joining us. as his date of any news live from berlin 2000000 dead is the coronavirus pandemic defies the efforts of governments to halt rising confections india launches the biggest vaccination program the world has ever seen the government hopes to give an antique over jab to 300000000 people in just 6 months also coming out u.s. drugmaker finds that comes back deliveries of its coated 19 faxing to europe to allow for an increase production later in the year. and german chancellor angela merkel's party chooses its next leader who will be in

a strong position to become germany's next later. i'm rebecca ritter's welcome to the program 2000000 people have now died from the corona virus case numbers are spiking around the world driven by new likely more contagious strains of the disease governments say mass inoculation drives as the only way out of the crisis and one of the biggest is now getting underway in india the country am's to inoculate one quarter of its 1300000000 people by july and the country's health secretary says every willing indian can get a shot by the end of the year india has approved 2 vaccines neither of which require ultra cold storage a covert shill vaccine developed by astra zeneca is one of them. and it's being

produced locally in india and kovacs in developed by indian company biotech but that it's not finished clinical trials yet nor published efficacy data and you have a lot of experience with mass immunization it already protects tens of millions of children a year against other diseases is also the world's largest vaccine producer manufacturing 60 percent of the world's supply. and let's bring in dana mira chattery in delhi now minera with more than a 1000000000 people this is a huge program going to be one of the world's largest is the country ready for the challenge well yes this is quite a challenge looking at india's population but what the government guidelines say is that they're looking at our election process as a sort of an inspirational sort of a template for this immunization program in terms of coordination and down the strategy so multiple sites have been identified at local and hyper local level where people eligible for actually nation of the identified where data is being

collected thousands of people have been trained already to agonise to these vaccines and hundreds of long johns have already been gathered up to look to for nations have been at least now the vaccine to allow starts today and how is the role rollout going to look come in who are the people who get priority 1st of all. well the far stronger going to focus on the health workers so hundreds of for in delhi the national capital itself about $89.00 hospitals have been identified including private and government thousands of hospitals identified across the country where doctors and nurses and other health workers are going to be given crowded to after which other frontline workers are going to be given priority and after that list is completed the government is going to focus on people above the age of 50 or those with. and after that areas where the rate of infection has been heard. in year remains one of the worst affected countries in the world are there any signs that the country is my progress in this pandemic. well if you see

a progress in terms of the number of cases then yes india has in the past couple of weeks has seen a drastic drop in the number of cases in the number of active cases and the rate of positivity has also gone much below one person just points little $60.00 person shake not so in down the number of cases and yes india does seem to be making progress people are far less than a strike now with this why is that then they used to be before but yet the moment the still insisting that the cautions and with this vaccine do a lot many people are bound to feel much safer and secure well fingers crossed and positive news coming out of india minera chattering thank you very much for the update us vaccine manufacturer 5 has told the european commission it will not be able to fulfill all of its promise deliveries in the coming weeks that's because building work intended to boost production at its plant in belgium with the member states dependent on the finds

a vaccine for their acts and action programs it's a setback in europe's battle against the pandemic. pfizer's plan where it's from here that every country in the world except the us will be supplied with its vaccine it's a complicated manufacturing process doses have to be kept at ultra low temperatures in the united states that deliveries could not be delayed came as a complete surprise to the e.u. . these are all of course a question that pfizer company has to answer i think it is very important that immediately we make clear that there is a guarantee of a suspect have to be delivered in the 1st quarter just a week ago the european commission was in talks with pfizer about delivery arrangements there was no mention of. the company wants to carry out works at its plant to adopt the manufacturing process and that it says would significantly boost

production in the coming months several e.u. countries have urged the commission to peer pressure on pfizer they've described the delay as other acceptable and see it will have a profound impact on the credibility of the whole vaccination campaign. and turn out some of the other stories making news around the world rescue efforts are ongoing in india names here after friday's earthquake on the island of sort of leaves the people are still feared trapped in the rubble of dozens of houses knocked down by the powerful tremors or them 40 people have been killed and 600 injured. ugandan opposition leader bobby weiner has claimed victory in the country's election rejecting preliminary polling results that gave victory to incumbent where in the survey me one earlier said he felt in danger after having government troops surrounded his home final election results are expected over the coming days. u.s. health secretary alex as our has announced he will step down citing the recent

storming of the capitol by donald trump supporters coronavirus pandemic will remain in his post until president elect joe biden is sworn in. next week is announcement follows the resignation of several other officials from the trump of ministration tonsured. the national rifle association the united states gun lobby has fallen from bankruptcy the n.r.a. has been in financial trouble for years after it was sued for misappropriating funds by new york state despite the filing the group claims its finances are still strong. here in germany chancellor angela merkel's c.d.u. party is about to elect a new leader it's a cave vote that will shape the party's future direction and could potentially represent a 1st step towards determining the next chancellor after more than 15 years in the top job chancellor merkel is not seeking an aga term in 28 tain she was replaced as c.d.u. data by an a great power who failed to stab her authority on the party and announced last year

that she would step aside so as the meeting got underway merkel told delegates want she hoped to say. for now i hope that this party congress will make the right decisions for the future finding out 1st and foremost these will be personal decisions i wish that it team will be elected that will take the fate of our proud party in its hands and then together with all members find the right answers for the tasks of the future when the rise of for the leadership appears to be wide open with 3 very different candidates on the ballot the window won't necessarily become the next german chancellor but what about the incumbent does she have a preference yes angle americal does have a favorite to succeed her watch her try not to show it when asked months ago with of the man next to her has what it takes to become chancellor. so i.

