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

broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is international and i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us. now u.s. medical regulators have forced astra zeneca to admit its covert shot is less effective than it claimed that is after authorities revealed the firm may have included outdated information in vaccine trials dubinsky reports.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than originally thought the data and safety monitoring board expressed concern that astra zeneca may have included outdated information from the trial which may have provided an incomplete of the efficacy date us regulators questioned the efficacy of the astra zeneca job forcing the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 was 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 contracting delivering 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 lead to the european medicines agency this is the d.m.a. having to really review all of the data and it 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 they. 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 the 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 may review 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. 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 more 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 had 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 crazy but it appears that for some reason that's what's happened and we don't know why they found that but it is always raises

suspicions when people try to ignore the date of 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 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 fighting there is a difference in that astra zeneca have essentially been no excuse to 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 a 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 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 incident is like. 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 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 columnist to look at told us he thinks the same free speech standards should be applied to discussion 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 capitulating 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 of mocking criticism and especially open discussion the idea that we would live it 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 them hoskins and they're going to transmit values of tolerance of free expression out of freedom and if they're not doing that by 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 mung other things are his come up and watch. 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 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 off that 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

in the trumpet ministration and i see. harder to deal with back when i was united states senator for i mean a vice president for putting together a bipartisan plan 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 so 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 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 did claim now biden said he would eventually be open to allowing some kind of transparency around that issue. george as emily from the global policy institute thinks the blame for the migrant crisis cannot be laid on the previous administration. even trump's critics acknowledge 1 he did manage to bring the border situation on the control and 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 so for him now to blame this on trump when trumpet actually brought this to the board a great troll it's the height of absurdity. entrepreneurism put on the carnival masks to protest the government's failure to help them in the pandemic that is still ahead when we come back from a short break. when we watch movies that i think that 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.

is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation the community. are you going the right way or are you being led. by. what is true what is right. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the debt. already made in the shallows.

and walk markets are to international now a flash mob of italian entrepreneurs has gone carnival masks to war and they are going out of business without government backing in the pandemic the demonstrations were arranged by a group representing 50 trade associations and some 10000 firms its president warns the government is now practically working against. the i'm going to get it right that we are protesting 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 even under the rule of law when no longer feel secure in the country in which the constitution safeguards the right of the on the ploy 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 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 on the 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 any more. we are worried there are companies that are overly reached the breaking point one of our colleagues even committed suicide it's very unsettling that. around the world the coronavirus pandemic has up ended the way we live every country has had to adapt on the fly to the new health threat some have it seems fared much better than others so as we start working out the lessons we have learned and how to move forward i'll leave

you now with this special report from the russian republic of chechnya do they have the right formula for beating the virus to answer that here's our tease constantine . yeah he tried to me up a bit personally i condemn these methods but it seems they've proven to be quite effective and i think. they took me to the police station a couple of times what for for being outside but seriously the let's start over. when you think of chechnya your mind will kind of some negative associations chechnya was one of the most frightening place in islamic extremism in chechnya to the horror that i've never witnessed the authoritarian leader of the russian republic of chechnya. has a bad reputation in the west violations and a crackdown on the eligibility community the lack of democracy the list goes on and yet at the same time during the pandemic people here it's surprising as it might

sound are in many ways freer than people in moscow and new york london paris you name it. the island church now and that means i can legally without breaking any rules or regulations get rid of this you see chechnya has become one of the 1st regions in russia to lift mandatory mask wearing make and effectively one of the few places in the world without coronavirus restrictions because as the local authority claimed they conquered the virus how common is formidable church now i know it's a democratic iraq that's enjoying the freedom of worship freedom of movement and that pretty basic right to live your life as you used to was it a chechen medical miracle or extremely oppressive measures taken by the local government. and draws in this largest place of gathering the central mosque

a new social distancing is required and masks are nowhere to be seen. more. of the. 10. 17. that is in the code leave this book which i know the number of new infections is going down with a lot of people good sense and it's all recovered from cozy so what you're seeing now is to come possible because we fold old ships so thanks to all the smoke we can stand together and pray with us. in bras need the region's cabbage you can walk into any cafe and travel back in time to the pre-code era it is still weird that i have to wear a mask staff they don't wear masks at all so i think it looks strange after

a year of that and that makes people around us seem to enjoy this newfound sense of freedom all those there is this one question we ask them that many appear reluctant to answer but i heard that they had a very tough like down here in chechnya. well yes he said in that he couldn't leave your house that it was very strict so. yes but our child there were sick so i didn't get a lot anyway the money is here all right now yes he's fine the girl was clearly i'm comfortable talking about the lockdown later the same day i had another intriguing conversation with locals that followed showed us how do you feel about the quarantine and the lock down and said truck it is i know what they took me to the police station a couple of times what for the for being outside. without wearing a mask is that we weren't allowed to go outside at all but seriously let's start over there is something about the chechen lockdown that makes people here very

