welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines — an olympic sprinter from belarus who was ordered home takes refuge at the polish embassy in tokyo and is granted a humanitarian visa. in china, seven cases of the covid delta variant are detected in wuhan, the place where the global pandemic first emerged. i'll be asking former new zealand prime minister helen clark what needs to be done to tackle asia's surging infection rates. in turkey, devastating wildfires that are threatening hotels, homes and lives in popular tourist resorts along its southern coast. and scaling the heights of physical endurance — we meet the teenager championing

the new olympic event of sport climbing. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. it's 6am in the morning in singapore and 7am in tokyo, where a sprinter from belarus who refused her team's order to fly home early from the olympics has been granted a humanitarian visa by poland. krystsina tsimanouskaya sought refuge in the polish embassy in tokyo after claiming she was taken to the airport against her will. she had criticised her coaches on social media. rupert wingfield—hayes reports. this was the moment earlier this evening when krystsina tsimanouskaya stepped onto polish soil. safe from the belarusian officials she says were forcing her to leave

tokyo against her will. the saga had begun to days earlier with this social media post. next, ms tsimanouskaya was spotted at tokyo's hamada airport about to board a flight to istanbul. but it's very clear she didn't want to go. the belarusian team says that claim is nonsense, that she was being sent home because of her emotional and psychological state. but the polish government has decided to believe her story and to offer refuge. what's going on here in tokyo has very much the whiff of history about it because back in the days of the cold war, olympic defections were a regular event. the last one i could find was in los angeles in 1984. now we have someone defecting from belarus, a country that's been described as the last dictatorship in europe and she's going to poland, a country that was once part

of the soviet bloc and is now very much the opposite. last year, belarus was rocked by huge protests demanding an end to the 27—year rule of alexander lukashenko. poland was a vocal supporter of these protests, and it's clear today's offer of refuge to ms tsimanouskaya fits in with warsaw's support for the opposition. "every person who cannot return to belarus for political reasons and wants to come to poland can count on our support," the deputy foreign minister says. "ms tsimanouskaya is under the care of the polish state. she wants to come to poland. we will grant her all support." back injapan, there is relief this drama has been resolved so quickly. but with six more days till the olympics close, tokyo must be a little worried that other athletes could be tempted to follow ms tsimanouskaya's lead.

rupert wingfield—hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. let's go live to tokyo and speak to our correspondent mariko oi. great to have you on the programme. as rupert was saying, there has been some relief in tokyo that this matter seems to have been resolved. has there been much press coverage injapan? what is the reaction to this story injapan? well, i have seen the story being covered on local news programmes, and so it's definitely not the top story. i have grabbed some newspapers for you, and it's still very much the surge that we are seeing in covid—i9 cases but also have the government is now asked people to stay at home unless their symptoms are really serious, indicating that hospitals are getting somewhat overwhelmed. but still a lot of articles about those medals won by japanese athletes yesterday in a wrestling as well as in gymnastics. also when it comes to

sport newspapers, a lot of excitement about japan winning against the us, two more victories until the gold medal it says. but i thought it was interesting when it comes to that belarusian athlete that there have been some comparisons made also media how she, a white female athlete, has been treated compared to the ugandan athlete who tried to run away but was sent home. of course it's not as simple as just about there skin colours. one tread one away from his hotel room and the other sought help through unofficial channel. but i thought it was interesting how some are making a comment about and also how because she was seeking asylum elsewhere, not here injapan, that may have prohibited to the way she was treated, some argued, though of course because that's partly because japan rarely grants asylum to anybody, including athletes. mil japan rarely grants asylum to anybody, including athletes. all the latest on the _

