lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. this is bbc news. the united nations has described the war in ukraine is a horror story of violations against civilians and says there is growing evidence war crimes may have been committed. it comes as you are satellite images allegedly show a mass burial site near the port city of mariupol. the united nations secretary—general is to travel to moscow for talks with president putin. antonio guterres will meet mr putin on tuesday. a ukrainian deputy prime minister has told the bbc only the un can save the lives of tens of thousands of people stuck in the city of mariupol. this the french presidential election campaign has concluded

and voters now have a day to reflect on the competing claims of the two remaining candidates — emmanuel macron and marine le pen. voting is on sunday in an election which is being closely monitored across the european union and beyond. now on bbc news, escape to paraguay. on the banks of the parana river, built among some of paraguay�*s most fertile land, hohenau, obligado and bella vista, or the united colonies. these german settlements were first established more than 100 years ago by immigrants wanting to farm the land. recently, paraguay has seen a new wave of german immigration. babbles

yes, we have a problem in germany, but it is not so easy to talk about this problem. but that's not all. we've been told that in the last four weeks, at least 1,200 people have entered the country illegally. so can that be true? are german immigrants really breaking into paraguay? and if so, why? it's one of the oldest cities in south america. asuncion, the capital of a nation built on immigration. paraguay lost half its population during the triple

alliance war of 1864, fighting against brazil, uruguay and argentina, and opened its doors to immigrants from all over the world as it tried to repair. in the early 1900s, almost 400km south of the capital, a handful of german families, led by a man named wilhelm closs, began to build the united colonies, and thousands more would follow. germans escaping nazis during the second world war fled to the united colonies, and ironically, nazis themselves fleeing justice back home would find sanctuary here too. since then, there's been a steady stream of immigration — untiljune 2021, when suddenly the numbers began to accelerate.

so i made the six—hourjourney from asuncion to the colonies to meet some of the new arrivals. "fuhl dich wie zu hause." it means, "feel like it means, " feel like you it means, "feel like you are at home." and for thousands of germans who have arrived here in recent months, this really is home now. amongst them, the hausens — two—year—old ella, her mum teresa, and dad stephan. they moved to paraguay in novemberfrom nuremberg. in november from nuremberg. but in novemberfrom nuremberg. but why? laughs

like so many others, for the hausens, it was the covid—19 pandemic which pushed them to leave germany. corona might well have been the final straw for this family, but there was another reason they decided to move. we'll come back to them later.

michael schwartz is another new arrival — another new arrival — an architect from stuttgart. he dreamt of building his own german community here in hohenau. but when nobody would move with him, he decided to pack up and come alone. many people tell about vaccination, but this is not the main thing for me. i want to have blue sky. not so much clouds, cloudy, and not so much rain. and i want warm weather and i want to do many things outside. and, of course, tax. 0k. ok. taxes. taxes. taxesis taxes. taxes is a big problem in germany. many people say in germany, we have the most taxes in the world, but the money is not put in for the people who live in germany long time.

corona changed many things. 0k. ok. over one 0k. over one million people lost their companies. so the pandemic, the situation with the pandemic played a role in your decision to come to... but the methods are the problem, not the pandemic or corona is not the problem, because what they do is wrong. they destroy the infrastructure. and what about the vaccination rules? what do you think? yeah. vaccination is now a big, big problem, that you don't, um, allow to criticise this. are you vaccinated? no, no. no. i don't do it because there are many questions with this vaccination. many doubts. doubts. doubts. do you think you can live here without vaccination? yes. yes, yes. but there is a campaign. it's not so that all paraguay

find it good, this vaccination. many paraguayans say no. well, but vaccines save millions of lives. when you see the figures and you compare with the old vaccination, for other, er... it is much, much, much more people have problems with this vaccination. and then, you know, from the man who create this test, that the test is not...able... ..to show infection. this is fact. but this is incorrect. pcr tests do accurately diagnose corona, and that's not the only misconception we have discovered among the newcomers.

covid measures here are actually quite strict. vaccine certificates and pcrs are carefully checked. you can find hand—washing stations like this outside virtually every public place, and masks are commonplace. but the fear among the locals is that some of the new arrivals don't feel that these rules apply to them. it's a big worry, especially as paraguay had the highest number of covid deaths per capita anywhere in the world when this new spike of immigration began.

the country is running a national campaign to inoculate the population, so unvaccinated immigrants are a worry for the mayor. and then the mayor says something that confuses me.

injanuary in january this year, paraguay injanuary this year, paraguay made it in january this year, paraguay made it mandatory for all non—residents entering the country to be vaccinated. since then, message boards have been filled with ways to get around the rules. michael and the hausens arrived legally and through the airport. but since the rules changed, we're told german citizens have been breaking into the country illegally through its porous borders. juan, not his real name, is a government official. he's risking hisjob to is a government official. he's risking his job to speak to us, because he's angry. he says paraguay had to change the rules because of the immigrants.

but they are still entering without that certificate. how is that happening? paraguay is surrounded by bolivia, argentina and brazil.

with limited resources, policing the perimeter is not easy. juan says this means illegal immigrants are easily able to enter the country and bypass the covid checks. he says corrupt officials then legitimise their paperwork. the bbc cannot independently verify the bbc cannot independently verinyuan�*s figures. verify juan's figures. estimates we've received differ hugely. in response tojuan�*s allegations, the government told us... they added...

