me, directly or indirectly. and, art in the shadow of war. the ukrainian entries at this year's venice biennale. and around the globe. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america, and around the globe. the united nations has described the war in ukraine, as a "horror story of violations against civilians" and says there's growing evidence war crimes may have been committed. on saturday, it will again be attempted to establish humanitarian corridors out of the besieged southern port city of mariupol, which russian forces have been trying to fully capture for several weeks. our correspondent, catherine byaru hanga, is in southern ukraine. a warning her report contains some images viewers may find upsetting. haunting, apocalyptic scenes in mariupol. explosions russia has bombarded this city into near submission. once home to about 500,000 people, thousands are believed to have been killed. emergency workers from russia are filmed here, retrieving the dead. moscow has repeatedly denied that its troops are responsible for the mass killings of civilians in ukraine, but mariupol�*s mayor says some of the worst war crimes have been committed there. translation: they | killed 20,000 people. they did it on purpose. this is what i think. they intentionally prevented people from leaving mariupol. they set this genocide up by closing the city down and using land artillery and air strikes first, and then the warships that arrived later. russian forces have been accused of hiding civilian bodies in mass graves. these satellite images show them appearing over the course of a month. the civilians have been buried in the village of manhush, outside mariupol, the southern city which has been besieged and encircled by russian forces for weeks. the last ukrainian troops in the city are holed up inside the azovstal steelworks, on mariupol�*s coast. 1,000 civilians are still said to be in this sprawling industrial complex. on this missing persons wall, most of the faces and names that you can see are people from mariupol, and now, with the ongoing blockade and with communications cut off, it's almost a miracle for people to get out. katya, valentina and tatiana escaped mariupol together on thursday — just a handful of people who made it through with a humanitarian convoy. a friendship born out of the horrors of this war. translation: people are risking their lives under fire. _ they have to because there is no running water, gas or electricity. there is a mosque in the prymorskyi district with a well nearby. a lot of people got killed there. they got caught up in shelling. they were just looking for water in the city. but they are safe now and able to rebuild their lives in new cities and countries. catherine byaruhanga, bbc news, zaporizhzhia. the satellite company maxar has released new images of a possible second mass grave site near mariupol. the firm says the cemetary location has got bigger over the past month and has several long trenches which may suggest a new burial site, but how do you verify such a claim. malachy browne is a senior story producer on the visual investigations team at the new york times. hejoins me now from newjersey. how do you look at satellite images and establish what you may be possibly looking at? yes, thank you, in this case, the satellite images came from maxar, but also first reported from europe, from a second satellite company called planet. these are changes that are dog in an existing cemetery. you can tell that they are trenches because you can see the shadow cast by the wall of the trench into the ground, about a0 metres long. they started to be dog around the end of march, the last week of march, and in the first couple of weeks in april it has doubled in size. you can see that in the fresh earth that has been overturned. you can also see that it appears that the early trenches at the burial site have been filled and because shadows aren't there, suggesting the early trenches are filled and they are digging a new ones. presumably to bury more bodies. looking at some of those images, i know you haven't necessarily been working on these images, but do you think these images, but do you think these will become a crucially important as the un and other investigators try to gather solid evidence of possible war crimes? how helpful are satellite images? i think so, the satellite images indicate that there is a high death toll, and that is consistent with reports we are hearing from officials they are, and the meagre information we are getting. this particular neighbourhood on the outskirts of mariupol was the scene of heavy fighting during russia's approach, we were keeping an eye on it. in fact, we saw multiple rocket launchers in that area around march. and i think mariupol is a little like bucha, if russia lives at all be successful. i dread to think what we will find when we get access to the city. and you have worked extensively, haven't you, on bucha and the claims of a massacre there?