town of palma. a security spokesman said dozens of people had been killed by the insurgents but hundreds of others, including foreign gas workers, had been rescued. the mexican government has acknowledged that the true number of coronavirus deaths in the country is 60% higher than previously reported. based on excess mortality data, it's now thought that more than 320,000 mexicans have died as a result of the pandemic. in myanmar, troops have opened fire at a funeral for one of the 114 people killed in a crackdown on saturday. the european union and the united states have stepped up their criticism of the military for using deadly force against protesters. now on bbc news, dateline london.

welcome to the programme, which brings together bbc specialists and the foreign correspondents who file their stories for audiences back home dateline london. this week — borisjohnson boasts of vaccine success. his government says two jabs will be followed by a covid booster in the autumn, as europeans struggle with too many infections and too few doses of vaccine. a rare misstep by angela merkel — have germans, and others, had enough of lockdown? and the evergreen trafficjam that risked withering global trade. with me this weekend — ashis ray, from india, is approaching 45 years as a foreign correspondent, as well as serving at

the crease as a cricket commentator. stefanie bolzen is uk and ireland correspondent for germany's welt. and with me here, clive myrie, who reports internationally for the bbc as well, as presenting the news back home. now, "the reason we have the vaccine success", prime minister boris johnson is reported to have told his mps this week, "is because of capitalism, because of greed". whether he was joking or saying what he thinks in an unguarded moment during a private meeting, its perhaps more accurate to say that globalisation, which helped covid's rapid spread, is critical to vaccination success. this weekend, uk government ministers predicted a booster jab by september but india has halted exports, and europe is threatening to. stefanie bolzen, let's talk about what is happening. eu leaders agreed their position on thursday on all of this. they are pretty troubled by what has been happening. they singled out

the uk in particular. what is their beef and what are the changes that are likely to follow from this? do you think they will follow through on the threat to impose some kind of export restriction? yeah, well, it's a very interesting question. and for now, this has all been only been threats. and interestingly, there are reports in the uk and also back in europe that right now, there are talks going on between the british government and the european commission to find an agreement after what has been a very tumultuous week, where the european commission actually made their possibilities to stop exporting vaccines produced in europe to the uk and to other parts of the world even more likely and stronger measures that they can take. so they said in the future, the european commission would look at proportionality, so how many vaccines does another country actually have that is receiving vaccines from europe.

and also representative. for example, astrazeneca is produced in the uk and these vaccine should also go to europe. the commission released numbers — and the numbers are quite staggering in the way that half of what is produced in the european union goes outside the european union and the slow rollout in europe has led to problems for the politicians in europe. —— and also reciprocity. 77 million doses, i think the commission were saying, have gone to high— or middle—income countries, 30 million vaccines have gone to the uk and the uk has exported to the eu none. well, yeah. this is, this is at least... we don't know because there haven't been any numbers officially released by the british government but, of course, it is all about reciprocity. and you just talked about the british government talking about — a wonderful thing — a third vaccine, a booster vaccine. you might say that in britain,

for example, the parts of the biontech vaccine are produced in yorkshire. so if the europeans stopped in the british will also stop. —— so if the europeans stop then the british will also stop. so there is complete interdependence, so if the british are not delivering any more, biontech cannot produce and biontech will not come to the uk. so the pressure on everyone is really feasible. especially in my country, in germany. we have seen a rather tumultuous week but i think we are going to talk about that anyway. we have got plenty more to talk about on this, haven't we? let's make the connection from europe to india. part of the doses that the british government was expecting to get from astrazeneca are actually manufactured with the serum institute in india. tell us a bit about the institute and also what the implications are from the problems that they are experiencing in sourcing some of the elements of that from the united states? well, first of all, the institute is the world

