welcome to bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: 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. let me say it again — gun violence in this country is an epidemic and it's an international embarrassment. violence flares again in northern ireland for a sixth consecutive night a medical witness says george floyd died from a lack of oxygen after being pinned down by the former policeman derek chauvin and not drugs as the defence claim. the us and nato discuss the build—up of russian troops near ukraine after a warning that moscow could intervene to help its citizens.

and the find of a lifetime. archaeologists unearth an ancient egyptian lost city close to some of the world's best known monuments. hello and welcome to the programme. we start in the us. president biden has described gun violence as an epidemic and an international embarrassment. on thursday, he put forward a series of measures to try 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's an international embarrassment.

we want to rein in the proliferation of so—called ghost guns. these are guns that are home made. built from a kit. and include directions on how to finish the firearm. you can go buy the kit. they have no serial numbers, so when they show up at a crime scene they can't be traced. and the buyers aren't required to pass a background check to by the kit to make the gun. here is our washington correspondent lebo diseko. well, i think is very notable that this is being done through executive order. these are measures that, you know, some people might say are effectively just tinkering around the edges because of how difficult it is to get such measures through congress and passed into law. i think the most significant of today's measures that were signed by executive order were around, you heard him talking about the ghost guns,

these are guns made from kits you buy over the internet, they don't have serial numbers so they are very hard to trace, and experts say they are increasingly being used in crimes. so the president wants the department ofjustice to come up with a way to reduce those numbers and he has given them 30 days, they have 30 days to come up with new rules around that. and the second quite important that was assigned today was around this, is a device called a stabilising brace and it is put onto pistols and the administration says that it effectively turns them into a short barrel rifle full and president biden referenced the recent shooting, mass shooting in boulder, colorado and the shooter there is thought to have used one of these devices. so he wants the department ofjustice to try to come up with rules to make sure that these are treated or come under the same kind of restrictions as rifles would be. and, lebo, as if to underscore president biden�*s point,

more shootings in the country today. yes. this is in texas. today there has been a mass shooting there, one person died, four people had been injured. yesterday, in south carolina, there were five people who were killed, including the shooter himself. he shot himself there. and obviously in the past few weeks we have had really quite quite shocking mass shootings both in georgia and in colorado. when you look at the statistics, the number of mass shootings here in the united states, it is estimated there is about one a day on average. it is also estimated that there have been around 11,000 gun deaths this year alone. president biden there mentioned that most americans are in favour of tighter measures. but, you know, we're talking about things like increasing or the background checks, not necessarily clamping down

harder on gun ownership. and i think the key thing for president biden is in congress, particularly in the senate, there is just not the support for the stricter measures, so he will have quite a hard time trying to get those through. 0k, ok, thanks for that. and we're going to move to another issue that's close to president biden�*s heart now. peace in northern ireland. after another night of violence on the streets a white house spokesperson said the good friday agreement, which protects peace in northern ireland, must not become "a casualty" of brexit. these are pictures from a few hours ago. a crowd of mostly young people threw petrol bombs, fireworks and stones at police, who responded with water cannon. police are urging people to stay away. rioting 2a hours earlier was the worst in years, as our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. 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 evening 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 between crowds on each side. it's hard to control. mobs of kids, when they see one doing it they are joining in. who encourages it? the loyalist politicians are doing it, because they got brexit in and it is not working. it will take months and months now to repair the damage to this community, if it is ever repaired.

as the fighting continued between shankill and falls roads, local priests tried to warn young people of the danger, themselves in harm's way. the to and fro 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 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 large 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 which 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 tells me 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 and stuff, what they're being told and they're seeing reflected in the media is the sinn fein are winning, the republicans are winning and that our identity is under attack. and 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 go home? the fact is, someone i cared about was in trouble and i don't think that's something anyone can blame me for or accuse

me of wrongdoing. asa as a cleanup operations began, 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 at lanark way interface, i think, was a very dangerous escalation of events. and it's utterly deplorable. in the past hour, police under attack again, have used water cannons against large crowds gathered on the nationalist side of the peace wall. there's concern the flood gates have opened on something more reminiscent of northern ireland's days of old. and may be difficult to close. emma vardy in belfast. 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.

israel says it will tell the international criminal court that it won't co—operate with its investigation into possible war crimes committed during the israeli—palestinian conflict. the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, said his country would make clear that it didn't recognise the tribunal�*s authority. us intelligence agencies have warned of political volatility and possibly more global conflict by twenty forty. in its latest report, the national intelligence council says that people will become increasingly distrustful of leaders and governments will struggle to find solutions. a medical expert in the trial of the former us police officer derek chauvin says george floyd died from a lack of oxygen, due to the way he was restrained. mr chauvin was filmed kneeling on george floyd's neck for more than nine minutes during his arrest last may. this is what dr martin tobin was asked in court by the special assistant

attorney—general. have you formed an opinion, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, on the cause of mr floyd's 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 that we see and it also caused a pea arrhythmia that caused his heart to stop. dr tobin also rejected the suggestion that the drug fentanyl was in any 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 was mr floyd ever in a coma?

