belarusian opposition leader svetlana tikhanovskaya is now calling on the french president, emmanuelacron, to mediate. macron sat down with tikhanovskaya in lithuania, where he promised to help negotiate and secure the release of political prisoners. >> the first time in 19 years that a french president has been in lithuania on a bilateral visit. however, it is not lithuania but belarus that is at the heart of discussions. in a meeting with opposition leader svetlana tikhanovskaya, macron said france would continue to offer support to the pro-democracy movement. >> [inaudible] >> but it is a delicate balancing act for the french president wanting to help others while unwilling to provoke more anger. >> [speaking foreign language] >> russian leader vladimir putin has said that belarus is facing unprecedented external pressure. for the moment, france is acting alone. the european union, while condemning the violence, has failed to impose sanctions. macron has called for the organization in europe to take over mediation in the conflict. >> in the u.s., donald trump and joe biden go ahea

in a social mediaia message, svetlana tikhanovskaya said russians should not allow their taxes to becaused for oppression in belarus. >>> spreading wildfires have claimed at least 25 lives in three u.s. west coast states, and are affecting parts of canada. state authorities have confirmed 22 deaths in california, two in oregon, and one in washington. the blazes, fanned by dry air and strong winds, have burned 1.25 million hectares of california's forest, making them the worst in u.s. history. in oregon, fires have spread through more than -- 30 locations, rather, forcingng thousands of people to evacuate. video footage taken on sunday shows a completely burned residentiaial area where rescue and dogs were looking for survivors. as the crews searched, residents sifted through the remains of theieir homes. >> came back here for the first time. and it's the worst thing i've ever seen, in my life. it's -- i had seen videos. but it's a thousand times worse than i could've ever imagined. smoke and ash have reached the canadian province of british columbia, shrouding ththe cityt vavancouver in ha

svetla na ti kha novs kaya svetla na tikhanovskaya is svetlana tikhanovskaya is addressing the humanuntry after last month's presidential election, which saw incumbant — alexander lu kashenko — claim victory. but the opposition says it was rigged. hundreds have been detained amid claims of human rights abuses. she called on the un to send investigators into belarus. a nation cannot and should not be a hostage to one man's thirst for power. and it won't. belarussians have woken up. the point of no return has passed. i want to make it very clear — collaboration with the regime of mr lukashenko at the moment means support for violence and blatant violation of human rights. i call on the international community to use all the mechanisms to stop the violence, including sanctions on the individuals that committed electoral violations and crimes against humanity. at the same time, i stress that lukashenko does not represent belarus any more. after a protracted saga, lionel messi has decided to stay at barcelona. the argentinian forward initially said he wanted to leave after the club were t

svetlana tikhanovskaya is a leading opposition figure who stood as the main candidate against alexanderthe election and her supporters believe that she was the real winner of that poll. she joined us for neighbouring lithuania where she has just gone into political exile. and nigel gould—davis was britain's ambassador to belarus until 2009. he is a leading authority on foreign policy, especially of post—soviet realities, and is now at the institute of international strategic studies in london. welcome to both and all of our questioners. you join us from all over the world and a solitary round of applause from me to welcome you. remember, you too canjoin the conversation and it is hashtag bbc global questions. that is go to our first question from minsk, the capital of belarus, and andre — your question? the question i would like to address to both panellist is how could the situation we see unfolding in the streets of belarus have been avoided? svetla na ti kha novs kaya, how could the situation we see unfolding in the streets of belarus have been avoided? first of all, i have to say th

kashenko claimed victory but is widely thought to have lost august's vote to the housewife svetlana tikhanovskayakdown has destroyed the opposition leadership. sergei — a tractor factory worker and trade unionist is pretty much the only leader who's neither injail or in exile. and he's worried. while we're with him, his wife calls twice to make sure he hasn't been picked up. "at the moment, there is no organised opposition inside belarus", he tells me. "but if you call the people of belarus the opposition, then the opposition is stronger and more united than ever." the opposition‘s problem is that despite the protests, president lukashenko's security forces remain solidly behind him. so this is what we have seen repeatedly here in belarus. excuse me, sir. basically, these masked guys, nothing on them which says who they are, disrupting demonstrations — detaining people, taking them into vans. where are you taking these people? woman screams. this was a women's march on saturday. what's happening to you? she says she was just standing outside a cafe. what's your name? we've showed you our name. no

