this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a heavy police response fails to stop anti—government protestors in belarus, who want the president to resign. president lukashenko is no doubt hoping that, by detaining key opposition leaders, that these protests would run out of steam. the ukjustice secretary defends the government potentially breaking international law over changes to the brexit withdrawal agreement. the afghan government says the opportunity for peace should not be lost, as talks with the taliban continue in qatar. we realise that there is no other way but to put an end to war

and find a way to live together in peace and fight for our ideas. a group of migrants rescued by a danish tanker in the mediterannean have been allowed to land in italy after nearly a0 days at sea. and president trump will meet emergency services battling america's wildfires, as air quality drops to unhealthy levels. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. and i do hope you stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. first, huge demonstrations have again been held in belarus,

where protesters continue to call for the resignation of the man who's led the country for the last 26 years, alexander lu kashenko. the biggest protests have been in the capital, minsk, where more than 100,000 people are estimated to have turned out. there were scuffles in some places, as riot police and men in balaclavas tried — often violently — to snatch demonstrators. 0ur correspondentjonah fisher sent this report from minsk. chanting with each passing week, belarus‘ protesters add something new to their long list of grievances. what began as a response to a disputed election now encompasses the police crackdown that followed, and the targeting of opposition politicians. this week, one of them, maria kolesnikova, was being celebrated, after she tore up her passport to stop herself being sent into exile. maria kolesnikova is a hero.

i think we need to build a monument after we win this. do you think this will end with president lukashenko leaving? i think yes. i don't know. it's not a sprint, it's a marathon. president lukashenko was no doubt hoping that, by detaining key opposition leaders, that these protests would run out of steam. vuvuzela blasts if that was the case, he was wrong. this is the fifth sunday in a row that the centre of minsk has seen a huge display of people power. 0n the fringes of the march, the violence continued. president lukashenko‘s security forces detained at least 400 people today, hunting down those in smaller groups.

women, once considered off—limits, are now being manhandled and dragged away, too. yevgeniya, a mother of two, was briefly detained on saturday. all the men are very frightened, but women, they weren't treated like this until yesterday. now we're trying to, i don't know, to regain our power. i don't know what to do now. having upped the violence but failed to stop the protests, president lukashenko heads to russia tomorrow. the key question, what moscow will demand in return for continuing to back belarus‘ unpopular leader. jonah fisher, bbc news, minsk. the ukjustice secretary has defended british government plans to potentially override elements of the brexit withdrawal agreement, signed with the european union. the proposal would break international law and also give the government power to change or ignore rules relating to the movement of goods between britain and northern ireland.

the britishjustice secretary, robert buckland, said it was an emergency brexit "insurance policy" if brussels acted in an "unreasonable" way, by insisting on excessive checks on goods. vicki young reports. a lot‘s changed since brexit day. crowds can no longer gather, but the arguments have reignited since the government announced it would pass a law overriding parts of the legally binding treaty which laid out the terms of our departure. in a sign of how tense things have become, the eu's chief negotiator took to twitter. michel barnier said boris johnson had agreed a delicate compromise to protect peace and stability on the island of ireland. it means northern ireland will follow some eu rules. his british counterpart, lord frost, hit back, complaining that the eu's position meant it would be automatically illegal for northern ireland to import food products from other parts of the uk.

government ministers say they need an insurance policy to make sure that doesn't happen. we hope very much never to have to use this. it's a "break the glass in emergency" provision, if we need it. but they're not denying that giving uk ministers the power to change the withdrawal agreement breaks international law. how could anyjustice secretary stand by and let that happen? is that the moment that robert buckland resigns from the government, if we break international law itself? if i see the rule of law being broken in a way that i find unacceptable... ah... ..then of course i will go. we are not at that stage. four years ago, these two former prime ministers campaigned against brexit. today, sirjohn major and tony blair joined forces again, writing in the sunday times that the government's action was irresponsible and questioned the very integrity of our nation. ireland's foreign minister agrees. the british government, in my view, is behaving in an extraordinary way,

