so you can relax and enjoy the perfect break in your journey. and when you leave with a smile we know law day's work is done qatar airways welcome to our home. joe biden will give his 1st news conference as president this hour as the white house struggles to manage the growing number of migrants of the southern u.s. border. hello i'm kemal santamaria here in doha with the world news from al-jazeera a shipping mishap with global consequences the soused canal is still blocked by a container vessel that's run aground. a year leaders meet to figure out whether to

limit vaccine exports to improve the blocked vaccination rates. in somalia faces a 2nd wave of covert 19 infections with a health system that can barely keep a. little after 700 hours g.m.t. 1 pm in washington d.c. this hour u.s. president joe biden will be holding his 1st news conference he's answered questions from reporters since taking office 2 months ago but this will be his 1st formal event and of course high on the agenda the pandemic gun control infrastructure and immigration we're expecting that in around 15 minutes time but we're going to get a quick preview with kimberly how could in washington d.c. it is a funny one isn't it ken because it's not like we haven't heard joe biden speak before but this very formal setting in front of the media and i guess the contrast that we will probably see from the last 4 years of news conferences.

you know we don't expect this to be the free willed and long winded event that we saw under donald trump but at the same time donald trump did have his press conference a lot sooner than joe biden we're into the 3rd month of the presidency it's highly unusual in recent presidencies to have one this late and it certainly was starting to raise some questions among the media which is maybe why we are now finally getting this press conference there have been repeated accusations that a lot of these media event took been close to the press very limited in question offer today so this will be the 1st time for reporters to be able to have a back and forth what we expect is there will be a number of topics you mentioned immigration as being a big one that is both a political crisis as well as the humanitarian crisis on the southern border the u.s. president tasking his vice president couple a harris with overseeing that so there are questions about whether she may make an

appearance to talk about some of those issues but there are other issues as well not just covert 19 and how to bring the economy back but also on the foreign news front as well we're watching very carefully because of course there have been a number of actions in the last week by north korea what is the strategy there how will this president work with iran to limit its nuclear program and then of course back on the domestic front the issue of guns and what the president plans to do with respect to the fact that there has been one week to mass shootings in the united states ok kim i'm going to leave you there just for now because we're going to have plenty to talk about joe biden's speech so look forward to. some other world news now on one of the world's biggest container ships that is stuck in one of the world's most crucial waterways and is creating one very very big problem egypt sue is canano for he has now suspended traffic through the waterway while tugboats trying to dislodge that massive congo ship but it is feared that could

take several weeks charles traffic reports. 400 metres long and weighing 200000 tons stuck in what's often described as the most important shipping lane in the world a maritime accident with global implications the ever given container ship became wedged across the suez canal and choose day when high winds blew her off course about 12 percent of global trade passes through the 193 kilometer long canal which connects the red sea with the mediterranean providing the shortest link between asia and europe the vessel carrying around $20000.00 containers is registered in panama are operated by the taiwanese transport company evergreen marine it was sailing from china to the port city of rotterdam in the netherlands when it got stuck the japanese owner has apologized but says the situation is extremely difficult and there's a citizen that's present that traffic along this year's canal has been disrupted

due to the incident and local authorities are working under the issue using tugboats but there is no smith of time for it to be dissolved this image posted on a ship tracking website shows the backlog of at least $150.00 vessels stuck in the northern entrance of the canal at ports 8 in the middle in an area called the bitter lakes and at the southern entrance at sue is the vast majority of oil from the gulf is transported to europe along the canal oil prices rose sharply on thursday. industry experts are warning of a flood of insurance claims covering the vast amount of cargo being held up including automotive parts and consumer goods. in officials say at least 8 tug boats are trying to dislodge the vessel which experts say could take days if not weeks well the few days of course is very very costly each day and people have made estimates of 3810000000000 dollars of trade going through the suez canal absolutely

fundamental for europeans plying chains not just about oil it's just as important the goods coming from the army's generals on china number one trade with the european union containers may have to be offloaded in order to lessen the wait ships now face the prospect of having to travel thousands of additional kilometers around the southern tip of africa a huge cost and potentially delaying delivery of goods by weeks it's a cork in a bottle and there's no way to go in as you've described the ships that are stuck throughout the canal and at the north and are in a precarious position and they name may not be able just to turn around and take another course as long as it and expensive as it is to go from the mediterranean around africa and vice versa the suez canal thora he says around $20000.00 ships pass through the canal last year on egypt billions of dollars in total fee revenue the ever given is $1.00 of the largest container ships in the world but for every

