welcome to bbc news. i'm rich preston. our top stories: an athlete from belarus is under police protection in tokyo, after her team officials tried to put her on a plane home against her will. the first openly transgender athlete to compete in an olympics is due to make history today when she competes in the women's weightlifting competition. taliban fighters continue to advance in afghanistan — attacking cities, and threatening to over—run the capital of helmand province. unarmed troops begin to patrol the streets of sydney — as australia ramps up its covid lockdown.

warm welcome to the programme. the czech republic and poland have offered to help a belarusian sprinter who was ordered home from the games by her country's olympic officials. one that was due to compete in the women's 200 metre event on monday. but after posting a video complaining about being entered into another race at short notice she says she was told to pack, and taken to the airport. she then contacted police and said she is now safe. the incident has caused widespread concern. this report contains flashing images. surrounded by police and safe. that is what belarusian athlete krystsina tsimanouskaya believes for now. the sprinter was due to be on the starting blocks later today but says she was forced to pack before being taken to the airport in tokyo against her will.

translation: | ask- the international olympic committee for help. i was put under pressure and they are trying to forcibly take me out of the country without my consent. i ask the ioc to intervene. tsimanouskaya was due to compete in the women's 200 metres on monday but had complained on social media about being entered into another race at short notice. she claims on sunday officials came to her room and gave her an hour to pack her bags before being escorted to tokyo's hameda airport. on the way to the terminal she contacted the belarusian sports solidarity foundation, a group that supports athletes jailed or sidelined for their political views. translation: this whole situation began when - pro—government and propaganda channels started a negative campaign against her. the campaign was quite serious and that was a clear signal that her life would be in danger in belarus. after that she began to worry and then today she was told she would leave tokyo

immediately and deported to belarus, she understood her life was in danger. last year, protests against the current belarus president, alexander lukashenko and his disputed re—election in august were brutally cracked down on. he is backed by russia and has ruled for 27 years. his son is head of the country's olympic committee but is banned from attending the games as the ioc does not recognise last year's presidential election. the belarusian olympic committee said in a statement that the coaches had decided to withdraw the athlete based on doctor's advice about her emotional psychological state. tsimanouskaya is now said to be to seeking asylum in europe but is said to be frightened for her family's safety back home. a short time ago, my colleague sarah mulkerrins in tokyo spoke to the academic and former athlete jules boycoff who's research focuses on the

politics of the olympic games after all, athletes have been involved in opposition struggles against lukashenko in the past. a star basketball player who played in the wnba here in the united states was jailed for her efforts for 15 days. the sprinter has good reason to be concerned at this moment, no doubt about that. and in terms of the development here, do we expect other athletes to potentially come out and speak up? what impact will this have? it will be interesting to see what happens here in regard to the international olympic committee. they issued a statement today on twitter saying they were monitoring the conversation and looking forward to dealing with it in the coming days. they have a slogan at the ioc that athletes come first, putting athletes first. and they have come under a lot of fire for that in tokyo, with the coronavirus raging across tokyo and japan, athletes are very concerned about living in the olympic bubble and this gives them a chance to put athletes first. in terms of other athletes that

you are talking about, it will be interesting to see what happens here with these belarusian athletes. a lot will depend on the support she gets from poland, the czech republic and other athletes in the village and on the scene. we know that we will have a media briefing from the ioc at midday here in tokyo, in about two hours time. how difficult a position is this for them in terms of how they navigate the next few and what they do? for the international olympic committee this is a very difficult situation because it explodes one of their guiding myths, which is that the olympics are not political. this is obviously an emerging political situation here and if they want to stand by their slogan of putting athletes first, that means they may have to violate their stated policy of not engaging in politics. so they are very much on the hot seat. the ioc�*s supposed political neutrality is very much

