welcome to bbc news. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: it's a big night for anyone interested in the royals, because harry and meghan�*s highly—anticipated tv interview with oprah winfrey is underway. it was recorded last month in los angeles. it comes after the duke and duchess of sussex decided to step back as senior members of the british royal family last year. our north america correspondent peter bowes says there is huge interest in the royal family as celebrities but the issue of racism is likely to be discussed. it is an issue but i think also, and just watching some of the commentary over the last few days, many americans are watching this because of the soap opera style interest in the activities of the british royal family. they have watched the crown

here, which is based on a fictitious interpretation of real—life events. i think that is the fishbowl through which many people see the royal family. what they are looking at this interview for is some real life and real life stories and whether racism comes into that, it seems very unlikely that oprah winfrey will not address that issue head on but they are looking for detail. so what will american audiences make of the couple's interview and are they likely to be more sympathetic than a british audience? i think people will be watching for the way they come across, the body language, exactly what they have to say. but, yes, especially in america and especially in los angeles, this is where she was born and brought up and this, of course, is where she began to work in the entertainment industry as an actress. there is a lot of affection towards her in the city and across the board, across the country, you may find different views

of this too as a couple as you recognise in the uk with public opinion especially of meghan since they have returned, at least she has returned to the united states. let's get some of the day's other news. hundreds of protesters demanding justice for george floyd have marched through the us city of minneapolis on the eve of the trial of a white policeman charged with his murder. mr floyd died in may last year after he was pinned down by the neck for more than eight minutes. president emmanuel macron has led tributes to the french politician and billionaire olivier dassault who was killed in a helicopter crash today. mr macron described him as a captain of industry and said his death would be a great loss. barcelona football club has elected joan laporta as its new president. the lawyer and former politician, who was previously in the post between 2003 and 2010, won a convincing majority from club members desperate for a return to trophy—winning days. the first papal visit to iraq

is drawing to a close, as the pontiff prepares to fly out of the country on monday. pope francis spent his last full day visiting parts of the country once held by militants from the self—styled islamic state. the pontiff then celebrated mass at a football stadium in irbil, the capital of iraq's kurdistan region. our correspondent mark lowen is travelling with the pope. from the rubble of war, a messenger of peace. face—to—face with the brutality of islamic state terror in mosul, pope francis came to appeal for unity to rise from its ashes. beside a church destroyed in the fighting, a powerful moment of reflection. rarely has the hand of healing been needed more than this. translation: today, - we reaffirm our conviction that fraternity is more durable than fratricide, that hope is more powerful than death, that peace, more powerful than war. the visit was a plea

to iraqi christians to halt their exodus. killed or forced to flee by sunni extremists, they've fallen from 1.5 million to under 300,000, one of the world's oldest christian communities itself in ruins. and then another risk in the trips finale — a large public mass in irbil in the midst of the pandemic. it's what some had warned against — spreading the virus, notjust the word of god. but the papal fans were undeterred. i hope that this visit will bring a lot of peace to this country and to all religions and nationalities — to live together in peaceful life. the short—term impact of these crowds could well be a spike in infections, but from the warmth of his reception to the potency of his message, this is a trip that could have a long—lasting legacy, too, beyond simply the symbolism.

that he came at all was, for many iraqis, a miracle. but a defiant pope has made history here, hoping to have given a balm to this injured land. mark lowen, bbc news, irbil. officials in equatorial guinea have appealed for international help following a series of explosions. the president said the blasts were due to negligence in the storing of dynamite at a munitions depot inside a military base in the largest city bata. the government says at least 15 people have been killed and more than 500 injured. state tv showed video footage of traumatised people staggering to safety and attempts to rescue those trapped under the rubble. the health ministry said three hospitals receiving the injured had been overwhelmed. a short while ago, we heard from the country's foreign minister. translation: the information we have is that there are 500 l injured and 15 deaths. the blast happened near

