this is bbc news — welcome to viewers in the uk and around the world. a big increase in coronavirus testing across england — with the aim that 150,000 people a fortnight will be tested by october. this is an almost ten times expansion in our single most important tool for making policy decisions. thank you very, very much, from the bottom of my heart. us democrats formally choose joe biden as their candidate to fight donald trump to become the next president of the usa. eu leaders hold emergency talks on belarus — as the country's president accuses the opposition of attempting to overthrow him. some railfares in the uk are going to go up by 1.6% next january.

universities write to the uk education secretary calling for more money to help with the cost of taking in extra students following a government u—turn on a—level grades. and coming up this hour, the three victorian forts — originally built to defend england against the french — going up for sale. 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. the number of people being randomly tested in the community — to track the prevalence of covid 19 — is to be incased up in england. from october, 150,000 people will be tested every fortnight as part of the office

for national statistics programme — which is separate from the mass testing programme of people who have symptoms. the figure is up from the 28,000 in england who are currently sent a home testing kit. testing will also be expanded in scotland, wales and northern ireland. the health secretary, matt hancock, says the expansion of testing in the community will give the uk government a better understanding of where the virus is spreading. to be more accurate, to get more localised information, to have more nuance in the information we get, we are going to expand it, essentially by almost ten times, so that we get more detailed information about where the virus is taking root, about whether that's men or women, about which parts of the country, so that we can better manage in a more targeted way the measures that we need to take to tackle the virus. this is an almost ten times expansion in our single most important tool for making policy

decisions. simon jones now reports. this is part of the household infection survey run by the office for national statistics, separate from nhs testing. it tests thousands of people who have volunteered to estimate the levels of infection gci’oss estimate the levels of infection across the population. it's the most accurate indicator of infection levels in england. now it is being extended to also include households in scotland, wales and northern ireland. the number of people being tested every two weeks is being increased from 28,000 to 150,000. quickly identifying local outbreaks such as those in leicester is seen as vital in combating covid—19 and the ons as vital in combating covid—19 and the 0ns believes extending its testing will show what is going on in much greater detail right down to city levels. helping government and local authorities to quickly

identify any outbreaks and impose restrictions and lockdowns. these police helicopter pictures show how the local restrictions currently in place in manchester were broken at the weekend. the organiser of this party was fined. testing, tracing and combating covid relies on people sticking to the rules. the increased levels of testing will be in place by october and the results will be published every week. simonjones, bbc news. superintendent rebecca boyce is from greater manchester police. we will talk to her right now about that gorton resident who had the illegal party at the weekend and what has happened to the house and also to her. first of all, the images you were able to obtain from heat sensitive cameras from your police helicopter are quite surreal, aren't they? guess, they absolutely are. i think they paint a really

good picture of what actually did happen on saturday night at that private residence. it really does show that when we talk about over 200 people being in attendance, that paints the picture of what happened. in terms of your view on the fact that 200 people turned up at that house, what do you think of that?” think it's worth saying that when we started to get reports that the party was ongoing we sent a0 officers to try to break up the gathering. gatherings such as that are concerning on two levels. firstly, the amount of officers we need to send to them in order to break them up. and also clearly they area break them up. and also clearly they are a public health concern. particularly that gathering in gorton on saturday evening, the officers who were attending were met by pa rtygoers officers who were attending were met by partygoers throwing missiles at them and in that situation we need to make a really difficult situation as to how we then deal with those gatherings. in this situation we

felt the violence that our offices could be subjected to all the violence the partygoers could sustain meant we needed to withdraw from that situation. it clearly left a public health risk. in orderfor us a public health risk. in orderfor us to do with that in the aftermath, the occupier, the resident of that private property, was given a fixed penalty notice and also served with a closure notice. we then went to the magistrates' court on tuesday morning and requested that closure notice was extended for a further three months. these kind of powers are only normally used for licensed premises. we took the decision that we needed to use it for a dwelling, they absolutely can be used for houses and private premises and i hope it sends out a clear message that this is how we will react if people hold parties and gatherings and we won't hesitate to apply for further closure notices on other houses. it is the first time i have heard of it being used on a private

house in this way. to explain a closure notice, it means only the owner can go into the house for three months, that's my understanding. that's correct. it specified by a judge giving the order and in this case it is the owner and the housing owner who can enter the premises and no one else will stop it is quite restrictive on her life for the next three months and she was given a clear warning by thejudge that it and she was given a clear warning by the judge that it would be taken extremely seriously if she breaches that. what kind of stuff was thrown at your offices? bottles, bricks, the normal missiles that are thrown at us. that leaves us in a really difficult situation because the last thing we want to do is for our presence to instigate violence and cause disorder. so you withdrew, meaning that they just cause disorder. so you withdrew, meaning that theyjust carried on with the party? they carried on with that gathering. it's not a decision we ta ke that gathering. it's not a decision we take lightly. it is a difficult balance because clearly that leaves

a public health risk and a covid risk, but the officers on the evening had no choice but to do that. we could only hope the action we took in the aftermath shows what we took in the aftermath shows what we will do in similar kinds of situations. the woman who held the party has said to the manchester evening news that she was expecting about 20 people and it got out of hand. i know even 20 is not allowed under current rules but do you accept that? i read that in the manchester evening news. i really can't comment on whether that was the case. i don't have information that would allow me to properly comment on it. i understand that is what she said. i think the drone footage shows that was a party of 200 people in full swing at the time we took that footage. thank you very much for talking to us. appreciate the time. the democratic party in the united states has formally nominated joe biden as candidate

for president in the election in november. mr biden was endorsed by two former presidents, including bill clinton — who fiercely criticised the current republican president, donald trump. peter bowes reports. this was the night that joe biden has been working towards for decades — the seal of approval from his party to run for the white house. with leadership as the theme, two former democratic presidents spoke to rally the troops. jimmy carter sent an audio message, while bill clinton lashed out at donald trump. you have to decide whether to renew his contract or hire someone else. if you want a president who defines the job as spending hours a day watching tv and zapping people on social media, he is your man. the keynote speaker wasjill biden, who spent eight years as america's second lady, when her husband was vice president. a lifelong teacher, hoping to become the next first lady. she reintroduced herself to the country and laid out the case for a new family in the white house. across this country, educators,

parents, first responders, americans of all walks of life are putting their shoulders back, fighting for each other. we have not given up. wejust need leadership worthy of our nation. the main business of the night was the roll call, without the usual convention centre razzmatazz. coming to you live from the wisconsin centre. it is time to begin our virtual trip around america. i am honoured to cast connecticut's 75 votes for our next president, joe biden. alaska. it was a revamped and speeded—up format for prime time tv. 2a votes for our next president, joe biden. quick—fire contributions from sea to shining sea. 11 votes for our next president, joe biden. with democrats from all 57 us states and territories pledging delegates to their chosen candidate.

