this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm ben bland. despite another huge demonstration in belarus against the disputed election, president lukashenko remains defiant. tropical storm laura lashes haiti and the dominican republic on its way to the us gulf coast. the white supremacist who killed 51 muslim worshippers in christchurch appears in court for sentencing. and bayern munich win the champions league, beating paris saint germain in the first final ever held behind closed doors.

hello and welcome. president alexander lukashenko of belarus is defiant despite another weekend of huge demonstrations against his disputed re—election, which protesters say he rigged two weeks ago. they are demanding that he stand down. from the capital minsk, our correspondent steve rosenberg sent this report. a warning — it contains images you 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. 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 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. 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. cheering rescuers pull in stranded survivors to cheers. the capital of the dominican republic flooded and overwhelmed by tropical storm laura. why, why?! 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're 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 gathering strength before they make landfall and could cause significant damage across the gulf coast. the atlantic storm season runs until november and this one has the potential to be the busiest season ever. the us national hurricane centre is predicting there could be up to 25 big storms this year, double the average. storms deserving of names. in the average season there is usually just 12. on the west coast of the united states, firefighters in california are trying to control around 600 wildfires

— some of which are the worst the region has ever seen. officials say dry lightning strikes, which started many of the fires, are due to return, along with warm and windy weather. rich preston has this report. the golden state, more than 4000 square kilometres of it burning. in the napa valley, california's wine making heartland, a perilous journey court on dashcam, an ominous orange sky around the deserted university of california, santa cruz. fire retardants are being dropped from the sky to try and stop the flame spreading but for some, it's too late, the damage has already been done. president trump has declared the fire is a major disaster. president trump has declared the fire is a major disasterlj spoke the fire is a major disaster.” spoke to governor newsom as they battled two of the worst wildfires in the history of their state. that continues.

the federal government has already deployed over 26,001st responders and personnel to battled the wildfires. we are working very closely with the governor. more than 100,000 people have been forced to flee but where there would normally sleep in shelters, many are avoiding them overfears sleep in shelters, many are avoiding them over fears of the spread of coronavirus. we have more than four red cross personnel on the ground and hundreds more helping virtually -- 400. and hundreds more helping virtually —— 400. and most folks are out there making sure people are getting to shelters or hotel rooms where available, and there to make sure that the people coming to our shelters have a safe place to stay and food to eat. emergency crews have been overwhelmed by the numberand have been overwhelmed by the number and intensity of the fires. thejob is now to save lives and protect only the most essential buildings. but with mornings of bought lightning strikes and high temperatures in the days ahead, fears that the fires could continue for at least another week. rich

preston, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. the us food and drug administration has given emergency authorisation for the use of convalescent blood plasma to treat coronavirus patients. the technique takes antibody—rich blood plasma from people who've recovered from the disease, giving it by transfusion to those who are sick. 70,000 people have already been treated. the fda says early trials indicate it's safe, though more are needed to prove effectiveness. 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. it also reportedly suggests passengers and pilots were alive for 25 seconds before the second missile hit. all 176 people on board were killed. mediators from the economic community of west african states — a regional bloc — have reached a partial agreement with mali's military junta — days after a coup. the delegation is led by nigeria's former president goodluckjonathan.

talks with the new military leaders are aimed at returning the country to civilian rule. the negotiations will continue on monday. a court in new zealand has heard how an australian white supremacist convicted of murdering 51 muslim worshippers at two mosques last year had planned his attack to cause maximum casualties. at the start of his sentencing hearing, prosecutors said brenton tarrant had bought a collection of high—powered firearms and over 7,000 rounds of ammunition in the 15 months before the attacks in christchurch. let's get more on the court hearing and speak to the bbc‘s shaimaa khalil in sydney. i understand that there has been impact statements heard by the court. what has been said in those? very emotional impact state m e nts in those? very emotional impact statements read by survivors and victims's relatives today stop this is the first time

that survivors of these relatives are in the same room with the killer, with rents tarrant. they were addressing the court but also addressing him, telling the court how his crime has devastated their lives. we heard from many of them are choosing to start their statements with verses from the koran, speaking about justice, peace, but also speaking about the horror of what they saw and heard that day will stop a woman how she —— describing how she drove her husband to the mosque, went to the designated prayer rooms and hid ina the designated prayer rooms and hid in a cupboard when the shooting started, only to come out to find bodies piled upon each other, including a man who was holding onto his dad toddler. then she found her husband dead in the car park. we also heard from a mother whose husband was shot and whose husband was shot and whose son was killed in the mosque. she spoke about a loving son and then she

