let's speak to our china correspondent robin brant who's in shanghai. correspondent robin brant why correspondentse people and why g after why these people and why go after barristers, for example? they are going after mps and politicians because they are exerting the most pressure on borisjohnson and his boris johnson and his administration borisjohnson and his administration to be tougher on china when it comes to xinjiang but also hong kong and took the overall on the rise of china and the threat there is believe beijing poses to countries like the uk. that is why tondu can no, iain duncan smith, alanna kennedy, they are being targeted, they have been the largest voices in drawing attention to the evidence of abuses in xinjiang. pressuring dominic rob, borisjohnson, the foreign secretary and prime minister going to be tougher on china. the reason and ethics barristers has been touted is because they were responsible for drawing up an opinion that said that china had committed genocide, using the g word, in xinjiang. it shows what of independentjudicial systems independent judicial systems and

that is robin brant based in shanghai.it's world book day — the biggest dress—up day after halloween, when children parade off to school dressed as their favourite literary character. with many kids still learning from home because of the pandemic, this year's world book day is a little different. so are the costumes still selling? is it isita is it a question of world book day on zoom or other such platforms. we talk to mike o'connell managing director of rubies, one of the largest costume makers and distributors in the well. good morning to you. have you been selling lots of costumes as usual at this time of year? it of costumes as usual at this time of year?— of costumes as usual at this time of year? it has very much been a mixed _ time of year? it has very much been a mixed bag, _ time of year? it has very much been a mixed bag, sally. i been a mixed bag, sally. unfortunately with the high street closed and a virtual book day this year has been for us. our online retailers have done well. i us. our online retailers ha

our correspondent, robin brant, is in shanghai. alljust all just start by alljust start by clearing upnd what we don't know? �* . . �* happening and what we don't know? �* . ., �* ., ., know? i'm afraid i'm going to have to catch _ know? i'm afraid i'm going to have to catch this _ know? i'm afraid i'm going to have to catch this in - know? i'm afraid i'm going to have to catch this in some - have to catch this in some generality because it looks like his trial after over two years of detention is beginning but wejust don't years of detention is beginning but we just don't know because a group of foreign diplomats who gathered outside including a senior canadian diplomat wanted access and they have been denied that. there were foreign reporters there not being allowed to go in. so it looks like his trial has begun but the truth is at the moment we just don't know. they don't have to wait for reports either from the officials all from chinese media may be allowed in to see the proceedings. what chinese media may be allowed in to see the proceedings.— to see the proceedings. what is the

here's our china correspondent robin brant.comes several days after the uk in a coordinated effort with the us and eu imposed sanctions on some prominent chinese figures all over those allegations as you heard john go into some detail in his report of human rights abuses in the xinjiang province against those uighur minority muslims. an hour or so ago we had this list from china's ministry of foreign affairs. among those being targeted includes an arm of the conservative party, it's human rights commission, prominent tory mps, iain duncan smith, tom tugendhat, the man in charge of the china research group. both of those men are among the harshest critics of beijing, among those putting the most pressure on boris johnson and his administration to be tougher on china. what it means is that these nine people and these four entities cannot have anything to do with china in terms of business or any chinese people either. if they own anything here those assets will be frozen. we are hearing some reaction very quickly from people like

we start in china, where covid—i9 was first discovered, with our correspondent robin brant.re it all began and it started as an outbreak in a small part of a city. it went on to become an epidemic and now it is a global pandemic. but here, 15 months on from that, in the country where it all started, things are pretty much normal. in shanghai everyone wears a mask, but the buses are running, the banks open and the restaurants are business. most of the schools across this country have been teaching face—to—face since last august. and people are travelling in the millions on the planes, on trains, but china is a country shut off from the rest of the world. almost no—one is allowed in internationally. it is rolling out vaccines. but it's doing it slowly. it's aiming to get almost half the population having had those jabs, but not until this summer. at the same time it's using some of that stock to help other countries abroad and also to try to win diplomatic favour. now, china's official version of how it dealt with coronavirus is one of success. and look at the official numbers

we start in china, where covid—i9 was first discovered, with our correspondent robin brant.t all began and it started as an outbreak in a small part of a city. it went on to become an epidemic and now it is a global pandemic. but here, 15 months on from that, in the country where it all started, things are pretty much normal. in shanghai everyone wears a mask, but the buses are running, the banks open and the restaurants are doing business. most of the schools across this country have been teaching face—to—face since last august. and people are travelling in the millions on the planes, on trains, but china is a country shut off from the rest of the world. almost no—one is allowed in internationally. it is rolling out vaccines. there are three home—made versions at the moment, but it's doing it slowly. it's aiming to get almost half the population having had those jabs, but not until this summer. at the same time it's using some of that stock to help other countries abroad and also to try to win diplomatic favour. now, china's official version of how it dealt with coronavirus

