of the cause of our sins to the e.u. also convincing for you i think yes i think she is correct when she says that if germany had gone it alone on procurement it absolutely would have shaken the confidence of other e.u. member states germany being the most powerful economy in the european union would have gotten plenty of vaccine but possibly others would have been left high and dry that said the multilateral procurement process proceeded to some degree very bureaucratically brussels didn't move into full crisis mode priorities were questionable looking at liability and the cost rather than timing and i think frankly some of the blame must rest with germany because germany at the time was e.u. council president and did not fully put all of its expertise all of its economic weight at brussels disposal in those negotiations i think there is more that germany could have done do you think that one could call this failure of the you

tube you know enough vaccine. we want to see it in the german food. only to some degree clearly there was inadequate crisis management in brussels and most of the responsibility must lie with the approach taken by the european union commission nonetheless as i say i do think that germany also bears some share of responsibility there well yesterday we had our apologize for monday's decision to go into an extended lockdown over easter did she give any indication today will what else we're going to do not exactly she said testing is now the bridge that we have to go over until we have adequate supplies of that scene but then she essentially handed responsibility back to the federal states and municipalities saying look the federal government can't do everything you have to be the ones to essentially set up at. quick testing procedures for shopping in the

inner cities for schools for workplaces so to some degree i think. the sense of many citizens where is the federal leadership here is still going unanswered and there is definitely declining trust in the government's ability to manage this crisis people are still willing to comply with the rules but they ask where's the leadership our chief political correspondent linda crane thank you very much melinde float a moment we'll speak to leading german opposition politicians but 1st let's listen to some more what chancellor merkel said about the balance of responsibility between the federal government and the regional governments and local administrations. let me take this opportunity of telling you we are not a federal government state no nor am i am not all council.

is not allowed to do what i'm doing it to because you know oft repeated they can all do not have a right we as the federal government in enabling our enabling you to make sure that every citizen can be tested at least once a week so i request all citizens and this moment and time to use this opportunity when you're meeting people a time when you have met somebody. speaking then joining me now is a summit of limestone his opposition member of the german parliament from the business friendly free democrats the chancellor took the blame yesterday for the easter shutdown debacle but today she appeared to blame the federal states for failing to make germany's testing strategy work do you think that's fair. well the problem is that the german habit is really tired of the different levels of government put in pointing fingers at one another so the federal level points fingers at the lend lend point to the municipalities and the municipalities in turn

say there is a lack of federal leadership people are interested in results not so much in a political blame game and the results are what is lacking we've heard that from bill in the country for there is an enormous amount of frustration and dismay in the german public and the chancellor's as well as how should i say trick to apologize 1st and then shift the blame to the lender yet again is not going to hold water but talk about results and delivering your party sounds itself as the party of freedom and small businesses yet only now your party leader has called for a vote of no confidence against anglo-american where have you been over the past year as an opposition party do you think you have delivered. well i think we have and you can see it in the polls actually we have doubled our support in the eyes of the german public we have stand now at about 10 percent in the polls which is a good figure for us and that a couple of months ago we were slower what we have done is very simple at the

beginning and nobody knew what was going on when everybody was in secure when the level of anxiety was high we supported the government we stood by under the americans government and supported the 1st restrictions we supported the 1st economic aid packages we voted with the grand coalition but then after a few weeks our party did a christian lindner turn around and said well wait a minute we have to have an opposition that challenges the government on what it's doing there when has he done that has he delivered on that has your party delivered on that oh absolutely if you if you if you follow the debate here in germany you can clearly see that the democrats as a liberal party always come from the angle of individual liberty and when individual liberties needs to be curtailed as is the case in a pandemic we always ask other measures proportionate are they necessary you know are they appropriate to do to achieve the ends that they're that they're intended

to achieve and this is something that we've consistently done we've consistently advocated a responsible approach rather than a blanket approach to blowers for example business closures and the cultural sectors in the retail and sports but at the same time being very clear about the fact that this is a serious situation that we have a pandemic on our hands and not you know not joining forces with responsible actors that we have in germany as well who simply deny the existence of the virus what are some out of this morning have a staunch defense of the european approach to getting hold of enough vaccines do you think she's right. yes on that count she's definitely right it was correct to have the procurement managed by the big commission unfortunately and i agree with melinda crane there and the commission did not perform very well at looking at the wrong priorities indeed liability and price over the top considerations that is oh

