this is how massive churches with towers that pierce the clouds like skyscrapers are created. a contest of the cathedrals starts people 12th on t w. spring is just beginning but already europeans are thinking of summer and summer holidays the european union today announced plans for a coronavirus passport a ticket to travel despite the pandemic now how's that supposed to fly most people have not been vaccinated and months of poor planning supply shortages and one too many vaccine scares have left the europeans running short on time and even shorter on confidence that the vaccines will help more than they will hurt i'm bored golf in berlin this is the day.

it is getting worse we see the christian way through forming in member states a move to the more about to be astra zeneca vaccine suspension doesn't mean mistrust on the contrary have. to do this on a decision could actually increase trust and increase trust that the vaccines we are using are good. and we know that we need to accelerate the vaccination rates so anybody who is offered vaccine should take whatever is being offered by the program it will certainly be obvious would present a good i would be happy. also coming up a new u.s. intelligence report says russia trying to sway the outcome of the 2020 alexion in favor of donald trump it didn't work for the new u.s.

president there is unfinished business now between him and the man in the kremlin you know vladimir putin you think he's a killer who can do so what price must he pay the price is going to pay well you'll see shortly. to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and to all of you around the world welcome we begin the day still waiting. to be vaccinated most europeans were expecting to be vaccinated with the astra zeneca coronavirus shot that is until half of all e.u. countries suspended use of the vaccine on fears of blood clots tomorrow the european medicines agency will meet and is expected to again say there is no risk of blood clots and that the vaccine remains safe precious time to inoculate the public has been lost and governments in germany france and italy have provided no evidence supporting their decision to halt the vaccine the european commission

president today provided little clarity either when she once again pointed the finger at astra zeneca for not delivering the vaccine doses on time even if vaccinations across the e.u. resumed this week on friday the damage has already been done more people are now hesitating saying they have less trust in any of the vaccines europe is now in the 3rd wave of the pandemic the chances tonight better than ever for a 4th way. vaccinations with astra zeneca were starved in mid operation in germany on monday some facilities had to close even earlier like this one in the state of thuringia unfortunately we've had to cancel all of our appointments at the vaccination center in ghana and we can't get any more out earlier this year and yes transonic a vaccine had been praised for its cost effectiveness and its easy to store features many hope the new drug would give much needed impetus to the global

vaccine program the 1st shot outside trials was given in the u.k. and the beginning of generally 2021 but the much anticipated british we just seen started to lose support early on in mid january came the announcement of supply shortages and production problems that affect the re in belgium that would delay deliveries to european union countries there were also concerns over divot scenes a fact of nurse 76 percent compared to the 90 plus percent of ficus e of the modern and biotech pfizer fixie shortly after the european medicines agency approved astra zeneca on the 29th of january germany together with several other european union countries advised against the use of the vaccine for people over $65.00 those restrictions were later relaxed now more than a dozen countries have suspended or pause the use of the vaccine over fears that the drug can cause blood clots it's own and then. to keep up confidence in

this vaccine we now have to give our experts in germany and the european union time to review these recent cases they must also clarify the question of whether the benefits of vaccination continue to outweigh possible risks and so this. reason the european union's drug regulator will release its findings on thursday its results will have implications for the entire edu flexi nation strategy. well my 1st guest tonight has been on the frontline of reporting on this pandemic the public health policies and the research behind the vaccines i'm happy to welcome back to the program science journalist cooper schmidt it's good to see you again the picture that people have on the outside looking at this situation is that people are not getting shots and they don't know when they will get their shots the european union can't seem to fix that but it can issue passports for summer travel

does that seem odd to you well i think it's difficult to look at all of these things together right what i find surprising is that some countries have to fight it to relax restrictions in a situation where we have rising cases and we're not really managing to vaccinate enough people i think the question of what happens during the summer and you know what happens in the summer holidays is a different one and i think thinking about how to deal with vaccinated people for the future is something that should be done i don't think that that immediately kind of. tells me that there's something going on or let me ask you then what do you expect the european medicines agency to announce after its meeting tomorrow. cantelli of course what they will do i can tell you what i what i hope they will do which is that they will give a you know a clear decision and that they will very clearly lay out the evidence on which that that fission is based. and i mean i can't know what exactly the decision will be

