this is e w news live from berlin tonight europe's pandemic problems how to slow a coded 19 surge leaders of the european union convened a virtual summit today to address their agonizingly slow vaccination rollouts we'll look at how europe's leaders are proposing to get more vaccines into more arms also coming out germany extends its military mission in afghanistan and we'll hear from a combat veteran about the experience overcoming the conflict physical and mental trauma and in the hot seat big tech c.e.o.'s face

a grilling over january's riot at the u.s. capitol how big a role did social media companies play in spoking unrest and the joy of jigsaw germany's self-styled puzzle king pieces together a place for himself in the record books. i bring to our viewers watching on p.b.s. in the united states into all of you around the world welcome european union leaders are meeting to discuss strategies to tackle the coven 19 pandemic many european countries are battling a surge in infections as a 3rd wave sweeps the continent but the vaccination rollout in the e.u. it continues to be plagued by supply problems currently less than 10 percent of the e.u. citizens have had at least one shot pressure is mounting on leaders to source more

vaccines and to speed up the rollout. they are no longer meeting face to face yet another virtual conference due to rising corona virus infections the e.u. is in desperate need of vaccines its vaccination drive is painfully slow and leaders are also frustrated that japs produced inside the e.u. don't always stay here in septic 1000000 and balls and also on your own something is going wrong when 70000000 doses from the e.u. are exported to other parts of the world and not a single dose is delivered to european countries that the commission president is fighting day and night and when she is of the opinion that export controls make sense we should fully support her in that endeavor of india and unseen muffled them sort them and. guns districts stricter rules on exports could be applied to countries that produce vaccines but do not export them and who themselves have high vaccination rates this italian production plant is also likely going to be

a topic at the summit $29000000.00 doses of the astra zeneca vaccine were found here it's unclear whether they were going to be exported and why they were not being put to use another contentious issue of the distribution of vaccines across the e.u. some leaders including the austrian chancellor and the bulgarian prime minister have questioned its fairness but germany's chancellor defended the rollout that's published it was right to focus on the joint procurement and approval faxon's by the european union even with small differences in distributions there is a great deal of discussion i do not want to imagine that if some member states had vaccines and others did not and that would shake the foundations of the internal market and should then but it's not all bad news u.s. president joe biden is the 1st american leader since barack obama to speak at an e.u. summit e.u. governments are relieved that the united states has recommitted itself to the transatlantic partnership but here in brussels there is little hope that washington

will lend a hand when it comes to supplying vaccines any time soon. my colleague are corresponding much as he is following this summit forrest good evening to you georg the european union wants more vaccines how is it going to get them out of the way brussels sees this friend is that is that the e.u. wants the vaccines they have authored and they also want to share a fair fair share of vaccines what brussels is saying is look we have delivered inside the un 88 millions of vaccines and you've heard just the austrian chancellor 77000000 vaccines have been exported so almost the same amount of vaccines have gone out as have been going to ear member states and now the e.u. commission really has put the machinery on the table and has given the exports a mechanism that the u.s. put in place some teeth in saying look we will make it possible for you member

states if they decide so for instance on the summit to really stop exports not unless other countries the u.k. or the u.s. for instance also deliver vaccines to us you know i mean this is so problematic that hungary has broken ranks and approved vaccines from china and russia do we know are there other countries also considering growing their own way simply out of frustration. i wouldn't exactly say that they have broken ranks it's as any you member state is free has always been free to water vaccines as they want all the e.u. has done is order the vaccines together and it's individual member states that then can go to brussels and say look if us and vaccines but the authorization process the ordering process of other vaccines around the world any country could do that germany could tomorrow started ministering the russian vaccine if german authorities would choose to do that i think what all you member states agree on is

that buying together was the right thing because if it had been the national way then big countries like germany would be way ahead and other countries would have been completely lost lost out in this race we know georg that the u.k. and the european union they have agreed to cooperate on securing back scenes this comes after they disagreed over a perception that the u.k. had failed to share its vaccines is all of that is it just water under the bridge now i don't think that is the case i think what has happened really is that the commission has fired a warning shot here and if you look at the numbers it's quite staggering these you exported 40000000 vaccines as of february 10 1000000 of those went to the u.k. from fred in december and generally they exported 37000000 vaccines if you can quite a proportion of that we don't know the exact numbers but also went to the u.k. so we can say that well over 10000000 doses one to the u.k.

