hello and welcome to bbc news. there are signs of growing frustration across europe as many nations reintroduce lockdown measures to control the coronavirus pandemic. infections are on the rise as a third wave begins to sweep the continent. there have been protests in poland, where a strict new lockdown has come into force, after a sharp increase in cases. there were also angry demonstrations in vienna, with many frustrated protestors calling for chancellor sebastian kurz to step down.

this protest took place in finland, which has more than 70,000 confirmed cases, and where 800 people have died since the pandemic began. there were also anti—lockdown protests in london. they came despite a fall in infections and a fast—paced vaccine programme. and german police used pepper spray during ugly clashes in the northern city of kassel, another city where demonstrators are angry about covid—linked restrictions. 0ur berlin correspondent, damian mcguinness is following developments. anti—restrictions, demonstrations in germany have become a common sight over the past year and we saw the high point last summer we are, strangely, the lockdown measures were relatively light and the pandemic was seen as quite undercontrolled here in germany but what we've seen over the past few months is quite a change in mood across the country stop these particular demonstrations are a complete mix of people, so you have all sorts of people from far—right groups to just people

who don't agree with this government right through to anti—vaccination campaigners, even a few people there who don't even believe covid—19 exists and then other people with more moderate views, so a large demo, about 20,000 people, clashes with police but i think what we are seeing as this particular demo and these demos across the country here in germany are not really representative of mainstream feelings stopping the mainstream feeling is not so much angry at the restrictions but angry at the very slow vaccine rollout. many people, in fact, think it is wrong of the government to start loosening restrictions in some areas which is also happening at the same time, quite a confusing situation here in germany and i think what brings a lot of people together now, the majority probably in germany is a general feeling that the government doesn't really have control of the situation and whether you think the restrictions should be harsher or looser, the government is losing popularity and certainly that is the case for angler michael's conservative party which is not good news considering we have an election here in six months

time. the protests, and the threats of lock down, come after a sharp rise in the number of cases across europe. the increase has coincided with the slow rollout of vaccines and the temporary suspension of the astrazeneca jab in several european counntries. richard galpin has more. here in germany the authorities are warning the country is facing a third wave of coronavirus. infections rising exponentially. particularly worrying, as just 8% of the population has had a first dose of vaccine. lockdown measures are now expected. the situation also serious here in france as well as in poland and other eu countries, where covid cases are surging because of the spread of the uk variant of the virus. infections are starting in western europe and moving gradually eastwards, and we are seeing this particular variant, being more severe in terms of the clinical picture, it's leading to bigger pressure on hospitals. europe's problems are in part a result of a faltering vaccine programme and delays

in deliveries, made worse by the eu's recent suspension of the astrazeneca vaccine, but many eu countries are now using it again. well, as you heard there in that report, france has increased its restrictions. 35,000 new cases of covid—i9 were confirmed on march 19th, the last day figures are available for and a slight increase on the proceeding 2a hours. one of those affected is our correspondent, hugh schofield. yes, well, if you went out today, as i did, it didn't feel that different on the streets of paris. the markets were open, the parks were full of playing children and families. it didn't feel that different from yesterday or the day before, and partly of course that is because this is a lockdown—light. we are allowed to leave our homes for as long as we like, within a radius of 10 kilometres, and that means that life apparently is going on as normal. but i think beneath the surface

there's a big psychological burden nonetheless in all of this. partly it's because we can't leave paris, that's one of the big rules, you can't travel outside of the area that's in lockdown now, and partly there's this bureaucratic element too, which means again that if you leave your home you have to have this piece of paper or a web document to show, to justify why you are out. so there's this feeling that every time you go out you might be accosted by a policeman or policewoman and told to show why you are out of the house, and that weighs on people, i think. above all there is this sense that, in spite of the fact that life in many ways is no worse than it was yesterday, it's not getting better, and it should be. the restaurants, the cafes, there is absolutely no prospect of them opening now in the weeks to come, or even for another couple of months, maybe. and we were all hoping that the end was coming, and i think that really is what weighs on people — that exactly a year, exactly one year to the day

