was an unprecedented situation, but a scheme to move some children to other local authorities had helped to ease the pressure. kent wants a voluntary system to be made mandatory. it says the continued high number of arrivals means the scheme has not been enough to make a real difference.

it's unclear what will happen to any new unaccompanied children who arrive in kent from across the channel in the coming days. keith doyle, bbc news. it's the venue which helped launch the careers of the beatles, but the famous cavern club in liverpool is now facing financial ruin because of the coronavirus lockdown. the sites owners have warned they're losing £30,000 a week and have already had to make 20 staff redundant. jayne mccubbin is there for us this morning. the cavern club is the most famous club in the world. the place is packed, people listen to the music. it's hot, it's sweaty. when this all happened, i mean, you know, you're thinking, how are we going to continue? the thought of the cavern club not being here, that is inconceivable. but it's a real threat. so this is it. welcome to the cavern.

# i like it, i like it #. it is an institution. today, empty — and at risk of staying that way. how scary was it when all of this hit and you knew you just couldn't carry on? er. . . it was very scary. it's costing us — to not open — £30,000 a week. we can keep that going a bit longer without reopening. but then our reserves will be gone. this is where legends were born. famously the beatles — but notjust the beatles. countless bands over 63 years. 0utside today, john lennon looks on to a matthew street still covid—quiet. roberta is here from rome. i like beatles very much. have you ever been in the cavern, roberta ? never. was this going to be

yourfirst time? yes. oh! give us a twirl, riley, in your beatles t—shirt. riley is here from essex. proof the legacy of this place touches even the youngest generations. how much of a fan are you, riley? see that? yeah. probably bigger than that. bigger than that? bigger than that! get out of town! do you want to start a rendition of heyjude? # na, na, na, na—na—na—nah #. he had hoped today would be his very first visit to the world—famous cavern club. # hey, jude #. can you imagine a world without the cavern club? i cannot, no. it's like the earth is built around it. not the cavern club is built around the earth. jayne laughs. # na, na, na, na, hey, jude #. round of applause for riley! woo—woo! woop—woop! since this place opened in 1957, it's closed and reopened five times, but no—one could have foreseen a global pandemic threatening its very

existence. 20 staff have been laid off, 20 more jobs are at risk, and of course, live music venues across the uk are struggling right now, but few have the cultural collateral of this place. # gonna find her. # i'm gonna find her #. people will be writing about the cavern in a hundred years' time — what shakespeare is to stratford, the cavern is to liverpool and they will be talking about it. and this unfortunately will go down as a major closure. but not the end. absolutely. you don't think? no, absolutely not the end. you know, we've got to be positive. we've got to be positive. we've been taking small steps and we'll continue. and with support we can take bigger steps and we are keeping very positive. you've got to. yeah. he gulps. you gulped then. did i gulp? he laughs. this is a perilous time for all live music venues...

take care. bye. ..but there are people around the world rooting for this one. jayne mccubbin, bbc news. nature lovers were given a treat along the county cork coast last night. take a look at this. the sparkly sea on fountainstain beach was caused by bioluminescent plankton — which lit up the waves. that is gorgeous! bioluminescence describes the light that some living creatures, such as fireflies, emit from their cells. you're watching bbc news. let me reaches and e—mails before i hand over teacher grant —— tojoanna gosling. 0ne dealer says the kids did not sit the exams, they have an easy pass for doing nothing, if i was the government i would have said, if you are not happy, actually do the exams. they wanted to do the

exams, there were no exams, the government decided no exam should be taken. i hope you are still watching, i want to read this e—mail from a mother. nice and originally had four post interview offers four medical schools from which he chose his first—hand insurance place. now he has a third year with no plan. no one can imagine how he is and how helpless he is feeling right now —— a third year. his mental health is so bad that i am worrying for his life. thank you for being his voice, amir‘s mum. joanna gosling is on the way, but first the weather with carol. some of us started with low cloud, drizzle, murky and misty conditions. for part of eastern scotla nd conditions. for part of eastern scotland and north—east england, we could have that for much of the afternoon. most will have 30 spells,

skills and heavy, send downpours. this weather front is drifting northwards, that you maintain emotionally through the course of the day and the isobars' spacing tells you it will not be windy. the rain is leaving north wales, pushing into northern england, turning more shallow reef. between the showers, some sunshine, but the met office has a weather warning for the thunderstorms —— yellow weather warning. thunderstorms becoming more widespread and heavy downpours across england and wales, but if you catch a temple it could lead to localised flooding. most of those will fade away this evening and overnight, clear skies, cloud lingering across parts of scotland and north—east england, by the end of the night, a new system coming from the south—west will introduce heavy rain and strengthening winds. still low pressure bringing in this weather front, moving still low pressure bringing in this weatherfront, moving northwards, but look at the isobars, it will be windier on wednesday compared to

today. lots of dry weather to start the day, even sunshine, low cloud lingering across parts of the north—east, the rain heaviest in the south—west of england and south wales, eating a little bit as it moves northwards followed by showers, because he winds, that combination is not present and paramount the leaves and the trees are very prolific so you might find small branches coming down. it will be windy into thursday and the fronts are moving northwards, so a winter day on thursday particularly towards the west, with strong gusts of wind, the rain clears northern scotla nd of wind, the rain clears northern scotland but then the next band comes from the west and temperature white on thursday, we are looking at heights of up to 25 in any sunshine that you can see high temperatures towards the west, the exception is perhaps 21 internet. 0n towards the west, the exception is perhaps 21 internet. on friday we see the strongest winds this week, gusts of widely a0 mph, gales in the

west, rain as well but it looks like the winds will ease on saturday. this is bbc news with joanna gosling. the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. 7000 british jobs to go at marks and spencers over the next three months — as the pandemic means even more of us shoppped online. universities call for urgent support from the uk government,

after the u—turn over a—levels and gcses. the education secretary resists calls to resign, but does say he's sorry for the distress caused. this is not something that anyone wanted, whether it was from our perspective or from the exam board's or 0fqual‘s perspective, but that's why we had to take action when we did. michelle 0bama launches a scathing attack on donald trump at the democratic party's virtual convention. whenever we look to this white house for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy. a un backed court in the hague is due to deliver its verdict on the four men accused of killing lebanon's prime minister, rafik al—hariri. calls to licence commercial dog walkers in the uk — the rspca says it wants to see higher welfare standards.

hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world, and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. marks and spencer has announced thousands ofjobs will be cut over the next three months. 7000 jobs will go — right across the business, including customer assistants and support centre management. the company expects a ‘significant‘ proportion to go through voluntary redundancy or early retirement. these cuts are on top of an additional 950 that were announced in july, as part of a store management revamp. the company has just under 80,000 employees so that's around a tenth of the workforce that will be cut in total. marks and spencer says the coronavirus pandemic has made it clear there's been a "material shift in trade". group sales were down 19.2%

year—on—year in the 19 weeks running up to 20th august — this includes the lockdown period. our business presenter ben thompson has been taking a look at the figures. as you would expect a company like marks & spencer, known around the world but particularly important here in its home market in the uk, it has told us this morning that like many other retailers it has to face up to an uncertain future, a future in which it needs many fewer staff to do what it does. you touched on some of the numbers about how m&s has seen a slump in sales but building on some of the lessons it learned during log in. at the head of the pandemic, what marks & spencer did, because some of its sores were meant to stay open —— able to stay open, those selling food, staff were able to multitask, perhaps they worked in homeware, and then working in the food section.

that was a revelation, they were able to multitask and they want to do more than that. some are in the head office, some regional management, thejob head office, some regional management, the job losses, head office, some regional management, thejob losses, many in the shops themselves, 7000 announced today on top of the 950 already announced. we are chopping differently fundamentally, the rise in sales in big out—of—town stores, in town centres and city centres the retailer is struggling to get people back through the doors. so much so it has told us it has taken on stock storage space, a significant amount to put stock into stores to sell next year because the shops were shut and we do not need the spring or summer clothing, into autumn and winter now. a big shift to online sales too. video amadeus has signed

with avocado, that comes into force in september and could mitigate some of the fall in sales in stores —— 0cado. the way we shop is change for ever and they need many fewer staff to deliver the service that they offer. david gill is the national office for the shopworkers' trade union, usdaw. what is your reaction to this news? i think first of all it is devastating news, more importantly for marks & spencer long, hard working while staff, it is the uncertainty that working while staff, it is the u ncerta i nty that co nsta ntly working while staff, it is the uncertainty that constantly comes out of marks & spencer over the vast number of years. obviously, as you say, there has been a long process of change actually going on at marks & spencerfor of change actually going on at marks & spencer for many years, but is

now with covid—19 and the impact on the business the company says there has been a material shift in trade and it has no choice now but to bring forward these job cuts, which it says they are hoping will be through volu nta ry says they are hoping will be through voluntary redundancy and early retirement in the main. is that reassuring at least? i think it is and we are hopeful any redundancies will be fair, on a voluntary basis, i think it is about looking at the business case and what it is based upon. it is important to remember the high street is at the centre of our community and it is important the government really takes a wake—up call with this and looks to try to support the high street more. i think we are constantly seeing redundancies impact on the high street more people actually go to shop online. we have been calling on the government now for some time to work with the trade union, work with employers to look at a recovery plan to develop the retailer, the high

street back to its former glory. on that point, what is the union priority? there is a limit to how manyjobs will be protected in these very difficult times, but what are your concerns around protecting those workers who end up losing theirjobs? i think it is about, those workers who end up losing theirjobs? ithink it is about, i agree with you, looking at the funds that have been available at the moment, what has been paid out, i think it is about sitting down with the trade union, with employers and look at the high street itself, looking at reviewing rental values, parking. i think we have seen when the high street was closed the vast bulk of it, when it reopened the queues outside it, people miss shopping in the high street and it is important to try and put all our effo rts is important to try and put all our efforts into safeguarding that so we can continue as we have done in the past. you are talking beyond marks & spencer there with what is happening

