this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. 50-49. the bill as amended has passed. applause. the us senate passes president biden�*s 1.9 trillion dollar covid relief plan by a single vote. pressure grows on the british government over its pay offer to health service staff in england during the coronavirus pandemic. on the second day of his visit to iraq, pope francis holds an unprecedented meeting with one of shia islam's most powerfulfigures. and celebrated mass at a service attended by worshippers wearing masks. the us government says,

it's concerned there are a large number of victims from a hack, on microsoft's email software, which the tech firm has blamed on china. dozens are reported dead in yemen, as fighting breaks out over control of the oil—rich city of marib. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. one of the largest legislative packages in us history has passed its biggest hurdle, by the narrowest possible margin. the senate has approved president biden�*s 1.9 trillion dollar coronavirus relief plan — which was at the heart of his election campaign — by 50 votes to 49. the vote means millions of people

will get a payment of 1,400 dollars. and there'll be multi—billion dollar payouts to cities and states, to help them deal with the effects of the pandemic, which has now killed more than half a million americans. the bill only passed after democrats made a key concession to placate moderates in their own party. president biden has welcomed the vote, saying it's essential to americans struggling through the pandemic. this plan puts us on a path to beating the virus. this plan gives those families who are struggling the most the help and the breathing room they need to get through this moment. this plan gives small businesses in this country a fighting chance to survive. and one more thing — this plan is historic. taken altogether, this plan is going to make it possible to cut child poverty in half. let me say it again. it's significant, historic, will cut child poverty in half.

i spoke to our correspondent, lebo diseko in washington — about what happens next. because there were so many changes or changes that were made, and there were quite a number of them, it will have to go back to the house of representatives to be voted on there and we think that will be on tuesday, that is what the leader of the democrats in the house of representatives is saying. democrats are racing to get this tojoe biden�*s desk for him to sign by the 14th of march. that is because there are some key unemployment benefits that expire on that day. so we are likely to see them push quite hard to get that done. by my calculations it is eight days from today they have to get it tojoe biden to sign. the group representing health service trusts in the uk — nhs providers — hasjoined unions in saying the government's proposed 1% pay rise, for health service staff in england, is not enough.

ministers have defended the rise, saying the pandemic had placed unprecedented strain on public finances. here's our political correspondent, iain watson. if government ministers thought nhs staff in england would be grateful to be exempted from a public sector pay freeze, well, the reality looks rather different. those who run hospital trusts as well as the unions are calling for the government to look again at the proposed 1% rise, and claim that, as part of a long—term plan for the nhs, ministers had previously planned to put up pay by twice as much this year. the assumption is 2.1% which is actually enshrined in an act of parliament so we have got a strong legal basis here to say that that pay rise was there, and obviously that was all set out pre—pandemic, but actually the pandemic only enhances the case for a pay rise for nhs staff. the government say that enshrined

in law, an injection of extra cash for the health service, but not a specific pay increase. they argue, anyway, that lower paid stuff will get more than 1%, changes to pay grades will boost some incomes, and newly qualified nurses have benefited from multi—year pay deals. but some of borisjohnson�*s own mps say he must find an antidote to a politically toxic row. there could be a tax—free bonus as a one—off payment, that might be one way of addressing the issue, but what i do know is that the people that i represent expect and believe that there should be a reward. and that means, i'm afraid, more than 1%. the government's proposed 1% increase isn't the final word on pay. in may, independent pay review bodies will make their recommendations and if they're worried about recruitment of nhs staff it's possible they could say that pay should go up above 1%,

but ministers are very clear that this could only be funded by making cuts elsewhere in the budget. with some health unions considering strike action over pay, the political temperature could continue to rise. iain watson, bbc news. the uk's department of health is expanding its �*workplace testing programme�* in england. until now, only businesses with 50 or more employees, have been able to get free lateral flow tests. now, companies of all sizes are eligible. the tests will be free until the 30th ofjune, and businesses have until the end of this month to register. meanwhile the latest figures from the british government show — there were 6,040 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period, which means that on average the number of new cases reported per day in the last week is 6,118. across the uk, latest data shows the number

of patients in hospital with coronavirus is 10,898. 158 deaths have been recorded in the last 2a hours, that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid test. on average in the past week, 220 deaths were announced every day. the total number of deaths so far across the uk is 124,419. on to vaccinations now and nearly 437,463 people had their first dose of a vaccine in the latest 24 hour period. in total, nearly 21.8m people have now had their firstjab. pope francis has met the influential shia muslim cleric — grand ayatollah ali al—sistani — during the first—ever papal visit to iraq.

