welcome to bbc news — i'm james renolds. our top stories: 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.

hello and welcome. in belarus, huge crowds of protesters have demonstrated against president alexander lukashenko and the re—election they say he rigged two weeks ago. they are demanding that he stand down. from the capital minsk, steve rosenberg sent this report. a warning — it contains images which some viewers may find distressing. they poured onto the streets. "long live belarus," they cried. a sea of protesters flooding the centre of minsk. "resign," they shouted. a message for this man, alexander lu kashenko. for 26 years, he's 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 lu kashenko 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 deadly impact in the caribbean. at least 10 people are dead in the dominican republic and

haiti. alanna petroff has the latest. rescuers pull 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 wall was going to collapse. he shouldn't have built that wall. tropical storm laura also battered puerto rico, haiti and the virgin islands. in haiti, some people lost 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. the houses are condemned. there are bodies. the merchants have

lost their goods. tropical storm laura is forecast to strengthen further into a hurricane as it churns 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 rains, damaging winds and rough seas. president donald trump issued a disaster declaration for louisiana ahead of the storms. the atlantic storm season runs until november, and this one has the potential to be the busiest season ever. the us national hurricane center is predicting there could be up to 25 big storms this year, storms deserving of names.

alanna petroff, bbc news. 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. this is a powerful therapy that transfuses 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.

it showed tremendous potential. our north america correspondent peter bowes told us more. it's known as convalescent 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's already being used to treat others with the virus in early stages of infection. people have been treated in hospital and according to the president, backed up by one of his medical experts with him today, there is the promise that the use of this treatment can increase the chances of survival by some 35%. others are suggesting 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. 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. to give you an idea ofjust what it's like being an ominous guy around a deserted university of california. by retardants are being dropped from the sky to try and stop the flames spotting. but for some, try and stop the flames spotting. but forsome, it's too late. president trump has

declared the fire is a major disaster. i spoke to the governor as they battled two of the worst wildfires in the history of the estate. that continues, the federal government is already deployed over 26,001st responders. and we're working very closely the governor. more than 100,000 people have been forced to leave it where they normally sleep in shelters, many are avoiding them over this fears of the spread of coronavirus. we have more than 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. emergency crews have been overwhelmed by the number and intensity of the fires. the job

is now to save lives and protect only the most essential buildings but with warnings of more lightning strikes and high temperatures in the days ahead, fears that the fires could continue for at least another week. let's get some of the day's other news. there's tight security at the high court in christchurch, new zealand — where a white supremacist who attacked worshippers at two mosques is attending his sentencing hearing. brenton tarrant could receive a full—life term without parole for last years attacks. he's been convicted of 51 murders and forty counts of manslaughter. 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 twenty—five seconds before the second missile hit. all 176 people on board were killed. the president of peru — martin vizcarra — is calling for an investigation after 13 people died in a stampede

at an illegal party at a night club in the capital lima on saturday. phoebe hopson has more. 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. it's stimated around 120 people 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: i feel sorry and i am sad for 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 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 world 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. two weeks on from the disputed election in belarus and still hundreds of thousands are out in the streets protesting. president alexander lukashenko arrested or threatened the male opposition leaders, so women have stepped in to take charge both in leadership roles and demonstrations. i asked rachel denber who is deputy director of europe and central asia for human rights watch how women came to the forefront of the oppositoin. it happened due to huge miscalculation on the part of alexander lu kashenko. it's asked started with sergei tikhanovsky,

who is a very popular vlogger in belarus who had presidential ambitions, and when he was arrested on may 29 together with eventually a number of his supporters, she decided — svetla na tikhanovskaya, his wife, decided — to run for president in his place, and, for a while, that didn't seem to attract a lot of attention on the part of mr lukashenko and his team, and they actually registered her as a candidate but then her candidacy really took off when the wife of another candidate, valery tsepkalo, who was written off the ballot, allegedly because 100,000 of his signatures that were supporting his candidacy were declared invalid, his wife joined forces together with svetla na tikhanovskaya, and she was also joined by the campaign manager for another prominent

presidential candidate, victor babariko, so these women joined forces, and they electrified the country's people, with massive rallies outside the capital, which was unprecedented. president lukashenko hasn't always taken female political rivals seriously. absolutely not. he was so unprepared, and what he said about svetla na ti kha novs kaya, even when she was drawing huge crowds, he sort of dismissed her, saying, "our constitution wasn't made for a woman, poor things, they don't even know what they are reading, she really should go back to cooking dinner." he was completely dismissive and condescending, and i would say demonstratively out of touch. briefly, does it matter in an unarmed opposition if the leaders are men or women? ultimately, i think this

government has ways of trying to undo, unhinge, undermine the opposition. at a time when thousands of people were being arrested and beaten in the police stations, women were also arrested,, women were beaten, not as badly as the men, but they were sexually harassed, some were sexually assaulted, i think this is a very repressive regime but then again it was women who came out on the streets, dressed in white, carrying flowers, that their children be released. and it was women who continued to protest, women who are forming mothers groups, demanding the release of political prisoners.

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. 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.

killian conway, one of president trump ‘s longest serving advisers, is leaving the white house at the end of the white house at the end of the month. she has been one of his most vocal defenders. she said she will spend the next few months focusing on their children, giving them less, as she says, drama. 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. 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. as huge crowds filled the centre of minsk to demand an end to his twenty—six year rule, he flew overhead

in a helicopter, and compared the protesters to rats. that is all for now. stay with bbc news. hello. we have a very 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. that's it from me, bye.

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. the storm will pass over cuba on monday and is set to strengthen to a hurricane as it hits the us gulf coast. 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% — a claim disputed by scientists. now on bbc news —

it's hardtalk.