this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. police in the uk declare a "major incident" in birmingham city centre after number of people are stabbed in the area. one local bar worker said there was an escalation of violence. i have always seen quite a lot of fights and drunken commotions, but there was nothing quite like tonight. the uk labour party calls for extensive coronavirus testing at airports and a review on quarantine measures for those returning to the uk from abroad. a coronavirus lockdown in the australian city of melbourne is extended for another two weeks. the uk's chief brexit negotiator david frost says the government is not "scared" of walking away from trade talks.

and several boats have sunk on a lake in texas while taking part in a parade to support president trump in november s us election. hello, and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world. and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. let's bring you some developing news from the uk this morning... west midlands police have declared a major incident after a number of people were stabbed in the centre of birmingham in the early hours of the morning. police and paramedics were called to reports of a knife attack, with further stabbings then being reported. bbc breakfast have been speaking to cara who works in the area where the incident took place. i have worked in the club for over

two years and the club scene. i have always seen quite a lot of fights and drunken commotions, but there was nothing quite like tonight. just the body language and demeanour of people was so much different. sorry, i apologise again. tell us a bit about the area in which you work, cara. so, i work in the arcadian centre, which is the hot spot of clubs, it is were the five main clubs of birmingham are. i worked in the club directly at the start of arcadian, which is by the gay village and around the area of all of the food bars and pubs in birmingham. and have you often felt threatened or intimidated 7 birmingham. and have you often felt

threatened or intimidated? the picture we are getting is of, you know, quite a febrile atmosphere, if you like, a lot of hostility and aggression that builds during the course of the evening. aggression that builds during the course of the eveningli aggression that builds during the course of the evening. i have never actually felt threatened while working on my nights out due to the fa ct working on my nights out due to the fact that security is always very high. | fact that security is always very high. i always have a security guard with any to meet a reach of me, and i always keep a headset on, which means that i am always in touch with the security officers. but tonight, like, the amount of people that were out, especially during coronavirus, was absolutely insane. the whole of arcadian was full. so, you didn't actually know who was around you and at what time. and because of how quickly it escalated and the words that were used and how fights are started and ended, it is nothing like i have ever seen before. that

was cara, an eyewitness. let us speak to simon jail was cara, an eyewitness. let us speak to simonjail —— simonjones. what else to be no? it is worth running through what west midlands police have and have not come from this morning. initially they were called this morning at half past midnight toa called this morning at half past midnight to a report that one person had been stabbed. they were quickly on the scene, this was a city centre, and the ambulance service we re centre, and the ambulance service were present also. a short time after that they received reports that several other people had also been stabbed. the police have confirmed that a number of people have been injured. at the moment they have said they are not prepared to say exactly how many or how serious those injuries are, but they have declared this to be a major incident. they are also telling us that they do not want to speculate about the motive, but it will be an inquiry that looks at what exactly led up to this. we heard from the women they are talking about fights breaking out. we have been speaking this morning to the mayor of the west midlands who has said that he

has been kept up—to—date by the police this morning. it is true that there have been a series of incidents in that hurst street area of the city. they look to be related, but the motivation for them is not yet understood. and it is an ongoing police operation. but at the moment the area is calm and they advised the public is to go about their business as normal. but of course be vigilant. it was interesting that the eyewitness said it was very busy, actually, in birmingham city centre last night. hurst street remains cordoned off this morning and it is close to a lot of bars and restaurants and is close to the gay village in birmingham city centre. we are told it was very busy because the roads have been closed off to allow tables to beat it outside to allow people to beat it outside to allow people to eat and drink because of the coronavirus restrictions, so there we re coronavirus restrictions, so there were a lot of people around. people have been speaking of their shock as to what happened. worth noting, some police activity at a second area, snow hill area, a ten minutes walk

