this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: the us house of representatives votes to pass an emergency bill to inject $25 billion into america's cash—strapped postal service. lithuania and poland deny claims that nato is building up its forces along their borders with belarus. president trump declares california's wildfires a major disaster, granting federal funds to victims who've lost their homes. tiktok takes on the us government: the chinese company behind the social media app plans to sue over its ban. football's biggest club trophy‘s up for grabs later on sunday, but there'll be no supporters in the stands to cheer on the champion's league winners.

hello and welcome to bbc news. the democratic—led us house of representatives has passed an emergency bill to provide $25 billion to the cash—strapped postal service. it's part of a push to prop up the struggling postal service and ensure that it can handle an influx of millions of postal ballots for the presidential election. but the white house opposes the bill and has suggested that president trump would veto it. alanna petroff has the latest. us politics has become increasingly polarised over the post office. we are saying to donald trump, we are saying to postmaster dejoy, no! enough is enough! give us back our post office! applause cheering protesters gathered in places

like texas, pennsylvania, new york and washington, dc. they‘ re concerned about a recent slowdown in deliveries and they worry about what this means for postal voting in the upcoming us election. will votes arrive on time and be counted, especially in a pandemic? this man, postmaster general louis dejoy, is behind the delivery slowdown with his new cost—cutting moves. he's a big trump donor and the president recently appointed him to the role. he took over injune. the bill is passed. democrats and some republicans in the house of representatives have now approved a new bill to put $25 billion into the postal service and require levels of service to get back to normal. the actions by the postmaster general in recent weeks is a sabotage campaign aimed at manipulating mail service and whatever the intent,

it's hurting everyday americans — seniors, veterans, working men and women. in michigan, we've been told thatjust this month ten mail sorting machines have been removed and destroyed. this american institution is being deliberately dismantled. this is real, this is happening, and we need to do something about it. and the fact that this is happening in the middle of a pandemic, right before an election, i mean, i don't believe in coincidences. this is deliberate and it's shocking. now, the bill gets delivered to the republican—controlled senate. there are concerns it won't pass and president trump may veto it altogether. he tweeted this on saturday: this contradicts many postal leaders and union officials who have warned that the president and postmaster general

are strangling the service. this heated fight over the post office shows just how much is at stake with the upcoming election. alanna petroff, bbc news. steve herman is the white house bureau chief for the us broadcaster, the voice of america. he says it is unlikely the bill will pass through the republican—led us senate. this legislation is marked ‘return to sender‘ by the senate majority leader. the republicans control the senate. and while they will get some votes from republicans if this were to come to the floor in the senate, there are vulnerable republican senators who are hearing a lot of complaints from their constituents, especially in ruralareas, there's just not enough votes as a stand—alone bill as it is, and the president of course is also threatening to veto it. what kind of changes in the postal service most worry

the democratic party, causing them to try to pass this bill? well, there were a number of concerns. the most visible were removal of the sorting machines in the post offices. what the post office officials were saying is this actually was to make the post office more efficient because they handle less letters and more packages, and they need room for those packages. but, of course, in this election year, with a pandemic, there are going to be a lot of ballots sent in, which are not packages, and there was concern that removal of those machines along with letterboxes, that postal authorities also said were routine, that this was some sort of plot on behalf of the president to slow down the balloting and throw the election to the president. in general, how reliable is the postal service? if i was to send you an important package, would you expect to get it quickly? i would here, where i live, which isjust outside

washington, dc, and i have to say it's been pretty consistent, but what we are hearing, even as close as baltimore to the north of us and definitely out in rural areas to the west, there has been a significant slowdown, and people have been complaining about their medications not arriving on time, and also people that were mailing lives chicks to farms — those packages were being held, and thousands and thousands of chicks apparently were dying. steve herman there. lithuania and poland have denied claims that nato is building up its forces along their borders with belarus. poland's government says the claim is just "regime propaganda." it comes after the president of belarus, alexander lu kashenko, accused what he described as foreign powers of orchestrating the protests against his disputed re—election. he made his remarks in a visit to a military facility in the west of the country. for their part, protesters returned to the streets

