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Hello, this is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service with reports and analysis from across the world. The latest news, seven days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are supported by advertising.

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This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

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I'm Valerie Saunderson. At 4500 GMT on Friday, the 19th of Barge, these are our main stories. Our reporter in Myanmar for the BBC's Burmese service has been taken away by unidentified men in the capital, Naypyidaw. German experts have warned that coronavirus infections in the country are rising exponentially, urging people not to travel over the Easter holiday period. Mozambique's Human Rights Commission says that at least 114 albino people have disappeared in a culture where body parts of people with albinism are believed to bring good luck.

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Also in this podcast, the alternative to a rules-based order is a world in which might makes right and winners take all your challenges. Let me show you are the U.S. human rights issues are deeply rooted in the slaughter of African-Americans has always been a problem taking part in high level talks.

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China and the U.S. exchange barbed comments.

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As we record this podcast in Myanmar, a reporter for the BBC Burmese service ANSARA has been taken away by unidentified men in the capital, Naypyidaw. Mary Hockaday is the head of BBC News International Services.

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What we know is that he was taken away by unidentified men in plain clothes earlier today. And we're really concerned about this. You know, among the reports of further protests and and sadly deaths, we're very concerned about the whereabouts of our BBC reporter. We really appealed to the Burmese authorities to confirm to us where he is and that he is safe. He's an accredited journalist who's been working in Naypyidaw for several years. And we really need to know that he is safe and well.

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More pro-democracy protesters were reportedly shot dead by the military on Friday. More from our Asia editor, Rebecca Henschke.

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The military have opened fire again on anti coup demonstrators in several cities across the country. What we've been seeing in recent days is the military very actively trying to get demonstrators to break up and dismantle barricades that they've put up across streets across the country. And they had been warning that they would would shoot at people who refused to remove the barricades. That's what happened in one town in central Yangon today. And there were deaths when people refused to remove those barricades.

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Also, what we're seeing in the capital, Yangon, today is that the roads out of the of the city bus stations are choked with people trying to flee the military place. A number of townships in Yangon in in a martial law situation, you know, effectively putting two million people under direct control of military commanders. So what we're seeing is people making a decision to leave the city and head into rural areas and back to families where that they feel that they might be safer.

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And what international efforts are underway to bring pressure on the military in Myanmar? Well, the strongest comments that we've had today from regional leaders has come from Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Indonesia has been the leading critical voice in the region, condemning the military's actions. And President Joko Widodo said that he urged, he demanded that the military stop the violence in Myanmar. He said that there should be no more victims. And he expressed sincere condolences to the families and sorrow of the families of the victims.

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And he said the safety and welfare of people must be a top priority. So Indonesia is pushing for another high level meeting amongst ASEAN. Mr. Widodo writing to Brunei, who's the head of ASEAN at the moment, calling for a summit immediately to discuss Myanmar. ASEAN is one of the only global forums where the military will participate in a dialogue, and that's where its power lies. Indonesia is pushing for some direct action there.

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And Rebecca, we heard there from Mary Hockaday about the BBC, Burmese reporter Ansara being taken away. Tell us about the pressures that journalists are working under in Myanmar. It's a very difficult situation for all journalists in the military has revoked the licenses of five of the major independent media organizations. A number of those offices have been raided by the authorities and those journalists have had to go into hiding. Early in the demonstrations, journalists felt that they had a level of protection that has disappeared, that we believe that there's now around 40 journalists to date who have been detained by the military.

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16 of them remain in custody. And it's now also because of the constant Internet blackouts, a very difficult place to get information out. There's now no Wi-Fi or data roaming in most areas across the country. So people relying on on home Wi-Fi or fiber optic when they can get it. And that's really stopping the citizen journalists also from getting information out, getting these shocking videos of military violence and abuse that we've been seeing, a key way to get news of the country out to the rest of the world now effectively closed.

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Rebecca Henschke, the German agency responsible for tracking the spread of coronavirus, has warned that infections are rising exponentially in the country, fuelled by outbreaks among younger people. Pressure is mounting on the government to reintroduce lockdown measures. Our Berlin correspondent Jenny Hill reports.

