foundation to pass this greatest test of the european union will we. speaking then joining me now in the studio this is our chief political correspondent linda kremlin merkel defended leaving procurement of the vaccines. as arsons to the e.u. 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 easy 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 plane 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 the one could call this failure of the you tube you know enough vaccine. we want could see out of 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 bear some share of responsibility there well yesterday we had our goal of michael 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 adequate 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 crimes thank you very much melissa. e.u. leaders are meeting in a video conference today to discuss strategies to tackle the covert 19 pandemic many european countries are battling a surge in infections but the vaccine rollout in the block has been plagued by

supply problems ahead of the summit french president himalaya back or expressed frustration that backs in asians in the e.u. are far behind other countries he acknowledged the euro black and vision of its initial vaccine research and procurement efforts currently less than 10 percent of the residents have at least one shot that's far behind the u.k. for example where the vaccination campaign is speeding ahead with nearly half the population having received at least one shots. rapid fire jabs are the order of the day in the u.k. even churches like the renowned westminster abbey have been commandeered in the battle against the virus the strategies seen some 30000000 u.k. residents vaccinated so far just under 50 percent of the population all e.u. member countries put together only managed 57000000 the e.u. had ordered adequate supplies from produces but pharma firms have failed to keep up

. cure vakil supply of 405000000 shots but it's vaccine hasn't been licensed yet for e.u. distribution roughly the same quantities are on order from astra zeneca along with the recently approved johnson and johnson jap the e.u. wants 300000000 doses from sun ofi as soon as the european medicines agency gives the go ahead the same number from by on tech modern a is expected to supply 160000000 shots all those pharma companies have production lines in the e.u. their most important locations are in germany france spain belgium italy and austria and production is being ramped up over the coming months the european commission has been angered by the sight of vaccines from e.u. production being export it was there in short supply here. this year between the beginning of february to mid march of 41500000 covered 1000 shots were exported from the e.u. to the u.k.

the americas asia south africa and australia the u.k. alone got 10000000 of those doses to the european commission says british swedish producer astra zeneca has barely supplied the e.u. with 30 percent of the quantities agreed for europe's vaccination program needs now is a short and beyond. to brussels beard some of our nominee will be following the e.u. summit a virtual summit for authors just just start it she joins me now from wall xander the aim is clear more vaccines for you countries but how well it is also clear that many e.u. leaders are frustrated with the slow rollout and delivery problems the ongoing delivery problems polish prime minister most of its key for example urged his fellow e.u. leaders i had off the summits to be tough and to make their public goods he was

arguing that the governments should use every legal means to buy patents from companies and allow other manufacturers to produce vaccines he also said that he was in favor of toughening export rules and that is actually what the european commission decided yesterday and many member states say yes that's the right way to move forward to to have stricter export controls because they cannot explain they say they cannot explain to their citizens why they are still waiting to be vaccinated while the european union is exporting their scenes outside of the box well do all the countries agree on how to act in response to the confrontation that is going on with the u.k. and with astra zeneca. no they don't the e.u. is not united on that question there are several countries including belgium or

arland who say we have to be cautious here because this is a risky decision that could disrupt the e.u. supply chains and of course it could happen that if the european union moves forward and block backs and exporters to the u.k. the u.k. could in return block exports of raw materials that are needed for victory in production in the european union at least at the moment both sides are talking and they issued a statement yesterday saying that they are trying to create a win win situation so that is certainly something e.u. leaders are going to talk about today as well as on on a separate issue u.s. president joe biden will be addressing the some advice video message later today what are you european countries hoping to hear from him so this is going to be a driver brief exchange the europeans are hoping to talk about working together to

come but their pen demick to come back to climate change russia and china are also on the agenda and even though it is going to be a brief exchange everyone here is excited the last u.s. president who addressed the e.u. as a group was barack obama in 2009 so now everyone is hoping that the fact that joe biden is joining this video conference is extra signal for a new start in relations with the united states. that's on the phenomena in brussels thank you very much. a more contagious variant of the coronavirus 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 hospital staffa a breaking point. reports. did you know what is finally feeling better the 62 year old was hospitalized with