ok in a regular situation in a regular procurement situation but not in times of crisis and so there i have to say the national governments who had this this committee they were in brussels the health ministries were to blame and the european commission was to blame as well for the slowness of the procurement process now that leaves europe behind other regions of the word some of of them self member of the german parliament from the free democrats thank you very much for the time thank you. in her speech earlier also said the e.u. needs to boost its vaccine production capacity that's one of the issues up for discussion as e.u. leaders meet for a virtual summit on thursday they'll also be grappling with whether to block the export of vaccines made on european saw specifically the shot made by astra zeneca the drug makers fail to meet the its e.u. delivery targets but it says millions of doses found recently by inspectors and italy are earmarked for use inside the block for donation to poorer countries.

there was great excitement when italian authorities found 29000000 doses of vaccine in this astra zeneca bottling plant near rome italian press had reported they were destined for the u.k. . astra zeneca has so far failed to meet its easy to delivery targets according to the european commission and delivery of 120000000 doses was originally a grade for the 1st quarter of 2020 but after huge shortages the number was reduced to 30000000 by mid march only 21000000 vaccines had been to live it it's not clear exactly where the truth lies astra zeneca states that 13000000 at the doses were intended for export to low income countries and 16000000 to the e.u. the company also said it was incorrect to cool with a stockpile because the vaccine doses needed to wait for quality control once the vials had been felled. in the ongoing rather vaccine distribution in the e.u.

the e.u. commission maintains the blog is being disadvantaged some $10000000.00 is being exported from the u.k. from e.u. to k. 0 all those are still being exported from the u.k. . and that's why the e.u. only wants to allow exports to a 3rd country in fact country also supplies vaccines to the e.u. heads of state and government will decide on this proposal at thursday's summit. brussels virgin islands on a phenomenon well of course following that summit for us today joins me now under the aim is clear more vaccines for e.u. countries but how. well i think we can expect leaders here to stress one more time that accelerating production delivery and deployment of scenes are very crucial there is some good news for example big soon develop a biotech has started for the action at a new plant in germany and dad could significantly significantly boost the

scene supplies but there is still bad news going problems with some pharmaceutical companies in particular with astra zeneca who are not living up to their promises so that's why i think that the european commission's proposal to toughen export rules will be here very high on the agenda as some member states say this is the right way to go because we cannot explain our citizens why we are still exporting vaccines even though our citizens do not have enough vaccines some member states however say this could backfire in practical terms and could under my undermine our vaccine supplies supply chains. will ultimately lead to a confrontation of course with the u.k. do all you countries agree on how to act in response to that. with the astra zeneca

. well i think that all of them are very upset with what's going on with astra zeneca but some of them are very cautious they don't want to have a conflict with the u.k. . being the vaccines the knickers accent i'm sorry are being produced in the e.u. but also in the u.k. and the saying that the u.k. is blocking the exports of those vaccines that is something that the u.k. denies the good thing is that both sides are not now talking they released a statement yesterday saying that they want to create a win win situation so that is also something that you leaders will talk about today which is under a brief us president biden will also be addressing with some advice video message later today what can we expect. this is going to be a very brief exchange but everyone here is excited because he will be the 1st president after barack obama in 2009 to address the group so they hope to talk

about cooperation how to take on on the pandemic how to combat climate change and many other issues so everyone here is quite happy that joe biden decides the site has decided to join this video conference and some good news that phenomena in brussels thank you very much elizabeth. the more contagious virus and corona virus 1st found in britain last year is now fueling outbreaks in many european countries just across the english channel in the french city of dunkirk hospitals a breaking point marina starts with ports. did you know what is finally feeling better the 62 year old was hospitalized with a severe case of covert 193 weeks ago told me it is hard to be confined you don't see the sun nothing but you just have to deal with it as

