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. i'm sarah mulkerrins with all the latest from the games in tokyo, where this morning's athletics is set for a 400 metres hurdles battle between norway's world record holder karsten warholm, and the usa's rai benjamin. as the delta variant leads to higher covid infection rates across the world rich countries are urged to share their excess vaccine doses. vaccines are critical. they are

inequitably being rolled out. africa in the last month according to who has had an 80% spike in its. this is completely unacceptable and unethical. and, scaling the heights of physical endurance. we meet the teenager championing the new olympic event of sport climbing. it's eight in the morning in singapore, and 9am 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 can 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. as rupert was saying, there is some relief that this appears to have been resolved quite quickly, what has the local reaction be to this story in japan? i reaction be to this story in ja an? ., ., reaction be to this story in jaan? ., ., , ., , japan? i have to say, the story has been _ japan? i have to say, the story has been covered _ japan? i have to say, the story has been covered on _ japan? i have to say, the story has been covered on some - japan? i have to say, the story i has been covered on some news programmes that i saw this morning but it is definitely not the top headline here. as you can see on this newspaper it is still very much about the covid situation but also the parameters to asking people who have tested positive for covid-19 to

have tested positive for covid—i9 to stay at home unless your symptoms are really severe, indicating maybe the hospitals are getting overwhelmed but still a lot of coverage on the medals won by japanese athletes. today and wrestling as well as gymnastics and let's see if i can actually show you the other newspaper that they wanted to show you while holding an umbrella, all the sport's papers are very excited about the baseball team, japan beating the united states, this article says that two more victories until the gold medal, so quite a lot of excitement there, but when it comes to the belarusian athlete, comparing how she was treated to the other athlete who was trying to run away from his hotel room. it was notjust about skin colour, one was trying to run away while another sought official help

others wondering why she didn't seek asylum injapan may have contributed to the way she was treated because of course japan doesn't grant a lot of asylum, including to those athletes. yeah, certainly but i have to remark on your valiant athletic attempts there, holding a newspaper and umbrella at the same no easy feat. just want to ask, the fact that we have had all these controversies, are they casting a shadow even more than the pandemic? it they casting a shadow even more than the pandemic?— than the pandemic? it has been one scandal _ than the pandemic? it has been one scandal after _ than the pandemic? it has been one scandal after another, - one scandal after another, especially surrounding the opening ceremony, the composer, creative director were dismissed because of an allegation of bullying and racism and sexism. since the games have started we saw that gold rush byjapanese games have started we saw that gold rush by japanese athletes which have been dominating the news headlines but now it is really about the pandemic,

people are definitely concerned especially of the number of new infections today because yesterday we saw the number just about 2000 but usually we expect these numbers to be relatively low between saturdays and mondays and it is the tuesday's figures that we really should be watching out for and some of the media are even starting to collate that we are going to see numbers above 5000 or even up to 10,000 very soon here at tokyo.— very soon here at tokyo. mariko oi with the _ very soon here at tokyo. mariko oi with the latest _ very soon here at tokyo. mariko oi with the latest there - very soon here at tokyo. mariko oi with the latest there on - very soon here at tokyo. mariko oi with the latest there on all i oi with the latest there on all of the action in tokyo, you can find much more about what she was talking about right at the beginning of our conversation, about the belarusian athlete on our website as well as more detail about what life is like in belarus these days. just log onto our website or download the bbc news app. 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: we have now a very clear vision. _ translation: we have now a very clear vision. a _ translation: we have now a very clear vision, a plan _ translation: we have now a very clear vision, a plan for— translation: we have now a very clear vision, a plan for taking - clear vision, a plan for taking back control. our security forces are ready, they have reassembled, know the plan and are getting stronger by the day. are getting stronger by the da . ~ ~ , ., day. we will keep engaging intensely and _ day. we will keep engaging intensely and diplomacy . day. we will keep engaging intensely and diplomacy to | intensely and diplomacy to advance negotiations between the afghan government and the taliban— the afghan government and the taliban with the goal of a solution which is the only path to lasting _ solution which 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 9,000 homes were damaged. the city reported a year's rainfall within the space of three days. still to come a bit later in the programme: the former prime minister of new zealand and co—chair of the independent panel for pandemic preparedness and response — helen clark — will be giving us her views about the covid—19 pandemic. but first: we looked at the fate of the belarussian 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 been happening at the games, with sarah mulkerrins in tokyo. great to have you on the programme. transgender athlete laurel hubbard made olympic

history by entering the games, but it didn't go her way, what happened ? yes, last night here in tokyo the eyes of the world were on laurel hubbard, it has been a big talking point in the buildup to these olympic games, weightlifting sport usually wouldn't get as much attention but there were lots of journalists at the venue waiting for laurel hubbard to compete because she was the first transgender athlete to compete at the olympic games in a category different to that of which they were born. in terms of the actual action, laurel hubbard, she missed herfirst left of 120 kilograms in the snatch and then she went on to fail as well at 125 kilos and her next two attempt so that ruled her out of the competition, she didn't progress to the next stage which would have been the clean and jerk. the competition was one with an olympic record by

