And the white house warns of an active threat from a hack on microsofts Email Software. The tech firm blames china. Hello, and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. Were covering all the latest Coronavirus Developments here in britain and globally. First, one of the largest legislative packages in us history has passed its biggest hurdle by the narrowest possible margin. The senate has approved President Biden� s 1. 9 trillion Coronavirus Relief plan which was at the heart of his Election Campaign by 50 votes to 49. The vote means millions of people will get a payment of 1,400. And therell be multi billion Dollar Payouts to cities and states, to help them deal with the effects of the pandemic, which has now killed more than half a million americans. The bill only passed after democrats made a key concession to placate moderates in their own party. Heres lebo diseko in washington. The yeas are 50. The nays are 49. The bill as amended is passed. A vote on party lines Gavejoe Biden the victory he needed in the senate after a marathon session lasting more than 2a hours. This is his first major piece of legislation as president. A package, he says, is necessary to during the toll of the pandemic around. This lan of the pandemic around. This plan puts of the pandemic around. This plan puts us of the pandemic around. This plan puts us on of the pandemic around. This plan puts us on a of the pandemic around. Ti 3 plan puts us on a path to beating the virus. This plan gives those families who are struggling most the Breathing Room they need to get through this moment. This plan gives Small Businesses in this Country A Fighting Chance to survive. And one more thing this plan is historic. The survive. And one more thing this plan is historic. This plan is historic. The bill will help fund this plan is historic. The bill will help Fund Payments this plan is historic. The bill will help Fund Payments for| this plan is historic. The bill will help Fund Payments for the unemployed. Last monthsjob unemployed. Last months job gains unemployed. Last monthsjob gains are still too slow, says the president , with the country still down 9. 5 million since this time last year. Money too to speed up distribution of the vaccine in the hopes that that will significantly increase the 10 of americans who have been immunised. But republicans say the cost is too high and they were united in their opposition with not one voting in favour of the bill. Voters picked a president who promised unity and bipartisanship. Democratss response is to ram through what they call response is to ram through what they call the most Progressive Domestic they call the most progressive Domestic Legislation in a generation on a Razor Thin Majority Generation on a razor thin majority in both houses. There was criticism majority in both houses. There was criticism too majority in both houses. There was criticism too from majority in both houses. There was criticism too from within l was criticism too from within the democratss own ranks which almost derailed the bill. All of this an indication of how difficult it will be for President Biden to fulfil his agenda. The bill has been substantially changed since it passed in the House Of Representatives, so it will go back there for a vote on tuesday. Democrats are racing to get it signed by the president by march 1a, when key Unemployment Benefits expire. Lebo diseko, bbc news, washington. Pope francis has met the influential shia muslim cleric, grand ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, during the first ever papal visit to iraq. After meeting with other faith leaders, he delivered an impassioned condemnation of extremism and violence, saying that believers could not remain silent when terrorism abused religion. Later, he celebrated a public mass at stjoseph� s cathedral in baghdad. Our rome correspondent mark lowen has been travelling with the pope and has sent this report. Peace in iraq will take time to flourish, but this visitor is determined to see it. Along the narrow alleyways of najaf, and into a historic meeting of two faiths, catholic and shia islam. Grand ayatollah Ali Al Sistani face to face with pope francis. At 90 and 84, its taken long lives and generations to get here. The two religious leaders spoke of friendship to overcome oppression rare unity after iraqs sectarian conflict. That theme of dialogue then spread further to the remains of ur, biblical birthplace of abraham. And in the shadow of its ancient citadel, pope francis met followers of other faiths. Gestures of respect to those often sidelined and victims of iraqs wars now brought together in a plea for peace. Translation hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart. They are betrayals of religion. We believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion. From these windswept plains, the pope is using the symbolism of the ancient prophet, evoking the figure of abraham, revered by christians, muslims and jews, to try to spur reconciliation between religions today. And then it was on to mass, pope francis hoping to persuade a dwindling Christian Community to remain. Iraqs patchwork of people came together today. But, as this country knows too well, the spirit of coexistence can quickly fade. Mark lowen, bbc