a. doctor come ology have to tell says his patient's condition was serious when he 1st came to this hospital and on kirk in the north of france with covert 1000 cases rising in the region the hospital has ramped up its capacity working in pens emmet mode for one year has left its mark on and his team physical said you physically it's hard mentally it's hard it's a marathon the end is nigh it incites but we must persevere we are in a war and now we have to find the ammunition and we have to fight it's of earth so this is just. doctors and nurses here at this hospital and to encourage so you think said difference in comparison to last year this learn from mistakes and the better equipped but patients are often also younger now and that is mainly due to the spread of the more contagious u.k. virus here in dakar which is only

a short boatwright away from britain. dunkirk we have a real wait and see terminal that connected dunkirk and great britain and that's why we had a rapid increase of the virus in our region from where it then spread and what happened here was simply a 4 runner and what happened later in the rest of france. with covered 19 cases guy. considering the coastal city of dunkirk was one of the 1st places in france to impose a near complete lockdown again a couple of weeks ago now numbers going up all over the country france is known to be a vaccine skeptic nation still many here are now waiting impatiently for an interaction but as in many other parts of europe the rollout has been slow this retired doctor roxas a volunteer at a drunkard vaccination center his job supervising the in accumulations where people

are really impatient they all want to be vaccinated but it is the vaccine production itself which is difficult for you his 6 year old peer at ku saw says she's very happy it's finally her turn. but put i'm not a baby anymore i will be fine. and will she go out more now that she has been vaccinated it's clear i think so yes i really think i will have a more carrots not much for far over because star will soon come back for a 2nd shot she hopes the vaccine is the beginning of the end of this crisis. return to north korea now which has launched 2 ballistic missiles according to south korea and japan it's believed the 2 short range missiles flew 450 kilometers before landing in the sea say the country has a history of testing us up ministrations with missile launches and other program

patients to force the americans back to the negotiating table it's. a module on by frank smith is a correspondent based in so frank what are we to make of these launches other just a message to to the biden ministration. well they are a message to the button ministration perhaps a little bit more than that their message of the biden ministration seem to ignore on sunday when north korea launched 2 cruise missiles the launch of those cruise missiles but was played down by the us president who said it was you know nothing had changed and in south korea the launch of those cruise missiles on sunday was completely hidden from the public for several days until it surfaced in the american news now if you talk to analysts here in south korea such as anchor has the author of can john boehner and the boss he points out that well north korea

is a defacto nuclear power there are lots of the dances that it can make in terms of strategic nuclear weapons and the delivery systems of these weapons so today's launch which violated united nations security council resolutions were ballistic missiles that flew 60 kilometers in altitude it's a stronger message to the divide in ministration and the status quo continued united nations security council sanctions is not going to hold and it north korea will continue to has complete this type of behavior until the u.s. comes to the negotiating table with something to offer to pyongyang. for how people in south korea dealing with this ongoing and repeated threat. well we look at this in the international community and it's specially the u.s.

nuclear weapons and nuclear tests they get a lot of play especially in the media in so korea south korea has been dealing with and or 'd 3 threat almost since the end of the korean war actually the korean war didn't end it only hostilities were ceased with an armistice but just north of the d.m.z. are. thousands of or tillery that are trained on stall and they've been there for decades and decades if there was any conflict so all would be targeted by very difficult to defend artillery pieces so the level of threat just isn't the same percent koreans you know this launch really doesn't affect their daily lives it doesn't increase their level of stress like it might for the american administration in particular with the u.s. president joseph biden facing the media for his 1st news conference on thursday

morning. frank smith in seoul that for us thank you frank. low tide overnights has a slow death threats to dislodge one of the largest container ships in the world currently stuck in the suez canal words blocking dozens of cargo vessels and time because creating the world's launches shipping jobs efforts ongoing to dislodge the ever given owned by transport evergreen before it further disrupts the global shift shipping system the suez canal is a choke point for world trade that connects asia and europe and sees 30 percent of the global container shipping volume every day is also an important transit point for oil and natural gas one reason why oil prices so just 6 percent on wednesday the question for ship is now is how long it will take to pry the vessel out. more than $100.00 ships are stuck on both sides of the canal after the every give and

