this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. nearly two months after the coup, myanmar�*s military puts on a show of strength, promising democracy and stability. but there are new reports of protesters being killed. president biden condems an electoral law passed by republicans in georgia as a clear attempt to stop black people voting. coronavirus restrictions are stepped up in parts of europe as a third wave of infections sweeps the continent. rwanda welcomes a report that finds france bore serious responsibilities for the 1994 genocide. she broughtjoy to many children with her tales

beverly clea ry, who has died aged 104. hello and welcome. there are reports of protesters having been shot by security forces in myanmar, on the day authorities warned that anyone who showed defiance to the military would be met with deadly force. thousands of military personnel have been taking part in huge display of force in the capital naypitaw to mark armed forces day. let's speak to our correspondent nick marsh who's in singapore. can we start, then, with these reports of protesters being shot at? .,

reports of protesters being shot at? . ., ., shot at? yeah, we heard that security forces _ shot at? yeah, we heard that security forces opened - shot at? yeah, we heard that security forces opened fire i shot at? yeah, we heard that| security forces opened fire on a group operative who were out early in the main, clearly the show of fourth today and naypitaw, these chilling warnings of protesters being dominic risking being shot in the head of the back of they continue to defy authorities have fallen on deaf ears to stomach and for these protesters, it shows you how much they are willing to risk, the depth and the strength of the depth and the strength of the feeling that these protesters have when it comes to resisting this military coup. it also shows that that that kind of business as usual as well for security forces and that issued to kelly policy is being implemented today, as it has been really you would have to say for the last watt, three, four weeks at least. —— shoot to kill policy. three, four weeks at least. -- shoot to kill policy.— shoot to kill policy. and what have we heard _ shoot to kill policy. and what have we heard from - shoot to kill policy. and what have we heard from the - have we heard from the authorities, beyond the visuals, what do we actually

hear? ~ ., visuals, what do we actually hear? ~ . ., , ., hear? we heard really what we have been _ hear? we heard really what we have been hearing _ hear? we heard really what we have been hearing more - hear? we heard really what we have been hearing more or- hear? we heard really what we| have been hearing more or less for the last two months since the military takeover happened on the first of february. general min aung hlaing, he is the coup leader, the new military leader and emr, the coup leader, the new military leaderand emr, he military leader and emr, he basically military leaderand emr, he basically said that all his opponents are corrupt. at november's collection which was won by aung san suu kyi's national league for democracy party easily, he said that that was one fraudulently and that this takeover was for the greater good of myanmar, that it could foster peace, that there would be some elections to replace the elections that happened in november, he didn't say when or how that would happen, and essentially that emr would become more democratic, whatever that is supposed to mean. the very fact that they are holding such a huge display of military force when over 300 people are confirmed to have been killed by those very troops that he was addressing or at least those armed forces that he was addressing shows, in the eyes of a lot of people, that he and

the rest of his generals are somewhat divorced from the reality from what is happening in myanmarand reality from what is happening in myanmar and that we are going to see huge protests play out today and tomorrow across the country is testimony to that. �* , , w' , that. and “ust very quickly, the that. and just very quickly, the remarkable _ that. and just very quickly, | the remarkable persistence that. and just very quickly, i the remarkable persistence of the remarkable persistence of the protesters coming out day after day, is there any sign given what you heard from the military leaders that they will have any impact or any success? the military will not back down. the way that they exist in a kind of realm of isolation divorced from public opinion. i don't know if they are indifferent to public opinion or oblivious to public opinion. maybe it is a combination of the two. the military believes they are the rightful rulers of they are the rightful rulers of the country. clearly the protesters see this as an illegal power grab. in terms of what could change or how they could be any sort of break

through this talk of some kind of dialogue, maybe some amnesty talk. that is a really, really long way away and realistically it would involve some kind of external pressure, that doesn't mean sanctions, that doesn't mean sanctions, that doesn't mean harsh admonishments from western countries, it means regional neighbours that myanmar trusts and doesn't feel lectured to, you could somehow apply pressure may be through isolation, maybe through divestments, remember the countries here in this region, singapore, japan, china, they are the biggest investors in the country and if they withdrew their money that could have a big economic impact but at the moment, that doesn't really look like it is going to happen so far, so the military has a really strong grip on power, regional neighbours are silent and it has a population that doesn't recognise its legitimacy, so, you know, things are going to continue that way. things are going to continue that wa . things are going to continue that way-— things are going to continue that wa . ., ~ i. a president biden has criticised republicans in the state of georgia after they passed a new law tightening the rules around voting. while the state's leaders said

