this is day 2 of the new year's line from the european union approves the astra zeneca corona virus vaccine plus medicines regulator recommends it for all adults over the age of 18 as the e.u. intensifies its dispute with asters that make up over delays to vaccine delivery also on the program germany bans travel from countries hardest hit by new variants of the coronavirus the government says the ban will help prevent a surge of infections. problems in nigeria when compensation from oil giant shell over environmental damage caused by oil leaks after

a 13 year legal battle. i'm still going to welcome to the program the european commission has approved corona virus vaccine for use across the e.u. brussels signed off on the drug after the european bed since agency approved the drugs used in people over the age of 18 the e.u. is facing a stove of criticism for the slow pace of its vaccine rollout astra zeneca this is the 1st to gain approval after those from biotech pfizer and medan. straight to brussels that we find correspondent teri schultz welcome terry millions of people in the u.k. have already received this vaccine why is the e.u. been so slow. that's right phil but despite all the pressure and the criticism that

european medicines agency is not in the business of apologizing for taking whatever time it feels is necessary in a life or death issue like this so today in our briefing e.m.e.a. officials said that the astra zeneca data was very complex and despite the fact that it was the 1st one that they started looking to approve they were still getting data as recently as this week from the company so they simply said they're working as fast as they can to get results and they can't be sped up by pressure. german and french health officials have questioned the drug's efficacy in people over 60 so what. about basij group that's right did talk about this today as well and they said that there seems to be some confusion about them having very little data about people age 65 and over and confusion that this data may have actually been negative so they said that only 13 percent of

patients in the information that they received were elderly and that's why the there are reluctant to draw a firm conclusion about the results but they said that they already do understand that there is some protection provided in people of this age group and they say that they will continue to study they will continue to receive data and may be able to come out with some firmer results later i also just got off a press conference with astra zeneca officials who were asked the same question and they defended their results and said that as careful as the e m a is being as i just mentioned they would not have approved it if they truly thought that this vaccine was dangerous for people of that age group teri schultz in brussels thank you. well that approval from the e.u. comes amid a bitter dispute between brussels and astra zeneca over delays to the delivery of vaccine supplies brussels accuses the drugs money factor of failing to fulfill its contractual obligations the company says it is working hard to overcome production

problems but that its deal with the e.u. requires it to make its best efforts to supply vaccines with no clear delivery timetable reducto ad copy of the contract has now been published. this contract is at the heart of an ongoing feud between the european commission and spread his swedish family company astra zeneca over the laysan vixen deliveries the e.u. has made the contract public but many of the crucial parts have been blacked out but astra zeneca a scandal say members of the european parliament draw. the vote you're simply not except that pharmaceutical companies which gets a lot of european money taxpayers' money. i'm not really. it's those who all of the information last week astra zeneca shocked e.u. states by announcing significant delays in its big scene deliveries to the bloc

especially because the e.u. has paid hundreds of millions of euros astra zeneca projection and because supplies to the u.k. do not face the same shortages the dispute prompted the use it introduced a scheme to monitor vaccine experts but the e.u. commission emphasizes this is not an expert ban we're not in competition or in a race against any country the only race we're in this against this virus this comes as the block is facing criticism for its slow vaccine rollout which so it is states are relieved that the vaccine has been recommended for use in the block this spider difficulties with astra zeneca it's a 38 seen to gain approval. let's get our own legal opinion from david greene who is president of the law society of england and wales and the senior partner at the london edwin co welcome to the w. what do you think is astra zeneca in breach of its contractual obligations to the

e.u. . well let's start with this we've seen the contract as you say it's a redacted copy with some of the commercial arrangements redacted it is subject to belgian law and it is subject to the jurisdiction of the belgian courts and so that one as an english lawyer can give some views about the general contractual versions rather than the belgian law or the the the bases the contract is supply its manufacture and supply the prices being paid for that in so far as that supply is not made that may put astra zeneca in breach of that contract but i would say is there are quite a lot of provisions in here which may allow them to avoid liability. and as you rightly said there is

