you welcome to bbc news — i'm you rich preston, very good to have you with us. our top stories. joe biden holds his first presidential news conference, setting a new vaccination target and defending his gun control and immigration policies. china levels sanctions against britain in retaliation for penalties imposed on chinese officials accused of human rights abuses against the uighur minority. at least five people have been killed in alabama after a series of tornadoes tear through the us state, destroying entire neighbourhoods. still stuck in the suez canal — why it could take days or even weeks to dislodge the container ship that's causing a maritime trafficjam.

the head of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, has said that astrazeneca must "catch up" on vaccine deliveries for the european union before exporting vaccine supplies elsewhere. european leaders have been meeting to discuss the covid crisis. cases are rising across the continent, but miss von der leyen says astrazeneca has only delivered 30 million of the 90 million vaccines it promised, despite tens of millions being sent to other countries. from brussels, here's our europe editor katya adler. prague is remembering its dead — simply, painfully. with one of the highest covid fatality rates in the world, the czech republic, like many other eu countries, is in the grip of a third wave. vaccines are in short supply. national rollouts like here

in belgium in disrepute, the eu's credibility on the line. eu leaders have been meeting remotely today to discuss how to secure the eu's vaccine supply, ensuring companies deliverjabs promised and, controversially, potentially blocking vaccine exports to vaccine—producing countries like the uk, which have an already advanced rollout. we want to make sure that europe gets its fair share of vaccines, because we must be able to explain to our citizens that if companies export their vaccines to the whole world, it is because they are fully honouring their commitments and it does not risk security of supply in the european union. what started as a health crisis now has political overtones here — especially after brexit. eu leaders are under huge pressure to act. their voters increasingly

frustrated about a lack of vaccines and fearful because of a third wave of the virus. but not all of those leaders want vaccine export controls. tonight, the commission is trying to persuade them otherwise. it says since december the eu has exported 77 million jabs to wealthy countries. 20 million to the uk, i'vejust been told, without receiving one back in return. intentionally provocative, perhaps. the commission now insists brussels was key in making the uk's vaccine effort a success. some eu countries say they prefer never to use vaccine export controls for fear of disturbing international relations or supply chains. france is more hardline. but today, president macron admitted the eu had made mistakes along the way. translation: we didn't go fast enough, strong enough, - it's absolutely true.

we thought the vaccine would take time, but we are catching up. not a moment too soon for europeans languishing in lockdown, decimating their economies. joe biden has held his first news conference since becoming president of the united states. mr biden announced a doubling of his vaccination target in his first hundred days to 200 million doses, and defended his policies on immigration and gun control. the 78 year old also said he expected to run again in 202a. 0ur north america editor jon sopel has this report. no fanfare, no hail to the chief, no fight with journalists... please, please, sit down, thank you. no—one even called another "beauty". this is about as different from the trump era as you could get, though the memory was there. my predecessor, oh, god, i miss him. he wanted to parade achievements — the speeding up

of vaccine delivery, the boost to the economy from his stimulus package and a new tone for political debate. the third reason i said i was running was to unite the country, and generically speaking, all of you said, "no, you can't do that." well, i've not been able to unite the congress but i'm uniting the country. but on the southern border, his problems are growing as quickly as the number of immigrants trying to cross into the us is swelling — the first real test for the president. the idea that i'm going to say, which i would never do, if an unaccompanied child ends up at the border, we're just going to let him starve to death and stay on the other side... no previous administration did either, except trump. i'm not going to do it. he's also talking tough over gun crime, where, in the last week, there have been two terrible mass shootings. but what can he do? not much, it would seem, given the votes in congress and that means on these big issues, he could look weak.

