they should. after 47 years the united kingdom marks a historic day cutting ties with the e.u. was officially comes into effect the road ahead for britain is still unclear. the us democrats are not back in getting a new witness is the stand in the donald trump impeachment trial it means a final vote on the president's time in the oval office is expected next week. sweeping new study by academics at the university of cambridge finds that political discontent in developed countries is at its highest level in 25 years with american citizens among the least satisfied.

from moscow thanks for joining us on r.t. international hawkins welcome to the program. that was taken more than 3 years divided people up and down the nation but after almost half a century the u.k. has finally bid farewell to the european union as 11 pm g.m.t. on friday the result of the biggest democratic referendum in british history was finally enacted parts of the u.k. burst into celebration with leave voters turning out in force. city as party to london's parliament square some were not enjoying the festivities north of the border in scotland which wanted to remain. colleagues along the wall covering the historic events as it happened here are some of the highlights.

let's say. it was a bit out of. still here only you know yeah it's like millennium bug nothing's happened you know the big problem how you can actually solve the. course when the saudi who has the truth of being in the thick of things that is a pro breaks it party but what is the atmosphere like now. just as you've joined me it's not surprising at least 50000 people just broke out it's a rendition called save the queen and i think just a. sad way of being sick of it isn't a shitload of the folks. who are here you will see up the 11 transition period and they're off but it will have to read the charts it's pretty

different here just what exactly not all that we live in style but for many here at least the future represents one of opportunity but of course in other parts of the country not so. much that some of my career is not admitted i hear. the full power of the writing you've been campaigning this for this for your whole life i mean how do you feel very placed very placed i have to say i mean you know we're not allowed to be triumphalist and i don't want to be triumphalist but i am pleased you know finally from my point of view we've got to the end of 3 and a half years with them frankly we've got a functioning polman that's actually delivered result and we've actually got a prime minister who's actually delivered a play which no one is a full the lib dem minister how do you feel bearing in mind the lib dems were the revoke article 50 well i did not should be without particular policy of the site but i feel very worried for the country i mean find somebody. honest politicians

there are so and she's absolutely straightforward and her views and she you know what are believed is the best thing for britain i thought happen to believe the opposite why what is the problem what we want them is that we're going to we're in a world of power blocks for this us over the china russia the e.u. and britain are very small fish in a very big on full of sharks the whole economy has integrated absolutely you if we end up leaving a single market and having it and having trade barriers that would your mental damage to car history amongst others boris johnson addressed the nation appreciate it video message and he claimed we are at the start of the new era this is not an end but a beginning the e.u. has evolved over 50 years in a direction that no longer suits this country and that is a judgment you the people who confirmed at the polls not once but twice well over on the continent the e.u. has been saying it's good byes be for the trade deal talks begin in our europe correspondent peter all of a joins us with all the latest bring us up to date with what's been going on be on

the channel yes it hasn't been marked with the types of celebration we've seen in london all the type of commiseration you see in other parts of the u.k. as well as in the british capital as well but we have seen is the british flag being taken down in brussels from the e.u. institutions from the the commission presidency the parliament and the council building as well we've also seen the european flag being taken down from british offices in brussels as well we also saw emi piece from the briggs it party well being piped out all for brussels as they were leaving heading back to london we've also heard some reaction from the european institutions the high representative for foreign affairs your state boil who's basically the e.u. foreign minister to say that the u.k. will remain a very close partner of the e.u. both on a regional and global. scale that's really emphasizing what we heard from the e.u.

commission president on the line early on friday where she said that she hoped for a close and well productive relationship post breaks it between the u.k. in the e.u. but said that any deal that the u.k. got couldn't be as good as membership almost half a century of the united kingdom's membership in the european union is over we want to have the best possible relationship with the united kingdom but it will never be as good as membership well one of the key areas the negotiations going to move on to as they look towards this trade deal is going to be the u.k.'s future relationship with ireland in particular that british border on the island of ireland well leo varadkar the irish to show did have something to say about this. the u.k. leaving the e.u.