china's li wenwen, lots of talk with her coming into it, she had been a favourite athlete but of course the big debate has been around the inclusion of laurel hubbard in these games. we have been hearing from both sides of the debate, here is a snippet from both sides and this is from the founder of transathlete.com and founder of tra nsathlete. com and someone founder of transathlete.com and someone else from fair clay women. , , ,., someone else from fair clay women. , , h, ., women. this is something that they have _ women. this is something that they have been _ women. this is something that they have been working - women. this is something that they have been working for- women. this is something that| they have been working for and waiting — they have been working for and waiting for for over a decade since — waiting for for over a decade since i— waiting for for over a decade since i came out as a trans athlete — since i came out as a trans athlete and to see laurel on the world stage at the highest level— the world stage at the highest level of— level of competition representing the trans— community with such poise in the midst— community with such poise in the midst of transphobic comments and such port media coverage — comments and such port media coverage about her presence has really _ coverage about her presence has really been incredible.—

really been incredible. laurel hubbard is — really been incredible. laurel hubbard is a _ really been incredible. laurel hubbard is a veteran - really been incredible. laurel hubbard is a veteran mail- hubbard is a veteran mail lifter— hubbard is a veteran mail lifter stopping _ hubbard is a veteran mail lifter stopping the - hubbard is a veteran mail lifter stopping the only. hubbard is a veteran mail- lifter stopping the only reason that laurel— lifter stopping the only reason that laurel hubbard _ lifter stopping the only reason that laurel hubbard has - lifter stopping the only reason that laurel hubbard has beenl that laurel hubbard has been able — that laurel hubbard has been able to— that laurel hubbard has been able to qualify _ that laurel hubbard has been able to qualify for _ that laurel hubbard has been able to qualify for the - that laurel hubbard has been able to qualify for the backs i able to qualify for the backs is because _ able to qualify for the backs is because laurel— able to qualify for the backs is because laurel has - able to qualify for the backs is because laurel has that l able to qualify for the backs - is because laurel has that male advantage _ is because laurel has that male advantage -- _ is because laurel has that male advantage. —— that— is because laurel has that male advantage. —— that laurel- is because laurel has that male advantage. —— that laurel has l advantage. —— that laurel has been — advantage. —— that laurel has been able _ advantage. —— that laurel has been able to— advantage. —— that laurel has been able to qualify _ advantage. —— that laurel has been able to qualify for - advantage. —— that laurel has been able to qualify for the i been able to qualify for the 0tvmpics~ _ been able to qualify for the olympics— been able to qualify for the olmics. ,, �* ., , olympics. she didn't answer questions — olympics. she didn't answer questions and _ olympics. she didn't answer questions and thanked - olympics. she didn't answer questions and thanked the l olympics. she didn't answer i questions and thanked the new zealand olympic committee for her support through the. she knows that her participation at the games has not been entirely without controversy so she wants to think a method that she was really grateful for that. earlier —— earlier i spoke to beau newell, the national program manager at pride in sport australia, which helps sporting insitutions to include lgbtq people. he told me there are a lot of nuances when it comes to trans athletes, but inclusion is key when it comes to setting sporting codes. at the start was really excited and i think a lot of people

were see laurel meet all of the requirements, but it was disappointing nonetheless because she did everything that was required of her to get to the games but unfortunately it didn't pan out to be as successful as what we had hoped. successful as what we had ho ed. �* ., ., successful as what we had hoed. �* ., ., ., hoped. and what do you say to the critics _ hoped. and what do you say to the critics out _ hoped. and what do you say to the critics out there _ hoped. and what do you say to the critics out there who - hoped. and what do you say to the critics out there who argue j the critics out there who argue that there is an unfair advantage in athletes like laurel hubbard taking part? well, it is an interesting debate and i think the reality is there are a lot of nuances involved, for any trans person they should go —— they know that their experience and their affirmation of their gender is going to be very unique so there is not one story we can use when deciding our governance and our policies in this space stopping the reality is, in this point in time from the i owe see's guidelines and international weightlifting federations rules, laurel met all of those requirements but we also know that there are additional conversation happening as we speak about what trans— inclusion may look like for all sports moving

forward, and i think it is an interesting point because the reality is there will always be these perceptions and thoughts about whether someone has the potential advantage and a sport and also the debate about whether we should be making sport as fair as possible, but the reality is, sport isn't fair. if sport was fair we would be having nil all drawers and team games, we would be having nine people on the podium from the hundred metres —, all receiving gold medals. so i think there is a lot more involved in the conversation that and i think will sometimes let on. �* ., , ., that and i think will sometimes let on. �* ., i. ., let on. but would you look at different sport _ let on. but would you look at different sport specific - let on. but would you look atj different sport specific stuff? my different sport specific stuff? my know that the ioc tried to get this brought federations themselves to make the rules and there will be further consultations. is that something that each individual sport will have to look at? i think so. i genuinely think that's a reality and they actually think that's an opportunity and a good thing because the reality at this point in time with the ioc�*s blanket policy we know that the

one size fits all rule doesn't actually apply, doesn't apply effectively for all different sporting codes and the reason for that is because we look at the different dynamics that ports are played and the reality that the existing policy is the exact same for rugby union, for example, as it is for table tennis and those are two very unique and dynamic sports in the way that they are played so i think it is understandable and they actually hope that it does go down the path we put a little bit more expectation on the international sporting federations to come up with their own rules stopping the challenge in that space will be as to what those rules will look like, particularly when we take into account the fact that there isn't necessarily a great deal of evidence or research in this space for some sports, so it might be a challenge ahead but an opportunity nonetheless. fascinating discussion that you just had there. touching on so many of the things that we talked about during the olympics. but today, what do we have to look forward to in terms of sporting action?

