this is the w. news live from berlin the news medical regulator tells governments to keep using astra zeneca coronavirus vaccine the head of the european medicines agency says the benefits outweigh the risks of side effects an investigation continues into reports that the vaccine could be linked to red blood clots. also coming up u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken the arrives in south korea as washington tries to get asian allies on side in the face of growing chinese influence. and this rain

archaeologists find new fragments of the dead sea scrolls they're calling it the most significant discovery in decades. i'm gadol 1st thanks for joining us the european union's met since regulator has urged governments not not to stop using the astra zeneca corona virus vaccine while the pandemic is still in full swing it says the benefits outweigh the risk of possible side effects a number of the human member states suspended use of the shot due to cases of a rare form of blood clots in the brain and germany the decision to pause the use of the astra zeneca shots has shaken confidence. every adult in germany has been promised a vaccine shot before the end of september without astra zeneca that will be hard

to achieve the immunization program is about to be expanded including 3 general practitioners like dr saurabh farhi me in berlin he was getting ready to give the jab to hundreds of his patients every week now he's been put on hold as. we were prepared to start vaccinating we wanted to get going early we've spoken to the medical bodies set everything up here in the practice and alerted many of the patients. and then came this big surprise. the government says if it is asking people to get the vaccine it has a duty to inform about potential risks but many doctors say the cautious approach will cause delays. i think they've not done the vaccination campaign any favors but safety 1st i think it was important to put patient safety at the center of things so it was the right decision but then you need to publish the information behind it

immediately. the european medicines agency has to give its verdict about fears that astra zeneca causes blood clots on thursday but even if the vaccine is given the go ahead for a 2nd time confidence in it has been dented from the information that we get is that the value of astra zeneca is greater than the risks but of course having any risk is not a nice feeling for this country i don't know if the. actually the risk of getting other people taking this my time is worth it or not because it's people are not being very clear about this situation if i had the choice i would take by on tech but if i had no choice it would take astra zeneca. doctor for he me hopes downs will not get the upper hand with the 3rd wave of covert infections approaching he says that would be bad news. coming. up as an answer as i can only say from what i hear many people are still willing to take it home of course.

germany has a shortage of vaccines a problem that will be much worse if hundreds of thousands of astra zeneca doses stay in the box and we are now joined by qatar in a ballet she's a member of germany's social democrats and also vice president of the european parliament this is bali this is just the latest setback in a whole series of setbacks is it time to admit that the use vaccination strategy is failing well this is not a e.u. phenomenon because there are also countries outside the european union who are now abandoning these 1st time that's an issue that's resident for example norway. and there are countries within the european union who don't so it is not something that has to do with the european union although i must admit i would have liked

this to be to have a european approach to be to get together also to put together your expertise of the different member states i think that could have been an added european value but what if we look at it why why bother to have this european made sense agency that actually says to the national governments do not stop vaccinations and yet the national authorities decided to stop bikes in asia is that doesn't make sense does it. well you have to know that the competence is for our health policy. large the national member state so so there is very little. authority that the european union can impose on the met states and this is a very emotional topic of course so if you have one country that say it's all for us the rest seems to be too high and. then. well doesn't

doesn't use the vaccination anymore the pressure rises for the other of course because the population is saying well there's a danger now now this is a dynamic but the european union does not have legally the contents to impose anything in a matter of health policy but if you were a health minister if you were against ban would you ignore them and continue the vaccinations. now i'm not a medical expert i think this is really important that we listen to the medical x. but we have to listen carefully what they say we have one medical expert who is also a politician in my pants you cannot survive. who says yes of course there are cases of blood clots but this is something that always rises so it is something that in a certain percentage we always see not only in combination with acts and insurance but also with other medication or even just like that in the population so we

really have to be very careful there and we had. advised by german authorities so it is very very difficult to then say i'm not going to do it but apparently the german authorities have only said we we are we think that there could be a link between the vaccination and these love blood clots clots what the european authority is going to do is see what are the risks of the vaccination and what are the risks of having caught it 19 so you have to really even if there is a higher risk you have to kind of make alan's which is the really. the which outweighs the other. so if we look at if you were an average e.u. citizen. looking at the you how it's done to protect its people and if you then look at the u.k. the u.s. and especially isro isn't there a massive crisis coming in terms of confidence in the e.u.

