for an academy award? welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. the world health organisation says vaccination programmes should not be halted — after a growing list of eu countries decided to suspend the use of the oxford—astrazeneca jab over safety concerns. germany, france, spain and italy are all taking the precautionary measure — of suspending use of the vaccine — because of fears about possible side—effects, including blood clots. our medical editor fergus walsh has the latest a public display of confidence in the oxford astrazeneca vaccine from northern ireland's chief medical officer today. by contrast, you cannot have the jab in the irish republic, in france, germany and is a growing list of eu countries which have temporarily suspended its use. this is a safe, effective vaccine as recommended by mhra. let's remember, this virus kills people, kills people my age, younger people and older people and the benefits are strongly in favour of people getting this vaccine at that time. the eu roll—out was already lagging well behind that of the uk. france has said it will wait for a safety analysis from the european medicines agency due tomorrow, before deciding whether to restart using the oxford astrazeneca vaccine. translation: the decision which is being taken - is to suspend, as a precaution of vaccinating with the astrazeneca vaccine, in the hope we can carry on quickly if the opinion of the european medicines agency allows. ten european countries have suspended the use of the oxford astrazeneca vaccine pending safety investigations. germany, italy, france, the netherlands and spain are the latest. ireland paused at the weekend following denmark, iceland. several other countries, including austria have stopped using certain batches of the vaccine. that leaves several eu nations using the jab, which has been approved in over 70 countries around the world. astrazeneca says more than 17 million people in the uk and european union have now had its vaccine. that fewer than a0 cases of blood clots have been reported. it says the risks of having a clot are significantly lower among those who have been vaccinated compared to the general population. we know that blood clots are remarkably common and we would expect them to happen in one to two people per thousands, per year. which is a very large number. and much higher than the sorts of levels we are talking about in this particular report. scientists in the uk are frankly baffled by the decisions made in the eu. there is concern that the pause in using the astrazeneca jab will cost lives because people will not be protected from covid and that it will damage public confidence in a highly effective vaccine. fergus walsh, bbc news. italy is one of the countries suspending the use of the astrazeneca vaccine. it's now facing a third wave of the pandemic, with a sharp rise in the rate of infections, so the government is introducing new restrictions — including the closure of schools, shops and restaurants. more than half the country is affected and for three days over easter, there'll be a full national shutdown, as our correspondent mark lowen reports from milan for 95 years, guido di nardo's family have dressed the men of milan. his boutique passing down from his grandparents. but these 12 months have ruined him. with losses of 75% and now closing for another lockdown, even europe's fashion capital is fraying. translation: i hope we don't have to shut down completely, like so many others here. when i think of how this shop was my parents�* and grandparents�* life, it makes me want to cry. i'm only staying open for my children. if it were up to me, i would have given up already. a third wave, fuelled by the british variant, has closed shops, restaurants and schools in over half of italy's regions, including here in lombardy where europe's first wave exploded a year ago. forfamilies, it's like being stuck in time. for the covid generation, it's like time stolen. we feel pretty dreadful. it's like back to square one after a year. it is incredible that we haven't, the government, the schools haven't had the chance to think about an alternative. we look at israel, we look at the us, and we look- at the uk thinking, wow, | things are working there. and here? not really. turbo—charging italy's slow vaccine roll out, this drive—through centre opens today in milan. the government pledging to almost double dailyjabs now and triple them by mid april. well, italy is finally in full vaccine mobilization but there is frustration here that it has taken weeks to get to this point. yes, there have been supply problems, but only now with the drive—through starting and jabs also in schools, theatres and gyms. in the race between vaccine and virus, there is a feeling that italy has let the latter win for too long. butjust hours after vaunting its vaccine increase, italy halted its astrazeneca jabs. covid's fix thrown into doubt. as the pandemic drags on, it is taking the new poor with it. 3,500 a day now come to this hand—out. the price of survival in this, italy's financial capital. it's a disaster, says roxana, whose mother died of covid. neither my family nor i can find work now. at least this stops me sleeping under the bridge. from the exhausted, to the fearful. italians are desperate for a sign of hope. but for the first western country engulfed by the virus, its longed for path out has been pushed back again. america's top diplomat antony blinken is injapan on his first overseas