russian opposition leader alexei navalny is on his way to berlin for treatment, two days after falling seriously ill. navalny is on a german air ambulance that took off from siberia's omsk airport. he remains in a coma. there are claims he was poisoned. the governor of california says lightning strikes over the past 2a 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 have come into force in the uk in the last hour. anyone returning from croatia, austria, or trinidad and tobago, will have to self—isolate for two weeks, because of a rise in infections in those countries. 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 today the government 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's 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. well, we had guaranteed income, and 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 home? it's difficult times. there's a possibility that 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 daws 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 due to end on sunday, but in a last—minute agreement with the judiciary the ministry 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 peoplejoin the wait for judgment.

housing charities say while they're relieved the band's been extended and please the required notice of an eviction‘s 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 it's promised 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. now on bbc news it's witness history, where we hear from five people who have experienced important moments in history, including a jewish woman who found refuge in britain after she was transported out of nazi germany.

hello and welcome to witness history with me, razia iqbal, here at the royal academy in london. today we'll hear from five people who have witnessed incredible moments in history. coming up: the soldiers who fought for the british but were not allowed to settle in britain. the last days of the sri lankan civil war, the first latin american coup, backed by the us, and when the soviet union banned alcohol. but first, to a story of love, hope and sacrifice. from 1938 until the start of the second world war in 1939, thousands ofjewish children were sent from europe to the uk. most of them travelled without their parents, fleeing the rise of the nazis.

dame stephanie shirley was only five years old when she said goodbye to her mother, never knowing if she would see her again. newsreel: 200 boys and girls with a greeting to england and the land of the free. they are between the ages of five and 17, the advanced guard of the first 5000 jewish and non—aryan child refugees from germany have been provided with a temporary home here, while arrangements are made forthem to immigrate. everybody always said, aren't you lucky? aren't you lucky? indeed we were. sometimes, when i've been asked my date of birth, i've said 1939 because, to me, my life started then. the kinder transport was an amazing rescue mission, set up by christian and jewish activists, who brought nearly 10,000 mainlyjewish children out of nazi europe. i was five years old and i was

one of those children. my family was secularjewish. we had moved over quite a bit of europe, starting from dortmund where my father was a judge and he'd been fired in 1933 and finished up in vienna, my mother's home city. i think it was clear thatjews in central europe faced catastrophe. there was an announcement that there had been a concession over the nazis to allow children up to the age of 16 to leave without their parents. we knew something was afoot and we were going to england. i can remember the scene at the station of many, many families, mostly weeping, some wailing.

i believe most parents did not expect to see their children again. my mother did not cry, nor did we. i was with my sister, renata, who was ten years old. i clutched her, i was scared. we had an overnight crossing to harwich and then another train to liverpool street station. when we got off the train, the platform was silent. you've got 1,000 children — tired and smelly after two and a half days, absolutely exhausted. there was no chatter, no noise. eventually children were called and off we went with our new pa rents. we were among the last to be claimed. we were fostered by a lovely english couple in the midlands of england, who had seen a photograph in a local paper of my sister

and i with just a few lines underneath, saying, "two sisters, well brought up, seeking a home, can you help?" they couldn't speak a word of german, i couldn't speak a word in english. i was traumatised, they were nervous, it was pretty grim. my feelings with just of being disturbed and being with strange people, of not understanding what was going on. when was i going to see my mother again? we were reunited after about 12 months or so and we lived with our natural parents. when i was in my teens, as i think happens quite often they separated families. i never really bonded with them again and that i really mourn. the act of sending your children away is a

fantastic act of love. it didn't seem like it at the time but it is the most loving thing a parent can do. the former child refugee dame stephanie shirley. next we hear the story of the first latin american coup, organised by the us government. president presidentjacobo arbenz of guatemala had proposed land reforms that were seen as a threat to america's united fruit company. he was labelled a communist in the company wanted him removed. his son, also called jacobo, remembers when his father's government was overthrown in 195a. translation: i was only seven years old when my father was overthrown in the coup, organised by the cia. i remember having to hide under the bed during the bombing. my parents did their best not to worry us but we soon realised

how serious things were and the dangers that we faced. guatemala was a very backwards country, based on a colonial, almost feudal system. one of the first things that my father, colonel jacobo arbenz did as president, was to bring in reforms to modernise farming. america's united fruit company, which had enormous economic power in guatemala at the time did not like the changes. they became very upset when they saw that their monopoly was being affected. this was the time of the cold war, so they took advantage of this to label my father a communist, which was totally untrue and that is how they promoted and justified the idea of an invasion.

newsreel: aircraft parachute meagre supplies to the airstrip as the rebels tried to oust the government. the shabbily—clad, poorly trained troops from honduras over ran the sleepy town... translation: the basic plan of the cia was to promote an invasion from neighbouring honduras. they trained mercenaries in the us and in honduras, too. at first, when they crossed into guatemala, the army managed to beat them back. my father spent most of the time in the ministry of defence. i remember him always looking very worried, pacing up and down, smoking, trying to work out what to do next stop when aeroplanes started bombing guatemala city, my father moved us out of the presidential palace and then his fellow officers got scared and told him, colonel, we can no longer support you.

