Far from home. And trying to keep a dying language alive we need a kenyan tribe that has just a handful of traditional speak it so that im going to go with the sports as leon complete the semifinal lineup in the Champions League they knocked out Manchester City to set up a showdown with favorites fine. But the struggle for the future political direction a better recent may be coming to a head opposition protesters are due to begin a march for freedom in the capital minsk and just a little over an hour they say it will be the biggest ever but right now thousands are already packing into a Central Square in support of president Alexander Lukashenko many of them have been brought in from outside minsk convoys of buses seen entering from other towns and cities. Over the past few hours as they were traveling in a better russian diplomat became the fastest senior Government Official to officially backed the opposition protests ambassador to slovakia. Says hes shocked by the stories of the torture and beatings of protesters who came out last week over the disputed president ial election. I stand in solidarity with those who have taken to the streets of cities with peaceful marches with the voices could be heard. I sincerely hope that the future of my country will be based on the conditions of all sectors of society and representatives of various political forces. Have suffered for this right while our correspondents have fastened is in minsk for us a step out that progovernment protesters to how diverse is that crowd. Thousands of people are now streaming into the Independence Square the same square where just 2 days ago thousands of opposition supporters were demonstrating asking for the. Steps down so now this is a very different atmosphere here lots of buses trucks truck parked here but people have been brought in with trains as well its kind of a subdued atmosphere i would say theres no my church cheering going on there are people carrying national slack. People seem to be just standing around a bit a bit confused and there are some reports that the president himself is going to speak. Well step were also expecting another day of and the protests today i believe theyre due to kick off in just about an hour or so they really dont show any sign of abating are we expecting the crowds out again. Yes we do and this was supposed to be the largest a rally so far of the opposition has announced and they were also planning to come to this Independence Square where we are now they have at the last minute change that plan because of everyone of course is very worried about a possible. Provocations between the 2 groups and that could lead to of course a very dangerously escalating situation here in belarus where many people are kind of worried about indeed and stepped the better Russian Ambassador to survive here voicing his support for the antigovernment protests could others follow suit are we seeing some serious cracks now appearing in the leadership here. But this is definitely significant he is the most senior diplomat. He was the last one basically who has still served in the soviet union he is comparing. Acts of police earlier in the week with the acts of stalin even the violence thats been used so hes completely condemning it and make it very clear that he is on the side of the opposition and also on the side of the strikers of these workers who have been striking in factories as well so this is definitely a significant sign that there are serious cracks appearing in look at him we have to wait and see how many people or if people are going to follow step fasten our correspondent on the ground for us in the better russian capital ments where we bring you all the latest from there throughout the day thanks very much step for now lets bring in Alexander Alexander chopped off hes in london hes a political analyst who covers batteries for i attest market alex weve been watching these extraordinary proud and minsk under tad by the governments response so far do you think this is a turning point for the country i think definitely this is unprecedented political mobilization and by the roots in in the years of its independent history we havent witnessed anything of this so whats in the past nearly 30 years so obviously the events show significant changes happening in the society but whether they will be sufficient to change the leadership at the top is yet to be seen our correspondent step you just heard from over the last few days as ive been talking to her shes been describing how the police have largely been absent over the last few days of demonstrations some of them even joining in is lucas hankers support waning within the groups that he needs to maintain whats going on now behind the scenes. I think the police is is acting you know with no forceful response right now because it is the government tactic to do so most probably look at sion case playing the game off a bad call good cop trying to stay in power i think the intention of the other recent later ship is still to attempts to stay in power and notes to give up so it doesnt mean that the violence would not necessarily you know is over and its mine to actually come. Well ysaye that he wants to stand how hes been on the phone to moscow satiny to ask for support but it does seem that theres division sending caution within the kremlin on how to approach this i think there is because of obviously russia is that political and military ally of belarus and russia obligations within this alliance have of these obligations are limited to external threats so sending Russian Forces into by the roots would be only legal from the you know from the perspective of International Law only if there is an external threats about the roof such as invasion by