this is bbc news, i'm tim willcox with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the death that shook the world. the officer who knelt on george floyd's neck stands trial — in a minneapolis courtroom — both sides lay out their cases. you'll hear it and you'll see at the same time while he is crying out mr chauvin never moves. the knee remains on his neck. sunglasses remain undisturbed on his head and itjust goes on. derek chauvin did exactly what he had been trained to do. the use of force is not attractive, but it is a necessary component of policing. urging caution, for a country longing forfreedom. the british prime minister says people must remain vigilent — even as covid restrictions across england are eased. the brazilian president,

reshuffles his cabinet — as latin america's largest country descends into covid—induced chaos — with more new cases and deaths — than any other nation on earth. and — freed at last — the giant container ship that has blocked the suez canal for almost a week — is sailing once again hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. in the united states — the trial has got under way of a white former police officer accused of killing a black man, george floyd. the prosecutor focused on mr floyd's final minutes, replaying video footage which showed him gasping for breath as the officer, derek show—vin, knelt on his neck. the defence argued that mr floyd's health conditions and drug use had contributed to his death.

our north america correspondent aleem maqbool reports. this marks the start of what will be an emotional and fraught few weeks for the family of george floyd. but the reminders have, of course, never gone away of the way he died. we need justice. i think throughout this whole trial, that's one word that you will hear me and my family say a lot — justice. somebody needs to be held accountable. do you swear or affirm... the outrage the case sparked became an examination of systemic racism in the us. but prosecution lawyers started by bringing back the focus to the man seen here on the right. this case is about mr derek chauvin and not about any of those men and women, it's not about all policing at all. this is when i started watching again. they showed jurors new cctv footage of the lead up to george floyd's death, as well as the full infamous video that

caused such distress. and the most important numbers you will hear in this trial are nine two nine. what happened in those nine minutes and 29 seconds when mr derek chauvin was applying this excessive force to body of mr george floyd. in his opening statement, the lawyerfor the former police officer defended his tactics. derek chauvin did exactly what he had been trained to do over the course of his 19—year career. the use of force is not attractive, but it is a necessary component of policing. but primarily, they are also questioning one fundamental aspect of the death of george floyd, as i heard from a lawyer for the city's police union. the defense�*s main arguments are going to focus around whether or not chauvin actually caused his death. that is an argument that he would've died anyway. right, right. yeah, and i think, well,... that, for a lot of people who saw the video, will sound

ludicrous, frankly. um, well, the video isn't the whole story, it's a piece of the story, and that is what the jury will have to decide. these protests outside the courthouse are a reminder of the strength of feeling there was last summer, notjust here but all over the world. but in this case, one of the most important in us history, will come down to, of course, is the opinion of i2jurors. aleem maqbool, bbc news, minneapolis. larry madowo is at the hennepin county courthouse in minneapolis. earlier i asked him what we have learnt from the opening day. so, we got a sense of what the strategy is going to be here for both the prosecution and the defence with who they cvaleed to the witness stand today, but also ——who they called to the witness stand today, but also the line of questioning.

it centres around the cause of death. the prosecution in the state of minnesota essentially is trying to convince this jury that george floyd died because derek chauvin was kneeling on his neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds. he said no less than 27 different times, "i can't breathe. " on the other hand, derek chauvin�*s defence led by eric nelson is saying that the reason why he died is because he had a history of drug use, that they found fentanyl and methamphetamine in his blood, that he had a history of other underlying health problems, and you cannot blame kneeling on his neck for the cause of his death. and every witness that we have come on the stand today, we had three witnesses, they tried to paint this narrative of a man who did not use proper police procedure, who betrayed his badge according to the prosecution, and what the defence did by cross—examining those witnesses is to try and prove that this was perfectly acceptable. this is what a police officer trained in this sort of incidence should have done. this incident as we know

spreads protests right around the world. i was just wondering how it has impacted the united states politically and the political divide? this has been a deeply charged trial already though it's just day one, because from the moment we saw the questioning of the jurors, when they were being sat, you can see the direction it was heading. and this is certainly a case about race, even though the defence would like to make it about anything other than, the whole of america is watching what is happening here. there hasn't been a civil rights case like this since rodney king riots a few years ago. and even then, there has not been a major civil rights trial in the air of black lives matter in the way that this is setting out to be. president biden is said to be watching it closely. the rest of the nation is watching to see what happens, and if this changes how black people are policed in america. professor rachel palose is from the university of st thomas school of law in minneapolis. shejoins me now.

