this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world: president biden says he's tired of talking about trump and wants to focus on the american people. in a televised debate in milwaukee, he says it's time to spend big on a covid rescue package. is it the end of the controversial dutch covid curfew? a court rules the government failed to show why it was needed so urgently. president macron�*s flagship project to combat extremism across france passes its first hurdle. and a major shock in the tennis as the number one ash party

loses the quarter—finals to an outsider. —— barty. in the us, president biden�*s made his first official trip out of washington since taking office. he flew to the state of wisconsin for a nationally—televised town hall event. he took questions directly from voters, as he lay out the case for his first major piece of legislation — a coronavirus relief bill worth almost $2 trillion. watching that event was our north america correspondent, peter bowes. what did you make of the event? this was a very wide ranging

event in terms of the questions asked by americans and it is significant because it is the first time president biden has put himself into this kind of forum since entering the white house. almost half of the questions were devoted to the coronavirus and president biden placed at by the end ofjuly all americans who choose to have the vaccine will be able to do that. on further questioning, he acknowledged that at that point not everybody would have necessarily had the vaccine but he thinks there would be enough doses around the country for people who wanted to actually have in their arms. he also talked about the relief wheel is pushing through to get through congress, $1.9 trillion and clearly part of the motivation for the president was to get americans on board. opinion polls suggest people do

support what he's trying to the president also wants to try to get as much republican support as he can also technically it does not necessarily need that to get the bill through congress.— to get the bill through concress. , ., congress. he is also looking desnerate — congress. he is also looking desperate to _ congress. he is also looking desperate to move - congress. he is also looking desperate to move the - desperate to move the conversation on from the former president donald trump. but donald trump has been on the attack calling dower, sour and an unsmiling political hack regarding mitch mcconnell. this emer: es regarding mitch mcconnell. this emerges in _ regarding mitch mcconnell. this emerges in the _ regarding mitch mcconnell. ti 3 emerges in the wake of regarding mitch mcconnell. t1151 emerges in the wake of the peach mentor trial and which mcconnell on saturday, once it was all over, strongly criticising mr trump and saying he was morally responsible for what happened at the beginning of january at the capitol building even though mitch mcconnell voted to acquit mr trump on the belief he did not believe it was a constitutional

foreigner but he firmly set the blame at the feet of mr trump for what actually happened. this is donald trump? response, in a way we have come to expect from donald trump, not mincing his words, a personal attack on mitch mcconnell suggesting he was simply the wrong leader for the republicans. if the republicans in the senate want to regain some seeds and future elections, mrtrump to regain some seeds and future elections, mr trump saying mitch mcconnell is not the right person to lead them and the former president supporting candidates who support his america first policy. a policy which saw him achieve the presidency in the first place. thank you very much. the night—time curfew in the netherlands could be in doubt after a court ruled that the government hadn't shown why it was necessary to stop coronavirus spreading. the challenge to the curfew was brought by an anti—lockdown

group, although the government has appealed the decision as paul hawkins reports. protests which turned to riots. this was the reaction in eindhoven three weeks ago, when the nighttime curfew was introduced. scenes that were repeated across the netherlands, but with little impact on the government — only last week, the nighttime curfew was extended to march, saying it was necessary to stop the spread of coronavirus. but one anti—lockdown group was so enraged, they took the government to court and won. the curfew is not only unsubstantiated but also illegitimate. so it was found on two or three grounds that it could not continue. there is no legal basis for a curfew. then you have to show there is a necessity, that there is an emergency, that it is acute. but the court has also ordered the curfew to stay in place until friday — that's when the government's appeal against the decision

will be heard. translation: the curfew is a mean, not a goal. - translation: the curfew is a means, not a goal. i i want to emphasise that. the goal is to keep the coronavirus under control in the best way we can in order to be able to regain all of ourfreedoms in a safe manner. that is why i urge everyone to stick to the curfew. it is of the utmost importance to limit our social contacts as much as possible. the government is drafting legislation to strengthen the legal basis for the curfew but for now the streets of the netherlands remain empty at least until friday morning when the government's appeal is heard. what happens after that is unclear. like others rather well, some people's patience is wearing thin and tempers are boiling over. paul hawkins, bbc news. a snap 5—day lockdown in the australian state of victoria will come to an end as planned, at midnight local time.