being put to the test here and it will be fascinating to see how they react. well, let's take a look at what's coming up on day 10 of the olympics in tokyo. laurel hubbard is set to make history by becoming the first openly transgender athlete to compete in a different gender category at an olympic games to that which they were born. her selection has sparked debate. the new zealand olympics committee says hubbard is a "really important role model". however critics, including some athletes, have questioned her inclusion. on the track — all eyes will be on the women's 100m hurdles final — after puerto rico's jasmine camacho-quin set an olympic record in her semi—final, while american world record holder kendra harrison finished second in her semi—final. after the road events last week, attention now turns to the velodrome in cycling today with the track events getting under way and we will find out which two teams will battle it out for gold in women's football. with usa facing canada and australia taking on sweden

in the semi—finals. now as day 10 of the olympics gets going, let's have a look at the medal table so far. china are currently top of the tally with a 2k gold medals and 51 medals in total, while the us have 20 golds, but more overall medals with 59. behind them are the hosts japan who have 31 altogether, equally placed with australia who have 31 medals in total, but less golds thanjapan. now to afghanistan, where taliban militants are threatening to seize control of the main city in helmand province — once the home to british forces in the country. the militants are now on the verge of overrunning the city of lashkar gar in the south, and there's fierce fighting in kandahar and herat in the west. our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, reports from the capital kabul. lashkar gah, helmand, the peace roundabout —

now overrun by taliban. they say this square is theirs. gunfire the centre of a city once patrolled for years by british troops. afghan special forces, trained by britain and other nato armies, are rushing in. this video's from the afghan ministry of defence. explosion the battle intensifies on the ground and on social media. 35—year—old general sami sadat is the commanding officer in this southern area. he says the taliban have suffered hundreds and hundreds of losses. but his forces have lost most rural areas. it's much the same across afghanistan. now the taliban are bent on seizing the cities. this war is being raged street—to—street.

this war is being waged street—to—street. on one of them, the family ofjamal barak. a former interpreter for the british army, now in the uk. people are stuck in their homes. they cannot go outside. there is no electricity, there is no food. people will die without food, without water. and the taliban is actually walking the streets and looking for the people who have worked for the afghan government and for the british government, and we haven't heard anything positive from the british government at the moment. we are hoping that they will do something very soon. otherwise there are people that are going to lose their life. all the beds are full at this hospital in helmand, run by the emergency ngo. more beds being brought in. hundreds of thousands are on the run. look at the way these children are moving across the fields in the western province of herat. the crackle of gunfire all too close.

but civilians are also standing their ground. this man is said to be the head of herat�*s provincial council. "don't waste your bullets", he says. "take careful aim." and old warlords are back, too, to take on the taliban. white—bearded commander ismail khan fought soviet forces in the �*80s, taliban in the �*90s. "we're doing our best to suppress the enemy so they can't enter the city", he says. "i call on the people to support us, especially those who are armed, to resist the terrorists." but the taliban are at their strongest since their defeat nearly two decades ago, after the us—led invasion. it's a moment of reckoning for afghan forces. a moment of risk for the very future of afghanistan. much more about this on our website,

including this map, created by our visual journalism team, showing who is in control of which parts of afghanistan. just log to bbc.com/news — or download the bbc app. let's get some of the day's other news. the us senate has reconvened to start moving towards a vote on a trillion—dollar infrastructure bill — which it's hoped both republicans and democrats will support. the measure could be voted on this week — but there are still sticking points on how it will be funded. many republicans are opposed to tax increases on big corporations and wealthy individuals. the video—conferencing firm zoom has agreed to pay $86m to settle a class action privacy lawsuit in the us. the lawsuit alleged that zoom had invaded the privacy of millions of users by sharing personal data with facebook, google and linkedin. the firm denied any wrongdoing, but has agreed to boost its security practices. police in the german capital,

berlin, have clashed with anti—lockdown demonstrators after they defied a court ban and gathered illegally. police used batons and tear gas, saying some of its officers had been harassed and attacked in the western charlottenburg district. the australian military has deployed 300 unarmed soldiers to enforce sydney's strict lockdown as the city tries to suppress a surge in covid cases caused by the delta variant. among their duties, conducting door to door checks to ensure residents are complying with the stay at home order. they're hitting the streets on monday after training. the state reported 239 new locally acquired cases on sunday despite having been under a stay at home order for over five weeks. our correspondent shaimaa khalil is in sydney. she told us how people have been reacting. there is a great deal of apprehension and tension, especially in those areas where the police and now the military presence is going to be concentrated.