- bucha and the claims of a massacre there? which russia denies. what _ massacre there? which russia denies. what is _ massacre there? which russia denies. what is your _ massacre there? which russia i denies. what is your assessment of the evidence you have seen in your work? the satellite images show in abuja that the bodies that were filmed when ukrainian officials and journalists got access were in those positions on the street for weeks while russia was in control of the town. that was, you know, contradicted directly of what russia was saying, that these bodies were new. we found video then afterwards that showed russian armoured personnel carriers barring at civilians who rounded a corner on a bicycle at that same intersection, so russia wasn't just in control of the town but they had a convoy of 20 or more military vehicles at that intersection where many bodies were found. our reporters on the ground have been speaking to witnesses in the weeks since and hearing horrible stories of executions in abuja by russian soldiers. executions in abu'a by russian soldiers. �* executions in abu'a by russian soldiers. ~ , , ., ., soldiers. also, russian tv ran the new york _ soldiers. also, russian tv ran the new york times _ soldiers. also, russian tv ran the new york times story - soldiers. also, russian tv ran the new york times story on | soldiers. also, russian tv ran i the new york times story on the female cyclist that seem to have been shot for absolutely no reason. russia's response to it was, "fake news". what do you make of that? typical, classic russian deception, really, it is really to try to, you know, exonerate themselves from responsibility, claim it as a hoax by western media, to frame russia, and it has some success at home with that, but the facts are clear. it is also clear, russia's response to those images from bucha that it has no interest in investigating it, ed flatly denied it, did not say that it would investigate what happened. they independent investigation is ongoing, but the work of yours and those at the new york times and the like are so important when thank you for talking to us. it is said that only the un can save tens of thousands of people stuck in mariupol. for more on this, i've been speaking to our news reporter, azadeh moshiri. the latest is that ukraine is saying they are working on a humanitarian corridor for saturday, ukraine time, to get more residents out of mariupol where the situation is extremely dangerous. now, the problem is, these humanitarian corridors have been attempted, and many times have failed. it is simply so difficult for these aid agencies to get to mariupol, past these russian checkpoints, past the russians. a lot of the time, mariupol residents are fleeing on their own without any help, taking that risk because the situation is simply so desperate. what the deputy prime minister told the bbc is that it is now urgent for the un to take action themselves, for them to get involved with these humanitarian corridors, and was quite biting in her criticism. iryna vereshchuk said antonio guterres, the secretary—general, and the un as a whole, have simply been watching events as they happen, and has said that as 100,000 people are currently trapped in mariupol, it's extremely important for them to intervene. there have been some developments in last hour or so regarding the un. we now understand that we will see a visit to moscow by the un secretary—general, with the chief — that is anybody�*s guess, but this is a breakthrough in terms of the un acting up, as they have been under pressure to do so? that is absolutely right, they did announce that antonio guterres is going to go to moscow on tuesday. the plan so far is that he will have a working lunch with the foreign minister, the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov. and they said that he will be received by president putin, it is unclear if it is an opportunity for them to have substantive conversation, seperately, they were also going to be meeting with president zelensky in kyiv. the fact is, the un so far hasn't had these sort of direct talks at these higher levels, and haven't been a warning that instead they have had aid deliveries hampered, they haven't had the conditions they were promised like being delivered food, electricity and water, and residents don't have this in mariupol right now. they are warned they are increasingly concerned about the civilian casualties, something that russia says it isn't responsible for. the situation has become so dire that they have warned the residents who are there are at risk of starving to death. campaigning has ended in france ahead of what's expected to be a close run—off between president emmanuel macron, and his far—right rival, marine le pen, on sunday. opinion polls suggest emmanuel macron still has the upper hand, but his challenger could perform better than she did when the pair went head to head in 2017. our paris correspondent lucy williamson reports. it's a bit late for tips on how to learn to punch on his opponent. after five divisive years in power, what emmanuel macron needs is to persuade voters who'd quite like to punch him to give him their vote instead. florentine and chloe are both teachers here in the suburbs of paris. they voted for mr macron last time. now, they've come to give him a hard time. le pen isjust...huge disaster, but macron is still a disaster, i think, for school and service—public, ah, public services in france. he's killing that, step—by—step. florentine says she'll abstain on sunday rather than vote for macron again. i'm still hesitating. i think if i do it, i might really get sick just after. he's a good talker, he knows how to try to seduce people, but we're not stupid. chloe gets close enough