this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. i'm mike embley. our top stories: a leading opposition figure in belarus reportedly abducted by masked men, amid more mass protests against president lukashenko. two dozen wildfires blaze across california as the heatwave sees los angeles county hit its highest—ever temperature. two australian journalists fly home from china. typhoon haishen has lashed south korea's east coast causing landslides and bringing down power lines. and the marine creatures under threat from cruise ships in the bahamas.

hello. one of the leading opposition figures in belarus has been abducted by unidentified men, according to local reports. witnesses say maria kalesnikava, one of the three women who joined forces to challenge president lukashenko in the recent election, was bundled into a vehicle in minsk and driven away. she had attended a mass demonstration in the capital on sunday. the interior ministry is saying it has no information about her being detained. the bbc‘sjonah fisher has this report. maria kolesnikova was, until today, a political survivor. pretty much the last belarus opposition leader who is not injailand who has not fled the country. this was her in minsk yesterday, taking part in a fourth weekend of demonstrations, calling for the country's president, alexander lu kashenko, to step down. as the day came to an end the riot police fought back.

dozens were detained, and this morning miss kolesnikova was picked up from a minsk street. she walked to the post office and she disappeared. a passer—by saw that she was taken to the bus with the — it was written there that it was the communications service, something like this. after that we couldn't contact her. her phone is not available. miss kolesnikova was one of a triumvirate of women who took on president lukashenko in august's election. svetla na ti kha novs kaya was their candidate, and she's widely thought to have won the most votes. but president lukashenko declared victory. miss tikhanovskaya left the country.

a few days later, i caught up with miss kolesnikova. but do you feel safe here? you are the most prominent opposition leader who is on the streets of minsk. are you worried? no, i'm not worried. i'm very safe and when you see these people who are here around me, i'm happy. i feel very safe. if president lukashenko is hoping to crush the protests by detaining opposition figures, he's likely to be disappointed. belarus' demonstrations have no clear leadership or structure, and just one key aim, to remove an unpopular president from power. jonah fisher, bbc news. i spoke just now to rachel denber from the campaign group human rights watch and asked her for her reaction to events in belarus. well, it's completely outrageous that maria kolesnikova has been abducted. unfortunately, i can't say it's an aberration. it's something we've come to expect from this government. she's not the first person to be abducted in this way, and she's not the first person in the opposition coordination council

who has been targeted. ivan kravtsov, the press secretary, has also been abducted and is missing, and there is another member of the coordination council who has also been abducted, other members of the coordination council have been arrested and are currently serving short—term prison terms. and yet another one was forced to basically leave the country. and the government has filed criminal charges against the coordination council as a group. so, it's not surprising, it's completely outrageous, and the authorities have to immediately free these members of the coordination council. rachel, are you concerned for her safety and for the personal safety of the others detained? we are — human rights watch is absolutely alarmed and deeply concerned about the safety of maria kolesnikova and the others. i — we can only assume the authorities are either threatening to use — either threatening them or perhaps using some

of the methods that they have used against the many hundreds of protesters, you know, beatings and the like. so, we're very concerned about personal safety. the determination of the people staying on the streets is surely impressive. what do you make, though, of the international reaction? well, the international reaction so far has been full of condemnation for lukashenko and for the crackdown. i think that there needs to be more. i think — look, the international community now has two opportunities to launch long—term scrutiny of belarus, and that's what we really need right now. lu kashenko is counting on the west, counting on other governments, counting on the un, to just get fatigued and to turn away.

and that's why, when the un human rights council opens its session next week, they need to adopt a resolution that really turns up the scrutiny on belarus, that sets out a monitoring and a reporting procedure, and also, you know, governments have to think about individual sanctions. just very briefly, if you don't mind. russia's ally — lukashenko‘s ally, russia, has a veto, of course, on the security council, and the united states has its focus, really, on many other things, doesn't it? is there much chance of action from there? well, what we're looking at now is the human rights council, which russia is not on, in this period. so, i really think we can count — we should be counting on the un human rights council in geneva to take some serious action. rachel denber from human rights watch. officials are blaming a baby gender revealed party for one of more than two dozen wildfires now burning across

california. a firework or smoke bomb was set off at a party to reveal whether a couple's soon to be born baby was to be a boy oi’ to be born baby was to be a boy ora girl, to be born baby was to be a boy or a girl, which has now sparked a fire covering more than 7000 acres. all this while the area sponsors in a record heatwave. los angeles county has registered its hottest temperature ever, nearly 50 celsius. tim edwards is the president of a union representing more than 7,000 firefighters in california, and has been a firefighter for at least 25 years. this is his impression of the conditions are like. right now, it's really extreme, we have temperatures well over 116 degrees, and at the fire, it's over 1,000 degrees with flames up to 1,000 feet. your members have been dealing with fires for something like three weeks continuously? yes, throughout the state of california, my members have been running up and down the state dealing with 300 active buyers at one time and now 25 so they've been going three weeks straight without a break. and many of them worried about their families and friends as well.

