this is the the news live from berlin the european union finally wants to step up coordination in the coronavirus crisis and leaders are to hold online talks over vaccine production travel restrictions and immunization passports a year after the pandemic started why is there still no common approach also on the program. syria's kurds appeal for international support as islamic state returns in northeast syria they say the u.s. withdrawal has left a dangerous fake and that they're being overwhelmed by the terrorist groups.

i'm going out of us thanks for joining us european union leaders are meeting today to look at ways they can improve their pandemic response the e.u. has been slow off the mark in its vaccination drive and new infection numbers are still stubbornly high in many countries this map here gives an overview of the infections per 100000 inhabitants over 7 days in yellow are countries with fewer than 50 like finland the darker the orange the higher the infection rate germany currently has an incidence rate of $61.00 sweden and the czech republic more than $200.00. ahead of the e.u. meeting we take a look now at the challenges facing the bloc. correspondent must sunda

vaccines variance and freedom of movement about a year into the pen demick the block is struggling to keep up with recent developments as e.u. council president michel made clear in his invitation letter to this 2 day leaders conference it remains challenging due to the emergence of new variants and the need to strike the right balance between restrictions and the smooth flow of goods and services in the single market. the block has failed to coordinate its anti coronavirus measures with traffic piling up at some of its internal borders like here between germany and the czech republic joins us now to discuss and chided us a bit for us it is essential to make sure keeping the safety of her citizens in mind that the variance of the virus do not make it suit germany. not come with member states acting on their own brussels has reacted with a slap on the wrist. the commission sent specific letters raising our concerns to

6 member states which are. denmark finland germany hungary and sweden who are currently applying stricter measures and what is provided for in the recommendation in particular bans on entering or leaving the country while targeted restrictive measures on non-essential travel are necessary in the eyes of the e.u. commission blanket bans like those applied here in belgium do not serve this purpose the virus taught us that closing borders does not stop it but we see the disruptions with spring on its way another fight among european leaders is waiting to break out greece in an attempt to save its holiday season had suggested an e.u. wide vaccination certificate other member states like denmark and sweden have already begun developing their own passports with a bloc as a whole risking fragmentation on the matter but the biggest challenge of all is the

rather slow rollout of the e.u. wide vaccination program production shortfalls and other stumbling blocks have left the e.u. trailing behind countries like the united kingdom and lead to growing impatience among its leaders. couple of enough because the european commission should exploit economic power of the e.u. to put pressure on the huge corporations. from ramping up vaccine production to closer coordination a lot is on the table and we are now joined by a month he is the leader of the conservative european people's party grouping in the european parliament midst of this spate of the vaccine rollout in the us still painfully slow to months and other countries in the neighborhood notably the post-bag said u.k. and serbia are doing far better with the e.u. failed so badly. well we don't practice national at goodison because when you compare our procedures here americans the americans have us 1st still this policy

no vaccination produced in us this leaving the us even canada is getting fix a nation from europe so we are ready to help others others do not so that's why we should stick to our approach about liability to the big pharmaceutical companies over the question that we trust in our a.m.a. no fast crew for off the scenes in europe so fair and proper assessment there are rules and that is bringing also a little bit of delay so i think we should stick to this principle decisions but in the next the coming weeks the key question is the role of because production bill increase and then the member states must be prepared for for this role you call it a little bit of a delay when the united kingdom for example has nearly given vaccine to nearly a 3rd of his its population i should think we couldn't take it take this lightly can we. well you there are several arguments 1st of all we didn't do

a fast track approval why not one i'm on why not really fantastic i can prove when the u.k. can do a fast track approval. because we have another approach the say security 1st the liability is fully in the hands of the british state in our case in the european case also cries and also astra zeneca has a liability and that is what we insist in that's why we were a little bit late but i think we have a lot of people who still not trust in vaccines and still not trust index a nation that's why we have to convince all the them that's why i stick to our approach that we fully do a safe and a secure approach on this in the you know a 2nd document is that in great britain said didn't do the 2nd shot for a lot of people who are vaccinated and that is from our experts what are they telling us still even difficult and challenging and even dangerous having the mutants in mind so we stick to what the e m a and our experts are telling us i think that is a better way but i don't want to start in this debate i think we have to guarantee

now and she's 7 level that we respect the free movement of products in our western world that is what we have to do now that we need immediately another she 7 meeting where america great britain at a cynic uprise or everybody is ready to keep borders open they disapprove condition for a fair distribution of the of the large city it seems but the e.u. also blames the vaccine manufacturers for not delivering enough for this is the style rollout but also due to late ordering and bureaucracy in the u. but you know that especially the author seneca contract we did it 1st great britain was after us and they did it 2 days later so there is no debate about who was 1st to or 2nd we have a contract and we simply insist in in peaceful fuel the contract and it's also about the credibility of the pharmaceutical companies they shouldn't underestimate the general perception among citizens because a lot more pleasure than like the pharmaceutical companies. well could you not put