but nothing has come the other way round and the you know has made it clear look we we do want this market to open. to work openly but we do need your corporation and that is why you have that paper now and the e.u. really hopes that it will bear fruit ok to be used as with the latest from brussels the org thank you. our let's take a look at some of the other developments in the pandemic everyone traveling by air to germany will soon have to present a negative coded 19 test before boarding their flights the new rule takes effect this coming sunday the united nations vaccine program kovacs has warned that deliveries from india will be delayed this is a major setback for low and middle income countries which are depending on the vaccines from an indian manufacturer and israel has now administered vaccine doses to more than half of its population new infections there have dropped significantly most of the israeli economy reopened several weeks ago are here's

a roundup of other stories that are making headlines around the world a lawyer for a russian opposition leader alexina of all these says his health has deteriorated in prison she says that the volley now is suffering from back and leg ailments of all he was arrested back in january after returning from germany in germany he spent months being treated for a poisoning that he blames on the criminal a team of experts from the netherlands have arrived in egypt to joint efforts to free a giant ship blocking the suez canal but a team official warned that removing the ship the ever given it could take weeks to ship ran aground in the key trade route on tuesday. joe biden has given his 1st news conference as u.s. president he announced a new goal of administering 200000000 doses of coronavirus vaccines in his 1st 100 days in office he warned the u.s. would respond if north korea increases missile test and he said it would be hard to

withdraw troops from afghanistan by the main 1st like deadline because the or german lawmakers they have voted to extend the country's military mission in afghanistan by 10 months german troops have been serving there for nearly 2 decades some of them have deep doubts about the mission and path to peace you know when you know you spoke to one combat veteran who has been struggling with physical and mental scars since his deployment. to 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 intervention just months after the 911 terror attacks. with his service dog eat a word miller's 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 isis 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 the 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 diagram was 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 buddhists we have. today seeking his own peace he wants to leave the born this way 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. hopes that someday they will be peace in afghanistan so that his sacrifice was not in vain. earlier i spoke to the german lawmaker you're

going hard to his the foreign policy spokesperson for the conservative c.d.u. and c.s.u. parties i asked him how uncertainty over the exact date of the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan is affecting germany's decision to stay in the country we want to go super nice lists u.s. decisions on that and secretary blinken told our foreign minister yesterday at brussels on radio and nato conference us taking it this it will take its position soon how to. communicate with partners about the. taking back of troops and about the peace process and we appreciate that we are integrated into that process and that simply could be communicate that with the partners much better and much more intensive as it was the tribals ration mr hart let me just ask you is is it clear that for germany it is not an option to

stay in afghanistan if the united states decides to withdraw. the core message always was together and together out without us troops it would be difficult for us and our soldiers to stay there but the other way around if germany would leave now abbott would be blamed and would be not able to do their job because germany is responsible for the north an excess in the coalition a gauge went up understand and therefore i think also other states the participants will appreciate that germany decides to stay longer but participating in the process of negotiating and also taking it decision on leaving afghanistan military it has been almost 20 years since german troops 1st deployed with nato in afghanistan it has cost $45000000000.00 euros a year almost 60 german troops have died the conflict is still going on has this