a military base in bata. the most important thing for us is to ask for help from friendly nations and international partners in this unfortunate situation. you are aware that we are facing a health emergency and now, on top of that, this new tragedy in the city of bata. this is why it was appropriate to inform you in this way so you can help equatorial guinea. earlier, i spoke to moises nvumba from independent equatorial guinea radio station, radio macuto. he's based in london and has been speaking to eye—witnesses in bata. people are telling me that about two o'clock yesterday they hear several blasts, five of them the biggest and two o'clock and four o'clock and the blasts were continuous and that is what people are telling me. in the beginning they did not

know what was happening. they even told me they'd been attacked but it seems it has been an accident. we are not 100% yet completely sure that what happened, we still don't know what has happened. what kind of pressure will there be on the government to carry out an independent investigation? the pressure, they will try to put pressure on the government since we don't have power to achieve that, we have what we're doing is letting people know what happened in the situation with the hospitals very, very bad. last week between ministers, deputies and others they had been called to cameroon to seek treatment because the hospital, they had no quality to cope with more than the situation

we're talking about today. the government has suggested it will call on international help to try and understand what happened and to help people. what kind of countries do you think would be ready to offer assistance? i believe spain, or a hospital, has sent some surplus assistance and also tomorrow we will have a show to try to call for our people to come and help. that is the plan we have. has anything like this ever happened before? not, i must say it has not happened — not because the negligence hasn't happened before, i believe what happened this time is that they have all these explosives, dynamite, ammunition in the same place, i believe, that is the main reason it is this big. thank you so much forjoining us.

the saudi government has said a drone fired from yemen by houthi rebels hit an oil storage yard in ras tanura, a major oil shipment port, but did not cause any injuries or damage. meanwhile a saudi—led military coalition carried out several air strikes on yemen's houthi—controlled capital sanaa, according to state media. it's a new escalation in the six—year conflict between the rebels and the coalition, which is backed by the yemeni government. mark lobel reports. striking this valuable oil facility in saudi arabia crossed a red line according to its government. it was part of what it called a cowardly terrorist attack from houthis supported by iran in yemen. a wide offensive in the depths of saudi arabia with 14 drones and eight ballistic missiles. cross—border missile and drone attacks from yemen into saudi arabia are not rare and are usually intercepted. but the distance this one successfully travelled, into the east of the kingdom,

was notable and worrying for thousands of civilians there. in retaliation, air strikes followed on yemen's capital which is under houthi control. black plumes of smoke were seen coming from a military compound. elsewhere, the houthis are also advancing on the heavily strategic oil—rich town of marib with 90 deaths reported over 2a hours on both sides. the aim of the houthis appears to either capture this last government—held town or use the threat of doing so as a bargaining chip as the us and un call for an end to the conflict with peace talks. that is because it is a desperate situation across much of the country, including in this port town of hodeida. with tens of thousands killed over six years of fighting, the un warns of the worst famine the world has seen in decades.

translation: after over one year of covid throughout - the world, the economies are weak and those who are giving funding find it more difficult to give money. so we need to find a way to go beyond humanitarian assistance. an end to the fighting would be a start. violence has escalated again in myanmar, with at least 18 people killed on sunday alone in clashes between anti—coup demonstrators and police forces. huge protests broke out after an official of aung san suu kyi's party died in police custody. security forces near the ancient city of bagan fired rubber bullets on people, and in yangon, they carried out several raids, firing at apartment buildings and arresting activists. danai howard reports. instead of the now—usual sounds of gunfire and tear gas, a moment of silence filled the streets of yangon on sunday, in memory of protesters killed by security forces.

khin maung latt is one of the latest — an official from aung san suu kyi's overthrown government. he died in police custody after being arrested on saturday evening by security forces in yangon. witnesses say he was violently beaten and kicked before being taken from his home. his parents were told he died after fainting. huge crowds of demonstrators took to the streets in response to his death. in some areas, police responded with gunfire, adding to the death toll. the un has condemned it as a gruesome day. when you look at what's going on on the streets of myanmar right now, you see exactly why it is so compelling for countries to take action. we simply can't afford in any sense of the word to sit back and turn our backs on the people of myanmar. some governments have started to take action. australia has suspended defence cooperation with the military and says its development programme will now be directed to the immediate humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable people.