a provision in this bill best reasonable efforts that is a defined term in the contract so that the parties that astra zeneca and the commission have thought about what are best reasonable efforts it's a it's a it's a it's a catchall in that respect and it would be up to the court if it came to it to determine what best reasonable efforts means right so it's not as much of a benefit just sort of what you've seen of this reactor got a contract it is not clear cut there is there is still an argument to be had on both sides and if if if if necessary it could it could go to court. there's no question about it turn that this is a fairly complex contract. go either way there may be arguments on both sides i think the important point is that there is a provision that they can go to the belgian court in brussels presumably but that is really a last resort there are obligations tran negotiate

a settlement and with an issue of this sort negotiation is the best way forward and koch should be regarded as a last resort trying to sort out this sort of dispute right so the other issue aside from matters any because supply contract with the e.u. is the company's deal with the u.k. which astra zeneca says guarantees that the u.k. priority of supply do you have an opinion there or well our i haven't seen that in the in the. commission's agreement. that's a separate arrangement for absolutely these are entirely separate contracts and simply because i've agreed to supply one customers against another customer doesn't mean i have are don't have separate obligations in order to for the u.k. to have priority there would have to be something in the contract which i haven't

seen. in a read of it there would have to be something in the contract to provide that the u.k. had priority in some fashion as a ses fairly brief read i haven't seen right we heard in the report just before you came in we heard from an m.e.p. who was upset that the contract had been redacted he said we paid all this their money we should see the. other good reasons for for redacting information from a contract such as this. you know one would normally say actions from a contract because they are confidential between the parties the prize a the basis is that price is usually kept confidential and indeed there may be competition reasons to keep it confidential so i would do those prized had they published those elements of this country whether they're actually available to any heat in the european parliament i think is another point that i'm sure that would

only take place on a confidential basis right that's very clear thank you so much for joining us i think the green president of the law society of clement and wales. and germany is to impose a travel ban on countries most affected by the new coronavirus variants the ban comes into effect on saturday and will remain in place until at least the 17th of february germany says the ban is necessary to prevent a surge in new infections the fear of new coronavirus mutations is real in germany it's also one of the main concerns for german authorities to prevent them from spreading faster in the country the government has now announced new travel restrictions the interior ministry has imposed an entry ban until the 17th of february for travelers from countries that are particularly affected by them brazil arland portugal south africa the u.k.

and a swat team. mutations have not hit germany as hard as other countries but already a hospital in berlin was forced to halt admissions after several cases were fond of the mutation 1st discovered in britain and health officials are stressing that the situation could deteriorate. different always we have to assume that if the more contagious variants continue to separate in this country they will lead to even more cases in the near future and the situation will probably get worse we must work together to prevent it what does one downturn is missing. the travel ban is seen as a step in that direction but it is still unclear how effective it could be. more from political correspondent had spread welcome hansen so the incidence of coronaviruses in germany has now 4 then below $100.00 per 100000 residents over 7 day period and that's for the 1st time in months so why impose this ban now. well

the answer to that is fear fear of the new mutations in the virus the ones that were 1st detected in south africa in great britain and in brazil and are said to be a lot more infective they're said to spread a lot more quickly than the corona virus variants that we've had to deal with recently until now and we have seen in countries such as portugal that there have been explosions of infections in ireland too and in the united kingdom so the fear that these virus variants could enter germany is the reason why this travel ban was non posed of course there have been similar sorts of restrictions in place for dozens of countries already for many months it is not easy to travel around the world as everyone who has tried to do that knows there are restrictions such as. isolation that one has to go into quarantine rules or possibly presenting a negative test so this is the highest possible restriction travel from these

countries into germany is going to be banned now from saturday for 2 weeks or so and it's interesting that germany has just impose this ban off its own bat hasn't brussels been trying to discourage this sort of unilateral action amongst the youth members. yes it has indeed there was an attempt there was a meeting by the interior ministers of the european union countries this week yesterday in fact on thursday but they weren't able to agree to the sorts of restrictions that the germans and others in fact had hoped for had called for the german interior minister in fact i'd say that he would have liked to close down all airports completely not restricted to any particular country there have been other countries in europe and in the world that haven't imposed very severe restrictions belgium for instance is preventing its citizens from any travel until the end of march in canada there have been very severe restrictions imposed no flights to for