carrying anti—communist banners, jubilant soldiers celebrate victory two—week revolt in guatemala. my father resigned as president on june the 27th may 1954. i have taken a momentous decision for our country in the hope that it will halt the invasion and bring peace back to guatemala. i remember that my sisters and i were only allowed to take a few toys with us when we left. unfortunately, the invasion and the coup had a terrible lasting effect on our family but also on the guatemalan people. my sisters took it all very badly and resented what had happened.

as a result, in 1965, one of them took her own life and the other one did the same in 200a. my father died a very bitter man, disappointed that what he had tried to do full guatemala had been so misunderstood. jacobo arbenz with his memories of the first latin american coup organised by the cia. now to south asia and the final days of the civil war in sri lanka. for more than two decades, the army had fought the tamil tiger rebels. in 2009, the government forces began to close in on them. thousands of civilians were trapped alongside rebel fighters, beyond the reach ofjournalists, aid workers and independent witnesses. former united nations official gordon vice

remembers it as one of the worst situations he'd ever encountered. sri lankan's government says it is close to winning the island's civil war after 25 years. the fighting has been intense and bloody. in a 25—year civil war, there had been many terrible episodes. this final few months of the war was by far the most bitter and the most vicious. 250,000 people caught in the middle, hungry, frightened, tired. many of them on the run from fighting for up to a year. some of them had been displaced 10 or 15 times. i had worked in a number of conflict zones before and since the war in sri lanka but the sri lankan experience was unique. the conflict on the island has pitted the government, based in colombo and dominated by the sinhalese majority against the tamil tigers. they'd been fighting in the north for a state for ethnic minority tamils.

the tamil tigers or ltte have been ruthless, pioneers in suicide bombings. they also stand accused of conscripting child soldiers but the government has been using brutal methods of its own. the offensive opened with very heavy bombardment, breaking up the tamil tiger positions and rolling the civilian population back. the un had fairly good access to these areas back in september 2008, the un was told in no uncertain terms that it needed to move its international offices out of the siege area. the purpose was to ensure they were not independent witnesses to what was going to happen. this footage was released by pro—tamil groups yesterday. it claims to show carnage caused when shells hit a clinic. it is impossible to know for sure when or where the footage was shot. the tigers claim the army is using heavy weapons.

the government says that is a lie and these images just propaganda. on one particular day we had very graphic descriptions from the doctors, who were managing the hospitals inside the zone about a very heavy bombardment that had taken place in which dozens and dozens of civilians had been killed and injured and that was the day that we declared that there had been a bloodbath. the government was very unhappy with us. they began to threaten to expel various un offices, —— officers, myself included. my reaction was, even if a proportion of those images and reports of people getting out where true, the impact on civilians was clearly very high. this was a classic siege, of course. the tamil tigers obviously had an interest in not allowing civilians to cross the front lines into government territory, because that was the one thing that was really

standing between them and defeat. the international community had a great deal of ambivalence about what was going on because they wanted to see the tamil tigers destroyed as well. the tamil tigers were a listed terror organisation. in the last few days, more and more civilians were able to escape the siege zone. the siege then became smaller till it was a patch and a couple of hundred square metres. a symbolic moment. sri lankan movements meeting today and cutting the tamil tigers' last hope of escape. we had been caught between these two opposing sides, enemies who were literally intent on destroying each other and the un were stuck in the middle.

it was an experience that never leaves you. former united nations official gordon vice. remember, you can watch witness history every month on the bbc news channel or you can catch up on all our films, along with more than 1,000 radio programmes in our online archive. just search online for bbc witness history. now to a story of triumph over injustice. for over 200 years, soldiers from the small south asian country of nepal fought and died for the british armed forces. the soldiers are known as gurkhas and more than 200,000 fought in the two world wars. it is only in 2009 they were actually given the right to settle in the uk. one major remembers the long campaign for equal treatment for gurkhas.

outside parliament, the home secretary finally ran up the white flag, government surrender on the gurkhas terms. all former gurkhas who have served more than four years will now be eligible to apply for settlement in the uk. when the announcement was made in 2009, everyone was really happy, exuberant with the news. i would call it a half baked victory. i served i would call it a half baked victory. iserved in i would call it a half baked victory. i served in the brigade of gurkhas for that he one years. nepal allows recruitment into the british army. nowhere we do see this arrangement into the whole world. the gurkha movement says, better to die than be a

coward. gurkhas have fought and died for the british irish since 1918. they had 20,000 casualties in the great war. we are an integral part of the british armed forces but we have never been treated equally. we have our own terms and conditions of service. the way we were courted, a family life, barix. the pay we received was one third of what the british received. we had no right to settle in the uk. we felt like second—class citizens. having served the british loyally, people were being deported and that was really scary. they were living infear really scary. they were living in fear day really scary. they were living infearday and really scary. they were living in fear day and night because they did not have any status. last weekend a home office deported a former gurkhas. despite 13 years of service in the british army. it was a disgrace. they are the breda sell soldiers i had ever served