that is eight areas in the west and southwest of sydney, considered to be the epicentre of this latest outbreak. it's home to about 2 million people, mainly from ethnic diverse migrant backgrounds, but also home to many people who work in the construction industry, the manufacturing industry, also owners of small businesses. they've been struggling. now, these areas have already been under stricter rules than the rest of sydney, and they feel that with this military coming in, going door—to—door, they feel targeted and they feel afraid. i've been speaking to some members of the community, and one of them told me that people are afraid to leave their homes, that those who are flouting the rules are the minority, but also that it almost feels that there is an invisible wall that's been drawn around the community. also, of course, these are areas where there are refugees, and any interaction with law enforcement and with the military now could be a traumatic experience.

a real change in tone from a few months ago, where the prime minister famously said it's not a race. today, he's written an op—ed in one of the newspapers, basically pumping up the spirit of the olympics, saying that like the olympians, we should go for gold, that the australians should ramp these numbers up, should go for vaccinations because until it gets to 70% — and we're nowhere near that number — lockdowns are going to be the way to deal with those outbreaks. remember, compared to any other country in the world, these numbers are quite low, but a, the trajectory remains persistently high. combine that with the high transmissibility of the delta variant and the low vaccination rates — that's really what's making health authorities really nervous here. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: it's not science fiction but a convertible flying car. we take a look at a prototype that's been decades in the making.

the question was whether we wanted to save our people, and the japanese as well, and win the war or whether we wanted to take a chance on being able to win the war by killing all our young men. the invasion began at two o'clock this morning. mr bush, like most other people, was clearly caught by surprise. we call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all iraqi forces. 100 years old and still full of vigor, vitality . and enjoyment of life. no other king or queen i in british history has lived so long in the queen mother is said to be quietly very- pleased indeed that she has achieved this landmark- anniversary. this is a pivotal moment for the church as an international movement. the question now is whether the american vote will lead to a split in the

anglican community. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: an athlete from belarus is under police protection in tokyo, after her team officials tried to put her on a plane home against her will. in afghanistan, civilians are fleeing their homes as a taliban offensive on three major cities continues. polls have closed in mexico in a referendum about and let's stay with the topic of coronavirus, because it's notjust the olympic action that's making the news and grabbing attention in tokyo. there's concern among officials there over a spike in covid—19 diagnoses in and around the japanese capital. our correspondent in tokyo mariko oi has more.

as you said, we continue to see the surge. on saturday we saw the record high of over 4000 in tokyo and on sunday we saw 3000 orjust above 3000 and what's concerning is that usually, over the weekend, we expect these numbers to be slightly lower because of the number of tests that can be carried out, and also alarming is that the proportion of those tests coming back positive is hitting almost 20%, according to the tokyo government. when you ask the japanese public, lots of people feel the state of emergency isn't doing enough. of course, it's been expanded and extended as of today, but despite its serious name, it's not exactly a strict lockdown. there is no penalty. as you can see around me, lots of people are still out and about. i was listening to a radio program this morning on the way here and about 60% of people say the government needs to do something even stricter. whether or not the government can do so remains to be seen, because the japanese constitution does not give the right to the japanese government to impose a strict lockdown. its critics argue they should

have started changing the law way before so that they can actually do something about it. the only thing they can do is offer financial incentives to businesses like they did during the first state of emergency, so that people don't have to commute to their offices and also businesses like bars and restaurants can receive the money a lot quicker so they actually listen to the government's request to close early, which they have not done so. have sentiments injapan towards covid changed since this rise in cases? it's a bit of a schizophrenic reaction, if you like. there's still a lot of excitement about how well japanese athletes have been performing, lots of excitement about japan's men's football team getting to the quarter—finals, their next match is on tuesday. but at the same time, as you can easily imagine, there are lots of concerns about this surge in covid cases, whether or not these numbers, especially with the national figures, heading above 10,000 for the fourth day in a row yesterday, whether those news