addressed the killer directly. she said that she didn't forgive him. she said that she hopes he gets the severest punishment in his life and has terrorised the whole of new zealand but that he could not break the muslim community in christchurch will stop so very emotional day in court with many daily members and survivors speaking. we are expecting to hear more... sorry, excuse me. if you would like to get a glass of water or something, by all means do so. one of the things that struck me is the extraordinary lamps that some of the relatives of those who were killed in the attack have gone to to be there and the strength of feeling that they wanted to convey, especially the logistics of going there at a time when there are all of the covid—i9 restrictions, the people are getting used to all over the world. absolutely, and i am hoping you can him me better

now. yes, and this is something that has come up time and time again in preparation for the sentencing. because this comes ata sentencing. because this comes at a difficult time when there has been a resurgence of covid—i9 cases in new zealand so covid—i9 cases in new zealand so the country is on a level two high alert. there has been social distancing rules limiting the number of people in court. as you said, family members who insisted on travelling overseas sitting through quarantine as well. i spoke to one of them as well, whose husband died a couple of months after the attack and she said she wanted to be there, wa nted said she wanted to be there, wanted to travel and sit through quarantine, as she was there. she told me, my husband is not here and i want to be his voice. i want to tell his story and i want to face the court and the killer himself. so very strong feelings despite these difficult circumstances forfamily these difficult circumstances for family members to these difficult circumstances forfamily members to be these difficult circumstances for family members to be there and to speak with the loved ones they lost. 0k, thank you

very much indeed. we will of course get more from her as the sentencing progresses. thank you. 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: despite another huge demonstration in belarus against the disputed election, president lukashenko remains defiant. two weeks ago he won what the protesters are calling a rigged election, but he refuses to resign. 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. the inquest into the death of nora quorin, a teenager who went missing in malaysia last year, begins today. her body was found in the jungle after a 10—day search. the initial post—mortem examination report said that there was no criminal element, but her parents have always insisted that nora, who had learning difficulties, would not have wandered off alone. for more on this, i'm joined by our correspondent, howard johnson, in manila. howard, just remind us of the details of this case and what we can expect from this inquest? hello, as you said there, nora quorin went missing about a year ago when she was found ten days later in 18 estate and they found her body had a ruptured intestines, caused by stress and hunger,

according to an autopsy that followed after they found her. the family have always contested the police line that this was not a criminal investigation. they always said that she had been a missing persons case but they also suggested that given she had learning difficulties and developmental disabilities that it was highly unlikely she would have wandered off alone so they push for the inquest that started this morning. the coroner said that the most important element of this is not to create a prosecution, it's about finding information for justice it's about finding information forjustice for it's about finding information for justice for everyone, it's about finding information forjustice for everyone, she said. the first witness was the local police chief, he was the gentleman he gave as conferences gentleman he gave as co nfe re nces every gentleman he gave as conferences every day updating the media of what was going on with the investigation. he was asked today by the family of nora quoirin whether he had accepted help from the uk embassy, it was offered to them for the investigation and he

said he had refused that because he had enough technical expertise within his team. the family of nora quoirin are expected to give video link evidence next week for the enquiry. it is expected to last, the inquest is expected to last, two weeks and we will hear from around 64 witnesses in that time. howard johnson, thank you very much indeed. 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 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 night—time curfew has been in place since march to stop

the spread of the coronavirus and large gatherings are banned. it's estimated around 120 people turned up at the tomas restobar after party—goers organised the event of social media. under peruvian law, those who violate the restrictions face fines of around $110 and potential jail time. although police denied the use of excessive force and tear gas, eyewitness reports a different story. translation: the police arrived, they spoke to the club owner. noone arrived. the officers entered with their cameras to film. they used tear gas and closed the door and that's how the madness 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 later tested positive. a reminder of the health risks people take when they break restrictions. phoebe hopson, bbc news. time for a look at the sporting headlines from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm marc edwards. i hope you had a good weekend. there's one set of fans that definitely did. some sore heads in munich on monday, i'm sure. bayern munich are the 2020 champions league winners after beating psg1—0. a record breaking result for the bundesliga champions who become the first team to win all their games on the way to the title. it's also just the second european—domestic treble in their history. this is the man they have to thank — former psg winger kingsley coman — the france international heading in the only goal

