well to vaccination of its staff members with astra zeneca this is and is expected in april over how to proceed with those who have already received their 1st dose. citizens can rely on the fact that substances permitted in germany are meticulously monitored the results are transparent and openly discussed. only those aged over 60 can now get the s resent it has shot for people in berlin the decision has further erode its trust in the vaccine. as resent occur i'm not convinced at all there's been so much negative news. i don't know about astra zeneca i would consider it although there's been a back and forth now those over 60 can take it doesn't mean. i don't want that vaccine i have an issue with my lungs and i don't want that when i am waiting until may 14th that's when i have my appointment for the biotech shot all i want to

any other vaccine. this latest blow to germany sluggish inoculation campaign follows new guidelines from the national vaccine commission. you know. we learned from a regulatory authority is that younger women but also men are suffering from severe cerebral vein thrombosis. and have died from it constantly. and the number exceeds what we would normally expect i thought age. we concluded it has to be related to the vaccine therefore we have to act. without and most. of the almost $4000000.00 doses of astra zeneca will arrive in germany next month but another dent to public confidence in the vaccine means using them up could prove difficult. and for more i am now joined by thomas marchand's chairman of the

german standing committee on vaccination mr martin's at 1st to the astra zeneca vaccine it wasn't supposed to be given to people over 65 and the vaccination was halted and it was resumed again and now it is only to be given to people over 60 even the messaging that that sends was all this back and forth really necessary. yes but it's quite a normal procedure to everybody who is familiar with scientific thinking and scientific procedure we always have to rely to prove to monitor the actual scientific information and in fact it is the job of the polish in-situ to monitor the potential risks of the vaccine after usage in the population because we're talking about a wrists that is too small to detect it in the approval test so the

polish institute they did their jobs and. again reacted after the intensive discussion was a polish insitute and other specialists of this point and then we decided as has been done in other countries for example in canada and france and norway and other scandinavian countries that this works in should not normally regularly given to the age group of people under 16 years of age but as the science was being reevaluated was it necessary to actually put a halt on vaccinations is don't you think that your recommendations have a damaged overall trust in the vaccine even more. i cannot exclude that but on the other hand it does it could be clear to people in germany that we really monitoring every risk and that we react when there is obvious risk

and as i just said there is was not only seen in our countries and since who risk has been observed in different countries and different countries reacted to this information it's a different completely story from the ficus of the vaccine does doesn't. as not to be mixed up with the frequency of civic si that is still very good but we don't want to give the vaccine regularly and age group of people under 60 years of age so that's your recommendation but the european medicines agency issued a statement today where they have reiterated that the vaccine benefits outweigh the risks and he said specifically that they did not find a specific age risk for the astra zeneca vaccine of course they are planning more consultations to come so why is germany not following best recommendation.

because we have our own there is solid day turns this fall and then must say that we are not aware of how monitoring is performed in the european countries since one of the problems we have and having this very clear signal in germany we have to react for the general population not about not at all happy about says decision you can believe me but the couldn't act in the different way in the moment and what of what about the u.k. for example where there vaccination campaign is done almost exclusively with the astra zeneca vaccine i mean why does the u.k. government continue to rely on astra zeneca on the one hand where germany is seeing these issues of blood clots. to be honest i'm not really a aware of the real data from the u.k. we do know that the u.k. and contras to germany started x.

in aiding the very old people 1st and then they went down through the age groups from starting from the very old one and we also we did not see this kind of side effect in the older people in the acts and they did i'm not aware really of the numbers of young people of our critical in school and u.k. the other thing is that we heard from the u.k. . colleagues that they are at the moment evaluating the. let's say the messages of outside of st so going to wait for the things will develop in grade 3 and you probably as securely do the very interests of the data from the u.k. . again this is really the field as

a date as we have our power then we should see to it now that astra zeneca has been made unavailable for a lot of the population of germany i mean are there going to be any other vaccines in the pipeline that will be approved and could be used in germany's vaccine rollout. yes we are waiting for the johnsons arms and we've seen as you know which is already approved. and will we will start using this folk scene in the very near future in april we will now have the vaccine doses from. books in the announcement will come and we are still waiting for hours of work since to be approved so hopefully. we will continue our in those asian complaint and i have to add that our. actualized recommendation that has no difference in the vaccines available just

shifting vailable vaccines to one age group to the other group and in other words we have still the same amount of fixin's available and very much roll so that we will not. know overall tax evasion paid i had thomas met and chairman of the german standing committee on vaccination projects for the technical issues just there at the end i thank you so much for coming and discipline as. thank you for. going to turn our attention now to brazil now where presidential year boston arrow is facing one of the biggest crises of his presidency after the heads of the navy army and air force all quit and that as the country records its highest daily covert 1000 death toll the pandemic has also exacerbated brazil's economic crisis and millions more people have lost their jobs and their homes. in brazil long