after meeting with other faith leaders, he delivered an impassioned condemnation of extremism and violence, saying that believers could not remain silent when terrorism abused religion. later, he celebrated a public mass at stjoseph�*s cathedral in baghdad. 0ur rome correspondent mark lowen has been travelling with the pope and has sent this report. peace in iraq will take time to flourish. but this visitor is determined to see it. along the narrow alley ways and into an historic meeting of two faiths, catholic and shia islam, grand ayatollah ali al—sistani face—to—face with pope francis. at 90 and 84, it has taken long lives and generations to get here. the two religious leaders spoke of friendship to overcome

oppression, rare unity after iraq's secretarian conflict. that theme of dialogue then spread further to the remains of the biblical birthplace of abraham. and in the shadow of its ancient citadel, pope francis met followers of other faiths. gestures of respect to those often sidelined and victims of iraq's wars now brought together in a plea for peace. translation: hostility, _ extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart. they are betrayals of religion. we believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion. from these windswept plains, the pope is using the symbolism of the ancient prophet, evoking the figure of abraham, revered by christians, muslims and jews to try to spur reconciliation between religions today. and then it was onto mass.

pope francis hoping to persuade a dwindling christian community to remain. iraq's patchwork of people came together today. but as this country knows too well, the spirit of coexistence can quickly fade. mark lowen, bbc news, in iraq. nicola green, is an artist who has been painting religious leaders — and their meetings — for ten years — including pope francis — i asked her what it's like being in the same room. often i was the only person in the room other than usuallyjust to religious leaders meeting with each other. i have travelled all over the world. i was usually the only woman but second of all i was only allowed in there because i was not recording their words, everything i recorded was in drawings and photographs and a visual image. but i have spent ten years following and witnessing these

interfaith meetings where religious leaders have been trying to work out together and individually how they speak about each other without undermining the absolute truth of their own faith and this is why religious leaders have not met in hisstory. it is really only the last decade since 9/11 that global religious leaders have made a serious effort in a serious way so, yes, this has been ten years in the making. you have been party to something very intimate and special, how important do you think these meetings are? incredibly important. i think religious leaders haven't met because actually as human beings we have all kinds of differences

we have to resolve and live together and if we are to live together in peace we must accept each other�*s different beliefs. religious belief, in a sense, because it is absolute, is almost the most extreme, and that is why so many people go to war in the name of religion. the fact these leaders have been trying to work out and succeeding in having public and private events, to talk about each other without undermining those absolute beliefs, that is a really huge deal and actually politicians and all of us have a lot to learn. looking at some pictures on the screen and everything looks very serious and calm. when you are there and painting, what is it like? i know you have painted pope francis but is there a certain theme you try to capture within the painting? i see myself there as a witness and so i am really interested in recording exactly what is happening at all levels,

notjust what is being said but the body language. sometimes the differences and difficulties are really intense and they are not always easy meetings. i suspect today's were no different. the headlines on bbc news... the us senate has passed president biden�*s 1.9 trillion dollar covid relief plan by a single vote. pressure grows on the british government over its pay offer to health service staff in england during the coronavirus pandemic. reports from yemen say dozens of people have died in 24 hours of fighting between government forces and houthi rebels, who are battling for control of the northern city of marib. the rebels who are supported by iran — want to drive out the saudi— backed government in marib —

which is its only stronghold in the north of yemen and a major oil—producing area. military sources told a french news agency that about 30 deaths were on the government side, while nearly 60 rebels were killed in airstrikes. the fighting is also a threat to hundreds of thousands of displaced yemenis, living in poor conditions in camps in the surrounding desert. i've been speaking to award winning journalist iona craig, who has spent years covering the conflict in yemen, to find out more about the situation in marib. we were bringing that later in the programme. —— we will bring you that later. to myanmar now, where an increasingly brutal crackdown by police and the military has not stopped protests against the military coup. today, security forces have continued firing tier gas on protesters gathered in yangon. the un's special envoy on myanmar has told the security council that there is "urgency for collective action".

danai howard has this report. this is a scene that has become all too familiar in cities right across myanmar, from the northern mountain region to the major cities of yangon and naypyidaw in the south. young protesters have been standing up to police, banging on home—made shields, and marching for democracy. on saturday, security forces used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades against activists in yangon to clear the streets. and there have been further allegations of police brutality. it's been over a month now since the protests erupted against the military coup on february 1st that overthrew aung san suu kyi's elected government. in that time, the people of myanmar have faced internet blackouts, night—time raids, unlawful arrests and death. 38 people were killed on wednesday alone, the deadliest day since the start of the coup. hundreds gathered in mandalay on thursday for the funeral of one of the victims. angel was just 19 when she was shot in the head during anti—coup protests a day earlier.

