and germany partially legalises cannabis to tackle the black market trade, we have a special report coming—up a court in russia extends the pre—trial detention of a russian—american journalist by another two months. one of hong kong's best—known independent book stores closes its doors, after coming under pressure from the authorities. germany has legalised cannabis, as the government tries to tackle the black—market trade in the drug. germans over the age of 18 can now grow marijuana plants at home and carry the drug for personal use. the new law remains contentious because of health concerns and questions over whether it will help reduce or increase the illicit trade. from berlin , jessica parker reports.

# three little birds pitch by my doorstep, singing sweet songs.#. it's out in the open. adults in germany can now possess up to 25 grams of cannabis in public — enough to make dozens ofjoints — and grow up to three plants at home. while people like marcel are planning newly—permitted cannabis social clubs. not for tourists, though — just german residents. every gram from cannabis which goes from the cannabis social club is one gram that's not on the black market. what do you say to people who say, look, cannabis is addictive and it is harmful, especially to young people? everything has dark sides. and you have to know about the dark sides and only when it's not illegal, you can freely talk about these dark sides. but these cannabis clubs in cities like dresden won't pop up overnight, and come with their own rules — exacerbating fears that demand will quickly outstrip legal supply.

translation: we assume that the black market - will be strengthened, particularly at the beginning in the chaos phase, when demand would be great because of the signal this law sends. the black market and criminal networks will adapt and they will also infiltrate the social clubs. into the highly secure halls of a medical cannabis grower, who are also seeing some deregulation. cannabis will not be a narcotic any more in germany. - it will be just as any other pharmaceutical product, i which makes it much more easierl for patients to get it from a doctor and to get it from the pharmacy. they keep this room at around 23 degrees, but it's also really quite humid. now, there are 650—ish plants in this room and they are almost ready to be harvested. and the psychoactive substance is. the benefits of medical cannabis are debated,

while the relaxation around recreational use has been contentious. this is an argument in germany that likely hasn't yet reached full maturity. jessica parker, bbc news, in dresden. earlier we werejoined by kevin sabet, president of �*smart approaches to marijuana' and former white house drug control policy adviser. we asked him whether he thought this policy change would tackle the black market trade of cannabis. well, we have more than two dozen states in the united states that have legalised cannabis and the underground black market hasjust grown bigger. and it's sort of counterintuitive. why would that happen? it happens because the price of cannabis, of course, falls when you legalise it. but the illegal market can even undercut that legal price because you have a tax. you have other burdens placed on the legal market. and the illegal actors don't just go to dental school when you legalise cannabis, they change their business, they change their business model. and so, i mean, california,

80% of the market is illegal. it's been a disaster. that's the biggest market in the united states, some other states as well. germany is not necessarily known for it wouldn't be a place where you would be growing cannabis normally in terms of from the climate perspective. so i mean, there'sjust so many reasons why i really don't see this will work. at least, advocates should be honest. this is about people who want to smoke marijuana. i mean, this idea that it's helping other ways economically, it's just we have no evidence for that. so this idea of growers association, social clubs, if you like, in germany, has that been has that been tried elsewhere? yeah. it has a different, slightly different model in spain and some other one or two other countries in europe. but it's a bit different what germany is trying. i really see what germany is doing as a stepping stone to full commercialisation. we have to remember the coalition government that came in promised to legalise and commercialise marijuana outright, not in social clubs but in stores, in actual stores all around. and then they finally could not

really get that through. so this is a really watered down version, but the intentions and the next steps by the advocates will of course, be to blow this up much bigger and not confine it to a few clubs as they have, which are still illegal technically in spain and some of these other countries, but in germany are now legalised. and what's the latest thinking on the medical side of this and the health side of this, and what the potential risks of cannabis are? well, scientists and researchers are almost in unison and saying that we don't smoke any drug and we wouldn't take raw cannabis, which has hundreds of different components in it, and frankly is not regulated in any sort of batch to batch consistency like a normal regulatory authority would do to make sure there's no mould and pesticides and bacteria, which cannabis, by the way, very easily attracts. they would instead have an actual pharmaceutical medical product that would be available like any other product in a pharmacy. and no one has a problem with that. there's no one, including myself. there's no issues there.

