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 draft 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 iraq's remaining christians, whose numbers have plummeted in the past two decades. earleir the pontiff held an unprecedented meeting with iraq's senior shia religious leader. in myanmar there have been further allegations of police brutality, after security forces used stun grenades and tear gas against anti—coup protesters, who have again taken to the streets. the un's special envoy on myanmar has told the security council that there is urgency for collective action.

now on bbc news, dateline london. hello and welcome to dateline london, bringing together correspondents filing around the world from the uk, and bbc expertise. i'm geeta guru—murthy. this week, with nations around the world facing tough questions on how to pay for the pandemic, many are talking about a green recovery. there was little evidence of that in this week's budget here in the uk — was it a missed opportunity? britain is ahead of the eu on vaccines, so are the europeans getting their house in order? no sign of that in the royal household, as everyone braces for that interview with harry and meghan. what will they reveal

about the inner workings of the royal family? is their timing disrespectful with the duke of edinburgh still in hospital? and what role does race play in this whole sorry saga? with me is thomas kielinger, long—time correspondent at die welt, and steve richards, writer and broadcaster. and here in the studio, at a safe social distance, the bbc�*s chief environment correspondent, justin rowlatt. thanks to you all forjoining me. two reports here have criticised the government on its plan to meet climate change targets. the cop26 summit is due to be held in november in scotland, but this week's budget didn't bring much in terms of a green recovery. is government going to pay companies and individuals to do more to switch to electric cars and public transport, to use heat pumps instead of gas boilers, and insulate our leaky homes? how is the uk faring compared with its global neighbours?

justin, the government says both reports out this week are inaccurate and unfair. is it possible to get a sense of how committed they are to the green agenda? publicly, very committed. last year, boris produced a ten—point green plan, he described it as a green industrial revolution. a huge increase in wind turbines, switching to electric vehicles, that kind of thing. so the government rhetoric is very strong on the green issue but this budget was very short on headline green initiatives. we saw an infrastructure bank, £12 billion to fund new green developments. a commitment that the bank of england take into account the net zero pledge when it makes policy. but they froze fuel duty, 11 years in a row it has been frozen. in effect, that is an opportunity for a carbon tax foregone. and this effort you mentioned to green our homes.

a quarter of carbon emissions come from heating homes. switching overfrom gas heating that most british homes have, with heat pumps, that kind of thing, is going to cost a huge amount of money. the climate change committee say £4 billion per year. they had an initiative for green homes, tiny take—up, campaigners have said it is the worst administered green scheme ever. and yet no more money for that, no suggestion it would be reorganised in the budget. campaigners and the public accounts committee saying there is no plan to achieve, no articulated plan anyway, to be fair, to achieve this net zero ambition by 2050. steve, is that because the government is still too focused onjobs, the balance between austerity and spending, and itjust hasn't got the capacity at the moment to do more on the green agenda? or is it that they will do more in the coming months?

i think it's a combination of the two. and another factor as well. that other factor is important. nearly everybody in politics is in theory committed to a green revolution — almost _ you have the conservative leadership, the labour leadership and so on. but the test is always, are you willing to implement policies that might at least in the short—term involve voters thinking, what the heck are they doing with this? a good example being increasing fuel duty. and they avoid it. more generally with the budget, i think it was partly a product, lockdown in the uk, we are still in lockdown even though there is hopefully light around the corner. so it was partly to deal with the ongoing consequences of lockdown. and then it became a more sort of george osborne austerity—type budget coming up

in the near future. but beyond that, it didn't do very much. as well as the green dimension, there was no real reference to social care, which is a huge issue in the united kingdom. and with the nhs, another big issue, one of the sort of controversies arising from the budget was a very tiny pay rise for nhs workers. so it avoided some of the huge issues whirling around the uk and other areas, of course, with the green issue. and it focused more on the pandemic and the aftermath in quite narrow ways. thomas, in germany, of course, green politics has had more of a voice, partly because of the political system there. what was your sense, looking at the budget here this week? the conservatives got a poll bounce but, as steve mentioned, criticism over spending on the health front and criticism also on the lack of green policy that came out of the government, not only

this week but in recent weeks. i have a lot of sympathy| for what steve just said, there is a problem with - the government as a whole and the financial situation. we have to do first things first. - as the poll was sympathetic to what was put forward - by rishi sunak, it shows people are more interested _ at the moment in immediate respite from the problems, i that is to say that the - furlough has to be extended, self—employed people, - as it were, have to be given an injection of more money. so all sorts of immediate problems are scaring - people in the face. some of the green i issues unfortunately have to be postponed. there is going to be a reviewl in september, in the autumn. i trust something will give.

