u.s. regulators force astra zeneca to admit its job is less effective than previously claimed and points to inconsistency in trials. biden says he expects to run for the white house in 2024 when pressed by reporters the 1st formal news conference of his presidency. if there will be a republican party to run a. drag queen site and a book called anti-racists baby the washington post is ridiculed for offering parents so-called book learning materials for toddlers we put the idea up for debate. instead of being naive. books the 3. talking about. me each just.

broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is our 2 international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us. us at medical regulators have forced astra zeneca to admit its shot is less effective than it claimed that is after authorities revealed the firm may have included outdated information in vaccine trials. reports. well astra zeneca is hardly out of the headlines these days and now it's in them because its drug is said to be less effective than originally thought the data and safety monitoring board expressed concern that astra zeneca may have included outdated information from the trial which may have provided an incomplete of the efficacy date us regulators questioned

the efficacy of the astra zeneca job forcing the company to publish additional data to show what happened in its trials as a result of that we now know that the astra zeneca jab is 3 percent less effective at dealing with symptomatic cases of covert 19 however it is still 100 percent effective at dealing with severe cases including those that require hospitalization this is what astra zeneca has had to say the primary endpoint maxon efficacy at preventing symptomatic of its 19 where 76 percent occurring 15 days or more after receiving 2 doses given 4 weeks apart well astra zeneca has had a pretty bumpy ride in the e.u. after they were all humans about whether it was a feeling it's called tracked into living the required number of doses he was also accused of we writing to says from the e.u. to go to the u.k. which has caused a huge storm between the u.k. and the e.u. then of course we had jobs of astra zeneca being suspended last week after

a swathe of european countries are concerned that they were possible links to blood clots that led to the european medicines agency this is the may having to really reveal all of the data and they came to completion again last week that it believes that astra zeneca is a safe vaccine she says the benefits of the vaccine in combating the still widespread throughout of kovi 19 continue to outweigh the risk of side effects the vaccine is not associated with an increase in the overall risk of blood clots and those who receive it however the. may said it would now be adding to the medicine to let people know that one of the possible side effects could be blood clotting a warning that's already in place in countries such as canada but despite those reassurances from the e m a there hasn't been fully convincing. european countries some european countries like france finland iceland have decided that they will stop giving astra zeneca

again in fact some of them already have however they will only give it to populations of old age groups and that's because when the evidence will move things they said in their press conference last week was that the case is that they had seen the blood clotting that could possibly be linked to astra zeneca. in the younger age groups now trusting seneca has completely gone off the edge of a cliff across the european union a recent survey by hugo found that the majority of people just didn't think that this vaccine was safe so this new information about the fact that it's quite as effective as we previously would lead to believe may seem like a very small thing but it really could erode trust even further. microbiologist simon clarke told us such data revisions could hit confidence in the pharmaceutical giant and it's shot. a mental tenet in science that you don't pick and choose which

states that you cresent but it appears that for some reason that's what's happening and we don't know why they found that but it is always raises suspicions when people try to ignore the data that's perhaps not so good in favor of the day to day so we should remember that it's only a 3 percent difference for mild to moderate disease and no difference at all for the most serious life threatening conditions not everybody and i would say relatively few people pick up on the fact that the difference is small they pick up on the fact that there is a difference and that astra zeneca have essentially been accused of cherry picking data so that's what people will hear and it affects confidence it may put confidence in the company and i think it's highly likely that it will. cause people to question the efficacy of the vaccine. a schoolteacher in northern england has

been suspended after showing people's a cartoon of the muslim muslim prophet mohammed during a lesson protesters had gathered outside the school calling for the teacher to be fired archy's is ali has more. a religious studies teacher at a school in west yorkshire in the north of england has been suspended after showing his pupils a picture of the prophet mohammed during class now of course when it comes to the islamic religion any depictions of the prophet mohammed is considered to be. due to a backlash by a number of parents of some children in that class the school took action and the head teacher gary kimball releasing a statement apologizing to the local community for any offense caused the school unequivocally apologizes for using a totally inappropriate resource in a recent lesson the member of staff has also given their most sincere apologies we

have immediately withdrawn teaching on this part of the course and we are reviewing how we go forward with the support of all the communities represented in our school . letter didn't deter least 100 protesters from turning up at the school when it was due to open in the morning now those protesters stood outside the school they called for an investigation in to the teachers some of them calling for him to be sacked but they were also addressed by a local a man who said that he was in contact with the school and dialogue with them and calling for an investigation to be carried out what happened here we are disgusted what has happened is totally unacceptable and we have made sure they are aware the teacher has been suspended they can't just sack him they need to do their due process we've asked for an investigation and investigation to be independent we are going to work with the school to make sure things like these don't happen of course those protests by those parents peaceful but of course disruptive but in the past