the issues are when you sort of use it as an excuse to say, "well, this is for medical purposes," when in reality it's a wink wink. you know, anybody for any reason can sort of come in and get the cannabis that they would be using non medically. and that's, i think, what we're seeing. but if it's a true pharmaceutical product that is not in a smoked material that may be in a pill or patch or a usual delivery form, there's no issues there. but again, oftentimes we see sort of the ruse of medical marijuana being used to cloud really the true intentions, which is that to use very high, potent thc. and that's what this is about. today's marijuana is not the old weed from the 605. it's much more potent than it's ever been. and it's being grown and promoted by multi—billion dollar corporations. let's not forget that. like big tobacco. and that's really what i worry, is that we have this massive commercialisation happening around the world. a court in russia has extended the pre—trial detention of a russian—american journalist by another two months.

alsu kurmasheva worked for radio free europe in prague. during a trip to russia to visit her ailing mother last year, she was charged with failing to self—register as a foreign—agent. she was later also charged with spreading false information about moscow's armed forces, which carries a prison sentence of up to 15 years. ealier, i wasjoined by alsu kurmasheva's husband, pavel butorin, and clayton weimers, us director of reporters without borders. today, we saw a video recording of her speaking to journalists in court. so this is the first time since alsu's arrest in october that her children and i have heard her voice for nearly six months. it is the first time that journalists have dared or been allowed to ask also anything in the courtroom, and i'm troubled to hear also speak about her inhumane prison conditions and deteriorating health. so basically, six months since you've had any sign

of her or been able to see her, what sort of impact is it possible to put into words the impact this is having on yourfamily? my children and i continue to be in shock at this unjust detention of their mother and my wife. when we heard her today speak about her conditions, how she is held in a tiny prison cell with no ability to move around, that she is receiving minimal medical care. we find it incredibly troubling and frustrating, really. as you said, i'll soon travel to russia for what was to be a short trip to aid her and her mother. she hadn't lived in russia since 1998. she is based in prague. she's an american citizen. and it was painful to see her detained in the middle

of this act of kindness. we still don't know. we don't understand. someone in the russian government. please tell us why is alsu detained? why is she behind bars other than the fact that she is an american journalist and american citizen? let me bring in clayton, clayton weimer, us director of reporters without borders. clayton, we reported a few days ago about the extension of the pre—trial detention of evan gershgovich, the wall streetjournal reporter, and we also reported about how it was possible that he was being used as some part of an attempt to have a prisoner swap. do you think that this is the same scenario for alsu, that she may be used as leverage to secure the release of some russian prisoners? she's been the first high profile american who has been detained in russia. we you might remember that brittney griner, the american basketball player, was arrested last year and eventually exchanged for a russian prisoner in the us prison system.

so it definitely seems like there is a strategy here of arresting americans with the intent of trading them for high—value russian prisoners elsewhere. but there's a second strategy at play here, which is the kremlin's total crackdown on press freedom in russia. you know, russia has long been a place where it's very dangerous to be a journalist, where you can face arbitrary arrests and even killings for doing yourjob. but since the full scale invasion of ukraine, russia has really made the free press a thing of the past. you know, there are very few independent media outlets still able to operate. they've all been forced to flee in exile or shut down completely. journalists have had to flee in droves. so what we're seeing is reallyjust the fruition of the kremlin's crackdown on the free press in russia. and how difficult is it for you as an organisation to try to get any information out of russia? it's incredibly difficult. we as an organisation don't have anyone on the ground because it would be far too dangerous.

