the u.s. drug regulator approves pfizer's covert vaccine for emergency use with more americans now having died from the virus than were killed in action during the 2nd world war . today our nation has achieved a medical miracle it will save millions of lives and soon end the pandemic once and for all. so it had amid a steady rise in infections germans consider sacrificing traditional christmas traditions to try and keep people safe we asked locals what they think. joe biden unveils his latest round of cabinet picks including obamacare agriculture secretary tom vilsack who is accused of favoring industrial giants during his life said.

good morning great to have you with us you want ching international 1st this morning the u.s. food and drug agents has approved pfizer's covert vaccine for emergency use to reports the white house chief of staff threatened the f.d.a. chief to approve the vaccine or resign donald trump has praised the development today our nation has achieved a medical miracle we have delivered a safe and effective vaccine in just 9 months this is one of the greatest scientific accomplishments in history it will save millions of lives and soon end a pandemic once and for all. in the united kingdom people with a history of allergic reactions were advised against taking pfizer scurvy jump and

in america the f.d.a. revealed that 6 volunteers died during trials which involved $44000.00 people regulator insists this is nothing to worry about 400 day placebo while there are many 2 deaths were well within statistical expectations and more americans have now died from cope with than we lost fighting in the 2nd world war most 300000 people have lost their lives because of the virus auntie's killer morgan explains. we've got 15000000 cases of covert 19 in the united states we've got hospitals overwhelmed 107000 people are in the hospital at this moment doctors say these numbers are going to keep getting worse on wednesday there were more deaths from covert 19 on one day than there were on september 11th these are pretty big numbers that people are looking on at the situation in and just appalled at how massively coded 1000 has expanded throughout the united states how much the pandemic seems to

be completely out of control now joe biden is promising that when he takes office he will tackle this issue for his 1st 100 days in office he's talking about a mask a mandate and i'm absolutely convinced that in 100 days we can change the course of the disease and change life in america for the better i'm going to ask for a mask in place everyone for the 1st 100 days of my administration to where madness it will start with my signing in order on day one to require mass where i cannot be the law there is some concern about how a mask mandate would be enforced around the country where there are states and localities that have mandated masks be worn we've seen kind of rebellion among sheriffs and local police officers who are refusing to enforce it for example in california this local sheriff referred to a mask a mandate as dictatorial here is what he said he is expecting us to arrest anyone

violating these orders cite them and take their money close their businesses make them stay in their homes and take away their civil liberties or he will punish all of us the riverside county sheriff's department will not be blackmailed bullied or used as muscle against riverside county residents in the enforcement of the governor's orders unemployment numbers in the united states are actually the highest they've been since mid september we. a situation where this week 853000 people lost their jobs bringing the total number of unemployment to 10700000 according to the u.s. department of labor now despite this there is a deadlock in congress they're fighting over the stimulus package others not a clear agreement between the 2 major parties about how relief should be provided and of course we've got the 2 major parties blaming each other take a listen how many more businesses have to shutter how many more dreams have to be

shattered. how many more people have to be laid off. before nancy pelosi and the democrats will act if we need more turn them to take more time but we have to have a bill and we cannot go home without it things are pretty out of control the rival parties are blaming each other joe biden is promising that he will turn things around however there's a strong amount of opposition to the measures he's already proposing even before he takes office quite a problematic and serious situation here in the united states people are kind of confused about what exactly to do. to protect themselves you know also when i think many americans don't like to be told what to do so they've restrictions and they continue to fight the restrictions and by their doctor by some of the states are stretched you know beyond capacity following every holiday there's it's a small surge and now it's a pretty big surge after thanksgiving there's still

a significant portion of our population that doesn't get what's happening. in germany to the daily infection rate has been steadily climbing since october that's led to a debate about whether to pull the plug on traditional christmas events in a bid to keep people safe on these paedo live reports from berlin. usually where i'm talking to you from would be the scene of one of the busiest christmas markets it's not to be this year there's no room at the inn for the christmas market due to the global pandemic but one thing that's a memory of christmas past is the smells of mold wine that still on sale at the restrictions on selling alcohol will harm my business we will leave lots of income as things stand we can stay here until the 20th december maybe we'll be allowed to open up again after the lock down is over the sale of a cup of festive cheer is causing

a divide in the country though while bars and restaurants of being forced to close on the germany's lockdown lights mulled wine in the stalls have become a place to congregate prompting some politicians to warn that they may be leading to the spread of covert 19 across the country the old wine stands subvert our contact restrictions i don't understand why the city of cologne allows this in the end this will lead to new infections and that's it will be time for that later when we are vaccinated the owners of the stalls disagree though. i think we should do everything we can to stop the spread of this virus we wear masks and observe the timi to distance rule and disinfect our hands even germany's most famous christmas market in nuremberg is closed they've had to make changes to traditions going back to the 16th century with this year's chris kindle christ child opening the advent season from a local t.v. studio. this year everything is different the coronavirus crisis is preventing us

