this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. a show of strength — myanmar�*s military celebrates armed forces day amid ongoing protests over february's coup that has left hundreds dead. protesters are warned they could be shot in the head. authorities in berlin declare france a high risk area for coronavirus — requiring all travellers to be tested and quarantined upon arrival in germany. borisjohnson says he'll stand firmly by british citizens, who've had sanctions imposed on them by china — which accuses them of spreading lies about abuses of uighur muslims. scotland's former first minister, alex salmond, launches a new pro—independence party to contest the holyrood elections in may.

hello and welcome to our viewers in the uk and around the world. we'll bring you the latest in a moment, but first.... myanmar�*s military authorities have warned that armed authorities have warned that forces day is being celebrated armed forces day is being celebrated by the country. this is a large parade which marks the anniversary of the foundation of the army. lots of firepower is on show here. previous processions, and we have seen this already, have shown troops will. .. have seen this already, have shown troops will... which can be seen there, a lot of armoury is welcome including tanks,

jets and missiles, and also a fly passed by the army chief and the june fly passed by the army chief and thejune to head. he may well be speaking, but this is a really big show of strength by the military. you remember —— remember, of course, that the country at the moment is in the midst of some turmoil. this is since february the 1st when the generals ousted and detained the civilian leader aung san, despite the show in forests, protesters have said that they will be turning out on the streets for a fresh round of protests today. the warning on state media was the first acknowledgement of a shoot—to—kill policy they will be shooting people in the head. this is the first admission by a shoot to kill policy by the military.

let's speak nick marsh who's in sinapore. nick, quite a stroke —— show of strength their comments to? quite a show of strength, indeed. if you consider the way that events have been unfolding over the past couple of months and myanmar, the indiscriminate killings, the constant bloodshed, the horrific images we have seen, the unimaginable suffering, really, for so many people in the country. you might say that holding an event like this would be a bit tone deaf, but frankly, i think even that would be a vast understatement. i have been speaking to lots of people over the past couple of months in myanmar, and really, you struggle to find anyone, or i have struggled to find anyone who doesn't loathe the army for what it's done, for the instability it's brought, for the chaos it's created in the country. i don't think that many people in the country, particularly in the cities, are going to be watching this live on television at the moment, besides the fact that it's been held very early on a saturday

morning to try to avoid the midday heat for those soldiers who are parading in the capital now. nevertheless, the generals have pressed ahead with this plan, whether it's through indifference to public opinion, whether it's obliviousness to public opinion or a combination of the two, it is hard to know which is worse. but as you can see by the pictures, the idea is to show strength, the idea is to show strength, the idea is to show military hardware, the arsenal. the army is obviously going to be quite buoyed as well that of country like russia has come out and pledged its continued support for the army. they are going to continue to provide them with financial assistance, with arms and if you consider the international picture at the moment, the way it is forming, having a country like russia on your site is really crucial. it's a member of the un security council, of course, but aside from that, we are expecting the general, the new leader myanmar to be delivering a speech later on. we don't exactly what he is going to say, of course, butjudging by previous times he has addressed

the nation and the previous times they have communicated through state media, we don't think it's going to be anything particularly ground—breaking, judging by the previous time he's spoken, though, we can assume that it is going be fairly divorced from the realities of what is happening in the country on a day like, as you mentioned, when there is more huge protests planned. nick, you know, iam just looking about, and many people are saying that these scenes here, what is being celebrated, could actually become a real flashpoint in myanmar today. what sort of things are you hearing about what protesters are thinking? are they going to continue with this show of defiance and head out onto the streets? are they not worried about this pledge of shoot to kill? ., , , ., ., kill? protesters are worried. all the protesters _ kill? protesters are worried. all the protesters i - kill? protesters are worried. all the protesters i speak i kill? protesters are worried. all the protesters i speak to | all the protesters i speak to our worried. there are people who have lost family members,