—— world's biggest manufacturer of vaccines, and they have been very much at the forefront of supplies, not only within india but also exporting to other countries by virtue of the indian government's insistence that it does so, and over and above — it has a commitment of 550 million doses to covax, which is run by the world health organization. now, having said that, there is an obligation that appears between serum institute and astrazeneca for serum institute to supply to astrazeneca as and when required. because we are both manufacturing the same oxford vaccine. and so, as a result of this, astrazeneca asked for 5 million doses to be sent to the uk. and in that situation,

the difficulty that arose was this — that there was no problem until a few weeks ago, when narendra modi was merrily exporting to other countries, to the extent that india was exporting more than it had made available to its own people. and this came under severe criticism in the indian parliament from indian opposition members of parliament and also, all of a sudden, there is now— what is being called a second wave in india. in fact, in the past 24 hours, more than 62,000 new cases have been detected and that being the case, the indian government has now clamped down and told all indian companies, including serum institute, that you cannot export any more until further notice. so this is the difficulty. at this present point in time, serum institute has applied to the indian government

for a licence to fulfil this obligation of 5 million to the uk, to astrazeneca, and my best guess is that you will see a slight delay in that export, but it will happen in due course. it will not happen immediately, but it will happen in due course as the two governments — that is the government of the united kingdom and the indian government — sort this matter out. they clearly will. borisjohnson is due to celebrate india's important national day very shortly, isn't he? we will be talking about that hopefully on dateline in the coming weeks. clive, i mean, it's an interesting connection between india and the uk. here is another one — the serum institute says it relies in part for some key materials — and i think such as bioreactor filters and bags — i am not a scientist

and i don't know quite what that means — they come from the united states, and they have imposed export restrictions under its defense protection act. no wonder borisjohnson was sounding so emollient about the eu. normally, he'd be up in arms! what you are seeing here - is basic commerce being broken on the wheel of i national priorities. so agreements were made between the companies i and the european union i in order to produce certain stocks of vaccines. those agreements were also made with other countries. _ as a result, you have got- stocks being made in europe that are being sent all over the world because of those agreements. india makes contracts with some of these companies and, - as a result, stocks are leaving india because of commerce i and those deals that are made. but india is seeing a rise in its infection rates. - so as soasa so as a result, but kicks in. —— so as a result, that kicks in. - joe biden inherits- a particularly appalling

vaccine rollout from - the trump administration. he says. — i am going to invoke the defense protection act, l which means that he can take control of certain supplies of products in the supplyl chain. that forces moderna| and pfizer to say ok, we win — increase the numbers to you to 300 million each by the end of the year, - so that they can - vaccinate everybody. so you are seeing commerce essentially undercut - borisjohnson's claim that it is all about. capitalism and greed. you are seeing commerce being wiped away - by national priorities. and the fact is, - variants can spread, we are in a globalised l world and, as a result, we have to work together. nationalism will not solve - this, but that is where we are. yeah, no, it is where we are at the moment. meanwhile, ashis has referred to covax. of course, the efforts to try to vaccinate all parts of the world, even the poorer companies, but of countries, so these people must be saying

what are you talking about boosters? we have not even got vaccine doses yet! "my mistake", german chancellor angela merkel told a news conference wednesday, after she scrapped a 5—day easter lockdown just 48 hours after it was announced. a third wave of infection is stalking europeans, including germans, as stefanie was saying, but protests against lockdown are being experienced both on the continent and in the uk. here, many have bridled at the idea floated by mrjohnson of having to show proof of vaccination even to visit the pub. ashis, in terms of the prospects of this over time, it looks as if pandemic, virus, will eventually become endemic. have we had enough of a debate yet about what the implications of that are for personal freedom against the desire to protect? in fact, it seems to me we are in a firefighting situation. you douse the fire at one point and a fire arises in another. and although i have said this

before that last year, i think there was total bungling by the british government and as a result of which, three waves of the disease have occurred and more people than necessary have died. but the vaccination has gone very well in britain and i think there is room for conservatism with a small c. in this situation, rather than being aggressive and ambitious and thinking in terms of opening up businesses, because we could have another wave of infection if that aggressive approach is adopted, so i am very much with the british government on this. i believe the opposition parties are with the government on this as well. and so there is certainly — there is room for people being cautious, rather than much too aggressive. stefanie, we heard this question of the angela merkel apology.