from her street. so, we have seen police activity there that we believe is linked to this incident. we are hoping for an update from officers, they have yet to confront if anyone has been arrested in relation to this. thank you for that, simonjones with the latest. tougher coronavirus measures are being imposed in bolton in greater manchester because of a rising number of cases. the infection rate is now the highest in england. the increase is being driven by a spike among younger people. our correspondent mairead smith said the restrictions are being introduced to try to prevent a full local lockdown. as i drove into bolton today those mobile signs were let mobile signs were lit up, it was very dark and they were very clear messages. this place needs to take this message seriously to avoid a local lockdown, and the message coming out of the town hall behind me from the leader, it was that now is the time more than ever for people to play their part. it is up to people who live

in bolton to do what they can to bring the numbers down and specifically that younger age group. more than 90% of these cases are among the age group of 18 to a9, so really the working population, as people are going out and mixing with people, and it seems that the cases have spread as a result and increased. and the plea now is that you do not mix with anybody outside of your family and support bubble, indoor or outdoor, and this is a step further here than in any other area of greater manchester is that you cannot go on public transport unless it is absolutely necessary. so, if you need to go to work or school, that is fine, but any other journey, you are not allowed to do that. also, the plea is to pay heed to the important public health messages that we have heard throughout the pandemic, good hand hygiene, social distancing and face coverings as well where necessary. the message here is clear, take this message seriously, the cases are high and to avoid a local lockdown, people who live

in bolton need to do their part. mairead smyth reporting there. labour is calling for more robust coronavirus testing at airports, saying it could reduce the number of travellers arriving in the uk who have to self—isolate for two weeks. the party is demanding a review of the current quarantine system, which it describes as "chaotic". the government says an assessment of how testing might help is ongoing. our political correspondent nick eardley is here. aand we a and we have heard these calls before for more airport testing. yes, it has been one of the big controversies for the last few weeks, the way that the quarantine procedure continues to change, new countries added most weeks, some taken off, different approaches in different parts of the uk. i do think there is a growing political momentum that it needs to change in some way. what the labour party have said is that there must be a review within the next fortnight which looks at these issues, looks at whether testing could be the answer.

i have got to say, that is not a new call, they are catching up with some conservative backbenchers on this. some tory mps are desperate for a change in this, who are lobbying the government hard for a new testing regime. the government does not seem com pletely regime. the government does not seem completely convinced that the moment. the concern is that you would miss most positive cases when people arrive at airports. the stats suggest you only get about 7% and it is tough to make sure that you get back to everybody for a second test. but i think the government is looking at this and it is possible that there could be an answer, but increasing frustration about how that quarantine policy is working. let's talk about brexit. a very interesting interview in one of the papers today with david frost, the chief brexit negotiator, and really strong language, we are not scared, we are not blinking. yes, a rare interview for the pm's chief negotiator to give, his first since taking thatjob a few months ago when borisjohnson

taking thatjob a few months ago when boris johnson became taking thatjob a few months ago when borisjohnson became prime minister. yes, the language is pretty stark, it is partly supposed to bea pretty stark, it is partly supposed to be a message to brexit supporters that the government will not link. it is partly meant to be a message to europe as well, because two of the things he talks about our fishing and state aid, the idea that if the uk were to sign up to eu state aid rules, it would have to follow some of europe's rules and thatis follow some of europe's rules and that is causing great frustration within government. the message from david frost, now lord frost, of course, is that the previous government blinked and would often find itself having it's a bluff called at the last minute by europe. he has said he is not going to do that. he is not going to blink, and using this phrase that the uk will not become a client state of europe. it has a political message both to people domestically, but it is also seem to europe, withjust people domestically, but it is also seem to europe, with just a few weeks to go before the deadline that the two sides have set, you need to move if we are going to get any progress on this. all right, nick, for the moment, thank you. nick

ea rd ley, for the moment, thank you. nick eardley, our political correspondent. australian officials have extended the strict coronavirus lockdown in melbourne. the city is at the centre of australia's second wave of infections, and has already been under lockdown for 6 weeks. the premier of the state of victoria said the measures would remain until at least the 28th of september. phil mercer reports. phil mercerjoins us now from sydney... if you weeks extension, obviously serious in melbourne. yes, this will add to the frustration of 5 million people in the second most populous city in australia who are facing more time in protective custody at home. what this means is that hundreds of thousands of workers and schoolchildren will remain at home and the state premier daniel andrews saying that these restrict —— strict measures are needed in order to head off the risk of a third wave of infections. if you look at the

