in the building behind me adopted this controversial law that people fear will stifle georgia's democracy. a huge manhunt continues in france to find an escaped prisoner, after two prison officers were killed when an armed gang ambushed their van. schools in england will be banned from teaching sex education to children under nine, under new government guidance. welcome to the programme. we start this hour in georgia. protesters there say they'll continue with demonstrations, after parliament passed a law on tuesday barring, what the government calls "foreign influence". protests around parliament continued into the early hours of wednesday. the law would see any organisation

that receives more than 20% of its funding from abroad being subject to stronger government scrutiny. the white house has called on georgia's president to veto the law, saying it is similar to measures seen in russia. rayhan demytrie is in the georgian capital tbilisi for us. georgians are waking up to the first day since their country's lawmakers in the building behind me adopted this controversial law that people fear will stifle georgia's democracy. we are expecting students and youth to come back to this street outside parliament later today. a lot of students from a number of universities here in the capital tbilisi are on strike. they are not attending their lectures. opposition mps are also boycotting parliament from today and we have a number of european politicians visiting georgia. they held a meeting

with the president of this country to discuss ways, how to save georgia's european future. pressure coming from europe, also from the us in terms of trying to get the georgian president to veto this law but that doesn't mean to say it is the end of the road for the law even if she does that. that's right. a letter published yesterday by us senators described yesterday's events as a dark day for georgia's democracy. there are talks about possible sanctions against those who voted in favour of this law. yesterday we saw dramatic events in this street outside parliament, as protesters clashed with the police while lawmakers inside parliament had a fistfight and verbal insults against each other.

this is how the events unfolded. they marched in with a warning against the protesters who have been demonstrating outside parliament for weeks. protesters stood defiantly, refusing to move away. and then violence. all in the name of a contentious law which protesters fear will mark the end of georgia's democracy. you get a sense now, they're moving more intensely. and the protesters are beginning to boo. they're being pushed away from the square. we will be eu. freedom to the georgian. georgian people are standing for their right to make a decision, which is to be against this law. we do not wish it.

it is dragging us back into the same hole that we finally crawled out of. a similarforeign agents law exists in russia, used there to crack down on government's critics. georgians worry the same thing might happen here. they are liars. they are putin's guys, you know. they are doing russian work here. earlier, mps from the governing party passed the law after a debate turned into a brawl. authorities defended the bill, saying it would help protect georgia from foreign interference. critics suspect the government is trying to protect the interests of one man, bidzina ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his fortune in russia. that is also intrinsically very russian, to defend the interests of one man against the interests of one nation.

these mass protests have been driven by georgia's youth, standing up to defend the national dream of a future in europe. a major manhunt is into a second day in france, after a prisoner escaped when a heavily armed gang ambushed a prison van. two prison officers were killed. the attack took place near the city of rouen in normandy. three other prison guards were injured. inside the van was a drug dealer known as "the fly" who was being taken from court to prison when the ambush took place at a toll booth. an unremarkable tollbooth in northern france, and the scene of a swift and brutal ambush. cctv footage shows the moment a dark car veers into a white prison van, and at least two masked attackers start shooting. terrified passengers on a passing bus throw themselves to the ground

as the bullets ring out. one assailant is seen strolling calmly among the other vehicles on the motorway. then, here, you can make out the prisoner himself — wearing white trainers — as he emerges from the prison van. the gang sets fire to their own vehicle, the smoke only adding to the chaos. some of them run towards another car — a white one — to begin their escape. the aftermath — carnage. two prison officers dead, others gravely injured as their police colleagues begin a painstaking search for evidence in an attack that's been described as an assault on france itself. translation: they will be arrested, l they will be judged and they will be | punished commensurate to the crime

that they have committed. this is the man who was freed in the bloody assault — 30—year—old mohammed amra, a convicted local burglar. but he was also the suspect in a fatal kidnapping in the southern city of marseille, which is facing an onslaught of gang violence. amra and his accomplices are now being hunted by hundreds of police officers — from here in rouen, as well as french special forces from across the country. the burnt—out vehicle that initiated the killing, a starting point for clues. forensic and other specialist investigators spent hours at the scene of the ambush. a violent attack on security staff is relatively rare in france, so many have found the level of indiscriminate violence used chilling. nick beake, bbc news, rouen, france. schools in england will be banned from teaching sex education to children younger than nine,