on saturday evening, demanding mr lukashenko stand down. david campanale has more. his report contains scenes you may find disturbing. as protests continue on the streets of belarus, new evidence has emerged of the force of the police crackdown. these pictures from the yard of a detention centre in minsk cannot be independently verified by the bbc, but they were sent to radio svoboda, who say they show beatings by security forces of street protesters. instances like this add to existing reports of multiple cases of ill treatment of police detainees on the streets and in temporary detention facilities. president lukashenko has been reported as saying that images of beatings and bruises shown by families were largely staged. it's an accusation that is firmly denied. it is his usual way of behaviour, and i know that many of the people are afraid of reporting to police about the torture.

they are documenting their bruises and the damage that has been done to their bodies. there's widespread anger in minsk over what many people see as president lukashenko rigging the vote to stay in power. these have turned to outrage and despair at the injuries in gatherings held by relatives and friends of the detained protesters. a week ago, minsk saw the biggest protest in modern belarusian history, with hundreds of thousands of people filling the streets. but the man who led belarus for the last 26 years shows no sign of going. he has stepped up the rhetoric of an external threat. speaking on a visit to a military testing range, mr lukashenko once again accused foreign powers of orchestrating the protests against his contested re—election. translation: military support is evident.

nato forces are moving to the borders of our country. all this is done to pull here, allegedly, an alternative president. he told his commanders to introduce the toughest measures, and for the armed forces to be prepared to defend the country. in the last few days, president lukashenko has ordered riot police back onto the streets. with fresh rallies called for sunday, it's still unclear what attitude the president and the security forces will take to those who join the demonstrations. david campanale, bbc news. the russian opposition leader and one of president putin's fiercest critics, alexei navalny, is being treated at a hospital in germany after a suspected poisoning. mr navalny fell into a coma after drinking a cup of tea at an airport cafe. his supporters believe the cup was laced with poison. russian doctors initially said there were no traces of poison in his body. our berlin correspondent jennie hill reports. oblivious to the

political storm around him, alexei navalny, arriving in berlin for treatment. the man who took on vladimir putin is in a coma. he collapsed on thursday during a flight over siberia after drinking what his supporters claim was a poisoned cup of tea. i'm sure that they can treat him and do everything to eliminate maybe this toxic agent from his body, and i hope that the germans, with a high level of medicine... we have no such opportunities in russia as german doctors have. mr navalny is one of vladimir putin's fiercest critics, an anti—corruption campaigner with powerful enemies. his supporters claim he was poisoned last year but lived to tell the tale. now, they believe the russian authorities have tried to silence him again — something the kremlin denies. it was a german ngo

which organised mr navalny‘s transfer to berlin, though it's believed western political intervention finally persuaded russia to let him go. he is a healthy, strong man with a good constitution. the night before the attack, whatever you want to call it, he was swimming in a river, and there is this video that we've all seen from the plane where he gets this incredible pain, he's screaming. doctors here say it will take time to examine mr navalny. it may now be too late to establish whether he was poisoned and harder still to discover by whom. it's not the first time an opponent of vladimir putin has come to berlin with suspected poisoning. just two years ago, a dissident was treated in the very same hospital. this could be the latest in what some here say is an increasingly provocative pattern of behaviour. and tonight, as a man fights for his life, that's putting pressure on what is already a tense relationship between russia and the west.

