this is bbc news, the headlines: the world health organization has reported a record—one—day increase in global coronavirus cases. it comes as israel has become the first country to re—impose a nationwide lockdown, as it battles a surge in cases of 4,000 a day. the three—week lockdown begins on friday. more than 20,000 firefighters are now tackling wildfires on the west coast of america. millions of acres of land has been destroyed across three states — washington, california and oregon. at least 30 people have been killed in the blazes and dozens more are reported as missing. scuffles have taken place between riot police and protesters in belarus as demonstrators 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.

now on bbc news, it's time for global questions. hello and welcome to this edition of global questions with me, zeinab badawi. this week, we asked if lebanon's political system is broken. the beirut explosion has led to a huge backlash against the country's ruling class who are blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement. could the anger this time lead to a real change in direction or will it simply be more of the same? well, the human and economic cost of the chemical blast in the port of beirut has been devastating, around 200 people died, 6000 injured, 300,000 made homeless and there's been

billions of dollars of damage. well as always, we are having to bring you our two panellists and our questioners who join us from all around the world via video link. let me tell you who is in the hot seat this week. manal abdel samad is a lebanese politician who resigned as minister of information following the explosion but she remains in the caretaker cabinet. she believes that change remains elusive and regrets being unable to fulfil the aspirations of the lebanese people. and rana khoury is a political activist and founding member of the beiruti madinati, an independent campaign group that has no political affiliations and is led by volunteers. it aims to bring progress on environmental and socio—economical issues in beirut. rana has been right in the midst of the street

protests in the city. welcome to you both and also to my questioners, a solitary round of applause from me, remember you too can join the conversation its #bbc global questions. right. let's get right down then to ourfirst question. and it's from the eastern cape in south africa and it's from blessing. blessing, what do you want to ask our two panellists? my question is going to be based on events that took place in lebanon. will the lebanon blast end up being a political game changer? minister? hello, hello everybody. hello, rana. actually, the beirut blast is not only the game changer, the game change started from october 17 when we had this revolution in the street. and now the aftermath of this deadly blast, the august 4th explosion that rocked the city of beirut is required more than any other

time else to reconstruct a better lebanon based on a good government. and this good governance should start with the main pillars that are transparency, inclusion, government effectiveness and accountability which is a major key issue. so that we can meet lebanese aspirations and demands. rana khoury, do you agree that this is a real game changer? because you know, we've been here before, haven't we with lebanon? we've seen protesters out in the streets but do you sense that there is something different this time? because the explosion comes after the suffering that has been wreaked on lebanon because of covid—19 and all the rest of it? i mean, any common sense in politics but evenjust on a human level, would say that after such a murderous blast there needs to be a change of the entire system. however, what we saw after a few minutes

after the blast until now, we've seen it really a very incompetent, murderous political class that didn't change anything in their behaviour. they didn't even go on the street after the blast to help the people there. and what we've seen is a movement by the people of lebanon helping each other in solidarity. i don't think this is a game changer but i think this is a game ender. i think this is the end of this political class. even if it's not technically their end because they will do everything they can, and you've seen what they've done to stay on the seats. i think today the trust of the people has been shaken forever. and this is why a lot of them have not even dared to go out on the street because they know the reaction of the people. i think the trust in this political class has ended. this has been the last shot. we have seen, yes we've seen other events but usually we see exploitation by the political class which now is a no—no. it didn't work and they can't

exploit it and i'm sure this is the end. i don't how long it will take and i don't how much more we will suffer but it is the end of the game. ok, so minister, i did say you were in the hot seat, do you accept that you are part of the political class who people like rana khoury condemn? i think that it's not about politicians who are corrupt. we have a whole system, the ruling class is represented not only by politicians but also byjudges, by civil servants, by legislatures, by media institutions. we have a whole system. and not all politicians are good and not all are bad. 0k, sorry, just to come in here, you count yourself clearly amongst the good in the political class. 0k well, we will test that proposition perhaps further on with some of our other questions. thank you for the moment, let's go to our next question which comes from new zealand. and elijah, you're a student married to a lebanese. what is your question?