anybody, including athletes. all the latest on the reaction _ anybody, including athletes. all the latest on the reaction to _ anybody, including athletes. all the latest on the reaction to that - anybody, including athletes. all the latest on the reaction to that story. latest on the reaction to that story in japan. latest on the reaction to that story injapan. there is much more about this story. much more about this on our website, as well as more detail about what life is like in belarus these days. just log to bbc.com/news or download the bbc app. you will get all the latest there. let's take a look at some of the stories in the headlines in the uk. the uk reopened its borders to large parts of the world on monday, with fully vaccinated travellers from the us and eu able to arrive without needing to quarantine. industry bosses have welcomed the move, but are urging ministers to go even further in reopening international travel. the government is tweaking the nhs covid—i9 app in england and wales because of complaints that it's sending out too many isolation alerts. the app will now look for close contacts in the two days before someone tests positive rather than five days. the uk government is scrapping proposals to create an amber watchlist of countries at risk of being downgraded to red because of covid infection rates. some travel industry figures had warned that an overly—complex system

could deter people from travelling. still to come a bit later in the programme, we'll have the latest on those fires in turkey. but first — hundreds of thousands of people in china are being confined to their homes as the country tries to contain its largest coronavirus outbreak in months with mass testing and travel curbs. it's all linked to the fast—spreading delta variant. the central city of zhuzhou in hunan province ordered over 1.2 million residents to stay home under strict lockdown for the next three days as it rolls out a city—wide testing and vaccination campaign. sp, authorities say seven cases of the delta variant have been detected in wuhan, where the global pandemic is thought to have started. according to chinese state media, this marks the first time the city of 11 million has reported any

locally transmitted cases of the virus sincejune 2020. for more on this, i am joined now by helen clark, former prime minister of new zealand and co—chair of the independent panel for pandemic preparedness and response. the delta variant shows that the pandemic hasn't been brought under control yet. i note this is something you have been very focused on in terms of vaccinations. are rich countries to blame for not doing more to help poorer countries? as long as transmission is raging anywhere in the world, the whole world has a significant problem and the facts speak for themselves on the facts speak for themselves on the vexing roll—out. around 40% of people in advanced economies, under 20% in emerging economies have been vaccinated, and if we look at current centres of the pandemic like

indonesia, underthe current centres of the pandemic like indonesia, under the vaccination rates are probably still down around 8% or so. so the inequitable roll—out is a huge problem, but so is not seeing the course on basic improvement of public health measures which will help stop covid. there is no one answer here. a whole lot of things have to go right to stop it in its tracks.— lot of things have to go right to stop it in its tracks. sorry to “ump in there. your panel's findings recommended that rich countries fund $19 billion to help poorer countries set up systems, access vaccines and treatments. have you got any pledges of support so far? the pledges are not big enough yet. we said that by september, the country should not redistribute 1 billion doses to lower and lower middle income countries and by next year another billion. we have an overall shortage of vaccines in the world because production was not ramped up and up we could

redistribute high income countries having order twice as much as what they need. it needs to get out there and by the way notjust before the expiring date. developing countries cannotjust snap to and administer vaccines, which we have got very little lifetime left on the. we need a lot more coordination and cooperation yet. it's been a year and a half since the pandemic first started, and you've been speaking about some of these issues for a while. how frustrated are you at the lack of momentum around some of these recommendations? prior recommendations came in may and wejust had a prior recommendations came in may and we just had a very good briefing sexing —— session of the un general assembly were member states were pretty serious about all of his. he recommended they work towards a political declaration on reform for the global architecture around preparedness and response. our recommendations have two sets. one

is a meteor to longer terms systems a set of issues and the other, the immediate issues with the vaccines. vaccines are critical. they are inevitably being rolled out. africa inevitably being rolled out. africa in the last month according to the who has had an 80% spike in deaths. this is totally inevitable and unethical, and ijust appeal to higher income countries to do whatever you can to fully fund the needs and get the vaccines out there. besides preparing for the next pandemic, are you satisfied with our understanding of the origins of the virus? what more can the who do, especially since china has rejected the second phase of the plan to study the origins of the virus? at the moment, we don't have the smoking gun in the public arena as to where it came from. there is the lab theories and there is the