news, in ur, iraq. To myanmar now, where an increasingly brutal crackdown by police and the military has not stopped protests against the Military Coup. Today, Security Forces have continued Firing Tear Gas on protesters gathered in yangon. The uns Special Envoy On Myanmar has told the Security Council that there is urgency for collective action. Danai howard has this report. This is a scene that has become all too familiar in cities right across myanmar, from the northern Mountain Region to the major cities of yangon and naypyidaw in the south. Young protesters have been standing up to police, banging on home made shields, and marching for democracy. On saturday, Security Forces used tear gas, Rubber Bullets and Stun Grenades against activists in yangon to clear the streets. And there have been further allegations of Police Brutality. Its been over a month now since the protests erupted against the Military Coup on february 1st that overthrew aung san suu kyis elected government. In that time, the people of myanmar have faced internet blackouts, night time raids, unlawful arrests and death. 38 people were killed on wednesday alone, the deadliest day since the start of the coup. Hundreds gathered in mandalay on thursday for the funeral of one of the victims. Angel wasjust 19 when she was shot in the head during anti coup protests a day earlier. She was wearing a t shirt with the phrase Everything Will Be Ok when she died. The pressure is being felt globally. On friday, the Un Special Envoy to myanmar urged the Security Council to hear myanmar� s desperate pleas, and called for Swift International action to end the violence. The envoy said that the people of myanmar, including committed Civil Servants, are the real heroes and protectors of the nations democratic progress, but she warned that the hope that they had placed in the United Nations and their membership is waning. It is critical that this council is resolute and coherent in putting the Security Forces on notice and standing with the people of myanmar firmly in support of the clear november election results. But china and russia are unlikely to impose sanctions. So far, the Biggest International reaction has come from corporations, not governments. Facebook, instagram, and now youtube have all banned accounts belonging to the militaryjunta. The army have threatened Civil Servants who continue to strike that they will be fired. But the protests show little sign of waning. Every day, people continue to raise Three Fingers in protest in what has become a symbol of resistance and solidarity for democracy movements across southeast asia. Reports from yemen say dozens of people have died in 2a hours of fighting between Government Forces and houthi rebels, who are battling for control of the Northern City of marib. The rebels who are supported by iran, who want to drive out the saudi backed government in marib which is its only stronghold in the north of yemen and a major Oil Producing area. Military sources told a French News Agency that about 30 deaths were on the government side, while nearly 60 rebels were killed in air strikes. The fighting is also a threat to hundreds of thousands of displaced yemenis, living in poor conditions in camps in the surrounding desert. Ive been speaking to the Award Winning journalist iona craig, who has spent years covering the conflict in yemen, to find out more about the situation in marib. Marib has become an increasingly important city in yemen. Although it was before the war really a relatively small rural town, more more people have moved to the city both this place as well as the Yemeni Government, really it is their last stronghold and given come some separatists have really taken control of the given city in the south, and that has really left the Yemeni Government to consolidate his power in marib, and also its very important for the access of the human oil. Whoever controls marib really can also effectively take control of a lot of those oilfields and, as well as the natural gases, as well, and the pipeline that ran from marib to the south. Is there a sense that the houthis are pushing so hard on marib now because, with the Biden Administration newly installed, there could be talks and a call for both sides to stand down . Yes, i think there is a sense that the houthis are doing this right now because they want to be able to negotiate from a position of strength, and weve seen this time and time in yemen and in other conflicts, as well. There may be a prospect of these negotiations are caught or cease fire, parties of the conflict will then push them pass their position as far as they can for those talks to take place and a lot of fear over houthis pushing on marib. I was in marib this time last year, and the talk was even then that houthis would less than 20 miles from the city and they would push in take the city. And it didnt happen. They held back in from really attacking the city fully as they are doing that right now. Although the have stated that the plan to fully push on the city and they will not hold back in that they are going to push to marib and beyond, but it remains to be seen if they will do that or if they will place right out to the outskirts of the city before then realising that this is the best position for