thank you. how important do you think this trial is historically and at the moment of american history in terms of the litmus test of police accountability? i the litmus test of police accountability?- the litmus test of police accountability? i think this trial is critically _ accountability? i think this trial is critically important | trial is critically important at this moment, precisely because the usual tropes that police used to justify unreasonable force against people, especially against african—american men do not work in this case. george boyd was not accused of a violent felony. he was not fleeing police. he was not actively resisting arrest. he posed no violent threat to anyone. in fact, if anyone owes out of control at that scene from it was the police officers who from the beginning of the matter gave mr floyd no chance to defend himself and used a

bodily force of four men against george floyd. —— george floyd. so the usual narrative of how victims are portrayed does not fit with this case. you talk about the usual narrative, but in terms of the normal usual outlining of the trial and the opening day, has that followed a pattern that you were expecting as well? yes. i think the opening statement by the government was very clear, the money line from this morning was he did not let up, and he did not get up. and thatis up, and he did not get up. and that is going to be the line that is going to be the line that people remember from that is going to be the line that people rememberfrom how the states characterises the unreasonableness of derek chauvin�*s behaviour. on the other hand, derek chauvin�*s attorney argues that george floyd somehow caused his own death because of underlying medical conditions, because of a drug overdose, because of his own actions and trying to hide narcotics on the scene. one knew of argument that we saw todayis knew of argument that we saw today is that the defence attorneys are claiming that

somehow the gathering group of people on the scene posed some sort of threat to the police. we have not seen that before, and given the video that we have of the actual scene, that does not seem to be a particularly compelling argument.— particularly compelling aruument. ., ., ., ., particularly compelling aruument. ., . ., ., x argument. you are a former da of minneapolis. _ argument. you are a former da of minneapolis. how _ argument. you are a former da of minneapolis. how important | of minneapolis. how important is the trial for your state, for minnesota, and the fact that it for minnesota, and the fact thatitis for minnesota, and the fact that it is being streamed live. i don't think would ordinarily take place in minnesota. correct me if i am wrong on that, but how important is it in context? that i am a former us attorney for minnesota, so i served during the bush administration. h0 served during the bush administration. ., . administration. no officer has ever been _ administration. no officer has ever been convicted _ administration. no officer has ever been convicted in - ever been convicted in minnesota of unreasonable force against a black victim, and no trial has ever been streamed before in the state of minnesota. so these are unusual times, and these unique factors point again to why this case is so important in minnesota. but it's also important nationally because of what we have seen

with increasing focus on police tactics. and now in the age of the instant internet and camera ready phones, people are recording what they see and police are accountable in a way that they have never been before. ., , ., ~ i., before. professor, thank you forjoining — before. professor, thank you forjoining us, _ before. professor, thank you forjoining us, great- before. professor, thank you forjoining us, great to - before. professor, thank you j forjoining us, great to speak with you. here in the england — the public have been enjoying their first day of freedom after the government's stay at home order came to an end. it means people can now meet in groups of six outdoors — it's a major step in the easing of the government's lockdown. but the prime minister has urged extreme caution — borisjohnson said he hoped this would be the last lockdown — but the public must continue to obey the rules — and the vaccines need to remain effective. here's our health editor, hugh pym. new freedoms, and all on a sunny day — no wonder these swimmers at a lido in norfolk were enjoying themselves, with outdoor pools in england allowed to reopen. very nice.