project has it been worth it. expectations 20 years ago it's under 24 fields but the class is half full and on top of mt for example the number of girls going to school is. 10 times higher than it was 20 years ago the average life expectation and life age expectation of the people is 9 years science and 20 years ago we have a significant decrease in giants deaths of divorce and mother deaths of 2 births and we have seen so many progress in that country that we don't want to show that away now by leaving. without a concrete plan and a concrete dust picked up free press before that country and the negotiations should be tough but state should pledge to order positive results though that things can be continued in the country mr hart that is the big and that's the big

worry isn't it that once native leaves once germany leaves the us troops have gone that everything is going to fall back to the way it was with the taliban being in power again. i think that 20 years of coalition engagement in afghanistan makes a difference and also in the in the mind and mood of the people they see what is possible and 2nd tree with. rule of law with. school with women to dairy and ate with the development of the country and even in case that the taliban might rule the next government on the bandstand they have to be in mind that they cannot fall back into the middle ages as it wasn't as n.t.'s in afghanistan and i'm sure that also taliban leaders know know about that people have expectations and needs that they have to for as a government and as f.r. i'm not so pessimistic that we'll have

a total i think it will be difficult but i also think that it will there will be progress ok lawmaker you're going to are joining us tonight mr hart we appreciate your time and your insights thank you bye bye and angry chinese government is lashing out against global fashion brands the u.s. sports apparel maker nike is facing a backlash on social media in china after saying that it was concerned about reports of forced labor among china's weaker minority on monday the e.u. and the u.s. imposed sanctions on chinese officials for alleged human rights violations in the province of shin john. 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 that 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. claim not to nigeria's chinese we must show up patriotism i don't buy these brands and now i will ask my friends to boycott them to. keep from owning the same those foreigners making money from china but scolding it and discrediting cotton frontin john 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 weald 2nd largest economy. well the heads of facebook google and twitter are being grilled by u.s. congressional members on capitol hill today lawmakers have criticized the

executives for the role that their companies often play in the spread of misinformation today's hearing is the 1st since the u.s. capital was stormed by pro truck rioters back in january the hearing could lead to steps to make the tech giants more accountable for the content that they host on their platforms. are for more now i'm joined by the w.c. chief technology correspondent young of joke or yellow so you've been following these hearings has it been a true grilling. well print it hass i mean the 3 of them really feeling the heat and you can feel the frustration of lawmakers through the screen that started with the opening statement of the chairman of the committee who said and i quote him that this information was one of the biggest reasons for people in the u.s. not to get maxon aid at the moment and he added you can fix this but you chose not to this was very much equipped by other lawmakers who said for example we want no

more empty promises before it them again and again and you know this is the 4th on 9 hearing of big tech since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and there were several before that and i've watched quite a number of them but this level of frustration today is really extraordinary and you can feel that in the questions that are being asked today yeah i want you to take a look at an exchange from today's opening question session and then we'll talk about it take a look. if i ask you a yes or no question i'm just looking for a yes or no so please respond appropriately i want to start by asking all 3 of you . if your platform bears some responsibility for disseminating this information related to the election and stop this movement that led to the attack on the chapel just the yes or no answer was. chairman i think our responsibility is to build systems that can help you i'm sorry i just want to get i know an answer ok try yes

or no we always been a deep sense of trust ponse of money but i think we worked hard this election if it was one of our most abstract of if it's a yes or a no. congressman it's a complex question mr dorsey. yes but you also have to take in a consideration a broader you consistent and it's not just a technology platforms. but you know i mean that's amazing he was struggling to get one of them to say yes or no what do you make of that are these executives are they afraid of telling the truth or is there something else at play here. well you know i would say as a matter of fact it is remarkable that with jack dorsey of twitter for the 1st time a top tech executive acknowledged that his platform had some sort of influence on the riot that happened at the capitol and i think this also really illustrates that this is a turning point you know before january 6th people knew that online hate can spill

