the headlines. taliban says it will observe a peace agreement negotiated with the united states last year. the announcement, which includes a pledge to prevent al qaeda from operating in afghanistan, follows face—to—face talks with the us indo half. the non— has been hit by a nationwide power cut caused by the electricity grid shutting down. authorities have blamed ongoing fuel shortages amid a severe economic crisis. electricity supplies are unlikely to resume before monday. taiwan's president has vowed to uphold democracy and freedom at home amid growing tension with beijing. responding to a speech by president xijinping beijing. responding to a speech by president xi jinping saying reunification with china was inevitable, taiwan's leader was defiant during a speech on national day.

now on bbc news it is time for dateline london. hello and welcome to the programme which brings together bbc specialists with the foreign correspondents who write and broadcast for audiences back home from dateline london. this week... as borisjohnson promises to rebuild britain, why there could be delays. could made in taiwan soon become made in china? and why biden�*s buddies are not doing his bidding. joining us is marc roche from belgium and has spent three decades explaining the british to the french. a tha n kless a thankless task cheerfully undertaken. jef mcallister is a us—born lawyerfor american media. and with me in the studio,

we are delighted to have bbc asia pacific editor celia hatton. it's full steam ahead for britain's post brexit economy after the covid recession, according to the prime minister addressing his party. borisjohnson declared himself unconcerned by staff shortages delaying if not imperilling the recovery. not enough lorry drivers to deliver petrol. not enough butchers to put meat on the christmas plate. mrjohnson�*s response, this isn't a government problem. employers should pay more. spiralling energy costs making things more expensive to produce could soon mean everyone else needs to make more money in order to stand still. marc, the adam smith institute bears the name of a great economist who many conservatives revere and have done for the last couple of centuries. they said of the prime minister's speech, bombastic, but vacuous and economically illiterate.

is that a fair assessment? it is economically illiterate because what he wants to do is replace a model, an economic model, based on low wages, low productivity and massive emigration, by a future model based on high wages, based on high productivity, and also limited immigration, mostly skilled. you can't do that short—term or medium—term, and there's another problem. as a cultural problem. the young, british, unskilled workers don't want to do thejob eu immigrants were doing, that is the fruit picker or the vegetable picker, the butchers or the driver, and to change that you need massive investment in training, infrastructure, and the government at the moment doesn't have lots of money. so at the moment it's

voodoo econometrics. we heard the prime minister say supply chain problems are temporary. i noticed on friday he appoint a new adviser. a supply chain adviser. in a sense, he has a point, doesn't he? in a properly functioning economy, if there is a shortage of labour, employers respond by improving working conditions and increasing wages. that's true. if it is properly functioning. but i think marc's point is right. this happens more over the medium and long term, not immediately. and i know we can't speak the b word, brexit. we have to blame everything on covid. but both are disruptors in the short term. i think everyone likes the idea

of a britain that is able to pay its workers well enough to do the miserable jobs that they don't want to do, but that time is not coming any time soon. in fact, one of britain's problems for the last 50 years has been low productivity compared to its competitors, and that might be because there's so many small businesses. it doesn't appear to be because of immigration or the fact there've been a lot of poles who have been painted the same way as british people. this is a very tricky long—term problem, and the government if it's intelligent will want to put in long terms incentives, but i did a phd thesis on british productivity problems in the 19505 and thereafter, and all the problems are the same. low investment in training,

low investment in r&d, and these take a long time to fix, and the government doesn't have the money to do the investing or the time to make it all happen within boris johnson's term. maybe it won't make any difference anyway. it might be worth you dusting off a copy and popping it in an envelope to 10 downing st! it might be gratefully received. i wouldn't wish that on anybody! celia hatton. you know the old nursery rhyme about the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. a lot of businesses at sea at the moment. we heard about the butchers, not enough of them. i understand scottish bakers did a survey back in the summer, 75% of their members couldn't recruit enough staff. that made me think of the candlestick maker. i spoke tojonny baker, the candlestick maker where i come from in devon, he said he buys soya wax,

it used to take in three weeks to order it and arrive, and now takes 20 weeks. as a consumer, have you been noticing this on the shelves? absolutely. we're all getting an education in global supply chains. - you go to one shop and it might be out of milk, - you go to another and it might be out of bread. i boris johnson has said - employers must begin to pay more, but from what i'm - learning it really is the poor, especially in london, | that are paying more. i spoke with one taxi driver. who said he hasn't been able to work very much because he just can't get the petrol - into his taxi to get on with hisjob. i also, in shops, when supplies run low, it's the cheapest - items that tend to run out first. richer people can reach - for the next more expensive thing on the shelf. poorer people can't. i think the poor are reallyl bearing the brunt of these patchy supply chains.

