this is g.w. views life from for a land developer sea and president seeks to quell a growing resistance to his rule in 1000 of demonstrations after alexander lukashenko says he lections could be possible but only after a referendum on the constitutional system say they want change now. also coming up to us democrats launching their national convention with some straight talking from some high profile figures if we have any hope of ending this chaos we have got to vote for joe biden like our lives depend on. the 1st ever

virtual convention ohman a 1st date with biden's combination as donald trump's main challenger and november . i'm sarah kelly welcome to the program the standoff over disputed elections between the belle of racine president alexander lukashenko and the growing public swell against him and its 10th day today that is despite signs from lucas sankoh that he may be prepared to hold fresh elections under certain conditions but following his controversial reelection last week and after 26 years under his rule many citizens want change now. demonstrations demand liberty. for the political prisoners and arrested protesters after 9 days of

unprecedented protests calling on president alexander lukashenko to resign. workers across the country joined a nationwide strike called by the opposition. to go away chanted factory workers at the president who had come to shore up support in an exchange with a worker has said new elections were possible but only after the country holds a referendum so. loved the president should not make decisions as a result of pressure to make the president must find a compromise exactly that's how. we need to approve a new constitution so the opposition won't be against it it needs to be approved in a referendum because our previous constitution was approved in a referendum and based on the new constitution and if you want it we will show you

a lections for the parliament presidency and local government bodies. new and fair elections are what the opposition leaders fitzalan a chicken off sky now in exile in lithuania campaigned for. the opening of the i'm prepared to take responsibility and act as the nation's leader cheering this period so the country settles down and gets back to normality so that we can release all political prisoners and prepare a legal framework and conditions to hold another round of presidential elections in the shortest time possible. as the internal pressure grows so too does international concern. the e.u. is planning an emergency summit about bellary some wednesday the block is already making a list of people who will face sanctions for the. violence that followed the disputed

elections in bella ruse striking workers joining determined protesters in calling for their leader to go. and emily sure went is following developments she joins us now emily as we heard there 9 nights of protest against shango the pressure is high what's at stake at the moment well i think in a way the future of the political future of other acts on that it will question go is at stake and as you say pressure on him has been growing and continues to grow yesterday we saw protesters marching to several prisons in minsk and demanding the release of political prisoners and of some of the people who were arrested during the protests they gathered there and more and more workers from state enterprises are joining protests and are joining strikes as well including enterprises that

really make up key sectors of the russian economy and yesterday also state t.v. one state t.v. channel joined those strikes so these are really groups that were traditionally loyal to question co and it seems that even support within those groups is crumbling yesterday will question go spoke to some workers at a factory and even they were shouting at him to leave and for his part you know in reply to all of that said on monday that he would be ready to hold new elections and hand over power after a constitutional referendum do people believe him. well the main demand of the protesters still is for lukas shanku to leave and of course what he's been saying isn't very credible considering the fact that yesterday alone in the during the day he said that there would only be new elections over his dead body and then later on he said thing about about there only being new elections

after constitutional reforms it's not really clear what exactly that would mean but it does seem that the opposition is prepared for dialogue one of. those close allies maria told d.w. that the opposition would even be open to dialogue with luka shango if necessary and meanwhile has gotten together kind of a board of people to coordinate the transfer of power so it looks like the opposition is preparing for some sort of talks and even look at shank a may have some kind of a role and not and meantime on the international level is claiming that russia says that it will support. the u.s. and the e.u. officials there saying that russia should stay out of it so tell us a little bit more about that tension. well the west wants russia to stay out of it and russia clearly wants the west to stay out of it

they very much see being kind of part of their sphere of influence and on on the weekend we saw the russian side even offering military support if necessary to bell reuss i think that was a very clear signal to the west to kind of stay out bella ruse is seen as a key ally here in russia and also as kind of a buffer zone between russia and nato allies and i think even russia now knows that . it has kind of lost legitimacy in the past few days and that if he stayed if they did prop him up he would be a weak leader so i'm sure that the kremlin is looking around for other options after all even the opposition here even the opposition in bell roots rather knows that russia is a key partner that russia is an important country for the belorussian economy and that they will want to keep it that way so it could be that if there are talks at

least that's what people in the media here are saying that russia could be some sort of a mediator in those talks that could reflect the thinking in the kremlin as well that they want to mediate the future of. only show and thank you. all now a look at some other stories making news around the world. protests have taken place in buenos aires against argentina's coronavirus locked out demonstrators carried signs criticizing confinement measures and government corruption president of vets and fernandes has extended restrictions in the capital to 90 percent of the country's growing virus caseload. german foreign minister who has paid a surprise visit to libya berlin has been trying to broker peace in the country mired in a civil war since 2011 mosse called the recent low in fighting a deceptive calm and warns that outside powers are still sending arms to libya.

