this is bbc news. i'm sarah mulkerrins, live in tokyo on day 10 of the olympics. the ioc say they're in regular touch with 3 belarus athlete 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. i'm rich preston in london. also in the programme: 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. hello and welcome to the programme, i am live in tokyo for day ten of the olympic games. we start our coverage today with news that 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. krystsina tsimanouskaya was due to compete in the women's 200m 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 uploaded a video on social media, appealing for help, and the flight took off without her on board. in the last hour, the ioc spokesman mark adams

says the unhrc is now involved in the case. after she spent the night an airport hotel in tokyo. adams says her wellbeing is their first priority and the ioc are waiting for a report on the incident from the belarusian national olympic committee. with this particular athlete, the most important thing at the moment is our duty of care to her. which is why we spoke to her. which is why we spoke to her yesterday, we continue to be in touch with her today. we have assured ourselves that she had a safe place to stay last night and was under protection and this morning we will continue those conversations with her. well, let's get more on how we got to this stage — this report from ramzan karmali contains flashing images. surrounded by police and safe. that's 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're 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 from the games on doctor's advice about her emotional psychological state. tsimanouskaya is now said to be to seeking asylum in europe but is thought to be frightened about her family's safety back home. a short time ago, i spoke to the academic and former athlete jules boycoff, whose research focuses on the politics

of the olympic games. he said it's an extraordinarily significant moment for belarusian athletes. after all, athletes have been involved in opposition struggles against lukashenko in the past. in fact, a star basketball player who played in the wnba here in the united states where i'm coming to you from, was actaullyjailed 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've come under a lot

of fire for that in tokyo, as you know, with the coronavirus raging across tokyo and japan, athletes very concerned about living in the so—called 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 about 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 hours 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 so it will be fascinating to see how they react. in terms of the action here. we've had two gold medals on the track. puerto rica's jasmine camacho quin won the womens 100m final — a dominant performace. usa's kendra harrison took the silver with jamaca's megan tapper winning the bronze. in the long jump for men — it was gold for greece and miltiadis tentoglou. let's take a look at what else is to come up on day ten 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.

we'll talk more about that in a moment. 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, lets 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. "60. behind them are the hosts japan who have 31 altogether, equally placed with australia who have 31 medals in total, but fewer golds than japan. let's get more on the laurel hubbard. —— the laurel hubbard story. let's speak to fallon fox, a former mixed martial artist and tra nsgender athlete. she is an advocate for transgender sportsmen and women. thanks forjoining us, fallon.

i wonder how this moment is being received in the trans— community? being received in the trans- community?— being received in the trans- community? being received in the trans- communi ? , ., , , community? this moment is being received highly _ community? this moment is being received highly in _ community? this moment is being received highly in the _ community? this moment is being received highly in the transit - received highly in the transit community. we are so excited to have this representation for transgender athletes. —— trans tra nsgender athletes. —— trans community. transgender athletes. -- trans community-— community. there are critics that say laurel _ community. there are critics that say laurel hubbard - community. there are critics| that say laurel hubbard went through male puberty and that would give her an advantage and be unfair. what would you say to that? i be unfair. what would you say to that? ., _ be unfair. what would you say to that? ., ., , to that? i would say that is bonus. to that? i would say that is bogus. transgender - to that? i would say that is. bogus. transgender people, to that? i would say that is - bogus. transgender people, when we go through transition, there are a lot of differences at reduction in muscle strength and endurance and a lot of other things in sports so there is no unfair advantages in sports. as far as science is concerned. sports. as far as science is concerned-— sports. as far as science is concerned. . concerned. the evidence, the scientific— concerned. the evidence, the scientific evidence _ concerned. the evidence, the scientific evidence and - concerned. the evidence, the scientific evidence and the . scientific evidence and the academics out there are yet to reach a conclusion on it and it seems that something that the sport and the governing body

and saga grappling with. for you personally, how will you received when you are competing?— received when you are competing? received when you are com-aetin ? ~ .,, competing? well, when i was competing. — competing? well, when i was competing. i _ competing? well, when i was competing, i was _ competing? well, when i was competing, i was received - competing, i was received negatively for the most part because of a lot of the misconceptions about what happens to trans— —— transgender bodies in sports conversations. —— competitions. but we are moving past that in trying to move past that now, so... ~ ., ., _, trying to move past that now, so... ~ ., ., ., so... what would you say to laurel hubbard _ so... what would you say to laurel hubbard who - so... what would you say to laurel hubbard who finds i laurel hubbard who finds herself in the centre of this big talking point? she has done everything within the rules, has fully entitled to be there in terms of the ioc guidelines. what would you say to her? i would say go strong and i hope that she wins and i would say don't listen to the haters, just go out there and do your best and, you know, try and win the gold for your country.

