♪ >> welcome to live from paris. world news and analysis from "france 24" these are the main world news headlines. lockdown in dunkirk. the french port has a covid infection rate four times the national average. the situation there is alarming. ghana becomes the first country to receive covid vaccine from the covax program. but it is only a first step. biden seeks to recalibrate u.s.-saudi relations in deal

only with the king and not his son who was close to donald trump. this is live from paris. ♪ thank you very much for being with us. dunkirk is to be in local lockdown this weekend to try to stop the situation that the french health minister has described as alarming. she was at the channel port to confirm the lockdown. dunkirk has a rate of infection four times higher than the national average. one in ten people in dunkirk is now ill with covid-19. >> residents of the northern port city of dunkirk will be subject to tighter restrictions from this weekend.

with a population of just over 90,000 dunkirk has one of france's highest infection rates. it has the british variant of the virus. case numbers are twice of what they were during the first wave. the government is warning the situation is worsening after cases increased by 10% over the past week. on monday local authorities in the southeast covering nice and cannes mentioned that weekend lockdowns will be introduced.

people across france are being reminded to avoid large gatherings. >> so, dunkirk in lockdown from this weekend, confirmed by the health minister. we're watching for developments there. ghana, meanwhile, the first country to receive vaccine from the who covax program. it could pave the way for poor countries to get there jab -- their jabs. they are calling it a day to celebrate but he added it is just the first step. >> the first of 600,000 doses of the astrazeneca vaccine arrived in the capital of ghana on wednesday. with more than 200 million shots already distributed worldwide, the west african country is one of 130 nations that have yet to rule out -- roll out their

vaccine campaigns. the doses come thanks to covax, an initiative sponsored by the world health organization which is planning to send hundreds of millions of vaccines to africa. >> the covax facility for instance is planning to provide vaccine 600 million doses by the end of 2021 to cover 20% of the population. >> funded by wealthier nations, covax is aiming to deliver two billion doses of vaccines to 92 low and middle income countries by the end of the year, but even if the program succeeds, poorer nations will still lag far behind. >> it will be very tough to reach the -- cerage. as we know most of these vaccines have been -- have been hoarded by high income countries. it is something positive in the right direction. >> in ghana, the official

numbers do not tell the story. a recent study estimated that one in five people have contracted the virus. it and other west african countries are planning to begin their vaccination campaigns in the coming days. >> the u.s. president joe biden is expected to speak by phone with the saudi king and not to the air to the throne, the crown prince. insiders say this is part of the recalibration of the relationship. the crown prince had a direct line to donald trump. let's get the analysis. our resident scholar at the middle east institute. thank you for being with us. what do we take from this that in terms of the recalibration of the u.s.-saudi relationship? >> as we have seen president biden made it clear that he was to have a direct line with the

saudi king, not to the air to the crown, ben salman. it was made clear by the fact that president biden will speak to the king and the crown prince as defense minister spoke with lloyd austin the secretary of defense. >> this won't affect his status within the establishment, will it? >> i don't believe that this will impact his status in the royal family or in the government. the crown prince is in line to be the next king of saudi arabia. i don't see this is going to change. he is also the minister of defense, a very powerful position within the government and he will continue to be leading -- for the foreseeable future until he becomes king. >> he's has a successful

operation, undergoing leofric office -- laparoscopic surgery for appendicitis that means he is off the media stage. as a report is about to come out, you and i are on the grounds of speculation but we understand this report will point towards the very top of saudi establishment regarding the horrific fate of jamal khashoggi, the journalists murdered in the saudi consulate in istanbul. it is rather inconvenient that the crown prince is off the radar right now. >> we do know what is the content of the report. as you mention, it is another situate -- a moot situati at this point but when it com to the impact on the u.-saudi relationship, i do not lieve it will lead to a chae in policy. it might lead to a change in tone.

i can see that. it is also hard to see the report will be impacting that ack of the crown prince within the saudi government. >> jamal khashoggi had become an american citizen. it is another layer of complication on that story already horrific as it is. final question to. -- to you. the stance of the biden administration will be very different from his predisaster donald trump. do you think this will have implication, not just in saudi, but across the middle east? >> i think president biden is very clear he wants to recalibrate the u.s. strategic -- globally and he was to focus on the china challenge and that means less interest in the day-to-day of the middle east. in terms of a specific countries

and specific special relationships between president trump andiddle eastern governments, i think president biden wants to avoid that kind of personal relationship. he wants to make a relationship with certain capitals including riyadh, cairo and jerusalem. we will not see the same personal relationship policy in the region as a happened in the last. >> our resident scholar at the middle east institute, thank you very much indeed for giving us those answers and sharing your analysis on "france 24." we appreciate it. we are watching for the publication of that report about which you were speculating regarding the full implication of the saudi involvement in the murder of jamal khashoggi. moving on here at "france 24" a german court sentence former -- of the security services to