abroad, he said that north korea was still the biggest problem. but i'm also prepared for some form of diplomacy, but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearisation. there would be no big changes on china policy. doesn't have a democratic with a small d bone in his body but he's a smart, smart guy. and would he be going along with donald trump's timetable for getting american troops out of afghanistan? we will leave, the question is, when we leave. sir, do you believe, though, it's possible we could have i troops there next year? i...i can't picture that being the case. this news conference, in terms of style, represented a complete break with the donald trump era. but in terms of substance, say it quietly, not so much. 0n policies like the border, globalisation, china, afghanistan — it was all quite similar. it may not have been full—throated america first

but there were strong hints of it. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. china has imposed sanctions on four organisations and nine individuals in the uk over what it's called "lies and disinformation" about human rights abuses in the western xinjiang region. those named will be prevented from entering chinese territory, and will be banned from dealing with chinese citizens and institutions. major brands have cut ties with xinjiang, expressing concerns about the use of forced labour in the production of cotton. it's estimated a million mostly muslim uighurs are detained in camps in the north—west region of xinjiang. bbc investigations have gathered first—hand testimony of forced labour, and evidence that detainees have been raped and tortured. china denies the claims and says the camps are vocational training schools. our world affairs editor john simpson reports. the stories about the uighur camps have

spread around the world. after reports of forced labour in the cotton fields of xinjiang province, international companies like h&m and nike have all reacted strongly and that's brought an angry backlash from china, which says the accusations about the uighurs are lies. today, in the turkish capital, ankara, the chinese foreign minister, wang yi, has come to talk to president erdogan. there were protests by uighur exiles. turkey has strong ethnic and cultural links to the uighurs and it's always given them refuge. a uighur woman who went to turkey to study, recently found that her entire family back in xinjiang had been arrested — father, mother and two brothers. when i asked them why, they said my family members think they might

have an intention to attempt terrorist activities. 12 years ago, when china clamped down on rioting among the uighurs, the turkish leader, recep erdogan, called it "genocide". it's not a word he'd use today. china is pressurising turkey to ratify an extradition treaty, which would mean handing overany uighurs china wants returned. china isjust far too powerful economically and too many trader deals all came with the terms and conditions. so, effectively, china's bought off turkey? yeah. just like all the other countries, many arab countries and muslim countries, like pakistan. and they're not speaking up at all. turkey's economy has suffered badly from covid,

which has brought a collapse in tourism, its biggest foreign currency earner, and since the west isn't doing much to help, mr erdogan has turned to china, which offers turkey everything from covid vaccines to weapons. the turkish embassy hasn't replied to our questions about this. the fact is, turkey is really up against it. it's got its serious economic problems and it's moving away from its old friends in the west. china's only too happy to step in, but part of the price for that would be to keep quiet about the uighurs. i really want to see them again. i'm not sure if i can or not. they spent their whole life... to offer me a good education, to have a good life. there's no shortage of stories like this, but turkey doesn't seem to complain about them

publicly any more. john simpson, bbc news. let's speak to our china correspondent robin brant in shanghai. what has china said in this latest announcement? these are retaliatory sanctions _ latest announcement? these are retaliatory sanctions imposed - retaliatory sanctions imposed on four uk entities and nine individuals, which, several days after the uk in a co—ordinated effort with the us and the european union imposed sanctions on some prominent chinese figures, over those allegations as you heard john going into in some detail, on human rights abuses in xinjiang province against those uighur minority muslims. an hour or so ago we had this list from china's ministry of foreign affairs, among those targeted

includes an arm of the conservative party, human rights commission, prominent tory mps, ian duncan smith, tom tugendhat, in charge of the china research group. both among the harshest critics of beijing. putting the most pressure on borisjohnson and his administration to be tougher on china. what it means is these nine people and four entities cannot have anything to do with china in terms of business relations or chinese people either. if they own anything here, those assets will be frozen. we are hearing reaction from people like iain duncan smith, in a brief statement he said he will wear these sanctions as a badge of honour. he is proud to stand up and speak up, he says, for those being persecuted by china. , ., , ., ., , china. these moves against british officials, _ china. these moves against british officials, is - china. these moves against british officials, is there - china. these moves against| british officials, is there any sense china will take action again officials from the us,

