russia and the eu have led calls for armenia and azerbaijan to respect a ceasefire in nagorno—kara bakh, which should have taken effect on saturday. the russian foreign minister, sergei lavrov, said the truce must be strictly enforced. the eu said it was extremely concerned by reports of further military action targeting civilians. president trump has insisted that he is immune to coronavirus after contracting the illness. scientists say the virus hasn't been around long enough to understand the full immune response. twitter has again issued a warning about one of the president's tweets on the subject. the security forces in belarus have again used water cannon and stun grenades against demonstrators who took to the streets to denounce president lukashenko‘s re—election in august. campaigners say more than 400 people were arrested. many journalists were among those detained.

now on bbc news, for black students studying at one of the most prestigious university's in the world, academic pressure isn't always the only challenge, for some it can feel like a new world. for black students studying at one of the most prestigious universities in the world, academic pressure isn't always the only challenge. for some, it can feel like entering a new world. you feel like you have to be strong, you know? my mum keeps saying to me, just keep fighting. just keep going, just get that degree. over the years, oxford and cambridge universities have come under pressure for their lack of ethnic diversity. i think it's a place where race has not been acknowledged as relevant, particularly to the whole intellectual experience of being at cambridge.

last year at cambridge, the numbers improved on previous years, with the university accepting a record number of 91 black british undergraduates. but beyond numbers is the experience. i am ashleyjohn—bapiste, a bbc reporter but also a cambridge graduate myself. and whilst i am so glad i studied there, as a mixed—race south londoner who grew up in care, it felt worlds apart from what i was used to. and nearly ten years on from my own time, i want to find out what life at cambridge has been like for a new wave of black british freshers. the data is stark — black british undergraduates have never made up more than 3% of cambridge's undergraduate population. this doesn't include international students, who roughly make up a quarter of all undergraduates.

steps have been made to improve things. in 2018, the university launched the stormzy scholarship to fund a selected number of black freshers. but i know first—hand that once you enter cambridge, it's not uncommon to feel out of place. and as much as the university did offer support, i often felt like an impostorand totally out of my depth. it's because of my own experience that i really want to know how current black students are coping, in a space that is still predominantly white and privileged. and to give us their insights, meet fabianna, success and sharon. having started their first term last october, i caught up with them a few weeks in. success is from manchester and studying medicine. for his nigerian parents,

seeing their son study at cambridge is nothing less than a dream come true. back home in africa, when they maybe want to make fun of you, if you are studying so much, they will ask you, why are you studying so much, are you going to cambridge? so that tells you the position where cambridge is. it's a big thing for us. did you worry about what it would be like for your son, being at cambridge, as a black person? socially, is he going to cope? how is he going to cope, eating, feeding himself? what do you mean by that? well, they don't have african food there. will he continue to eat fish and chips every day? have you been eating fish and chips? burger, every day. so, these things have me concerned. cambridge has nojollof rice, and if there is nojollof rice, there is nojollof rice. i was definitely worried.

my first thought, initial thought, definitely ethnic diversity. i could count the number of ethnic people i could see on probably two hands. success is enjoying university a few weeks in, but he was a bit concerned about finding a barber in cambridge who could cut afro hair. big day. well. success, why has it taken you so long to get a haircut in cambridge? when i looked in the mirror one day and saw this mess, i didn't really know where to go. is it going to look like this for eight weeks? am i going to have to buy 50 hats to cover it up? were you concerned that you wouldn't be able to find a barber shop that could do afro hair? yeah, genuinely. i was a bit worried about it. a few weeks into cambridge, how's it going? yeah. oh, man, it's stressful! i did kind of worry about fitting in myself, from where i come from,

