a 1000000 doses from sun aufidius soon as the european medicines agency gives the go ahead the same number from buy on tech modernity 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 covert 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 what europe's vaccination program needs

now is a shot in the arm. a shot in the arm and a do over use of brussels virtue of alexander von amen is at the e.u. summit for us today the virtual one so she is right there where it's happening now is out of the goal is very clear more vaccines for countries what action will the european union take. according to the german chancellor the key issue here is to accelerate for direction in the european union and actually we have some good news here. develop a biotechs has started for the auction at its new plant in germany and to day australia submitted a request to the european medicines agency for the authorization of its dutch plant and if it gets swift approval we could see 1st deliveries from this deliveries from this plant by the end of this month however we can also expect the majority of e.u.

leaders to support the european commission's decision to introduce stricter export rules and to possibly ben exports of the scene if necessary many e.u. member states say this is the right way to move forward to make the scene producers meet their commitments right now meanwhile earlier today americal addressed the german parliament defending her handling of the crisis and the decision to allow brussels to handle procurement let's take a listen to what she said exactly and then we'll pick up our conversation after that it's published and it was right to focus on the joint procurement and approval of vaccines by the european union anyone who sees that even with small differences in distributions there's a great deal of discussion i don't want to imagine that if some member states had vaccines and others did not that would shake the foundations of the internal market and that's why i'm believe that we've laid the foundation to pass this greatest

test of the european union. and now this of course decision has come under some pressure in many member states legs i don't would it have been even conceivable for the e.u. not to be the one to purchase vaccines collectively. well i think that was something that richer countries such as germany might have considered at the beginning but it was not an realistic option at all because that would be the end of the sole authority member states would be competing against each other to purchase vaccines poor a smaller countries would be struggling struggling to get any of them so i think in the end it was important for the european union to purchase those vaccines together you know i understand that the u.k. and the commission have kind of patched things up but i still would like you dress

i mean they almost went to the brink and then decided not to continue because obviously there is this perception that britain is failing to share vaccines and i'm just warning has the worst now been avoided well at the moment it seems so both sides are talking instead of accusing each other they issued a statement yesterday saying that they're trying to create a win win situation and to expand they've seen supplies for every citizen so we still have to see and wait whether they could come up with a real solution to the problem now obviously one of the things is ongoing spat with astra zeneca but you gave us some good news at the start of our conversation they will probably increase their their supply. has there been a lot of discussion in terms of how the commission has dealt with astra zeneca. of course and we have to say that many member states are very upset with astra zeneca

and with them not living up to their promises and is just going to scratch and also with regards to the talks with the u.k. whether the european union should be more tougher on that and really ban some exports but many member states are also saying let's be cautious. let's try not to ask to lead to this conflict because that could really backfire if we move on to band x. and exports to the u.k. they could in the return band exports of important role much ill as for materials for the scene production in the european union so i think that the chances right now are quite good too to solve this problem is identified i'm reporting from brussels thank you. and the more contagious variants of the corona virus 1st found in britain is now driving up the number of cases in many european

countries just across the english channel and the french city of dunkirk hospital staff are a breaking point. reports. the source did you know is finally feeling better the 62 year old was hospitalized with a severe case of covert 193 weeks ago people told 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 after tells us his patient's condition was serious when he 1st came to this hospital and dan kirk we don't know if the fronts with coverage 1000 cases rising in the region the hospital has ramped up its capacity working and pandemic mode for one year has left its mark on 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 it's of earth so this is just the. doctors and nurses here at this hospital want to encourage say thanks said to friends in comparison to last year there flown 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 just only a short boatwright away from britain is a. dunkirk we have a real wait and a sea terminal that connect dunkirk and great britain and that's why we had a rapid increase of the virus in a region from where it then spread and what happened here was simply a forerunner for what happened later in the rest of france war. on us are not 0. with covered 9000 cases 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 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 shop supervising the in accumulations for people are really impatient they all want to be vaccinated but it is the vaccine production itself which is difficult if you his 6 year old peer at cu sauce says she's very happy it's finally her turn. but put i'm not a baby anymore i will be fine she. 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 for 5 over cusano will soon come back for a 2nd shot she hopes the vaccine is the beginning of the end of this crisis. let's get you caught up now with some of the other stories making news around the world. greece is celebrating 200 years since the start of its struggle for independence from the ottoman empire the anniversary is being marked with parades and ceremonies attended by foreign dignitaries including britain's prince charles but the events were scaled back because of the pandemic with other spectators not allowed to attend the parade. the heads of facebook google and twitter are set to testify before the u.s. congress lawmakers will grill the executives on the role that the tech giants play in promoting extremism and spreading misinformation the hearing could lead to legal reforms to make the companies more accountable for the content they host. europe's