of the game after an hour. there was a huge shock at the women's open in troon, which was won by the world number 304, sophia popov. the german 27—year—old who had yet to win on the lpga or ladies european tour, shot a 3—under par round of 68 to take victory in herfirst major, finishing on 7—under par, two shots ahead of the rest of the field. no wonder the emotions flowed — she nearly quit the sport last year and, as you can imagine, she's glad she didn't. iamjust i am just glad i was able to ove rco m e i am just glad i was able to overcome everything and keep my head in it. i knew i was capable. i just, i head in it. i knew i was capable. ijust, i had a lot of obstacles thrown my way and i'm glad i stuck with it. i almost quit playing last year so thank god i didn't! there was drama at the styrian grand prix in austria as maverick vinales had to jump

from his bike heading into turn one due to a braking failure and ended up causing fire and a red flag. thankfully, he was unhurt. miguel oliviera went on to win for his first ever victory in motogp and also celebrated the first event home win for his austrian team ktm. england's cricketers will be looking to press home their advantage when they face pakistan on the fourth day of their third and final test at southampton later on monday. pakistan were 273 all out in theirfirst innings, still 310 runs behind england. that's thanks in part to james anderson, who is edging closer to the 600 test wicket mark. he took 5—56 to take him to 598 test wickets, as england enforced the follow on. game 4 of the western conference playoff between lebron james's la lakers and the portland trailblazers tips off later on monday. the lakers take a 2—1 lead into the first round playoff series. meanwhile, there was a record—breaking buzzer—beating overtime

3—pointer between the mavericks and the la clippers. lu ka doncic becoming the youngest player to hit a buzzer—beater in the playoffs as dallas mavericks levelled the series with the la clippers at two games all, winning 135 to 133. that's all your sport from me, marc edwards, and the rest of the sport team. bye— bye. let's stay with the champions league final which was unusual of course for not having any fans present. the coronavirus pandemic meant the game was played behind closed doors but that didn't stop them from celebrating back home, as 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 hugely satisfying night for the bayern coach, hansi flick. he only 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. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ ben m bland. there are plenty stories that we have covered and more details of those on the bbc website. or go on the bbc app.

i will be back with a business focus in a few minutes. 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 calmer, 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 with the latest business headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. all eyes on donald trump, with republican national convention about to start. the us trade war with china is once again likely to be one of the key topics. and the business case for childcare — we take a closer look at why experts are calling for employers to help parents more. hello there. let's start in the united states, where the republican national convention is set

to begin later today. it's the place where president donald trump will make the case for his re—election. one of the biggest economic issues for his presidency has been the trade war with china. companies such as huawei and tiktok have been at the centre of many disagreements, while both sides have hit each other with tit—for—tat tariffs. over the past few years, washington has imposed tariffs worth some $360 billion on chinese goods. products such as electronics and clothing were among those hit with higher rates. china retaliated with tariffs on more than $110 billion of us goods. those affected included agricultural goods, aircraft and crude oil. however injanuary this year, under the so—called "phase one" deal, china pledged to boost us imports by $200 billion and strengthen intellectual property rules. joining us now from london is shamik dhar, who's the chief economist at bank of new york mellon investment management.

the us china relationship is likely to be a factor in the upcoming election, but how big a role do you think it will play? it will be a factor, i don't think it will be as important as some of the domestic issues, in particular the way the virus has been dealt with, but it will be top of mind fora dealt with, but it will be top of mind for a number of people, particularly in terms of this section of what kind of economic impact it might have, what impact on the recovery of the us it might have. and this trade war between the us and china has been going on for some years now, and since it began, we have had a global pandemic, really hit the world economy. do you think there is now a greater incentive to reach a deal and to settle this trade dispute in order to help promote global growth, or do you think this goes even deeper than that? i think it goes

deeper to be honest. betrayed more has long been shorthand for something much bigger which is the resetting of the foreign—policy relationship between the us and china. and is likely to persist almost regardless of which administration comes in next. it is important to say that the way it will play out in the public mind is fundamentally what it means forjobs in the us. on the one hand a lot of people including a lot of economists would argue that trade, at the margin, a trade war would be bad for the us economy, whereas others argue this is the start of the process of bringing jobs back into the us, so that is the debate if you like that would be going on for some time, almost regardless of which administration wins. thing i noticed is this was a trade war that began focused on goods, on physical goods. what we have seenin physical goods. what we have seen in the last few months as it has moved into the arena of the tech sector. how