50 votes for our next president of the united states, mrjoseph r biden. the result was never in doubt. joe biden is now the party's official nominee for president. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. 0ur washington correspondent gary 0'donoghue has been following developments, he told me how polls have been reacting to this week's convention. if you look at the national polls, they have been pretty consistent over the last few months, giving joe biden an eight or nine point advantage over donald trump. that is nationwide. but of course the battle is really in those swing states. he still has an advantage there, although it is narrower, as you would expect, six or seven points. i think they had hoped this week would give them some kind of bounce to

increase that margin. the usually do, but because this is such an unusual event, no one really knows whether they will get that kind of convention bounce as they would have donein convention bounce as they would have done in previous years. any outlier poles? there are a few, there always are, particularly the state polls, some of them can be weird because believe it or not, even in some of the key states there aren't all that many polls done on a regular basis. the president is clearly worried because this week he has been visiting some of those battle ground states. it's worth remembering that president trump was a surprise winner last time around but his victory was a very narrow one. you are looking at 80,000 votes in three separate states, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. you could fit those in wembley stadium who could make the difference between him winning and losing.

south korea has closed churches, museums, nightclubs and karaoke bars in and around the capital seoul, after a surge in covid—19 infections. the country is experiencing its largest increase in new infections for five months, recording nearly 300 new cases in the past 2a hours. many of the new cases have been linked to a church, whose members have been reluctant to cooperate with health authorities. churches in seoul are only allowed to hold online gatherings. eu leaders are holding an emergency virtual summit in a few hours' time, after the bela russian main opposition candidate for president called on the european union not to recognise what she said were fraudulent presidential elections. large crowds were out on the streets of the capital minsk again last night, calling on alexander lukashenko to step down. mr lukashenko has accused the opposition of trying to stage a coup, after they formed a council to organise a transfer of power

in the country. let's speak now to keir giles, senior fellow from the russia and eurasia programme at chatham house. that's an international affairs think tank. hello to you. tell us who is orchestrating the protests and how people are being brought together. the way in which the protesters are being orchestrated and organised is both a strength and wea kness and organised is both a strength and weakness for the opposition, for all the people are upset at the results of the election. in some ways it is a lea d e rless of the election. in some ways it is a leaderless protest, organising itself across the country will stop the calls for strikes and calls for people to come onto the streets are decentralised. but in another way it's a problem there is no clear leaderfor the it's a problem there is no clear leader for the opposition will stop you have svetlana tikhanovskaya, who hasissued you have svetlana tikhanovskaya, who has issued a call to not recognise the elections, but she is out of the country and has ordered a large consultative committee, as she calls it, of people to decide what to do next. it's a key problem for the

opposition because when president lukashenko says the opposition wants to tear us away from russia, to ban the russian language and all these other things, there is nothing for the opposition to set against it and say, yes, this is our alternative plan for the future. who will win? we have known from the very beginning this will be a test of will and a test of endurance between those people who wanted to stand up against the election results and lukashenko's security forces. everybody has been surprised by the extent of the protests across the country and the number of strikes ongoing. some of those seem to be dwindling as the major industrial pla nts start dwindling as the major industrial plants start to threaten workers to come back to work and we mustn't forget that lukashenko's whole security apparatus, internal police, riot police, the mechanism of repressing the descent like this are still fairly strong and are not showing signs of losing their nerve. but it might come down to one single incident that has a cascading effect across the country and changes the

situation completely. what could that be for example? for instance, if you have in some place a group of riot police who refused to carry out the repression, refused to carry on beating up innocent protesters, and then that movement spreads across then that movement spreads across the whole of the security forces. 0r if the situation deteriorates further and lu kashenko if the situation deteriorates further and lukashenko has to: the armed forces to step in to maintain order, and they, having stayed out of it so far, refused to do so, these are all finer points in the balance and it's difficult to say which way it will go. if that came to pass, as you have described, would it mean russia would intervene? russia will be watching closely, looking for exactly that moment when it feels it has no choice but to intervene in order to prevent the situation getting out of hand ina prevent the situation getting out of hand in a way that would pose a threat to russia itself because let's not forget that's how russia saw events in ukraine in 201a. we area saw events in ukraine in 201a. we are a long way off that at the moment and there are many other steps which can take to settle the

situation, to try to get a new leadership in necessary in belarus which is equally friendly to russia, but but it will always be in the back of the minds of russian planners that yes, this could be the final worst—case solution. planners that yes, this could be the final worst-case solution. thank you very much, from the international affairs think tank chatham house. uk university leaders say they need urgent financial support from the government to cope with a rise in student numbers after the u—turn on a—level results. they've also written to the education secretary, gavin williamson, demanding clarity on how they can offer more places to students without breaching social distancing guidelines. 0ur education correspondent dan johnson reports. teaching space, accommodation and staff will all be stretched on socially distanceed campuses. and now many more students have the grades they need, universities are wondering how to fit them all in. clearing lines are busy, with thousands more trying to get into their first choice, having missed out last week. a letter sent to the education secretary on behalf of uk universities calls for help solving that puzzle, and support for the institutions that will lose

out if places are rejected in favour of higher grade offers. there was only one place that this could go to, which is the point we've reached now. i think the question we all ask is, why wasn't that point reached before thursday, when all those applicants, those hundreds of thousands of people who...whose lives were left in uncertainty, could have had some, you know, just clarity about where their futures lay? 0ne early pinch point is medical schools, where places are highly competitive and still limited because part of the cost is met by the government. universities are now asking for the limit to be lifted. medicine is both a very practical discipline and also requires a great deal of clinical and practical experience, and hence clinical placement capacity needs also to be increased. it is going to be layer upon layer in terms of it's a long course

and it isn'tjust a fix for a year. the education secretary has said he's sorry for the confusion and announced he's created a task force to tackle the issues facing universities. the immediate challenge is matching students with places. but there are warnings — some may need to defer if they are intent on sticking to theirfirst choice. dan johnson, bbc news. as we havejust been hearing — there are calls for the limit on undergraduate medical places to be lifted following the u—turn on a level results — we can speak now to the chair of the royal college of gps, professor martin marshall. good morning to you. do you agree this limit on places on medicine courses should be lifted? yes, we do agree with that entirely. there are about 7500 admission places for medical school every year and we know that there is potentially

several thousand students who have been offered medical school places who have obtained the right qualifications to get in, but those places are not available because they were filled last week on the basis of the algorithm results so this is extremely disappointing and also extremely worrying at a time when we need extra doctors and we wa nt to when we need extra doctors and we want to be self—sufficient in our doctors. would the institutions need more money to be able to help pay for extra courses? yes, they would. unlike other degree courses, the fees that students pay for medicine are not adequate to cover the whole of their training. are not adequate to cover the whole of theirtraining. medicalschool training is expensive. it requires clinical placements either in hospitals or community settings like general practice, and all of that costs. the department, or more directly the treasury, would need to find extra funding in order to lift the cap and provide more training places this year. and if that doesn't happen, then what? we have

an awful lot of talented people who wa nt to an awful lot of talented people who want to study medicine who are needed, absolutely needed in the nhs, who wouldn't be able to train at least this year, maybe have to train next year, but that would have a knock—on effect. we are particularly concerned about groups within students. we know students from disadvantaged backgrounds, stu d e nts from disadvantaged backgrounds, students from bame backgrounds, are particularly disadvantaged by the algorithm and our concern is those stu d e nts algorithm and our concern is those students who would make a brilliant doctors, and we absolutely need a diverse medical workforce, would be disproportionately disadvantaged by the exams fiasco. thank you very much for talking to us. we will see what happens. staying in the uk, train season ticket holders and commuters will see a 1.6% rise in fares from january in spite of a slump in passenger demand amidst the pandemic. about half of rail fares are pegged

tojuly‘s retail price index, which defied economists' forecasts and rose from 1.1% a month ago, the office for national statistics has said. passenger groups said an overhaul of the fares system was needed. uk consumer price inflation also rose, to 1% injuly from 0.6% injune. our business presenter ben thompson has more. let's just be really clear. it's very easy, isn't it, to get confused by all of those percentages and what they mean for our day—to—day spending. but in simple terms, it means that something that would have cost us £100 last year will cost us £101 this year, that 1% rate of inflation. and quite clearly, there are three specific things that we have been told this morning have caused that. one is a big increase in petrol prices, the biggest jump in pump prices in more than a decade. and that is because the price of oil on global oil markets jumped pretty significantly. remember, just a few months ago we were talking about oil prices being negative.