people who have lost fathers, daughters, brothers, sisters, but they consider the risks to their own personal safety or to their own personal safety or to the safety of their families not to be as big as the risk of slipping again into military control. you have to remember that myanmar for the vast majority of its postindependence existence has been ruled by the military, and decades of mismanagement of a stagnating economy, of international isolation, really always brought the country to its knees until this breakthrough that we saw about ten years ago when aung san was brought back into the fold and started to look a little bit more like a democracy. the shoe ticket policy that you mentioned earlier, i mean, it's the first time that they have explicitly come out and said something like this. the warning is chilling, let's make no mistake about this, the whole point of coming out with a warning like that is to frighten people, is to terrorise people. it's to stop them from coming up in the streets. the reality is that they have been doing this for they have been doing this for the last month or so. people

being shot in the head, executions for the slightest of infractions. so people are very well aware of the risks, and i think they are point blank refusal to go along with this coup and to continue also, let's not forget, with these nationwide strikes, the civil disobedience movements to try to hurt those fragile burmese economy. the fact that people will still go out to the streets shows you the depth of feeling against this military coup which runs right through burmese society. find coup which runs right through burmese society.— burmese society. and on that oint, burmese society. and on that point. you — burmese society. and on that point, you mentioned - burmese society. and on that point, you mentioned the - point, you mentioned the economy and how it runs through society. this matters for the military because the military is so strongly embedded in life in myanmar, isn't it? absolutely. 100%. the military, as they are known, the army, they see themselves almost as they see themselves almost as the embodiment of what it means to be burmese, as the kind of soul of myanmar. they were heavily involved in the push for independence in 1948. they

see themselves almost as the elite of the elite, and on the point of the economy, they virtually own everything. if you look at the natural resources like oil and gas, jade, rubies even things like telecoms, they are all in the hands of either army generals or they are in these two big conglomerate holding companies which are either owned directly by generals or funded by the ministry of defence. so, you know, if you go to myanmar and you want to do business but you want to leave the army out of its, well, that is pretty much impossible. they control almost all facets of life in myanmar. and if you want to hurt the country economically, the only way to do it, because you are not when to persuade lots of international investors, particularly here in asia to pull out, not at this stage, anyway, the only way that the protesters see of doing it is to engage in civil disobedience and to refuse to work and to try and slowly bring down the

economy. try and slowly bring down the economy-— try and slowly bring down the economy. try and slowly bring down the econom . a , , ., ~ ., economy. 0k, nick, speaking to us live there _ economy. 0k, nick, speaking to us live there from _ economy. 0k, nick, speaking to us live there from singapore, i us live there from singapore, thank you very much. so just to remind viewers what they can see on their screens now commits part of armed forces day, which is being celebrated in myanmar. that's in the capital. the same day, there is concern that protesters are also going to take to the streets, anti—coup protesters, and continue with their protests despite the threat from the military of a shoot to kill policy. germany has imposed travel restrictions on france, declaring the country a "high risk" area for coronavirus infections. people arriving in germany from france will now need to show a negative covid test and go into quarantine.as france deals with a surge of cases, its foreign minister accuses the uk of "blackmail", over its handling of coronavirus vaccine exports. france has called for the eu to implement tougher export controls as long as vaccine

orders fail to be delivered to the eu. our berlin correspondent, damien mcguinness, is following developments. i think it's a controversial step, really, because obviously, there is so much traffic, commuters, family cross that border everyday between france and germany. now, germany has already imposed border restrictions and border controls on some of its borders, so we have already had border controls on parts of austria, the czech republic, slovakia. those regions have now been classed officially as high—risk regions as well, so that means they are going to be the same rule you just mention for france, which is you have to have a recent test before you cross into the country, but now, that will be the case for france. this is something that has been a political debate here for a while now, and there has been pressure growing on the government deciding what to do on that border, because as the numbers have gone up in france, more and more people along the region, in the region along the border, have been worried