hour and every day it remains stuck on a reef and stationary there are concerns about the financial fallout and impact on global trade chance not that al-jazeera. european union leaders are discussing pandemic strategies amid the pressure of a coded 19 vaccine shortages and a potential 3rd wave they are considering curbing vaccine exports as member states are struggling to find ways to stop the spread of the virus before that more vaccines arrive this comes as several countries like belgian italy and poland have gone back into lockdown let's talk to natasha in paris tell us i guess more about this meeting and what they are trying to achieve. we are discussing vaccine they're talking about the vaccine rollout in the european

union which has been desperately snow in some countries they're talking about how to boost the doses and make them available to countries and also they will be debating this rather controversial proposal by the e.u. commission to ban all blog exports of vaccines abroad now the head of the european commission on delay and says that is simply unfair that the e.u. at a time when it desperately needs more vaccine doses in the blog is shipping a lot of them to other places she's given some details she says that since december the e.u. has exported more than 70000000 vaccine doses to 33 countries so she is saying look this is nothing to do with a vaccine nationalism this is just that we're shipping doses away but we don't always get them back she uses britain's as an example more than 10000000 doses of been sent to the u.k. the u.k. has sent 0 doses to the european union now what leaders will be discussing is

whether or not they want to go ahead and put these curbs into place they are divided some countries like france and italy that are battling a 3rd wave in many parts say that they support these export bans because these doses are so desperately needed in the e.u. other countries the netherlands for example and ireland are more wary they're cautious they are saying look this is not the way to proceed we can't get into any sort of vaccine war and there are some politicians are saying look this is probably never going to be put in place anyway perhaps the you commission is only trying to ramp up the rhetoric put more pressure on pharmaceutical companies like astra zeneca to deliver the doses that the e.u. says that they are contracted to do. in paris or we will hear something more out of the virtual. a little later. health authorities in somalia say the country is in a 2nd wave of covert 19 infections cases arising and more than 300 people have died

from the virus in just the last 2 weeks without an official system for tracking deaths it is difficult to know the exact numbers catherine soils this report. this is the main cemetery in mogadishu and it's filling up fast mostly with people who say to have died from 1000 complications. this family is just the latest to bury a loved one. somalia's struggling to deal with a 2nd wave of covered 1000 cases but health experts say with limited testing and data collection it's hard to know the true extent of the pandemic here. for the past 2 months just over a 1000 people not all of them have died of the disease but these are numbers we've never witnessed before the pandemic. hospitals like de martini and isolation center are also overwhelmed and oxygen is running out. somalia has one of the world's most

vulnerable health systems the world health organization says just about a quarter of somalia's 15000000 population can access basic health care doctors are worried the situation is getting worse the machine. people do not believe in the existence of the covenant in virus in somalia once they get sick if misuse traditional medicines to solve it by the time they are coming to the hospital they are critically ill. the government has ruled out a vaccination program health workers the elderly and people with underlying conditions are getting their fast dose of the astra zeneca vaccine under the un backed conflicts initiative the government hopes to vaccinate at least 20 percent of its population as soon as possible. but despite the severity of the situation and forcing how 3 strictures has been difficult these are some of the city's

popular cafeterias people are reluctant to socially distance or where our mosque in the world is 1st and foremost we are muslims and the religion tells us that when people become very sinful some are known diseases will spread around the world only god can protect his people. apart from the pandemic somalis also continue to face the threat of violence from al-shabaab a humanitarian crisis caused by recent flooding and a desert. infestation that has left around 2600000 without enough food. sama hoping the vaccinations will help prevent new infections but with only a fraction of the population able to access medical help their fee is things might get katherine saw. what image about a news conference to begin but there is other news as well mozambique's military launches a major offensive against isolate linked groups and civilians are being caught in

the crossfire and returning to the scene of a nato intervention intervention foreign ministers of germany italy and france are in libya to endorse the new unity government. they've got a big contrast in the weather across the middle east at the moment more wintry weather coming in across northern parts of a bit of cloud and a fair bit of snow temperatures hovering around freezing 0 celsius there for ankara . meanwhile the touching that he 738 here in doha 38 is 100 in found a cow mixing my but temperatures here but you get the idea 38 celsius 100 fahrenheit warmer across the raven peninsula plenty of snow there further north and that's not running out it's was

a caucuses to see some snow to into tech man to stand maybe into. some wet or whether they're pushing up across is because stan will parts of afghanistan but elsewhere for much of the middle east it is fine and dry as it should be at this time of the if i did try to just around somalia good parts of ethiopia looking fine plenty of sunshine showers popping out once again just around tanzania kenya can't want to see showers into the past hour but it is lush the look is settled and sunny the showers they run up towards the gulf of guinea nothing further north woods as they should do lots of wet weather though coming across angola easing across the northern parts of zimbabwe and northern areas of mozambique. prank assessments should we be buying bitcoin ultimately it will be sovereigns and governments who are buying this and in-depth analysis of the day's global headlines

