welcome to bbc news — i'm james reynolds. our top stories: and 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. tropical storm laura lashes haiti and the dominican republic on its way to the us gulf coast. president trump confirms blood plasma from recovered coronavirus patients can be used as a treatment. and bayern munich win the champions league, beating paris saint germain in the first final ever held behind closed doors. 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.

tropical storm laura has battered the dominican republic and haiti with torrential rain and strong winds, causing some of the worst flooding in years. hello and welcome to bbc news. the storm will pass over cuba on monday and is set in belarus, huge crowds of protesters have demonstrated to strengthen to a hurricane against president alexander as it hits the us gulf coast. lukashenko and the re—election they say he rigged two weeks ago. they are demanding that he stand down. from the capital minsk, steve president trump has confirmed rosenberg sent this report. blood plasma from recovered a warning — it contains coronavirus patients can images which some viewers be used as a treatment may find distressing. against covid—19 in america. the technique uses antibody—rich blood plasma from people who've recovered from the disease. they poured onto the streets. he said the treatment "long live belarus," could reduce the number they cried. of deaths by 35% — a sea of protesters flooding a claim disputed by scientists. the centre of minsk. "resign," they shouted. a message for this man, alexander lu kashenko. now on bbc news — it's time for 26 years, he's for dateline london. been the president, but look how the people have turned against him. on independence square, they accused him of stealing the election and of violence against the people of belarus.

our aim is to show the government that we are not their slaves. we are here to show that we never elected him and that we want the change. that we want the new country with a new president. in belarus, people are making their voices heard like never before. they're demanding change. but the problem for the protesters is that there's one man who isn't listening. alexander lukashenko has made it quite clear he has no intention of stepping down. but he has every intention of raising the stakes. today, mr lukashenko donned military garb and watched the protesters from his helicopter. "they're running away like rats," he could be heard saying. back on the ground, kalashnikov in hand, he set off to find supporters.

and he found them. a round of applause from the riot police. "you're doing a great job," he says. but the president's critics painting a different picture. as he was preparing for today's protest, roman zakaria told me about the culture of fear mr lukashenko and his security forces have created. a few days ago, roman was beaten up by the police. the people i fear the most are the police. no—one can protect us, and i cannot live beside these people any more. we need to change something in our country, quickly. his sign says "long live belarus" but roman sees no future for himself here if there'll be no change of president. steve rosenberg, bbc news, minsk.

while opposition groups are demonstrating in belarus, sympathisers have held similar events in other countries. this is lithuania, where at least 30,000 people, including president nauseda, formed a human chain from the capital, vilnius, to the border with belarus. you can see how they're unfurling a huge red and white flag — that's the former flag of belarus, which is being used to show opposition to mr lukashenko. two hurricanes are forecast to slam into the us gulf coast this week, one right after the other. hurricane marco and tropical storm laura are threatening torrential rain, high winds and flooding. we've already seen the devastating impact left behind in parts of the caribbean — at least 10 people are dead in the dominican republic and haiti. alanna petroff has the latest. rescuers pool in stranded survivors to cheers. the

capital of the dominican republic flooded and overwhelmed by tropical storm laura. not everyone made it. a mother and her young son died when a wall collapsed on their home. translation: the wall collapsed on top of them. it fell onto the house. the owner needs to come forward. he knew that the war was going to collapse. he shouldn't have else that while. tropical storm laura also batted borrika, haiti only virgin islands. in haiti, some people everything. translation: the majority of the people here are not safe. this town is destroyed as you can see. look at the people walking by. houses are condemned. there are bodies. the merchants have lost their goods. tropical storm laura is forecast to strengthen into a

hurricane as it turns towards the us gulf coast. before laura makes landfall in the us, hurricane marco will hit first. they are both heading towards the state of louisiana. texas, and florida are also making preparations. forecasters are predicting a storm surge, flooding rain and damaging winds. president donald trump issued a disaster declaration for louisiana ahead of the storms. this is somewhat unprecedented. the scope of the storms and also the fact that they come so quickly after one another. both storms have the potential of bravery and strength before they make la ndfall strength before they make landfall and could cause significant damage across the gulf coast. the atlantic storm season runs gulf coast. the atlantic storm season runs until november and this one has the potential to be the busiest season ever. the us national couric lane centre is predicting there could be up

