and caring this is bbc news — the headlines: hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets of the belarusian capital, minsk, to call for the resignation of president lukashenko. two weeks ago he won what the protesters are calling a rigged election, but the president has responded with a show of defiance. president trump has confirmed blood plasma from recovered coronavirus patients can be used as a treatment against covid—19 in america. the technique uses antibody—rich blood plasma from people who've recovered from the disease. he said the treatment could reduce the number of deaths by 35%. firefighters in california are preparing for conditions to worsen as they try to bring nearly 600 wildfires under control. dry lightning strikes, blamed for starting many of the blazes, are forecast to return, along with warm and windy weather. the fires are among the worst in california's history.

beirut was on the frontlines of lebanon's15—year long civil war — and in that time, many of the city's historic buildings were damaged. one artist, maya husseini, spent years restoring their stained glass windows. but the recent explosion in the port destroyed much of her work. it's just made her more determined to start over. here's her story.

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 that jews 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 parents. 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 1954. 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, coloneljacobo 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.

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 following their two—week revolt in guatemala. my father resigned as president onjune the 27th may 195a. 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 for 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 lanka'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 many of them on 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 civilian population back. the un had fairly good access to these areas but then 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 imagesjust 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 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 terrorist 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 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 saying is 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, barracks, there was a total difference. 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 in fear day and night because they did not have any status.

last weekend the home office deported a former gurkha despite 13 years of service in the british army. it was a disgrace. they are the bravest soldiers i had ever served with. we received massive support from the media and the british public. it has been a long battle. five years ago, the government ruled only gurkhas 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. when joanna lumley got involved, she was instrumental. her father served with my regiment. he was an officer in the gurkha rifles.

there was no gurkha 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, i.e 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 a turning chapter. it marked that we were now considered equal to the rest of the british armed 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 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 halfway to dipsomania. 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 wolf.

put the two together and the results can be disastrous. i saw clearly that in a 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 freedoms 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 are now 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 were limited from the period from 2pm 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. by 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 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 with more first—hand accounts of more extraordinary moments in history. for now, from me and the rest of the team, goodbye.

hello there. we have a changeable week ahead but the start of the week does not look too bad at all. this is the forecast. sunny spells and a few showers on monday, not a bad day on the whole. tuesday looks very different. an atlantic storm is developing around 1000 miles away from us, it is heading in our direction and it will bring heavy rain and gales. in the short term it is not too bad, apart from a few showers in the morning across southern parts of wales and the south of england that should clear away. a couple of showers further north in the afternoon. on balance, a fine day for most of us. 20 in london, mid or high teens in the north. here is that spell of heavy weather approaching on monday

night into tuesday. it is a developing low pressure, developing storm that is propelled by a powerful jetstream and as i said it will bring a spell of rain and gales, widespread gales across the uk. here it is approaching the uk early on tuesday morning and you can see the rain sweeping into western and northern parts of the country, the gale wrapping around this low pressure as well and it will sweep across the uk during tuesday. the heavy rain will be on the north end of the day and in the south it may brighten up but look at those gusts of wind. inland could be in excess of 50 mile an hour, in excess of 60 around the coast and that may prove troublesome for some of us with disruption and branches lying around. not a pleasane day for many of us on tuesday. wednesday will still be very windy around the north sea coast, anywhere from newcastle to norwich as the low pressure pulls away. still some strong wind down

the side of the country but further west it will be much, and by the afternoon the winds should die down and on wednesday it will probably be our best day of the week with dry weather, pleasantly warm, to 21 degrees in the south of the country and then on thursday we go back downhill with more rain sweeping in off the atlantic. not as windy on thursday. this is more of a rain type thing heading our way rather than gales. so this is the outlook for the week ahead and you can see the weather icons change from day quite a bit. temperatures in the south will be around the 20s, or high teens in the north. that's it from me, bye.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm james reynolds. huge demonstrations once again in belarus demanding an end to president lukashenko's rule. he flies overhead in a helicopter, and compares the protesters to rats. president trump confirms blood plasma from recovered coronavirus patients can be used as a treatment. fleeing the flames — californians escape some of the worst wildfires in modern times, with lightning expected to bring even more destruction. and bayern munich win the champions league, beating paris saint germain in the first final ever to be