statistics around australia, this is a country that since the pandemic began, ben, has had about 26,000 known known coronavirus cases and more than 750 people have died. three quarters of those known cases have been in victoria and 90% of the fatalities. so, victoria, very much at the epicentre of australia's coronavirus emergency and the state government seeing down there that these tougher measures are needed so that eventually the city of melbourne can emerge from hibernation, can emerge from that lockdown. and it is their popular support for those measures, do you think? i think there is a mixture of frustration, uncertainty and fear. the mandatory wearing of face coverings is still in force, so many people in melbourne are very nervous about the future, and of course, many of them asking exactly when will things get back to normal, and

what will that normal look like? now, the —— the authorities in victoria are saying that some of the restrictions will be eased in one week's time, the curfew will be slightly amended to make it a bit later that people in melbourne can be art, but what they are saying, the state government, is that in the weeks and months to come, those restrictions will only be significantly lifted when the number of new daily coronavirus infections goes down into single digits. so, at the moment we had a 63 new cases reported in victoria overnight, so it would seem that the state still has a long way before it gets to anything resembling what life was like before the pandemic. all right, phil, thank you very much indeed. phil, thank you very much indeed. phil mercer reporting. large crowds are expected to protest in belarus again on sunday, calling for the country s president to step down. it's the fourth weekend of demonstrations since alexander lukashenko claimed victory in an election that was

widely seen as rigged. donna larsen reports. olga kovalkova, another opponent of belarus' president, who says she's been forced to leave the country. it was either that, or a long spell injail. she's now in poland. translation: i consider everything that's happened to me in recent weeks to be torture. i received threats that i will be jailed for a very long time. when i fell ill in my cell, it wasn't doctors who came, but representatives of the authorities. they suggested that i leave the country, otherwise i would stay in prison for a very long time. translation: as long as belarus and belarusians are not able to speak freely about their views and beliefs, as long as repression continues, according to the decision of the prime minister, every person who has been subjected to political repression in belarus, can count on the support and protection of the polish state.

in the belarusian capital, minsk, many feel politically repressed. "don't touch them, they're children, let them go," yells someone in russian, as masked security agents took away some of these students for protesting against president lukashenko. chanting. later, these women marched through the capital, some of them chanting "new election". 30 people were detained on saturday, this the fourth weekend of mass protests since the president claimed to have won an allegedly rigged election. translation: at the time being, it is hard not to be in the street. it is very hard to watch the current events sitting at home. this is a feeling of solidarity, we are not alone, we are numerous, and together, we can change something. belarus' main opposition figure, sviatla na tsikhanouskaya,

remains in exile in lithuania. sviatla na tsikhanouskaya, on friday, she urged the un to follow the eu and impose sanctions on individuals close to president lukashenko, who she said was "desperately clinging to power". but the president, backed by russia, is going nowhere for now. he remains stubbornly in power, while protesters stubbornly defy the crackdown. more demonstrations are expected on sunday. jonah fisher is in minsk with more about what is expected later on. we are now four weeks on from the election and this will be the fourth sunday in which a large demonstration is expected to take place. over the last few sundays there have been crowds in excess of 100,000. we could potentially see a similar numberagain 100,000. we could potentially see a similar number again today. the last few days has seen the security forces here, the right police,

attempt to disrupt and crackdown on demonstrators on the streets here in minsk. we have seen repeatedly scenes in which these riot police dressed all in black with balaclavas over their heads, have got out of one minivans and drag people who are participating in demonstrations, or perhaps even just carrying the red and white flag, which is illegal here in belarus at the moment, and dragging them into the minivans and taking them away. so, despite those effo rts taking them away. so, despite those efforts from the authorities to prevent demonstrations taking place, they have continued on a daily basis. we will just they have continued on a daily basis. we willjust have to see in a few hours' time how many turn out for this sunday demonstration. the headlines on bbc news... police in the uk declare a "major incident" in birmingham city centre

