welcome to bbc news, i'm ben boulos. our top stories. a belarusian journalist arrested in minsk following the forced diversion of his flight, appears in a video, apparently under duress. european leaders ban belarussian airlines from eu airspace and draw up targeted sanctions against officials. in gaza, we meet one community grieving the loss of their children in the recent clashes with israel. the us prepares to mark the first anniversary of the murder of african american george floyd, which prompted global demonstrations against police brutality. and the italian winner of this year's eurovision song contest passes a drugs test, halting rumours he took cocaine at the event.

hello and thanks forjoining us. the belarussian opposition journalist roman protasevich, who was arrested after the authorities forced his flight to divert to minsk, has appeared in a video, apparently confessing to organising mass protests against the president. in the statement, mr protasevich says he's being treated well and is co—operating with investigators. his forehead looks bruised — his colleagues say he's been beaten. the footage of mr protasevich was shown as eu leaders met in brussels to discuss how to respond to the incident. they've agreed to impose further sanctions on belarus. our europe correspondent jean mckenzie has the latest. armed police greet the arrivals on board the plane belarus is accused of hijacking, all to capture this young man —

roman protasevich. a journalist and political refugee, he fled belarus two years ago, only to be forced back home yesterday under the most extraordinary circumstances — by a regime, he told his fellow passengers, would execute him. his father has described his son's capture as a terrorist act. translation: we hope that he will cope. - we hope that he will stay himself, not give in to any of their tricks. we are afraid to even think about it, but it's possible he could be beaten and tortured. this evening, authorities have released a video of roman, where he makes various confessions. we're not showing it, as it looks like he's been filmed under duress. he's bruised and says police are treating him correctly. roman is wanted by authorities for running an opposition news channel on the social media platform telegram. it's used to organise protests in belarus and to broadcast them.

the protests exploded during last summer's election, when belarus�*s long—time leader president lukashenko claimed yet another disputed victory. back then, we witnessed peaceful protesters being dragged off the streets of the capital. since, hundreds ofjournalists and opposition politicians have been imprisoned. roman is the latest target. they endangered the lives of 171 passengersjust because of roman protasevich. and we were sure that to fly between two un member states is safe, but it turns out that it's not. the chief executive of ryanair this morning spoke of his anger. this was a case of state—sponsored... it was a state—sponsored hijack, it was state—sponsored piracy. i think it was very frightening for the crew, for the passengers, who were held under armed guard, had their bags searched. speaking in the house

of commons earlier, the foreign secretary said mr lukashenko�*s government must be held accountable for its reckless behaviour. the scenario as reported is a shocking assault on civil aviation and an assault on international law. it represents a danger to civilian flights everywhere. the uk government has told airlines to avoid belarussian air space, while uk airports have suspended flights from belarus. eu leaders have decided similar, to ban belarussian planes from using both their airports and their airspace, determined to show that hijacking a plane does not go unpunished. well, earlier, ispoke to aisling reidy, a senior legal advisor at human rights watch. i asked her to explain what the legal process in belarus could be for roman protasevich. to be frank, it is not quite clear, as you have already reported, today is the first evidence we have had that he is in pre—trial detention.

the video was clearly taken under duress while he is in detention. so we know there are a number of potential charges he faces, including as mentioned in the video, allegedly organising mass riots, and for that he would face 15 years of detention. and a number of other similar charges in terms of public disorder which he faces. because belarus, as we have seen, does not follow the rule of law, and because he has not had access to an independent lawyer or his family, the next step is not clear. it is clear what should happen, he should be released and be able to leave the country because the detention is completely unlawful and we hope the international community will continue to press for his immediate release. there are so many shocking elements to this particular story, this case. one of them is the fact he said to people as he was being

arrested from the plane that he feared he could face the death penalty. is that possible, that he could face the death penalty simply for organising protests against the government? so, the charge of organising mass unrest does not attract the death penalty. but he is on a list of people alleged to be involved in terrorist activities according to the belarus authorities. if they were to up the charges, there is the potential he could be prosecuted for a crime that attracts the death penalty and unfortunately we know that belarus, in violation of international law, has continued to execute people after unfair trials. the death penalty. so when he expressed that concern, it was a genuine and well—founded concern. it is one thing to arrest a journalist, an activist, but the fact they arrested his girlfriend as well,

