welcome to bbc news. i'm david eades. our top stories: "shoot on sight" — the orders for security forces in sri lanka amid violent protests calling for the president to step down. a warning for china — the world health organization says beijing must change course on covid. when we talk about a zero—covid strategy, we don't see it as sustainable, considering the behaviour of the virus now and what we anticipate in the future. we are in the city of odesa as ukraine's strategic port struggles under the barrage of russian missile strikes. last night when we were here, it was difficult to see the full extent of the damage.

but this morning, you can — the rocket has completely ripped into the back of the shopping centre here. you can see it's completely folded. and going back to the past — the company trying to prove that sailboats are a greener way to transport cargo. security forces in sri lanka have been ordered to shoot anyone seen looting or damaging public property in the latest attempt to stop anti—government protests. since last month, the country has been rocked by demonstrations over soaring prices, power cuts and a lack of medicines. at least eight people have died in the violence and 200 have been injured, as our correspondent, rajini vaidyanathan, reports from colombo. a capital under curfew.

troops told to shoot at sight at anyone who damages public property or threatens lives. the skeletons of a bustling city scorched by an economic crisis. reeling after a day of violence. yesterday, supporters of the prime minister attacked anti—government protesters, who until that point had been peacefully demonstrating. at the city's main hospital more than 200 have been wounded. many were beaten up. this man fractured his leg after a tear gas canister landed on it. war veterans yigit and assuncao are out of hospital. men who lost their legs in mines during sri lanka's civil war say they were beaten up by the very people they made sacrifices for. "they started punching me.

"i was left with only one crutch. "they pushed me and i fell." "when we served in the army, people used to pray for us. "now we're being attacked." with trust in the government shattered, the homes of at least two dozen politicians who backed the ruling party have been torched. this was one of the houses that was vandalised last night. it belonged to a supporter of the government, a local mayor. and this was the bedroom. it was set on fire. all you can see now is the metal that forms the coils of the mattress. and if we just move into the living room, completely trashed — just look around. tonight, a resort belonging to the son of sri lanka's former prime minister mahinda rajapaksa, who quit yesterday, was set alight. and clashes broke out

in the city of negombo. protesters want the president, gotabaya rajapaksa, to resign — as long as he stays, tensions on this island will be inflamed. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, sri lanka. the head of the world health organization has said china's zero—tolerance policy against covid is not sustainable. the authorities in beijing have imposed lockdowns affecting tens of millions of people, lasting several weeks, to try to prevent any spread of the illness. but the who's director—general said he had told chinese experts it was time to change that approach. when we talk about the zero—covid strategy, we don't think that it's sustainable considering the behaviour of the virus now, and what we anticipate in the future. we have discussed about this issue with chinese experts, and we indicated that

the approach, you know, would not be sustainable. earlier, i spoke to saad omer, the director of the yale institute for global health. i asked him for his view on china's zero—covid strategy, well, the policy had its value at the beginning, or even at the — well, you know, a few months after the start of the pandemic. if you are in a football game and your first ten—minute strategy is being played out in the overtime, if you will, there is something wrong, and so i do not think it is sustainable in the light of the current variant, its infectivity, but also the fact that there are other tools available. so, china has other tools at its disposal that can be deployed, and i think it should seriously consider expanding a little bit of focus on these other tools and easing up on the so—called zero—tolerance

or zero—covid policy. when you talk about the other tools, i presume that vaccines are one of those. either the vaccines are not terribly effective in beijing's mind, or they are struggling to get people to take them. what is it? in terms of vaccines, it is not a yes—no question. it is notjust vaccines, but what kind of vaccines are being deployed — whether they are deploying boosters. i will give you an example. china focused on the inactivated vaccines that were extremely useful in the beginning, especially against the earlier variants and severe disease, but since then, there have been variants for which you would require additional doses and perhaps different kinds of vaccines. so, there are two applications pending in china for mrna vaccines, and i think china should focus on acquiring

the technology, but also producing mrna vaccines for boosters or reconsidering the schedules in line with the variants they are facing. the other thing is they have sub—optimal immunisation rates in some of the highest—risk populations in china, so they need to be a majorfocus. and then coming back to the... sorry — just on that point — that seems an extraordinary, an anomaly, really, within china that that is allowed to happen, because if they want to impose certain restrictions — as they have done with isolating people and locking down — why can't they impose the insistence that they have vaccines? well, they are. again, even before draconian mandates or strict mandates, there are a lot of things in the toolbox of public health entities, including in china, for example, soft mandates, meaning requiring vaccination for certain activities, and countries like france have shown that using those kinds of nudges or strong

