stad hold talks the opposition however is holding fast they have said that they will only talk about. resignation and it seems that they are setting up tents in the center of the city they say they're prepared to stay all night until resigns this is part of an ongoing political crisis as you say which erupted after the war in a car a box after all armenia was forced to sign a cease fire which many see as a humiliation for the country it had to give up several territories within. which is an ethnically armenian majority on klav inside a survivor john and which has always been recognized by the international community as being part of azerbaijan but for our many armenians that ceasefire it was certainly a defeat and one that is represented by posturing on himself emily how much popular

support is there for the prime minister well when i was there a few months ago people were already calling for pushing ons resignation after that cease fire agreement many people really see it as a humiliation they were saying to me he sold off part of armenia part of our territory. so it's really a huge national defeat however today thousands of people heeded. calls to take to the streets thousands of people gathered after he called on them on facebook and it does seem that he has more support a few months later now let's talk about the army is the army a prepare to resorts to more violence or violence i should say and forcibly remove the prime minister. well it's certainly unusual in armenia for the

army to call on the prime minister to resign to get involved in politics i think it's unlikely that there will be force from the side of the army the ministry of defense has also called for calm and for the army not to meddle in politics it does seem likely however that the pressure will continue on the call. to resign in this ongoing political crisis and we share when reporting on the situation in armenia thank you very much. all right want to turn our attention now to the european union leaders who are meeting as we speak to look at ways they can improve their pandemic response well the e.u. has been slow off the mark in its vaccination drive and new infection numbers are still stubbornly high in many countries while this map right here behind me will give you an overview of the infections for 100000 inhabitants over the past 7 days

we're in yellow are the countries with fewer than 50 like finland over there are doing particularly well the darker the orange the higher the infection rate germany currently has an incidence rates of $61.00 sweden in the czech republic more than $200.00 so they're in dire straits ahead of the e.u. meeting we take a look now at the challenges that the bloc faces here is brussels correspondent next after that scenes 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 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 these guns and chided us with for us it is essential to make sure keeping the safety of our citizens in mind that the variance of the virus do not make it to germany. armed. 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 than 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 that disruption 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 roll out of the e.u. wide vaccination program production shortfalls and other stalling blocks have left the e.u. trailing behind countries like the united kingdom and lead to growing impatience among its leaders. pace couple of enough because the european commission should exploit the economic power of the e.u. to put pressure on the much huge corporations. from ramping up vaccine production to closer coordination a lot is on the table a lot is on the table taken out of brussels varity felons out vote naaman here is

a following of those talks good to see you alexander are in leaders in damage control mode because a lot of people lost their cool about the slow vaccination rollout. yes indeed i think it's true that the leaders are under extreme pressure to present concrete progress in managing their pandemic that is why many of them will be looking to the european commission and to for answers to questions like for example what is the european commission doing to speed up the rollout within the european union and how is the european commission going to prevent any more delays in distribution but unfortunately it appears the commission president or that are funded by and doesn't have any breakthroughs to report she will probably stress that distributions are increasing with every day that new task force has identified potential locations that can be used to ramp up the production but of course true

it's true that the roll out within the european union remains slow and this is indeed bad news for all member states and specially for those like the czech republic were really suffering facing a new wave of infections and seeing. hospital system on the brink of collapsing so a very sluggish or all out is there a sense of urgency where you are because leaders appeared very rattled when some key vaccine manufacturers announced that they would reduce deliveries because of production problems that they were experiencing are we likely to see the e.u. pile on the pressure on the likes of astra zeneca for instance. yes the european commission is saying that they trying to apply more pressure but the question is of course what can they do they can threaten to sue the companies if the contras contracts give them a cover on lawsuits they can also threaten to suspend payments or 2 cats of that

funding in the future but it's not helping us right now that's why i think that it's also going to be important topics today. possible. exports banned at the moment the european commission is just controlling which exports are plants outside of the european union and i could imagine that some member states would like to to see a complete dixie export ban. outside of the european union ok i'm going to let us look ahead at what a possible recovery might look like some are proposing introducing vaccination passports to help make a rebound possible here's what mr manford had to say he leads the conservatives in the european parliament and this is what he told us about on this topic freedom of movement is a fundamental right for all europeans and that is what we have to bring back and that's why this vaccination passport is crucial and is immediately necessary i have

