hello and welcome to bbc news, i'm aaron safir. we start in russia, where opposition politician, alexei navalny, has begun his journey to germany, where he will receive medical treatment after falling into a coma. his supporters say he was intentionally poisoned and they've accused the kremlin of trying to cover it up. sarah rainsford looks back at the day's events. she spent all day battling for her husband. convinced alexei navalny has been poisoned, yulia wants him moved abroad.

away from a siberian hospital that is bristling with plainclothes security. translation: this situation is outrageous. it's clear they are hiding something. we demand that the hospital release alexei to us immediately, so we can take him to doctors we trust. alexei navalny collapsed on a flight to moscow, carried off in a coma after an emergency landing. "crooks and thieves," is what he calls those in power here. mr navalny is russia's loudest voice of opposition and his forensic anti—corruption investigations are hated by those they target. today, his russian doctor suggested there could be an innocent explanation. not poison, but low blood sugar, perhaps.

his family are not chancing it. an air ambulance was flown in, and when the german medics on board finally saw mr navalny, theyjudged him stable enough to leave. so the russian team have done a u—turn, earning themselves a round of relieved applause. alexei navalny remains critically ill tonight, still unconscious, but his family hope a foreign clinic can give them some clearer answers. sarah rainsford, bbc news, moscow. in california, lightning strikes over the past 2a hours have ignited several hundred more wildfires, including some of the biggest ever seen in the state. six people have died and at least 175,000 residents have now been forced to flee their homes. the coronavirus pandemic is complicating efforts to fight the wildfires. sophie long has more from los angeles. vast infernos blaze throughout northern california,

claiming at least five lives, destroying hundreds of buildings and an area bigger than los angeles. copy, we're going in now. satellite images show the smoke cloaking most of california creating the worst air quality on the planet at a time when people are fighting a respiratory pandemic. and yet, this is political. but there are massive fires again in california. maybe we're just going to have to make them pay for it because they don't listen to us. we say, "you got to get rid of the leaves, you got to get rid of the debris, you got to get rid of the fallen trees. but most of the blazes were sparked by what's being called a trifecta of fire conditions. a freak summer lightning storm, the most intense for more than a decade, collided with a heat wave recording record temperatures, and the resulting flames fanned by high winds. if you are in denial about climate change, come to california.

11,000 dry lightning strikes we had over a 72—hour period leading to this unprecedented challenge. california is no stranger to scenes like this but the ferocity of these fires so early in the season has astonished many of the thousands fighting them on the front line. temperatures are expected to ease but the fires are now generating so much heat, they are creating their own winds — pushing them in multiple unpredictable directions, threatening tens of thousands of homes. sophie long, bbc news, los angeles. let 5 get some of the day 5 other news... 0pposition activists in belarus have formed a human chain across the capital minsk, in the latest protest against the disputed re—election of president alexander lukashenko. motorists also joined the demonstration, hooting their horns and blocking the flow of traffic. the postmaster—general in the united states has told a senate committee that ballots in november's presidential election will be delivered

securely and on time. but louis dejoy said the sorting machines that have been removed during his tenure would not be re—installed. the american actress lori loughlin has been sentenced to two months in jail for her part in a university admissions fraud scandal. she and her husband pleaded guilty to involvement in a scheme in which wealthy parents paid bribes to get their children into good universities as fake athletic recruits. in less than an hour's time new government coronavirus quarantine restrictions come into force. anyone returning from croatia, austria and trinidad and tobago, will have to self isolate for two weeks, because of a rise in infections in those countries. the announcment led to a mad dash for thousands of british holidaymakers. gavin lee reports from croatia. a late summer getaway on croatia's dalmatian coast,

where there are more british holiday—makers than from any other country. 17,000 uk tourists are here at the moment. for many, the break is now over just as it was beginning. they're leaving before mandatory quarantine rules kick in. i'm a teacher, so if i don't go back today, i miss being back at school, and the kids have been off for six months. we're both key workers in england, so we've had to pay an extra £400 for a flight home which leaves in two hours' time. so, we're heading there now. i'm just getting into a taxi, by the way. lawrence manning's on holiday with his partner in dubrovnik. they were due to fly back on saturday, but they're rushing to the airport this evening. our flight for a return was something like £350, and we just had to payjust over £750 to get two singles back to the uk. further up the coast in the harbour of sibenik, a group of students from nottingham trent university say they need to be