that those infections are going to come over into germany. and now indeed the authorities have taken that step, and that's really because of the numbers. even though the numbers are growing up in germany, they're not going up as severely as in france. in germany, we havejust over 100 new infections per 100,000 people in the population over a seven—day period. that number is more like 300 in france. so, for now, what that means is there are going to be spot checks along the border. no plans as of yet for a checkpoint, but it will certainly impede travel, it will impede commuters. it could even impede trade. a big step, a big hit economically for these regions, but according to the authorities here in germany, it is necessary, really, to stop those high infections spreading into germany from france. while germany is trying to keep out new cases, there is already a rise in cases within the country and more younger people are ending up in hospital. german icu doctor kai zacharowski has been describing the situation in his frankfurt hospital. the situation is getting worse.

at the moment, the third wave definitely has arrived. what we see is now that the age of patients is younger than before. so, we have patients which are in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. patients have a longer length of stay in the intensive care unit. so, now, we have patients on average staying for 40—60 days. at the moment, we are still coping very well in germany because, as you know, we have the highest number of intensive care beds per 100,000. however, with the increasing numbers now in germany and today again, 22,000 new infections and an incidence rate of almost 120 on average in germany, it is only a matter of time that the beds, which are occupied with these very sick patients, some stays will be short at some stage. that is the reason why

we have to take measures. we have had restrictions for a whole year now, and lots of people, lots of friends and family, they are tired. they are tired of the restrictions. spring is coming, the question is right or wrong, i think, it probably would be better to test people and to really make sure that if they have a negative test results, to have free powers. in fact, yes, it would help to have borders closed, everything closed, but we are human beings, we need also to have freedom. the world health organisation is once again appealing to countries to donate their coronavirus vaccines to poorer nations. it says covax — the global vaccine—sharing scheme — needs more than 10 million doses urgently, so every country can start innoculating, within the first 100 days of the year. the covax scheme aims to ensure 92 of the poorest countries

in the world can access vaccines, with costs covered by donors. covax needs ten million doses immediately as an urgent stock up measure, so these 20 countries can start vaccinating their health workers and older people within the next two weeks. so, today, i'm asking countries with doses of vaccines that have who emergency use listing to donate as many doses as they can to help us meet that target. china has imposed sanctions on 9 uk citizens including mps, peers, a lawyer and an academic who have all criticised china's treatment of its uighur minority population. the foreign secretary, dominic raab, said the move wouldn't stop him and others speaking up against what he called, "industrial scale

human rights abuses". there are about 12 million uighur in china — predominately muslims. china is accused of detaining up to a million of themin so called "re—education" camps in the province of xinjiang in the north west of the country. authorities in beijing have dismissed claims of abuse — as a plot by britain and the us, to destablise the chinese economy. here's our diplomatic correpsondent, james landale. this is the image china wants you to have of xinjiang. a mountainous paradise where everyone can live out their lives in liberty and prosperity. people from various ethnic groups live in concord, work in solidarity and develop in harmony, bending together closely like the seeds of a pomegranate. but if you try to get past the propaganda videos, as the bbc�*s done in the past, there's a different perspective not everyone wants you to see. and that's one where

allegations of human rights abuses against the uighurs are rife. of arbitrary detention, forced labour and sterilisation. so strong are these allegations that britain and allies announced sanctions on four top chinese officials responsible for camps like these. today, beijing retaliated, imposing travel bans and asset freezes on british citizens and organisations it accused of spreading lies. for some time, certain forces, bent on containment of china, have fabricated a large amount of lies of the century about xinjiang. the sanctions were aimed at five conservative mps including the former party leader, sir iain duncan smith, all of them vocal critics of china's government. as well as two peers, a lawyer and an academic and a handful of campaign groups. few of those sanctioned appeared dismayed. speaking for the nine individuals who have been

sanctioned, it's only going to re—fortify our efforts to call out china for the industrial scale human rights abuses going on in xinjiang, in tibet and elsewhere within china. it's intimidation of members of parliament to try to put them under pressure not to talk about what's happening in xinjiang. and i think that's the big issue we need to deal with internationally. how democracies deal with political interference. china's acting ambassador was summoned to the foreign and development office to hear of britain's displeasure and determination. if the chinese government i want to continue with these blanket denials, that nothing wrong is taking place - in xinjiang, the obvious thing for them to do would be - to allow access to l the united nations. diplomats here at the chinese embassy dismiss all these allegations. they talk of anti—china forces fabricating these accusations to try and constrain their country. but amid the claim and counterclaim, one thing is clear. the government's ambition of pursuing a more positive trade relationship with china is getting harder by the minute.