after the first lockdown, it's coming again. it's like a treadmill. you are watching bbc world news. let's get more on that mass demonstration against lockdown which has taken place in central london. dozens of mps and peers have urged the government to change the law to allow peaceful protest. police say thousands took to the streets, with a number of people arrested. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds has the story. a year after the lockdown became a part of all of our lives, thousands took to the streets to protest against it. few masks, little social distancing, and many different views... it's just that everything is a hoax and is a lie, so we've had enough. and conspiracy theories... there's no more freedom

to choose what's going to be injected into your body, there is no freedom to speak. there's censorship everywhere. but in general, a feeling that individual rights have been a casualty of the battle against covid, including the right to protest. the metropolitan police has accepted, including in court last week, that right remains, but... at the moment gatherings of this scale are unlawful, and as you can see from the images, it is clearly not a safe covid compliant crowd. a gathering of this scale, i cannot see that this would ever be a safe environment under the health protection regulations. some dispute that protests are super spreading events. 60 mps and peers wrote to the home secretary this morning, demanding they be allowed. "no," said the home office. clearly, arresting everyone involved is not feasible. it would mean surrounding them, possibly making the covid risk greater.

in fact, at times, police withdrew today allowing the crowd to disperse. but tonight, police in riot gear faced abuse and thrown bottles as they cleared a park. dozens were arrested. let's go, let's go... bottle smashes well, it's the end of the day and as you can see the policing operation now is about telling everybody they've got to go home and the command of this operation earlier said that it would have been much better if nobody had come at all. tom symonds, bbc news, central london. there've been big protests in istanbul, after turkey pulled out of its landmark global convention aimed at combatting violence against women. europe's top human rights body, the council of europe, has called it a huge set back for the protection of women in and outside the country. the bbc�*s 0rla guerin reports from istanbul. even behind the mask, the defiance is clear.

this was the response in istanbul to president erdogan�*s decree issued in the dead of night, pulling turkey out of the landmark treaty protecting women and girls. this in fact proves that the government enables these men, enables these men in their violence towards women, domestic violence, abuse, sexual harassment and murder. i felt the biggest ache in my heart and it'sjust the biggest disappointment as a woman you can feel in turkey. well, there's plenty of anger here. these women believe the decree is an attempt to drag them and their country back in time, to deprive them of key rights and protections. turkey's main opposition party has put it like this, "women will be kept as second class citizens and left to be killed."

it was a very different picture ten years ago. turkey was first to proudly sign up to the treaty, ironically called the istanbul convention. the council of europe has branded turkey's withdrawal from this line—up "deplorable." and domestic abuse survivors like daria say they are now more vulnerable. these horrific images were taken after she was attacked by her husband who has been convicted but is free on appeal. "with this decision, i'm an open target," she told us tonight. "i'm worried for my life because i have kids. "if i die, many others will be affected." at the protest, some held photos of women who have been killed. rights campaigners here say last year alone there were around 300. 0rla guerin,

bbc news, istanbul. crowds also gathered across the united states on saturday to protest hate crimes against asian—americans. this comes four days after the shootings of eight people including six asian american women in atlanta, georgia. the bbc�*s azadeh moshiri reports. we have left in the shadows, invisible. ,, ., , , we have left in the shadows, invisible. ,, ., i, ., invisible. stereotyped and relegated _ invisible. stereotyped and relegated as _ invisible. stereotyped andj relegated as second-class relegated as second—class citizens. relegated as second-class citizens. �* relegated as second-class citizens. , ., ., citizens. anger, frustration, and a call — citizens. anger, frustration, and a call for _ and a call for change. across the united states, protesters gathered on saturday, following the shootings of eight people in atlanta spas, six of whom were asian—american women. chanting, stop asian hate, and asians are not a virus, those

gathered at the rallies were not only crying out against the murders, but also the aftermath. local law enforcement said the suspect denied any racial motive to the killings and told them he was struggling with a sex addiction. a police spokesman said it was, quote, a really bad day for the attacker. that has led to the outcry at these rallies and voiced by the un, the first vietnamese american elected to the georgia state health. �* u, , , , health. america is still trying to deny our _ health. america is still trying to deny our humanity - health. america is still trying to deny our humanity and - to deny our humanity and existence. a 21—year—old white man targeted three asian businesses, taking a0 minutes from one spot to another, no matter how you want to spin it, the fact remain the same. this was an attack on the asian