other 3rd parties which is obviously extremely likely. What we see now the key threats to the current governments to the Current Administration of location comes from the grassroots movements from the city society in Civil Society and by the roots and this is not covered by those alliances which means cars with muskets so also what then moscow has options and what might moscow want from minsk in order to prop up your gas tank his regime now. I think that the kremlin is watching to see the direction of the events on the ground in both the roost and if they think that its a very you know they need to keep power i think they will use in various methods primarily diplomatic economic and political i still skeptical that you know a russian invasion is is likely in brothers. But they are probably also calculating other options and whether a change at the top in belarus could be also an option they can work with so well it is sometimes described as europes last dictator and there have been protests and batteries in the past which were quite when i was saying this resignation from the ambassadors have archaea do you think others could follow suit is this time different. I think we are starting to see some cracks in the system in terms of the of you know loyalty off officials and of the police and Security Forces being tested at the moment we only see individual cases of people actually showing their solidarity with the protesters and largely the elites are still supporting look at shanta but again it might change if specially if the peaceful and nonviolent protest activity continuous particularly in the in the in the shape of labor strikes which will have an economic effect alex culture of that Political Risk analyst i attest markets thank you so much for joining us on out of there great to get your insights alex thank you. Well u. S. President donald trump is defending the man that he appointed as postmaster general despite accusations hes trying to sabotage the system ahead of novembers election the Postal Service has been warning that millions of mail in votes may not arrive in time to be counted mike hanna has the story. Protesters gathered outside the new postmaster general steve c. Home. To joy was a prominent republican fundraiser and those here in so steves effectively assisting President Trump in what amounts to focus suppression former president barack obama in rear public criticism accuse the president off and i quote me capping the Postal Service for political gain. Detroit has slashed overtime fired or reassigned Key Management figures and ordered the decommissioning of 10 percent of mail sorting machines the departments Inspector General has confirmed to congress that an investigation into problems in the Postal Service is under way but President Trump has only praise for his appointee making reference to his own Campaign Slogan yes hes a fantastic man he wants to he wants to make the post of his great again you ever hear the expression he wants to make the post office great again. And the president repeated his absolute opposition to mail in vote youre going to have. A catastrophic situation with universal mail in votes and on top of it the democrats arent willing to give the people the money and the post office the money polls indicate that more democrats and republicans are likely to vote by mail vote ironically President Trump himself will be costing an absentee vote in an upcoming primary in florida the difference between an absentee vote and a mail in ballot is largely procedural in the form of voters request permission to vote by mail but in the 2nd case voters need no approval and simply post in their vote in all cases the vote is mailed its difficult to see why the president sees one process as acceptable and the other as fraudulent. Concern about the impact of failures in the u. S. Postal service on the election is becoming an increasingly bipartisan issue we could see a dramatic increase in the volume of mail of people returning their ballots which we were absolutely determined has to be done in a timely fashion so here ruins vote is counted theres no doubt that the Postal Service has a long term financial challenge and those who need to be dealt with but now its not the time to be cutting back services sitting in congress is a Democratic PartyCoronavirus Relief bill that includes a 25000000000. 00 injection into the Postal Service a bull where President Trump insists he will not accept in its current form mike hanna aljazeera Washington Well bruce fein is a lawyer and a former associate Deputy Attorney general under president Ronald Reagan he says that the current president is trying to whip up controversy on an issue he has no control over. Clearly political gain President Trump has no authority 0 under the constitution neither does congress to prevent a state from deciding to accept mail in ballots electing electors for the president so he can say what he wants hes powerless to do anything about it this is a state law issue its been that way for 230 years now it may well be hes just trying to create an atmosphere suggest that if the states go ahead and do this his supporters should be skeptical of accepting the outcome if you want to challenge the outcome but even then hes powerless really to influence those ultimate decisions as which votes are valid or not and the only test case we really had when you had more than one slate of electors claiming that they were authorized to vote it was decided by congress this is 876 theyve created a commission that decided whether or not one slate or another should be accepted so even when it comes to determining whether or not the fraud that mr trump alleges is proven or not its outside of his hands its in cook the hands of