it's lovely, it's amazing, it's a great feeling. it's pretty great. it's cold! yeah. until today, weddings were only permitted in exceptional circumstances, but now ceremonies with up to six people are allowed. and in coventry, dwayne and nyasha tied the knot after postponing in the winter. even, like, yesterday, it was like, they could just ring, couldn't they, and go, actually... yeah, not today. ..not today. so, it's surreal, it's wonderful. today, the prime minister and his key advisers appeared at the new downing street media briefing room. isn't there a danger of mixed messaging when you talk both about a road map to freedom and getting back towards normal life but, also, the need to be cautious because of cases rising in some parts of europe? we're pleased to be able to have some measure of relaxation today. it is important, it is valuable. i know it will be

prized by people. but also very important to stress that we are continuing to be cautious. the main thing we're concerned about is the risk of importing into the uk variants which could have a reduced effectiveness on the vaccines we're currently using. now, in the long—term, there would be ways around that, but in the short—term, that is the principal thing that is driving concerns about border issues at this stage. fresh air dilutes. the virus particles and can blow them away... a government advert reminds people that meeting outdoors is less risky than in their homes. hands, face, - space and fresh air. and labour urged ministers not to drop their guard. it's good we've got to this stage of lifting some of the restrictions. we've got to be cautious about it. and i think the single biggest risk is, of course, what we're seeing happening in other countries, where the numbers are still going up. the number of daily reported cases was coming down, but it's been fairly stable

for the last few weeks — between 5,000 and 6,000 on the seven—day rolling average. but the number of daily hospital admissions with covid is falling steadily. it's down to around a few hundred a day. health officials say fewer people are getting seriously ill with covid, and the vaccine is having an impact. from ice hockey and rock concerts to communityjabs, the sse arena in belfast has opened as a mass vaccination centre. ministers said it was a significant milestone. in northern ireland, from thursday, outdoor sports will resume and six people can meet in private gardens. some beaches in wales were busy over the weekend, with travel restrictions lifted and youth sports and meetings of up to six people outside permitted. scotland's stay—at—home message changes to stay local on friday — each nation moving at its own pace out of lockdown. hugh pym, bbc news. latin america's largest country has descended into covid—induced chaos, with more new case numbers

and deaths than any other nation on earth. president, jair bolsonaro, has also lost two key cabinet ministers, as he comes under increasing pressure over his handling of the pandemic. foreign minister, ernesto araujo, resigned after clashing with senior members of congress and being accused of damaging relations with brazil's main trade partner — china. shortly afterwards, the defence minister, general fernando azevedo, announced he too was standing down. bbc�*s brazil reporter camilla motta reports from sao paulo. it is, unfortunately. i think that one of the main symbols of the hospital collapse that we are seeing are these morbid icu lines that have been reported over the last three weeks or so. people there are severely ill, but they cannot get treatment because the system is completely stretched, completly overwhelmed. so if you catch covid—i9 in brazil right now, there is no assurance that you are going to get treatment either on the private or the public sector.

one institute has already established this as the worst hospital collapse in the country's history. at the beginning, 13 months ago, we saw different epicenters as time went by, but now there is no epicentre. the virus seems to be out of control all over the country, and brazil is a big country. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: why are australian women protesting? prime minister scott morrison has promised to put women at the heart of his government, but will it be enough? the accident that happened here was of the sort that can, at worst, produce a meltdown. in this case, the precautions worked, but they didn't work quite well enough to prevent some old fears about the safety features of these

stations from resurfacing. the republic of ireland has become the first country in the world to ban smoking in the workplace. from today, anyone lighting up in offices, businesses, pubs and restaurants will face a heavy fine. the president was on his way out of the washington hilton hotel, where he had been addressing a trade union conference. the small crowd outside included his assailant. it has become - a symbol of paris. a hundred years ago, i many parisians wished it had never been built. the eiffel tower's birthday is- being marked by a re—enactment of the first assent by gustav eiffel — this is bbc news, the latest headlines the trial has begun in the us city of minneapolis of the white police officer charged with the murder of george floyd, whose death last may sparked race protests around the world.

