here's our ireland correspondent emma vardy. hello. how are you doing?other. today there was praise for the vaccinators and medical teams who are part of a united effort in northern ireland battling the pandemic. but division is neverfar away. the agreements borisjohnson made in order to secure a brexit deal means northern ireland is now under different trading rules from the rest of the uk. what is known as the northern ireland protocol has left many unionists with a sense of betrayal. we will continue to put across the view of the majority of people living here in northern ireland, that it is very important that it is dealt with in a meaningful way and replaced, because it is causing untold damage notjust to unionists but to people right across northern ireland. but discarding the arrangements entirely looks unlikely. i think the most important thing about the protocol is that it should guarantee the peace process and the good friday agreement, which we all believe in and everybody in ireland, the uk and northern ireland has worked so hard to achieve.

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast.onse to the violence sweeping myanmar in the wake of the military coup. the un security council will meet tomorrow, amid warnings that the stakes could not be higher. funerals have taken place today for some of the dozens of protestors shot dead yesterday, including a 19—year—old. thousands lined the streets of her home city for her funeral, as our south east asia correspondent jonathan head reports. every revolution has its martyrs, and 19—year—old kyel sin has been made a symbol of this unequal struggle against a powerful and merciless military. she was given a hero�*s sendoff in her home city of mandalay. one of 38 people, shot dead in a day of violence, when the security forces opened fire on demonstrators here and in other cities. at least eight died here in the yangon suburb. makeshift shrines dotting the road where they fell in a hail of gunfire. but if the intent was to terrorise people off the streets, it failed. people were out again in large numbers today, defending the barr

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast.ring hundreds of thousands of uighurs and other ethnic minorities from north—west xinjiang to factory jobs often far from home is being used as a method of uprooting and assimilating the population. it's also uncovered possible connections between these workers and major international brands. china says transferring workers away from the region is a way of tackling rural poverty and unemployment. 0ur china correspondent john sudworth has this report. at this factory, the uighur workers are clearly visible. more than 2000 miles from home, brought all the way to central china by a massive relocation scheme. now the bbc has found compelling evidence of how it works. in this xinjiang village, the authorities need 100 people to send to jobs on the other side of the country. they set up a stall, but this 2017 state media report shows no one's interested. so they go house to house. "if you stay here," this official says, "you will be married soon and never able to leave." "will you go?", he a

london wants the current grace period extended until october. 0ur belfast correspondent emma vardy hased. now, one of the main issues is that supermarkets particularly have been saying, "look we're just not going to be "ready to comply" with all those new requirements when they're supposed to come in on the 1st of april. that systems will be overwhelmed and they've been warning that there could be disruption to food supplies. so the uk has been pushing for the eu to show some flexibility on this. but in the absence of any agreement, today the uk government decided to take matters into its own hands and the northern ireland secretary brandon lewis said that the uk government of its own accord would effectively push back the need for that new documentation until october. this hasn't gone down very well with the eu at all, saying this violates the brexit deal. and that it's going to be looking at the legal dispute mechanisms to resolve it. 0ur our thanks to emma vardy reporting there. stay with us on bbc news, still to come... buckingham palace says it's investigating claims that the duch

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast.uary after the brexit transition period came to an end. imports also fell by nearly 30%. the office for national statistics says the figures are the biggest drop since records began in 1997. our global trade correspondent, dharshini david is here. what can be read into these numbers? in the face of it these numbers suggest that global britain has taken a major stumble as it suggest that global britain has taken a major stumble taken a ma'or stumble as it takes those first taken a major stumble as it takes those first few _ taken a major stumble as it takes those first few steps _ taken a major stumble as it takes those first few steps of _ taken a major stumble as it takes those first few steps of a - taken a major stumble as it takes those first few steps of a new i those first few steps of a new trading era. some businesses have said the extra red tape and paperwork and the czechs have meant they have struggled to export into they have struggled to export into the eu -- they have str

our ireland correspondent emma vardy is in belfast. to visit go down? well, it was never going to be _ visit go down? well, it was never going to be an — visit go down? well, it was never going to be an easy _ visit go down? well, it was never going to be an easy visit - visit go down? well, it was never going to be an easy visit for - visit go down? well, it was never going to be an easy visit for him l going to be an easy visit for him because on the one hand, many unionists feel betrayed by boris johnson having agreed to those brexit trading arrangements, which now treats northern ireland differently from the rest of the uk. so today, the first minister of northern ireland, arlene foster, reiterated the dup's opposition, calling those arrangements intolerable. on the other hand, sinn fein michelle o'neill, refused to meet with boris johnson altogether, saying that sinn fein meet with borisjohnson altogether, saying that sinn fein had been long asking for a meeting to discuss brexit and other matters and that the party felt they still