but one thing we are doing, rsf is supporting a number ofjournalists and media outlets who are in exile and still trying to do their work, which is russian language journalism that serves the russian people because there's still a great need for independent journalism that provides authentic information and powerful. and, pavel, i'lljust returned to you for a final thought. we've discussed, haven't we, the possibility that also might be the possibility that alsu might be used in some kind of prisoner swap. have you had any conversations with the authorities, with the us government, anyone, in fact, who might have given you some information about what their plans are to try to secure her release? i�* not aware of any prisoner swaps that may or may swaps that may or may not include alsu. the us government will not discuss these situations for understandable reasons.

however, i refuse to think of alsu, my wife and the mother of my two young daughters, as a pawn in a political game, and not even in a political game, and not evan for that matter, either. there are human beings i don't want to think of alsu some kind of token in a prisoner swap. the mostjust resolution to this problem would be for russia to drop its spurious charges against her. she is not accused of a violent offence. she's not a terror suspect. she's not a western spy. she is not an activist or opposition figure. she presents zero danger to the russian government. we want alsu back. please join our worldwide campaign for alsu's release. hashtag free alsu. one of hong kong's best—known independent book stores has closed its doors for the last time after coming under pressure from the authorities. hundreds of well—wishers went to mount zero books on its final day. the owners blamed the closure on a large number of inspections carried in response to anonymous complaints. they said they'd received an avalanche of letters from the government about alleged infringements of various regulations.

still to come on the world today. celebrations on the streets for haiti — people in the caribbean nation brave the violence to mark easter. and on the road to self—driving cars — how hands—free vehicles are helping people out behind the wheel. around the world and across the uk. this is the world today on bbc news.

thousands of people have walked through haiti's streets to celebrate easter, the first major national holiday since the country's government collapsed. the caribbean island is now largely gripped by gang violence. more than 1500 people have been killed since the start of the year and tens of thousands left homeless. our correspondent nomia iqbal reports from the port city of cap haitien. as haiti spirals into violence, people try to hold

on to their traditions. thousands of worshippers walk through narrow, dusty roads in cap haitian, praying for peace in dusty roads in cap haitiae, praying for peace in dusty roads in cap haitien, praying for peace in a country whose capital has descended into lawlessness. in gang—controlled port—au—prince, the city is still suffering — with people fighting for basic supplies. most easter processions were cancelled. there was a rare moment ofjoy, though, as children crafted colourful kites — an easter tradition. more than 100 miles away, nun checks in with herfamily every day to make sure they're still alive. her father says there was a shooting today — everyone is ok. he tells her he feels broken, though. nun left port—au—prince because of the violence. her cousin was killed by a gang in the capital last year. i have friends that, after school, they decided to open a business or things like that,

and after some time either they got killed or they got robbed, so it's two ways — either you stay and you fight, or you go. even though i go, i'll come back because i have a plan, i have a dream, and that dream is happening in haiti. the country is now waiting to see exactly who will take on the gangs in the fight for power. a presidential transitional council is in the works, and the group's main goal will be to restore order and democracy to a nation that's at a crucial turning point in history. one of the country's most powerful gang leaders, jimmy cherizier, has said he's open to a ceasefire. known as barbecue, he and his coalition control much of the capital right now, but he wants a seat at the negotiating table. it will be hard, though, to convince many haitians to accept violent gangsters as future political leaders. translation: when gangs attack, they're terrorising people, - and they don't have any compassion — theyjust kill.

the population is dying — it's true — because it's the country which is dying. when the port is dysfunctional, the airport is dysfunctional, and the hospital is dysfunctional, people will definitely die. haiti is a country with a lot of faith, but constant, overlapping crises have pushed it to the brink. and with little change so far, right now hope is all people have. nomia iqbal, bbc news, haiti. the long awaited arrival of self—driving cars appears to be hitting some speed bumps. it turns out, they're much harder to introduce than expected. instead we're seeing more hands—free driving systems on our roads. most major car—makers offer them — but is hands—free driving safe? michelle fleury, reports from new york. the road to the cars of the future is bumpier than we thought. one stop on thatjourney is hands—free driving. i think this is my ride.