and china, whose cooperation is needed in the un to impose sanctions on myanmar, announced on sunday that it is willing to engage with all parties to ease the crisis. beijing's top diplomat, wang yi, says the situation in myanmar is absolutely not what china wants to see. translation: on the basis of respect for myanmar's i sovereignty and the will of its people, china stands ready to engage and communicate with the relevant parties and play a constructive role in easing the situation. as the week begins with international women's day, the protests will take on a new dimension. human rights activists say women in myanmar have long endured inequality and repression under past military regimes. many women activists have paid with their lives in their fight for democracy. women's traditional skirts have become another symbol of the protests. strung across streets like this, it's considered bad luck to walk under them. demonstrators say they're hanging them up to deter advancing soldiers and give the people time to run away. danai howard, bbc news.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: campaigning to end period—poverty — as international women's day is celebrated around the globe. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 2a hours, then, the soviet union lost an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior. we heard these gunshots in the gym. then he came out through a fire exit and started firing at our huts. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years i and due for parole when he's 90, - travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison. in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last?

it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much, do you think? i don't know, really — i've never been married before! this is bbc news. the latest headlines: one of the biggest royal tell—all interviews is underway in the us as harry and meghan talk to oprah winfrey about leaving the royal frontline. the pope's historic trip to iraq draws to a close. francis says the country will remain in his heart. international women's day is being celebrated around the globe and this year, the theme is choose to challenge. the australian charity share the dignity aims to do exactly that, to bring dignity to women and girls experiencing period poverty through the distribution of period products. the charity's founder rochelle courtenay says ending

period poverty starts with addressing shame and stigma. trying to end period poverty is multi—pronged, so not — notjust getting women and girls who cannot afford them the products, we need to remove the shame and stigma, so that they will actually ask for the product. and then we need to educate — educate boys and girls and women and men — to make sure that we all understand menstruation. but how do we do that if nobody talks about it? well, how do you do it, then? yep, so we have today launched our biggest campaign to date called period pride, and we are asking everybody to just talk about periods. but we're — inside of that, we are asking that people complete our bloody good survey, which is looking for the answers for the data that is needed to make the changes here in australia that we've seen in scotland and new zealand, where no girl should ever miss out on a day of education because their

family cannot afford the very basic of essentials, or that women turn up to hospitals and there is no access to sanitary items. we need that data to be able to analyse it and get federal changes here in australia. girls and young women are missing school, education because of this? absolutely. here in australia, the lucky country, there are many girls who miss days of school because their families cannot afford it. and in actualfact, there are actually women who miss work because they cannot afford it as well. so, you know what? we know better, so we should be doing better. we can get them the products that's needed but we cannot remove that shame and stigma unless we look at it in a different way and move into, you know, 2021 and beyond removing that shame and stigma. how long might it take? well, look, we are hoping that it is — it may take one year, it may take ten years, but we will be there every single year to make sure that the girls that will be women one day will be able to talk about periods,

that the boys will talk about periods and know that their sisters and their mothers and their aunties and what they go through, instead of segregating boys and girls in education around menstruation. we need to make sure that everybody is educated. because if you don't get your period, you come from somebody who did. in your view, what should boys and men do to help? yeah, look, they be ensuring that they understand what happens to a woman's body every single month. having understanding ensures they are better humans in the first place. so — but it is ourjob to ensure that we educate boys and girls accordingly, so that they all have an understanding of what menstruation is. which country has got this right? ooh, i don't — i can't say that there is a country in the world that has got this right. i think this is a global problem, notjust a problem isolated to australia. the problem varies amongst cultures and different places around the world, so we hope

that this campaign that starts in australia around period pride will take off all around the world and that it changes the narrative around menstruation of the rest of everybody�*s lives. rochelle courtenay there. a senior official tasked with settling conflicts in senegal has described the country as being on "a dangerous precipice" after several days of protests that have left at least five young people dead. the unrest was triggered by the arrest last wednesday of the opposition politician, ousamane sonko. people in switzerland have narrowly voted in favour of a ban on face coverings in public, including the burqa or niqab worn by muslim women. the right—wing swiss people's party put forward the proposal in a referendum, using slogans such as stop radical islam and the move was widely described as "the burqa ban" by campaigners, local politicians and media. a leading swiss islamic group said it was "a dark day" for muslims. earlier, we spoke to our correspondent imogen foulkes, who's in the swiss capital bern. she told us what the ban will mean in practice.