from doing many things in the run up to christmas such as advent celebrations and gathering at the christmas market. lockdown restrictions that were brought in back in november haven't had the desired effect in getting the number of cases of covert 90 down that means that the federal. government here in berlin and the leaders of germany 16 states are going to have to thrash out a new set of restrictions even if that means putting christmas spirit on hold it's fought greek this nation it as hard as it is and i know how much care has gone into setting up the mood wine and waffles tent it's not compatible we want to be a greet only take food away and it is home and really saw it from the bottom of my heart but if the price we pay is $590.00 deaths a day and that in my view is not acceptable. obviously the public don't want to

cancel christmas but i spoke to people here it asked them what they thought about these mulled wine stalls being open it's not very christmassy like to try to find a balance between not being scarce and. trying to have a good time maybe i think it's not good they do open at the same time is a little bit sad because it's christmas and they're very won't be together and enjoy this time. it is a bit sad that there's not so much to do at this time but i think we need to be cautious and i suppose those few places with mulled wine should remain open it's clear from one blue merkel's address to the bundestag that the chancellor wants to see things go further sacrificing christmas spirit in the name of safety peter all over r.t. the. us president elect joe biden has unveiled his latest round of cabinet picks thank you just another obama ever official tom bill sank as

agriculture secretary for secretary of agriculture i nominate tom vilsack an outstanding 2 term governor of iowa the best secretary of agriculture i believe this country's ever had he was there when the great recession was probably wrong america. over 8 years she oversaw a record breaking investment to bring us back the former iowa governor was agriculture secretary into barack obama his tenure plagued by accusations he favored major industrial giants including months center and sex supported a number of controversial measures including the expansion of genetically modified crops and helped ease industry restrictions by this cabinet so far been packed with figures linked to big corporations former c.n.n. contributor jen psaki has been chosen as the new white house press secretary with austin's nomination's defense secretary spot concerns over his ties to a arms supplier raytheon anthony blinken closeness with the big and powerful is

being questioned over his nomination for secretary of state fessor political economy tech resinous doesn't believe that will be saying much difference with this new administration always what runs nearly all the now have been no retreads from your mom administration or pro corporate appointees you know it's not only that bill shack was. doing what he needed to do to gratify monsanto or geologist but he was in husband mystere i believe the head of the dairy council so or just now has a long history of corporate agribusiness ryan other positions revolving doors of the same thing it's not mary convincing that they were going to have much of a change your and if the appointment by biden are any indication of what the policies might be another is whether we're live nomics it's going to be obama nomics 2.0 and then we better worry and i don't see the biden's policy is going to

be very are russian in terms of a stimulus that's needed and if the democrats don't come up with the robust stimulus economic policy my mind thinks in office then they are finally saying you're an anomaly yet none 22 want to cheer congress. 6 people were injured after being struck by a car at a black lives matter protest in new york on friday he's confirmed the injuries appear not to be life threatening the rally was held in solidarity with people jailed by immigration and forces the driver of the car that plowed into the crowd was arrested the area was cordoned off after the incident witnesses told us what they saw. our people got hit our people got hit by a car for us to doing a peaceful protests we had those biker cops behind us the entire day the by cops the bikers they were behind us the entire time they could have prevented it if they

did their job much aware peacefully much much earlier than actually a car coming actually a difficult. one of the brothers moving out the way of staying in the car started to think. they could extract. the british city of birmingham has been branded woke phil after a change certain street names among the 6 rechristen roads on diversity growth equality road and humanity close a panel of judges chose their names from submissions made by the public by some locals have been quick to transfer changes these new street names are completely vacuous was 0 connection to the people history or culture of birmingham another labor initiative the politicize ation of our landscape continues the art a meaningless banality of these new names speaks volumes about the new hollow normal anyway how about trust close compliance crescent wolk wash way

i'm calling it now someone's going to put a d at the end of humanity close radio host in conus john gaunt says that birmingham should have chosen names that reflect the city's achievements instead. this is political correctness gone mad this is snowflakes having a field day how ridiculous to name the streets and these closes in this way it's virtue signaling it's i'm sure it's not in shoes with most birmingham people it doesn't reflect what birmingham is what birmingham's becoming burnham's a modern thriller sting city but we could talk about the achievements of birmingham and birmingham people there's luck and loads of people not necessarily people but organization bands groups who are 8 achievements they couldn't name the softer but no they want to slug or the demo do and they're politically correct it's an

