strikes in syria targeting facilities used by militia groups backed by iran secretary of defense lloyd alston said he was confident they had hit the correct targets. the european union has agreed to develop a covert 19 vaccine passport that could ease border crossings and allow people more freedom to travel again even leaders met for a virtual summit to discuss coordination already under pressure over a lagging vaccine rollout germany's chancellor says it will be at least 3 months before a vaccine possible system is up and running with slow bakshi nations coronavirus variance border chaos and summer holidays at risk there was no shortage of talking points at this virtual you summit during a 4 hour video call leaders trying to find a united way forward in the fight against the pandemic the pressure is intense concerns can't just be waved aside with the e.u. lagging behind them vaccination numbers and new variants spreading rapidly across the continent and the b 117 is by no in all member states but one. the south african variant is in 14 member states and the brazilian variant in 7 so there's

secretary alston committed to fully resourcing the surface strategies as it relates. can i get your commitment on that as well? >> senator, i'm committed to making sure we have the capabilities we need in the arctic. >> thank you. let me turn to what i think is a simple question but to be honest, i'm having a hard time with some of the incoming biden cabinet officials to commit to this. in your personal opinion, the united states -- i want your personal opinion, from the national security foreign policy perspective, we once again become the super energy power. northrl dakota, alaska, the largest, prior to the pandemic, largest producer of oil, natural gas and renewables in the world. is that good for the national security and foreign policy? >> it is, senator. >> onse the other hand, becoming reliant on countries like russia, is that good for the national security or bad? >> generally speaking it's bad. >> here is what i would ask as a commitment. i can't seem to get one from any cabinet official in the biden administration to be a strong proponent of all of the above

the secretary of defense alston said that the us was going to lead to again that they were good teammates that they wanted to consult together and to decide together and to act together and this is i think not only a change of tone but also a change in substance and this is of course something that allies are happy to hear although we also have to say that it's certain that differences are going to remain for example of or the issue of burden sharing yeah let's talk about donald trump repeatedly faulted may turn states especially germany failing to meet military spending budget pledges will by the ministration keep up about pressure yes i think so that we can i think that we can expect that joe biden administration to keep pressing q. or p. and allies to spend more on defense and it's quite interesting that apparently there are ready to make a new proposal on that secretary general's told told us a few days ago that he would like to ask to jointly fund more of the need to work for example right now when the country is sending troops to one of need to us battle groups at the border to russ

of course it was the same thing with obama before that they think they can we could just separate alston troll that's a good thing but just off the top but we will assume these hostile aggressive policy in other areas worthless it doesn't work that i watch the troll just fails which is you know why the obama policy on sort of an os control agreement with iran which you know iran gives up uranium enrichment in return for these sanctions whenever we're at because obama didn't visit this as part of a record one with iran so that's that's in the biden mentality because i thought the syria all stopped policy in other areas towards russia so i think this this extension of new start up will ultimately be doing. it and it diminish it remains to be and to be resolved insists that this can function in a in a vacuum because if you look at blinken this. testimony from during his nomination process i mean the. big stream. liberal interventionist i mean talking about continued nato expansion georgia was focused on considerably quite a lot of leaves talking about democracy in venezuela considering what

says there's no decision yet on its troop withdrawal defense secretary noid alston says more progress is needed in the peace negotiations clearly the violence is too high right now and more progress needs to be let these to be made in the afghan led negotiations. and so i urge all parties to choose the path towards peace no violence must decrease now. i told our allies that no matter what the outcome of our review the united states will not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdraw from afghanistan that puts their forces or the alliances reputation at risk. at this time no decisions about our future force posture have been made. in the meantime current missions will continue and of course commanders have the right and the responsibility to defend themselves in their afghan partners against attack. as we move forward in our review we will consult with our nato allies our resolute support partners and of course the government of afghanistan and there will be no surprises we will consult each other . and consult together and and the site together and act together. according mosco has uphe

military experts across the department to provide with the next she wants recommendations to senator alston on key priorities and decision points so that we can chart a strong crowd forward on china related matters and require a whole of government effort bipartisan cooperation in congress and strong alliances and partnerships that's how we'll meet the china challenge and i'm sure the american people when the competition of the future. and i say it says it's imposing new sanctions on those responsible for the military coup in min ma president biden said his government would identify the 1st round of targets this week and was ready to impose further measures and in ma protests as a return to the streets for a 5th consecutive day despite security forces violently breaking up rallies on tuesday for more the protests come tied to reports from bangkok. a day after a violent crackdown by security forces people are again protesting against the coup on the streets of myanmar. in yangon some took to bicycles to show their support for the growing civil disobedience movement. some gathered at the japa

