this is bbc news. the headlines: the number of global coronavirus cases has seen a record single—day increase. the world health organization says nearly 260,000 new cases have been recorded in 2a hours. in brazil and the us, where lockdown measures have not been enforced strictly, there is no sign of the curve being flattened. the russian ambassador to the uk has rejected allegations that his country's intelligence services interfered in british politics or tried to steal vaccine research. the denial comes days before a report into allegations of wider russian interference in uk democracy is due to be published. us presidents and foreign leaders have joined the tributes to civil rights icon john lewis, who has died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 80. lewis was one of the ‘big six' civil rights leaders, which included martin luther king jr.

now on bbc news, dateline london. hello and welcome to dateline london. i'm carrie gracie. and this week, coronavirus questions with multiple choice answers in the uk. and london may have said no thanks to huawei's sg, but where does that leave chinese tech in the rest of europe and beyond? my guests on socially distanced screens, writer and broadcaster maria margaronis and political commentator steve richards.

we're also hoping for the writer and broadcaster maria margaronis. we are having a slight tech problem with her screen, but we are hoping she will be with us in a moment. and here in the studio, the bbc world service asia pacific editor celia hatton. welcome to you all. should we, a — go back to work if we can? 0r b — continue to work from home if it's a perfectly good option? this message gap between the british prime minister and his chief scientific adviser came hot on the heels of another about wearing face coverings in shops. are theyjust differences in tone, or symptoms of a muddle at the top? steve, i think that is one for you to start off with. i think it is partly a muddle, partly trying to do something which is close to impossible. to take both points, the muddle, as you suggest in the introduction, is in the presentation. should we all now be heading back to work? it's not entirely clear. even borisjohnson isn't entirely clear.

he says it's up to employers to decide, and if they think it's a good idea, go ahead and get people back to work. that's not quite the same as saying go back to work. it's putting the focus on the employers. the masking messaging was also muddled. michael gove, a senior cabinet minister, last sunday saying it shouldn't be compulsory in shops. it became compulsory in shops, and so on. it reflects something which has been a running theme, really, of confused messages from number ten and beyond. but the dilemma is this. how — and it's across the world. how do you get the economy moving again, whilst not taking huge health risks? and different governments have answered this in different ways, but this one appears to be saying the responsibility will lie with the employers to make those

decisions, and to some extent individuals as well. and at the same time, saying two very different things. borisjohnson seemed to be saying in a press conference on friday, let's hope by christmas all this is over. and yet saying all is contingent on the virus being controlled. with the clear implication it might not be. so they are navigating that impossible balancing act between the health of the nation physically and economic health. but also, at each stage of this, they've found it very hard, harder incidentally than nicola sturgeon, the first minister in scotland, to convey a clear and coherent message. maria, thankfully we can see

and i hope hear you now, so tell us — and you keep a close eye on europe. which countries in europe are navigating this very difficult balancing act well, both at the policies and the communication of the policies? you know, the difficulty is balancing the health issues with the economic need. there are ways they have been managed well. two examples are germany and greece. ..0ther countries, and for very different reasons. greece went into lockdown immediately. maria, i'm really sorry. i was just kind of sitting here and praying that it was going to improve, but you're cutting in and out. so we're just going to hope that can be fixed, and i am going to go to celia for a minute and come back to you in a second. celia, china hasjust announced in the past week it had economic growth in the second quarter. does that mean it has effectively solved some of these

balancing act problems? well, from the face of it, yes, i think that it has. you've mentioned that messaging gap that seems to be present in the uk and some other countries. in china, when it comes to dealing with the virus, there is no message gap. it has instituted quite a sophisticated system for putting in tracking and tracing measures, for testing millions of people seemingly on a dime. you know, a good example is in xinjiang this week. on tuesday, the authorities in the capital of xinjiang found a single case, one woman who tested positive. and by friday, the entire city was under lockdown — 3.5 million people. they cancelled 600 flights in and out. so the government has done a very good job. you could arguably say they have had more time to practice at this system than anyone else, in really making sure that regional lockdown is are under control.