back for the start of term, but they can't afford the ticket prices. we obviously don't have that much money saved up to get a flight home because of the inflation of prices. we are just really stuck here. we've all got part—time jobs as well, it's slightly annoying, because now we have to take time off of work, so we don't get any money to save up for uni. so what's going wrong in croatia? back in may and june, this country of 5 million people barely registered a single case a day. in the past week, there has been a notable rise — 265 cases in the past 2a hours. other eu countries are attributing clusters of new cases to tourists coming back from here. the country's secretary of state for tourism said the british decision was unfair but acknowledged there is a problem. it is true that we have several hotspots in croatia in recent days, but they are the result of non—compliance with the epidemiological measures. mostly, it's younger people in some nightclubs and other gatherings.

but the uk isn't the only country to add croatia to the quarantine list. there are four other countries this week, and it's here in split, where there'e concern that it's the epicentre, that people aren't listening to social distancing advice, and that's why it's become a problem here. tonight, this was the last uk—bound flight out of the country. a frantic day almost at an end for those getting back in time. for others, thinking ofjetting off for a late break elsewhere, the official advice is be prepared to unexpectedly have to quarantine. gavin lee, bbc news, split on the dalmatian coast. tighter lockdown restrictions are being introduced for more people living in parts of the north west of england, to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. from midnight residents in 0ldham, along with those in parts of blackburn and the pendle district in lancashire, won't be able to socialise with anyone outside their own household

and they should avoid all but essentialjourneys on public transport. our health correspondent, dominic hughes has the story. at the eatery cafe in 0ldham, they're just about holding on. 0pen less than a year, it's been a baptism of fire. the last few weeks of additional lockdown measures have been especially tough. today's announcement means tighter rules around socialising in 0ldham, blackburn and parts of pendle. from midnight tomorrow, limiting contact to household members only. people can still shop and work and the cafe can stay open. it's a relief that we are not going to go into a lockdown. but then there is the frustration because it doesn't make sense. people are confused, i think some people just don't understand when a message comes out from the government and its not necessarily as clear as it should be. when they're coming out with these new restrictions, make it clearer because either people don't understand it or they find a way around it. public health england produces a weekly watch of council areas based partly on hot spots,

seen here in darker red, which map spikes in the disease. 0ldham, blackburn and pendle remain at the top of the list. this is where the new measures are to be introduced. but some good news, infection rates in wigan, rossendale and darwen have decreased, so additional measures already in place have been removed, bringing them into line with the rest of england. sensible, brokered agreements of the kind we've reached today on 0ldham and wigan are definitely the way to go. blanket lockdowns in places like greater manchester would cause real trouble from an economic point of view, hardship for people and of course, would really change people's lives in a very difficult way. 0ther hotspots keep developing. in scotland, 71 new cases have been reported in the last 2a—hours. nearly half of them in the tayside area, home to a food processing plant where workers and their families are now self isolating. as are all pupils and staff at a nearby school that's seen a number of infections.

the same is happening at the greencore sandwich factory in northampton, which will voluntarily close after hundreds of workers became infected. and in birmingham, additional measures are being discussed between local and national government after a sharp rise in infections. it all adds to a continuing sense of uncertainty. i think birmingham has done a really, really good job and yet we're still — there's still this concern so i think it's really worrying. i think that says a lot about the fundamental unpredictability of the virus. with winter approaching and obviously the virus is still here, then, you know, it's inevitable, i guess. the measures introduced in towns in the north west of england are helping health experts understand what works and the impact on people's livelihoods and well—being. the lessons learned here are likely to be applied to many other towns in the months to come. dominic hughes, bbc news, 0ldham. the coronavirus crisis has caused concern among hundreds