a severe case of covert 193 weeks ago please tell me it is hard to be confined you don't see the sun nothing but you just have to deal with it as opposed to a doctor come ology have tells us 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 and it most for one year has left its mark on d.s. and his team because he just physically it's hard mentally it's hard it's a marathon the end is nigh it incites puppy must persevere we are in a war and now we have to find the ammunition and we have to fight to survive so this is just. the doctors and nurses here at this hospital one time kirk so you think so different in comparison to last year they flirt 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 dunkirk which is only a short boatwright away from britain. don't currently have a real wait and see terminal that connect dunkirk and great britain and that's why we had a rapid increase of the virus in our region from where it then spread what happened here was simply a 4 runner and what happened later in the rest of france. with covered 19 case. this guy rocketing 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 are 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 the dunkirk vaccination center his shop supervising the in a queue nations where people are really impatient they all want to be vaccinated but it is the vaccine production itself which is difficult for you 86 year old direct to sell 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 i think so yes i really think i will have a more carrots not much more far over concern i will soon come back for a 2nd shot she hopes the vaccine is the beginning of the end of this crisis. here's a round up of some of the other stories making headlines around the world today cuba has begun testing its own covert 19 vaccine on health care workers it's hoped

most people in the capital have ana will get the sovereign to buy may cuba has been developing a vaccine since the 1980s because of the long standing u.s. trade embargo against. north korea 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 of the say the country has a history of testing new new u.s. administrations with missile launches and other provocations to force the americans back to the negotiate. table. the u.s. senate voted to approve president joe biden's choice of rachel levine to become assistant u.s. secretary the 1st openly transgender person to be confirmed by the job despite strong opposition from republicans the vin was confirmed on a vote of 52 to 48. greece is celebrating

a 200 years since the start of its struggle for independence from the ottoman empire universe or is being marked with parades and ceremonies attended by foreign dignitaries including britain's prince charles of the events were scaled back because of the pandemic with no spectators allowed to attend the parade. had a facebook mark zuckerberg could be in for a grilling when he testifies to the u.s. congress today about january's insurrection who is also being joined by the heads of google and twitter will answer questions not just about the role social media played in fueling the violence but in how it helps spread misinformation as well as conspiracy theories the hearing is widely seen as a sign that the new biden administration plans to take a tougher line on america's tech industry and for more on that i'm not joined by our reporter pablo foley liers who's been following this story for us public what can we expect from today's hearings. well what we can expect is you mentioned it

there at grilling that the c.e.o.'s of facebook google and twitter will be answering questions in particular about that insurrection in the united states back in january and essentially and how they could have helped in preventing the spread of that misinformation with regards to the organizing of that and also to last year's election and the question as well that's going to be asked is whether that the laws that all at the moment govern these platforms in the u.s. should be changed and should tech companies be held more responsible for the spreading of that misinformation particularly on their platforms now what we can expect is that the c.e.o.'s of facebook twitter and google and there's a level of acceptance will say that change is going to take place but there is disagreement about how they should move forward this whole issue is because of

a bipartisan desire in the u.s. to change the laws regarding the governing of a tech companies and it also is going to have a focus on one law in particular which is section $230.00 of the communications decency act that shields tech companies from liability which regards to information that spread or that's posted on their platforms mark zuckerberg the head of facebook is very much clear that he knows that change is going to take place and he's proposing some changes that out where as google at the c.e.o. of google is is very much against it so why is president by taking a different approach to dealing with a techno. well what's interesting about president biden is that one of the yet the law that i just mentioned there section 230 is one that he's actually been in agreement with with regards to changing it with former president trump now the democrats say that it allows because there's no liability essentially or less

liability it allows this information and conspiracy theories such as q and on to spread on those platforms republicans on the other hand say that it protects companies from consequences for censoring in particular conservative voices so while the reasons why they're there against it are or against it are different they're very much in favor of changing it so that's essentially i don't so it's a big change from want president barack obama let's not forget president biden was the vice president under that administration at the relationship he had with tech companies which will say was far more cozy so he wanted what else can be done to deal with these kinds of misinformation and the spreading of conspiracy theories well facebook has said that it actually has done a lot to do it it's been taking down posts and closing groups which have been spreading misinformation and the but ultimately what needs to be done is that the legislation surrounding this particular in the united states in this case needs to

be perhaps altered because at the moment it doesn't seem to be working well enough they don't use public phony alias thank you very much of the. some sports news now and germany's world cup qualifying minge map show against iceland will go ahead despite an unnamed player in the camp testing positive for covert it will be germany's 1st match since you're going live announced he's quitting as coach after his this year's european championship germany are due to play 2 for further qualifiers during this international break the german football association consulted with local health authorities as to whether today's match induced book should be cancelled 2 german players are now in court. if your is china is lashing out against global fashion brands us sports are nike is facing a backlash on social media in china after saying it was concerned about reports of