that is a cause for concern. what do you read into that? at this stage, it is speculation, we know that she is in pre—trial detention and the authorities say they have asked for access to her in russia, because she is a russian national. whether they will bring charges, we don't know. whether they will use her as leverage against him, perhaps in the way the video today was recorded, we simply don't know. but yes, we are also concerned very much for her safety, one of her safeguards is that she is a russian national and the russian authorities are seeking access to her. we hope that gives her a layer of protection. let s get some of the day s other news. the malian military has arrested the country's political leaders, in what appears to be an attempted coup. the interim president

and the prime minister were taken to a military camp. the african union, the eu and the us have condemned the coup and have demanded their release. the coup comes just nine months after the military removed from office the previous president. the head of the world health organisation has condemned what he says is the scandalous inequity of access to covid vaccinations around the world. speaking at the opening of the annual world health assembly, tedros ghebreyesus said the gap was making the pandemic worse. us olympic officials say they're confident american athletes will be able to take part in the tokyo games, despite us government advice not to travel to japan because of the coronavirus. the goverment advice did not mention the games specifically, and the us olympic committee has stressed that safety measures and testing will protect competitors. the bbc board is to review the corporation's editorial policies and governance, following the inquiry into martin bashir�*s

interview with princess diana in 1995. the board said it accepted the report's conclusions and reiterated the apology offered to those affected by the failings it identified. president biden has announced that the us secretary of state, antony blinken, is heading to the middle east to try to build on the ceasefire between the israelis and hamas. both sides are counting the cost of the recent conflict, which claimed the lives of more than 250 people, most of them in gaza. our middle east editor jeremy bowen has been to a palestinian community in gaza, where a young man and seven children were killed. a warning — his report contains some extremely distressing images. it's not big enough to have a proper name. locally, this place is called the end of masaridene street. it could be idyllic. but this is gaza, around 800 metres from the boundary wire with israel.

on the 10th of may, the first day of the war, at around 6:30 in the evening, it turned into a small corner of hell. screaming. you can hear the shock as he says, "god is greatest". allahu akbar... and then, "children, children". then "martyr" and "massacre, a new massacre". yusuf al—masri lays his dead seven—year—old son marwan next to the body of his other boy, ibrahim, who was 11. in all, seven children and a young man of 21 were killed. this is yusuf al—masri. like all the bereaved parents, he said the dead

were martyrs forjerusalem, killed by israel. he accepted condolences the traditional way. his brother, still wounded in hospital, had three children killed. mohammed, yusuf�*s surviving son, said nothing and just listened.

their homes were shelled during 11 days of war. by then, the community had fled. israel says it has no record of a strike at the time of that first attack. it says its assessment is that a palestinian rocket aimed at israel dropped short of its target. the family showed us shrapnel they said was from the bomb. independent experts who have seen these photos say they're fragments of airdropped precision munitions — not palestinian rockets. the two sides will not agree. how are you doing? as—salamu alaykum. another family in the village is mourning a son — ibrahim, who was 16. his father says israel broke their hearts and made them hate their lives when they took his boy.

the eldest son, mohammed, showed me their home. ibrahim was working to pay for him to study to be a doctor. the women were in the garden, never leaving ibrahim's mother alone with her grief. more people arrived to offer condolences. palestinians don't believe israel's insistence that

it works hard not to kill civilians, warning them to get out before some raids, like the one that destroyed this part of beit hanoun. as in the previous rounds of fighting between israel and hamas, the ceasefire is a pause. the conflict is not just unresolved — it is not even frozen. jeremy bowen, bbc news, gaza. the bbc�*s laura trevelyan injerusalem says antony blinken is not trying to negotiate a long—term deal. what he's trying to do is to stabilise the ceasefire and to get aid to gaza. those are the minimal conditions that have been set. injerusalem today, two israelis were stabbed. the suspect was shot by police. jerusalem itself is full of intercommunal tensions. there may be a ceasefire, but this latest conflict has stirred up so much distrust and latent hatred, almost,

betweenjews and arabs in mixed towns across israel that this is the really alarming legacy of what's happened, which is why antony blinken is trying, really, just to make sure that this fragile ceasefire can hold. but even with that, prime minister benjamin netanyahu, who he's meeting, wants to send a really strong message to him about iran, because, remember, the us wants to rejoin the iran nuclear deal, there are about to be a whole other round of indirect talks between the us and iran. and tonight, prime minister netanyahu said that israel would not hesitate to take independent action if it needed to on iran, so it won't be the easiest of visits. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: as the us prepares to mark the first anniversary of the murder of george floyd — have relations between african—americans and the police improved?