well, actually they've started to bounce back as demand has picked up, and that has meant we are paying more at the pump. there has also been a rise in things like clothing in the shops because whilst you might expect that while the shops were shut they would be trying to sell off a lot of old stock, that hasn't actually happened. and what normally happens at this time of year is there are those summer sales where retailers trying to flog off all the stuff they haven't sold over the summer. that is just not happening, many retailers telling us that they are putting that stuff into storage in the hope of selling it to us next year instead. and the third issue has been at the cost of things like haircuts or a visit to the dentist, because the price of those has gone up too. particularly because many of those firms are having to spend a lot of money on ppe to keep themselves and us safe. therefore the cost that we are paying for those services has gone up too. together, it has meant that average prices have increased. what the bank of england has said is that it expects that to slow again next month as some of those costs start

to filter out of the system. nonetheless, we should be clear that inflation is part of a healthy economy, prices rising slowly and steadily suggest the economy is working again. so in some respects, a bit of good news this morning. and the impact on some train fares from january? yes, you touched on the two differences there, the one i am talking about is a consumer price index, that is the official recognised one. but the rpi, the retail price index, that is now no longer used for many things except to fix the price that train tickets, regulated train fares, will rise from january of next year. again, to be clear, regulated fares account for about a0% of all of the tickets that are sold. they include things like season tickets, so commuters coming into and out of big city centres. and also off—peak

return tickets. providers, rail companies are limited to how much they can charge for those. they are determined by the retail price index, which today came in at 1.6%. that means that from january of next year, ticket price rises for regulated tickets can go up by no more than 1.6%. expect a few announcements over the course of the day as we are told from those train companies how much they are going to raise their prices. as we said, it is linked tojuly‘s figures, but the changes won't come in untiljanuary of next year. motorists could be allowed to drive hands—free in the uk next year using new technology — if the government believes it's safe enough. the department for transport is calling for evidence into the so—called "lane—keeping" device, which takes control of a vehicle at low speed. the driver still needs to be ready to take the wheel when prompted. new research from the university of liverpool shows

that countries with women leading them have seen significantly fewer covid—19 deaths compared to those with male leaders. they suggest the numbers are about half those of countries led by men. the study analysed cases and deaths across 19a countries — of which 19 are led by women — looked at things like gdp and population density. new zealand, led by prime minister jacinda ardern, was the first country to record zero cases over consecutive days. germany, led by chancellor, angela merkel was the first to resume competitive top level sports. professorjennifer curtin is the director of the public policy institute at the university of auckland. she gave us her assessment of the findings. the

you did have good news stories from countries led by women but unless you compare them with countries led by men you can determine whether that was a factor. the reason, speculation and hypothesis as to why this might be is because it looks like women leaders might be more risk averse to the human cost of this disease vis—a—vis the economic cost. what they do is look at the scholarship on leadership and they find that historically at least male leaders are more likely to be risk averse on economic factors, which may explain why male leaders have left the board is open, and left the economy to run longer and as a result there has been a higher human cost.

after the black grime star wiley had his social media accounts shut down because he shared anti—semitic hate speech online, a conversation was sparked about all forms of discrimination — specifically what it means to be a jew of colour. in the wake of black lives matter protests — many black celebrities argued that although it was right his comments were removed, wiley‘s treatment was unfair. in turn, some members of thejewish community expressed their disappointment at the lack of support. while these debates are happening on public platforms, somejews of colour have told the bbc they are often ignored. 0ur reporter shamaan freeman—powell has more. and it is exhausting to be always fighting against the next hate, and that is where people like me find ourselves. madeleine is a french, american and british national with west african and european ancestry. she is alsojewish and can find herself being caught in a crossfire when it comes to defending her identity. we are always fighting against this and that, and if it is this, you know, the afro—caribbean community having

issues with the jewish community not understanding that there are afro—caribbean jews, or if it is thejewish community being angry at the afro—caribbean community for not fighting against anti—semitism, it's like... ugh! you know? these experiences were made worse in recent weeks when grime star wiley took to social media to share anti—semitic hate speech, some from white supremacists' accounts. madeleine says, although highly offensive, these dangerous slurs often come from a place of ignorance, and when shared by someone also from an ethnic minority group, it can have further consequences. what i am upset about is when it becomes a movement and people start to normalise it, and that starts to spread. that is what concerns me is more the mass of ignorant hateful behaviour. so, my perspective on that, especially considering the context of black lives matter, which ends up making things very messy, is that sometimes people begin to pit one kind of discrimination against another. i think what's important to remember is that not all black people are christian and not

alljews are white. we need to understand a little bit more about each other and crucially, where these racist and anti—semitic conspiracy theories and the tropes, where they come from. they are about white supremacy. and as a jewish black man, michael has to fight prejudice on both sides. i have come across problems, i know my family have. we sadly lost a member of the family and we had to go to a shiva, which is a mourning ceremony. and when we turned up at that synagogue... i turned upjust a little bit later than some of my siblings, and they were being refused entry. and it was not until i got there and i actually remembered a couple of people who were members of that particular synagogue, that we were able to negotiate our way in. i think the lives of british jews are easier when people know more about british jews, and one of the things they would know more about is that we do not all look like this kind of stereotypical image. stephen bush is the political editor at the new statesman and is chairing a commission on racial inclusivity, set up by the board of deputies of britishjews. it comes after black lives matter

protests sparked a conversation about the experience ofjews of colour. from my personal experience, most of the anti—semitism i experience is because, you know, someone, whether they are white or black, sees someone with dark skin, thinks they can't possibly be jewish, and they say something that is deeply and painfully anti—semitic. and it makes me feel unwelcome. it makes me feel unwelcome because they don't like jewish people. it also makes me feel unwelcome in my own skin. and ultimately, we are trying to do the same thing, which is to build a flourishing, multi—ethnic democracy in which everyone can get on and flourish. and if we can't work together on our shared interest in anti—racism, we are never going to successfully land that argument ina wideraudience. so, i think it is hugely important to build and strengthen those relationships. stephen hopes the commission will address some of the issuesjews of colour experience. the first step is allowing a space for their voices to be heard. shamaan freeman—powell, bbc news.

the boss of the united states postal service has said he's suspending changes to the postal service, which had led to claims that he was trying to interfere in november's presidential election. louis dejoy — a financial donor to president trump — said no changes would be made until after the poll and he expected postal ballots to be delivered on time. tanya dendrinos reports. in the age of coronavirus, the american postal service will play a central role in delivering democracy. but how it does that has been a big political issue. first, the president said no to any additional funding. so they want $3.5 billion for universal mail—in voting for the country. so they want $3.5 billion for universal mail—in voting for the country. well, you have hundreds of millions of voters. they can't do a little race with 20,000 people. now they want to take it countrywide, mail—in voting. it's going to be the greatest fraud in the history of elections.

