a third wave of coronavirus we start with those first top level meetings between the us and china sincejoe biden became us president. in the last half hour, us and chinese officials have begun a second round of talks. it s a chance to re set relations between the world s two biggest economies. america s top diplomat antony blinken is meeting his opposite number yang gee air chur against the snowy backdrop of alaska. beijing has said the serious difficulties of the past should not continue, but so far there s been no indication that things are improving from the turbulence of the trump years. and in their opening remarks, not too many warm words. (sots today we will have an opportunity to discuss key priorities, both domestic and global, so that china can better understand our administration s intentions and approach. we will also discuss our deep concerns with actions by china including in hong kong, taiwan, attacks on the united states, economic coercion towards our allies
also on the programme tonight. pressure grows on the first minister nicola sturgeon. it s understood the holyrood committee investigating the handling of harassment claims against alex salmond believes she misled their inquiry. the duke and duchess of sussex condemn the predatory practices of the british tabloids, after the sun paid a us private investigator to gather information about meghan markle. he says he then acted illegally. a decade after the war in syria began, the misery inflicted on a nation we look at the role of president assad during this brutal conflict. and coming up in sport on bbc news trouble at tottenham, as spurs are knocked out of the europa league late in extra time by dynamo zagreb. good evening. most of the european countries that suspended the use of the oxford astrazeneca vaccine have said they will start using it again, after the eu s medical regulator declared it safe and effective . italy, germany, france and spain are among those resumin