we will certainly be focusing on the track, but definitely the big—name making a return on day 11 is the gymnast simone biles. what a superstar she is, the most decorated gymnast from america. she pulled out of the events last week, citing a case of the twisties, when mind and body are not quite connected in competition. she is set to return to competition in the women's beam final. on the track, the morning session has the men's 400 metres hurdles final which will feature norway's karsten warholm. he will be up against the usa's ride benjamin for the gold. later on in athletics, it's the women's 200 metres and 800 metres track men's pole vault final. but without this man, the current world champion, american sam kendricks, who tested positive for coronavirus just before the games.

so he is not taking part. and we have loved all the new sports, haven't we? sport climbing is going to have its moment, as it makes its olympic debut, one of five new events at these games. i am sure we will be enjoying that aid it later. let's take a look at how the metal table currently stands, now that we are well into the final week of these games, at the the united states has the most overall medals with 64 all up. but it's china that has more gold medals, with a whopping 29 sparklers. after china and the us, we have the hosts japan, australia, who always do amazingly for a country with a relatively small population. after that we have the russian olympic committee and team gb. plenty of time for the hosts to

add a few more medals to their tally. yes, it is really heating up, it is the final lap. so exciting. cerebral clearance for us in tokyo. —— sarah mulkerns. if you want to get in touch with me, i'm on twitter, @bbckarishma. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme, it's considered one of the hardest gold medals to win — we meet the australian teenager competing in the new olympic discipline of sport climbing. 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 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 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 newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. our top story: 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.

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 million residents to stay home under a strict lockdown for the next three days. also, authorities say seven cases of the delta variant have been detected in wuhan, where the global pandemic is thought to have started. i've been speaking to helen clark, former prime minister of new zealand, and co—chair of the independent panel for pandemic preparedness and response. i asked her if richer countries could do more. while the transmission is raging anywhere in the world,

the whole world has a significant problem. around 40% of people in advanced economies, under 20% in emerging economies have been vaccinated, and then if we look at current centres of the pandemic like indonesia, i understand 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 improving public health measures which will help stop covid. —— basic and proven. there's no one answer here. a whole lot of things have to go right to stop it in its tracks. yeah, sorry to jump in there, but your own panel's findings recommended that rich countries fund $19 billion to help poorer countries set up those systems that you are taking about, access vaccines and treatments. have you got any pledges of real commitment and support so far? the pledges aren't big enough yet. we said that by the 1st of september, the high—income countries could and should redistribute 1 billion doses

to lower and low—middle income countries, and by mid—next year, another billion. look, we've got an overall shortage of vaccines in the world because production wasn't ramped up enough, but we could redistribute. high—income countries have ordered twice as much as what they need. it needs to get out there, and by the way notjust before the expiry date. developing countries can't just snap to and administer vaccines which have got very little lifetime left on them. so, this needs a lot more coordination and cooperation yet. you know, it's been a year and a half since the pandemic first started. you've been speaking about some of these issues for a while. how frustrated are you at the lack of momentum around some of your own recommendations about this? our recommendations came in may, and wejust had a very good briefing session of the un general assembly where member states were pretty serious about all this. what we've recommended is they work towards a political declaration on reform path for the global

architecture around preparedness and response. our recommendations had two sets. one, this medium—to—longer—terms systems set of issues, but the other, of course, the immediate issues with the vaccines. vaccines are critical. they are inequitably being rolled out. africa, in the last month according to who, has had an 80% spike in deaths. this is completely unacceptable and unethical, and ijust appeal to high—income countries — do whatever you can to fully fund the needs and get the vaccines out there. that was helen clark. let's return to the olympics. as sarah in tokyo was talking about earlier, sport climbing kicks off at the olympics today. 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. she started when she was eight! i certainly wasn't doing that when i was eight years old. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news.

hello. sunny spells aplenty on tuesday, but there'll be showers around, too. and in fact it's going to stay quite 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 temperatures 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. we will have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hours straight after this programme. hello. what a summer of sport this is. sport is all over tv, and coverage of sports events is what we are focusing on today. the olympics is on, we've just had the euros, and there's a new cricket competition called the hundred on primetime bbc, as well as sky. but in this age of infinite choice, live sport has to compete to hold our attention. does sport need to be more attractive than an hour of fortnite or netflix, or tiktok? and has the amount of money tv companies are prepared to pay for sport fallen during the pandemic? well, these are some of the questions that my all—star panel of sporting supremos will answer today — and between them, they are reaching hundreds of millions of viewers.

they are andrew georgiou, president of sport at