president trump has approved california's request to declare the huge wildfires scorching parts of the state as a major disaster. it means federal funds will be available to help victims of the fires. at least six people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled 500 separate fires. our north america correspondent peter bowes reports from los angeles. some of the biggest wildfires california have ever seen. the north of the state is the worst affected. there are multiple blazes burning in the mountains in the san francisco bay area, and another complex of fires is wreaking havoc in wine country, south of sacramento. in all, almost 600 separate fires. many of them started by a series of rare dry lightning storms. a blanket of smoke hangs over much of the state. 175,000

people are being told to leave their homes. some are nervous about taking shelter in crowded evacuation centres because of the coronavirus. more cases in california than any other us state. several friends have lost their homes and many others are evacuated. it is a really difficult time but it is great to see the community pulled together to do what they can to support each other. with local firefighters growing weary from the unrelenting battle, backup crews have been drafted in from neighbouring state and further afield. it is hoped teams will fly in from canada and australia to help tackle the growing inferno. 0fficials tackle the growing inferno. officials are warning there may be worse to come with more lightning forecast and blistering heat that could go on for another week. california is used to the annual threat from wildfires, but they are getting worse. record temperatures, the light on,

tinder dry brush, a perfect storm for a long, hot summer of destruction. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. rescuers in colombia are preparing to try to free three miners who are trapped more than 20 metres underground. local media reports the men have been trapped since wednesday after a mechanical accident inside the coal mine cut off their exit. they are receiving food in liquid form through piping. family say they are speaking to the men every two hours. rescue efforts will get under way on sunday. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: the us house of representatives votes to pass an emergency bill to inject $25 billion into america's cash—strapped postal service. lithuania and poland deny claims that nato is building up its forces along their borders with belarus. it's almost 18 months since the terror attacks on two mosques in the new zealand city of christchurch. the wife of one of 51 people killed has spoken to the bbc on how her life has changed and of her determination to seejustice done.

the gunman will be sentenced in a few days' time. shaimaa khalil reports from sydney. it was an attack that devastated new zealand and shocked the world. the quiet city of christchurch became the scene of the country's worst mass shooting. siren wails. on march 15, 2019, a gunman opened fire in two mosques, killing 51 people and wounding dozens more as they got ready for friday prayers. taj kamran was shot three times in the lake at al noor mosque, his best friend died next to him. ——shot three times in the leg. he struggles to walk, and the horrors of the day still haunt him. he is now dreading facing the killer in court at sentencing. because i see the gunman, that shot me and shot my friend, that's too hard for me. isee, watching, looking,

that was one is very difficult. yes, guilty. earlier this year, brenton tarrant admitted 51 murders in a0 counts of manslaughter. the 29—year—old australian was also the first person to be convicted under new zealand's most recent terror laws. dozens of survivors and victims‘ relatives will address the court in the presence of the killer. they‘ll describe how his crimes changed their lives. but with new zealand‘s borders closed because of covid—19, many families as well as international media will have to follow his sentencing remotely. i did go back and forth with making the decision... despite the restrictions, some relatives were granted visas to attend. hamimah tuyan‘s husband zekeriya died in hospital almost two months after he was shot. she‘s travelled from singapore and has spent two weeks in quarantine. my husband is not here to speak for himself. so, i am his voice. the children love him so much. and of course i hope, inshallah, when my boys are big

enough to refer to this event or this day, they will be proud of their umi that she has travelled 8,500 km in the middle of a pandemic to see to it that their father‘s killer is locked away in prison for a long time. and how do you feel about seeing the killer in court? i haven‘t really had the time to think about how i feel about him or about how i feel about seeing him in the flesh. i hope i will be cool, calm, and collected. brenton tarrant is responsible for one of new zealand‘s darkest days, and will get a mandatory life sentence. the judge must now decide if he‘ll ever be considered for release. shaimaa khalil, bbc news, sydney. let‘s get some of the day‘s other news. rival groups of left and right wing activists have clashed in the streets in the us city of portland. hundreds of people fought with weapons including pepper spray, baseball bats and fireworks. portland police said they didn‘t intervene because each skirmish appeared to involve willing participants.

