And thunder and lightning breaking out. Who who welcome to bbc news im james reynolds. Our top stories the Lebanese Army retakes government buildings in beirut after they were stormed by protesters angry over tuesdays explosion. Thousands demand regime change on the streets. Protesters are hit by tear gas, a Police Officer dies in the violence. No compromise in congress on how much to fund out of work americans, so President Trump forces though his plans with executive orders. A paradise polluted more oil spills from a stricken ship off the coast of the mauritius, as the island declares an environmental emergency. Hello and welcome to bbc news. Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the lebanese capital beirut, in anger at the countrys leaders, after this weeks devastating explosion in the port area of the city. Groups of protestors stormed a number of official buildings and briefly occupied the Foreign Ministry before being driven out by the army. Earlier, riot Police Used Tear Gas to try to disperse the crowds and one Police Officer was killed in the clashes. Our middle east correspondent, quentin sommerville, spent the day among protesters. Shouting lebanons rage against its elite is erupting anew. A city in the aftermath of an explosion is filled with tear gas and anger. The protests have barely started and, already, theres tear gas coming in here from all sides. The protesters are falling back at the moment, but they keep continuing to push forward. We are rebels, free men, said this man. They fired directly at us. And a city still reeling from the shock of the blast was met with violent force. They came to condemn the government they blame for the destruction of their city and their lives. And this is the fate lebanons politicians deserve, they said. Can you tell me in english whats written . We are going to get our justice. Theyd started with a rollcall of the dead. Among the names 43 syrians, and the wife of the dutch ambassador to lebanon. They carried aloft the pictures of those killed. Were fed up were fed up. This is our country this is our country. I want to defend our country. Our president is useless. Our Prime Minister is useless. Everyone in this government is useless. They killed us. We have literally reached rock bottom. I dont talk about it because im going to cry. These were not just ha rd core protesters. Lebanese of all walks of life joined the demo as well. Among them, this woman. Earlier, with her husband, george, she showed us their destroyed apartment. Their business was in the port too. Everyone is similar for where we are today. For losing our money, for losing ourjobs, for losing our businesses, for losing our homes, for losing our loved ones, ourfriends, everything. They are all to be blamed, they are all to be hanged. At the morning at the port, Prime Minister hassan diab acknowledged the anger, but took little responsibility. Absolutely, they have the right to be angry and furious, notjust because of this. This is absolutely diabolical, what happened. But, however, they were also furious even before that for three decades of unbelievable corruption. The violence reached a crescendo, and then. It was over. The police and army regained control. This is a country ruled by force and backroom deals. They have been calling for revolution here for almost a year. But lebanons elite has staying power. The force of the disaster, which engulfed this city, may not be enough to bring change here. Quentin sommerville, bbc news, beirut. Another of our correspondents in beirut Carine Torbey it is 75 years since the us dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of hiroshima and nagasaki injapan, leading to the end of the second world war. The first bomb which landed in hiroshima is estimated to have killed nearly half of the citys population and at least 70,000 more people died in nagasaki, on this day, august 9. Radiation from the bombs caused the deaths of thousands in the months and years that followed. Lets bring you some live pictures now from the memorial event thats under way in nagasaki. That is the mayor of negus saki addressing the gathering nagasaki. In the last moment also a bell has told at the memorial site where there are a couple of hundred people including survivors and the japanese Prime Minister. But bell told to mark the exact moment 75 years ago in which the us bomber dropped its bomb, codenamed fat man. Nagasaki had not been the main target, the americans had attempted to bomb another site but visibility problems meant they switched to the backup site, but one mac. It was dropped on a nearby valley and 53 seconds after the
release the bomb exploded at an altitude of 1800 feet. 0ne young boy, 11 years old, said he was in Elementary School at the time and he said they went to the sitting room at the back of the house and while they we re of the house and while they were sitting around the table a white blue light shot across the room and then a role that shook the whole house. The two of us got down on the mats uncovered our of us got down on the mats uncovered oui eyes of us got down on the mats uncovered our eyes is an noses with ourfingers. While uncovered our eyes is an noses with our fingers. While we were in that position, debris came falling down on us. Terumi tanaka was a 13 year old school pupil when the bomb was dropped in his hometown. He was reading a book at home at the time and recalls the moment of the explosion. Translation all of a sudden i heard a big sound stop i did not know what the sound was. But as soon as i thought i heard the big sound my surroundings turned bright white. People say it was a flash but to me everything turned bright white. I did not hear a sound so i was surprised. I felt this was something terrible so i ran downstairs and ducked stop i covered my yea rs downstairs and ducked stop i covered my years and closed my