hope that they have always said that i won't interfere in the succession of the position i have or had and you see do you party leader will be elected i mean life said is a candidate and a state premier of north rhine-westphalia he brings many qualifications to the table. by medical standards that's strong praise i'm unless it stands for post machall continuity something he demonstrated in the candidate debates he's playing in it i bring to the table experience in government as leader of a large state balancing our interests and it might come in handy that i've actually already won an election as these next elections are just sizes. matz wants to turn the c.d.u. back to its conservative roots he wants left politics after losing a vote to anger machall a man keen to see the end of machall style centrist politics. not what we need is

competition for the best ideas to define the political center to put it more bluntly i believe that in politics nothing and nobody is irreplaceable no about what ministerial career was also once dented by macros political dominance still the underdog he has carved out a chance at the leadership by pushing his vision of a germany aster to tick global player. strength is the answer and strength only comes through unity so we need european china strategy and that also means that germany has to stop simply seeing china as just one of its most important markets also mark the spot the next party leader will also be in pole position to run as chancellor the latest polls suggest it will be a close call when the 1001 party delegates vote on saturday with matt slightly in the lead. but when c.d.u. supporters were asked who would be most able to win the federal elections in

september and become next chancellor a stunning 80 percent named someone not even on the list michael souter healey the c.d.u. sister party and bavaria. and there is another dark horse with potential germany's health minister yet spawn is leaving his options open to so the answer who will succeed. chancellor may still be months away yet saturday's vote for a new party leader will decide how her c.d.u. defines conservative politics in the future. earlier we spoke to our chief political editor and i asked her what the 1st task of the new cd later would say to you later would be it's uniting the party because there was a bitter contest over the party leadership in the past we've almost forgotten that anecdotes come congo where the woman handing over the office was supposed to take

over as party leader and eventually become chancellor candidate that's not happening there were bits of divisions in the party and that's what the party is now afraid of with those looming elections in september that whoever wins needs to demonstrate that they can bring everybody behind them and really live up to the title of the big tent party that's also what we heard from under the macro addressing that gathering this evening that this is a big tent party that has to unite different opinions rather than divide. they don't really speak well staying in germany in a court in munich has sentenced a german doctor to 4 years and 10 months in prison for his role in years of illegal typing in sport the landmark verdict concludes the 1st major prosecution on the german anti doping legislation entry introduced in 2015 they accused had admitted to giving illegal blood doping treatment to numerous athletes primarily in cycling

and winter sports he's also been handed a fine of nearly 160000 euros and banned from practicing medicine for 3 years. as the trial drew to a close mark s. apologized for his doping practices blood manipulation was his modus operandi he and his accomplices would take samples from athletes enrich them with red blood cells and reintroduce them via transfusion the guilty verdict has been hailed a milestone in germany's anti doping campaign. it's finally clear and significant punishment has been 100. 1 of a severity and a clarity that sends a valuable signal also in regards to the up locution of the anti doping law. doping is it's yours. in the case of austrian mentored by christina coleman foster the doctor experimented with human globin poser meaning he was also found guilty of grievous bodily harm. has been in custody since february 29th teen raids on the

doctor's house in germany led to his arrest at his practice. top income peano's believe the judgement will act as a deterrent but others are not so sure. just because i'm talking to the anti doping law in germany has been a roan since 2015 and this is the 1st and so far only case of doping in elite sport brought against the personal doctor in that sense the investigative quarter is in my opinion small and many will know that this is more or less an isolated case as both parties have a week to appeal the verdict in the bundesliga title chasing by leverkusen way here in berlin to kick off match day 16 they faced him on side has been flying surprisingly high this season themselves a hard fought game looked destined for a stalemate until cedric teuscher broke free minutes from the end german forward held his nerve to squeeze the ball home for the only goal of the gang is strike in

your own up to the heady heights of 4th and deals another blow to live on the slate hopes. and that's it for me i'm a news team up next our technology show shift looks at the role social networks are playing on restricting free speech i will be back with more news at the top of the hour i'm rebecca british don't go away. where i come from we have to fight for a free press and was born and raised in a military dictatorship with just one t.v. shadow and if you newspapers with official information as a journalist i have welcomed all of the strength of many characters and their problems are almost the same forward to social inequality and a lack of the freedom of the press and corruption we can afford to stay silent.