to shout her question on teacher's pay. "do you think teachers are lazy?", she asks. through the scrum, macron grips her hand, and locks in her vote. translation: he gripped my hand and said, "we're going to do - "something about that, i promise." so, i will vote for him, but i want something in return. truck horn honks there's a real choice on sunday about where france is heading. marine le pen is promising huge tax cuts and to "take back control". emmanuel macron wants a global nation, set on economic reform. divisions here are deepening with every election cycle and voters are now split between two radically different views of the world — with one candidate presenting herself as the spokeswoman of the people, and the other saying he's protecting france from her. dylan says he voted far—left in the first round of this election. on sunday, he's voting far—right. translation: it's not that i like the idea of voting - for marine le pen, but we have to choose between the two, and when you're choosing between cholera and the plague, you choose the lesser of two evils. crowd chanting at herfinal rally, here in arras, marine le pen said voters should choose her to block mr macron. both say the other is dangerous. both spark loyalty in their own fans and loathing in those of their rival. but most voters belong to neither camp, and in this battle over france's future, they're being asked to choose a side. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. voting takes place on sunday in france, and we will have a special program bringing you the result, starting at 17:30 gmt. join us for that, as france decides. two people are in a critical but stable condition after a gunman opened fire in an upmarket district of the us capital, washington. a third person was also wounded in the attack. police said they had searched the connecticut avenue neighbourhood for at least one suspect. the motive also is not yet known. no—one has been arrested. stuart emerman, assistant chief of the metropolitan police, gave this update on the situation. at about 3:20pm metropolitan police responded to the area at the sound of gunshots, where we located three soothing victims, to adults who are in a critical but stable condition at area hospitals, and a third which was a juvenile which is stable with a minor gunshot wound, also being treated at an area hospital. we do not know any relationships at this point between any of these three, we are currently continuing to search the area, we have it locked down at this point, as we are looking for any suspect or suspects. we do not have a motive at this time, we do not have details of what took place but we continue to ask the public to steer clear of the area as we continue to investigate. the fugitive businessman carlos ghosn, who once ran the car—making giant nissan, has told the bbc he would be happy to stand trial on charges of financial wrongdoing in order to clear his name. mr ghosn, who fled japan while awaiting trial, is now the subject of an international arrest warrant issued by investigators in france. here's our business correspondent theo leggett. he was the high—flying company boss who came crashing to earth. he once ruled over a car—making empire that included renault, nissan and mitsubishi, a man who once rubbed shoulders with presidents. but he was arrested injapan in 2018 and charged with serious financial crimes. a year later, he fled the country before his trial, hidden in this musical equipment box, and travelled to lebanon. he said he was escaping injustice. i did not escapejustice. i fled injustice. mr ghosn has always claimed he was the victim of an elaborate japanese conspiracy designed to derail a merger he was planning between nissan and its french partner, renault. but now it's officials in france who want him in custody. they've been investigating claims company money was misused to fund lavish personal spending. today, he protested his innocence once again. first, they're wrong. there was not one euro from nissan that ended up benefiting me, directly or indirectly — not one euro from renault, not one euro from nissan. but the chances of mr ghosn standing trial in france seem remote. at the moment, he's banned from leaving lebanon because of an interpol red notice issued byjapan. he says he would welcome the chance to fight the allegations against him. you've made it clear that you believe you're innocent of all the charges and claims that have been made against you. how confident are you that you could prove your innocence in a court of law? look, i'm totally confident about that. i am ready because it took me a couple of years to start to get all the documents that are necessary to my defence. now i have them, i have testimonies, we have people who are crucial witnesses who are free to talk. people are starting to talk. some documents are coming to me. and i'm ready for it, yes, without any doubt. mr ghosn says any trial should take place in lebanon. he's confident he can prove his innocence if he ever appears in court, but the actions of the french investigators suggest they believe there is at least a case for him to answer. theo leggett, bbc news. the mexican authorities have been criticised for not doing enough to tackle femicide — the murder of women because of their gender. more than 150 women have been killed in the first two months of this year alone, and