so join us in the depths of the shallows headlines this hour for the questions are raised over the astra zeneca coronavirus vaccine with the u.s. task force. now saying it's not very effective when taken by older people i. anger builds in france of the countries you'll make is pass a controversial bill that bans the filming of police officers for quote, malicious reasons. the white house transition gathers pace president elect joe biden, starts to fill his cabinet, though with all sparking concern about washington's intentions abroad and partners

to russia's new pipeline called us to tempt the grail of project an infringement on europe. pain independence we hear from germany's any change on washington's action . currently, u.s. pressure over north stream 2 has reached an unprecedented height. it's not tempted by the americans to lobby economic interests. actually this behavior reminds me of the matthew hello there 5 o'clock in the afternoon in moscow. you with r.t., international. now u.s., experts claim that the astra zeneca vaccine is not very effective for older people . the job has undergone phase 3 trials. and earlier this week, its developers did say on average, it was 90 percent effective, but a u.s. government organization believes the figure is more like 60 percent for those aged

over 55. so let's get more on this now from because you don't joins me in the, she'd hello again. you just run through then the accusations that are being made here. well, essentially, let's talk a little bit more about this vaccine because it has been a very and highly anticipated vaccine, mostly known as the oxford vaccine. so essentially the issued a press release on monday in which they have said that the average effectiveness of, ficus, e. efficacy, excuse me, of this vaccine is that stands at about 70 percent. and they're saying that basically some people, some portion of the participants in clinical trials were given a full dose of full dose. and among those people, the vaccine was efficient, but by 90 percent it was 90 percent efficient. and another group of people was given only half, only half of the dose. and so in that group, the vaccine was efficient only it was only 62 percent efficient. what is being

alleged now by a u.s. government organization, is that the full dose, half dose thing has nothing to do with vaccines efficacy, excuse me. and essentially, they're saying that the actual difference in vaccines efficiency is, depends on how all the test group was. so they're saying that the group of people in which the vaccine was 90 percent effective, were only 1818 years old to 55 years old. and those who were all given that and were given a vaccine, they in their bodies that sarah was only 62 percent effective, have a listen. there are also differences in the age brackets present in the quartz in that the 1st chord that received those and full those followed by a full, those had a cap on the age at the age of 55. when there are all the people included in the

city that received full, those and full of those this is important information, isn't it? was it not in astra? zeneca is report. well no, it wasn't. at least not the way the u.s. officials are presenting it now. so the only mention the difference in the vaccines efficiency and they tended to essentially, they just, they just said, it only depends on how large of a dose a recipient is given. but now the u.s. now that they're seeking approval in the united states because it's a large market, there's some different information that has emerged and so now is true, then it has to either confirm or deny it. but somehow they have to clarify this new information. and presumably that's how this story then came about because it, officials are looking at it in greater detail in the u.s. . absolutely, because again, the u.s. is a large market. it has to be mentioned that normally this is how vaccines work. a younger person would have a stronger immune system and a stronger response,

so their bodies would develop more antibodies for the virus for the virus. and while elderly people, they tend to have what we commune systems. so the vaccines would be not as effective in their bodies. so, but move moreover, not just, not just the u.s. government organization. not only is it saying that the efficiency of the astra zeneca vaccine depends on the age of a person which is being jabbed with it. but also they're saying that this whole full dose and half of those, it wasn't part of the experiment that it only happened by mistake that the astra zeneca during clinical trials, they didn't mean to, it's not like they devote selected to groups and said ok, this group will get a full dose and this group will just see how little of asaram is needed to trigger an immune response. they will say now the u.s. backed group, this us or organization. they are saying that it was

a mistake that they did not intend to do. so this was a change in the way the quantity of vaccine the amount of vaccine put in a vial was tested. and when they, when they realized that there was an error or a change in the approach in technique used, they corrected it. ok, so not great p.r. anyway, whatever you think for astra zeneca, where does this leave the firm in terms of finding a cure them in the overall race? we seem to find a vaccine. no, you're absolutely right. it's not really the p.r. they would want. and the company is not performing well on the markets right now. it's birds falling in, it's losing value over the doubts over and over, over this vaccine. but, you know, the demand all over the world to divert the demand for a vaccine is great,

given how big of an impact over 1000 has had on the world, given how many people it's killed. how many people it might kill given how badly it has impacted the global economy. so the more, the more vaccines there are, by astra zeneca or, you know, sputnik, we or any other vaccine. the better is just the thing is that a lot of people there would be skeptical about these new vaccines given how little we know. and how little time scientists have had to study covert 19. so they would want to know what exactly they will be injecting into their bodies. so these scandals and these, you know, these controversies, rather they don't do, they don't do much for, you know, for the trust of the popular global population. so they would ask more questions and, but the faster the world will gain, the collective immunity, the quicker this whole covert 19, you know, virus would become part of history. so really, it only means that astra zeneca would have to clarify this. and this is also

a lesson to other producers of different vaccines to be more transparent, perhaps, to, you know, to think ahead as to what questions of what may emerge in the future during as more people scrupulously look into their products, into their sirens. sure. ok, you go, thank you. that was done. at least that i, france has seen widespread public unrest after lawmakers passed the 1st stage of a controversial global security bill. the act of banning the filming of police officers for quote, malicious reasons was described by critics, is undermining media freedoms.