how much of this do you think this reversal of policy in a matter of hours or that a couple of days was down to a sense that germans have had enough of the restrictions, which they have been labouring under pretty much for the whole of the last year? yeah, definitely, germans have had enough. but that is certainly not a phenomena only restricted to germany — all over europe, people are very frustrated, mainly because the vaccine rollout is so slow. so if you look at the uk, more or less it has four times more vaccines given per adult person then the eu average. someone yesterday on the phone from germany said to me, look, compliance is a good thing and people do comply, but if there is something to look forward to. so here in the uk, the vaccine rollout goes really well and you have that dates that lockdown will be restricted. while on the continent, it goes the other way and lockdowns are really now

being introduced again. so for example, poland just now has gone back into lockdown for three weeks. in belgium, restrictions are coming in again. they are now stopping traffic between france and germany, so from sunday night on, you have to show a negative test if you want to travel from france into germany and that's why people are getting very impatient and they are getting angry because nothing is really improving. of course, angela merkel�*s asking for forgiveness the other day was also in the context of the german election looming. so in september, there is a federal election and just now, the cdu — her party — had the biggest drop on record in the polls this week. so on top of the very tense situation of the corona in germany, there is an increasingly difficult situation because with the election. it is a global problem. we've seen resistance in the united states, we see ongoing protests in brazil. there are lots of countries where people have resisted

restrictions on freedom and liberty. it has been done i the name of public health, but there are always suspicions that it has been done for political convenience or because there are some countries with some governments where their instinct is to restrict, not to liberate. indeed. that is absolutely true. i think by and large in the developing world, i would say that it is easier to impose restrictions because governments tend to be autocratic. in india, for instance, the imposition of lockdowns have been somewhat haphazard, it has been temperamental. for instance, the one that took place in march of last year was ordered within four hours, so the matter did not go through parliament at all when it came into force.

it continued again in a somewhat unscientific manner before it was lifted. then there was the situation 1.5 months ago, the indian government was proclaiming that freedom has been achieved, but it wasn't the case, and we have the situation of an alarming rise now in india of cases, and doctors are predicting that this second wave in india could be worse than the first wave. in a liberal democracy like western democracies and in britain, i would say that it's less easy because there will be contentious issues, challenges will take place. you mentioned the matter of a vaccine card to enter pubs, but if you allow

people who have got two doses of the vaccine to enter the pub and you don't allow others who may or may not have been offered two doses or who may not qualify — the younger generation, for instance, wanting to go to a pub may not have got to the stage of vaccination, then that would certainly amount to discrimination. but i would venture to say that this is not that much of a problem in developing countries, sadly so. it should be so, but i think it is something that the world will have to grapple with because this problem, this coronavirus, does not seem to be going away in a hurry and so, it could be a pretty long haul and the world will have to adjust to living with it, rather than wishing it away. clive, do you think that this question of how we are going to persuade people, rather than just instruct people? the british government renewed its emergency powers for a further six months, but under considerable discomfort and disquiet even from its own backbenchers.