them to go into any kind of peace talk or political talks with the saudi led coalition. What about the impact on yemenis . So many who have been displaced . You have seen what its like in these camps. Yes, nearly a Million People living in the desert around the city. Theyre living in temporary accommodations, and living in tents or buildings that they have built out of mud themselves. And their on flood plains, as well, at a time when the rains will be coming in the next, you know, few months. And they have very limited resources there, very limited access to clean and fresh water. And already, some of them have left and moved but more importantly, a lot of them have come there not as the first place that theyve been displaced from over the course of the conflict. Its the second, third, or even fourth place that they have come to, theyve been displaced so many times over the course of the last six years. The Us Government says its concerned there are a large number of victims from a hack on microsofts Email Software which the tech firm has blamed on china. The white house says the scope of the hacking of Microsoft Exchange is still under investigation. It comes days after the tech firm raised the alarm about attempts to compromise email servers, which it blamed on a Chinese State backed hacking group. Sources involved in the investigation said on friday that at least 30 thousand us organisations had been affected and many more worldwide. 20,000 us 20,000 us organisations. Will guyatt is a Tech Journalist and explained how this hack has happened. I think with a Microsoft Exchange server, theyre used really commonly by organisations small and large, big corporations and schools, to power the e mail services. Simply what is happening here is the self managed ones, ones that are managed by organisations rather than in the cloud that you hear about increasingly these days, are impacted. Now, microsoft themselves at the very start of this it was very small and very targeted attack but the very fact that the white house has now come out and said it is not and warned people to update and also now ranges around 20 30,000 impacted organisations in the us, but it will be into the hundreds of thousands when you start to look into this around the world. The most interesting thing about this from my perspective is you can go and patch your software now, get the update if you havent already got it for your server, microsoft had made freely available online. But the issue is the hackers, this group, have in theory have access to systems since january, so they could put other software in to a computer or a compromise server, so you might patch this problem but they may have other access to your system. 0ne Security Expert said last night if you are infected with this, the best thing, if you really dont know what youre doing, is switch the server off until you can get an expert in order to have a look and see just how compromised your service has been. Weve also heard from brian krebs. Hes a cyber expert and author of the blog, krebs0nsecurity. Com he told me how far reaching the impact of this attack could be. 0n the Badness Scale if ten is the worst, its somewhere in the nine range. You know, the compromise thats taken place here has really knocked a lot of businesses, a lot of organisations, particularly Small Businesses, back on their heels. Essentially what happened was on tuesday of this week, microsoft issued Emergency Security updates that plugged four previously unknown and very serious flaws in its Exchange Server Software Going back ten years in products. And this Exchange Product is used by hundreds of thousands of organisations worldwide to handle their e mail. So microsoft, when it came out with the patches on tuesday said, hey, we see hackers taking advantage of these Phone Abilities to basically steal everybody� s e mail. These vulnerabilities. Like walk up to the E Mail Server and say, hey, we would like to have a dump of all your e mail. And microsoft blamed these attacks, which started off back injanuary 6th, by the way. Back then, they were kind of, you know, they were targeting people very quietly, poking at government groups, dissident groups and things like that, a very typical way that chinese hacker groups work. Microsoft calls this particular group hafnium, and they urge everybody to apply these patches immediately on tuesday. Well, by that time, you know, several of my sources told me it was already too late for a lot of the victims running exchange. I think its opportunism, you know, especially the last couple of days where we have seenjust, you know, thousands of servers getting compromised and retrofitted with back doors to let the bad guys get Remote Access whenever they want, do more damage. You know, thats what we have seen so far, and its pretty scary for a lot of these organisations because theyjust dont have the wherewithal to respond to these attacks. The malware thats gets left behind by the hackers is a thing that lets them take complete control over the organisations E Mail Servers. And the danger there is, you know, you could have these guys go sideways into your network from those kinds of resources if you get compromised. And whats needed now is a way to get all of these infected servers off line and cleaned up before the bad guys decide to come back and say, hey, we would like to do all this other bad stuff, maybe upload ransomware. I would be very surprised if that happened, but they certainly could do that. The attackers have a lot of leverage right now. You are watching bbc news. The headline. The Us Senate Passes joe biden� s 1. 