absolute joke and i'm sure that brummet ordinary working class birmingham people will be laughing at this as much as everybody else. lorry drivers entering the united kingdom through calif say they fear for their lives as they're being attacked by migrants the road haulage association says that migrants are becoming more desperate with the end of the briggs it transition period nearing on lorry driver filmed this video showing men trying to get into the truck ahead of his own one of the men hurled a projectile at his vehicle and spoke to greg west the driver who made the video about the situation in cali. coming off on to the motorway. not overly secure when you get further into the charmed term set up comes more secure people are trying to come across a child. we call them immigrants. though i tried very many different tactics to actually for. some time the success was generally

foreign parts are heading into the direction of calif varick and make themselves as small a part of as much as possible the systems that are fitted within the channel tunnel actually make it much more harder because they can be detected sniffer dogs special . hear smell the safe conceal themselves inside the truck is an opportunist and there is a feeling of desperation of these people so. on the way migrants reach the case by boat it's estimated a record number landed in britain issue more than 1000 but arrivals are set to decreases the can france scientists and agreements in november will see more patrols and surveillance a home office also says it's investing millions in border security request against us tougher borders is one reason people voted to break that. it's fairly evident. more inclined to want. in the case in the rest of your. genuine political

asylum seekers they would probably claim asylum. once i come in to anywhere in the they don't make a loan for the u.k. so the u.k.'s probably regarded by them as a soft touch they get the benefits of being in the u.k. and unfortunately i know that it does tend to back up and overload the immigration system and services within the u.k. so as i then struggle to keep up i mean there were many reasons part of the reason we voted to remove ourselves from europe was because we wanted the country wanted to control every crisis is one of the many factors. palestinian merchants in a district of all jerusalem alleged israeli authorities are exploiting the pandemic moving them from the area and of the shops have been closed down violating health

ministry rules people asleep picks up the story. the pandemic has left businesses around the world reeling but here in the bubble huta neighborhood in the old city of jerusalem that's only hot off the story over $400.00 stores and counting have been forced to close here leaving families who've worked in the shops for generations desperate normally at this time of year the streets are bustling with tourists and traders we're not far from the al aqsa mosque compound but as you can see many of the shops are closed an atmosphere is one of clue. here somebody who once made 100 shekels now makes 15 or less that's life now it's very difficult is not like before now there's no way to earn money the jobs here are reliant on tourism and there are no tourists it's been like this for a year the corner virus is of course the main reason but shop owners yes it is also under pressure from israeli authorities to move why well they believe that once

they're forced out the area will be filled with jewish israelis. and business is not function here look at this coffee house it's closed and those that are open there are no customers they're not making ends meet and who is to blame the government of course there's the coronavirus but they make too much drama out of that there's only so much you can blame on the virus people want to work and they are working but the not making any money the police say that some motions are flouting the rules by refusing to a face mosques the people here say that simply not true instead they say that the police are either preventing them from reaching their businesses under the pretext that they are breaking the coronavirus and quarantine rules all that coming up with other excuses to force them to close the shops. is because we're arabs look at tel aviv no one gets fined there before us because we're arabs we get fined 2000

shekels and reporters fall for everything. i mean she a lot tell you the truth it's racism if you go to the jewish parts of jerusalem many people there don't even wear masks the stores are open people go to work go about their daily lives there for us it's different my wife has to pay 500 shekels because she hasn't put a mask on correctly the old city of jerusalem is eerily quiet coronavirus has devastated business in the streets now it's hardly the time to be playing politics or perhaps as residents here tell me it's the ideal time policia r.t. jerusalem. or the u.s. speeds up the vaccine development process with emergency authorization e.u. regulators rejected the need for such haste emphasizing that safety is more important than speed european union is seeking what it calls a coordinated approach to vaccinations difficult sort of so on see you wide mutual recognition of coronavirus test results the looking at ways of encouraging people

to take coronavirus bank scenes once they're approved and restore cross border travel right now the european union is working full speed to review the safety of vaccines and make them available. to do we have the opportunity to reach an agreement on how to proceed with court with 19 vaccines and establish a common system for the validity of tests. however opponents of the vaccinations if it's a concern that they will end up becoming defacto obligatory because it will be required to do various things and it will put pressure on people to get vaccinated my colleague in an e-mail put this issue up at about 8. i'm nervous about the idea of having these travel certificates all these certificates that say you've had the coronavirus vaccine because what that means is that actually will then end up being a coronavirus passport so i think the thing is to encourage rather to rather than

to make sure people are automatically told they have to have it it should not be compulsory go green with the gentleman there no problem but for air travel peons it should be made compulsory by the airlines to make sure that the people on the plane are sent the blah blah about really dumb and cetera that's exactly what the problems we've got with this. group who are going to be taking you know not getting the full information about and so i think there will be more people who are going to pick who profession coming out to look you eat certain they're very concerned with how to reach this client she has come out there who. are right now this is nothing against having vaccines are present but this is a routine or. not put the european union hasn't really. isn't concerned the one thing i would say to the european union is if you stop

