this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. president biden outlines gun control measures — as a first step towards curbing mass shootings in the united states: gun violence in this country is an epidemic. and it is an international embarrassment. violence flares again in northern ireland — despite the british and irish prime ministers calling for calm. a medical expert tells the trial of the former us police officer, derek chauvin that george floyd died from a lack of oxygen — after being pinned down. and — is the idylic underwater world about to be wrecked by deep sea mining — a warning from environmental campaigners.

hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we're covering all the latest coronavirus developments here in britain and globally. first... an international embarrassment — that's how president biden has described gun violence in the united states, which he called an epidemic. on thursday, mr biden put forward a series of measures to tackle the problem. the president said there was widespread public support for stricter rules, despite the efforts of the gun lobby. gun violence in this country is an epidemic. let me say it again. gun violence in this country is an epidemic. and it is an international

embarrassment. i want to rein in the proliferation of so—called ghost guns, these are guns that are homemade. they are built from a kit and include directions on how to finish the firearm. you can buy the kit. they have no serial numbers. so when they show up in a crime scene, they can't be traced. and the buyers aren't required to pass a background check to buy the kits to make the gun. here are those gun control plans announced by president biden. thejustice department has been given 30 days to come up with a new rule on reducing the distribution of ghost guns. they've been given 60 days to come up with a rule on stabilising modifications — which, in effect, turn pistols into rifles. and 60 days again to propose a so—called �*red flag law�* for states — that'll gives courts more to remove guns from people throught to pose a danger. dave cullen is an author

of books on the columbine and parkland mass shootings in the us. he gave me his opinion on president biden�*s proposals. these programmes have got a community activists so forth actually what will be most important of these is the one getting the least attention, which is hospital—based programmes without which takes a minute to understand but it is fairly simple. based on the fact first of all that the vast majority of our gun laws in the us in inner cities like chicago, 0akland, so forth. —— gun violence. it is a same group of people,

violence and most of the people who are victims are also perpetrators of thought dictate to these programmes, they have been very successful and they are shoveling money around to expend them greatly, most of the victims also perpetrators. the one moment in this kid's life where you have to really turn them around and change them is when he's in the er because he has just been shot by other gang members and he is bleeding out and reconsidering options. the other crucial thing is this is the moment where things will escalate and the gangs have to hit back and a cycle of violence and it escalates really badly typically. the gangs don't really want that to happen, but they are locked in that where they have to do it or they lose their power. these programmes have got community activists who are literally right there in the emergency room waiting when these people are willing to and know the players and can actually negotiate ace truce between them which is what the gangs went but they have no way of doing this without help. those have proven exceedingly helpful in pilot programmes in hospitals around the us and what we need to do is wildly expend them

and joe biden is now shuffling the money because congress has not authorised it but he can take it from different programmes. three different points in this announcement today to get more money to these programmes. exactly. touching on that point briefly, he is not going to congress and if he tried to go through congress, let's face it, other presidents have tried and failed. there it is not an appetite for it. there is a huge appetite, but there is... we are locked in 50—50 congress right now. senate right now. we havejoe mnuchin from west virginia and a couple of other key senators from red states that won't go along. we also have something called a filibuster. we are moving much more in much closer. the house has been passing things but we are not at a point yet. still 50-50 in the senate is not enough. we would need at least one more election to do anything significantly. for a sixth night running

there've been clashes between police and protesters in northern ireland. in the past few hours more petrol bombs, fireworks and rocks have been thrown at police, who used water cannons to break up the crowds. the british and irish prime ministers have issued a joint statement calling for calm. the white house expressed concern over the violence saying the good friday agreement — which was signed to protect peace in northern ireland — must not become "a casualty" of brexit. 0ur ireland correspondent emma vardy has the latest. on an already febrile situation, now more fuel on the fire. at one of belfast�*s peace lines last night the peace was broken. in the hands of teenagers, petrol bombs, thrown in both directions over the wall. each night these gates are locked to keep the mainly catholic and protestant communities apart. now forced open, rammed by cars and battered closed by police,

amidst a running battle. it is hard to control. when kids see one side doing it theyjoin in. who encourages it? the loyalist politicians, because they got brexit in and it is not working. it will take months to repair the damage to this community, if it is ever repaired. as the fighting continued, local priests tried to warn young people of the danger, themselves in harm's way. the attacks which lasted over an hour have been interrupted by the arrival of a police land rovers who have pushed the crowd back from this side of the wall. earlier, on the other side of the wall in loyalist shankill road, a bus was hijacked and set alight. the disorder was at a scale that we have not seen in recent years in belfast