elsewhere on the high street. there have been a number of large high street names making redundancies. what are your concerns for the months and years ahead?” what are your concerns for the months and years ahead? i think until the government actually sits down and actually wakes up on this issue, because if you look at the amount that has already been impacted, names have disappeared from the high street. i am not saying marks & spencer will come size of it etc, but it's important the government understand that. it is also important to remember marks & spencer constantly reviewing the way they work, we are trying to engage with marks & spencer, we have thousands of members within and all we get from the management is our staff are happy with what we are doing. they are actually not. we wa nt doing. they are actually not. we wantan doing. they are actually not. we want an independent trade union to sit down with marks & spencer to look down at the proposed business case and to examine that and represent our members properly. dave gill of

a fresh scramble for university places begins in earnest today for those hit by the chaos over a level results. the uk government's u—turn yesterday — that results would be given on teacher assessment — followed an outcry over students being graded down by an algorithm. but it's not all over — that turmoil means that thousands have lost out on uni places they would otherwise have secured. now, universities say they face a major challenge fitting them in because they've already given those places away to others. dan johnson reports. when i heard the news, a huge wave of relief came over me, and it's just fantastic. i'm so happy. i feel like the government should've taken the grades that my expert teachers gave me from the start based on my performance. i'm frustrated that this completely unnecessary mess has set me back a year. the government has heard our voices and accepted that they were wrong and changed the decision because it's literally going to mean so much for so many students across the country. after a painful u—turn in

every corner of the united kingdom the question is, what difference does this make for the future? i was in a state on thursday, atrocious. here's one family who felt disappointed by son riley's results last week, and worried about his sister's gcses on thursday. it's a lot of stress off my shoulders, especially... ..especially where the university's concerned because... ..because of the decision now, i don't have to go through the appeal process. it's been such a surreal year and i feel like the past few days have just been all over the place, and it's just great to know that everything — providing they stick to what they've said — isjust going to work out the best it can with the situation we're in. the computer models used to standardise grades agreed by teachers produced inconsistent results. there have been apologies

from ministers and officials who got their maths badly wrong. but reverting to teachers' estimated grades isn't a simple solution. universities had been busy matching students with available courses through clearing. now some unis will have more students with the right grades than they have places remaining. there's certainly a lot of work for us to do, going ahead. so i think obviously our concern is that the best outcome is available for all students. but at the moment, it's not quite clear to us how we will get the new results, how we have to process them. but we've got our students' interests at heart. i haven't really had any communication from first—choice i have just not been sleeping well for the past few nights. clearing now feels more like clearing up — after a mess that put the futures of many young people in jeopardy and leaves question marks over the futures of those in charge. dan johnson, bbc news. let's go to

our political correspondent jonathan blake. the education secretary gavin williamson has been interviewed this morning, what has he been saying?- the scramble by students, their pa rents the scramble by students, their parents and teachers to react to the government u—turn in terms of securing places at university begins, the informal enquiry if you like into what happened and why decisions were not taking sooner or differently here at westminster has also begun. the education secretary for england gavin williamson has been out and about explaining himself this morning and was asked earlier on why he took the decision in the end to do that you and revert to teachers' predicted grades for student a—level results. what did become apparent and what the mounting evidence was, was that there were too many students not getting the right grades that they should have been getting. and as i touched upon, an appeals process, no matter how robust, and we had taken action to strengthen the appeals process,

make sure that it was incredibly open, incredibly wide and incredibly generous, was still not going to be robust enough for those youngsters who have potentially been awarded the wrong grade. that is why we took the action. as someone who went to a comprehensive school, and went to a sixth form college, i'm not going to be sat there when the evidence is there that there are problems. action has to be taken. that is what we did yesterday. and of course, as you can absolutely imagine, i am incredibly sorry for the distress that this has caused for those youngsters. and incredibly sort of, you know — this is not something anybody wanted, whether it was from our perspective or from the exam board's or 0fqual's perspective. that is why we had to take action when we did. mr williamson not

fully laying the blame at 0fqual, excepting some of the responsibility. but making it clear the model, algorithm used to calculate students' grades did not in the end do the job calculate students' grades did not in the end do thejob promised. questions have been asked about gavin williamson's future, as you can expect this morning after performing the u—turn in policy over a levels which he said a few days ago was completely off the table and he was not considering, whether he is considering his own position and he did not answer that question directly. will you resign7 what we're doing is focusing on delivering the grades for children, making sure that we are going to make sure all schools are going to make sure all schools are returned and i am determined over the coming year that i am going to be delivering the world's best education system, the reforms and improvements over the last ten years have to be built on. that is my focus and the prime minister's.

that is what we are going to be doing. frustration as far as conservative mps are concerned, even with the benefit of hindsight, the government should have seen this coming and acted sooner to make the appeals process more result and to widen that earlier on, if that had happened it could have potentially headed off this problem. there is no great climber, i have to say, even from the labour party, for gavin williamson to resign or be sacked. that may be because they do not expect it to happen and downing street is defending gavin williamson this morning. boris johnson street is defending gavin williamson this morning. borisjohnson clear the time being for him to stay in the time being for him to stay in thejob. but he is not out the time being for him to stay in the job. but he is not out of the woods yet, there are significant challenges with clearing up the mess in terms of students taking up university places, making sure universities are not oversubscribed

and that waiting to further problems. and then they return to school for pupils at the start of term in september, both big tests still to come for gavin williamson. this afternoon we'll be answering your questions on the government u—turn on how a—level exams will be graded. simon mccoy will be joined by grainne hallahan from the time educational supplement and mary curnock cook, former chief executive of ucas. that's coming up at 3.30 this afternoon. the democratic party convention has got under way in the united states. but like everything these days, it looked very different, with none of the razzmatazz usually on show when america's major political parties meet to elect their presidential nominee.

instead of speeches in front of cheering crowds, during a two—hour televised event, there was series of live—streamed and pre—recorded appearances by the party's — and some republican — big names. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, reports. remote, virtual, and very unconventional. a political gathering in the era of coronavirus. with no fanfare, it was a scaled—down, made—for—tv event introduced from a studio in los angeles by a hollywood actress. good evening. i'm eva longoria baston and welcome to the 2020 democratic national convention. on its first night, the convention showcased the stories of ordinary americans. it also highlighted the issue of racial injustice after weeks of protests around the country. the grim death toll from covid—19 was a running theme with speaker after speaker condemning the trump administration's record on dealing with the virus. the main task of the week is to anointjoe biden as the democrats' choice to take

on donald trump. the former first lady michelle 0bama said the former vice president had the experience needed to tackle the coronavirus crisis, and when it came to the president, she didn't hold back. so let me be as honest and clear as i possibly can. donald trump is the wrong president for our country. he has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. he cannot meet this moment. he simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. it is what it is. with a theme of uniting the country, the convention also heard from several republicans who believe the next president should be a democrat. many of us have been deeply concerned about the current path we have been following for the past three years. the past four years.

it is a path that has led to division, dysfunction, irresponsibility and growing vitriol between our citizens. continuing to follow that path will have terrible consequences for america's sol. consequences for america's soul. because we're being taken down the wrong road by a president who has pitted one against the other. bernie sanders, joe biden's one—time rival for the party nomination, said they were now united in a mission to defeat donald trump. the future of our democracy is at stake. economy is at stake. the future of our planet is at stake. we must come together, defeat donald trump and elect joe biden and kamala harris as our next president and vice president. the opening salvo of a convention season like no other. steve bowes, bbc news, los angeles. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. a un—backed court in the hague

is due to deliver its verdict on four men accused in the assassination of the former lebanese pm rafik al hariri in beirut in 2005. the accused men, tried in absentia, are from the powerful lebanese group hezbollah. it denies any involvement. a fifth man, a senior his brother commander, was originally indicted before he was killed in syria. it's still time for anger in lebanon after the catastrophic explosion in beirut docks. it is too soon to say whether they will get the change so many are demanding. another shattering event 15 years ago produced as much shock and similar calls for reform. 0n the 1ath of february, 2005, a massive bomb blew up the motorcade of rafik al—hariri, the former prime minister, who was campaigning for election. it killed hariri and 21 others.

one of the first to reach him was his long serving bodyguard, who wants justice. translation: to start with i couldn't tell if it was him from his face. i was reeling. or his hair to see if it was him. but i could only tell it was him from his wedding ring. at the funeral hariri's supporters were already accusing syria's president assad of ordering the killing. a few months earlier assad has threatened him for questioning syria's right to dominate lebanon. during the election campaign hariri chose his words carefully when i asked him who ran lebanon. syria helps so much in assuring the security and stability.