nudges can be helpful. 0k. we will have to leave it there, but thank you very much indeed for your expertise as china continues to battle with the challenge of covid there. taking a live now to the us house of representatives because there is a bow going on right now about approving a significant sum of money in aid to ukraine. you would know that joe biden had called on $33 billion as the amount he wanted. they are actually voting on $40 billion of funds, which could be used to provide military support to the ukraine but also humanitarian assistance to the civilians affected by the russian invasion. the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, told

fellow democrats, it was important to act quickly. figs important to act quickly. as vladimir important to act quickly. sis vladimir putin important to act quickly. is vladimir putin desperately accelerates his campaign of horror and brutality, mr speaker in ukraine, time is of the essence. this is why we are so pleased to hear we could proceed immediately with this bill. today. so go through the senate and to the president's desk so the assistance can reach the people of ukraine and eastern europe. that reach the people of ukraine and eastern europe.— eastern europe. that is nancy pelosi talking _ eastern europe. that is nancy pelosi talking about _ eastern europe. that is nancy pelosi talking about the - eastern europe. that is nancy pelosi talking about the need | pelosi talking about the need to move quickly. it appears that the vote is pretty much done and clear that the met democrats have the majority of votes for that. $40 billion is the figure made available to assist ukraine. well, the number of ukrainians who have fled their country since russia's invasion in february is approaching six

million, according to the un, making it the fastest growing since world war ii. and there is no let—up in the attacks. on monday night, russia pounded the black sea port of 0desa, from where, using what the ukrainians say, were hypersonic missiles. from there, caroline davies reports. as russia celebrated victory day, 0desa burned. this was one of the city's shopping centres, incinerated, by a missile strike. the ukrainian authorities say seven missiles were launched at the city yesterday, killing one person and injuring five more. this morning, the smell of burning plastic still hung in the air. last night when we were here, it was difficult to see the full extent of the damage, but this morning you can. the rocket has completely ripped into the back of the shopping centre here. you can see it has completely folded. there are still fires that the fire brigade here are trying to put out and the electricity wires on this side have been ripped away. russia has been targeting the port city of 0desa on ukraine's southern coast. it's strategically important. before the war, it was a key

international port, taking ukrainian products to the world. president zelensky appealed again to end the war, so that the port can reopen. missile strikes don't only destroy infrastructure. they shake lives. this eight—year—old boy lives 300 metres from the strike. as we talk, he fiddles nervously with two pieces of blackened metal that he found — shards of the missile. "i heard a loud explosion," he says, "i fell out of bed and started to cry. "then i ran down the corridor to find my dog, max." "mum tried to calm me down, but there were more explosions. "we don't know what will happen next." the force of the blast smashed many of the windows in this block of flats. fortunately, most were unoccupied. katarina and her two—year—old daughter, arina, were on the other side of the courtyard. "we were about to go to bed when the air alert began," she tells me. "i heard a very loud explosion,

and i grabbed two pillows "and covered my daughter's ears with them. "i didn't want her to hear the sound of the explosion "and be frightened by it. "the whole house was shaking." then she asks her daughter, "what do we do when we hear "the air raid siren?" "we run," she says. "we run away." young minds already used to living with the constant threat of war. caroline davies, bbc news, 0desa. let's get some of the day's other news. an international donors conference has raised more than $6.5 billion to help war—torn syria and its neighbours. the news was announced on the second day of a un—backed conference in brussels. earlier, the un's high commissioner for refugees, filippo grandi, warned that the humanitarian situation for syrians was catastrophic. the families of eight miners trapped by flood waters in burkina faso say they're still hopeful they'll be found alive. nothing has been heard of the miners, who were working 520

metres, or 1,500 feet, below ground last month. the canadian owners of the zinc mine say specialist equipment has been brought in from ghana and south africa. elon musk has said he will reverse the twitter ban imposed on donald trump, once he takes over the social media company. the richest man in the world agreed a $44 billion takeover bid with the twitter board last month but he said it was not a done deal and that ideally it would be completed in the next two or three months. we can now speak to washington post's taylor lorenz, who is a technologyjournalist focussing on social media and internet culture. he is already creating quite a storm, clearly, in what his proposals. isuppose storm, clearly, in what his proposals. i suppose we should start, let's be honest, from the basic point. easy actually going to buy a?—