then on monday, he tweeted, and told voters in minnesota he was going to strengthen the service. now, this man, the head of the us postal service, general louis dejoy, a republican donor, has said he's cancelling cost—cutting measures, including removing mailboxes, cancelling delivery runs and closing down sorting centres. so i'm glad that they are backing off making these changes. but you will forgive me for being a little bit sceptical. so we are still going to return to washington on saturday, we are still going to pass this legislation, we're still going to send it over to the senate, and if louis dejoy and donald trump are serious about protecting the postal service, they will give their blessing to this legislation and donald trump will sign it into law. a recent morning consult poll found 80% of americans like the postal service. i think trump is trying to sabotage that because he don't want it

to happen the way he wanted it to happen. i would rather do it in person, yeah. i don't trust the mail. i mean, it could be because of the election, because of what is going on with the voting and all that stuff, so i kind of figure that, but it shouldn't have to affect our everyday lives because of this. all eyes now will be on whether congress can deliver the money the postal service needs to deliver democracy safely. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. more now on our main story — that rapid expansion of coronavirus testing that's being planned. dr poppy lamberton is a global health specialist at the university of glasgow and she told us why an increase in this kind of community testing is vital to help to track where the virus is spreading. testing is vital to help to track where the virus is spreadingm testing is vital to help to track where the virus is spreading. if it does happen it means we will get more information on the number of people infected across the whole country, and really importantly, the number of people who are

asymptomatic. so, we know that more people have it and show symptoms and a slow start to highlight who those people are and how old they are. for example, not just how people are and how old they are. for example, notjust how many there are. can i ask you specifically about antibodies that people have if they have had coronavirus? are we any they have had coronavirus? are we a ny clearer they have had coronavirus? are we any clearer yet about how long the antibodies last for? so, this is still very much up for debate and is another thing that this survey will help explain. so, this survey in the households will be using active tests, so to see if people have the infection at that point of time and thatis infection at that point of time and that is when they use the nasal and throat swabs, but also 10% of the people in the household will be doing blood sampling, to show antibody responses, and it will not do it if someone has symptoms but they will follow—up households, so it will start to provide information on how long antibodies might last and again, importantly, notjust on the people who have had symptoms, but in the people who are

asymptomatic. that is something we do not know, if someone had a minor infection, they didn't have symptoms, do they have a strong antibody response, the answer is we don't know at the moment. it is too early to say how long these antibodies might remain in someone's system for? yes, we have some estimates and some people think, obviously, we can't talk about years yet because it has not been around that long. but some people have antibody responses for several months. there are others who have variable antibody responses have known infections and that is a real concern, and looking forward to was a vaccine, we need the response to be strong enough but also to be long enough so that we might have to re—vaccinate, but we wouldn't want to do that every few months, for example. so it is really important to find this out but unfortunately, we cannot tell for a long duration because coronavirus, covid—19, it hasn't been around for that long. u nfortu nately, we hasn't been around for that long. unfortunately, we don't know the

upper end yet. from the community testing done so far, are there any trends emerging that are going to be useful for us? yes, trends emerging that are going to be usefulfor us? yes, and trends emerging that are going to be useful for us? yes, and this is particularly where the wider testing will become really useful, because they were doing around 5000 each week, they are talking about 150,000 a fortnight or 170,000 each week, but having greater coverage of the country is going to be helpful. and that a time in which we are highlighting early outbreaks in certain areas they are giving information so that in the future we can tell if an era has an outbreak we can look back at the data and see where people were infected, look at transmission, was their transmission in local, nearby towns before a small village had an outbreak? and look at the dynamics of the infection. that is the kind of information that overtime will be really cumulative and really helpful to future outbreaks.

a minute's silence has been held at train stations throughout the uk to mark one week since a train derailment in aberdeenshire. wreaths were laid at aberdeen station while scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon attended the silence at edinburgh waverley station. driver brett mccullough, a5, conductor donald dinnie, 58, and passenger christopher stuchbury, 62, died near stonehaven. six others were injured. british and eu negotiators will meet in brussels later to resume talks on a post—brexit trade deal but no immediate breakthrough is expected. the two sides are still at odds over key issues, including fishing rights and government aid for struggling businesses. the eu commission has again said that any deal would have to be agreed in october for approval before the end of the year, when the post—brexit transition period is to end. pizza express is to close 73 of its uk restaurants with the potential loss of 1100 jobs. the chain, which currently has a5a

uk outlets, has also cut a deal to reduce rents. its managing director said the decision to close branches was hard but would ultimately safeguard 9000 jobs. it's now more than two weeks since the lebanese capital, beirut, was devastated by a huge explosion. more than 200 people died and many thousands were injured and left without homes. 0ur correspondent tom bateman has been meeting some of the families and individuals whose lives have changed forever. baby thomas was born the day before beirut‘s explosion. now he's growing up without a dad. he said he is the most beautiful boy he had ever seen. explosion. this was the moment

the blast hit the hospital. it killed rita's husband. her baby was unharmed. he loved to play piano. he was the most caring person in the world. if the glass frame had not hit him, it might have hit me or my baby. and that took away his life, protecting us. a fortnight on, people are trying to piece together shattered lives. "a wall fell on her," says rana's mum. next to the port they took the full brunt of the blast. lebanon was in a deep crisis financially,

in terms of its currency, well before the explosion. the point about places like this is they were the hardest hit before the blast even happened. this is the hussain family. fadi paid people—smugglers to get them to europe last year, but they were sent back. times are even tougher now. and then the explosion came. translation: you know what i wish for? first, i was happy to see my kids alive and safe. but now, i wish the building collapsed on all of us and we would have fled this miserable life. translation: we hid in the cupboard when the explosion went off, boom! and every time a helicopter passes by, i cry and run to mum. many fear the blast‘s fall—out could deepen lebanon's divides. this neighbourhood is a stronghold of support for the shia armed group hezbollah.

translation: whoever is in charge should be punished. if i knew there were explosives in the port, i wouldn't have sent my son to work there. everyone is waiting for the investigation into the blast. few trust it. and theories about the cause are everywhere. "people are throwing around false claims that hezbollah are to blame," says this man. "we completely reject that. there are martyrs from all communities." nadine mourns her husband. she had just told him she was pregnant the day he died in the blast. protesters are calling for revolution. much of the outside world wants deep reform. these are beirut‘s battle lines between its parliament and its people. they demand change.

but getting reform navigating this country's sectarian divisions and past conflicts will be hard, and many fear the risk of a descent into bloodshed. now people wonder how many more warnings will be written onto lebanon's walls. tom bateman, bbc news, beirut. soldiers in mali who ousted the president say they plan to set up a civilian, transitional government and hold a new election. the president appeared on state television to announce that he had resigned, after he and his prime minister were seized at gunpoint. the un has condemned the military takeover. paul hawkins has more. mali's rebel soldiers taking mali's leaders under arrest away from the presidential palace in the capital bamako. inside the car, president ibrahim boubakar keita and prime minister boubou cisse.

no—one knew where they were going, and in the early hours of wednesday morning came this broadcast on state tv. the president resigning and dissolving the country's national assembly. "i want no blood to be spilled to keep me in power," he added. in recent months, huge crowds led by this populist imam, mahmoud dicko, have been calling on the president to step down. a country of 19 million people beset by corruption, a flagging economy, and insecurity caused byjihdists in the north. which is why the rebel soldiers had their supporters. translation: the whole of mali has been liberated by a republican force. the malian people support them from above and from below. we are really very, very happy. there is no education, there is no health, there is no security. he does not want to listen to these people.

translation: we are very happy, because this is the liberation for the people of mali. all of mali's people were waiting for this day. were waiting for the big chief and his men to allow us to breathe. today, honestly, we don't have any words to express what is in our hearts. thank god. the president's arrest had been condemned by the economic community of west african states, the african union, the un and france — the former colonial power which has troops based there. many feel this is a rerun of 2012 when the government's mishandling of a rebellion led to another coup. violent jihadists took advantage of that chaos to seize northern mali and they are still there today. the seeds of this current coup sown during the previous one eight years ago. many will be hoping now for a smooth transition of power. paul hawkins, bbc news.