what will happen now is that this ban will be written into the swiss constitution, that's what today nationwide vote was about. and so it will go in there, alongside the constitutional amendments over gender equality, overfreedom of religious expression, and this was a very divisive vote in many ways and among some rather unusual fault lines. we had, for example, parts of switzerland's muslim community saying yes to this. they said that nobody here, or very few women, where face coverings. an estimated 30, actually, among 400,000 muslims here. and some in the swiss muslim community said look, you don't need this, let's have a band and it will show that we are committed to women's equality. others, and particularly the way that the yes campaign was waged, sections of the right—wing swiss people's party with posters and very threatening

imagery of women wearing burqas and niqabs, this made them uneasy and many people said this looks very against our religion, islamophobic, and thatis religion, islamophobic, and that is not what we want. as we saw, very, very narrow yes so saw, very, very narrow yes so that's it, in practice. things may not change as much because as i said, not that many women, handle, where these face coverings. handle, where these face c°vefi"95-_ handle, where these face coverinus. ., ., ~ , israel has reopened its borders and parts of its economy. with more than 50% of its population now fully vaccinated against coronavirus, flights into the country are resuming and students can go back to schools and universities. restaurants, cafes, attractions and hotels also reopened again today. up to 20 people are now allowed to gather indoors and 50 outdoors. in most places, people will need to show certificates proving they've been immunised. new zealand's biggest city auckland has reopened after a seven—day lockdown, which had been prompted by a single new coronavirus infection. the country hasn't recorded any more cases since and has been largely covid—free for several months. some restrictions, including limits on public gatherings

and mask—wearing, remain in place. the opening races of the america's cup sailing competition — postponed from this weekend — will now begin on wednesday. a british—iranian woman imprisoned in iran since 2016, nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, has been freed after her sentence came to an end, and almost immediately told she'll have to appear in court again on a separate charge. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was arrested after travelling from the uk with her baby daughter to visit her parents. she was accused of spying, which she has always denied. the bbc�*s caroline hawley is following the story. a rare glimpse into what's keeping this family together when they're forced to be thousands of miles apart. i'lljust show you. it's still quite a messy house. for six—year—old gabriella, an image on a mobile phone can't replace the touch of her mother. she's been counting down the days till the end of her mum's sentence.

now the ankle tank that she has had to wear since she was released from jail has been taken off. nazanin said she was ecstatic, and went to visit her elderly but in a week, she faces a different court case on another secret charge. so by the time i was speaking to nazanin, the phone was going mad. "is she out? is she out?" and yes, she is. technically, the first court case is finished. at the same time, the second court case simultaneously has been evoked. so the foreign office were pleased that they've got the ankle tag off and there was some progress, and they clearly had issued a very formal note this morning saying, "you have to release her", so the iranians have done that. at the same time, they've kept her as leverage going forwards. and i find that my emotional reaction has been quite guarded about what this means and we're still in the middle of it and we're in the middle of this game of chess. she was at tehran airport, preparing to fly home

from a holiday visiting her parents, when she was arrested in 2016. since then, she's suffered months of solitary confinement, blindfolded interrogations and several false promises of release. nazanin�*s been told by iranian officials that she's being held as collateral for a debt owed by britain dating back to the 1970s. calls are now growing for the government here to take a stronger stand against iran's hostage diplomacy. it's clearly another trumped—up charge because hardliners in the regime are saying "we've paid the diplomatic price for holding nazanin. now let's not lose the leverage of keeping her". and it is totally and utterly inhumane because at the centre of this is an innocent woman, her husband and her daughter, and they're just forgetting that in all these grand power games, there are ordinary people who are paying a most terrible price. what's the first thing you're going to do with mummy when she comes back? first thing you're going to do together? go to a toy shop.