after number of people are stabbed in the area. the uk labour party calls for extensive coronavirus testing at airports and a review on quarantine measures for those returning to the uk from abroad. and the lockdown is extended for another two weeks in melbourne, australia. parts of the united states' west coast are experiencing a record heatwave. california declared a state of emergency on friday amid warnings that power cuts could be implemented to meet excessive demand. temperatures of up to 49 degrees celsius are expected throughout the labor day holiday weekend. jason stiff is chief meteorolgist for action news now and spoke to us about the record temperatures. we the record temperatures. are still mainly in the 80 fahrenheit, we are still mainly in the 80s fahrenheit, not killing off very quickly because we have so much smoke in the air and we are only getting more. there have been more very large fires well to our south

that have broken out this afternoon, and one of them, the creek fire, has exploded in size. i wasjust reading, it has trapped several dozen people at a campsite and they are trying to evacuate them as quickly as possible but we have the fires, the smoke, we have the oppressive heat, which, in some cases, will probably break some monthly, if not all—time records, and we also have the potential, because of so much air conditioning being used by people, they have one of the major power companies has a flex alert meaning that in the afternoon and evening hours we might have rolling blackouts to try to c0 nse rve have rolling blackouts to try to conserve energy and it is going to be happening at some of the times, tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow night when we will have some of the highest temperatures ever recorded. several boats have sunk on a lake in the us state of texas while taking part in a parade to support president trump in november s election. the sheriff's office

for travis county said some boats took on water, some stalled and others capsized. it said it had launched an investigation but added there was no evidence of any intentional act. no injuries were reported. russia's most famous theatre venue ? the bolshoi ? reopens on sunday in the final stage of easing of coronavirus restrictions in moscow. the first few performances have been ? perhaps predictably — sold out. there is excitement, but also apprehension as some are concerned a about a new wave of infections once all of the measures are relaxed. oleg bold—yrev of the bbc s all of the measures are relaxed. after five months of staying shut and over1 billion roubles, that's about $15 million, in lost ticket sales, the famous bolshoi theatre is back in action. the reopening of the grandest of all russian theatre that is, for many, an indication that life is coming back to normal. of course, there will be limitations. visitors will have their

temperatures measured and will be asked to wear masks. only half of the seats will be filled in chequered order. the musicians, everyone apart from the brass section, will be playing behind screens and of course on the stage, only 70 people will be allowed at any given time, and bolshoi has known much bigger productions. the director said that unlike some western theatres, they still keep their singers and their actors on the payroll, but the payments for each individual performance will be going down — no—one in the industry pretends its life as usual. some moscow theatres have opened earlier and of course in the city of 15 million people, there will be enough people willing to go, pandemic or no pandemic. and in many aspects, life in moscow is in pre—pandemic mode, but no—one plans too far. translation: i would go to the theatre butjust because it's the bolshoi. translation: i dream to go see the nutcracker in december, naturally. i hope it comes true and everything will be fine.

translation: of course, you should go to the theatre and not be afraid. my face shield isjust a style element. it matches my top. i don't have to wear it all the time. translation: we are studying at the conservatory and there's rumours that we'll be shut for another quarantine on 1 october but we are trying to brush the thoughts aside, we don't want the lockdown to be repeated. there are talks that some of the restrictions can be brought back if infection rates go up, and they may do, after muscovites came back from their summer vacations and after their kids started going to school, but still, most of the evenings now, well—dressed crowds will be coming to these entrances and even if you are not an opera fan, this is still an indication that one day, life will go back to normal. oleg boldyrev, bbc news, moscow.