no. thank you, dr tobin. 0ur correspondent larry madowo has been following the trial in minneapolis. dr tobin's testimony today has left the defence�*s case looking weaker than probably it has at any point in the past two weeks. his testimony that george floyd died from oxygen deficiency, which led to his brain to stop was so significant because it's at the centre what the prosecution is saying here. the three reasons for that, he says, is because he was lying flat on the concrete, he was 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. so dr tobin, all through this testimony, was captivating, he was masterful, and his testimony, therefore, is potentially devastating to the case, because the jury paid attention and took notes. oui’ our thanks to larry there.

there's been a ratcheting up of pressure in ukraine, as a senior russian official says moscow could intervene in the east of the country. fighting has increased there between ukrainian government forces and russian—backed rebels. the biden administration says its worried that russia is now deploying more troops in the area than at any time since 2014. thats when russia first seized control of crimea away from ukraine. berlin has also told russia to reduce troops numbers. mark lobel reports. ukrainian troops in the country's tumultuous east received this show of solidarity from their president following weeks of increased fighting there. but the kremlin is accusing he kyiv of provocation and warns it may intervene to protect russian—backed separatist rebels they fear may soon face an all—out assault.

as russia's most senior negotiator for the conflict, dmitry kozak, put it... russia, for its part, released these videos of training exercises near the ukrainian border. the united states says it's increasingly concerned by recent escalating russian aggressions in eastern ukraine, including russian troop movements on ukraine's border. russia now has more troops on the border of ukraine and at any time since 2014. five ukrainian soldiers have been killed this week alone. these are all deeply concerning signs. lives are being lost on both sides. ukraine says 25 servicemen have been killed so far this year. russian—backed rebels report one of their fighters was killed this week when ukrainian troops fired 1a mortar bombs at a village on the outskirts of the city of donetsk.

amid the fighting, president putin accuses his ukrainian counterpart of inflaming matters by pushing for nato membership, which he believes will worsen the situation. while russia insists the build—up of its troops is defensive. both sides now turning up the heat in a simmering conflict. mark lobel, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the ancient egyptian lost city — unearthed close to some of the world's best known monuments. 25 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. 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. mexico currently has the one of the highest covid death rates in the world and its hospitals are at breaking point. critics say the rollout of the vaccination programme, with its reliance on the sputnik vaccine, has been chaotic. hospitals have reached breaking point — as our latin america correspondent, will grant reports. ivan sanchez often takes his wife and children out to eat in a local cafe in mexico state. but these days someone is missing from their regular family lunches — ivan�*s father, mario. he fell ill from covid shortly after ivan got the disease. unwilling to go to hospital, he tried to ride out the virus at home — and died on this very sofa. ivan grapples with the grief and the guilt of having infected his father every day.

many thousands in mexico have died like mario — untested, under the radar, and not included in the official statistics. translation: after he died i asked a friend to help me l with the paperwork so his death wouldn't be registered as covid but as a respiratory collapse. we did it so we could give him a proper wake at home. as government data suggests a staggering 320,000 have died from coronavirus in mexico. public health experts believe cases like mario's mean the true picture is even worse. most families extra officially are arguing our number could be higher than that 320,000, that we may be about half a million dead. if such a dire estimate is true, mexico needs to vaccinate its people soon. in one of the worst hit

municipalities, there was tentative hope and optimism as the most vulnerable received their jabs. but nationally the criticism is there simply aren't enough doses to go round, and there has never been a proper strategy in place to cope with the scale of the problem in mexico. veronica saw her parents vaccinated — a huge relief after her brother recently died from coronavirus. veronica blames president manuel lopez 0brador for underestimating the pandemic from the start. translation: with elections coming he doesn't care - about the virus. he just wants to keep the economy moving because shutting it down would turn even more people against him. but keeping tourism afloat has had deadly consequences and now a new spike is expected after the easter break. social distancing at prayer, face masks at mass. as mexico mourns its dead only the us and brazil may have lost more. yet the final figure here may

never truly be known. will grant, bbc news, mexico. brazil's terrible toll of victims of covid—19 has hit another record: more than 4200 deaths in one day, as health services teeter in many parts of the country. a survey this week suggests that even the richest hospitals are running short of critical medicines. more than 345,000 people have died of covid—19 in brazil, making it the second—deadliest outbreak after the united states. terrence mccoy is the rio de janeiro bureau chief for the washington post. earlier, iasked him how bad the situation in the country has become. it has been dire for months, for the entire year in brazil but it is reaching its most critical moment right now since the beginning of the pandemic. in the last three days alone there

have been more than 12,000 people who have died. in perspective, more people who died in the last three days than in all of november. in march, 67,000 people died. also in perspective, more than twice the number of dead in any month during the entire pandemic. right now the situation in brazil is deteriorating and reaching its critical days right now. and what does that mean the impact is when we talk about the healthcare system struggling? is this people dying without receiving any medical attention at all? what does it mean? it means people are dying and about every way you can imagine. people are dying after they have been intubated, they are dying without receiving proper medical care, or receiving some care but not all. people are even dying in waiting rooms. i spoke to doctors who said that sometimes people die in waiting rooms and hours go by before it is noticed. this is a situation where this country of