but on a political basis, there is a cooperation between the syrians and the lebanese, and the lebanese leaders and so on. they have no influence beyond that. at many rallies over 15 years hezbollah denied the accusation that its men carried out the assassination. perhaps on the orders of allies in syria and iran. its leader refused to allow the arrest of the four indicted hezbollah men, who otherwise would be in court to hear the verdict. to me it's closure. it has been a long 15 years for us as a family and the lebanese. rafik al—hariri's eldest son believes the demand for reform in lebanon cannot be stopped. i have never seen the lebanese in unison the way it is now. they're not going to pick a swiss knife to fight each other. they are

innocent. they want to get rid of this configuration once and for all. rafik al—hariri's statue looks down in beirut, the city he rebuilt. if hezbollah‘s men are convicted of his assassination, the blame to their organisation, and its backers in syria and iran, will increase. jeremy bowen, bbc news. well let's talk to professor william schabas — professor of international law at middlesex university. what impact did the assassination have. the assassination had a terrible impact at the time, but thatis terrible impact at the time, but that is 15 years ago and things have moved on a lot since then. of course it prompted the establishment of this tribunal which has been a hugely expensive, massive effort. but i have the sense that things have moved on from that. what do you think will be the impact of the verdicts? it is hard to say, first

we do not know what the verdict is, could be an acquittal, could be a conviction. we do know the case of the prosecution has not developed the prosecution has not developed the idea that assyrians were behind this. it has even made a big deal —— has not made a big deal of the connection with his brother. it has been technical. we have to bear in mind there will be a appeal which is pretty much automatic, whatever the result. the prosecutor has been saying for the last two years they have been spending their time preparing for the appeal. defence lawyers have been doing that, too. what has this case revealed about the fault lines and difficulties within lebanon? this case is like that television

series the wire. they had to trap drug dealers using mobile phones. it is highly technical, sophisticated forensic evidence, but has not really got to the heart of the political issues. that were behind the very political event and assassination. ultimately the accuser not in court. no, and thatis, the accuser not in court. no, and that is, you know, the accused are not in court, if they ever do appear and turn themselves in or are apprehended, they have a right to a new trial. this is not a... it is very forward is a procedure in many respects and will be very unsatisfactory. they can impose a sentence, reparations orders, but if they do not have the four guys who allegedly did it, we shall know that soon, they cannot do very much in reality. take us

back to first may, assassinated 15 years ago, had that not happen, had he won the election, how different? —— rafik al—hariri assassinated. as a lawyer tuned into the politics of the country, what i do know is the assassination galvanised international public opinion bearing in mind that many countries including the united kingdom have contributed huge amounts of money for this tribunal. it costs about £50 million per year to operate and has been operating for more than a decade, so that is a massive investment and it shows the concern for trying to deal with the political situation in lebanon. as i said at the beginning, things have moved on and that explosion

on the 1ath of february 2005 pales in comparison with the explosion of few ago in beirut. and maybe they have £1 billion they spent on the tribunal, if some of that had gone to cleaning up the harbour beirut might bea to cleaning up the harbour beirut might be a happier place today. more now on the uk government's u—turn over exam grades for a—level and gcse students this year, and education secretary gavin williamson says he is sorry for the distress caused to thousands of pupils over their results. meanwhile, universities are preparing to deal with a surge in enquiries from students who were rejected last week. 0ur education danjohnson has been spending time with some students at leyton sixth form college in east london this morning who've been trying to work out what the u—turn on results means for them and their future plans 0riginally i got a c—b—c, which obviously meant i didn't get

into my first choice uni, which was university college london, or second choice queen mary to study politics. now, after the u—turn i have a—a—b, which means i now can qualify to study the course i want but it's not exactly at my first choice uni. you still can't get into your first choice? no, unfortunately not. so what will you do now? so now after this i am going to go home and ring up the uni, just try and get into my course, because that's all i can do, really. how about you, victoria? last week i got a b—b—c, and now it is aab, so it doesn't impact what i want to do in future, i still got into foundation i did before, however i am thinking of repeating the year and getting an a and out because i do not think i deserve it be and i feel like i would have been able to sit the exams and had i been able to finish my sketchbook and finish the course i would have got an a, maybe an a star.

so you are still thinking of resitting the year? setting yourself back a yearjust to make sure this is sorted out? yes, because i know what i am capable of. had coronavirus never happened. if i have to reset the year, that is fine, as long as i get the grades i truly deserve. what do you think about the fact you have been left in that situation? very unfair. the pandemic, it was no one's fault, it is very unfair i have to deal with the situation and figure out a way on my own to sort this out and that the government isn't supporting students to sort out for everyone that we have to make sacrifices on our own behalf to sort this out properly. i agree. i wanted to go to kings. i found out i ifound out i can get i found out i can get two a star two and a d, i found out i can get two a star two anda d, i i found out i can get two a star two and a d, i cannot go to king's couege and a d, i cannot go to king's college london but i can go to goldsmiths to do journalism, i am happy about that, but grades are not

just to get into university, they are something personal, i value my grades and academic so i will be resetting maths, which i got a d in. at the heart of the u—turn was the algorithm used by the exam regulator 0fqual, to discuss that we can speak now to dr tom fincham, lecturer in computer science at the university of bath. thanks forjoining us. let's take a look at the offending algorithm. i am not sure if this is the whole thing or a part of it. to the untrained eye or brain, it is very complicated. it isa it is a pretty impenetrable calculation! how is that arrived at? i can't see what you are showing, but i am going to guess it is the

co re but i am going to guess it is the core equation of the system. at some level, they made our set of decisions, they asserted their own assumptions and ideals for how the system should work and they came up with this equation. can you get a perfect outcome on what your assumptions are, in other words, there has been a lot of talk about there has been a lot of talk about the wrong assumptions, that was the start point and that is what led to this. could it have been foreseen that with the assumption that went into creating the algorithm that we would have ended up with this result. yes. it is quite clear looking at what they did that forcing the students distribution to match the schools distribution... they make technical mistakes. it was clearly their intention to do that and that was always going to create

this problem where any student is going to be pulled back. when you send them a technical mistakes, as well. what went wrong also, within that algorithm? it gets quite involved. probably the most important mistake is that they are essentially allowed the algorithm to cheat. when you design an algorithm you tested. they tested it on last year and when they tested it they also essentially gave it last year's results. this is a classic do not do that type mistake. the end 01:32:48,1000 --> 01:32:49,944 result is they choose out of 11 different approaches they considered, the approaches they considered, the approach that was best placed to make use of that cheating scenario and geta make use of that cheating scenario and get a good

result. i actually think that was a straight up accident, that they chose the wrong algorithm out of the ones they were considering 97% of the gcse results would have been decided by the algorithm if it hadn't have been disco for thursday. 97% for gcses, which meant that you have been exclaiming, teacher rankings not being taken into consideration... sorry, rankings being taken into consideration but not the teacher assessed grades. that is how we have ended up with the situation that kids who were predicted one great got lower grades. yes. some of that was a mistake, as well. people dropping two or three grades, that was a straight up mistake with the maths. when would it have been clear

that this was the case? it has been unfolding over a matter of weeks because the situation, albeit with a slightly different algorithm, in scotla nd slightly different algorithm, in scotland there were clear there were issues sooner. from my point of view, i sat down, read the report andi view, i sat down, read the report and i immediately spotted these problems. if they had had any kind of external review, put more eyes on the problem, asked for help, these issues would have been raised and it could have been fixed. sometimes asking for help is the right move. that is the sort of basic thing that you want to teach your kids, isn't it? indeed. what do you mean in this context, who should have asked for help? my understanding is that the royal statistical society offered and was in effect turned down by lawyers. they should have accepted that help because they would have

fixed this. even if they were not involved, there are hundreds of people around the country who are perfectly capable of spotting the problems in the system. thank you very much. let's return to the first night of the democratic convention, where michelle 0bama has launched a scathing attack on us president donald trump's fitness to continue in office. in a recorded message, the former first lady argued the president is incapable of leading the country during this moment of crisis. when my husband left office, withjoe biden at his side, we had a record—breaking stretch ofjob creation. we'd secured the right to health care for 20 million people. we were respected around the world, rallying our allies to confront climate change. and our leaders had worked hand—in—hand with scientists to help prevent an ebola outbreak from becoming a

global pandemic. four years later, the state of this nation is very different. more than 150,000 people have died and our economy is a shambles because of a virus that this president downplayed for too long. and here at home, as george floyd, breonna taylor and the never—ending list of innocent people of colour continue to be murdered, stating the simple fact that a black life matters is still met with derision from the nation's highest office. because whenever we look to this white house for some leadership or consolation or any semblance of steadiness, what we get instead is chaos, division and a total and utter lack of empathy. when we close out the noise and fear

and truly open our hearts, we know that what's going on in this country is just not right. so let me be as honest and clear as i possibly can. donald trump is the wrong president for our country. he has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. he cannot meet this moment. he simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. it is what it is. so if you take one thing from my words tonight, it is this: if you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don't make a change in this election. if we have any hope of ending this chaos, we have got to vote forjoe biden like our lives depend on

it. i'm joined by natasha lindstaedt, who is professor of government at the university of essex, in the east of england. she is also a democrat supporter. this is meant to be the glitzy event that propelled them into the final stages of the campaign. it was all very different. what do you think about the momentum at this stage, bearing in mind the changed nature of this event, as well as everything else? the democrats are trying to keep the momentum going, keep the base energised. there was a little bit of a bump after kemal harris was packed, and we are seeing in the polls thatjoe biden is on average about 8% more popular than donald trump nationally. this convention is very unusual. normally it is in person, there is a lot of energy, instead they have to have this all done virtually, but it seemed like

it was well organised and the first speech starting off with the blistering critique of donald trump by michelle 0bama, without even mentioning as rain —— his name, should you what the democrats will be planning to do. we are facing one of the biggest threats to the economy since the depression. the democrats are really focusing on the lack of moral character that donald trump hours. that is one of the things that michelle 0bama highlighted, that he is not fit for this position and he wasn't able to accomplish much. she spoke to people talking about her role as a parent and what it is like to be the parent ofa and what it is like to be the parent of a child being raised in america today and send lack of morality and empathy. she tends to really resonate with the public because she is not a politician, with moderates,

independents and the rest of the democrats because she doesn't have a tainted background and she really tries to communicate with the public about what they might be thinking and feeling. i think it started off with an effective start, with michelle 0bama's speech, and also the bernie sanders speech. they need to reach beyond the already converted. how much do you think, what is the indication, on how much they are cutting through? there is less tha n they are cutting through? there is less than three months to go now. you mentioned that joe less than three months to go now. you mentioned thatjoe biden is 8% more popular than president prompt nationally at the moment, but hillary clinton was more popular than trump at this point and we know what happened. joe biden is pulling better than hillary clinton was in 2016. the democrats have twin goals of trying to get the moderates to support them, getting the independents are undecided. i don't think they have any chance of winning over

trump supporters. they also have to motivate the base. that was the goal that bernie sanders played. you need to unite the progressive wing of the party and the moderate wing because the recent pack of kamala harris was more of a moderate, joe biden is a moderate, and he tried to lay out the case clearly that donald trump is a big threat to democracy, that he is trying to kneecap the postal service, that he says he might not even service, that he says he might not eve n a cce pt service, that he says he might not even accept the result if he wins. joe biden... sorry, bernie sanders made it clear that this is a very urgent situation in us democracy. we had an excellent quote, while nero fiddled while rome burns, trump golfed. also trying to make the clear case about what joe golfed. also trying to make the clear case about whatjoe biden is going to do. the democrats really