the british prime minister has urgedcaution — as covid restrictions across england are eased. borisjohnson said people must remain vigilent. the giant ship that has blocked the suez canal for nearly a week has finally been freed. the ever given was wedged across one of the world's busiest shipping routes — weighed down with 18,000 containers. it took 13 tugs and the removal of tens of thousands of tonnes of sand to free her. dharshini david reports. for six days, it's gripped and confounded the world, but the bottleneck sealing one of the busiest shipping lanes has been uncorked. the ever given, owned by company evergreen, is finally on the move thanks to a fleet of tug boats, diggers and an exceptionally high tide. moving the ship was never going to be easy. the iso—year—old canal is less

than 300 metres wide. by contrast, the mega ship is 400 metres long, and 20 times heavier than the eiffel tower. almost 30,000 cubic metres of mud have had to be shifted, also shifting the costs. carrying 20,000 containers, the ever given is the answer to our growing shopping list. a similar number of ships go down the canal as did a0 years ago, but now they're carrying more than three times as much. around 52 go through everyday, accounting for around i2%, or £7 billion, of global trade. now, behind the ever given, there have been more than 300 vessels queueing, their cargo everything from food to medicine to livestock and cars. they too may have more trouble on the horizon. there is a large backlog of vessels that are waiting to go through the canal

from both sides, and i think even operating at full capacity, it's going to take probably several weeks to get back to normal. and in the meantime, of course, the vessels that are starting off that were due to travel through the canal at the moment will continue to be diverted. the ever given and its cargo was due to arrive in felixstowe next week, but its customers and many other still await an eta. we have six containers on the sea on the wrong side of the suez canal, and the reality, we're a fun gift business, which means our product isn't critical, but there's a lot of critical products and essentials on those vessels. but how to prevent a repeat of this disruption? analysts say the egyptian authorities will be looking closely. it's a major artery - for the world so none of us want to see this happening.

again, so anything that can be done to create a safer - environment for this i think will be looked at and dealt with in due course. - a pandemic, changes due to brexit, rising shipping costs and now this. the trade that propels jobs and profits has faced fierce headwinds. it will be awhile before it gets back on course. dharshini david, bbc news. the united states has warned that the islamic state group is becoming "increasingly brazen" in mozambique. hundreds of militants stormed the town of palma on wednesday, killing dozens of people. a us state department official described the assault as horrific. the bbcs catherine byaruhanga reports. it would have been easy to lose hope, stranded for days a desperate journey for many who have been trapped in the far north—eastern corner of mozambique. but help finally came. on the gangway, you can see some of the people who finally made it to safety. civilians risk their lives to charter boats and ships for the rescue mission in palma, but many are still missing.

sonia omar is worried for her brother's safety, and describes this as a horrible and unfair situation. live rounds and mortar shells have been let loose in palma since wednesday. local islamists linked to isis have waged a brutal insurgency in this region since 2017. its people, already terrorised by the violence, had to flee once again. eyewitnesses described seeing dead bodies, some of them beheaded, on roadsides and on beaches. south african meryl knox�*s son, adrian nel, was killed as he tried to escape. her husband and younger son made it out of palma, but she says they were left to their own defences. you can imagine, no army to protect them, none of them having weapons,

so it was a matter of run for your life. this could have been avoided. my son could still be alive today. after days of silence, the mozambican army confirmed the deaths of civilians, including foreign nationals, and said it was focused on restoring peace to palma, but the government is criticised for failing to tackle an insurgency that has seen 2,000 people killed and over half a million displaced. this latest attack so close to lucrative natural gas projects will put it under even more pressure. catherine byaruhanga, bbc news, nairobi. australia's prime minister scott morrison has promoted women to the centre of his cabinet. he said the changes would bring more female perspectives into senior levels

of the government. the reshuffle comes after a series of rape, misconduct and sexism allegations which have rocked australian politics. there have been women's protest and the government's poll ratings have dropped. i've been speaking to one of the organisers of women's march fourjustice protests in australia, janine hendry, about public reaction. i think the women of australia have watched by for many months watching what was going on in our parliaments, and itjust got to the point where the we recognised very clearly that they send all of the other abuse and gender violence that's occurring against women in australia was really occurring as a result of structural inequality that exists and is being supported