on friday he said that he wished the united kingdom well on its journey alone but did say that there was always a seat back at the table if it didn't work out for them we do hope it works out for them but if it does not there will always be a seat for the united kingdom at the european table as the united kingdom leaves the european union we enter now into this transition period of course all of those lovely trade talks that are set to start on the 3rd of march so it's not done with yet with bricks that day finally upon us the one question on everyone's lips is what happens next well it's the transition period until the end of the year where everything essentially stays the same for you and me it's business as usual for the e.u. educate trade negotiators it's game on or they have to get a trade deal signed off by december 31st ideally 6 months before to give businesses time to prepare the alternative well will crash out of the e.u. without a trade. will something businesses on both sides really want to avoid so we'd

better crack on with the trade talks as soon as possible now boris johnson has said he wants to get started right now but that's a bit of an issue for the e.u. the e.u. isn't just one save it's $27.00 countries needing to agree a negotiating position and that won't be signed off until the end of next month so march will be the earliest we can actually get started but what might the agreement look like well the easiest for would be what's called an alignment deal our trade rules already mirror the e.u. so let's keep it essentially the same and just agree on which areas to diverged that's the a use preferred option for the negotiations. michel of set the level playing field is of utmost importance if social rights are inventive of environmental or rights state aid or others where the advantage of that kind of deal is that it means the u.k. can access the e.u.

single market and of course that means we get a deal and easily before the end of the year however that's not the way the u.k. government wants to go but we been very clear now for actually many months and of course in our recent election as well as we leave the e.u. we will not be in the single market we will not be in the customs union and we will not be rude takers so let's try again boris johnson says he wants a free trade deal full comprehensive covering everything but how comprehensive could it be the one between the e.u. and canada took 7 years to finalize. i know done this negotiation will be difficult and demanding. for one reason. we'll be extremely short. 11 months or so. and if he's right we'd crash out without a deal so let's try again johnson said he wants

a deal based on 0 tariffs and 0 quotas no barriers that all sounds easy except some are worried that letting the u.k. in without guaranteeing it won't play by e.u. rules would mean it becomes a very attractive no regulation no business tax zone with watered down workers' rights econd to singapore poaching business from the block the key issue here is around level playing field issues there is no way the e.u. will ever sign up to a trade deal that allows tariff free quota free and frictionless access to u.k. goods coming into the e.u. if there isn't a level playing field in terms of how they're produced because that would be unfair competition is there another way well then it gets tricky where in say sector by sector deals in some of those deals we've got a strong hand like fishing rights in others like financial services no deal could be ringback the end of the city's dominance as banks and firms need to frankfurt to

ensure they can still operate in europe. that all has to happen quickly as well because the clock is ticking and if the sign deals aren't done in time you guessed it we crash out i hope that's made everything and little clearer. we're joined live now by professor of european law francesco for more on this professor thanks for coming on today good to have in the program saga appears to be finally over at least $11.00 more step towards it being over should there be a feeling of general relief to this whole thing or is there still some complex discussions that go to be had could we be in for more uncertainty in future well i think to. one level our own domestic battle has been won by the conservatives though of course there's still the scottish problem. there is no doubt in my mind over the next 1012 months. there are going to beasts and

very very difficult negotiations i didn't and if you really want to get to the nub of the issue you really need to look at section 14 that's paragraph 77 of the political declaration as one of your previous commentators said there is no way that the european union is going to allow. the united kingdom to undermine. the single market project it's a level playing field competition standards rights and so on looking will be on how that's going. what happens with fisheries that may sound a bit bizarre but fisheries will be the test of. what's interesting and people can to get in this they should look at the political declaration what's interesting about the political declaration that all of us in our years that your previous

comment had he says mentioned a possible. how it will go it's difficult to know each side will have red lines the british trend lines are actually far more flexible because boris could go down the route of we'll stay the same and then gradually divert so an agreement will be possible all they'll go down the route of we want to start diverging immediately but one thing is for certain russel's will not budge on a level playing field or series and that will be the most to mind really. the bricks of the bill itself was obviously pushed back pushed back several times do you really think we can expect the same from the transition period i mean it is a very short amount of time to negotiate what is a very complex trade bill. the trade do this complex if we want to start diverging almost immediately if we don't provide the european union with the