or further afield. the fact it was sectarian violence and there was groups on both sides of the gates is something we have not seen for a number of years. in loyalist communities, who are staunchly british, there is a backlash over the brexit deal that sets northern ireland apart from the rest of the uk. when i got here... 19—year—old joel was arrested in a riot over easter and released without charge. he says he was looking out for a friend. but many who have become involved are even younger. why do you think this is happening? i don't think young people really understand the details in terms of the irish sea border, what they're being told and seeing in the media is sinn fein are winning, the republicans are winning and that our identity is under attack. when they hear those words, that stuff, and then they're told, the way you help is by going out and throwing

bombs, sticks and stones at people, they're more than willing to do so. people will say, why were you there in the first place, wouldn't have been better to come home. somebody i cared about was in trouble and that is not something anyone can blame me for. as clean—up was going on, political leaders gathered at stormont. there can be no place in our society for violence or the threat of violence and it must stop. what we saw last night i think was a very dangerous - escalation of events. and it is deplorable. in the past hour, police under attack again, have used water cannons against large crowds on the nationalist side of the peace wall. there is concern the flood gates have opened on something more reminiscent of northern

ireland's days of old. let's get some of the day's other news. the united states has imposed sanctions on myanmar�*s state—run gem company — a key source of income for the country's military. myanmar is the world's largest producer of high qualityjade. the us secretary of state, anthony blinken, said the sanctions would send a message to the military to cease the violence. the united states says russia has deployed more troops on its border with ukraine than at any time since 2014, when russian forces seized control of crimea. the white house says discussions are taking place with nato allies about the troop movements. brazil has registered a new daily record of covid—i9 deaths. 4,249 people died with the virus in the past 24 hours and the health ministry has confirmed 86 and a half thousand additional cases.

the country has seen more than 13 million cases since the pandemic began. here in the uk, scientists at imperial college london say, they have new evidence about the effectiveness of the vaccination programme. england's health secretary, and several medical specialists, have spent the day giving reassurances about the vaccine following yesterday's announcement, of a link between the astra—zeneca jab and rare blood clots . our medical editor — fergus walsh — looks at the risks and benefits of the vaccine. business as usual in north—east london. headlines about blood clots didn't put people off getting the astrazeneca vaccine. the thought of catching covid is more risky than having a blood clot. any medicine has a side effect so i wasn't unduly concerned. 79 rare blood clots have been identified out of 20 million doses of the astrazeneca vaccine. the link isn't proven

but in future the under 30s will be offered a different vaccine. for nearly all age groups, the benefits of the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine far outweigh any potential harms. for people in their 60s, with the current low level of virus circulation, for every 100,000 vaccinated, i4 icu admissions would be prevented. at the same time, there would be a 0.2 or one in 500,000 risk of a rare serious clot. for people in their 20s, it's a finejudgment. there, less than one icu admission would be prevented but there would be just over one serious blood clot per 100,000 immunised. if we look at a period of high virus transmission, such as january, there, among the over 60s, 127 icu admissions would be prevented and nearly seven in the over 20s.

neil astles began suffering headaches and nausea a week after having the astrazeneca vaccine. he died of a blood clot on the brain on easter sunday. his sister, a pharmacist, says he was extraordinarily unlucky. despite what has happened to neil and the impact on ourfamily, i still strongly believe that people should be going ahead and having the vaccine. if you have had one dose, go ahead and have your second. if you haven't had a dose yet, make sure you do. overall, we will save more lives by people having the vaccine than not. the government says there will be enough pfizer and moderna doses for 8.5 million 18 to 29—year—olds to be vaccinated. the message from ministers one of reassurance. we know the rollout's working, the safety system is working and we are on track to meet

goal of offering to all adults by the end ofjuly, and the speed of the roll—out won't be affected by these decisions. when you get the call, get the jab. scientists tracking the epidemic in england say vaccines are weakening the link between cases and deaths. there are now far fewer fatalities per infection, because so many of us are protected. a reminder why all of this really matters. fergus walsh, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a year after australia's devastating bushfires, some remarkable and surprising stories of recovery.