need to get their supporters to come out and vote for them, and also they are trying to attract those in the middle or undecided. the incumbent a lwa ys middle or undecided. the incumbent always has the advantage in this election, it has been very rare that an incumbent hasn't won a second successive term. is that party because there is so much division for the opposing party is so close to the election when they are going through this process of electing the nominee, and that inevitably gives the sort of ammunition that we have seen president from using against you biden? i think it is a very unusual time in us history and that the country is more polarised than ever. this has been ongoing for some time. it is incredibly polarised and thatis time. it is incredibly polarised and that is bad for democracy. normally the incumbent has a huge advantage because they have four years of experience and people tend to not wa nt experience and people tend to not want change, but we are at a crossroads here in us democracy, that there is a

real threat of authoritarianism sneaking in, that donald trump is an autographed and that we are in the middle of a pandemic. we have 3 million people unemployed. 171,000 people have died asa unemployed. 171,000 people have died as a result of the pandemic. we are clearly one of the countries performing worst, despite of having all kind of achievements in science, medicine and health. this is a very different election than it was even four years ago because trump was an unknown. it is also different is that trump supporters are really, really ardently supportive of him and they will come out and vote in d roves and they will come out and vote in droves and for the democrats it is important to motivate their best to support their candidate as well. important to motivate their best to support their candidate as weltm there the passion on the democrat side forjoe biden? i don't think there is a huge passion forjoe biden. his bowling has revealed this. he is well liked by people aren't passionate about him. harris

is helping without a little bit, but she also attracts more negative attention. where the passion lies is that the democrats can't stand donald trump and we see this in poland that he is one of the least like presidents in us history. there has been no period since he has been president that he has pulled over 50% in the gallup poll in terms of people supporting him, and that is highly unusual. what we are seeing is the democrats uniting more in their hatred for trump unnecessarily and their loved joe biden, and that will be a key goal of the convention, to make the case that it is not just about the case convention, to make the case that it is notjust about the case that trump is dangerous, but thatjoe biden and kemal harris —— kamala harris would be the best team to run the country. the political crisis in belarus continues over the disputed election. 0pposition protesters in belarus have been on the streets again calling on the president, alexander lukashenko, to go. they've dismissed his offer

of a constitutional referendum, followed by a possible fresh election, as a ploy. russia's president vladimir putin has offered president lukashenko military help in the event of an external military threat. it comes as the eu, uk and usa denounced the election. earlier on monday, mr lukashenko was jeered by protesters when he addressed a group of workers in the capital minsk. with the latest from there, here's our correspondent abdujalil abdurasulov. the strikes are continuing. many factories and plants across belarus, they are saying that they will continue their strikes until their demands are met. the workers are saying that all political prisoners and detainees who were arrested during the violent crackdown on protesters, they must be released. they want a rerun of the vote, because they believe the elections were rigged, and they are saying that they are ready to continue their strike. however, we also spoke to many workers, not all of them are on strike, many of them are reluctant to join the movement even though they are sympathetic with the cause, they are saying that their families

are dependent on their salaries. so it is not clear how long will these strikes continue. however, these factories that are on strike, they are key for the economy of belarus, they are very important. budget revenues and therefore these strikes are posing a serious threat to president lukashenko. with around nine million dogs living in the uk, services such as walking, training and grooming have become big business. now the rspca is calling for better regulation of the industry, after reports some pets are being put at danger. just a warning that there is some distressing footage in claire jones' report. i was horrified, i was in shock. i just couldn't believe what i'd seen. she's hit her. we are a nation of animal lovers and care deeply about our dogs. but we've been investigating the repercussions of people with little experience or any qualifications who are looking after our

animals. they're dog walkers, dog trainers and dog groomers, and they could be putting our animals in danger. sam gaines is the head of companion animals at the rspca, which is calling for these professions to be regulated through a licence from the local authority. if you're a commercial dog walker, you don't currently have to be licensed in england. there will be some that do actually have a licence — some local authorities require that — but it's a complete postcode lottery. and the rspca really wants to see dog walkers regulated, as well. are your work commitments getting on the way of you walking your best friend? a dog walker from leeds put together this promotional video for her dog—walking business. but jacqueline wilkins, who ran wilkins walkies, was caught on cctv hitting a boxer she was paid to look after. you've been a naughty girl! gary hatch contacted wilkins after his partner, louise, suffered an injury which meant she couldn't walk their boxer bella, or their sprocker spaniel cocoa. she came and started

taking bella and cocoa out in the morning and evening for me. after a couple of weeks, bella's behaviour started to change and this one fateful night we were coming back from work and we saw the dog walker on the camera that we've got hitting bella. wilkins pleaded guilty to a charge of failing in her duty to ensure the animal's welfare, and was handed a 12—month community order, 100 hours of unpaid work, and to pay £385. she's also been disqualified from owning or keeping dogs for two years under the animal welfare act. solicitor tina wagon is a specialist legal advisor to the dogs trust. she has represented numerous dog owners when their animals have been injured from inexperienced walkers and trainers. anybody can set themselves up as a trainer, a groomer or a walker tomorrow with no qualifications — not even any experience, really! no insurance, there's no regulatory body. without some standardisation of qualifications it's very hard for people to understand how

qualified, if at all, their dog trainer is. the government told us... until such regulation and licensing exists, dog owners will have to trust in the people calling themselves the professionals. claire jones, bbc news. the public health england organisation is being scrapped and replaced with a new organisation for public health. it was reported on sunday. there has been speculation around this for some time with

criticism over the role public health england played on the covert banking crisis during lockdown. there is no confirmation that the national institute for health protection will be replacing public health england. the health minister says that public health england did not go into the crisis with a capacity for our response to a once ina capacity for our response to a once in a century event. we will bring you more detail on vamp as it comes through. a senior black police inspector has complained of racial harassment to the met police after being stopped in his car by two white officers. inspector charles ehikioya recorded the incident in which he said officers stopped him withoutjustification as he drove home from work in south london. he says he was accused of offences that could have ended his 22—year met police career. the force says it has found no evidence of misconduct.

a boy who suffered life—changing injuries when he was thrown from the balcony of the tate modern last year, has been able to go home for the first time. the six—year—old was visiting london from france with his family when he fell 100—feet. 18—year—old jonty bravery was convicted of attempted murder and was jailed in june. three top producers of the ellen degeneres show in the us have been fired amid allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment. the chat show host announced the overhaul in a video meeting with staff. the departures of the three male producers was expected, following investigations byjournalists into claims of racism and intimidation. previously, the men have denied the allegations. the show‘s production company, warner media, also carried out an investigation. federal officials in australia will face a parliamentary committee over a cruise ship scandal that fuelled the country's coronavirus crisis. more than 2,500 passengers were allowed to leave the ruby princess without being tested after it docked in sydney in march, despite

suspected covid—19 cases on board. the new south wales state government has apologised and has admitted monumental mistakes were made. it's the venue which helped launch the careers of the beatles, but the famous cavern club in liverpool is now facing financial ruin because of the coronavirus lockdown. the sites owners have warned they're losing £30,000 a week and have already had to make 20 staff redundant. jayne mccubbin reports on the club that has become an institution but its future is now under threat. the cavern club is the most famous club in the world. the place is packed, people listen to the music. it's hot, it's sweaty. when this all happened, i mean, you know, you're thinking, how are we going to continue? the thought of the cavern club not being here, that is inconceivable. but it's a real threat.

so this is it. welcome to the cavern. # i like it, i like it #. it is an institution. today, empty — and at risk of staying that way. how scary was it when all of this hit and you knew you just couldn't carry on? er. . . it was very scary. it's costing us — to not open — £30,000 a week. we can keep that going a bit longer without reopening. but then our reserves will be gone. this is where legends were born. famously, the beatles, but notjust the beatles. countless bands over 63 years. 0utside today, john lennon looks on to a matthew street still covid—quiet. roberta is here from rome. i like beatles very much. have you ever been in the cavern, roberta ?

never. was this going to be yourfirst time? yes. oh! give us a twirl, riley, in your beatles t—shirt. riley is here from essex. proof the legacy of this place touches even the youngest generations. how much of a fan are you, riley? see that? yeah. probably bigger than that. bigger than that? bigger than that! get out of town! do you want to start a rendition of heyjude? # na, na, na, na—na—na—nah #. he had hoped today would be his very first visit to the world—famous cavern club. # hey, jude #. can you imagine a world without the cavern club? i cannot, no. it's like the earth is built around it. not the cavern club is built around the earth. jayne laughs. # na, na, na, na, hey, jude #. round of applause for riley! woo—woo! woop—woop! since this place opened in 1957, it's closed and reopened five times, but no—one could have foreseen

a global pandemic threatening its very existence. 20 staff have been laid off, 20 more jobs are at risk, and of course, live music venues across the uk are struggling right now, but few have the cultural collateral of this place. # gonna find her. # i'm gonna find her #. people will be writing about the cavern in a hundred years' time — what shakespeare is to stratford, the cavern is to liverpool and they will be talking about it. and this unfortunately will go down as a major closure. but not the end. absolutely. you don't think? no, absolutely not the end. you know, we've got to be positive. we've got to be positive. we've been taking small steps and we'll continue. and with support we can take bigger steps and we are keeping very positive. you've got to. yeah. he gulps. you gulped then. did i gulp7 he laughs.