canada or the eu?- again officials from the us, canada or the eu? yes, it has already done _ canada or the eu? yes, it has already done that _ canada or the eu? yes, it has already done that in - canada or the eu? yes, it has already done that in terms . canada or the eu? yes, it has already done that in terms of| already done that in terms of targeting some prominent politicians in the united states. that was over new legislation there which was critical of what china is doing in hong kong, but yes, china retaliates. if a country or a bloc of countries speaks out, china will retaliate, that is standard play. john talked about it in his report, what is also interesting is the use of economic nationalism, in terms of targeting the global giant in retailing h&m, adidas, nikkei and others. because of the criticisms they have made, the criticisms they have made, the concerns they have raised about the use of forced labour in cotton in xinjiang. —— adidas, nike. the list is

growing and growing. british companies, jaguar land rover may be, burberry, other prominent firms, will they be next on the list in terms of china using its economic clout to put pressure on as well? thank you very much. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: no success yet in efforts to dislodge this giant container ship stuck in the suez canal — meanwhile, dozens of vessels remain in limbo. i'm so proud of both of you. let there be no more wars or bloodshed between arabs and israelis.

with great regret, the committee have decided that south africa be excluded from the 1970 competition. chanting streaking across the sky, - the white—hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from i onlookers on fiji. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: a virtual summit has ended with european union leaders emphasising their wish to make sure the eu gets its fair share of coronavirus vaccines. the challenges at the us—mexico border have taken centre stage

atjoe biden�*s first presidential press conference. at least five people have been killed in northern alabama when a tornado tore through the area destroying entire neighbourhoods. dozens of people were injured and tens of thousands left without power when the tornado swept across the state and into georgia. the authorities have warned of "significant damage" and advised residents to stay home and off the roads as more storms are expected. glenn burns is chief meteorologist at the television station wsb—tv. he joins us from atlanta. thanks for being with us. give us a sense of the picture at the moment in the state. we are still under _ the moment in the state. we are still under a _ the moment in the state. we are still under a tornado _ the moment in the state. we are still under a tornado watch - still under a tornado watch through much of northern georgia, atlanta and into alabama, more severe storms developing there. this afternoon was just unprecedented across northern

alabama, we feared for our lives when the tornado touched down. , . , lives when the tornado touched down. , ., , ., , down. tell us a bit about this tornado- _ down. tell us a bit about this tornado. this _ down. tell us a bit about this tornado. this was _ down. tell us a bit about this tornado. this was one - down. tell us a bit about this tornado. this was one of - down. tell us a bit about this tornado. this was one of the | tornado. this was one of the most unusual— tornado. this was one of the most unusual cases - tornado. this was one of the most unusual cases i - tornado. this was one of the most unusual cases i have . tornado. this was one of the i most unusual cases i have ever seen, and i began tracking that storm this afternoon in alabama at around storm this afternoon in alabama ataround 1:30pm. storm this afternoon in alabama at around 1:30pm. we were still tracking it at liz30pm. this tornado was producing winds of 150 mph, it was on the ground for 150 miles. you might see a tornado warning last for 15 or 20 minutes, this was three hours of a tornado warning that it was on the ground from birmingham, alabama into the north—western part of georgia where it did considerable damage. where it did considerable damage-— where it did considerable damaue. , ., , damage. remind us how these tornadoes _ damage. remind us how these tornadoes are _ damage. remind us how these tornadoes are caused. - damage. remind us how these tornadoes are caused. they - damage. remind us how these | tornadoes are caused. they are caused by _ tornadoes are caused. they are caused by wind _ tornadoes are caused. they are caused by wind shear, - tornadoes are caused. they are caused by wind shear, we - tornadoes are caused. they are caused by wind shear, we have| caused by wind shear, we have some cold water off the eastern equatorial pacific ocean which changes the global wind patterns in such a way that we

have a lot of cold air bottled up have a lot of cold air bottled up across the western united states, across the rocky mountains, a lot of snow bringing cold air, which rushes to the south and east, colliding with the warm air in the south—east, you have winds changing direction and speed and elevation, so the cold air and elevation, so the cold air and the warm air, you have the added supply of wind shear, adding fuel to the storms, rotating thunderstorms and you get tornadoes.— get tornadoes. thank you very much for _ get tornadoes. thank you very much for making _ get tornadoes. thank you very much for making the - get tornadoes. thank you very much for making the time, - get tornadoes. thank you very l much for making the time, stay safe. thousands of people have been displaced by a fire which tore through a slum in freetown, sierra leone. local authorities are still assessing the full extent of the damage, including the number of casualties. tanya dendrinos has this report. homes and livelihoods ablaze, the fury of this inferno was clear as it destroyed everything in its path. those able did all they could