these protests have been building now for the last few weeks and on tuesday night, as the assembly members, the parliamentarians here in france decided to pass that law, which means it's passed its 1st hurdle in becoming an official law. here in france, more protests were held across the country, a city such as paris, bordeaux, where thousands of people turned out to show their ease with this law. this is the global security law. part of it article $24.00 is particularly controversial, and that's because it will criminalize the publication, the broadcast of images of the police where they can be identified in certain circumstances where there is an intent to harm them. now that would be punishable if this becomes an official law in france by

a year in prison or 45000 euro fine journalists, groups, and n.g.o.s have been hugely critical of this draft law saying this essentially gives the green light for police to stop the journalists from doing their jobs,, there's also been criticism from the u.n.,, which has said this could damage democracy and the e.u., which has said it is imperative that news media are able to do their job freely. but the country's prime minister said what he thought the tax, the law was excellent, he himself would be referring this to france's highest court when comes to constitutional matters. but i would like to say here as clearly as possible that there has never been there isn't and will never be the intention of the government to infringe in any shape or form of press freedom. freedom of expression. many suggesting that despite the assurances from the prime minister from the government,

that this law will have an impingement when it comes to freedom of the press. obviously we're very, very angry with the system which favors the police which protects them. this is going to worsen the problem. we're going to be even less free and they will have even more right to do whatever they want. the match is not over. the bill man has to go through these summits. and we've seen that despite everything, several employees from the majority are hesitating to support the bill in paris. the protest here had a particular focus, and that was on the vents that unfolded on monday evening when police used what was described as brute force and violence to dismantle a migrant camp in the city. now, during that dismantlement, there are images of being pulled, cautioning journalists and migrants were attacked by police officers. and that is

what many people say brings this entire law into question. so lots of questions still remaining about this more as we mentioned, it's been passed by the national assembly, meaning the 1st hurdle is over, but it will now go to the senate 2021 with course it could be rejected or it could be passed on to become an official law here in france in the united states president elect joe biden has dismissed criticism that his ministration will be an extension of the obama years. this was thrown at him after he unveiled his national security team, which does feature a number of hawks in key roles. this is not a 3rd obama term because there's, we face a totally different world. when we finished, the obama biden biden's white house picks have also been criticized by peace creeps and human rights activists. many have pointed to interventionist policies and the

military ties of those in the new cabinet level, trying to looks now at how it could shape american foreign policy. america's foreign policy needs to be properly fixed after 4 years of diplomatic rock says a who says the man whose own white house mistakes as donald trump saw them were thorley taken care of by the outgoing administration. the time has come for the u. turn to go full circle. there's been some damage done. that is going to take some time to dig ourselves out of. but there's no doubt that joe's got the right people to do it. the man taking over the oval office in 2021 was president obama's number 2. so who are the best people to set these apparent wrongs? right. well, the former deputies of obama's team, of course, how easy, i'm really starting to get that joke that barack scott himself a 3rd term. let's take a look at the collective portrait of a deputy dream team. one squad member clearly thinks it was the

meddling russians who god, donald trump, elected in the 1st place. jake sullivan biden speak for national security advisor. this was a moment where we realized that the russians had decided that they were going to actively interfere in the u.s. election. that they were going to intensively work to undermine the pillars of u.s. democracy. and that they were going to try to defeat hillary clinton. if it wasn't for the russians, if you know what i mean, this career boost would have come much earlier. after all, mr. sullivan served as an advisor for the hillary clinton campaign. and yes, he worked as a national security advisor to the vice president biden. and here we're looking at someone who was all for upping u.s. involvement in syria. tony blinken, the new man taking care of america's foreign relations in syria. it's tougher, it's longer. it's going to take time to build up the syrian opposition,

but we believe it can be done. our commitment is to help them to support them, to give them the training, to give them the equipment to give them the air, the power, to give them the advisor. and it all comes back to hillary, who, infamously said this about libya. we came, we saw that he died. right. as you may have guessed, mr. blinken was among the star democrat diplomats who love the idea of getting libya sorted through intervention. his c.v. highlights include deputy secretary of state deputy national security advisor and national security advisor to the vice president. so moving on with deputy dream team, you simply don't deserve the position of intelligence director under joe biden. if you haven't been to a big name blood, say in the cia under obama, without further ado. here's avril haynes, the former deputy cia director also happened to serve as the deputy national security advisor right after tony blinken. some give ms. hanes credit for making