transfer by nature theory and maybe we'll never know. it will be helpful if we did. but we do is that having illegally sold wildlife and market should not happen because that is a big vector for disease. we also know is that labs did protocols come out by security protocols are critical. so even if we don't know where it came from, we have two immediate things to work on. one is the health approach we measure people are not eating food that is not properly processed and sent to the consumer, and the second is lab safety protocols. both these issues are important and they need attention. absolutely but i want to push you on this a little bit. how is any of that possible when china is apparently unwilling to allow international investigators to research more could hold up many of the findings he would like to get? as i say, there are things that

should be gone regardless of what the whole truth around the issue is. but my advice to countries in anything like this is be transparent because we all learn from each other. we have to cooperate. one of theissues other. we have to cooperate. one of the issues will be that to move forward with better systems we need everyone's cooperation. our report tends to depoliticize the issues and deal with the facts. the facts are but we need a better international system and we need stronger international law and we need more cooperation. we can do that we will not repeat these lessons of history over and over. not repeat these lessons of history over and over-— over and over. helen clark, thank ou for over and over. helen clark, thank you forjoining — over and over. helen clark, thank you forjoining us _ over and over. helen clark, thank you forjoining us on _ over and over. helen clark, thank you forjoining us on newsday. i if you want to get in touch with me, i'm on twitter, @bbckarishma. looking forward to hearing your thoughts. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme, new zealand's laurel hubbard makes history as the first openly transgender woman to compete in a solo event. we'll be live in tokyo to find out more.

the question was whether we wanted to save our people and 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 i 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 in british history has lived so long, and the queen mother is said to be quietly very pleased indeed that she's 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 newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our headlines — poland has given a humanitarian visa to an olympic athlete from belarus who resisted efforts to send her home from the tokyo olympics for criticsing her coaches. let's turn to turkey. huge wildfires are burning for a sixth day, threatening villages and resorts in the tourist regions along its southern coasts. eight have died in the worst blazes in the country in a decade. this is popular tourist spot bodrumm where fires have been burning since wednesday. a huge firefighting operation is under way. help has come from azerbaijan, iran, russia, ukraine and the eu. you can see huge plumes of orange smoke filling the skyline

as people flee in their cars. over 100 wildfires are burning. all but ten have been brought under control. the flames are threatening homes, hotels and also boats. three five—star hotels have reportedly been evacuated. this is the resort town of marmaris along the turkish riviera. you can see just how close the flames are to the hotels. according to reuters, residents and tourists later evacuated to safer area. esra yal kinalp from bbc turkish visited a burned down village in antalya. we are here in manavgat, antalya in one of the coordination and relief centres operated solely by volunteers. you can see lots of clothing that is going to be sent to the villages that have been burnt down. there's dry goods that are going to be used by people who have lost their homes, who have lost their housing. there's refreshments,

there's medicine. the firefighters are working on the ground, and one of the most important things that they need is of course water. it's very high heat, and it's very dry at the moment. so, they are using lots of ice to transfer the water so it is still cool when they get there. here you can see people breaking the ice and supplying the water. and here you can see the trucks which are the cooling trucks donated by various firms. they are used to cool down the supplies that are going to be sent to the mountains. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. fighting in a major city of afghanistan has been intensifying. there are fears lashkar gah in the southern helmand province could be the first provincial capital to fall to the taliban.

