and prepare to investigate covid's origins. the european union and astrazeneca have promised to work together, following their public falling out over coronavirus vaccine supplies. both sides described a meeting on wednesday as constructive. although the eu said it regrets the continued lack of clarity over the delivery schedule. the row erupted over a shortfall of around fifty million doses that astrazeneca put down to manufacturing issues. senior eu officials had said the drug company was not honouring its contract — and should do so by supplying vaccines from its british factories. mark lobel reports. the eu's rollout of the oxford—astrazeneca vaccine it hopes to approve on friday is already in doubt. the bloc is fuming after suggestions it may only get around a third of what it expects. pharmaceutical companies, vaccine developers, have moral, societal and contractual responsibilities which they need to uphold. astrazeneca has reported production delays in the netherlands and belgium. the eu says these unaffected production sites in the uk should provide shortfall. the uk factories are part of our advance purchase agreements and this is why they have to deliver. but astrazeneca has other customers too, including the uk. they could be affected in a tit—for—tat threat dubbed �*vaccine nationalism' if the eu restricts exports of other vaccines made in the bloc to deal with the shortfall. we're very confident in our supplies, we're very confident in our contracts and we're going ahead on that basis. astrazeneca denies eu claims it's backtracking on its commitments in order to sell its vaccines for profit elsewhere. but as this bitter row grows, the eu wants its contract with astrazeneca, which the pharmaceutical company says was signed three months after the uk agreed to theirs, to be made public. it may be that the uk has got favourable contractual terms, and actually, you know, has benefited from being first in line. and actually the eu has more of a, as we've heard, a sort of reasonable endeavours clause in the contract on the part of astrazeneca, such that it is not in such a tight contractual mechanism. but as eu countries suffer delays with other vaccines, the eu's health commissioner says this current row shouldn't come down to first—come, first—served. he says that logic may work in the butcher's shop but not for these advance purchase agreements. mark lobel, bbc news. the first official covid briefing of the biden administration was a more staid event than those under president trump. mr biden was noticably absent as he turned the spotlight on scientists and the health officials to lead the us response. the renewed emphasis on medical expertise comes as the situation in the us starts to look a bit more promising, as since january 12th, the number of people hospitalised with covid across the united states has been steadily decreasing — just under 110,000 are in hospital, still far too many, but an improvement. it's the same story when it comes to the infection rate in the us — on 2january there were 300,000 new cases of covid—19. now that number has halved tojust under 150,000. at its briefing, the new head of the cdc said she was encouraged by the numbers, but cautious. while i am encouraged by the trends, our case rate remains extraordinary high and now is the time to remain vigilant. but if we are united in action, we can turn things around. continuing to expand safe and effective vaccination is key to ending the covid—19 pandemic and bringing our country back to health. president biden has set out his plans to try to deal with climate change, describing it as an existential threat. he said the us had waited too long to confront the climate crisis, and must lead the global response. mr biden has signed a raft of executive orders, in sharp contrast with the policies of the trump administration. among them, a moratorium on new oil and gas leases on public land and making climate considerations a focus of american foreign and national security policy. 0ur chief eenvironment correspondentjustin rowlatt reports. if ever america needed a warning of what climate change could mean for the country, it got it last year, with record wildfires and an unprecedented series of hurricanes. there is no time to waste, president biden said today. we can't wait any longer. we see it with our own eyes, we feel it, we know it in our bones, and it's time to act. and by appointing one of the country's most senior politicians, john kerry, as his climate envoy, joe biden is demonstrating once more that tackling climate change will be at the heart of his presidency. it is clearly one of his very top priorities. it's why he rejoined the paris agreement within hours of being sworn in as president. it's why today he's issued executive orders, mobilising every department, every agency of the united states government to focus on climate. california has experienced record droughts, as well as record fires, in recent years — evidence that even one of the richest states in the richest nation on earth can't immunise itself against the kind of weather climate change is expected to bring. heat, cold, all of these weather patterns aren't in and of themselves that strange. it's the frequency with which they're happening, and how unpredictable