so, my question is which political system is right for lebanon? how do you introduce a government that includes all religious faiths with democratic values? so rana khoury, which political system is right for lebanon, which is an inclusive one? i don't think lebanon is the only country in the world, i'm sure in the uk, and in new zealand, there are a lot of religious faiths, different races, ethnicities, different political views. today, the only state that can work is a secular state that respects the citizen equally. that respects political views, beliefs, where there is rule of law and this is for me the only. so there isn't any reforms to this completely rotten system and violent system and corrupt system. you can't apply reforms. you need to have a new secular state that observes social justice and respects the beliefs of everyone, and the nonbeliefs of everyone. we can't talk about reforms in a system in lebanon today.

we are not the only country that has different... you have to stop looking at lebanon as always the battle of the sects. it's not what lebanon is, it's not what the revolution said. it's not what the young generation is saying, so with all the realities to take into account, we have to be courageous enough to say that this system is no longer working. and this system favours clientelism, sectarianism and it's also a ticking bomb at any moment for violence. just a bit of context here. because, of course, 1943 when lebanon became independent as it were from french colonial rule, it was given a constitution that gave the country's different religions various positions in the constitution. and you are saying there, rana, that that has simply

constitutionalised, if i can use that word, the sectarianism that has led to the problems that you described. minister, do you agree with that? yes, on this question i agree with rana, because any political system is a good system. as long as it doesn't interfere in the public administration work, in the judiciary work, nor have any vested interest. the problem in our system is deep—rooted corruption, the lack of transparency, lack of accountability, the lack of rule of law. what we need is a civil state that built on democracy. when i say democracy we say equality, socialjustice, freedom of opinion and expression. and definitely we need transparency and rule of law. these principles are all mentioned in the lebanese constitution. however, the devil is in the application. well, unanimity in agreement on the fact that lebanon needs a new political system that doesn't say the muslim shias get this, as the muslim sunnis get this, and the various christian sects get their share

of the cake as well. elijah, very quickly what do you think on this question that you posed yourself? well, me coming from new zealand, we were rated the least corrupt country in the world. so i wish that also for the lebanese people. but you agree that it should be, er, there should be no sectarianism, it should be secular? do you agree with our panelists? of course. religion should never be in government. ok, thanks very much. let's go to beirut, lebanon to a student there. what do you want to know from our two panellists? i want to ask, what are the possible reforms that are needed for lebanon to rise up again? rana khoury? i don't think there is a possibility to reform,

i think there is a need for a transition, we needs to have an independent government of people that are completely detached from the corrupt system. we need a government that can save us from the economic crisis we are in. this is on short term. but then we need a complete change of the system and a complete change of the political class, because, again, this is not only about the people but whenever a government takes its trust, whereby the people are outside the parliament asking for the government not to be formed because this is a political government, and people being beaten up and incarcerated outside the parliament. it's a government that is not respected or demanded demanded by the people, then this is part of the political class. we need transition. we need an independent government that is as far as possible from this criminal, but also very incompetent, political class that brought us into the lowest state ever, and then we need to move into a new state. into a new state of law, a state that respects people, their freedoms, their opinions and we need a complete elimination of this political class. let's see what

the minister says. so bring out the eraser, erase everything, clear the drawing board and go back to the start. minister, do you agree with that? before coming into the government, i was talking same as rana. this is the major reason why i came into the government, to make a change, to make a difference. what i realised is that the government alone is not the changemaker, because we have a whole system that needs to be changed. we are talking about the legislature, the judiciary, about different other components of the system. she is right that we have to work on the whole component and this is our role. this is why i resigned because i couldn't find any reform plan based on our only endeavours in this matter. so if we put hand in hand, we can work a lot. and i agreed that we have to make a change in the whole system. because if we are, if we do the same thing, the same way, we get the same result. so we have to change the way

we are doing things to get better results or a different results. i hope that answers your question. social media, we have a comment: "lebanon will only have a future if it becomes a secular, tolerant and multi—cultural lebanon where all religions can live in peace and prosperity." so clearly, that is something which is very much on the agenda. next, we are going to go to mohammed who prefers to be known as mo. mo, you are iraqi but you join us from austria. what is your question?