a tv station is said to have been seized by the taliban, and thousands of people have been fleeing rural areas. the uk and us say the taliban may have commited war crimes. translation: i would like to point out that we have now a very - clear vision and plan for taking back control. our security forces are ready. they have reassembled, know the plan and are getting stronger by the day. we will keep engaging intensely in diplomacy to advance negotiations between the afghan government and the taliban with the goal of a political solution, which we believe is the only path to lasting peace. the uk and iran have summoned each other�*s diplomats in a row over last week's deadly attack on an oil tanker off the coast of oman. the uk, us and israel blame iran for the attack in which two crew members, a briton and a romanian, were killed. iran says it had nothing to do with the incident. the death toll from the floods in china's central henan province

last month has risen sharply to at least 302. almost 13 million people were affected and nearly 9000 homes were damaged. the city reported a year's rainfall within the space of three days. we looked at the fate of the belarusian athlete krystsina tsimanouskaya at the start of newsday and how she sought refuge from her country's own officials at the olympics. let's take a look now at what else has ben happening at the games with sarah mulkerrins in tokyo. great to have you bright and early. ijust great to have you bright and early. i just want to start by asking you, we have talked about this for the last couple of days, the transgender athlete laurel hubbard made olympic history by entering. but it did not go her way. what happened? yes. history by entering. but it did not go her way. what happened? yes, we know there has _

go her way. what happened? yes, we know there has been _ go her way. what happened? yes, we know there has been so _ go her way. what happened? yes, we know there has been so much - go her way. what happened? yes, we know there has been so much media i know there has been so much media attention on this story in the build up attention on this story in the build up and you can even see it with the amount of journalists who up and you can even see it with the amount ofjournalists who were present at the weightlifting yesterday evening here in tokyo as laurel hubbard made history becoming the first transgender athlete to compete at the olympic games in a different gender category than of which they were born. it did not quite go her way on the night in terms of the sporting action. she failed herfirst opening left in this match at 120 kilos and then her further to attempts of 125 kilos were both unsuccessful. so she exited the competition at that stage. the wind did go to a chinese lifter with an olympic record combined total of 320 kilograms, but a lot of the focus as we've been talking about over the last day or so has been on hubbard and her inclusion in this games. it has sparked a big debate. many hail it as a step forward in terms of

inclusion and others criticise its fairness on women's sport. many scientists and academics are unable to agree on a consensus on this so let's hear the perspective from two different views on this. this is a moment that i've been personally waiting for and working for for the last over a decade since i came out as a trans athlete. and, you know, to see laurel on the world stage at the highest level of competition representing her country, representing the trans community and representing the values of sport at the highest level with such poise in the midst of transphobic comments and such poor media coverage about her presence has really been incredible. laurel hubbard is a| veteran male lifter. the only reason that laurel hubbard has been able to qualify _ for the olympics is because laurel has that male advantage. - laurel hubbard has not spoken an

awful lot in the build up to these games and indeed afterwards when she was talking to the media, she did not answer questions directly and instead she read out a statement in which she thanked the new zealand olympic committee for all their support in the build up to these games. she said it was quite a difficult time. she said... so those are the words of laurel hubbard as she made history at the olympic games here in tokyo. quickly, what is happening today? i note simone biles is in focus again. i think everybody around the world who is offended gymnastics and is indeed seeing the story play out over the less we will be interested to see simone biles finally competing again at the last week she has been through, pulling out after that team event due to mental health issues where she has been struggling

a little bit with something called the twisties, or her mind and body are not quite connecting when she is pulling up some of those most dangerous tricks. she is going to compete in the beam final. she won bronze in the event and this is her final chance at a metal. we have seen her cheer on all her team—mates over the last week so she will now reappear at these games. so lots of people are going to be very interested to see how she goes and no doubt will be wishing her well. yes, she's a big hit at our house and certainly we will be wishing her well over here as well. with a combination of lead climbing, speed climbing and bouldering, the new olympic sport of sport climbing will be one of the toughest gold medals to win in tokyo. usually athletes focus on one or two of the disciplines, so being an all—rounder is a big advantage. australian teenager oceana mackenzie will be challenging the world's best at the aomi sports park as the sport aims to gain millions more

