think it. will for 4 years in the making mark a trade deal between the u.k. . finally struck. great britain's membership within the european union. also ahead on the program a plane carrying supplies from. argentina after the country officially registered the question. on clemency for years but not for whistleblowers. mercenaries and prison for the deaths

of civilians in iraq. american war crimes. we hear they've been released and the. president it's like the u.s. doesn't care for spilled blood it seems. prevailed over legal and judicial once and this decision. 247 news live from the russian capital this is r.t. international pleasure to have your company my names you know neal our top story. a historic moment the u.k. the european union have sealed a trade deal just days before the new year deadline it's not all fully signed off yet it still needs to be ratified by both sides but that's expected to go much smoother down. negotiations that while the e.u.

commission chief hinted are plenty of concessions and relief preventing a possible no deal outcome on the implications that would bring on the british side pm boris johnson seemed to think it was essentially win win for westminster it is up to us all together as a newly and truly independent nation to realise the men city of this moment and to make the most of it as we knew in any case if that would have been a heartbreaks it it would not have been good for both sides but it would have hit the united kingdom harder than the european union with all its might 450000000 citizens. far from a position of strength we were able to come forward with the most comprehensive agreement we've ever had so let's look at how the u.k. and e.u. will cooperate from january 1st there will be no tariffs on each other's goods and

no limit on trading new border checks have been agreed on too while the u.k. has pulled out of the erasmus student exchange scheme between universities politicians will return to westminster to vote on the deal on december 30th giving them just under 48 hours to pore over the details you're r.t. saskia taylor joined me in the studio to discuss whether the brig's adventure is not fully tilman to us that. this is been such a long road britons voted to leave the european bloc but can 2016 ever since and they've been patiently waiting to see what kind of threats that they've got a sigh of relief for many they got one with a deal of course we all know it's been a roller coaster to get here those who campaign for breakfast said it's going to be plain sailing it's a piece of cake one politician said this is something that gets resolved over a cup of often noon tea that was just one of many overly optimistic statements i think on the matter no deal with better than the steel i believe it will be to

negotiate these times it will be easy to negotiate a trade and of course you know the european union's interest just as much is that. there is a price and they do because we are going to get a great. the free trade agreement that we will have to do with the european union should be one of the easiest in human history while easy i think we can say it was not we've seen impasse locked horns with brussels parliament gridlocked david cameron resigned to resign may gave up boris johnson came in but it did take him a love and months to wrangle 'd this deal so it really i mean it did seem a bit doomed from the start just to clarify i want to just put it out there on the record is that briggs it hasn't been put to bed can we forget all about it while brussels says that now finally everyone can move on from it's in the past let's bury it johnson celebrating but maybe a bit prematurely because they're all still huddles 1st off it does have to get

ratified by the british parliament westminster is on christmas holiday but it will be recalled on the 30th of december to debate that. but you know well considering that johnson's own m.p.'s in the past have voted against him on his plans i'm sure there's some nervousness and then of course it also needs to be approved across the channel by both the e.u. council and the parliament time is against them 27 nation states need to agree to this they need to scrutinise 500 pages it needs to be translated into 23 languages so really there is still a considerable task ahead would usually take months as a process then of course there's the question mark on how bumpy the ride will be once the rules are in place from january to fuss i think it's fair to say that there will be teething problems more than anyone i'd love to say goodbye i'm putting you on the shelf but i think it might be too early to say that boris johnson's very optimistic but he has to be this is essentially what got him elected

so it would be about bracks it would be career destroying for him it would certainly be humiliating bracks it has always been polarizing there was never going to be a deal that everyone was happy about but while boris is quite right as you said celebrating others have already hit out at him over this deal. it sounds like the british team have dropped the ball before the line no wonder they want a christmas eve announcement to hide the fisheries sell out today amidst all the debates and details of the trade deal one fundamental truth remains that at the time of global insecurity we're no longer part of one of history's greatest and most noble project bringing nations together to build peace out of the ruins of war this is a disastrous brags it scorches farmer it's and like all other aspects of bragg's it for students cortlandt against their will so maybe a political victory for johnson but certainly does not

a huge fan club around him at the moment a deal might have been reached spot it's just the far stop toward sort of bidding adieu to brecht's that if i can mix my european british metaphors and i still think we will see that us rise up a few surprises you know among the reaction we've been getting to this was from french political commentator john breaux small who sees the u.k.'s withdrawal could pave the way for other nations to break away from the. you know when there is a deed of 2000 pages you cannot feed it in and out. with these are going to hit it in detail so except maybe the translators but. you can't really comment on the reading it is a day notice indeed that johnson is more optimistic. because he's been negotiating in the position of strengthening you know if he's willing to contemplate a new deal and the other one that they are 2 years yes probably and it's certain

