>> the british parliament

approves a brexit trade deal, but the opposition does so with open contempt for prime minister johnson's handling of the whole affair. a large explosion strikes an airport in a southern yemeni city'. at least 22 were killed, 50 wounded in the blast. abortion is no legal in argentina, the senate ignoring a last-minute plea from pope francis. women's rights groups marking a victory after years of campaigning. the eu/u.k. trade deal has been approved by the british parliament. the day of debate was set aside in the house of governance. that goes to the house of lords for formality. the opposition had many critical words for the deal and for prime minister johnson, but they nonetheless back at as the lesser of two evils.

>> the fruits of months of arduous negotiation. at long last, the post brexit trade deal was presented before the british prime minister for his signature. >> the treaty i just signed is not the end and i think what will be the beginning of a wonderful relationship. >> an hour earlier, mp's in the house of commons overwhelmingly approved the agreement. >> the ayes have it. >> desperate to avoid a cliff edge, most opposition lawmakers got behind boris johnson's deal. >> a thin deal is better than no deal, and not implementing this deal would mean immediate tariffs and quotas with the eu which would push up prices and

drive businesses to the wall. >> weighing in at over 1200 pages, the hard one accord covers over 700 billion euros worth of trade between the u.k. and eu and ensures a zero-tariff exchange of goods. as it clears parliamentary hurdles at breakneck speed, it is on schedule to come into force before 11:00 p.m. gmt on new year's eve. that's when the u.k. leaves the eu single market, fundamentally changing how the neighbors live, work, and trade for years to come. >> the impact on universities, higher education is significant. we speak with the director of universities u.k. international. good evening to you. how would this affect britain's

universities? >> maintaining cooperation and research has been maintained through this deal. we have the horizons europe program, and that is essential in our view. but we did not get what we hoped for. it is not ideal. but the good news is really good news. >> let's deal with that student exchange program, which allows students from other countries to travel around, study in neighboring countries, and basically learn different cultures and neighborhoods. boris johnson actually pledged this would not be touched. that has not been the reality, has it? quick second -- i think we came pretty close.

we could see this coming for a while. it is very disappointing, but it is not the only way of organizing student exchanges. in the case of the u.k., only 42% of students who go abroad to study or work -- the fact that the u.k. government has launched a major new scheme to fund u.k. students for some time all over the world to study and work i think is really positive, especially given the financial pressure. >> indeed positive, but it looks like it was all -- it looks as though it was replacing something that was already there. how do you think people will look back and judge this period? >> the u.k.'s relationship with

the eu evolves, and i think it will involve university cooperation, too, so i think everyone should stay on pace, and meanwhile, we need to get down to the business of making sure we can exchange students, so send our students a broad and welcome other students. >> it sounds great. it sounds to me like you are having to defend the great work the universities are doing. this doesn't seem right. >> you could see it that way or you can say we have been arguing for five years. research cooperation is just essential, in my view. look at how much research corporations have been essential to dealing with the covid

crisis. it just cannot be done without cooperation. that was a really welcome side. on student objections, there were many other things going on. we won't even get into the subject of services or financial measures that are taken in other areas. the fact that the government decided that they will make sure universities can still exchange students, i think we should see that as a positive thing. you have to -- >> we hear what you are saying completely. will british universities lose out financially? >> yes, they do stand to lose out financially unless it is possible for us to make sure the

counterparts collaborate with us . we've got to explain on the research side, something really changes. we try to boost confidence in the u.k., and on the student exchange side, it's not really for us about losing money. in fact, the u.k. paid more than it received as it went into the erasmus program. it's about making sure opportunities are there for students. >> we hear your words. thank you very much indeed for sharing with us. in france, there has been a further 26 thousand -- a further 26,500 coronavirus cases, an 11,000 increase on the previous day. 300,000 people have died until now in france due to the covid pandemic.