going to buy a? that is the million, — going to buy a? that is the million, you _ going to buy a? that is the million, you know, - going to buy a? that is the million, you know, billion, | million, you know, billion, multibillion—dollar question! it certainly seems intent on it. he hasn't given any indication he is backing down annie has the support of the former ceo. he annie has the support of the former ceo.— annie has the support of the former ceo. . , ., ~ ., former ceo. he has talked about twitter being _ former ceo. he has talked about twitter being left _ former ceo. he has talked about twitter being left leaning - former ceo. he has talked about twitter being left leaning and - twitter being left leaning and coming up with his own interpretations as to what is acceptable and what good moderation is. do they time with the regulators? h0. moderation is. do they time with the regulators?- with the regulators? no, i think it has _ with the regulators? no, i think it has actually - with the regulators? no, i j think it has actually shown with the regulators? no, i l think it has actually shown a deep ignorance in terms of his views on content moderation. just the notion that twitter is left ring is wrong we have seen time and time again in studies that they have —— left wing, that they have —— left wing, that right when information is more likely to be amplified and go viral on the platform. and it's interesting, just today, he was certainly spouting off the cuff that banning all

suites that were wrong and bad, which is just a very subjective term, so, unclear —— banning all tweets. term, so, unclear -- banning all tweete— all tweets. re does have a oint all tweets. re does have a point for — all tweets. re does have a point for many, _ all tweets. re does have a point for many, is - all tweets. re does have a point for many, is the - all tweets. re does have a point for many, is the idea that a permanent ban or an indefinite one, which is what donald trump has been landed with, seems wrong. evenjack dorsey suggests that is wrong. but that ban is there? he dorsey suggests that is wrong. but that ban is there?- but that ban is there? he said it is wrong _ but that ban is there? he said it is wrong until _ but that ban is there? he said it is wrong until it _ but that ban is there? he said it is wrong until it is _ but that ban is there? he said it is wrong until it is right. - it is wrong until it is right. we don't want to permanently ban someone unless they violate all these roles which is what trumpeted. he wasn't burned out of the blue but because he consistently violated committee guidelines for the platform. you sign up for a platform and agree to abide by rules. if you break the rules often enough, you will get banned. whether one must could go back, we will see. he wants to bring trump out which has big political implications but think of spam

bots. we want to permanently ban those. the idea of having no permanent ban on the phone would allow spam and bad actors to run rampant. it would allow spam and bad actors to run rampant.— to run rampant. it will trump a comeback? — to run rampant. it will trump a comeback? would _ to run rampant. it will trump a comeback? would he - to run rampant. it will trump a comeback? would he come . to run rampant. it will trump a l comeback? would he come back like that like a flash or, he has pursued his own social media over it? he has pursued his own social media over it?— has pursued his own social media over it? he has truth social, media over it? he has truth social. ate _ media over it? he has truth social, ate twitter - media over it? he has truth i social, ate twitter competitor, but hasn't used it much. it's a flop. i don't know, he was obviously very addicted to twitter and said he doesn't want to come back to twitter but who knows with elon musk and the helm, that was his megaphone to tens of millions of people on a minute by minute basis. ,., ., ., basis. the power of twitter to influence _ basis. the power of twitter to influence american _ basis. the power of twitter to influence american politics i basis. the power of twitter to influence american politics is| influence american politics is just heard, isn't it? we have to leave it there.— to leave it there. thank you for your— to leave it there. thank you for your analysis. _ to leave it there. thank you for your analysis. thanks i to leave it there. thank you for your analysis. thanks to j for your analysis. thanks to having me. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we'll assess the environmental impact of war — the latest in our special

series, climate critical. the pope was shot, the pope will live — that's the essence of the appalling news from rome this afternoon, that, as an italian television commentator put it, terrorism had come to the vatican. the man they called the butcher of lyon, klaus barbie, went on trial today in the french town where he was the gestapo chief in the second world war. winnie mandela never looked like a woman just sentencedl to six years injail. the judge told mrs mandela there was no indication - she felt even - the slightest remorse. the chinese government has called for an all—out effort to help the victims of a powerful earthquake — the worst to hit the country for 30 years. the computer deep blue has tonight triumphed over the world chess champion, garry kasparov. it is the first time a machine has defeated a reigning world champion in a classical chess match. america's first legal same—sex marriages have been taking i

place in massachusetts. god bless america! - cheering you are watching bbc news with me, david eades. the latest headlines: anti—government protestors defy a nationwide curfew in sri lanka, calling for the country's president to step down. the head of the world health organisation has said china's zero—tolerance policy against covid is not sustainable. at this time every week, in our climate critical slot, we turn our attention to global climate issues. as we report on the catastrophic damage and loss of life in the war in ukraine, we also need to ask how the conflict affects the entire planet. we're joined by neeta c crawford, professor of political science at boston university. she is also co—director of costs of war — a research project documenting the direct

