the president of belarus says a new election can only happen if the constitution is amended factory workers go on strike and t.v. journalists say they are no longer willing to follow the official line. there was a meeting between the company's management and staff who made their demands clear they want to report on both sides of the situation in the us including the mistreatment of protesters by right weeks. politicians warn russia against trying to interfere in belarus but at the same time threaten to slam sanctions on top officials in it. and the u.s.

says it will hold back financial aid to lebanon until reforms happen despite the desperate situation calling the deadly blast in beirut. a very warm welcome to the program from all of us here at r t h q in moscow thanks for tuning in this hour. thousands of factory workers have downed their tools and demanding a rerun of last week's election with many taking to the streets across the country but alexander lukashenko has said a new election will only be possible if the constitution is amend it. not in the but we need to adopt and you can situation you must adopt it's in a referendum because the previous constitution was adopted in the referendum and on the then you can situation we can hold new elections if you want palm meant for presidency and local authorities because the mass protests continue in belarus

where the workers from the various a major manufacturers factories plants and other places have walked out on a national strike i'm talking about said different industries ultimo they have metallurgy mining to name just a few now they have put forward their demands and they are new elections with all of the candidates release of all political prisoners and dismissal of all those people who are responsible for the rigging of the election and the violation of human rights. groups. was. that was that. was. the.

look at 2nd visit if you locations where strikes are taking place and at one planned his departure was met with boos and whistles and and television gulped the slogans that's after he warned the protesters that they might lose their jobs yes the book that you if you don't want to work here fine or just leave nobody will stop you or height you for that you know you would so please eat from tomorrow just go sorry to put you in such a harsh terms but at a time like this you have to be straight up. on sunday at least 65000 people came out in support of alexander lukashenko and that's in minsk alone according to official figures from the interior ministry he spoke to his supporters at length thanking them for their dedication and support now for many a bill or russians alexander lukashenko is a somewhat of

a father figure who helped the country move out of the abyss back in the ninety's however not all of the people are happy with his 26 year tenure now earlier on monday r.t. supposed to want to answer the question called protesters and here's what he said. we are really fed up with these people that's why we want to change this regime they beat my son when they release him and he came back he was so badly bruised that he couldn't even sit down so how should i work what's more important to me money or much children. are employees of the country's largest t.v. network also began their strike on monday and other media outlets and biller is also followed suit the question goes opponents in the presidential election that learn how to handle sky who's now in lithuania while she recorded and video addressed to her supporters saying that she is ready to become the national leader

. we all want to break this endless circle that you go trapped in 26 years ago i'm ready to take responsibility and become the leader so as to come the country and lead to do turns in the month. pull the rally and support all for the protesters in belarus continues in the russian capital as well for a 9th day in a row we've been here every day to cover it as you can see behind me well now the largest search now today they're all largest one was recorded on saturday when this line of protesters extended beyond the block difference people here from all walks of life and to look at the protesters brolga shadow protesters but as you can see so far it's all been peaceful. all about industrial action gathers pace there are also signs of discontent in the bella russian state media artist constantine pretty bi-lo reports from outside a t.v. studio in minsk. you know i'm just going to i'm out the building of the built in

the radio company in minutes it's a state t.v. building with several channels of paste earlier today there was a meeting between the company's management and staff who made the demands clear they want to report on both sides of the situation in belarus including the mistreatment of protesters by riot police they've been talking here inside this building now these people have come to support the t.v. star food agreed to go on strike right now there are about 200 people here and i think they'll be more by the evening they're chanting slogans like tell the truth on t.v. and so on minsk factory workers will also come but they're not here yet this rally is not the 1st here outside the t.v. building a few days ago there was another with the same message into mines today people are standing in protesting against violence and some believe the recent election should be declared illegitimate. the e.u. has confirmed it's drawing up sanctions against fellow russian officials suspected of election fraud and violence against protesters some european lawmakers have