america's drone wars more transparent. her critics though, paint her with a different brush focusing on her role as the architect of the drone program. one which is associated with scores of civilian deaths. a slight stain on the record, isn't it? any great team deserves at least a few qualified veterans. this one is no exception. take john kerry, he's getting his comeback. chance to the job of special presidential envoy for climate goes to the former secretary of state. bear with me for a bit of feedback on the team from someone familiar. the incoming administration could not have chosen that to pursue now for the foreign policy and national security teams. ok, at least there are no surprises. and the world knows what to expect. in a prank that will mean molly growing number of republicans are voicing their

discontent. some senators have even threatened to derail the confirmation hearings of biden's picks, while the outgoing secretary of state gave a candid assessment. i know some of these folks that they took a very different view. they, they were been a bit of a fantasy world. they were from behind their piece. they hope the choose a different course. these are the same people who knocked over libya in 2011, leading to a decade of nightmarish civil war. and she had the terror, a case study and competence. arden's cabinet picks went to ivy league. schools have strong resumes, attend all the right conferences would be polite and old. leak at stake is the america's decline. i support american greatness and i have no interest in returning to the normal that left us dependent on china. to watch an artist, the lad sarika with and globalism griffin thing had rammed into the fence of chancellor angela merkel's office in berlin. will have a report from there just after the break.

is your media a reflection of reality? in a world transformed? what will make you feel safe? isolation or community? are you going the right way or are you being led? so direct. what is true? what is in the world corrupted. you need to descend to join us in the depths, aura,

maybe in the shallows. now for the post-mortem, how did you major political parties change to this election cycle change? obeidi maintain an already weakened and divided democratic coalition. is there such a thing as trump is or did he change the g.o.p. or did the g.o.p. change? welcome back. now in the german capital, a car was rammed into the fence of chancellor angela merkel's office. police say that they are looking into a possible motive. and also the mental state of the driver. officials also said that the chancellor government members and other employees were not in any danger. during the incident reporting now from berlin, his paper, all of a dark colored volkswagen golf,

crashed into the gates. outside of the chancellery, here in berlin. that's the office where angola merkel goes about her business and welcomes foreign dignitaries. the car had written down the side of it. you damned murderers of children and old people. and on the other side of it, stop the globalization policy. the driver was taken into custody by police and there's no reports of anybody being injured around the scene. however, the car must have been going at a pretty decent rate because it has caused some damage to the gates outside of the chancellery. as you would imagine, due to the importance of this building, it's a pretty secure building. you must have been going at quite a rate in order to leave a mark on those gates on wednesday morning. that was supposed to be a demonstration taking place by the lateral think is group there. the group that are opposed to angola merkel's policy, when it comes to the coronavirus, they were supposed to be holding a rally at 9 am. that didn't take place then. well,

this incident happened regarding the car. we also saw some of the demonstrations take place in frankfurt on tuesday, and we've seen these demonstrations against angela merkel saying coronavirus policy going on for weeks and months. now. sometimes they have turned violent. now just yesterday there was an agreement made between the chancellor, the government, the heads of government, of the states of germany, the 16 different states for what the policy would be going forward over the coming weeks in the coming months in fact. and we are expecting to hear from chancellor merkel later on wednesday with what that will entail. now the car itself, how form or at least the registration plate relating to it. the german tabloid newspaper builder reporting that this particular registration plate, which is registered in the western german city of leeper, was involved in an incident back in 2014 when the car was rammed into the chancellery 48 year old man was taken into custody. that time,

no particular injuries reported at that time, the car had written down the side of it. stop the climate change. and nicole, i love you. so no message to nicole, this time it does seem like it's gone after there's been no injuries at the scene, but a 48 year old man if we're to believe it's the same person, it was driving the same car. he's currently in custody. after crashing that dark colored volkswagen into the gates outside of angela merkel's office, germany's energy chief is accused the united states of a pressure campaign on european companies involved in the north stream to gas pipeline. last month, the us state department ramped up sanctions on firms to try and hold the project. we spoke to the head of the german energy committee, who described washington's behavior as more like it's going to be for secret, affording only the currently u.s. pressure over north stream to it has reached an unprecedented high in. and it's not tempted by the americans to lobby their economic interests to go behind the backs