military experts across the department to provide you with the next she wants recommendations to senator alston. so there still are a lot of concerns here that this china challenges biden calls it is going to lead to continue to increase tensions between the u.s. and china moving forward but we've certainly heard a lot from president biden just this week alone on china we've been waiting to hear since he took office finally they spoke so i guess that's a good sign we still don't know what how the details will end up as far as when it comes to technology especially with the always recent lawsuit but we're continue to follow this we have our eyes on the world's 2 largest economies as always our t. correspondent rachel evans thank you for breaking it down for us thank you. another big jump on thursday things to tesla c.e.o. ilan musk and more tweets that seem to encourage buying the digital asset in fact the price of big point jumped by as much as 7 percent after musk posted a big tweet with a reference to doj coin an image of a crypto theme ring all the digital assets rose by $4000.00 to trade ar

and the blinken of course and raytheon 4 were a thier own person void alston. how is how is you know donald trump because because donald trump as as you're probably aware is they're looking at converting dollars from for impeachment and joe biden was having a lot of problems is not that reactionary is not that conservative is not somebody you ultimate doesn't believe in the rule of law and in and it done in the democratic process. i mean obviously a lot of people might be screaming at the t.v. set that knowing that biden's record is a mass incarceration of killing the senate foreign relations committee would be able maybe iraq war and i don't disagree with you on that at all but the point is we have to store in terms of you know small steps we have to basically understand that about joe biden is going to support a $15.00 minimum wage that's not something that donald trump is going we will and he and he will definitely do that absolutely. republicans universities i mean these are these are huge issues right we have right now as you're probably aware of very smal

secretary alston and secretary _ security. secretary alston and secretary blinken.inken... studio: _ president biden given his first foreign policy speech. you�*re watching bbc news. her foreign policy speech. you're watching bbc news. her work with the... good evening. the weather is set to turn colder across the uk as we head through the course of the weekend, particularly by sunday, where there could be some disruptive snow, over the higher ground, 20—30 cm, perhaps 50 cm over the highest hills anywhere from perth and kinross, up towards caithness and sutherland as well, and that�*s all down to this slow—moving area of low pressure to the west, with this frontal system bringing that hill snow across scotland. further south, it�*s a bit of a drier picture as we head through into friday, but overnight, plenty more heavy rain showers across parts of england, wales, northern ireland, too. and we�*ve got this brisk easterly wind driving in further snow for much of scotland. mainly to the north of the central belt, down at lower levels and towards the east, it�*s large

let's bring in financial correspondent jose luis to haro how the jose tell me how important is this alston plan for the global supply of semiconductor chips. it is important and there are several reasons and one of them if it does apply cheney to self the u.s. semiconductor manufacturing is specifically that one coming from austin it's that relatively small when compared to the ones have from china south korea or even to taiwan but right now we need to to be aware that global supply chain it's disrupted by several factors we can mention depth in deming we can mention delays in transportation or even tolerance but that's when what we say local manufacturing will be crucial or essential and what's happening right now it's that when you shut parts of that local manufacturing as it's happening in osteen you don't only and lose a millions of dollars but you also make a situation that it's already bad even worse now either the car sector has been affected especially by the shortage of chips why if the us well could be because people like myself bought a lot of electronics are over dampen demi-go

also, shannon 14 state attorney general led by ag alston newsome of montana wrote to mr. biden calling him to reverse his decision on the keystone xl pipeline. they accused him of a "unilateral and rush decision to revoke the 2019 presidential permit, which you know has cost thousands of jobs and angered many including some on the left like union leaders you recall mr. biden last november." shannon. >> shannon: we know very vocal about it, kevin. thank you very much for your report. >> you're welcome. >> shannon: the second impeachment trial of former president trump kicking up with democratic senator patrick leahy presiding as judge and your rather than the chief justice john roberts. capitol hill correspondent chad program reviewing the constitutionality on the vote of that and replace -- complaints about -- chad great to see you, the first question the first vote was whether the trial itself is constitutional. >> that is right and the senate tonight basically gave the green light to go forward with this problem but most republicans say that democrats gave a better pres