challenge local shows legitimacy as president all claiming there is a threat of russian interference as well they are all over has the details. well we've heard statements on monday from the number of the e.u. institutions on the unfolding situation in belarus the european parliament issued a statement in which they called for calm and for peace on the streets of minsk in other major cities but within that statement there was also a warning for russia we call on the russian federation to refrain from any interference covert or overt in belarus following the election and call on e.u. institutions and member states to vigilantly counter any russian actions in this regard the parliament wasn't the only european institution to be charming in on monday we also heard from the high representative for foreign affairs your state bar l. pretty much the e.u.'s foreign minister he said that the protests that we've seen

over the weekend particularly that huge one in minsk that the sheer numbers clearly show that the belorussian people want a change but he also announced that the e.u. is currently drawing up a list of people that would be the target of e.u. sanctions the e.u. is working on new listings for sanctions against those responsible for violence repression of peaceful protests and the fortification of election results so while the parliament says that russia must keep out of bellary says the e.u. drawing up sanctions against russian officials hardly shows that they are willing to keep out of belarus themselves in fact senior figures senior leaders of member states have been chime in saying that the e.u. should get involved more should interfere more particularly money when back on the french president now when it comes to how this is developing on monday the german government confident that they have been holding talks with svetlana ticket of

skier stefan who's the spokes person for the german government confirmed that the talks had taken place but he wouldn't be drawn on what exactly had been discussed. has taken off sky of course is in self-imposed isolation in lithuania another a u member states and has expressed a want to be installed as an interim leader in belarus until fresh elections can take place but all of this coming from the e.u. site doesn't really fit with that statement from the european parliament but ultimately the message coming from brussels coming from the e.u. in general seems to be russia you don't get involved in belarus but we certainly going to involve ourselves as much as we can writer and broadcaster married to jessica gave us her views on the claims of possible russian interference and belarus i think there is. this preconception in the west that russia could maybe. be tempted to intervene

in. 5 or 7 means largely because we're all looking back at what's happened in the brain. and i think maybe this is rather different but it's not necessarily how it looks. when you look at it from london people will be expecting that maybe russia will act. along those lines there are plenty of rumors swirling around as to what vladimir putin mind do and belarus c.n.n. has actually claimed that he offered to quash the unrest quote unquote and radio free europe said something similar although putin has never said any such thing what do you read into that. well i think again you know we're looking at some quite strong stereo stereotypes here that there is an expectation and it's clear in certain pooches in the west that russia would intervene and as you say there hasn't been any evidence of this yet there appears to have been 2 phone calls between the

president bush and co and president which in turn and apparently at the 2nd one of those there was a discussion of the mutual security treaty that russia has with bellows. but so far as i can observe and judge it seems to me that. people are watching and waiting including in moscow to see what will happen because this is a very volatile situation i think that the e.u. at the moment is quite divided about whether sanctions are the right idea. certainly the sort of sanctions that they're talking about would i think be quite narrowly targeted on president lukashenko and people associated to meet him and the government in billups. but i don't think the e.u. has yet decided who to take. the lebanese president michel aoun is adamant he will

not resign calls for him to go have been growing since the devastating chemical explosion that ripped through beirut support earlier in the month last week the lebanese cabinet including the prime minister resigned amid protests of people blaming the tragedy on government incompetence recovery efforts are still underway in beirut the disaster has put added strain on a country already in the throes of a crippling economic crisis earlier the international community pledged some $300000000.00 in aid to lebanon the blast killed $178.00 people injured thousands and made 300000 homeless. meanwhile the u.s. says its own pledge of financial support to lebanon to find the blast will depend on the country's reforms to tackle corruption as on a quarter explains american offers of help aren't always what they seem. massive explosions in beirut during his unrest in its wake and it got to.