wedged itself between the eastern and western banks the ship's owner evergreens there's a 50 kilometer an hour gust of wind shove the ship into the canal walls the 200000 ton vessel which stretches 400 meters is believed to have partially run aground smaller tack boats are now trying to leave it free realistically there's no quick fix here if the ship can be can be freed up and moved moved around we can then get get good flowing again the only real realistic long term solution if this does turn to be something long term really is to go around the cape and again that's going to add a significant delay to the to the good flowing the current conditions have only added to the walls low tide means the efforts to dislodge the ship will be delayed a couple of days so the world's biggest shipping jam could even get longer. the time now for a quick roundup of some of the other stories making headlines around the world the

u.s. senate has voted to approve president joe biden's choice of rachel levine to become assistant u.s. health secretary she's the 1st openly transgender person to be confirmed by the chamber despite strong opposition from republicans live in was come from a vote of 52 to 48 in the u.s. city of boulder colorado a candlelight vigil was held for the 10 people killed on monday when a gunman opened fire at a supermarket the 21 year old saw suspect will make his 1st court appearance on thursday he faces 10 counts of murder and an attempted murder charge europe's largest active volcano erupted overnight for the tense time since february the southeast crater of mount etna sent lava rocks flying up to 900 meters into the air as the largest of its of these 3 active volcanoes. and sight

seers have also been flocking to another more spectacular volcano eruption in iceland has been flowing since the mountain 1st started spewing file week ago but hikers trying for the perfect selfie are being warned don't get too close. to love above spirits and paws out of the crater of this for ok. it began erupting here on iceland's greatness peninsula last friday the 1st time in around 900 years. so perhaps it's no surprise that thousands of people have been flocking here to witness this rare event. trying to get as close as they dare. to that perfect picture. i mean this love us we just so close right you. haven't seen anything like. hikers getting

hungry some of these the lava as a giant grill but this does come with a warning. 2 days ago this guy that tried to cook eggs and bacon on a love ate. to stay away from it. there have also been warnings over comic gas pollution. before the eruption there were more than 50000 lakes here in just 3 weeks. they were caused by a large body of molten rock known as magma which has pushed its way to the south this. it's unclear for how much longer this volcano will continue to erupt for now the icelanders are enjoying its hypnotic display it's. not indeed you're watching the news live from berlin as more world news the top. all the hour don't go away though up

next is our sole focus on europe also in the meantime you can check all the news out and our website d.w. dot com of course you can follow us on instagram twitter where apps a d w news gallop us in the berlin and so much. from.

childhood like no other. for years romana mia was actually abused by his father. is not an isolated case but only a few of the victims have the courage. about incest. the frenchman has decided to break through the wall of silence focusing on europe. d.w. . ensures the conflict zone peace talks are back on between afghanistan's government

and the taliban with renewed urgency as the u.s. increases pressure on reaching a political solution before a may 1st troop withdrawal deadline i guess this week is afghanistan's ambassador to the e.u. and nato the last time is the government strong enough to deliver on human rights to the feet another one for self conflict. 16. more than a 1000 years ago europe witnesses a huge construction boom. christianity from established itself. both religious and secular leaders a point to display their power. to trace began.

and create the tallest biggest and the most beautiful structures. space home massive churches are created. conscious to be drolls starts april 12th on d. w. . hello and welcome to focus on europe show great to have your company and insist scandal is rocking france at the moment on social media countless adults are using the hash tag me to incest to share how they were sexually abused as children by family members. these revelations were prompted by an unusual book in her publication author

a comic wish now is accusing her stepfather of sexually abusing her brother for years the fact that her stepfather is a prominent intellectual has heated up the debate even more. this man home also suffered abuse in his own family is one of many in france a recent study shows that in an average class of 6 graders 10 percent of very likely to be incest victims many keep that secret for years just like lumia now he is ready to tell his story it shows how sexual violence against children takes place even in the supposedly best of families. when we were 3 brothers and all of us were affected we never talked about it and then others knew the others were experiencing the same. come on them now was a kid like many others we had 2 brothers and a sister his father was