and british people need to know that, because, outside of britain, where this issue is being discussed now, the reputation of the uk and britain as a trusted negotiating partner on important issues like this is being damaged in a very serious way. tomorrow, the action returns to parliament. several conservative mps have said they can't support a bill that breaks the law. let's have a look at some of the day's other news. the world health organization says it's seen a record one—day rise in the number of new coronavirus infections. in the last 2a hours, it says more than 300,000 cases have been reported. the biggest increases in infections were reported in india, the united states and brazil. more than half of the world's 28 million confirmed cases are in the americas. in israel, the government has announced a three—week nationwide

lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus infections. the move makes israel the first country to re—impose a national lockdown. prime minister benjamin netanyahu said the restrictions would exact a heavy price from citizens and had asked his finance minister to prepare a new package to help those affected. in france as well, there has been a surge in reported coronavirus cases as the country struggles to contain a second outbreak. on saturday, there were more than 10,000 new cases, prompting health authorities to place 42 administrative departments in a red zone high alert. the numbers of people admitted to hospital and intensive care is also increasing. representatives of the afghan government and the taliban are continuing with their peace talks in qatar. after the opening ceremony on saturday, the contact groups

for both sides met today to discussed the technical details of the negotiations ahead. speaking to our chief international correspondent lyse doucet, the head of the government delegation, dr abdullah abdullah, said the taliban should come to terms with the reality that afghanistan is becoming a diverse and freedom seeking society. when you look at the islamic republic of afg hanistan‘s delegation, negotiating team or delegation as a whole, you see the diversity of afghanistan in it. it's important. that in itself... does the other side recognise that afghanistan has changed in many ways? the younger generation, the civil society, the media, the vibrant private sector, all of that. freedoms, certain freedoms — freedom of speech —

but at the same time, we realised that there is no other way but to put an end to war and find a way to live together in peace and fight for our ideas. many afghans and others ask how hard it will be for afghans to share power with the taliban when your supporters and president ghani's supporters can't even share power without arguing. yes, there are differences of opinion, there have been arguments at times, but we have kept it peacefully. that's the point. do you share the fears of those who say that this is alljust a mirage for the taliban, that the hardline taliban — including the commanders on the ground — are just waiting for the remainder of the us forces, nato forces, to leave and then they'll march into kabul? some people may think that way. and at the same time, i have no doubt in my mind

that there will be a lot more people who will be thinking that, "let's put an end to the bloodshed." this is the moment that our people have reached to its limits — 42 years of war, misery, suffering, losses. this morning, i was watching tv and i saw that camp in greece, where... moria camp. and i saw an afghan family which had lost everything. that everything was a few things, like a simple place to stay together with the family, with very minimal, minimal things that you would need to survive. they even lost that. and that is the reality of life for afghans.

and if you had to name one thing which is at the top of your worries, as this new phase starts, what is it? i don't want to see the people of afghanistan disappointed once again. that was dr abdullah abdullah speaking to lyse doucet. russia's ruling party, united russia, looks set to win in local elections that are seen as a critical test of its hold on local power in the country. but allies of poisoned opposition leader and kremlin critic alexei navalny say they've secured city council seats in siberia. voting took place in 41 of the country's 85 regions to decide lawmakers in regional and city legislatures, including regional governors. one of the highest—profile campaigns took place in novosibirsk, russia's third—largest city, and in neighbouring tomsk. in both contests, opposition candidates claim they secured

city council seats. joining me now is maria snegovaya. she's a fellow at the centre for european policy analysis and an expert on russian politics. she joins us from washington. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. first off, just how significant are these wins being claimed by the opposition? the very promising results that navalny‘s campaign have demonstrated today is that, actually, they do quite well on the local level. as of now, in the city where navalny has been poisoned, we see that the opposition has been able to win 16 out of 27 districts, and united russia as of 110w districts, and united russia as of now only wins three districts, so h 01’ now only wins three districts, so h or six are still being contested. in