the circuit breaker lockdown came into effect on friday, following fears the uk strain of the coronavirus had spread into the community from an outbreak in a quarantine hotel. mask rules and gathering limits will remain in place while schools will re—open. despite a day of zero cases, the premier of victoria, daniel andrews has reminded residents the pandemic isn't over. this strategy, we have cases, we have contacts, we have the contacts of contacts and where necessary we have a fourth ring in that approach and that is to substantially limit movement. no—one enjoys doing that, it is not a decision that is taken lightly but it has worked in this instance and we will always reserve the right to get the best medical advice to keep victorians safe and to make sure in a broader and an ongoing sense we are safe and open. meanwhile, the 3—day lockdown implemented

in auckland in new zealand is also coming to an end. in a press conference within the last hour, prime ministerjacinda ardern confirmed the city will move back to alert level 2 restrictions allowing people to return to work and school with some measures still in place, while the remainder of the country will be under alert level1 — effectively, life as normal with the exception of international travel — from midnight. let's get some of the day's other news: the united nations�* top human rights body has said will raise the detention of the ruler of dubai's daughter, princess latifa, with the authorities in the united arab emirates. in secretly recorded videos obtained by the bbc she has accused her father, sheikh mohammed bin rashid al—makhtoum, of holding her hostage. the office of the un high commission for human rights said it was analysing the videos. several thousand protesters rallied in barcelona after police stormed a university to arrest an outspoken rapper. pablo hasel had barricaded

himself inside, in order to avoid going to jail over a string of tweets in a controversial free speech case. the catalan rapper shouted "death to the fascist state" as he was led away. he faces a nine—month sentence for slander and glorifying terrorism in his lyrics and online messages. reports from yemen say thousands of people already displaced by the conflict have been forced to flee an offensive by houthi rebels on the government—held northern city of marib. aid agencies and local organisations say that since the advance began a week ago, makeshift camps in the desert outside the city have been shelled by houthi artillery. the us state department has urged the houthis to cease all military operations. in myanmar the trial of the detained civilian leader, aung san suu kyi, has begun, behind closed doors. she appeared in court via video link, accused of violating the natural disaster law, on top of earlier charges of possessing illegal communications. protests against the military coup have continued across myanmar. a military spokesman has claimed aung saan suu kyi

is being confined for her own safety. the lower house of the french national assembly has approved a new bill to combat extremism. president emmanuel macron�*s flagship project is meant to nurture republican values and foster national unity. but not everyone agrees this is the right way of doing it. ever since the beheading of a school teacher last october, french president president emmanuel macron has made clear he has extremism in his side and a pillar of that project has passed its first hurdle. the lower house of parliament has approved a new bill to combat extremism stop new measures would include tougher

over sighted masks. tougher controls on homeschooling and band posting private details online to danger others. —— and danger. it has been met with criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. conservatives argue it does not go far enough. the terror attack still fresh in the french psyche. translation: when you see the cowardice in the state, preventing the wearing of the valve for young girls, not tackling question of immigration, when you see the did not prohibit the financing of foreign cults, it is already a collaborator. fin of foreign cults, it is already a collaborator.— a collaborator. on the left, critics argue _ a collaborator. on the left, critics argue the _ a collaborator. on the left, critics argue the bill - a collaborator. on the left, critics argue the bill vilify l critics argue the bill vilify is muslims. translation: unanimous against this lot

which feared, the government has set the stage and the far—right went on a rampage in terms of discrimination. it does not talk about social equality, about school separatism on the other hand it is a lot used to point the finger at compatriots.- point the finger at com atriots. ,, ., compatriots. the senate debate the bill next month. either way the issue will be a key factor in presidential elections next yearin in presidential elections next year in france. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a once—in—a—generation freezing winter weather hammers the southern states, a state of emergency is declared in texas. nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. the withdrawal completed in good order,

