this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. china's congress set to unveil new plans to squeeze hong kong's democracy and ensure patriots are in charge. now the duchess of sussex accuses the british royal family of spreading falsehoods about her and prince harry i don't know how they could expect that after all of this time, we would stilljust be silent if there is an active role that the firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us. international leaders�* condemn the myanmar crackdown ahead of a un security council meeting on friday. and, protected by the national guard, senators vote to go ahead and debatejoe biden�*s

coronavirus aid bill. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world, i'm kasia madera. as china opens the annual people's congress in beijing, there's a new threat to the remaining independence of hong kong. according to state media, beijing willaim to, what it says "improve" hong kong's electoral system. president xijinping was given this reception as he arrived at the great hall of the people on thursday. it's reported beijing wants to see what it describes as "patriots" in charge of hong kong. it's potentially the biggest blow to the city's democracy since its handoverfrom british rule in 1997. our correspondent in beijing stephen mcdonell, joins us now.

talk mcdonell, joins us now. us through what we can e) from talk us through what we can expect from the people's congress, specifically when it comes to hong kong. specifically when it comes to hong kon i _ ,, ., , specifically when it comes to hong kona. , , ., ., ., ,~,:::::: kong. so, every year, around 3000 deleuates kong. so, every year, around 3000 delegates come — kong. so, every year, around 3000 delegates come to _ kong. so, every year, around 3000 delegates come to beijing - kong. so, every year, around 3000 delegates come to beijing to - delegates come to beijing to essentially rubber—stamp through new proposals, new laws which have already been agreed upon by the communist party leadership. now while it's a formality in terms of the votes, the reason people pay attention to the congress is that it tells us what these changes are going to be and one of the big ones this year is to be alterations to hong kong's electoral system. now, people who don't closely follow hong kong might not realise, but the electoral system there, it's essentially already rigged to make sure that the pro—beijing camp, if i can put it that way, always control the many parliament there. but the pro—democracy camp has been doing so

well in recent times that even given how rigged the system is already, it's making the chinese government and its allies there in the hong kong governmental little nervous, and so they want to just make absolutely certain that that pro—democracy camp cannot make further inroads into the number of seats, for example, the legislative council. now, the way they can do thatis council. now, the way they can do that is at the moment, it's only half directly elected by the people, the other half, it's kind of selected by this committee which is also rigged in beijing's favour. they can increase the number of those seats and mean that those directly elected are less as a proportion of the whole parliament. either way, we are waiting to see with the details are because it's clearly not going to make it a more democratic institution, given the language we have already seen from both hong kong and beijing governments. now, of course, there

are other things to watch and congress as well as china comes out of the coronavirus, the move to sort of the coronavirus, the move to sort of get this giant economy going again, setting a gdp target this year, pollution and measures to control climate change, especially when they are related to the economy, also people will be watching. so lots to pay attention to over the coming week in beijing, but news wise, i think hong kong and the changes to the electoral system there are going to dominate everything else.— there are going to dominate eve hinu else. ,, , , , everything else. stephen, briefly, of course. — everything else. stephen, briefly, of course, what's _ everything else. stephen, briefly, of course, what's happening - everything else. stephen, briefly, of course, what's happening with | of course, what's happening with hong kong is hugely controversial, that national security legislation, but when it comes to the president, there has been a lot of criticism on him internationally, not least with what is happening with the uighur muslims. what kind of reception, we saw the reception he had, but is he going to be under pressure when during this event that we are seeing

opening now? in during this event that we are seeing opening now?— opening now? in short, no. he runs that party. — opening now? in short, no. he runs that party. he _ opening now? in short, no. he runs that party. he is— opening now? in short, no. he runs that party. he is a _ opening now? in short, no. he runs that party, he is a very _ opening now? in short, no. he runs that party, he is a very powerful - that party, he is a very powerful figurehead like nothing we have seen since the mao era. so of course there will be thunderous applause for everything he says, for his appearances. i mean, there are many proposals according to the party propaganda are all directly attributed to him anyways. so all achievements, all the things that are good about the country, essentially are pinned to the president —like poverty alleviation that we have seen recently, and if there are any problems as well, he doesn't seem to get labelled with that. so in terms of any threat to him from the party, not a chance to operate 0k, stephen, thanks so much for talking us through that. the duchess of sussex has accused buckingham palace of "perpetuating falsehoods" about her and prince harry. in a clip from the upcoming interview with oprah winfrey, meghan markle said, what she called "the firm" should not expect her to be silent. the latest twist comes as queen elizabeth's husband, the duke of edinburgh, recovers from a heart procedure.