and its organs. but we'll have to see how it turns out in the end i mean there's no doubt that for example israel is doing an excellent job but israel is a is a country that is kind of constantly under threat so they have they have a really good logistics when it comes to you know now acting hands on quickly very good infrastructure and they are giving away the patients data. completely to to to the companies so you have to say ok you want this to do you not you see the us who are doing very well what they have done better than the us e.u. is to invest into production that i think you can say you has not done sufficiently but on the other hand the u.s. is acting very egoistically they keep everything to themselves if everyone does it certainly should be a human should shouldn't be you have done the same to protect its citizens for

example not exporting millions and millions and millions of doses outside of the you know this is a very very clear stick approach isn't it i mean if you do that you have certain regions of the world who will not have that nation at all so the e.u. has secured many more doses of vaccination then we will need so so we do have enough it's just not coming quickly enough so what we would have to do is to invest in jackson this is something that you can say you has not done enough but i don't think that this could cause that we have seen in the beginning of the pandemic i keep all my masters than myself all the interdict is to myself even if you have other reasons work that are much more effective or it within the european union i don't think and it was dick. that is is actually what we need we need solidarity within the european union and outside. and yet earlier you said that you

admire israel for being so up front with it and being able to defend itself against a massive threat the u.s. under a massive threat and now you say we should we shouldn't be go istic how does that go together well what we need is do the right things and what we have what we lack of is that seem so it's there's no use it everybody grabbing more for himself what we need is is. raising production and this is what the u.s. did better the e.u. invested 3000000000 euros in in raising production capacity and the u.s. invested more than 800000000 so this is something where you could say yes we could have done better there but then there is also this other aspect that we want to stress even if it is a bit technical the e.u. does not have confidence in health policy so maybe the member states should get together and see we do not have too much here we have 2 little so if we had more

coordination more competence is concentrated and acting better together and i think this is really what we should covering about a vice president of the e.u. parliament thank you very much for your time you're welcome now the spring holiday just weeks away from european union officials are meeting today to discuss how to get people traveling again covered 19 restrictions mean non-essential travel is still very limited for most the news looking at introducing a so-called green pass that's a digital document showing a traveler's current covert vaccination status but critics are raising ethical concerns saying it could lead to special privileges and discrimination against those who have been vaccinated. call it a certificate a pass or a passport some kind of documentation is in the works for people to show they're safe to travel the european union is calling their proposal

a digital green pass fax and nation status would be a key piece of information but officials have stressed it wouldn't be the only it's not the bus pulled so real such a ticket like you said but it's not only about vaccination it's about the recovery for the people who have had the sickness direction nation all the tests to avoid any discrimination between different citizens covered 1000 vaccination is not required in the e.u. critics worry that a so-called green pass could become a slippery slope to a vaccine passport thus discriminating against the unvaccinated data protection is also a concern the world health organization is against making vaccination a travel requirement and so is the i.c.a.o. the united nations aviation body tourism dependent e.u. members such as greece cyprus spain and portugal are eager to throw open their doors to travelers from places where vaccination is going quickly like the united

kingdom and israel negative tests or proof of covert 1000 antibodies are also acceptable to many in the travel industry who the poles and news today hang hundreds of thousands of jobs in austria depend on getting to travel normally again for business and vacation. and as mentioned you know. that's why i'm fighting to make this happen as soon as possible the green pass is one possibility for reopening borders reducing border controls and getting our economy going again. e.u. officials say testing and quarantine will remain central to safe travel a little more than 10 percent of the blocks 448000000 people have received at least one shot of an approved covert 1000 vaccine meaning herd immunity is likely farther away than the summer travel season. some other developments in the

pandemic the philippines has temporarily banned the entry of foreigners the number of nationals who can return today is also limited australia is boosting vaccination support for its nearest neighbor pump one new guinea it's sending some 8000 doses and other medical equipment to help contain the new wave of cases there and south korea has widened the scope of efforts to test its patricks in the capital so it now includes all foreign workers in the city let's take a look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world it's the final day of voting in the general election in the netherlands polling has been spread out over 3 days to avoid crowds one tactic to help boost social distancing wolters who cycle to polling stations can bring that bikes right up to the ballot box. and these 8 people have been killed in a shooting spree at several massage parlors in the u.s. city of atlanta 21 year old male suspect was taken into custody most of the victims