inside story on our. hidden may 2020 the death of george floyd sparked protests and outrage across the world the former police officer responsible for the city pinning him to the ground over with a name behind his neck now faces trial joins for my coverage of the jared show the trial on which is. for al jazeera and these are our top stories egypt. has suspended traffic through one of the world's busiest shipping lanes salvage teams have been trying to dislodge a massive ship stuck there they say could take days or even weeks. a year leaders

are meeting virtually for a summit dominated by vaccine distribution and a looming 3rd wave the clock is discussing whether to ban exports of vaccines. and we are waiting to hear from u.s. president joe biden his 1st formal news conference since taking office 2 months ago immigration gun control the pandemic all high on the agenda a live coverage of that as soon as it happens. will press on with the rest of the day's news though and a county judge in the u.s. state of colorado has ordered a man accused of committing a mass shooting to be held without bail while he undergoes a mental health assessment. is accused of opening fire on a supermarket in boulder city he's made his 1st court appearance on thursday facing 10 counts of murder and one charge of attempted murder was the 2nd mass shooting in a week in the united states president joe biden has been calling for a ban on assault weapons or

a lawyer for the russian opposition leader alexei navalny says his health has deteriorated sharply since he was in jail last month or was jailed he says he is suffering from acute back pain and is unable to use one of his legs his supporters say they fear for his life the family of course survived a poisoning attempt with a nerve agent last summer that was traced back to russia's security services he was then jailed for violating the conditions of a suspended sentence and also embezzlement in february. soldiers in mozambique have launched an offensive after a fight has raided the northern town of palma the area was considered a safe haven but now around $70000.00 people have had to escape to other regions it's also the base for offshore gas exploration projects worth $60000000000.00 groups linked to i still have launched similar attacks in that region since 2017. well you know it was so easy to do what we also call on the population to

collaborate with the authorities denouncing ted it is an armed men for the utilization of the defense and security forces will do everything to ensure the well being of the population against inhumane acts perpetrated by terrorists while continuing to get into the protection of economic projects spoke to joseph hannon earlier who is a visiting fellow at the london school of economics and has written many books on most a break including a decade of mozambique politics economy and society he explains what caused the fighters to launch such attacks well not so much the energy reaches as it is the one town in north east couple to go to they have not occupied before and it's the one which is closest to the gas project and so they are attempting to show their power they already control much of the northeast corner of that province and it was a very coordinated attack yesterday. but also it targets 2 different things

the united states last week sentence special forces to train miners and we came arranged and yesterday morning just hours before the attack total announced that it was felt safe enough to resume. work on the big gas terminal which it had stopped at the 1st of january because of a radius attack as the development of rubies of gas of a huge mineral wealth in that area local people were not getting any of it and they were arguing it was taken by the elites by the ruling class by all of guards whatever you want to call them and that temple to got to provinces becoming poorer and more unequal and so finally in 2017 local people in a town just south of all called the similar price actually took up arms and occupied

the town for a period of time and there are human this is you know that they want to regained some share of this well has obviously resonated and so they banded very quickly and now occupy a big chunk of the province. the foreign ministers of italy germany and france have held a news conference with libyan leaders in tripoli in her opening remarks the interim foreign minister national mongers called for an end to the violence in order to achieve stability and national unity government was sworn in earlier this month to 7 we started to try to g.o.p. how committed to what to do with the new year the foreign ministry of the government of national unity how use this visit by the european delegation hated by france germany and italy it seems a message to all libyans europe is in support of our country here i'd like to

reiterate a number of issues stability in libya is a positive factor not only to libya but all neighboring countries libya's territorial integrity and sovereignty as a principle beyond any negotiation and will be achieved by the national unity government we also reiterate that all foreign fighters and mercenaries be driven out of our home soil based on these principles we discuss the following issues 1st to immediately resume the tasks of diplomatic missions embassies and consulates and sickened to reboost confidence in all state institutions and private sectors in order to restart the economy and bring it back on its feet. the human rights envoy for me and maher is calling for an emergency summit to discuss the military's violent crackdown on and he could be demonstrations at least 4 people were killed on thursday. it was medical workers.