hello. are you cody? michelle. nice to meet you. i got to see gm's super cruise in action out on the roads of new york city. so we're turning on super cruise. we have a green indication on the wheel and we can take our hands off the wheel. tech that literally takes the driving out of your hands. it's especially nice on long road trips, you know. so that was fun seeing the system in action. but there are so many words out there at the moment, like driverless, autopilot, hands—free. and it's sowing a lot of confusion in the minds of the public. these are not self driving vehicles. these are partial driving automation systems that are intended to assist you and make some of the driving a little more convenient. new testing by the insurance institute for highway safety found that many of these hands—free systems aren't doing enough to monitor drivers�* behaviour.

the findings were a little disappointing. out of the 1a systems we tested, 11 of those received poor ratings from us. a couple of miles uptown is the new york auto show, one of the industry's great display of its ideas for the future. none of the brands here earned a top rating. only one got an acceptable score. the lexus team—mate. growing concerns over these systems led to this exchange with the head of america's travel safety regulator. if it's only designed to be operated in a certain type of environment, it should be limited to those environments. to raise awareness general motors has launched a public education campaign. the us car giant wants to make it clear to drivers what is and isn't allowed when driving hands free. we want to gain their trust and their confidence in the system, so we don't want to outpace them to where they don't trust the technology. the technology is meant to support the driver and prevent car crashes and injuries. an ambition that won't be realised

if the humans behind the wheel become distracted. michelle fleury, bbc news, new york. an update on the bridge collapse in baltimore last week. the white house has just confirmed presidentjoe biden will visit the city next week. six road workers were killed when the francis scott key bridge was hit by a container ship, causing it to come down. a complex savage operation is currently under way in the harbour there. you're watching the world today on bbc news. the authorjk rowling has challenged police to arrest her if they believe she has committed an offence. it follows a series of social media posts where she's questioned a new hate crime law which came into force in scotland today.

it's now a crime to act in a threatening or abusive manner with the intention of stirring up hatred — relating to someone's age, disability, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity. scotland's first minister humza yousaf said the new law would deal with a "rising tide of hatred". here's our scotland editorjames cook. this is a nation struggling to strike a balance between liberty and safety, between freedom of speech and protection from hatred. these protesters think the new hate crime law gets that balance wrong. but the first minister disagrees. i'm very proud of the hate crime act. we have seen, i'm afraid, notjust in the uk and of course, scotland, but right across many parts of the world, this kind of rising tide of hatred against people because of their protected characteristics. so unless your behaviour is threatening or abusive, and intends to stir up hatred,

then you have nothing to worry about in terms of the new offences being created. but what exactly is in the hate crime act? the law creates a crime of stirring up hatred, relating to age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or being intersex. it also includes racial discrimination, although that was already illegal under an old law. a publicity campaign is now encouraging people to report behaviour which crosses a line from offensive, shocking or disturbing, to threatening and abusive. but one group is not protected by the law — women. jk rowling, who lives in edinburgh, says that is wrong. on social media today, the author posted about several trans people who are protected, concluding... there will be a rush to report

people to the police, including high—profile individuals. i imagine that there will be many complaints, for example, made againstjk rowling. so i think that yes, there is a high chance that the police will be overwhelmed with a lot of complaints, some of which will be purely spurious. the scottish government says it's planning a separate law to tackle hatred and harassment of women. but for now, senior police officers are worried about the impact of this act, with the complaints already coming in. james cook, bbc news, edinburgh. finally , let's turn to a story on a baby gorilla, who is saying goodbye to her home in texas — to look for a surrogate mum. baby jameela was born prematurely by caesarean section — and despite efforts to unite her with her mother — the newborn was rejected. she's now heading to cleveland zoo with hopes of finding a new mum. (sot she is part of who i

