this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. george floyd's former girlfriend reflects on his life and their battle with addiction — on day four of ex—police officer derek chauvin�*s trial. it isa it is a classic story of people get addicted to opioids. we both have suffered from chronic pain. disturbing videos which appear to show the massacre of unarmed civilians in northern ethiopia — have been obtained by the bbc. the ousted leader of myanmar aung san suu kyi has been charged with violating the country's official secrets act. also in the programme —

the un secretary general antonio guterres rebukes wealthier countries for stockpiling vaccines — and tells the bbc his view on vaccine passports. is it possible to have a vaccine passport that facilitates exchanges and movements, but at the same time, that creates a new level of inequality in the world. and at the age of 81 why sir ian mckellen has chosen to take on one of the toughest roles in theatre. hello and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world. the girlfriend of george floyd —

whose death in minneapolis last year sparked protests across the world — took the stand today in the trial of derek chauvin — the police officer accused of murdering him. courtney ross cried as she talked about how she first met mr floyd and described their struggle with opioid addiction. derek chauvin has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one of manslaughter. our correspondent lebo diseko has been watching the evidence — and a warning her report contains some disturbing images. a man who enjoyed food, exercise and taking dad selfies — george floyd's girlfriend of three years painting a picture of the man she loved. she told the court about the life that they'd shared, including their addiction. our story is... it's a classic story of how many people get addicted to opioids. we got addicted and tried really hard to break that addiction, many times.

the prosecution wanted to show mr floyd's addiction was not a reflection on his character, but the issue is central to mr chauvin�*s defence. for the majority of the time, mr floyd was clean, right? yes. and it was your belief that mr floyd started using again about two weeks prior to his death, correct? i noticed a change in his behaviour, yes. the court heard that mr floyd had previously overdosed and that both friends with him on the day he died had sold him drugs before. next on the stand, the paramedics who'd been called out to the scene. both testified that mr floyd was unresponsive when they arrived. in a living person, there should be a pulse there. i did not feel one — i suspected this patient to be dead. and at the moment that you're checking for this carotid pulse, i are the officers still positioned on top of mr floyd? _ yes.

for the first time, we heard medical evidence that suggested george floyd died at this spot, and while that was less emotional than the testimony heard at the start of the day, it was no less impactful. and we canjoin lebo live in minneapolis now. another difficult day when it comes to this trial, just talk us through the beginning when we heard from miss rose. , , ., , ., , the beginning when we heard from miss rose. , , . , ., , ., , miss rose. yes, she was in tears as she described _ miss rose. yes, she was in tears as she described how— miss rose. yes, she was in tears as she described how much _ miss rose. yes, she was in tears as she described how much she - miss rose. yes, she was in tears as she described how much she loved l miss rose. yes, she was in tears as l she described how much she loved mr floyd and the life they shared together, the kind of person he was, talking about when they met and how he would come over and see her and prayed with her and really talking about what a gentle soul he was in her life. the defence really pushed her life. the defence really pushed her on the issue of their drug use.

the earlier testimony, she said they had taken opioids together and the defence for derek wanting to prove that there was more to that. but there may have been drugs that he took that she did not know about and also pressing this point that people mr floyd was with that day had sold him drugs in the past. and also finding discrepancies between her testimony in court and the fbi. but it was very moving testimony and no doubt, she was very distraught on the stand. she later —— we later heard from the paramedics that arrived on the scene and in contrasting testimony, they were very matter—of—fact, saying that when they arrive, they thought mr floyd was dead and really powerful hearing from them that they had been trying to check for george floyd's pulse to see if there are any signs