this sense, it's a very good result. we also get quite promising numbers from novosibirsk, or the head of navalny‘s local office has been one to win the election. altogether, this is promising, and despite the unprecedented wave of operations the kremlin has waged against the opposition, have seen it is somewhat back fired. they had navalny‘s campaign. after novelli has been poisoned, the number of people, visitors of the campaign website, has increased four times in tomsk and novosibirsk, for example. promising. that sounds as if there is an element of protest posting taking place here. how much of a threat is this to president putin come the elections next year? next

year, it is important to mention that on the governors level, the kremlin appointees seem to have been able to secure the selection, but those are about 16 direct elections. in regions where the kremlin is over that of the dangers and controls them, it is able to secure victories, but in the upcoming federal duma elections, we're talking about a50 seats. that's a lot. right now, from tomsk and novosibirsk, we see that united russia gets about 25—30% of the vote, a lot of other parties have axley been able to increase the popularity. that combined with success popularity. that combined with success of navalny‘s candidates suggest that things are going to be tougherfor the suggest that things are going to be tougher for the united russia suggest that things are going to be tougherfor the united russia next year as well. unfortunately, that means more persecution and repression for the opposition candidates. 0k,

repression for the opposition candidates. ok, i think repression for the opposition candidates. 0k, ithink you repression for the opposition candidates. ok, i think you answered my final question, which is, how safe is it going to be for an opposition candidate? thank you very much, maria. you're watching bbc news. let's look at those headlines. violent scenes in belarus as police detain more than a00 anti—lukashenko protestors taking part in mass demonstrations in the capital. and in the uk, thejustice secretary defends the government potentially breaking international law over changes to the brexit withdrawal agreement. japan's ruling party will shortly hold a vote for its new leader and the country's next prime minister. the current prime minister, shinzo abe, is stepping down due to health reasons after almost eight years in the role. the liberal democratic party has a majority in parliament, so whoever wins the leadership contest will become prime minister.

let's head back to washington and speak to yuki tatsumi. she's the director of the japan programme at the stimson center. thank you for speaking to us here on bbc news. just take us through the main candidates. who is the favourite? the absolute front and for the moment is yoshihide suga, who has been the chief cabinet secretary for shinzo abe has he has been the prime minister. the other two major contenders are his first foreign minister fumio kishida and his former minister at large for economic reconstruction shigeru ishiba. i know shigeru ishiba was shinzo abe's chosen, or rather, the public‘s favourite. who looks set to win or who looks or has looks pretty

strong in campaigning coachella i think campaign wise, suga looks the favourite. but i think... suga has been the party favourite to serve out the continuity. suga initially, when mr abe announced he was go to step down, said he did not want the post at all. and there are questions also, because any mr abe did shut down a lot of questions from journalists. is there a chance we could see more of this with mr suga? i doubt that. i think ms. -- i think —— i think suga knows he is being watched very closely. the putting on his performance in the next 12 months or so, he could open themselves up to serve the new term is the prime minister, so he would be very careful in treading many

things. that includes certainly his relationship with the media. 0k, things. that includes certainly his relationship with the media. ok, the deputy prime minister has hinted there could be a snap general election as soon as the next leader is announced. is that really capitalising on timing and is there agreement within the coalition on this? i don't think there is a stronger coalition, agreement, within the coalition. specifically on the election, tactics wise, because the opposition party is in such disarray and so disorganised, snap election in october would definitely benefit the ruling coalition in the sense that they would lose less numbers of seats, because there has been mounting frustration about the ruling coalition‘s ailing of the coronavirus, amongst other things, so coronavirus, amongst other things, so they would like him and amaze the loss of the seats in the lower house and also give this new government the mandate possibly to serve out