to fight the flames. 0thers simply watched on in the devastating glow — the battle against this fire proving futile. translation: firefighters really struggled _ to stop the fire. they came and went with equipment and went to the sea to get water, up until the fire started to diminish, with the help of the young people that were around. as day broke, with smoke still hanging in the air, residents poured through. their community largely reduced to ash and rubble. translation: l was at. the market when i heard about the fire, so then i came back here and there was no way for me to enter my house. i just fetched my children and went somewhere safe until the fire was put out. thousands have lost everything. they need food and water — the priority for community leaders and humanitarian organisations, who are trying to establish the full extent of this disaster and how to help residents get through. the mayor of freetown said this

fire comes in the wake of six others in recent weeks, saying again there was no access for fire crews, with a focus on how to turn this around and prevent putting more lives at risk. one of the world's busiest trade arteries, the suez canal, is blocked for a third day as a mega container ship is still wedged in its sandy bank. the salvage company hired to free the huge container ship has warned it could take days or even weeks to move the vessel. but more than 10% of global trade passes through the suez canal and time is money. it connects the red sea to the mediterranean and provides a relatively quick way for cargo to travel between asia and europe, and for oil supplies to come from the middle east. the alternative is a passage around the southern tip of africa, which is thousands of miles further and can add more than a week to the journey. from there, our correspondent

sally nabil reports. i apologise... captainjohn konrad is the ceo of the maritime news site g—captain, hejoins me now. great to have you with us, give us a sense of the scale of the issue. we are hearing these big numbers, but for the average person, what does this mean for them. , . ., person, what does this mean for them. , . . . them. the scale and the enormity _ them. the scale and the enormity of— them. the scale and the enormity of the - them. the scale and the| enormity of the situation them. the scale and the i enormity of the situation is the critical question. with the ship itself, people don't understand how big it is. 60 metres longer than the hms queen elizabeth super carrier. you could put the queen elizabeth and another ship inside this ship, that is how large it is. all of the weight and size is making the salvage operation that much harder to get it dislodged. talking about $400 million per hour being

lost, 9 billion, you hear all of these big numbers, but that'sjust of these big numbers, but that's just the loss of the cargo containers at the time to the shipping companies. and the logistics firms. all the factories now run just in time. the large warehouses the factories used to have s macro gone, so these chips serve as mobile factories, and they arrive with the goods just in time to produce goods and services. —— used to have s macro gone. the global world is interconnected and this has turned into a perfect storm. we lose a large ship somewhere in the world once a week, over 50 ships per year, but what makes this unusual is the size of the ship in place, the panama canal, and just as we start to hopefully reopen the economy for covid. so it's notjust one

thing, it is these towering consequences. b, thing, it is these towering consequences.— thing, it is these towering consequences. thing, it is these towering conseuuences. �* , ., , consequences. a couple of firms are contemplating _ consequences. a couple of firms are contemplating re-routing . are contemplating re—routing their ships around the cape of good hope, how feasible is that, what are the implications?- that, what are the implications? that, what are the imlications? �* , . , , ., implications? as a ship captain like myself. — implications? as a ship captain like myself. it _ implications? as a ship captain like myself, it is _ implications? as a ship captain like myself, it is very - implications? as a ship captain like myself, it is very easy - implications? as a ship captain like myself, it is very easy to l like myself, it is very easy to turn around and plot a new course, we can do it. it's about 3500 extra miles depending on speed, some of the containerships are faster. some of the tankers are slower. remember, this is notjust the containerships, we have soybeans, cement, aggregate ships, tankers, notjust trying to get out but getting the empty tank is back in. as we learned at the beginning of covid, you can'tjust shut down the oil supply, it has to go somewhere on these tankers. and military ships, the us fleet is split between the mediterranean and the persian gulf and cannot communicate with each other. it is a domino's pizza as a ship captain, we look at certainty,