largest active volcano erupted overnight for the 10th time since february the southeast crater of mount etna sent lava rocks flying up to 900 meters into the air at now is the largest of italy's 3 active volcanoes. german lawmakers are due to decide any moment now whether to approve another extension of the country's involvement in the afghanistan peacekeeping mission more than $1000.00 german troops are currently deployed in afghanistan most of them around the northern city of mazar e sharif their mission now is to help train afghan forces the 1st german despair troops were sent in nearly 20 years ago as part of the international coalition against terrorism following the september 11th attacks on the us while the mission

has claimed the lives of 59 german soldiers nato is contemplating plans to wind down its presence a pending the outcome of peace talks between the afghan government and the taliban what miller has been to afghanistan 3 times as a soldier in the german armed forces he was 1st deployed at the very beginning of the u.s. led to intervention with just months after the 911 terror attacks. with his service dog eat a word molest task was to track down mines and diffuse them as far as it was an atmosphere of a new beginning was in the air like we can make a difference here we can bring the afghans the security they deserve an explosive detonated 2 weeks into his mission as his team was handling. 5 i said soldiers were killed instantly melissa vive seriously injured and traumatized. 160000 german soldiers have been deployed to afghanistan since 2000 to 59 of them

have lost their lives. it was meant to be a short intervention to stab allies the war torn country almost 20 years later despite progress made on women's rights and democracy the security situation in afghanistan is worsening. more than half of the population still lives in poverty. and the militant islamist taliban are pushing their way back to power while months of intra afghan peace talks have made little progress. islamic scholar would learn karimi lived and worked in kabul for 3 years she's now serving the peace negotiations from berlin if you want to really when peace close an agreement you have so many root causes of it's not clear what kind of government you want to have what kind of constitution you want to have what role women should play in their society how you do power sharing how do we expect to have such

a peace agreement being caused in a couple of months or even a couple of years it will take a long long time. his deployment will stay with him for the rest of his life he feels the war has come home with him. calm about it at night the comrade who died next to me who died in a very horrible way came to me and i could hear him calling for his mommy and yes i had to help myself 1st because there was no psychological and no therapy in any form or on the contrary one of the doctors even said it's best that you go back on a mission again that would help me and so i actually went back to afghanistan in 2005 with a diagnosis post-traumatic stress disorder. eventually the trauma caught up with me he had trouble sleeping suffered from flashbacks and suicidal thoughts it took him years of therapy to get better and a long struggle to get financial support from the board as well. today seeking his

own peace he wants to leave the bundeswehr and work on this apple farm. the afghanistan mission will never end for me never very hard and when i look at the media today and i see that afghanistan is once again ruled by the taliban that peace treaties are being signed with the taliban then i ask myself where the seriousness is where is the promise that we made to the afghans there's not much left of it before you. will learn hopes that someday they will be peace in afghanistan so that his sacrifice was not in vain. michael eisner peterson is here now on the search she has reported extensively for much of gonna stand for news and we're so grateful to have you here with us in person sunday now we are expecting lawmakers to decide whether to extend them the mandate what are your expectations well clearly in parliament we see

a huge majority that's for sure if you ask me but if you what os the populace how do they feel about germans troops still being deployed in afghanistan i think you would get a very different on softer 2 decades people simply want to know what are we still doing there looking at what we have achieved and if you look at what we have achieved what the troops have achieved this whole military mission kill you we see better infrastructure a new universities schools treats roads riches all of that but the most important thing peace and stability we don't have that afghanistan is still a country at war and terror is still a part of everyday life in this country as you know one of the things that a lot of people are discussing right now is that may that may 1st deadline for the u.s. that it has set for itself to draw down troops which now is widely expected to be missed that's probably logistically not going to be met. what impact does it have on germany in terms of if the americans decide to extend their

mission keeley whatever the u.s. does germany and other nato countries with because that is the u.s. calling the shots here everybody is looking to the u.s. what will they do i mean taking the signals from the by the neck ministration i think they have already indicated that may 1st would be very difficult to keep. but they also indicated they will they don't want to stay very much longer they want this war america's longest to end as soon as possible now the big question is how can we do that responsibly what we see now with the biden administration is in hans diplomatic efforts you know that. try to bring back the united nations into the arena of negotiations and we will probably see in april a big conference in turkey with also reached out of states like iran pakistan russia china which you will need to create an f. in peace which the 2 warring afghan sites cannot find by themselves let's talk