significant do you think that is? pretty significant. as i said before, trade has always been shorthand for something bigger and clearly it is morphing into something that is much more focused on tech and politics more broadly. it is important to remember that the us technology companies are more than half of their reve nu es more than half of their revenues from overseas, and we have seen the stock market rises strongly this year largely on the back of the performance of us tech companies, so the trade war, could have an indirect impact on the us economy if it starts to be stabilised — destabilise the stock markets. thank you very much for your time this morning. the decision to temporarily suspend h1—b visas, used mainly by foreign tech workers to work in the us, is one of several dividing issues between president trump and the democratic white house nomineejoe biden. mr biden has criticized mr trump's executive order,

which is facing a lawsuit brought on by american businesses. but many indian it companies have also relied on these visas to bring employees to the us where their clients are. that's slowly changing, as wipro's ceo, thierry delaporte, told our mumbai correspondent nikhil inamdar. we have had challenges around visas in america for many yea rs, visas in america for many years, and we have adapted to that. i think we made a significant step today, 70% of the employees in america are globalised, and so we can adapt easily to the current situation, and i think it will cause all sorts of questions, we know that the. we know that in america you have a shortage of talent around technology,

it, and it will make it a little harder. what sort of impact do you see on growth in the medium term? let's say one to three years or three to five yea rs, to three years or three to five years, given that covid—19 will substantially constrain lending of appliances across industries, whether it is banking or aviation. my view is the it industry will continue to grow over the next years, probably single digits. i am not worried at all. i think we are actually in a great industry at the moment, and for the next years, i think that the next years, i think that the potential for a company like wipro to drive growth is quite sizeable. let's talk about work from home because your competitor has announced that 75% of its workforce will be working from home by 2025. you have a strong 183,000 workforce. what is wipro's

understanding or thinking about that? there is no doubt that in wipro we will push a hybrid model where people have opportunities to work from home, have opportunity and absolutely are welcome to come to the office, there will be more people working from home than in the past, whether it is 25, 50 or 75% of the population, i don't think we can easily make a guess right now. let's now take a quick look at how the asian markets are faring. asian shares are up for a second straight session, with investors boosted by the news that the us food and drug administration has given emergency authorisation for the use of plasma to treat coronavirus patients. south korea was once seen as an early success story in containing covid—19, but in the last 24 hours, the government has warned it's at risk of a massive nationwide outbreak. it's asia's fourth largest economy, and it reported its highest daily tally since early march on sunday.

let's go to our asia business hub now, where mariko oi joins us from singapore. mariko, what's the latest? as you say on sunday south korea saw that huge spike in the number of cases, and it really goes to show how tricky it is to contain the virus, doesn't it? and rememberjust a couple of weeks ago, the oecd said that south korea's economy would likely outperform any others this year, but that may change, especially if the authorities decide to raise social distancing restrictions to the highest level. as we know from elsewhere as well it isa know from elsewhere as well it is a tricky balancing act, because some economies would argue that the lockdowns have a much bigger impact on the economy than the disease itself, but of course you also have to contain the spread of the virus as well. and it is not just south korea the virus as well. and it is notjust south korea which has seen a surge in new infections and is countries around the

world pause or rethink about reopening, they make their own economies, countries like south korea, which rely heavily on exports, get affected quite heavily. one silver lining is that if people continue working from home, demand for memory chips will remain strong and of course that is one of the biggest export items for south korea, so those chipmakers will benefit. let's get some of the day's other news. john lewis is planning to replace its famous promise to match rivals' prices as its new boss plans radical changes to the business. "never knowingly undersold" has become harder to defend as competition from online retailers has become ever tougher. the new chief executive, sharon white, told the sunday times she expected the price pledge to go. the chief executive of mining giant rio tinto, jean—sebastien jacques, and two senior executives been deducted some of their bonuses after an internal

investigation found they must ‘bear partial responsibility‘ for the destruction of 46,000—year—old aboriginal rock shelters in western australia. jacques will be stripped of payments worth nearly $3 million. microsoft is backing fortnite maker epic games in its battle with apple. apple is blocking the popular video game from its app store over a dispute on fees. microsoft has now come out in support of epic games and will challenge apple in federal court. apple offers a range of graphics technology that game makers rely on. the uk's travel industry has reached a critical point and is calling forfurther support to stem job losses. measures to curb the pandemic have already led to the loss of around 39,000 jobs, according to travel industry trade body bta. the body warned that more job losses were set to come as the government's furlough scheme is phased out. in recent years, parents around the world have struggled to balance