but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. malcolm has been murdered. that has a terrible affect on the morale of the people. i'm terrified of the repercussions on the streets, one wonders who is next. gunfire. as the airlift got under way, there was no letup . in the eruption itself. lava streams from . a vent low the crater flowed down to the sea the east of the island, i away from the town for the time being. | it could start flowing again at any time. i the russians heralded their new generation space station with a spectacular night launch, they called it �*mir�* — the russian for peace. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: president biden has taken part in a televised

debate in milwaukee. he says it's time to spend big on a covid rescue package. the night—time curfew in the netherlands could be in doubt after a court ruled that the government hadn't shown why it was necessary to stop coronavirus spreading. businesses in zimbabwe, already experiencing serious issues, have been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic. a strict lockdown was imposed in january to deal with a second wave and it was extended last monday. despite the problems, some small businesses are thriving under the measures, as the bbc�*s shingeye zimnyoka reports. the first batch of covid vaccines arrived in the country on monday. it is just 200,000 doses donated by the chinese government, but it is a start.

even the recent ravages, it is an incredibly generous donation to our— an incredibly generous donation to our country. the an incredibly generous donation to our country.— an incredibly generous donation to our country. the economy has faced a major— to our country. the economy has faced a major disruptions - to our country. the economy has faced a major disruptions and . faced a major disruptions and some sectors like tourism have declined by up to 98%. but others are seeing an uptick. it has grown exponentially. we are selling more now in the january, february. then we did during the whole festive period, which is crazy, considering january is a slowest time but as an example, at christmas time, we were delivering about 550 boxes in the peak. when it was hectic and on a day like this, from 4am we have 1000 boxes. this vegetable and _ 4am we have 1000 boxes. this vegetable and grocery delivery service is one that is thriving

in the time of covid, when customers normally prefer and mortar shops, the pandemic has force them to use online services. force them to use online services-_ force them to use online services-— force them to use online services. ., ., services. two years ago when we were still young, _ services. two years ago when we were still young, we _ services. two years ago when we were still young, we were - were still young, we were struggling in the space where many people did not trust the whole idea of clicking and shopping and getting delivery. now more people are trusting that they need these services and many people are now coming on board and we hope that after all of this has happened, the industry can still thrive and people can still trust online businesses.— people can still trust online businesses. ,, .. ,, , ., businesses. success stories are few and far _ businesses. success stories are few and far between. _ businesses. success stories are few and far between. the - businesses. success stories are few and far between. the truth | few and far between. the truth is most companies have been hit hard by the second lockdown, forced to close after a festive season spike in cases. a survey of close to 100 companies, done by the national chamber of commerce, suggest that about 115% of commerce, suggest that about 45% of young companies could fail to reopen, post covid. the

international neighbour organisation further suggests the impact onjobs organisation further suggests the impact on jobs and likelihood has been devastating, with almost 25% of formerjobs lost. zimbabwe has announced another two week extension and companies that test their staff will be allowed to open, once again, albeit slowly, the country is heading back to some sense of normalcy, but some businesses still hope that the new paradigm shift will remain. shingeye zimnyoka, bbc news. to south korea now, where more details are emerging about a man who was caught crossing the heavily fortified borderfrom neighbouring north korea. our seoul correspondent, laura bicker, joins me now. what do we know about this individual? this all took place in the early hours are monday morning, under the cover of darkness. it appears that the north korean

man swam from north to south, remember, this is a five mile heavily fortified border so it looks like it's across the maritime border and hit land and made his way through a tunnel, some kind of drainpipe, underneath the barbed wire on the beach and then slowly tracked his way south and found at a checkpoint. within the restricted area of the border. this all comes from the joint chiefs of staff, releasing details today and say that they are launching an investigation because they monitored the movement for three hours and troops did not act quickly enough and they are looking at this drainpipe to see if they can perhaps lock it more than it has been already —— block at. it has been already -- block at. . ., . , �* it has been already -- block at. ., ., ., , ~ , ., at. extraordinary! and is one unknown _ at. extraordinary! and is one unknown man _ at. extraordinary! and is one unknown man disappears - at. extraordinary! and is one i unknown man disappears from north korean another woman has