things i don't know exactly what. the dating the main thing is that does because. it does because. you can do with it want to. see days if you want and you can do it. they're not all in the same position of strength as britain lesson of does the european integration is much much stronger and it's almost a village and i don't think european project is just doomed to fail in trying to make you know guarantee of the very different peoples. argentina officially registered russia sputnik the fact saying it's been approved for emergency use by the countries regulator based on results of clinical trials here in russia a plane carrying argentina's 1st college has arrived in buenos aires with

a supply agreement moscow will 'd provide enough to. 10000000 people earlier this month the argentine president expressed confidence in the russian vaccine saying he will be the 1st to take. in argentina some raised doubts about the quality of russian science to clear everyone's downswing vs here in argentina i would be the 1st one to take that. x.e. because i have no doubt about the quality over the vaccine. as well as sputnik 3 argentina. for a vaccine supplies from. the united nations' kovacs program the country's regulator has approved the use of the fines or bio on tech vaccine to this spike ongoing talks on that mater the argentine health minister has criticized pfizer's approach to the negotiations they asked us for a little giving them immunity and the congress gave them that law but then phases negotiate with the local ones but those in the us started asking for more

conditions they want to sponsor a new law they want to the president to sign the contract instead of me the conditions started getting somewhat unacceptable the government of argentina is thinking that this is going to be perhaps the most efficient way to bring in effect a vaccine to its citizens so looks like they're essentially. betting on or putting their money on on the russian vaccine the fact that pfizer had those kinds of conditions and that the government of argentina was not pleased with those conditions i think there's going to be a lot of that kind of thing i think that there is going to be an awful lot of questions about liability and about potential long term side effects and the long term efficacy of the vaccines i would sounds to me you i didn't like the deal that pfizer was giving them and was was looking elsewhere and i think that's why they turned toward the russian banks in a more grim milestone something past those russia itself grapples with the pound

mic now our front line workers in the most vulnerable are not getting vaccinated artie's constantine rushkoff took us through developments earlier. almost 30000 new coronavirus cases have been registered in russia and it's a new record put in a 3rd globally in terms of the new daily infections this thursday russia is now says just behind the u.k. and u.s. just in moscow russia skeptical had over 8000 new coronavirus spacious in the past 24 hours again this is a new record in terms of deaths there were 635 linked to the virus across the whole of russia and yet this is another all time high ground is keen to avoid a stricter lockdown. on the hospitality industry m.p.p. e measures will remain in place while all companies have to have at least a 3rd of their employees to work remotely no mass gatherings are allowed of course

and universities into russia's biggest cities have gone online only until february however a mass vaccination is under way already $52000.00 russians have taken the jab it is expected that wider vaccination will take place next february and according to a russia's health care ministry over half of russia's population are keen or willing to get inoculated and you were among those willing to get vaccinated just talk us through you experience that sure i got my job this tobar and it wasn't that bad i mean i had a few mild side effects my temperature were elevated a bit and i was feeling a little bit teet the next day but then the next day they all were off so now here i am safe and sound then i'm enjoying the fact that i have antibodies. that

spring you to britain where the u.k. has recorded its 2nd dealy number of covert 1000 infections it comes to sticks highlights a surge in cases right before. parts of the united kingdom went into lockdown this month and let's give you some of those figures over 600000 people were infected in the week beginning december 12th is effectively one in every 85 people across england london is no the leading coronavirus hotspot in the country the capital has the highest percentage of residents who have tested positive for a cold bit in. trouble and holiday plans already made increased measures against the virus prompted a mud rush to get out of the city similar 'd emergency measures are being applied across the southeast of in the new lock down restrictions prevent hustles mixing in there for means having no friends or family over for the holidays heartbreak for many at living alone the british health secretary defended the law in saying it's

necessary to stop the spread of a new mutated version of covert 90. just as we've got a tit system in place that was able to control this virus we've discovered a new more contagious virus variant that is spreading at a dangerous rate cases have risen 57 percent in the last week the average. spittal admissions are 1909 a day that's the highest figure since mid april of more inside the picture there let's welcome into the program dr ira. it is a senior clinical lecturer in the u.k. thanks for taking the time to speak to us today there were a potty train station streets all over london before the exit this could that rush to get lead to a national lockdown and shut it. well with the rising number of cases in