jef, at what point does the prime minister rhetoric and the economic reality become so glaring that we start to see some kind of public reaction to it? thus far, all the opinions suggest the prime minister remains by a mile, by a country mile of the most popular political leader. and his party is comfortably ahead in most surveys of voting intention. this is the £64 billion question. he does have remarkable buoyancy, part of that is his personal charm, part of it is the labour party is becalmed and very confused about what it can do to make itself different from him and regain its northern seats. he also has that wonderful gift of not having to be a detail person. this is something that hillary clinton suffered from. she always had to be

the smartest person in the room. donald trump could say, "i don't care." and people liked him for it. his rasputin, dominic cummings, told parliament and told others that he was dreadful about covid. he had really screwed up the response and was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. and people sort of shook it off. of course, over time, the barnacles attach to any government, but this government's been around for 11 or 12 years. somehow, they've been reinvented. it's a remarkable story and it will have to be a lot worse before he bears the political price. marc, is there something to be said for political leaders in what i think baldwin used to call masterly inactivity?

well, you can't call a french president... masterly inactivity. all of them have been hyperactive. macron i think has brought a bit more stability, he is the favourite to win the election. he has a plan to modernise france. the british are out of the europe and germany is not the force it was in the past with the new coalition. to put france at the centre of europe. so, i think the french are at the moment better positioned than the british because they have the same strong leadership, but a vision which, of course, borisjohnson doesn't have or was incapable to describe it in the conference speech.

thank you all very much. japan's new prime minister took office on monday. he's a former foreign minister. just as well, because troubl appears to be brewing the pacific. the chinese military dispatch 52 aircraft. the fourth day in succession of incursions. since it regards the island as a province of china. beijing acknowledges no issues. it knows full well, there is one. after six hours, diplomats agreed presidentjoe biden and xijinping will see each other on zoom. it would be a lovely call to hack into! they talk hours, days of lug associations and emails to get

to get an agreement to meet face—to—face. absolutely. i think the sides have come to the point where they'vel agreed that they need | to communicate more. i'll call this a screen summit. it is taking place at i a really unusual time. of course they will be speaking about some of the usual things that appear over and over. trade, the technology war. but there are also big - issues on the agenda that aren't always discussed. we've got cop26 coming up on the horizon. - china has not committed to a delegation, but it'sl widely agreed that if these two countries can't get together, . it could turn the tide l for the entire summit. there's one thing. also, we have - to think of beijing. beijing is very - anxious right now. it's got the winter i olympics coming up.

that might not be importantj for many people, but beijing is very anxious about - the threat of a diplomatic boycott by the united states. the us senate has passed a bill advocating such a boycott. - it will go in front of congress. - beijing would like toi avert this if possible. also, we've got military- tensions, as you referred to. tensions over taiwan, - around the east china sea, both sides really guilty - of ramping up military tensions at the moment. i think this will take - place at an unusual time, but also on a screen - and in an unusual place. marc, in the wake of the row of aukus. how does all this look from paris and comes back from brussels as well? the developments in the pacific region? well, britain is wrong because britain has

nothing to give. also, unreliable country like australia of dealing with the us, it will be a junior partner, and anyway after afg ha nista n completely unreliable. the obvious ally is france because it has indo pacific presence, it has territory there, it has an army like the british army, it has a permanent seat on the european council. and i think as soon asjohnson mends fences with macron it is the best. i have a suggestion, why doesn't he buy, because they are cheap at the moment, the submarines the australians don't want? i'm sure macron could make your products!