reappeared? this is the wife of kimjong—un, where has reappeared? this is the wife of kim jong—un, where has she been? kim jong-un, where has she been? ,, kim jong-un, where has she been? . .h kim jong-un, where has she been? ,, ., , ., , kim jong-un, where has she been? ,, .,, .,, , january last year and reappeared at a concert alongside a husband, to celebrate the birthday of kim jong—un's father. where has she been? the national intelligence service has briefed parliamentarians yesterday and said she was enjoying time with her children and protecting itself from covid—19. north korea has set on a number of occasions that it does not have any cases of covid—19. but others have cast doubt on that assertion. when it comes to his wife, many wondered about her disappearance and it is unusual for her not to be seen in public, given kimjong—un has appeared so few times in public himself, so it is not unusual, given the circumstances.

at least 11 people have lost their lives in the united states, as once—in—a—generation freezing winter weather hammers the southern states. more than 150 million americans are now under winter storm warnings, and officials have declared a state of emergency in texas. angelica casas sent this from san antonio. the winter weather in texas started out as a fun. power went out in the heights so if i'm freezing my butt off, might as well be out in the snow. but this dreamy scene soon turned into a nightmare, with temperatures dropping to 0 fahrenheit across the state. that's —17 celsius. power supplies have failed, leaving over 4 million people without electricity. this man's house froze up, forcing him to drive 30 miles to houston to find a hotel for him and his family. got a newborn, just trying to find a hotel and trying to find a place to stay. we called several hotels — everybody was just booked up. many have been left to fend for themselves.

rolling blackouts have been put in some areas of the state to keep powerfor hospitals, police and fire stations. texas is not used to the fury of a cold winter. i have been seeing people put food outside to freeze, instead of in the freezer, charging their phones in their vehicles, and even spending the night in their turned—on cars just to stay warm. but the state is the biggest energy producer so many families are telling me that they are upset that texas did not prepare in advance for the freezing temperatures that we are seeing now. local officials say they are doing their best to get back on track, especially during this pandemic. the hurst county public health department building lost power. at that location we had 8,430 moderna vaccines, so we got to work, under the mission to avoid losing those vaccines with the loss of power. there have been hundreds of road crashes in texas and in other states, too.

the national weather service says this abnormal weather is down to a cold outbreak that has come through from the arctic. it says nearly 73% of the united states is covered in snow right now and the cold snap will stay for another week. angelica casas, bbc news, san antonio. and it's notjust the us experiencing some of the most extreme weather in years. and, on the other side of europe, thick layers of sea foam covered an irish village after days of high winds churning up the sea. clouds of the white bubbles blanketed several houses and streets on ireland's east coast in county waterford. karolina muchova has stunned world number one ash barty in a come from behind win at the australian open. the 24—year—old from the czech republic booking her spot in herfirst

grand slam semifinal. it's a big upeset for the homegrown hero. and for more we have our news reporter and fellow aussie tanya dendrinos here. what happened ? what happened? it was really sad, as what happened? it was really sad. as an — what happened? it was really sad, as an aussie _ what happened? it was really sad, as an aussie fan, - sad, as an aussie fan, homegrown hero ash barty, came out firing and took the first step 6—1 and she was sitting in pretty position but it wasn't the case. karolina muchova coming out and blitzing, a real turnaround in the second set, taking it 6—3, going all the way in the third and taking nothing away from her, as you say, booking her spot in a very first major semi—final, brilliant, going to face the americanjennifer brady. brilliant, going to face the american jennifer brady. great tennis to come _ american jennifer brady. great tennis to come and _ american jennifer brady. great tennis to come and your- tennis to come and your pronunciation is better than mine! . , ., mine! really intended to come, and the other— mine! really intended to come, and the other semi-final - mine! really intended to come, and the other semi-final is - and the other semi—final is naomi osaka osaka taking on serena williams, mouthwatering stay down and novak djokovic