the changes, which include more requirments on photo id, were to uphold the sanctity and security of elections, the president said they were measures clearly designed to stop black people voting. 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 can't provide water? for people standing in line while they're waiting to vote? you don't need anything else to know that this is nothing but punitive, designed to keep people from voting. can't provide water for people about to vote? give me a break! in response to the president's comments georgia's governor brian kemp defended the new law. he said the new law ensures election integrity, and that, "there is nothing �*jim crow�* about requiring a photo or state—issued id to vote by absentee ballot —

every georgia voter must already do so when voting in—person". 0ur north america correspondent, david willis, told us more about the imposition of these new laws. if anyone wondered if trumpism would outlive donald trump, this is proof it has. he consistently, of course, has maintained that the outcome of last year's election was fraudulent, particularly in regard to the casting of postal or mail—in ballots, as they are known here. and in places like the state of georgia, wherejoe biden won by a fairly slim majority, donald trump has claimed that he was basically tricked out of victory. even though he is no longer in office, there are many republicans who support him, they have taken up this cause and they are now contesting the election laws and seeking to rewrite the election laws in more than a0 different states.

georgia is the first swing state to have pulled it off and they basically are making it harder for people to vote. one particular regulation that is going to be introduced next time around, which is seen as particularly controversial, is that they are going to ban people from handing out food and water to those who are lining up at polling stations. it gets, of course, very hot in the deep south. joe biden has called this an atrocity, and donald trump that they had learned, clearly, from the travesty, as he called it, of the 2020 election, lewis. and republicans are saying that these changes are, quote, "common sense." what is the justification for the changes? that's right, they claim that they will make elections fairer and more secure. democrats say this is a naked abuse of power and, indeed, democrats are seeking to counter this by bringing

in federal legislation which would basically strengthen the right to vote. now that legislation has passed the lower chamber, the house of representatives, but it's stuck in the senate and probably going nowhere because the democrats' majority is too slim there. what all this does is it puts the states on a collision course with the federal government over election processes here, and that's precisely whatjoe biden wanted to avoid, that sort of thing, at a time when he is basically trying to heal this country from its divisions. coronavirus restrictions are being stepped up in parts of europe this weekend as a third wave of infections sweeps the continent. in france, extra police are being deployed in paris to make sure residents are not breaking strict travel restrictions.

france has seen a big jump in cases in the last few weeks even as it ramps up its vaccination programme. tanya dendrinos reports. speeding around the national velodrome, the french cycling team is training hard for the olympics, but if you look closely, you will notice the hive of activity in the heart of the stadium and it has nothing to do with cycling. this track doubles as a vaccination centre. translation: well, we're happy to be vaccinated. - i will continue doing the same things because in any case, we were in lockdown so we know the safety measures while in lockdown and eagerly await the second dose. 400,000 people were vaccinated in frnce on friday as the country continues to battle an increase in cases. 19 areas have been placed in lockdown while close to 5,000 patients are being treated in intensive care.

in germany, public health experts have warned case numbers could rise to 100,000 per day. translation: at the moment, the numbers are rising too - fast, and the variants make the situation particularly dangerous. if this continues unchecked, we run the risk that our healthcare system will reach breaking point through the course of april. it's prompted a clampdown on borders. negative tests will be required for airport arrivals from tuesday and from sunday, along with a negative test, travellers from france go into 10 day quarantine, with the entire country declared high risk. in poland, restrictions are tightening as well. cases are up by 35% from the number reported a week ago. there were more than 35,000 new cases on friday, the third record—breaking

day in a row. it's been a year since the pandemic began. but with a number of countries adamant new variants are behind the current surge, this the third wave could be the worst yet. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. european nations at the united nations have called for a meeting to discuss north korea days after pyongyang launched a new type of missile. pyongyang announced the test of its new missile via state media on thursday. the country's military leadership said north korea had the right to defend itself against threats from south korea and the united states, which have just completed joint military exercises. president biden said friday's test was a violation of united nations�* resolutions, but added that he was still open to diplomacy. a short time ago i spoke tojeongmin kim.