..years of hatred and rage as theyjump upon the statue... this funeral became a massive demonstration of black power, the power to influence. today is about the promise of a bright future, a day when we hope a line can be drawn under the bloody past. i think that picasso's i works were beautiful, they were intelligent and it's a sad loss to everybody - who loves art.

this is bbc news, the latest headlines. president biden outlines gun control measures — as a first step towards curbing mass shootings in the united states. violence flares again in northern ireland — despite the british and irish prime ministers calling for calm. the trial of derek chauvin, accused of killing george floyd, has heard from a lung and critical care specialist. dr martin tobin said mr floyd died from a lack of oxygen while he was pinned to the pavement with a knee on his neck. he rejected the defence theory that floyd's drug use, and underlying health problems, were to blame. have you formed an opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty on the cause of his death? yes, i have. would you please tell the jury what that opinion or opinions are? yes. mr floyd died from

a low level of oxygen and this caused damage to his brain and it also caused a pea arrhythmia that caused his heart to stop. professor tobin also rejection the suggestion that the drug fentanyl was in some way responsible for george floyd's death. you're familiar with the way people die from fentanyl? yes, very. do they or do they not go into a coma before they die from a fenta nyl overdose? yes, they will. was mr floyd ever in a coma? no. thank you, doctor tobin. 0ur correspondent larry madowo has been watching the trial in minneapolis. doctor tobin's testimony today has left the defence�*s case looking weaker than it probably has at any point in the last two weeks. his testimony that george floyd died from oxygen deficiency which led

to his brain to stop was so significant because it is at the centre of what the prosecution is saying here. the three reasons for that is because he was lying flat on the concrete, handcuffed behind his back, and he had several officers kneeling on him. he also calculated that from the moment george floyd stopped breathing, there were three minutes and 27 seconds when the neck restraint continued. doctor tobin all through this testimony was captivating and masterful and his testimony istherefore potentially devastating to the case because the jury paid attention and took notes. so significant when he spoke about the painkiller fentanyl. that also came up because fentanyl is this addictive opioid that the defence has said again and again is they believe that was in george floyd's system and led to his death. they also believe because he had underlying health conditions, heart disease and high blood pressure.

the last expert who has said plainly he did not die from a heart attack. the prosecution will call three more medical witnesses and then the defence will bring the coroner who carried out the autopsy on george floyd to confirm the argument that he died from a cardiac arrest. one of britain's richest men has been found stabbed to death at his home in southern england. sir richard sutton was a hotelier, worth more than 300—million—pounds. sophie berman reports. worth more than £300 million, sir richard sutton, one of britain's richest men, found stabbed to death at his home in dorset. the 83—year—old hotelier counted london's five—star athenaeum among his property empire. last night, his body was found at his home near gillingham. a 60—year—old woman believed to be his wife was critically injured in the attack and is in a serious condition in hospital. dorset police say a vehicle

linked to the incident was followed to london, where a 34—year—old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. he is believed to be known to the couple. sir richard's company paid tribute to him, saying his loss will be felt by all who have worked with him and his family, who have lost an incredible individual. sophie berman, bbc news. while parts of australia recover from the recent floods, other areas are still counting the cost of devastating bushfires just over a year ago. around 18—million hectares of land was destroyed in the south—east of the country — too vast a job for scientists and ecologists to record themselves, so the public was asked to report sightings of mammals, insects and the regrowth of flora and fauna. and there have been some remarkable stories of recovery. i've been speaking to casey kirchoff, who came up with the project after her own house burned down, and is an ecologist studying at the university of new south wales. she talked me through some of the images uploaded

by members of the public. we've had so many come through the project. we are nearly up to 13 or 14,000, which is phenomenal. we had a few really special ones though. one of those is a great glider, which is a very adorable teddy bear looking gliding marsupial possum. these live in really dense forest area. we've had a lot of observatiobn come through after the massive fire which is really cool because the species are dependent on eucalyptus. we had a charismatic mini finder which is a pink slug

which grows to about 20 cm long and only lives on one extinct volcano. that is pretty cool. we also had this orchid from a complete range break—out, that was re—seen by two separate citizen scientist. another thing that we had coming through the project is a species that is not classed as rare but is in the carrot family. a pink lentilflower. a gorgeous pink flower that only comes up after the right combination a bush fire, rainfall, and temperature. we had some great things come through so far. really remarkable. some of those animals remarkable but in terms of how important is it to get so many and a large quantity of images and example sent through to you? the more observations that come through, the better really because that really kind of gives us the chance to pick out some species such as the orchid bed that had the complete range burned and that kind of gives us a green tick knowing that some species have actually made it it through that fire. so getting huge numbers of observations come in means

we as the ecologist scientist can then ask some cool questions about that data. as the world begins to move away from petrol and diesel—powered cars, there are questions over how the metals needed for batteries in electrical vehicles will be sourced. here's our chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt. it is one of the most remote regions on earth, the vastness of the pacific ocean. but more than two miles beneath the surface lie incredible reserves of the metals needed to make electric vehicle batteries. so this is what the mining companies are after. this is a poly—metallic nodule. it's a kind of nugget of crucial battery metals, so in here you've got cobalt, nickel, copper, manganese and there are hundreds of millions of these lying on the deep sea floor in some areas of ocean. we can dramatically reduce our environmental and social impact...