queues for the corona virus vaccine are common and increasingly so are bred queues . as a coronavirus pandemic rages on these people are putting their lives on the line just to get something to eat with a 3 month gap between government financial aid packages putting food on the table is becoming increasingly difficult and with a more contagious variance sweeping through the country increasingly dangerous. look at the situation if it wasn't for the church handing out this food i don't know where would i eat where what i ate i have no money the pandemic has forced millions into unemployment homelessness and hunger there is living on the streets face an increased risk of catching the disease because of this people who are homeless are being offered vaccines in sao paulo. the 2nd wave that came with greater severity increasing the cases much more we believe that this new strain has

further aggravated the health of people who already have underlying conditions people living on the streets already have diabetes syphilis hiv and other diseases besides alcohol and drugs and are even more vulnerable. brazil's response of the crisis has drawn criticism from around the world president journey across america has consistently opposed lock down measures and downplayed the seriousness of the virus once describing it as a little flu. with the heads of the nation's navy and air force resigning a political crisis has now been added to the mix while the nation is facing well over $3000.00 coronavirus related deaths per day but the infection rate and death toll rising as the virus continues to spread and looks like the worst may still be yet to come. let's turn our attention now to some other developments in the corona virus pandemic by on tech pfizer says a study showed that it's a vaccine is 100 percent of fact of in children between the ages of 12 and 15 the

company says it will aim to get shots to teens before the next school year starts meanwhile russia has become the 1st country in the world to approve a covert 1000 vaccine for animals it aims to reduce the spread of virus mutations in species such as make which are vulnerable to infection and china says there is no basis to accusations it did not share data with the researchers that were looking into the origins of the virus the world health organization has accused beijing of not giving its scientists full access to available information. and italy has expelled the 2 russian diplomats after an italian a naval captain was allegedly caught red handed selling secret documents to a russian official wording to the republican newspaper the navy captain worked at the defense ministry and had access to documents concerning a tally of defense and nato activities the naval captain has been arrested and

russia's ambassador summoned to italy's foreign ministry the kremlin says it hopes bilateral ties will not be damaged over the affair. and let's bring in a philip will and author and a journalist who is based in rome for more on this story what more do we know about the details of this case and exactly how it came to light. well it seems the italian navy office had been under surveillance for several months and it's believed that he had already sold. italian military secrets to russian spies in italy. the actual arrest took place last night. in rome as he was actually handing out military secrets in exchange for $5000.00 euros in cash according to what's emerging in the italian media it's all the trappings of a spy drama we have any indication of what kind of documents were allegedly being

exchanged in this car park. yes it is said that they were documents concerning military telecommunications the office i worked in the. defense ministry as you mentioned in the military start in rome and had access to secrets that concern not only 'd the italian military but also apparently nato communications secrets and it's suggested that these were the documents that he handed over to the russian diplomat who's a member of the military attach a star of the road he'd apparently photographed them from a. computer screen and stored them on a pen drive which is o.t. time today over to the russian official just before being arrested now that these allegations are coming to light how big of a threat does this affair pose to italy's relations with russia.

isn't a very delicate moment for the choose sides. both countries i think are interested in no downplaying the. there's the request from this limiting the damage. however the italian foreign ministry the foreign minister has described it as a very serious hostile act and clearly the 'd italians can't pretend nothing has happened here it's interesting that in the italian government now we have the far right league which has a soft spot for moscow and no one before it was suggested might even accept. political funding from moscow and of course in the past in the cold war italy had the largest communist party in the west and was therefore seen as

a weak link in terms of nato military secrets things of the world considerably since then all right philip a well and an author and a journalist in rome thank you so much for that update. let's take a look now at some other stories making headlines around the world of an international conference on aid for syrians facing extreme poverty has missed its target the virtual talks raise 5 and a half 1000000000 euros that's 3000000000 euros short of its goal united nations and says coronavirus is making the situation in syria even worse. the european commission is referring poland to the top courts over concerns about the rule of law and an alleged a lack of judicial independence the case is part of a longstanding dispute between brussels and warsaw over democratic standards and government says the calls the case has no legal or factual justification.

