victory or defeat while the u.k.'s leadership celebrates a he sturrock bricks and deal across the english channel the european union's chief negotiator describes it as a loss for both sides. i'm not so merry christmas companies in europe see covert cases and deaths as people are placed on a strict measures to bring the festive period. was a waste of money and a u.s. senator claims the government was thrown away more than 50000000000 dollars this year one worthless projects including junking machines for lizards.

from moscow thanks for joining us tonight here on our team from ashland hawkins welcome to the program. after more than 4 years of wrangling the e.u. and u.k. have it finally reached the brics trade deal this was agreed just days before the new year deadline however the mood in brussels and london was very different following the announcement. this is i believe a good deal for the whole of europe. for us for our friends and partners as well yes but again you're right there is no winner and brax it's a lose lose situation to separate especially in the world as it is today england the united kingdom has chosen to be solitary rather than stand together those who govern the nations that make up the british isles are divided on the outcome scottish 1st minister nicola sturgeon says britain's lost more than its gain from brics it stressing that scotland must now decide on its future as an independent european nation but the views of scots and other britons on the deal. the fatigue

because it's been going on so long it's happening now the balls rolling i think we should just finish it i think it beats a few of these because it was last couple weeks so should be just so much hype and misinformation in the media i hate breaks and i think it's a complete retrograde step i think is the feeling of being part of a multinational international. i word looking community i think has been thompson fantastic i didn't support breaks i didn't pull a break said i have really guides to not be part of you know play anymore and it does make me nervous to think how am i going to get to visit the european cities and you know friends i have to live in spain and in france and other parts of europe it would have been a disaster if there had been no deal so very peaceful but there is a to this is i suppose some people a big christmas present it's just i think if i was really seated in this year the idea of a deal is a good one. but i think the idea that it has to go through 49 different

parliaments in europe is a bit crazy i think it's really we've finally got one of these years but it sort of begs the question as to whether this arrangement is going to be better than the arrangement you haven't before we left the european union let's take a closer look at how the u.k. and you will cooperate from january 1st they'll be no tariffs on each other's goods and no limit on trading. have been agreed on as well while the ukase pulled out the long running or us most student exchange scheme between universities politicians will return to westminster to vote on the deal on december 30th so boris johnson may have ended the year on a much needed high but the past 12 months have been overshadowed by closed borders and economic woes saskia taylor has been taking a look back at 2020 in britain. it was almost as if he wanted to become a meme we have so much to look forward to in 2020 it's hard to pin down which one

of 2020 stretches he meant the end as negotiations food shortages coronavirus close borders economic collapse like you know sending. sending a president who home grinch who stole christmas. yet i feel like christmas has been known in history he might be like remembered as the prime minister. best so was about a man who wanted to be remembered as the one who got brecht's it done 4 years of preparation for a cause he believed in thompson was set up for trial and he even promised back in january that it was often ready all but done we had ended a debate has run for 3 and a half years some would say 47 years i would even mention the name of the control the scene. except to say that it begins with billions receding the past behind us well be rose from the past and haunted porus for 11 months that's how long it took

to negotiate a deal a deal that his father praxedis claimed could be resolved over a cup of tea 11 months the brink of no deal a nation of disappointed impatient angry people but boris still gave himself a pat on the back we've taken back control of our laws and we've taken back control of every jot and tittle of regulation in a way that is complete and unfettered who's going to tell him then that this celebration might be a party for one. 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 a time of global insecurity we're no longer part of one of history's greatest and most noble projects bring nations together to build peace out of the ruins of war.

this is a disastrous bragg's it outcome for scottish farmer it's and like all other aspects of bracks it poised to cortlandt against our will it wasn't just brussels that proved to be bogus on doing fresh from a caribbean holiday and still on a post-election high in the new year boris johnson didn't seem too concerned about a never heard of before virus his message was clear don't exaggerate when barry is going up. and when there is a risk that new diseases such as corona virus will trigger a panic while it was a pretty quick descent from facts to this. but it's hard not to panic when the parson who's supposed to be meeting you flip