more pressure than if your contract says that the e.u. should be getting the vaccines that it or that now can you put more pressure on them or you're right that is what we as european people's party are asking for is a 1st of all we have positive companies for examples of fatness this by and taken prizes they are doing their best and they're reliable but i sort of cynic i was really a big problem for us in the cooperation and in these negative relationships is negative experiences we had in the past we have to say that the export ban must be on the table so we want to have open borders but if the rest of the world is not doing so because europeans shouldn't be naive and the 2nd point is that europe is spending a lot of money for research and those kind of companies who are not cooperating with us must also see consider that not any more part of this big research union of the european union so we have. opportunities to create pressure on the companies i don't want to do celebrate top don't want to do so the already focus here is

compromised and we need companies who are already loosen it's not open borders the e.u. wide vaccine passport can that be the solution to restart travel and tourism. well 1st of all it's a guarantee that we can bring back the rights to the citizens freedom of movement is a fundamental rights for all europeans and that is what we have to bring back and that's why this vaccination passport is this is crucial and this immediately necessary i have no understanding why in the european council conclusions there is only as if formulation of we try to work on this so a very weak formulation we have to speed up because currently 10 thousands of europeans are every day dixon aided and if you'll be at them a bureaucratic nightmare to give them a passport after they have exceeded it so give them directly a passport and that must be a european white one. month of a leader of the conservative european people's party grouping in the european parliament thank you very much for being with us today thank you so much time to

have a look now at some of the other stories making headlines this hour students and doctors in myanmar's capital young on are among thousands holding new protests against the military coup it's the latest in nearly 3 weeks of daily demonstrations since the army seized power also thursday facebook said it has banned all accounts linked to the myanmar military so i think the hunters use of deadly force against them and demonstrators. the u.s. state of texas residents continue to repair water damage following last week's it stream winter storm more than 1300000 texans are still facing water supply problems that are the day managers of texas power grid will be questioned by state lawmakers over failures that led to blackouts affecting 4000000 residents. the kurdish dominated administration in northeast syria is struggling to hold off a comeback by the so-called islamic state serious kurdish forces were instrumental

in taking back control of territories now the militias fighters are regrouping in the region especially around the town of jerry's or the whole prison a prison camp the kurds say they have been left to fend for themselves. when abdel-hamid sets off for dare as all fear travels with him. the 43 year old father depends on his job as a bus driver to support his family but he risks his life on every journey. every day they find 2 or 3 dead bodies here people being kidnapped killed and tossed aside. islamic state militants have been spreading fear with increasingly frequent attacks on the main road through northeastern syria they strike villages and towns especially at night. money from residents set off bombs

and behead people. has already attacked us in the village killing residents driving them away they are causing us so much suffering we need help to stop this disaster. but the leaders of the kurdish autonomous region are hopelessly overwhelmed thousands of fighters are said to have taken up residence in the vast desert the kurds lack aircraft and special equipment to track them down. allies such as the u.s. have withdrawn. the kurdish units are the only ones still fighting i-s. that's what we're experiencing here right now and we're suffering because of it. tens of thousands of supporters mostly women and children remain in. 250 kilometers to the north. after the terror groups defeated $29000.00 they were captured by kurdish fighters since then many have become further radicalized. coming

back hopefully you hope it will come back yes where where exactly what makes you think you will come back. victory is near. is now pulling the strings behind the scenes of the camp smuggling in weapons arming its followers kurdish control of the camp is in danger of slipping away. and islamic state in miniature has practically emerged here the religious police patrol the camp if men have non-permitted relationships with women cooperate with the security forces they are executed. in the villages of the province memories of the i.a.s. reign of terror are fresh in people's minds in women with whips and residents

terrorized but even after liberation in 2017 militants struck again and again. suliman darwish was targeted for cooperating with the kurds in the local council one night he heard gunshots. my wife was arguing with an armed man in uniform another was 2 meters behind her in between my son was lying dead on the ground they killed him with 5 shots. in january alone the so-called islamic state carried out more than 100 attacks in northeastern syria 40 commuters died recently in an attack on a bus people in the crisis torn region once again fear for their lives. said from me finance our kelly we'll have an update for you in 45 minutes don't go away though coming up next the doc film about the miracle of hearing and this of course more news on the d.w. news out that you can download onto your smartphone of also check out our website

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