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Hard weeks lie ahead for Germany. Government experts warned this morning case numbers are now rising exponentially, fueled by outbreaks among younger people. Just eight percent of the population has received a first dose of vaccine, although the government has today resumed rollout of the AstraZeneca job. Ministers are worried about the Easter holidays and are urging people not to travel and to limit gatherings to immediate family only. This country has only just begun to relax restrictions. But experts are calling for a hard and fast national lockdown to mitigate the effects of a vicious third wave.

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Jenny Hill.

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But the first time officials from US President Joe Biden's administration have held high level talks with their Chinese counterparts. While there's plenty to discuss at the meetings in Alaska, common ground is scarce. Chinese officials accused the U.S. of inciting countries to attack China, while the U.S. says China had arrived intent on grandstanding in front of the world's media. Delegates sparred for more than an hour. Jonathan Savage reports on an undiplomatic war of words in snowy Anchorage.

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The political atmosphere was as cold as the outside air. The presidents of China and the United States had sent their most senior foreign lieutenants to Alaska to set the tone and set expectations for the next four years. In a sense, both sides knew what to expect. President Biden has made clear his goal is to unite allies and a political counterweight to China's growing influence. His secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, emphasizing the American worldview. A rules-based order.

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It helps countries resolve differences peacefully, coordinate multilateral efforts effectively, and participate in global commerce with the assurance that everyone is following the same rules. The alternative to a rules-based order is a world in which might makes right and winner take all. And that would be a far more violent and unstable world for all of us.

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The United States has vowed to press China on what it sees as the key human rights issues of the region, the treatment of weaker Muslims in Xinjiang, the status of Tibet, the sovereignty of Taiwan. But senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi was not in the mood to take lectures from the United States of America in 20.

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Let me show you are in regards to human rights. We hope the U.S. can do a little better in this aspect. The U.S. human rights issues are deeply rooted. It didn't just exist during the past 10 years. The slaughter of African-Americans has always been a problem with the blunt tone already established.

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Mr. Yang also accused Washington of using its military might on financial supremacy to suppress other countries, while the American national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, hinted that Beijing could afford a little introspection.

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A confident country is able to look hard at its own shortcomings and constantly seek to improve. And that is the secret sauce of America.

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The Chinese delegation agenda changing attitudes toward him in the Chinese.

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State Councilor Wang Yi said the gross interference of the U.S. had triggered the righteous indignation of the Chinese people.

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He added that imposing new sanctions on China the day before was not the way you should normally treat against other changes.

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These were only the public exchanges, we're told. Behind closed doors. The conversation was substantive and serious. But from human rights to trade, from military might to currency policy, these superpowers from different hemispheres appear poles apart.

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Jonathan Savage. For more than two years, two Canadian citizens, Michael Spaetzle and Michael coverage have been languishing in prison in China. They were both detained shortly after the arrest of a senior Huawei executive in Vancouver in December 2013. On Friday, Michael Spoofer went on trial on espionage charges in the northern city of Dandong. Canadian diplomats weren't allowed into the courtroom. Jim Nicol, the charge d'affaires of the Canadian embassy in Beijing, voiced his frustration.

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A very emotional time for his family, for him and himself, for Canadians as well, and for the Canadian government. It's been more than two years that he has been held arbitrarily in detention here in China. It's not been a transparent process. We're unable to have access to the courtroom. We were also unable to have access to Michael father himself before the trial.

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But nevertheless, if the trial is now concluded at a news conference in Beijing, a foreign ministry spokesman insisted that the case and consular access were being handled according to the law Jamie.

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And Jen should, considering the fact that this case touches upon China's national secrets, no person is allowed to sit in and there will not be an open trial in regards to what you mentioned about consular visits based on mutual respect and keeping the concerns of both sides in mind, the relevant Chinese authorities will continue in light of the pandemic situation to handle consular visits for Canadian citizens in accordance with the law.

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Nathan Van der Cleophas, a journalist with the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail. He's in China for Michael Schiavo's trial and he told James Menendez why it took place in Dandong.

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This is where Michael Schiavo is being held. It's also where he was living prior to his arrest. And Doong is right on the border with North Korea. In fact, the court house looks out over North Korea, standing outside, sort of spend the day looking at North Korea as the proceedings were happening inside. And Michael Sparboe had built a business bringing people into North Korea.

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Do you know how he is? No. No, we don't.

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The Canadian government has been unable to see him for quite some time. They were not able to see him ahead of this trial. We gained no glimpse of him today. He was brought to the court in cars with sort of mirrored glass that were impossible to look inside. So, no, I mean, what we've heard in previous months from family members and others is that he is keeping as well as can be expected in the conditions, but we don't know anything recently.