what's it like? ? this if you can, take us inside the helmet. you have smoke fogging up inside, it's incredibly tough, isn't it? you have smoked locking up the sun, earning your lungs, making it hard to breathe as you're trying to go around homes and protect them, blames up to 100 feet, temperatures up to 5,000 degrees along the fire lines. i can only imagine what he might have to say to the people who may have started some of these fires, at least accidentally. in california especially, southern california, unfortunately, we are fire hardened and residents should know the severity of the fire danger at this time and it's unfortunate that so many vehicles decided to do fireworks as a celebration at this point in time. what would you say to them? i would say they need to be careful and watch out because they are putting thousands of firefighters lives on the line for an accident they could have avoided.

why are the fires so particularly intense at the moment, tim? well, we are experiencing an historic heatwave right now in california and dry conditions over the last ten yea rs. this year is becoming an historic fire season, the worst so far in california. do you think long—term or even sooner than that, it's going to become impossible to live in this area? well, i think it's going to be a challenge to live, especially with them building more and more into the wild land area up around this vegetation that is very dry. they are going to have to find ways to prevent this by happening by hardening the communities they build but it's becoming a way of life in california and there is no end in sight. tim, is there more the public could do to help firefighters? is there enough information going out to the public, do you think?

yes, we do a public campaign every year across the state of california asking individuals and members and residents to clear their property, at least 100 feet around it, take precautions when they are mowing the lawns, and just be prepared to go but unfortunately, residents choose not to clear their property so it puts firefighters at risk and they are trying to protect their homes. typhoon haishen has touched down on the korean peninsula after hitting southern japan. the storm hit parts of the east coast across both north and south korea and made landfall in the city of ulsan. hundreds of flights were cancelled, some train services suspended. mark lobel reports. wild weather has hit the south—eastern tip of the peninsula, with sustained winds of up to 112 kilometres per hour. tens of thousands of households were without power, and thousands of

families displaced. further up the east coast, a city surrounded by water, leaving some major roads submerged. that's left south korea's second largest city in need of help. extra rescue workers have been rushed in as typhoon haishen carved a trail of destruction and left people missing. in north korea, state tv pictures show the extent of the damage there. heavy rain and strong winds left high waves that flooded streets and left buildings partially submerged in water. the country bore the brunt of recent typhoons, and there are fears of the damage being wrought on its agricultural sector and the country's tenuous food situation.

as the peninsula comes to terms with a spate of storms that has taken lives, closed businesses, cut power and clogged the country's transport systems, there are now calls to quick action to designate the hardest hit as a special disaster zones and receive extra aid. mark lobel, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: the boat that took six months to travel from bangladesh to indonesia, with more than 100 rohingya refugees on board. george w bush: freedom itself was attacked this morning, and freedom will be defended. the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans here, of the blacks in soweto township, as well as the whites in their rich suburbs.

we say to you today in a loud and a clear voice "enough of blood and tears. enough!" translation: the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. it's an exodus of up to 60,000 people caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: a leading opposition figure in belarus is missing following more mass protests against president lukanshenko. maria kolesnikova was seen being bundled by masked men intoa van. two dozen wildfires are blazing across california as strong

winds and heat hamper efforts to contain them. meanwhile the heatwave sees los angeles county hit its highest ever temperature. one of the unexpected benefits of covid—19 was the cleaner air as a result of lockdowns across theworld. but such environment positives have not been universal. in the bahamas, an unforeseen issue is now coming to the surface in terms of marine damage caused by cruise ships sheltering off the island chain. for more on this i'm joined by michael pintard, minister of agriculture and marine resources of the bahamas. thank you for your time. it is good to talk to you. i know the government there has complained before about cruise ships dumping sewage and other waste. how did you become aware that they were also possibly damaging the reefs? let me say that we identify the cruise industry as a partner with the bahamian government but we have a responsibility to our fishes and other stakeholders who

benefit from the tremendous roomies that make marine resources we have. in one of our stakeholders from the fishing community brought to our attention the fact that during a diving expedition they discovered that damage was done to reefs, to the coral reserve and to the seabed. and so we immediately dispatched a team of marine divers as well as environmental divers who were able to determine that what was reported was in fact accurate. how bad is it and what will you be able to do? will you seek compensation from the cruise lines? we are in the preliminary stages and we are going to have a comprehensive assessment to determine the extent of the damage and it is in the interest of the bahamas and of the cruise industry to mitigate against the damages that have occurred and we are confident that the companies are prepared to spend the resources required to assist us