and indirect effects of war. neeta, thanks very much, indeed, forjoining us. let's start, if we can, with the direct effects. can we say what the carbon emissions and the cost, therefore, of, i don't know, a javelin mess would be orany know, a javelin mess would be or any other ordnance? i5 know, a javelin mess would be or any other ordnance? is it that clear? _ or any other ordnance? is it that clear? yes, _ or any other ordnance? is it that clear? yes, you - or any other ordnance? is it that clear? yes, you can . that clear? yes, you can calculate the emissions from, let's say, a russian tank or the operation of personnel carriers and so on. you'd have to know to get a full accounting would be how many hours of operation and the fuel efficiency of the vehicle, and so on. so it's, you know, tens of tons of carbon for weapons as they are operated, yes. the whole military _ as they are operated, yes. the whole military structure of our world is such that it is a huge

consumer of carbon products, fossil fuels, consumer of carbon products, fossilfuels, i saw consumer of carbon products, fossil fuels, i saw a figure that the us military uses something like $5 billion of fuel are year as a sort of average. the scale there is enormous in any case. but then we come onto the damage. how does that, how do you measure the damage in it sort of environmental science? you can think of it _ environmental science? you can think of it in _ environmental science? you can think of it in terms _ environmental science? you can think of it in terms of _ environmental science? you can think of it in terms of direct - think of it in terms of direct consequences, for example, when military vehicles are operated on roads, they create dust. when you destroy a weapon with a weapon, the explosion of the weapon itself releases toxic chemicals and then there is the consequences of, let's say, burning a building or a factory. so when you do that, you can release asbestos and other particulate matter which can lead to cancer. then there

is the destruction of something like a fertiliser plant or the russians have targeted and so have the ukrainians, any war in ukraine, targeted fuel depots which can release methane. find which can release methane. and those are direct _ which can release methane. and those are direct costs, if you like. the indirect costs being? well, one country has its infrastructure destroyed, people compensate by doing some things like, for example, taking down forests and using those forests to heat their homes when they have no longer any access to electricity. all they could be using wood to burn, to cook food, and all about destruction not only of the forest but again the burning, adds to the pollution, so the direct costs of the destruction, indirect our

people's reaction. in the long run, they will be costs that are caused by the reaction to the destruction as well, for instance, environmental costs for reconstruction.— for reconstruction. right. let me ask you _ for reconstruction. right. let me ask you then, _ for reconstruction. right. let me ask you then, in - for reconstruction. right. let| me ask you then, in searching for some sort of positive is perhaps not the right word here but consolation prize, when you talk about a rebuild, let's take a city and there are cities aplenty at the moment that we could point out in various parts of the world. there are ways of, maybe it's, you know, circularity, the circular economy, ways of reusing damaged materials, of new materials, can we draw any comfort from the opportunity, i suppose, that those rebuilds can create?— suppose, that those rebuilds cancreate? , , can create? yes, sadly, you can make changes. _ can create? yes, sadly, you can make changes, for _ can create? yes, sadly, you can make changes, for instance, - make changes, for instance, when you repay the road you have to use the same kind of asphalt also meant. you can things don't use things lowered

emissions. building anything as high emissions especially if you are using standard concrete. then there is a lot of the potential to make a transition and energy systems and water treatment. when you are building from rubble, as many cities are, you can make those transitions but sadly what happens often is the contractors will do what they know which may be standard building construction techniques. right. even the opportunity for passive solar would be an improvement. itier? would be an improvement. very breviary briefly _ would be an improvement. very breviary briefly because - would be an improvement. very breviary briefly because we are out of time, but looking at the state of the conflicts in the world at the moment, are they more than a pinprick on our carbon emission crisis? military fuel use and military industry are an enormous contributor to our greenhouse gases and it's not a pinprick. it is a significant and they have ripple effect throughout the entire economy.-

the entire economy. neeta, thank you- _ the entire economy. neeta, thank you. neeta _ the entire economy. neeta, thank you. neeta c - the entire economy. neeta, l thank you. neeta c crawford, thank you for “oining us. thank ou. each year, billions of tonnes of goods are transported around the world by sea. huge cargo ships travel the oceans, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. but one company is trying to provide an alternative, and it involves the use of an ancient technology, as the bbc�*s tim allman explains. in the shadow of a city built on trade, the present meets the past. and in doing so, could it point to the future? at this port in newjersey, they are loading a cargo ship, well, technically a boat, that harks back to an earlier age. the grand assail is powered by the wind, transporting goods across the atlantic the old—fashioned way. the mission of grand assail is to reinvent shipping in a way by doing it with a cargo sailboat to reduce the impact on the environment

