this is bbc news, i'm mike embley with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. in my view we've already waited too long to deal with this climate crisis. we can't wait any longer, and we see it with our own eyes. an existential threat — a stark warning from president biden as he has signed a series of executive orders to tackle climate change. european union slams astrazeneca but fails to get the company to make—up the shortfall in vaccine production. how did the pandemic start? world health organization experts finally end their quarantine in wuhan, and prepare to investigate covid's origins. and the dictator who delivered democracy — ghana says goodbye to jerry rawlings, its leader

for 20 controversial years. hello to you. president biden has set out his plans for dealing with climate change, describing it as an existential threat. he said the us must lead the global response, having already waited too long to tackle the climate crisis. mr biden has signed a raft of executive orders marking a sharp contrast with the policies of the trump administration. among the measures are a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on public land and making climate considerations a part of us foreign and national security policy. our chief environment correspondentjustin rowlatt reports. if ever america needed a warning of what climate change could mean for the country, it got it last year, with record wildfires and an unprecedented

series of hurricanes. there is no time to waste, president biden said today. we can't wait any longer. we see it with our own eyes, we feel it, we know it in our bones, and it's time to act. and by appointing one of the country's most senior politicians, john kerry, as his climate envoy, joe biden is demonstrating once more that tackling climate change will be at the heart of his presidency. it is clearly one of his very top priorities. it's why he rejoined the paris agreement within hours of being sworn in as president. it's why today he's issued executive orders, mobilising every department, every agency of the united states government to focus on climate. california has experienced record droughts, as well as record fires, in recent years, evidence that even one of the richest states in the richest nation on earth

can't immunise itself against the kind of weather climate change is expected to bring. heat, cold, all of these weather patterns aren't in and of themselves that strange. it's the frequency with which they're happening, and how unpredictable everything is, and it's very difficult for a farmer. john kerry was instrumental in negotiating the landmark global climate accord in paris in 2015, when he was president obama's secretary of state. he says a key objective now is to try and persuade other nations to raise their carbon—cutting game in the run—up to the big global summit glasgow will be hosting in november. glasgow will be extremely important. in fact, i would say in myjudgment it is the last best chance the world has to come together in order to do the things we need to do to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis.

the uk government, as host of the glasgow conference, will be hoping mr kerry's efforts pay off. in his first interview since becoming full—time president of the summit, alok sharma says having a us administration that's really engaged on the climate issue is good news indeed. i think it's great to have the us administration back at that table on the global fight against climate change. i think what's incredibly encouraging is that, within hours of the inauguration being completed, president biden, one of the first executive orders he signed was to rejoin the paris agreement. it is only a week since the new administration took power, and it has already taken big steps to reverse trump's policies on climate, but the agenda is ambitious, and bothjoe biden and john kerry know their efforts will have to overcome opposition from within the us. justin rowlatt, bbc news.

the european union says the drug company astrazeneca should honour a contract to supply vaccines by using its british factories to make up a shortfall. the european commission is angry that the company might provide the eu with up to 80 million fewer doses than it had initially promised. our europe correspondent nick beake has this update from brussels. the eu certainly think it's in a very strong legal position and is asking astrazeneca to publish the contract agreed to. this row has escalated very publicly today. and at the heart of it, the eu believes that the makers of the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine are favouring the uk over european nations. astrazeneca says it is keeping its side of the deal, and points out that the eu signed its contract three months after the uk did. but still, a senior european commission figure has said today the idea of first—come first—served is all well and good if you're popping down to the local butchers, but when it comes to signing a contract, which they did do for a vaccine

which is life—saving in the millions, that's a completely different matter. it also prompted the likes of germany to call for restrictions or even a ban on eu made vaccines going to other countries, including the united kingdom. the commission is downplaying that idea. i can tell you there has been a meeting tonight between the two side, both are using the word construct, but still the eu is saying that even though it is not yet approved, the vaccine, it still wants all of the jabs it still wants all of the jabs it has ordered to be delivered and delivered on time. a team of world health organization experts investigating the origins of the pandemic are preparing to begin work in wuhan. they've been isolating in the chinese city for the last two weeks. our china correspondent, stephen mcdonnell, looks at what the group of scientists will be doing in wuhan now they are out of quarantine. practically it means they can have some face—to—face meetings. they are saying they started having meetings via video link and the like they will be able to come out of