my question is that because we have seen outside players meddling in my country. so, the question is, how can you stop the external powers from fighting their proxy battles in lebanon? thank you. manal abdel samad. we've seen a lot of instability in lebanon caused by outside players. how can you stop that? actually, all the conflict that is taking place in the region affects lebanon and we are part of this big picture and we are definitely affected by any conflicts that are taking place in the region. but what we care about more is the interest and the benefit of lebanon for us. and we have to work for any patriotic benefit more than anything else. and this meets the union of everybody in lebanon and solidarity of all political and nonpolitical parties. 0k. rana khoury? definitely there is a bigger role being played in lebanon, being the field of a lot of proxy wars being done. and a lot of regional deals would, actually, international deals would define a lot of things happening.

however, when you have a proxy then have a compliant party as well that is agreeing on being a player. as we said, the political class, and we said it, it's part of the slogan, they are all involved in the murderof the lebanese people. but also in the corruption and the mismanagement. however there is a dominant ruling party today lebanon and it is hezbollah that controls most of the public institutions, if not all in lebanon, and the government decides when the president of the republic needs to be elected and who he or she should be. this is the reality of lebanon. besides the fact that hezbollah is heavily armed in lebanon, and this is obviously a threatening issue, hezbollah are profoundly incompetent in ruling this country on all other levels.

the question is though, we know that hezbollah is backed by iran, because it is a shia political party, has seats in the lebanese parliament, it has its militia, which is extremely well—armed, but the question is, how can you stop outside players interfering in lebanon? as people, we can't stop outside players from interfering. however, we can build a safety net around our own country. this is why transitional government and free elections are necessary in lebanon. if you ask me about how i would disarm hezbollah, would i be in favour of war? no, i'm not in favour of a war because we have seen how foreign nations also use lebanon to their own benefit. it is a job that we have to accomplish on our own. it is a job we have to — it is a very long way to reach that. i don't know what will happen

on an international level. we are very firm in our opinion against having arms outside the public institutions, but we are also very firm with all our other opinions about foreign powers, with our fights with israel, with our support to the palestinian cause, and i think this is what scared the political classes, that we are rejecting these proxy wars. at the same time, we are sticking to the independence of lebanon and the freedom of lebanon. having these two together, in a people's revolution, is really destabilising for the political class. mo, a quick response on what you've heard our two panellists say. actually, i was expecting from the minister more. but i do completely agree with rana khour y of course. thank you very much, indeed. we are going to go to asia now. to singapore, to lawyer venetia. your question? international community has pledged $300 million to help

lebanon to expedite political reform. what should be the role of international intervention to self—reform, going forward? minister, i'll repeat the question for you. the international community has pledged $300 million to help lebanon to expedite political reform, what should be the role of international intervention for such reform going forward? we have heard, for instance, minister, that the french government has said it will help lebanon, but any help is conditional on seeing real and substantial reform. is that something that appeals to you, minister? yes, international support has always been appreciated and the friends of lebanon are abundant here. and we welcome any donations, either cash or in—kind, but the most important issue is transparency.

because people need to know where donations have come from and how they are spent. so this is, maybe they lack trust and there is some kind of schism between the class — the political class and the lebanese people and to restore this trust, we should work on transparency and accountability, to show more serious actions and reforms and mainly, we have to work on the reform of the electricity sector, because it cost lebanon so far more than $47 billion, which is 40% of the public debt. and we are paying every year, $2 billion in a sector that is losing with time, so i think that gaining — restoring trust starts by seriously working on reforms and by applying transparency

and accountability. rana, should aid from the international community be conditional on reforms? i think that $300 million is barely sufficient to address the loss of more than 40,000 homes that have been shattered in the blast. i would suggest to everyone not to pass aid to the public institutions, there are a lot of good people working on the ground and accomplishing something and actually repairing houses, and actually helping the injured. i don't think any reform is possible with the current political class. i would urge everyone not to pass on one penny through the current political establishment, but to go through other channels. we need to start differentiating between the people of lebanon and those ruling us. that is a lot of money. the blast caused $4.6 billion of damage, according to the world bank, and then a further $3.5 billion because of the reduced economic activity. who's going to be receiving all of these billions,