she's an analyst for seoul—based nk news and says the regime in pyongyang seems keen to show off its new hardware. it showed the short—range ballistic missiles that were paraded during january. january was a big month for north korea. they held one of the biggest political meetings which was party congress. during that party congress, they made it pretty clear with a very long wish list of weapons they want to acquire, that they will keep boasting their military capabilities, and short—range ballistic missiles were included in them. and that was one of the once tested this week. given their intent and what they have shown there, where do you think it leaves them and the biden administration? it seems we are looking at a potentially very long deadlock going forward. injanuary, north korea already made it pretty clear that they don't want to waste any more time in reaching out

diplomatically to the other states unless washington comes up with a so—called new method of calculation. and it seems with biden being a more traditional diplomat, less conventional than president trump does make more conventional. it seems that dammit being more aggressive with north korea over human rights violations, which things north korea doesn't admit to, there's not much to go with the biden administration with many people breakthroughs. rwanda has welcomed a report by a french commission on the role france played in the 1994 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 100 days, 800,000 ethnic tutsis and moderate hutus were killed, massacred by hutu extremists and forcing many to flee.

in 1994, when the genocide took place, the hutu elite ruled rwanda and french troops were on the ground on a humanitarian mission. france's president at the time, francois mitterand, had close ties to rwandan president habyarimana, a hutu. so in rwanda, as in france, questions hovered around the memories of these vicious crimes — was france complicit? after two years of digging through a trove of official files, 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: the french |

authorities pursued a policy that was totally disconnected from reality, a policy that bore the stigma of colonisation, that did not actually see that rwanda could get out of it and basically exacerbated the ethnic crisis, aligned itself with the regime. for victims�* 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 perpetrators in the territory. the fact politicians are taking these words into account is a good thing because it weakens the feeling of impunity. after years of secrecy over what transpired, the search for answers is not over yet. the rwandan government has said it will release results of its own investigation soon. azadeh moshiri, bbc news. over the past five decades, bangladesh has transformed itself from being a country wrecked by fighting, devastating floods

and cyclones, into one of the fastest growing economies in the world. but while the country celebrates 50 years of independance and the economy continues to grow, democracy is in decline. akbar hossain reports from dhaka. she moved to the city eight years ago, leaving her village and her family behind. translation: my family was in a bad condition. i that's why i came here and took a job. she found work in bangladesh's number one industry, garment manufacture, which accounts for 80% of the country's exports. translation: now, | am i sending money to my village home every month. my family bought some land and cows. now we can cultivate crops in the land.

sultana's life has been transformed by the garment industry, which has been one of the major catalysts for the country's development. at its birth, bangladesh was not expected to survive, let alone thrive. but against all the odds, the economy has grown. now that it is becoming a developing country, means their strength and capacity of economy have improved. this leading economist says that bangladesh's pioneering microcredit schemes have helped lift the poorest out of poverty. in terms of education of maternal mortality, child mortality, gender parity, and at the primary level, education. so, all of these indicators have been done very well and bangladesh has really outperformed other peer countries, actually. but while the economy has made steady progress in the 50 years since independence, democracy has proved more difficult.

the last two elections were marred by widespread allegations of vote rigging and fraud. and people went missing as well. afroza's brother was an opposition activist. he disappeared in the run—up to the 2014 election. she has not seen or heard anything from him since. translation: i came across many families l who lost their relatives. after 50 years of independence, there is no freedom in our country. the government wants to cling to the power at any cost. they have created a situation so that no—one could speak against them. while many people worry about democracy, what cannot be overlooked is the growing economy. like millions of bangladeshi women, sultana is working hard to build a better life. translation: my future plan is to set up a cow farm - and provide my daughter with education.