djokovic also down through to the semifinals and the quarter—finals are under way in the men's as we speak, later on this evening, wrap in will be taking on stefanos tsitsipas so exciting tennis to come and with the easing of the victorian lockdown there will be fans returning to the arena and they started there which was a real buzz of a tennis players, who have not had fans in the stands the whole lockdown —— rafa nadal. it is believed they will be able to return, in capacity to cheer on the finals at the australian open. the finals at the australian 0 en. ~ , ~ the finals at the australian oen. ~ , . ., the finals at the australian 0 en. 1 , . ., . open. will be nice to have the spectators _ open. will be nice to have the spectators back _ open. will be nice to have the spectators back because - open. will be nice to have the spectators back because i - spectators back because i remember when we were talking about whether or not the australian open would happen, it was so great to know that 20,000 spectators a day they were hoping for. does it feel like things are getting back to normal when it comes to australia and the live events? definitely in australia, the situation has been far different to the rest of the world. we have seen and been

able to have events and spectators at the events but they have taken a stricter approach and closed international borders right backin international borders right back in march so actually, this tournament has called controversy when you think about the number of australian still stranded overseas unable to get home, get, provisions are able to be made to get tennis happening so still lovely to see tennis and life returning back to normal. good tennis to watch _ returning back to normal. good tennis to watch over _ returning back to normal. good tennis to watch over the - returning back to normal. good tennis to watch over the next i tennis to watch over the next few days! the city of new orleans is famous for food and the festival. the festival means no folks this year but it has not stop people getting into the party spirit and they have been channelling all their energy into decorating homes and has been a range of wacky themes and some spectacular designs! thousands of taken part in what

has been dubbed yardy gras, with some streets entirely transformed in celebration. more news coming up. see you then. hello there. we can expect more mild weather through the rest of this week, but with that, there will be more outbreaks of rain. through wednesday, yes, it will be mild but also windy, some outbreaks of rain at times. quite a wet start to the day, actually, thanks to this frontal system pushing its way eastwards. now, that rain will clear from many areas quite quickly, but you can see this frontjust dangling down towards the south. that means the rain is going to linger across southern counties of england for a good part of the day. in fact, pushing back northwards into parts of south wales, the midlands and east anglia elsewhere, it's a sunshine and showers day. some particularly heavy showers towards the northwest where it will also be windy. gusts of 70 mph in exposed spots in western scotland. but as you can see, it's quite a blustery day for all parts of the uk. temperatures ranging from 7 celsius there in stornoway

to a high of 12 celsius in london. now, as we move through wednesday night, we see more wet weather ploughing its way northwards, particularly heavy bursts of rain across the west. the winds coming up from the south, it's going to be a pretty mild start to thursday morning, but, we will see this rain pushed eastwards as we go through the day — pushed eastwards by a weather front, a cold front, and so behind our rain band, we will start to feel the effects of some slightly colder air. you can see the rain pushing eastwards quite quickly through the day. sunny spells and showers following on behind. more persistent rain bending back into northwest scotland. but temperatures actually falling away as the day goes by. these are the values you can expect at 3 o'clock on thursday afternoon. feeling quite chilly, actually, across the west, but that's only a temporary shift to something cooler, because by friday, the winds will be hurtling back up from the southwest again. with that, we will see some outbreaks of very heavy rain, maybe some flooding

in some western areas, but those temperatures beginning to climb upwards. and as we head into the weekend, well, this weather fronts is going to be quite troublesome because it will be wriggling around, bringing pulses of rain. some uncertainty about exactly where the wet weather will end up, but to the southeast of these weather fronts, we will continue to tap into some pretty warm air wafting up from the south. so, temperatures could get as high as 15 or 16 celsius in southern areas, but there will also be some outbreaks of rain at times.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world: ryanair�*s fight against state aid for airlines will be put to the test on when the eu's second—highest court decides onsupport offered to air france and sas. helping businesses set up online stores has proven lucrative during the lockdowns. just how much we find out when shopify reports later today. and buckle up for a ride in the fast lane — as the boss of mclaren tells us all about his new supercar.