police in berlin suspect a man deliberately drove his car into a number of vehicles on a motorway last night in an attack motivated by what they call islamst extremism. six people were injured, three of them seriously. the 30—year—old man — who investigators suspect has mental health problems — drove into several ca rs and motorcyclists on the motorway at around seven o'clock last night. the berlin prosecutor said this morning that this appears to have been a deliberate attack. the man's mental state was also under investigation. the headlines on bbc news... a big increase in coronavirus testing across england, with the aim that 150,000 people a fortnight will be tested by october. the us democrats formally choosejoe biden as their presidential candidate at the party's online convention. some railfares in the uk are going to go up by 1.6% next january.

let me just take you to indonesia, where a new flight warning has been issued to planes flying near mount sinabung, which continues to erupt, sending plumes of ash two kilometres into the sky. the volcano on sumatra island has been belching smoke and ash for the past week, though no injuries or major damage have been reported. the authorities have marked a five kilometre no—go zone around sinabung, warning of possible lava flows. the volcano has been active since 2013, after roaring back into life in 2010 for the first time in a00 years. singapore plans to put a government—subsidised computer in the hands of every secondary school student by next year. the scheme to raise digital literacy and improve social mobility was originally set for 2028. but, covid—19 has accelerated the timeline after weeks

of home—based learning exposed how many lower—income families lacked the technology. sarah toms reports from singapore. when singapore went into lockdown in april, schoolchildren were sent home to study online. compared to many countries, singapore was well prepared. it had an existing online learning platform that was wrapped up learning platform that was wrapped up as the pandemic hit. but not all stu d e nts up as the pandemic hit. but not all students had access to the e—learning system, so schools loaned out more than 20,000 digital devices. nonprofits like engineering company stepped in, helping this 15—year—old who had been sharing one la ptop 15—year—old who had been sharing one laptop with his four siblings. it means a lot, because i will not need to share my laptop with my siblings any more and i can finish my school work on time. students are back at school but home—based learning will continue to play a part in

singapore's renowned education system. widespread access technology is meant to help school children develop new skills for the future, and also to ensure that students from poorerfamilies and also to ensure that students from poorer families are and also to ensure that students from poorerfamilies are not excluded. that is why the singapore government wants all secondary school students to get low—cost la pto ps school students to get low—cost laptops or school students to get low—cost la pto ps or ta blets school students to get low—cost laptops or tablets by next year. combining technology with education was always part of the plan for singapore, rather than phasing in the use of laptops and tablets, the pandemic pushed forward by seven yea rs. pandemic pushed forward by seven years. covid forced us into a position that all of the teachers had to come and work virtually overnight and they rose to the occasion and we found that after covid with the level of acceptance and adoption, it did not make sense to kind of spread it out any more. we might as welljust get it done. this education expert says that the effo rts this education expert says that the efforts of singapore are an excellent initiative, but much depends on how well students at

that. in an asian complex, the authority of the teacher is a very important ingredient of the effectiveness of the learning environment. so, if that disappears, students have to rely on their own discipline. i students have to rely on their own discipline. lam students have to rely on their own discipline. i am not sure that the syste m discipline. i am not sure that the system which is excellent and one way will also be excellent in other ways. for students like these, staying on top of schoolwork means being connected to the digital world. but for singapore, finding the right balance between home—based and in—school learning will be the true test. sarah toms, bbc news. singapore. three victorian forts — originally built to defend england against the french — are going up for sale. they're in the middle of the solent. john maguire reports. when buying property there are important things to consider. the commute to work. the neighbours. seem friendly, but very serious. and local schools. well, here they're all fish. but of course the main factor — location, location, location.

so how do you fancy the middle of the solentjust off portsmouth? the three forts being sold separately, or together for £9 million, were built around 150 years ago, as part of the sea defences against a french invasion, the brainchild of the british prime minister, lord palmerston. it's time to take a look around. first up, we have no man's fort. fourfloors, 23 bedrooms, 99,000 square feet and plenty of fresh air. if you get too hot lounging in the garden, what about this? your own private diving board. it used to be used to train royal commandos. it's called commando leap. theyjump off here and swim right around the fort. rather them than me. and down below a passageway designed to allow divers access to attack invading ships. initially manned during the 19th century, the forts also saw service

in both the first and second world wars. so many different people touched these forts in so many different ways, from the people who built them in the first place, to the people who manned them in the early wars, and eventually people who manned them through world war one and world war two, when they became really anti—aircraft defence batteries. much cheaper, and in need of some tlc, is horse sand. in your best estate agent pitch, how do you describe this one?! well, erm, in need of some refurbishment, of course. definitely not deceptively spacious. it's 100,000 square foot of fort, which is really an amazing, amazing opportunity for someone to bring this historic piece of england back into something exciting that works for them. cash may well be an issue, but if it's vision you're lacking, well, here's one they made over earlier.

this is spitbank. it's being run as a nine—room boutique hotel. and the admiral fisher suite comes complete with its own fishing hole. here, the gun emplacements have been modified for peaceful pursuits. and the many million dollar question, of course — who is in the market for a sea fort or three? a lot of the people we've had so far are people who have been incredibly successful, as the current owner was himself. they've sold a business. and they want to do something fun, but at the same time something that will bring them a financial reward as well, and perhaps looking for something that they can isolate in again, or maybe just have for their own sort of peace of mind and privacy. so for a cool £9 million you get

these three victorian forts. one drawback though i've noticed — no car parking. luckily, they come with a helicopter landing pad. all mod cons, of course, and what a difference a day makes. we are back on spitbank fort and as you can tell, the weather is not as nice as it was when we filmed yesterday, we have had squalls through this morning. just life at sea, i suppose, martin! just what you have to get used to but lots of entertaining things inside for us.” like the story in particular about where you get your water from, you get fresh water, which surprises me. yes, it comes from an aquifer that ru ns yes, it comes from an aquifer that runs under the sea. the victorians identified this, drilled down a00 feet on each of the forts into this aquifer. the interesting history about the aquifer is that it comes from france, so, considering we were

built for the napoleonic wars, we are drinking the french water whilst we we re are drinking the french water whilst we were fighting them. you wonder how they found the water, not as if they use the divining rod or something?! well, the victorians we re something?! well, the victorians were known for their geographical studies and worked it out, you have to ta ke studies and worked it out, you have to take your hat off to the victorian engineering. in the first world war ii submarine night was used. yes, that was between the no mans used. yes, that was between the no man 5 fort and horse sand forts, protecting the portsmouth harbour entrance and it ran from the shore across the two forts and then into the bit that they went in and out was between the forts and they could bring the ships in, bringing their own submarines and close it off to stop the enemy getting in. do you think that the forts will go as a job lot or will people purchase them individually? we would like to think they will go as a job lot and a number of people have been interested , number of people have been interested, but they are three very different characters to the forts. they were built with the same

purpose but now we have spitbank, the luxury, smaller premises, then we have no man 5 fort will be have the fun and the toys, we have laser wa rs the fun and the toys, we have laser wars and hot tubs and bowling greens. lots of opportunities. each isa greens. lots of opportunities. each is a very different character. ok, martin, thank you. we are getting inside the warm and dry but as you can gather, quite extraordinary, and very impressive marvels of victorian engineering. john maguire reporting. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol. hello, over the next few days and nights we are looking at some unseasonably strong winds. the other thing is that it is the potential for some damage as a result of them. and also the risk of some coastal flooding. the winds combining with the high tides. especially across parts of south—west england and parts of south—west england and