trip. he will be joined by pentagon chief lloyd austin for talks with their opposite numbers, as well as prime minister yoshihide suga. they'll go on to south korea, before mr blinken returns to the us for meetings with chinese officials. a day before mr blinken and the us secretary of defence are due to arrive in seoul for theirfirst talks with south korean officials, north korea has warned the us to avoid "causing a stink" if it wants peace. in a statement carried by the state news agency, the sister of north korean leader, kim yo—jong, also criticised ongoing military drills in south korea. earlier, the white house said north korea has so far not responded to invitations to engage in dialogue. there is fresh condemnation of myanmar�*s military, after yet another day of the army using lethal force against unarmed protestors. the united nations secretary—general has said he is appalled by the escalating violence. latest estimates from an activist group say 20 more people were shot dead on monday. the group says in total 183 people have been killed by security forces. dr simon adams is from the the global centre for the responsibility to protect, which presses for international action against mass atrocities. good to talk to you. the un, of course, is the world's diplomat but it seems powerless to act here, especially when countries such as china and russia exercised their veto. i5 such as china and russia exercised their veto. is there an hinu exercised their veto. is there anything that _ exercised their veto. is there anything that could - exercised their veto. is there anything that could really - exercised their veto. is there i anything that could really make anything that could really make a difference? i think there are lots of things that could make a difference and thank you for having me on the show, i do appreciate it. i think what we have seen here is that clearly, you know, the secretary general statement was a positive one but it will take more than statement by anybody including myself to change the situation. more that can happen, yes. an arms embargo, targeted sanctions, divestment from the military —controlled economy. no diplomatic recognition of this regime at the un or anybody else. an international referral for crimes against humanity. these things should happen but they require political will.— political will. regional neighbours _ political will. regional neighbours could - politicalwill. regional neighbours could stepi political will. regional. neighbours could step in political will. regional- neighbours could step in i guess. neighbours could step in i cuess. ~' , guess. do think there is realistically _ guess. do think there is realistically a _ guess. do think there is realistically a chance . guess. do think there is realistically a chance of| guess. do think there is . realistically a chance of any of it? you know, i hope so. certainly the region could do a lot more. some states have been quite muted in their criticism of what is going on and one worries that there are some businesses in the region waiting for the blood to dry a little bit on the streets before they try to return to business as normal and i think we need to send a very clear message and by we i mean the entire international community, that they can be no business as usual with generals who have seized power and continue to come down unarmed protesters in the street and there has to be consequences for their actions. it is very difficult, isn't it? the military so powerful in the country and has made it clear in the recent past they are prepared to use almost any level of force. it is possible for them. level of force. it is possible forthem. is level of force. it is possible for them. is it possible of them to run a country with this level of fear?— level of fear? the government riaht level of fear? the government right now _ level of fear? the government right now -- — level of fear? the government right now -- make _ level of fear? the government right now -- make the - level of fear? the government right now -- make the countryi right now —— make the country is ungovernable by the military. the tremendous bravery and commitment and ingenuity of these thousands and thousands and thousands of civilians who, despite this kind of murderous repression come out every single day. i wake up here in new york every morning to text messages and e—mails, to photographs that have been sent to me by people inside the country were still protesting and still going and i think, you protesting and still going and ithink, you know, the protesting and still going and i think, you know, the very least the international community can do is to honour them in their bravery by trying to increase the pressure on the military. to increase the pressure on the milita . . , ., to increase the pressure on the milita . . , to increase the pressure on the milita . ., i. , , to increase the pressure on the milita . ., , ., military. can you see ways that international _ military. can you see ways that international businesses - military. can you see ways that international businesses could | international businesses could be encouraged not to do business with the military, with a country rather than, as you say, waiting for the blood to be washed off the streets? absolutely. one is reminded of apartheid south africa. it was a pariah state and no one wanted to be caught doing business with them at that point. just today some company said there were no longer be