u.s. regulators force astra zeneca to admit its job is less effective than previously claimed and point to inconsistency is in trial. a u.k. teacher is suspended after showing pupils a cartoon of the the muslim prophet muhammad during a lesson with growing calls for him to be fired. and joe biden says he expects to run for the white house in 2024 when pressed by reporters at the 1st formal news conference of his presidency while doubting if there will be a republican party to run against.

director of studios in moscow this is r.t. international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us. right now u.s. medical regulators have forced astra zeneca to admit it's less effective than it claimed that is after authorities revealed the firm may have included outdated information in vaccine trials.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than originally thought the data and safety monitoring board expressed concern that astra zeneca may have included outdated information from the trial which may have provided an incomplete to be of the efficacy date us regulators questioned the efficacy of the astra zeneca job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 could be going to 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 it 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 filling it's called fact and delivering the required number 2 says he was also accused of the right thing to seize 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 to consume they were possible links to blood clots that lead to the european medicines agency this is the may have been to really review 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 start 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 cases that they had seen

of blood clotting that could possibly be linked to astra zeneca. in the younger age groups now trust in 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 shot. fundamental tenet in science that you don't pick and choose which states are you presenting but it appears that for some reason that's what's happened and we don't know why they found that but it. 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 prophet muhammad during a lesson protesters had gathered outside the school calling for the teacher to be fired artie's 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 muslim 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 mom 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 caught 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 a columnist 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 6 string 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 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 even ask who is of that to transmit values of tolerance of free expression of freedom and if they're not doing that then i think that's a real problem. yes a president joe biden has held his 1st formal press conference since taking over in

the white house he touched on the vaccination rollout foreign policy and the migrant crisis on the u.s. southern border among other things artie's come 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 reelection. i don't know where you guys come from man 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 who the republican party do 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 office people are coming because i'm a nice guy that's reason why it's happening and 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 a vice president putting together a bipartisan plan over $700000000.00 to do the root causes of why people are leaving what a trump do he eliminated that fund and 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 had 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 now 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 by the administration is much less willing to allow the media access to what is actually

taking place in the facilities where migrant children are being gets claim now biden said he would eventually be open to allowing some kind of transparency around that issue. for modest we can cross a live to author and historian gerald horan thanks for being with us it's been a long time since you have had the opportunity to have a conversation like this. it was a late press conference to say the least for the american president why did biden wait so long before he chose to meet with the press well as is well known of our biden is a catholic he does not have a gift of gab as they say in the united states he oftentimes twists his sentences and for course he did the same thing at this particular press conference so i think that his handlers would like to keep him as far away from the press in these kind of structured environment as possible. now biden was pushed on the question of his

possible reelection he has not finished his 1st 100 days yet is it too early to be talking about 2024 i mean his predecessor actually went ahead and launched his campaign on the inauguration day 'd 'd of joe biden. i think it is wildly premature to talk about 2024 we're only a few weeks into this incoming by the administration there are many economists were expecting a wave of inflation and price hikes and why this spending that's taking place with comparable taxation of the wealthy and it's no guarantee that by 2024 mr biden who after all is 78 years old and not in the best of health will be around to run for reelection so biden voiced doubts or earlier whether there will even be a republican party competing against him in 2024 do you think trump will split the

party is there some truth in that statement well mr trump pledges not to. the party but as you know mr trump is not the most truthful trustworthy into lockett's or we could talk about seriously i doubt if he will split the party because as of now the republican party is the trump party what's more likely is that the number of trump forces will split the republican party are now on the border crisis switching gears just a little bit biden once again pointed the finger at the trump administration who do you think is more responsible for the situation as it stands now because i mean at the very least you can say it's opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of policy. it's a very serious crisis you have unaccompanied minors who are streaming across the border from mexico into southern texas clearly what's at play is the fact the

u.s. imperialism if i'm allowed to use that term has devastated the economies of the door and one duras you have a u.s. administration historically going back to brought obama that has supported a drug dealing administration and. there are gangs who are conducting a reign of terror in central america and so you see that many families see no alternative but to send their children across the border on a company so i would say this crisis has deep roots and there are lots of blame to spread around now if you get down to it so we are within the 1st $100.00 days a lot has been made as to what joe biden has been doing a lot of people say it's too early a lot of people say that we need to wait and see what's going to happen if i'm going to ask you to go down the rabbit hole just a little bit how do you see the 1st 100 days playing out and moving beyond for joe biden. i would flee the most worrisome aspect is foreign policy in a fact that came up during this press conference where once again mr bitin saw fit

to insult the chinese president saying that he does not have a democratic bone in his body earlier and he had referred to president as a thug i hope that your audience recognizes that the drums of war are beating insistently in washington you have the washington examiner which is a conservative publication which has been running a series about a war which i know you have changed the readers so it's a well known so-called defense intellectual who's written a novel laying out a scenario whereby united states can defeat china and war so this is a very serious situation and i'm disappointed that mr biden who oftentimes refers to his tenure as head of the senate foreign relations committee and his alleged mastery of foreign policy has managed to insult leaders and has also managed to threaten sanctions against not only germany because of its importing of natural gas

from russia but threatening sanctions against india because it supposedly plans to buy defense materiel from russia even though mr biden and the u.s. will be relying upon india as part of this and circle meant plan against china also i think that the most worrisome aspect of this and coming by the ministration is foreign policy and let's hope that he can improve all right author and historian gerald hart an interesting to hear thoughts thanks for being with us here on our to international. thank you. for a flash mob of italian entrepreneurs has drawn the carnival masks to warn they are going out of business without government backing in the pandemic the demonstrations that were arranged by a group representing 50 trade associations and some 10000 firms its president warns the government is now practically working against them. get out that get quite likely a protest and with a mask because it's what we've been wearing for more than a year the mask also 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. or the government has set aside 32000000000 euros in a new corporate stimulus package it includes funds for subsidies and grants to businesses hit by the lock down but employers say it is nowhere near enough. 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 around the this crisis has been going on for far too long when you can create a plan of action and clear information we can't open and close on short notice we

cannot keep our businesses shut down anymore. we are worried there are companies that are overly reached the breaking point one of our colleagues even committed suicide it's very unsettling it will be back with more of what is happening around the world at the top of the hour but next it is the 2nd half of our special on the lives of covert nurses during the height of the pandemic in the russian capital stay with art. join me every thursday on the alec simon show and i'll be speaking to guest in the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then.