this is what mr lukashenka told the state—owned news agency in respons... and...kashenka said he's deployed the military at the country's western borders — adding the units are on full alert. he's previously accused nato of deploying tanks at the border with belarus, a claim the organisation has denied. it's now nine days since mr lukashenka claimed victory in the presidential election, and protests continue. here you can see protesters gathering outside a prison in minsk, it's his birthday — he and other opposition figures were imprisoned before the august the 9th election, prompting ms tik prompting ms tikhanovskaya to run for president. here's the message she released earlier. translation: one person controls everything. one man escape a country in fear for 26 years and one person is system in the opportunity from all bela russians. my husband asked me to bring you this message, he end and other the political prisoners are injail, but he asks you to keep moving forward. do not sit back, but do everything you can to make the best of our country. meanwhile, the m

"lukashenka — lock him up," they're saying here.est—serving leader may have passed the point of no return. and i spoke tojonah fisher earlier and he began by telling 00:04:49,339 --> 2147483051:39:09,384 us more about the unprecedented 2147483051:39:09,384 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 events on sunday. a massive demonstration of the size of the opposition to president lukashenko following on from that election, which took place a week ago and election which is been fiercely disputed amounts pretty strong claims that were entirely falsified. they were very hopeful and upbeat. i think the fa ct hopeful and upbeat. i think the fact that so many people had come was a really emboldening moment for people here to be surrounded by so many like—minded people. you have to remember a week or two ago, demonstrations we saw here were extremely dangerous. you're very likely to be picked up by security forces, so i think people were optimistic and kosice. the reality of course is lots of people a bit on the streets —— optimistic and cautious. preside

mr lukashenka claims the protests are also a threat to russia's government.e for a look at the weather with susan powell. hello. we've now lost the intense heat of the past week. our temperatures return closer to average values for the time of year. what we've not lost, though, is a lot of humidity. as a consequence of it cooling down, many of us will see scenes like these over the weekend, cloudy, misty and murky. some of us will also pick up some punchier showers. thunderstorms should not as widespread as the previous week. but showers spread into the south of the uk on saturday, migrating their way further north over england and wales through the afternoon. if the sun does pop out over the south—east, it will inject more energy into the atmosphere and here we could see some thunderstorms through the afternoon. top temperatures, 24 or 25 degrees in the sunshine. ten degrees down on the weekjust gone. north sea coasts always cooler because of the persistent mist and low cloud here, so high teens are best. showers in the south—east are pretty lively for the e

police have made around 7,000 arrests, since mr lukashenka secured another term in office.re released today, and tearful relatives gathered outside a jail north of the capital, minsk, hoping to be reunited with their loved ones. from there, our correspondent abdu—jalil abdura—sulov, sent this report. applause. factory workers down tools across belarus today. the protest mood in the country is changing following a violent crackdown on protesters. people are finding new ways to make their voices heard. although the number of protesters on the streets of mixed is going down, but the move against mr lukashenko will not go away back quickly. today, the workers at this plant are going on strike against the violence that courts are using to stop protesters. we demand honest elections, the change of regime, we demand freedom, democracy and peace in our homes. that is why we have come out. these are some of the people who are detained on sunday. the day when protest in belarus started. now, they are free. after long days and nights of anxious searching and waiting, some families are

le figaro leads on the protests in belarus, writing that after 26 years of despotism, president lukashenkaanything to keep power. and singapore's straits times writes that south korean students in seoul will return to online classes amid mounting concerns over school safety as the country experiences a resurgence of the coronavirus. so, let's begin. schools and masks in england. the front page of the daily telegraph, let's start there. pupils will wear masks in schools after the u—turn. wright, who wants to take off with this. what do you make of it was yellow it is another u—turn by the government because yesterday, downing street they were not reviewing this, saying that despite scotland's thing that they were taking a review as to whether facemasks would be worn by people in secondary schools when in the communal areas. today, scotland said that plan was going to come into force and pupils will have to do that. late this evening, they have said that pupils will have to wear masks in communal areas and secondary schools, but only in areas where there is a local lockdown. i think as we di

police have made around 7,000 arrests, since mr lukashenka secured another term in office.leased today, and tearful relatives gathered outside a jail north of the capital, minsk, hoping to be reunited with their loved ones. from there, our correspondent abdu—jalil abdura—sulov, sent this report. applause. factory workers down tools across belarus today. the protest mood in the country is changing following a violent crackdown on protesters. people are finding new ways to make their voices heard. although the number of protesters on the streets of mixed is going down, but the move against mr lukashenko will not go away back quickly. today, the workers at this plant are going on strike against the violence that courts are using to stop protesters. we demand honest elections, the change of regime, we demand freedom, democracy and peace in our homes. that is why we have come out. these are some of the people who are detained on sunday. the day when protest in belarus started. now, they are free. after long days and nights of anxious searching and waiting, some families are fina

protests have continued in the country for a fifth day against the disputed re—election of mr lukashenkahe subsequent violent suppression of dissent. now on bbc news, it's time for hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. one of the world's most sensitive conflict zones is heating up again. last month, armenian and azerbaijani forces clashed, and at least 17 people were killed. it is the latest twist in a long—running dispute over nagorno—karabakh. well, my guest today is armenia's prime minister, nikol pashinyan. is armenia preoccupied with fighting old battles? prime minister nikol pashinyan in yerevan. welcome to hardtalk. thank you. hi. it's more than two years now since you swept into power with very high hopes for the so—called velvet revolution. when i look at armenia today, it seems many armenians feel that those hopes have been dashed. what has gone wrong? i wouldn't agree with your impression, because all armenians — all citizens of armenia — they are seeing and they are living in a democratic country, and with. .. in 2019, we had the biggest economic growth in europe

