this is bbc news. our top stories: strong words from brussels after european union leaders meet for talks, saying astrazeneca must "catch up" on vaccine deliveries for the eu before sending them elsewhere. joe biden holds his first presidential news conference, setting a new vaccination target and defending his gun control and immigration policies. at least five people have been killed in alabama after a series of tornadoes tear through the us state, destroying entire neighbourhoods. underwater dreaming — new evidence from brazil shows octopuses have stages of sleep similar to humans. a painting by the iconic artist, vincent van gogh, not seen in public for more than a hundred years — sells at auction...twice.

welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. 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. staying with the pandemic, mexico's health ministry says the number of people who have died from coronavirus has passed more than 200,000. it means mexico becomes only the third country in the world to register that many deaths — behind the united states and brazil. more than 2 million people in mexico are estimated to have contracted the virus since the start of the pandemic. poland's prime minister has warned that the country's health system is on the verge

of being "overwhelmed" as it struggles with a surge in new coronavirus infections with more than 3a,000 new cases on thursday alone. the government says tighter restrictions will mean pre—school childcare, diy stores and hairdressers will close for two weeks from saturday but churches will remain open for easter, but with limited numbers. joe biden has held his first news conference since becoming us president. mr biden announced a doubling of his vaccination target in his first 100 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. our north america editor jon sopel was there. 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. julia manchester is a political reporter from the hill news website. she told me about the one thing president biden didn't talk about in his news conference. one of the biggest things that stood out for me was something that wasn't really talked about, and that was the global pandemic. we saw that president biden started the press conference by saying he was setting a new goal for his administration now that he has surpassed the 100 million vaccine shots in less than 100 days of his presidency, now he is going for 200 million. however, the reporters did not ask about coronavirus, instead they focused on the border, gun violence, and disunity and partisan clashes in congress. one of the biggest pieces of news, i would say, isjoe biden said, as of now, he is planning to run again in 2024, something

a lot of us were not sure about until today. 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 that 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. the bbc�*s 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. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: van gogh goes under the hammer — a painting by the iconic artist fetches a hefty sum after being auctioned off — twice. 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. glenn burns is chief meteorologist at the television station wsb—tv in atlanta — he says residents in affected areas are still on their guard for more bad weather. in the states now, we are still under a tornado watch through much of northern georgia, atlanta and back into alabama, more severe storms developing there. this afternoon was just unprecedented across northern alabama, we feared for our lives in birmingham when the tornado touched down. this was one of the most unusual cases i have ever seen, and i began tracking that storm this afternoon in alabama ataround 1:30pm. we were still tracking it at az30pm. this tornado was producing winds of at least 150mph,

and was on the ground for 150 miles. on a given afternoon, 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. they are caused by wind shear, we have some cold water off the eastern equatorial pacific ocean off south america, which changes the global wind patterns in such a way that we 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 over the south—east, you have winds changing direction and speed and elevation, so that cold air meets the warm air, you have the added supply of wind shear, adding fuel to the storms, you have rotating thunderstorms and you get tornadoes.

the leaders of twitter, facebook and google have faced a grilling in the us congress about the high levels of disinformation on their platforms. the head of a committee accused jack dorsey, mark zuckerberg and sundar pichai of profiting from spreading falsehoods. the members of the house energy and commerce committee pointed a finger directly at the companies for fostering a hateful environment, that helped lead to the insurrection. each boss was asked whether their platform bore some repsonsibility. they were asked to answer yes or no — here's how they responded.( our responsibility is to make sure we build effective systems... 0k, your preference is not to the question. mr pichai, yes or no? we always feel a deep sense of responsibility but i think we've worked hard in this election it was one of our most substantive efforts. is that is that a yes or no? congressman, it's a complex question, we... 0k, we'll move on.

mr dorsey. yes, but you have to take in the consideration - of a broader ecosystem. it's not just about - the technology platforms. 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. others 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.