eyes and once i ducked down i lost consciousness. In the burnt ruins there were shapes that resembled human beings, or bodies that had crumbled into bones everywhere. Rescuers did not arrive after three days so those who could not move and had not received help were hunched or lying on the ground. The testimony of a survivor of the atomic bomb attack in nagasaki. Lets return to the memorial event in the city, the rebuilt city. Campaigners in nagasaki say they now wish for the establishment of a lasting world peace and the abolition of nuclear weapons. Returning 110w of nuclear weapons. Returning now to lebanon. Another of our correspondents in beirut Carine Torbey says the protestors anger is directed against the countrys entire system. Its very unlikely that what what the Prime Minister suggested would really be seen as a acceptable proposal for the masses. I mean, what people are angry about is notjust, you know, the specific government. It is what they call the regime. The regime has to do with the group of sectarian and long time entrenched political leaders who are considered as the main rulers of this country. And what people are asking is a complete change of mentality of the way this country is run, because they perceive that, basically, what happened on tuesday was the epitome of decades of corruption, mismanagement and total negligence. So, basically, what the Prime Minister tried to do is to calm the masses, to tell them that, i will be leaving probably in a couple of months, if the other political leaders can agree on some sort of transition, or of an alternative. He has called for early elections. But this proposal itself is not 100 guaranteed to bring change. Many fear that elections at this time might bring in the same Political Parties and, therefore, they dont consider that this is the real way for change. Also, it remains to be seen how cooperative the other political groups will be with the Prime Ministers proposal. A third correspondent in beirut lina sinjab has been speaking to protestors. Basically it is really chaotic and lots of riots going on in Central Square in downtown beirut. As you mentioned, the protesters are having different plans this time. They are trying to occupy public buildings like the ministry of foreign affairs, like the ministry of finance, they even wanted to break into the central banking building, so that is the plan, to occupy these buildings and stay there until these politicians, the political elite respond to their request and be held responsible and be held accountable for what has happened. I am actuallyjoined now by one of the protesters who was just there and she just come out. Tell us what happened and what is going to happen next . They have just been throwing tear gasses on us and were just fighting back. This is enough. Theyve taken our money, theyve taken our pride, theyre killing us and they still dont want to resign. This is too much. We cant take it anymore. This is too much. Theyre going to fight. Were going to fight back. Theyre fire tear gasses. Were still going in, were still fighting. It will not end here. And what is your next plan . What is going to happen . Are you planning to protest tomorrow again . If theyre planning to if the tear gas is to get us away, were not going to leave. Were going to stay, were going to fight. This is enough. We cant take it anymore. They have just killed us. Every place in beirut is destroyed. My house is destroyed. Thank god no one was hurt. But most people lost everything. Most people. Sorry about the loud noise because of the motorcycle. Can you repeat what you are trying to say . I was saying, like,
i only lost. My house was damaged a bit but other people lost everything, their kids, their houses, their money, everything. They dont have anything. They are living on the streets right now. Some of the people among the protesters are calling for the International Community to come in and help them topple the government and get rid of the politicians. What do you say about that . Thats what we want. But, like, as we can see from social media and all of that, they are not even taking the aids just because theyre not going directly to them, and going directly to the people. The people want it, like, we need the aids. It is not what they want. Thank you very much. That was one of the protesters. As you can see, the anger that they are living through, and they seem to be determined, and as some people are leaving, there are still many people at the square, protesting, and it still seems that some riots, operations are taking place with clashes with the army. Lets get some of the days other news. Activists in brazil have released 100,000 balloons in tribute to the people who have died of the coronavirus. Brazilians are protesting against the way the president Jair Bolsonaro has handled the crisis he has consistently played down the impact of the virus. Two Health Ministers have resigned in protest. Brazil now has the second highest death toll in the world, after the united states. Israels Prime Minister, benjamin netanyahu, has angrily condemned a wave of street protests by his opponents, saying they were aiming to trample on democracy. For weeks, thousands of israelis have been staging protests calling for mr netanyahus resignation. Theyre angry at his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and they say he shouldnt be in office while also being on trial for corruption. The people of belarus are going to the polls in a few hours time to vote in the president ial election. The incumbent, Alexander Lukashenko a man nicknamed by his critics as europes last dictator is running for a sixth consecutive term. The authorities have arrested a second member of the opposition campaign. A close ally of svetla na