about germany's role in terms of you know we've had these doha talks which essentially didn't really lead to anything to put it quite simplistically what was germany playing in any possible peace talks between the afghan government and the taliban right now under the biden administration i think they were sidelined i think they wanted to host peace talks in germany the offer was there jointly with norway that was one of the office on the table but right now it's really the u.s. and trying to bring in the united nations another venue i think germany really has been sidelined and so we are at the moment looking at the supportive military role in assisting and training the afghan national security forces but that don't call the times or it happens remotely of course now. a lot of people are saying that the peace talks have reached an impasse that basically the taliban are just you know biding their time is that a fair assessment i think everybody is waiting what the u.s. will do and what the next move will be clearly the taliban are doing just that so

is the administration of afghan president ashraf ghani he was hoping for you know more support for his government but you know the signs are going hey we really want this political solution and if you're in the way you're going to be allat rights on repeaters and i thank you so very much so we're waiting for that vote on whether to extend the mandate in afghanistan i appreciate it thank you. and we're going to pivot now to north korea which has a 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 alice say the country has a history of testing new u.s. administrations with missile launches and other provocations to force the americans back to the negotiating table. and we can get that le latest and now with their frank smith correspondent based in seoul

south korea frank is this pyongyang just flexing its muscles or is there more to it there is definitely more should a couple of things 1st of its message so korea and especially the united states that made sense of the status quo isn't something that they're going to accept any longer the immediate agreement conjunct the leader of north korea with former u.s. president all trucked in singapore in 2018 to suspend its long range ballistic missile tests and nuclear tests in exchange for it in north korea. an end to hostile u.s. policy and perhaps or a relief of united nations security council sanctions on north korea also we need to remember launched cruise missiles on sunday that was pretty much downplayed in the u.s. and completely withheld that information withheld from this is pretty public for

several days why is that it would rank yet so what why is that because we also heard the president biden earlier just shrugging it off i mean are they just trying to well you know this is business as usual with north korea why are they downplaying at. well i think they thought that by downplaying it they would have more space to negotiate with or without having to demonize north koreans say you shouldn't do that and wave their fingers into north korean wanted to get their attention and certainly this morning they got their efficiency by again violating united nations security council sanctions and they are going to continue with this type of behavior and we also need to remember. this is a missile launch and the cruise missile is. an advancement of north korea's strategic nuclear capabilities being able to miniaturize the weapon be able

to get it on more short range missiles and use it in a different way they are going to advance their nuclear weapons program with some incentive and some negotiations and perhaps negotiations to relieve pyongyang from those united nations security council sanctions at some point frank smith a reporting from seoul south korea thank you very much next low tide overnight has slowed efforts to dislodge a giant container ship currently stuck in the suez canal it is blocking dozens of cargo vessels and tankers creating the world's largest shipping jam the efforts are ongoing to dislodge the evergreen owned by transport firm evergreen before it further disrupts the global shipping system while the suez canal is 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 an important transit route for oil and natural gas one reason why oil prices surged 6 percent on wednesday the question for shippers now is how long will it take to pry the vessel at. more than $100.00 ships are stuck on both sides of the swiss canal after the ever give and wedged itself between the eastern and western banks the ship's owner evergreen says 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 a much smaller tack boats are now trying to keep it free realistically there is 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 long realistic long term solution if this does turn to 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. so as far south as new for un germany's world cup qualifying match against iceland will go ahead despite an unnamed player in the camp testing positive for covert 19 it will be germany's 1st match since you announced his quitting as coach after this year's here paean championship germany are due to play 2 further qualifiers during this international break the german football association consulted with local health authorities assume whether today's match. would be cancelled to german players are now in quarantine. stay tuned for focus on in europe you're watching your every news live from berlin we'll have some

of your world headlines at the top of the hour for you thanks so much now for spending this part of your day with us. thank. you thank you. thank you. and. family income.

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use crime fighters are back to africa's most successful radio drama series continues. this season the stories focus on hate speech prevention and to sustain the introduction. 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 now. the little guys this is the subject the 7 percent is the platform for this new t.v. shoes and sure i guess. you know where this shutdown will be and looks of great option dead. because population.

and young people clearly have the solutions to do a job. in the 7 percent. 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 insist to share how they were sexually abused as children by family members these revelations were prompted by an unusual book in her.