215 million people, it is increasingly looking like a nationwide medical care collapse. given that prognosis, what about the measures taken to try and improve the situation? how is that working? not quickly enough. increasingly looks like the only way out is the vaccine and nonpharmaceutical measures have not been able to contain the rise of covid and really it is the vaccine that people must rely on. as of now, too few people have gotten it. it has been bogged down in delays and political infighting and it is another political football for politicians to kick around. nike says the creators of the so—called "satan shoes" — that purportedly contain a drop of human blood in the soles — have agreed to a voluntary recall as part of a legal settlement.

the trainers, launched by rapper lil nas x, are modified nike air max 97s. only 666 pairs were made and all but one have been shipped. the brooklyn collective will now offer full refunds to customers in order to remove the shoes from circulation. the settlement resolves a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by nike. archaeologists have discoverd — in their words — the �*ancient egyptian pompeii', near the city of luxor in egypt. the large city is believed to have been built more than 3000 years ago. it lies near some of egypt's best—known monuments. peter lacovara is the director of the ancient egyptian heritage and archaeology fund. i asked why this discovery is so important. it is part of a huge city that was built for the jubilee

festival of amenhotep iii. just like the queen, egyptian kings had festivals to celebrate, in his case, the 30th year of his reign so he built a huge palace and the city to go along with it in orderfor that big celebration. so the walls that we are seeing and the corridors, this is a living city where people would have lived. it looks quite big from the photos. why are we only discovering it now? parts have been excavated for over 100 years but it is such a vast city spread out over ten kilometres and little bits of it have been picked up here and there over the years but it is just too big to excavate the entire extent of it. i think we have some pictures here have other things they have recently unearthed. we have a skeleton. what is the significance

of these findings. we see a pot there as well. there are later burials and things dug in and the whole city was, again, it was built just for thejubilee so after the celebrations were over it was abandoned and parts of it were dug into for later burials and things like that. what is unique about this discovery is that this part is incredibly well preserved. so buildings are preserved and objects are in situ, as they were left. and before we go, man's best friend has taken on a new form — meet the alphadog.

a chinese tech company has developed a robo—dog that obeys commands. the high—tech hound uses sensors and artificial intelligence technology to �*hear�* and �*see' its environment. 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 for many. there is certainly a chance of those snow showers and possibly wet and windy weather in the south, we will come to that in a moment. 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 the brisk wind which through the night has reached severe gale force in the north, slowly easing away, but cold air means widespread frost first thing and a risk of ice because here the showers have been coming through notjust for scotland but for northern ireland, some northern fringes of england and wales as well. that weather front further south is a slow—moving affair. still windy, although

they are easing off, the great risk of snow piling up is in northern scotland but the showers will come through thick and fast during the day. they could fall as rain, sleet, snow, hail, rumbles of thunder. further south we will have a weather front becoming slow—moving. could be sleety on high ground with this weather system as the cold air digs in but we will see crisp sunshine across the northern half of the uk through the day ahead and brightness and sunshine to the south of the weather front affording us perhaps 11 or 12 degrees but if you are stuck under the cloud all day, seven and eight is more likely. a transition day, one that feels wintry for many. the big question for the weekend is this area of cloud and rain, possible hill snow and a brisk north—easterly wind during the course of saturday and into sunday. there is still quite a bit of uncertainty as to how far north that will come but as i say it could be a spell of wet weather. a brisk north—east wind makes it feel cold and that could turn to snow over the hills. further north again the crisp sunshine continues but even with the sunshine it will be cold with the risk of sleet

and snow showers just about anywhere because we are into the arctic air. the same is true through saturday night and sunday that slowly works out of the way but thn we have arctic air right across the uk and perhaps something more organised coming into the north—west later on sunday. plenty of detail to fill in and if you have plans stay tuned to the forecast. as ever, the forecast and the warnings are online.

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, as they're assembled at home. the uk and irish governments have condemned ongoing violence in northern ireland following a week 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 derek chauvin has been told by a medical expert that george floyd died from a lack of oxygen after officers held him down in a vice hold for more than nine minutes. mr chauvin denies a charge of murder.

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