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast.corded in the latest 24—hour period. it means an average of 7,680 new cases were recorded per day in the last week. across the uk, 12,748 people are in hospital with coronavirus. in the last 2a hours, 3a3 deaths have been recorded. that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid test. on average, 284 deaths were announced every day in the past week, bringing the total number of people who've died to 123,296. on to vaccinations now and 203,168 people had their first dose of a vaccine in the latest 24—hour period. in total nearly, 20.5 million people have now had theirfirstjab. 0ur health editor hugh pym is here. all the numbers, and i have been reading some of them just there, heading in the right direction. yes. heading in the right direction. yes, georre, heading in the right direction. yes, george. the _ heading in the right direction. yes, george, the figures _ heading in the right direction. we; george, the figures are quite striking. looking week on week, the number of d

the uk wants the current grace period extended until october. 0ur correspondent emma vardy is in belfasta, barely two months since it was agreed. supermarkets particularly have been saying, we are not going to be ready to comply with all these new requirements when they're supposed to come in on 1st april. they have been warning there could be disruption to food supplies. so the uk has been pushing for the eu to show flexibility. but in the absence of any agreement, today the uk government decided to take matters into its own hand and the northern ireland secretary brandon lewis said the uk government would push back the uk government would push back the need for that new documentation until october. it has not gone down with the eu, saying it violates the brexit deal. with the eu, saying it violates the brexit deal-— let's return to our main story, today's budget, which is meant to shore up the economy at huge cost to help it emerge from the effects of the pandemic. 0ur political corrrespondent alex forsyth has been to grimsby, which returned a conservative mp for the first time in more

emma vardy there.rrespondent, hywel griffith, reports from powys. after 12 weeks of shutdown, 12 weeks of staying at home, wales is at the beginning of the end of its longest lockdown. i look forward to seeing you. thank you, alun. yay! i haven�*t spoke to him for three months. i�*ve missed my clients. it�*s the newsjoss and her customers have been waiting for. on monday, her barber shop can open again — next week is already fully booked. absolutely ecstatic. i�*ve missed crickhowell, i�*ve missed my clients, i�*ve missed the banter, i�*ve missed the other shop traders in town. yeah, i�*m ecstatic. i can�*t wait to get back in. not that many of those other traders can open. you can have a haircut here next week, but the bookshop and clothes shop will be closed for a month. richard is annoyed that supermarkets will be allowed to sell non—essential goods in the meantime. it doesn't feel fair in the slightest for all the little independents, including ourselves, missing that opportunity to sell, especiall

emma vardy, bbc news, belfast.ntacless food store that has just opened in the uk. is this the future of shopping? emma simpson reports. as big names retreat from the high street, here's one that's moving in — amazon's first physical store outside the us. all you need is one of these and the amazon app. so, how does it work? well, here's the technology. cameras everywhere on the roofs and lots of sensors, tracking so, how does it work? well, here's the technology. cameras everywhere on the roofs and lots of sensors, tracking everything that we take off the shelves. have one of these. there are lots of amazon—branded products. a counter to collect amazon orders and return them too. and here's the thing — there aren't any checkouts. you just walk straight out. here's the bill. it goes straight to your account. you almost feel like you're stealing. you're not, of course, but... i mean, i haven't even looked at the receipt. i hate standing in line, so this is great. feels like you're being watched. i there's a lot of ca

our ireland correspondent emma vardy has given us this update from belfast.f the uk. so, today, the first minister of northern ireland, arlene foster, reiterated the dup�*s opposition, calling those arrangements intolerable. and on the other hand, sinn fein's michelle o'neill refused to meet with borisjohnson altogether, saying that sinn fein had been long asking for a meeting to discuss brexit and other matters, and the party felt they still hadn't had that opportunityjust yet. now, borisjohnson's visit here today was actually to focus on meeting the medical teams that have been helping in the fight back against covid and to launch the programme of events to mark northern ireland's centenary, 100 years since the formation of this place. but while there's all this uncertainty and division over the irish sea border, relationships with the two biggest parties here will continue to be difficult, and rebuilding trust with unionists is going to be particularly hard. the uk's national cyber security centre has urged organisations to install the latest microsoft exc

let's go to emma vardy. she was saying, careful and sustainable.down after a pretty tough period of lockdown. yes lockdown after a pretty tough period of lockdown-— of lockdown. yes i think those were - re of lockdown. yes i think those were pretty cautious _ of lockdown. yes i think those were pretty cautious announcements - of lockdown. yes i think those were | pretty cautious announcements that we heard today. in reality we are seeing pupils here at schools in northern ireland going back in a staggered way, more slowly than they are in england. things will start to lift a little bit from the 1st of april, so six people able to meet up in a private garden, for example, and really the next tranche of lifting restrictions will come more around after the easter holidays around after the easter holidays around the 12th of april when things like some outdoor sporting training for both our teams and things like that and get back, and we heard arlene foster saying there the approach is cautious but optimistic. she said we don't elect restrictions too qu

our ireland correspondent is emma vardy.est of the uk and a different one in northern ireland. that doesn't mean they are taking everything off the shelves. they are just taking certain variations of some of their products that they manufacture off. they are saying that will be a bit easier. now, we do not know exactly which ones this will affectjust yet, but we do know bbc news northern ireland has seen a list that includes some of the well—known brands like silk cut, benson & hedges, condor tobacco, imperial tobacco. we understand some of the brands affected there will be things like superkings and lambert & butler. so, really, it isjust anotherfacet, really, of those special arrangements to northern ireland that are starting to filter through and are having an impact on some of the products on the shelves. had anybody foreseen this? well, there were many, many predictions about the arrangements for the northern ireland protocol and how that would actually affect products in reality. because, of course, the set of rules we