Protests against lebanons government 2 ministers have now quit over tuesdays blast the number of confirmed kovac 19 cases in the United States reaches 5000000 with numbers still rising in almost 20 states and the afghan president agrees to release 400 taliban prisoners paving the way for peace talks. And downtown hamas now have all the sport red bulls marked for stop and wins at silverstone no break in mercy this is winning start to the f one season. We begin in baton rouge where police have launched a crackdown on protests that erupted as president Alexander Lukashenko looks set to win another election victory the Election Commission says the results so far have him ahead with 81 percent of the vote well this is despite voting being extended in some places because many people are still trying to cause that ballot the main opposition candidate on the ticket off sky ahead aust has supporters to vote as late as possible to minimize the opportunity for electoral fraud Election Officials are accusing the opposition of sabotage and say she currently has just 8 percent of the vote taken off sky is a former teacher who only entered the race when her husband was barred from running but drew massive crowds to have rallies aljazeera step vause reports to now reports to us now from the capital ments. Cheers for start lana the kind of guy who went into hiding on the eve of the election because she feared arrest that was after 8 members of her Team Including her Campaign Manager were reportedly detained at 1st a reluctant president ial candidate she has grown into the biggest hope many belorussians have for change then are you worried the fact of safety was everybody working there would be kind of guy yes election rallies attracted the largest crowds valorous high seen in decades with 2 other women on her side the wife and complain manager of 2 other jailed opposition figures she can paint across the country on the eve of the election one of them applied abroad and the other. Was briefly detained shes undeterred but i have heard great hopes or dreams a real chance today tomorrow or day after tomorrow this is the beginning of the end its a beginning of a new life she came out of hiding to cast her vote the main opposition candidates but. Its whats going to rest on election day an election that has been dominated by accusations of fraud and the rest. After casting his vote president Alexander Lukashenko called the opposition we just. Brought you in the us if youre going to go against our country or even in the smallest way try to plunge the country into chaos and stabilize it you will receive an Immediate Response from me. For decades hes enjoyed solid support in the former soviet country lately hes faced criticism for downplaying the cold with 19 crisis and worsening economy hes attracted voters by accusing the opposition of planning to create chaos in the area of north of us the i want to vote for peace and the wellbeing of the roots and every family here and have no crazy crowds in the city. As rallies have been prohibited in the past week supporters of the kind of guy you found creative ways to protest against us rule but even that led to more arrests more than 800 people have been detained during this Heated Campaign stop fast and aljazeera minsk well as huge victories in previous elections have led to accusations of fraud a pattern that appears to have been repeated this time the central Election Commission has been forced to explain away this phone video it shows a woman climbing down a ladder from a polling station carrying a full plastic bag a ladder is held by a policeman and a 2nd bag is lowered out of the window by a colleague the official explanation for this is that she had been locked in the room and had to escape through the window there was no explanation for the banks or what was in them for that matter. So lets get the latest now from step vasant whos been covering the story from central minsk whats happening there now step. Well i think the atmosphere can be best described by a city filled with anger and frustration these mens catchments witnessed before ever thousands of people are now still on the streets its around midnight here and. Their eyes are the big square confronting the Police Police have. Back with explosives and also been writing driving a car to the protests and causing injuries so its a its a very hectic seed lots of cars also still driving around the hordes showing the opposition chai. And step tell us have you been seeing i mean have you actually witnessed clashes between police and protesters and if you had to estimate the number of people that a petition painting in the protest what would you say youve been witnessing that its very hard to tell how many but im sure there are thousands it is a huge Square Cletus right in the middle of it and the roads leading up to the square are filled at the moment with protest of the only things that ive seen theyve been throwing at police are apples or bottles but police has been hitting back with explosives and i saw one man his foot or his like was completely broken and rushed away by adults i saw also a police car right in front of it to the crowd at what was a carry away with with the car and have you continued to see says that the scene of the protest obviously is very difficult to know about casualties over a number of people whove been injured at this point how many how many ambulance vehicles would you say youve seen. I sort of saw a scene in terms of ambulances coming into the crowd picking up protesters who were lying on the street its very difficult to say how many are injured or even it worse conditions nobody is monitoring exactly people going into hospitals right now because the scene is still growing and it seems that more people are coming so this is going to last for a lot longer thank you very much from the better