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 george floyd. the prosecutor replayed the full nine—minute video showing the former officer kneeling on mr floyd's neck as he struggled to breathe. brazil's president, jair bolsonaro, has been forced into a major reshuffle of his cabinet, following the resignations of his foreign and defence ministers. the president's popularity has declined sharply as brazil suffers a second deadly wave of the pandemic and major delays in its vaccination programme. ships have started sailing through the suez canal, after the giant container vessel that blocked the channel, for almost a week, was freed. tug boats that took part in the rescue honked their horns in celebration. egyptian officials say the backlog will be cleared in around three days. now on bbc news. in this highly personal

bbc news documentary, four university of southampton hospital staff explain the impact of the last year on their work and home lives. there were some days when you had to verify death after death and it was really hard to detach from it. when you are alone, you know, your thoughts just come back to you and there are no other things of focus on. it is just you and your thoughts in an empty house by yourself. if i could sum it up in one word, the word that comes to mind would be "guilt". i have had a lot of mum guilt and a lot of professional guilt. it was a very weird experience when the ambulance took me to my own workplace and my own work colleagues were looking after me but also, it was very reassuring knowing that the best possible people will take care of me. the last year, both personallyl

and professionally, it has been a completely different year. covid has taught me to be more supportive with each other - and kindness, kindness, kindness _ a year of high stress. has he opened his eyes for you this morning? every patient that comes through the door, you don't know how they are going to be and how quickly they are going to deteriorate. how are you doing? what's going on this morning? we love every patient that we have in our care,

like they were our own. can you have a big cough for me? i love them like they are my relatives and i care for them how i would want my own to be loved. that is what we do in icu. and sometimes, that is why they come home with us. yeah? and you come home at the end of a 14—hour day, and "wait. no, don't touch me or hug me" to the people you just want to melt into, because you have to go upstairs and scrub your body. are you all coming to sit with me? we will do it altogether then. 0k. the children would get into the habit of then asking me "is it safe to cuddle you, mummy?" 49, 50! my first day working on g9 and this is a covid ward. most of these people have been stepped down from icu or new patients who have covid. they were saying it would be good if we could take some

bloods but i cannot find covid antibodies on a test. being made to start in the middle of a pandemic and having to learn on the job and having to adapt to a new city and a new culture, that has taught me so much and i have learned so quickly. all right, keep the elbow straight for me. do you know why you're in hospital? covid. yeah, covid. it is like a new first beginning that has been quite difficult and a lot of anxiety going into the newjob. there you go. all done. as doctors, we are kind of redeployed whenever they're needed in terms of covid. we change wards all the time, we work on different teams, we don't know who our bosses are some days and we don't know who the nurses are, but it's been more tiring just mentally, just having to deal with a lot of covid patients and a lot of deaths — more death than you normally would ever expect in the start of your doctor career. it's been a completely different year, one i would never like to live through again but one i have learned to manage and cope. yes. he is going home today, isn't he? yeah! we had 15 deaths in two weeks.

we would normally have maybe five in a year. so for the team, that is quite hard. ready, steady, slide. i think we all knew what was going to come. if you have any knowledge of medicine, you kind of half expected it to be like this. i think it is the severity of the second wave that was more scary, because it is so random. be kind — that is my mantra for the year. it is very hard to be kind at times when you are under a lot of stress, changes are happening in your professional life, you are not always happy about it. it is very hard to maintain that kindness, but it is very important to maintain that kindness. it is important that you are coming onto the ward and that we recognise and we can talk to you and you can provide support for us. sometimes, you know, - they may have seen in a day during covid the numberl of deaths that they might normally see perhaps i

over a year or even two. so a lot of nurses are kind of dealing with patients i that they wouldn't normally deal, with and all sorts - of situations that they- wouldn't normally deal with. it gets painful at times i and i think we often feel the pain of the staff. we have lost a porter, we have lost a couple of nurses, - and i think everybody feels that pain, even if we - didn't know that person. because it feels i like it is part of our family who has died. first of all, can you just confirm are you allergic to anything? i was tested positive for covid—i9. it was a very weird experience when the ambulance took me to my own workplace and my own work colleagues were looking after me. that was quite a scary experience — especially looking at the screen, at the monitor, understanding exactly what those number means. every moment felt like an eternity. it was so obvious that my lung

is heavily affected. the leading consultant called my wife, telling her that the chances of me surviving this whole procedure is only a0%. i had way much more chances to leave the hospital in a body bag, rather than on my own feet. my wife, my boys, had to go through those very dark hours of me being in the hospital, being very, very sick and at the brink of losing my life. ah, terrifies me. it was a really, really dark, dark time and almost indescribable mixture of hope and despair and, to be honest, i was constantly pleading with god, so i was just pleading and reasoning and ijust couldn't let him go, i couldn't let my husband go.

