is "cnn newsroom." ♪ u.s. president joe biden will soon be on his way here to atlanta, georgia, just days after eight people were killed in a shooting rampage at a local spas, six of them were asian women. biden was supposed to promote his huge coronavirus relief package, but will now instead offer his support to the community. he will be meeting with the mayor as well as state officials and asian-american leaders. vice president kamala harris who is a black asian-american is also on the trip. police say it's too soon to tell if the shootings were racially motivated about you that doesn't mean this had nothing to do with race as cnn's amara walker reports. >> our investigation is looking at everything, so nothing is off the table. >> reporter: as investigators take a hard look into what motivated the suspect to go on a mass shooting spree in the atlanta area that left eight dead including six asian women, comments and actions from the captain of the cherokee county sheriff's department are creating backlash. the spoekts man allegedly posted an image of this racist shirt last april on a facebook page that's since been deleted encouraging people to buy the shirt that reads "covid-19 imported virus from china." he also made these controversial remarks at a press difference wednesday. >> he understood the gravity of it and he was pretty much fed up, had been kind of at the end of his rope and yesterday was a really bad day for him and this is what he did. >> reporter: the cherokee county sheriff's department releasing this statement expressing regret and saying in part the captain did not intend to express empathy or imp thee for the suspects. baker has been removed as a spokesperson in the case. some in the asian community angry that a law enforcement official would diminish the dee prafty of a suspect's killing spree. >> he sounds like a spokesperson for the killer. this is something where we should not be trying to try to down play what happened, we should be speaking about it with the rawness of which it is, which is a mass murder. >> reporter: at the same press conference baker saying the suspect indicated he had a sex addiction, claiming the attacks were not racially motivated. >> the fact that he is characterizing it as eliminating some sort of sex addiction problem is dehumanizing and directed at the women that worked in this industry. >> but we also need to look at these incidents and crimes with a wider lens and a wider perspective. we hope that law enforcement are doing due diligence. >> reporter: on capitol hill today republicans, mostly silent on the wave of recent attacks against asian-americans. at a previously scheduled hearing on anti-asian hate today republican chip roy claimed members of congress were trying to police free speech. >> i'm not going to be ashamed of saying i oppose the chi coms, i opposed the chinese communist party. we shouldn't be worried about having a committee of members of congress policing our rhetoric because some evil doers go engage in some evil activity as occurred in atlanta, georgia. >> reporter: meanwhile, the investigation continues. authorities have not ruled out hate crime charges. long remains behind bars without bound in a cherokee county jail. in a statement his lawyer said the alleged shooter waived his right to a first court appearance. the fear among those in the asian community is palpable, some u.s. cities have ramped up patrolling areas in new york and seattle. the south korean consulate in atlanta issuing warnings for koreans to take extra caution due to the attacks. >> i am very cautious, but i am more concerned about my niece and my nephew and of course my parents, they're elderly. i tell them, don't go out unless you need to, call me, i will run the errands for you. >> and that report was from cnn's amara walker. we're getting some details on those killed in the cherokee county shooting. 33-year-old delaina yaun was one of them. her sister spoke to cnn. >> she was a family-going person, she liked to -- her family came first. everything was her family. she had such a wonderful, happy, upbeat personality. we were planning the summer and doing some fun activities and now i don't get to do that with her and it's extremely hard to even think b i'm waiting for her to come walking through the door and to not get that phone call, it's devastating. >> yaun was the mother of two kids including an eight-year-old daughter. her sister said she and her husband went to the spa together. her husband survived. the u.s. found itself in a two-front diplomatic war of words thursday with china, its modern economic rifle and with russia it's old cold far foe. russian president vladimir putin is responding furiously after mr. biden agreed that he was a killer. he wished mr. biden good health and challenged him to a live debate. we will have more on that in a moment. thursday saw a chilly start to face-to-face meetings in alaska between u.s. and chinese officials. normally bland introductory statements ended up as an exchange of diplomatic barbs. the u.s. secretary of state vowed to pursue a variety of issues. >> we will also discuss our deep concerns with actions by china including in hong kong, taiwan, cyber attacks on the united states, economic coercion toward our allies. each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains local stability. that's why they're not merely internal matters and why we feel an obligation to raise these issues here today. >> later u.s. officials described the first closed-door talks as substantive, but on camera there was a chain of rebuttals as each side responded to the other's remarks. >> -- reminded the u.s. side of paying attention to its tone and -- [ speaking foreign language ] >> the chinese side felt compelled to make this speech because of the tone of the u.s. side. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: isn't this the intention of the united states judging from what -- or the way that you have laid your opening remarks, that it wants to speak to china in a condescending way from a position of strength. >> all right. for more on all this let's bring in kristie lu stout in hong kong. not the smoothest start there, each blaming the other for starting all of this. what's your take on this bizarre back and forth. >> this is two days of talks and the first session wrapped up a few hours ago. we heard from a senior biden administration official saying that that round of talks was substantive, it was serious and it was direct, but, boy, it did get off with this very rocky start. opening remarks in this high-level dialogue between u.s. and china in alaska descending into this rather heated confrontation and it was all caught on cam ration but it's not really a surprise. look, we know that the u.s. and china are locked in this very complicated frenemy relationship, this is a moment of unprecedented tension between these two world powers on a variety of fronts from the tech war, trade war, fate and future of taiwan, democracy in hong kong, human rights in kpin i don't think. now, biden and it's administration they have sigg ld that they have continue with trump era pressure on china, especially in regards to trade, but a key difference is this, both sides are talking right now. last month in february chinese presid president xi jinping. there are many points of contention between u.s. and chois but there are areas of cooperation like pandemic response and climate change. we have to see what happens day two of the meeting which commences tomorrow. >> thank you so much. christy lou stout in hong kong. tension right side rising between the u.s. and russia as the kremlin fires back at scathing comments from president joe biden. vladimir putin is challenging him to hold online talks in the next few days, something the white house seems to be pouring cold water on. cnn's matthew chance has more on their deteriorating diplomatic relationship. >> i know you and you know me. >> reporter: this is the moment u.s. russian ties fraught by fresh allegations of the election meddling and the poisoning of a key russian opposition figure plunged to a new low. >> do you think he is a kill. >> reporter: >> uh-huh. i do. >> reporter: just a few words president biden signaled his intolerance of russian misdeeds and unlike his predecessor who faund over the russian leader vladimir putin, a willingness to call out the kremlin strong man. he looks relaxed, marking the seventh anniversary of the russia's annexation of crimea but putin is clearly furious, facing the promise of yet more painful u.s. sanctions in the weeks ahead. he's recalling russia's ambassador from washington for consultations, first time that's happened in decades. and issuing a snide response to the killer insult. i wish him well and good health and i mean that without any joking or irony, putin said of biden, via videoconference. some cast it as a veiled threat from a leader who kills his critics. but it looks more like a wink to rampant speculation on russian state tv alleging that biden's mental health is faltering due to old age. maybe he just forgot to take his pills, one state anchor jokes, about the biden remarks. it's age-related dementia says another, a triumph, but political insanity. putin also trolled biden by citing an old russian children's joke to deflect the killer tag. you are what you call others, he says. it takes one to know one, in other words. the playground retort that sums up the worst diplomatic spat between these nuclear rivals for years. it was a falling out waiting to happen when biden first met putin as u.s. vice president in 2011 he says he told him he didn't think he had a soul and warned the russian leader not to run for another kremlin term. ten years on with fewer than 100 days in office president biden has toughened his russian stance even more. matthew chance, cnn, moscow. italy, france and cyprus say they will resume using the astrazeneca vaccine as early as today. germany, spain and the netherlands will also say they begin giving astrazeneca shots again, this after a safety review by european regulators found no evidence the drug caused blood clots, but the european medicines agency didn't completely rule it out. the medical experts concluded astrazeneca is safe and effective and that the risk of serious side effects was extremely low. the question now is whether skeptical europeans can be won over. we begin our coverage with melissa bell in rome and fred pleitgen in berlin. fred, massively important decision for germany and the rest of the eu. take us through what this means. >> reporter: well, it is indeed a massively important decision because the ast zep can a vaccine is so key within the european unions and the country schemes to get their vaccine rollout moving faster. if you look at germany, for instance, they were starting a massive rollout of the astrazeneca vaccine and it was key to germany's strategy to get that campaign going even faster than before was to try to administer the astrazeneca vaccine because of course it's very easy to store and also to transport in general practitioners' offices. they were hoping for a boost in vaccinations in this country. all of that was put on hold when the astrazeneca vaccine itself was put on hold. now what a lot of these german states, german cities are doing is they're trying to get that vaccination campaign on track again as fast as possible. we spoke to two states here in germany, one being the state the brandenburg. they say because they've canceled so many appointments where people were supposed to get astrazeneca, they believe they can start administering that vaccine starting on monday. berlin they say they want to do that today, they want to get it going as fast as possible. they believe there might be queues at these vaccine center. because of the fast rising covid numbers in germany and other countries around europe as well the european nation are saying they believe right now it's paramount to vaccinate as many people as possible as fast as possible and astrazeneca very key to that for these european countries. >> absolutely. let's go to melissa now. italy will also restart with astrazeneca. i understand you're waiting for a press conference from the health minister. what are you expect to go hear? >> reporter: that's right, kim. what we expect it to hear from the health minister and