make a deal he couldn't possibly refuse. as long as they're not gas powered i think we might be onto something. jef, with aukus, with the first ever face—to—face meeting of the four nations, they haven't actually met but they did come to washington to meetjoe biden — do you get a sense that there is finally a biden strategy emerging about china? in fits and starts. i think biden's idea in foreign policy generally and also with china and the asia—pacific is alliances matter. he is the anti—trump. he's going to try to build gradually the kind of alliances that the united states knows how to run from the cold war. and, in fairness, even during the cold war, which came out ok for the us, at the time, it looks often that the russians were stronger and smarter and had more tools to play with countries around the world and the americans felt on the defensive and the dominoes were always falling.

so, even though china appears to have the making the weather these days and new ways of testing, you can understand that perhaps the americans want to fall back on this idea that with time, they can build alliances that will stand up. now, this is a different opponent. the chinese are embedded in the american economy in a much different way. in all the other economies, they're able to penetrate all the computer networks that the american companies and the american government to a much greater degree. they are a much more subtle opponent, and i think with many of the allies in the pacific and potential, they had to be worried that while joe biden is the adult and the recognisable figure, who really knows what's going to happen?

the coherence of the western alliance is in a very different place from what it was in those days. biden is fighting hard to make it look like he can pull it off, but only time will see how much he's able to. how unnerved do you think is fumio kishida and his colleagues by the way china is rattling everyone�*s cage around the south china sea and around those disputed islands, and for effecting those other neighbours as well? i think he will do- what his predecessors did. i think fumio kishida will walk a very careful path. _ it's notable that on his second day in office, he spoke - to president biden, . but on the fourth day, he spent twice as long - on the phone with xi jinping. that is really an _ acknowledgement that japan has

a lot of importance to place on its relationship with bay| showing, and of course it is| concerned about aggression across the taiwan straight. kishida already said he wants . to put more money into coastal security, more money into missile defence. i that's also because both times he was on the phone, - he was probably thinking about north korea, - they are a real concern. they have tested four- missiles in the last month. and they always overjapan! 0r very close. i think that's one of. the common concerns. whether he's on the phone | with washington or beijing. north korea is always in the mind as well. l just on that, marc roche, he was asked with the american with the american people back military action if china were to attack thai one? he was very doubtful about that. do you think maybe taiwan should be looking for insurance elsewhere in case china's

rhetoric turns into reality? well, europe at the moment, there is a french delegation in taiwan close to president macron. in the chinese were furious about it, but it went on. the eu is starting negotiations with taiwan. with some sort of agreement. in a way, the eu is more detriment to engage with taiwan. but eu is divided because there are countries which emphasise human rights or the treatment of democracies, and that's france and scandinavia. on the other hand, you have countries who have very important chinese investment like greece and germany, who would be... opposed to it. so in a way, again, the eu is divided, and that is the

strength of china. some good news forjoe biden. on wednesday, a texas judge blocked the new abortion law. on thursday, the government capitulated on corporate tax rates. on other fronts, he is struggling. the media is turning on administration which promised transparency yet seems intent on inflating mr biden from being posed off topic questions. his recovery plan appears to be in trouble not because of republicans, because members of congress on his own side. jef, walk us through some of these problems he's facing, particularly in congress.

i think you'll have to look at his problems in three dimensions, starting closest in. yes, there are problems among his own caucus. this is inevitable because they are divided, but they're still talking, and i think they are ideologically not compatible. but the bigger threat is with the republicans and congress is divided 50—50. it takes only a few senators to say they won't do it. it gives them huge leverage. some are not interested in biden's agenda and are willing to stop it. and the third level out is really what is the republican party now? the last time, under obama, mitch mcconnell said his job was to make him a failed president. and he's doing it again. he means to slow everything

down and make things unpleasant so that in the midterm elections, the democrats look like they are not getting anything done. then this backdrop of donald trump and the republican party, who believe joe biden is not the legitimate us president. i think trump is running again. it's a much tougher environment to get anything done, and biden is playing by the rules that he has to play by, which is old—fashioned horse trading in washington to get anything done. i think his assumption was if you can get these big packages done, there would be a recovery from covid, things would look better, happy days are here again and the democrats would be ok in the midterms and there could be a platform to win again. but it's looking sour. of course the economy is not in terrible shape.