a teacher and his mother worked at a radio station. lived with his family in an apartment in paris outwardly a seemingly normal life but the crimes that took place in the family home haunt the actor to this day. i know i do and the 1st time it happened i was 7 years old i was in bed early because i was a child you know. my father laid down beside me and shook me his penis. he asked me to masturbate him but you know i was only 7 years old. i didn't know whether that was you know or not but all night it was in him but i guess. back then mom and his 2 brothers were regularly raped by their father their mother was blind to the sexual abuse that was taking place behind the facade of their normal middle class life. i felt completely betrayed by the 2 people in the world i trusted the most. when your father and mother betray you

it means no where in this world is really safe anymore. you always have the feeling you're standing on quicksand. but. according to a poll conducted by the market research and consulting firm i p s o s n 2021 in 10 french children have been the victim of sexual abuse by a family member but many suppressed the memory it took years for me to remember the terrible thing that happened to her when she was 5. back then she spent a day alone with her relatives at the family's house in the country. she says it was the worst day of her life. her relative pretended that he was going to teach her how to ride a bike and raped her. would really come to. me when i was 37 years old i suffered an emotional shock and suddenly the memories came flooding back in incredible detail. it was like having a camera at

a child's eye level i saw the aggressor his jewelry his underwear. his who bit more . me you call your mother has now found drawings she did following assault a girl crying all secure which means help a snake and then knife symbols of the attack and time and again a man with a mustache at the time no one questioned why me it was drawing these things. there's really a paradox in france. the french place a lot of importance on family values and yet paradoxically they destroy these social values by making it taboo to talk about sexual abuse. it's like a code of silence in the mafia so that everyone abides by. the unique ojamaa now heads of french association for victims of sexual abuse it advocates there

should be no statute of limitations for such crimes that way perpetrators can't simply get off scot free if their victims take decades to come forward all moslem year has also broken his silence in january 2021 when he saw the hashtag me to incest on twitter he wrote right away need to from age 7 to 14. to this day home allam year still finds his father's actions in comprehensible because he was also a loving dad who cared for his children well even now almost struggles to find an explanation. if my father were 20 years old today. particulary he might have children with it but he could satisfy his needs another way nuku me. you know that wasn't possible for my father back then coming from a poor. catholic background inboard was. 20.

years later his sister found out about the abuse and informed the school authorities their father then took his own life home all spent years in therapy and they don't buy the scheme i've told my girlfriend everything that happened to me so it's unimaginable not to. live with you that's why i mixed really optimistic. the world is changing and i things like this shouldn't happen is easily settled it would be less likely to happen a toll. today some on them yet doesn't much care what the rest of his family thinks of him speaking so openly about the terrible past he says too many people are still remaining silent. about the guy. wanted to. be on. the show.

but this. france now wants to increase protection for minors against sexual predators a new law is expected to be passed in the coming months. don't secure it's little dogs like bees make you wants to cuddle them right away well the business with puppies is booming here in europe especially now with contact restrictions many people are getting themselves pets to fight loneliness and isolation but reading pets can be a shady business in a number of countries in southern europe dogs are bred illegally those that can't be sold are sometimes this posed of at the garbage sites our reporter got an inside look into this brutal sector in bulgaria and serbia. a morning in serbia such a place which is on the lookout for puppies his mission to save their lives we accompanied him for a day. in

a matter of minutes there are stray dogs everywhere is nothing unusual such a point say 90 percent of them originated from illegal breeding farms social news most of the dogs in the time. you have a panic so i can only take in puppies or dogs in really bad shape if their lives are in danger i just don't have enough room for the purpose of i like to help them home with you but i don't have the means or. i would never wish you. a few weeks before sasha recorded these images on his move off soon. he said in these puppies by a garbage dump. session says they were abandoned because they were mixed breed rejects to the breeders without him they would starve to death. 150 kilometers further east in severe bulgaria but the poppy trade is also booming . officially 20 breeding farms are registered in bulgaria there are many more illegal ones by far and internet search reveals that dealers offer thousands of