because i haven't seen the evidence that they have but the communication has been so crucial in all of this and i think it's been handled pretty badly in fum cases and so i think what we really need on thursday you know whether whether it is a warning whether it is you know just getting back to vaccinating people maybe with some additional information about possible side effects anyway it will only work if the communication is very clear and if the evidence that they are out i think yeah you bring up a good point there the european medicines agency the world health organization and even astra zeneca itself they've all said that the astra zeneca vaccine is safe and that it's not linked to blood clots do we know why then the public health authorities in these 12 or 13 e.u. countries including germany why they decided to suspend use of the vaccine. i think we are gaining

a much clearer picture of why that happened and i mean we should have had a much clearer picture from the beginning again that goes back to communication but we're not simply talking about blood flow we're talking about a very specific type of luck cloth which is called a cerebral venous thrombosis of sally rare type of from both has that happened in the in the vein that drains the brain that drains the blood from the brain basically and that can often be fatal and it's fairly rare and what happened in germany i can i can speak to germany i talked yesterday to the head of the german regulatory agency the pike and what happened here was that we had on friday a 5 cases have been reported to 2 that agency of this 3 venous thrombosis which already seems quite a lot but didn't yet trigger quite the alarm and then on monday they had a report of another 2 such cases by people who had been vaccinated which brought the number to 7 and then what they do is something called an observer is expected

analysis which means they look at normally in a certain amount of people know a certain amount of time how many of these particular promotions would you expect and they came up with a number one so you know in 1600000 people which is how many people were vaccinated with astra zeneca in the space of 14 days you would expect one person normally to have such a proposal and now they've got 7 which is why they then brought in outside experts and asked them whether that was a pattern here whether a link to the vaccine was at all plausible and the experts i am told were unanimous in their in their view that there seemed to be some kind of pattern here that should be looked at and that led to the recommendation to suspend vaccinations for the moment i have to say personally you know you can make that decision either way i think you know even if you see a safety signal you can still decide that we are in the middle of a pandemic and you will keep vaccinating while you look into it exactly it is a hard decision to me. yeah i mean also what's interesting is on monday when we had

these announcements coming from germany for example you know immediately after the announcements came we heard from astra zeneca but also from the w.h.o. saying that the vaccine is safe so what was going on there i mean are they working with 2 different sets of data or are they just not communicating with each other i think i think you have to be very careful there in that of course this information takes the certain time to be aggregated into travel so you would expect the national of parties to be the 1st to kind of like have some kind of idea of how many cases and what exactly that feeling in that country. owes you know committee on the safety of vaccines got together yesterday looked at the data they haven't actually come up with their announcement yet so the position of the w.h.o. for the moment is the position from data from older data in a sense so you know i'm not saying that that will change but you have to accept

that as the data kind of trickles upwards almost some people might come to different conclusions if indeed they evaluate the data the same way cut kind of truth even if it just it appears irresponsible though if an organization let's say the w.h.o. in this case if they're working with odor data to come out immediately and basically contradict what public health authorities in germany for example have decided that that seems incredibly irresponsible. well i mean everybody has been very clear that they are working with that they took that they have and i mean b.m.a. as well can only say based on the data that we have we think this vaccine is safe. and vista you know they now need to evaluate that they they are getting data from you know more than a dozen different countries and they have to put all of that together and then look at it i think the most likely scenario is still that we're going to get back to vaccinating with respect. possibly with some kind of safety signal just stuff to

look out for in very rare occasions of side effects i mean you have to realize that the risk of the virus is so big that even if there is you know a significant side effect it might still be worth it but the question here is just in when you see a safety signal do you you know do you stop for the moment or not and i can see i would have decided to just let it go for the moment but i can see why people felt you know they had an obligation at this point to say ok let's wait a few days and evaluate yeah it's a it's a tough situation to be and either way you go kind coopersmith science journalist here in berlin kinds always good talking with you would be shit you sharing your insights with us thank you thank you. u.s. president joe biden says russia will soon pay a price biden strong words follow a u.s. intelligence report on foreign interference in last november's elections the report says russian president vladimir putin approved

a campaign of misinformation aimed at sowing discord among the voters moscow has denied any involvement just as it has also denied meddling in the 2016 vote which saw a victory for donald trump on a.b.c.'s good morning america the host asked president biden if he thinks his russian counterpart is a killer take a listen. you know vladimir putin you think he's a killer. or do so what price must he pay but pray she's going to pay well you'll see shortly. you'll see shortly ok we've got team coverage here with our correspondent in really sure when he's in moscow all over sell it on the other side of the atlantic in washington to both of you good evening emily let me start with you he considers putin to be a killer strong words there any reaction from the kremlin well brant as you might imagine that hasn't gone down too well here in moscow the