the sanctions imposed by president xi were not unexpected, but they were unprecedented. the price paid for raising human rights concerns with the world's growing military and economic power. james landale, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the multi—billion dollar blockage — another day, anotherfailed attempt to dislodge the container ship stuck in the suez canal. i'm so proud of both of you. let there be no more wars or bloodshed between arabs and israelis.

with great regret, the committee have decided that south africa be excluded from the 1970 competition. chanting. streaking across the sky, the white—hot wreckage i from mir drew gasps . from onlookers on fiji. fresh attempts today to refloat the mega—container blocking the suez canal, have ended in failure. the vessel, the mv ever given, has been wedged across the canal since wednesday, causing major congestion and costly delays, in the delivery of goods and oil. 0ur science editor, david shukman, has been looking

at what needs to be done, to get the ship afloat again. how on earth do you try to budge something that weighs 200,000 tonnes? what about tug boats, shoving against the side? well, that was tried and it didn't work. the bow is jammed too deep into a bank of the canal. so this huge vessel, with its towering load of containers, still looms over the egyptian desert, paralysing a key artery in the network of global trade. so, what can be done? well, having another go with the tug boats while digging out the bank to free the bow, or using dredgers to clear away sand from under the ship to deepen the canal. that has now started, but if that doesn't do the job the next and most extreme option is to remove some containers to lighten the load, in the hope that the ship rises. this kind of thing has been done before, but it's never quick.

a similar sized vessel also ran aground in sand and they successfully refloated her after excavating and with the support of tugs. it took six days. what's extraordinary is how one ship can cause such a massive trafficjam. more than 230 vessels are now stuck and all this reveals how much depends on this vital link. about £7 billion worth of goods travel through it every day and in all it carries something like 12% of global trade, and all that hinges on getting one ship moving again. and as the waiting drags on there are other routes, much longer and much more expensive. so might the shipping industry have to go for them? to do so of course involves somewhere between seven, eight, to 12 days extra steaming, extra fuel consumption and so forth, but it is definitely an option. one of the other disadvantages is the weather conditions

around the cape of good hope are very often quite severe, and of course the ships then would have to pass through the gulf of guinea area which has been plagued by a very wearing level of piracy in recent years. all this will hold up deliveries to british ports like felixstowe, which might eventually affect consumers. a reminder of a trading system that we all just take for granted. it's a huge supply chain right from the manufacture in china right through to the shelf, and people just expect it to be there, and this has reallyjust highlighted just how fragile that supply chain is. there is one hope. a spring tide this weekend may raise the water level enough to free the ship, but no one is banking on that. david shukman, bbc news. at least 32 people have been killed — and more than 160 injured in egypt — in one of the worst train crashes there in recent memory.

several carriages were derailed and overturned — when two passenger trains collided in the province of sohag. with more, here's david campanale. the aftermath of a another deadly crash on egypt's railways. in this incident, one carriage was seen being violently thrown into the air in a cloud of dust after a speeding train rammed into it from behind. inside one of the overturned carriages, these harrowing scenes were filmed just moments after the crash. from within the chaos and the dust, cries for help were posted on social media. one woman said, "please, my son, help me." some people got out of the derailed carriages relatively unharmed, but many others caught inside were badly injured and needing rescue. translation: we need an official to come -

and see what has happened. they cannot remove the people from underneath the trains. it's a shame. look at the children. we need a crane, but they said... people are dead. we can't even save the ones who are alive. around the wreckage, people gathered next to the overturned carriages to see what could be done. dozens of ambulances came to the scene to take the injured away, and inside, rescuers were deployed to help reach those survivors still trapped. egypt's rail authorities say the crash occurred after unidentified passengers had activated emergency brakes in one of the trains, causing the one behind it to crash into it. the president, abdel fattah al—sisi, tweeted that there will be serious because consequences for anyone found responsible.