tikhanovskaya who is seen as the main challenger to president Alexander Lukashenko has been detained by the police. President trump has signed executive orders aimed at providing aid to us workers suffering the Economic Impact of the coronavirus. The move comes after talks with democrats on a rescue package broke down on friday. Mr trump wants to defer payroll taxes, provide protection against eviction, extend zero interest loans for students and give unemployed americans higher benefits. The bbcs north america correspondent david willis sent us this report. He accused the democrats of basically wanting to bail with a flick of the pen he sought both to bypass lawmakers and defend the Worlds Largest economy against the ravages of the coronavirus. Through these four actions my administration
will provide immediate and vital relief to american struggling in this difficult time. Weeks of negotiation between democrats and the white house over yet another economic stimulus bill wrote down on friday with the two sides still trillions of dollars apart. A call by the House Speaker to meet in the middle went unheeded. So, again, we believe we have a responsibility to try and find common ground. We will come down1 and find common ground. We will come down 1 trillion, you go up one trillion and we can figure out how we do that without hurting americas working families. Central to discussions, the future of additional benefits for millions of americans who found themselves out of work because of the coronavirus. Payments that have prevented many here from falling into poverty. President trump said they continue until the end of the year albeit at a lower rate. That will be a hardship for many. What you say to that . The money that they need, this is
the money they want and it gives them a great incentive to go back to work. This was much more than was originally agreed. 600 was the number there and as you know there was difficulty with the 600 number because it really was a disincentive. Historically it is congress are not the president that controls spending and democrats are expected to challenge the president s executive orders in the courts. He says funding for the courts. He says funding for the additional unemployment payments will come from money left over form previous Coronavirus Relief bills. All this is the number of cases he approaches 5 million. To his supporters, todays action will confirm the president was make image as a man of action. That he needed to do something to shore up this believe it economy with less than three months to go before the election. Youre watching bbc news, the headlines mass protests take place in beirut over tuesdays explosion. Tear gas is fired on protesters and a Police Officer dies in the violence. As Congress Fails to agree on a Financial Aid package to help americans through the pandemic, President Trump pushes through his plans with executive orders. France is sending equipment and technical advisers to the Indian Ocean Island of mauritius after its Prime Minister appealed for urgent assistance to contain a worsening oil spill there. The authorities have declared a state of environmental emergency after a japanese tanker ran aground two weeks ago. Tim allman reports. Paradise lost. The beautiful idyllic beaches of mauritius contaminated by thick, black oil. You can see it lapping at the shore, a dark, toxic tide, endangering wildlife and causing untold damage. And this is where its all coming from, the mv wakashio, a stranded japanese tanker. Look at the huge black streaks cutting through the emerald waters
of the indian ocean. There has not been any proper Risk Assessment done on the vessel to know the probability of the oil spill existing, so this is where we are today, and we are facing one of the major ecological crises that the island is facing. These satellite images show how the spill has just got worse and worse. This was the ship after it first ran aground. Then, look again. A potential 4,000 tons of oil leaking into the sea. Definitely, marine land is affected. It also affects the communities because there is a lot of fishermen who use the lagoon to fish and earn their living. The locals are doing what they can to try and protect this pristine environment, considered to have
some of the finest coral reefs in the world. But this is a small, impoverished nation dependent on tourism. France has offered to send help but with fears the tanker may break up, that aid may not arrive in time. Tim allman, bbc news. To poland now, where thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in the capital warsaw and many other cities. Theyre calling for the release of an activist who campaigns for lgbt rights. She was arrested on friday, accused of hanging rainbow flags on statues in the capital and damaging a van that was covered in homophobic slogans. Alanna petroff has the latest. Thousands of protesters are standing up for a fellow activist, calling for her release, calling for an end to homophobia and attacks on the lgbt community. The arrested campaiger identifies as a woman named margo. The authorities call her michael. In poland, which is a catholic country, homophobia is widespread. Its been called the worst country in the European Union for lgbt rights. Some poles believe homosexuals are paedophiles. The latest election injuly indicates this type of thinking isnt changing anytime soon. The ruling law and Justice Party repeatedly used anti gay rhetoric in campaigning. It promised to defend traditional family values. It won with a 51 majority. This week, president andrzej duda was sworn in for another 5 year term. Members of parliament in the opposition wore rainbow colours, a sign of defiance. Many in the International Community have raised concerns about polands increasing intolerance. Last month, the eu commissioner fo equality called out poland with this tweet
she wrote this as the eu denied funding to six polish towns after they declared themselves lgbt free zones. Meanwhile, Huma