in rehabilitating the environment. and it can be rehabilitated? environment. and it can be rehabilitated ? as you environment. and it can be rehabilitated? as you say the government is in a partnership with cruise lines and you need them for tourism, how important are the reefs? they are extremely important. we have committed more than 10% of our marine environment to be protected so we have established marine protected areas and by the years and we expect that to be 20%. it is crucial in terms of economic development, a variety of economic opportunities and it is part of our identity did the bahamas is a big ocean state and the realities stretch from the tip of florida to cuba and we see ourselves as a habitat for the region and therefore it is crucial that we protect our marine resources and we expect partners, such as the cruise industry, to pay theirfair share in assisting us to do that, particularly where they

are culpable. do you think they will? they were already dumping other waste. we are confident. they have a number of very important investments in the bahamas and for a number of them this is the port of call. the bahamas in general. so it is in our collective interest to act in the best interest for the future of the bahamas and, by extension, the future of their business. so we are confident and we tend to do whatever is required to ensure that that is done. two australian journalist have flown home from china after a diplomatic stand—off. flown home from china after a diplomatic stand-off. both were advised by australian officials to leave for their own safety. chinese police demanded interviews with michael smith from the australian financial review and bill birtles from the abc. they took refuge at

separate —— separate missions as negotiations went on. our correspondent gave a small background. we know this started last week when australian diplomats warned bill birtles that he should leave china and a similar warning was given to the abc's management by the department of foreign affairs and trade and after the second warning the abc has decided to evacuate bill birtles and return him. he was due to get on a flight last thursday but on the eve of his departure at midnight, he was holding a gathering, a farewell gathering, seven chinese policeman showed up on his doorstep on wednesday at midnightand said doorstep on wednesday at midnight and said that he was banned from leaving the country and that he should come in for questioning by the chinese authorities on what they described as a national security case. bill birtles then contacted the embassy where he had been sheltering for the next four days. and then there was a back—and—forth between australian diplomats and the chinese authorities about lifting that travel ban

on the condition that he sit down for an interview. we do not know if he was accused of anything or if he was questioned about his coverage and hisjournalism questioned about his coverage and his journalism inside questioned about his coverage and hisjournalism inside china but we also know that a similar situation happened with michael smith. he is the correspondent for the australian financial review in shanghai and he took refuge in the consulate in shanghai. the two men then got ona shanghai. the two men then got on a plane and are now back in sydney. really, it is a very dramatic and worrying development because they were the last two australian correspondents working for australian broadcasters and media and now that they have left, this is the first time since the 1970s that australia does not have an accredited media inside china. president trump has demanded a reporter remove his face mask during a press briefing on monday. the reporterfrom reuters news agency was trying to ask a question — he said he would speak up but did not remove his mask.

here's the exchange. you are going to have to take that off, please. how many feet are you away? if you do not take it off, you are very muffled so if you would take it off it would be much easier. that's better, yes. better. the wearing of face coverings has become highly politicised in the us. the president has refused to order americans to wear them and mocked his presidential challenger, joe biden, for wearing one. hundreds of rohingya refugees have landed in the indonesian province of aceh, after six months at sea. the landing is one of the biggest in years by the persecuted muslim minority — who originally fled myanmar. the refugees say they set sail from southern bangladesh in march, with no supplies except what would fit on their boat. our reporter resty woro yuniar, from bbc indonesia, has more. it was in this confined space that almost 300 rohingya refugees spent nearly seven months at sea.

eventually landing here in the indonesian province of aceh, where locals helped the boat come ashore. translation: most of them are women and children, and their conditions are not too good. we are going to check on them again once we arrive at the shelter. we are going to relocate them so they don't stay here. among those who came ashore were 181 women and 1a small children. one person was rushed to hospital. officials say the passengers are being sheltered at a refugee centre where they will be tested for coronavirus. translation: from the red cross, we are going to help in the name of humanity, but more importantly, because of covid—19, we have to follow health protocols. it was the same coronavirus concerns which led indonesian authorities to threatedn

to push back another boat with nearly 100 rohingya people injune, who were also rescued by locals. both boats may be part of a group of 800 rohingya, who left southern bangladesh earlier this year. around a million muslim rohingya have fled persecution in myanmar into neighbouring bangladesh. but the refugee camps there are overcrowded and squalid, and human traffickers make a lot of money by promising people sanctuary abroad. conditions aboard these boats can be deadly, and not everybody makes it to the shore. resty woro yuniar, bbc news, indonesia. tennis, and the women's world number one ashleigh barty has announced she won't play at the french open, due to start in paris at the end of the month. she has also pulled out of the us open, currently under

way in new york. on monday organisers said fans will be allowed inside roland garros despite the increase in coronavirus cases in france. the tournament was postponed from may because of the pandemic and is scheduled to start in paris on 27th september. the largest—ever study of the use of so—called ‘intelligent‘ robots in care homes has found they can help improve the mental health of residents. i should say this report from our home editor mark easton contains filming carried out before the lockdown restrictions in care homes. hello, peter. in a care home in bedfordshire... hello, pepper. ..peter the human and pepper the robot have become friends. nice to see you again. tell me what was the most difficult thing that you and your family had to go through during the second world war? well, it was the fact that... pepper has been programmed to play games or music, ask about meals, organise calls to relatives, but, most importantly, pepper is a great listener. i also once think i saw a doodlebug... thank you for sharing this with me. it is interesting to know more about you. in the jargon, pepper is a culturally aware robot. do you feel that pepper is your friend? all the time i'm with him, yes.