everything is, and it's very difficult for a farmer. john kerry was instrumental in negotiating the landmark global climate accord in paris in 2015, when he was president 0bama's secretary of state. he says a key objective now is to try and persuade other nations to raise their carbon—cutting game in the run—up to the big global climate summit glasgow will be hosting in november. glasgow will be extremely important. in fact, i would say in myjudgment it is the last best chance the world has to come together in order to do the things we need to do to avoid the worst consequences the uk government, as host of the glasgow conference, will be hoping mr kerry's efforts pay off. in his first interview since becoming full—time president of the summit, alok sharma says having a us administration that's really engaged on the climate issue is good news indeed. i think it's great to have the us administration back at that table on the global fight against climate change. i think what's incredibly encouraging is that, within hours of the inauguration being completed, president biden, one of the first executive orders he signed was to rejoin the paris agreement. it is only a week since the new administration took power, and it has already taken big steps to reverse trump's policies on climate, but the agenda is ambitious, and bothjoe biden and john kerry know their efforts will have to overcome opposition from within the us. justin rowlatt, bbc news. the us department of homeland security has issued a threat bulletin due to the ongoing potential for violence in the wake of the presidential inauguration, including concerns that domestic extremists may be emboldened by the attack on the us capitol. let's speak to our north amercia correspondent peter bowes. put this into context for us — how common are these bulletins and how often are they issued in response to domestic threats? where is the department for homeland security getting their intel from 7 maybe one or two of these bulletins a year but they are related to perceived threats from overseas. terrorist organisations based outside of the united states. that's why it's unusual and is taken seriously because what it's saying is there is this perceived threat of potentially domestic terrorism, groups that have been emboldened perhaps by what happened two weeks before joe biden�*s inauguration, we saw those swarms of people going into that building, in some cases getting right into the senate chamber, egged on by the words of resident trump and that in itself will be the subject of the impeachment trial in a couple of weeks' time and that is one of the reasons why they are issuing the security threats now. essentially a story isn't over. there is still a lot of very angry feeling and sentiment around the country about the election, the baseless claims made by the former president and the fear is that trouble we saw a couple of weeks ago could start again perhaps in cities, capital cities around america. peter, we werejust capital cities around america. peter, we were just looking at some pictures there, some moving pictures of that attack on the capital. many of the people involved in that live streamed their participation. is this where the department of homeland security get their intel from? it homeland security get their intel from?— intel from? it is certainly one ofthe intel from? it is certainly one of the sources. _ intel from? it is certainly one of the sources. local - intel from? it is certainly one of the sources. local police l of the sources. local police forces, with an ear to the ground, in major cities around the country, and, as ever, one of the most important sources of the most important sources of information is the monitoring of internet charter, the type of chatter that isn't available to you and i, the dark web, all sorts of ways of discovering what people are talking about in these groups that are trying to encourage others. what we saw in a few weeks' time. the impeachment trial in two weeks' time. as you say, looking at that video, it's interesting we are hearing some of the people arrested, thatis some of the people arrested, that is as a result of family members, loved ones reporting them to the ai because they've seen the video, they saw the streaming video, maybe the photographs they sent back at home. this was one the most publicised events. you can imagine with live television and the individuals involved streaming themselves. we will kee - streaming themselves. we will kee an streaming themselves. we will keep an eye on _ streaming themselves. we will keep an eye on that. _ streaming themselves. we will keep an eye on that. peter, . keep an eye on that. peter, thank you. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: this british man travelled to india to get married — only then to be accused of conspiracy to murder hindu nationalist politicians. he faces the death penalty. the shuttle challenger exploded soon after lift—off. there were seven astronauts on board, one of them a woman school teacher. all of them are believed to have been killed. by the evening, tahrir square, the heart of official cairo, was in the hands of the demonstrators. they were using the word �*revolution�*. the earthquake singled out buildings and brought them down in seconds. tonight, the search for any survivors has an increasing desperation about it as the hours passed. the new government is finally in control of the entire - republic of uganda. survivors of the auschwitz concentration camp have been commemorating the 40th anniversary of their liberation. they toured the huts, gas chambers and crematoria, and relived their horrifying experiences. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: after the european union's attack on astrazeneca over a shortfall in vaccine doses, there are positive signs after a meeting described as constructive. president biden has signed a series of executive orders to tackle climate change, which he's described as an existential threat. a team of world health organization experts investigating the origins of the pandemic are preparing to begin work in wuhan. they've been isolating in the chinese city for the last two weeks. 0ur china correspondent, stephen mcdonnell, looks at what the group of scientists will be doing in wuhan now they are out of quarantine. practically speaking, it means they can have some face—to—face meetings. they are saying they've already started having meetings via video link and the like, but they'll be able to come out of quarantine, move around the city. but i'm going to make a bit of a bold prediction here and say that at the end of this visit, they are not going to come out and tell us they've discovered how the coronavirus started. that's because it's a very difficult thing to work out, and the who has already been stressing how much time is going to be required, how complex the task is. one of the things they won't be doing is even looking at the theory of a lab leak. well, if they are, it certainly isn't in any of the documents i have seen associated with this trip. it's more like examining the possibility that this virus jumped from some sort of animal, maybe via an intermediary animal, and then into humans. another thing they won't be doing is their own research. what it mostly is a trip looking at the work that's already been done by chinese scientists and then trying to map out where the holes might be to try and see, ok, what else needs to be done to get back to the origins of this coronavirus. they have even said that afterwuhan, naturally, it started here because this is where the first clusters were, where the outbreak started. but actually, the scientists are saying, in theory, it could have come from somewhere else. so they are not ruling out the possibility that after this trip, they will go to another chinese city or even another country to try and get to the bottom of the origins of this virus. now that obviously makes the chinese government happy to hear language like that because that's the line that's being pushed quite a bit by the communist party. we've even had a foreign ministry spokesman here saying that it definitely came from overseas. either way, we've had politicians and government officials, especially from the us and china, throwing mud at each other over this issue, spreading conspiracy theories over the coronavirus. what many will be hoping though is that this group of scientists can somehow get above the clamour of the politics and find a way to discover what the real origins of this debilitating virus have been. but really, it's not going to be easy and it's not going to be quick. let's bring you some live pictures now from les sables d'olonne in france where the winner of the gruelling, vendee globe round the world yacht race, yannick bestaven is coming into port. the french sailor crossed the finish line at les sables d'olonne after 80 days, 13 hours and 59 minutes he actually crossed in third, however a time compensation due to his involvement in the rescue of a fellow competitor clinched the win for him. he the win for him. is among one of the four yachtsmen he is among one of the four yachtsmen to come to the rescue of a boat that was folded in two by a giant wave in the end of november, so very many congratulations to yannick. a british manjailed in india has told the bbc he was forced to sign a blank confession, which has been used to implicate him in terrorist crimes. jagtar sinthohal is accused of conspiring to murder a number of political leaders, charges he denies. his family say he's been tortured, a claim authorities refuse. if found guilty, he could be handed the death penalty, although executions in india are extremely rare. our south asia correspondent rajini vaidyanathan reports from delhi. the first dance forjagtar singh the first dance forjagtar sinthohal on his wedding day in 2017. the 33—year—old from scotland had travelled to india for the celebrations. days later, while out shopping with his new wife, he was taken away by police in the state of punjab. he's been in detention ever since. punjab. he's been in detention eversince. seen punjab. he's been in detention ever since. seen here at a court hearing, jagtar singh johal was accused of conspiracy to murder. indian authorities allege he was involved in a series of killings of right hindu leaders. authorities claim he is a member of a separatist organisation they describe as a terrorist gang. sa mrjohal paid £3000 to the group to help fund the crimes. jagtar singh group to help fund the crimes. jagtar