the salvage company hired to free the huge container ship blocking the suez canal since tuesday has warned it could take days or even weeks to move the vessel. it's one of the world's busiest trading routes — with more than 10 percent of global trade passing from there sally nabil reports. an ultra large vessel is blocking the suez canal. satellite images show the 400 metre long ever given stuck, bringing navigation to a standstill. tug boats and dredgers were dispatched to the area, but nothing has worked so far. the huge size of the ship and the heavy cargo on board are complicating rescue efforts. it's not clear exactly why the ship has run aground. official statements say it went off course due to bad weather. the suspension of navigation through the suez canal has created an atmosphere of uncertainty — no—one knows when things can go back to normal.

this incident has created congestion. dozens of ships are waiting to resume theirjourneys. a traffic jam of vessels is mounting up and some shipping companies are already preparing to re—route ships around the cape of good hope. oil prices already rose as a result of this impasse, amid fears of extensive delays. the concern is that the longer the blockage lasts, the bigger the losses might be. sally nabil, bbc news. scientists in brazil have published new research suggesting octopuses might dream. it's believed the aquatic creatures experience different types of sleep — one of them similar to the rapid eye movement, or rem, sleep that humans undergo when they dream. it's further proof octopuses are one of the most intelligent creatures on earth. the bbc�*s tim allman reports.

eight legs, three hearts, one impossible dream. marshmallow the octopus, quietly snoozing away in her tank. but look at this, she is suddenly changing colour, her muscles twitching, her sucker is contracting. researchers believe marshmallow may be dreaming. a team of scientists at a university in the west of brazil recorded four octopuses over several days, their sleep pattern went to cycles. during quiet sleep they went still, during active sleep they moved around. similar to sleep they moved around. similarto humans sleep they moved around. similar to humans when we dream, a period of neural activity that can boost health and cognition. they look so strange, so different, they seem almost alien, but it is thought octopuses have the most complex brains of any

invertebrates. perhaps the most famous was paul, the eight legged soothsayer who had an uncanny albeit not perfect record of picking winning teams at the 2006 world cup. then there's octavia, the octopus from devon who could solve puzzles that would help her attain food. the researchers have spotted this octopus asleep, displaying the colours seen during courtship, may be thinking of romance, a beautiful dreamer indeed. we are a suckerfor a beautiful dreamer indeed. we are a sucker for a good beautiful dreamer indeed. we are a suckerfor a good animal story at the bbc! a painting by vincent van gogh that had been held in a private family home for more than 100 years has been sold at auction for more than 13 million euros — more than $15 million. street scene in montmartre was painted by the artist in 1887 while he was living in paris. it captures the social changes taking place

in the area at the time. our paris correspondent lucy williamson has been to see the painting, and was watching today's auction. and now we have arrived at lot six... after more than a century hidden from public view, this painting was sold twice today. the first bid, won by an online buyer whose offer came in just as the hammer fell. but there was a problem with the sale, and the auction had to be rerun. she speaks french the painting finally went to a buyer in london forjust over 13 million euros, several million lower than the first time around, but still one of the highest prices ever paid for work from van gogh's paris period. the artist only lived here for a couple of years, during which time he painted many scenes from around montmartre, then in transition from a sleepy rural area

outside the city to a vibrant bohemian suburb. the painting, hidden away in a private collection for 100 years, shows a couple walking along a rural lane in front of a windmill. nearby, the top of a fairground carousel peeks through the trees. but this picture also tells the story of van gogh's own artistic transition — his colours becoming brighter and his tell—tale brush strokes beginning to appear. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. the renowned french film director bertrand tavernier has died, aged 79. his work was prolific in range and output — and was always infused with his great love of france and its culture. he's probably best—known for his film set in the jazz scene called round midnight — it won an academy award. he also garnered a bafta win and several cesar awards for his 1989 film life and nothing but. that's it from the team here at bbc news. a reminder 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 1a 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 rollout even as cases are rising. 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 hundred days. he also dismissed suggestions of an immigration crisis at the southern border and said he will revisit gun control. 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". now on bbc news, iqra school in aleppo was bombed by a fighterjet in 2013. a bbc panorama team were filming in a children's hospital nearby and captured the desperate attempts to save lives. a warning: this film contains very graphic and disturbing content. almost 6 million children have been born into war in syria. in a decade of conflict, at least 25,000 children