right wing groups had gathered to challenge black lives matter activists, who‘ve been staging protests almost every night sincejune. researchers in germany held a coronavirus experiment in the form of a concert. held at an indoor stadium in leipzig, the participants were asked to wear contact tracer devices around their necks and to disinfect their hands with a fluorescent hand—sanitiser to allow scientists to scour the venue with uv lights after the concerts to identify surfaces where a transmission of the virus could happen. tiktok has confirmed that it will file a lawsuit against the trump administration. it comes after the us president signed an executive order banning transactions with the chinese—owned app and its chinese parent company, bytedance. tiktok has repeatedly denied washington‘s accusations that it is a national security threat, and beijing has called the trump crackdown political manipulation. i spoke to ash kazaryan, director of civil liberties at techfreedom, about the us

government‘s concerns that tiktok might pass us users‘ data to the chinese government. so what we know as a public are a few things. number one is that tiktok‘s parent company is bytedance, it‘s a chinese parent company. the ceo of bytedance has sent letters to the chinese communist party multiple times, saying, reassuring cooperation. now, tiktok‘s privacy policy itself disclaims that they might, if they want to, share data with china. now, tiktok says they don‘t and that all the servers with us user data are located in virginia with backups in singapore. but we keep seeing them in lawsuits and statements, reassuring, like, claiming that, yes, you know what, we can share it if we want to, but the same time we‘re not going to. so that‘s where the concern is. we haven‘t seen a smoking gun. at the same time, they also collect an immense amount

of data and often it‘s reported that they collect about the same amount of data other social networks do, but it‘s not true. they have way more access, they collect way more data about the user, about their search history, the model of their phone and so on, so altogether it‘s not hard to connect the dots and say there‘s concern, but we haven‘t seen a smoking gun yet. at the same time, the overall owner, bytedance, is seeking to sell the us part of the company. would that end the dispute? we did not hear about the negotiations about the sale until we heard president trump say he is going to ban tiktok. so we‘re not sure what came first. maybe there were already negotiations because tiktok is still considered a valuable start—up, but it has a high growth rate. maybe the parent company was already negotiations. now, if they do sell tiktok, hypothetically, that is supposed to take the national security interest concerns off, but it would take a lot of work.

these mergers and acquisitions are not done easily, and a lot of the engineers as far as i understand are located in china and other countries, so it be like an infrastructure move, too. ——so it would be like an infrastructure move, too. how are us tech companies like facebook dealing with this rival? i would say that different tech companies obviously have different markets and different focuses. now, facebook owns instagram, which recently launched reels that‘s supposed to compete with tiktok in the marketplace. don‘t have enough data because reels was launched in the united states just a few weeks ago i believe, so we are not sure how the market is going to react, but i think it is a competitor and shows the power of a free market because it is extremely

popular, tiktok is extremely popular with the younger generation in the united states. football — and arguably the world‘s biggest club match takes place in portugal later. bayern munich will face paris saint—germain in the champions league final. tim allman has more. their history runs deep in the competition. for paris saint—germain, however, this is something new. despite their success, they‘ve never reached the final before. but they are ambitious, looking to create something special of their own. translation: that is exactly the reason ijoined the club. i always said i wanted to write the history of french football. he could be a real award if we could win the competition with a french side. the german team are the favourites. especially after that 8—2 demolition of barcelona in the quarterfinals. but whoever wins, this will be an unusual and unprecedented event. translation: there is no bigger title to win on club level than the champions league.

those were the games you would look forward to watch as a child. of course, it is a shame the final will happen without the fans, but nonetheless it is a huge chance we want to take. normally, before a match like this, the streets of the host city would be full of fans. it‘s certainly not like that in lisbon. this has been the strangest of seasons, but everyone hopes it will end with a final to remember. tim allman, bbc news. australians in several south—eastern states are experiencing surprising — and unseasonal — weather triggered by antarctic air. many people have been out enjoying the rare event despite strong winds — and heavy snow — yes, snow. phil mercer sent this report. a rare antarctic blast has turned parts of south—eastern australia white. blizzards have