russian capital minsk step in reporting to us that so we can now speak to find out via charkha about a russian journalist and political commentator joins us via skype from better so i mean radio reporter that describing some remarkable scenes people. Really willing to confront Security Forces who are responding with stun grenades trying to you know control those crowds how would you describe what is happening in the country right now. Well i totally agree with your chris paul and thats frustration people are really angry and outraged with the results official and for the exit polls were sent it was announced the winner with a 7 to 9 percent and im more sure of that tomorrow he will be officially announced the winner with 80 percent of support many will perhaps even more people understand they feel that. Receive it much less are votes and he doesnt have majority of support in in the country and this is why they just went out to show their position or look i shant go its very important to prove his legitimacy for the 1st time in 26 years he feels like here than like he doesnt control the situation and here he is particularly upset that he is challenged by a woman by a teacher over the michelin which he was always very skeptical about a woman pollutions and here in told. To one reporter that that women cannot leave the country. But our reporter was saying obviously its very difficult to estimate the number of people that are protest saying she said possibly thousands are out on the streets in minsk i dont i mean i dont know who you might be in touch with in the country if you have friends colleagues families elsewhere how widespread would you say these protests are they happening in in cities beyond the capital. The proper start taking place right now minimum in 25. 00 sitters and primarily at their larger cities like a Means Committee as the only hold now and smaller cities in a larger say this police is much more violent many people are wounded injured there is information that several people are that in minsk for example the idea of agen the Large Police Car hits the protester and we which which outrage the people who are standing nearby and then they attack the policeman so the police is super aggressive in their use and docs their use in the Water Cannons and their use in weapon 6 blows use live grenades and but in some sick dislike mahlers you actually like the boys in the their police and they pulled the shield on the ground and many protesters perceived it as their solidarity sign do you fear that many people are going to lose their lives. We dont know. For how long this process. Will will will stand to will or will along will last. And or today just the beginning the conventional face of the Electoral Campaign finished and then you face just begun and im sure the protests will continue tomorrow and they have to to morrow and this resistance can can can prolong for weeks and perhaps months can it other than telling can it go on sorry sorry i was going to say can it go on for weeks and months in the face of what could be a violent brutal crackdown. It has force his Army Internal troops he has a lot of weapons and Water Cannons but the people are enough and people are not afraid to anymore and their finger people will not forgive look i shant come either this violence nor of this result of the elections so i think even if the correct one will happen today people will continue gathering to morrow and in the weeks after people really wants new leadership new president or they dont want this man when their country anymore they want real independence lots of this just say independence by the wrist but there is another one to be there. For example thank you franek via charkha joining us there from belarus. Over also long queues here in london as hundreds of better russians living in the u. K. Waited outside their embassy to cost their vote many had to wait for hours because of coronavirus restrictions as joan how now explains. The queue snaked its way through the back streets of kensington in london hundreds of belorussian expats waiting to cost their vote at the countrys embassy here its our right and we should have human rights we should be able to choose our future even though im here like my friend my family out there and i want the future to be made to have i want them to have basically future and to have choice and they would wait and wait many for several hours with the embassy only allowing one person in at a time a deliberate tactic suggested some of the independent observers outside have people come in from manchester from edinburgh flying just to vote and now under restarts not being able to or because the news will run really slow why is it so slow. Well i guess we still under the virus conditions so they allow only one the votes in both incite thats the excuse is it was the excuse but youd be hard pressed to find anybody in this crowd willing to support alexander knew pushing the man often described outside his own country as europes last dictator ive been the can deduct the problem in 2016 and up the pressure i have to leave the boats. After pressure from k. G. B. From government from police i have to leave 26 years just one president its horrible for any country but unfortunately goodness we live in 26 years and i think i think that this election here will he won again but it will be a force if you could but. Well well find a way to come there is no way we came all the way here for there to be this thing where everyone like they were there with too much 26 years of this guy no no. There are calls for change inside burma no less here with many having fluid lucasian because repressive regime worried about the country they left behind you with the news hour live from london much more still ahead the United States and its china by sending its highest level delegation to taiwan since 1979. 