9 trillion covid relief plan by a single vote. The president says the package will beat the virus and cut poverty. Lawyers and the family Of A Black American Man who died while in Police Custody have been speaking about a Major Police Reform package that bans choke holds and combats racial profiling. The George Floyd Justice in policing act cleared the us House Of Representatives on wednesday, and will now head to the senate. The trial of Derek Chauvin, a white officer charged with murdering george floyd, is due to begin in minnesota on monday. At a Press Conference earlier for the newjustice in policing act, George Floyds nephew said Derek Chauvin must be held accountable. I think when you look at my uncles murderer, a Police Officer kneeling on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds, we have to hold that accountable. Either he is a murderer, or he is not qualified to do his job correctly. Either way, somebody needs to be held accountable. There is no way a Police Officer can get a call on an alleged counterfeit 20 bill and the man, a loved one of ours, is murdered for 20 us dollars. Somebody needs to be held accountable. Protesters have rallied in tokyo to express their opposition to japans hosting of the Olympic Games which are due to begin injuly. They think its irresponsible to hold the event before the coronavirus pandemic is brought under control. Japanese 0lympic Organisers have insisted the games will go ahead, but theyve hinted that overseas fans might not be allowed into the country to watch. 0pinions Polls Injapan show a majority of people want the games postponed or cancelled. Part of iceland is being shaken by an intense series of earthquakes, with more than 20,000 recorded in the past ten days. The seismic activity in the south west of the country is thought to be caused by movements of molten rock underground. Isabella allen reports. 32 kilometres south of the icelandic capital lies this mountain. The last major eruption happened here eight centuries ago but that period of rest may be coming to an end after days of intense seismic activity. Normally there are around 1,000 small earthquakes a year. But there have been more than 20,000 in the past ten days, including 3,000 on friday alone, leading scientists to believe that interruption is imminent. The magna is fracturing. Magma. It is so close to the surface, we have to take it seriously the possibility that a new eruption can occur. The close vicinity is uninhabited and there is no immediate danger to the public. But roads have been closed and people are being told not to travel to the area. This small fishing port is only a few miles away. The feeling is never enjoyable, i can say that for sure. Of course, when Mother Nature is like shaking underneath your feet, you feel powerless. But i have been living here since i was born. This has been happening time to time. But this is the first time we are having such a powerful earthquakes so frequently. Earthquakes are common in iceland because it straddles two of the earths tectonic plates. In 2010, the explosive eruption of a more Southerly Volcano caused huge disruption in International Air travel affecting as many as 10 million travellers. But if any eruption occurs this time, its thought lava will emerge more slowly from a crack in the surface, so it is unlikely to cause the same chaos. We are expecting a small one. But lava is flowing, we are not expecting large explosive eruptions, the minimal impact on flights and Living Conditions will be minimal. As the Ground Awakens after 800 years, people await the outcome of this seismic storm. Isabella allen, bbc news. Bidding in an Online Auction for the first ever tweet has climbed to 2. 5 million. It was written by the platforms founder, jack dorsey, 15 years ago. Mr dorsey simply wrote. Its being sold as a unique digital certificate. But the post will remain publicly available on Social Media Platform even after it has been sold its daffodil season in europe, and britain produces 90 of the worlds crop, but this year, millions of the flowers will rot in fields because of a shortage of Seasonal Workers to pick them. Jon kay is in cornwall and explains why. It is a beautiful springtime sight, but not for Daffodil Farmerjames walkers. It is heartbreaking, it is heartbreaking. Its just saddening to see flowers going to waste. When theyre yellow, it is too late to pick them, so 50 million daffodils are being left here to rot. Everybody loves to see it, it looks really, really nice as you drive round the county, but to a grower its a crop loss. Like other farmers, james has come to rely on Seasonal Workers from europe, but this spring he only has half the number he needs. Aurimas has officially settled in the uk, but his lithuanian friends have stayed away. There are some that dont want to come any more because of the brexit, especially this year. There are not many people in the field, as you can see. Farmers hoped they may