cautious about talking there were reports of force used against those who didn't comply with anti coronavirus rules legibly several people were even beaten for sure would. up in public without a mask. i mean yeah in chechnya they used the special methods to combat the spread of coronavirus pride in him kind of my view of the subject yeah i know the parts of the north caucasus in general has seen anything like it seems to me now that the war in shali which is a smaller town in chechnya and it came into the spotlight after this video came out . around a dozen of people in police uniforms patrolling the area holding white plastic pipes allegedly there was war local law enforcement and the pipes were meant as an intimidating tool for those who do not comply with quarantine the local administration which is located inside this stunning skyscraper built in the town of 10000 people we were told that the video is just another fake before they get

over into the water going to our law enforcement offices always work within the limits of the laws and when i could in a civil and. we couldn't find anyone who would confirm that people were beaten in chechnya or for not complying with the quarantine although many locals heard the rumor and literally everyone we met said they strictly followed all the rules introduced by the local government as deputy minister of health and medicine at a children's hospital that was turned into a center for example which is a chanst because i was vaccinated they even allowed me into the red zone in. the hallways were quiet and spotless most of the units were empty and medical staff looked fresh and full of energy and the facility didn't look like it had a particularly hard time during the night and demick the reason brags one of the lowest numbers of registered cases of daily new infections of covert related deaths i mean it really looks impressive which may janya it or if it's arm got this in

italy now i don't trust the official numbers are hard to not only those provided by chechen officials but these fishel data from the north caucasus region in your mouth we've seen a lot of the. it is showing that the numbers are under it all to the time you so imagine my surprise when not just an opposition journalist but also one of change now top health officials told me to do not take this social datta at face value attributable to system design a 50 percent of our population have probably already had to wait so you're saying that over 50 percent have to already had it but according to the officials and i specifically checked that the number of registered cases is 13000 to make it clear . the number of patients confirmed to many people showing any symptoms. well that was quite a journey of people in their clients and their hospital and they're always willing to help on the one hand but on the other they are cautious and they seem to

always keep something for themselves especially when they talk with an outsider they always mindful of what they're saying to you i guess this is part of the cultural code chechen society which went through 2 bloody wars is a tough it is closed and close knit at the same time. and their experience of getting through this pandemic might be different from what people have in europe or the united states the rest of russia by it's hard to tell that it didn't work out at the end of the day so this is it were a flight out of chechnya i'm back to moscow and what that means well for one thing that means that i have to put my mask back on.

america depends on the kindness of strangers to fund their speculation and to fund their extraordinarily cheap lifestyle made from labor overseas and. so i find it interesting the saber rattling going on in washington d.c. right now because the kindness of strangers can evaporate in a heartbeat if they no longer want to play the us dollar reserve currency again and then inflation right now is signaling a 10 from 10 to 12 percent turn inflation rate adjusted for reality to 24 to 30 percent inflation. humanity has never seen such strange natural phenomena before giant coming to this

appearing in the peninsula. one after another. was never about to break out for good news for you if you get your blue dog i'm done look we're going to pretend he warned me of. this one appeared in 2020. how often and where will new creatures appeal to the dispersal of the and how dangerous are they for humans now my view is different though on the 8th and 2021 russian scientists came quite close to working on what's going on. they build a full scale 3 d. model of the black coal.

business boom bust the one business where you can afford to mess i'm ready for love and then washington coming up the u.s. has threatening some of its closest allies with thanks and over their support for the north rooms pipeline so why has washington the one importing a record amount of oil from russia right now for the last treasury secretary janet yellen says the biden ministration is planning to propose another 3 trillion dollars in spending measures and they are looking to increase taxes and will do the pay for it that that has facebook twitter and google testify on capitol hill so what did they have to say about the spread of misinformation online we have a lot to get serious so let's get started. the united states has made it abundantly clear that it does not approve of. its western allies working with russia or more specifically benefiting from russia's oil supply the threats made by u.s.

officials and brussels this week have placed washington in a position where they appear ready to create a massive conflict within the nato alliance by imposing sanctions on some of their closest allies but while they lecture germany on how their support for the north stream to pipeline will divide europe and open the gate for russian manipulation the us is leaving out one very important fact washington itself actually profits from the use of russian oil and right now imports from moscow are at an all time high while the u.s. made headlines for imposing sanctions on a subsidiary of russia's state run oil company over alleged ties to venice whale last year it didn't do much more than that and it was thank sions against venezuela along with opec that forced the u.s. to look for a new source of oil that's when washington started ramping up business with moscow making russia the 3rd largest oil supplier to the u.s. last year u.s. imports from russia average 538000 barrels

a day in 2020 even topping the 522000 average from saudi arabia but you would never know it from watching the latest talks so joining me now to this daschle boom bust co-host fence on and christiane i christine let's start with you this reporting seems to go against the public posturing of the u.s. which has worked hard to campaign against the north stream to pipelines that would deliver natural gas from russia to europe correct. yeah the findings of the support shows that america's increasing reliance is totally at odds with their public energy diplomacy because for the last 2 years washington has been lobbying european countries to abandon nordstrom to fearing that it would essentially give russia further leverage over u.s. allies in the e.u. the north stream too would essentially double the capacity of the existing line in germany under the baltic sea to about $110.00.