quarantine, move around the city. but i'm going to make a bit of a bold prediction here and say that at the end of this visit, they are not going to come out and tell us they have discovered how the coronavirus started. that's because it is a very difficult thing to work out and the who has already been stressing how much time is going to be required, how complex the task is. one of the things they won't be doing is even looking at the theory of a lab leak. well, if they are, it certainly isn't in any of the documents i have seen associated with this trip. it is more like examining the possibility that this virus jumps from some sort of animal, maybe via an intermediary animal, and then into humans. another thing they won't be doing is their own research. what it mostly is a trip looking out the work that has already been done by chinese

scientists and then trying to map out where the holes might be to try and see, ok, what else needs to be done to get back to the origins of this coronavirus. they have even said that after wuhan, naturally, it started here because this is where the first clusters were, where the outbreak started. but actually, the scientists are saying, in theory, it could have come from somewhere else. so they are not ruling out the possibility that after this trip, they will go to another chinese city or even another country to try and get to the bottom of the origins of this virus. now that obviously makes the chinese government very happy to hear language like that because that is the line that is being pushed quite a bit by the communist party. we have even had a foreign ministry spokesman here saying that it definitely came from overseas. eitherway, that it definitely came from overseas. either way, we have had politicians and government officials, especially from the us and china throwing mud at

each other over this issue, spreading conspiracy theories over the coronavirus, what many will be hoping though is that this group of scientists can somehow get above the clamour of the politics and find a way to discover what the real origins of this debilitating virus have been. but really, it's not going to be easy and it's not going to be easy and it's not going to be quick. steven mcdonnell for us there. let's get some of the day's other news. there have been protests in cities across poland after the government said its controversial law introducing a near—total ban on abortions would come into force. terminations will now be allowed in poland only in cases of rape or incest, or when the mother's life is in danger. the un's refugee agency has strongly condemned what it called systematic efforts by a growing number of european states to prevent migrants from seeking asylum. the unhcr said there were continuous reports of expulsions and of refugees being turned back at land and sea borders. un officials highlighted such practices in greece,

italy, malta and croatia. the boeing 737 max has been approved to return to service by eu regulators. it's already flying again in the united states. the plane was grounded nearly two years ago, after flaws in its software and sensors caused two crashes, that killed 346 people. apple has hit another sales record with reported revenues of more than $110 billion in the last three months of 2020 — a rise of 21% on the same period last year. the gains come as consumers are confined to their homes during the pandemic, driving work, shopping and leisure activities increasingly online. the new 5g—enabled iphone 12 also boosted sales. the us has a new top diplomat, anthony blinken was confirmed as secretary of state on tuesday and he's promising renewed us leadership. he's got the delicate task of repairing strained ties with allies in europe and asia as well as big challenges

in the middle east. iran remains an area of concern and the secretary of state says restoring the nuclear deal remains a long way off. president biden has been very clear in saying that if iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the jcpoa, the united states will do the same thing and then we would use that as a platform to build with our allies and partners what we call the longer and stronger agreement, and to deal with a number of other issues that are deeply problematic in the relationship with iran. but we are a long ways from that point. that was anthony blinken there. ibrahim al—assil is a senior

fellow at the middle east institute in washington, hejoins me now. thank you very much for your time. anthony blinken has worked with joe time. anthony blinken has worked withjoe biden for a long time and people say they really can't see daylight between them. what he is proposing is likely to be very different from the trump administration and also the obama demonstration from the side of it. ., , obama demonstration from the side of it. . , ., , side of it. pleasure to be with ou. it side of it. pleasure to be with yom it is _ side of it. pleasure to be with you. it is absolutely - you. it is absolutely different. everything we are hearing so far is sounding very different from the previous demonstration, the obama expression and the trump administration. with obama, we saw that the president didn't really include the us regional allies and partners in the negotiations with iran and they didn't take their perspective into account. and then with trump, it was really unpredictable and president trump was also very biased and all decisions were not really calculated. we hope that this time, this administration will find the balanced approach to the region where it is actually trying to find a solution for