headlines will be enough to get people to stay at home remains to be seen, but we haven't exactly noticed a change in attitude when it comes to people staying at home. polls have closed in mexico in a referendum about investigations into the country's former presidents. turnout must be at 40% for the result to be binding, but it's expected to be low because the supreme court watered down the questions — removing any mention of past presidents. some polling stations were empty, despite many mexicans complaining about years of government corruption. our correspondent, will grant, joins us from mexico city. it is sunday evening in mexico, polls have closed, what exactly were voters being asked to decide? ~ ., , were voters being asked to decide? ~ . , , decide? well, ultimately this didn't end — decide? well, ultimately this didn't end up _

decide? well, ultimately this didn't end up being _ decide? well, ultimately this didn't end up being a - decide? well, ultimately this | didn't end up being a question specifically on past presidents, but more on what was called "political actors" and whether or not people felt, in this very convoluted question, that they should be investigated properly and reparations should go to victims. obviously there is virtually nobody in mexico who would be against about, and obviously as these figures begin to come out now, that is clear. the yes vote, with people wanting to see corruption properly investigated against a corrupt actors, has been won by miles. we can already see they are going to win this. but the turnout is so low. it has just been announced it is 7.74% of the electorate. it had to be 40% to make it binding. so it is already clear this will not be a binding results and that president andres manuel lopez obrador can say, look, i put it in front of the people but it simply hasn't worked. this was -ushed simply hasn't worked. this was pushed through _ simply hasn't worked. this was pushed through by _ simply hasn't worked. this was pushed through by the - pushed through by the president. what was he hoping

to achieve, and what will he do now with this low turnout? well, i think critics will say that what lopez obrador was hoping to achieve was political theatre, to sort of whip up the sense in which he is the pioneering voice on corruption in mexico, that he is trying to brush away the past. he political movement before the transformation of mexico, meaning that he is changing mexico root and branch. critics simply don't think that has been the case and i think that was reflected in this low turnout. of course, low turnout might also have had to do with the covid pandemic in the country at the moment. but i think what happened was, he simply couldn't make that stick. too much background politics in mexico, too much give and take between different successive mexican administrations. and by the end, having tabled this motion, he didn't even vote himself. he said if he was going to vote he would have voted against it because he doesn't believe in looking backwards, but looking forwards. so the whole thing became very involved. lots of

kind of confusing mexican politics. but this was a really good chance, lots of people felt, for mexico to really take a grip of its justice system, that does need real reform, that does need real reform, thatis that does need real reform, that is known to be very corrupt. there is a terrible problem with impunity, from the very top down. and that opportunity, many would say, has been missed. 50. opportunity, many would say, has been missed.— has been missed. so, the opportunity _ has been missed. so, the opportunity missed - has been missed. so, the opportunity missed and l has been missed. so, the opportunity missed and a| has been missed. so, the - opportunity missed and a low turnout. how do many mexicans feel this should be dealt with? well, i think the point that lies beneath all of this is that there are not any actual laws protecting previous presidents anyway. so presidents anyway. so presidents lopez obrador, if he wanted to look into the various cases that were mentioned against previous presidents, and we can include some of them now, the disappearance of 43 student teachers in 2014, for example, under enrico pending at the, a case in which police

brutality was used against protesters into thousand six, if those cases were opened by this minister —— were to be opened by this administration, they could have done so. that is what a lot of people are saying, it should have been done anyway and it didn't need a referendum in the first place. a referendum in the first lace. ~ , . a referendum in the first lace. ~ h, ~ place. will grant in mexico ci , place. will grant in mexico city. thanks _ place. will grant in mexico city, thanks for _ place. will grant in mexico city, thanks forjoining - place. will grant in mexico city, thanks forjoining us. | it's been the dream of many for decades, but is the idea of a flying car finally becoming reality? a fully convertible flying car recently made its first voyage between two international airports, and has now notched up more than 40 hours in the air. the aircar is the work of a slovak inventor and designer who's been working on the project for three decades. he took our correspondent rob cameron for a spin. engine revs. it sounds like a sports car. it looks like a sports car. and you can even fill it up with regular petrol at the pump.