25 years, i said he is too young. he is too precious. love of my life. my boys, i know they are adults now, but they need him. who's going to be the winner today? yes! ah! my little soldier, because he's been through the wars. my most challenging moments are in my social life, personal life, yeah. because at work, you put on that uniform and you have that persona — people work with you, you work with people, you have that support network. because of my work and the fact that i have got links with the covid patients, i've kept away from everybody.

i don't get to see my family. they are all local, and i haven't seen my mum since before christmas, or my dad. my children, i haven't seen and my grandchildren i haven't seen. the saddest thing that comes to mind — it was my granddaughter�*s birthday was in december and we were locked down but we were allowed to go to the house. and we knocked on the front door, but she had to keep apart. the present was put on the floor and then i took a step back and then she came forward and picked it up. there was no hugs, no kisses. words, but, um, that was really sad. that, yeah — that, i think, that was the saddest part of my covid experience in my personal life. what are we going to have in here, gray? graham and i are very close. in the last year, it

has brought us closer because we were working together, so a lot of our free time is just us two, so i think that's been good for us. was i going to be bringing it home to my family? what fraction of that shape is shaded? how many? one quarter. good job! i am i going to be good enough at teaching them when i am at home? george says the number is pointing to one half. so for the last 12 months, there has been an urgent need to step up for my profession. and — but then, everything else around us has fallen apart as well. and mummy is so tired that she can barely string two sentences together, so i felt that i was this dreadful parent who didn't

have the energy to do anything. and there's been an awful lot of time where genuinely, if i didn't have the boys and my husband to prepare a meal for at the end of the day, i probably would've just poured a bowl of cereal and then gone back to bed, because it isjust so tiring. you have been ever so good, mate. let's have a runabout. it's either walk or more home learning. there have been periods of time where ijust had to put social media down because people say the most awful things on social media. and that's always in the back of your mind. and everybody's so cross about the nhs is underfunded, but that's not what we've been thinking about. we have been thinking about patients in the beds,

my husband's had to sit and just hold me while i cry and worry, and i don't normally do that. i normally come home to my babies and we live our life to the full because i know that it could be taken away from you tomorrow. i get about 30, a0 minutes on the bus, i think that it's time to myself really, not having to worry about patients on that bus, it's just me thinking about what i will get to do for myself, if i do some exercise or go home and watch some tv, like the feeling of leaving work is quite nice on the bus and just thinking i'm on the way home now, trying not to think about what's just happened at work. i feel safe at home. it is my place. i can do whatever i want. there is no one around me. but on the other hand, sometimes i go home and it is quite lonely. going home to a flat

to yourself, there's no one there, just being by yourself the whole night and then thinking about doing the same thing again tomorrow and for the rest of the week and the next few months until lockdown�*s over. i think it's quite difficult, especially when you don't have a social life. there's nothing to take your mind off of work. you get home and i live alone so it is just me thinking about work. the most i can do is call some friends and speak about it, call my family. hey, mum. hello. it's been fine. yeah, pretty worried over the situation over there. i so what have you been doing? pretty much nothing as usual. watching tv. just exercising. nothing really. wish you were here i could give you a hug and feed you. - all the food. we have been worried l about you and definitely knowing, we've been hearing so much about the situation. in the uk, so please, please take care. -

especially since you're - on the front line and you go into the covid ward. we do worry that no onel is in uk to look after you. we have to trust you, right? but even though i say that, you know i'm worried. - om — so we are proud of you. bye. applause. those days and weeks while i was in hospital, all my work family has turned into blood family, simply because the connection and support was so close. i decided to stand up from the wheelchair and to salute them as a sign of respect and as a sign of gratitude towards everything they have done for me and my family.

i can't even describe it, how good it was to get home, to be honest. every day is a gift from god. every day is a miracle. there is no hours passing by when i am around laszlo not to be reminded what a miracle that he is with us. steady. go. i can't really describe how much it means to be alive, how much it means to have a second chance, how much it means to see those faces that you love the most. i think going through such an experience is kind of like appreciating everything that we have, rather than looking to the things that we don't have. yes. when you were gravely ill, i would've given anything and everything.

our house, even my life, just to get you back. i was saying let me die and let him live. that's just what i wanted, in that situation, want your loved one back. no matter what. and here i am. here you are. thank god. is that the first time having this procedure? have you had it before? i've had it about 20 times. you know what to expect then. to be honest, ifeel so privileged to be back to work. it feels good to do what i do best. i will be next to you during the procedure. seeing things from the other side of the hospital bed, i think it made me more empathetic. i kind of put myself into my patient�*s shoes way much better. having you back amongst us, now working again after you've been unwell with covid is such an inspiring story

for everyone. and i think it gave the whole uhs family an uplift and it was a good news story that everybody needed to be able to carry on after this sort of difficult time with the first wave, and now the second wave, because people are getting tired, but stories like yours just make us keep going. it's been gruelling, it's felt at times like a battle that is never—ending. people are tired.

there is a sense that this has been going on and is still going on, we've still got patients in critical care and inpatients who are positive with covid in our beds. so it's still ongoing. it's felt quite hard to pull ourselves out after dealing with wave one, feeling that sense of relief and then hitting wave three, and actually that being worse than wave one. so we're going to need to make sure that every individual who works for us has had a well—being conversation. there are people who might have post—traumatic stress as to what they have witnessed, and need psychological support and others mightjust need support of a buddy or mentor. inclined to grab a coffee? let's have a coffee. - do you want a posh coffee? ooh, i'd love a posh one. .