california's death valley has recorded what is believed to be the highest temperature ever measured in a month of august the $131.00 degree fahrenheit or $54.00 degrees celsius reading is just shy of the planet's all time high of 134 degrees which was measured nearby in july in 1913 death valley is the lowest spot in north america and surrounding mountains hoped to trap the heat there. well also in the united states the democratic party has kicked off its 4 day virtual convention aimed at further solidifying support for its presidential candidate joe biden when the event is normally packed with crowds but this year it's being held for mostly because of the coronavirus convention see the democrats formally choose biden to take on donald trump in november on the presidential candidate bernie sanders was among those to give his endorsement to joe biden saying it could help

unify a divided country the cyclists that see him and some others. joe biden will end the hate and the vision trump has created he will stop the demonization of immigrants the coddling of white nationalists the races spoiled whistling the religious bigotry and the ugly attacks on women i'm a lifelong republican but that attachment holds 2nd place to my responsibility to my country that's why i've chosen to appear at this convention what we do know is that we can do better and what we've been seeing today for sure and i know that joe biden with his experience and his wisdom it is decency can bring us together to help us find that better way we have to vote for joe biden in numbers that cannot be ignored because right now folks who know they cannot win fair and square at the

ballot box are doing everything they can to stop us from voting they're closing down polling places in minority neighborhoods they're purging voter rolls they're sinden people out to intimidate voters and they're lying about the security of our ballots these tactics are not new. but this is not the time to withhold our votes in protest or play games with candidates who have no chance of winning just some of the highlights there of day one of the democratic national convention kroft is following this very unusual convention there's a lot of firsts here namely the fact that it is a virtual convention and we just heard from michelle obama she was really the highlight of day one wasn't she i mean for democrats she definitely hit all the right notes she is extremely popular not only among democrats and she occupies a very interesting position because as 1st lady she was

a quasi political position of course not an elected position but the 1st lady has developed into a position all of its own with its own agenda its own staff and she was able to see firsthand what it means to be president and what it takes to be president and she said very clearly donald trump doesn't have what it takes to be president and that kind of message really hits a note hits a chord with. as i said not just democrats but many people who respect her especially women of both parties there were other strong case we saw bernie sanders a fierce opponent of joe biden quite ideologically different in many different in many ways but bernie sanders saying you got to vote for joe biden appealing to his further left supporters say you need to vote for joe biden this is not a joke there's not a time for kidding around so a lot of strong messages we also saw from republicans as well who are fed up with with donald trump so democrats and i would be pleased with their 1st day i mean this is the moment where everyone comes together at rallies behind the party it's

really a big opportunity to rally that support to talk with us about the challenges of the format now because obviously we're not seeing the typical big venture in you know where there are a lot of people where balloons are dropping confetti is in the air hillary clinton in the muck arena for example for example yeah exactly it is a very interesting format it's a big experiment if it works. this could be the way the conventions happen in the future if it doesn't they'll be a lot of jokes to be said they'll be a lot of joking around no matter what but still very popular i was following a couple of the online live streams with just thousands of people following adding their own comments in a way harnessing the internet and social media it actually makes it a more interactive experience for many people it allows many diehard democrats many partisans people you know average voters get to feel like they're part of the action in a way because they're watching online they're able to comment they feel that they're involved in a way that they couldn't if they were fit if the event was physically taking place

in milwaukee that it's only for delegates and really party party members in so much as that so we'll see how this works so far there weren't any huge problems today it's a lot of different streams coming in from a lot of different places some pretty recorded some live but definitely a big technical hurdle and we'll see if the democrats can handle it this week and republicans have their shot next we should just tell you there is that jump in support in the polls following these conventions to talk with us about the bottom line yeah what does it mean for the elections what does it mean for november which is still months away that bump comes as a result of 4 days of wall to wall media coverage most of it positive this week for the democrats next week for donald trump the republicans because that is the new story is this convention a hyper partisan event the long term effect i'm convinced that conventions have an election historically not so great hard to make a case that it really impacts people's opinions or change people's opinions minds the convention is about rallying the troops preaching to the choir and getting them

to get him to open their wallets and that is the big point is fundraising coming out of the convention with a lot of money in your back pocket that you can go on to conduct your campaign and go on to hopefully win. well you go with the latest on the democratic national convention which kicked off last night in the united states thank you thanks. for your up to date. has been robbed of their soul that's what if people experiences when their heritage is taken from them countless cultural artifacts were true stolen from africa by colonialists comes carted off to europe. what should be done with the stolen north from africa.