our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell reports. it was on monday that the duke was transferred from the king edward vii hospital, where he'd spent 13 nights, to st bartholomew's hospital, one of britain's premier centres for cardiac care. he'll have been assessed on tuesday. surgery took place yesterday. according to buckingham palace, the duke of edinburgh yesterday underwent a successful procedure for a pre—existing heart condition at st bartholomew's hospital. his royal highness will remain in hospital for treatment, rest and recuperation for a number of days. the only known heart problem the duke has had was ten years ago. doctors found he had a blocked coronary artery. this is a representation of the normal medical response. a stent, or sleeve, is inserted into the artery. it opens it up and permits a normal blood flow to resume. if this procedure has been

repeated, surgeons say it's relatively straightforward. this is actually a minimally invasive procedure, done under local anaesthetic — the patient is awake. we often go either to get access to the heart through the wrist, through the radial artery, or through the groin, the femoral artery. i think in prince philip's case, certainly with older patients, we prefer to try and go through the wrist, because this reduces the risk of complications such as significant bruising or haematomas developing. the queen has remained at windsor. she'll be being kept closely in touch with the duke's condition. at the same time, she'll be pondering the latest twists and turns in the sussex saga. last night, the us broadcaster cbs issued another clip from the duchess of sussex�*s upcoming interview with oprah winfrey. it's not comfortable viewing for the palace. how do you feel about the palace hearing you speak your truth today? i don't know how they could expect that after all of this time we would stilljust be silent if there is an active role that the firm is playing

in perpetuating falsehoods about us. and if that comes with risk of losing things, i mean, there's a lot that's been lost already. so, a royal duchess says the palace spread lies about her. former members of the royal household claim she was a bully, which she denies. little wonder the palace is bemused, but constitutional experts say the british monarchy will ride this out. this is the royal family as soap opera. it's not going to damage the monarchy as an institution. the queen is hugely respected and the monarchy as an institution in britain still commands very wide popular support. i don't expect that to be dented one iota by this current kerfuffle. normally, of course, the queen would have had her husband at her side to support her at moments such as this, but notjust now. but from the palace today, on social media, on this, world book day, a photograph of the queen and the duke together

at balmoral in 1976 — a reminder of less turbulent times. nicholas witchell, bbc news. there are reports of tsunami waves in the pacific, following a series of earthquakes near a remote new zealand island. the tremors, the largest of which had a magnitude of 8.1, according to the us geological survey, were centred on the kermadec islands. they're around nine hundred kilometres from new zealand's north—eastern coastline, and a similar distance from tonga, which is to their north. the tsunami warnings have triggered evacuations in new zealand, with people in the whanger—ay region told to move to higher ground. no reports yet of any damage. here's new zealand's civil defence minister kiri allan speaking just a short while ago. we are asking those that have moved to high ground or in land to remain

where you are. until the official all clear is given. the official all clear will be given when we have the advice that it is right to do so. we know that people may get a little, perhaps, tired, or bored, sitting at home, whatever it may be, but we are asking, please do not go and leave those areas until you have the all clear. ~ . ., ., those areas until you have the all clear. ~ _, ., ., ., clear. we will continue to monitor the situation _ clear. we will continue to monitor the situation there. _ clear. we will continue to monitor the situation there. now- clear. we will continue to monitor the situation there. now in - clear. we will continue to monitor the situation there. now in the i clear. we will continue to monitor. the situation there. now in the us, there's tight security in washington on thursday, after warnings that miltant supporters of donald trump could potentially attack the capitol building. the national guard was on patrol at the scene of the armed invasion by trump supporters injanuary, during which five people died. inside, the us senate has voted, along party lines, to go ahead and debatejoe biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus aid bill. vice—president kamala harris cast the tie breaking vote.

our north america correspondent anthony zurcher is in washington. we will talk about the aid package in a minutes but bring us up—to—date with the security situation and the issue with the 11th of march. ijust got back from the area around the capital, the entire building has been fenced off, as it has been since shortly afterjanuary six. there are razor wire on top of offences, national guard, about 5000 national guard troops in the capital region national guard troops in the capital reuio ,., . national guard troops in the capital reuio . , region police practically on every street corner _ region police practically on every street corner around _ region police practically on every street corner around the - region police practically on every street corner around the capital. | street corner around the capital. the reason is because of this conspiracy theory that march four, which used to be the inauguration day before 1933 was somehow when donald trump was going to triumphantly return to washington and be inaugurated as the legitimate presidents, all of that is of course baseless. donald trump is still in florida, but the threats, according to capitol police, a credible threat