kashenko claimed victory but is widely thought to have lost august's vote to the housewife svetlana tikhanovskaya crackdown has destroyed the opposition leadership. this tractor factory worker and trade unionist is pretty much the only leader who's neither injail or in exile. and he's worried. while we're with him, his wife calls twice to make sure he hasn't been picked up. "at the moment, there is no organised opposition inside belarus", he tells me. "but if you call the people of belarus the opposition, then the opposition is stronger and more united than ever." the opposition‘s problem is that despite the protests, president lukashenko's security forces remain solidly behind him. so this is what we have seen repeatedly here in belarus. excuse me, sir. basically, these masked guys, nothing on them which says who they are, disrupting demonstrations... ..detaining people, taking them into vans. where are you taking these people? woman screams this was a women's march on saturday. what's happening to you? she says she was just standing outside a cafe. what's your name? we've showed you our name. n

set lotto tickets for scalia —— svetla na them voted for set lotto tickets for scalia —— svetlana tikhanovskayaown government, and freedom for them to not be abused and have their human rights violated by their own government. that's where the human rights —— international community has an interest. and we don't want bloodshed. in terms of the viability of democracy in belarus, that's up to the belarussian people, and if they want help from the west, they can ask for it. the opposition leadership has been very clear that they are not looking to necessarily align with the west. they just want to looking to necessarily align with the west. theyjust want to be able to determine their own future and pick their own leaders, and they did not want alexander lukashenko any more. thank you forjoining us. more tension in the himalayas on the disputed border between india and china. both sides accuse the other of firing shots in the air on monday night. the disputed area is around what's called the line of actual control or the lac — it runs between indian administered kashmir and chinese administered aks

the bela russian opposition candidate for president, svetlana tikhanovskaya, has been speaking to theg to run for president. my husband, sergei tikhanovsky, is injailfor the same reason. sergei dylevsky, jailed. hundreds of people are jailed, beaten, raped. this should not be the norm in europe. this can't be the norm in the civilised world. the airline easyjet says it is expecting to fly fewer passengers because consumer confidence has been hit by uk coronavirus quarantine measures. their comments come after seven greek islands — including crete and mykonos — were added to the government's list of destinations which will now require a period of self—isolation on return to england. easyjet‘s boss told the bbc the latest change to the quarantine rules, which means islands can be treated differently from their mainland countries if infection rates differ, was "too little, too late", as the peak of the summer holiday season had passed. the last two journalists working for australian media in china have flown home after a five—day diplomatic standoff during which police demanded to interv

the bela russian opposition candidate for president, svetlana tikhanovskaya, has been speaking to thebout the situation in the country. she's currently in exile in lithuania, and addresssed the meeting via videolink, outlining the oppressive measures being taken by president lukashenko as he tries to maintain his grip on power. only yesterday, one of the leaders of the peaceful protests, maria kolesnikova, was kidnapped. also kidnapped were anton rodnenkov and ivan kravtsov. all of them were members of the team of viktor babaryko, who is injailfor simply daring to run for president. my husband, sergei tikhanovsky, is injailfor the same reason. sergei dylevsky, jailed. hundreds of people are jailed, beaten, raped. this should not be the norm in europe. this can't be the norm in the civilised world. let's get more now on our main story. two of the uk government's scientific advisers have given warnings over the increase in coronavirus cases, saying that we've relaxed too much over the summer and must now re—engage with social distancing rules. the samuel ward academy in suffolk had to c

svetlana belarus. how significant were the scenes today of svetla na svetla na tikhanovskaya me to a major world leaderel macron of france? this was a symbolic meeting for her and other representatives of opposition but the trouble is the european union has not introduced sanctions. there are talks about that but cyprus has been blocking those decisions for a while so the main challenge for emmanuel macron and the european leaders is to agree whether sanctions from the eu should be introduced and whether there was sanctions should be just political 01’ sanctions should be just political or political and economical because the thing which does matter for alexander lu kashenko as the thing which does matter for alexander lukashenko as his economy because he relies on the support of the security forces and people who work at the factories as we remember from the previous ones. he only got really worried when factory workers started to protest. still to come... amnesty international halts its working in the blaming the indian government for incessant reprisals. the reaction from delhi. both sides say they