let's speak to our china correspondent robin brant in shanghai. what has china said in this latest announcementnctions _ latest announcement? these are retaliatory sanctions imposed - retaliatory sanctions imposed on four uk entities and nine individuals, which, several days after the uk in a co—ordinated effort with the us and the european union imposed sanctions on some prominent chinese figures, over those allegations as you heard john going into in some detail, on human rights abuses in xinjiang province against those uighur minority muslims. an hour or so ago we had this list from china's ministry of foreign affairs, among those targeted includes an arm of the conservative party, human rights commission, prominent tory mps, ian duncan smith, tom tugendhat, in charge of the china research group. both among the harshest critics of beijing. putting the most pressure on borisjohnson and his administration to be tougher on china. what it means is these nine people and four entities cannot have anything to do with china in terms of business relations or chinese people either. if they own anythin

live now to our china correspondent, robin brant. what more do you know? health authorities believe that this is a temporary issue. appears to be a defect on the cap on the top of some of these files. they have in specific batches, the numbers of which have been made known to the public butjust as a precaution the authorities in hong kong and the former portuguese colony very close by say they are suspending use of the pfizer vaccine there and are continuing to use the other manufactured in chinese mainland and that is the one thatis mainland and that is the one that is being used more widespread across both those two areas but for now they have suspended the use of the pfizer but they are emphasising this is a temporary issue with specific issues and the clear implication is that they hope once that they have sorted the issues to resume using both vaccines. i issues to resume using both vaccines-_ issues to resume using both vaccines. ,, , , , vaccines. i guess this stool is that the vaccination - vaccines. i guess this stool is that the vaccination roll-

robin brant is in shanghai.. these are vaccinations that are frozen, transported to their destination, in this case the two former colonies in the south of hong kong and then forward before they are given. apparently, there was an issue with the caps on the top of these files. for now, the centres that were giving out these vaccinations are not doing so. they emphasise that they hope it is temporary. there are other options in hong kong. there is a vaccine made by the company on the chinese mainland is still available. overall, it is not great for hong kongin overall, it is not great for hong kong in particular. only about 7 million people in its population has been vaccinated so far... this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is? the eu and the uk are saying that they have agreed to cooperate on vaccine supply. the eu is, however, still proposing measures that could prevent exports to the uk. let's turn to the us — in the wake of two mass shootings in a week — and 18 people dead — the d

first here's robin brant in shanghai.eak in a small part of the city. it went on to become an epidemic and now it's a global pandemic. but here, 15 months on from that in a country where it all started, things are pretty much normal. in shanghai, everyone wears a mask but the buses are running on the banks are open and the restaurants are doing business. china is a country shut off from the rest of the world. almost no one is allowed in internationally. china's official version of how we dealt with coronavirus is one of success and look at the official numbers. in a country of 1.4 billion people, 15 months on from the outbreak they have had 108,000 cases. according to the official numbers and just under 5000 deaths. from shanghai in china let's go to rome in italy, the first country in the world to impose a nationwide lockdown. here's mark lowen. one year on the situation is again not looking good. with the infection curve rising here and the r value, the spread of the virus going back above one again within the last week

our china correspondent, robin brant, is following the congress from shanghai.lect representatives as well, all of this is about further diluting any sense of credible democracy there and further consolidating beijing�*s hold over that institution. we have seen china�*s premier, the number two politician in the country kick off the meeting today with a speech which is mainly about the economy but he talked yet again about the significance of patriots, those loyal to beijing being the people who represent hong kong�*s 7 million people and a further warning as well, this comes every year, but it is more potent as you, a further warning that beijing continues to guard against foreign interference stop it believes those protests were fuelled, aided and abetted by the uk, the us may be, and this is all in an issue that hong kong was a vs future, beijing regards it being absently caught which kind of sort —— sovereignty, integrity. a decision by italy to block the export to australia of a quarter of a million doses of the astrazeneca jab has been criticised by the gov