to 25 big storms this year, double the average ——us national hurricane center. all in excess of 39 mph. when they get from comedy storms get names. in the us, the food and drug administration has given emergency authorisation for the use of blood plasma from recovered covid—i9 patients as a treatment to fight new cases of the disease. as part of trials, around 70,000 people there have already received plasma. independent scientists caution that the step is unlikely to be a breakthrough. but president trump said it would save lives. in america, the us food & drug administration has this is a powerful therapy that transfuse is very, very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help treat patients battling a current infection. it's had an incredible rate of success. today's action will dramatically expand access to this treatment. and i want to thank dr hahn,

secretary azar, i want to thank the fda, all of the people that have been working very hard on this. and it's proven to reduce mortality by 25%. our north america correspondent peter bowes told us more. it's known as convalescent plasma. it's the plasma from people who have had covid—i9 and are now recovering and indeed in tens of thousands of cases at an experimental stage it is already being used to treat others with the virus in the early stages of the infection. people have been treated in hospital and according to the president also backed up by one of his medical experts on the platform with him today, there is the promise that the use of this treatment can increase the chances of survival by some 35%. now others are suggesting that we should just perhaps hold on a moment and that further trials, further clinical trials, are necessary to prove beyond any doubt about the safety of this treatment and its long—term effectiveness in large numbers of people. those trials just haven't been completed yet.

however, the president as we have just heard seems to be putting a lot of promise into this and he is appealing to americans who've had covid—i9 and recovered to actually go ahead and donate some of their blood plasma. peter bowes there. firefighters in california are warning that lightning, forecast for the coming days, will not only hamper their efforts to contain wildfires, but could also spark new ones. around 600 are burning across the state, hundreds of homes have been destroyed, and at least six people killed. the wildfires were only i7% contained as of sunday afternoon. to give you an idea of just what it's like being caught up in the flames, take a look at this footage, which was filmed in roseville, near the californian state capital sacramento. it was filmed on a dashcam as the driver tried to find their way safely along a road. helping some of the thousands who've been forced out of their homes is tony briggs from the american red cross. right now we have more

than 400 red crossers who are on the ground and hundreds more helping virtually and those folks are out there making sure are getting people in shelters or hotel rooms where it's available and they are also there to make sure the people who are coming to our shelters have a safe place to stay and food to eat and they have someone who is there ready to listen and just to be there for them at such a time. tony briggs there. let's get some of the day's other news. at least five people have been killed in flooding in the north of turkey. the town of derrell is among the worst affected areas. a number of people are still missing, and turkey's president erdogan has promised state help to repair the damage. a senior iranian official has said that the black box recorders on the ukrainian plane accidentally shot down by iran injanuary show it was hit by two missiles, with passengers and pilots alive for 25 seconds before the second missile hit. all 176 people on board were killed. mediators from west african regional bloc ecowas have reached a partial agreement

with mali's military junta days after a coup. the delegation, which is led by nigeria's former president goodluckjonathan, has been holding talks with the new military leaders aimed at returning the country to civilian rule. the negotiations will continue on monday. a big security cordon has been thrown around the high court in the new zealand city of christchurch, where an australian white supremacist who killed 51 muslim worshippers at two mosques last year is attending his sentencing hearing. brenton tarrant could receive a full—life term without parole. he was convicted of 51 murders and a0 counts of manslaughter. the president of peru, president martin vizcarra, is calling for an investigation after 13 people died in a stampede at an ilegal party at a night club in the capital lima on saturday. phoebe hopson has more. it was a birthday party that endedin it was a birthday party that ended in tragedy. why did 13 people die after the illegal

gathering was raided by police? suffocated or trampled as they tried to escape from the club's only exit. it's believed the victims were in their 20s. a nighttime curfew has been in place since march to stop the spread of the coronavirus and large gatherings are banned. estimated around 120 people turned up at the bar after party—goers organised turned up at the bar after pa rty—goers organised the turned up at the bar after party—goers organised the event of social media. under peruvian law, those who violate the restrictions face fines of around three and centraljail time. although police denied the use of excessive force and tear eyewitness reports a different story. translation: the police arrived, they spoke to the club owner. the officers entered with their cameras to film. they used tear gas and close the door and that's how the manner started because you can't breathe with tear gas. the president has called for an

