i can't tell you the truth. >> lukashenko? >> reporter: it's understood here that openly criticizing the regime can have life-changing consequences. you think it's a free country? it was a lesson passengers on board this ryanair flight flying over belarus in made learned the hard way. it made an emergency landing in minsk after local air traffic control told the pilot there was a bomb threat. once on the ground, belarusian police arrested a dissident onboard, along with his girlfriend, before allowing the aircraft to depart. do you continue to insist that there was a genuine bomb threat or do you now admit that the whole incident was manufactured by you and your security forces in order to capture a critic that you wanted in jail? >> translator: matthew, i am not going to admit to anything in front of you. i am not under investigation. so please choose your words carefully. but if this had been a premeditated operation planned by our security services, you would be flattering me. because for security services to carry such an

russia, of course, supporting alexander lukashenko's regime. so i think it is not pushing things too far to see that decision to record the message in the belarussian language as sort of a tacit sign of support to members of the belarussian opposition who are suffering terrible oppression. their prost movement having been clamped down upon by mass arrests and large-scale police brutality, as we have been reporting since august of 2020. delano:, business news with kate. you are looking at facebook's pledge to hire 10,000 people in the e.u. to help build what it is: "the metaverse." kate: hard to wrap your head around, but it is a world of virtual reality. the social media company says it wants to invest in european tech talent, but critics are already skeptical of how european data will be used. our correspondent has more. reporter: facebook points to create the new internet, metaverse using technologies like virtual and augmented reality. the social media company aims to create a greater sense of virtual presence, as sort of xt-generation onlin

we will keep up the pressure on the lukashenko regime. we have already proposed targeted measures to reverse visa facilitation for the regime and its proxies, and we are ready to explore options for further sanctions, not only for individuals but for entities or companies. individuals but for entities or companies-— individuals but for entities or com anies. ,, u, ., companies. second, we agreed that we need — companies. second, we agreed that we need concerted - companies. second, we agreed that we need concerted action. | that we need concerted action. belarus as we observing now is now looking at opening new routes. it has offered further visa waivers to additional countries and we will continue our engagement with these countries to limit the state sponsored smuggling. our international affairs correspondent, paul adams has been to meet one of the groups trying to reach europe — this is his special report. trapped in the forest in poland, on the eu's eastern frontier, a group of syrians, exhausted and afraid. they are absolutely

and the eu accuses them lukashenko with human rights abuses but lukashenko says that there is no proof. he has led belarus for nearly 30 years. but last year's re-election was highly disputed and provoked huge protests by the opposition which his forces brutally put down. now in an exclusive interview with matthew chance, lukashenko is dismissing reports of human rights abuses and insists he has nothing to be sorry for. >> reporter: this is what the brutal crackdown in belarus looks like. opposition activists detained, then beaten by police. after disputed elections last year, the mass protests that followed were crushed. human rights groups called it a catastrophe and there were reportings of killings in police custody. now cnn is confronting the man responsible dubbed europe's last dictator. would you take this opportunity now to apologize to the people of belarus for the human rights abuses that they have suffered at your hands? >> translator: no, i would not like to take this opportunity. i don't think that this is even a relevant question and in principle i have nothing to apologi

we will keep up the pressure on the lukashenko regime. we have already proposed targeted measures to reverse visa facilitation for the regime and its proxies, and we are ready to explore options for further sanctions, not only for individuals, but also for entities or companies. second, we agreed that we need concerted action. belarus, as we observing now, is looking at opening new routes. it has offered further visa waivers to additional countries and we will continue our engagement with these countries to limit the state sponsored smuggling. our international affairs correspondent paul adams has been to meet one of the groups trying to reach europe. this is his special report. trapped in the forest in poland, on the eu's eastern frontier, a group of syrians, exhausted and afraid. "we are absolutely shattered," the voice says, "we have been walking since 4:00 in the morning." but how did they get here? two weeks earlier, their journey starts with a tearful farewell in northern iraq. and an optimistic selfie at the airport in urbiel, "we