france is still under curfew, 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. this is to be extended by 32 hours in eastern regions. bars, restaurants, gyms, and theaters nationwide will close. a large explosion hit a southern yemeni city shortly after an aircraft carrying the newly formed cabinet landed there. 50 were wounded in the blast, at least 22 were killed. >> this was the moment an explosion rocked yemen's airport. moments later, the sound of sporadic gunfire could be heard. the deadly attack took place after a new unity government landed on the tarmac. according to officials, the delegation of ministers was unharmed. they blame the iranian-backed houthi rebels. as smoke billowed out of the airport terminal, a second explosion took place, leaving

debr strewn across a wide area. people nearby rushed to tend to the wounded. several hours later, a loud blast was heard around the presidential palace where a cabinet was transferred to. the seemingly coordinated attacks come days after yemen's internationally recognized government and seven separatists formed a power-sharing cabinet. this was perceived as a joint front against the houthi rebels. >> an american jailed in the u.s. in 1985 for spying for israel has landed -- well, in israel, to a hero's welcome, led by benjamin netanyahu. he is now 66. he served as a u.s. navy

intelligence analyst. after years of israeli lobbying to allow the jewish-ameran to leave, the u.s. justice department agreed to the terms and conditions last month. >> kissing the ground in a show of gratitude, jonathan pollard accompanied by his wife esther thanked prime minister benjamin netanyahu for his support. >>e are ecstatic after 35 years. >> as a u.s. navy intelligence analyst in the 1980's, he sent thousands of documents to israel in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars. when this was revealed, it strained relations between the allies. he received a life sentence but

was released on parole after serving 30 years in a federal prison. the israeli government has repeatedly lobbied the u.s. for pollard's release, but it was not until this year that the justice department announced he had completed his parole. at the meeting in tel aviv, netanyahu presented pollard and his wife with israeli id cards. pollard and his wife are now quarantining as part of rules to combat the pandemic. on sunday, israel imposed its third nationwide lockdown. >> argentina's senate has voted to allow abortion, despite a plea from pope francis, himself an argentinian.

the vote could be the start of a way of change on the issue of abortion across latin america, which, of course, is mainly catholic. >> an outpouring of joy in front of argentina's senate as activists celebrate a moment they have been waiting for for years. >> [speaking foreign language] >> senators debated the landmark bill decriminalizing abortion for 12 hours, passing it by a wider margin than expected. >> [speaking foreign language] >> the bill guarantees the right to abortion of 14 weeks of

pregnancy. doctors who object may refuse but must point patients to another hospital. 38,000 women are hospitalized each year due to complications from clandestine abortions. legalizing the procedure was a campaign promise of president alberto fernandez. the move saw fierce opposition from the country's catholic church and brought antiabortion demonstrators out in force. >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] >> argentina's new law could galvanize reproductive rights advocates in a region where abortion remains largely illegal . along with argentina, only uruguay, guiana, and parts of mexico have legalized the procedure. the -- abortion is banned

completely in countries where women can be sent to jail for having a miscarriage. >> a step forward for women's rights in argentina. for more news, stay with us. most of all, stay safe. ♪ >> hello and welcome to this edition of "tech 24." as we enter the holiday season, a time in which ngo's enter giving campaigns and people ponder generosity, we look at how block chains and crypto funds are increasing the transparency of donations. recent years have shown that google and apple are monitoring

our every move on our cell phones, posing serious private issues. a device by a french developer will help you avoid your data being harvested. but first, they are a sort of capsule or pod able to carry one or two people from letter a to b with the ultimate aim of ridding towns of cars, it could see the day of light as early as 2024, but first, it has to pass a test to beat the world energy saving record by annette hahnemann's vehicle. >> could this be the future of open transport? the brainchild of french engineering students, the urban loop is designed to transport one or two individuals in small capsules on electrified rails. the idea is to plug the

transport gap in small or medium-sized cities with no subway system. >> the person arrives in front of their station and with a single click from verifone chooses their destination. the person scans their qr code on the wall of the station without having to touch anything , and the doors open. >> designers say passengers never have to wait for a lift, but above all, it must be energy efficient. >> we have gone from an academic idea to something that is completely in keeping with the issues our society faces today. i mean the digital transition, of course, the energy transition, and also the transition linked to mobility, particularly in urban areas.

>> a capsule propelled through a long tube is reminiscent of another invention across the pond. the hyperloop has successfully carried passengers for the first time in the nevada dese. in this case, they are not on rails, but in a vacuum tube. speeds about three times faster than a high-speed train with no carbon emissions, according to designers. >> while some people may consider these mobility projects as futuristic, we have actually been transporting humans in tubes on an offer more than 150 years. to speak more about it, our tech editor is here to speak with us. the second oldest underground railway in the world was actually a pneumatic one. >> exactly one.