puppies for sale each day most of them destined for buyers in germany says matt dillon opinion of the animal welfare organization for paws that's where they fetch the highest prices but the puppies are taken from their mothers too early in violation of animal welfare laws. later in the pub these have little real immunity. and they don't get the inoculations they need so they won't catch diseases. the catch is that's a serious problem. combating the dog matthew can be dangerous animal rights activists recorded these images in the legal breeding farm with a hidden camera and investigation was only launched after they reported it to the authorities. who tried to get one of the few registered breeders to talk to us about the business but number yet willing. to serve.

it says the dark side of the puppy trying to lurks behind this gate. he's taken in some 800 dogs here over the past few years. he takes care of them with the needed funds and help from a belgian animal welfare organization and finds homes for them with animal lovers. every dog that finds a new home in belgium through a registered organization. for the entire body tighter test and in. these dogs can ensure that you completely legally. and i can bug area and insight you at the end of april and you law will take and say here this is only registered animals to be sold. as a fee. if that's an area and dimitar you know ski slopes the new law will help but he doesn't really put much faith in it he explains the dog matthew uses all the

tricks of the trade off and forging documents and chips with a veterinarian help he's even found his own name on such papers the black market dealers at fortune stamp and signature to sell a puppy. it was determined that the dog had come from serbia one of the principal sources for the trade because he's not in the e.u. when the trail leads there are no further action can be taken. finally an official greeter agreed to talk to us reading as a sideline for vince's last duchess. he concentrates on training dogs and follows strict regulations his animals are in demand this therapy dogs are movie and television shoots. and says the responsibility lies with the buyers if they want a dog they have to know exactly where it comes from

a new the dog's cost time and money. supply for every compromise the buyer makes the animal loses quality is not up to me to make these demands but if we're going to get the illegal trade under control there must be more checks. in the evening in serbia sascha passage by screwed for the dogs on his farm. he spends $1000.00 euros a month and dogs who don't loom. he couldn't manage without the donations but he says he will be able to keep it up much longer he's afraid the numbers of stray puppies will only rise and the illegal breeders from bulgaria will move their operations to serbia where they fear neither laws nor checks that might interfere with the lucrative illegal trade in puppies. we're now introduce you to a small town in finland it's called salah and it has applied to host the olympic games in 2032 this candidacy is quite unusual because the games in 2032 are summer

olympics and yet sala is one of the coldest places in finland now this may sound like a joke to some but there is a serious message behind this campaign climate change is affecting the lives of residents like timor to have the olympic bid is an attempt to create awareness. a skier in shorts braces along the icy track pulled by a reindeer the video clip is a humorous advertisement to stage the olympic summer games in sala northern finland . but. the reindeer driver in the video is chemo too hot he says it was great fun but the video comes with a message climate change means winters in his homeland are no longer as cold as say used to be. normally it would have been sold at 1st comes from below 0 degrees on the rivers and creeks they freeze and then really get the snow on top

but now this reenter the large through interest got like 20 to 30 centimeters of snow on the frozen lawn. every morning t.-mo to house still checks his most valuable reindeer the ones that pull a sleigh to succumb to solid love the sleigh rides so the attraction is a good earner. solid claims to be the coldest place in finland. aside from herding reindeer the 3000 residents make their living from tourism and selling wood from their forests. the visitors appreciate that they can ski here as late as may for the time being at least. but to hack and pack up the sleighs if the winters get warmer here. climate change could even keep the summer visitors away. and last time of guiding middle european people in summer time the reason why they

came to love london summer was that it was too hot in in germany in the netherlands and they said that the hour plus 30 plus 40 is just too much so they decided to go to the arctic where plus 15 plus 20 is tough perfect for the summer so yeah that's how i would like to keep things. they definitely don't want it to get is warm as it does for the summer olympic games despite the fact that in this tongue in cheek video they're playing volleyball in the snow and swimming in ice. and scientists are confirming salo isn't all that cold anymore climate researcher to cut of the university of helsinki has a research station near sala. he says in northern finland.