no understanding why in the european council conclusions there is only as if formulation of we should right to work on this or a very big formulation we have to speed up because currently 10 thousands of europeans are every day dictionary didn't you do would be a bureaucratic nightmare to give them a passport after they have exceeded ours or does mr labor have a point i mean is the e.u. strategy on vaccine passports too slow. yes he has a point we really have to admit that at the beginning of the vaccine rollout in the end the european union there was the thinking that it's too early that we don't have enough vaccine so why should we talk about potential vaccine pos for it's but of course now the pressure is growing from member states like greece or austria and his statement i had of the meeting today the austrian chancellor sebastian cordes said that he's country is really thinking about introducing the scene parts for the

digital i.d.'s and he's threatened that if the european union is not going to move forward quicker he's country will go it alone and that is of course what the european commission would like to do to prevent because they want a common approach and the. passport that would be recognized in within the european union and all members of the european union are phenomena brussels bureau chief thank you and some other development in the pandemic a large study from israel indicates that the biotech pfizer vaccine works as well in the real world as it did in clinical trials of the study published in the new england journal of medicine shows that the vaccine offers very high protection against covert 19 meanwhile india has reported its highest number of cases in nearly a month more than half were recorded in the maharashtra state's home to the financial

capital moved by and the world health organization says we need more understanding of long term 1000 symptoms it says listening to patients affected by a long cold it should be a priority for every health authority. facebook has removed all accounts linked to me in maher's military social media giant says the military is using the platform to incite violence against peaceful protest the army has been imposing an increasingly violent crackdown on protesters they have once have been once again demonstrating against the recent coup in major cities including the commercial capital leon got. keeping up the pressure protesters take back the center of young gone they believe it is that you who have the momentum up to monday's general strike they gather for a spirited sit down protest near the school pagoda a rallying point in the country's pos pro-democracy uprising. long leave our own song such

a the protest is chant in reference to that detained later and we united against the one time. you go to protest was one of several actions in yangon on thursday soldiers tried to stop students taking their protest off campus but they didn't succeed in the end. that wasn't the only confrontation on rates hundreds of pro-military protesters faced off with that the cool activists national league for democracy supporters rising in fury at the sight of their foes on the streets. legatee death we received this video circulating widely on but may social media activists claim a choice a pro-government side stabbing in an opponent to deter pro-democracy supporters. people who are committing the imax. crowd or so what do you know military.

and being we're approaching people randomly and it seems lightning were approaching people who cares. if i'm also in pictures of our don't often to keep human rights and they have a site like activists have been killed since the military coup on february 1st but increasing violence hasn't stopped the pro-democracy movement which has been growing wheat crop to wake. people up. let's catch up now with some of the other stories making news this hour at least 6 people are dead after a mudslide buried workers at an illegal gold mine in indonesia rescuers are searching for survivors in the mine which is located able mopar just a lazy island official said search efforts are being hampered by unstable soil conditions. hundreds of police officers conducted early morning raids in the german capital and surrounding region targeting a banned islamist group officers raided apartments allegedly linked to members of

the group which provides interior ministry says advocates attacks on civilians and promotes the so-called islamic state that had been under surveillance for 2 years. the kurdish dominated administration in northeast syria is struggling to hold off a comeback but the so-called islamic state serious kurdish forces were instrumental in taking back control of iowa's held territories well now the militias fighters are regrouping in the region especially around the town of their sore and in the whole prison camp while the kurds say they have been left to fend for themselves. when abdel-hamid sets off for dinner 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 big store 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 us 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. practically emerge 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 fresh in people's minds in heena women with whips and residents terrorized but even after liberation in 2017 militants struck again and again. superman darwish was targeted for cooperating with the kurds and the local council one night he heard gunshots and. 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. a german national has been charged with spying for russia at the german parliament the bundestag of the case is likely to worsen tensions between berlin and moscow the man is believed to have cast data relating to the bundestag to lay out an employee at the russian embassy in 2017 the suspect was working for an electrical storm that carried out regular checks around the parliament german intelligence services have issued repeated warnings about russian spying attempts or cyber attacks. let's get you more on this story we are joined by our chief political correspondent melinda crane linda what more have you learned about this case. well from what we understand this man decided of his own accord to hand over the country dental floor plans of the buddhist tug building and then took it upon