investigation. translation: the president has called for an investigation. translationzlj feel sorry and i am sad for the people and the relatives of the people and the relatives of the people who have lost their lives but i am also angry and i feel indignation for the people who organised this type of event. after brazil and mexico, peru is battling the third worst peru is battling the third woi’st coronavirus peru is battling the third worst coronavirus outbreak in latin america. official reports confirm that of the 23 people arrested, 15 and later tested positive. a reminder of the health risks people take when they break restrictions. phoebe hopson, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: mayhem in munich. the football fans celebrating a champions league victory they couldn't watch in person. he's the first african—american to win the presidential nomination of a major party, and he accepts exactly 45 years ago to the day that martin luther king declared, "i have a dream."

as darkness falls tonight, an unfamiliar light will appear in the south—eastern sky — an orange glowing disc that's brighter than anything, save the moon, our neighbouring planet mars. horn toots there is no doubt that this election is an important milestone in the birth of east timor as the world's newest nation. cheering it will take months and billions of dollars to repair what katrina achieved injust hours. three weeks is the longest the great clock has been off—duty in 117 years. so it was with great satisfaction that clockmakerjohn vernon swung the pendulum to set the clock going again. big ben bongs this is bbc news. the latest headlines: hundreds of thousands take 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. the president has responded with a show of defiance. tropical storm laura has battered the dominican republic and haiti with torrential rain and strong winds, causing some of the worst flooding in years. the storm is set to strengthen to a hurricane as it hits the us gulf coast. two weeks on from the disputed election in belarus that saw hundreds of thousands of people out on the streets protesting, the president has arrested or threatened the male opposition leaders, that means that women have stepped in to take charge, both in leadership roles and in street demonstrations. earlier i spoke dr dyan mazurana. she is a professor at tufts university and an advisor to several governments and un agencies on how women are affected by armed conflict. i asked where else in the world women had been effective.

the most well—known example are the mothers and grandmothers in argentina. again we saw a very violent regime doing things similar to the lukashenko regime, disappearing protesters, killing people, police brutality, torture detention centres so that the men were not safe to come out and protest, they were very targeted and who was left? women. they came out to protest and similarly to what they are doing in belarus they said we are out here as mothers, as wives and we are told in our rhetoric, our national rhetoric that this is our role. a good mother goes to look for her child. a good mother wants to know that the country will be safe for her children and so it is very hard for this kind of patriarchal authoritarian regime to know attack these women who are playing the role that the regime wants them to play although now they are in the streets demanding change. you talk about traditional femininity but not all women in public life in history

have been like that. people like margaret thatcher or indira gandhi who were unafraid to take tough measures. political women and activists in belarus are also very strong women who are out in public risking their lives, risking the lives of their loved ones in detention for political action and i am not saying that these women, what i am saying is that the authoritarian regime needs them to behave in a certain way and as the president said, go home, raise your children and keep looking. they will use that same portrayal of women to protect themselves. they will say well, we have to come out on the streets. where are our husbands? what is happening to our children? they are doing it peacefully which is quite risky for the regime to act violently against, against barefoot women holding flowers? what that could do is cause a backfire, and that is that the police refused to attack these women. now we see in the last few hours threats to bring out the army.

let's see what will happen if the army is asked to move against unarmed women. their sisters, their mothers, their lovers, they grandmothers. what will happen? in other regimes we have seen that they can backfire. sudan is a great example of the uprisings in 2018, 2019. again, strong women and leadership there and when the regime moved violently raping some of those protesters we saw massive turnouts for protests and it was actually a few weeks before the regime fell. dr dyan mazura na dr dyan mazurana there.

to india now, where the coronavirus epidemic is getting worse. the number of confirmed covid cases has crossed the three million mark and the country now has the world's highest number of daily new infections. the health ministry says nearly 70,000 new cases were registered on sunday. ramanan laxminarayan is an epidemiologist at the university of washington and gave us an update on the situation in india. in the initial stage most of the reported cases, and remember, the 3 million figure refers to reported cases, in a country which has amongst the lowest level of testing in the world for a large country. first cases were in the cities but as weeks and months have gone by we see a lot of cases in east india and northeast india especially in the populated states of uttar pradesh and bihar. and more cases in rural areas which lack much in the way of public healthca re facilities. the epidemic is spreading. serological studies indicate that actual reported cases