things are getting better. there are some good signs, but the mood music and the obstructionism of republican party that is not ronald reagan's republican party means it's quite perilous for any democratic president, and i am very concerned not just aboutjoe biden, but about the future of the country if this is the nature of what republicans have become. just on some of those other issues, we have those terrible images of haitian people being beaten with whips from the border by us immigration forces. how does that kind of thing go down? in canada, where there have been certain expectations. biden's message during the campaign on immigration was very different to trump. it's fascinating to watch i this debate from canada. i read a lot of canadian- newspapers, and of course those scenes were described as abhorrent. - but there have been a lot of people who come out. of haitian communities - in canada to say, how dare you, canadian government? when there was a huge . earthquake, the canadian government said i

they stood ready. let us know how we can help. some of the haitian immigrant communities have said, - why don't you let. more refugees in? in 2017, there was a huge wave of asylum—seekers who came l from the united states- who were haitian into canada to try to claim refugee status, and canada has quietly been. sending many of those people home. - two out of three applications on average are rejected, - so of course those i scenes have been... there's been no repetitionl in canada, but that doesn't mean other governments- are really doing much to help. i suppose one issue is with the left wing ofjoe biden�*s own party. who might also say actually, why waste time trying to engage with republicans? it didn't work for obama. it isn't going to work for you.

well, you know, at the moment of course, that's the situation. but we knowjoe biden has succeeded in one area, which has not been mentioned. it's the tax on corporation multinationals. the prodigal son of ireland has forced the irish to accept 15% of tax instead of 12.5 where others failed. i think it shows that joe biden has some leverage, at least in ireland, and its welcome to because we do not need to have all these tax havens all over the place. the only caveat is that joe biden represents the biggest tax haven in the us. laughter. marc roche, marc roche, i jef mcallister, celia hatton,

thank you very much. that's dateline london. back at the same time next week. from all of us on the programme, goodbye. hello. for many of you, sunday is going to be quite a pleasant day to get out there and enjoy the changing autumn colours, most parts of the country should be dry, a fair bit of sunshine as well, more cloud in the south compared with what we had on saturday afternoon and for all, shall something a bit fresher, the muggy air being swept away this cold front pushing its way southwards and eastwards allowing temperatures to drop, but it will still be quite pleasant out there. the sunshine overhead will be cooler, northern ireland,

scotland, northern england, temperatures down into single figures and a cool start to the south—east, where we could see morning sunshine in the south—east. mist and fog but weather front bringing the fresh and will be sitting across central southern parts of england and wales. patchy late rain in the morning, that should clear, all but the far east of kent by the mid afternoon and sunny spells, light winds for the vast majority. more cloud in the afternoon for scotland and northern ireland and a few heavy showers where we will see the strongest of the winds and a gust of a0 mph. in the sunshine in the south, not as muggy and humid, but once that sun ison your back it should still feel quite pleasant. into the evening and overnight into monday, clear skies around, a few mist and fog patches but mostly clear and dry and even cooler nights to take us into the start of the new week. these are the city centre temperatures in rural areas, down to single figures for one or two. going to a new week in a cooler note, a new trend from what we have had recently, the exception to the dry story will be across the north

and west of scotland, patchy rain here and we could see some of that at times getting to northern england, a lot more cloud in the northern half than the southern half and we will receive the best of the sunshine, temperatures continuing to drop a little bit after those cooler nights, but as we go through monday night into tuesday, highs close by but it is not quite with us, allowing this weather front to push its way south, introducing a lot more cloud across northern and eastern england for tuesday, one or two spots of rain and showers without, but most places will be dry, sunny spells around, feeling cooler down the eastern coast, and shelter to the west where you get any sunny spells, it should feel pleasant. through the rest of the week, most places will stay dry, temperatures in the mid teens, chances of rain into the north as we go into next weekend. see you soon.

this is bbc news. i'm alison baxter. our top stories. face—to—face talks have taken place in doha between senior us and taliban officials as mass funerals are held in afghanistan for the victims of friday's kunduz bomb blast. plunged into near darkness. lebanon suffers another nationwide power cut amid an ongoing economic crisis. taiwan says it will work to hold fast the frontlines of democracy and freedom after china says reunification must be fulfilled. the chancellor of austria, sebastian kurz, says he is stepping down to fight corruption allegations. and porridge with a twist.

we will speak to the runner—up of the world porridge making