parts of south—west wales. the band of rain that we have continues to move northwards and eastwards, easing a little bit. ahead of it we have dry weather around and one or two showers, still low cloud and more clinging to the far north—east of scotla nd more clinging to the far north—east of scotland and the northern through the day. the wind are starting to strengthen across the south—west, gusting as much as a0 mph. temperatures today ranging from 15 in the north to 23 in the south. through this evening and overnight, our first band of through this evening and overnight, ourfirst band of rain will through this evening and overnight, our first band of rain will continue to push northwards, there is a lull and then the second band comes in. the wind is really going to pick up and that is because we have this deepening area of low pressure, named storm air than by the irish met office and it is coming closer to us. look at the eyes of ours, the strongest ones affecting parts of the republic of ireland, but for the british isles we are looking at gusts in excess of 50 mph tonight. couple tonight with the rain it is not going to be particularly

pleasant. this is something worth bearing in mind especially if you are thinking of counting. —— storm ellen. temperatures between 13 and 18, a milder night in prospect. the rain continues to push northwards tomorrow with dry weather but some hefty showers also and around those showers especially the wind will be gusty. gusts in the west in excess of 50 mph, in the east, in excess of 30 mph. again, the potentialfor some disruption. temperatures ranging from 15 in the north to 25 in the south—east. as we move through thursday night into friday, storm ellen moves across ireland and you can see that, look at the squeeze on these isobars but across the british isles as well. the potential for stronger gusts of wind, more widespread during the course of thursday night into friday and including friday. again, widely gusts in excess of a0 mph. in the west we could have gusts in excess of 50 mph or more.

this is bbc news withjoanna gosling with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a big increase in covid—19 testing across england — with the aim that 150,000 people a fortnight will be tested by october. this is an almost ten times expansion in our single most important tool for making policy decisions. thank you very, very much, from the bottom of my heart. the us democrats formally choose joe biden as their candidate to fight donald trump in november to become the next president of the usa. eu leaders hold emergency talks on belarus — as the country's president accuses the opposition of attempting to overthrow him. higher fares for railway passengers in the uk as inflation rises — despite a slump in demand

during the pandemic. universities call for more money to help with the cost of taking in extra students following a government u—turn on a—level grades. and coming up this hour. the three victorian forts originally built to defend england against the french — going up for sale. 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. the number of people being randomly tested in the community — to track the prevalence of covid—19 is to be increased in england. from october, 150,000 people will be tested every fortnight as part of the office for national statistics

infection survey — this is separate from the mass testing programme of people who have coronavirus symptoms. the figure is up from the 28,000 in england who are currently sent a home testing kit. testing will also be expanded in scotland, wales and northern ireland. the health secretary, matt hancock, says the expansion of testing in the community will give the uk government a better understanding of where the virus is spreading. as matt hancock said, it's a big increase that's being planned as simonjones now reports. this is part of the household infection survey run by the office for national statistics, separate from nhs testing. it tests thousands of people who have volunteered to estimate the levels of infection across the population. it's the most accurate indicator of infection levels in england. now it is being extended to also include households in scotland,

wales and northern ireland. the number of people being tested every two weeks is being increased from 28,000 to 150,000. quickly identifying local outbreaks such as those in leicester is seen as vital in combating covid—19 and the ons believes extending its testing will show what is going on in much greater detail right down to city levels. helping government and local authorities to quickly identify any outbreaks and impose restrictions and lockdowns. these police helicopter pictures show how the local restrictions currently in place in manchester were broken at the weekend. the organiser of this party was fined. testing, tracing and combating covid relies on people sticking to the rules. the increased levels of testing will be in place by october and the results will be published every week. simon jones, bbc news. the health secretary, matt hancock says the expansion of testing in the community will give the uk government a better understanding

of where the virus is spreading. to be more accurate, to get more localised information, to have more nuance in the information we get, we are going to expand it, essentially by almost ten times, so that we get more detailed information about where the virus is taking root, about whether that's men or women, about which parts of the country, so that we can better manage in a more targeted way the measures that we need to take to tackle the virus. this is an almost ten times expansion in our single most important tool for making policy decisions. on the second night of the predominantly virtual democratic national convention, joe biden has been officially nominated as the party's candidate for the presidency. the convention heard, among others, from former president bill clinton. here's our north america

correspondent peter bowes. this was the night that joe biden has been working towards for decades — the seal of approval from his party to run for the white house. with leadership as the theme, two former democratic presidents spoke to rally the troops. jimmy carter sent an audio message, while bill clinton lashed out at donald trump. you have to decide whether to renew his contract or hire someone else. if you want a president who defines the job as spending hours a day watching tv and zapping people on social media, he is your man. the keynote speaker wasjill biden, who spent eight years as america's second lady, when her husband was vice president. a lifelong teacher, hoping to become the next first lady. she reintroduced herself to the country and laid out the case for a new family in the white house. across this country, educators, parents, first responders, americans of all walks of life

are putting their shoulders back, fighting for each other. we have not given up. wejust need leadership worthy of our nation. the main business of the night was the roll call, without the usual convention centre razzmatazz. coming to you live from the wisconsin centre. it is time to begin our virtual trip around america. i am honoured to cast connecticut's 75 votes for our next president, joe biden. alaska. it was a revamped and speeded—up format for prime time tv. 2a votes for our next president, joe biden. quick—fire contributions from sea to shining sea. 11 votes for our next president, joe biden. with democrats from all 57 us states and territories pledging delegates to their chosen candidate. 50 votes for our next president of the united states,

mrjoseph r biden. the result was never in doubt. joe biden is now the party's official nominee for president. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. our washington correspondent gary o'donoghue has been following developments, he told me how polls have been reacting to this week's convention. if you look at the national polls, they have been pretty consistent over the last few months, giving joe biden an eight or nine point advantage over donald trump. that is nationwide. but of course the battle is really in those swing states. he still has an advantage there, although it is narrower, as you would expect, six or seven points. i think they had hoped this week would give them some kind of bounce to increase that margin. they usually do, but because this is such an unusual event, no one really knows whether they will get

that kind of convention bounce as they would have done in previous years. any outlier polls? there are a few, there always are, particularly the state polls, some of them can be weird because believe it or not, even in some of the key states there aren't all that many polls done on a regular basis. the president is clearly worried because this week he has been visiting some of those battle ground states. it's worth remembering that president trump was a surprise winner last time around but his victory was a very narrow one. you are looking at 80,000 votes in three separate states, pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin. you could fit those in wembley stadium who could make the difference between him winning and losing. greater manchester police helicopter captured footage of a house which was used to host a party

for around 200 people over the weekend. it happened in the gorton area. officers were pelted with missiles when they tried to break it up, the tenant was fined £100 and now the property has had a three—month closure order placed on it — with only the owner allowed inside. superintendent rebecca boyce is from greater manchester police. gathering such as that are concerning on two levels, firstly the amount of officers we have to send them to break them up and clearly they are a public health concern. particularly the gathering in gorton on saturday evening, the officers who attended were met by pa rtygoers officers who attended were met by partygoers throwing missiles at them. in those situations, we need to make a really difficult decision as to how we can deal with those gatherings. in the situation, we felt that the violence our officers could be subjected to all the violence the partygoers could sustain meant that we needed to

withdraw from that situation. clearly leaving a public health risk. in orderfor us clearly leaving a public health risk. in order for us to clearly leaving a public health risk. in orderfor us to do clearly leaving a public health risk. in order for us to do with that in the aftermath, the occupier and the resident of the private property was given a fixed penalty notice and also served with a closure notice. we then went to the magistrates' court on tuesday morning and requested that that closure notice was extended for a further three months. these kind of powers are only normally used for licensed premises. we took the decision that we needed to use it for a dwelling, it absolutely can be used for houses and private premises, and i hope it sends a clear message this is how we will react if people hold parties and gatherings and we will not hesitate to apply for further closure notices on other houses. south korea has closed museums, nightclubs and karaoke bars in and around the capital seoul, as a cluster of covid—19 infections raises concern

