welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughn jones. our top stories: 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. the republican governor of the us state of georgia signs a law restricting voting access across the state. the president calls it "an atrocity". it's it "an atrocity". nothing but punitive, designed it's nothing but punitive, designed to keep people from voting. you can't provide water for people about to vote? give me a break! president biden also weighs in on china, saying democratic countries need a plan to counter beijing's global infrastructure development strategy. authorities in berlin declare

france a high risk area for coronavirus, requiring all travellers to be tested and quarantined upon arrival in germany. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. starting in myanmar, of course. a large military parade is taking place in myanmar, marking armed forces day. you can see huge numbers of people and military hardware and personnel there and speeches have just got under way so let's take a listen in just for a couple of seconds to get a feel for what is happening there right now.

man speaks in foreign language. anti—coup activists have called for a huge show of defiance, but the authorities have warned that protests will be met with deadly force. the annual military exercise in the capital naypyidaw involves many hundreds of soldiers, marching in formation with large flags, as well as tanks and other military hardware. the event marks the anniversary of burmese military resistance to japanese occupation in 1945, led by the country's independence leader aung san — the father of aung san suu kyi.

of course, unsung cts, the de facto leader, was detained by the military you can see on your screen after a convincing election three —— aung san suu kyi. it was declared null and void by the military, the military have taken over and this is the display of strength and armed forces day so let's go back now to the morning on state media, first acknowledged a shoot to kill policy so let's have a listen to the statement made by the military. translation: for the youth who owned the future, you should —— learn from the tragedy of early ugly death that you can be shot in the head and back. convince and prevent your friends in the head and back. convince and prevent yourfriends before doing something wrong. but and prevent your friends before doing something wrong.- doing something wrong. but is the statement _ doing something wrong. but is the statement broadcast - doing something wrong. but is the statement broadcast on i the statement broadcast on state media in myanmar and of course, we have heard and seen

and witnessed the violence meted out by the military against protesters out on the streets over the last couple of months but that is a significant intervention and hearing it from the state media itself, but morning to protesters so let's try and unpick exactly what this represents. our news reporter nick marsh is in singapore. hello, nick, let's reflect on that broadcast on state media, the warning protesters.- the warning protesters. yeah, absolutely _ the warning protesters. yeah, absolutely chilly _ the warning protesters. yeah, absolutely chilly morning - absolutely chilly morning there, with —— a chilling warning. the first time that the military has come out and made an explicit warning like this. in terms of the actual method of the way that they will kill protesters for even the slightest infraction. they have actually been doing this for at least a month now and it still has not deterred protesters of the fact they have had to come out and actually say it after they have

been physically doing it for about a month shows you the level of resistance and the, commonwealth, indifference of a lot of protesters to the risks posed to their own physical safety and risks of the strength of feeling runs deep through ben mee society and people remember —— through burmese society and people remember the decades of misrule and economic mismanagement and international isolation and repression, that marks decades of military rule and let's not forget myanmar has been under the grip of the military pretty much since independence in 1948. much since independence in i948. there was the breakthrough about ten years ago and aung san suu kyi was brought back into the fold and the country was edging towards a more democratic system but this is kind of like a resumption of the dark old days and the fact the military has had to come out and explicitly worn in such chilling terms that make and make no mistake, the intention is to terrorise and to make people afraid —

shows you the protesters are not going anywhere anytime soon but also the army is not afraid to continue to rely on these incredibly brittle methods of keeping people off the streets. thank you, nick. we those live pictures from naypyidaw in myanmar. we will of course be keeping across what is said there and bring you the latest as it happens. the republican governor of the us state of georgia has signed a law restricting voting access. president biden said the new law amounted to "jim crow in the 21st century" — a reference to measures used to prevent black people from voting in the past. the law tightens voter identification requirements and makes it harder to register. it also says people can't be given food or water while they wait to vote. victory in georgia last year helped the democrats win the white house and control of the senate. president biden had this to say.