the head of italy's national agency and it's going to be all about confidence. that's what european authorities are really worried about. the rollout may have picked up again but are happy going to be happy to take it give it you will all the doubts we've seen these last few days. european are naturally a skeptical bunch, there were fears even before all of this when the pandemic first began and the question of vaccines first raised its head that there would be an issue with enough people getting them. we know that one poll has shown in france that the raw of the last few days has left 22% of the population having enough confidence in the vaccine and here in italy as well, we were at a vaccination center on monday when they announced the stopping of the rollout and the people turned away. we said if the advice changes and rollout picks up will you come back and get it and they said not the astrazeneca one. you can imagine for authorities to convince people they need to come and get it it's going to be tough. it's crucial. we're talking about here in italy a covid-19 third wave that continues to bear down hard, it is day five of a lockdown that concerns more than half of italy's regions. for the time being those covid-19 figures stubbornly high the number of new cases above 20,000 every day and that hasn't changed since the start of the week. it is crucial that italian authorities can see through that vaccination campaign they promised. >> as you say an uphill battle to restore confidence there. thank you so much, melissa bell in rome. more than a dozen regions across france including paris and nice will soon begin covid restrictions as the country face has third wave of the virus the last at least four weeks. starting friday nonessential businesses will close and people will have to stay within six miles of their home. schools will stay open as these measures are less restrictive than earlier ones. france reported 35,000 new infections thursday, up more than 20% from last week and hospitalizations are also on the riz. the prime minister says across the country one person is being admitted to intensive care with covid every four minutes. the u.s. is on track to vaccinate 100 million people in the very near future, so why are new cases suddenly skyrocketing in many parts of the country? we will explain right after the break. stay with us. do you have a life 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[ ding ] you got paid! that means adding people to the payroll. hi mom. that means... best burger ever. intuit quickbooks helps small businesses be more successful with payments, payroll, banking and live bookkeeping. after weeks of encouraging trends new cases of covid-19 are surging again in more than a dozen u.s. states. one factor is the emergence of new variants that spread more quickly, the other is the lifting or relaxing of restrictions in many places. as cnn's nick watt reports, health experts fear the country is on the brink of a new wave of infections. >> i think it's pretty clear that there are some states now that are pulling back, i believe, a bit more prematurely than they should. >> reporter: a couple weeks ago alabama eased some restrictions. >> we are definitely -- indication that we are moving in the right direction. >> reporter: not anymore. alabama's average daily case count just climbed 90% in a week. in michigan up 50%, while hotels prep for spring breakers. >> a lot of the restaurants of course are available for seated dining again. >> reporter: average daily case counts now rising in 17 states. >> i think that we are on the cusp of a fourth surge right now. >> reporter: meanwhile, on the hill, they're arguing over guidance that the vaccinated still wear masks. >> you want people to wear masks for another couple years. >> no. >> you've been vaccinated and you parade around in two masks for show. >> no. masks are not theater. masks are fro tech testify. >> every day that goes by where the entire population hasn't been vaccinated, you know, you worry. >> reporter: it's a race. the virus and its variants versus vaccines. >> a little brick. >> reporter: about one in eight americans are now fully vaccinated. the president promised 100 million shots in 100 days, just might meet that day 58. >> we have got to get the schools reopened. >> reporter: a quarter of parents with kids in online school reported harm to their kids' mental and emotional health, also mitigation measures can, even in high schools, significantly slow spread. all this according to cdc reports. >> when we discussed this issue recently i really detected a lack of a sense of urgency on your part. >> we are actively looking at our guidance to update it to address that science. >> reporter: the cdc now expected to announce that in the classroom three feet of social distance not six will work. nick watt, cnn, los angeles. the fbi has released new video clips showing how brutally violent the attack on the u.s. capitol was on january 6th. the rioters targeted police. cnn's brian todd has the details. we want to warn you his report contains images that some viewers may find disturbing. >> reporter: as a crutch and other heavy objects are thrown at police, look at the man in the spot shadow, wielding a large club he starts mercilessly swinging at officers. a slow motion shot shows the same man the fbi says now he's wearing a red hat, ferociously swinging the club at an officer's head. the fbi believes he is the man in the picture on the left side of the screen. this is one of several video clips of the january 6th assault on the capitol just released by the fbi, specifically showing rioters attacks on police officers. >> you will see officers being punched, beaten with sticks, flag poles and their own shields. as well as being sprayed with a variety of unknown substances. >> reporter: like what this rioter is doing from the top of a grandstand he unleashes an unknown spray at several officers below, causing them to disperse. another clip shows him praying down at officers from a different location nearby on that grandstand. on the left side and then full screen you get a good look at the young man's face. the fbi is asking for the pu