fans around the world. i'm oceana mackenzie, i do sport climbing and i'm from australia. so, i started when i was about eight, and, yeah, my mum, she actually took my sisters to our local climbing gym, but i would go with them and hang out at the gym and start traversing around the walls. and, yeah, i pretty muchjust loved it straightaway. climbing has this great challenge where you're actually trying to find a way to get up the climb. i loved having that challenge of trying to figure it out and challenge my mind as well as my body. the good thing about climbing is it's always really great to find your own way because you have a special kind of way of doing things. i never expected climbing to be in the olympics, so when it was first decided, i was like, "oh, that's amazing. it can be really great for the sport!" and then when we realised that i could potentially qualify, it was like, "whoa, i can actually go to the olympics," and it happened. and, yeah, super excited. for the olympics, you do speed, bouldering and then lead. speed climbing, just to get up the wall as fast as you can. bouldering, which is a short wall, so there's multiple boulders,

and you have to complete the most you can. lead climbing, which is like 17—metre walls, and that's whoever gets the highest point on the climb. it's a lot to train your mind as well as your physical body. like, its a big part of competition climbing. there's never an end to it, i guess like a lot of sports, but you can never really be the best because there's always going to be a harder climb that you can't do, which is really cool. like, you're always having to keep going, which is really special. great energy there. and before we go, good news out of france. keepers cheered as giant panda huan huan gave birth to not one, but two cubs in a zoo south of paris. panda reproduction is notoriously difficult since the bears are rarely "in the mood". the babies, born early monday, are said to be "lively, plump, and pink". you have been watching newsday.

stay with us. hello. sunny spells aplenty on tuesday, but there'll be showers around, too. and in fact it's going to stay quiet showery for the rest of the week, and, if anything, it'll turn even more unsettled towards the end of the week. now, thejet stream's not on our side. we're on the cool side of the jet. the jet stream separates the cool air from the north and the warm air to the south, and it also sends weather systems in our direction. so, actually much of western and central europe is feeling the effects of that cool air. you can see the yellows there, whereas the hot air is in place across the balkans, greece, turkey and into russia. in excess of a0 degrees there. obviously not for us, not that we'd want it anyway. but this is what it looks like early in the morning on tuesday. a lot of clear weather, sunshine right from the word go,

but quite nippy in the morning in some places. around five degrees in rural spots. so, the weather map for tuesday shows that we're in between weather systems. more weather systems out in the atlantic heading our way, but in between means that we'll see those scattered showers here and there. very light winds as well. now, watch where the showers form, some across the south almost along these distinct lines here. elsewhere, a lot of sunshine around, but if you're caught underneath that area of showers, it could be very, very wet, thunder and lightning as well. but like i say, fine sunny weather for the majority of the uk, and temperature's getting up to around 20 or so. now, the showers could linger into the evening hours for some of us on tuesday. here's a look at wednesday's weather map, and there's a weak weather front approaching from the west. it'll bring some showers to parts of northern ireland, scotland, too, and there'll be one or two showers breaking out elsewhere. but once again, plenty of sunny spells, so it's really sort

of all or nothing really over the next few days. temperatures could get up to around 22 whether you're in the south or the north. now, towards the end of the week, so here's thursday and friday, a low pressure is sitting on top of us. that inevitably means strengthening winds. they could be quite strong and gusty in the south of the country, and they will bring quite changeable weather. so, frequent showers on the way. now, you can see the outlook, really not much changes overall for the foreseeable future. that's it from me. bye— bye.

this is bbc news. the headlines:

the belarusian olympic athlete kristina timanovskaya has been granted a humanitarian visa by poland. she sought help from police at tokyo airport on saturday as belarusian officials tried to force her onto a plane home, after she criticised the team's coaches on social media. wildfires in turkey have killed eight people and destroyed large swathes of forest in the southwest. the european union has sent assistance and several other countries have sent fire—fighting aircraft to help. the requirement for people to quarantine if they are arriving in the uk from the us and most of the european union has been lifted. but strict rules will still apply for those who've been in france and several other countries. the afghan president has blamed the abrupt withdrawal of us troops for the deteriorating security situation. it's as a taliban offensive threatens three cities.