we have seen the issue of the cartoons of the prophet mohammed sparking wide debate particularly in the wake of the charlie hebdo attack and so incidents like a. these will only serve to continue to spark that debates whether one does have free speech to draw pictures of anyone offensive as they may be or whether there is a line that can't be crossed when it comes to not offending people not just in terms of religion but also the wider sense of safe spaces and other issues to do with free speech that we've seen rising up not just in the u.k. but also across europe and the west. lawyer and. told us he thinks the same free speech standards should be applied to discussions of all religions. they what we're saying is an extremely wiring capitulation on behalf of establishments in the

west both schools governments and the international courts as well capitulated to the need not to offend islam in a 63 me worrying you know islam should be no different from the other religions. christianity judaism and cetera where in the west we have a very robust spirit mocking criticism and especially open discussion the idea that we would limit our discussion or criticism of islam in a way which we don't limit our criticism or mocking about the religions i think i think is extremely worrying i would say all sorry that i don't think this is a problem. if affects most muslims in the united kingdom i think most muslims living in this country recognize that we are a democratic society that embraces freedom of expression embraces free speech and these schools really need to start standing up for those values and we should not capitulate to the mosque rooms and that to transmit values of color and it's of

free expression and of freedom and if they're not doing that then i think that's a real problem of. us president joe biden has held his 1st formal press conference since taking over the white house he touched on vaccination rollout foreign policy and the migrant crisis on the u.s. southern border among other things are to scale up and comment. we're a little while into the biden presidency he did not address a joint session of congress as incoming presidents generally do now he spoke to the press conference and there was a lot of topics that were discussed for the migrant crisis issues with china etc one particularly interesting moment came when he was pressed about why he had not formed dake reelection committee and was he actually planning to run for reelection this is how that exchange went down between joe biden and the press the also just made some news by saying that you are going to run for re-election and i said that

is my expectation so is that a yes that you are running for re-election. i don't know where you guys come from and i've never been able to travel i'm a great perspective fate had there variable planned for and i have 3 and a half years ahead for certain and do you believe you'll be running against former president trump oh i don't even think about i don't have i have no idea. i have no idea move the republican party to you i know you have tension my question but i mean you know do you throughout the press conference there seem to be a very consistent theme of blaming the problems in the country and the dismal state of affairs on the previous president on donald trump whether it was the migrant issue whether it was the situation with china where there was the situation with vaccines etc there was a rather consistent blaming of the predecessor now when it came to the situation on the border biden was quite defensive insisting that the upsurge in migrants and migrant children crossing the border is not related to him personally or him taking

off that people are coming because i'm a nice guy that's reason why it's happening truth of the matter is nothing has changed as many people came 28 percent increase in children of the border in my administration 31 percent in the last year of 2019 before the pandemic and the trumpet ministration and i see. harder to deal with back when i was united states senator for i mean vice president for putting together a bipartisan plan were over $700000000.00 to do the root causes of why people are leaving what a trump do here limited is that funding he didn't use it he didn't do it and in addition to that what he did he dismantle all the elements that exist to deal with what has been a problem and quick and has been continued to be a problem for a long time at this point we also heard the press press biden on whether or not

he would grant media access to the facilities where migrant children are being detained there's been concerns raised about the fact that under the trumpet ministration now there was access that we saw the pictures it seems like the biden administration is much less willing to allow the media access to what is actually taking place in the facilities where migrant children are being did claim now biden said he would eventually be open to allowing some kind of transparency around that issue georgia sam wyly from the global policy institute thinks blame for the migrant crisis cannot be laid on the previous administration. even critics acknowledge 1 he did manage to bring the border situation under control he signed those country agreements with some central american countries that ensured that asylum seekers would seek asylum in those countries and they wouldn't come to the

united states and then of course he signed the agreement with mexico that anyone seeking asylum. 1 at the u.s. border would have to stay in mexico while they're waiting the adjudication of their asylum claim by unceremoniously ended all of this in the 1st few days of his administration and surprise surprise he's got a crisis on this that he brought all of this crisis on 1 so for him now to blame this on trump when trumpet actually brought this to the board a great role it's the height of absurdity. italian entrepreneurs are put on carneval masks to protest the government's failure to help them in the pandemic that is still ahead when we come back after a short break this is arch international.