letter is bringing more now on the situation of alexei navalny, the russian opposition leader who was allegedly poisoned while on a flight back to russia. if the kremlin does not provide an explanation soon sanctions could be instigated. suggestion was that novichok was used against him. the russian opposition leader is any, in a birmingham hospital after being airlifted from siberia. let's speak now to tobias ellwood, former uk foreign minister and chair of the defence select committee. thank you for being with us. what do you think the outside world needs to do now if it is convinced that this was a deliberate poisoning by the kremlin? well, the first thing is that the outside world must pay attention as to what russia is up to, because this is all symbolic of an increasingly confident kremlin. president putin has secured the

presidency for life, as we know and he is consolidating control. he is regrouping and substantially rearming and he has two clear objectives, firstly to strengthen his own domestic base, to remove opposition as he has done with alexei navalny and the other one is to fuel western division and he is succeeding on both fronts. it is so important that we rally together and we don't think about this just that the eu but also at nato, but most importantly with the us and i am concerned that we have not heard enough from the white house. let's pick up on that because president trump seem to be deflecting attention from russia. he said we ought to be more worried about china than russia when he was specifically asked about the alexei navalny case. what we need to be worried about is both, we are going through a dangerous time at the moment, there is the distraction of the pandemic, a global recession emerging, and of course, we in the west have never been more divided since the cold war. this is a perfect opportunity

for any authoritarian adventurism, whether that comes from china or indeed russia. but the west must react as one. it is good to see the european countries rally together, britain supporting angela merkel and so forth, demanding answers from the kremlin. perhaps looking at a mixture of sanctions or even the north stream to supply chain. but we need to stand ultimately together. it is the lack of western cohesion which falls into russia's play game and we need to stand up to this because we have seen it in syria, we are now seeing it in libya, we have seen it in crimea and ukraine, russia takes advantage of the divided west. tobias ellwood, all right, we have ran out of time, but thank you so much for being with us this morning. tobias ellwood, former uk foreign minister and now chair of the commons defence select committee with the latest on alexei navalny,

who, as i say, is still being treated in a german hospitalfor that suspected another nerve agent poisoning in russia. you are watching bbc news. and if you minutes we will be taking a look at the newspapers today, the front pages, and joined me to discuss the papers we have sian griffiths, education editor at the times. and the writer and broadcaster shyama perera — stay with us for the papers. now it's time for a look at the weather with tomazs schafernaker. for most of us, overall today the weather is not looking bad at all. we have a mixture of sunny spells, a few fleeting showers. that is pretty much it. if you are unlucky you might want into a downpour with thunder and lightning. depending on your point of view. this is the satellite picture and we have cloud

streaming in from the north—west, it is thin and broken cloud for most, sunny spells getting through. here are the showers for the afternoon across parts of northern england and wales, just the possibility of a downpour across the south in the afternoon. but for the vast majority of the uk, it is dry weather and temperatures getting up into the high teens, possibly 20 degrees in the afternoon in london. two staying dry in england and wales but rain expected in scotland and northern ireland, certainly by the end of the night. in belfast and glasgow, looks like it will be a soggy monday morning. temperatures overnight around that 10 degrees murk. now, on monday, high pressure to the south of the country, so keeping things dry for the southern counties and in the north we have weather fronts which are quite low to low pressure, so more of a breezier, quite windy for the western isles of scotland and you can see all of that cloud and you can see all of that cloud and rain moving across scotland, northern ireland, the lake district the north—west and northern wales. the south—east and east anglia

remaining right on monday with temperatures getting up to around 21 degrees. now, tuesday, really, through the middle of the week, with high pressure to the south and this current or slightly warmer more humid air, will feel really muggy and cloudy and murky, i think, particularly around the rest of the uk. so, the situation, we get drizzle and light rain at round the western coast of wales, down into the south—west, too. in the situation with the cloud often breaking up, and if they do, temperatures could get up to 25 degrees. 22 is quite conservative. for the end of the week, certainly by thursday, fresher air coming in from the north and those oranges will move back into yellow. there will move back into yellow. there will be attempt to perhaps authority back into the teens, but on the whole, apart from a favourite of cloud and spell of rain on monday, the weather is not looking too bad for most of us. goodbye.

this is bbc news, the headlines... police in the uk declare a "major incident" in birmingham city centre — after number of people are stabbed in the area — one local bar worker said there was an escalation of violence i've always seen quite a lot of fights and drunken commotions but there was nothing quite like tonight. the uk labour party calls for extensive coronavirus testing at airports and a review on quarantine measures for those returning to the uk from abroad. a coronavirus lockdown in the australian city of melbourne is extended for another two weeks