involved in any kind of business interests in myanmar. a major australian energy company pulled out, we need more companies doing that and we need more people doing what the eu did recently which was to say that it will not provide any development assistance to the government when it is run by a military who are going to use those funds simply to line their pockets and buy more weapons to kill their own people. i weapons to kill their own --eole. . ,~ ,, .., people. i really appreciate our people. i really appreciate your time- _ people. i really appreciate your time. thank - people. i really appreciate your time. thank you. - thank you. let's get some of the day's other news. two men in the united states have been arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer who died after the attack on the capitol building injanuary. prosecutors believe brian sicknick was targeted with a chemical spray that's designed to incapacitate. libya's new unity government has been sworn in, marking the end of years of rival administrations. the interim prime minister abdul hamid dbeibah who was selected during un—brokered peace talks last month will lead the country until elections planned for december. the vatican has ruled that roman catholic priests cannot bless same—sex couples, and that any such blessings are invalid in the eyes of the church. the statement was approved by pope francis, who supports civil rights for homosexual partners but opposes gay marriage. conservative catholics had asked for a ruling after bishops in germany and the united states expressed approval for the pastoral blessings some priests had bestowed. in london police have arrested a number of demonstrators, gathering to protest about male violence against women despite covid restrictions against large gatherings. campaigners marched from parliament square, while followed by a large number of police officers, vans and motorbikes. a ban by education officials that prevented girls from singing in afghanistan has been overturned. the shift came after a social media campaign that included local women uploading videos of themselves singing their favourite song. secunder kermani has more from kabul. the past few days have seen a great deal of criticism on social media here. pushing back against this ban on all girls over the age of 12 singing in any event where men are present. many accuse the acting minister of education, herself a woman trying to impose the same kind of repressive policies that the taliban implemented when they were in power back in the 1990s. in which many feared they would like to introduce again if they end up with some kind of role in the government in the future. in protest activists in all afghan women uploaded videos of themselves singing using the hashtag i am my song and in the face of this criticism the ministry of education backtracked for the over the weekend they issued a rather confusing statement saying that this ban did not reflect the ministries official policies and that an investigation is now to why this ban was announced. the backdrop of course to all of this is concerned about what the future holds for afghan women. there are concerns that attempts are under way at the moment to bring an end to the conflict by creating a power—sharing arrangement that would include the taliban. would also lead to rolling back of a fragile progress that has been made on women's rights in this deeply conservative country over the past two decades. in recent months we have already seen a number of women working as journalist, working asjudges, doctors being assassinated. others have fled the country. so whilst overturning this ban is a victory for women's rights, activists know they'll beat many challenges ahead. stay with us on bbc news, still to come... and the 2021 oscar nominations are out — the acting categories are the most ethnically diverse in the awards history. today we have closed the book on apartheid and that chapter... cheering and applause. more than 3,000 subway passengers were affected. nausea, bleeding, headaches and a dimming of vision. all of this caused by an apparently organised attack. the trophy itself was on the pedestal in the middle of the cabinet here. this was an international trophy and we understand now that the search for it has become an international search. above all, this was a chance for the christian democratsl of the west, offering i reunification as quickly as possible, and that's. what the voters wanted. the world health organization urges countries to keep using the astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine — as a growing list of european nations suspend injections. the un's secretary general says he's appalled by the escalating violence in myanmar at the hands of the military. republicans have stepped up their attacks on president biden — for his handling of a surge of migrant arrivals, including many unaccompanied children at the country's frontier with mexico. last month us officials detained at least 100—housand people, including more than 9,000 unaccompanied children, who had crossed into the united states. the house republican leader kevin mccarthy visited the border in texas and said the blame for the current situation lies firmly with president biden. i came down here because i heard of the crisis. it's more than a crisis. this is a human heart break. the sad part about all of this, it didn't have to happen. this crisis is created by the presidential policies of this new