4.5 years in prison for aiding and abetting the torture of civilians. this is the first verdict for crimes against humanity in the 10-year-old syrian civil war . had arrested 30 antigovernment protesters at the start of the conflict in 2011. he knew detainees would be tortured. >> his face hidden from view, he enters a courtroom. the former syrian intelligence officer was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison after being convicted of aiding and abetting crimes against humanity. over his role in the arrest of protesters who were later tortured and murdered. it is the first prosecution over alleged atrocities committed by president assad's regime, and it has been welcomed by victims who gave evidence during the trial. >> it's more important than --

the reading of the verdict is the existence of the verdict. >> this is a signal to perpetrators in syria and elsewhere, those who violate a person's recognized human rights on a massive scale must expect to be held accountable. >> he went on trial with a man also accused of overseeing the tortured of thousands of prisoners and the murder of 58 of them. the two defendants left syria and arrived in syria as refugees. they were arrested in february 2019. he argued he had been acting on the order of his superiors. the prosecutors say they were part of a system that enabled widespread torture. lawyers have described a very severe sentence and vowed to appeal. >> and iraqi preacher said to be the jihadist igrou'p's

leader in germany has been sentenced to prison. the court ruled to help to radicalize young people in europe and helped him travel to iraq and syria. helping to plants averse -- subversive and violent acts and financing terrorism. alexei navalny supporters have condemned the decision to revoke his status as a prisoner of conscience. these are based remarks he made 14 years ago about migrants. there has been a dis-campaign highlighting the remarks. many believe that russia's body is behind it. that is the same body that is accused of interfering elections in the u.s. and france. electing a volley is expected t spend the next 2.5 years in jail -- alexei navalny is expected

to spend the next 2.5 years in jail. moscow says that trip to germany breached his bail conditions on another charge. they are still campaigning for his release. >> well, first of all, let me tell you it does not change it all our position our demand for his unconditional and immediate release. however, the expression itself " presenter of conscious" is as old as the movement are self. it always meant the same thing. it means that somebody who is in jail has never used violence himself or herselfr has not called for violence or used hate speech. and recently we have received quite some, a great number of comments coming back to what alexei navalny said a long time ago. we had to revise this expression

at we had used in the first place, because it could not be consistent with this internal policy, it's purely internal. that is why we will not call him a prisoner of conscience in that sense but it does not mean we are going to change and we're going to have the same determination and our campaign, our advocacy work to have him released as soon as possible. i'm afraid it is being instrumentalized by the russian government, and that they are going to continue, i'm afraid. that is why wanted to clarify that this is an internal decision to be consistent with our internal definition of what we call prisoner of conscience, but it doesn't man at all that we are revising our policy and obviously navalny's arrest has been politically motivated. he is in jail only because he was brave enough to express

dissent and to call for demonstrations in the streets etc. so, it is only to make him in fact unable to eress himself, that he was jailed. so, it is completely unjust and that is why it is quite obvious that amnesty international globly is going to campaign again and again until he is free. our legal team and also our law and policy department's have examined and re-examined his past declarations, and unfortunately, it is affecting has sometimes used hate speech, especially against migrants, calling them cockroaches, for example. and, of course, it was a long time ago. and recently he has been very peaceful in his calls for demonstrations all people assembling in the streets have been peaceful, too. unfortunately, there was a huge repression against them. for us there is a change if you like today as compared to his

declaratn in the past. so that is why we have changed his status but it does not change our position that recently he has been arrested and arbitrarily detained for no reason except that he was like a political opponent that the russian premier could not stand, and they wanted to make sure he could not express himself ymore. so that is why he was considered as somebody who was arbitrarily detained that should be immediately released, and that is why we are continuing to campaign in his favor and demanding his release. >> amnesty campaigning in nav alny's favor. he was not the first to be taken off the list of prisoner of conscience. also nelson mandela in 1964. amnesty took him off the list

as a prisoner of conscience. so, history will have the last word on that one. we will see how things develop with alexei navalny. next, 72 hours to leave venezuela. the order to the e.u.'s ambassador after the e.u. placed sanctions on members of med-- maduro's administration. they said the sanctions again 19 venezuelan ventures are on acceptable. they were imposed because of venezuela's actions were seen as being fraudulent by the e.u. let's reminder the main world news headlines, live from paris. lockdown in dunkirk. the northern french port has infection rate four times that ofhe national average. the health minister says the situation there is alarming. ghana becomes the first country

to receive covid vaccine from the who's covax program. a day to remember says the who chief, but it is only a first step, he adds. biden seeks to recalibrate u.s.-saudi relations and deal only with the king and not his son who's close to trump. the golfer tiger woods is recovering from surgery on his injured leg. that happened in a car crash. experts say he was lucky to survive. he is arguably the most successful play. the california sheriff's office says that woods will not be facing reckless driving charges. >> this is the hospital were tiger woods underwent emergency surgery on his right leg tuesday. woods' foundation said he was awake, responsive and recovered. >> open fractures affecting the

upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula bones were stabilized by inserting a rod. it required surgical release of the covering of the muscles to relieve pressure due to swelling. >> before the accident, woods was driving alone along a downhill stretch of road. his suv, struck aside and crossed over two lanes and@@ flipped several times before coming to rest on its side. authorities said the 45-year-old did not appear to be under the influence. >> it is very fortunate that mr. was was able to come out of this alive. >> the nature of his vehicle, the fact that he was wearing a seatbelt, it greatly increased the likelihood that it saved his life. >> woods has wo 15 major championships. but now his fans are asking if he will ever be able to play again. he has shown resilience before over the past decade he suffered multiple injuries, personal

problems, and an arrest through dui charge. >> and, of course, we all wish tiger woods a speedy recovery. kurdish girls are getting a big boost in health and confidence with the new sport academy set up in kurdistan. there are 134 girls registered in several activities. basketball is the most popular. academy aims to help girls practice ports and be part of the professional teams in iraq. it is a big change. >> she shoots. she scores. running, dribbling, sinking layups. that was not always the case. [speaking foreign language]

>> women's sports are more prevalent in iraq's kurdistan region compared to the rest of the country. established in 2016, the academy provides equipment and training for girls wishing to played, to and professional levels. for the 120 girls enrolled, the center has changed their lives for the better. organizers hope they are safe space will encourage even more girls to take a shot and try their hand at sports. >> looks absolute fantastic. timews for business. kate moody joins us a day after

-- australia gives us access to news again at is taking steps towards putting his hand in his pocket and paying for news content. >> it says it already started doing it. it said it invested $600 million on the news industry in recent years. at his pledge to match google's $1 billion budget for news content in the years to come. last week the social media giant locked news stories and estrella in protest over a draft law which would force online giants to pay publishers. google, while pushing back at legislation has been brokering deals with media outlets. in a blog post, facebook said it was in active negotiation with news companies in france and germany but defended its move australiai. saying it was a result of a fundamental misunderstanding with news publishers. to forcing carmakers to find radio stations because people might listen to them while in

the car and letting station set the price, is what they said. the spanish economy has been among the hardest hit by the pandemic. the gdp contracting 11%. the government has offered 150 euros in aid. wednesday ito addedn a further 11 billion for businesses and workers. >> getting the checkbook out once again, the spanish prime minister announced an additional 11 billion euro package for small and medium-size businesses and the self-employed, those working in the tourism sector. >> [speaking spanish] >> the spanish government is expected to provide indirect aid to companies receiving secured

loans from the states and to recapitalize small to medium-size enterprises. only viable companies -- are eligible for support. the hospitality sector has been demanding urgent help, requiring 12 billion euros to survive. while the plan does not exclude the potential for direct aid to businesses the government maintains it has provided significant financial support, including 40 billion euros. madrid is counting on the 140 under the e.u.'s covid-19o spain recovery package. >> wall street has closed higher, wiping out earlier losses to rise 400 points and end at a record high. the nasdaq not far behind.

boeing shares jumped 8%. johnson & johnson of 1.3 after regulators took a step towards approving the drugmakers covid-19 vaccine for distribution. the major european indices close up. shares of the french hotelg group rose up. moving to the other business headlines. the european commission has opened a public consultation on gig economy workers. trade unions and employers groups will be asked whether there should be changes to the growing number of people working from plat firms like uber and deliver groups. spain in the u.k. are among those who ruled in cases that they should be treated as employs and not independent workers. prosecutors in italy find -- fined four deliry platforms. the budget was --ad showed

that on them, and had hit over 30% and 60% of young people. it did not include an expected tax hike. london's heathrow airport lost 2 billion euros last year as the pandemic pushed passenger levers to the lowest since the 1970's. the international air transport association has downgraded its forecast for recovery in air travel this year. 's as airlines are on track to lose between $75 and $95 billion in 2021, nearly double the $48 billion it had pre-billy porter -- it had previously forecast. while demand is unlikely to rebound until the pandemic is brought under control and travel restrictions eased. they are hoping that technology can play a role. it is caring too much an app that will standardize tests and

vaccinations. dozens of airlines will begin trials of that travel pass in the coming weeks. it is about making travel more safe but easier. heathrow has said it takes some passengers up to 20 minutes to organize all of their covid. paperwork >> iyou add that up, it creates delays and cues. it can't continue. kate, you can continue but sadly, not right now. time runs out. kate, with all the business. fantastic. more to come. live from paris.

02/24/21 02/24/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> confirmed, i would be the first native american to serve as cabinet secretary. the historic nature of my confirmation is not lost on me but i will say it is not about me most of rather, i hope this nomination would be an inspiration for americans moving forward together as one nation and creating opportunities for al