this supercar is equipped with a super feature like no other. at the touch of a button, and a process that takes two minutes and 50 seconds, it does this. the first prototype has a 160 horsepower engine and easily reaches regular motorway speeds on the ground. speaks slovak. in the air, it flies at an altitude of 2,500 metres at speeds of up to 170 kilometres an hour, but the next step is a preproduction model with a range of 1,000 kilometres. translation: for me, what's important is the feeling of freedom. i'm from a generation that knows what it is to lose one's freedom. the car gave us great freedom, but now we just sit in traffic. the flying car could reinstate this freedom and take it to a whole new level. professor klein says the real advantage of the aircar is its convertibility. when the wings are retracted, it's only slightly longer than a regular estate car, meaning it will fit in your garage. and all you'll need to take off is a strip of grass or concrete.

all this is still at the prototype stage. the big concern, of course, remains in safety. we can make an aircraft fly fairly easily — i say "easily" — but humanity's been doing that for 120 years now. the trick now, here in 21st century, is doing it safely. now, by safely, i mean getting on for one million hours of flight time before we have an accident induced by the aircraft failing for some reason. so, hats off to professor klein, but his work is only just beginning! the aircar is not the only flying car in development. consultants morgan stanley say the sector could be worth $1.5 trillion within two decades. big manufacturers are clearly interested. so, could we really be spending more

time in the air than in traffic? rob cameron, bbc news, slovakia. hello there. for most parts of the uk, sunday got august off to a relatively quiet start weather—wise. i say most parts of the uk. for some, there were some vicious downpours and thunderstorms during the afternoon. and it's a similar story into monday — a relatively dry, but not completely dry start to the new week. quite a cool start as well and then some wetter, windier weather is set to develop later in the week. high pressure trying to control things at the moment, but it's quite a weak ridge of high pressure, not strong enough to fend off all the showers. most places having a largely dry day on monday with some sunshine, but quite a lot of cloud clinging on across north—east scotland, certainly across the northern isles.

this area of cloud bringing rain to much of northern ireland, and then some showers breaking out across parts of england and wales as we head into the afternoon, some turning quite heavy and thundery for the south—west of england, wales and the midlands. the winds very light, so get yourself into some sunshine and it won't feel too bad, despite these temperatures being quite disappointing for the time of year, 14—20 degrees. some of those showers across england and wales will continue on through monday night, even into the early hours of tuesday. most places will be dry with some clear spells, but you can see this area of rain approaching the far south—west. quite a fresh, cool start to tuesday morning as well, but that area of rain in the far south—west looks set to dive away southwards towards parts of france, so that rain not making a lot of progress across our shores, just really into cornwall and the isles of scilly. we will see some rain across the channel islands,

but most places on tuesday seeing some spells of sunshine and one or two showers popping up again into the afternoon. a few of those could be heavy, possibly thundery, and temperatures again up to 20, possibly 21 degrees. now, into wednesday, i think we could see a few more showers breaking out at this stage, a line of showers likely to push in across north—west scotland, some breaking out elsewhere through the afternoon and again some heavy, thundery ones, those temperatures around 20 or 21 degrees. as we head towards the end of the week, things are set to turn more unsettled. one area of low pressure rolling in for thursday, another one behind it and that's our weather maker for next weekend, so generally speaking as we head towards the end of the week it is going to turn more unsettled with showers or longer spells of rain and potentially some fairly brisk winds as well.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the czech republic and poland have offered to help a belarusian sprinter who was ordered home from tokyo by her country's olympic officials after she criticised her coaches. krystsina tsimanouskaya is underjapanese police protection and had been due to compete in the women's 200m event on monday. the first openly transgender athlete to compete in an olympics is due to make history at the tokyo games when she competes in the women's super heavyweight weightlifting competition. the new zealander, laurel hubbard, is seen as a medal contender in the 87—plus kilo category. the australian military has deployed 300 unarmed soldiers to enforce sydney's strict lockdown as the city tries to suppress a surge in covid cases caused by the delta variant. more than 200 locally acquired cases were reported on sunday despite a stay—at—home order for five weeks.

now on bbc news, dateline london with shaun ley.