administration. there's no other way to claim it, but a biden border crisis. the white house press secretary, jen psaki said the government was working to expedite moving unaccompenied migrant children out of the border facilities, which she recognised were not fit to house children. it's not acceptable, but i think the challenge here is that there are not that many options. so the options are, and we have a lot of critics but many of them are not putting forward a lot solutions. the options here are, send the kids back on theirjourney. send them to unvetted homes, or work to expedite moving them into shelters where they can get health treatment by medical doctors, educational resources, legal counselling, mental health counselling. that's exactly what we're focused on doing and this is an across the administration effort that we are committed from the top to making changes on as quickly as possible. our north america correspondent, peter bowes, joins me now. the republicans are laying all this at mr biden's door. give us more details. well, yes, this is a political hot potato but it is a very real problem. and the republicans squarely blaming the president, president biden, for his new policies on immigration, getting rid of some of the more contentious policies of the trump administration and stopping the construction of the border wall, promising citizenship for ii the border wall, promising citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants already living in the united states but you mentioned the figures just last month 100,000 arrests, nine and a half thousand unaccompanied children and those figures represent an increase of some 28% from february from january. so third increase from the month that joe biden was inaugurated. it is a big problem. there is talk today in the media of a convention centre being used in dallas to house some of those unaccompanied children. the big difference now between the policies of the previous administration is that those unaccompanied children are not being sent back to the country where they came from, they are staying in the united states and the goal of a lot of those children, many of them teenagers, is to ultimately be rehoused with relatives that are already living in the united states.- are already living in the united states. we will be cominu united states. we will be coming back _ united states. we will be coming back to _ united states. we will be coming back to that - united states. we will be | coming back to that story, united states. we will be i coming back to that story, i united states. we will be - coming back to that story, i am sure. we should mention a cabinet appointment. fit, sure. we should mention a cabinet appointment. a victory for the more — cabinet appointment. a victory for the more progressive - cabinet appointment. a victory for the more progressive wing | for the more progressive wing of the democratic party. yes. she is from new mexico, she is a native american and she is from one of hundreds of tribes across the united states and is across the united states and is a long time campaignerfor the rights of america's indigenous people. she is an environmental campaigner there has been a big campaigner there has been a big campaign on her behalf by environmentalist to get her appointed to this row than the department of the interior. you did with president biden on some policies. she does not support fracking, she does support fracking, she does support the green new deal which includes some radical policies to tackle climate change and the reason her new job is so important is that the department that she will be in charge of controls and manages about one fifth of all the public land across the united states. if you look at the extraction and use of fossil fuels from those lands that results in about a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions from the us so if she is going to be in charge of it department at a time when president biden is looking at environmental policies, she is in a position to have her say thatis in a position to have her say that is exactly what her supporters want. the nominees for this year's much—delayed academy awards are finally out. it's the most diverse oscars ever, with nine of the 20 acting nominees from ethnic minority backgrounds — and two women nominated for best director. our arts editor will gompertz takes us through the nominations for a ceremony that will be unlike any other — taking place in a railway station. welcome to the 2021 oscar nominations, not coming from sunny hollywood, sadly, but from a rather damp leicester square where the cinemas have been shut all year but, by hook or by crook, the films have been released so we have got a shortlist to discuss with larushka from the metro newspaper. let's start with the acting nominations and best actress. who should win? who will win? i think who should win is vanessa kirby, the british actress, for pieces of a woman. i still haven't got over the 20—minute birth scene that she does at the beginning of that film. but i think who will win is andra day, who puts in a terrific transformational performance as billie holiday. # blood on the leaves and blood at the root.