kinds of guarantees that it will want in the event we do die of that we still operate on the basis of the same principles in the same standards the political declaration talks about commitments and so on so if you like i don't discount the possibility that something could be agreed by december the european commission has already said that it is prepared for provisional implementation of certain areas so i don't discount and it depends on the extent to which we want to move away from the european. and if you like the freedom we want to buy and what we want to do with that freedom will determine whether the european union will agree or whether basically will just bring it out for a great deal of time and then history of crashing out really does become a necessity we are running out of time just briefly regarding the u.s. u.k. relations just in the back of the sec's at what can we expect from there because there's been some concern german labor party car labor party leader not to be

stating that boris johnson is going to sell off the u.k. to trump the n.h.s. is that the truth and the other is this just fear mongering now i think that's scaremongering and. i don't think there's any possibility there's a. conservative government who clearly or elements within it want to move away from the e.u. are going to sell out tonight and states but remember. the united states. is interested in this year in american 1st interest so let's not be too deluded the extent to which america is going to replace the european union and sign a new partner in this marriage of convenience to boast that's not going to happen and. the 1st of european law just go to sort of thanks so much for your take great to get your your opinion here today on r t u k thank you and thank you.

over to the united states where the democrats have been dealt a blow in their push to impeach president donald trump and a close spot at senate republicans on friday defeated an attempt to allow the new witnesses and evidence the stand of the trial. or 49. or $51.00 motion is not agreed to trump was impeached by the democrat controlled house of representatives in december on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of congress and his trial in the senate which has a republican majority got underway on january 21st fridays friday evenings vote paves the way for a final decision on whether to acquit or convict trump that's expected next wednesday. we spoke to the editorial director for the reactionary times dot com who believes trump is now essentially in the clear. as of wednesday they're going to

have the up and down vote he's going to be acquitted you know where america is going to move on from this and i think the american people deserve that the democrats ultimately they had their crack at the apples in the house and they called i believe it was upwards of about 17 witnesses they had smoking gun evidence something that would have risen to the level of you know what the burden of proof that it would have taken to prove high crimes and misdemeanors then they would have had a shot of removing the president book you know quite frankly you know it's their impressions of what the phone call was you know yes adam schiff kind of you know my means what he thought you know the content of the phone call was their only intention is to try to regain power. a major new study by academics in the u.k. has found out that in developed countries popular discontent with democratic politics has reached its highest level in 25 years a report by cambridge university's center for the future of democracy says

americans are among the least satisfied and has this report. we're used to hearing that the usa is a cradle of democracy and in case you might forget they remind you at every opportunity impeachment is no exception this is not a banana republic. it's a democratic republic. of the united states of america a moment when our democracy was gravely threatened embattled democracy being invaded by this by the by russia democrats accuse donald trump of using his political position for personal gain and thus corrupting the entire system trump shoots back that the democrats are manipulating the constitution in order to go after him by proceeding with your invalid impeachment your violating your oath of office your breaking your allegiance to the constitution and you are declaring open war on american democracy interestingly new data has been published by the u.k.'s

cambridge university showing that among americans there's been a dramatic decline in people's confidence in democracy we decided to talk to new yorkers and see why they might be losing faith in the founding fathers i feel most people are in misinformed more than anything and they need to understand that we don't live in a true democracy where you know specifically every vote counts directly we know it's a representative democracy writes people vote for things and then other things happen or other people with you know people get more votes and then they lose that's not it's not really democracy is it i do believe that within the system we need to do a better job of including everyone into the conversation and i also think that the current state of affairs is what makes people just really turned off. to supporting democracy as a whole you know the institutions which were set out with the i think right frame book are not being used or the loopholes are being exploited democracy sexy being taken out of the hands of the people it's in the hands of what i would call big

money in corporations but it's not just americans according to the poll that was conducted around the world there has been a decline in democratic values in countries like france and the u.k. people just don't feel they've got a voice anymore it seems that you have you just going to do the right thing anyway they have their own agenda to people on trusting politicians as much i mean there's a lot of groups and minorities that. not being made and you know democracy should be to serve everybody and particularly those who are disadvantaged if it's not serving those who are disadvantaged then i don't think that democracy is working some of the parliaments in the world's especially the a you know you are not listening to the people one thing off on democracy being the news i think people need to have more. information more education to realise when to use these things people should fight for it or not most of the people it's time for them but this points to a bigger question what does democracy actually mean now in theory it's supposed to

