Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Tuesday, August 18th, and this is your

FT news briefing. Belarus protests intensify against the man who's ruled the country for 26 years.

Robin Hood has done so well during the pandemic that the stock trading app just

topped an $11 billion valuation.

President Donald Trump moves to allow oil drilling in the

Arctic which might be more about politics than money. Plus it's been a summer of

floods in Beijing. What's the economic impact of climate change?

I'm Dan Bobkoff in from Mark Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day.

If you happen to be watching Belarus State Television yesterday, you might have seen a shot of an empty

studio with pop music play.

That's because workers from the normally pliant television station were outside the building demonstrated.

They joined more than 200,000 pro-democracy protesters who took to the streets in the capital of Minsk.

All this is leading Belarus's strong man president to fight for his political life. Just last week, Alexander Lukashenko won an election widely seen as fraudulent.

The country's election commission said he won with 80% of the vote.

Protests soon followed and really gained steam after a brutal police crackdown backfired

and nearly 7,000 people were detained.

Many said they had been tortured by police and jail.

The UK, US, and EU have condemned the crackdown.

Mr. Lukashenko has ruled Belarus for 26 years and had promised a referendum on constitutional changes that would see him eventually hand

over power.

But as he toured the Minsk Wheel Tractor Plant Monday, he was booed and confronted by protesters chanting, resign.

It appears many who were bored during lockdown spent the past few months playing the markets for the first time.

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