community. was an attack on the asian community-— was an attack on the asian communi . ~ �*, , . community. while it's difficult to track hate _ community. while it's difficult to track hate incidents - community. while it's difficultj to track hate incidents against asian americans, the us advocacy group said it received more than 28,000 reports of eight incidents directed at asian—americans last year. eight incidents directed at asian-americans last year. if i am asian, i am also american. and throughout my personal experience i have always been invisible, but they want to make clear to the world and the people that i am here and the people that i am here and i am visible. and this hate incident is not acceptable. georgia is in the heart of america's deep south and it became a battleground state in the 2020 election. it's changing demographics and activism handed victory to two democratic senators as well as tojoe biden, the first

democratic presidential candidate to win the state and nearly three decades. president biden and kamala harris, the first vice president of asian—american descent, visited georgia earlier this week to meet with community leaders. after these shootings, their asian—american constituents are now speaking up, arguing that lawmakers need to do more to protect them. this is bbc news. our main headline: thousands of people take part in protests across europe, against coronavirus lockdown measures. elon musk, the chief executive of the us electric carmaker tesla, says his firm would be shut down if its vehicles were used for spying on china. his comments were in response to reports that china's military had banned tesla cars from its facilities. the military had raised security concerns about the data collected by cameras in the cars. in a separate matter,

a russian man in the us has pleaded guilty to plotting to extort money from the electric car compa ny�*s nevada plant. prosecutors allege the man planned to use ransomware to steal com pa ny secrets for extortion. they said he had acted on behalf of criminals abroad. 0ur north america correspondent, peter bowes, has more. quite a strong denial from quite a strong denialfrom elon musk that tesla vehicles could be used as a vehicle for spying for americans spying on china. this follows reports on friday that some members of the chinese military, some senior members of government run companies there, had been ordered not to use tesla vehicles. elon musk says quite simply they would be put out of business if this were true. in fact, if any businesses did engage in spying on a foreign government, the negative effects for the company, he said, would be extremely bad and added that there is a strong incentive for them to

keep any information is gathered by a very sophisticated vehicle that is company has produced, but incentive is wrong to keep that information confidential. another incentive for him and his company is that china is actually very important for tesla, second only to the united states and the fourth most important, in terms of global income. absolutely, they are heping _ global income. absolutely, they are heping to — global income. absolutely, they are hoping to sell _ global income. absolutely, they are hoping to sell 200,000 - are hoping to sell 200,000 vehicles there this year. presumably, the concerns of china relate to the technology in these cars? yes, and specifically, the camera technology. that is where the apparent concern is, about data being collected by the vehicles. these cars have very sophisticated camera systems. that is what makes them so unique but the concern seems to be there could be used to gather sensitive information. again, elon musk has hit back at this and turned the argument around, and referenced the row

over tick—tock, the company thatis over tick—tock, the company that is the app that donald trump tried to ban from the united states last year out of similar concerns that a camera on a mobile phone that had the at tiktok that was used could gather information from americans that would be useful to the chinese at.— to the chinese at. parallels all over the _ to the chinese at. parallels all over the place _ to the chinese at. parallels all over the place and - to the chinese at. parallelsj all over the place and tesla faces its own fate, the story of a russian man pleading guilty of trying to recruit a tesla employee in order to put ransomware into the computer network in the nevada battery plant for tesla. tells about that? ., plant for tesla. tells about that? . , , ., that? yeah, this is a 27-year-old - that? yeah, this is a 27-year-old russianj that? yeah, this is a - 27-year-old russian national, 27—year—old russian national, accused and pleaded guilty to offering a tesla employee $1 million to essentially damage and break in into the computer

network of tesla �*s battery plant in reno, nevada. this never came to fruition. according to prosecutors and the fbi was a conspiracy that was foiled and no damage done but according to prosecutors, the goal was to extract data from the computer system, using ransomware and then in effect, hold the company, tesla, to ransom by threatening to release the data probably on the internet but at least to make it public and data that could potentially clearly be very valuable to tesla and its release would be damaging for the company. this man, the russian national is currently in a usjailand russian national is currently in a usjail and sentenced in may and because he has reached a plea agreement with the prosecutors in this country, he is likely only to get a sentence of about ten months. emergency authorities in australia are warning of life—threatening flash—flooding as storms batter parts of the east coast.