which is very traditional, very nigerian culture, into what is, what i see to be like an upper—class, like, white community. so, i was a bit worried. but it has been good. i've found people that are quite like me. i've found people who are very different to me but we get on. yeah, it's just been a really good experience. i can't lie, it's been brilliant. when i heard about cambridge and oxford and all that kind of stuff, they were places i wanted to go to. sharon, from tottenham, is studying history and spanish. herfamily, of eritrean origin, have come to visit. growing up, cambridge was seen as something so unattainable, but it was a goal, you wanted to go to cambridge. i feel like cambridge is very welcoming. like, representing, for eritrea, there's not that many eritreans that go to cambridge. i came forjust a short time

in this country and i never dreamed that my daughter would go to cambridge, but it isjust a dream. thank you, sharon, you make me proud as a mum. i think you do get a sense that you are different. it doesn't feel bad, but it's just something that you do have to kind of think about, you know, if you go into certain classes, you might be the only person of colour there. you might be the only black face there. you might be the only one with your hair there, do you know what i mean, like? your hair? yeah. what you mean by that? like, curly hair, afro hair. one of my friends said, they changed hairstyle, and people didn't recognise who they were. academically, it has definitely lived up to its name, but what i was surprised about was how i've been eased into it, in a way. fabianna is from coventry, where she lives with her jamaican mum. she's studying psychology and behavioural sciences. you know where you're going, so you have to play the part. it don't work overnight, just get up and say, i'm going to be posh, you've been working towards this.

you are not a follower, you are a leader. i'm a leader. yeah, you are. just a few weeks in, fabianna says she encountered racial discrimination from another student at a social event. the incident involved the use of a racial slur. when we were all drinking together, this boyjust said like a really ignorant comment, he said, "i'm too drunk to say the n—word." so that was something that, like, threw me off, because i had never really experienced someone outwardly saying something like that to me, i had never been called the n—word or anything like that. and just for detail, this happened on site at the university? yeah. and this was another cambridge student? yeah. so, it happened at girton, in a bar, when we were all drinking together, by another student. was this a white student? yeah, it was a white student, a white boy.

it really threw me off, because i was with another friend of mine that's also black, and we were just, like, we had never gone through something like that. you're used to the micro—aggressions, but you're not used to someone outwardly saying something like that to you. she decided not to report the issue, but confronted the student privately, who she says later apologised. when that comment was said, what went through your head? it was mainly just shock, i couldn't say anything, everyone was just like, oh, my gosh, i can't believe he just said that. but no—one really spoke up apart from me and my black friend. but when someone makes a comment to you like that, you're definitely, like, i'm black at cambridge. the university said... whilst the incident did have a negative impact, fabianna is positive about her start at cambridge. what do you want out of your first year at cambridge

university? i just want to build loads of relationships with people. being here, any conversation you have could be a link for your future. mostly, i'm fine, i'm having a good time. it's been really, really good. it's not too long after her own encounter that fabianna hears of another black student who alleges they have been discriminated against. according to the student, the incident involved a staff member from trinity college, which is one of the colleges of cambridge university. i was on the train, one of my feet was on the seat and i wasjust sitting there. a man from trinity college came on, looked at me in disgust and just literally looked over and said bleep. verbally assaulted me on the train. for no reason? literally no reason. the only reason, i believe, was because my foot was on the seat. no—one was around and i was unwell. he had the trinity college lanyard, he had the trinity college tie, he had the trinity college uniform, it was very clear that he was from there. and when i said to him, i'm just letting you know, i'm going to be reporting you to the university for what you just called me. he said, go on then,

i've got loads of friends who work in the university. i think to myself, would i have been spoken to like that if i was a white man? so, did you complain to the university about the situation? i complained to the university, yes, they sent me some links in an e—mail, they sent me over to a complaints line that i could use. i had people contacting me, saying, where are you, and i felt too embarrassed to even reply to them and say what was going on, because it was having such an effect on me. it was having such an effect on me. and it really grates me that i'm getting emotional about it. yeah. cos you feel like you have to be strong, you know? my mum keeps saying to me, just keep fighting. just keep going, just get that degree. she was saying, do you want to drop out? do you want to leave? you felt like you wanted to drop out, because of these incidents? i have, but i'm fighting for every other black person