bring in financial correspondent host a louise to hire oh hello jose tell me how important is this alston plant for the global supply of semiconductor chips. it is important and there are several reasons and one of them is it to supply chain itself the u.s. semiconductor manufacturing is specifically the one coming from austin it's that relatively small when compared to the ones have from china south korea or even to taiwan but right now we need to to be aware that global supply chain it's a disruptive by several factors we can mention depth in deming we can mention delays in transportation or even deterrents but that's when what we say local manufacturing will be crucial or essential and what's happening right now it's that when you shut parts of that local manufacturing as it's happening in osteen you don't only and lose a millions of dollars but you also make a situation that it's already bad even worse now either the car sector has been affected especially by this a shortage of chips why if the us. well could be because people like myself bought a lot of electronics are over dampen da

a tail out in belmont again southbound one oh one at hillsdale boulevard southbound one oh one at alston avenue. it's very slick out there we see a lot of accidents. no major hot spots though so just take your time as you're driving for now back to the news. >>much rain it's 6.22 is the time back to the latest with the coronavirus and the effort to get people in nursing homes vaccinated it's been a critical part of controlling the spread of covid-19 workers with senior advocacy groups say that they've had a hard time getting appointments for their residents and all the state will tell them is to just be patient. >>and it isn't it hard to be patient. when you know people to die and people are dying as continue to die. and that's i can't be patient when people right now in california, it is still impossible to get from the state the actual number of people who have gotten vaccinated. >>in long-term care facilities and there's a couple of possible explanations there right one is maybe the state just doesn't know well that would be inexcusable it's february and we've been vaccinating since d

i think secretary alston personally wants to know more about this. it's the same questions.you know what is in someone's head or heart when they come walking through a recruitment office door? if the military has access to fbi databases, taken find out more quickly. these studies, if they can have the data shared, it would help. background checks are done by fbi and private contractors. whether you have top security clearance or just a private coming in. having better access to that data in real-time, having better screening methods of the online presence of people who sign up, reviewing that rule about joining -- of membership in an organization that is unknown extreme is unknown extremist group versus actions or words. i think the defense department can change with the stroke of a pen from the secretary as a directive to the force. it will have to require a change of law from congress and the next defense authorization bill. you will not see that until the end of this year at minimum. there is an assumption there will be a lot more reviews as soldiers and sailors and airme

the now secretary alston said "i would absolutely agree alaska is a national treasure. it holds some of the most important military assets and resources." would you agree with your future boss? dr. hicks: i do. sen. sullivan: good. one of the things he did said, as we have been pressing the pentagon, which is as i have told you and firmly believe the pentagon has been asleep at the switch on the strategic nature of the arctic, the national defense strategy, the great power competition is literally taking place there. russia, china, others. because of this committee's leadership, no offense, not really the pentagon's, the services have now gotten serious about strategies. secretary austin committed to fully resourcing the service strategies as it relates to the arctic. can i get you commitment on that as well? dr. hicks: i'm certainly committed to making sure we have the capabilities we need in the arctic. sen. sullivan: great. thank you. that return to what i think is a real simple question but to be honest i am having a hard time with some of the incoming biden cabinet

it will be coordinated across all elements of our national security, with secretary alston.hdraw from germany. we are also stepping up our diplomacy to end the war in yemen. a war which has created a humanitarian catastrophe. i have asked my middle east team to ensure our support for the united nations to impose a cease-fire, open a humanitarian challenge and restore long-dormant peace talks. this morning, secretary blinken appointed tim -- as our special envoy to the yemen conflict and i appreciate him doing this. tim has had a lifelong experience in the region and will work with the u.n. envoy to push for a diplomatic resolution. tim's diplomacy will be bolstered by the u.s. i.d. to make sure humanitarian aid is reaching the you many the yemeni people. this war has to end. for offensive operations in the war in yemen, including all armed sales. saudi arabia faces missile attacks, uab strikes, and other threats from every man-supplied forces in multiple countries. we are going to continue to support and help saudi arabia defend its sovereignty and its integrity of its peopl

those options, the president makes a decision on which one he selects, likely a secretary of defense alstonught that this was quite appropriate. the retaliation is measured, the retaliation is for a series of attacks against u.s. presence in the u.s. space in iraq, i think that it was designed to send a message, the first messages to our own troops, we have a new president and a new secretary of defense, our troops know that this administration tends to protect them and they will defend them and that's important, secondly to the iranians to be sure that we are not going to stand by and let you continue to fire on our troops and deploy on a rack or anyplace else and it sends a message to our adversaries out there, the russians come the north koreans and the chinese who are always watching what is the new and administration going to do good i think this is the right call. >> john: there was some question from former members of the trump administration whether or not this was effective, listen to the former secretary of state mike pompeo last night. >> you have to protect, and it you have to e