are being executed in the north of the country. in clinical trials, both the vaccinated people and the people who received the placebo had shown small numbers of blood clots developments. the number of thromboembolism events overall in vaccinated people seems not to be higher than that seen in the general population. the european medical agency _ the general population. the european medical agency investigation - the general population. the european medical agency investigation is - medical agency investigation is ongoing, we are expected to hear the outcome on thursday. but let's be clear, both the uk present medicines were regular and the world health organization have stressed there is no evidence of any connection between these vaccines and blood clots. on monday, the eu because i picks memphis, germany, france and italyjoined several other countries in suspending the astrazeneca jab. sweden, latvia, portugal, and slovenia have now followed. other countries — including austria — have halted the use of certain batches. and the uk, belgium, poland, the czech republic and ukraine are continuing to use it. the countries which have suspended it said it is precautionary and are to norway. last week it suspended the jab after reporting four rare cases of bleeding, blood clots and a low count of blood plate—lets. here's sara watle a senior physician at the norwegian institute of public health on her concerns. it's too difficult for us to conclude regarding if there is a link or not, but this has been a very difficult decision. we are, as you pointed out, in the midst of a pandemic and vaccines will be very important to stop the spread of the virus. and there are also a lot of people that will get blood clots from having covid—i9 disease. and we still have confidence in the vaccine, and it will be efficacious in preventing severe covid—i9, but at the same time the clusters of patients that we are talking about are not the more common clots like deep vein thrombosis. these are very rare and severe cases with critical outcome in a very young population, where this is not commonly seen, so we do not know if there is a relationship with the vaccination yet, but we are working as fast as we can to get clarity around this. another thing i would like to point out is also that looking at statistics is not enough to assess this issue alone because if you look at the numbers the rates are very low because there are few cases, so you won't find these in the big numbers, but that doesn't mean there is not a link between the vaccination and the symptoms, so we need to look further into that. we should put this into perspective. astrazeneca says 17 million people in the eu and the uk have received its vaccine. of that number — 15 have suffered a blood clot in a vein — known as deep—vein thrombosis or dvt. 22 have suffered a blood clot in the lungs — known as a pulmonary embolism. so in total there are 37 reports of blood clots — which is lower than what would be found in a normal population sample. here's the bbc medical editor fergus walsh. it really is baffling, is the only word i can use to describe it. i can't find any expert in the uk nor amongst those at astrazeneca or oxford who understands exactly what the decisions and why they're being made. sure, prudence and caution are very wise things to do and we should look a potential side effects. every country has a system for monitoring vaccine safety but it does look like the incidence of clots and serious clots is no higher among those who receive the vaccine and may indeed be significantly lower than among the general population. in the past hour france and italy have said comments by the eu medicines agency are �*positive' — and that both nations would restart innoculating with astrazeneca �*quickly�* — a if it's given the go—ahead by the ema on thursday. however — some people's concerns aren't going to go away quickly. next — this is dr veronique trillet—lenoir who's a french member of european parliament and an oncologist. i agree that the clinical trials did not show any significant difference on the secondary effects between the vaccinated people and the people who received the placebo but we are concerned during this temporary authorisation on some specific cases arising in relatively young people and even if there are a few of these cases, i think it is reasonable to cautiously review the individual data and make sure that we will not find a specific population or specific situation where maybe astrazeneca should not be the best way to vaccinate. that's the view from france. next germany. it's published new data which says that of 1.6 million vaccinations — there have been7 cases of cerebral thrombosis — a clot to the brain — including three deaths. here'sjenny hill in berlin. experts here concluded that within a population of 1.6 million people you would ordinarily expect to see one case, maybe just over one case. statistically here you have seven cases and that is why the government acted on the advice of the experts and suspended the vaccine. a lot of people here saying it is a very heavy—handed decision, why notjust investigate while you keep rolling out the programme. to that the health ministry said the cases are so severe it would not be responsible to keep vaccinating until they have re—evaluated. it is a decision which could cause a lot of concern and anger — in germany everyday around 200 people are dying from covid. vaccination programme is very slow, just 8% of the population have received a first dose so far, so a lot of anger. the government telling us, health ministry in particular creation saying that this is about trust and they have an obligation if they're going to ask people to be vaccinated, they are obliged to make sure they react to reports like this and keep re—evaluating the vaccine. it is all about making sure the public interest in the vaccine. a lot of people would say they are having the reverse effect by bringing in this decision, they are undermining the trust not only in the astrazeneca vaccine here in germany but further afield and also in the government itself. italy has a different calculation. the head of the medicine's authority said the decision was �*political�*. in this interview with daily newspaper la republica — nicola magrina said the vaccine was safe and that the benefit to risk ratio of the jab was �*widely positive'. to help understand that — we also have this assessement from politico. "don't underestimate the european public sphere." france, for example, decided to suspend the astrazeneca jab in part