who i know who needs to occupy the spaces, because black people need to come here, black people need to know that they need to get here so that we can pave the way for others and we need to break that glass ceiling. and i will not leave this place and i will not shut up, i will not be quiet until i see change. the university said that nia told her college... they understand that no action was taken. the university has taken steps to improve its diversity, but it's clear that some black students still struggle. i took the guys to share their concerns with the university's vice chancellor. a lot of black students feel like, when they get here, they don't really feel like a part of the university. incidents where we just feel like outcasts. what mechanisms does university have for issues that black students experience?

so, the first step is creating a critical mass of bame students, black students in particular, so that people never feel alone. one of the things that we have done is committed to a three—year programme of increasing dialogue around issues of race. do you think this is a place that is institutionally racist? i think it's a place where race has not been acknowledged as relevant, particularly to the whole intellectual experience of being at cambridge. so, in that sense, i would say it is racist because it doesn't acknowledge race in people's lives. my commitment to every student coming to cambridge is that she or he should feel that they are fully a part of the institution. part of that is making sure that people who come from backgrounds that are different ,and particularly students who come from race backgrounds that are not dominant, have to feel at home. what do you guys make

of the stormzy scholarship? you know, i think it's sick. i really, really love the work that you guys and stormzy have done. yes, it was great, but i was wondering, is this really his responsibility? so, the stormzy scholarships are not the only scholarships available to black students, or any student, for that matter. we've got a huge initiative called the student support initiative, where we're trying to raise £500 million as part of ouroverall campaign, purely for student support and that's really directed at people who are coming from widening participation backgrounds, less—privileged backgrounds, who wouldn't necessarily feel that they had the resources to come to a place like cambridge. it is our responsibility. stormzy came to us and we were really grateful, because it was a way of telling the story in a much more accessible manner, but it's a much wider story than just stormzy. since last meeting the students, they've all joined the university's african caribbean society,

also known as the acs. it's a university club that celebrates african and caribbean culture and tonight, a few weeks into the new term, they're attending a special dinner. it's not your average student party, but it's still a vibe. there's a strong turnout for the dinner, made up entirely of black and ethnic minority students. we had a group of students who suggested that we run a dinner specifically to celebrate our ethnic diversity in cambridge. we thought it was a great idea, we decided to put it on, host the event and because it was so popular, we've done it every year since then. after a drinks reception, the students make their way into the main hall for tonight's dinner. wanipa is the president of the acs. when i was at cambridge as a student, would you get a room full of black and ethnic minority students? we are alljust here existing and it is a beautiful symbol of how far we have come. we are here to stay.

we are here to stay, i'm not leaving now! what's on the menu? so, we have got caribbean spiced chicken wings or cauliflower, and we have got some salmonjerk, caribbean pea rice. wow! so it's caribbean food? yeah, caribbean pea rice. 0k. interesting, interesting. it was just over halfway through the academic year that the national lockdown was announced as a result of the coronavirus. the university closed, students sent home, lectures were moved online. it marked the end of their student experience as they knew it. we will beat the coronavirus and we will beat it together and therefore, i urge you, at this moment of national emergency, to stay at home, protect our nhs and save lives. this whole coronavirus thing has just been getting on my nerves. i feel like it's stressing everyone out, there's nothing to look forward to, because summer's basically

locked off now. this whole situation is just putting the whole country into panic. i wish that this virus would just disappear next week, but it seems to be getting worse and worse. i've done lots of work but i have nothing to show for the year. i have to take exams at home. it'sjust like, it's not going to be an accurate representation of what i am capable of, because i'm going to be doing it at home and there are loads of students, like myself, who have in an environment at home where you just feel like you can't really work. itjust makes me feel, like, what was the point of this year? ifeel like i need a refund on my 9k or something. this is me on my last day here in cambridge for the entire year. this coronavirus stuff has made it so the term's been cancelled. it's really sad. the university issued, like, a code red. those who could leave were asked to leave as soon as possible.