himself to contact an agent with the russian military intelligence agency the our view in order to pass on the plans we're not quite sure how the federal prosecutors found out about this whether it was through a chip off or surveillance for now they're not saying or so we may have to wait either for further announcements or for an upcoming trial what does this mean melinda for bilateral relations. very problematic indeed because it comes at a time of already rocky relations with russia let's go back to 2015 when there was a major cyber attack on the when to start that was attributed to russia and chance that medical has said that she is very much of the opinion that she was directly targeted in that attack then we had the a brazen murder in prague daylight of

a chechen rebel commanders here in a berlin park that was also attributed to orders from moscow and finally the very difficult situation surrounding the poisoning of russian opposition leader alex a no violently as you know humans flown to berlin for medical treatment was treated here over several months and then returned to russia and was immediately arrested for allegedly violating it prior parole agreement by not going to parole meetings although he was lying in a coma in a german hospital so very difficult relations indeed between germany and russia nancy there has said trust and cooperation disrupted and the german foreign minister went as far to sweet as to say the relations are at a low point the deputy political correspondent the in the crane thank you.

police in los angeles confirm that there will be no criminal charges filed against goal thing great tiger woods over tuesday's car crash police said the rollover a quote remains an accident and an accident is not a crime but mr wood so was also not on drugs or alcohol the 45 year old had to undergo emergency surgery after suffering serious injuries to his legs mr words most recent sporting success king at the masters tournament in 2019 while the icon's future career remains in doubt after the crash one of his fellow golfers said other things were more important at this time he was not superman you know i mean i know you you know he's he's a human being at the end of the day and he's already been through so much so. i persevered i think everyone should just be grateful that he's here that he's alive . his kids haven't lost their god that's that's the most important thing golf is

so far from the from the equation right now. a painting by dutch artist vincent van gogh is to be shown to the public for the 1st time after spending more than a century in private collection the late 19th century artwork will go on display for a month before being sold off and it's expected to fetch millions. it's titled a street scene in. it's part of a serious produced between 19861988 when living in paris with his brother teo the work is one of the artists very few that have not yet landed in a museum. this work by vincent van gogh is a real rediscovering in the sense that although he has been listed in the catalogs devoted to the artist it has never appeared on the market since it was acquired by

a french family more than a century ago. the painting depicts a couple's romantic stroll in the streets of mumbai at the time the healy perry's a neighborhood was becoming home to another ray of international artists attracted by its bohemian vibe and cheap rent including himself. on thing when your secrets are very interesting testimony of what my mom looked like at the end of the 19th century when it was still very bucolic we can see the mills of the land and i get a place of leisure very appreciated by presents at the times you know. the painting will go on display in amsterdam hong kong and paris before being sold off to a new home option house of the bees estimates its value between 5 and 8000000 euros . a bargain next i'll focus on the europe's spotlight on people

and there is more on the date every news hour and on do w. dot com and you can follow us on instagram and twitter our handle is actually really well of rock and roll and on behalf of the entire news thank you so much for spending this part of your day with us we have to say going to the top of the of. the big.

she helps refugees however she can with clothes food and compassion fellow ha yasmina who she ditched is an aid worker in bosnia. she is supporting migrants perseverance here in the freezing cold like as mina herself along with many fellow volunteers is coming under pressure. some kids under up.

next on t.w. . they were forced into a nameless mass. their bodies and their tools. the history of the slave trade is africa's history. it describes how the greed for power and profit plummeted and entire continent into chaos and violence the slave system created the greatest player and accumulation of wealth the world had ever seen up to that moment in time. from its very beginnings until this very day human trafficking has shaped the moral of. this is the journey back into the

history of slavery i think will truly be making progress when we all accept these 3 of slavery as all of our history. our documentary series slavery routes starts march 10th on d w. exactly . me me me me. hello and welcome to this week's edition of focus on europe thanks for joining us today we wanted to start the show by looking at the plight of refugees were trying to reach the european union thousands are currently stuck in bosnia many are living in makeshift camps on mud racing the winter cold

from here they regularly try to cross the border to the country croy.