in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, 30 million have tried to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues began at 7am. taunts led to scuffles, led to fighting led to full—scale riot as the liverpool fans broke out of their area into the juventus enclosure, the belgian police lost control. the whole world will mourn this tragic death of mr nehru. - he was the father. of the indian people. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than a500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, otherwise known as ginger spice, has left the spice girls. i don't believe it, i she is the one with the bounce, the go, the girl power. - not geri, why?

this is bbc news, the latest headlines. a belarussian journalist arrested in minsk following the forced diversion of his flight has appeared in a video, apparently under duress. the eu has approveed sanctions on belarus. the us secretary of state heads to the middle east for talks, following the fighting between israel and palestinian militants. he says his priority is to build on the ceasefire. tuesday marks the first anniversary of the murder of george floyd, the african—american who was killed while being detained by police in the state of minnesota. the images of the incident shocked people around the world prompting millions to take part in global demonstrations against police brutality. our north america correspondent, nick bryant, is in minneapolis and gave us a sense of the atmosphere.

there's a sense of frustration and anger that not more has changed over the last 12 months, because, historically speaking, grievous acts of police brutality have been the catalyst for major reform. the sight of police dogs lunging at civil rights protesters in birmingham, alabama in 1963 led to landmark legislation the following year. selma, alabama, the site of police officers mercilessly beating protesters again, produced a landmark voting rights act. and activists here saw an equivalent historical moment. they have been pushing for the george floyd policing act. joe biden has also set tomorrow's anniversary as a deadline for that, but it'll pass without the legislation being enacted, because there isn't the bipartisan support on capitol hill to get it passed. there is, though, a sense of determination that george floyd should notjust be memorialised with flowers, notjust be memorialised with this shrine, but be memorialised with legislation, police reform legislation that bears his name.

earlier, i spoke with civil rights advocate martin luther king iii — he told me there's still a long way to go to achieve real change. a first step would be of course to get the legislation, the george floyd policing act bill passed. and there is work being done by senator cory booker of the democrats and tim scott of the republicans. there is work going on, certain provisions, i think there may be some challenges but i believe something has to be done. that's just a step. there are so many things that have to be done to address policing in america. there has to be tremendous psychological evaluations that need to be done. they need policemen hired from the communities that they live in. people need to police

the communities that are from that community, they have a vested interest. there has to be a civilian review board and a civilian oversight board with the ability to subpoena, to hire and fire when incidents happen. there needs to be sensitivity, human relations and diversity training. and those are just some of the steps. this is a marathon, not a sprint. and for this to happen, a degree of momentum needs to be maintained to keep pushing forward. do you have a sense that the momentum is still there, like we saw in the weeks and months after the death of george floyd last year? i certainly believe the momentum is there. it is not at the level meaning that every state... we had, as you know, demonstrations in every state of the united states, demonstrations all over europe, australia, on the african continent and south america and in canada.

that level of demonstrations are not taking place but, listen, in the us there are many young people, black and white, hispanic, asian, who are not going to take this unjust behaviour any more. they are standing up and protesting. i must add that 89% of the protests we saw last year were peaceful. we talk about the 11% that ended up being violent and sometimes escalating into riots, but 89% of those protests were peaceful. i think those young people are going to continue to engage until we see something happen. do you think the 2020s will be a decade that, long into the future, people look back on in the way that people now look back at the 1960s as a time there was a significant change in the civil rights movement? i think that's a possibility.

we don't know yet. we saw derek chauvin convicted, which is good. three convictions. all of that is positive steps. but that is one case, and that does not determine the direction of policing, the direction of the country. it helps to provide insight, but this is something that has to be worked on every day. it's a significant problem. we even saw during the trial at least three shootings that took place in the last week of the trial, these incidents are not going to go away tomorrow. i wish i could wave a magic wand and change how policing is done. that's not going to happen, a lot of work we have to do in this country. you mentioned the trial and

