hundreds of people gathered to attend the funeral of alexander taraikovsky. opposition anthem and bade farewell to the man who has turned into a symbol of change in belarus. president lukashenko has never faced such a challenge in his 26 years of being in power. today, he spoke to russia's president, vladimir putin. both sides expressed confidence that this situation will soon be resolved. translation: there is a need to contact putin so i can talk to him now. because it is notjust a threat to belarus any more. there are a lot of clever russians there. they started to chant against belarus. i would like to say that defending belarus today is nothing less than defending our entire space. the union state of belarus and russia. an example for others. if belarusians cannot stand, the wave will flow there. observers say that russia's support will be key for mr lukashenko to hold on to power. but this crowd may be a sign that he has reached the point of no return. abdujalil abdurasulov, bbc news, minsk. well, earlier maria snegovaya, a fellow at the centre for euro

hundreds of people gathered to attend the funeral of alexander taraikovsky.

this is the site where alexander taraikovsky, one of the protesters, died during the violence here.l never forgive." the crowd is getting bigger and bigger every minute. people keep coming. the drivers that are passing by are honking their car horns in support. this is truly unprecedented for belarus. mr lukashenko in his 26 years of being in power has neverfaced such a challenge before and perhaps this is a sign that he has reached the point of no return. the united states postal service has issued a warning that not all postal ballots for the presidential election in november will necessarily arrive in time to be counted. a huge increase in mail—in voting is expected this year but president trump says he won't approve funding to the usps to meet the extra demand. lossmaking and politically unloved. the united states postal service is about to get very busy with an unprecedented number of americans expected to vote by mail in november the clarity of the result could depend on the ability of postal workers to deliver millions of mail—in ballots on time. the coronavirus pandemic, whi