because germany did, "because we would have three days of stress after the german decision," a french minister told politico" and here's the view of natasha loder — the health policy editor for the economist. if they had concern for the health of their citizens they should support the vaccines because as we have heard, we don't know any link between vaccination and blood clots. there doesn't seem to be won. in the absence of that kind of evidence if you were being precautionary, you would continue to vaccinate. as i am sure everyone is aware, the side—effects of not having a vaccine are mild—to—moderate covid, hospitalisation and potentially death. we have to vaccinate, thousands of people are dying across europe and suspending vaccination is not a good idea and also makes people worry about vaccines. let's not forget the timing. there are already concerns over the pace of europe's vaccine programme — which has been affected by shortages and slow take up. but the situation is urgent. according to afp — the number of deaths across europe has now passed 900,000 — that's the highest toll in any global region. and european countries are once again tightening restrictions. one of them is italy is back in lockdown. here's mark lowen in milan. this is the milan science museum and it was being used yesterday as an astrazeneca vaccine site until 413 the afternoon when italy suspended the afternoon when italy suspended the vaccine and closed all the extra sites across the country, hundreds of thousands of appointments cancelled. this is the exact same day that italy started using museums, schools and theatres and mass national vaccine mobilisation to try and triple daily doses by the middle of april. hours later they then suspended them. i spent the morning at pfizer vaccination site which is still progressing at full speed ahead. i spoke to the over 80s being vaccinated and they expressed in the vaccine and many said they would be happy to have an astrazeneca job. they said they felt people were trying to draw a link between medical problems where there were none. one lady said it added to her sense of nervousness and it was right to suspend the astrazeneca vaccine while the full medical investigation was under way. this throws italy's vaccination roll—out into disarray. italy was hoping to vaccinate 80% of the population by mid—september. that target might be missed. in the uk — rollout of astrazeneca continues. here's the foreign minister on why people should take it. to the uk now and the prime minister borisjohnson has outlining britain's foreign and defence policy priorities after brexit. it follows a year long review which sees the uk shifting its focus towards the indo pacific region. the uk also plans to increase its stockpile of nuclear weapons, reversing a previous policy. our diplomatic correspondent james landale has this report — which contains some flash photography. for years britain's place in the world was defined by its relationship with the european union and the united states. but brexit changed that. now the government's promising a new approach to foreign affairs. one the prime minister said would keep people safe at home. for us there are no far away countries of which we know little. global britain is not a reflection of old obligations, still less a vainglorious gesture but a necessity for the safety and prosperity of the british people in the decades ahead. one new idea is for britain to focus more on the indo pacific, boosting ties with growing economies like india, where borisjohnson will travel next month. new partnerships with regional groups of south—east asian countries and membership of a trans—pacific free trade agreement and the new aircraft carrier hms elizabeth visiting the region later this year. to hold joint operations with allies, and show britain can project force overseas. but will it be enough? there will be some questions, i think, about the details. what will this actually mean for uk presence on the ground, for the resources it is willing to deploy in the region and to some extent, how much it is willing to listen to demand signals from the region as well? but what will this mean for britain's relationship with china? the report says the uk should pursue a positive relationship with beijing on trade and climate change but still says it presents a systemic challenge to britain. china represents the generational threat and the reason for that is that the idea that china will become more like us as it got richer or as its economy matured is clearly for the birds. the question for any new foreign policy is not what people at the foreign office think, but whether it changes people's lives. will this new focus on asia make people safer and more prosperous or will it neglect britain's interests closer to home? the report insists britain's commitment to euro atlantic security is unequivocal with nato at its heart but there is little about cooperation with europe on regional threats. like russia, which after the salisbury poison attack the report says remains the most acute threat to britain's security. the review rightly identifies russia as the number one threat that we face, both at home and abroad, but there was no strategy to work with our european partners to try to deal with that challenge, there was no strategy to repair our defences at home. to help tackle new threats there will be a white house—style situation room near downing street, and a new counter—terrorism operation centre and the cap on britain's stockpile of nuclear warheads will be lifted because of what the report says is the evolving security environment. an old school weapon for what is supposed to be a new strategy. james landale, bbc news. stay with us on outside source — still to come... we will hear the former first lady, michelle obama, sharing her thoughts on the meghan and harry interview with oprah winfrey. on the meghan and harry interview with oprah winfrey. the police officer accused of the kidnap and murder of a woman walking home in london, has appeared at the old bailey via video link. wayne couzens, who is 48, was remanded in custody. the case of sarah everard's death almost two weeks ago led to protests by women concerned about their safety on britain's streets. here's lucy manning. he sat through most of it with his head bowed, he was rocking backwards and forwards as well. the court heard there had been a wide and extensive police investigation since sarah went missing, her body was found last week in whitland and kent. it was found in a builders bag and she had to be identified through dental records. when cousins was on duty in the morning when she went missing at nine pn duty in the morning when she went missing at nine pm in the evening when walking home from clapham. the court was told that the judge was setting a trial date of the 25th of october the trial is due to last four weeks. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is? the benefits of the astrazeneca vaccine outweigh the risk but more european countries have suspended its use. to mozambique. more grim details of violence are emerging. before i continue — i should warn you, this story is distressing. there are claims that children are being killed — some as young as 11 are being beheaded. it's happening in mozambique's northern most province of cabo delgado. the province has seen an armed insurgency since 2017 which has triggered a humanitarian crisis. and since 2017, more than two and a half thousand people have been killed in the violence. and almost three quarters of a million people have been displaced. the aid agency save the children has been speaking to displaced families who reported horrifying scenes of violence. here's its mozambique country manager, chance briggs. we have as you said 700,000 people displaced and that's about one third of the province of the population. they're being chased from their homes and villages. the insurgents come in and burn everything. they are very violent. in some cases, they are going to youths and even older children and saying, you mustjoin us. with girls sometimes they're asking the girls to come and the girls cook for them and in some cases there is also forced marriage. so it's a very very challenging situation. people are chased from their homes. they leave with nothing but the shirt on their back. the attacks are often at night and as we have reported in some cases, family members are killed. in fact some family members, including children are killed in front of the people who they love. let's take a closer look at the insurgency — and who the militants are. they're linked to the islamic state group and are known locally as al—shabab — although they have no known links to the somali islamist group of the same name. the group has rarely given information about its motive, leadership or demands. though it's known there's local resentment that more money from the region's vast natural resources doesn't reach local communities. well last week, the bbc�*s andrew harding made it to a town called palma in the region. he's the first international journalist to make it there. and this is part of the report he made there. it looks a lowering but below was northern mozambique is now a place of terror. we are flying into parma, small—town under siege, all roads cut and the outskirts unnerving empty. in town we find traumatised families. these children havejust fled their village on foot seeking refuge here. their uncle holds up an id card, his brother's beheaded with six others the weekend. here is al—shabaab, a home—grown insurgency now link to the islamic state group with a taste for abductions and butchery. his fighters have swept through the region with bewildering speed, a savage scorched earth offensive. against these militants, the government forces are struggling to put it politely. they have hired private foreign security companies to help out but both are been accused of human rights abuses. for more on how to respond to this threat, here is bbc�*s africa correspondent injohannesburg. the correspondent in johannesburg. tue: government correspondent injohannesburg. tte: government in correspondent injohannesburg. t'te: government in mozambique correspondent injohannesburg. tte: government in mozambique has been overwhelmed. it has even been trying to bring together private security companies in this fight against the insurgency. it has appealed to the african union and to the international community. there has been a time when the zimbabwean government said they were offering their help to take its own troops to mozambique capital to try and fight the insurgency but there has not been a lot of movement as such in terms of countries within the region who will go in to try and assist them. ~ f who will go in to try and assist them. ~ j , ., who will go in to try and assist them. ~ j ~' who will go in to try and assist them. ~ j ~ , them. why'd you think there has been that lack of movement, _ them. why'd you think there has been that lack of movement, is _ them. why'd you think there has been that lack of movement, is it _ them. why'd you think there has been that lack of movement, is it because i that lack of movement, is it because there is not a knock on security or humanitarian situation beyond mozambique's borders? fist humanitarian situation beyond mozambique's borders? at this moment, mozambique's borders? at this moment. it _ mozambique's borders? at this moment, it looks _ mozambique's borders? at this moment, it looks like - mozambique's borders? at this moment, it looks like that - mozambique's borders? at this moment, it looks like that is i mozambique's borders? at this | moment, it looks like that is the situation but this conflict is bound to spill over into neighbouring countries if it is not controlled as soon as possible. just in the cabo delgado province more than 700,000 people have been displaced. 2500 killed and of those that are displaced, 40% of those are children and now those militant groups are going as far as beheading children as young as 11 years old so this insurgency is also intensifying in its brutality and there are calls from eight organisations and also the world to —— to find solutions in making sure this conflict is put to an end. ., . ~' making sure this conflict is put to an end. ., ., ~ ., ., , ., an end. you talk about thousands of --eole an end. you talk about thousands of peeple being _ an end. you talk about thousands of people being displaced _ an end. you talk about thousands of people being displaced from - an end. you talk about thousands of people being displaced from that. people being displaced from that region of mozambique, so where have they gone? region of mozambique, so where have the one? , ., ., ., they gone? they have gone to neighbouring _ they gone? they have gone to neighbouring villages - they gone? they have gone to neighbouring villages which i they gone? they have gone to . neighbouring villages which these militant groups have not reached but in some cases unfortunately people have fled on foot, others have fled by boat and unfortunately those ports have been capsizing leading