even those who voted for it weren't particularly happy about the prospect. something will have to change, won't it, about how we handle it? what is interesting in the uk is that the opposition - is primarily coming - from the prime minister's own backbenches. it is not coming from the pe0ple~ _ the polls are consistent - here that the british people believe that it is a price that has to be paid, - but the voices _ on the backbenches are loud — they are a minority but they are loud. i borisjohnson has to be mindful of that, even though he does i have an 80—seat majority. even though the vaccine rollout has been successful, _ he's seeing his stock rise in the polls. - he has got a lot of room where he can— he has got a lot of room where he can say, look, i— he has got a lot of room where he can say, look, i am - he has got a lot of room where he can say, look, i am taking l he can say, look, i am taking the _ he can say, look, i am taking the decision— he can say, look, i am taking the decision that _ he can say, look, i am taking the decision that if _ he can say, look, i am taking the decision that if we - he can say, look, i am taking the decision that if we need i he can say, look, i am takingl the decision that if we need to lockdown_ the decision that if we need to lockdown a _ the decision that if we need to lockdown a little _ the decision that if we need to lockdown a little bit _ the decision that if we need to lockdown a little bit longer- lockdown a little bit longer than — lockdown a little bit longer than it _ lockdown a little bit longer than it is _ lockdown a little bit longer than it is going _ lockdown a little bit longer than it is going to- lockdown a little bit longer than it is going to have - lockdown a little bit longer than it is going to have toi lockdown a little bit longer. than it is going to have to be done~ — someone like chris whitty, the chief medical officer. for england, the chief guy. giving him scientific advice, i suppose you could say, he is very cautious. - he is worried about

the winter coming.| and the pressures on the national— and the pressures on the national health— and the pressures on the national health service. i he is worried about - variants on the continent. and the longer this vaccine i is out there, the more chance there is for mutations. he is talking about - the possibility of still having restrictions come christmastime. l this is chris whitty. you have got this good cop, bad cop with boris johnson. but he clearly has room . for manoeuvre because at the moment, the british public are listening to him _ and he doesn't have - to listen to those voices in his backbenches. now, it's almost as long as new york's empire state building is high, and it spent most of the week blocking egypt's suez canal. the ever green, stranded in a sandstorm, caused an almighty traffic jam. the alternative — take the pre—1880s route forfreight, going around africa. even with 21st century ships, that's quite a diversion — up to three weeks. ashis, there is something kind of almost funny about the idea that despite all of the logistics and all of the modern technology, that the combination of a bit of bad weather, a really bad sand storm and a troublesome three—point turn can jam one

of the most important waterways in the world, but in a sense, it is potentially a lot more serious, isn't it? notjust because of the economic cost but because of the strategic significance of this canal? absolutely. it seems amusing for a moment but at the moment, it is really becoming more serious. i do believe that it is a problem, which is again going to take a few more days before it is resolved. $9 billion worth of goods pass through the suez canal every day. that is a huge proportion. countries are having to divert ships to around the cape of good hope until this matter

is sorted out and it is, indeed, a problem. this is accumulating, countries like india, for instance, export to europe, north america, south america via the suez canal and the other way round. the american continent and the european continent through the suez canal, so that is certainly a problem. it is a critical state of affairs and it makes matters more expensive for the simple reason that the ships have to take a longer route and there will be delays in deliveries because of the fact that it's a longerjourney. so everything put together, i think it is a bit of a crisis at the moment, and it seems that the owners of the ships have apologised and they are saying that they are trying their best but there is no immediate resolution. it will take, possibly, a few weeks to work it out.

stefanie, a lot of the history of europe's historical success, the rise of the great empires, was dependent on these sea routes. they would get goods from the old empire into consumers in europe. there are new possibilities, aren't there? we always used to talk about the northwest passage at the beginning of the 20th century — they finally managed it. now, the ice is melting around the arctic and we see these countries jostling under the guise of scientific expedition for access to these new routes. it is still an important part of the way we connect. yes, it is. the numbers are so impressive. i think it was reported that every hour that this ship is stuck in the suez canal, it is something like 338 million euro damage to the world economy.