flops and utahns his way through a crisis to the point his own ministers don't know the rules so make it absolutely clear. distinction. let me i will absolutely get back to christmas would be cancelled actually christmas is off schools are reopening actually you know they're not we're lifting the knocked out actually stay at home little wonder then the confusion on exhaust peroration grew i'm a bit confused because you know it's like things are very very quick and we don't get that much information about what's going on and certainly with the new school that we don't know what to do so nobody can use initiated on you cannot who's devoted 48 hours so it's so confusing i don't even know my parents live. there with the kids so i am allowed to go to you tube but i don't know if i'm

really about to be going through. he did what he did to you was it a case of bad timing. was 2020 year you just couldn't shine no matter what or was it the man himself who failed to meet one thing's for sure for boris johnson it's been not a hell of a year but rather a year from how. germany remains one of the country's worst affected by the pandemic and the state of saxony is one of the region's hardest hit with crime a tourist struggling to cope in what is from a video agency ruptly. germany

as a whole was badly affected this year with many locked down restrictions put in place it's all over takes us through how it's impacted the festive season and the country . across year of christmas festivities are subdued this year because of the coronavirus pandemic here in berlin this gentleman marked it's usually the scene over one of the german capitals of local bustling busy christmas markets not this year though like carnival in the spring time the markets of being counseled there being a loosening of covert restrictions to allow people to gather with loved ones over christmas itself friedrich merits the man who will be gunning for chancellor angela merkel's job next year wasn't happy with covert restrictions having an impact on

a family christmas personally i would see it's none of the government's business how i celebrate christmas with my family he's not alone germany has seen at times launched demonstrations against covert 1000 restrictions. while christmas is very different this year new year's may be totally on recognizable in germany being mocked without its traditional. green party politicians of launched a campaign against fireworks this year while thousands upon thousands usually throw in the approach to the brandenburg gate for the annual new year's eve bash this

year 'd that is a victim of corona and the policy will be held with elder revel as shown on television there will be no giant posses a family reunions otherwise we could be threatened by another wave of infection in february there will be no party in berlin at the brandenburg gate either it will disappoint sold to be sure to virgin sea and medical center. this is going to be among knows the lamenting the lack of fireworks after new year's eve we evaluate only how many people come to us or brought to the rescue center during the night how old they are and why they need to be treated it clearly shows the dangers of fireworks it's a festive period with a difference but at least italian prime minister just epic commentary has some reassurances for people concerned about one particular elderly man traveling at christmas father christmas assured me he's already got an international travel certificate so he can travel everywhere and distribute gifts to all the world's

children. quite the relief i'm sure you'll agree peter all over r.t. early. voting machines for lizards just one of the strange rosettes the u.s. government spent money on this year that's according to a report that states over $50000000000.00 went the way of such initiatives to review power spin doing the sums. 2020 has been a year to forget for many reasons but it's that time of year so let's reflect imagine you just blown $54000000000.00 in 12 months it is more important than ever for congress to find its fiscal backbone our debt puts at risk the long term solvency of major programs such as social security and why to pay for test use for covert tests that turn out to be soda bottles to see if hot tubbing a few times a week eases stress yeah those don't seem like good investments but u.s. senator rand paul has published

a whole list of all the things you can blow your hard earned money on and what washington apparently did spend it on like $1500000.00 to give a couple of reptiles some cardio researches spent a 1000000 and a half taxpayer dollars to get 6 lizards walk them on a treadmill what taking x. rays with 3 d. imaging technology and then figure out how their joints moved sure it's fascinating stuff maybe for some but come on $1500000.00 place your bets on how much it costs to spray drunk rats with bob katter just a tidy sum of $4500000.00 in all seriousness here's exactly what the researchers did in layman's terms they spent 5 weeks giving rats intermittent access to alcohol to get them hooked then they put the rats in a cage and literally sprayed them with both cat urine and predators odor to simulate trauma then they tested where the males and females responded differently

why that's probably something you're wondering right now the answer research into p.t.s.d. and alcoholism among war veterans are barely someone has concluded that surviving a gruesome war is comparable to being sprayed with europe so we've gone from paying people to sit in hearts of trying to get adults to watch less t.v. and box all of this money wasted. and none of that was initially washington's this is $54000000000.00 of taxpayer money but look on the bright side at least we can sleep well now we know that a coke bottle is not a good substitute for a test tube. the way that the united states government has managed its finances throughout this entire thing is absolutely overall completely abysmal it's been nothing short of criminal what the united states government has done throughout this entire pandemic there were a few ok things but overall the bad outweighed the good by

a whole lot and it's really made the united states government out for exactly what it is which it is a corporate coup no one ever asked the question are you going to pay for it when it comes to giving money to the pentagon or giving money to weapons contractors or given money to the oil and gas industry no $1.00 ever asks how you going to pay for it but they ask how are you going to pay for it when it comes to giving direct relief to people then all the sudden they're worried about their pocketbook. still ahead on the culture wars truly moved up a gear this year a society's revival of agenda and identity of some of the stories of the broken.