forced labor of wiggles in the chain young region the fallout comes after the e.u. and the u.s. imposed sanctions on chinese officials foliage human rights violations in geneva. nike is trending on social media in china but not in a good way it's facing a backlash after a statement on china's policies in the change young province saying it won't use cotton from the region. and it's not on the edge and then was singled out this week for issuing a statement last year in which it said it was concerned about allegations of forced labor engine john both annika statements haven't been received well by people in china. they managed to nigeria's chinese we must show our patriotism i don't buy these brands and now i will ask my friends to boycott them too. to come on the singles foreigners making money from china but scolding it and discrediting

cotton frontin junk i will not buy those foreign brands i will support domestic products. western brands are caught in the middle of a feud between china and western countries which have imposed sanctions on chinese officials because of the allegations of forced labor but while taking a stance on change young cotton is potentially a human rights issue it could hit their bottom lines in the world's 2nd largest economy. low tide overnight slowed efforts to dislodge one of the largest container ships currently stuck in the suez canal where it's blocking dozens of cargo vessels in time because creating the world's largest shipping job i'm going to dislodge the ever given owned by a transport for evergreen before it further disrupts the global shipping system this is canal as a choke point for world trade it connects asia and europe and sees 30 percent of the global container shipping volume every day it's also important transit point

for oil and natural gas one reason why all prices surged 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 that's where the canal after the every give and wedged itself between the eastern and western banks the ship's owner evergreens that's a 50 kilometer an hour gust of wind shop the ship into the canal walls the 200000 ton vessel which stretches 400 meters is believed to have partially run aground smaller tag bulls are now trying to leave it for. realistically there's no quick fix here if the ship can be can be are freed up and moved moved around we can then get good 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. europe's largest active volcano erupted overnight for the tense time since february the southeast crater of mount etna sent and lava rocks flying up to 10 sauza meters into the air is the largest of italy's 3 active volcano no injuries or serious damage have been reported after those blasts. inside sears have also been flocking to another farm or ravel eruption in iceland lava has been flowing since the mountain 1st started spewing 5 few weeks ago but because trying for the perfect selfie are being warned do not get too close. to love a bubble spits and paws out of the credo of this. it

began erupting here on iceland's rake has been into our 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. for that perfect picture. i mean this love us we just so close to right you. haven't seen anything like. the hikers getting hungry some of us 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 it and love ate. to stay away from it. there have also been warnings over comic gas pollution. before the eruption there were more than 50000 francs 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 surface . it's unclear for how much longer this volcano will continue to erupt for now the icelanders are enjoying its hypnotic display and. you're watching news coming up next on news asia. north korea's missile. almost see as fired missiles into the ocean but what was the point. from the north korean labor camp to running for office in the u.k. the north korean woman put the extra or the story behind to. also be a lympics torch relay begins in japan carries hope so freakin bling interest in the

delayed get. cold sores a lot more coming up next on the news with my colleagues here as budget and that's it from me on the news stream for all of us more world news out of the top off the are with larry rock and you can also check cost you wus up on our web site c.w. don't call me of course do follow us on instagram and twitter with us. so i've got alphas in berlin as for.

people in trucks injured when trying to flee the city center more and more refugees are being turned away from her mother still. lives predominately lookups demonstrators. people sleep extreme trips.

to. the limit more than 300000000 people are seeking. the ministry of the moment because no one should have to sleep. make up your own mind. w.'s. made for minds. indeed. climate change. the city. has stood. the years to the future. the dot com mega city. could turn.

on you hear me know yes yes we can hear you and how last year's german song so that when you bring me what i'm going to man call and you've never tired have surprised yourself with what is possible to this magical freak what moves have. we talked to people who follow along the way i admire and critics alike how is the world's most powerful woman shaking her legacy joining us from eccles la stocks. this is news a show coming up to the north korean myside stirred up tensions once again. after you're out on all the country launches to reside in violation of u.n. resolutions so what is the best route for the our studies of mission and. just. after escaping slavery under labor vicious north korean defector who is now running for political office in the u.k.

. and the olympic torch relay kicks off in japan under the shadow of the from durban with its far more exciting.