late on monday, us presidentjoe biden met to discuss the global chip shortage. last week, us auto giant general motors said it would suspend or reduce production at three plants because of the lack of semiconductors. other car makers have already reduced output. samira hussain has the latest from new york. the aim of the virtual summit was to discuss the global shortage of semiconductors, a shortage of semiconductors, a shortage that is costing american countries, companies billions of dollars and forcing massive temporary layoffs. many factors contribute to the overall lack of chips including much higher than expected demand for them, and the sheer number of items that require them, anything from laptops to cellphones, cars, and even refrigerators. chinese tech companies have exacerbated the crisis. most of the world s supply of semiconductors comes from asia, something the us president wants to change. for too lona president wants to change. for too long as president want
the newly appointed head of the world trade organization has told the bbc that when it comes to vaccines protectionism is not the answer to ending the coronavirus pandemic. speaking to the bbc in one of her first interviews since getting one of the top jobs in global trade nigeria s dr ngozi okonjo iweala told our correspondent nancy kacungira that her organisation could help accelerate the rollout of vaccines. iam humble i am humble and proud to be the first woman and the first african, so i wouldn t minimise that the fact that the membership have done and his directing today. but for me principally, there are so many problems to be sold. first and foremost is the issue of the pandemic. of covid i9. and looking at how wto rules and how the wto can help make access to vaccines therapeutics and diagnostics more accessible and diagnostics more accessible and affordable for poorer countries, so that we don t have a phenomenon a rich countries are vaccinating their populations an
where chancellor angela merkel is due to meet with leaders of germany s 16 states to discuss whether to extend a lockdown that has been in place since december. a sluggish vaccine programme, hampered by a shortage of supplies, has already been far slower than expected. so far around 8.5% of germany s population has had a first injection. and the number of cases is rising. according to the robert koch institute, the figure of confirmed cases has now risen above 2.5 million across the country. this raises the prospect of europe s largest economy going back into lockdown in the coming weeks. joining me now from frankfurt is christian schulz, who s an economist at citi. lovely to see you. what do we expect to happen in germany over the coming weeks? what will angela merkel and the regional leaders decide? we alread regional leaders decide? - already have the document that the federal government is going to use in the actual meeting. it calls for an extension of the lockdown until
later this monday, the world trade organization will hold a special meeting to discuss who will be the organisation s new director general. unless anyone objects, there is only one candidate on the shortlist: nigeria s former finance minister ngozi okonjo iweala, who is expected to be confirmed unanimously and would be the organisation s first female and first african leader. whoever gets the job faces a major challenge to prove the wto is still relevant in a world of trade battles between the us and china. the wto sets the rules for global trade and adjudicates in trade disputes between nations. it is also, according to its website, supposed to open trade for the benefit of all . so who is ngozi okonjo iweala, and how will she do that? trade is my passion. i think as an instrument to lift people out of poverty, this organisation is all about technical negotiation skills. if you want to keep doing what you did the pastor getting the same result comment, i think they should
because the electric car maker has passed some major milestones in the past 2a hours. the firm, headed by elon musk, zoomed passed a market value of one trillion dollars late on monday, making it only the fifth company in history to pass that figure. its shares rose over 12% after tesla agreed to sell 100,000 vehicles to car rentalfirm hertz. the deal is the biggest ever rental car order for electric vehicles and seen as a further vote of confidence in the greener technology. michelle fleury has more from new york. tesla joins an elite club of companies whose market capitalisation has crossed the trillion dollar mark. think apple, microsoft and google s parent company, alphabet. amazon is also up there, the online retailer reached that threshold back in january 2020. 23 years after it became a public company. tesla, well it has done it in just 11 years. it s also the first car maker to hit that milestone after the company, founded by elon musk, it received its biggest order t