our correspondent in shanghai, robin brant, is following developments.as come out of nowhere, and also, what is so striking is how it has gathered pace in a matter of hours. this is all about h&m's proclamation, going back last year, which is just referred to, saying it wanted to purge its supply chain of cotton that was used and harvested in xinjiang. that's the western private is where china risibly accused of abuse against the muslim minority there. genocide is actually how now president biden's administration has classified the abuses going on. so what is most intriguing is that all of a sudden, just a few days after coordinated sanctions were imposed by the uk, the us and the european union, we have arms of the communist party, the celebrity endorsers happy to take h&m's money up until now all of a sudden coming out of nowhere, bailing on the company and encouraging others to do the same. at the other end of the scale, you have the japanese retailer. we just bought this shirt there this morning. on the label this actually refers to xinjiang cotton,

this week, over their treatment of the uighur minority in xinjiang. 0ur correspondent in shanghai, robin brants is one of its multitude of locations in this country, but what is striking about what we have seen in the last 2a hours is how quickly and how all of a sudden, this campaign led by celebrity endorsers and led by some arms of the ruling communist party has come out come out of nowhere. and also, what is so striking is how it has gathered pace in a matter of hours. this is all about h&m's proclamation, going back last year, which you just referred to, saying it wanted to purge its supply chain of cotton that was used and harvested in xinjiang. that's the western province where china risibly accused of abuse against the muslim minority there. —— china is accused of abuse. genocide is actually how now president biden�*s administration has classified the abuses going on. so what is most intriguing is that all of a sudden, just a few days after coordinated sanctions were imposed by the uk, the us and the european union, we have arms of the communist party, the celebrity endorsers happy to

robin brant says this puts paid to the idea of any democratic opposition within the hong kong legislatureertainly have a narrative of — agree? yes, we most certainly have a narrative of one _ agree? yes, we most certainly have a narrative of one country _ agree? yes, we most certainly have a narrative of one country two - agree? yes, we most certainly have a narrative of one country two systems | narrative of one country two systems for the pro—democracy community in hong kong, for the paskea years one country has meant beijing's authority in jurisdiction over hong kong versus leeway being given to the pro—democracy activists in hong kong towards a higher degree of autonomy. now we see the one country, two systems is under threat and today as the national people's congress, china's parliament, opens, ithink congress, china's parliament, opens, i think beijing wants to double down on this message before the 300 odd legislators in china.— legislators in china. there is take the warning _ legislators in china. there is take the warning for— legislators in china. there is take the warning for

we start in china, where covid—19 was first discovered, with our correspondent robin brant.since last august. and people are travelling in their millions on planes, on trains, but china is a country shut off from the rest of the world. almost no—one is allowed in internationally. it is rolling out vaccines — there are three home—made versions at the moment — but�*t is doing it slowly. it's aiming to get almost half the population having had those jabs, but not until this summer. at the same time, it's using some of that stock to help other countries abroad and also to try to win diplomatic favour. now, china's official version of how it dealt with coronavirus is one of success, and look to the official numbers. in a country of la billion people, 15 months on from the outbreak, they have had 108,000 cases, according to the official numbers, and just under 5000 deaths. this week marks a year since italy became the first country in the world to impose a nationwide lockdown, and one year on, the situation is again not looking good. with the infection curve rising here and the r

our correspondent in shanghai, robin brant, is following developments.a is accused of abuse against the muslim minority there. genocide is actually how now president biden�*s administration has classified the abuses going on. so what is most intriguing is that all of a sudden, just a few days after coordinated sanctions were imposed by the uk, the us and the european union, we have arms of the communist party, the celebrity endorsers, happy to take h&m�*s money up until now, all of a sudden coming out of nowhere, bailing on the company and encouraging others to do the same. at the other end of the scale, you have the japanese retailer muji. we just bought this shirt there this morning. on the label, this actually refers to xinjiang cotton, so they are at the other end of the scale in terms of what is going on. but look, it is very serious. this effort to use its economic clout, at this very time nationalism is a very familiar tactic employed by china, employed by the party, employed by its government, and it is serious. just ask the south koreans. their

here's our china correspondent robin brant.c, butjust as a precaution the authorities in hong kong and also in macau, the former portuguese colony very close by, say they are suspending use of the pfizer—biontech vaccine there. they continue to use the sinovac vaccine, which is manufactured on the chinese mainland and is being used there. that's the one that is being used more generally, more widespread across both those two areas. but for now, they have suspended the use of the pfizer—biontech one. but they are emphasising they believe that this is a temporary issue with specific batches and the clear implication is, they hope once they have sorted the problem specifically, to resume using both vaccines. trying to control the spread of coronavirus is a continuous global effort and part of that effort is trying to crack the virus's genetic code. a research lab in cambridge is analysing the dna of thousands of different virus samples, helping to identify new covid mutations before they spread. here's our science correspondent, r