she was wearing a t—shirt with the phrase "everything will be ok" when she died. the pressure is being felt globally. on friday, the un special envoy to myanmar urged the security council to hear myanmar�*s desperate pleas, and called for swift international action to end the violence. the envoy said that the people of myanmar, including committed civil servants, are the real heroes and protectors of the nation's democratic progress, but she warned that the hope that they had placed in the united nations and their membership is waning. it is critical that this council is resolute and coherent in putting the security forces on notice and standing with the people of myanmar firmly in support of the clear november election results. but china and russia are unlikely to impose sanctions. so far, the biggest international reaction has come from corporations, not governments. facebook, instagram, and now youtube have all banned accounts belonging

to the militaryjunta. the army have threatened civil servants who continue to strike that they will be fired. but the protests show little sign of waning. every day, people continue to raise three fingers in protest in what has become a symbol of resistance and solidarity for democracy movements across southeast asia. lawyers and the family of a black american man who died while in police custody have been speaking about a major police reform package that bans choke holds and combats racial profiling. the george floyd justice in policing act cleared the us house of representatives on wednesday, and will now head to the senate. the trial of derek chauvin, a white officer charged with murdering george floyd, is due to begin in minnesota on monday. at a press conference for the newjustice in policing act, george floyd's nephew said derek chauvin must be held accountable.

i think when you look at my uncles murderer, a police officer kneeling on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, we have to hold that accountable. either he is a murderer, or he is not qualified to do hisjob correctly. either way, somebody needs to be held accountable. there is no way a police officer can get a call on an alleged counterfeit $20 bill and the man, and loved one of ours, is murdered for 20 us dollars. somebody needs to be held accountable. the nephew of george floyd, who was killed last year. the us government says it's concerned there are a large number of victims from a hack on microsoft's email software which the tech firm has blamed on china. the white house says the scope

of the hacking of microsoft exchange is still under investigation. it comes days after the tech firm raised the alarm about attempts to compromise email servers, which it blamed on a chinese state—backed hacking group. here's some of what white house spokeswoman, jen psaki, had to say. this is a significant vulnerability that could have far—reaching impacts. first and foremost, this is an active threat, and as the national security adviser tweeted last night, everyone running these servers, government private sector, academia, needs to act now to patch them. we are concerned that there are a large number of victims and we're working with our partners to understand the scope of this, so it's an ongoing process, trevor, i would say. network owners also need to consider whether they have already been compromised and should immediately take appropriate steps. cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency issued an emergency directed to agencies, and we're now looking closely at the next steps we need to take. it's still developing.

we urge network operators to take it very seriously. will guyatt is a tech journalist and explained how this hack has happened. i think with a microsoft exchange server, they're used really commonly by organisations small and large, big corporations and schools, to power the e—mail services. simply what is happening here is the self managed ones, ones that are managed by organisations rather than in the cloud that you hear about increasingly these days, are impacted. now, microsoft themselves at the very start of this it was very small and very targeted attack but the very fact that the white house has now come out and said it is not and warned people to update and also now ranges around 20 to 30,000 impacted organisations in the us but it will be into the hundreds of thousands when you start to look into this around the world. the most interesting thing

about this from my perspective is you can go and patch your software now, get the update if you haven't already got it for your server, microsoft had made freely available online. but the issue is the hackers, this group, have been theory have this group, have in theory have access to systems since january, so they could put other software in to a computer or a compromise server, so you might patch this problem but they may have other access to your system. 0ne security expert said last night if you are infected with this, the best thing, if you really don't know what you're doing, is switch the server off until you can get an expert in order to have a look and see just how compromised your service has been. more than 20,000 have been recorded in the past ten days in parts of iceland. the seismic activity in the south west of the country is thought to be caused by movements of molten rock underground. isabella allen reports 32 kilometres south of the icelandic capital lies this mountain. the last major eruption happened

here eight centuries ago but that period of rest may be coming to an end after days of intense seismic activity. normally there are around 1000 small earthquakes a year. but there have been more than 20,000 in the past ten days, including 3000 on friday alone, leading scientists to believe that interruption is imminent. it is fracturing. it is so close to the surface, we have to take it seriously and the possibility that a new eruption can occur. the close vicinity is uninhabited and there is no immediate danger to the public. but roads have been closed and people are being told not to travel to the area. the small fishing port is only a few miles away. the feeling is never enjoyable, i can say that for sure. of course when mother nature is like shaking underneath your feet, you feel powerless. but i have been living

here since i was born. this has been happening time to time. but this is the first time we are having such a powerful earthquakes so frequently. earthquakes are common in iceland because it straddles two of the earth's tectonic plates. in 2010, the explosive eruption of a more southerly volcano caused huge disruption in international air travel and affecting as many as 10 million travellers. but if any eruption occurs this time, it will emerge more slowly from a crack in the surface so it is unlikely to cause the same chaos. we are expecting a small one. but lava is flowing, we are not expecting large explosive explosive eruptions, the minimal impact on flights and living conditions will be minimal. as the ground awakens after 800 years, people await the outcome of this seismic storm.