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So what happens next with the case then? I mean, is it is it done and dusted in terms of what happens in court? And then we just wait for a verdict?

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As best we can understand. That's the case. Now, in terms of the verdict itself, that is all but a foregone conclusion, just shy of 100 percent of cases tried in Chinese courts or found guilty in terms of the sentencing. That's the big question. And and that's something that could have been unveiled today or judging by previous Chinese practice, is something that could wait years, six years before it's unveiled.

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And Michael covering his trial is due to take place on Monday, is that right? Monday in Beijing. What about the timing of all this, given that we've had these high level talks between the US and China? There's a number of background issues.

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There's the ongoing extradition proceedings in Canada for Mong Juanjo. Those are due to draw to a close in May.

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There is the fact that Canada sort of led a global coalition condemning through a declaration arbitrary detention in Canada has very loudly called out China for arbitrary detention in the case of these two Canadians. But but much of that is background that has existed for some time. So why did this happen today, on Friday? Why did Michael Spatafore go into court literally at exactly the same time that the two sides and between the U.S. and China were talking in Anchorage? We haven't gotten a clear explanation on this, but there are plenty of people who will tell you that there are no such thing as coincidences in China.

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I was going to say, I mean, does anyone seriously doubt that these two men are being used as bargaining chips?

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Well, I mean, the Canadian government has been clear about calling this arbitrary detention. I mean, many people have called this hostage diplomacy. I mean, I think it's been quite clear from the timing and everything else that they were taken. Quite soon after my Joe was arrested, this wildly executive was arrested in Canada. The degree to which they're used as bargaining chips and other geopolitical issues may be ground that we are now starting to to cover.

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And given that they do face espionage charges, if they do end up going to jail, I mean, potentially that could be for a long time. Right.

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These charges, if the court deems them serious, can carry a life sentence.

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Nathan Van der Kliper, the climate change activist Qamar Sandier has held the world's first underwater protest to raise awareness of climate change and the value of oceans. Rahul Tandon spoke to her afterwards. She was in the Indian Ocean on board the ship, the Arctic Sunrise, 735 kilometres south east of the Seychelles.

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Sharma began by describing the location of her protest, decided Monáe is found on the mescaline plateau and she's found between seizures and Mauritius. So on the side of Mallat is known to be the world's biggest seagrass meadows. And we know that the seagrasses are really important as a carbon sink because they take the carbon from the atmosphere and destroy it in the seabed. And for the Indian Ocean itself, it's it's really important that we get to at least protect this area, because we all know that the Indian Ocean is being destroyed by a destructive fishing practices by the Gobi questions, because let's not forget how it's a small ocean and it's landlocked.

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It's surrounded by land. So it gets heated up really quickly. And we need that ecosystem right here if we want to combat the climate crisis.

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Tell us a little bit about your underwater process. How do you protest underwater doing this?

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Striking in the high seas is really challenging because it's not a lagoon anymore. It's the high seas and it's choppy sometimes. So when we did it, it was kind of.

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Yeah, challenging. How long can you stay underwater?

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We we to a small boat and we tried to find a really shallow area where we could do it. So eventually we went out, we took the boat and I started diving, getting down a bit. And then the photographers and everyone around was just helping me out to take the photos. So basically we're going down. It was really interesting to see the seagulls. It was really nice. And we can see some corals and some fish. It's wonderful to do it.

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But at the same time, while striking in the water, it's it makes sense because for me, I'm protesting to demand actions to protect that area. And it makes sense because this is what we need when we're fighting the climate crisis.

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Shama Sandy. Still to come, we are getting into very fashionable, very tight fitting grey Lycra suits with about 49 sensory nodules, virtual reality, Shakespeare. Mozambique's Human Rights Commission says that at least 114 people who are albino have disappeared in the past seven years. There are 55 ongoing criminal proceedings related to the disappearances. This report from the BBC's Africa editor, Mary Harper.

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The commission said 55 criminal cases have been launched in relation to the disappearances. It's not clear what has happened to the albinos, but they're often killed in eastern southern Africa. Their body parts used in charms which are believed to bring luck and love and fortune. The Ministry of Justice said the government is doing what it can to protect albinos and fight discrimination. But the human rights body said they continue to be abused, abandoned and murdered.