yes, they did post a bit of economic growth. but economists are still quite worried, because that growth seems to be hinging on factory production, not on real retail consumption. there are those who say that china is as surveillance state and does not believe in privacy concerns anyway. but there are, i guess, other countries in the asia pacific region, the region you keep your close eye on, that are also perhaps finding ways through this. yeah, there are some success stories. vietnam, taiwan, have both done very, very well in keeping cases low. we've also seen some countries who at the start seemed to be doing really, really well. south korea, singapore were kind of patting themselves on the back. they were really seen for instituting quite sophisticated methods of technology to keep virus numbers are low. the real concern right now, i think, in the region is indonesia. it is the world's fourth—most—populous country. they have not managed to get a grip on the virus,

and theyjust received a warning this week if they do not put in quite strict control measures, they're going to see numbers climb through october. i suppose with indonesia, there is also the question of the testing. i mean, there is a degree of uncertainty about what their caseload actually is. that is right. when we go back to the message gap again, the government right from the start could not get a handle on what to tell people what to do. they couldn't get a really effective testing mechanism into place, and they've been playing catch up the whole time. it's been a big problem. maria, we're going to give it another shot. can you give us again, maybe start from the beginning, on the european governments that are managing to navigate this? ok, so i'm sorry, i've missed the conversation so far, but basically there have been two ways that european governments have managed this well. one way has been by shutting down very quickly, like greece, austria, the czech republic. and another has been by having a very efficient test and trace mechanism in place, like germany, by having a very well functioning

health system, like germany. but the thing about europe that has been quite dispiriting has been the lack of coordination and cooperation between european countries. i mean, when the pandemic began in china, europe didn't have its eye on the ball at all, and at the end of february, when italy was desperately calling for help from other european countries, all eyes were on the greek—turkish borders and the asylum seekers coming in. the three presidents of the european council, parliament and commission were there. and then we had a situation where european countries were actually competing for ppe equipment. so that was a real wake—up call, i think, for europe, and for what needs to happen. then the other question is how is europe managing economically? and as i think i heard steve saying before, this very difficult balancing act between health and the economy means that a country like greece or portugal, which shutdown early,

is now facing very serious economic consequences. and we now have, yesterday and today, european leaders meeting to try and sort out a rescue package, and we had exactly the same disagreements going on as we did during the european financial crisis, where northern countries, in particular the netherlands mark rutte of the netherlands, the prime minister there saying we cannot issue corona bonds which are a new version of euro bonds, to mediterranean countries without some quid pro quo. huge challenges cropping up in the european summit this weekend. steve, one last one on the uk before we leave this topic. another thing that happened last week was boris johnson accepting that there would have to be an independent inquiry when the pandemic is over. these often cost a lot, they take years. is there anything we don't know about the problems and shortcomings of the government response? i think that's a very good question, because i think in essence we do know.

we will find out more, and you're right, it will take a huge amount of time. so this isn't imminent. we will find out more about behind—the—scenes tensions, the differences between politicians and scientists, and within those groups as well. and i think we will find out a bit more about the most fundamental issue, i think, which is who controls what in the uk, from the very top, where most of the cabinet has been excluded from decision—making. it's been michael gove, dominic cummings, and boris johnson, when he pays attention. and then, what does public health england do? what does nhs england do? there's been a lot of talk about levers being pulled and then not a lot happening. and in the context now,

is it local authorities that have the power to have local lockdowns, or is it the government? there have been big questions about the functioning of the state, certainly in england, which i think will be a big issue in the public inquiry, but we know the broad outlines already. these themes have been permanent since march, when all this erupted. so, although it will be huge and late in the sense, that as you say, it will probably be years away, these themes will be explored in more detail. but we know the themes. let us leave the pandemic there for now and turn to an issue on which the uk has acted fast — huawei. in, fact the uk has acted faster than some of its european neighbours twice. first to approve the chinese telecoms giant as a supplier for 5g networks, that was injanuary. and then last week to overturn that — ban it. beijing reacted to this u—turn with predictable fury, saying the uk was america's dupe.

but it also said the world is big and the uk relatively small. so can the world's largest provider of telecoms equipment overcome the us attempt to throttle it by pivoting elsewhere? maria, i want to start off in europe on this. the eu called china a systemic rival last year. now, is this huawei issue the emblematic issue on that, or does europe feel strongarmed by washington? well, i think until this point, europe's been able to hide behind the uk, and the uk's assurances that the threat, the security threat, from having huawei systems in place could be controlled. but now that the uk has as you said reversed course, i think europe feels much more trapped between a rock and a hard place between displeasing its ally, the us, and losing out on at the economic benefits, especially after the pandemic offered by good

relations with china. because it's notjust huawei. china is germany's biggest trading partner. and there has been, as you say, over the last year, mounting concern in europe over chinese human rights violations, in the uighurs and then hong kong. so i think there is a lot of debate and discussions going on in europe right now. and it's under pressure from both sides. celia, you pay close attention from the chinese perspective on this. one thing that struck me was on hong kong, a lot of european countries did not criticise the chinese national security legislation in hong kong. now, how do you think they're going to line up on huawei, the ones who sided i suppose with beijing, or did not want to criticise at that point? well, there's a real spectrum, carrie. on one end of the spectrum, we have the countries who have said