instance mexico or the caribbean are allowed there at the moment so there is this fear going around the world and germany has decided that for the good of its own citizens it needs to impose this much more restrictive ban thank you for that political correspondent has brought. in the look at some other developments in the pandemic of american drug maker johnson and johnson says its single shot vaccine is more than 70 percent effective against the corona virus the company will apply for regulator approval in the u.s. next week hungry has become the 1st e.u. state toward the rise to china's sign a 5 vaccine hunger is also broken ranks by allowing the russian job sputnik v the united nations has described 2020 as the burst year in tourism history global losses more than one trillion euros. corona news the world health organization scientists have inspected

a hospital in the tiny city of which was one of the 1st to treat coronavirus patients the team is also due to visit the food market where the pandemic originated. bomb has exploded outside the israeli embassy in delhi as it marked the anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties with india no injuries were reported but an israeli official says the incident is being treated as terrorism. and u.s. president joe biden has reversed about on the us foreign aid to organizations that before will promote abortions the policy slashed funding to health services across africa studies say it restricts women's access to contraceptives lead to more unwanted pregnancies. record in the netherlands has ordered the energy multinational shell to pay compensation for oil spills in the niger delta after a 13 year legal battle the case was brought by 4 nigerian pharmacies claimed the

land had been polluted amount of commerce a compensation has not yet been fixed. it looks like justice has finally been done. after 13 years of legal wrangling the dutch appeals court is holding the oil multinational shell responsible for spills from its pipelines in nigeria. in all they can afford to top the court finds that shell nigeria is responsible for damages caused by the leaks were to sell nigeria's here by order to pay compensation to the farmers. now the water fausto. now these farmers could finally see summer dress for the land and ponds that they last look at it private. was with the fish bowl that we had with the i like what i would do it with these fields were so tainted by oil that nothing much is grown here since

what made me angry was that that's my. biggest is that just right my fish behind the verdict is good news for the farmers who took the oil giant to court but it could also help other nigerians who have suffered the un discovered chemicals that can cause cancer in some drinking water in the region and babies born within a 10 kilometer radius are most twice as likely to die before they are month old many more victims could now claim compensation from the world's 2nd largest oil company. up until an hour ago people in developing countries were without any rights when confronted by multinationals such as sell and from today on they know they can get their rights but the amount of compensation for the farmers has

yet to be determined i do hope that they will actually get some compensation soon because it was a stake and. for some it will be too late in any case. 2 of the claimants have already died. but the verdict helps to empower poor farmers who take on powerful global corporations. or how to some cow there's a farm is loyal welcome to day w. how of the farmers now one could shell still fight this. well theoretically show could still go to discrete supreme court internet and ems. but that will not be that easy because the supreme court will only deal with issues of national and this case has a lot she really been a matter of fact and also it has been dealt with on the basis of nigeria and more

so. on those issues she will not be able to appeal this and ok and given the oil the cap and in nigeria and the farmers a nigerian why did this court case happen in the netherlands well of course is oil spills and you have pollution nigeria has been going on for decades already and it's. really difficult for the nigerian people to get justice in nigeria and even if some of them may win a case once in a while they haven't been able to actually change the behavior of shell in ensuring so that was reason that these 4 promise and you know your defense the n.g.o.s. decided to go to the courts in remembrance hoping that they could really for some actual change. so this presumably then opens the door to more such cases because i'm guessing that there were more than just for farmers affected by the spill.

yes that's true and in fact the court has also ruled already that shell is liable for the other victims of the same spills that we've dealt with in this case. and it's very well possible that it will be more or spill the victims in nigeria who will try to seek justice in a way similar to this recession and say that it's an easy way to get your justice from now and of course it's been a very long and quite a complicated route that we followed with this case and to those of us not not in court it seems unarguable there was an oil pipe the line was polluted it was shells pipe what was the company's defense but shell has said from the beginning that the u.s. troops cause recent attacks and in fact shell says that 3 out of 4. spills in nigeria want to less are caused by summer tash and showers argue that wrestlers

cause massive attash then they cannot be liable. on the basis of nigerian law so that's been their argument. so if this is the case now we're a big part of service israel is holding now likely to mean that shell and indeed other oil companies will have to change the way they work in nigeria and perhaps elsewhere yes most certainly definitely a nigeria because we now know that not of course is established that she has not provided sufficient evidence of the saddler tash and. this means that shell will really from now on have to do proper investigations and keep proper documentation when they want to make that argument's a following and i still have to change their behavior when they're documenting the us the court is also how that they were honored u.-t. to make sure the leak detection system was installed and that's not even

a duty only for shona geria but also for the parent company. and they must now still do so in the pipeline that doesn't have such a system installed so there are of course many old plaquemines in the niger delta and many of them are not up to date and brass hats actually. that's very clear thank you so much for joining us that's lawyer 100 some calvin and now to china which is that i said we will no longer recognize british national overseas passports held by many hong kong residents passports have been in use for decades and are a legacy of the u.k.'s time as a terrorist colonial rule when china imposed a controversial national security law the u.k. said it would open its doors to hold combatants in possession of the passport allowing them to apply to live and work in britain and eventually seek full citizenship. earlier we spoke with d.w.