in 2019, there were tensions around the strait of hormuz once more. it shows how dependent the world is and how dependent you are on some waterways and some sea passages, but to be honest, ijust thought suddenly, somehow it reflects also what it means when things come to a halt and suddenly everything stops, like the lockdown that we are in now. and we are now exactly one year after that first lockdown started in europe and it made me think of what comes afterwards and how much reflection there has now been going on, and also the question of what comes afterwards. is capitalism really working yet? and there are so many fascinating books coming out about the future of capitalism. what comes after growth? is gdp really the right measurement to measure our being and our presence and ourfuture, especially? so it actually made me think more about the philosophical, broader context that we are in and what it all means for us. whether this ship is stuck or

we are stuck at home. are we all going to end up like the marie celeste, floating in the middle, and everybody wonders what ever happened to us? one thing which brought many people together during lockdown, virtually at least, were quizzes. so, let's end on a question... which long—running television quiz show, inspired by wartime interrogation, is introduced with a music track called approaching menace and hasjust appointed its latest presenter? it's mastermind. you may know it even if you're not watching in the uk — there are versions in india, israel, kazakhstan, russia and turkey, as well as in other countries in english. the man who knows all about it. the new host of mastermind — congratulations, clive. have you been practising your interrogation techniques in the mirror at home? i have. dim the lights, just have one sort of bulb hanging - in the middle and focus the attention on the - unwilling suspect. yes, it's something i'm looking i forward to and it's interestingl that the franchise has. gone all over the world and there seems to be - a penchant for people wanting

to see others squirm, potentially. _ and try to add their knowledge when _ and try to add their knowledge when it— and try to add their knowledge when it comes _ and try to add their knowledge when it comes to _ and try to add their knowledge when it comes to answering i when it comes to answering questions _ when it comes to answering questions on _ when it comes to answering questions on their- when it comes to answering j questions on their specialist subject _ it's been going since 1972. as you say, bill wright, - the guy who produced the whole thing when it- started in the 705. he was a prisoner of warj shot down over germany and he was interrogated - and he was asked, your name, your rank and your number. and that is where the opening lines come from for the questioning. . it is going to be fun. i raise this question, ashis. they do a celebrity edition — you and stefanie could end up on at some point. if you did, ashis, what would be your specialised subject? well, my wife thinks it should be indian cricket, and i agree. laughs . two minutes on indian cricket. sadly, we are almost out

of time and we don't have enough time to do that. stefanie, what would be yours? a very special one. european football matches, between borussia monchengladbach and manchester city in 1978 and 1979. laughs i don't know if you could even get two minutes out of that, but i'm sure it's something you could try. clive, you are safe from never having to answer these questions. thankfully, yes. you can't ask yourself the questions, though many presenters would like to ask themselves the questions. we can save that one for another day. what would it have been if you had been a guest facing clive? no question about it. i am an expert. aren't we all? many congratulations. he did not know that was coming and he has taken it on the chin — god bless you, sir! congratulations from all of us. stefanie, ashis, and to you, thank you very much forjoining dateline london for this week. i'll be back at the same time, see you then. goodbye.

hello. this week is going to get off to a decidedly springlike start for many. in fact, in places you'd be forgiven for thinking places some has not already with particular warm weather coming on monday and tuesday. north—western parts of the uk, particularly western scotland will see heavy and persistent rain. i could give rise to some localised flooding. you can see it is really wet here for the day on monday. eastern and north—eastern scotland seeing some brightness. growing up in northern ireland, staying pretty gladly. england and wales largely dry but the other men. the best of the sunshine down to the south—east of the in eastern england up to 20 to 20 or 21 degrees. parts of north—east scotland could get up north—east scotland could get up to 18 given any lengthy

sunny spells. monday night, we will see further outbreaks of rain up towards the north—west of scotland. further south and east, if you missed matches with clear spells as well. tuesday, a very warm day particularly in the south. it does turn cold from the north through the end of the way, very chilly for the easter weekend. restrictions on freedom

and liberty.

this is bbc news. welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: dozens of people are killed in north—east mozambique in an attack by islamist militants. thousands are forced to flee. an outpouring of grief in myanmar: security forces are condemned after opening fire on mourners at the funeral of a protester. the mexican government admits the true number of its coronavirus deaths is 60% higher than previously reported. and the case that shook america and reverberated around the world: a special report as the man accused of george floyd's murder goes on trial.