we have been dealing with huawei for decades, we don't see a problem. spain, sweden, hungary all fell in that category. 0n the other end of the spectrum we have countries that have signed a pledge with washington not to use huawei. romania, poland. then of course we have the countries that are waffling, making a change. so the czech republic, for example, was firmly in the huawei camp, and then suddenly switched a few years ago. really it comes down to germany, i think. we're waiting to see what angela merkel‘s government is going to do in september. in the past, she seems to have sided with the fact of keeping huawei to some degree in germany. but there's growing unease in germany about keeping huawei equipment, especially in the building of future 5g networks. so i think it is very difficult. her government came out this week to say the best engagement is through trade, so that is may be some indication that germany, a big player in the region, might go on the side of huawei with this. let us go global for a minute. as the chinese foreign ministry corresponded said, it is a big world. notjust europe. how is huawei doing in other parts of the world? can it pivot into africa

and central asia? it is doing very well in other countries, especially ethical. huawei has gotten in very early with a lot of ag, 3g networks in africa, and so it is merely trying to make sure that even if europe or many european countries decided to go away from huawei that it is a really firmly rooted in africa. we can look at the belton road. as you mentioned, the great project to build new trade routes around the world, and if you look at the countries where the chinese government have focused on building road projects, a lot of those countries are also going to go along with huawei equipment. give us your sense of the global options, countries on the one hand who are turning into a "them and us," for some countries, and difficult choices. how do you see it shaping up? it is difficult, but we have to find a way to work with china, especially on the crucial issue of climate change.

unless china is on board and has good relations with the rest of the world, we cannot move forward on that, and so i think we are in a very delicate and diplomatic situation on what to do with a new superpower which is operating in quite a different way from the old superpower rivalry is. this politics of generosity that we saw during the pandemic with china sending equipment and masks and so on to europe to improve its reputation. and i think we are still in the west sort of struggling with how to make sense of china and how to deal with it, but it is crucial that we find a way to balance out these issues. stephen, need to hear from you on this. we heard beijing call the uk america's dupe. did london have any choice at the end of the day?

two factors meant london and specifically borisjohnson did not have any choice, and it is really interesting. he won at this triumphant election in december, got a very big majority, but he did not have a parliamentary majority for this deal. and he was going to get into deep trouble. labour were going to vote with tory rebels to stop this arrangement from devolving or developing in the way that borisjohnson, as you mentioned, wanted injanuary. so that was one factor. the other one was this, for all the talk post brexit about an independent global britain, i think boris johnson was surprised by... he knew the us would not be thrilled when he, and it was very much him, agreed to the huawei deal earlier this year, but the degree to which the us were telling the uk to pull out of this made that as well a factor in the u—turn. so you have the uk parliament limiting a near landslide majority, what the perimeter could do, and then you have the us as well.

in the few minutes we have left, tell me what other stories have caught your eye this week — one each. obviously there is much more happening in the world. maria, give us one story that has caught your eye over this week. i wanted to mark the death of congress meantjohn lewis in the united states yesterday, at this moment when racism has been, when civil rights have been in the forefront of everybody's lives. congressman lewis was one of the 30 freedom riders in the south. he organised the march in washington on 1963. he led the march across the bridge on bloody sunday in a 1965

and was beaten by police, and he has been really one of the great heroes of our time in america. i think in this country, he is not as well— known, but that was the thing that really me most yesterday, apart from the fact that also in america, the supreme court justice ruth peter ginsberg is once again undergoing chemotherapy for liver cancer and all eyes are on the supreme court and american election coming up in november, and ifjustice ginsburg does not make it and if trump is re—elected, we will have a dramatic change in the supreme court in america. very serious implications for civil rights. although i think should also say that rbg, as so many of her fans call her, says she is fit to work as normal. fully functioning still,

and i think the poor woman is holding on for dear life and for her country. steve, what about you? what has caught your attention? it is not a light—hearted observation, butjob losses in the united kingdom have now become a running theme in recent days, and it is obviously virus —related, but this is going to become a huge issue. in the united kingdom, there might be insecure employment, but on the whole unemployment has been relatively low recently. butjust over the last few days, more announcements ofjob losses in retail, in the media, it has been very badly hit, newspapers, broadcasters announcing big job losses. and there is talk of millions being unemployed by the end of the year, and as i say, the uk is not used to this. it has had other issues but not this one, since the 80s or early 90s, and i think it is going to be a big theme, because what jobs are going to be available to them? how do you retrain?