said phoebe kong and asked her about the impact of base in new regulations. well what's the latest situation in context we have to notice that most of the hong kong citizens they actually have 2 passport one of them is issued by the home authorities which is a home passport and the other one is a british a snatch of the overseas hospitals you mentioned in the report is the legacy of the colonial rule and a nearly 3000000 people making it nearly half of the population holding this passport so reality even though beijing and hong kong governments now stop paying to recognize the british national overseas passport but a residence can see you used to hold home passport and other hong kong identification documents to depart or enter the torah cherry but in a broader sense that beijing is trying to send a message if not an alert to home residents who are considering to moving to move

to the u.k. if the but us national overseas passports citizenship scheme that beijing see this as a retaliatory mattias to respond to you case hong kong policy and also to send a message to people that they may face consequences if they do so. that's phoebe kong in hong kong that the tennis and yes there is tennis being played down under in the run up to the australian open rafa nadal strolled on to court wearing a mask in adelaide for an exhibition match the 1st since he had dozens of other players were put into quarantine when they arrived in australia 2 weeks ago the valley's ranks 2nd in the world and played world number 3 dominic taib the stadium was packed because adelaide has a coronavirus infection. now to a new netflix movie video which recounts an archaeological find in england that

revolutionized people's understanding of early history carey mulligan stars the widowed landowner she employs an amateur archaeologist played by ray finds to excavate what they believe a viking burial mounds on her property. all you want to dig miss is pretty tiles of buried treasure. my interest in archaeology began like yours and i guess we'll have to hold a trial. my childhood home was built on a thrashing convent help my father x. going to get us. out speaks to. the did was shot in suffolk has near the original sutton who site but it's not just the documentation of the famous archaeological discovery. i didn't know much about something new but i was very taken with the story that the excavation but i was particularly moved by basel relationship with the tiff pretty fairy by carey

mulligan. the 1st human and pretty only because. we have to continue. one excavation stunt terrified actress carey mulligan during filming in ensuring costar ray find safety in a scene where he was buried in mud island he also had kara. yeah i mean obviously breaks in once he's a stunt man which i totally get but it just me with it's harold well task of trying to you know stop him from such a casing which is pretty i think you'd better come and see. thankfully bay find survived being buried alive and the film couple can go on to make archeological history. everyone's going to want a piece of. just 100 mines of the top story european medicines agency has authorized us for saturday has covered 19 vaccines for use in over i don't stop

across the block the approval comes as the e.u. isn't locked in a dispute with the drug maker of the plan and vaccine deliveries and with european nations to struggling to ramp up that vaccination programs. in situ up to date to more world news about the top of the op but i'll be back in just a moment to take you through the day don't forget you can i'm going to get hold of a snooze on information around the clock on the website that set d w dot com of the day. on.

the phone. calling me old and i'm game is that 17 trillion land on the killed worldwide cheer so that we can eat a good. it's not just the animals that are suffering it's the environment we went on a journey to find ways out of the question if you want to know how

a weightlifter the priests and the whole just changed as we think this listen to our podcast on the green fence. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. how has the rate of infection been developing. what measures are being taken. what does the latest research say. information and context. the coronavirus up to the code that seems functional monday to friday on t.w. . like earth one of the coming and. gigantic coincidence. that previously the earth was just a mess the chemistry on the. planet. where the improbable but.

the creation of our solar system with our planet is a bit like winning the lottery there is a look at the. moon from birth. starts feb 11th on t.w. . the right which we're in the european union and vaccine manufacturer astra zeneca took an ugly today as the world's largest trading bloc gave member states the power to ban the export of vaccines so what is the difference between this a vaccine nationalism that the e.u. and the world health organization says is such a bad thing i'm filled. and this is the.