into real life violence i mean we've seen that in myanmar for example where for years facebook was used to incite hatred against the right into a minority but those things happened outside of the u.s. and what happened on january 6th really hit close to home for u.s. lawmakers and you know now they seem to be getting serious about regulating or some kind of regulation for the liability of that yet i mean said yes but he also qualified it which is prop part of the problem with questioning these c.e.o.'s so if we're talking about regulation what do you think tougher regulation is going to look like. well i think you know what's key to understand is that in the u.s. unlike in germany for example social media companies currently essentially enjoy immunity for what's being said or done on their platforms and this dates back to regulation known as section 230 which is you know was introduced back in 1906 at

a time when all those companies who had there today were just found it and you know what's up for debate now and also during the hearing is really much you know how can you update or even repeal that bill you know us by u.s. president joe biden has called for fully repealing it the companies of course don't like that idea they are arguing in favor of reforming it but the meeting today suggests that you know some kind of a mentor is building for tougher rules for liability for social media platforms in the u.s. as well but make no mistake it's far from certain how that's going to look like there is the fear to get the companies have to be liable for the content on their platforms that could be the end of the internet as we know it we will see the w.'s chief technology correspondent. thank you. and here's a roundup of other stories now that are making headlines around the world a judge has ordered the man accused of fatally shooting 10 people at a u.s. supermarket to be held without bail. out the week alisa has been charged with

murder and attempted murder following the rampage in boulder colorado on monday he will undergo a mental health assessment greece's 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 band pandemic with other spectators not allowed to attend the parade. for the patient and the persistent jigsaw puzzles are a welcome diversion especially for those languishing under lock downs but one man here in germany has taken his passion for puzzles to an extreme he's hoping his latest effort earns him a place in the record books pizza issue that has the perfect lock down time to escape the pandemic. putting together tens of thousands of puzzle

pieces. to self maims puzzle king has already done the hardest task he matched the tiny jigsaw pieces in small sections bust. and then fit the $108.00 sections together to make a huge puzzle it takes patience and stamina. i think temperament young for it took me 4 and a half months to put together the $54000.00 pieces. and i worked every day between 4 and 5 hours on the puzzle and once a week for a whole day which felt a bit like a marathon of 12 to 14 hours on. the jigsaw shows an art gallery wall filled with paintings and admiring visitors looking on. puzzle making began as a whole b.

and it grew into his passion peter thinks he's already personally matched close 243-0000 pieces here in his lifetime so far. from each person who says to me personally it's thrilling. of adrenaline every time my biggest goal is to get the picture right and that's what's so exciting to speak to shuffle on rotors is my passion and. he's hoping that the guinness world records will recognize his achievement too. yeah its cover. we wish him luck where europe's most active volcano was added again exploding into life the southeast crater of mount etna sent molten lava flying today smoke and ash from the explosions spread over a 6 kilometer radius at night is the largest of italy's 3 active volcanoes no injuries or serious damage have been reported after these recent eruptions.

you're watching the w. news here's a reminder of our we're top story this hour e.u. leaders are holding a summit to discuss how to ramp up the supply of vaccines export bans are on the table after drug maker astra zeneca failed to meet delivery targets but not all member states are in favor of the minutes. after a short break i'll be back to take you through the day tonight the 1st q. and a session with u.s. president joe biden will be right back.

the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing. measures are being taken. what does the latest research say. information and context.

the coronavirus an update on the cause of special. to friday on. land or find his want to start families to become farmers or engineers every one of them has a plan for your children. so nothing is kiss on the children who have always been the lawyer and those that will follow are part of a new kind of success that they could be the future. granting opportunities global news that matters d. w. made from minds. closely. carefully. don't see the need to take. action. discomfort.

subscribe to the documentary. 2 months into his presidency joe biden today set a new goal in the fight against the coronavirus 200000000 shots by his 100th day in office the u.s. should easily surpass this and it fits the biden under promise over deliver approach or will that work in foreign policy china is as unbending as ever u.s. troops are still mired in afghanistan and what about america's gun violence and the thousands of migrant children at the southern border biden never asked for a honeymoon at the start he's.