and divers in indonesia have recovered the cockpit voice recorder of a passenger plane that crashed into the java sea in january all 16 people on board the boeing jet were killed or shortly after takeoff from jakarta a preliminary report found the engine had a problems with engine thrust. and votes are being counted in one of america's most significant labor battles in decades the outcome will determine whether a union can gain a foothold at amazon organizers are promising union representation will improve the lives of nearly 6000 people who work for the internet retail giant amazon is expected to push back trying to keep unions out stuff and simons went to alabama to find out more. welcome to bessemer if you have never heard of this southwestern suburb of birmingham alabama you were not alone at least until recently bessemer home to roughly 28000 residents has become a daily news headline

a beacon of hope for many but for others it's now a symbolizes a vicious attack on good old capitalism. bessemer is now at the center of the biggest and most important labor fight the united states has seen in decades thanks to amazon so here we are at the amazon fulfillment center right behind me here in bessemer alabama. this place or better 5800 workers who work here could make history yes history but only in the united states why is that because amazon was successful for the last almost 20 years to fight off any union effort to put cracks in the house off the sauce this is the 1st time that a union has a real chance to get labor organized at amazon local union organizers worked for months on getting amazon workers into the flock flyers

and posters rallies and shit like work and this all came about because of this man daryl richardson. richardson felt things are not all that great at the bessemer amazon fulfillment center if you're late a minute. 15 minutes a automatic way from you. i want. to watch take up so we're just a lot of stuff need to be changed last year contact at the retail warehouse and department store union in birmingham and a representative met with him here. at the dreamland barbecue in tuscaloosa over rips and iced tea a plan to unionize amazon was hatched and set in motion. fast forward to today almost $6000.00 workers voted for or against unionization now the votes are counted union activist alex gould says that won't be the end of it likely but what

is it it's a pro union leaflet. if the workers win this vote it's going to be a big struggle for samaras to come to any agreement with them you know the laws. have to bargain with them but we all know it's a question of power. and there's also the other side of course amazon employees who don't want to use it we are against it and we are very happy with what we are getting is far as benefits we're happy with our working conditions we're happy with the advancement opportunities. speaking of advancement whatever the bessemer vote tally will be amazon is sure to face more pressure for unionization in the future. and now to a woman who has blazed a trail for people in germany's armed forces and

a study of be fun was the 1st transgender commander in the german army the bundeswehr on the international transgender day of visibility her story shows how much has changed for gay and trans people pursuing a career in the military but it was a long and challenging road to acceptance. putting on makeup has become a part of her every day routine and a study of the following is a lieutenant colonel in the german army and a transgender woman. i am transgender and i decided a top 40 to actually leave my male life behind that doesn't realize that i was a woman it's what the point of my life were decided to actually move into the direct consequence of coming out as a transgender woman came after 20 years of military service to anastasio zone surprise it wasn't a stumbling block in her career shortly after her sex change surgery she became a commander in charge of 700 soldiers sergeant major dietmar shared

a met anastasio be falling after her gender reassignment for him honest as he is just another fellow soldier. q but i just accept that people are the way they are and that goes beyond transgenderism i feel the same way about other more mundane things like what party they vote for what make of car they like you just have to accept people the way they are the diseases. that would be fun lived as a man she led a seemingly ordinary life but says she felt tremendous emotional pain because she didn't feel comfortable in her body as a male. probably looked for flight into a typical male role about her probably helped. to perform to male standards but my inner self was always. crying after that almost 20 years and. i was at a point in my life where my emotional stability my emotional wellbeing wellbeing

had a point where i said i don't want to live this way anymore after 3 years as a commander honest career has taken off she is now the head of a division in the boom disappears cyber and information domain service. she is also making it her mission to stand up for transgender people in the german armed forces promoting diversity and tolerance. what i know from my experience is what is definitely certain if you are true to your soul and the way you are open you will have a better live as a mom one so that she seems to be finally happy. you're watching a d.-w. news before we go here's a reminder of our top stories at this hour europe's drugs regulator has reiterated it has been benefits of astra zeneca coronavirus vaccine outweigh any possible

risks to medical body said it had not yet identified any blood clot risk factors associated with age though investigations are ongoing. and italy has expelled it to russian diplomats after an italian navy captain was allegedly caught red handed selling secret documents to a russian official the kremlin says it hopes by lateral tykes will not be damaged over the affair. and don't forget you can always get new news on the go just download are out from google play or from the app store it will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news and if you're part of a news story yourself you can also use to send us photos and videos of what's been happening. that's news update at this hour coming up next made in germany looks at the boom in

a global mega-cities don't forget there's always more news and analysis on our website dot com and you can also follow us on twitter and instagram attitude of you nearest employee richardson in berlin in the whole team here thanks so much for joining us. boy. oh boy.

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and that may make you wonder why anyone would choose to move to a city where the fact is 3 quarters.