congress. There is plenty more ahead on this news hour including a shortage of funds built here how much more money lebanon needs to repair the explosion damage. Beaches coated with oil and riches well have the latest on the imagines he plans to sink the stricken japanese ship. And in sport with joe weve got basketball action as portland plays their way into the n. B. A. Playoffs. Protesters are back on the streets of thailands capital calling for political reform hundreds have taken part in the latest protests to demand reform to the political system and the monarchy student led groups have been demonstrating for the past month when haye is at a protest in bangkok. This is the largest rally that weve seen so far thousands of antigovernment protesters coming here to the heart of the capital city bangkok to continue their campaign to try to force the government out they Want Parliament dissolve they want to new election they want the military draft the constitution to be rewritten and they also have called for reform of the monarchy that is a very dangerous and sense sensitive subject in thailand because the monarchy is protected by very strict laws designed to prevent criticism and defamation of the royal family violating those laws can lead to long jail terms were seeing a very diverse crowd this time the rallies over the last few weeks have been led mainly by University Students and they still very much form the core of this protest but were seeing many other sections of thai society represented here a lot of older people and also perhaps worryingly for the governments were seeing members of the ridge protest movement thats a group that we saw on the streets in huge numbers back in 2010 staging very long antigovernment protests on the streets of the capital city that ultimately led to a violent military crackdown. As wayne was saying protesters are demanding improvements to their lives many hopes that last years election the 1st since the military coup 6 years ago would restore democracy but the new parliament chose private chano chum the military leader who led that crew to carry on as Prime Minister the opposition accuse the military of rigging that voters in an earlier this year the High Court Disbanded the Opposition Future Forward Party accusing it of violation and election law by accepting alone the party controlled a 3rd of parliamentary seats thousands of thais protested its also not the only party thats been dissolved in recent she is Rights Groups say the government has cracked down on dissent using physical violence intimidation and spying on critics well lets now bring in province on an associate professor of type politics at the center of the Southeast Asian studies at Kyoto University have been thank you for being with us the protesters that we are now seeing on the streets demanding change not only in the government but also in the monarchy and that can be dangerous business in thailand and a human rights organizations have documented some very violent consequences for activists that have done that in the past what do you think has pushed them to want to take these risks now. Well i think since the official coronation we have seen the expansion of political power of the current team on this also coincided with the current corporate situation i deemed a students most of them felt that they have been let down by them or not you know in terms of paying attention to the Economic Hardship of the people at the same time we also see you know who have now living long term in germany enjoying his life without you know once again caring for his people so i think these prescriptions sort of at it are at this point in time thats why we have seen them you know proportioning a reform for them or not this is not the 1st time but i must say this time is very serious equal be a turning point for thai politics and its also been very much student led ive seen and over the course of the protests weve seen a number of references to teen literature in pop culture can you talk us through the strategies that some of these young demonstrators are using here were definitely emerged i mean something emerging out of context we have seen as you said you didnt let young activists most of them best sickly 1st time boarders d as well so or we could see clearly the disconnect disconnection between quick a party and student us where we could say that they are basically genuinely in support of democracy without any Political Party backing them up they have a lot of strategies they use you know the social media mob promoting their campaign they come up with you know artworks new way of protest they are so daring you know making bad nurse wish you know compare. This new language even would say when we come to criticizing the one i have not seen anything like that before havent you mentioned curve it earlier and im curious as to how this pandemic has played into things talented seem to manage the infection fairly effectively but it has also decimated the very important tourist industry for thailand you mentioned economic pressures is that do you think the main driver of what were saying now well i think its part of the problem i would say is the main problem as you said the government has dealt with whole wheat rather will but beneath that you also see the opportunity that the cop would use in using coal week to silence critics up to government and also a critique of the war not just like any Artist Society right now when local we test me exploited for political reasons and at the end because of that you know that also had happened with the whole situation as well that become a part of the problem that a student has called for reform so what we were talking about some of the Political Parties that have been di