are reportedly of asian descent follows a recent wave of attacks on asian americans. a court in japan has ruled the country's ban on same sex marriages is unconstitutional the landmark decision said the failure to recognize gay unions denies couples their right to equality japan is the only country in the g. 7 group of developed nations that does not permit same sex marriage. u.s. secretary of state anthony blinken has landed in the south korea on the 2nd stop of a 2 it's a reset relations with asian allies clinton there arrived in seoul from japan pushing the biden administration's agenda to keep a lid on the growing power of china he also reaffirmed washington's commitment to the complete and denuclearization of north korea but ahead of his trip the powerful sister of north korean leader kim jong on warned washington not to interfere in the

region as well as over to correspondent frank smith who's joining us from seoul frank what can we expect from this meeting well i was at the ministry of national defense here in south korea and there were a number of demonstrations taking place there one was in favor of a strong u.s. ally and other demonstrations were against it saying that the u.s. was causing a greater tension in the region in its efforts to contain china and and rein in north korea with pressure and sanctions. the u.s. secretary of defense lawyer to austin met with his counterpart so in seoul earlier today and they reaffirmed the alliance with the usual rhetoric there was never more important than the linchpin of of peace and security in east asia but there are

some outstanding issues definitely between south korea and the united states. to outstanding issues with regard to china the interests of america and its asian allies fully aligned. well you know that is definite problem in relations between so korea and the united states china is so through its largest trading partner by far and previously when the u.s. and south korean military deployed an american n.t. ballistic missile system here in south korea called fat in the center of the country china retaliated with unofficial sanctions against so korean entertainers and against so korea's tourism industry causing some serious financial losses in that industry south korea doesn't want to see that again and so

getting so 3 to sign on. to participating in that containment effort to washington is going to be difficult and so can president mungy and he wants to pursue peace building and engagement with north korea so that again takes away from this sort of option of more pressure and sanctions against pyongyang that washington might advocate talking about north korea where do things stand now between washington and pyongyang after some turbulent trump is. well early in the by the administration reports of have recently come out that. the biden. government president biden through intermediaries had had reached out to north korea to try to seek some back channel negotiations to get things sort of perhaps back on track or on a better track at least talking and north korea has earned those efforts now the

u.s. and south korea are just wrapping up about 10 days of military exercises here and north korean leader kim jones' sister came out and was harshly critical of those drills saying that the u.s. shouldn't cause a stink here if they wanted to see you know better relations and less tension on the korean peninsula christiane and frank smyth there in seoul thank you frank. a flight left to germany today destined for pakistan few of its passengers will have gone more willingly the plane was carrying refugees being deported back to their country of origin including pakistan where several rights groups say religious minorities are persecuted unlike several other western countries germany regards pakistan as a safe country of origin did of yours who is a finalist often met one family from the ahmadiyya religious minority the head of

the expected deport taishan a month from now. every time an assassin a does die down here in life it feels like a small victory in pakistan the call for prayer would land him in jail ahmed and his family members of the ahmadiyya community and islamic minority which faces persecution back home 2 years ago they fled to germany where sitting here we live in freedom since we came we've been able to wear whatever clothes we wanted and when we want to veil ourselves no one tries to harm us my husband goes to the mosque and prays there we don't have to ask ourselves whether he will come home whether someone will come to the mosque and hurt us when. the family only has tolerated immigration status here which means they have fewer rights and at any time can be arrested and deported back to

a life in fear they have heard that the mass deportation is due to take place soon . it is not easy to leave your country and now that we're here we're being told that we can stay so where do we go again giving it as a bit of money is believe the movement's founder was the messiah they're considered heretics in pakistan the persecution is well documented mohammed sulieman malik shows a school books which tell children to fight the infidels signs at the shop entrances that prohibit entry for ahmadis photos from attacks on ahmadi mosques in. still unlike u.k. in the u.s. germany considers pakistan a safe country of origin. says that the government has stepped up to partition and . clothes are and. i believe that there is a lack of knowledge or political will no but unfortunately this is to the detriment of the many persecuted people who live here and who are not being deported in large