lebanon the chaotic capital in bruins and leaders across the world have no doubt opened up the foreign aid relief valve as a result countries like germany the u.k. and even the u.s. have stepped in to help out but when you accept money from washington you need to read the fine print when we see lebanese leaders committed to real change change in word and deed america and its international partners will respond to systemic reforms a sustained financial support of course mr hale forgot to mention that u.s. sanctions are what many to believe the key cause of lebanon's economic woes but there is always someone who remembers. you have seen some countries hypocritically trying to portray themselves as defenders of the lebanese people and expressing sympathy for the lebanese people if they are honest they should remove those sanctions that they recently passed against the lebanese government nation and people and stop this hypocrisy and iran definitely knows how that feels at 1st

donald trump said he'd be willing to give coronavirus aid to iran if it asked for it than when the country needed a 5 $1000000000.00 loan from the i.m.f. to deal with the pandemic washington protested for some reason even the united nations called on the u.s. to lift its sanctions against the country only to get a big fat no from pompei oh i've heard people talking about sanctions there know that the world should know there are no sanctions that prevent to mandatory assistance medical supplies pharmaceuticals from going to iran and war torn syria it's a similar story washington announced a nearly $1000000000.00 increase in 2020 humanitarian assistance at the very same time that it was creating a brand new sanctions regime against the country we are maintaining our maximum political and economic pressure to suspend the imposition of the sanctions the government of syria must meet similar conditions to go. for a country in crisis it's not really difficult to get humanitarian aid from washington what they usually have to give in return however might not be that worth

it. still had new research has found that facebook not only tolerate spoke promotes holocaust denial and search as details on that story and more after this. ah no no crowd. no shots. actual news. let me stress no 1st. point should your thirst for action.

show seemed wrong why don't we all just don't call. me. yet to shape out just to become educated and in gains from it because the trail. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground. welcome back facebook is under fire again after the institute for strategic dialogue or i.s.d.n. a u.k. based counter extremist organization found that the pop forms algorithm promotes holocaust denial in unison with holocaust survivors all over the world researchers

are urging facebook to ban the type of content this misses the reason why people engage in holocaust denial in the 1st place denial of the holocaust is a deliberate tool used to deal with demise the suffering of the jewish people and the but you wait long standing anti semitic troops and when people explicitly do this you should be seen as an act of hatred. on earth $36.00 facebook pages dedicated to whole cost and with a combined total of more than $300000.00 subscribers the group also found that searching the term holocaust in facebook returns similar content at level similar criticism against twitter reddit and you tube facebook though says it removes a false content only if it amounts to hate speech we remove groups and pages that discuss holocaust denial from recommendations and references to it in search predictions while we do not take down content simply for being on truthful many posts violate our policies against hate speech and are removed internet law expert

or cohen says it's facebook's duty to protect every member of its community. the fact that facebook. is classifying holocaust denial is legitimate political conversation is quite frightening. thing such as. should be banned from social media for the simple reason that it actively promotes hate it promotes violence against jewish people it should be. removed from any website that purports to be a website for the people of facebook is not designed for a very nice type of people it is made for the entire of the entire community and is such mr has got the duty to protect. jewish people as well. the future of thousands of british students is up in the air amid

a scandal over how their exam grads work determine the results are critical for entry into university with a level examinations canceled nationwide grades were based on teachers predictions they were then adjusted on the basis of a school's overall track record this led to 39 percent of a level results being downgraded from the predictions state schools especially from poorer regions were disproportionately affected by the downgrade of private schools enjoying a boom and high marks the fiasco has sparked student protests across england at a demonstration in central london the students demanded the resignation of the education secretary because the system being classist exams regulator said there was no evidence of bias in the system though we spoke with nina bunting mitcham whose grades were far lower than she expected. when i open my results and saw 3 d's i went into complete shock shock i went to complete meltdown and i thought

my life was just completely over i think to me it's a very clear case of discrimination and they're denying that i really fail for students like me go to a further education college are 6 phone call or just a normal college radio affected by this whereas they should just based on the college that they go to that they have chosen to go to i'm trying to stay really close to really hopeful and i want everyone to be aware so i'm trying to get my voice you know it's not just me that's then affected it's other students and i think eventually something will come out and students will eventually hopefully get the grades that they work for. we turn to some global news in brief no women's rights groups organize a march through mexico city calling for an end to sexual violence it also marks the one year anniversary of a large protest or allegations that tea. the gers were raped by police officers

almost 2000 police officers were deployed to keep order at the latest rally. the. protests in iraq have descended into clashes with security forces in the eastern city of basra demonstrators blocked roads using burning tires and set fire to a police car there demanding the local governor resign following the murder of a social activist on friday but the suspects still unknown. and with heavy rain on the way thousands are being evacuated from china's north and south west regions 201000 people have died or are missing after this year's floods the worst in years millions have been affected. 2 police officers have been hospitalized after allegedly being hit by a rock thrown by a black lives matter protesters in portland oregon police fired smoke grenades while demonstrators reportedly sprayed graffiti on the sheriff's office.