this is a perilous time for all live music venues... take care. bye. ..but there are people around the world rooting for this one. jayne mccubbin, bbc news. the first polar bear cub to be born in the uk in 25 years is to be moved from his home in scotland to a park in england. hamish, who is now two—and—a—half years old, shares an enclosure with his mother victoria at the highland wildlife park near aviemore. he'll be moved in october to his new home in the yorkshire wildlife park. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello, again. some of the started off with some low cloud, drizzle, murky and misty conditions. reports are based in scotland and north—east england you could hang onto that for most of the afternoon. most will

have sunny spells. still some heavy downpours in the forecast, though. this weather is drifting northwards, taking a train with it, but we will try more showery through the day. the spacing on the i suppose tells you it will not be a windy day. here is the rain leaving north wales, pushing into northern england, churning more showery. in between all these showers there will be sunshine. the met office has our yellow warning out for the thunderstorms. they will become more widespread with some heavy downpours across england and will is. they will all be hit and miss but if you catch one could lead to some localised flooding, large hail and gusty winds. through this wind —— this evening and overnight lows of them will clear away and there will be clear skies. some cloud irwin —— lingering in north—east is dependent on scotland. 0vernight, new system will move on from the south—west bringing heavy rain and strengthening winds. this waterfront

will move northwards. it will be a windy day on wednesday compared to today. a lot of dry weather to start the day, even some sunshine. still doesn't look like lingering across parts of the north—east. the rain heaviest in the north west of england and south wales. easing a little bit as it moves northwards, followed by showers, but gusty winds. the combination is not particularly pleasant. the leaves on the trips are prolific at the moment, so ranchers could come down. 0n moment, so ranchers could come down. on wednesday night into thursday, it will be windy and the fronts will move northwards. a windy day on thursday, particularly on towards the west with strong gusts of wind. the renault clio northern scotland, but the next time will come in from the west. the temperatures on thursday, highs up to 25 and any sunshine. the higher temperatures out towards the west, the exception being plymouth which will see 21. friday will see the strongest winds, gusts of a0 miles an hour, guilt

and the west, some rain as well, but it looks like on saturday the wind will ease.

this is bbc news — the headlines: 7000 jobs to go at marks and spencers over the next three months — as the pandemic means even more of us shoppped online. universities call for urgent government support, after the u—turn over a—levels. the education secretary resists calls to resign, but does say he's sorry for the distress caused. this is not something that anyone wanted, whether it was from our perspective or from the exam board's or 0fqual's perspective,

but that's why we had to take action when we did. the health secretary announces a new agency to replace public health england — after criticism of its response to the coronavirus crisis. michelle 0bama launches a scathing attack on donald trump at the democratic party's virtual convention. calls to licence commercial dog walkers in the uk — the rspca says it wants to see higher welfare standards. marks and spencer has announced thousands ofjobs will be cut over the next three months. 7000 posts will go — right across the business, including customer assistants and support centre management. the company expects a ‘significant‘

proportion to go through voluntary redundancy or early retirement. these cuts are on top of an additional 950 that were announced in july, as part of a store management revamp. the company has just under 80,000 employees, so that's around a tenth of the workforce that will be cut in total. marks and spencer says the coronavirus pandemic has made it clear there's been a "material shift in trade". group sales were down 19.2% year—on—year in the 19 weeks running up to 20th august — this includes the lockdown period. our business presenter ben thompson has been taking a look at the figures. as you would expect a company like marks & spencer, known around the world but particularly important here in its home market in the uk, it has told us this morning that like many other retailers it has to face up to an uncertain future, a future in which it needs many fewer staff to do what it does. you touched on some of the

numbers about how m&s has seen a slump in sales but building on some of the lessons it learned during lockdown. at the head of the pandemic, what marks & spencer did, because some of its sores were able to stay open, those selling food, staff were able to multitask, perhaps they worked in homeware, and then started working in the food section. that was a revelation, they were able to multitask and they want to do more than that, said m&s. some are in the head office, some regional management, the job losses, many in the shops themselves, 7000 announced today on top of the 950 already announced. we are shopping differently fundamentally, the rise in sales in big out—of—town stores, but in town centres and city centres the retailer is struggling to get people back through the doors.

so much so it has told us it has taken on stock storage space, a significant amount to put stock into storage to sell next year because the shops were shut and we do not need the spring or summer clothing, into autumn and winter now. working out what happens next. a big shift to online sales too. m&s has signed with 0cado, delivery giant online, that comes into force in september and could mitigate some of the fall in sales in stores. the way we shop is change for ever and they need many fewer staff to deliver the service that they offer. sue dunn is a former director of house of fraser, and now runs the retail consultancy srla. shejoins me now from oxford. marks & spencerfacing marks & spencer facing the same

challenges obviously as every other business right now. what is your reaction to the announcement on job losses ? reaction to the announcement on job losses? i think it is concerning, reaction to the announcement on job losses? ithink it is concerning, it will be worrying particularly for the staff who are looking at further ending at the end of october and also the run—up to christmas, where people are considering their income. —— furlough ending. affecting store staff, many of them are women, many of them add part—time income to critical household budgets. there is uncertainty and worry. some people have been working flexibly and moving from fashion to home, that is great news but when that is on a temporary basis it is different from facing up to doing that on a permanent basis. i fear there facing up to doing that on a permanent basis. ifear there may facing up to doing that on a permanent basis. i fear there may be some people who will find that will not suit them when it comes

to it. marks & spencer have said that operating during the pandemic has shown it can work more flexibly and productively come up with more staff multitasking and moving between food, clothing and home departments. presumably, this is something a lot of businesses are discovering through necessity, that they can cut jobs and run a more lean operation as times dictate because of reduced income. i think the difficulty is, within the retail arena particularly, is that this loss of jobsis particularly, is that this loss of jobs is a continuing thing. last year, the british retail consortium reported 79,000 retailjobs had been lost in that year. when we look at what has been happening this year, it is adding to an already declining key employment arena. if you can redeploy people, that is absolutely

great. but the general retailer can move people from fashion to home to food, but if you are a fashion retailer with high street stores, there will inevitably be further store cuts, i would imagine. this is what we are looking to at the moment, debenhams are looking for example, reviewing the possibility of accelerating store closures. and another of other retailers cutting staff because redeployment is not very easy for them. really important to remind us that the demise of the high street has been going on for a long time, we have been talking about it for years. how much does covid—19 hasten the demise potentially of some of the names familiar to potentially of some of the names familiarto us? potentially of some of the names familiar to us? i think the move online, marks & spencer are telling us here that their online purchases over the last three months have been 60%, last year they were 30% at the same time, you can

see the volume changing. in terms of people feeling uncertain, we all feel a little uncertain. marks & spencer customer is perhaps a little older, do they feel comfortable shopping in a mask? what is going to happen as we go on? it is difficult with the shifting circumstances we all find ourselves in to plan very clearly for what is going on. they are going to take some of their summer stock and put it to save nature, that means that it to save nature, that means that it makes a lot of sense, a white t—shirt can be sold next year. it is difficult to see how the pandemic will not just accelerate, difficult to see how the pandemic will notjust accelerate, as you say, what we have been seeing over recent yea rs say, what we have been seeing over recent years anyway. that statistic you mention is extraordinary, m and s online sales doubled this time compared with last year. does that compared with last year. does that compare with any company, you need

a good strong online offering? you need to focus on online and the technology behind it. you have some of the pure play retailers, the people who specialise only in online, focusing all their technology on that and you have to be up—to—date. and customer service and fulfilment are really critical, so you've got to have a great website but also you have to deliver so that people feel confident that when they put their credit card in the details are not going to be stolen and they are going to see their goods which they think they know what they are going to be like and they are going to arrive properly, well packed and delivered efficiently. thank you very much for joining us, sue segment. in

finland, prime minister marin isolating. in recent days covid—19 cases have risen. facemasks should be in all public areas. 7500 confirmed cases including 33a deaths in finland. the prime minister self isolating after taking mild respiratory symptoms this morning. a fresh scramble for university places begins in earnest today for those hit by the chaos over a level results. the government's u—turn yesterday — that results would be given on teacher assessment — followed an outcry over students being graded down by an algorithm. but it's not all over — that turmoil means that thousands have lost out on uni places they would otherwise have secured. now, universities say they face

a major challenge fitting them in because they've already given those places away to others. dan johnson reports. when i heard the news, a huge wave of relief came over me, and it's just fantastic. i'm so happy. i feel like the government should've taken the grades that my expert teachers gave me from the start based on my performance. i'm frustrated that this completely unnecessary mess has set me back a year. the government has heard our voices and accepted that they were wrong and changed the decision because it's literally going to mean so much for so many students across the country. after a painful u—turn in every corner of the united kingdom the question is, what difference does this make for the future? i was in a state on thursday, atrocious. here's one family who felt disappointed by son riley's results last week, and worried about his sister's gcses on thursday. it's a lot of stress

off my shoulders, especially. ..especially where the university's concerned because. ..because of the decision now, i don't have to go through the appeal process. it's been such a surreal year and i feel like the past few days have just been all over the place, and it's just great to know that everything — providing they stick to what they've said — isjust going to work out the best it can with the situation we're in. the computer models used to standardise grades agreed by teachers produced inconsistent results. there have been apologies from ministers and officials who got their maths badly wrong. but reverting to teachers' estimated grades isn't a simple solution. universities had been busy matching students with available courses through clearing. now some unis will have more students with the right grades than they have places remaining. there's certainly a lot of work for us to do, going ahead. so i think obviously our concern

is that the best outcome is available for all students. but at the moment, it's not quite clear to us how we will get the new results, how we have to process them. but we've got our students' interests at heart. i have not been sleeping well the la st i have not been sleeping well the last few nights, stressed about my future, i hope things will turn out all right and i want some kind of certainty. clearing now feels more like clearing up — after a mess that put the futures of many young people in jeopardy and leaves question marks over the futures of those in charge. dan johnson, bbc news. the health secretary matt hancock has announced plans to disband public health england and create a new health protection agency which will take over many of its functions. public health england has come under intense scrutiny of its response to the coronavirus crisis. 0utlining the changes — the health secretary says he wants to bring together the best scientific and analytical advise.