was realistic enough to suspend the house of representatives for the day and to bring these police forces and troops to keep them in the capital. in the meantime, work continues, and we have got the vice president casting the deciding vote, it's interesting to see that. talk us through what happens next with this huge aid package, this coronavirus aid bill. it’s huge aid package, this coronavirus aid bill. h ., huge aid package, this coronavirus aid bill. �* , ., i: :: huge aid package, this coronavirus aid bill. �*, . i: :: , , aid bill. it's a 50-50 split in the house, that's _ aid bill. it's a 50-50 split in the house, that's why, _ aid bill. it's a 50-50 split in the house, that's why, harris - aid bill. it's a 50-50 split in the house, that's why, harris castl aid bill. it's a 50-50 split in the i house, that's why, harris cast the tie—breaking vote to start debate on this, and right now, what's happening is a reading of the bell, which republicans are forcing the 600 plus page bill to be read out loud, that could conclude sometime overnight tonight, then we have 20 hours of debate, they will say they say there, vote on all these moments to the bill, and on till the bill gets passed because march 1a, that is when the unemployment protection expires. they need to extend the outcome of a need to provide payments to americans, there is also

money for vaccinations, money for state and local governments, so this is a $1.9 trillion package democrats are hanging their hat on as a way to address the coronavirus pandemic. republicans are posing it's but all it does me to take as a majority vote in the senate to pass it, and right now at least it looks like the democrats have the vote to do so then joe democrats have the vote to do so thenjoe biden will sign it and democrats can move on to other legislative priorities. that democrats can move on to other legislative priorities.— legislative priorities. at least we know what you _ legislative priorities. at least we know what you are _ legislative priorities. at least we know what you are going - legislative priorities. at least we know what you are going to - legislative priorities. at least we know what you are going to be i legislative priorities. at least we | know what you are going to be up legislative priorities. at least we - know what you are going to be up to for the next hours, anthony, as always, thank you so much. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: why changing the name of this major sea port city in south africa is causing a stir. first, the plates slid gently off the restaurant tables. then suddenly the tables, the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards.

it was just a matter of seconds as the ferry lurched onto her side. the hydrogen bomb. on a remote pacific atoll, the americans had successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i had heard the news earlier. and so my heart went bang, bang, bang. the constitutional rights of these marchers are their rights - i as citizens of the united states, i and they should be protected even in the right to test them out, - so they don't get their heads broken and are sent to hospital. this religious controversy, i know you don't want to say too much about it, but does it worry you that it is going to boil up when you get to the states? well, it worries me, yes, but i hope everything will be all right at the end of the day. this is bbc news,

the latest headlines... china's annual parliamentary session begins on friday — amid reports that it plans to change the way elections are conducted in hong kong to squeeze out the pro—democracy opposition. the violence in myanmar will be discussed at the united nations security council on friday, as international leaders condemn the actions of the military. the british prime minister boris johnson has said he's horrified by what's happening. and washington has just announced fresh export controls. thursday has seen fresh protests in myanmar, as our south east asia correspondent, jonathan head, reports. every revolution has its martyrs, and 19—year—old kyel sin has been made a symbol of this unequal struggle against a powerful and merciless military. she was given a hero's sendoff in her home city of mandalay. one of 38 people, shot dead

in a day of violence, when the security forces opened fire on demonstrators here and in other cities. at least eight died here in the yangon suburb. makeshift shrines dotting the road where they fell in a hail of gunfire. but if the intent was to terrorise people off the streets, it failed. people were out again in large numbers today, defending the barricades they have built, to keep the military out, to show that their rule is not accepted. and in what we can only guess is a de—escalation, the police chased protesters today using paintball guns rather than the assault rifles they have used before to such devastating effect. this is a battle for control of myanmar�*s cities which the military with all its weapons has not yet

won, more than a month after its coup. there's been plenty of international outrage, not much action. the people of myanmar are on their own. fighting an army which rarely counts the human cost of its heavy—handed repression. jonathan head, bbc news. i've been speaking to the british member of parliament tom tugendhat, a conservative mp who chairs the uk's foreign affairs select committee. he told me the international community needs to come together on myanmar. the reality is that we don't have an enormous number of options. but the generals may not be scared of sanctions, but they need the cash that the businesses they have provide. in 2019, we are told, myanmar economic holdings saw profits by some 80 90 billion us dollars, so that kind of money is not to be sniffed at in a regime that really is not one