russian foreign ministry has now recall the ambassador to the u.s. the russian ambassador to the u.s. for consultations about the future of the u.s. russian relations and we saw a rather sober statement from the the spokesperson of the foreign ministry who usually has a bent towards kind of dramatic statements she said that the reason why u.s. relations are in such a bad way is that the u.s. has backed them into a dead end and she also warned about the fact that worsening relations could be a risk perhaps a hint at the fact that both countries are nuclear power so kind of a sober but also a bit of a threatening statement there you have to imagine that this is a personal insult against putin in a country where putin is kind of letting their putin is kind of considered untouchable on the political landscape even his critics usually just level

accusations at the kremlin or at the government but not at pushing himself really when joe biden says the putin is a killer what exactly is the u.s. president referring to. well during the near putin's time in power there has been a fairly long list of deaths or assassination attempts of kremlin critics that of course his critics blamed on vladimir putin himself or at least on the system that he created just a few examples are for example the murder of opposition journalist on the party of course in 2006 the murder of opposition politician by his himself in 2015 and the failed assassination attempts of russian spy. in the u.k. and last year of opposition politician i like saying now viney thou those are all attempted murders or murders that were blame squarely on the kremlin the kremlin

has always denied that and investigations have always have never found a direct link of course to vladimir putin himself but biden could be talking about those over due in washington to this intelligence you poor just published blames moscow for meddling in us to what extent did russia trying to sway the vote. well certainly not a very flattering report branded alleges that vladimir putin the russian president directed at ford's to help donald trump win the 2020 election particularly the report tackles cold war operations to influence people that were close to donald trump so some analysts believe that one of the persons they targeted there could have been a rudy giuliani doll chums personal lawyer at the time it was not mentioned but if you remember giuliani during the election campaign pushed those baseless claims off corruption of all joe biden and his son hunter biden involving the ukraine and that

narrative also was pushed by russian intelligence and if that sounds familiar to you then yes of course it does because just as a reminder of the same happened or a similar happened in 2016 special counsel robert mahler then concluded that putin was behind a very similar effort so very much looks like history repeating itself yeah a lot of repeating going on here you know we expected the grimwood to reject accusations of election interference this time just like you did after the 2016 election has there been more of a reaction that they have repeated their rejections of election mantling both 420162020 the kremlin spokesperson called this new report wrong baseless and unsubstantiated today and kind of pointed again to the fact that the west is constantly hitting russia with

sanctions there is very much a narrative here that that is part of a rush the phobic campaign on the part of the west in oliver president biden he's threatening russia with consequences mean how serious these consequences be considering that he also says he wants to continue working with runs sure were necessary as he said you know we can walk and chew gum at the same time. well certainly a typical biden approach number one of course he stands for the return of diplomacy is something that he has reiterated many times since he took office at the same time he promised a tougher stance on russia in part because of course he wants to distance himself from donald trump who benefited a lot from russian support throughout his presidency and now if you see the 1st steps if you will off a tougher stance because just expanded export restrictions on russia that are from last month as a result of the poisoning all fell opposition leader election of on the they are

reportedly the u.s. is just preparing some new sanctions that could be put in place as soon as next week so a very different stance a very different rochelle policy under joe biden donald trump refused to talk negatively of old russian public and now you have biden calling putin a killer so on of course he is it looks at least like he is very serious there is zones that we know that this white house is certainly not the trump white house it's not the obama white house there's no reset being sought after here by president biden is most you know hunkering down for tough times to come. well i think actually moscow kind of had dash hopes when it comes to the donald trump administration surprisingly enough they expected more from trump and as a result they didn't have high hopes at all for the biden administration and in

a way today's statement kind of confirms that but i did i do think that they did hope that the u.s. and russia could have a kind of barebones working relationship on certain issues for example on arms control on the iran nuclear deal which both want to work on and i think this statement today kind of does come as somewhat of a blow and not sense this personal insult certainly isn't a good start for those relations which are already at a pretty low point yeah yeah i think there will be more reasons for us 3 get together and talk again in the future and really sure when you must go over sell it in washington to both of you thank you. oh there are many words to describe them and what they do the men and women in the gig economy the people burning the candle at both ends in the hustle economy they all describe people who work but these people have never been cold workers until

