Celia Hatton

It's a reminder to the people of Myanmar of the tenacious hold the military has had over their country for most of its modern history. The formidable weaponry on display, also a reminder of how much this regime has been propped up by support from Russia and China. But this is the last time Min Aung Hlaing will preside over this.

Five years after his coup, he's hanging up his uniform to become a civilian president. His final speech to the troops was as unyielding and unapologetic as all the others he's given here. The military has a constitutional right to get involved in politics, he said, and he dismissed those who've taken up arms against his regime as terrorists, led on by what he called foreign aggressors.

There wasn't a hint of regret over the thousands of lives lost because of the coup. Jorwin, not his real name, was a student when he was arrested for taking part in a small flash mob protest in Yangon three years ago. He described days of torture in the interrogation centre. They beat me with iron bars, he told me. They burnt me with cigarettes, slashed my leg with a knife and sexually assaulted me.

Ainoastaan uudestaan loppunut, hän sanoi, että hänellä on tarpeeksi ja haluaa jatkaa Myanmaria. Kuukausia muita nuoria on jo lähtenyt. Jos jatkan tämän maan, minä olen aina kokeillut kaikenlaista opressiota. Tämä on vahva käsitys, mikä minua todella huoltaa. Meillä on aina käsittely.

I love my family. I want to stay with them. But going overseas is now the best option for me. Dinza Shunlei made that decision a few months after the coup. As an organizer of the movement resisting military rule, there was already an arrest warrant out for her. From exile, she's kept up her campaign to restore democracy, and she's not impressed by Min Aung Hlaing in civilian guise.

Unlike the villages in Myanmar's contested areas, you don't really see the impact of the war in Myanmar's cities like Yangon. But people here are definitely feeling it. Rapid inflation, businesses closing down. I'm in the factory district of Langtaya. It's Sunday and the workers who live here are all dressed in their colourful finest, waiting for buses to take them to parks or pagodas to spend their day off.

So let's ask them what they expect of their new notionally civilian government. They won't care about us, said this motorbike taxi driver. We'll still have to rely on ourselves.

With the fuel shortages caused by the Iran war, he complained that his earnings no longer covered even his food and rent. Like so many who've not fled overseas, he said all he could do was try to survive, while waiting to see whether anything will change when the same military men remain in charge.

BBC's Jonathan Head reporting from Yangon. To the latest from Washington now and the news that Donald Trump has removed another member of his cabinet, the U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. Ms. Bondi has long been an ally and fierce defender of President Trump. And as Attorney General, she attempted to reshape the U.S. Justice Department, turning it away from its traditional role as a largely apolitical body.

Aiemmin viikonloppuun Donald Trump oli iloinen hänestä, jossa hän laittoi sanan, että hän on mahtava ja tekee hyvää työtä. Mutta vain viikkoja myöhemmin hän osoitti truth socialin postissa, että Pam Bondi oli poistunut hänen roolinsa. Hänen aikansa johtamassa justiikin puolesta oli usein ylipäänsä järjestelmänsä järjestelmänsä jälkeen Jeffrey Epsteinin ja hänen tutkimuksensa seurauksesta.

And last, many news outlets, including the BBC, reported that one of the world's oldest land animals, a Seychelles giant tortoise called Jonathan, had died at the grand old age of 193. Sad news? Well, actually it was fake news, because reports of Jonathan's demise were completely untrue and part of a possible money-making hoax and cruel April Fool's joke.

The tortoise lives on the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena. And the governor there, Nigel Phillips, spoke to the BBC's James Kamarasami.

Jonathan is alive and well. I was first contacted about the news of the hoax last night and actually went out into the paddock in the pitch black to make sure. But he is full of his usual vim and vigor. In some ways he's actually getting more healthy. We know that giant Seychellian tortoises are believed to be fully grown when they're 50 years of age. When he arrived, his shell was measured.

Ja hän ei ole saanut mitään suurempaa, joten on tärkeää huomioida, että hän oli täysin kasvanut. Jos katsotaan hänen viestintäänsä, plus 50 vuotta, hän on noin 193, mutta hän voisi olla enemmän. Miten ajattelet häntä? Onko hän koti? Onko hän instituutio? Miten voisit kuvitella häntä?

It's definitely not a pet. Institution is possibly a good word. The association between Jonathan and the island is so long and deep. In days gone by, people would have wedding photographs with him. It was very much part of the fabric of the island. But yeah, if I were to sort of extrapolate from this, the contact I was getting last night in response to the hoax tells me very much that not only is he an animal of great importance to us, he seems to resonate with people across the world.

Tämä oli jotain, joka alkoi Suomessa ja joku yritti invitea ihmisiä kriptoihin.

Donation using falsely the name of the former vet who's written a book on Jonathan Joe Hollands. So I fear it was slightly more than just an April Fool's. It feels a little more contrived than that. No one is immortal. I guess Jonathan's had a very, very good run, hasn't he? And you're saying he's getting healthier, if anything. But I mean, I guess this has made people contemplate the possibility of him no longer being there.

Ymmärrät, että kun olen hallitusjohtaja, toivon, ettei se tapahtu, kun olen 10-vuotias. Kun puhutaan vetteristä, on hyvin vaikea tietää, mitä saattaa tapahtua hänen pysyväänsä.

If he's in a safe environment, he's well fed, he gets the right nutrients, he seems to have longevity built in. He does suffer physical ailments, he has difficulty seeing, he has a cataract in one eye, and a number of other faculties are sort of diminishing, but his appetite has not changed at all. The governor of St. Helena, Nigel Phillips.

And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global News Pod. And don't forget our sister podcast, The Global Story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Holly Smith. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Celia Hatton. Until next time, goodbye.