it's the london pneumatic dispatch railway and was opened in 1863. this was it being tested on the side of the thames. you can see it is this almost airtight tube where they have launched these characters down. two of them could take on 12 tons, about 30 miles an hour. it actually started off from houston and went down to holborn and the bit later on, it continued. the idea was to transport male, big, heavy parcels, but of course, human beings, being what they are, could not help themselves, and lots of them had a go themselves. the duke of buckingham had arrived. >> they were lying down in that tube having a ride. that actually sounds quite claustrophobic. were there any systems that looked like it but where you did not have to live down? >> while brits were launching themselves down dirty, dark

tubes, new yorkers were having a much more sophisticated experience. they were using a pneumatic train underneath broadway in new york city, so visitors could into the waiting room underground, and it was this lavish affair with fountains, statues, frescoes, and then you go into the carriage, which could seat very sophisticated, nice layouts, and it had 22 seats in it, and it would propel this carriage about 95 meters down and then suck it back the other way, so contemporary people in new york loved it because the streets above were super, super busy, and about 400,000 people on it had a go in his first year. well that's >> tell us about this ancient version of the hyperloop. >> the hyperloop is powered by magnets and lifts off the ground, and this verse -- was first proposed by robert goddard , who imagined a kind of hyperloop, which would be off the ground in a vacuum tube and

go from city to city in the united states superfast. he was just responding to a brief from his teacher answering what transportation might be like in the 1950's. maybe in time we will find that. >> interesting to see how innovation is ideas responding to development over centuries. as we head into the holidays and many ngo's are launching charity fundraising campaigns, we ask how ngo's can increase the transparency of donations to regain people's trust. ngo's around the world received money from various channels. like everywhere else, they also face corruption and money laundering accusation. increasingly, agencies are

looking to cryptocurrencies and block chain -- blockchain to solve the issue. hello and welcome. unicef, i believe, is one of the first united nations bodies to have launched a cryptocurrency fund, which allows it to receive, hold, and distribute donations made in block chain digital assets. can you tell us morabout how it works? >> yes, of course. you -- unicef has been the first of not the first agency to accept cryptocurrency. that was in 2018. we decided to accept donatns in a theory him -- a theory him -- in ethereum first, then bitcoins came after that. crisp on the reception, we have

created the crypto fund, which enables us to spend those cryptocurrencies on programs that would fit the children in our mission. for example, we are usi efficiently blockchain to improve our programs. for example, keeping safe medical data for the chdren we are supporting. >> what are the challenges ngo's ce when receiving donations, and how is clutching the answer? >> the challenge we face is to ensure to the public transparency. blockchain is a nice way from the donor to the actual

beneficiary, so it has the potential to enable us to track donations from the donor directly to the beneficiary, so in that sense, obviously, this is a strong factor for enabling trust in the future. >> could you explain in a concrete manner how block chain and crypto can help children around the world? >> crypto first is an asset, so it is additional fds, if you will, to enable us to function our mandate. for the block chain itself, the technology is decentralized because it's not possible to forge, so it has several possible users for us in terms of improving our program.

one example i can mention is birth registration because after a conflict or war, people have to flee. afterwards, it's very complicated for them. if you don't have a birth certificate, you nnot access health centers, you cannot have a passport. for us, birth registration is one of the most important rights . block chain is important for us to enable many children to be interested in blockchain, and it will enable them to have access to this data later on, even if there is a -- an earthquake or something, we will still be able to access this data. in that sense, many pilot programs athe moment are name

changes. some countries have already adopted blockchain as the technology for birth registration. we are looking that as the huge potential to protect children's rights in the future. >> thank you for that. >> thank you. goodbye. >> it is time now for "test 24." with all the data harvesting scandals we have seen in recent years, and if you are not ready to return to the pen and paper life, you might want to have your privacy locked down. this could be difficult to achieve if you are not very tech savvy, but a french developer claims to have the solution. >> i got with me here a samsung galaxy s nine which has been refurbished. a couple of features that help you avoid being tracked by google, so they have moved google mobile services, which you can do yourself on an android device, but it's quite

tricky. you do risk bricking your phone or not only do they remove mobile services, they have this app which allows you to see what trackers are being used atwhat point, but the problem with this is that it is not open source, so for a privacy have been conscious phone, it's a bit of a headache. i think they are working for an update on that in the future. >> who are the competitors? >> they are up against the ee foundation doing similar things, but they have partnered up with the fair phone, which makes a phone which is technically. quick thank you very much. that brings us to the end of this edition of "tech 24."

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12/30/20 12/30/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> this is how black people get senthem hom y d they d't w to ght fo thselv. i put rward d i maintain, if i was white, i would not have to go through this. amy: "say her name: dr. susan moore." a black doctor in indiana has died from covid-19 two weeks