their careers with childcare. then the coronavirus came along, and millions of people had to figure out how to do theirjobs from home, while managing the household and caring for children. as employees begin returning to workplaces, experts say there's an opportunity to completely rethink caregiving in order to benefit families and the economy. from singapore, suranjana tewari reports. a typical day starts early for cassandra and her family. a typical day starts early for cassandra and herfamily. she is the sole owner after her husband quit her job is the sole owner after her husband quit herjob last year and went back to school. singapore has eased most restrictions, so cassandra is back to her workplace as an office manager. but after a few ha rd office manager. but after a few hard months of working from home, she has realised just how crucial childcare is for working mothers. it will be easierfor us to stay working mothers. it will be easier for us to stay focused and get promoted, if there is a

role or a position, you don't have to say i will think about the kid, i will think about this and that. cassandra is lucky. singapore plasma government subsidises daycare costs for citizens. access to affordable childcare has always had a number of economic benefits, since the burden of caring for children largely falls in women, it allows them to work more, giving them more disposable income, and that in turn reduces the gender pay 93p- turn reduces the gender pay gap. but the coronavirus has sharpened the focus on childcare even more. people are working in completely new ways and so experts are calling on employers to support parents more. they insist that a robust economic recovery won't be possible unless governments and companies invest in providing better access to childcare. it's really about government, and the private sector. collaboratively working together so the government is putting in place incentives and

clear regulations that allow more private sector participation, either incentivising employers, to offer and support childcare, and other family friendly policies and practices, or, directly helping private childcare centre businesses. it's also about giving employees flexible work options, like more parental leave, job sharing, or the ability to work from home. father of three lucien works for google, where employees are eligible to take up to 14 weeks of paid leave to look after their kids. i like the fact that i have the flexibility to move around with my family, i can be there for them. they say it takes a village to raise a child. in this new world of work, it may take a modern village of both business and government to reorganise childcare to better recover from the shutdowns. stay with us on bbc news, still to come:

the fight by indigenous australians and sports stars to free the aboriginal flag from a copyright trap. the us food and drug administration have given emergency authorisation for the use of convalescent blood plasma from people who've recovered from the disease to treat coronavirus patients. the bbc‘s north america correspondent peter bowes explains. intends of thousands of cases, as an experimental stage it has already been used to treat others with the virus, in the early stages of the infection, people being treated in hospital, and according to the president, 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 of further clinical trials are necessary to prove, let's say beyond any doubt, the safety of this treatment and its long—term effectiveness in large numbers of people. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: despite another huge demonstration in belarus against the disputed election, president lukashenko remains defiant. two weeks ago he won what the protesters are calling a rigged election, but he refuses to resign. after wreaking havoc in the caribbean, storms laura and marco head for the us gulf coast. storm laura has battered the dominican republic and haiti with torrential rain and strong winds, causing some of the worst flooding in years. across europe, great stately homes, chateaus and palaces are working hard to try and entice visitors back through their doors.

but with a public anxious amid the coronavirus pandemic, many are having to diversifying their operations amid slow ticket sales. so how are europe's historic homes making sure they make ends meet? joining us now from oxford is dominic hare, who's the chief executive officer of blenheim palace. on one level you have fewer foreign visitors coming to visit places like blenheim palace, have you not got more people staying at home and a greater number of domestic visitors? good morning, ben. for sure, the domestic audiences much more important for today but the domestic audience, 40% are very covid—19 cautious still are not going out. another 40% feel like life must go on and going out but that group is very dominated by families in younger people is not our all — as normal audience, so we've had to

change to market to the younger audience, unlike kids go free and other family offers and changing the products, making use of the great and boating, woodland activities, drive in cinema and stuff like that. locally, people are moving much shorter distances to come so it is creating a local marketing, and even the older people who normally come to us are more relu cta nt normally come to us are more reluctant today and we are repositioning to try to make them safe. again, drive in cinema is big but making sure the tools inside the house are very distance and timed and safe and allowing them to have zoom tours with guides. all of those things are very important. there must be some particular challenges for a stately home or palace because you have to bear in mind the