the cost of paying benefits, the loss of tax revenue when other economic issues are still huge. i think this team is going to really intensify, i'm afraid, in the months to come. i know that will be the case elsewhere as well, but it is starting already in the united kingdom. i suppose one of the questions on that is what kind ofjobs, because we are living in a new normal that we do not know the full shape of yet. exactly, and i was speaking to somebody who is a big expert on landing, and he was saying that london will not be the same after this. there might be other things that happen in these cities, but not what happened before. the same vibrancy in terms of shops and cafe is and restaurants and theatres and so on. he doesn't know what it will be, but it will not be the same, so we arejust... whatever happens in terms of the virus, vaccines

and all the rest of it, we are at the beginning, really, are facing these kinds of consequences, the job losses and perhaps the need to change vocations entirely. many, many people. celia? i want to highlight a report from save the children that had a very brief moment in the headlines that sayi billion children are out of school from the coronavirus pandemic but up to 10 million of them may never return to school after the pandemic is over. this is going to hit young girls are much worse than it might hit their brothers, because they are the ones that will probably be told to stay at home if parents have to make a choice as to who returns to school, so the report says we will see a rise in child marriage, teen pregnancy, and children being kept at home are much more vulnerable than those able to go and have the safety and security that schools offer. it is a real and continuing problem.

does save the children have any answers to that or is itjust flagging up a problem we still do not have an answer to? they want education funding to be protected. they say that there might be, if no protection is given around the world, there might be a huge gap of $177 million in education funding that might be taken away from schools and put towards pandemic measures. thank you. thank you to all three of you, maria, steve and celia. yet another fascinating discussion, but i'm afraid before we go, i have to bring you some sad news. the journalist mustapha karkouti has died. he was 77. mustapha was a friend to all of us here at dateline and to journalists from around the world. he was born in syria and spent much of his professional career

interpreting and explaining the complexities of arab society. we will miss him. that's it for dateline london for this week. we're back next week at the same time. thank you for watching. goodbye, stay safe. hello. a weather front which first moved into scotland and northern ireland on thursday night is still bringing some cloud and rain across parts of southeast england in the day ahead. whereas elsewhere it's a fine sunday on the way. here's a weather front which has clearly been very slowly moving south across the uk. in fact, won't clear away from southeast england until tonight. so this is how things

are shaping up first thing. another warm, muggy start to the south. any rain clearing away from wales, maybe still a bit towards parts of the midlands. certainly into east anglia and into southern england as the day starts. whereas elsewhere it's a fine and quite cool start to the day, but you get the sunshine. a few showers run in across scotland, mainly towards the north and west. but for northern ireland, northern england, wales increasingly so into the midlands, gradually so into southwest england, there'll be some sunshine. but across much of east anglia and southeast england still cloud, even at this stage of the afternoon. still some patchy rain around for some of us here too. and for the most part temperatures just into the teens. quite a change where yesterday was so very warm and humid. quite a change at old trafford compared to saturday's washout. plenty of play with the sunshine in the day ahead. as we go on through sunday evening, still a bit of rain towards essex and kent. that will finally clear away, along with that weather front at last, keeping a few showers across parts of northwest scotland, as much of the uk will be dry

going into monday morning, and cooler across the board. many of us will be into single figures as monday begins. with a ridge of high pressure building in for monday and for tuesday, for that matter, giving a lot of dry weather. not dry everywhere, because still around that ridge of high pressure there'll still be a few showers coming in, especially into scotland. but during monday there's a chance of catching a few running on through northern ireland and parts of northern england as well, whereas the bulk of england and wales will stay dry. another cool start to the day. temperatures recover in some sunny spells, but we're still mainly talking temperatures into the high teens. just a few spots getting into the low 20s. so, most staying dry again on tuesday. by wednesday, we'll see a bit of rain into parts of northern ireland, especially scotland, whereas much of england and wales, bar the chance for a shower later in the week, will be staying dry.

welcome to bbc news, i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: a record single—day increase in coronavirus infections around the world. nearly 260,000 new cases are registered in 2a hours. russia's ambassador to the uk rejects allegations his country interfered in british politics or tried to steal vaccine research. i don't believe in this story at all. there is no sense in it. us presidents from across the political divide pay tribute tojohn lewis, an iconic figure of the american civil rights movement. and prosecutors believe a fire at the cathedral in the french