now starting to dig the $70000.00 drivers for the ride healing company in britain must be treated as workers instead of contractors and that means guarantees them a minimum wage and paid holidays it is a major u. turn for made possible only by a ruling in the british supreme court. it was the day the baseness model came to a sudden stop driver celebrating victory over the right hailing platform at a ukase top court last month after judges ruled that bar must provide workers' rights to thousands of drivers. i'm just so delighted thrilled and relieved that this day has arrived and we've got the right judge. no one has implemented that ruling offering to pay minimum wage holiday pay and pension contributions

today is an important day for all drivers in the u.k. and the reason for that is because from today any driver who earns on the uber platform and that's over $70000.00 drivers in total will be able to be paid for holiday time they'll be enrolled in a pension and they'll be able to earn at least a national living wage as a floor and not a ceiling. critics however see the benefits are based on time driver spend paired with a customer not time spent waiting for work despite this from the court the judge would also owns the funding of employing a drug that could have purposes the legislation the claimants working turn was not limited. to periods when they were actually driving passengers but estimates. it also included any period when the drone it was looked into the in the return

trip. on a list say the ruling could have huge ramifications for the exploding gag economy not just drivers but cyclists too not just the u.k. but father afield as government wrestle with the distinction between walkers and contractors. could be taking a trip back to court soon over claims its new changes still don't comply with employment law. a damning report in the u.k. has blamed the english football association for failing to protect hundreds of young players from sexual abuse by pedophile coaches the report says there were significant institutional failings by the governing body once it became aware of decades of abuse dating back to the 1970 s. among those listed as failing in their duties top tier clubs such as chelsea and manchester city. it was

a former youth player at the football club crewe alexandra who put the spotlight on the sexual abuse of young players police reopened investigations and charges were filed but this was years decades after the fact. that the player was andy woodward who in 2016 inspired dozens and dozens of others to finally speak out as well that was the year attorney clive sheldon was commissioned to independently report on the f.a.a. the football association there was an institutional failing by the way they acted for too slowly in developing that child protection of rangelands once they were aware of child protection being a problem within the school and they should have done more to keep children safe this man barry but no it was among the predators he coached young people for clubs like crewe alexandra stoke and manchester city from the 1980 s. he's in prison now but wasn't banned from football after his 1st conviction and release from prison it took until former players like andy woodward spoke out

against him the football association and clubs from the lowest tier to the top have since then worked to make amends and protect the youth. we have to hold hands up and apologize for the mistakes of the posse make sure we don't repeat them but that's not to say that football is not in safe environment it is some abuse victims say the report on the football association could have been stronger in tone but the f.a. will be watched at every step by those who suffered over the years. well i hope you are wearing green today it is st patrick's day the cheer of this day muted this year in ireland centerpiece of the festivities despite the pandemic has been a spectacular drone display in the skies over the capital dublin a swarm of $500.00 unmanned aircraft traced some of ireland's history and pageantry

traditional green of course naturally the brightest colder in the show the walk down of course continues just as it did one year ago today. the day is almost on the cover say she continues online we will see you tomorrow. and.

see i'm getting vaccinated. elderly caretaker christina requests uses online videos to encourage people to get vaccinated. due to fake news on social media many belgian care workers are refusing corona vaccines. can the fight against the virus be one online. focus on her. 90 minutes on d w did you know it costs $0.50 to feed one hungry child for one full day.

before they. go forward. the force had joined with to share the meal at the sherry mondial with children with just $0.50 and a tap on your smartphone to gather the mobile hunger please download the app. w crime fighters are back africa's most successful radio drama series continues this season the stories focus on hate speech cholera prevention and sustainable charcoal production all of the sos are available online and of course you can share and discuss on africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. crime fighters to mindanao. get.

more. candidates for the procedure for losing loved. him was swollen small all over. these low good rules. slow news no lover for the wicked. doesn't. work as through a burger. can't sleep. couldn't sleep. her current form.