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Mary Harper.

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During the first wave of the pandemic, Russian officials regularly claimed that the mortality rate was significantly lower than in other countries. But data from Russia Statistics Agency shows a significant gap between the daily tally of deaths and the number of people with covid on their death certificates. Sarah Rainsford sent us this report.

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A Russian doctor pulls a plastic mask tightly around her face. Then there's two pairs of rubber gloves, a white protective suit and a colleague to write her name on it in red marker pen. A year into this pandemic, the virus these medics are fighting is familiar now.

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But this routine is a daily reminder of the risk here in covid-19 hit hardest last autumn. These days, what little news state TV shows on covid is upbeat on Russia and down on everywhere else, European Web sites like this bulletin announcing a new lockdown in Serbia, a new mutant strain of the virus in France.

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But here at home, a region with a record low infection rate of Cybex.

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Measures of the number of people dying in Russia is barely ever mentioned. And if any data is given, it's from the daily tally the government publishes online. That number is six times lower than the excess mortality rates or the number of people dying here above the norm.

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Just move around it. I mean, it's completely untrue.

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Demographer Alexei Raksha says he was sacked from the state's statistics agency, Rostas, for pointing that out.

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But even Ronstadt's official numbers show close to 400000 excess deaths so far here. It's likely that's the true and huge cost of this virus. Only you have to dig through spreadsheets to discover that Alexei and I met in a noisy café. There's been no lockdown here since spring in covid. We just choose between economic and people. Life is mostly old people's Russian state. Choose the economy, the one said. But it's obvious. It's clear. But the watchful eye of somebody's skin is a nurse who saw the result of that choice, then first hand back in.

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He posted this on social media, then showing queues of ambulances full of covid patients. We met at his flat.

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And Artyom says he still remembers the wrench of having to leave sick patients at home when hospitals had no space for them to a lot of cases and government really do nothing to make this no less. I think that restrictions should be more tough if it was done.

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I think we had less cases of illness and less number of deaths on the frozen, snowy streets of.

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The only sign of the pandemic. Now, other people in face masks. The shops and bars are all open. It's a city living with covid, not paralyzed by it. And for now, the infection rate is low. That may be because so many people have already had the virus.

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But when I asked the senior doctor whether they should have been tighter restrictions to save lives, Anatoly Cassata said no.

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I started to get this report and they've given the two things that you can't leave people without work either.

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That's really bad. Well, we look for a reasonable balance. Obviously, the best protection would be to wear speciate, but you can't do that for a whole year.

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Sarah Rainsford, appearing by Zoome is not an option. That's the message from the organisers of this year's Oscars ceremony to nominees. It said they'll be expected to dress up and appear in person on the 25th of April. The BBC's Richard Hamilton has more.

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There's going to be two in-person ceremonies at two venues. So at the Union Station in Los Angeles and another at the traditional site of the Oscars, the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. They're describing it as an intimate ceremony. And it seems that, as you say, the Oscars bosses have been hit with the same sort of zoom fatigue that the rest of us have. They've sent out a letter to the nominees and it says, For those of you unable to attend because of scheduling, scheduling or continued uneasiness about travelling, we want you to know that there will not be an option to zoom in for the show.

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We're going to great lengths to provide an enjoyable evening for all of you in person, as well as all the millions of film fans around the world. And we feel the virtual thing will diminish. Those efforts goes on to say that nominees are not to be casually dressed. It says we're aiming for a fusion of inspirational and aspirational, which in actual words means formal is totally cool if you want to go there.

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But casual is really not sort of T-shirts then. What about making it kovatchev? Yeah. So they're going to they're saying they're doing it all, all they can to make it safe. And this would include on site covid-19 safety teams with the capacity to test people as well as the usual social distancing measures as well.

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Are they doing this with the Oscars? Because the Golden Globes and Emmys, they were held virtually and there were not a success in terms of viewing figures, were they? That's right.

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They were considered to be rather flat. So the Golden Globes, which were held at the end of February, they were held virtually and it was presented by Tina Fey in New York and Amy Poehler and L.A. And sometimes there were sort of pauses and other times they spoke over each other. We've all experienced that with Zoome meetings and then they had a live audience, but that consisted of just a few people and they were not nominees, but paramedics and frontline workers.