abe's term and beyond. yuki tatsumi, we will leave it there but thank you for joining we will leave it there but thank you forjoining us. at least 30 people have now died in wildfires that are engulfing the west coast of america, across three states, destroying millions of acres of land. more than 20,000 firefighters, are trying to beat back the flames in washington, california and oregon, from where our correspondent aleem maqbool now reports. nightmarish scenes have been facing those in oregon for days now. we've met people who've one day fled from one fire only to be faced by another the next. they've sought refuge in trailer parks or temporary camps. the pandemic, complicating the effort to help them. if we have to rebuild, we have to rebuild. if we don't have to rebuild, we still have so much clean—up to do because of the ash.

because when we left, like i said, the last time we pulled out, there was almost two inches. there have been around 100 fires burning along huge stretches of the west coast. the smoke caught on nasa images. they include some of the biggest wildfires ever recorded in california. san francisco one of many cities that's disappeared under a shroud of smoke. i'm trying to keep a positive attitude, but it's scary. it's scary. one of those things, you just have to take into consideration that you have to be careful when you're breathing because you can be inhaling the smoke. unprecedented fires have led to desperate measures to tackle them. scrambling even to fly in fire engines. 0regon‘s governor has called this a once—in—a—generation event. thousands of homes have been lost.

many dozens of people are reported missing. those who survived have been left to salvage what they can of their belongings. 0thers guard their homes for fear of looting. it's been a rough couple of days, but it's... i just didn't feel right, leaving home. 0fficials here say it's the impact of climate change. the white house says it's poor forest management. but some of these fires have now been burning for a full week. and the main concern for so many here is still how to safeguard their lives. aleem maqbool, bbc news, near salem in oregon. two los angeles police officers are critically ill in hospital after being shot in what their colleagues say was an ambush. video footage shows a figure approaching their squad car and opening fire before running off. here's what the la county sheriff's department had to say about why investigators believe the attack was an ambush.

the suspect approached them from behind as the deputies were facing southbound in their patrol vehicle. the suspect came from the north. he walked along the passenger side of the car. he acted as if he was going to walk past the car, and then he made a left turn directly toward the car, raised a pistol and fired several rounds inside of the vehicle, striking both of the sheriff's deputies. 27 migrants who spent nearly a0 days on board a danish tanker that rescued them in the mediterranean have been allowed to land in sicily. the group, which included a pregnant woman, left libya at the beginning of august but were picked up by the maersk etienne chemical tanker when their boat began to sink. for more than a month, the tanker was refused permission to dock by any country. tommy thomassen is the chief technical officer at maersk shipping. he says it's unacceptable that his crew were forced to look after the migrants for nearly a0 days with no governments in europe willing to help.

yeah, so, the migrants... first, you know, we're following up with the ngo mediterranea, and we understand that the migrants have been safely transferred to shore facilities today in sicily. and obviously, we are very grateful that they would take them on board first to their rescue boat last friday after having spent 38 days on board our ship. way too long, obviously, so we are very grateful for that. also, we are also very relieved for our crew being released of this situation after 38 days. it's been way too long, and we're now following up closely with our team onboard to make sure that they're also in good condition, and we'll do that as soon as they reach a suitable port. but, you know, these people are trained seafarers. they're not trained or educated to take care of 27 migrants, one was a pregnant woman, as you probably know. there was a child on board also.