it's an atrocity. the idea, if you want any indication that it has nothing to do with fairness, nothing to do with decency, they passed a law saying you cannot provide water? for people standing in line while they are waiting to vote? you don't need anything else to know that this is nothing but punitive, designed to keep people from voting. if you can't provide water for people about to vote? give me a break. . , , , break. that is the response from joe — break. that is the response from joe biden. _ break. that is the response from joe biden. as - break. that is the response from joe biden. as you - break. that is the response from joe biden. as you can | break. that is the response - from joe biden. as you can see, from joe biden. as you can see, david willisjoins me from joe biden. as you can see, david willis joins me from north america. some pretty strong responses from the democrats to this legislation? absolutely, many people here wondered whether trumpism would outlive trump and this is proof positive that it has. donald trump of course has

consistently maintained, continues to maintain that the outcome of the election was fraudulent in certain key swing states— georgia among them. there is absolutely no proof to support that theory but certain republicans still support donald trump and they are willing to buy into that contention. so what we have now is a series of laws that they are working on in different republican lead state legislatures which will tighten the voting rules and georgia is the voting rules and georgia is the first to pass these new —— regulations —— republican—led. democrats say all of this is disingenuous, these claims that it will make the election process fairer and more secure are really a smokescreen for the fact that they say republicans are seeking to bar the sort of people that support them, the democrats, from getting to the polling booths,

black, hispanics, poorer voters. this law in georgia and president biden is most displeased and described it as an atrocity and as you mentioned, referring to the laws that legalised segregation in this countryjust after the us civil war. he also said this wasjim crow on the 21st century. was jim crow on the 21st century-— was jim crow on the 21st centu. ., century. despite that criticism and that strong _ century. despite that criticism and that strong rhetoric, - century. despite that criticism | and that strong rhetoric, other states will be preparing similar bits of legislation? absolutely, about a0 different states are absolutely working on legislation along these lines at the moment. in response, democrats are looking to, in order to counter this, to, in order to counter this, to adopt federal laws that would strengthen the right to vote. now... i’m would strengthen the right to vote. now...— vote. now... i'm afraid we've lost david — vote. now... i'm afraid we've lost david willis _ vote. now... i'm afraid we've lost david willis mid - vote. now... i'm afraid we've lost david willis mid flow - lost david willis mid flow

there. we will come back to him a little later on. we certainly got the gist of most of what he was talking about with the legislation being introduced there in different states in there in different states in the months to come in the us. more from david a little later but let's get some of the day's other news. president biden has invited his russian and chinese counterparts to virtual talks on how to tackle climate change. he hopes vladimir putin and xijinping will be among a0 leaders of major economies to attend the online climate forum next month. at least 32 people have been killed and more than 160 injured when two passenger trains collided in egypt. early reports suggest the emergency brakes were triggered on one of the trains, which led to train carriages derailing and overturning. president al—sisi has vowed to punish those responsible. us first ladyjill biden has led tributes to the american children's author beverly cleary, who's died at the age of 10a in california. working as a librarian, she turned to writing

when a boy asked her where he could find books that reflected lives more like his own. her most famous creation was the fearless tomboy ramona quimby. 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. the country will deploy an extra 90,000 police officers at railway stations, airports and toll booths on motorways to prevent people moving between areas without permission. 0ur berlin correspondent damien mcguiness is following developments. i think it's a controversial step, really, because obviously, there is so much traffic, commuters, families that cross that border every day 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 mentioned for france, which is you have to have a recent test before you cross into the country but now, that's also going to 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 there 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 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. there's 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 those regions it's necessary, really, to stop those high infections spreading into germany from france. rwanda has welcomed a report by a french commission on the role france played in the 199a genocide. while the expert commission found france was not complicit in the genocide, it pointed to other failures. the bbc�*s azadeh moshiri reports. it has been 27 years since the rwanda genocide when, injust ioo rwanda genocide when, injust 100 days, 800,000 ethnic tutsi is and moderate hutus were killed. massacred by hutu extremists. in 199a, when the genocide took place, the hutu elite ruled rwanda and french