the mining companies say sourcing metals from the deep ocean has a lower environmental impact than mining metals on land. and theyjust sit there like golf balls on a driving range. so we don't have to drill or blast to find them. also, they happen to sit in an environment where there are no forests, no plants, and we compare that with land—based mining in these areas of rich, bio—diverse forests where we are having to destroy these carbon sinks to get access to these metal deposits. it's a no—brainer where we should be getting our metals from. environmental campaigners disagree. they say mining will destroy fragile ecosystems that have developed over hundreds of millions of years. with the climate and biodiversity crisis facing this planet, deep—sea mining would just be another scandalous threat to the health of our oceans. petrol. 0r electric. bmw, google, samsung and volvo

trucks announced they would not be using any metals sourced from the deep ocean in their products. at the natural history museum, zoologist adrian glover studies the creatures that live on the deep ocean floor. of course, james cameron was inspired by deep sea animals for all of his movies. he says the impact of mining will be profound. it means humanity faces a difficult decision. it will be a dramatic shift in the ecology of that environment. and that's something that you just have to accept. some areas of the planet will have to be impacted if humans are going to move forward in a zero—carbon future. the decision about whether to allow mining will be taken by the un body that controls exploitation of the deep ocean. but, as sales of electric vehicles increase, pressure to allow mining in the deep oceans is also likely to grow. justin rowlatt, bbc news.

and he thought, share them with me. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbckasiamadera hello. although thursday was a little less cold for many, friday plunges us back into the arctic air. in fact, we will stay with the colder air again into the weekend and for many, it is certainly a chance of those snow showers and possibly some wet and windy weather in the south. i'll come to that injust a moment. but this is the weather front ushering that cold air southwards and that will push to most parts by the end of the day today. with it, that brisk wind which through the night will be a severe gale force in the north. that will slowly ease away but that colder air means widespread frost first thing and an ice risk because here, the showers have been coming through, notjust for scotland, but northern ireland and some northern fringes of england and wales too. 0ur weather further south will be a slow moving affair.

still windy, although they are gradually easing off, the greater risk of snow starting to pile up and will be in northern scotland. but the showers come through thick and fast during the day and could fall as well as rain, sleet, snow, hail, rumbles of thunder. further south, we will have this weather front becoming slow moving. it could be a bit sleety on the higher ground with this weather system as the cold air digs in. but at least we will see more crisp sunshine across the northern half of the uk through the day ahead and some brightness and sunshine to the south of the weather front affording us around 11 or 12 degrees. but if you're stuck under the cloud all day, more likely sevens and eights. a transitional day but certainly a wintry feeling for many. the big question mark over the weekend is this area of cloud and rain, possibly hill snow and a brisk north easterly wind. during the course of saturday and into sunday. there's still quite a bit of uncertainty as to how far north that will come. but as i said, there will be a spell of winter weather, a brisk northeast wind really

making it feel cold and it could well turn to snow over the hills. further north, again, the crisp sunshine continues but even with the sunshine it will be a risk of some sleet or snow showers just about anywhere because we are into that arctic air. the same is true through saturday night and for sunday, that slowly works out through the way and then we've got that arctic air right across the uk and perhaps something more organised coming into the northwest on sunday. so, plenty of details to fill in if you've got plans. please do stay tuned to the forecast, the warnings are online.

this is bbc news, the headlines president biden has announced his administration's first measures to limit gun violence in the united states — after describing the situation as an international embarrassment. his executive orders include the tightening of regulations for guns that can't be traced by the authorities, because they're assembled at home. the uk and irish governments have condemned ongoing violence in northern ireland following the eighth night of unrest in belfast. police faced more assaults from, petrol bombs, fireworks and stones — after protestors gathered on both sides of large gates separating loyalist and nationalist areas. the trial of the former minneapolis police officer derek chauvin has been told by a medical expert that george floyd floyd died from a lack of oxygen after officers held him down, in a �*vice�* hold, for more than nine minutes. now on bbc news, it's hardtalk with stephen sackur.