evacuation orders are in place in many low—lying areas. david campa nale reports. the aftermath of significant record—breaking rainfall in new south wales. got to go around to the other side of the car now to get the other patient out. across australia's most populous state, dozens of people have been rescued from floodwaters, and residents in many low—lying communities ordered to leave. major highways have been closed and wild surf is battering the coast. more storms are forecast in the coming days and parts of eastern australia could receive up to a metre of rain in the space ofjust a week. officials say sydney is facing what they are calling a rain bomb. the main water reservoir there has overflowed for the first time in years as the city of 5 million braces for what's coming next. in the suburbs, descriptions of fear as the first sweep of rain came through the area.

and then we saw the tornado form and then we saw trees and plants and people's furniture flying in the air, rubbish bins. and then i screamed and just ran back inside. i've never been so scared in my life. it felt like a movie. yeah. there have been over 500 rescue operations from the rising floodwaters. state political leaders said the storms could last for some days yet and gave a plea to residents to obey evacuation warnings. i hate to say this again to all our citizens of this state, but it's not going to be an easy week for us. but i know that no matter what comes our way, we'll be able to deal with it. the federal government said the extreme weather has affected its covid—19 vaccine delivery in sydney and throughout the state, but said delays should only last a few days. australia plans to deliver the first vaccine doses to almost 6 million people over the next few weeks. david campanale, bbc news.

an attempt by canada's conservative opposition to reform its stance on climate change has failed in a blow to the new leader. erin 0'toole had warned his party that a failure to support his motion could lead them open to attack by the liberals as climate change deniers in forthcoming elections. laura lynch is a host of the canadian broadcasting corporation's radio show �*what on earth', which explores the issue of climate change. she explains why erin 0'toole failed in his efforts to initiate a new climate agenda in his conservative party. you have to understand this was a policy debate within the party, erin 0'toole had only hours before said the party needed to embrace change and things that were not orthodox for the party, and he did not want to go into the next election being branded as climate change deniers, and the party turned around and defeated putting in language in the policy that says climate change is real. you have to remember

in the last election, the conservatives lost to the liberals, and a lot of people suggested that was due to the fact that the previous leader had carried into the election no real plan for dealing with climate change, and so, the new leader, erin 0'toole, knows he needs to have this in place to go forward into the next election which could be coming up sometime soon, some are suggesting, this is certainly a blow to his efforts to remake the party's image and it could be much more difficult for him to persuade voters, most of whom believe that climate change is real, that the party is acting in their best interests. why was that not clear to his colleagues? if you look at the boat and how it breaks down, it's not that much of a surprise. the eastern part of the country, quebec and maritime, delegates there voted in favour of this change, and in the western part of the country, that depend on fossil fuels for so much of their revenue,

their economy, jobs, that is where the support began to falter, and that reflects a real debate within the country, those western provinces that are so dependent on resources, specifically oil and gas, who see climate change in many cases as a threat to their well—being, so that is a struggle not only for the conservatives, it's a struggle for the governing liberal party as well, which even though it has put forward a programme to deal with climate change, it is criticised because not long ago, it bought a gas pipeline, and oil and gas pipeline, in order to send heavy oil out of the west coast for shipment abroad. and your neighbour, presidentjoe biden has aggressively pursued climate policies ever since he took office. do you think that would affect things in canada? it has to. the economy goes hand—in—hand in so many ways, there are expectations that the two countries