of thousands of people who are in rented accommodation, worried about how they'll pay the bills with reduced incomes. but the government has confirmed it's extending the ban on landlords evicting tenants who can't pay, in england and wales until september the 20th. there had been calls from charities to extend the measures, which were due to be lifted on monday. here's our home editor, mark easton. as we emerge from lockdown, for tens of thousands of people in england and wales there is deep anxiety, not just the virus, but of losing their home. covid cost david his job in high wycombe. and despite today's four week extension to the ban on eviction proceedings, he still worries about paying the rent. we had guaranteed income, now we don't. we do get some support from universal credit to help with things, but in all honesty, it's not enough. itjust doesn't cut everything. do you think you'll be able to stay in your house? it's difficult times,

it's a possibility we could end up losing our home. david's landlord has been understanding up to now, but like thousands in high wycombe, the terror of losing your income and then your home looms large. landlords too are worried they may fall victim to the financial impact of the virus. vikram dawes advises many in high wycombe. landlords are going to have very real problems because they themselves are running businesses, so there's a lot at stake for the landlords who could, in turn, as a consequence become homeless themselves. the eviction ban had been to run out on monday. the eviction ban had been to end on sunday. but in a last—minute agreement with the judiciary, the minister of housing has announced no eviction hearings will be listed until mid—september. hundreds of eviction cases are already waiting to be heard here at high wycombe county court. across england, the queue is thought to be around 40,000 cases long. but social distancing means the courts can't operate at full capacity,

so it could take more than a yearjust to get through the backlog while more and more people join the wait for judgment. housing charities say that while they are relieved the ban is being extended and pleased the required notice of evictions has been increased to six months, this last—minute u—turn doesn't solve the bigger problems. this isn't a silver bullet, but it will help in the short term. there are still people at great risk of losing their homes as the economic impact of the pandemic comes in. and the government needs to make sure it uses the time it's now got to legislate on issues like no fault evictions that its promise to do for so long. the eviction ban has been extended to march in scotland and northern ireland. in england and wales, ministers have given themselves one month to come up with an answer to stopping the virus threatening the roof over people's heads. mark easton, bbc news, high wycombe. this is bbc news.

the headlines... a german air—ambulance carrying russian opposition leader alexei navalny has taken off from russia's 0msk airport. it is heading to berlin where he's to receive treatment there after falling into a coma. new coronavirus quarantine restrictions come into force in the uk in less than an hour's time. anyone returning from croatia, austria, or trinidad and tobago, will have to self—isolate for two weeks. let's get more on the situation in belarus — where opposition leader svetla na tikhanovskaya has called on her supporters to step up their strikes at factories across the country to try to force new presidential elections. to our europe correspondent jean mackenzie in lithuania. the woman many think should've been crowned president of belarus. a woman who never even wanted to be a politician — breaking cover for the first time since being forced into exile. she now leads the 0pposition from afar. and when we sit down with her, that reluctant sense of duty still shows.

i just can't step away now, you know, because i became like a symbol of freedom. i understand that i'm not a leader. i'm more frightened than anybody else among them. what frightens you 7 i'm afraid that maybe i will not be able to do enough. i don't know, it'sjust a fear of responsibility. this was the moment she disappeared, the day after the election when long—time president lukashenko declared himself the victor. when she emerged in lithuania, she hinted at a terrible choice she'd had to make to keep her children safe. can you tell me anything about what happened in those election offices and what choice you were given? i'm sorry, but i can't. not now. bela russians have ta ken to the streets like never before, to show they voted for tsikhanouskaya and are ready for change.