when we watch movies about ai i think they typically make us worry about the wrong thing they make us worry about robots turning evil but the real threat of the past artificial intelligence is not that it turns evil but just that it turns very competent but has goals that are not aligned with our goals.

welcome back to start international now a flash mob of italian entrepreneurs has gone carnival masks to warn they are going out of business without government backing in the pandemic the demonstrations were arranged by a group representing 50 trade as say sions and some 10000 firms its president warns the government is now practically working against them. we are protesting with a mask because it's what we've been wearing for more than a year and that's cool symbolizes our fear of no longer living under the rule of law when no longer feel secure in the country in which the constitution safeguards the right of the unemployed to work and this government is doing everything to take

jobs away from those who already have them. the government has set aside 32000000000 euros in a new corporate stimulus package it includes of funds for subsidies and grants to businesses hit by the lock down but employers say it is nowhere near enough. no nominal for a year and a month we have been living in this situation which has become unbearable our companies cannot make it anymore our savings have run out we feel desperate because of a failure to get things restarted all the attempts to go back to normal suffered setbacks and we were just wasting our money the pandemic has been mishandled we are here to raise the awareness of our politicians do it on though that this crisis has been going on for far too long we need a concrete plan of action and clear information we can't open and close on short notice we cannot keep our businesses shut down and. she's. worried there are companies that are over and he's reached the breaking point one of our colleagues

even commits suicide it's very unsettling that. if you have not received your parcel from abroad yet do not rush to blame the delivery guy your goods might be among those stuck in a jam in one of the world's busiest shipping routes the so as canal in egypt a giant container ship has run aground and caused major backup on the route the vessel which is 400 meters long that is around 4 football fields is wedged across the waterway trapping more than 200 other ships 12 percent of global trade passes through the suez canal and the blockage has halted almost $10000000000.00 worth of daily maritime traffic egypt had to reopen the canals older parallel channel to some vessels through until the grounded ship is really afloat shipping experts think dislodging it could take from days to even several weeks. apparently you are never too young to be progressive in an article in the washington post

experts guided parents to books websites and companies offering woke material for children to feature titled social justice for toddlers talks about the importance of equality racial and gender education for kids. the article highlights materials like a drag queen web site books like anti racist baby and walk baby and a company selling toys and learning materials to quote dismantle bias however many are finding the advice is divisive and even harmful can we just teach children to walk talk play before we set hoisting our guilt in your office on them indoctrination is wrong washington post these conversations on the divides us universal identity is what should be centered not race not gender this generation of kids is going to need decades of therapy after going through this critical race theory one half of them will just crumble under the white guilt pushed into them

and turn into fragile ghosts barely resembling human beings the other half will just get radicalized we've got reaction to the washington post piece from talk radio host john gaunt and wayman bennett of unite against fascism. can i just check the calendar he said a prove the 1st this is a complete and utter joke listen when kids are 3 or 4 they want to play with each other and they should be encouraged and we as modern parents or grandparents should not be reinforcing prejudice prejudices if we have them on to the children of course it's important to show kids by example that you're not racist or homophobic or sexist i would agree with all of that but producing pocs for 3 year olds talking about arm awoke baby age just absolute nonsense the whole of america has laughed at the washington post 3 year olds don't

buy books join parents buy books because what we're trying to do is to try and develop human beings to respect each other it's not automatic what with the what the washington post are trying to do is have a discussion about how we develop people and that included parents so parents can be parenting they don't care alone they label it start to try and bring up a better generation the previous generation that we have to do something. instead of being like evil out that happens as moses tried to instill and key races where equality treatment or nonsexist behavior whatever it's not society is going to be very very difficult job we have to start somewhere you don't started 3 years old with a drag queen or whatever they used new term is reading them bedtime stories at 3 years old the washington post have been ridiculed this is the wont sector the work sector trying to push their agenda on to 3 year olds well i'm sorry it's not needed

it's not necessary if you conference racism if if you come across and sexism and if there's a problem in schools let's address that but please for goodness sake let. cutlass be toddlers actually trying to teach our children to believe in equality of only age it's never too early as 2 are completely normalized this is our human beings behave and actually we can probably have a better generation doesn't carry the previous sins of the previous other generation since the 16th century this whole idea that i should feel guilty for the sins of previous generations well no i'm not going to pass that guilt on to the next generation i'm sorry i disagree completely that is how things are looking in the news right now i'll be back at the top of the hour with our next update but coming up we have a very special look inside the world of russian nurses battling the pandemic you don't want to miss it there.