this is g w news live from berlin tonight dutch voters putting the country's conservatives on the path to victory in national elections exit polls signal a big lead for prime minister mark brooches of the party he's coasting toward a 4th term as prime minister in an election overshadowed by the pandemic also coming up tonight europe's ticket to travel the e.u. plans coronavirus passports to make travel possible by the summer supporters say it's a lifeline for the tourism industry critics every spin cern's about discrimination

not to mention the slow pace of vaccinations and a man in the us charts with several counts of murder after going on the shooting rampage at massage parlors in atlanta georgia authorities have not ruled out bias against even americans as a potential moment. i'm bring coffee is good to have you with us we begin tonight in the netherlands where the conservative prime minister mark ruta has almost certainly won a 4th term in office exit polls put his center right freedom and democracy party ahead with just under a quarter of the vote he'll need to form a coalition with at least 2 other parties now voting was spread over 3 days to prevent crowds from forming voters were able to cast their ballots by by and by.

far and in some unusual venue's including churches and museums election is effectively a referendum on the government's handling of the pandemic more than $16000.00 dutch people have died and a nighttime curfew remains in place. our let's bring in our correspondent barbara visa she is following the elections for us in the hague it's the seat of government for the netherlands you need to you barbara the polling stations closed an hour ago what more do we know. it's very clear that the old to the new prime minister is going to be the old prime minister a microchip and they called him he had teflon mark for a reason because no scandal and not even his rather muted jack handling of the kona crisis could sort of dented is appeal to the vote is we have seen that in this 1st corona election within the european union the voters really cast their votes

for security they want somebody somebody who somehow promises them that things will not change that they will carry on in a reasonable manner that's what most dutch people said that you asked before these elections the remarkable thing is that 81 percent of dutch voters went out somehow as you said by bike by car on foot to cast their votes that is really very high and it shows that people still sort of believe in this democratic process here in the country and that they still are really interested in having a new government that will be stable and that will continue to sort of lead business here in this country and you know you have covered politics there also in the netherlands for many years barbara what do you make of this the factor of the pandemic in this election did voters go to the polls and choose marc rich

a because they believe in him as a leader or do they choose him because of their fear of any change in this pandemic . i think it's probably best many people believe in him as a leader as they say he has done reasonably well and i think this is good enough nobody else could have done better than him really plus there is no other personality in the netherlands political personality who would really sort of want to take his place or who go to believe could take his place that is the they want to inspect and the other is there is absolutely no mood for change if people don't want change what's however it is remarkable is that the left wing liberals the 66 party has managed to push through others the everlasting opposition leader was his right wing populists off the 2nd place and they will now form a government to bismarck richer so we will see a certain political tilt probably true of all liberal side slightly more left

slightly more climate conscious thoughts politics bought over all this is just carry on and let's not make any any big changes and we know that in the netherlands there's been a lot of turmoil in recent weeks do you think the results of this election could they help to maybe restore some stability and peace in the country. it's been quite peaceful for the last 4 weeks. really the street fighting scenes at the end of january were totally on usual for the country this is mostly young people sort of really letting out anger about being sort of cooped up for so long now that is not going to change because vexations here going at a crawl at the pace of really is snail very very slowly so they will not be led out to be free in the streets again very soon however the whole mood has cooled down

and people seem to say ok we have to sort of bear this for a little while longer and there are hopes that maybe in april but at the latest in may life might return to some similarity off normal no melty that's right there is always hope that's for sure barbara basell in the hague tonight in the netherlands barbara thank you. well just in time for summer vacation the european union today out wind plans for a vaccine passed designed to help relaunch summer travel the tourism sector is facing a possible meltdown at what should be its busiest time of the year now gives green pass as it's known would create a digital document showing a traveler has either been vaccinated has been tested negative or has recovered from coburg 19. this is what many northern europeans are dreaming of right now after months of winter darkness and lockdown a holiday to spain would be

a refreshing change for many the e.u. wants to make that easier with a digital health certificate for many who make a living from tourism it's a welcome idea if they got a hold of them and then we're done with our islands are fully dependent on foreign tourists so there will be many people who don't agree with but as we're so dependent on tourism and we're suffering from this health crisis that this is typical it will make it easier for foreigners to come and go. the e.u. has made it clear it will not link freedom of movement to vaccines alone what is the function of the certificate it's show was all states whether the person has either been either been vaccinated or a recent negative test or has recovered from covered and thus antibodies we aim to help member states reinstate the freedom of movement in a safe responsible and trusted man but some remain skeptical about the coverage 900