under new government plans. the guidance, due to be published on thursday, is said to include plans to ban any children being taught about gender identity. current guidance says it's down to primary schools to decide whether they need to cover any aspect of sex education to meet the needs of their pupils. i've been speaking to our political correspondent helen catt about the new guidance. it came about after rishi sunak ordered a review about this time last year into the teaching of relationships, sex and health education in schools in england. at the time it was after a number of conservative mps had raised concerns about what they said was inappropriate content that they claimed was being taught to some children. what is going to be in these guidelines which we haven't seen yet because they have not yet been published but it is understood what will be in them is a ban as you said on teaching sex education at all to children under nine, those in yearfive, there will also be other age limits

on teaching certain specifics, and there will also be a ban from proactively teaching the different gender identities, and if that is taught then teachers will need to say some of that is contested and make that clear, so that is the broad thrust of this. the national association for head teachers has said there was never any evidence that there was any inappropriate content being taught in schools. but the government says the aim of this guidance is to support teachers in teaching this subject and also to reassure parents. as you say the guidance is due to be published tomorrow. it does deal with potentially some areas that have proved very controversial around the rest of the uk, particularly this issue of gender identity. this isn't specific guidance on teaching that in particular. there was a different set

of guidance the government has been working on around that but it does come under this general topic of relationships, sex and health. what will happen with that is that teachers will be told they have to say that gender ideology is contested if they teach it and there will be a ban on proactively, as they put it, teaching different genders. documents obtained by the bbc show millions of litres of untreated sewage were illegally pumped into the centre of england's largest lake, windermere, in february. it was ten hours before an engineer could arrive to stop the flow. united utilities, which manages water supplies in north—west england, said the incident was caused by "an unexpected telecoms fault". ukraine says its troops have had to retreat from several villages in the kharkiv region, because of continued pressure from russian forces, who are establishing positions inside the north—east ukrainian town of vov—chansk. there's intense fighting,

and the capture of the town would mark the most significant gain for russia since it launched an incursion on friday. ukraine's president, vlodomir zelensky, has cancelled a scheduled visit to spain later this week. more now from our correspondent in kyiv, james waterhouse, on the reasons behind that trip�*s cancellation. all that we are hearing from the spanish side, sarah, is that it is because of internal events inside ukraine. so, not much in the way of detail on that statement, but i guess most of us can fill the gaps on what that means. this is a full—scale invasion, more than two and a half years on now, and it is going farfrom ukraine's way as ukrainian forces struggle to contain this north—eastern incursion by russian troops across the border. now, president zelensky, he is fairly relaxed about travelling abroad, he has grown in confidence in that sense. he is keen to appear at summits, not just in europe, notjust in the us,

on favourable territory with western allies, but he is also keen to engage with the middle east, as well as the african continent. so it is a possible reflection ofjust how perilous a period this is for ukraine, with the front line growing in size and ukrainian troops being further stretched. and of course, an important visit, as well, over the last couple of days with the us secretary of state antony blinken. what has been the key message that he has brought from the us? more help is coming, don't worry, we are behind you, putin must fail, i think is the messaging we have heard over and over. i mean, antony blinken is on the second day of an official visit, where you can be sure high on the agenda is the delay to this multi—billion dollar package of ammunition and weaponry. now, we are told some of the ukrainian forces have it, but what we are hearing from commanders in the north—east is that they are having to move

to more advantageous positions — that is the wording. we don't yet know whether it is a withdrawal or a retreat, but it is clear they are struggling to contain this russian attack in the face of constant ground attacks and artillery fire. now, there are real concerns that russia is planning another attack further north into the sumy region where troops are gathering there. and it's interesting, i think there are questions over ukraine's ability to prevent this because it has long been known that russia is gathering troops, but kyiv is reluctantly agreeing with western allies do not use the missiles it provides on targets inside russia, only on occupied territory inside ukraine. that is a source of deep frustration for ministers here, and it might be a reason why they are seemingly unable to prevent these incursions from taking place. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

the european commission has strongly criticised georgia for passing its foreign influence law, targetting overseas—funded ngos. the move by georgia's parliament is divisive in the former—soviet republic as opinion polls show that the majority of the population wants to join the european union. let's speak to tinatin khidasheli, former georgian minister of defence and now chair of the ngo civic idea. thank you to much forjoining us here on bbc news. what do you make of the increasing fraud divisions in georgia?

of the increasing fraud divisions in geora ia? . ~ of the increasing fraud divisions in georaia? . ~ i. of the increasing fraud divisions in georaia? . ~ ., of the increasing fraud divisions in georaia? . ~' ., ., georgia? thank you for having me here.