if they come, then? well, there are a lot of micro initiatives that have been working and building more than 100 houses in the past month. the red cross has been operating. a lot of big organisations have been operating. international organisations have been operating on the ground. from my own experience, and what i have learned from my parents and grandparents and perhaps great—grandparents, money that goes into the public institutions will never see the light and will never have an impact. minister? we have to say that we have to pay attention on this case that we can't stereotype, because some of the public service institutions are good, some are bad. and even in ngos, we have to be vigilant in choosing which ones to work with, so i think that it is a matter of trust with people and not with industries or with sectors. so we have to know with whom to

work and to whom to give trust. and now, ourfinal question is from british—lebanese antoinette foster, whojoins us from the north of england. what is your question? thank you for inviting me. as a lebanese, i can say that lebanon is in a political turmoil and it has always been, unfortunately. i can't tell you what's next but all i can say is that surely lebanon will rise again and i am so proud to be lebanese. do they agree that lebanon will rise again? thank you. minister? antoinette, thank you so much for this positive spirit and this positivity, because this is what we need to raise lebanon again and this is what the support that you can give to lebanon. not by being optimistic, nor by being aggressive.

we have to be positive. in order to be change—makers, we have to have the three ps — passion, patience and perseverance. so if you have this passion for lebanon and if you have the perseverance to change and if you have the patience to get rid of all obstacles we face, then we can reach our goal and we have the same goal. i don't think i came from a different group or from the corrupt group, i also came from the people and i returned back to the people and for the same purpose, i need to change and we have to work together in this positive spirit. i appreciate what antoinette said. rana. i think what we have is resilience. the curse of resilience. and every time something happens, they say lebanese are resilient, they will continue, they will build again. i think this leads us to refrain from being angry and from calling forjustice.

and for me, we will rise again if we resist. if we have a breath that is long enough to see change happen. but i don't agree on the fact of always covering the wounds, saying it's ok, moving on, being positive about it. i think this is the curse of resilience and rising from the ashes that people stick and label the lebanese people with. i think we are a very, very angry people. they have killed us in our own homes. they were killing us in the streets. but will it rise again? i mean, as long as we are here, even if we go abroad, even if we live in the uk, even if we escape for the sake of our children for a while, as long as we exist, i think it will. but it's not about resilience and just rising in a title or in a song.

it's about seeking justice and fighting and really about getting your rights as a human being, because this is what it's all about. it transcended politics and transcended economy and transcends everything. we took a lot as a people. we took a lot of coups, a lot of kicks, we took a lot of blood. and it is no longerjust about being positive. now, it is about taking what is our right, and our right is to live. minister? i witnessed a civil war from day one for 15 years and then came later on, many other battles on our territory. so what i can say, that resilience is already here and this is why we are strong, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, so it's not only a slogan, it's really a fact. and this is what we practice. and we are used to do. we are stronger more and more and definitely,

the sun will rise again. thank you very much indeed, minister. that is all from this edition of global questions. is lebanon's political system broken? we've had a very vigorous debate. we've heard about patience, perseverance, the curse of resilience, passion and it seems like we have ended on a relatively optimistic note, that out of this current crisis, that lebanon will rise again. thank you to my two panellists, the activist rana khoury and acting information minister, manal abdel samad. also to my questioners, who have joined us from all over the world and you, wherever you're watching or listening to this programme, if you want to be part of the programme, you can submit a question. please e—mail globalquestions@bbc.co.uk. remember, we are the programme that brings you the trend lines behind the headlines. from all of us here, goodbye.

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 i40mm 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, orkney islands 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 pressure that develops to our north. what that's going to do is it's going to send much cooler north—to—northeasterly winds down the north sea, and that will really hammer the temperatures. now, on wednesday, there will still be a lot of drier weather around, still with some sunshine, maybe a few isolated light showers here and there. but look at the change in temperatures, down to about six, maybe seven degrees for some in the north—east, and eventually those cooler conditions will reach the far south—west, too.

welcome to bbc news, i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: israel becomes the first country to re—impose a harsh nationwide lockdown, as the who reports a record—one—day increase in global coronavirus cases more than 20,000 firefighters are now tackling wildfires that have killed at least thirty people on the west coast of america. a new era in tennis as many pm as his first us open. a heavy police response fails to deter huge anti—government protests in belarus, as people call