to fit islands foreign minister urged caution on international travel to prevent new variants of the virus spreading i know that there have been a lot of countries that are dependent economically on tourism and people traveling across borders pushing for the european commission to produce a safe way of facilitating international travel but i have to say early and will be very cautious in this space covert 19 vaccinations are not required anywhere in the e.u. some critics have raised ethical concerns over this it effected worrying it could bring special privileges for some travelers while discriminating against people who have not been vaccinated. the european union is hoping the greens are difficult can be ready for use by the summer holler. they cease and that proposal now has to be approved by the european parliament and national governments. are let's take a look now at some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world

tanzania and president john magaw who has died from a heart condition he was 61 years old the vice president's statement followed days of uncertainty over my go from these health and whereabouts with speculation swirling that he had contracted a qubit 1000 infection and been flown out of the country by groups really have long denied that coronavirus was a problem he told tens of millions not to wear masks u.s. president joe biden says he agrees that his russian counterpart vladimir putin is quote a killer biden told a.b.c. news that putin would pay a price for allegedly undermining his campaign in last year's u.s. presidential election asked whether he agrees that putin is a killer biden replied yes i do yes. well staying in the united states where age 21 year old man has been charged with 8 counts of murder in connection with the shooting spree in atlanta georgia police say he went on

a rampage targeting several massage parlors in the city most of the victims were of asian descent fueling fears the killings could be the latest in a surge of anti asian hate crimes. the victim's body is carried away this was an attack on women and an attack on asian americans that killa a 21 year old white man says the attack was not racially motivated but that he killed the women at the muscle its policies because he felt they were attempts haitian. he apparently has an issue what he considers a fiction and sees these locations as something that allows him to to to go to these places and in this the temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate. that they said is for sale early on but those were those were comments that he made. to many the killings have been yet another reminder that the threat

of male violence against women this is one of the more violent tragedies and assuring of about $3800.00 hate and students and crimes against asian americans 68 percent of them women. it's clear that the individuals were targeted because they are amongst the most vulnerable in our country emma grant asian women. on th an attacks in the united states have surged during the pandemic vice president kamla is said the latest mass shooting is part of a larger issue of violence but i do want to say to our asian american community that we stand with you and understand how this has frightened and shocked and outraged all people but knowing the increasing level of hate crime against our asian american brothers and sisters we also want to speak out in solidarity with the. investigators have yet to establish the motive of the attacks but one george

the statehouse representative put it like pace it appears to be at the intersection agenda based violence we saw ginny and xenophobia. america's top diplomat has condemned chinese aggression and the authoritarian regime in north korea think terry of state antony blinken has been touring the age of pacific region to strengthen u.s. alliances and to counter the growing strength of beijing the u.s. and south korea have stressed their strategic alliance talks in seoul also focused on stalled negotiations over the north's nuclear program. staying in asia in japan now a big legal victory for the rights activists a court in the city of sapporo has ruled that it is unconstitutional for the government not to recognize same sex marriage the ruling represents a major milestone on the path to potentially legalizing marriage for all in japan.

they came to watch history unfold marriage for all activists pushing to end discrimination having their day in court they sued for compensation over the fallout from japan's ban on same sex marriages the judge struck out that claim but the court did decide that lesbian and gay couples should be allowed to marry a landmark ruling the 2nd of all you a little bit this is the 1st ruling in japan to make a decision on same sex marriage the court ruled that not recognizing marriage between people of the same sex is unconstitutional in that sense it ushers in a new era. get a us to verdict is just one step on a long march to equality activists hope that momentum is now and less side of. want to know about them or we can now see a pathway to our future lives issue that many of us could not imagine becoming

adults all what kind of life we would have of the world if you must and many felt that way as children of the ruling will bring hope to the younger generation of. japan is the only g 7 country that does not formally recognize same sex marriage most japanese are in favor of equal rights for l g b t people. good thing that came up japan has been conservative but times have changed i think we will be more tolerant from now on. another for similar lawsuits a pending the pace of change may be quickening. what today is st patrick's day and ireland has been doing its best to celebrate despite coronavirus restrictions the centerpiece of the festivities and spectacular drone display in the skies over the capital dublin a swarm of 500 drones traced some of violence history in lights traditional green

being the standout color in the show with a national walk down still in force dublin's famous pubs remain shuttered just as they were on this day last year. next up business news with stephen beardsley i wonder if he's wearing green he'll tell you right after this.