of their supposed partners. actually this behavior reminds me of the matthew, matthew c. come to the restaurant and say, we must protect you. but if you don't pay for this, we will smash all your places. and it's the same thing here. the americans say they protect us from the russians. but in fact, we don't want this protection. we want to trade with the russians, we want russian gas. and then they say, if you don't let us protect you, we will kill you. in other words, they impose sanctions on companies, threaten them with economic collapse. and this is what's actually happening. but we must reject such methods, simply objecting to them is pointless. only real action will help your neighbor and other finance. but do you agree with union per statement that this is all about undermining europe's energy security in an intrusion? in an 8th independence. we cannot allow a country to dictate to us what to do with our own energy supply. this is not about

our security. this is about the americans who want to sell us their liquefied gas shale gas that harms the environment. moreover, that type of gas is more expensive, they have problems with sales. they have too much gas and prices a so low, but it's not profitable. and here they want to impose their gas on us. of course it's way easier if we don't have an alternative. that's why we avoid this, because otherwise we will be stripped of alternative, sellars, in my opinion, the pipeline will be finished at the same time, i think for now the e.u.'s key goal is its own sanctions against the u.s. . my suggestion is simple. we introduce sanctions, tariffs on american liquefied gas. they think they have a right to dictate to us where to buy gas. we'll show them with a tit for tat move. they can do that and it's how would that affect transatlantic boss? what do you mean if we're talking about sanctions? they might make the americans realize that it's unacceptable to treat us as

a colony and that they'd better treat us as an independent partner. maybe they'll be a bit confused, but if they want to carry on trading with us and maintain economic ties and cooperation in different spheres, they will have to accept the fact that we have our own interests and that we follow them. only this approach will lead us forwards any other to deadlock where russia has also been critical of the us stance in order to slamming it for unfair practices. last go has ruled out giving up on the project though, despite america imposing fiscal penalties, the gas pipeline project is meant to deliver russian gas directly to germany through the baltic sea. from the outset of the project though, washington has been trying to put europe off the deal with the threat of sanctions as we've been hearing and accuse moscow of attempts to gain leverage over the you. last year, the u.s. introduced sanctions when the project was just miles short of being complete it. so

that brings up state international back again in about 30 minutes. join me every time i'm sure i'll be speaking to us a little bit. i'm sure. i'll see you then

it's been decades since the fall of spain's fascist regime, but old wounds still haven't healed in the infamous all of us at the source mean older than the singles in which we know thousands of newborn babies were torn from their mothers and given away and forced adoption. only to this day, mothers still search for grown children while looking in hope for their birth parents.

they were going underground 24 hours after afghanistan and the un co-hosted a conference to safeguard development project. after a charity save the children found over $26000.00 children have been killed or maimed as a result of the u.s. u.k. war in afghanistan. coming up on the show,, what fate lies in store for the so-called graveyard of empires as u.s., president trump withdraws thousands more troops from afghanistan, a country used as a battleground by foreign powers for decades. we ask the former senior advisor to, the u.s. special representative for afghanistan about what everyone needs to know as lethal rocket attacks, kill or injure scores in kabul, all of them all coming up in today's going on the ground. but 1st rocket attacks on the capital. kabul greeted the news of president trump finally fulfilling part of his election promise to draw american troops from 1000 years and counting of war in afghanistan. british troops remain. joining me now is the former senior advisor to,

the u.s. special representative for afghanistan and pakistan and author of the new book, afghanistan, what everyone needs to know dr. bonnet, reuben, he joins now from new york city bomber. thanks so much for coming on them before i even get to the book. really. what do you make of a u.s. president elect? trump doesn't agree with that title, joe biden saying that tony blinken is going to be secretary of state in january. of course i know tony blinken, i also know very well some of it was going to be the national security adviser because i work with someone i was in the government, they're both very, very sensible, knowledgeable people with a great deal of international experience. so i think it's a, it's a very good sign. so anyone can always lay supported wars in syria, libya, afghanistan, and iraq. did you send this book? because i don't know where. if this isn't a policy recommendation book about afghanistan, i don't know what it is. we sent this to move might bump a 0 and tony blinken?

well, i haven't, i haven't said the book either of them, but tony blinken is quite sure milieu with my views and even more familiar with my views is takes all that because he was working directly for secretary of state, hillary clinton, when i was in the state department and we worked together on this quite a bit so they, they know very well that i was a strong advocate of a political settlement to the u.s. troop withdrawal from the very beginning. for me, there of course, doesn't mean i agree with you expect a job in the new administration that is not up to me waiting to hear if anyone is interested in my doing it. because when you say that the you want a withdrawal, perhaps a phased withdrawal, even joe biden, very quick to say that trump has been wrong to withdraw troops from afghanistan, and that joe biden cited the erroneous reports apparently of russian bounties. on a u.s. troops heads, that's very different to the context in your new book, reports uncorroborated. i don't know what if any troops are made.