be able to turn back the clock and attract more local workers like they did in the past. How many british workers have you got here now . None. No british workers at all. We had five young lads who came to work for us and then it got wet and it was windy and their backs ached, theyjust said they couldnt hack it any more. The government has given 30,000 visas this year to foreign fruit and vegetable pickers, but farmers say the scheme also needs to include flowers. Ministers have promised they will make sure that all sectors have the labour they need in future. If youre wondering why the farmers dontjust use machinery to pick the daffodils instead, well, they say its not really practical because there are so many different varieties of flower, all growing at different heights and blooming at different times. They say without changes, their industry could also wither and die. Jon kay, bbc news, cornwall. Sydneys famous mardi gras celebrations have gone ahead despite the pandemic. But the event was scaled back, for the first time in four decades. Instead of a dazzling parade through packed streets, about 36,000 people gathered inside sydneys cricket ground. Mardi gras house parties have been limited to 50 people. Australian police warned of jail or heavy fines for rule breakers. You can reach me on twitter im philippabbc. Thanks for being with us. Hello there. Saturday was a disappointingly cold and cloudy day for many of us, and disappointing temperatures for early march. We did have a bit of sunshine though across Western Areas, but its looking like sunday is going to be a bit of a repeat performance. Its going to stay chilly with limited sunny breaks, and quite a bit of cloud around. Now, these settled conditions are because of this high pressure, which will continue to bring settled weather through sunday, but its going to slowly lose its grip on our weather as we head onto the start of next week. So early for sunday, its going to be cold under clear skies, well see some frost, some mist and fog about, but there will be some patchy rain for northern, and western scotland, little bit of snow over the Higher Ground too. But where we have the cloud, 4 6 celsius here, Versus Sub Zero further south. So a cold start to sunday. There will be some early sunshine around, mind you, with frost and a bit of mist and fog, but then looks like the clouds will tend to build up again into the afternoon, so turning grey and cold for many. Well have further rain for the north and west of scotland, i think the temperatures here a degree or so up, 9 10 celsius, but elsewhere, 7 8 celsius. And for sunday night, it will turn cold again for central and southern areas under clear skies, some further frost here, but less cold further north thats because we will have more cloud, some showery bursts of rain which will also affect parts of the north into monday, so for Northern Ireland parts of scotland, northern england. A bit of sunshine around, too, after a cold start for the south. There should be a bit of brightness around, but also some cloud here and there. I think temperatures a degree or so up across the board, and 9 10 celsius will be high. Into tuesday, the first of Weather Fronts start to move in. This ones a weak feather, though, and it brings no more than a band of cloud with Just A Little Bit of light rain on it. A little bit a week feature. So it will bring cloudier skies to northern and Western Areas initially, Sunnier Skies Central Southern and eastern areas after a cool start, and the winds will start to pick up from the southwest. Temperatures again 9 11 celsius but cast your eyes out west, this massive rain tied in with a deep area of low pressure, something we havent seen for a while. Thats going to sweep through tuesday night into wednesday, and we could see another, even deeper area of low pressure potentially move in wednesday into thursday. Now, these areas of low pressure will also bring some milder air up from the southwest, certainly for england and wales, but its certainly looking pretty stormy from midweek onwards with some heavy rain, the potential of severe gales, and slightly less cold airfor some of us. This is bbc news, the headlines. President biden has welcomed a senate vote to approve his Covid Recovery plan. The bill worth nearly two trillion dollars will return to the House Of Representatives for approval within days. Republican senators were united in opposing the draught legislation dismissing the bill as an unaffordable wish list. The visit of pope francis to iraq has continued with a public mass at a cathedral in baghdad. He praised the resilience of iraqs remaining christians, whose numbers have plummeted in the past two decades. Earleir the pontiff held an unprecedented meeting with iraqs top shia religious leader. In myanmar there have been further allegations of Police Brutality after Security Forces used Stun Grenades and tier gas against anti coup protesters, who have again taken to the streets. The uns Special Envoy On Myanmar has told the Security Council that there is urgency for collective action. Now on bbc news, global questions. While the west bought billions of vaccines quickly and cheaply, some people argue a global vaccine apartheid is unfolding with less wealthy nations missing out on supplies