having so much bureaucracy and let those countries decide for themselves they would have vaccines by now i think that's an incredibly dangerous thing to say this is been in the making for 20 years we've had a rolling review is this is going on this vaccine is safe the m h r 8 would not license this vaccine if they did not believe it was safe and the problem is when you start to spread those sorts of rumors that's why people won't be vaccinated and the more you tell them you have to have a vaccine and people believe that there is some sort of militaristic thing going on then people will not take up that vaccination and therefore we undo all the good work that's been done to date certain conspiracy theories and go or bordering on factual know looking as if they're going to be happening and this is just going to fuel those more extreme conspiracy theories that one of bill gates trying to use vaccines that plant microchips in people this is simply going to reinforce their fears isn't it yes i somehow i believe absolutely. sorry. you shouldn't believe these people or assume who claims such crazy ideas all the time in the

coming months and years we will know about the long term validity of the vaccine and not the certification and maybe we'll need to do it again and maybe there will be a 2nd version in all and that will improve the years but we need to save the economy now. well sure thirty's are urging full openness about waste from a nuclear plant construction site the stude to be dumped into the same concerns arising that radioactive waste from 2 other nuclear power stations flushed out near cardiff could have contaminated the area nearby artie's shadi edwards dashed explains. the hour of a dumping mud stretched from an english nuclear power station into walters' is back in the spotlight nearly 800000 tons of sediment evacuated during the construction of hinkley point c. is set to be deposited into the sea just behind me of cardiff bay and wales even

though the nuclear power site itself is across the water in somerset local politician a voice campaign against what he calls a u.k. government plutonium really cover up i think probably the only 1st country the world it could happen in is wales we have a government which is. dominated by being this government in westminster they're not standing up for us they're not insisting on testing their law in the u.k. government to flush their nuclear toilets all around the world coast it's staggering it's an outrage they didn't test for plutonium we uncovered a report which proves the plutonium leaked in the estuary for decades from the nuclear power station so if that is plutonium leaking into the i should very clearly it's going to be in the mud they don't dig it up just doesn't make sense the raw began back in 2018 when it was revealed the u.k. had approved plans for the dumping of 300000 tonnes of sediment from the hinkley

point power station but it's said to be up for another $780000.00 tons of mud off the west coast next year as part of building for the new $22000000000.00 pounds reactor i think is a huge coverup because they did the most without testing and we mustn't let him do it again they've got away with 80000 tonnes if they come back with almost a 1000000 tonnes it's going to be incomprehensible what the damage could be done since february when national resources wells granted e.d.f. energy permission to dump moment off the cardiff coast there's been a heightened backlash about whether the deposit is contaminated which could have implications on people's health and safety. cardiff has since seen protests assented debate and even 810000 strong petition against the plans musician kian kiran of the super furry animals augie's it's a national scandal so we feel will is in the new classes sometimes just beyond our

power i feel wales is being lied to. in a similar way i think to what happened in turn although i don't think. we're being told the truth about the harmful effects of doing in part sickles the essence is its symbolism and it's just this it is a model issue and over a political issue e.d.f. energy insists that previous testing proves the model is no different to any other and is not classified as radioactive under british law but in light of public concerns it says it will carry out a full environmental impact assessment of the modern sediment will be tested before it is dredged we also intend to conduct a full environmental impact assessment as part of our disposal license application we believe it has right to go beyond technical arguments to provide the necessary public confidence the toll concerns have been addressed. and while the welsh

government itself has said that robust licensing laws will protect the environment is this all enough to cap the worries of the community in cardiff i mean if it's just ordinary yeah i mean it isn't dangerous then i don't see the harmony but obviously if it is radioactive or dangerous to people's health then obviously something should be done about it obstructs absolutely stinks down there and met there now it's absolutely all for it it's just that it's very worrying it's a bit of pollution but i think he was really happy with it from almost feel very patriotic you as well and i fix things that i will just upset people anyway that must be alternatives presumably that the alternatives are more expensive i think they should you know try and find a more environmental better alternative there's little to reassure those with real concerns and with the full impact of the huge deposits yet to be assessed the future for cardiff bay looks far from clear shot to edward stache d r t

u k cardiff. locals in more than skin the northern part of russia were treated to a dozen display in the night sky it was lit up by a stunning natural phenomena phenomenon the northern lights a powerful magnetic storm made the show especially bright and visible i heard it was amazing to see that in more months and indeed it is i would love to go see that myself but i think staying with us here on r.t. updates on our biggest stories in half an hour. human history has always seen continuous war open source but in recent years it seems to have become more intense the platforming is now common practice and public

scrutiny of minute feature where do we all stand on the battlefield of belief. for i. love. this. free. fish.