of the worlds wealthiest. so what do you hope to hear, because already, the uk has got a number of various sanctions against a number of individuals when it comes to myanmar. what do you hope to hear from this meeting on friday? i hope very much under the presidency of the uk at the un security council, other nations will come together and join in putting sanctions on myanmar, and on the generals who are abusing human rights. this is a test for the international community. it's a test for the uk's presidency, but it's also a test of the biden administration, and indeed with the cooperation. when it comes to the biden administration, have you had communications directly with the new administration regarding this? have they been shown willing to go in forcefully with this? i haven't had any negotiations with the biden administration, but i hope very much that our foreign secretary has, and perhaps our prime minister. you need their support, and you need china's support,

has there been movement with them? as i said, i don't negotiate on behalf of her majesty's government. myjob is to hold the bridge government to account, so i don't negotiate with foreign powers on behalf behalf of the british people. it is something i hope it's exactly something that the british government should be doing. talk us through more of the sanctions that the british government has ordered already when it comes to myanmar. at the moment, the sanctions that we put on our very, very targeted, and what i'm calling for is for the government to go further to make sure it holds sanctions for the wider holdings of the military regime, because it is in fact a profit—making enterprise, not just a military force. and companies, are there suggestions that british companies are trading with the generals, with the military regime? the are very few. the reality is that the british economic interest in myanmar is realtively limited.

we have many partners and friends who do have interests, and that's where the foreign office should be acting. it should be calling on friends and partners to make sure they stand up for the human rights that we all value. that was tom, who chairs the foreign affairs select committee speaking to me a little bit earlier. let's bring you up to date with some of the developments in the pandemic... the european commission has, for the first time, banned an export of coronavirus vaccine. it comes after italy requested that a quarter of a million doses of the astrazeneca jab remain in the country, rather than be sent to australia, to fulfil a contract. astrazeneca has not commented — australia says its domestic vaccine production is on track. meanwhile germany has approved the use of the astrazeneca jab in people aged over 65. it had previously approved it for under—65s only, citing insufficient data on its effects on older people. it had led to some people refusing to have the vaccine, leaving many doses unused.

france is to extend the weekend lockdowns it began imposing at the end of february, to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus. the area around calais will be added on saturday and sunday. france already has a national evening curfew in place for every day of the week. a process familiar to many countries over the past half century, is replacing old colonial names with something that better represents the indiginous majority. in south africa, the the new name for the city previously known as port elizabeth in eastern cape province is proving to be quite a topic for discussion. the new name is from the language of the koasa. and not everyone can pronounce it because it has the unique click of the koa—sa language. my colleague pumza fihlani who can pronounce it correctly, explains the concerns. they say that it's a name that

could hamper economic activity. they are worried about tourism, they think, "what are people going to say?" theyjust think it's a bit of an off—putting name in that it doesn't really have any meaning, but those who are forward, say it's about high time that places across south africa represent the people that live there. they are worried that's all too many cities in this country are named either after former colonialists, or apartheid leaders, and that renaming this part of the country as a way of claiming some sort of history for black people. as we said, this is an issue with a long history. joining us from new york isjordan engel, a cartographer and founder of the de—colonial atlas project, which aims to bring together cultural maps and location names. thank you very much forjoining us. we are going to talk about that in a

moment, but first of all, just bring me your reaction to this name change for what was called port elizabeth. yeah, well i think it's a positive step for cultural autonomy and decolonisation. you know, this comes at a time when the world is facing a linguistic and cultural extinction crisis, and speakers of marginalised linkages around the world are really engaging deeply in revitalisation efforts and renaming campaigns like this. so recognising that their voices that should be celebrated when they have instead been suppressed. i'm reminded of the kenyan nobel peace prize winner who talked about the difficulties of living in a dual world and how she learned the names of mountains and streams from her parents, but in school, she had to learn different names and faced punishments, even from as she used the incorrect ones. so recognising native place names like this, it helps to undo that pain of being made unwelcome in one's own land. we