mr lukashenka says there will have to be a referendum on consitutional changes before there could beow one protester reacted to the news. actually... i don't believe it. he has previously said many times he won't let go of his power. and i think this isjust, i don't know, like a diversion tactic to gain time because this is going to be like more, he will have more time organising the referendums so maybe more people will be arrested, detained, beaten up and maybe more people will decide to stay inside and not to go out and protest. what about the international reaction? eu leaders will be holding an emergency video summit on wednesday, after ministers agreed to place more sanctions on belarus last week. here's the chairman of the polish parliamentary foreign affairs committee. the problem, the real problem right now is that mr lukashenko is ready to discuss the future of his country with mr putin. and he has done it twice in the last two days but as long as we don't see any sign of willingness to find a common ground with protesters, in part with the emerging of civil society in bela

belarus, huge crowds of protesters are continuing to stage demonstrations against president alexander lukashenkasay was rigged. riot police have been ordered onto the streets of the capital minsk. 0ur correspondent steve rosenberg is there and sent this report. chanting they've poured onto the streets. "long live belarus," they cried. a sea of protesters, flooding the centre of minsk. "resign," they shouted — a message for this man, alexander lu kashenko. for 26 years, he's been the president. but look how the people have turned against him. 0n independence square, they accuse him of stealing the election and violence against the people of belarus. our aim is to show the government that we are not their slaves. we are here to show that we never elected him and that we want the change, that we want a new country with a new president. in belarus, people are making their voices heard like never before, they're demanding change. but the problem for the protesters is that there is one man who isn't listening — alexander lukashenko has made it quite clear he has no intention of stepping down. but he h

president alexander lukashenka says forces outside the country are behind the mass protests against hishis report from minsk. chanting. the opposition movement against president lukashenko is growing. love, not violence, that is the message of the demonstrators here in belarus. despite a brutal police crackdown, people continue to come out onto the street. protesters have gathered in the main square of minsk. they are chanting, "freedom, freedom". they have brought flowers and balloons to show that their movement is peaceful. this is unprecedented for belarus, where authorities violently crack down on protesters. translation: i have been living here for 28 years and for 26 of them, he was ruler of this country, mr lukashenko, and i am really tired of it and i want to change it. at the notorious 0krestina detention centre, a volunteer reads out the list of names of those who still remain inside. and as detainees leave jail, they show us bruises from vicious beatings. many tell harrowing stories of torture and abuse. serhiy was arrested on monday. riot police threw him into a police van b

the opposition coordination council, a body that has made its goal the transition of power from lukashenka to challenger sviatlana tsikhanouskaya, who met amers iccond highest rankindiplomat stephan biegun in lithuania today. >> we coolndemn the ion of human rights and the brutality that we have seen play out in since the elections, we call upon the government of belarus to release all political prisonerhes that tare currently holding. >> reporte the authorities have tried various tactics to discourage demonstrations all week. one sinister policy has been to inform demonstrators they are breaking the law. then recording their faces for a potential criminal se. when the same message was played over loudspeakers on sunday demonstrators drowned it out with boos. and when they approached a line of riot police and soldiers it seemed as though the regime and the opposition had come to a precipice. thate sin is getting very tense because the crowds are moving closer to the military and the riot police who are stationed just across from them. certain people want to come out ahere's other members o

image, it is lu kashenka holding a uncomfortable image, it is lukashenka holding a gun and the sentimenthat he is ready to do anything to keep power. he has beenin do anything to keep power. he has been in powerfor 26 years or so. this is a story that is been running and running over the last few days and running over the last few days and you have to feel like we in a bit of a stalemate here. yes, it is been two weeks since he has been elected for another term in these protests are going on and activists of being arrested and four people have died in protest and yet, he does not seem like he is going to turn in the question now is what actually will trigger lukashenka to change his tune to call of reelection and it seems incredibly unlikely and where does that leave the world and do intervene, the west has not on the whole been particularly strong on this and probably because of the russian influence in belarus, but what do you do with this, do you have a country that is having sham elections like this? it is difficult western leaders. difficult for western leaders. difficult for wester

i spent all my life with president lukashenka and i don't want it any more.k that this sort of demonstration is going to convince the president to go? yes, we believe, and that is why we are all here. all of minsk, all of our country. belarus has never seen scenes like this before. a couple of weeks ago demonstrations were extremely rare now there are people marching as far as the eye can see through the centre of the capital, minsk. there's a real sense of change in the air. but this isn't over. earlier in the day, president lukashenka held his own rally. the mood, was rather different. just a few thousand showed up. a disappointing turnout for a man who claims to have won 80% of the vote. translation: we don't need overseas governments. we need our government, our leadership. the fate of the president is likely to rest not on the streets but in moscow. russia sees belarus as its own back yard, and military intervention remains a real possibility. jonah fisher, bbc news, minsk. the main investigative committee of the us house of representatives has called on