really? yes. you don't think that's a bit odd, having a robot as a friend? well, life can be a bit odd sometimes, especially the older you get. the idea that a computer could be a carerfeels, well, alien, but an academic evaluation suggests a robot, actually, can do a pretty good job. i wasn't too keen on modern jazz... they viewed the robot almost like a person after two weeks. they didn'tjust see it as a tool or a robot. they saw it as something that they could really connect with. hello, mark. the pandemic has changed human interactions in the care home since we filmed but pepper never needs to wear ppe. can a machine really understand compassion? i am just a machine. the participants found me to be compassionate and that's what matters. we cannot say that the robot is feeling real emotion or wants to care, but what is very important

is the perception that people have, so when you see the robot you will see something that will behave as if it cares about people. alexa, answer the front door. demand for care services is increasing and the system is struggling to cope, but can artificial intelligence ever offer a real relationship? quite a few people get anxious that we are thinking of replacing carers, but that is absolutely not the case. it is, how can we use the technology to make our care staff more effective and efficient? and the technology is there to support us in doing so. i hope you have fun together. we like to believe that empathy is a human trait but, troubling though it may be, it appears some robots are actually more caring than some people. mark easton, bbc news. what could possibly go wrong?!

much more at any time on the bbc website or on our twitter feed. thank you for watching. hello there. although for many of us, monday was a cloudy day, we did have some rain as well across north—western areas, we also had a few brighter moments, and that was of those captured towards the end of the day across parts of devon by alan 0. now, on the charts for tuesday, we've got low pressure to the north of the uk, high pressure to the south and this front working eastwards. now, this area is called a warm sector. and that's going to be moving right across the uk. bringing warmer air, yes, but increasing amounts of humidity. all that's going to do is thicken the cloud up and bring some outbreaks of drizzle, some mist and fog patches forming around our coasts and hills. so it will turn increasingly murky over the next few hours. some dampness around, as i say. a few spots of drizzle, no great amounts butjust some

dampness in the air across the west first thing. starting off with the day on tuesday, we start off with that extensive cloud. the best of the sunshine, actually, northern and eastern scotland, north—east england starting out sunny as well. elsewhere, there could be a few breaks coming along in the cloud, but it's always going to be a struggle to break the cloud across the west, so staying quite grey. despite that, temperatures still into the 20s. rain moves into the north—west of scotland, becoming persistent towards the end of the day, and if we do see any lengthy clear breaks, with some sunshine, it will feel warm, it will fill humid. that rain will continue to push southwards as we go through tuesday night as this cold front extends towards england and wales, taking its rain with it. the front itself is moving towards high pressure so the front is weakening all the time. as it takes its cloud, the rain increasingly turns patchy as it works towards the south and the east. temperatures on wednesday, lower, and about 5 degrees lower across the north and east. you will notice that change. but across the south—east,

we're stilljust about hanging onto that warm air. temperature still around 22 or so in london. it will turn a bit fresher, though, on thursday. we say fresher, it will be fresher, but of course in the sunshine, it still september, it is still warm in that sun. after a sunny start cloud on thursday will tend to spread across the sky particularly across northern and western areas. a few showers to brush into the far north—west of scotland. our temperatures for many of us between around 15 and 19 degrees celsius. and then we finish the week with low pressure moving and bringing wet and windy weather to the north—west. again the front weakens as he pushes through the south—east. that's your weather.

this is bbc news, the headlines:

it's reported that one of the leading opposition figues in belarus, maria kalesnikava, has been abducted by masked men, amid more mass protests against president lukanshenko. the european union has, officially, strongly condemned the authorities for what it calls arbitary and unexplained arrests and detentions before and after the falsified presidential election in august. two dozen wildfires are blazing across california as strong winds and heat hamper efforts to contain them. the fires have been made worse by a heatwave across the state. scientists have recorded the highest ever temperature in los angeles county, 49.1; degrees celsius. hundreds of rohingya refugees have landed in indonesia after six months at sea. they'd travelled from bangladesh. locals in aceh helped the boat come ashore and the refugees have now been moved to a shelter where they will be