"enough is enough," was her message for the regime today. "enough lying, intimidation and violence." the past weeks have seen protesters detained and badly beaten. how do you feel when you see the reports of violence that have come out of the country in the last week? you know. . .i was really shocked. i didn't tell anybody, but i couldn't find peace, i was just crying. after a couple of hours, when we saw the first pictures, i can't imagine that belarussian people can be so cruel. with protests and strikes nearly into the third become alexander lukashenko shows no sign backing down. are you worried that the movement could fail? no, i'm not worried because i believe in

belarussian people the same way they believed in me. we have no right to step back now because — if not now, we will be slaves. and our people understand this, and i'm sure we will stand till the end. that end for her is new elections, ones that are free and fair. only then, she tells us, will bela russians know who their president truly is. jean mackenzie, bbc news. scientists have repeatedly warned it could be many months before we know if any of the 30 or so coronavirus vaccines currently undergoing trials, are effective. but one way to speed up the process would be to use so—called "challenge trials" where volunteers are given the vaccine and then deliberately infected with coronavirus. here's our medical editor, fergus walsh. the longer we go without

a vaccine, the longer people will die unnecessarily. young, healthy and determined. sean mcpartlin is 22 and studying in oxford. he keeps fit by swimming in the thames. i volunteered to be infected with the coronavirus. sean wants to take part in a so—called challenge trial, where he would first receive a vaccine against covid—19 and then be deliberately infected with coronavirus, to see if the vaccine protects him. my mother has a hereditary lung disorder, and every day we go without a vaccine is a day where she faces a risk that she might not have to. so i want to do everything i can to help get that vaccine to her and everyone else like her as quickly as possible. the only way we'll know if a covid vaccine works is if volunteers later get exposed to the virus. but at the moment, that's being left entirely to chance. it could take months.

deliberately infecting volunteers could speed things up. one day sooner is a group campaigning for vaccine challenge trials and it has the support of 15 nobel prize winners and many leading scientists. dominic wilkinson is an expert in medical ethics and an intensive care doctor. if you look at what's at stake, that thousands of lives that might be saved if we could get to a vaccine sooner, there is an ethical imperative to investigate and conduct challenge studies. a safe and effective vaccine against coronavirus is probably the only way our lives, our society, the economy, will return to normal. so anything that can speed up its delivery has to be worth considering. but what about the risks of challenge trials? they are hard to calculate.

but for healthy volunteers in their 20s, they are probably lower than the chances of dying from donating a kidney or having your appendix removed. dr katrina pollock is not convinced — at least not yet. she's running the trial of imperial college london's coronavirus vaccine. i'm not sure that it's going to necessarily accelerate development of the vaccine in a way that some people might hope. and there are certainly significant, at this point, ethical and safety considerations for doing it. we need a lot more understanding of this disease before we start thinking about those kind of studies. if coronavirus challenge studies do you ever take place, volunteers would need to spend at least two weeks in quarantine at a clinical research unit. there are plenty like sean who are ready to sign up, hoping to play their part in the search for a vaccine. fergus walsh, bbc news.

the manchester united captain, harry maguire, remains in custody after being arrested while on holiday on the greek island of mykonos. greek police said officers had tried to break up an altercation between two groups outside a bar. our sports correspondent 0lly foster has more from old trafford. yes, the world's most expensive defender is spending a second night in a greek police cell. the club this morning confirming that their captain was fully cooperating with the greek authorities. we know that harry maguire and two other british men were arrested at around midnight last night after an incident on the greek island of mykonos. the greek police said they were called out to an altercation between two groups, they had to break up a fight and it was then that three men rounded, they claim, on one of their officers, verbally abusing and assaulting him. the three men were then escorted to a local police station.

it's then that the police claim that upon arrival, they strongly resisted, pushing and hitting three police officers and that one of the detainees then tried to offer money to avoid any further action. the police then opened a file on this case. it includes accusations of violence against officials, bodily harm, insult and attempted bribery of an official. we do not know the specifics of the accusations against harry maguire, but today the three men were transported by boat to the neighbouring island of syros and another police facility there. i have spoken to the greek lawyer who is representing maguire, he says they are going to appear in court tomorrow morning at 10am greek time. he says maguire denies all the allegations and he's confident that his client will be released any charges. the last few weeks have been uncertain for many school leavers hoping to get into university, but for one student her dream is a step closer, thanks to the kindness of a very special stranger.