it's daffodil season, but labour shortages are causing problems. jon kay reports from cornwall. it is a beautiful springtime sight, but not for daffodil farmerjames walkers. it is heartbreaking, it is heartbreaking. it's just saddening to see flowers going to waste. when they're yellow, it is too late to pick them, so 50 million daffodils are being left here to rot. everybody loves to see it, it looks really, really nice as you drive round the county, but to a grower it's a crop loss. like other farmers, james has come to rely on seasonal workers from europe, but this spring he only has half the number he needs. aurimas has officially settled in the uk, but his lithuanian friends have stayed away. there are some that don't want to come any more

because of the brexit, especially this year. there are not many people in the field, as you can see. farmers hoped they may be able to turn back the clock and attract more local workers like they did in the past. how many british workers have you got here now? none. no british workers at all. we had five young lads who came to work for us and then it got wet and it was windy and their backs ached, theyjust said they couldn't hack it any more. the government has given 30,000 visas this year to foreign fruit and vegetable pickers, but farmers say the scheme also needs to include flowers. ministers have promised they will make sure that all sectors have the labour they need in future. if you're wondering why the farmers don'tjust use machinery to pick the daffodils instead, well, they say it's not really practical because there are so many

different varieties of flower, all growing at different heights and blooming at different times. they say without changes, their industry could also wither and die. jon kay, bbc news, cornwall. you're watching bbc news. don't go away. and we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers lynn davidson and john rentoul that's coming up after the headlines at 11:30. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello there. saturday was a disappointingly cold and cloudy day for many of us and disappointing temperatures for early march. we did have a bit of sunshine across western areas but it is looking like sunday is going to be a repeat performance. it will be chilly with limited sunny breaks and some

outbreaks of cloud around. the settled conditions in this area of high pressure, which will continue to bring the settled weather through sunday but it will slowly lose its grip on our weather as we head to the start of next week. early for sunday, it will be cold under clear skies, we will see frost and mist about and but there will be patchy rain for north and the west in scotland. a little bit of snow over the high ground but what we have the cloud, 4—6 degrees here versus subzero for the south. a cold start, but some sunshine around with the frost and a bit of mist and fog but clouds will build up again into the afternoon so turning grey and cold for many. further rain for the north and west of scotland, temperatures here a degree or so up, nine or 10 degrees but elsewhere seven or eight celsius. and then for sunday night, it will turn cold again for central and southern areas under clear skies, further frost here but less cold north and bursts of rain which will also affect parts of the north into monday, so for northern ireland,

parts of scotland and england, a bit of of sunshine around most and after a cold start for the south, it should be a bit of brightness around but also cloud here and there. temperatures a degree or so up across the board. nine or 10 degrees will be the high. into tuesday, first of weather fronts starting to move in and a weakfeature bringing on more than a band of cloud, a little bit a light rain on it, it will bring cloudy skies do northern or western areas initially, skies and essential in eastern areas after a cool start and the winds will start the pick—up from the southwest. temperatures again nine, ten, maybe 11 degrees but cast your eyes out west, this massive rain, tied in with a deep area of low pressure, something you haven't seen for a while. that will sweep through tuesday night into wednesday and we could see another even deeper area of low pressure potentially moving in wednesday into thursday. these areas of low pressure will also bring some milder air up from the southwest, certainly for england and wales but it is looking pretty stormy from midweek onwards with heavy rain and potentially severe gales

and slightly less cold airfor some of us.

hello. this is bbc news with lukwesa burak. we'll be taking a look at tomorrow mornings papers in a moment withjohn rentoul and lynn davidson — first the headlines. pressure grows on the government over its pay offer to health service staff in england. more unions have joined the backlash. hundreds of rangers fans gather outside the ibrox stadium in glasgow, despite lockdown rules — the team's on the verge of winning the scottish premiership. pope francis delivers an impassioned condemnation of extremism and violence, during the first ever papal visit to iraq. the us senate passes president biden�*s 1.9 trillion