but now, their hopes have been dashed yet again — their mp�*s called it mental torture. for how much longer will they have to go through this agony of separation? only when she's safely on a flight back to the uk will they know their ordeal is finally over. i love you, baby. say goodbye to mummy. love you! carolyn hawley there. a reminder of our top story — the first major television interview by the duke and duchess of sussex since they quit their roles as working members of the british royal family is being screened in the us. prince harry and his wife meghan recorded the interview with their friend oprah winfrey. you can see the bbc there has alive paid the reaction. —— a live page. they've revealed the gender of their second child, saying they're expecting a girl. the duchess spoke warmly of the queen, saying she'd always been wonderful to her.

she also described her relations with the british popular press, saying some newspapers seemed obsessed to paint her as a villain. more on the story as it develops. do stay with bbc news. hello there. high pressure has brought largely fine and settled conditions to the uk during the weekend. it looks like this settled weather is going to last through monday and tuesday, but then it's all change. midweek, it's going to turn very windy with the possibility of severe gales developing through wednesday night into thursday. we'll also have some heavy rain as well, so some big changes to the weather as we move deeper on into this week. in the short term, though, we still have higher pressure to south of the uk, some weather fronts to the north of the uk, so monday is a north—south divide. it's a cold, frosty start across the midlands, wales, southern england, with some sunshine. clouds may tend to increase at times and further north, we will see some showery bursts of rain, some of thatjust pushing into eastern england as well into the afternoon. but there will be some sunshine as well across central

and northern scotland, and i think temperatures will be a degree or so higher than what we've had in recent days, 8—10 celsius. now, through monday night, many central and eastern areas will turn dry with clear spells but we will have this weak front pushing into the western parts of the uk, so that will produce some showery rain. a bit more of a breeze here as well, so temperatures holding around 4—6 celsius. some chilly spots, though, further east under those clear skies. by tuesday, we start to lose this area of high pressure. it declines and starts to allow this first area of low pressure to hurtle in off the atlantic, which will affect north—western parts of the uk later on tuesday. for tuesday itself, then, it's a chilly start. central eastern areas, that weather front will fizzle out. in fact, for much of scotland, england and wales, it should be dry with some sunshine, but clouds will tend to build up further west later in the day with a few showers, and the breeze will pick up as well. we could see temperatures reaching 11 or 12 celsius in the sunshine further east. now, the jet stream is really powering up across the north atlantic by the middle part of the week and that will spin off some deep areas of low pressure.

that's tuesday's low. this is wednesday and thursday's low, which could be even deeper. so for wednesday, we could see a spell of wet and windy weather spread across the country, and then it will be interspersed with some brighter, sunnier, showery weather before the centre of this low arrives across western areas later on wednesday to bring even stronger winds and some heavy rain. there will still be some fairly mild air in the mix, but it might not feel like that because of the strength of the winds. and then through wednesday night into thursday, this is where we could see the strongest of the winds — potentially severe gale force — which could lead to some disruption, so do stay tuned to the forecast.

this is bbc news. the headlines: the first major television interview by the duke and duchess of sussex since they quit their roles last year as working members of the british royalfamily is being screened in the united states. prince harry and his wife, meghan, recorded the interview with their friend oprah winfrey last month. pope francis says iraq will stay in his heart after attending the final public event of his historic visit to the country. he celebrated mass in northern kurdistan, home to most of iraq's dwindling christian population. thousands of people attended the service in the city of irbil. officials in equatorial guinea have appealed for international help after a series of explosions at a munitions depot left at least 15 people dead and 500 injured. the blasts in bata have also destroyed many homes. an appeal has been made for blood donors to come forward. hospitals have treated the injured.

now on bbc news — the week in parliament.