london and the southeast and then in other parts of the country admitted li in the northern part of the country at the moment the case numbers are dropping slightly having said all that i do feel that the united kingdom probably needs a period of shut down because our case numbers are high one and number 2 are hospital admissions are almost at the peak meaning hospitals are also getting full and more worryingly in the more sensitive age group meaning the older age group our case numbers are also up and it is the older people who get severe disease and may die from this infection i suppose the interesting thing there is what the shuttle and how it's going to develop itself what it actually entails because the question is brought how effective is the stay at home order out spreading stopping the spread of course one thing we've seen incidence report of mass heist parties etc is

there any point of having tira for that high level of restrictions if a number of people ignore that. point less so you're absolutely right and we have been very slow and lax and not enforcing a public health measure with strictness and if you don't force a public health measure with with sincere ety and strict ness and information for people people will break the law and unfortunately invariably it happens to be younger people because they're frail well from this infection they get infected and then they in fact the older age groups so unfortunately we have failed in controlling it because we never enforced it as strictly as we should have is that what triggered the rapid surge of cases in london you think that's the primary reason. well so the narrative of this is very interesting the narrative is we have a new age of the sars could lead to loris a variant

a mutation whichever expression you want to use however unless you are dropping your infection control god it doesn't matter to you because it is a new variant but it hasn't found new ways of infecting you so it may be the predominant strain it may and it is a big capital letters many that it may be more infectious but you only get infected if you do things like get into crowded places gone to crowded transports go shopping crowded shopping centers those sort of things get you in fact did whether it is the original strain or the new version of the strain is there a general sense in the medical community that it is more potent that we could potentially be back to square one what vaccines still work with this new variant of cove it. well the good news is that i have every confidence that the vaccines will work whether we have were in one the original one or the new variant that doesn't

matter because we can always reformulate the vaccines so that's the easy bit the other good bit is that this new variant is not causing more severe illness so that's also good it may be more infectious i am not absolutely convinced that it is only that it is more infectious and that is why we have more case numbers i think the more case numbers is a reflection of human behaviors in other words you interact with too many people you get infected and that's how it has happened well thanks very much for giving us your view on dr berat county a senior clinical lecturer at the university of exeter medical school a very merry christmas to you as well merry christmas to you all thank you. well to something on the tip of every traveler's tong right now that is covert passports singapore airlines as

a learns it will be the 1st major airline to introduce the controversial measure of digital verification of passengers who have been vaccinated now in order to book travel a special form needs to be filled in detail in coronavirus test results information on whether you've taken a job or not is mandatory it effectively means health data will be stored for each passenger and some dots seeing whether they would travel with the early line again . let's cross not to felipe to you lawyer and current 1st commentator for his view on this it's got a lot of people talking felipe this story for quite some time one of the big issues there we touched upon their private lives what will they fax a nation passports will they pry into those too much and is it legal for line to

take that data if the destination country doesn't require it a lot of questions here good evening thank you well. news from singapore aligned with the 4 passports for vaccination is not a pleasant christmas present for our freedom to go to trouble 1st of all. i wonder must why on which illegal bears the that is the take these decision i think they're over or stay there or. they are there stay there for 2 to impose a search should passports for the passengers to go on drugs i think that that there is the v.c.r. and the blood there is no. for the bus and your purse to go on to travel freely in their company this is of course of your lation of our

private. fundamental low this is right it's it's a kind of. or got control of our of our life and freedom it sounds expensive as well and then the time needed to set it all up i would put it to felipe that that could perhaps make a vulnerable that you know are dated to hacks if it's not done properly. of course because i was it called understand that a country should be impose a kind of passport which also is. against our freedom but coming from a private company it looks very words it looks very old and i think you can't oblige people to. of course there is a kind of cause for but i think we should listen to

a professor. who is a b. . who lot of. the very national i think vaccination is a good thing but do we not. recall regarding this vaccine we don't know well there's concern isn't or that we won't be allowed to travel at all perhaps without a vaccine from from what it looks to you right not do you think that's going to be the reality for everyone next year no vaccine no job you're not getting on this plane yes this is a possibility if they are getting. it we this is the very least there is for us because it's not finished we can see that the people who get caught once get can be infected the 2nd time or a certain time. we see that there is a mutation a very very heavy one in south africa and there is an additional in england so we