of life in there to ask mr chauvin to move and get off his neck while they were doing that. that medical evidence absolutely _ they were doing that. that medical evidence absolutely crucial - they were doing that. that medical evidence absolutely crucial in - they were doing that. that medical evidence absolutely crucial in our. evidence absolutely crucial in our understanding of what happened that day. understanding of what happened that da . , ~ h, understanding of what happened that da . , ~ ,., ., day. yes. i think the point that the prosecution _ day. yes. i think the point that the prosecution is _ day. yes. i think the point that the prosecution is trying _ day. yes. i think the point that the prosecution is trying to _ day. yes. i think the point that the prosecution is trying to show - day. yes. i think the point that the prosecution is trying to show is - prosecution is trying to show is that really, there was no cause for the police officers to still be kneeling on george floyd for the length of time that they were, there was clear that he was no longer responsive and interestingly the day ended with testimony from chauvin possible supervisor. we heard from a 911 dispatcher that had been watching would have been happening inside the dispatch centre that she called derek chauvin at the scene and was not told that they had restrained him in such a way that they put a knee on george floyd's

neck. that detail only came out much later when they were in hospital and efforts are being made to revive george floyd. very very notable that at the end of the day, he was asked at the end of the day, he was asked at what point the restraints should've stopped and he said when it was clear that george floyd was no longer resisting.— no longer resisting. another difficult day _ no longer resisting. another difficult day at _ no longer resisting. another difficult day at court. - no longer resisting. another difficult day at court. thank| no longer resisting. another. difficult day at court. thank you no longer resisting. another- difficult day at court. thank you so much. disturbing videos which appear to show the killing of unarmed civilians in northern ethiopia, by people apparently dressed in ethiopian army uniform, have been obtained by the bbc. in november, the government launched a military campaign in the region of tigray, following an attack on an army base there thought to have been carried out by the rebel tigray people's liberation front. there have been accusations of serious abuses, by all sides in the conflict. our africa correspondent, leila nathoo's report, contains images that some will find very disturbing.

armed men in uniform, leading a group towards a cliff edge. bodies appear strewn across the ground. a man is urged to throw one off the cliff. these graphic videos and others like it were passed to the bbc and began circulating on social media last month. we have been able to match elements of the landscape shown to features visible on satellite images to identify the location. it's in ethiopian�*s northern tigray region. in november 2020, following an attack on a military base, the ethiopian army began an offensive in the region against the tigray people's liberation front, or tplf. they are challenging central government rule.

troops from eritrea are also involved, backing the ethiopian government. the conflict has largely been hidden from view, as access has been severely limited. allegations of atrocities committed by all sides. we can't say for sure when these videos were filmed, but the armed men are wearing uniforms that match those used by the ethiopian national defence force, or endf. they are heard speaking one of ethiopian�*s official languages. the victims are dressed in civilian clothing and i heard speaking the language of the tigray region. for those trying to piece together what is happening on the ground, this is more evidence of shocking violence. since the beginning of the conflict in the tigray region we have documented the whole magnitude of very serious abuses, including extrajudicial executions by ethiopian government forces and their allies and this is absolutely an incident which will

require further investigation because what we are seeing here in the video could amount to war crimes. we put the videos and claims to the ethiopian government, who said they were open to independent investigations in the tigray region and said social media posts and claims could not be taken as evidence. they added that investigations into allegations were welcome for remedial action and accountability. after months of darkness, slowly a horrifying picture is beginning to emerge of the blood events that have occurred there over the past five months. in mozambique, a ship carrying more than a thousand survivors of a deadly insurgent attack has arrived at the port of pemba. armed militants raided the coastal town of palma last week, causing thousands of people to flee into the surrounding forests. islamist insurgents have been increasingly active in the northern

province of cabo del—gado since 2017, although it remains unclear what specifically they are fighting for. aid groups believe the latest attack has left tens of thousands displaced. iamso i am so exhausted. we spent seven days on the run, seven times we crossed paths with people who wanted to do us before. the situation is terrible. so many people are dead. myanmar�*s detained civilian leader aung san suu kyi is facing another charge — for violating the nation's official secrets act. this is the most serious charge she now faces — and carries a possible jail term of 1a years. ms suu kyi hasn't been seen in public since she was ousted from power. it's been 2 months since the military takeover in myanmar. in the past 24—hours the un and the us has evacuated family members of its staff