who's afraid of inflation not the u.s. federal reserve at least for now the central bank says it will let us stimulus soak us economy run hot keeping looser monetary policy in place to get lost jobs back. also on the show over drivers in the u.k. get full employee benefits after a lengthy court battle is the beginning of a shift in the cave economy. and germany should see solid growth in 2021 despite the lockdowns cold comfort for the service industry which has taken

a beating. blow welcome to the show i'm seeing beardsley in berlin it's good to have you with us but the u.s. federal reserve will keep its loose monetary policy in place holding borrowing rates low and continuing bond purchases even as more signs point to economic recovery in the u.s. the banks 12 member open market committee brushed off inflation concerns in their wins they prognosis saying any price increases will likely be the short term result of u.s. stimulus programs and fall short of the fed's 2 percent annual inflation goal optimism for recovery is growing in the u.s. as a vaccination campaign there hit stride and $1.00 trillion dollars in stimulus spending it's the markets and here's what federal reserve chairman jerome powell had to say we do expect that we'll begin to mix faster progress on both spending it you know labor markets and inflation as the year goes on because of the progress with the vaccines because of the fiscal support that we're getting we expect that to happen

but you know we'll have to see it 1st or if more let's go to our financial correspondent yens corner in new york good to see you powell there basically saying that there's a desire to run the economy hot and see what comes out of it what are markets make of that idea. well markets seem to love what your own poll had to say the best of 2 worlds sort of one side to make good on the growth of about 6 and a half percent if it really is going to be the case that would be the strongest growth since 1984 and on the other side yes we do see some price pressure we do see some inflationary trends but nothing too alarming at this point i'm for the federal reserve from i would add that your role in politics should he also said at the end of the day it's not just a decision of the federal reserve what's going to happen but it's how the economy and also all prices develop and that remains to be seen so we have to still continue watching the data but your reaction on wall street was obvious for the

very 1st time ever in history blue chip so the dow jones industrial average surpassed this 33000 point mark meaning we are up again another 1000 points or so just within the past 5 freighting days our markets happy there len yes let's listen to something else that powell had to say about employment. it isn't though remember there are 10000000 people in the range of 10000000 people who need to get back to work and it's going to take some time for that to happen you know it can it can happen. more quickly than it has in the past because it involves the reopening of a sector of the economy as opposed to stimulating aggregate demand and waiting for that to produce job demand for workers that this could be a different sort of a process and it could be quicker we don't know that but it's it's just a lot of people who have who need to get back to work and it's not going to happen overnight aryans 10000000 jobs missing since the beginning of the pen demick in the u.s. what kind of hiccups could the u.s. see trying to bring those back. i mean the labor market clearly is still

one of the main alleging factors when it comes to the week covering the u.s. economy in general i would still say that the recovery that we're seeing is not necessarily a sara lee a v. shape but a case shape meaning there are some parts of the economy that really came back very strong but other parts of the economy some service so jobs for example are not coming back as quickly so not everybody will feel the recovery as the same way but if you look at the forecast that he's from the federal reserve they're saying by the end of the year the unemployment rate could drop to as low as 4 and a half percent that is still higher than pretend to make a level but over think back to what happened last spring when the unemployment rate was at around 15 percent at some point it's also the labor market has recovered but not in the same to grieve for everybody but it's also not just up for the federal reserve to change that the federal agents clearly also still needed at this point

are you in support of the new york thank you. all right we cross the atlantic to go to the u.k. a minimum wage paid time off pension contributions those are just some of the benefits that over $70000.00 drivers in britain began receiving wednesday after the company bowed to a court decision and granted them worker status so does the market shift in the global gag economy well 1st there are still questions to answer in the u.k. . it was the day hoover's business model came to a sudden stop. celebrating last month after the u.k.'s top court ruled had to provide benefits for workers this week complied offering to pay drivers minimum wage holiday pay and pension contributions it's a landmark moment for the booming economy whose workers have long complained of being denied basic rights and protections. if you are a plus woman lawyer like were deliberate or you're creating artificial contracts on

artificial days. working for the purpose of avoiding the legislation for the purpose of choosing from a workers out of stock chetry protections and those measures will not stand in law analysts say hoover's decision will strengthen similar movements from other workers such as delivery cyclists and workers from tech companies some say hoover's offer doesn't go far enough because the company limits the benefits to the time drivers are paired with customers not while they're waiting for work and other drivers are still concerned the changes could limit their freedom. ride on how you drive will do well if you employ the philly employee what be truly well they truly still. have the flexibility in different forms. for now though it could be taking a trip back to court soon over claims its new changes still don't comply with employment law let's take a look now at some of the other global business stories making headlines the u.s.