a claim lukashenko denies. poland says it has sealed its border with barbed wire and will even build a wall. refugees are often trapped between the two sides for days and shoved back and forth. this woman from syria tells me the group she was part of slept under trees and ran out of food and water. >> we drink water from the -- on the floor. we don't have anything. >> reporter: you drank water from puddles? >> yes, yes. >> reporter: a few of the refugees stay in poland. most try to move on to germany. the brandonberg state government said. they go from 200 arrivals in august to almost 200 every day now. >> we increased the capacity here and we, of course, also sped up all of the administrative procedures. without compromising security and health checks. >> reporter: poland says the situation at the border with belarus remains tense. the highest refugee influx tells me he wants the eu to get tougher on lukashenko. >>> it's a question of tough international diplomacy, he says. we as europe cannot allow belarus to

we will keep up the pressure on the lukashenko regime. we have already proposed targeted measures to be targeted measures to reverse visa facilitation for the regime and its proxies, and we are ready to explore options for further sanctions, not only for individuals but also for entities or companies. second, we agreed that we need concerted action. belarus, as we are observing now, is looking at opening new rules. ——at opening new routes. it has offered further visa waiver is two additional third countries, and we will continue our engagement with these countries to limit the state—sponsored smuggling. the row with belarus stems from the european union's decision to introduce sanctions against the country, after its contested presidential election last year. the eu says minsk has retaliated by issuing tourist visas to people who in fact want to claim asylum in the eu, allowing them to cross into one of the three eu countries on its borders. our correspondent paul adams has been to meet one group of people trying to make the journey

poland, lithuania and lativia have all declared a state of emergency accusing president lukashenko of inviting migrants into the capital minsk then pushing them to the borders. thousands have already made the journey. 0ur international affairs correspondent, paul adams has travelled with one group making the journey. trapped in the forest on the eu's eastern frontier, a group of syrians exhausted and afraid. "we are absolutely shattered," the voice says. "we have been walking since four in the morning." but how did they get here? two weeks earlier, theirjourney starts with a tearful farewell in northern iraq. and an optimistic selfie at the airport. "we are leaving for belarus," says idris. we went to erbil. the city is full of travel agents catering for would—be migrants. the first step, a visa. murad isn't giving anything illegal, but he still doesn't want to be identified. if you have passports, we send it to the belarus tourism companies and they send us invitations. so when people come to you, they are not... you know they are not going to belarus for a holiday? of course. you

. >> it is not as easy as imposing economic sanctions because as we saw in the past, lukashenko does not seem to be impressed by anything the european union has done so far. the e.u. officials are worried he is using migrants as a weapon against the european union to punish, to take revenge on the e.u. by imposing sanctions in the past. they are working on a new forced package of economic sanctions, of sanctions against the regime in minsk because they say we need to punish lukashenko. he needs to change his behavior. brent: that was our brussels bureau chief reporting. first, they agreed to talk. now they are talking about what they have agreed to. negotiations have begun between the three parties hoping to form germany's new government. the social democrats, the greens and the free democrats say they could have a deal in place within weeks. >> 300 negotiators from three parties. 22 working group and one end goal. a coalition for german it is what representatives from the social democrats, the greens and free democrats discussed. >> it is all a complex task. working groups need to f

president lukashenko announced the possible migration crisis on the border on the very day was the european union decided to sancon him in the belarusian regime, so it is a revenge, where the people are instrumentalized by president lukashenko. brent: let's look at the other stories we are following this hour. amnesty international has accused authorities on the dutch island of violating the rights of venezuelan migrants, saying families are being separated and held under inhumane conditions. 17,000 venezuelans fled to the dutch territory to escape the economic crisis in their country. a u.k. parliament, inquiry is the government's early response to the pandemic was one of the first public health failures in the country's history. the cross party committee found the government waited too long to implement a lot down in early 2020, saying that led to thousands of unnecessary deaths. the last of an elite group of decorated french resistance fighters has died. his death was confirmed today by the french defense minister. he was awarded the order of the liberation, the country's highest ard for