so we want to produce and sell great gastronomic product while we come from far away. the sailboat is a 72—foot, two—masted schooner. it can carry around 50 tons of cargo, a tiny fraction of what a modern transporter ship can hold. one trip takes around 3.5 weeks, weather permitting. so patience really is a virtue for any potential customers. we assure people that it's possible to make green transportation with a cargo, selling cargo, just to take time, and it's possible, yes. there are plans for a sister vessel that'll be about twice the size of grand assail and can make more trips. no—one is under any illusions that sailboats are about to replace modern cargo ships but in the fight against climate change, every little helps. tim allman, bbc news. yes, it may seem like a small

everything at this stage but as tim said, everything helps. that's bbc news. thanks for watching. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbcdavideades. always good to hear from you. goodbye for now. hello there. tuesday was a day of sunshine and showers — most of those showers were across scotland and northern ireland. and there was quite a lot of rainfall across parts of western scotland at times — some of these showers quite heavy, even some rumbles of thunder, too. for the next few days, it's going to remain breezy, rather unsettled, low pressure nearby, and we'll see showers or even longer spells of rain. now for wednesday, this feature could bring some significant rainfall to parts of england and wales throughout the day. now some of that rain really will be quite heavy across parts of wales, south—west england through wednesday morning. and then, that rain will push in towards the midlands, parts of eastern england into the afternoon — i think the northern extent of it being around the greater manchester area, not further north than that. but as this rain band begins

to move south—eastwards into east anglia in the southeast, it will begin to fragment. again another windy day to come, particularly across southern britain with that rain band. quite gusty, as well, across the northwest of scotland, where we'll see sunshine and showers. and temperatures will range from around 14—17 celsius. pollen levels on wednesday, again, will be rather high, but maybe not quite as high across england and wales as we'll have that rain band. now, that rain will clear away from the south—east as we move through wednesday night, then skies will clear. winds will turn a little bit lighter, as well, but there'll be further showers across the north and the west of scotland in particular. now, with the clearer skies, a slightly cooler air mass — it'll be a fresher night to come for wednesday night, with temperatures down into single figures for most. the pressure chart for thursday, then, shows more weatherfronts affecting northern parts of the uk — so again, it'll be quite breezy and showery here, a little bit drierfurther south. so, best of the sunshine for england and wales throughout thursday. after that fairly fresh start, temperatures will begin to rise. more cloud, though, for northern england, northern ireland, and scotland — there's the north—west of scotland, which will see most of the showers and also the strongest

of the winds. after that cool start, temperatures will reach highs of 14—18 or 19 degrees across the south. for friday, again, weather fronts bring more showers and blustery conditions across the north of the uk, but as we head into the weekend, this area of high pressure begins to build in. it turns sunnier and warmer, but we could see potential of some thundery showers across southern areas, especially on sunday. so, those temperatures will be building as we head on into the weekend, as that area of high pressure starts to establish itself. and there'll be increasing amounts of sunshine, but also some heavy showers in the south.

this is bbc news — the headlines: tens of thousands of military personnel have been deployed in the sri lankan capital, colombo, as the government struggles to contain protests against the spiralling cost of living. security forces have been given the right to shoot anyone suspected of looting or posing a risk to life. china has been urged to change its zero—covid strategy by the world health organization. the head of the un agency said efforts to eliminate the virus were unsustainable. many cities in china have faced lockdown restrictions as the country suffers its worst covid outbreak since the pandemic began. russia has targeted the black sea port of odesa using what the ukrainians say were hypersonic missiles. one person is reported to have died. it comes as the un has estimated the number of civilians killed in the conflict far exceeds

the officialfigure ofaround 3,000. now on bbc news, panorama. the uk has a postcode inequality problem — where you live can determine your chances in life. ijust know that if we lived in the south, we would be getting more money and we'd be making more changes. health! wealth! transport! throughout the uk, so often there's the south—east of england and then there's everywhere else. so the government's on a mission to what it calls "level up the uk". you've got to invest in education. you've got to strengthen local leadership. you've got to make sure that the soil is irrigated for the private sector to play its role. and all of those things

together will see lasting change occur.