and the duration of this, 38 days, is simply too long. it has been way too long, and it's put a lot of frustration, of course — both with the migrants, a lot of tension towards our people. we have been following up closely to make sure that everyone is safe and 0k and has been so throughout the period, but it's simply been too long. well, obviously, you know, we've been sailing ships for more than 100 years. we've always done our duty. it's in our dna that our seafarers, our people, will pick up people in distress, either if they observe them themselves or if they are called to the scene by authorities. and we'll obviously keep on doing that. but this particular case, having taken 38 days from when we picked up the migrants, the people, till we were then able to transfer them safely to a rescue boat, that is simply too long. and it sets a very unfortunate precedent, and obviously we need to call on the responsible

governments, the politicians, to find a solution that means that when a commercial ship takes on board migrants, or people in distress, that it does not take 30 days. you're watching bbc news. a charity that represents elderly care providers in england says the british government's coronavirus testing regime has had "serious problems." it comes just days after the uk's department of health and social care wrote to care home providers, warning of a rise in new coronavirus infections within homes. alison holt has more details. in care homes like this one in manchester, they've already had a long, exhausting fight against coronavirus. in april, they lost nine residents. but with careful infection control like this, and increased testing, they've managed to keep it out of the home over the summer. if there is a second wave, quick testing will be vital in identifying people

without symptoms and keeping residents safe. but mark adams, who heads a charity that runs 18 uk care homes including this one, says in recent weeks they have had problems getting results in about a0% of their tests. at the moment, we are getting the kits for weekly testing, but the results are coming back five, six, seven days after the test was taken. so if someone does catch covid, they could perhaps be in the building for three or four days without even being aware that they're ill. as the infection rate rises out here in the wider community, inevitably, care homes are going to feel the impact. on friday, the department for health and social care sent a letter to care bosses warning that they were beginning to see a rise in cases in care homes. the majority were staff who had become infected, but some residents had also contracted the virus. it's reported in the sunday times today that infections in care homes

have quadrupled since the start of the month. as demand for tests rises in the general population, care providers say it's vital the care sector is made a priority. i think the testing regime has had serious problems and i really want the government to prioritise care services. we saw at the start of this pandemic that people living in care homes were the most susceptible to the virus, so i hope that they will realise that and will start prioritising the testing in care homes. the department for health and social care says since the start of the pandemic, it's done everything it can to ensure the safety of residents and staff. it says laboratories are returning tests around as quickly as possible and it plans to expand the system in coming weeks. and we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers joe twyman, the co—founder and director of deltapoll uk, and also the broadcaster yasmin alibhai—brown.

that's all coming up after the headlines at 11:30pm. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello there. the weather is set to get quite a bit hotter across england and wales for the next day or two, but taking centre stage more recently has been this weather front stretching thousands of miles out into the atlantic. and that's been bringing some very heavy rain, some large rainfall totals building in across the highlands. we've had over 1a0 mm of rain recorded, bringing reports of some localised flooding. and we've had this landslide effect at the a83, at the rest and be thankful. looks like that route is going to be out of action for a little while. now, looking at the weather picture at the moment, we've still got some of the rain coming down in the highlands. the rain eventually is going to turn a little bit lighter and patchier, but nevertheless some spots of rain still around for the highlands, the hebrides, 0rkney and shetland as we start the day on monday. further south, a lot of drier weather. could be a few mist and fog patches in some of our deeper river valleys in england and wales to start the day. now looking at the first couple of days of the week, as i say,

things are set to get quite a bit warmer, and the reason for that is this area of high pressure is going to be pushing a little bit further eastwards. as it does that, we start to get southerly winds. now, temperatures over the last few days reached the mid—30s in parts of central france, and essentially it's that warm air wafting across england and wales. it really is england and wales that will see the highest temperatures. scotland and northern ireland, a fair bit of cloud around, maybe a few patches of rain in the far north west later in the day. temperatures about 19—20 degrees. the heat across eastern england, particularly south east england and around the greater london area, temperatures will probably reach 30 degrees somewhere as we head through the afternoon. now it looks like being another very warm day. the heat‘s on again for england and wales on tuesday. further north and west, again, the cloud could thicken to give an odd patch of rain, maybe an odd shower for wales and western england. for most here, it should stay dry. and again those temperatures up to 29, maybe 30 degrees in the hottest areas. there will, though, be a significant change in the weather as we head from tuesday into wednesday, and the reason for that change, with much cooler weather on the way, is down to this area of high