on the other hand, you know, there is a bit of a silver- lining when it comes to the ecology - and green policies. i am talking about the freeport east hydrogen hub which has i been given a green light, which will continue - with decarbonisation projects, wind farms and so forth, - with zero technologies, - and hydrogen as a future fuel. so that is beginning| to come to the fore. other than that, i agree this was not the time i to go wholeheartedly. into the green project. justin, in the last few years in this country, some of the measures on this have come through this. it has come in through higher bills on the energy front, that's how we have seen change. is it the private sector where change has to come?

if you look at wind turbines, borisjohnson has made a huge amendment to increase wind energy because the private sector sees an opportunity and is willing to pourfinance in. the same with electric vehicles. the government committed to phasing out petrol and diesel cars by 2030 with some exceptions for hybrids. car companies are now committing to switch over to electric vehicles far faster because they recognise that technology is changing and they need to get in there quickly to seize the market. ford, general motors, volkswagen are all committing to switch to electric vehicles. so there you see the private sector taking the lead because they see a huge opportunity. heating homes is a very difficult issue. gas central heating is very efficient. these electric heat pumps, which most people regard as the alternative, they don't

deliver the ready heat that gas does. they are less easy, they are expensive as well, so they are hard to persuade consumers to take on. therefore there is an argument that we need to encourage subsidies to get consumers to switch over. we haven't seen the government come up with a plan that works or enough money to persuade 30 million homes in britain to switch over, the scale of switchover that we need. so in some areas there does need to be subsidy and we are not seeing the chancellor coming forward and offering that money. steve, is that a surprise? we know for example that boris�*s fiance carrie symons is interested in the whole green agenda, zac goldsmith also part of the conservative party, very committed to this agenda. is it something the government has to deliver on? or are there not many votes in this?

as i said in my earlier answer, theoretically, virtually everyone you meet in politics is interested and committed to this agenda. the issue is how? in the end, i suspect it does have to be government—driven. there is quite a debate about the nature of this government. is it more status than recent tory governments, or not? particularly in the case with the chancellor, rishi sunak, who on the whole is perceived as a more sort of orthodox thatcherite rather than a status. borisjohnson thinks he is like roosevelt, a big spender, the new deal. but there is no evidence yet of the scale of the demand for the climate change issues. insulation is a very interesting example. i am sitting in a room, i am freezing, it is like being in siberia. but in a way, the motive has

to be driven by the government to get these things sorted out, i suspect _ it takes some spending decisions, tough tax decisions, and on the whole these have tended to be avoided so far. steve, thanks for now. the eu has vaccinated about one tenth of its population, compared with a third here. what does that mean for its huge summer tourism season? can we travel even if we haven't been vaccinated? and why has the roll—out been so slow? thomas, what's gone wrong with the famed german efficiency? famed indeed! it is now more a case of- the famed german inefficiency. it is a bureaucratic- problem to begin with, we are a country of 17 - governments, one in berlin and 16 regional governments, i and they couldn't agree among themselves how to distribute the vaccine in the first place. j secondly, there was this l unfortunate aspersion cast against astrazeneca,| of which we had quite

a lot of doses waiting to be administered. i and from macron in france, and others in my country, . they began to say, this is not safe and efficient _ for the over—65s. so 85% of our doses - of astrazeneca, until early this week, lay around unused and probably were destroyed| or became useless. only this week how - the government officially declared this particular - vaccination safe for over—65s. when britain had vaccinated 20 million people, germans began to push for astrazeneca. it is quite true, to use - boris johnson's language, you can say that germany vacillates while _ britain vaccinates. and he who vaccinate quickly can lift the lockdown - restrictions more quickly too.

so we are lagging - behind unfortunately. but we are trying to catch up. we are a johnny come latelys when it comes| to speedy vaccination. does this vindicate the brexiteers who, some have said, look, britain has ploughed on much faster as an independent nation than the eu, which has come unstuck with this joint approach? no, i think brexit is a red herring on this issue. the uk was technically, because it was the transitional year when the uk government ordered these vaccines, individual governments had the space to do it. and indeed some eu members are now operating individually and getting vaccines in from various different sources. so it wasn't really to do with brexit and the eu. it is interesting to see which member countries, and indeed britain, have flourished in different areas of this response to the nightmare. britain was hopeless early on, germany was fairly successful at keeping the death rate low. why? in terms of vaccines, obviously

the government did the right thing in commissioning loads of vaccines in advance. it's interesting what thomas was saying, in many ways the way germany is structured is often cited as a model for delivery. but in this case, having the national health service as a way of distributing the vaccine and being co—ordinated has proven to be highly successful. so some things have worked here, other things have failed catastrophically. learning the lessons or both will be part, i think, of owning the future politically when the whole sort of perspective is acquired over what's happened here and in the rest of europe.