pain of being made unwelcome in one's own land.— pain of being made unwelcome in one's own land. we see with what is ha enin: one's own land. we see with what is happening with _ one's own land. we see with what is happening with port _ one's own land. we see with what is happening with port elizabeth - one's own land. we see with what is happening with port elizabeth and l happening with port elizabeth and what the concerns are there. talk to us about the concerns about renaming places using original indigenous language. the places using original indigenous lan . ua . e. , places using original indigenous lanaauae. , . ., language. the big concern that --eole language. the big concern that peeple seem — language. the big concern that peeple seem to _ language. the big concern that people seem to have _ language. the big concern that people seem to have is - people seem to have is pronunciation, and we forget the names like port elizabeth are just so strange sounding to non—english speakers as indigenous names are to us. and this is my first language, and even i struggle with names like gloucestershire, for instance, and i found it funny that people who complain about not being able to pronounce indigenous words are often the same people who complain about immigrants not speaking english in england or the united states, for example. people have a right to speak their own languages and have them recognised. f speak their own languages and have them recognised.— them recognised. f got to say gloucestershire, _ them recognised. f got to sayl gloucestershire, leicestershire them recognised. f got to say - gloucestershire, leicestershire even catches people out here in the uk. we have seen some movement in changing names of places and some western countries, including in the united states, and i know you have been looking at that. talk us

through your feelings about that. so here in turtle island i frequently work with indigenous elders, many of whom are some of the few remaining speakers of their languages to document their place names, and it's important to do this work now because with each passing generation, the knowledge of these place names gradually fade if they are not used. and with it goes an entirely unique and deeply rooted understanding of the land and its history. it’s understanding of the land and its histo . �* , , understanding of the land and its histo . , history. it's been absolutely fascinating _ history. it's been absolutely fascinating to _ history. it's been absolutely fascinating to speak- history. it's been absolutely fascinating to speak to - history. it's been absolutely fascinating to speak to you, | history. it's been absolutely - fascinating to speak to you, jordan, fascinating to speak to you, jordan, and i have got to give a shout out to the d colonial atlas project, really worth looking into that. thank you so much for your time, and thank you for speaking to us about this. i'm sure the discussion is very much alive when it comes to the new name for port elizabeth. thank you, jordan. lots more, as always, on our website. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbckasiamadera it would be lovely to hear from you

on any of the stories that we have been covering. thanks for watching for the time being, bye—bye. hello. a colder start to the day for many of us because behind a weather front which has been sinking southwards, we've got colder air. but it still looks mainly dry, actually, and quite settled during the day ahead, albeit rather chilly. and the origin of that air right the way up from the poles here, following this weak weather front, which gave a lot of cloud through thursday. and into the start of thursday night, quite a keen breeze as well coming down the north sea coast. so temperatures hovering around freezing in southern and eastern areas holding up in the southwest just under the cloud, close to freezing in rural areas in the south and east as well as further north. so a crisp start, and a better chance of some dry, bright and sunny weather through the day ahead, but there are some wintry showers following that weather front, given how cold it is. they will continue notjust through the remainder of the night

but through the day to pester eastern areas, but they will be few and far between. temperatures are down, though, 7—8 celsius is below average for the time of year and lower than they have been for the last couple of days, but with the sunshine and lighter winds, hopefully that will compensate. during the coming nights, again, through friday night into saturday, you can see we keep those clearer skies, and it is widely frosty, quite a sharp frost in many areas, these towns and cities, but they will be lower out in the suburbs. and that is because we keep our high—pressure with us, light winds, clearerskies, so temperatures at this time of year still with the lengthy nights will drop away, but perhaps some of the atlantic influence coming in from the west later in the weekend. but for saturday, subtle changes in wind direction across the north and the west. quite a brisk wind here both friday and saturday, but helping to break the cloud up elsewhere, still chilly after the cold starts, some mist and fog as well around in the mornings through the weekend. because of that light wind, it will be slow to clear. once it does, hopefully some sunshine. but this is the big change,

the potentialfor some rain across the north and northwest of scotland during the day. the start of the atlantic influence, if you like. and the temperatures will lift slightly, whilst elsewhere with the light wind regime, the mist and fog will still be with us sunday morning. now by the end of monday into tuesday, we are really starting to see the effect of the atlantic, and we could have quite a deep area of low pressure rattling in through tuesday and potentially again on wednesday, so it is looking much more unsettled we as go into the new week. for the weekend, still chilly, frosty, foggy nights, fine days. bye— bye.

this is bbc news, the headlines. china's annual parliamentary session begins in a few hours amid reports that it plans to change the way elections are conducted in hong kong to squeeze out the pro—democrarcy opposition. the un's special rapporteur on human rights in myanmar says the crackdown on protestors after last month's military coup requires a strong international response. he appealed to the un security council to impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions on the militaryjunta. the us national guard is being asked to protect the capitol building in washington for another two months. there are continuing security concerns following the assault on the capitol by trump supporters in january. meghan markle has accused the royal family of "perpetuating falsehoods" about her and prince harry. the duchess of sussex says, she's not afraid of the consequences of speaking out.