the nuclear problem with iran. but at the same time it doesn't just alienate all the partners or the allies in the region but include them in the negotiations.- include them in the negotiations. include them in the neuotiations. ~ ., ., ~ negotiations. what do you think is likely to _ negotiations. what do you think is likely to happen _ negotiations. what do you think is likely to happen with - negotiations. what do you think is likely to happen with iran, - is likely to happen with iran, if anything, there are more hardliners perhaps likely to be in power in iran and probably very unimpressed with the way the nuclear deal turned out to them. other likely to want to enter into any new agreement? the hardliners in iran didn't hide their regrets that they allowed iran to go into the nuclear agreement with the us in 2015, now they are more influential. injune of this year, we will have a new presidential election and it might bring a former officer from the revolutionary guards to be president. all of that will make the mission of biden to go back to the agreement or to go back to the agreement or to sign a new agreement with iran even more difficult

because even if the biden administration wants to reach a new deal with iran, that doesn't mean that iran necessarily wants to have a new deal with the united states, especially that the united states left the agreement and the situation now on the ground is totally different from what it was in 2015. i5 is totally different from what it was in 2015.— it was in 2015. is unlikely there will— it was in 2015. is unlikely there will be _ it was in 2015. is unlikely there will be much of- it was in 2015. is unlikely - there will be much of a change in the relationship with the us and israel, much of a change in and israel, much of a change in a situation for the palestinians? . , ., , palestinians? that is a very important _ palestinians? that is a very important question. - palestinians? that is a very important question. i - palestinians? that is a very important question. i think| palestinians? that is a very . important question. i think the biden administration has a very good opportunity to push the conflict between the israeli and palestinians into a positive direction. and also the trump administration didn't really achieve a good advancement in the fight. it abandoned the palestinians and that wasn't a good choice. so far we have from the biden administration that they will reinstate the aid, humanitarian aid, for the palestinians, that is very important. first, it is important from a humanitarian

perspective but it is also important the us interest perspective because it increases the leverage for the united states to go over the palestinians. and also shows the israelis that the us won't take sides in this negotiation. now the position for the united states is not great because it doesn't have credibility because of the position of the trump administration, particular with that area. but so far we're hearing some good steps from the biden administration and i believe can really create a debility or a credible environment for negotiations between both sides, the palestinians and the israelis. , ~' israelis. sounds like we will be back to _ israelis. sounds like we will be back to you _ israelis. sounds like we will be back to you on this - israelis. sounds like we will be back to you on this as i israelis. sounds like we will. be back to you on this as these stories develop. thank you very much ebrahim.— thank you for being with us. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the tug of war between the mammoth hedge funds

and the small time investors. the dizzying rise of gamestop. the shuttle challenger exploded soon after lift—off. there were seven astronauts on board, one of them a woman school teacher. all of them are believed to have been killed. by the evening, tahrir square, the heart of official cairo, was in the hands of the demonstrators. they were using the word �*revolution�*. the earthquake singled out buildings and brought them down in seconds. tonight, the search for any survivors has an increasing desperation about it as the hours passed. the new government is finally in control of the entire - republic of uganda. survivors of the auschwitz concentration camp have been commemorating the 40th anniversary of their

liberation. they toured the huts, gas chambers and crematoria, and relived their horrifying experiences. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: president biden has signed a series of executive orders to tackle climate change, which he's described as an existential threat. the eu has insisted that astrazeneca come up with a clear plan to deliver on their contractual obligations to supply covid vaccines. the head of the international olympic committee has insisted that plans to stage the tokyo olympics and paralympics this summer are still very much on course. speaking after an executive committee meeting in switzerland, thomas bach said speculation over the event was hurting the athletes, who already faced challenges in their preparation because of the coronavirus. despite much ofjapan being under a state of emergency because of the third wave of covid infections — the games are set to begin on the 23rd july.