sinthohal denies the jagtar singh johal denies the allegations. �*s jagtar sinthohal denies the allegations. �*s family say he is a peaceful activist who has written against human rights violations against sikhs. i believe he is and will be proven innocent because of the trail. ~ . , proven innocent because of the trail. ~ ., , ., trail. what is your message to uk government? _ trail. what is your message to uk government? he - trail. what is your message to uk government? he has - trail. what is your message to uk government? he has beenj uk government? he has been sub'ect uk government? he has been subject to _ uk government? he has been subject to torture _ uk government? he has been subject to torture and - uk government? he has been subject to torture and you - uk government? he has been | subject to torture and you have failed him. please bring my brother back home so he can continue and start his life with his wife.— continue and start his life with his wife. the family say jaatar with his wife. the family say jagtar singh _ with his wife. the family say jagtar singh johal _ with his wife. the family say jagtar singh johal wrote - with his wife. the family say jagtar singh johal wrote this j jagtar singh johal wrote this letter detailing jagtar sinthohal wrote this letter detailing allegations of torture. it claims he was stripped and beaten, given electric shocks, and that his legs were pulled apart each time he was questioned. the bbc has been unable to independently verify these claims, which the authorities deny. jagtar singh claims, which the authorities deny. jagtar sinthohal claims he was tortured into signing a confession letter and made to record this video, linked to indian media. has lawyer told me the authorities have yet to provide him with any evidence linking mrjohal to the crimes. he feels his client is being framed. translation: i he feels his client is being framed. translation: i am very worried. framed. translation: i am very worried- our _ framed. translation: i am very worried. our immediate - framed. translation: i am very worried. our immediate concern. worried. our immediate concern is that we get a fair trial which proceeds quickly. until then, he is languishing in jail. then, he is languishing in “ail. , . . then, he is languishing in “ail. ., ,, ., , jail. jagtar singh johal is bein: jail. jagtar singh johal is being held _ jail. jagtar singh johal is being held here - jail. jagtar singh johal is being held here at- jail. jagtar singh johal is l being held here at delhi's maximum security tiharjail. is one of thousands of people being held in prisons across india without conviction, some for many years. this human rights charity is concerned that some of the charges he is awaiting trial for here carry the death penalty is a maximum punishment. but experts stressed that executions and india are extremely rare. reprieve has asked the foreign secretary to call for mr johal�*s immediate release. dominic grubb did raise the case with his indian counterpart during his trip to india in december. this is the most recent time jagtar india in december. this is the most recent timejagtar singh most recent time jagtar singh johal was most recent timejagtar singh johal was seen in court. british officials also say they are in regular contact with prison staff and his family about his well—being. but his brother remains concerned. in august last year, he was joined by dozen who protested outside downing street. jagtar singh johal�*s case has attracted international attention. his supporters say they won't give up supporters say they won't give up until he's back home. rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, delhi. now time for the latest sports news. hello, i'mjane dougall with your thursday sport briefing. the president of the international olympic committee has asked for people to stop speculating about this summers games in tokyo being cancelled because it is hurting athletes in their preperations. thomas bach chaired a meeting of the ioc on wednesday and said it wasn't just wishful thinking that the olympics could happen, that it was based on experts�* advice. there has been concern that the already cancelled olympics may not be able to take place because of the pandemic. bach called for patience whilst they dealt with the various stakeholders and permuations to try to make it happen. are asked as to organise olympic games are not to cancel olympic games are not to cancel olympic games, and our task is to make the olympic dreams of the athletes coming true. this is why we are working, day and night, to organise a safe olympic games in tokyo 2020, and this is why we will not add fuel to all these kind of speculations. on to football, and manchester united missed the chance to go top of the english premier league after losing to bottom of the table sheffield united. oliver burke scored the winner as sheffield united claimed only their second league win over the season. earlier, kean bryan scored to give the visitors a half—time lead, with harry maguire equalising for manchester united who remain 2nd, behind manchester city on goal difference. disappointed, of course. we just couldn't get the heights of the last few months was football we played. very disappointing. there