around 25,000 women are missing nationally. among the disappeared is debanhi escobar, an 18—year—old law student who has been missing since 9 april. ana maria salazar is a former us deputy assistant secretary of defense for drug enforcement and security policy, and is based in mexico city. she said the authorities face a broader crisis of violence. well, because they have a different view in terms of how to deal with violence in mexico. i mean, there is a big question mark — how do you deal with criminal organisations who are among the most dangerous criminal organisations in the world, at the same time you have an enormous amount of violence that don't necessarily have to do with organised crime. so the problem is, what strategy are they going to use, and they have decided that the best way to deal with violence in mexico is through these development programmes, providing scholarships, providing funds, trying to improve the lot of the poorest of the poor. which is — it needs to be done, mind you, it has to be done, but as you provide this money to the poorest of the poor and these scholarships, it doesn't necessarily mean you are going to solve the problem of violence. and the fact is we are going through, in mexico right now, one of the highest index of violence, homicides, in the world. and like i said, you are absolutely right, it is shocking, mexico is about to reach 100,000 people disappeared in the last a0 years. so we have people who are being, who have disappeared, 20,000 in the last three years. we have an enormous amount of violence against women, murders against women have skyrocketed, and we continue to have to deal with these extremely dangerous criminal organisations. so mexico is a scary place to live for anyone, from the sounds of it. but is it particularly scary for a woman? i think so. and even though the government diminishes the fact of this increased violence against women, i mean they talk about focusing on violence in general — but i do think, when you look at these cases — you just mentioned one case, which in fact, when they were looking for the woman who was lost when she was going to a party, i believe, they found four other bodies of women who had disappeared as they were looking for her. so something is happening in mexico, and there has been protests by women, women groups are extremely angry and there were very violent protests trying to get the government's attention, but we have not been very successful. it is the oldest and most prestigious exhibition in the western art world — the venice art biennale opens on saturday. this year, it's happening against the backdrop of the war in ukraine. our culture editor katie razzall met ukrainian and russian artists in venice. serene venice has been shaken by world events. first, its international art show was delayed a year by covid. now, that biennale is taking place in the shadow of war. all of which means, unusually, the art world is focused on ukraine. there is a new damien hirst for a show, defending freedom. and works by maria prymachenko, who is a symbol of the country's national identity. it's about showcasing ukrainian culture. one artist depicts her husband and others who havejoined the army, painted as reports of war crimes against civilians in the kyiv suburb bucha were revealed. and i was even crying because of bucha, and this canvas was laying on the floor and i thought, ok, ironically, connect, you know, because of the... ..wetness of the painting is connected to my tears. russia's pavilion is shut. the artists and curator behind this year's show pulled out when the invasion happened. the only thing to see was an anti—war protest by a russian artist. applause he was surrounded by supporters, and then swiftly by police. he's a sole voice of protest but he does speak for many russian artists, and this russian pavilion is closed — and, in a sense, those closed doors symbolise quite how isolated russia is. but some russian art is being shown at the bienniale, including tapestries by zhenya machneva. it's screaming, it's crying. all my feelings is here. zhenya opposes the war. we should stop it. and every day i want that it stops, but it's hard to face, that each day it's getting worse. the ukrainian pavilion is now centre stage in venice. the artist behind this work, called the fountain of exhaustion, says it is important that his country is represented here, because the russians are attacking notjust ukraine but its culture. they want to level and demolish totally ukrainian culture because it doesn't exist because it's part of russia, you know, they are saying that openly, that the war is a punishment for them, and those who doesn't want to go and to understand that this is only part of russia, they have to be physically eliminated. so whether it is photographs of mothers who have lost sons in the conflict, or a 17th—century icon, these works on show here now reflect a country, a culture, that is fighting for its very survival. katie razzall, bbc news, venice. just a reminder of our top story on bbc news. the un describes the war in ukraine as a horror story of violations against civilians. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @chrisrogersnews. 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 1a 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. 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