it's been four weeks, i think, since i was back at home. what the heck is going on with my hair? the exams are in september now. it is what it is. i've not done any work in, like, three weeks. term is cancelled in terms of, there's not going to be anything in cambridge, but we still have online lectures. nothing, is what i've been up to. i've done literallyjack. work has been practically nonexistent. and whilst dealing with lockdown, black lives matter protests broke out across the uk in the summer, following the death of george floyd in the us. black lives matter! my mental health is not in the best shape. i'm sure every black person in cambridge has a story to share about some sort of covert racism or ignorance that we've experienced and it's nice, in times like this, when black lives are up for discussion, having people around you who have had the same experiences as you.

it's kind of hard, being away from cambridge and not having that support system. so, yeah, it makes me miss cambridge a lot. uni's almost done, i have literally one assessment left to do and then i'm finished first year. it's saturday the 6th ofjune and we're on our way to our second protest for black lives matter. it wasjust, like, the best thing, the level of solidarity, the level of unity. it's been really amazing, despite whatever the media's trying to say, like, they were trying to make it out as being really violent, it was not, it was really peaceful. 0k, i've just come off the phone, i've just had my director of studies meeting, which is like my parents evening without my parents, and i got my exam results. somehow, i managed to bag a first in both history and in spanish.

and when she told me, iwasjust, like.. ijust, i don't know how, especially in this term, because it's been disgracefully hard. i don't think i've actually had time to just process this year properly and sit down and i don't know... a lot of it was kind of filled with fear and obviously the whole imposter syndrome and feeling, do you really belong here? are you really the type of person they're looking for, were you just like a pity acceptance ? all those kind of things that rush into your mind, and then to come out the other side. i don't know, it's a miracle. and if this is what i can achieve in my first year, best believe. it's been so long since i've seen the students, so long that a whole term has passed. i catch up with them to find out how, despite everything that's happened, they feel their first year has panned out. all right, so, you guys have had a year of being at cambridge. is this a space where black people can flourish?

it is, it is. because i feel like i've learned a lot about myself and i have always been very aware of my blackness, very immersed in my culture, but i always say that i've never felt as black as i have here in cambridge. what do you mean by that? i mean, like, in coventry there's a lot of black people around, there's asian people around me, like, it's very diverse, but here it's not diverse. you're very aware that you are black, here, like, it's something that i realised in freshers' week, but that doesn't mean that you can't flourish. your environment can make things difficult for you, but it's not a barrier. you can overcome whatever you want to overcome and be who you need to be. it mightjust be a little bit more difficult, but that doesn't mean you can't do it. when we spoke to the vice chancellor stephen toope, he admitted that race was an issue that needed to be explored more. he even acknowledged stains of institutional racism. what needs to change, in light of everything that's happened over the summer?

words, especially in this day and age, are very cheap. like, you can say something and, you know, if what you're saying appeases the masses, per se, at that time, then you can kind of get away with not doing anything. and i think that, for a very long time, powerful institutions, cambridge included, have fallen to that kind of standard. you know, they'll say something, and there will be no actionable plan in place, that's the next step. it's all well and good changing sentiments and feelings toward something, but if there's no practicality, if there's nothing that you apply to make black students feel, you know, more safe and more accepted in this community, then at the end of the day, you can't say we've made progress. now, of course, as well as lockdown, we've had black lives matter protests in the wake of the death of george floyd. as black students at cambridge,