the national institute for health protection will have a single and relentless mission. protecting people from external threats to this country's help, external threats like biological weapons, pandemics and of course infectious diseases of all kinds. it will combine our world —class all kinds. it will combine our world—class science infrastructure with the growing response capability of nhs test entries and the bio—security centre's ability. we work closely already today but i wa nt to work closely already today but i want to integration to be greater. crucially this will be a national agency working closely with public health directors and their teams, who are in my opinion the unsung

heroes of health protection. twice as many adults are now experiencing some level of depression — compared with before the coronavirus pandemic, according to the office for national statistics. nearly one in five adults are now affected by depression — with the majority citing stress and anxiety as affecting their wellbeing, and almost half saying their relationships have been affected. the research also found that the groups most affected are younger adults, women, disabled people and those ‘unable to afford an unexpected expense'. a british man who gave his girlfriend drugs at a festival and filmed her as she died has had his manslaughter conviction overturned at the court of appeal. louella fletcher—michie, the daughter of holby city actor john michie, died after taking the hallucinogenic class a drug 2—cp at the bestival music festival in september 2017. ceon broughton was sentenced to eight and a half years. the court of appeal was told that louella's death occurred not as a result of criminal negligence, but was instead

a tragic accident. ican i can confirm that an additional a9 positive cases were confirmed yesterday, representing 1% of people who were tested yesterday, taking the total number of cases to 19,a07. a full health board breakdown will be available later but my provisional information suggests that seven of those a9 new cases are in the grampian health board area, 12 are in greater glasgow and clyde, six in lanarkshire, 16 in tayside. we are dealing with known clusters in each of these health board areas andi in each of these health board areas and i will come back to those shortly. i can also confirm it total of 25a patients are in hospital with confirmed covid—19, six more than yesterday i reported. three people

in intensive care, same as yesterday. in the past 2a hours, no deaths registered for patients who have tested positive in the previous 28 days, 2a91 deaths. we should remember that the weekly national records of scotland figures which include confirms and presumed deaths, five people died in the preceding seven days who were presumed to have covid—19 or tested more than 28 days prior. these figures will be published tomorrow. that is a stark reminder of the impact of this virus. still potentially very dangerous. and of course my condolences again go to everybody who has suffered loss. as always, i want to thank everyone working hard still to help our country through this pandemic in whatever capacity you are

doing so. you have our appreciation. i am hoping that circumstances permitting we might shortly move to have these updates are slightly less frequently, perhaps three days a week rather than five. however, i have concluded that it is important this week that i give regular updates on the variety of different clusters and outbreaks that are currently being tackled across the country. let me start firstly with aberdeen. given that aberdeen and indeed the grampian area more generally has been responsible for a very significant proportion of all new cases that we have seen in recent weeks. i mentioned earlier that seven of the day's a9 new cases where in the grampian area. i can report today that, according to the latest figures we have, it's report today that, according to the latest figures we have, its total of 386 cases have now been identified in grampian since the 26th ofjuly. identified in grampian since the 26th of july. 220 identified in grampian since the

26th ofjuly. 220 of these are associated with the cluster linked to aberdeen public houses and 1125 contacts have now been identified from those 220 cases. i can confirm today that 13 cases which had previously been identified but is not allocated to the cluster have now, following further investigation, been added because they are considered to be associated with that cluster. the slightly more positive news is that in recent days we have seen a decline in new cases across the grampian area. ten days ago for example we reported 39 new cases in one day. today, as you have just heard, the figure we are reporting is seven. the seven day average for cases has also fallen. so that suggests that the restrictions that were put in place two weeks ago i having an impact, is of course all the efforts of our health protection teams. however, it

is worth highlighting that over the past week new cases in grampian are still higher than in other parts of the country. we will have to take that fact into account when we announce tomorrow whether or not there will be any change to the restrictions currently in place in aberdeen. the situation there does appear to be improving but it is important to stress that we cannot yet say that outbreak is completely over. i also mentioned yesterday a coaster in cooper angus which is linked to two sisters food processing plant. —— cluster. there are nine associated cases. i would be very surprised, albeit pleasa ntly, be very surprised, albeit pleasantly, if we don't see that number rise in the days ahead. seven of the cases identified so far are employees of the factory and two in the wider community, contact tracing is ongoing for all of these cases. the factory which

employs approximately 900 people in total, a big workplace, closed down yesterday and a mobile testing unit is due on site today so that the whole workforce can be tested. this is a complex and potentially significant cluster. in addition to the overriding public health concern relating to the outbreak, the closure of the plant potentially has an economic impact and we also need to consider possible animal welfare issues as well. the animals which would have been sent to the factory in the next few days cannot currently be sent there. for all of these reasons, we are monitoring all aspects of the situation very carefully a nd aspects of the situation very carefully and closely and will provide full information in due course as and when it becomes available. there are also some cases and coasters that have been identified in the last couple of days involving school pupils. for example, there are individual cases involving school students who go to primary schools in blairgowrie,

perth and paisley. the health protection teams are dealing with these cases and have written to pa rents these cases and have written to parents and carers of the affected children's classmates to advise where necessary at their own children should be isolating. i also mentioned yesterday community clusters in la narkshire mentioned yesterday community clusters in lanarkshire and north east glasgow which include secondary school students and appear to be linked to each other. it is really important to stress that these are considered at this stage to be community clusters with an impact on schools rather than cluster. it is not thought the virus is transmitted within the schools. —— rather than school—based clusters. in lanarkshire, the school—based clusters. in la narkshire, the confirmed school—based clusters. in lanarkshire, the confirmed cases is eight, five pupils from three different schools, the risk of infection at all three schools is considered to be low. the cluster in baillieston, north east glasgow,

currently has 1a identify cases, some students at one school. contact tracing is taking place for this cluster. in addition, this is releva nt for cluster. in addition, this is relevant for both of those outbreaks, there are mobile testing units at the time capsule car park in coatbridge and ravenscraig in addition to the testing centre at glasgow airport. i made the point earlier, these are community—based clusters and there does appear to be a link with indoor social events. the evidence we have at this stage seems to suggest, perhaps not surprisingly given how infectious we know covid—19 is, that if the virus is present at say a house party, eve ryo ne is present at say a house party, everyone attending the party is at considerable risk of infection and then of course the risk is that they then of course the risk is that they thenit then of course the risk is that they then it spread the infection more widely. all of that underlines the vital importance right now of abiding by the restrictions on household gatherings. if i can remind you what those are, no more

than eight people from a maximum of three different households should be gathering together indoors, two metre distance and should be maintained between people from different households. these rules are not easy, i understand. not sticking to them is presenting perhaps one of our biggest risks of outbreaks occurring at this time. i cannot stress enough how important it is that we all do abide by an comply with these rules. for all of the outbreaks i have mentioned, test and protect teams are working hard to identify individuals who need to self—isolate and get tested. as always, anybody who has symptoms in these areas or anywhere else across scotla nd these areas or anywhere else across scotland should book a test immediately. the symptoms are a new cough, high—temperature, loss of or change in sense of taste and smell, tests can be booked through the nhs website. we will leave nicola sturgeon there. picking up on the

development with three pupils at separate primary schools testing positive for covid—19, she was making the point that they are not school—based clusters. they are community clusters which have impacted on schools and basically the schools affected, one in paisley, newry primary school in blairgowrie, and one in perth. they will remain open, no evidence to suggest there is transmission within schools of covid—19 and the risk to other pupils is seen as low by public health specialists. more reaction now to the plans by the health secretary matt hancock to disband public health england — and create a new health protection agency which will take over many of its functions. phe has come under intense scrutiny of its response to the coronavirus crisis — but labour say the changes in the middle of a pandemic are "irresponsible" and "risky".

let's get more from our health correspondent anna collinson. welcome. we have been expecting this because it was in the newspapers of the weekend. what is the difference with the remit of public health england and this new body? public health england was created in 2013 as part of an overhaul of the nhs and had a really wide remit when it came to public health, responsibilities ranging from nova choc poisoning in salisbury, health issues like obesity and tobacco. and of course coronavirus. —— novichok. if we go back to march, a real demand for testing. how important we know now that testing is. to detect and understand the virus. the decisions made initially when it came to testing, it

was restricted to public health england and nhs even though there were lavatories and universities, research and other private labs, they were not being used and it is claimed that slowed the uk response to the coronavirus down. another area of concern way that public health england double zero, death figures. you may remember earlier this month the way england records its death figures has now changed. the understanding is that it was the way public health england was recording that data, almost potentially counting more deaths than necessary, the rest of the uk had a 28 day limit. people we re the uk had a 28 day limit. people were being counted four months earlier who tested and could have died from something else, that was skewing the figures. this morning, matt hancock made the announcement that the national institute for health protection is being set up, bringing together public health england, test and trace and the

joint bio—security centre. england, test and trace and the joint bio-security centre. people tend might be thinking, why should i care? what difference is it going to make? this kind of decision is extremely important, public health england has been extremely instrumental in the coronavirus so far in monitoring things like testing which as we know it is extremely important, and all our other approaches to tackling the virus. there are real concerns, is this the right time to be changing a system ? i will this the right time to be changing a system? i will reach you one quotation i heard that was pretty prevalent. the health official basically saying it is like trying to put out a fire at a fire station, it just feels like to put out a fire at a fire station, itjust feels like this is so not the right time to be making a step like this. real concerns about the timing of this. also, are they potentially being used as a scapegoat? ultimately public outing and have to answer to the department of health, ministers involved in all the decisions, are they being used

asa the decisions, are they being used as a scapegoat for decisions that happen made and potentially gone wrong? let's hear now from the liberal democrats health spokesperson — munira wilson. do you think public health england are being scapegoated? absolutely andi are being scapegoated? absolutely and i think people at home who are struggling to deal with the impact of coronavirus on their day—to—day lives will be left wondering why on earth the government is seeking to make a bureaucratic reorganisation around the functions of government that are there to protect our public health and help us get through this crisis. we are still in the middle ofa crisis. we are still in the middle of a pandemic. crisis. we are still in the middle ofa pandemic. it crisis. we are still in the middle of a pandemic. it is quite clear to me that ministers are looking to deflect responsibility from some terrible decisions taken, whether around provision for ppe, test and trace and the tracing application being botched and a whole series of