troops were on the ground on a humanitarian mission. france public president at the time friends want me to run had ties to rwandan president, a hutu. soon, rwanda, as in france, a question has hovered around the memories of these vicious crimes. was france complicit? after digging through a trove of official files after digging through a trove of officialfiles for after digging through a trove of official files for two years an expert commission has said the answer is no. there is no evidence that the french government wilfully associated itself with the genocide. the charges the report does make, however, are damning. the report says france bears heavy and overwhelming responsibilities over the genocide. and that it was blind to its preparations. translation: to its preparations. tuna/mom- to its preparations. translation: . translation: the french authorities _ translation: the french authorities pursued - translation: the french authorities pursued a - translation: the french | authorities pursued a policy that was totally disconnected from reality, a policy that bore the stigma of colonisation, but did not actually see that rwanda could get out of it and basically

dissipated the ethnic crisis, aligned itself with the regime. for victims's families and advocacy groups, the report is an important step. translation: it changes a lot because there is a lot of denial, particularly in france, due to the presence of genocide arbitrations in the territories and the fact politicians are making —— taking these words into account is a good thing because it weakens the feeling of impunity. because it weakens the feeling of impunity-— of impunity. after years of secrecy over _ of impunity. after years of secrecy over what - of impunity. after years of. secrecy over what transpired, the search for answers is not over yet. there rwandan government has said it will release results of its own investigation soon. azadeh moshiri, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: plies in the park — dance enthusiasts turn new york's central park into their own public studio.

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white hot wreckage from mir drew— white hot wreckage from mir drew gasps— white hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from _ white hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers i white hot wreckage from mir| drew gasps from onlookers in fiji _ this is bbc news. the latest headlines: myanmar�*s military is celebrating armed forces day with an extravagant parade in the country's capital. the republican governor of the us state of georgia has signed a law restricting voting access. presidentjoe biden has called it an atrocity. arrests have been made at the so—called kill the bill demonstration in bristol stopping hundreds of people rallied against the government's sentencing court spell. a large police presence was on duty during the demonstration, and dogs were used to help move the crowds back. president biden has said that

democratic countries should have a plan to rival china's �*belt and road initiative'. his announcement comes after dozens of western brands faced a backlash by chinese consumers, and the chinese government, after they criticised china's action in xinjiang. brands including h&m, nike and burberry have said they won't buy their cotton from xinjiang due to human rights abuses in the region. there are about 12 million uighur in china, predominately muslims. china is accused of detaining up to a million of so called re—education camps. xinjiang province which is 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. david sacks is a fellow at the council on foreign relations and co—author of its report on the implications of china's �*belt and road initiative' on the us. hejoins me now from washington. thank you for coming on the programme. first of all, just

very simply and in a sentence or two, very simply and in a sentence ortwo, could very simply and in a sentence or two, could you just explain what the belt and road initiative is?— what the belt and road initiative is? ,, �* initiative is? sure, the belt and road — initiative is? sure, the belt and road initiative - initiative is? sure, the belt and road initiative is i initiative is? sure, the belt and road initiative is reallyj and road initiative is really xijinping's signature foreign—policy undertaking and what it does is it seeks to build both hard infrastructure, roads, as well as digital infrastructure, 5g, surveillance technologies, et cetera, in the developing world and right now there are 139 countries that have signed on to the belt and road initiative and their projects are in dozens of countries. and many western countries _ dozens of countries. and many western countries view - dozens of countries. and many western countries view that i dozens of countries. and many western countries view that as| western countries view that as a threat increasing china's sphere of influence and around the world and calls then for a response to it, how do you respond to it if you are a western democratic country, what are your options? i western democratic country, what are your options? i think we need to — what are your options? i think we need to recognise - what are your options? i think we need to recognise that i what are your options? i think. we need to recognise that china was filling the void of the west left. the world bank got away from infrastructure financing, united dates,

britain, traditional lenders have really pulled back on funding infrastructure and the world bank estimates that there is an $18 trillion gap between commitments to fund infrastructure and what is actually needed so china was filling this void and we need to offer an alternative to the belt and road initiative, we can't beat something with nothing so what we need to do is get a much more sustainable version, china is building over 200 coal—fired power plants through the belt and road initiative so we need to look at providing renewable energy to these countries are china is offering loans at close to commercial rates, it is contributing to a lot of indebtedness in the developing world, we need to offer more concessional financing and world, we need to offer more concessionalfinancing and more concessional financing and more generous concessionalfinancing and more generous financing to these countries and they also think that we need to push for high standards. there's a lot of risks in the belt and road initiative and the united states need to work with its allies and partners to mitigate those risks. 0k, allies and partners to mitigate those risks. ok, you have laid that out really clearly and that out really clearly and that seems to make intuitive