about a new crisis. tuesday saw a three—digit increase in cases for a fifth day, after weeks with numbers generally around the a05. police in berlin suspect a man deliberately drove his car into a number of vehicles on a motorway last night in an attack motivated by what they call islamic extremism. six people were injured, three of them seriously. the 30—year—old crashed into several cars and motorcyclists on the motorway at around seven o clock last night. the berlin prosecutor said this morning that this appears to have been a deliberate attack. a rail union is calling forflexible season tickets to be offered to travellers to encourage them back on to the railways. the rmt union has published a breakdown of average savings — the union has published a breakdown of average savings outlining how much a commuter travelling from a

commuter settlement could save with a flexible ticket. well we can speak now to mick lynch — assistant general secretary of the rmt trade union. railway use is done by 77%, what is your answer going forward? we need to make the railway safe and attractive to users. we need to get the economy going again on a graduated basis when it is safe. we have to have a new approach to ticketing and fares to give the commuting public good value for money. we believe the flexible working week is here to stay, we do not think there is going to be the mash return to five—day working in the short to medium term. many people will expect the government to come up with a flexible package. that means there is going to have to bea that means there is going to have to be a new range of fares in terms of what is on offer, people getting

multiple day tickets and different kinds of season tickets that do not just have a monopoly on the assumption you are travelling to work everyday, every week. we also think there is scope for first caps. train operating companies are still making enormous profits subsidy. we believe £500 million profit will be extracted from the railway despite covid—19 and the public are stunted women and ethnic minorities, low—paid workers, we believe they should get better first. low—paid workers, we believe they should get betterfirst. also low—paid workers, we believe they should get better first. also the general public will want better value. if prices increase and there is no foot stability, people will return to the car and that will cause congestion, trouble for moving goods around and also trouble for the climate, which we all want to avoid, so we have to have a flexible

package and the government has got to respond to the flexible demands we have put forward and the travelling public will demand as well. when you talk about people going back to cars, car use is down very little actually, compared with the start of lockdown, so people are definitely using cars rather than railway. you talk about cuts the first. according to figures out in july, there will be a 1.6% increase compared to january. it is lower... there is an increase in these difficult times, what would you say? these increases are year on year, compound each other, last year 2.8, this year next year and the previous year compound on each other. there is never a reduction or scaling back. there will be undoubtedly resistance, people travelling from brighton to london for instance, all over the uk, forced to pay up to

£5,000 per year or more will think twice about renewing that season ticket. the train operating companies are going to be in difficulty if they do not become more flexible. we do not want our members multi my job more flexible. we do not want our members multi myjob is to be put in jeopardy, the railway system to be put injeopardy, the railway jeopardy, the railway system to be put in jeopardy, the railway has to return to a different ethos where it isa return to a different ethos where it is a public service rather than private profit. we think flexible ticketing, responding to the new jobs market and work environment is the way forward. so we get a train system that is for the public and owned by the public in many ways so they are not being ripped off and exploited because they have to go to work. there is going to be resistance, the railways got the change, improve, reserve the railway jobs —— preserve. and offer good value. the headlines on bbc news. a big increase in coronavirus

testing across england — be tested by october. the us democrats formally choosejoe biden as their presidential candidate at the party's online convention. eu leaders hold emergency talks on belarus — as the country's president accuses the opposition of attempting to overthrow him. eu leaders are holding an emergency virtual summit, after the bela russian main opposition candidate for president — svetla na tikhanovskaya — called on the european union not to recognise what she said were fraudulent presidential elections. official results in belarus' presidential election gave the incumbent, alexander lukashenko, 80% of the vote. all liberal leaders of europe, i call on you to support —— honourable leaders. support the awakening of belarus. i call on all countries to

respect the principles of international law. i called to respect the serenity of belarus and the choice of belarus people. large crowds were out on the streets of the capital minsk again on tuesday night... ..calling on the president to step down. earlier in the day, mr lukashenko described the creation of a coordination council to lead the transfer of power, as an attempted coup to overthrow him. he's threatened to take action against the 35 members appointed by the opposition leader. the bbc‘sjonah fisher is in minsk where he says there are signs of a changing strategy by the security forces. we are now into day ten of what will effectively be ten days of protests against president lukashenko here in belarus. over the last four or five days, it's been pretty clear that president lukashenko isn't going to, or hasn't been trying to, violently crush the protests. people are now pretty much operating as they wish on the streets.

there were large crowds again on the streets last night calling for the president to step down. as you mentioned, the opposition have formed a coordination council for the transition of power, that is what they are calling it. i think they are keen to try and move things forward, to try and set a new path which might lead to president lukashenko negotiating with them perhaps and perhaps an agreement could be made for him to step down. so they had a press conference last night, we are expecting them to meet today. but as you just mentioned there, president lukashenko himself clearly feels threatened by this move, the formation of the council, he called effectively a coup d'etat, attempted, by the opposition. he is very angry about it, he even described some of the members of the council as being outright nazis. so it is not clear at this point whether when this council meets, as we are expecting it to do later today, whether it will be

tolerated by the president. he was talking about bringing the full force of law and order, the powers of the constitution, against this council. we willjust have to wait and see whether we see a tougher approach with his council than we have seen in the last few days with the demonstrators. i'm joined by livia paggi, head of political risk at gpw, who's an expert on russia and belarus. president lukashenko describing that opposition group of 35 as being an attempted coup d'etat. what can they actually do? how coordinated are they and how powerful are they as a coordinated body now? the body has definitely been able to organise themselves quite well. what they have been is quite effective particularly in creating dialogue, both with russia and the eu. that is an interesting strategy as they are trying to balance both sides, ensure

that they get support. the code on the eu to recognise the elections but at the same time making direct appeals to vladimir putin saying they are willing to collaborate with them and that makes them a very powerful group. what are the signs from russia? russia has been very cautious and rightfully so. they have been in talks, obviously, with lukashenko, there have been in talks, obviously, with lu kashenko, there has have been in talks, obviously, with lukashenko, there has been no real indication they want him to go immediately. they know it could be very dangerous to intervene, they could create another ukraine. economically, russia does not have the ability right now to sustain a war in belarus or the popular support to do so. we have to keep in mind that these protests are not pro—western or anti—russia. in some ways, it could be much more beneficial for russia to be on the

sidelines and have the dialogue with the opposition. ultimately, form a coalition with the opposition going forward , coalition with the opposition going forward, that could be much more beneficial to russia than intervening militarily to defend lukashenko. there are of course people out on the streets, ten days of protests, the opposition group trying to go with his coordinated response, as you describe. but how farare response, as you describe. but how far are things from a tipping point where there is a groundswell of popular support to oust lukashenko? definitely it has been over the past few days, the sense has really been that lukashenko few days, the sense has really been that lu kashenko isn't few days, the sense has really been that lukashenko isn't going to last. this is in part because of the great momentum of the protest on the ground, in part also because russia is not intervening to support lukashenko. and we have seen the state tv protest against lukashenko as well, that is where his original

power bases. we have not seen any defection from the security services yet are any of those close to lukashenko walking out. there is a co re lukashenko walking out. there is a core around him are still willing to support him, most importantly the military, and he would still be able to impose a crackdown should he wish to impose a crackdown should he wish to pursue that route. british and eu negotiators will meet in brussels later to resume talks on a post—brexit trade deal — but no immediate breakthrough is expected. the two sides are still at odds over key issues, including fishing rights and government aid for struggling businesses. the eu commission has again said that any deal would have to be agreed in october for approval before the end of the year, when the post—brexit transition period is to end. a west yorkshire police officer has been suspended and is being investigated after footage emerged that appears to show him restraining a man and saying "chill out or i'll choke you out".