#. best actor, who is in the running and who is going to win? i would love to see riz ahmed win for sound of metal. he plays this ex—drug addict drummer who goes suddenly deaf. he is electrifying in this role. but who can begrudge chadwick boseman for winning for his final role in ma rainey�*s black bottom that he shotjust months before he died from cancer? if my daddy had known i was going to turn out like this, he would have named me gabriel. best supporting actress? could it be eighth time a charm for glenn close? she's got the record for the most nominated and never won actresses, for hillbilly elegy. unfortunately, everyone hates the film. that's a bit of a problem. and i'd love to see maria bakalova win for borat 2. who would have thought borat 2 would have been in the running for the oscars race? i want this one with the baby on it. 0k. ok, larushka, best supporting actor? daniel kaluuya is winning all the awards forjudas and the black messiah. a revolutionary! but here he is up against his co—star lakeith stanfield in the same category, both up for best supporting. where is best actor in this film? any last words? welcome to san simeon. we haven't talked about mank, although it does lead the way with ten nominations, the film about the writing of citizen kane, starring gary oldman. it's up for best picture. will it win? no. in a word, no. so what will win best picture? nomadland, no doubt. it is a timely portrait of a woman who is living in isolation. to me, this is the great film of the pandemic era. you're my sister. when you were growing up you were eccentric to other people. it wasjust because you were braver. let's finish with best director. who's going to win? who should win? first of all, let's just say two women up for best director at the oscars this year for the first time in history. emerald fennell up for promising young woman, the me too revenge drama starring carey mulligan who's also up for an award in the best actress category. but it's going to be chloe zhao for nomadland. she is going to become the second woman ever to win best director at the oscars. and if she does she will also become the first female asian director to win in what has been called the most diverse academy awards of all time. will gompertz, bbc news. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter — i'm embley mike. hello there. in comparison to this time last week, it is a much quieter weather story to tell. but i suspect we will be chasing cloud amounts around over the next few days, just like we had on monday. in cornwall, it was a beautiful day with blue sky and sunshine, similar story for northern ireland. but further north and west, cloud gathered as we went through the day, rather threatening looking skies, indication of what's to come. yes, we have some weather fronts bringing some rain into the far northwest. high—pressure is trying to build in from the southwest, but some of this rain will be heavy through the night. isobars squeezing together as well, strengthening winds particularly in the far north of scotland. now, the rain will sink its way south and east, a lot of cloud across the country, so a relatively mild night for many. so as we start off tuesday, there will still be some heavy rain to come, particularly across scotland accompanied by some strong gusty winds from the northwest. widely, we could see gusts in excess of 13 mph first thing, but in the far north, 40—115 mph not out of the question. that strong wind will help push the rain south and east as we go through the day, quite a clearance, the winds will fall light, the sunshine will come through. the only exception, perhaps, across east anglia, essex and kent, it may well stay cloudy for much of the day. top temperatures though through the afternoon, generally around 10—15 celsius — not bad. now, high—pressure will anchor itself across northern ireland. a little bit more of a breeze always around the periphery of the high, and that is going to continue to drag in cloud amounts, hence the reason that we will be chasing cloud from time to time. so on wednesday, there will be quite cloudy skies with the odd light shower into the far north and some cloud coming in off the north sea, so sheltered westerns parts of england and wales seeing the best of the sunshine potentially. now, as we move into the end of the week, the high—pressure just moves a little bit further west again, and that allows more of a northeasterly flow, a cooler source, particularly across east anglia and southeast england. so what that will do is it potentially breaks up the cloud to allow more sunshine to come through, but it means that it might feel just that little bit cooler the further south and east you are by the end of the week. further west, it stays largely dry, but there is always the risk of a little more cloud. that's it, take care. this is bbc news, the headlines: the world health organization has urged countries to keep using the astrazeneca coronavirus vaccine — france, italy, germany and spainjoined the list of countries who have halted injections. concerns were initially raised by norway when a small number of people suffered blood clots. astrazeneca insists the vaccine is safe. italy is tightening measures to try to stop the spread of a third wave of coronavirus. a sharp rise in the rate of infections, has caused the government to close schools, shops and restaurants again. a full national lockdown is planned for easter. the un's secretary general has said he's apalled by the the escalating violence in myanmar. at least 50 protestors are thought to have been killed by the military during demonstrations against the military coup in the past 2a hours. martial law has now been extended across the nation's largest city, yangon. now on bbc news, the media show.