because of the worsening security situation. we're also hearing it's become difficult and dangerous for foreign embassy staff, journalists and medical workers on the ground. myanmar authorities have ordered an internet shutdown until further notice. more than 520 people have died in the crackdown since february 1st. according to the charity, save the children, it's now been revealed 43 of them are children. the youngest being a 7 year old girl who was shot at her home during protests in mandalay. and this was the funeral for a 13—year—old boy who was reportedly shot in the head as he ran away from the security forces. save the children has called it a "nightmare situation. children have witnessed violence and horror. it is clear that myanmar is no longer a safe place for children." it says.

well, let's speak to john sifton about this. he is the asia advocacy director at the human rights watch, and joins us from washington, dc. we have been watching this situation and me in myanmarand so in myanmar and so many children have lost their lives, it is deeply distressing and what is your reaction?— distressing and what is your reaction? ~ , . ., ., , distressing and what is your reaction? . ., , ., reaction? the myanmar military have little shame — reaction? the myanmar military have little shame when _ reaction? the myanmar military have little shame when it _ reaction? the myanmar military have little shame when it comes _ reaction? the myanmar military have little shame when it comes to - little shame when it comes to civilians across myanmar during the civilians across myanmar during the civil wars it insurgencies in their crimes against humanity committed against the rohingya muslims several years ago. basically showing their true colours. killing children as young as five years old, arresting people in the dead of night, this

situation is out of control and the international community needs to do more than condemn them but take heart action so that this type of behaviour is intolerable you talk about heart _ behaviour is intolerable you talk about heart action _ behaviour is intolerable you talk about heart action but _ behaviour is intolerable you talk about heart action but sanctions simply don't seem to persuade the regime to stop this kind of behaviour. they feel that they have no friends in the international community anyway, so what kind of hard actions could they possibly curve the behaviour? the united states, the _ curve the behaviour? the united states, the united _ curve the behaviour? the united states, the united kingdom - curve the behaviour? the united| states, the united kingdom have already sanction some of the many military businesses that exist in burma, the burmese military is not just a military of course, it is also a business, a corporation that owns, but several places a very brought to bear, but it is not enough that if you really want to

get to know this, the type of sanctions from the past, sanctions which target the hard currency revenues that the military makes from selling national gas to thailand, to china and minerals, gemstones and valuable things like tea that is exported to china and malaysia. these are the hard, the difference before is that the military is more integrated with the global economy and their work and making the sanctions effective and target the ongoing revenue of their country because there is money that they care about that can be docked if the international community is willing to go after it. it if the international community is willing to go after it.— willing to go after it. it begs the ruestion willing to go after it. it begs the question as _ willing to go after it. it begs the question as to _ willing to go after it. it begs the question as to why _ willing to go after it. it begs the question as to why not - willing to go after it. it begs the question as to why not this - willing to go after it. it begs the question as to why not this is i willing to go after it. it begs the i question as to why not this is being done. the situation, the violence has been going on for the 1st of february we are now talking about the death of some the children. it

the death of some the children. it is complicated, be, very powerful and people are concerned about the virus and people say it's too complicated, and the truth is, it can be done, the european union, the united nations the united states and the uk could impose sanctions on oil and gas companies to not pay the burmese, but isjust and gas companies to not pay the burmese, but is just a and gas companies to not pay the burmese, but isjust a question and gas companies to not pay the burmese, but is just a question of political will, the united nations level in washington and this money could be hit. national resources protection, money laundering laws and if you really want to enforce the sort of thing, you could cut off the sort of thing, you could cut off the burmese military funding streams that would get their attention. they are not impervious to pressure, but perhaps it can be brought quickly