are only a small fraction of the actual number of infections. the republican convention opens on monday evening. president trump is set to be the headline speaker every evening of the four—day event. the event is largely virtual because of coronavirus. in this election, a few swing states are likely to be pivotal. our north america editor jon sopel reports from one of them — pennsylvania. white water rafting on the lehigh river in pennsylvania and a wild, bumpy ride ahead for voters in this key swing state. michelle and kevin are registered republicans but not happy with the choice before them. i work in health care, so i'm really not pleased with trump's response to what's going on. i'm also not happy with how biden might run the country and maybe... i already think it's going to cost a ton of money. we've gotten no leadership from the very beginning. but though polls suggests the trump campaign is under

water — don't be fooled. coronavirus might have cost him but... given the choices, i'm going to go for trump because i think the alternative is bad. i think he's done a brilliant job with the economy. i think we're in a better position than we were. and what do you think of donald trump as a person? he's not the nicest guy in the world. i don't think he does very well with people. the contrast between rural, idyllic pennsylvania and its post—industrial heartland is stark. back in 2016, donald trump promised that blast furnaces like this one would be firing up again. that hasn't happened, and with coronavirus, the us economy has cratered. polls suggest that here in pennsylvania, he is way behind. but defectors are hard to find and his supporters still back him fervently. and the president has far from given up on the state. he came here on thursday, to the town wherejoe biden grew up, painting a bleak picture of what life under the democrats would be like.

think of the smouldering ruins in minneapolis, the violent anarchy of portland, the bloodstained sidewalks of chicago and imagine the mayhem coming to your town. but for duane miller, the former mayor of bangor and owner of the local paint and diy store, trump has lost his sheen. my definition of donald trump, you know, just him as an individual, not the position of the president of this country, but he's a spoiled brat and he acts it. but you voted for him in 2016? yes, yes, don't tell anyone that! no. and that's the thing — a lot of people don't want to tell. state polls didn't do well measuring support for trump in 2016. masked faces may well be hiding masked views in 2020. jon sopel, bbc news, pennsylvania. football, and bayern munich are celebrating after winning

the uefa champions league. they beat paris saint—germain 1—0 in the final in lisbon. this season's competition has been badly affected by the coronavirus, so no fans were allowed in the stadium. that didn't stop them from celebrating back home. tim allman reports. call this a long—distance love affair. no fans in lisbon but the bars and restaurants of munich were packed. social distancing clearly not in vogue around here. appropriately enough, plenty of beer was consumed as the fans celebrated their team's sixth triumph in the champions league. translation: we were alljust waiting for this tournament. all this time we could not watch football and it means everything to us. we have finally been able to win the champions league here again and it is incredible. translation: i guess the corona break gave the bavarians a chance to try out

new tactics. we played strongly in the tournament but i don't think this was predicted last august. this was a highly anticipated match. two sides full of talent and ability. sadly, as is so often the way, it never quite lived up to its billing. the only goal came from kingsley coman, ironically, a french player, who headed injust before the hour mark. a satisfying night for the bayern coach, hansi flick. he took over in november on a temporary basis but he has now won the league, german and european cups although he has given the credit to his players. translation: there is a nice saying that success is only rented and the rent has to be paid every day. this is something the team shows every day with their attitude on the pitch. they are willing to give 100% and therefore it makes me and the coaching staff very proud to work with such great players.

in paris, the champs—elysses was closed off to traffic, perhaps anticipating a party. but the party never came. so the french team's search for a first champions league title will have to wait. bayern have been unstoppable this year. they have been worthy winners. german football on top yet again. if they need to hire someone to help them celebrate. they recommend this. mexico city has seen the return of old friends who had effectively been in hiding due to the pandemic. the floating mariachi have returned to the river ways of what has been dubbed the venice of mexico. they are a popular attraction at the unesco world heritage site which has only just reopened. a reminder of our top story. president alexander lukashenko of belarus has responded with defiance to the latest mass protests against his disputed re—election.

to stay with bbc news. more on oui’ to stay with bbc news. more on our website —— do stay with us. hello. 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 pleasant 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 to day quite a bit.

temperatures in the south will be around the 20s, or high teens in the north. 00:28:04,009 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 that's it from me, bye.