the country is not due to start vaccinating until late february — and had asked pharmaceutical companies to carry out trails on the japanese population before getting approval for their vaccines. ken ishii is professor of vaccine science at university of tokyo. you should ask you why japan is on domestic trials when testing has been conducted on a broad range of volunteers and why japan is so late in vaccinating?- japan is so late in vaccinating? japan is so late in vaccinatin? , , , , vaccinating? this is because japanese — vaccinating? this is because japanese companies - vaccinating? this is because | japanese companies insisting vaccinating? this is because - japanese companies insisting to do one more clinical trial with a couple of hundred people to make sure that this is safe and getting immunised, people in

japan. getting immunised, people in jaan. �* , ., japan. we've been hearing about bird of japanese _ japan. we've been hearing about bird of japanese people - japan. we've been hearing about bird of japanese people don't - bird ofjapanese people don't want to take a vaccine at bird of japanese people don't want to take a vaccine at all. is this part of an effort to persuade people this is safe? definitely. vaccine hesitancy is the most important, whether japanese people are willing to get vaccinated or not. 30% other people we need to get vaccinated for this successful vaccine programme.- vaccine programme. games officials say _ vaccine programme. games officials say they _ vaccine programme. games officials say they are - officials say they are operating on the assumption that athletes won't be vaccinated before they come to take part in the games. what does that mean for the safety of the event? 50 does that mean for the safety of the event?— of the event? so i disagree with the idea _ of the event? so i disagree with the idea that - with the idea that connects with the idea that connects with the idea that connects with the programme, for the sake of safety issues, please

don't take the lead because hostage for vaccinating people, including athletes, and it should be separately conducted. you are a professor of vaccine science, of course, a professor in ——an expert in vaccines. i just wonder in your position, can you pass comment? do you think it's reasonable for the games to go ahead at all? do you think they actually will? yes, the olympics, just like other sports games, can be conducted without any vaccination, not only the athlete, people around the olympic games management. but of course, japanese people in government are quite resistant to accept people rushing in, people injapan, so that's the

problem, the biggest issue. mil problem, the biggest issue. all right, professor, thank you for talking to us. the state funeral of jerry rawlings who dominated political life in ghana for a generation has taken place in accra. mr rawlings twice led military coups before returning ghana to multi—party politics. thomas naadi reports from accra. fanfare. a solemn funeral procession for a man considered a hero by some in ghana. many of the young soldiers here today may be too young to remember the ii— today may be too young to remember the 11— year military regime of former president jerryjohn rawlings but even in death, he receives full military honours, a sign of respect from ghana's armed forces. at the funeral service to be adopted to. eulogised the leader describing him as selfless and committed who

worked for the common good of his country. worked for the common good of his country-— his country. many who acknowledged - his country. many who acknowledged him - his country. many who acknowledged him as| his country. many who i acknowledged him as the his country. many who - acknowledged him as the count founder of the fourth republic, republic which has proved to be the most enduring and stable in our history. in which has witnessed eight successive elections, three peaceful changes of government from one party to another. and five presidents.— party to another. and five residents. ., , , presidents. former president jerry john _ presidents. former president jerry john rawlings _ presidents. former president jerry john rawlings was - presidents. former president jerry john rawlings was seen | presidents. former president l jerry john rawlings was seen in jerryjohn rawlings was seen in different lights. some considered him a charismatic leader and an anti—corruption crusader, while those who are at the receding end of the excesses of his soldiers think of him as a dictator. but what remains true to his nature is that he was a man of the people. the former gun am presidents lay in state for three days as people paid their last respect before he was laid to rest at a military ceremony in accra. rawlings became a

major figure in accra. rawlings became a majorfigure in in accra. rawlings became a major figure in west africa, dominating politics for nearly two decades. while his legacy is contracted —— contested, he will live on as a symbol of pan— africanism. thomas naadi, bbc news, accra. wall street became a battleground this week, with a fight between an army of small investors on social media versus the big hedge funds. the day traders connected on sites like reddit, realising that big—time wall street investors had placed bets on the stocks of poorly performing companies, predicting they would lose their value, a practice known as �*shorting'. and that's where the video game retailer gamestop comes in. already suffering from the shift to online shopping, it was dealt a further blow by the coronavirus pandemic, closing 800 stores in the last two years. at the start of the year it was an unlikely contender for hottest stock of 2021 — it was worth less than $20. this week as the reddit army piled in. the price is now well above $300. other companies have had their stocks targetted as well — amc theatres, blackberry and koss — all with similar stock increases.