government has announced it will expand the export restrictions imposed on russia earlier this month as punishment for the poisoning of opposition leader alexina vallone the new measures effective thursday prevent export to russia of more items controlled for national security reasons including some technology and software. b.m.w. says it expects profits to grow significantly this year as the global economy recovers from the pen demick the german luxury car maker says it's speeding up its transition to electric vehicles despite lockdowns 2020 ended positively for the company thanks to growing sales in china. 20. well exports like b.m.w. will be crucial for recovery in germany the country's council of economic experts cutting the full year growth forecast for europe's largest economy on wednesday to 3 point one percent from an earlier forecast of 3.7 percent recovery has been uneven in germany while manufacturers are managing to weather the crisis as service

sectors continue to continue to struggle industrial production has been picking up as demand for german goods rises especially alongside recovering trade in china and the united states for 2022 the council of experts predicts growth of 4 percent. and i'm joined now by monica schnitzer she's a professor of economics at the lou big maximillian university in munich and she's one of the 4 members of the german council of economic experts which released the prognosis today professor good to have you on the show your projection today of 3 point one percent lower than the earlier 3.7 percent projection still solid growth so is this good news or is it bad news i think it's good news because in the 2nd way the panhandle and used it growing so in that sense it's great news and much better at doing then you know in the fast way where we had lots of interruptions often. and now this is not and he says our industry. industry is looking well but

all of us who are here in germany can look around and see that much of the shops the restaurants that we go to normally are closed and yet we're projecting a pretty solid growth figure does that mean that government spending is making up a lot of that output. that's true but it's also that this part of what we all see you see in restaurants closed shops like i was they really only make up a small part of all my comedy so really try having far as our economy is industry output for instance and it's always says that i'm not a lot of the economist and working professor the council projected today that germany would see lower growth than the rest of the e.u. and 20 $21.00 of the average why is that why it's not on growth because we really had less last year and you see that those companies can trade is that not just that they did last year on no expected to prolong and that's the same actually for

germany last year we projected the germany would be here and then we would have higher growth rates this year so that always goes hand in hand all right marcus that's a member of the german council of economic experts thank you for your time thank you. it's cuba's best known export and rolled cigars last year the cuban cigar industry struggled under the weight of the coronavirus pandemic u.s. sanctions and bad weather but strong demand from abroad helped save the industry from catastrophe. young is tending to back up plans that will be needed to cuba's famous handled cigars the farmer has struggled like the rest of the cuban cigar industry with the economic fallout of the pandemic u.s. sanctions on cuba have also made it hard to secure diesel fuel and fertilizers and unusually wet weather last year didn't help but garcia is hopeful this year will be different. it has been

a little hard due to the health situation that the country is going through. the weather has not been favorable but we have to be there working to see if we can achieve a good harvest. so that this year will be as good as last year or even better. exports have been keeping the industry afloat cuba sells around $100000000.00 sick ours called poor abroad each year demand from overseas held up last year as smokers bought premium cigars with money saved on travel and entertainment the part took a cigar factory in havana kept running even during the worst days of the pandemic. no man was to go in but going to a new we are not going to say that it is a negative impact we are simply a little limited but an impact that will cause unemployment lack of cigar exports

this is not been the case we have continued tax port. does things the worst is now behind the industry partic os for its part hopes to boost production to almost 5000000 cigars this year. that's it for me and the business team dot com slash business for more let's watch and. see if i'm getting vaccinated. elderly caretaker christina rodriguez uses online videos to encourage people to get vaccinated. due to think news on social media many belgian care workers are refusing corona vaccines. in the fight against the virus b. one online. focused on. 60 minutes.

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discover the world. the i. subscribe. documentary on you tube. this is deed of the news africa coming up on the program the fight against covert continues health workers and government officials are leading the way with a smile that continues you know collating it's people with the astros that i come back see also coming up. we'll grab poles with food shortages we'll meet a group of young agricultural entrepreneurs who are contributing to food security to farming.