how are you feeling? it made me just become disillusioned with, like, almost everything. i think i'd been a person, initially, that had just trusted the system. even if it was implicitly, and i don't mean the system and, like the government, or something big, butjust, if you stick by the rules and just do what you need to do in the capacity that you can, then things will be fine. and it was like bit by bit, everything, no, actually, we've tidied our hair, we've spoken the way that we needed to speak, we've silenced elements of our culture, we've done this to accommodate in these spaces, and still that's not enough and still you're going to go on social media and still see people dying and still see... just like injustices everywhere and then having to confront that. i ended up feeling guilty, because, why did i tolerate so much, why did i think so many things, little micro—aggressions, little comments or little perspectives, like my place here in a sort of quote—unquote white country, there's more to be done and there's more that i can say and speak out about without feeling like i'm disrupting people or making

people feel uncomfortable. that was really hard to deal with and i feel like if i was in cambridge, we would have our friends and acs and everything to be able to talk about it and share how we feel, but doing that on your own... lockdown in itself was hard, like mentally. that drained a lot of people, but then on top of that, with being black and seeing your people hurting was really, really hard to deal with in lockdown. outside of academics, i think acs will be a big part of my year this year and just, like, being able to create just an amazing space. covid or no covid, just because we've got such a huge intake of black freshers and ijust want them to be able tojust experience what we experienced.

hello there. the changing autumn colours looked splendid in the sunshine on sunday. beginning to look a little more muted as we go through monday. lots more cloud around, outbreaks or rain spreading its way eastwards across most parts during the day as well. the cloud and rain, though, from these weather fronts as they push in through the night means the temperature shouldn't drop too much across western areas. in the east though, a little ridge of high pressure, some clearer skies for a time. parts of east anglia and the southeast could be a touch of frost in the countryside — with temperatures

and lower single figures, away from the city centres. but here, some early brightness before cloud thickens, rain arrives later into the afternoon. a wet start in northern ireland, through much of scotland, and around any western fringes of england and wales. the rain heavy at times, clearing through northern ireland quite quickly to a blustery wind, sunshine and a few showers later. same too into scotland as we go into the afternoon and maybe some late sunshine into northwest england and north and west wales. winds strongest across the west during the second half of the day. light winds further east, but even though those winds coming in from a south—westerly direction, they won't bring much warmth with them. after a cold start, the cloud and the rain arriving means temperatures not going to lift much — parts of yorkshire through towards the midlands and lincolnshire could be only around nine degrees, same too in aberdeenshire. through monday night, the rain could linger across east anglia and the southeast, and it returns across parts of northern scotland with some heavy showers through northern ireland, wales and the southwest. with the clearest conditions and southwest, and northwest england, here, a touch of frost into tuesday morning, but i think all of us see a bit of cloud around and some rain around at times on tuesday. our weather front, well, pressure deepens in around it. so that low pressure spinning around, buckling our weather

front back southwards across scotland during the morning — brighter conditions in the afternoon. we will see some brighter weather on tuesday across the heart of england and wales, but outbreaks of rain across many northern—eastern areas, heavy showers towards the southwest as well. the breeze will be picking up, but it won't feel quite as chilly, i suspect, for the southwest midlands down towards the southwest. then, as we go through into wednesday, still some cloud and showers around, particularly for england and wales. a stiff northeasterly breeze for all, best of the sunshine in the west, driest of all parts of scotland and northern ireland. but a cool feeling day, once again, and that cool feel will continue through the rest of the week, with temperatures down on where they should be for the time of year. the winds, though, will gradually ease and the skies will brighten a little bit more, with more of you spending thursday and friday dry. that's how it's looking. see you soon.

welcome to bbc news — i'm maryam moshiri. our top stories: searching for survivors — armenia and azerbaijan are urged to heed a ceasefire after another deadly attack in the disputed region of nagorno—karabakh. the top us government scientist, anthony fauci, says an edited clip of him used in a trump campaign tv ad is misleading. security forces in belarus use water cannon and stun grenades to break up mass protests over the re—election of president alexander lukashenko. nigerian police say they'll disband a controversial