by the australian parliament. it seems to be also that this is the treatment of women not just in politics but the treatment of women in the workplace, the treatment of women in the community, and this can't be put down to just as an old—fashioned rather quaint sexism. absolutely, absolutely. there is just so much structural inequality, and it is really difficult to fathom why. australia was one of the very first countries in the world to introduce equal opportunity legislation, and i think for many women in australia in particular, we thought that we had equal opportunity, but what appears to have happened is we got on with our lives and walking behind us, all these varying misogynistic structures had established and not only our parliaments, but also in our parliaments, but also in

our major lawmaking institutions. just a few months ago, relations coming out of our court system of systemic sexual assault against young article clerks working for some very seniorjudges in those courts. these are the institutions that make the laws that affect 50% of their population, they affect women, and yet they are dominated by what i would say is certainly male—dominated, but certainly misogynistic culture, even in our current parliaments, we have only got 32% representation from women. so structurally, australia has got a long way to go. this is 2021 commandos should not be happening. commandos should not be happening-— commandos should not be haueninu. . , happening. that's janine henry for australia's _ happening. that's janine henry for australia's march _ happening. that's janine henry for australia's march for - for australia's march for justice, speaking to me a little earlier.

more on our website, of course, but for me and the team, bye—bye. hello. monday brought us the warmest day of the year so far with temperatures in the southeast at 20.1; celsius, and things will get even warmer over the next few days. so, a lot of warm, sunny weather but not everywhere. some wet weather holding on across the northwest of scotland, really quite persistent rain there. and then later this week, from around about thursday onwards, things are turning colderfor all of us with the return of some overnight frosts as well. for the here and now, here's the weather front that's slow moving across the northwest of scotland. that's producing fuurther outbreaks of rain, we could see some localised flooding for northern and western parts of the highlands, also for the westin isles and the northern isles too. elsewhere, a dry story, quite cloudy for parts of northern ireland, southern scotland and the far north of england.

but the could should thin and break up through the day, long spells of warm sunshine further south and light winds too. temperatures up to around 23 degrees across the southeast of england. but above 20 for england and wales, up in the high teens for scotland and for northern ireland. through this evening and overnight, we are going to see that rain persisting again across the western half of scotland, but it will start to edge its way gradually a little bit further south. temperatures first thing wednesday morning won't be quite as chilly as first thing tuesday morning, so typically between 7—9 celsius. now as we head through tuesday night into wednesday, there is the weather front, which slowly during wednesday morning will start to filter its way a little bit further south. so the rain's continuing across parts of scotland through the day, very slowly, some of it nudging across northern ireland. really england and wales staying dry once again on wednesday, and with those clear, blue skies, it will be another warm day. very warm in fact for march, between 19—23 celsius once again, but things starting to turn a little bit cooler across scotland

and northern ireland too. ii or 12 celsius here and single figures across the northern half of scotland. that's down to the fact that this weather front is introducing colder air from the north, towards the end of the week, as that slips its way down towards the south, then the blue colours are going to return to the map. so this colder air moving in from an arctic direction, and that is going to feel very different as we head towards good friday and into the easter weekend as well. so certainly turning colder later this week, some wintry showers possible, but the next few days looking warm for many of us. bye— bye.

this is bbc news.

the headlines: lawyers in the us city of minneapolis have set out their opening arguments in the trial of a white former police officer accused of killing a black man, george floyd. the prosecutor replayed to the court the full nine minutes video showing the former officer kneeling on mr floyd's neck as he struggled to breathe. borisjohnson has asked people to "proceed with caution" as more coronavirus restrictions are eased in england. groups of six — or two households, are now allowed to meet outside, and outdoor sports venues can reopen. but the prime minister stressed it wasn't the moment for complacency. vessels are sailing through the suez canal again — after it had been blocked for a week by a container megaship. i2% of world trade goes through the canal.

now on bbc news, it's hardtalk.