activists in me and maher who were among those. health care staff wearing white coats marched and rode in a motorbike convoy through the city of mandalay chanting slogans in support of the deposed leader and sang suchi. foreign pressure against the military has been mounting as well on thursday we had britain announce further sanctions against a military owned enterprise florence louis has more from kuala lumpur. the u.n. human rights investigator tormenters gave a very stark warning of the situation in myanmar he says if there isn't an international response that is full and united conditions in myanmar will do terrorists and he warned that they could be a very dramatic increase in the loss of lives and ngo that's been tracking the number of fatalities as well as the arrests since the coup on the 1st of february says that 2900 people have been arrested or charged sentenced and nearly $300.00 people have been killed since the 1st of february now the military is also

continuing its crackdown on the media and on my news service base in central media says 4 that staff members were detained on wednesday night while this is taking place we know that international pressure on myanmar is also building up the u.s. has now put 2 military controlled conglomerates on its blacklist so these sanctions will no doubt be welcomed by people who oppose the who in myanmar but we should still be i think be realistic that the generals may find a way to circumvent these sanctions they've had decades of practice while the country was run by the met by a military dictatorship while it was an international pariah of being able to circumvent sanctions so you know while the sanctions are welcome they may not be enough to stop what's happening in myanmar. now u.n. secretary general antonio good terrace says he is concerned by 2 ballistic missiles

that were launched off north korea's eastern coast it was the 1st significant provocation by pyongyang since u.s. president joe biden took office in january they were launched from north korea's south have young province into the sea near japan the u.s. pacific command says the move threatens countries in the region countries like south korea and japan which expressed their deep concern as well as their condemnation of pyongyang's actions. we expressed deep concerns over north korea's latest firing of what appears to be short range ballistic missiles amid our government's various efforts to achieve the goal of complete denuclearization of the korean peninsula. well during the past year north korea has been quietly testing its latest missiles and steadily expanding its arsenal go back to run this time last year much 2020 the military tested a new type of multiple rocket launcher that could hit targets nearly 400 kilometers

away with great precision. a short range ballistic missile the kayin $24.00 was tested next it's designed to fly low and evade missile defenses north korea's also been building a diesel submarine one that can launch nuclear missiles whilst submerged these new ballistic missiles have been shown off during recent military parades and north korea recently unveiled its largest long range intercontinental ballistic missile in theory one that could reach any city in the united states has graham on the web a fellow at nanyang technological university who tells the international community needs to take a tough stand now against north korea or face the consequences later. despite fear that the best way to deal with john young is to fairness. we've seen a series of episodes over the last 2 decades in which given a cycle of discussions wrapping up patients hopes for resolution

only to crash into utter disappointment because of the inability for or all sight optically not korea actually or all the course sent to me to achieve your objectives and all agreements so i think we're going to see much more seeing going for. what the only difference is that the all jeanne we can hear more korea will be never to the point where it will have. nuclear military capability it will be very threatening and i think that's a change and so i think the you still have to put a lot of work to make sure that we study i mean a lot koreans prevent them from getting to that stage where it's going to be a position of strength a lot. for the rest of us a lot of this term. going to take heed to the white house in washington d.c. now because just a couple of minutes ago we saw general come out and puts a speech on the podium there which means generally it's about 2 minutes until the

speech begins the 1st news conference given by u.s. president joe biden take yourself back 4 years to the 1st conference by donald trump a very different affair obviously not just with its content but the fact that there would have been a lot more people crammed into the room now the probably one and a half to 2 meters distancing between those chance for the president's 1st news conference it is by my count 65 days since joe biden was inaugurated on january 20th of 2021. here he comes now to deliver his. thank you as the president of the united states. good afternoon before i take questions i want to make give you a progress report to the nation on. on from where we stand 65 days into office here. on vaccinations and

a few other top priorities for the american people 1st on vaccinations under summary i indicated that i hope to get 100000000 shots of people's arms in my 1st 100 days. we met that goal last week by day 5842 days ahead of schedule not a damn set is 2nd goal and that is we will by my 100 thing in office have administered 200000000 shots of people's arms that's right 200000000 shots in 100 days i you know i know it's ambitious twice or original goal but no other country in the world has even come close not even close to what we're doing and i believe we can do it and today we made historic invested reaching the hardest hit and the most vulnerable communities the highest risk communities. as

a consequence of the virus by invested 10000000000 dollars in being able to reach them and also set a goal before i took office of getting them and jordi of schools in k. through 8 fully open in the 1st $100.00 days. now thanks to the enormous amount of work done by our administration educators parents woke all state education officials and leaders recent department of education survey shows that nearly half of the k. through 8 schools are open now full time 5 days a week from person learning not yet a majority but we're really close and i believe in the 35 days left to go we'll meet that goal as well. as of yesterday more than $100000000.00 payments of $1400.00 have gone into people's bank accounts

that's real money in people's pockets pretty relief instantly almost and millions more will be getting their money very soon one final note since we passed the american rescue plan we're starting to see new signs of hope in our economy since it was passed a majority a majority of economic forecasters have significantly increased their projections on the economic growth that's going to take place this year they're now projected it will exceed 6 percent a 6 percent growth in g.d.p. and just this morning we learned the number of people filing for weekly unemployment insurance fell by nearly 100000 persons just the 1st time any year the numbers fall and below the preplanned demick high.