is no time to feel sorry for yourself because saturday we go again, we've got arsenal, so we just have two forget this and learn from it and move on. elsewhere, juventus are through to the semi—finals of the coppa italia after thrashing spal a—nil. that sets up a trip to inter milan in the last four. and in spain, lionel messi and frenkie dejong scored for barcelona as they came from behind to win 2—1 at rayo vallencano, to reach the quarter—finals of the copa del rey. there's one game in the english premier league on thursday, with tottenham at home to liverpool. the defending champions will drop to 6th in the table, below spurs, if they lose. liverpool's fa cup defeat at manchester united on sunday means they go into the game with only one win in 7 matches in all competitions. they've also failed to score in their last four league games. we will fight hard, and we will be positive with the positive things and we will be critical of the not so positive things, that's what we do. i know people expect me to be in a bad mood or whatever, i'm not stop ea take the situation how it is and make sure that we are ready for a fight. staying with sport, just want to bring you back to those live pictures we have got at the moment, yannick bestaven coming and third over the line but he won because of a ten hour time bonus for helping rescue another competitor back in november when his boat was folded in half by a giant wave about 600 nautical miles of the cape of good hope. so, wonderful sense of celebrations there in front and many, many congratulations to yannick bestaven and the rest of his team. just a quick reminder of our top story. after the european union's attack on astrazeneca over a shortfall of vaccine doses, there are signs of agreement. plenty more business news coming up. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @vfritznews. hello there. a bit of the weather tussle going on in the skies above the uk of the next few days between cold air to the north and east of us in milder air to the south and west. during the next 2a hours, it's the milder air which will win through for many but on this dividing line we are going to see quite an active weather system and that's going to produce on one side pretty heavy rainfall. northern ireland, north—west england of greatest concern where we could see 1 or 2 inches of rain, adding to the flood concern. on the colder side of our weather system the hills of northern england, southern scotland and into central and northern scotland we could see significant snow which could have an impact on some of the higher road. it's here where we start the day start coldest of all. maybe temperatures as low as —6 degrees compared to 10 or 11 in parts of cornwall. big north—south contrast. there is the dividing line, that area of rain, sleet and hill snow, through the morning rush hour pushing its way northwards. drying up and brightening up to the south quite misty and murky underneath that weather front but you can see that it's on these higher sites were more likely to see the snow. that rain—sleet—snow mix is going to hang around across parts of central scotland, moving into northern scotland as we go through the day. it does allow skies to brighten in england and wales but stays mostly misty and murky in the north but with sunnier skies and a bit of a breeze, it will stay incredibly mild average is up to 1a degrees compared to just 4 in aberdeen, 2 in lerwick where it should stay dry and bright through much of the day. should stay dry and brighter much of the day for another batch of rain comes through thursday evening for that rain rather than snow. milder air snow continues to fall in northern parts of scotland. some heavy, thundery showers into the first part of friday morning across the south. we've still got those north—south contrast as far as temperatures are concerned. widespread frost in the far north of scotland where you've got some snow and some icy conditions to start friday. that will still be there on friday morning. rain across southern scotland, northern england fizzling out. a few heavy, maybe thundery showers across the south but a better chance of sunshine winning through friday. temperatures still in double figures in the south but the colder air starting to fight its way back. and it will continue to try and push back as we go into the weekend. notice how it's pushing its way southwards. this swirl here is an indication of a weather system which could bring another mix of rain, sleet and snow on saturday across england and wales ahead of a potentially another one late on sunday. that fight goes on into next week too. you are this is bbc news — i'm victoria fritz with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. after the european union's attack on astrazeneca over a shortfall in vaccine doses, there are signs of agreement after a meeting described as constructive. a big day for big tech. facebook and apple see revenues soar as the pandemic pushes more of our lives online us markets slump as the fed warns the economic recovery is losing steam losing its charge — tesla makes its first full year of profits but investors aren't electrified. and lockdown, start up! why record numbers here in the uk have launched a new business during the pandemic.