sense but is there a worry here that this is just too late? i think the belt and road initiative is over seven plus years into its lifestyle, so china has gotten ahead of us so to speak but i don't think it is too late. there is a huge gap that exists and is china, even though the belt and road initiative is so ambitious, can't fill the entire gap so what we have heard from countries, they say we want alternatives, we want choices and right now china is the only option it can go to, so countries still need infrastructure and we need to be there offering an alternative to everyone. 0k, ureat to alternative to everyone. 0k, great to have _ alternative to everyone. 0k, great to have you _ alternative to everyone. 0k, great to have you want, i alternative to everyone. 0k, great to have you want, thank you. great to have you want, thank ou. ., ., ., you. for having me. -- thanks for having _ you. for having me. -- thanks for having me. _ working from home means different things to different people, perhaps nice weather means you could work from a nearby park. for ballet dancers in new york city, central park offers the perfect solution to still perfom while their studios are closed. the dancers say it brings them a sense of community, while the passers—by are astonished and delighted, as tom brook discovered.

music: jumpin' jumpin' by destiny's child. i at his home in new york, james stretches on sunday mornings, he is preparing for his weekly ritual during the pandemic, travelling to central park to dance safely outdoors with fellow dancers. dance in the age of covid brings great reward. what a wonderful way to express yourself in kind of like a constructive way that's good for you, mind, body and spirit. turn your shoulder... this central park ballet class with live music has attracted both professionals and some novices. some of these people, this is their hour out of their apartment. they've just been cooped up for a year, and theyjust plan their whole week to come out here. now with the sun out, it's beautiful. we were dancing in the blizzards, we've danced in really cold weather. but we just piled through it. try a little turn!

passer—by are startled when they come across the ballet performance. we've never seen anybody doing ballet in a park before. it's very enjoyable. i didn't expected something like that to happen. many of these dancers are extremely talented, but the aim of the class isn't necessarily to perfect their artistry. it's not about that today. someone leading us through exercises that we know and love, and just really having a good time. that's what it's about. historically, adversity often leads to great artistic expression, and such is the case with dancers here in new york during the pandemic. the new york city ballet let four of its performers dance where only they could in outdoor locations to great emotional effect, delivering an homage to the city. # new york, may we have...#. i cannot wait to see what comes out of this time, you know?

we are in the trenches right now, practising and refining and keeping up with our class so as the creative inspiration happens, as we come out of this isolation, the art, it will bloom and change lives. the central park weekly ballet classes are one more example of new yorkers responding to challenges during the pandemic and the public will enjoy. tom brook, bbc news, new york. belarus has once again been disqualified from the eurovision song contest, and won't take part in the competition in may. two weeks ago, the country was asked to change its song entry, "i will teach you", over concerns its content was too political. the new song, by the same artists, has also been deemed to be in breach of competition rules.

let's ta ke let's take you back now to our main story, these other scenes in myanmar copyjust coming up to eight in the morning and for the last few hours we have been seeing these hundreds, thousands of soldiers on the streets, marking armed forces day in the country, it is the anniversary that commemorates the start of resistance to japanese occupation back in 19a5, but the symbolism the see of course is very different, with the military coup now two months old, protesters out on the streets every day for the last couple of months and the military regime there, for the first time really wanting protesters that if they do come out and if they do protest, they risk being shot in the head or the back. the separate ongoing and we will keep you right across events in myanmar

here on bbc world news. for the moment though, i'm lewis vaughanjones and this is bbc news. 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 1a—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. the republican governor of the us state of georgia has signed a law restricting voting access, tightening voter identification requirements and making it harder to register. it also means people can't be given food or water while they wait to vote. presidentjoe biden has called the law "atrocious". president biden has also said that democratic countries should have a plan to rival china's global infrastructure development strategy — the so—called belt and road initiative. his announcement comes after dozens of western brands faced a backlash for criticising china's over alleged human rights abuses against uighur muslims in xinjiang.