considerations around covid—19 and the hygiene and cleanliness standards but equally, presumably, you don't want to go around sticking a hand sanitiser tub on a bit of antique furniture? no, we definitely don't! we do a lot of work upfront and people watch videos about how we will look after them and a lot of it is outside but a lot of it does come down to management, so we only have one family group in any room at any time, allowing us any room at any time, allowing us to look after them almost one—on—one ensuring they stay safe and they are not threatened by the presence of other groups coming up behind them. are there other ways you can make money as an institution? is there land you could use to make produce perhaps and sell that? there are two things i can say about that, absolutely yes, and we are farmers, housebuilders, we look after a huge number of

families in our buildings and businesses and things like that and for decades, that has been more important than ever for stately homes. we have his permanent connection to our land, which means that we are not really housebuilders, we are community builders and people appreciate that. that is more and more the case today as she people are starting to reconnect with the rural countryside and increasingly attracted to that kind of things. but also it is about doing events which are a specific call to action right now we speak, leading contemporary artist cecily brown is building a brand—new exhibition in the palace and at the same time, our outdoor christmas light rail is probably 40% up year on year in terms of presales, so all sorts of things we have to do by diversification and is very important and the stately homes that you recognise as high—profile today are generally those who have

consistently changed over the centuries to meet that market. dominic, thanks very much and you win the prize for the earliest reference to christmas on the programme, as it is august! i apologise! thank you very much. turning attention to india, and it now has the highest number of daily infections and the health minister says nearly 70,000 new cases registered on sunday. we are joined 70,000 new cases registered on sunday. we arejoined by 70,000 new cases registered on sunday. we are joined by an epidemiologist in washington and gotan epidemiologist in washington and got an update. in the initial stages, most of the reported cases and remember the three men refers to reported cases in a country which has the amongst the lowest levels of testing in the world for a large country, and the first clump of cases were in the cities but as time has gone by, we can see many outbreaks in

northeast india and in the most populated states and also more cases in rural areas which lack public health or healthcare facilities. the epidemic is spreading and studies indicate that actual reported cases, only a small fraction of the numbers are actual infections. state media in syria say that a explosion has caused a blackout, the result of a possible terrorist attack. it comes as us talks about to begin in geneva to try and draw up begin in geneva to try and draw upa constitution for syria. indigenous groups in australia and the country's biggest football league, the afl, have joined forces in a push to free the aboriginalflag from copyright legislation. indigenous people aren't allowed to commercially reproduce the flag on clothing without permission from

a white—owned company. our reporter freya cole explains. didgeridoo plays. dreamtime in darwin. didgeridoo plays. a showcase of tradition before a clash between two of australia's biggest football teams. the game happens once every year, and is a celebration of the aboriginal and torres strait islander people and their contribution to the game. but in 2020, there is a glaring omission from the field. the national aboriginal flag wasn't to be seen on players' uniforms or within the ground. instead, players wore "free the flag" t—shirts during their warm—up. it's part of a growing movement which calls for the australian aboriginal flag to be free from copyright

and licencing restrictions. local charity clothing the gap started the campaign a year ago, and now every afl club has jumped on board. to have every single team wear these free the flag tees before they train and then it's opened up these conversations nationally in all these communities and people are talking about it. the issue has had a whole lot of exposure and i certainly think that with the amount of publicity and the amount of outrage that the government has to take action. the flag was designed by indigenous artist harold thomas in 1971. it rose to prominence in ‘94 when cathy freeman donned the flag at the commonwealth games. the following year, the federal government officially made it a nationalflag. and in 1997, thomas was successful in a bid to claim authorship.

to this day, activists say it's the only flag in the world which is restricted by copyright law. we thought it was a flag that belonged to the people but it doesn't — it belongs to harold. it's essentially a very public asset that's privately owned. we want the flag back so we can enjoy it the same way that we did and we can see more aboriginalflags in the community and not less. harold thomas has full control over who can use his flag. wam clothing, which is owned by two white australians, is the only company in the world which is allowed to use the flag on clothing for commercial gain. the free the flag movement aims to stop that, saying it's a matter of national pride and symbolism which should be free for all. freya cole, bbc news. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @ ben m bland.

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 calmer, 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.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with dan walker and nina warhurst. our headlines today. the prime minister urges parents to send their children back to school — saying it's far more damaging for their development and health to be kept at home. we'll be speaking to schools minister nick gibb and england's deputy chief medical officer this morning. in northern ireland, many children will return to class today for the first time since the lockdown was imposed. the man who killed 51 people at two mosques in new zealand in march last year arrives in court to be sentenced for the worst terror attack in the country's history. as the government's eat out to help

out scheme