brought chaos to some roads and the icy cold front has sent temperatures plummeting way below average. towns to the west of sydney in the blue mountains have been blanketed by late winter snowfall. a few months ago, the region was battling bushfires but this has been a treat for locals and visitors. it's brilliant, especially for the kids and other people that can‘t get to the snow or those that don‘t quite have the funds on the finance for the snow, this is brilliant for them. up to a metre of snow has fallen elsewhere in the state of new south wales. the wintry blast has hit victoria and wildlife has hit victoria and wildlife has had to contend with the icy conditions. but there are fears that trees and power lines could collapse under its weight. forecasters have said this is a one in a 15 year weather event. australia is a land of extremes. snowfall is on its mountains every year the

amount ofair on its mountains every year the amount of air is... want to have a taste? no. the complex slope pressure system that brought this wintry spectacle is expected to ease. a world away up in the tropics, the temperature in a city of darwin on sunday will reach 3a celsius. before we go, we‘ve always time for a photograph of a newborn, in this case a baby gorilla at bristol zoo in the west of england. these photographs, taken just hours after the birth on wednesday, show kala, a nine—year—old western lowland gorilla, cradling a little bundle of fur. staff said both mother and baby were doing well. a reminder of our top story pulled up the democratic led house of representatives has passed out bill to provide $23 billion to the cash—strapped postal service. part of push to

pf°p up postal service. part of push to prop up the postal service that president trump is expected to veto. to stay with bbc world news. hello there. at the moment, the weather doesn‘t feel much like late summer. over the weekend so far we have seen a mixture of sunshine and showers. i‘m sure rain has stopped play now and again across the country. and we‘ve got more showers to come during the second half of the weekend. the big cricket match of course is taking place at southampton. england on top, hoping for some more wickets. and generally speaking, the day should be dry. there aren‘t going to be many showers across this part of the country. and many places will start sunday dry with some sunshine. soon getting showers, though, coming into northern ireland, and perhaps spilling now into southern scotland, northern england, moving into the midlands and in the afternoon down towards the south—east. some of those showers could be heavy, possibly thundery.

more sunshine for wales and the south—west, the winds will be lighter on sunday, turning north—westerly in scotland, but there should be very few showers away from the far south. but it will be quite cool air here, temperatures only 14—16 degrees. we could make 22 or 23 in the south—east ahead of those heavy showers. those will move away fairly quickly in the evening, linger a little bit longer across northern england and then later in the night, we‘ll see some rain coming into wales and the south—west, but some clearer spells elsewhere. a little bit cooler, though, i think, by monday morning, particularly in scotland. and quite chilly, actually, in the glens of scotland for this time of year. monday‘s a messy day, i think we‘ve got more cloud, some patchy rain in the morning moving eastwards across england and wales and then some sunny spells, a few showers around here and there. the winds will be quite light on monday. again, temperatures may be making 17 in the central belt of scotland to a high of 21 in the south—east of england. a fairly quiet day, but the changes overnight into tuesday, perhaps lingering into wednesday. we‘ve got more gales arriving across the uk, particularly in the south, and this is where we‘re more likely to have some further trouble disruption. another dose of wet and very windy weather, unusually windy for the time of year as a deep area of low pressure again

sweeps its way across the uk. rain arriving overnight, the winds picking up by the morning in the south—west in particular, blowing that rain northwards, probably not reaching northern scotland. away from here, though, the winds really picking up, particularly across wales, the midlands, southern england, gusts of 50, perhaps even 60mph around some of exposed coastal areas, too. a very bumpy ride again on tuesday, temperatures probably don‘t mean a great deal in that rain, it‘s going to be pretty cold for most of the day, highs of 21 again in the south—east.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the us house of representatives has approved an emergency bill to inject $25 billion into the postal service and to put operational changes in place. democrats are concerned the trump administration may try to disenfranchise millions of americans who choose to vote by mail in november. nato has dismissed claims by the president of belarus of a troop build—up on its border as baseless. nato said it posed no threat to belarus or any other country. alexander lukashenko has been facing mass protests since claiming victory in a contested presidential election earlier this month. president trump has approved california‘s request to declare the huge wildfires scorching parts of the state as a major disaster. it means federal funds will be available to help victims of the fires. at least six people have been killed and tens of thousands have fled the area. it‘s been a difficult summer for couples wanting to get