in the movie version the scientists all understand everything before they even begin to look at it that's not what really happens what really happens is most of the time scientists are very confused about most things and they're not sure they spend most of their time trying to be less confused trying to become a little more sure.

i'll come back 3 people have been injured in a huge explosion what a motorhome was blown up in the us city of nashville christmas morning the police chief says suspected human tissues been found near the blast site which is now being examined the f.b.i.'s leading the investigation which into the explosion which police suspect was intentional a recorded voice was heard from them o'dowd warning of a bomb on telling people to evacuate the area it happened in a downtown district around 6 30 in the morning unable to have been left badly damaged with debris scattered across the road communications were also severely affected a curfew is now in place until sunday often are. united states top infectious disease experts and pretty much the guiding light for americans hearing a pandemic has found himself in awkward spot dr anthony fauci has admitted to the

new york times that he purposely manipulated numbers regarding herd immunity to bolster public support for covert vaccines the estimate is that you'll need about 70 percent maybe 75 percent of the people in the country vaccinating to get their own breland herd immunity let's say we get 70 by. population. we may have actually an arab or not herd immunity protecting our society or you can make an extrapolation from other infections i see between 75 and 8085 percent of the population we knew a survey said 60 percent or more would take it i thought i can nudge this up a bit so i went to 8085 we really don't know what the real number is i think the real range is somewhere between 70 to 90 percent but i'm not going to say 90 percent 80 year old doctor is the long running director of the national institute

of allergy and infectious diseases throughout the summer he was a permanent fixture at the white house coronavirus briefings and is a leading figure in the fight against the virus earlier this week fold she became one of the 1st high profile figures to receive the modeller code vaccine his core device has had a tendency to switch around occasionally during the year right now people should not be what there's no reason to be walking around with a mask the fundamentals are not rocket science it's universal wearing of masks an issue in there is to make sure you do whatever you can to safeguard the safety and the health of the children as well as the teachers close the bars and keep the schools open or the founding editor of the online news site this can't be happening says the best thing to do is to simply be straight with people. well that's not the way to deal with that with a. pandemic and none of them have been it done a good job of that you've got to trust people telling the truth say you know this

is a crisis we're not sure how to handle it but this is what we think is the best way to do it that would be the honest way to do it and then people would have more confidence in you. you know when you tell him to do stuff i'm not sure i would go with lying i would go with that you know he made a bad he made a bad decision to not level with people with what they knew for me the best thing to do would be to tell people what you know and be straightforward with them and then change it if you find out something different later. 2020 swords gender identity generates a huge wave of discussion from liberation to celebration and confusion. looks now at how the years left more than a few people in a possible pronoun predicament but i don't know. the culture wars. know

what. the base. yeah i didn't know what base man either just dismissed the work arrows as a whiny tweet is reveling in victimization no they're here to save people from things that they didn't even know they needed saving from like words gender through all the facts whether you're own or you are a massive racist. and all the based look just all right trump apologists looking for a fight no these are brave souls trying to express opinions that 5 years ago you and rand would have. been tea but now could get hot and you lived was canceled.