the impact of the conviction on those three counts. how important will the sentencing be, this week? that's going to be very important also. none of us have any idea. we know what the prosecution is actually looking for. and hopefully the judge will provide a significant sentence. i think it would be very tragic for a very light sentence. in fact, it would be destructive and could cause irreparable harm. i don't think that's going to be the case, i think it's going to be a responsible sentencing. max mosley — the former boss of the governing body of formula one — has died at the age of 81. he'd been suffering from cancer. in later years max mosley campaigned for tighter press regulation after a newspaper sting revealed salacious details of his private life. but in his earlier role he initiated widespread safety

reforms in motor racing. the winner of last month's election in samoa has been sworn into office in an extraordinary ceremony — in a tent. she was locked out of parliament by her opponent, who's refusing to step down. she ended up taking the oath of office in a marquee in the gardens surrounding parliament. she's become samoa's first female prime minister. the lead singer of italy's eurovision—winning band — has tested negative for drugs. damiano david had come under suspicion after footage was broadcast of him celebrating the victory. the singer had vigorously denied claims of drug—taking. anna holligan has more. on the night, television pictures shows damiano david dip his head to the table for a few moments, and there was speculation online, in the press room, that he had been taking drugs. afterwards, he was asked about it in the press

conference, we were there, he said, "i didn't take drugs, my band—mate, the guitarist, thomas, broke a glass and i was leaning down to clear it up." we just had the statement from ebu, the organisers. they said following these allegations of drug use in the green room, the broadcasters requested through the italian delegation a thorough review of the facts. so they studied all of the available footage, and a drug test was also voluntarily undertaken earlier today by the lead singer, damiano david. that has returned a negative result. now, they go a little bit further than this and they say, "no drug use took place in the green room and we consider the matter closed. we are all alarmed at the inaccurate speculation leading to fake news that's overshadowed the spirit, the outcome and unfairly affected the bands." you can reach me on twitter —

i'm @benmboulos. hello. we know may has been wet, and now with less than a week to go, the met office says provisionalfigures indicate that wales, despite all of the sunshine to end monday, has had its wettest may on record — those records going back to 1862. wales will have a drier tuesday, but depending where you are, there'll be further heavy showers to dodge because low pressure, although it's moving into the north sea, is still close enough to produce some showers. there are changes on the horizon, we'll look at those in a moment. this is how we're starting off tuesday morning. a lot of cloud across scotland, northern england, through north wales, the midlands and on towards east anglia, where you could see patchy rain to begin with. elsewhere, a few sunny spells. the cloudy zone will brighten up, but this is where we're going to see some of those

heavy and possibly thundery showers, with the risk of hail during the day. quieter weather through much of wales, the midlands, into southeast england, bar the odd shower, and largely dry in northern ireland, but cornwall and devon clouding over with outbreaks of rain moving in. fairly breezy out there, and temperatures for the most part 12 to 16 celsius. tuesday evening brings some heavy showers towards the midlands and east anglia before the day is done. the rain clears away the far southwest of england, further outbreaks of rain pushing in towards southeast scotland and northeast england. wednesday starts where you're clear on a chillier note, some spots down into low single figures. and on wednesday, a few sunny spells around, but much of the east of the uk will be cloudy, and you could well see outbreaks of rain turning increasingly light and patchy as the day goes on. but through parts of scotland and northern england through the afternoon, there could be heavy and thundery showers. where you get the sunshine, though, it'll be a little warmer. still quite chilly as thursday begins under largely clear skies.

there'll be a weather system trying to approach from the west. some uncertainty about how far it'll get in during daylight hours, but it could well bring cloud and rain into at least parts of northern ireland. but where you stay dry, with sunny spells, it'll be a touch warmer still. that weather front to the west will die a death, and we're left with building high pressure going into the weekend, and that'll bring rather more settled weather than we've had of late. not completely dry — there may be a weather system approaching from the west later on bank holiday monday. but for most of us, this weekend looks drier and warmer.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: the belarusian journalist arrested in minsk following the forced diversion of his flight has appeared in a video statement — confessing that he provoked mass protests. it appears to have been made under duress. eu leaders have now banned belarusian airlines from its airspace and are drawing up targeted sanctions. the us secretary of state, antony blinken is on his way to the middle east for talks following the fighting between israel and palestinian militants. state department officials say his priority will be to build on the ceasefire. the us is preparing to mark the first anniversary of the murder of george floyd — which prompted global demonstrations against police brutality. relatives and supporters of mr floyd have held a rally that started outside the county building where former officer, derek chauvin was convicted. now on bbc news: mike corey is in kenya's maasai mara reserve,

finding out how an increase in domestic safari tourism