this deadly collision is the latest in a string of major accidents on egypt's railways. they have been blamed on failures in maintenance and infrastructure. david campanale, bbc news. let's just take you back to myanmar. the capital, where armed forces day is being held. it's a great show put on by the military, troops, armour, tanks, jets. there were some jets flying over a little bit earlier. missiles as well. fears, though, that when this is going to be combined with protests, they are expected on the streets of myanmar later today. later on saturday, it could become something of a flashpoint. as the military has warned that anybody coming out of the streets in defiance will be shot in the head. so really important thing to take away from that, this is the first admission by the myanmar military that there is a shoot

to kill policy that has been put in place. you are watching bbc news. plenty more coming up shortly. hello there. friday marked a change to our weather. we saw so much colder air move down from the northwest right across the country. so that means we are starting the weekend off on a chilly note but bright with some sunshine, then it will turn wetter and windier, particularly across northern and western areas. and gradually, it will be turning milder. it's looking very mild indeed as we head on into next week. so for saturday, then, we're in the cold air mass, as you can see. this is the milder air mass which will be making inroads saturday night and into sunday. we start this morning off with a bit of an ice risk across northern areas where we had overnight showers. it is a chilly start but bright, plenty of sunshine around, but into the afternoon, cloud will be thickening out west with some rain pushing into northern ireland, western scotland along with strengthening winds. now, temperatures after that chilly start should reach 10—11 celsius for most.

still, though, single figure values across scotland, 7—9 celsius. now into saturday evening and saturday night, it turns very wet and windy across the northern half of the country, some gales and exposure across the northwest, heavy rain for many, all but the southeast, which mayjust see one or two showers around, otherwise some drier interludes here. you'll notice a milder night to come for saturday night across the board, 6—8 celsius. part two of the weekend looks somewhat more unsettled. lots of isobars on the charts, so it's going to be windy. this weather front will straddle central—northern areas of the country to bring quite a bit of rainfall at times. so pretty wet through the morning for wales, northwest england, northern ireland, that rain begins to move a little bit further northwards affecting southern and also western scotland. it really will be piling into western scotland over the next few days. a gusty, windy day to come for most, generally dry with a little bit of brightness, though, across southern and eastern areas. that will allow temperatures to reach 111—15 celsius with this slightly milder air mass and a double figure

values starting to push in across scotland. into next week, it stays very wet across parts of scotland, windy here, too. but high pressure over the near continent will build, and that will settle things down, particularly so for england and wales. it's also going to usher in some very mild air across all areas, but it will be very noticeable across more southern parts, particularly where we have lighter winds and more sunshine around. so it could be very wet across the north and west of scotland, certainly through monday and tuesday. milderfor all, and it will turn warm in fact across southern areas, temperatures into the mid—twenties.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: myanmar�*s military has been celebrating its annual armed forces day with an extravagant show of strength in the nation's capital. the authorities have warned anti—coup protesters that troops will shoot them in the head. more than 300 people have been killed in ongoing protests since february's coup. germany has imposed travel restrictions on france, declaring the country a "high risk" area for coronavirus infections. people arriving in germany from france will now need to show a negative covid test and go into quarantine. thousands of extra police officers will also be deployed to prevent people moving between areas without permission. us president, joe biden, and british prime minister, borisjohnson, have expressed concern over what they called china's retaliatory actions, after nine uk citizens who campaigned against human rights abuses against uighur muslims were sanctioned by beijing. those sanctioned include mps and two peers.

now on bbc news, in this highly personal bbc news