right? we can plan our course and departure time, we can even plan the weather. the weather of the day is uncertainty. —— it is a domino. as a ship captain, we look at certainty. will they go to africa or will they wait until monday and wait for the high tide and pull this off or will they wait for weeks or turnaround? these are or turnaround ? these are questions or turnaround? these are questions no one can answer. just briefly, for the ship that is stuck, what does it need to do, just wait until it is dug out? i do, just wait until it is dug out? ., , ., ., 4' do, just wait until it is dug out? ., ., �* out? i wrote the book on the bp oil ria out? i wrote the book on the bp oil rig disaster, _ out? i wrote the book on the bp oil rig disaster, we _ out? i wrote the book on the bp oil rig disaster, we had - out? i wrote the book on the bp oil rig disaster, we had terms i oil rig disaster, we had terms like the top hat and the bottom survey, and a term from a salvage company today called the reversed twist. they twisted one way, and they will try to twist it the other way, getting dredgers to dig it out. you have seen the pictures of

the excavators. the first attempt is to twist it back, the reversed twist. captain john conrad, _ the reversed twist. captain john conrad, thanks - the reversed twist. captain john conrad, thanks very l the reversed twist. captain - john conrad, thanks very much will being with us. plenty more of this story on our website. looking at the different methods that could be used to get the ship moving. and the bbc news app for your latest coverage. plenty more coming up on the programme, so stick with us on bbc news. you can reach me on twitter — @richpreston.

hello there. the weather will be turning much colder today. we look at the temperatures we got to yesterday, in the warmer spots we had highs of around 15 celsius, for example, in sheffield. today, those temperatures quite widely across the uk down by about five celsius. from 15 to about 10 later this afternoon. the change is brought about by an area of low pressure, this one here, and there are a couple of weather fronts on it. the first, an impostor bringing in a little rain eastwards. the second is the cold front, and it's behind that that the colder air will spread its way in across the uk. over the next few hours, ourfirst band of rain moves from wales across into central and eastern england. our main band of rain, our cold front, will be bringing wet weather and gusty winds to scotland, western parts of wales and northern ireland as well.

through friday morning, this band of rain will push eastwards and only really reaching east anglia and southeast england in the afternoon. so there will be a bit of sunshine for a time. behind that, some sunny skies but also plenty of showers. the showers have hail and thunder mixed in across northwestern areas, where it'll feel particularly cold. highs of seven celsius, and factor in the brisk wind and it will feel colder than that. in fact, through the weekend, i think it will stay on the windy side, rain around as well. we start off with a risk of icy stretches across higher parts of scotland and northern england because there may well be some snow showers here through friday night. so, icy conditions. sunshine for a time, but further west the cloud building in and eventually outbreaks of rain spread in to northern ireland, perhaps western scotland towards the end of the day. blustery and still quite cool, temperatures about 9—10 celsius through saturday afternoon. into saturday night, more outbreaks of rain, particularly across northern areas of the uk with the rain turning heavy at times.

the weather front slow—moving somewhere across northern ireland, northern england and north wales. to the north, cold air in scotland, so sunshine and a few showers, and to the south across southern parts of england and wales, temperatures will not be quite so low — highs of 13 or 14 celsius. and that trend to slightly milder conditions continues into monday. for many of us it will be a much milder day, with temperatures as high as 18 celsius, but there will still be rain around across the north and west uk. that is your weather.

this is bbc news,

the headlines. the head of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, has said that astrazeneca must "catch up" on vaccine deliveries for the eu before exporting its vaccine supplies elsewhere. the eu has not received all the number of vaccines it ordered, slowing down its roll—out even as cases are rising. china has imposed sanctions on nine britons, including five mps, in retaliation for british measures taken against chinese officials accused of human rights abuses against the uighur minority in xinjiang province. the chinese foreign ministry has accused those it has penalised of spreading "lies and disinformation". in his first news conference as president, joe biden has doubled his goal for coronavirus vaccinations — saying 200 million will be delivered in his administration's first 100 days. he also dismissed suggestions of an immigration crisis at the southern border. now on bbc news,

the week in parliament.