other... and trying to scapegoat phd asa other... and trying to scapegoat phd as a result. this is not a time, we should be going forward within independent enquiry as the liberal democrats have been calling for. we can learn the lessons of the first wave and put into practice ahead of any potential second wave. —— to scapegoat public health england as a result. the responsibilities are more streamlined to put it in a position to be better placed to tackle something like covid—19 or whatever else might come down the track. does that make sense to you? i know you don't like the timing but in terms of having the best possible organisation we can have to tackle issues like academic, is not the right choice? —— is that the right choice? there might be a

case to have a streamlined organisation focusing on these sorts of threats to our health and well—being, however to do so in the middle of a pandemic is to my mind highly responsible and that is why i think asa responsible and that is why i think as a result of any enquiry, those sorts of recommendations can be implemented. the question makes reference to the fact that public health england actually has a huge range of responsibilities around public health, whether that is to do with cancer screening programmes, immunisations, tackling obesity, smoking cessation. we have not heard today from matt hancock what is going to happen with those functions. it is quite clear he has no idea, said they are going to consult on it. all the announcements being made in the midst of the summer recess, whether parliamentary scrutiny or challenge, i think it is partly getting away from some of the other headlines around a—level

results. but also to try and deflect responsibility. it is important that ministers get a grip. public health england are implementing decisions ministers have taken and they need to stand up and be held accountable and take responsibility for their actions. the former first lady of the united states michelle 0bama has launched a stinging attack on donald trump in a video message at the national democratic convention. it's a four—day event that will see joe biden formally accept the party's nomination for november's presidential election. ms 0bama said the administration run by mr trump was characterised by chaos, division and a total lack of empathy. he is clearly in over his head. he cannot meet this moment. he simply cannot be who we need him to be for us. it is what it is. so if you take one thing from my words tonight,

it is this: if you think things cannot possibly get worse, trust me, they can and they will if we don't make a change in this election. let's speak to barbara plett usher in washington. 0bviously obviously a very different event this year because of circumstance. what impact make that have a campaign? well, this was a real experiment, actually, because it was the first time they tried to do a virtual convention, so i guess we took some lessons from that in terms of the campaign. 0ne took some lessons from that in terms of the campaign. one of them is that the enthusiasm component was a struggle, i think. the enthusiasm component was a struggle, ithink. the the enthusiasm component was a struggle, i think. the speeches came across as a little bit... i think they needed ackroyd to bounce off of two respondent to their emotion, to respond to their punch lines, so some of the speeches felt

a little bit scripted, sometimes forced. the strength of the production was as pre—recorded video segments, that was quite slick, especially with the younger participants because they knew how to respond to cameras and do selfies and so on. also, they we re do selfies and so on. also, they were able to get more ordinary americans into the picture. they could have little spots with different americans. it was like a big highly produced zoom call and it had strength and weaknesses of the back of that. they will be taking lessons from that for the election campaign. the democrats say they will be largely virtual in terms of how they campaign. 0ne will be largely virtual in terms of how they campaign. one thing i would say is that you were speaking about michelle 0bama earlier, she used the format very much to her advantage. she was very powerful with quite an intimate speech, it felt as though she was speaking to viewers

personally. perhaps the format benefited her rather than the reverse. what is the evidence on how much the two of them together as a jewel, joe biden and kemal harris, are cutting through like they need to to take on donald trump? —— kamala harris. it is hard to say especially with a virtual event. it is difficult to say. the networks played the back hour of the event. the cable tv played all of it, and you are going to be having segments on social media. michelle 0bama was very powerful, so you will have those clips spread out. i'm sure they will get fairly high traffic. in terms of how this type of campaigning will go in the next couple of months, we are not sure. we know that the polls have shown that mr biden has a

reasonably co mforta ble that mr biden has a reasonably comfortable lead on donald trump in the polls and they are really pushing that message of leadership that president trump is my dealership has failed and joe biden is the answer. you will have quite a lot of people who are prepared to make an anti—trump vote even if they don't feel that mr biden is the best choice available. they have that in their momentum, but it is difficult to measure how this virtual campaigning is going to affect that. let's bring you the latest figures on the government's eat out to help out that provides up to ten points ahead to customers choosing restau ra nts ahead to customers choosing restaurants to try to boost the prospects of restaurants and other places where you can eat out during the covid—19 crisis. we are hearing that 35 million meals have eaten out under that scheme. 85,000

restau ra nts under that scheme. 85,000 restaurants have signed up to it and the treasury are saying that more claims are likely to trickle in over time. those 35 million meals served under the scheme in the first two weeks. rishi sunak has said that britain is eating like to help out. that is equivalent to more than half of the uk taking part in supporting localjobs in the hospitality sector. to build back better, we must protect as manyjobs as possible and that is why emerging registry businesses to make the most of this. it is free, simple and pays out within five days. more now on the government's u—turn over exam grades for a—level and gcse students this year. education secretary gavin williamson says he is incredibly sorry for the distress caused to thousands of pupils over their results. meanwhile, universities are preparing to deal with a surge in enquiries from students who were rejected last week. danjohnson has been spending time with some students at leyton sixth form college in east london this morning, who have been trying to work out

what the u—turn on results means for them and their future plans. 0riginally, they give me grades that wouldn't have got me into college. now i have better grades, which means i can qualify to study the course that i want, but it is not at my first choice university. you still can't get into your first choice? unfortunately not. so what will you do now? i will bring up the university, try to get into my course because that is all i can do, really. how about you, victoria? my grades have been raised. it doesn't really impact what i want to do in future because i —— i had already got in. i feel

if i had sat the exams i would have got better grades. so you are going to reset it here? yes. if i had grades. so you are going to reset it here? yes. if! had to reset the year, perhaps be set back a year, thatis year, perhaps be set back a year, that is fine, as long as they get the grades they deserve. how do you feel about being left in that situation? it is very unfair, the pandemic was nobody was my fault, but i feel i know i had to figure out a way to figure it out on my own and the government is supporting us, we need to make sacrifices honouring to have to sort this out properly. we need to make sacrifices honouring to have to sort this out properlylj to have to sort this out properly.” 100% agree with what victoria is saying. i am in the same situation as victoria. i wanted to go to king's college london in order to do digital culture, but the grades they we re digital culture, but the grades they were protected were no were near my entry requirements. i still

don't have necessarily what i need, however i was able to secure my insurance on results day so i am happy with that. i still feel like rays and exams aren't necessarily just to get into university, they are something personal and i do value my grades on my academics, so for me i will be resetting maths because i know i am capable of doing much more. a un—backed court in the hague is due to deliver its verdict on four men accused in the assassination of the former lebanese pm rafik al hariri in beirut in 2005. the accused men, tried in absentia, are from the powerful lebanese group hezbollah. it denies any involvement. a fifth man, a senior hezbollah commander, was originally indicted before he was killed in syria. 0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen reports. (tx next)

it's still time for anger in lebanon after the catastrophic explosion in beirut docks. it is too soon to say whether they will get the change so many are demanding. another shattering event 15 years ago produced as much shock and similar calls for reform. 0n1ath february, 2005, a massive bomb blew up the motorcade of rafik al hariri, the former prime minister, who was campaigning for election. it killed hariri and 21 others. one of the first to reach him was his long—serving bodyguard, who wants justice. translation: to start with i couldn't tell if it was him from his face. some of the guys told me to check his face, his back or is hair to see if it was him. but i could only tell it was him from his wedding ring.

at the funeral, hariri's supporters were already accusing syria's president of ordering the killing. a few months earlier, assad has threatened him for questioning syria's right to dominate lebanon. during the election campaign, hariri chose his words carefully when i asked him who ran lebanon. syria helps so much in assuring the security and stability in lebanon. but on a political basis, there is a cooperation between the syrians and the lebanese, and the lebanese leaders and so on. they have no influence beyond that. at many rallies over 15 years hezbollah denied the accusation that its men carried out the assassination. its leader refused to allow the arrest of the four indicted hezbollah men, who otherwise would be in

court to hear the verdict. to me, its closure. it has been a long 15 years for us as a family and the lebanese. rafik al hariri's eldest son believes the demand for reform in lebanon cannot be stopped. i have never seen the lebanese in unison the way it is now. they're not going to pick a swiss knife to fight each other. they are innocent. they want to get rid of this configuration for once and for all. rafik al hariri's statue looks down in beirut, the city he rebuilt. if hezbollah‘s men are convicted of his assassination, the blame to their organisation, and its backers in syria and iran, will increase. jeremy bowen, bbc news. the political crisis in belarus continues over the disputed election. 0pposition protesters in belarus have been

on the streets again calling on president alexander lukashenko to go. they have dismissed his offer of a constitutional referendum followed by a possible fresh election as a ploy. russia's president, vladimir putin, has offered president lukashenko military help in the event of an external military threat. it comes as the eu, uk and usa denounced the election. earlier on monday, mr lukashenko was jeered by protesters when he addressed a group of workers in the capital, minsk. with the latest from there, here's our correspondent abdujalil abdurasulov. the strikes are continuing. many factories and plants across belarus, they are saying that they will continue their strikes until their demands are met. the workers are saying that all political prisoners and detainees who were arrested during the violent crackdown on protesters, they must be released. they want a rerun of the vote, because they believe the elections were rigged, and they are saying that they are ready to continue their strike. however, we also spoke to many workers, not

all of them are on strike, many of them are reluctant to join the movement even though they are sympathetic with the cause, they are saying that their families are dependent on their salaries. so it is not clear how long will these strikes continue. however, these factories that are on strike, they are key for the economy of belarus, they are very important. budget revenues and therefore these strikes are posing a serious threat to president lukashenko. the headlines on bbc news: 7,000 jobs to go at marks and spencers over the next three months as the pandemic means even more of us shoppped online. universities call for urgent support from the government after the u—turn over a—levels. the education secretary resists calls to resign, but does say he's sorry for the distress caused. the health secretary announces a new agency to replace public health england, after criticism of its response to the