i'm working in a garment factory, but i don't want my daughter to do the samejob like me. i'll give her education so she can get a betterjob. that's all. one of the united states's most loved children's authors, beverly cleary, has died at the age of 104. her first book was published in 1950. while many of her peers wrote about polished schoolchildren, cleary stood out by creating characters she called "grubby kids". there's been an outpouring of emotion at the news of her passing. first lady drjill biden tweeted: "rest in peace beverly clea ry. millions of girls saw themselves in ramona quimby. thank you from all the �*pests' out there." the new yorker's sarah larson, who grew up with beverly cleary�*s books, says the authors passing had affected her more than she realised.

i cried. ijust adored beverly cleary and i had written about her a few years ago and ijust was overcome with affection and tears but i am a crier. wow, to have such a strong reaction to the news, it means you must have had an incredible connection with the worlds and the characters that she created when you were younger? yeah, and certainly, i'm not the only one. i think that we have so much affection for the writers and illustrated books writers that we loved in our childhood but beverly cleary for me and a lot of people, you know, reading her books was one of the first times you really felt recognised. she had all of these funny, boisterous kids, but all of these very tender, surprising moments that

you just never thought you would see on the page. and i think that... i mean, it seems like on twitter and everybody was reacting that way tonight. just feeling a real loss. and she was 104, you know, i mean... laughs. it is a very wonderful and impressive age. but ijust wanted to pick up on one of the things you started to talk about there because i think it is so interesting. it is what kids who were reading, and of course adults as well, what they identified with. that vulnerability, that lack of perfection. it was characters going through emotions that we all go through as kids and adults as well. yeah. and the way that she made it so real. she would have, like ramona quimby, one of her best loved characters, was very loud and she would always ride her tricycle into her sister's chequerboard table and be playing a harmonica at the same time. but she would also have her feelings hurt when she was misunderstood and grown—ups would think she was funny.

she just couldn't quite express the disconnect between her perception and grown—ups. and of course, as a kid, that happens to you all the time. it does hurt your feelings a little, even if you're being cute and hilarious. cleary was very unsentimental writer and she wanted to write about real kids and she hated books for kids that tried to teach them anything. but they really did teach us lots of things. 0ur our thanks to sarah larsson there. it's considered one of the most important pieces of early renaissance art, the adoration of the mystic lamb, or the ghent altarpiece, and it dates back to the early fifteenth century. recently restored, it's gone on display in a new state—of—the—art setting, as the bbc�*s tim allman explains. this isn't so much a painting, more an overwhelming visual spectacle. 12 canvases, works of exquisite detail. a depiction of veneration,

devotion and sacrifice. translation: they were painted very meticulously, down - to the smallest details. if you look closely, you can see that in the buildings, there are people in the windows, horses in the street. everything is painted so meticulously you wonder how were they able to do such a thing in 1432? the altarpiece was undoubtedly magnificent. its location, less so. officials at the cathedral along with the local government spent more than $35 million to spruce things up. virtual reality headsets will allow you to step back in time, relating a 600—year history. napoleon, the king of prussia and adolf hitler have all coveted this artistic masterpiece.

it's a miracle that it still exists. otherwise, you only see texts on what has happened with it. with this augmented reality, we can really bring visitors to this past so they can experience themselves with their eyes what has happened. the covid pandemic means that, for now, visitor numbers will be limited, but soon enough the ghent altarpiece will be on display for everyone, in all its glory. tim allman, bbc news. before we go, a reminder of the breaking news this hour: reports that at least four people have been shot dead by authorities in myanmar after they opened fire on a crowd protesting outside a police station in yangon. it comes on the day the military held a huge parade to mark armed forces day and warned anyone who defied orders not to protest that they'd be met with deadly force. that's it from me — you can reach me on twitter @lvaughan jones, i'm lewis vaughan jones, thanks for watching bbc world news.

goodbye. hello there. friday marked a change to our weather. we saw some 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 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. 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 14—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: the leader of myanmar�*s military administration has reiterated a promise to hold elections following february's coup. general min aung hlaing's comments came at a military display for armed forces day. meanwhile, there are reports that four people have been killed by security forces during a protest in yangon. 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". coronavirus restrictions are being stepped up in parts of europe as a third wave of infections sweeps the continent. germany has classified the whole of france as a high—risk zone.