justin, you were a south asia correspondent based in india. india has been delivering vaccines to africa and south asia in general. the rate of distribution in many parts of the world is very different and it's going to cause problems in the future, isn't it? it is, in order to have a successful global response we need people vaccinated as soon as possible to minimize the chance of these variants developing. there are global institutions set up to distribute vaccines. inevitably, the richer countries that deal with pharmaceutical companies early are likely to get the vaccine first. inevitably, they will vaccinate their population first, but the good news is there is a huge vaccine surplus, if you add up the vaccines around the world, they are much more effective than we expected. we forget that, but early on people didn't predict they would be anywhere near this good. so we are in quite a good position globally but it will take a while to vaccinate the world. we will be following that across our output. if you're in need of some distraction from all this, the british royalfamily

are doing their bit. when the duke and duchess of sussex gave up their royal duties, it was both the culmination of a briefing war and the start of a new one. buckingham palace is now investigating accusations of bullying by meghan, and harry says his fear of the destructive press intrusion that plagued his mother is now being repeated with his wife and is partly what drove him to leave the country. where is the right and wrong in this family saga? and what does it tell us about the nature of modern monarchy and racism in the uk? steve, how worried should the royal family be about bombshell revelations? with the oprah winfrey interview? they are obviously worried because elements of the institution have been grieving intensively against the duo who have

given the interview. clearly, there is a capacity here for further storms in the way there was during the diana era, when she started speaking out in quite extraordinary ways. so they are obviously concerned. it's so interesting, the nature of celebrity and fame. i've always been intrigued by the degree to which the royal family themselves attract this fascination, given that we hardly know them. they are caricatures, really. and now this couple, who are not really part of it any more, are even more famous, curiously. so it is interesting in that sense. clearly, the british press have it in for the duo. my sympathies are wholly with them, the duo. why do you think the british press have got it in for them? partly because they have taken on newspapers in ways that i think are wholly legitimate. i know they use the newspapers to promote themselves, but that doesn't actually mean the newspapers have the right to then hammer them every moment. i think there are echoes there,

and he clearly feels it, with diana and what happens to her — the british newspapers should not have the right to destroy people or appear to destroy them... so in that sense i think they have every right to feel aggrieved. it is up to us if we watch it and get excited by it. i promise you, i love celebrity, but i'm not excited by it, but i know there will be global hysteria over it, which in itself is quite interesting. will you be watching it, thomas? i will be, but i'm slightly dissenting from steve, l because the duchess - in particular more than harry is playing with fire. she has no idea aboutl the cultural differences when you join the royal family i and when you are an independent woman in california. when her freedom was curtailed within the royal family, - what did she think she would get? i could she set up an independent news line with herself—

as a reigning monarch of news, as it were? _ now, she keeps on talking - about how she was curtailed and infringed upon and so forth. now she says she is liberated. there is a great degree of naivety on her part. i she overplays the defiance she is now putting forward| of being able to stand up for herself, by forgetting that she should have been more modest as she entered - the royal family and played by the rules for a bit longerl rather than immediately wanting out. and now as it were playing i the adversary of the culture. someone the other day- called her a nice nickname, she doesn't really belong - in any sense in the traditional context of the royal family i and the place she would have to occupy within it. that is more to the pity. because it continues this unholy row which the queen herself must be _ terribly upset about. it does a disservice i to her own prestige. but in the end, the royal couple in california - will rue the day they played up their own plight quite i so publicly and constantly. some of the public in

britain are feeling, . when are we going to be| liberated from these two who put their own qualms so much centre stage - of world publicity? they were a couple who wanted privacy in california, _ but did everything to promote the publicity of their case. - there is a lot of hypocrisy. involved, and more the pity. everyone wants to jump in because everyone has a view. some of the public in britain are feeling, . when are we going to be| liberated from these two who put their own qualms so much centre stage - of world publicity? they were a couple who wanted privacy in california, _ but did everything to promote the publicity of their case. - there is a lot of hypocrisy. involved, and more the pity. everyone wants to jump in because everyone has a view. justin, the question of race has been raised.