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And Tina Fey at one point said, could this whole night have been an email? There were also technical glitches. And one of the acceptance speeches, you could see him but couldn't you couldn't hear him. And then other people came up in poor quality. So it was generally considered that that wasn't very successful. And they want to go back to a real live occasion.

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Richard Hamilton. And let's stay with SHOWBIZ. It's a year since Britain's theatres closed because of covid-19. Some hope to reopen this May. But for now, venues have been exploring what can be done online with audiences watching at home. The Royal Shakespeare Company has launched an ambitious digital version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream using live motion capture technology. Our arts correspondent Vincent Dout watch the show. Shakespeare wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream in about 1995, something for a very posh wedding.

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Now the RCC has remade the story for the generation which loves virtual reality.

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Let's meet the wood sprites who attend the peach blossom.

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This dream doesn't tell Shakespeare's whole story, but it is filled with darkly gorgeous digital images of the forest in which Puck and the sprites have their strange adventure. It's played by the actors live for each performance in a specially constructed motion capture studio in Portsmouth. And Williams plays Puck.

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We are getting into very fashionable, very tight fitting gray Lycra suits, with about 49 sensory nodules picked up by a series of cameras. I believe there are 47. And because of those 47 cameras that can be manipulated from any angle.

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I know a bank with a real time because they're OK slips and they're not invited close.

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The play has some of the most magical poetry in Shakespeare, but that's not really what this production is about. It's more concerned with interacting live with the audience, though that's limited in this early version. Director Robyn McNicholas.

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The line between the physical and the digital has completely blurred. It brings lots of questions about what the role of the audience is. Look at Twitter and tech talk and the emergence of such things as virtual beings or avatars that are becoming part of our everyday lives.

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Make no stay. Meet me on the break of day.

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The show won't please hardcore VR fans, it feels to 2D and it's only slightly interactive. But this RC dream may show the way ahead to the complex stories. Virtual reality may yet tell us. That's it. Well, it's time now for our weekly news from elsewhere, where we talk about some of the less reported stories from around the world. I'm joined by Ian Lee from BBC Monitoring and your stories this week to deal with the changing of the seasons.

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Aren't they, though? But this first one, it's not for the faint of heart, is it? Yes.

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You might want to steal yourself a little bit for the story. A wildlife photographer in Japan has captured an unusual and rather macabre sight in the northern province of Hokkaido. It's a stag that's carrying around a detached head of another deer on its antlers. The horns of the two sika deer are locked, and experts believe they must have become so when they were rotting in autumn. So that's the mating season when male deer battle to drive other males out of their territory.

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Apparently, deer locking horns like this is not unusual, and it's possible that the winner had to drag around its rivals body until it decayed enough to detach the head at some feat, considering that Staggs easily weigh more than 100 kilos. And experts say that when they lock horns like this, both deer can easily starve. The stags do lose deer antlers in late March, though, so hopefully this particular one, if it hasn't already, will soon be rid of its rather gory trophy.

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Oh, and your next story also concerns the turning of seasons and writes in Chinese communities.

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Yes, we're coming up to JinMing. This is a festival in early April which marks the approach of warmer weather in spring and a time of the year when people expect clearer, brighter days, which is what the name of the festival refers to. It's also a time you might start seeing people, models of all sorts of objects being sold in shops. So houses, swimming pools, gold bars, clothes, even the latest models of mobile phones and cars.

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Now, this is because Ming is also a time when families traditionally go to the graves of their relatives with offerings to clean the sites. The idea is that by burning these models, all the goods and money go to their deceased family members so they can use them in the afterlife. In Malaysia, which has a sizeable Chinese community, some sellers of these people models say they're seeing some people buy much more than usual six sets of clothes instead of two, for example, possibly to make up for not being able to mark the festival last year because of the pandemic.

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Others, however, are holding back from buying anything as the country's authorities are still clarifying whether people can gather for the festival in China. The authorities have urged people to consider greener ways of marking the festival if they can't do it in person. Last year, when they restricted people from visiting gravesites, millions apparently used online sites and apps to mark the day and mourn their relatives instead. And they say this is a good practice to continue online wins.

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Again, thank you. That was Yingli and that's it from us for now. But there'll be an updated version of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC. Noticiero UK studio producer was Alison Davies, the studio manager. Wayne Moses, the editor. As always, Karen Martin.

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I'm Valerie Saunderson. Until next time. Bye bye.