and it is important that they stand for the people of burma who they themselves are sabotaging their own economy. themselves are sabotaging their own econom . g ., ., themselves are sabotaging their own econom .g ., ., ., , economy. john from human rights watch. economy. john from human rights watch- thank— economy. john from human rights watch. thank you _ economy. john from human rights watch. thank you so _ economy. john from human rights watch. thank you so much - economy. john from human rights watch. thank you so much and - economy. john from human rights watch. thank you so much and we thank you for that and we do have much more on our website about the situation in myanmar because it is a complicated situation. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: why sir ian mckellen has chosen to take on one of the toughest roles in theatre at the age of 81. 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, - 100 years ago, 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 gustave eiffel — this is bbc news, the latest headlines. let's get some of

the day's other news. on day four of ex—police officer derek chauvin's trial, george floyd's former girlfriend reflects on his life and his battle with addiction. a series of disturbing videos have been obtained by the bbc which appear to show the killing of unarmed civilians in ethiopia's northern tigray region, by people wearing ethiopian army uniforms. the united nations secretary general has told the bbc that rich nations should share the coronavirus vaccines they've bought — instead of stockpiling them. 600 million doses have been distributed worldwide — but more than 80% of them have been used by the richest countries. meanwhile many countries are struggling to secure any vaccines. the un secretary general antonio gutteres has been speaking to the bbc�*s laura trevelyan. secretary general, thank you so much forjoining us. my pleasure. the united states and other developed countries are stockpiling coronavirus vaccines. what is your reaction to this situation? we've been asking develop countries not to stockpile and to share

the vaccines they have bought into the... to share them early to developing worlds, because if you want to defeat the covid, you need to defeat it everywhere and it's very important to start vaccinating especially front—line workers and vulnerable populations everywhere. the united states is saying that it's holding onto its stockpile because it may want to vaccinate adolescents for example. is that a good reason to hold on to it...? it's important to vaccinate the whole population, but for us, the priority is to vaccinate those in the front line and those honourable groups everywhere. and the reason is very simple. we have a virus that mutates, and we see that the mutations

are more frequent when spreading is more frequent too. so, if we don't stop the spreading in the virus of developing countries, there will be more and more variants and that might put into question the vaccines that exist today. that means those vaccines might become useless for the future, so to make the vaccination campaigns in the global more expected, so to make the vaccination campaigns in the global more effective, we need to make sure that we are able to vaccinate globally to avoid spreading and with spreading development of new variants that might create a serious problem. there's a lot of talk here in the united states about a vaccine passport so that people can begin to live their lives again. but what concerns do you have about the idea of a vaccine passport? the main problem with a vaccine passport is equity. is it possible to have a vaccine passport that facilitates its changes in movement? at the same time, that

creates a new level of inequality in the world. that is the concern. we see that there is huge inequality in the way people have access to vaccination and treatment, and huge inequality in the way that countries are able to mobilise resources for their capital. that's why we insist to have it affected really fervent developing countries, middle income countries that needed order to be able to get into their populations, with the massive mobilisations of resources. what is the lesson that you hope the world has learned from the pandemic? the biggest lesson is to understand our fragility as a satiety. our fragility as a society. fragile in relation to the pandemic, climate change, in relation to the lack of capacity to have control in our technological development.

so we are very fragile, and when we recognise, when we are humble enough to recognise this, i hope we learn that we need solidarity to fight the challenges that are so clear in today's world. thank you so much forjoining us. it is a pleasure. at the age of 81, the celebrated actor sir ian mckellen is taking on one of the toughest roles in theatre. he's playing hamlet — half a century after he first played the role. the curtain should go up injune — when restrictions on theatres are finally eased. 0ur arts editor will gompertz has been talking to sir ian during rehearsals at the theatre royal, windsor about the huge challenge ahead. of all occasions to inform against me and spur my dull revenge!