am as a keeper now. she was delivered by c—section. the mother recovered with no complications from that. jameela herself, she had some respiratory complications. our goal was to return her to the group when the mother was able to accept her and she had a stable condition herself. but unfortunately, we don't believe that sakineh, the mother, got the proper hormonal cues going through the labour process. when she was presented with this infant, she didn't recognise it as hers. so we worked with our animals and our staff to do some training and some maternal work. we tried with sakineh a couple of times. that was unsuccessful. we moved on to another female named gracie, who has almost a one and a half —year—old baby

and is an excellent mother. she unfortunately showed the same response. this other facility had females that in the past have shown interest in babies that were not theirs. it's been a labour of love. and also what i've said is it's the most amazing experience i never wanted to have because we want them to be as natural and healthy in our zoo environment as possible. i will carry her. she will be a baby of mine forever. thanks for your company on world today, red genie will be here with you next.

hello there. after a very wet march for some, we've got more rain to come this week for the early part of april, dominated by low pressure. that's been bringing the showers today. that weather front has been moving very slowly northwards and is really coming to rest overnight across scotland, particularly across the north—east. it should turn drier in northern ireland. the showers in the south, across england and wales, becoming confined more to southern counties of england where there'll be a stronger wind through the english channel. but with the cloud breaking up eventually in the north—east of england after a chilly, wet day today, temperatures could be down to 2 celsius overnight tonight. still some patchy rain affecting scotland, especially the north—east. those heavy showers will move away from south—east england and then we'll see some sunshine for a while on tuesday. but the cloud will build up. we'll get a few april showers developing and some wetter weather comes into the channel islands and the south—west of england during the afternoon. but ahead of that, temperatures widely 111—15 celsius in the midlands and eastern england, but still quite a bit chillier than that in northern and eastern scotland, where we've got that

north—easterly wind. we've got rain, though, coming into the south—west — that's coming on those weather fronts. that rain will move northwards on tuesday night, and we're left with another area of low pressure over us on wednesday. not terribly windy around that low, but we will find showers or longer spells of rain running northwards across england and wales into scotland and northern ireland. southern parts of england and wales maybe cheering up a bit in the afternoon, some sunshine which will help those temperatures rise a bit higher. but it's going to be particularly cold in scotland with cloud and rain and a north—easterly wind. now, these are the upper level winds and this is the jet stream pattern over the next few days. and with that sort of pattern, we pick up areas of low pressure from the atlantic, drive them up from the south—west and take rain northwards across much of the country, so that's the sort of pattern that we're seeing. bit of rain left from overnight across northern scotland and some rain moving northwards across england and wales, and then a brief respite before it turns wetter and windier more widely later in the day across southern parts of england and south wales. those temperatures aren't really changing too much.

still quite cold air that we've got across many parts of scotland. and the pattern over the next few days keeps those north—easterly winds then across scotland, but the rest of the uk will be milder, south—westerly winds — but this is where all the wet weather is going to come over the next few days to the end of the week.

hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. you're watching the context on bbc news. iranian and syrian state media saying that an israeli air strike targeted the iranian consulate in the syrian capital, damascus.

this really increasingly dangerous war between iran and its allies and proxies and the israelis has tonight taken quite a big step up. even if benjamin netanyahu brings home the hostages l or dismantles hamas, i there are new posters — "you're in charge," _ "you're responsible," they say. but they wanted him out for the war. now, they're back and they want him gone even more. _ iran's state media says at least five people were killed after a suspected israeli air strike on an iranian consultate building in the syrian capital. we'll have the latest on that developing story. staying in the middle east — israeli forces pull out of gaza's largest hospital after an operation which they say killed hundreds of hamas fighters — palestinian medics say they are retrieving dozens of bodies

from the al—shifa, which is now in ruins.