fallon fox, really appreciate your time here on the programme. from here at tokyo bay and the olympics, let's go back to rich now in the studio. 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. 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 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. lease to set reporting from afghanistan. —— —— lyse doucet. 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.

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 vigour, vitality- and enjoyment of life. no other king or queen i in british history has lived so long and 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 world news. the latest headlines: the ioc say they're in regular touch with a belarus athlete 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. 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. their duties initially, the military says, to help in vaccination centres. the state of new south wales 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 and can tell us what's happening there. there is a great deal of tension especially here in western and south—western sydney where the police and now the army's presents is going to be most concentrated. there are eight areas of what is considered to be the epicentre of the outbreak and there are home to 2 million people, about 2 million people. many of them work in the manufacturing sectors in construction, in the health sector. there are owners of small businesses and they are all worried about their livelihoods. remember, these areas have already been placed under stricter rules than the rest of the city and their

communities are being targeted. i have been speaking to people who live here who say that there is just a who live here who say that there isjust a great who live here who say that there is just a great deal of fear among people and they make the point as well that many of the point as well that many of the residents here are refugees or people who have fled war—torn countries, oppressive regimes and seeing police and military underground can be a traumatising experience. one of them actually told me that it feels like an invisible wall has been built around those areas was upheld authorities have been grappling with this outbreak for weeks now. have been grappling with this outbreakfor weeks now. 239 cases, an all—time pandemic high for new south wales. that has happened twice. and yes, compared to many countries around the world, these numbers are low, but think of it in the australian context. this is a country that for many, many months, life has gone back to near normal for most people so this is definitely a step backwards as the delta variant continues to challenge health workers here. there is also the

factor of the lower vaccination rates in australia. we have heard from the government, we have heard from the prime minister, urging people to get theirjabs. they say minister, urging people to get their jabs. they say that the country needs 70% of australians to get vaccinated before restrictions are eased and until then, these outbreaks are going to be handled by more lockdowns. here in new south wales at elsewhere around australia. wales at elsewhere around australia-— wales at elsewhere around australia. ,, ., w, ., ., australia. shaimaa khalil on the streets _ australia. shaimaa khalil on the streets of _ australia. shaimaa khalil on the streets of sydney. - 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. 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 district. in central america, polls have closed in mexico in a referendum about investigations into the country's former presidents. turnout had to be at 40% for the result to be binding, but was expected to be low because the supreme court watered down the questions — removing any mention of past presidents. as will grant now reports from mexico city, some polling stations were empty, despite many mexicans complaining about years of government corruption. 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 that, and as these figures began to come out now, that's clear. the yes vote, with people wanting to see corruption properly investigated, 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 was 7.74% of the electorate. it had to be 40% to make it binding. so it's already clear this will not be a binding result 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 pushed through by president lopez obrador. 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's trying to brush away the past.

his political movement calls itslef the fourth transformation of mexico, meaning that he's 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 in 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 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. so, the opportunity missed and a low turnout. how do many mexicans feel this should be dealt with?

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 a0 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. 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. man speaks in slovak. in the air, it flies at an altitude of 2,500 metres

at speeds of up to 170 kph, but the next step is a preproduction model with a range of i,000km. 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 fori 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 onlyjust 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. great stuff stop much more on all those stories on the bbc website of cause and you can download the bbc news app. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @richpreston.

do drop me a note, i'd love to hearfrom you. thanks do drop me a note, i'd love to hear from you. thanks for watching and from all the team, by for now. ——bye. 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 ioc says it's in regular touch with 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 200metres 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, hardtalk.