be the rule of the people but it seems like around the world in many different countries many feel like the people's will is not being enacted and they are not happy about it. art see new york discuss the story with investigative journalist david lindorff who thinks that politicians are increasingly losing touch with what voters really want. i wouldn't say they're dissatisfied with democracy they're dissatisfied with the way our democracy is working these states that it has really lost its connection to the people all the money in the political system incredible amounts of money billions of dollars to run for president are coming from corporations and rich people and the average person norm is cut out of the picture i think at least in the us. fortunately people are not saying we don't like democracy they're saying we want to see that works so it's not people are saying oh we need a dictator the vast majority of americans have been brought up on the notion that

people are supposed to run their own government want to have a government that works for them but they're not able to get it. you know world big partisan movie lot and conspiracy it's time to wake up to dig deeper to hit the stories that mainstream media refuses to tell more than ever we need to be smarter we need to stop slamming the door on the bad and shouting past each other it's time for critical thinking it's time to fight for the middle for the truth the time is now we're watching closely watching the

hawks. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race in this spirit dramatic development the only. exists i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and talk. welcome back to the program the growing controversy over facial recognition technology has hit facebook in the pocket after a failed legal battle over how it tags and scans photos on its proper form

a case filed in the u.s. they will annoy you has resulted in a payout of more than half a $1000000000.00. here in illinois to the statute not to innovation but to protect individuals privacy as technology advances cooper ations must be mindful of the privacy of their customers and more importantly comply with the law the social networking giant will have to pay 550000000 to a group of account holders who argued the facial recognition tool violated state privacy laws facebook went as far as the u.s. supreme court. to get the case thrown out that was the claw in the world why the technology is also being met with growing concern.

i. discussed why facial recognition is such a sensitive issue with privacy activist and tech expert bill new as well as former u.k. police officer peter kirk. you can't reset your face or your d.n.a. or your fingerprints in the same way you can reset a password when it's lost and therefore if for some reason there was a data breach and the data was lost or in some way it is used in responsibility then there is no comeback and that person's identity has been lost forever and there as an enormous caution needs to be sake and not only only responsible use in the secure husbandry of this trend of data but we also need to start improving the effectiveness of the fake the recognition so it's actually more accurate and effective it's concerned me for some time how the likes of facebook and other

social media platforms are using facial recognition is purely being used to further the interests of the social media platforms which at the end of the day combine to make you money if you are in a photograph with someone who is on facebook you may or may not wish to have your name associated with that photograph your profile associated with that photograph. enough trust in your friends not to tag you into it but when their software they're in automatically. different coefficients so of i think people really should worry more about what's normal reinforcement doing with this rover the more a foursome of doom with. donald trump ours again come under fire on major news networks c.n.n. that's after the president's latest briefing on a coronavirus task force an opinion piece published on china's web site has called out the new team for lacking of our city.

coronavirus taskforce another example of trumpet ministrations lack of diversity. who are these experts they're largely the same sorts of white men and a couple women on the sidelines who've dominated the trumpet administration from the very beginning.

to see those board of directors. as long as c.n.n. wants to play quite a game why does the network have a grand total of one minority anchor across all the weekday shows and not one hispanic collarless news network. story get the coronavirus we try to have a task force but it wasn't diverse enough for c.n.n. . this is a scientific issue and you need the best people to. organize you know a defense against against the spread of the virus everywhere and you know it's to inject diversity and identity politics into this thing is just just

a silly thing to do it's science. and science has nothing to do with diversity and racism you know there's a problem in the us of identity politics and that keeps everybody frogmen moved across their various the identities rather than uniting them and dealing with the real economic and political problems of the country next boom bust it explores the economic consequences around coronavirus and for u.k. view as much as they see it look at the bombing of single use prosthetics because. look the plastic is

a problem it's in the food supply it's in the oceans we keep plastic and obviously plastic in the human body is going to kill you so life expectancy is down and banning plastic is not going to change the equation one iota right because it's just too far gone so should we care or just consider that humans had a great ride why we did then then shuffle off our mortal coil and that he owes. this is a boom bust the one business show you can't afford to miss some branches or fairmont thank you in washington and here is a lot of what we have in far for you today.