coronavirus crisis. with around nine million dogs living in the uk, services such as walking, training and grooming have become big business. now the rspca is calling for better regulation of the industry, after reports some pets are being put at danger. and just a warning that there is some distressing footage in claire jones' report. i was horrified, i was in shock. i just couldn't believe what i'd seen. she's hit her. we are a nation of animal lovers and care deeply about our dogs. but we've been investigating the repercussions of people with little experience or any qualifications who are looking after our animals. they're dog walkers, dog trainers and dog groomers, and they could be putting our animals in danger. sam gaines is the head of companion animals at the rspca, which is calling for these professions to be regulated through a licence from the local

authority. if you're a commercial dog walker, you don't currently have to be licensed in england. there will be some that do actually have a licence — some local authorities require that — but it's a complete postcode lottery. and the rspca really wants to see dog walkers regulated, as well. are your work commitments getting on the way of you walking your best friend? a dog walker from leeds put together this promotional video for her dog—walking business. but jacqueline wilkins, who ran wilkins walkies, was caught on cctv hitting a boxer she was paid to look after. you've been a naughty girl! gary hatch contacted wilkins after his partner, louise, suffered an injury which meant she couldn't walk their boxer bella, or their sprocker spaniel cocoa. she came and started taking bella and cocoa out in the morning and evening for me. after a couple of weeks, bella's behaviour started to change and this one fateful night we were coming back from work and we saw the dog walker on the camera that we've got hitting bella. wilkins pleaded guilty to a charge of failing in her duty to ensure the animal's welfare,

and was handed a 12—month community order, 100 hours of unpaid work, and to pay £385. she's also been disqualified from owning or keeping dogs for two years under the animal welfare act. solicitor tina wagon is a specialist legal advisor to the dogs trust. she has represented numerous dog owners when their animals have been injured from inexperienced walkers and trainers. anybody can set themselves up as a trainer, a groomer or a walker tomorrow with no qualifications — not even any experience, really! no insurance, there's no regulatory body. without some standardisation of qualifications it's very hard for people to understand how qualified, if at all, their dog trainer is. the government told us...

until such regulation and licensing exists, dog owners will have to trust in the people calling themselves the professionals. claire jones, bbc news. some breaking news out of france on the wearing of masks. we are hearing that the government is saying face mask will be compulsory in all share and enclose company workplaces from the end of august. the work minister has made that proposal after meeting unions for discussions on it today. there is not an official government announcement at this stage 0nyx, but it was expected that when she met employers and unions today she would be proposing compulsory masks in

collective workspaces. it comes with a number of infections in france increasing. 3310 new infections where recorded in the 2a hours up to saturday night, which is our record since the lockdown was seized in may. neither proposal is that wearing masks will apply in meeting rooms where there is no natural ventilation and in areas where are moving about. at present it is already obligatory for masks to be worn on public transport, in shops and in other into public places. britain s most senior police officer says when it come to drugs, social media companies bosses would do more if it was their children dying from drugs bought this way. he was speaking to radio 1 newsbeat‘s politics editor, jim connolly. jim's been following the stories of three families with very personal experience of this. three mums brought together by grief after their teenage children died taking illegal drugs. she was funny, sassy, a bit of a diva, a bit of a drama queen.

loved to sing. sarah's daughterjodie died after taking ecstasy that she'd bought on snapchat. fiona is leading their campaign to get social media companies to act to stop the trade of illegal drugs on their platforms. how can it be that drugs can be offered to children so openly and apparently nothing done7 i want to find outjust how easy it is to find drugs in this way on social media, so i've set up a snapchat account, i've set up an instagram account and i'm going to search for a few phrases and see what comes up. turns out, very easy. within minutes i was being offered class a drugs. and i decided it was time to challenge the people selling them. i'm actually a bbcjournalist and i just want to ask you, you've made no checks as to who i am and you're willing to sell potentially very dangerous drugs through the post. i could be anyone. do you have a problem with that? you don't care who you sell the drugs to, do you?

no, not that i don't but, like, i'm just trying to, like, make sure that, you know, i get my product moving. i could end up dead from the products you're selling. research suggests that a quarter of 16 to 2a—year—olds have seen adverts for drugs like these on their social feeds. and drug workers have told me that with nightclubs and festivals closed because of coronavirus, more unregulated raves have sprung up, meaning buying drugs online is more popular than ever — creating a new challenge for the police. jason harwin is the uk's most senior police officer when it comes to drugs. if that was a son and daughter of one of the social networks that are providing or allowing this to take place, would they be thinking we should do more about this? i'm certain they would. fiona is delivering her letter from what she calls her mums' army. it's to snapchat and here at facebook, which owns instagram. neither would agree to being filmed. snapchat told fiona that it's more difficult to deal with their platform than other social media, and it's committed to take further steps to ensure

the safety of its users. it's also agreed to meet the mums soon. instagram, which is owned by facebook, said... and they have given fiona a video call and invited her to work with them. so some progress for fiona and her campaign, but both she and the police say this billion pound industry has the technology to block more drug dealing. jim connolly, bbc news. it's the venue which helped launch the careers of the beatles, but the famous cavern club in liverpool is now facing financial ruin because of the coronavirus lockdown. the sites owners have warned they're losing £30,000 a week and have already had to make 20 staff redundant. jayne mccubbin reports on the club that has become an institution, but its future is now under threat. the cavern club is the most famous club in the world.

the place is packed, people listen to the music. it's hot, it's sweaty. when this all happened, i mean, you know, you're thinking, how are we going to continue? the thought of the cavern club not being here, that is inconceivable. but it's a real threat. so this is it. welcome to the cavern. # i like it, i like it #. it is an institution. today, empty — and at risk of staying that way. how scary was it when all of this hit and you knew you just couldn't carry on? er. . . it was very scary. it's costing us — to not open — £30,000 a week. we can keep that going a bit longer without reopening. but then our reserves will be gone. this is where

legends were born. famously, the beatles, but notjust the beatles. countless bands over 63 years. 0utside today, john lennon looks on to a matthew street still covid—quiet. roberta is here from rome. i like beatles very much. have you ever been in the cavern, robert? never. was this going to be yourfirst time? yes. oh! give us a twirl, riley, in your beatles t—shirt. riley is here from essex. proof the legacy of this place touches even the youngest generations. how much of a fan are you, riley? see that? yeah. probably bigger than that. bigger than that? bigger than that! get out of town! do you want to start a rendition of heyjude? # na, na, na, na—na—na—nah #. he had hoped today would be his very first visit to the world—famous cavern club. # hey, jude #. can you imagine a world without the cavern club? i cannot, no. it's like the earth

is built around it. not the cavern club is built around the earth. jayne laughs. # na, na, na, na, hey, jude #. round of applause for riley! woo—woo! woop—woop! since this place opened in 1957, it's closed and reopened five times, but no—one could have foreseen a global pandemic threatening its very existence. 20 staff have been laid off, 20 more jobs are at risk, and of course, live music venues across the uk are struggling right now, but few have the cultural collateral of this place. # gonna find her. # i'm gonna find her #. people will be writing about the cavern in a hundred years' time — what shakespeare is to stratford, the cavern is to liverpool and they will be talking about it. and this unfortunately will go down as a major closure. but not the end. absolutely.

you don't think? no, absolutely not the end. you know, we've got to be positive. we've got to be positive. we've been taking small steps and we'll continue. and with support we can take bigger steps and we are keeping very positive. you've got to. yeah. he gulps. you gulped then. did i gulp7 he laughs. this is a perilous time for all live music venues... take care. bye. ..but there are people around the world rooting for this one. jayne mccubbin, bbc news. in a moment, the bbc news at one with simon mccoy, as you would expect in august, there is decent sunny weather to be had for the rest of the days, but it is not like that everywhere. in fraser brown, jeanette was struggling for a decently earlier. 0ne brown, jeanette was struggling for a decently earlier. one or two areas have been with hefty showers and

thunderstorms. the atlantic looking pretty unsettled, much of that is coming our way over the next couple of days, but closer to whom we have had a hook of cloud which started the day over the north of england producing fairly miserable fare there. it is gradually worked his further north, dissolving into showers. 0ne further north, dissolving into showers. one of the areas of cloud i showed you in the atlantic by the end of the night will reach the south—west corner. it will be another mild night, between 12 and 16. that unsettled picture of the atlantic, and very much closer to home for some of you on wednesday as the front spring cloud, wind and rain, initially across the southern half of the british isles, but more widely. you will notice the strength of the wings at times during the week, and there will be spells of rain. here is the first one, which much of england and wales will see as we get into the afternoon. a tee time, some of that will

be getting towards county down, as well. scotla nd towards county down, as well. scotland faring that bit better. those are the strength of the gusts. it isa those are the strength of the gusts. it is a combination of wet and windy weather, i suspect it will feel like autumn. 23 the best of the temperature. the best of the sunshine in parts of scotland. that is not the end of the story. as one pulse of member works its way north, another pulse of rain will swing in towards the east. it will take time. the wet and windy fare gets into the north of scotland, then there is a lull in proceedings. the wind will come in from the south, sue provided you don't get the wind and rain, and it will be pretty gusty, the temperatures will pick up, the maximum about 26 in the east. take care, goodbye.

as students scramble to secure university places after the exam fiasco in england, an apology from the education secretary. chaos for some universities, facing a massive increase in demand from students now achieving top grades. gavin williamson says sorry for the distress caused to pupils after his u—turn in a—level and gcse grading. as you can absolutely imagine, i am incredibly sorry for the distress

that this has caused for those youngsters and incredibly sort of... this is not something that anyone wanted. as he refuses to say if he'll resign, we'll be assessing the political fall—out in westminster. also this lunchtime... 7,000 jobs are to go at marks & spencer, as part of a further shake—up of its stores and management after the coronavirus crisis. public health england is scrapped, and replaced, after criticism of its response to the coronavirus crisis. the widow of pc andrew harper calls for mandatory life sentences for those who kill police officers. harper's law is just so important that we bring in. maybe it will give other families a little bit of closure that we haven't got. coming up on bbc news: mps urge the government to help to safeguard non—league football by permitting fans into grounds ahead of their planned