wealth manager erika safran explained this battle between the small investors and wall street. i'm not sure if that's the primary objective but that seems to be the politics of it today. i can't imagine anyone sitting home and day trading because they want to take down a company but if someone does have that is their mission, using social media to achieve that, well than they have an entire army of folks who trade during the day on reddit and other apps to help them achieve that goal. there is a philosophy that if you are an investor and you have a 100% rate of return on your portfolio last year, you are allows investor. the reason being is that a proper investor diversifies. something goes up, something goes down but eventually over the long—term, you make a sizeable gain. the

difference today is that people are using stock investing and replacing it with the word of serious investing. buying a stock does not make you an investor, selling a stock does not make you an investor and the mindset that is being fought really conflict �*s with what we have learned over the past 30 years about the proper way of investing to diversify and to look at entire markets. buying the individual stocks today because they are fuelled by the information that's being given on social media, and it creates a herd mentality and trend which pushes up a stock and pushing up a stock doesn't mean the stock price is merited. strong winds have caused chaos in north—west turkey. these cctv pictures show parts of metal stoves along with chairs flying through the air at a foundry in the city of bursa.

the owner of the foundry said the gust of wind lasted barely 20 seconds. at least one person was injured. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. hello there. a bit of the weather tussle going on in the skies above the uk of the next few days between cold air to the north and east of us in milder air to the south and west and the next 2a hours, the milder air will come through for many but on this dividing line going to see quite an active weather system and that's going to produce on one side pretty heavy rainfall. on the colder side of our weather system the hills of northern england, southern scotland and into central and northern scotland we could see significant snow which could have an impact on some of the higher road. it's here where we start the day. coldest of all.

temperatures may —6 degrees. ten or ii and parts of cornwall. big north—south contrast. there is the dividing line that area of rain, sleet and snow through the morning rush hour pushing its way northwards. drying out and brightening up to the song. quite misty and murky but you can see that it's on the higher site were more likely to see the snow. that mix is going to hang around across parts of central scotland moving into northern scotland as we go through the day. skies will brighten between england and wales mostly misty and murky in the north but with sunnier skies is to live a bit of a breeze. it can be incredibly mild average is up to 14 degrees compared tojust four in aberdeen. should stay dry and brighter much of the day for another batch of rain comes through thursday evening for that rain rather than snow. milder air snow continues to fall in northern

parts of scotland. some heavy, thundery showers into the first part of friday morning. we've still got those north—south contrast as far as temperatures are concerned. widespread frost in the far north of scotland where you've got snow and icy conditions to start. still there on friday morning. rain across southern scotland, northern england fizzling out. heavy showers across the south a bit of sunshine through friday. temperatures still double figures in the south but colder air starting to fight its way back. it'll continue to try and push back as we go into the weekend and notice how its pushing its way southwards. this swirl here is an indication of a weather system which could bring another mix of rain, sleet snow and cross england and wales head of a potential another one late on sunday. that fight goes on into next week too.

this is bbc news, the headlines: president biden has signed a series of executive orders to try to reduce the impact of climate change. he's called it an existential threat. he's said climate considerations should be a focus of american foreign and a national security priority and said the us must lead the global response. among new measures announced is a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on public land. the row between the pharmaceutical company astrazeneca and the european union over a shortage of coronavirus vaccines has escalated. the eu's health commissioner has insisted that astrazeneca come up with a clear plan to deliver on their contractual obligations to supply vaccines. a team of world health organization experts investigating the origins of the pandemic are preparing to begin work in wuhan. they've been isolating in the chinese city for the last two week and will study research institutes, hospitals and the seafood market linked to the initial outbreak.