in may, the president of belarus, alexander lukashenko, threatened to flood the eu with drugs and migrants — revenge, it seems, for eu sanctions. soon, thousands were crossing into lithuania. we went there to see the border. the guards here still catching dozens of migrants every day. lithuania says belarus is actively helping them to cross illegally. in some places, the border is little more than a gap in the forest. we can see some belarusian border guards coming right now. until the crisis began, there was a regular communication between the two sides, but after president lukashenko threatened to allow migrants into the eu, all of that cooperation stopped, and people started to flood across this border. but thousands of migrants are now in detention. this, for some, is where hopes and dreams come to an abrupt end. they can apply for asylum, but most won't get it. poland... after several days of silence, idris and his friends are back in touch, heading further into poland. he couldn't film the moment but says belarusian soldiers loaded 50 migrants into a truck, took them to the border,

in may, the president of belarus, alexander lukashenko, threatened to flood the eu with drugs and migrants — revenge, it seems, for eu sanctions. soon, thousands were crossing into lithuania. we went there to see the border. the guards here still catching dozens of migrants every day. lithuania says belarus is actively helping them to cross illegally. in some places, the border is little more than a gap in the forest. we can see some belarussian border guards coming right now. until the crisis began, there was a regular communication between the two sides, but after president lukashenko threatened to allow migrants into the eu, all of that cooperation stopped, and people started to flood across this border. but thousands of migrants are now in detention. this, for some, is where hopes and dreams come to an abrupt end. they can apply for asylum, but most won't get it. poland... after several days of silence, idris and his friends are back in touch, heading further into poland. he couldn't film the moment but says belarussian soldiers loaded 50 migrants into a truck, took them to the borde

we have heard from your reporting throughout the week that the eu believes lukashenko is orchestrating this. from that side, what can the eu do leer? >> that's really the big question. it's one of the things when you hear about the criticism that many have of poland, the eu always couches that and says, look, we believe lukashenko is very much at fault in all of this because he's the one, they say, who is manufacturing all this. he's the one who is essentially telling people to come there and then pushing, literally pushing them across the border. we've talked to refugees who said they were driven to the border by belarusian border guards who then cut the barbed wire fence for them and pushed them across. now, the poles are obviously saying this isn't going to happen here. what they did do is they declared the area around their border into an emergency zone, and that means no press is allowed inside. that means no ngos are allowed inside and they have been accused of a lot of these ngos who are operating outside of that zone of simply taking people who do make it across and pushing the

but local media say he had failed to present his credentials to president alexander lukashenko. it's been a month since the taliban banned girls from secondary schools in most of afghanistan. women, except for those in the public health sector, have not been allowed to return to work yet. the bbc has obtained exclusive access to the former women's affairs ministry in kabul, now replaced by the feared taliban vice and virtue ministry, to question the group's spokesman on the prospects for women in the country. from kabul, our correspondent yogita limaye reports. at 17, her life, with all its possibilities, has been shut down. before the taliban took over, she would have been preparing for school, along with her brother, each morning. now afghan girls face the biggest rollback in human rights in recent times. at the top of her class, she wanted to be a doctor. the family lives hand—to—mouth and education was their path to a better future. under an all—male taliban regime, women are disappearing from public life. they haven't been allowed to return to work yet. those who have

influx of illegal migration which is being encouraged by the governments of the belarusian government lukashenko. he is notjust saying that also latvia and the european union. certainly as you said, we were seeing in the enormous increase in the number of attempts to cross the border illegally, not official border points. and massive increase, 500 times every day compared to just 120 in the whole of last year. some of those people have already managed to actually get to germany, thousands of them. and the german government has actually been understanding of the polish governments plan to build this wall. without some details about it that have come out from the debate. it can be very expensive, it can be for hundred million dollars, it can be five and a half metres high and it's going to be equipped with monitoring and motion detectors. along just half of pollens border which is for hundred metres long with belarus. this, the government thinks it will be an effective deterrent to try and stop this influx of migrants who are coming over the borderfrom belarus. thank you very much indeed. you are