1 woman is murdered every 3 hours in south africa in whats being described as another pandemic we speak to the activists demanding change. And this brazilian superstar has some bad news for chelsea fans will have the details of that later in sport. Will tensions of boiled over for a 2nd day in lebanon now after the massive explosion that tore through the capital beirut more clashes Near Parliament after protesters gathered demanding an end to rampant corruption riot police fired tear gas to try to disperse the growing crowds while demonstrators hold rocks and shot fireworks into the air in a show of anger against the government the army says theres now little hope of finding any more survivors after tuesdays blast devastated the city 21. 00 people are still missing thought to be trapped under the rubble which has already claimed 158. 00 lives all the protesters accuse their politicians of gross negligence over the storage of thousands of tons of Ammonium Nitrate at the port they want a complete overhaul of the political system the information minister. And environment environment minister damiana qatar have become the 1st Senior Leaders to resign over the last 9 m. P. s have also quit meanwhile an International Donors conference has raised 297000000. 00 in emergency funds for lebanon but corruption concerns mean the money wont go directly to the government but it smith reports now from beirut. Here theyre all the skills the talent and the enthusiasm this is this yeah this is the nasa. That has been issued yesterday but these people will not be able to rebuild beirut on their own we have an Engineering Team and nothing team working in sync together we sense scouts on Little School tours and their job is to basically go and examine a building and say hey this structure is no longer safe to enter theyre doing all this because the government isnt. Food is given out to people who never have to ask for handouts in their life. Volunteers are given a safety briefing before heading out with a cleanup team that there are hundreds of these camps across beirut hastily set up in the shadows of the buildings ripped open by choose days explosion of 2700 tons of Ammonium Nitrate stored in the port for International Donors one of the hardest questions is how do they get aid to people who want to get off the top when they have to deal with a political elite thats been doing exactly that for decades. This is really the lebanese authorities now have to put in place the political and Economic Reforms which are being called for by the lebanese people its the only thing which will allow the International Community to act efficiently side by side with lebanon in its reconstruction. It could cost up to 15000000000. 00 to rebuild beirut says the citys governor its residents want to make sure that money goes where it should the government of lebanon is a criminal government this is a criminal state these are the lords these are people who were. Responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the lebanese civil war and were expecting that a few extra bodies is going to make them bring thats not going to happen on monday lebanons Prime Minister will ask his cabinet to agree to early elections theyd be held within 2 months and lebanons electoral system candidates must stand according to bad religious sect it makes it very difficult for nonaffiliated individuals or groups to emerge and that is what these people will tell you is constantly frustrating back calls for radical political change bernath with aljazeera beirut. A Public Policy consultant whos taken part in antigovernment protests over the past few months joins us on the skype from beirut now reporters just describing the Cabinet Meeting thats going to take place we have already seen 2 ministers resigned 9 m. P. s have quit it looks as though there could be elections in a few months what are your what are your expectations from tomorrows meeting. At this point the lebanese people have 0 expectations for many of the leadership i think they have gone even beyond our most dismal expectations we literally have had the most incompetent Political Class ruling over this country for 30 years and if its not them personally its avatars of them i think their corruption has reached levels that even even fiction could not even depict and with this current explosion and the horror and the horror that weve been experiencing this has elicited new emotions in the lebanese people and so tell me now how these emotions going to be channeled if the plan as the Prime Minister was saying is to have elections how will the opposition how will those who put out protesting try to organize themselves to use this to their advantage im sorry line cut how how how how can you repeat it im just saying that if the plan now is for that to be early elections how protest is organizing themselves to to try and use that situation to their advantage somehow. Well i think its very important for me to know that the lebanese people are not going to be able to do any of this work on their own even if there were early elections tomorrow even if we are able to mobilize ourselves as an opposition we are not going to be able to do this alone we need the International Communitys help we need the International Communitys help to come in through 3 different ways and its very important that i say this out and clear the 1st aid that we that we need is in terms of sheer Financial Aid prior to the explosion we were already sinking in the worst contemporary financial and economic crisis known in contemporary history we already prior to the explosion needed between 10. 00 and 30000000000. 00 just to survive im not talking about thriving im talking about surviving we needed 10. 00 to 30000000000. 00 just to survive after the explosion we need an additional 9. 00 to 12000000000. 00 again just to survive t