so let's delve in and see who was on the front line of the culture wars in 2020 this is like being in the battle of the sexes is no longer finery and no one represents the crazy state of affairs back then the j.k. rowling is it weird that the inflicted harry potter on the walls 7 is now lift by suggesting that they're all women on their own then. get out and yes that was cool to be counseled to saying that there is such a thing as. the trans rights people when not. well the ballin film festival was in no mood to be roland so it just dumped its gendered awards for best actor or and best actor a dozen not just mean less prizes for everyone why not bring in more prizes for

more gender is a man like $32.00 of them the national charge of iceland went another way and depicted jesus with boobs in a dress to quote reflect society as it is today by which i assume they mean confusing. tripling down all the confusion with. the current director of the matrix series. she said that the matrix trilogy wasn't about looting karate different colored pills being plugged into play station you know apparently the whole thing was an allegory for the struggles of the transgender community i'm going to. i don't. you know that was the original intention and the world wasn't quite ready yet or part of the corporate world wasn't ready and on a serious note i would just like to take this opportunity to congratulate the actor

elliot forming. a great. well let's take a look at some of the christmas celebrations around the world disappoint various restrictions in place. in france the choir performed a christmas eve concert it's the 1st event of its kind since the cathedral was ravaged by last year's blaze hard outside overrules replace traditional grounds with reconstruction of the building still on the way. across the border in germany one priest organized the drive in christmas a mass in the car park of a hardware store is because traditional church services have been suspended across the country to slow the spread of the coronavirus. or the christmas didn't let lockdowns keep them from seeing his young fans in spain instead of

setting up the usual grottos in shopping malls because of social distancing a special. set about visiting children individually instead. helpers to chat to the youngsters and a drop of course those all important presence. there were scaled down christmas mass celebrations at the church of st catherine of bethlehem due to the ongoing pandemic restrictions but it was still prayers and singing in the service led by the catholic church is latin patriarch of jerusalem christmas usually sees an influx of worshippers from abroad israel's prevented foreign nationals though from entering the country over the festive period. breaks down some of the impacts of the cobra 19 pandemic across multiple sectors next to the t when i am back in half an hour. and whatever time it is have a very merry christmas.

just 3 pieces from the speed of you know the. police and this business is all about making money making profits is the most. big corporations international markets import export do you imagine the number of chronic diseases that are out in every community today it is not due to new viruses old new microbes that's not true so it is due to. the city though that moment to supply the. last of those obsolete b.s. to cuba they could only come in to see the move to the side. of the sky if the so food industry is successful it will create more jobs it will create more value added it will create more growth so i don't see why we shouldn't also fight for the interest i think into straight out of step that we have regulation we want

regulation i was the industry and if we don't behave in the hospital she must find . chemistry has also given us fulfillment in many ways by caring teen and abundant food supply if we look at our world today there are still famines but there are political famines are caused by political problems are not caused by an inability to grow food and if we look at infectious diseases if you were in the middle of a pandemic now with a pandemic is killing less than one percent of the people that are in facts and in past times pandemics could kill 30 to 70 percent of the people that were infected so chemistry has given us much improved quality of life in many ways and then we have to ask well with these unintended consequences that are causing species go extinct that are causing environmental injustice is how can we make things better because certainly we can handle those things better than we have.

an entire village in alaska. if another country run the wife of an american. we do everything in our power to protect. climate change is the same for. some of the just coastal erosion. we lost about 30 feet. 35 feet of ground in just about 3 months while we were measuring. this for me this is the river is the 3rd. most of. the. year or i think we're part of thirst for.

this is a boom bust the one business show you can't afford to miss and washington coming up with a special show today and we're going to break down the state of the ongoing tech war between the u.s. and china and what may come in the next year plus we spoke with a real deal tic-tacs star about why the platform at the center of the transpacific tensions has become so popular and a later the trade war was meant to put the world's 2 largest economies on even footing but the trade gap continues to widen we'll get some expert analysis with a packed show today so let's dive right in. and as the sun is setting on the trumpet administration undoubtably a major legacy of the past 4 years will be the frayed relationship with china want to take

a look back at the efforts of the current administration to combat the people's republic as tensions went from the overall trade war to attack war we look to the future see what kind of impact the administration of joe biden could have on this crucial transpacific relationship on election day we did a retrospective with co-host christiane i want. kristie i want to start with you now u.s. china relations are more strained than we have seen in decades one of the biggest factors creating that string. although there are a lot of factors that are creating the strain like let's start with the obvious where the trump and ministration is a key thing china unfair trade practices and corporate espionage and these allegations have allowed trump to launch a series tariff or that up by billions off a global trade last year and then have reciprocal thank you in some public officials restrictions on diplomats and all that leads to attack a black or a public company such as all in the.