see some of those telemedicine options are removed from the market, you might see an increase, for example, in surgical abortion. china has started three days of military exercises off the coast opposite taiwan. beijing which views taiwan as a breakaway province of china called the operation a stern warning to the island s government.taiwan says 71 chinese planes and 9 ships crossed the taiwan strait median line an unofficial dividing line between chinese and taiwanese territory. the mobilisations began hours after taiwan s president returned from a trip to the united states, where she angered china by meeting the house speaker kevin mccarthy. earlier, i spoke to celia hatton who is the bbc s asia pacific regional editor who told us more about what s been happening. well, we have seen, this is the first of three days of drills in an operation dubbed joint sword. what we have seen so far is a move to really send ships to the north and south of taiwan. the taiwanese, sorry,
and taiwanese territory. the mobilisations began hours after taiwan s president returned from a trip to the united states, where she angered china by meeting the house speaker kevin mccarthy. earlier, i spoke to celia hatton, who is the bbc s asia pacific regional editor, who told us more about what s been happening. well, we have seen, this is the first of three days of drills in an operation dubbed joint sword. what we have seen so far is a move to really send ships to the north and south of taiwan. the taiwanese, sorry, the chinese people s liberation army spokesperson has also said that the operation will also take place to the east of taiwan. they say they are practising the encirclement of the entire island. so far we have seen 71 planes and nine ships cross that median line that you just mentioned.
amen. amen. the pope was absent at the good friday procession because of ill health and it is comparatively cold in rome. the easter vigil mass in st. peter s basilica. china has started three days of military exercises off the coast opposite taiwan. beijing, which views taiwan as a breakaway province of china, called the operation a stern warning to the island s government. taiwan says 71 chinese planes and nine ships crossed the taiwan strait median line, an unofficial dividing line between chinese and taiwanese territory. the mobilisations began hours after taiwan s president returned from a trip to the united states, where she angered china by meeting
the mobilisations began hours after taiwan s president returned from a trip to the united states, where she angered china by meeting the house speaker kevin mccarthy. let s dig deeper into this with siabel hilton. she s head of the china dialogue here in london. what is the scale of these exercises, isabel? they re pretty important exercises, isabel? they re pretty important. there s exercises, isabel? they re pretty important. there s a exercises, isabel? they re pretty important. there s a very - exercises, isabel? they re pretty important. there s a very large l important. there s a very large deployment of ships, a large deployment of ships, a large deployment of ships, a large deployment of aircraft flying into the air defence zone. essentially into taiwan s airspace. the ships are crossing the median line in the taiwan straits, and there was a bit of live fire across one of the islands, which is the island closest to the mainland. so, it s unmistakably large deployment, and
dispute can be found. john maguire, bbc news. well, in france, president emmanuel macron is facing similar discontent. his plans to push back the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 are about to face their biggest challenge yet. unions have said they will stage a day of mass strikes, in what s being called black thursday . 0ur news reporter azadeh moshiri joins us now. and this isn t the first time by any means that a french president has tried to raise the retirement age. what do unions say we can expect today? what do unions say we can exaect today? expect today? one of the [arc est expect today? one of the largest mobilisations i expect today? one of the i largest mobilisations france has seen in years, extremely rare for all unions to band together like this, even the most moderate of unions is joining in and that hasn t happened for more than a decade. that means things like intercity and commuter trains will be disrupted, some schools will be disrupted, some schools will shut,