younger people identify more with harry and meghan. she is the first modern royal family member who identifies as biracial, and she has been vilified in parts of the press, hasn't she? i am not sure whether it is because of her race or not. remember, at their wedding, which celebrated her heritage, it was welcomed and really enjoyed by the british people. everybody said this is a breath of fresh air, a modern monarchy, remember. so i don't think race is a clear—cut issue. going back to what thomas said, what is really interesting is the palace's response — suddenly producing these allegations of bullying. i think it is really odd that they want to go in fighting like this. harry is a troubled young man, they feel upset by the way they have been treated by the royal family. but wouldn't the dignified thing be to say, we love harry,

meghan is a wonderful woman? it is really odd that the palace are going in fighting. that could be the most damaging thing for the royal family. we all know that, in conflicts like this, no one comes out looking better. so it seems odd they are ramping up the conflict. you haven't watched the crown, have you? a little bit! in that, the queen defines her role as not having a personality, and that is how she thinks the monarchy has succeeded, by whitewashing away any personality and just being a bland figurehead. the approach they are taking to harry and meghan is not part of that. steve, briefly, do you think race is a factor in the way meghan has been treated in particular? i think it's more to do with the fact they are shaking up this institution, which i think is perfectly healthy as far as it is of any great significance. it is an institution which occasionally does need

challenging from within. although my understanding is it's no longer from within. they are in america, they have been formally excluded. so they are kind of speaking for themselves. the layers of hypocrisy are many. the british public have just heard... disapproving of them doing interviews, but they will sit there watching the interview. thomas, the duke of edinburgh is still in hospital. many will feel their timing, obviously they couldn't control that, but should they have pulled the interview out of respect for the queen? it's unfortunate that it is a coincidence i with the duke of edinburgh being ill in hospital. - it's very hard to suggest that anyone who has put so much into preparing this interview would cancel it on account l of the duke's health status. this may continue for quite a while, well. beyond his 100th birthday.

your own version of your own qualms and complaints, - owing to the figurehead being unwell... - i think, in this case, - the young couple can go ahead with it, philip- is a redoubtable survivor who we all hope will see more than his 100th birthday. - this is an investment - in the hope, the interview going forward, that everything will be ok for the time being i with prince philip in hospital. justin, it does raise questions in a serious way about the future of the royal family. the queen is held in universal respect. but other members of the family have had lots of questions raised about them. as steve says, this is a modernising moment, like diana's death. we could see a new, more open

monarchy come from it. but i come back to that point, part of the role of the monarchy is to be bland and exist quietly. pageantry, palaces is at the centre of what they do for britain. i think this kind of conflict cannot be good for them. thank you all so much forjoining us today. shaun ley is here next week. from me, for now, goodbye.

hello there. saturday was a disappointingly cold and cloudy day for many of us, and disappointing temperatures for early march. a bit of sunshine across western areas but it's looking like sunday is going to be a bit of a repeat performance, it is going to stay chilly with limited sunny breaks and quite a bit of cloud around. the settled conditions are because of this area of high pressure, which will continue to bring settled weather through sunday, but it's slowly going to lose its grip on our weather as we head on to the start of next week. so, early to sunday, it's going to be cold and under clear skies we will see some frost and mist and fog about and there will be patchy rain to northern and western scotland, a bit of snow over the high ground, but where we have the cloud, 4—6 degrees here versus sub—zero further south. so a cold start to sunday. some early sunshine around, with some frost and a bit of mist and fog, but it looks like the clouds will tend

to build again into the afternoon, so turning grey and cold for many. further rain for the north and west of scotland, temperatures year one degree or so up, 9 or 10 degrees, but also 7 or 8. and then on sunday night it will turn cold again on central and southern areas under clear skies, some further frost here but less cold further north, because we will have more cloud, showery bursts of rain also affecting up to the north into monday. so northern ireland, scotland and parts of northern england, there will be a bit of sunshine around as well. after a cold start further south, some brightness around but also cloud here and there. temperatures one degree or so up across the board, nine or ten will be be high. into tuesday, the first of the weather fronts starting to move in. this one is a weak feature bringing no more than a band of cloud, with a bit of light rain on it. cloudy skies to northern and western areas initially, sunnier skies in central, southern and eastern areas after a cooler start, and the wind picking up from the south—west. temperatures again 9, 10, maybe 11. cast your eyes out west, this massive rate is tied in with a deep area of low pressure, something we haven't seen in a while. that will sweep through tuesday night into wednesday and we could see another deep area of low pressure

potentially moving in wednesday into thursday. these areas of low pressure will also bring up some mild air from the south—west. certainly for england and wales. it's certainly looking very stormy from mid—week onwards, with some heavy rain and the potential of severe gales and slightly less cold air for some of us. in the future, isn't it?

welcome to bbc news, i'm james reynolds. our top stories: the yeas are 50. the nays are 49. bill as amended is past. by a single vote, the us senate passes president biden�*s $1.9 trillion covid relief plan. pope francis holds an unprecedented meeting with iraq's top shia religious leader — before going onto celebrate mass at a cathedral in baghdad. allegations of police brutality — as security forces in myanmar use stun grenades and tear gas against anti—coup protesters. dozens are reported dead in yemen — as fighting takes place for control of the oil—rich city of marib. and, parts of iceland are shaken by a series of mini