right. hundreds again came out in portland to protest against police brutality after 2 hours of relative calm some started throwing rocks and tried to storm a law enforcement property many demonstrated outside the county sheriff's office it marked the 80th consecutive night of anti-racism and anti police brutality demonstrations in the city. saying in the us the polling gap between donald trump and joe biden in the 2020 presidential race is widening is survey by a.b.c. news and the washington post gives the democrat runner

a 12 point lead among those registered to vote and over half of those polled approve of his pick a running mate paul harris the turning recently likened her to a cartoon character leading to some animated debate on twitter. as an ordinary suburban housewife. in the film little to swish. i teach my children to name call. from complaint has been destroyed by march seems to. come from our simson jenna alice just name calling is lose its administration is good for.

i miss the old days when this. it was funny. just cancel yourself before you completely ruin your legacy the character of knowledge was literally written to parody a nagging and disappointed middle aged woman come on the simpsons is real. that's been our breakdown of the day's top headlines for now and that's all for me as well today but we're not you know neil will be here at the top of the hour with all the latest.

i've afshin rattansi you're watching going underground the team and i will be back with a brand new season starting september the 5th but until then we'll be showing you some of your favorite shows of this past star studded season stay safe coming up in this episode and the strange connection. i connect with people with. with animals that small mind to mind one of the world's most famous conservationists jane goodall tells going underground that finger wagging at china from elites won't stop the global industrial farming practices and environmental

destruction that may cause the next pandemic oliseh more coming up on today's going underground but 1st to a scientist who has transformed our definition of humanity itself while leaders like boris johnson and donald trump attempt to reignite new liberal economics after coronavirus the pioneering primatologist dr jane goodall argues we need mastery education about what it is to be human without that education promoted in $140.00 countries by our ngo roots and shoots we are condemned just suffer not just coronavirus but one pandemic after another she joins me now via skype from bournemouth in england jane thanks so much for coming on everyone here is talking about restarting the economy the u.s. and u.k. saying we've got to fight china yet few people really talking about environmental or industrial farming what do you make of the origin of coronavirus. well you know i obviously personally haven't studied the transmission of barristers from

animals to people a simple zoonotic diseases but i've read an awful lot about it it's very clear that most new diseases in people today have spilled over from bacteria or in this case of iris from animals sometimes it goes from a reservoir speed to another animal which ystem the intermediate host and from that down multi people and we brought this on ourselves because of our terrible disrespect of the natural world and animals and so you know we take wild animals we kill them eat them we trafficked them we send them to meet markets in asia well marked animal meat markets in asia and meat the bush meat trade animals also meat markets in africa and we breathed down domestic

animals billions of them in terrible cruel. you know conditions and all of this terrible conditions in the meat markets and our factory farms are creating absolutely superb environments as far as that this is this a concern to animals to people who move to the markets there no less than a celebrity like support mccartney who is quick to say we must close the wet markets that out i notice you've been keen to emphasize the difference between wet markets per se and wildlife markets perhaps seeking not to oriental eyes this pandemic. yes well the thing is the point about a wet market is that most wet markets in china don't sell wild animals they're more like they promise markets that we have while we have them in britain and america but not wild animals that's now been closed in china the trading and selling of

wild animals for troops the problem here is you saw one problem but then another looms and the one looming here is all the thousands of people who actually have no other likelihood so you have to help them get through changing from breeding and selling wild animals hunting wild animals for food and finding another lie of making money so you see poverty is crucial eradication of poverty is crucial to your environmental concerns absolutely and you know we mustn't forget the climate crisis and our concern for the cove it 19 because that's something which will carry on into the future this this pandemic will get through b.s. that out of many many places are going to have very serious economic problems people have lost their jobs people are mourning.