will move in lockstep in making electric cars more available and more affordable, something that president biden wants, and i think the canadian government will help all it can in that respect. in other respects, presidentjoe biden has a ready cancelled the key pipeline project at the canadian government wanted to go forward with, so differences indeed, but also expectations that the canadian government will be able to work more closely with this president then with the previous one. a volcano in south—west iceland has erupted, releasing streams of lava from under the earth's surface. the fissure, 30 kilometres from the capital, reykjavik — is more than 500 metres long. it's the first eruption in the area in centuries. 0ur europe correspondent, jean mackenzie, visited the volcano last week. the lava bursting through a long crack in the earth's crust, the moment icelanders have been bracing for

turns into a spectacle, rather than a threat. translation: the nation has been waiting with bated breath for three weeks for it since seismic activity started increasing significantly on the reykjanes peninsula. since the activity ratcheted up three weeks ago, iceland has recorded more than 50,000 earthquakes, a sign this eruption was imminent. we visited the volcanic area just 20 miles from the capital, reykjavik, last week. so, the eruption is going to happen most likelyjust beyond that ridge. this island, which straddles two tectonic plates, is used to eruptions but not here. this area has sat dormant for centuries. this is very different to the explosive eruption in 2010 that blanketed the skies of europe in ash for weeks. the biggest threat this

time is the pollution from the gases released, with residents being asked to keep their windows shut. icelanders have nicknamed these pretty eruptions �*tourist eruptions', only with no tourists around to witness this one, it's the locals who get to marvel at their latest geological wonder. jean mackenzie, bbc news. time for the weather now with darren bett. hello there. most parts of the country are going to have a dry day on sunday with some sunshine at times. on saturday, the sunshine was focused more across eastern scotland and the north—east of england, and temperatures reached 17 celsius at bridlington, 18 in aboyne, aberdeenshire after a frosty start. quite a bit colder in merseyside and kent. those areas may get a little bit milder during sunday but we're not expecting 17 celsius because that warmth was ahead of this weak weather front here that's been bringing some thicker cloud and a little drizzle southwards. but once that moves through,

it actually introduces cooler air, a different sort of air mass. so, temperatures won't be quite as high on sunday despite the fact that there will be more sunshine more widely. and by the time we get to the morning, temperatures could be close to freezing where we've got those clearer skies around lothian, fife and tayside. we still have some more cloud and some damp weather across south wales and the south west of england to move away and it should brighten up here in the afternoon. still quite cloudy in the far north of scotland, a bit damp as well. but elsewhere we should see some sunshine coming through from time to time. and the winds, they should be quite light as well but remember, the area is a bit cooler on sunday. so, temperatures are typically 10—12 celsius, may be lower than that in norfolk with the onshore breeze and also in the far north of scotland. but high pressure is keeping it quiet throughout the weekend and into the beginning of next week keeping these weather fronts at bay in from the atlantic. so, we're looking at cloud again and how much there will be and i think many places will see a little sunshine at times on monday. always more cloud towards the north—west. with the breeze picking

a little bit up here, there could be some drizzle in the north—west of scotland but again temperatures aren't changing very much. typically 11—12 celsius, that's near normal for this time of the year. and moving quickly onto tuesday, it's a similar sort of picture. again, some sunshine in many areas, a fair bit of cloud around too, mind you. you'll probably notice a stronger breeze, i think, on tuesday. similar sort of temperatures and rain's not far away from the north—west. now, that band of rain on a very weak weather front will push its way eastwards tuesday night and into wednesday, and then pressure will fall and we're looking at our weather to come in from the atlantic. so that means it's going to eventually turn more unsettled — later on in the week i suspect, and as you can see, most of the wetter weather will be towards the north—west of the uk. there won't be much rain at all in the south—east.

this is bbc news, the headlines: thousands of people have taken part in protests across europe,

against coronavirus—related restrictions. it comes as a third wave of infections forced millions more in the eu back into lockdown. here in london, there were also protests against the uk's lockdown. police say some of their officers were injured in the demos. 33 people were arrested. in istanbul, thousands took to the streets over turkey's decision to pull out of an international treaty aimed at preventing violence against women and girls. the government there says existing laws already offer protection but the main 0pposition party says abandoning the treaty threatens the safety of women. now on bbc news, dateline london.