don't know where we go and i think we need time. it's a pity that all the most of the countries of the countries are making lockdown but in fight this is the only method to find a solution waiting the good. the good idea to fight against the virus of course the vaccine is good but do we have enough time to an ally is the effects under under human body this is the problem. one of the ramifications of this felipe is that the issue of perhaps creating 2nd class citizens those who have got the job those are the antibodies those who can afford to get speedy testone before a flight they're fine but there's a lot of people who can do that it opens up the issue of perhaps budget airlines not having the amount of passion there is perhaps that they had before because people just can't afford to have that test there's a lot of issues here that that aren't really being spoken of by but there are going

to be big if you need a job to fly absolutely but you have to understand that even in crowds there are a lot of people he's not joe norwalk because in the restaurants and in many in many kind of business you have people running out of jobs where if it were going to face a new crisis a new crisis for the small companies for the small interest in interpreters and in fact. only the big companies the gaffer has are making profits of these crises and people are going to pay the high price for these fires the. core of the illness but the wilburys so comprise for these last boards or any kind of. measure for us indeed thank you very much for your take philip today

always good to speak to a philip if you will lawyer and current affairs you are well thank you a merry christmas merry christmas to you and yours as well. mercy for mercenaries but whistleblowers can go whistle donald trump has issued 2 lists of pardons but despite calls from rights activist defenders of freedom of speech like julian the stange edward snowden will remain imprisoned at the same time the outgoing u.s. president has raised concerns at the united nations by giving clemency to 4 former contractors of the block water private military company they were jailed for their involvement in the mass killing of civilians in iraq people in that country have condemned the decision and says the government. the ministry believes that this decision did not take into account the seriousness of the crime committed and was inconsistent with the u.s. administration's declared commitment to the values of human rights justice and the rule of law and regrettably ignores the dignity of the victims and the feelings and

rights of their relatives because the courts of the infamous blackwater company killed citizens a nice to a square today we hear they've been released on the personal orders of president trump it's like the u.s. doesn't care for spilled iraqi blood we call on the united nations the international community and human rights organizations to intervene immediately and condemn these killers. it seems political considerations prevailed over a legal and judicial once and this decision president trump should have taken into account their relationship with iraq especially since iraq has a strategic cooperation agreement with the united states in all fields this will affect trump's political situation and his legacy there has been widespread outrage about the trump administration's decision to grant clemency to some members of the blackwater military 'd contracting company these were guards who were employed by blackwater who killed civilians in iraq. or.

that there were dead bodies everywhere a losing argument going to anyone with 2 people in authority among the dead bodies lying on the street that's what child was in the middle of no 7 years old. paul slow evan liberty and dust. unheard were convicted for manslaughter and the individual nicholas slotting who opened fire and 1st started shooting into the crowd of iraqi civilians he was convicted of 1st degree murder but now the white house is letting all of them off they will no longer be in prison serving their

sentences they have been pardoned this is the feeling of the white house about why they made this decision when the convoy attempted to establish a blockade outside the green zone the situation turned violent which resulted in the unfortunate deaths and injuries of iraqi civilians further prosecutors recently disclosed more than 10 years after the incident that the lead iraqi investigator who prosecutors relied heavily on so very far that there were no exigent victims and to collect evidence may have had tunnies to insurgent groups himself now at this point there is widespread outrage this seems like the trump administration is almost approving of the killing of iraqi civilians 2 children were among the 14 people in the crowd who died as a result of their gun fire but at this point people are also looking at the fact that trumps education secretary betsy to vos is the sister of the founder of

blackwater erik prince now there's also been a lot of outrage about who is not on the list of trump's pardons among the 15 people pardon and 5 sentence commuted it's the names that were missing that many were optimistic and hopeful about were julian a son john edward snowden these prominent whistleblowers had many people calling for the trump white house to grant them clemency mungo's who called for them were not just activists and advocates of civil liberties and for the protection of whistleblowers but also representatives of the united nations take a listen if president trump is true as well you think the police think he could do is to end the suffering the beauty the songs to pardon him this man has for be enough. the interest of the public will dwarf donald trump since your given pardons to people please consider pardoning those who at great personal sacrifice expose the deception and criminality of those in the deep state now trump still has time to grant a pardon to edward snowden and to julian

a son she can grant clemency up until the moment he leaves office to do it at the very very last minute however the number of people that were pardoned today and the information about who they are seems to have many pessimistic many of the activists supporting the whistleblowers feel like this indicates the trumpet ministration is moving in a very different direction with its clemency we are all set to cross to some more great programs and moments here in order to be here again at the top to keep you in the know to catch you then to.

our max keiser this is the kaiser.