the video shows an officer wrestling a man to the ground before holding him with an arm around the neck. the footage, from halifax, has been widely shared on social media. a warning you may find the footage we're about to show you distressing. chill out, or west yorkshire police confirmed that the footage was taken at spring hall gardens in halifax. assistant chief constable osman khan said: "we immediately reviewed the footage and looked into it as a matter of urgency to establish the full circumstances. we have reviewed the actions of the officers involved and a referral has been made to the force's professional standards directorate.

uk university leaders say they need urgent financial support from the government to cope with a rise in student numbers after the u—turn on a—level results. they've also written to the education secretary, gavin williamson, demanding clarity on how they can offer more places to students without breaching social distancing guidelines. our education correspondent dan johnson reports. teaching space, accommodation and staff will all be stretched on socially distanced campuses. and now many more students have the grades they need, universities are wondering how to fit them all in. clearing lines are busy, with thousands more trying to get into theirfirst choice, having missed out last week. a letter sent to the education secretary on behalf of uk universities calls for help solving that puzzle, and support for the institutions that will lose out if places are rejected in favour of higher grade offers.

there was only one place that this could go to, which is the point we've reached now. i think the question we all ask is, why wasn't that point reached before thursday, when all those applicants, those hundreds of thousands of people who. whose lives were left in uncertainty, could have had some, you know, just clarity about where their futures lay. one early pinch point is medical schools, where places are highly competitive and still limited because part of the cost is met by the government. universities are now asking for the limit to be lifted. medicine is both a very practical discipline and also requires a great deal of clinical and practical experience, and hence clinical placement capacity needs also to be increased. it is going to be layer upon layer in terms of it's a long course and it isn'tjust a fix for a year. the education secretary has said he's sorry for the confusion

and announced he's created a task force to tackle the issues facing universities. the immediate challenge is matching students with places. but there are warnings — some may need to defer if they are intent on sticking to theirfirst choice. dan johnson, bbc news. i'm joined now by professor richard harvey, academic director of admissions at the university of east anglia. what is the situation with your admissions? well, we are lucky in that we could see the storm coming and actually we dramatically lowered grades knowing that people were not going to be favoured by the algorithm. as far as people applying to us, they are mostly sorted and thatis to us, they are mostly sorted and that is wonderful. we have these pinch points that everyone else has, medicine, midwifery, if you are the places where, despite the best will in the world, we are not allowed to increase numbers. those numbers are

in the hands of government and the consequence of that is spreading confusion and anxiety. i think we had 1a00 e—mails yesterday, about a month's worth. i was looking at statistics from the student room, one of those student foreign, enquiries on their medical chat were up enquiries on their medical chat were up by enquiries on their medical chat were up by 10a7%. that is a staggering number, is it not? those 1400 e—mails that you have had, are they from students who are scrambling to find places who perhaps were not in touch with you before? all people in with a chance? all sorts of people, ranging from i am calling my lawyers to get me a place in medicine, that is one extreme, so i do not know what is going on, and i still and even though my cags have got up and

down for some it is not a good deal, we have lots of professional people, we have lots of professional people, we know what we are doing and we'll work through it and get there. the thing bothering us the most, we have the fixed caps in a few places and it would be terribly helpful if ministers would come out with a very clear statement that they intend to fund them. that is not the end of the problem, other things have to be sorted out, your correspondent mentioned covid—19 security, accommodation, ministers cannot really help with those, to be frank. it is nice they are thinking of setting up a task force to think about it but really it comes down to cash. since the cash is relatively modest, i am a little bit surprised not to see more fulsome guarantees from ministers and the department for education. just to unpick, then, what you have said about the desire for the cap to be increased so there can be more students on those courses, particularly medicine and

midwifery, as you say, that is not going to get rid of the issues around social distancing and accommodation. with that materially make any difference for the students this year or are you going to end up having to say to kids, you will have to ta ke having to say to kids, you will have to take a first gap year? it is likely some universities will have to offer forced deferrals, likely some universities will have to offerforced deferrals, i think there is no way out of that. i have to advise ministers and anyone else who listens that there is a lot of tension in the medical problem and it since it seems to me they could easily unlock it, at least free themselves from some of the rage thatis themselves from some of the rage that is sort of going through the system, just to give you a bit of colour, i was speaking to someone this morning his headmaster had been taken hostage this morning his headmaster had been ta ken hostage by this morning his headmaster had been taken hostage by a couple of parents angry over their centre assessed grades. this is getting out of hand,

isn't it? that is extraordinary. obviously, at every point there is frustration because those 1a00 e—mails you have been getting, there isa e—mails you have been getting, there is a clear sense of huge frustration from those, we are getting a clear sense of frustration from you. what do you say to the government and their handling? what would you say to the government and the way this has all can handle? i don't care about that, we all know people form their own opinions. it is great when a minister apologises, that is really nice, but an apology that mean something means rolling up your sleeves and fixing it, right? i think there are still some rather weaselly words coming out of the department for education about funding things and i do not think it is the right time for that. we have young people queued up like planes over heathrow waiting for landing slots, as it were. what we need is a very clear statement from ministers that they are willing to fund the issues where they are fixable by

funding. ifully issues where they are fixable by funding. i fully accept that funds are not enough to fix some of these issues, everyone knows that, no pa rents issues, everyone knows that, no pa re nts wa nt issues, everyone knows that, no parents want their kids to go into an parents want their kids to go into a n u nsafe parents want their kids to go into an unsafe environment, we don't, thatis an unsafe environment, we don't, that is all cool. you might differ for safety reasons but where there are blockages due to relatively modest amount of money in the taxpayer budget, i am very surprised they have not been cleared away by now. for your university, what would solve it? i think we would want a clear and unequivocal statement from ministers that the financial caps on medicine and other courses in the medical sphere will be lifted and then we are left with rolling up our sleeves and working with the local health authority to see in practice how much of that can be unblocked. i am afraid! how much of that can be unblocked. i am afraid i am not expert enough to tell you how much that can be done because it is detailed and i am afraid this is one of those things

that has cut out the department for education and ministers of the time because of the department is detailed, detail, detail, a lot of it is really dull. i am sorry about that but theirjob, i think, is to write the checks and say they are going to write the checks and then leave the good sense of universities to try and clear it all up. professor richard harvey, director of admissions university of east anglia. a man in chile has been pictured delivering food to homeless people in the capital santiago — while dressed as batman. wearing a black superhero suit and a coronavirus mask, the unidentified man has been handing out cooked meals to people in need for the past month, driving around the city every night. covid—19 restrictions have damaged chile's economy and unemployment has grown to more than 12%. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... a big increase in covid—19 testing across england, with the aim that 150,000

people a fortnight will be tested by october. the us democrats formally choose joe biden as their presidential candidate at the party's online convention. eu leaders hold emergency talks on belarus as the country's president accuses the opposition of attempting to overthrow him. higher fares for railway passengers in the uk as inflation rises despite a slump in demand during the pandemic. universities call for more money to help with the cost of taking in extra students following a government u—turn on a—level grades. and coming up, hands—free driving could arrive on uk roads by spring next year — as the gov launches a consultation on the technology. president ibrahim boubakar keita has appeared on state tv in mali to announce his resignation and the dissolution of the government and parliament. he and the prime minister were arrested by the military, in an apparent coup attempt.

the move has been condemned by the united nations secretary general and france, the former colonial power. paul hawkins has more. mali's rebel soldiers taking mali's leaders under arrest away from the presidential palace in the capital bamako. inside the car, president ibrahim boubakar keita and prime minister boubou cisse.