untranslated conversation noemi jara works untranslated conversation noemijara works in untranslated conversation noemi jara works in the tourism office. she's in the business of welcoming people, but she's worried that double standards have become the norm. noemi goes farther. she says she often feels belittled by the new arrivals. but that isn't

but that isn't the end of this story. it is notjust the pandemic driving this new wave of immigration. angela merkel is absolutely putting _ angela merkel is absolutely putting on_ angela merkel is absolutely putting on the _ angela merkel is absolutely putting on the pressure, . putting on the pressure, and _ putting on the pressure, and has _ putting on the pressure, and has been _ putting on the pressure, and has been doing - putting on the pressure, | and has been doing so... since _ and has been doing so... since 2015, _ and has been doing so... since 2015, around - and has been doing so... since 2015, around 1.5. and has been doing so... - since 2015, around 1.5 million migrants, many of whom had fled war in afghanistan, iraq and syria, have entered germany in response to former chancellor angela merkel�*s open door policy. but the strategy has led to tensions at home, and some say fuelled

and some say fuelled a rise in the far right. stefa n stefan and teresa say the main reason they emigrated to paraguay was to protect their daughter from their daughterfrom their daughter from the "influences" of islam. what's the difference between muslims arriving

in germany and you europeans arriving in this country?

stephan says he's been warmly welcomed in paraguay. i asked him why the same welcome couldn't be extended to immigrants in germany. the husband's position is not unique. in fact, every german immigrant we spoke to during our visit cited muslims in germany as one of the main reasons they left the country.

"hana", not her real name, left her home in germany four years ago. we worked very hard. 40 years long. now she helps germans settle in paraguay. she refuses to show her face on camera, because she says she is sick of bad press campaigns.

but they are protecting their children from what, exactly? but that is a strong accusation. do you have, or do they have any evidence of that? what would you say to people who think that argument is racist, that you are being racist?

i pointed out to hana that the new immigrants who are breaking into paraguay in order to flout the country's covid rules are not being respectful. hana herself is not vaccinated, and tested positive for covid—19 later that day. coughs but this is not... this is not a campaign. this is not a campaign. this is not a campaign. this is what is happening.

there are some people from germany who are entering illegally the country, because they don't have the vaccine certificate. no, no, of course not all of them. but this is a... this is a illegal thing. of course, those sort of things are legal things and they have the right to do that, to start a new life in a new country. but since january. ..

..for enter paraguay, you have to show your vaccine certificate, and these people are entering through all the borders to escape that control. that is illegal. between june 2021 that is illegal. betweenjune 2021 and march 2022, just over 1,300 new residence permits were issued to german immigrants, but the true number of new settlers is thought to be much higher. the exact number of illegal immigrants remains unknown. paraguay has a long history of welcoming migrants from all over the world. it's a part of the fabric of society. they are proud to be open and inclusive, and they say that while this new wave

of immigration is welcome, any kind of prejudice is not. it's just un—paraguayan. hello there. at this time of year, wind direction can have quite a significant impact on the weather story. west has been best for the last couple of days. in fact, there was nearly 14 hours of sunshine in argyll and bute, an absolutely glorious story here. just down the road in north wales, well, that was the highest temperature recorded in flintshire with 19 celsius. that's because we were sheltered from a fresh

easterly wind coming in off a cool north sea. it dragged in a lot of cloud with it. most of the weather action over the last few days has certainly been across europe where we've seen some hideous weather, wet and windy at times across northern spain and portugal, and that's going to continue for the weekend. for us, though, there will be a lot of cloud, and it's been pushing in off the north sea, and the cloud thick enough for some coastal fog which will linger across the far north—east of scotland. but once again, western areas in scotland, northern ireland, north—west england seeing the best of any sunshine. the cloud will break up across england and wales, but we could see a rash of showers into south wales and south—west england as we go through the afternoon. yes, it's going to be another breezy day, so on exposed north sea coasts, it will be noticeably cooler. we're likely to see those temperatures perhaps peaking at around 12 or 13 degrees. but in western areas and maybe into the south—east, where we see that cloud break up and more sunshine coming through, 18 degrees, once again, is quite possible. so, there's that low pressure bringing yet more wet weather

and significant snow across the alps in europe. at the same time, we're under this influence of high pressure, but there'll be plenty of isobars squeezed together, so a significant breeze yet again on sunday. that may well help to break up the cloud a little further on sunday, but it will continue to drag in a lot of low cloud and sea fog across the northern isles and far north—east of scotland. 9—11 degrees here, but with more sunshine and fewer showers, 18, once again, not out of the question. then, as we head into next week, the isobars will open up a little, but we can track that wind direction to more of a north—easterly, a cooler source if anything. so, yes, potentially lighter winds, but that's going to drag in a little more in the way of cool air in comparison to of late. so, we keep the theme dry to close out the month of april, but noticeably cooler than we've seen over the last couple of days. take care.

welcome to bbc news, i'm chris rogers. our top stories: the un describes the war in ukraine as a horror story, and says there's growing evidence of possible war crimes. shuttle diplomacy — the un secretary—general is to have separate meetings with presidents putin and zelenskyy. it's the final stretch in a tight french presidential race for marine le pen and emmanuel macron. and, art in the shadow of war. the ukrainian entries at this year's venice biennale.