with. —— bravest. we received massive support from the media and the british public. it has been a long battle. the government ruled only gap is retiring after 1997 could settle in britain. they took their battle to the doors of downing street. still the government resisted until joanna lumley took command. whenjoanna joanna lumley took command. when joanna lumley got involved, she was instrumental. herfather involved, she was instrumental. her father served with my regiment. he was an officer in the gurkha rifles. there was no gap at present during this meeting. we fought so hard for nine years and to be left out when the crucial policy was being made was a big let down in itself. our campaign was for

equality, pensions and settlement. why did they come to the conclusion of settlement only? we are glad and thankful that the government did change its policy. we achieved what we thought would be impossible, ie settle m e nt thought would be impossible, ie settlement rights for all the gurkhas across the board. we will now carry on for equal pension, and that is the last stand. this was the concluding chapter. it marked that we were now considered equal to the rest of the british forces and thatis rest of the british forces and that is certainly uplifting. our final witness remembers a unique, if brief, name and in soviet history. in 1985, communist authorities restricted the sale of alcohol in the ussr to fight rising addiction. three years later the campaign was abandoned as the campaign was abandoned as

the soviet economy began to fail. we spoke to a former adviser to the essential committee of the communist party who helped to put the law into place. there used to be one image of the soviet work and this was it young, efficient and above all sober. now there is another, half asleep and half way to get mania. a quarter of all workers would have a glass of vodka before going to work. this was widespread among our working class. the russians call alcohol the green snake and opening time the hour of the world. at the to together and the results can be disastrous. —— put the two together. i saw clearly that any country where a quarter of all workers are alcoholics, this country survives by killing its own people. that was very clear to

me. the state makes billions in alcohol tax but the state has ordered its people to sober up. as someone who spoke to gorbachev often, i could tell he did not understand what the ussr was about. of all the soviet freedom square only one was always there, the freedom to drink. all russians love vodka. for years, ambulances have patrolled city streets by taking people to special drying centres but medical facilities honoured to be improved. the authorities say they will fight this ugly phenomenon and remove from soviet life. translation: as part of the campaign, alcohol sales when emitted from the period from

tpm to 7pm. many wine shops we re tpm to 7pm. many wine shops were closed and most importantly only one bottle of vodka was sold per person. if you add a birthday party, you had to show your passport to prove it was really your birthday. about 1988, 1989, it became clear that the campaign was damaging. the soviet system simply collapsed. millions of people lost theirjobs. in the soviet days, if a worker had a drink

before going to work, at least there were some restraint on him in the workplace. with the colla pse him in the workplace. with the collapse of the ussr there were no social structures any more and the alcoholic had nothing holding him back. we didn't understand it and neither did gorbachev. remembering interesting times with the former president, mikhail gorbachev. that is all for this month. we will be back next month. we will be back next month with more first—hand accou nts month with more first—hand a ccou nts of month with more first—hand accounts of more extraordinary moments in history. for now, from me and the rest of the team, goodbye. hello there. 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 here in the south—west of wales, also the south—west of england and we saw those very strong winds pushing through the english channel as well, leading to some very dramatic weather watcher pictures taken earlier on in the day. now, for the weekend it's not going to be as windy. that's because the deep area of low pressure that brought those unseasonably strong winds is moving away into the norwegian sea, so already the winds are dropping. but we are going to continue to see some sunshine and some showers during saturday. and there could be some heavier ones moving down into scotland for a while, actually some longer spells of rain for northern ireland and those showers pushing into england and wales. driest weather, sunniest weather likely to be across southern counties of england and perhaps into east anglia. but for england and wales in particular, it's still a blustery day, not as windy but still those gusts of 35 to a0 miles an hour. it will take the edge off the temperatures, which may be a bit lower than we had on friday. top temperature of 22 degrees there, but further north and west, quite a few degrees cooler than that. those heavier showers continue into the evening before tending to fade away overnight. the wind continuing

to drop as well. as we head into the second half of the weekend, well, there's a brief sign of this ridge of high pressure in from the atlantic, but all it's doing is it's changing the wind direction to a cooler north—westerly. again, the winds continuing to drop though on sunday, lighter winds for much of the country. some sunshine and showers for scotland, the heavier ones for northern ireland pushing into northern and then eastern parts of england with the risk of some thunderstorms too. our top temperature will be 21 degrees in the south—east on sunday, but quite a bit cooler, i think, than saturday across scotland with those north—westerly breezes. into the early part of next week, first of all we've got a weather system coming in from the atlantic. it's quite a weak affair really and the winds are light on monday, but we're looking at a lot of cloud to move its way eastwards and some patchy rain too, may be a little bit heavierfor a while across southern part of england and wales. drier weather in the north—east of scotland, but it's only 13 degrees in aberdeen and around 19 celsius in cardiff. and then for tuesday and wednesday, we've got

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 by some sunshine and some showers.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a german air—ambulance carrying russian opposition leader alexei navalny has taken off from russia's omsk airport. it is heading to berlin where he's to receive treatment there after falling into a coma. lightning strikes spark several hundred more wildfires in california including some of the biggest ever seen in the state. protestors in belarus form a human chain across the capital, as the opposition leader tells the bbc the campaign against the president goes on. just we have no right to step back now because...