vitoria mario who's 18 and from london, set up an online fundraising page, and who decided to chip in, none other than the us pop star, taylor swift. here's david sillito. i couldn't believe it. ifeel, like, even now, i am still processing it. ijust can't believe it. it began with this text message. 18—year—old vitoria mario was in church and a friend wanted to let her know there had been a donation to her university gofundme page... ..from taylor swift. 2a hours later, it is still rather difficult to process. i was overwhelmed, i was happy, of course, very happy. i was very grateful. i wanted to hug taylor swift, i guess! i want to say thank you, it's so amazing. i don't even know how to feel or how to handle my feelings. taylor swift had also left a message saying she had been

inspired by vitoria story. vitoria had arrived from portugal on her own at 1a. four years later, she has two a—stars and a. but could not see a way of funding university. you are not eligible for any maintenance grants, because you arrived here in britain on your own at aged 14? that's correct. speaking no english. no english at all. i learned mostly from the netflix. you learned english watching netflix? watching with the subtitles, so i can learn how to say it and learn how to write it. of course, this isn't the first pop charitable donation. ariana grande, rhianna and stormzy — with his scholarship programme for black students — have all made large donations for those who are struggling. but taylor swift, who does have a new album out, has a track record of surprised gifts. but why vitoria's story touched her in particular is a mystery. where are you a taylor swift fan? of course!

you're a fan now. of course, i know who she is, of course. i would not say i was a super fan. iam i would not say i was a super fan. i am not one that contact them every day. ijust don't know... i don't know. david sillito, bbc news. coming up, the headlines and then click. but first the weather with darren bett. hello. the last few days has brought some very windy weather across many parts of the country. on friday, we had winds well over 60 miles an hour in the south—west of wales and the south west of england and we saw the strong winds pushing through the english channel as well, leading to some very dramatic weather watcher pictures taken earlier on in the day. for the weekend it's not going to be as windy. that's because the deep area of low pressure that brought unseasonably strong winds is moving away into the norwegian sea. already the winds are dropping. we are going to continue seeing sunshine and showers on saturday.

there could be heavier ones moving down into scotland for a while. actually some longer spells of rain for northern ireland and the showers pushing into england and wales. the driest weather, the sunniest weather likely to be across the southern counties of england, perhaps into east anglia. for england and wales in particular, still a blustery day, not as windy. still gusts of 35 to 45 miles an hour, to take the edge of the temperatures, which may be lower than we had on friday. top temperature 22 degrees. further north and west quite a few degrees cooler than that. the heavy showers continuing into the evening before tending to fade away overnight with the wind is continuing to drop as well. as we head into the second half at the weekend, a brief sign of this ridge of high pressure into the atlantic. all it is doing as it is changing the wind direction to a cooler north—westerly. again the wind is continuing to drop on sunday. lighter winds for much of the country. sunshine and showers for scotland.

heavier ones for northern ireland, putting it is changing the wind direction to a cooler north—westerly. again the wind is continuing to drop on sunday. later winds for much of the country. sunshine and showers for scotland. heavier one for northern ireland, pushing into risk with the north—westerly breezes. into the early part of next week, first of all, we had a weather system coming in from the atlantic. it's quite a weak affair and the winds are light on monday. maybe heavier for a while across parts of southern england and wales. dry weather in the north—east of scotland. only 13 in aberdeen and 19 in cardiff. on tuesday and wednesday, another deep area of low pressure heading our way, threatening to bring some more very strong winds across the uk. a spell of rain probably will be followed with sunshine and showers.

this is bbc news. the headlines... russian opposition leader alexei navalny is on his way to berlin for treatment, two days after falling seriously ill. navalny is on an air ambulance that took off from siberia's 0msk airport in the last few minutes. he remains in a coma. there are claims he was poisoned. the governor of california says lightning strikes over the past 24 hours have sparked several hundred more wildfires in the region. some of the fires are the biggest recorded in the state. 12,000 firefighters are battling the blazes, and more than 100,000 people have been evacuated. new coronavirus restrictions come into force in the uk injust under half an hour. anyone returning from croatia, austria, or trinidad and tobago, will have to self—isolate for two weeks,