numbers on those who are still in custody awaiting deportation order you know in that for these people if this is a matter of life and death. and those are knows this well he said them up killed his uncle when he returned to pakistan from the u.k. . and cuz i desperate to protect their family but they're exhausted all legal remedies for now there's little they can do just wait and hope they won't be on the next plane. over look at some more stories making headlines today for democracy protesters have defied the curfew in myanmar to hold a vigil for those killed by security forces the united nations says 149 demonstrators have now been killed since the military seized power last month's many more have been detained or gone missing the ruling military junta declared martial law in myanmar's largest city young on news as government says

gunmen have killed at least 58 people near the border with mali the attacks targeted a convoy returning from a market and a nearby village no group has claimed responsibility but several armed groups are active in the region links to the so-called islamic state and the al qaeda. yes vice president come to harris has vowed to fight to improve democracy and women's rights the pledge came in a 1st speech to the united nations in new york america's 1st female vice president said democracy should be strengthened by involving more women in decision night. for israeli archaeologists discovered new fragments of the dead sea scrolls that's a collection of jewish texts found in the west bank in the 940 s. and fifty's experts are calling it the most important discovery of its kind in decades. a race against antiquity thieves and these archeologists see

through caves and looking for signs of ancient life. old scrolls and parchment have been turning up on the black market which led the antiquities authority to intensify their operations in the judean desert. this is known as the cave of horror named after 40 skeletons were found here 60 years ago. and there are signs rebels have already paid a visit but they didn't dig deep enough. talking ologist discovered fragments of 2000 year old people called texts. what we found is new fragments of a scroll that we have known before that had been discovered in 1000 fifties and early 1960 s. but what we found is new parts of the puzzle of this rather large manuscript

manuscript is of a translation into greek of the. 12 minor prophets. from the bible the fragments are believed to have been hidden during the bar kochba revolt an armed jewish uprising against rome. they weren't the only discovery researchers found a 6000 year old magnified skeleton of a child coin clones and remarkably a 10000 year old basket thought to be the oldest ever found. out this is by far the 1st place it's the most amazing thing guy in kalak did i found a scene in my life it's kind of huge it's it contains between 90 to 100 leaders and it's all intact this is as far as we know the most biggest intact basket the oldest intact basket that we know of archeologists the findings will lead to more

understanding of the beliefs of a little understood jewish sect. so for sue's now in sailing team new zealand retained the america's cup off the meeting italian side luna rossa 73 in the best of 13 series and they did it in a dominant fashion finishing 46 seconds ahead of that challenger in christ 10 mocking new zealand's 4th american america's cup triumph the team 7 the victory in front of the knicks socketed own crowned crowd it all clicked and what a treat it was for the locals the city only just emerged from the cold with 19 locked down 2 weeks. watching the news or mind of a top story this. european made since agency has urged governments to continue using the astra zeneca corona virus vaccine the agency says the vaccines benefits outweigh the risks of side effects is to publish its findings on reports that the

vaccine is linked to rev dr. that's it you're up to date a big changes ahead for right heiling company one of the jones will be here in just a minute with a lot more business news as in berlin and. to

own. or not to own. what about a sherman come instead. of. a change in thinking is changing the economy to create something new. economics magazine made in germany. in 60 minutes w in mexico many push polls lots of us thrown out in the morning right now climate

change to fend off a story. faces life lesson waste from just one week. how much worse can really get. we still have time to act i'm going. to sort of set. that subscribe is like this. i'm scared that the by working hard and in the end is a me you're not allowed to stay here anymore we will send you back. are you familiar with this. with the smugglers with lions and. what's your story ready. i mean when i was a women especially in victims of violence. take part and send us your story we are

trying always to understand this new culture. another visitor nothing yet. to become a citizen. in for migrants your platform for reliable information. a major shift for the gig economy stocks paying minimum wage holiday pay and pensions follows a long legal battle over the right hailing companies treatment of its drivers also coming up beijing cracks down on major tech companies accusing them of one a political hevia we talked a.