Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

More than two years ago, Canada arrested an executive of Huawei, a Chinese telecoms

giant.

In what seems like retribution, China then detained two Canadian citizens.

We ask how this slow-rolling hostage diplomacy might be resolved.

And it's hard to put a value on digital media, easily copied and almost free to distribute.

But thanks to so-called non-fungible tokens, a price can be found for everything from

film clips to tweets, and that might have big benefits for artists.

Just up though.

As of now, 19 European countries have halted or restricted the use of Oxford AstraZeneca's

COVID-19 vaccine.

The suspensions were first set in motion by reports from Norway of four cases of blood

clotting in people who had received the jab.

Yesterday, Germany joined the list, saying it's found a noticeable increase in cases of

a particular kind of clot found in the brain.

This vaccination program was already off to a worryingly slow start, and another wave

of infections seems to be building.

On Monday, Italy imposed new lockdown restrictions.

In the last spring, the European Medicines Agency met with the

World Health Organization yesterday to discuss safety and reiterated that it's firmly convinced

...