the morning huddles. that we have every day, they allow me to catch up, just to make sure that - everybody is all right. notjust mentally, i but if they need any help around the ward. i bought one for you. i with your sweetener in. thank you. i did bring some. there's a spare coffee. - please go and help yourself. it's really important - to look after your mental health in a team. everybody 0k? you haven't got your buddy at the moment because - she is not very well? i miss lisa. at the end of the day, - we all need to look for support and if you can't get it. face—to—face with your family, you need to| look at other areas. covid, i think, has- changed the way that we work in the hospital. and i'm hoping not to go back to how we were. i i think we're more conscious that we need to be more - talking to the patients, talking to each other, i talking to the team, - i think we've learned that

from covid more than anything. that supporting each other, being there for each other. i yeah, so i've got a shared care in numbertwo... i'm still very much the efficient nurse that i've always been. i've always liked to think of myself as a role model at work from a professional standpoint. i think the pandemic has taught me to role model in a different way at work, in that i have started to show when i'm not ok. whereas i don't think i did that before. i don't think i've had any choice but to stand up and say, "i haven't been 0k." the days when there are just lots of covid deaths, itjust made me feel very hopeless. and that after all this training, we think about going into thejob, being able to save lives being able to help people get better, but all he you can do is just, there was nothing else you could do.

you just see death after death. it's really hard to then think about yourself after seeing so many deaths that you end up and i end up worrying about my family and other people that i know that have covid and it's really hard to take time for myself to think about my own mental health and how i can detach from it. i try to speak to someone and tell them how my feeling, especially my mum. and try to do things for myself, do a work—out, try to do some mindfulness, try to take time off and not think about what has just happened at work. during the recovery process, what i found was talking about my experience and not bottling it up, i took proper time to chat with as many people as possible. it helped me so much in recovering mentally, psychologically and emotionally. and not having any side effects, not experiencing any thing negative as a result of this experience.

clearly, talking about it has helped me to recover even much faster. there are, at southampton, some of the most extraordinary people that i have ever come across. everybody just worked like this well—oiled machine. you just look at them when you are working under extreme pressure, and they really are magnificent. it can be the worst shift that you ever had, or the best day you've ever had, but ultimately, you've all got the same goal, you're all going to do your best and we all have laughs

and tears, but we are all in it together. i'm not a real hero in this story. the real heroes are the people who never gave up on me, including my wife, my kids, my work family, members of my church, all the neighbours, everyone who was supporting us in an extraordinary way. i think i've achieved a lot. i think i've learned so much, and to think that i've actually been a part of this pandemic and being able to help patients makes me feel quite proud of what i do and that five years of medical school did pay off, being able to help in this sort of time. one of things i've learned in the past year is that. you appreciate each other, because you never know. what is going to happen around the corner. - what i'm looking forward to most when the lockdown restrictions are lifted is definitely meeting people outside of work, getting to know them,

becoming friends with them, and you know, developing a social life in southampton, which is a new place for me. i'm looking forward to what the future holds in terms of career progression, it only go better from here, really. you can do it. laughter. we've all been home—schooling children that don't want to learn and we've all been trying to work from home and we've all been absolutely exhausted and missing people that we adore, notjust the nurses. i think for every mum, dad, human being in the country, we need to start getting back to normality. ready for the summer? in the next few months, i am looking forward to going to see my family in their own homes and having a cup of tea with my mum out and my special mug

and going on holiday. not necessarily sunshine, but definitely to see friends abroad. that's what i can't wait to see. we are not dreaming of sandy. beaches, 5—star accommodations or all—inclusive, we just really want to see our l family and our parents. that's going to be probably the biggest gift of lifting i of the lockdown measures. i am a hugger. and i can't wait to hug... i can't wait to hug my family.

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 thursday onwards, things are turning colderfor all of us with the return of some overnight frosts as well. for now, here's the weather front that's slow moving across the northwest of scotland. that's producing further outbreaks of rain, we could see some localised flooding for northern and western parts of the highlands, also for the western isles and the northern isles.

elsewhere, a dry story, quite cloudy for parts of northern ireland, southern scotland and the far north of england. but the cloud should thin and break up through the day, long spells of warm sunshine further south and light winds. temperatures up to 23 degrees across the southeast of england. but above 20 for england and wales, up in the high teens for scotland and northern ireland. through this evening and overnight, we 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 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 degreese once again, but things starting to turn a little bit cooler across scotland and northern ireland too. ii or 12 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, 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.

welcome to bbc news — my name's mike embley — our top stories. the death that shook the world: a police officer who knelt on george floyd's neck stands trial in minneapolis. 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. prosecutors in new york announce new charges against ghislaine maxwell — she's accused of grooming young girls forjeffrey epstein. freed at last: the giant container ship that's blocked the suez canalfor almost a week — is sailing once again. and — beijing is accused of using questionable tactics

in its attempt to control what's said about china's