the mode, these days, of casting people who don't necessarily look the part, because it's the inner person you're going after, and if i can rake around inside and discover the young man in me, then hopefully it'll be all right. strikes me that the biggest challenge is the physicality, is the movement. well, what am i to do? i can't pretend i'm 20. no—one's going to believe it. but i can feel that i'm 20. it is going to be an 80—year—old man playing a man 50 years younger. i have played gandalf, who was over 7,000 years old. no—one said i was too young! you first played hamlet as a child when you had your toy theatre, didn't you ? yes, yes, i'd be about ten or 11. my parents gave me a pollock's toy theatre, which was a theatre that you have to cut up and reassemble. cardboard. and behind a tea towel, i was saying the words. i did a shortened version of hamlet

just after christmas lunch! and you cannot have imagined then that you would be playing it, what, 70 years later? no, of course not, no. i thought i'd be playing polonius, if not the skull, by this time! yorick�*s skull. there will be people who come to collect this hamlet. i remember when i played it in 1971, two old gentleman came round to see me afterwards and said, "congratulations, you're our 73rd hamlet". how do you think theatre's going to respond to what's happened in the last 12 months? it's been pretty devastating. during my lifetime, the theatres in london were closed for longish periods during the second world war, but always sprang back. so 50 years after this hamlet... ..sir ian mckellen once again plays the prince, undimmed by the whips and scorns of time. will gompertz, bbc news.

you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbckasiamadera. hello there. temperatures have been in the southwest of england in the afternoon in cornwall, we have had highs of 19 degrees, but one area that's been very warm of the past few days but the cloud coming off the north sea, is only nine celsius. the cloud eventually break up to bring some late sunshine but the cloud is coming back in again across parts of england overnight and also feeding into northern areas of scotland. we have some clear skies and the northern ireland and particularly scotland, there will be some frost around. the risk of frost extends into northern england and wales and also parts of the mittens too. after the easter weekend it

remains on the court sided with further frosted remains on the court sided with furtherfrosted night. but on easter monday, it will be particularly cold in the wind could have some wintry showers around too. the odd showers possible down the coast of eastern scotland, northeast england on friday morning before the cloud moves in length, we have some sunshine in the cloud filters its way across the eastern side of england and for have the sunshine and also the sunshine in northern ireland after cold start. 13 degrees is the high on friday but across more eastern areas in the uk, we have nine or 10 celsius. cooler air on the uk and is trapped underneath that area of high pressure in the least it's keeping that air find in tribal with the breeze of the north sea, we can expect more down the side of england preps for a while into the mittens to and further than western parts of the uk come we should enjoy some sunshine at least an temperatures beginning to lift a little across scotland but the highest temperatures only around 13 degrees. having to easter sunday,

doesn't look too bad across most of england and wales and lead to winds in the south and further north there will be when strengthening and coming down to scotland and northern ireland, behind that it does turn wintry and the temperatures started to drop off but it should be a less cool day with sunshine and later winds on the eastern side of england. but it gets colder everywhere in time for easter monday. the weather from everywhere in time for easter monday. the weatherfrom moves everywhere in time for easter monday. the weather from moves down across the uk and brings in some rain, there's all the winter weather following behind we could trace the winds all the way back to the arctic in the real arctic blast of air for easter monday feeling cold in the wind it could be some sleet and snow showers as well.

this is bbc world news, the headlines. george floyd's girlfriend has described how they both struggled with opioid addiction. her testimony came as the murder trial of former police officer derek chauvin entered it's fourth day. he denies charges of murder and manslaughter. a series of disturbing videos have been obtained by the bbc which appear to show the killing of unarmed civilians in ethiopia's northern tigray region, by people wearing ethiopian army uniforms. the ethiopian government has said it's open to independent investigations. the un secretary—general antonio guterres has called on rich nations to share coronavirus vaccines — instead of stockpiling them. 600 million doses have been distributed but over 80% have been used by the wealthest countries. myanmar�*s deposed leader, aung san suu kyi, has been charged with violating the country's 0fficial secrets act, 0fficial secrets act.