the. government for its perceived mishandling of. the relatives lost to the coronavirus speak to their lawyer. my clients were not informed about the presence of a dangerous and highly contagious virus in italy up until march but it was little more than a treatable and fashion. people aged over 60. pounds the country's health ministry approved. more elderly people. in america's top infectious disease expert deliberately misleading the public 1000

herd immunity in order to get more people to take. the long awaited 5th generation fighter jets and. closer look at the sukhoi. its problems and missiles at. the space makes it that's a good invisible. december 26th here in moscow welcome to our international my names you know neil. we start in italy where relatives of victims have filed a criminal negligence lawsuit over the government's handling of the pandemic the bereaved families are demanding answers from the country's prime minister health minister and president of the ba'ath party region one of the lawyers told us more

about the case. it's my clients were not informed about the presence of a dangerous and highly contagious virus in italy we were told up until march but it was little more than a trivalent fashion residents were told to go about their lives as normal italy was the 1st country to have such a high death toll those who have joined a civil action are not only from lumber de region you come from all over. and there's plenty of them 500 families filed a civil lawsuit against the authorities asking for 100000000 euro in compensation they allege that italian officials didn't have updated national were slow to respond to the outbreak in lombardy 0 indeed other regions to the also believe it took too long to declare emergency well italy bore the brunt of the bun to mic in europe as you may remember in the 1st half of the year the 1st covert deaths

emerged in february with the quickly spreading across the country in march the government imposed a national lockdown to taco the break and since the beginning of the pun demick more than 70000 people died prime minister just at the county has previously denied accusations that he on duress the meat of the crisis however families behind the civil action insist the government was slow to respond. not as of the nothing was done * to prevent the spread of the virus and then obviously we were not ready we didn't have intensive care oxygen masks prepared adequately so regardless of where this virus developed elite was not ready to face said up to now not one politician has responded to the committee or those representing victims to explain the 70000 deaths we've heard nothing from lumber to use regional government

health ministry and prime minister contact you are obliged to take a position to write a deed in court and provide an explanation to all of italy's citizens. the russian sputnik vaccine has been approved for elderly people that's after trials demonstrated its effectiveness for those aged 60 and above when or not here's are to get it or more we might be dropping off on 2020 but still the big news stories keep coming in the washing health ministry has just announced of the efficacy of the sputnik of a vaccine against covert 19 in the age of 60 plus is 90 percent what does that mean well it means that when the time is right those citizens can take the wilds fast register job against corona virus with full confidence now the testing will not catch we finished on the 24th of december and this is what officials have to say about the findings. of the clinical trials have been carried out some people over the age of 60 the studies of confirmed safety and effectiveness the ministry of

health has approved amendments to his medical guidance people over the age of 60 can also get vaccinated now. now this is an important development because until now we'd only know the results from trials on people aged between 18 and 60 this fresh announcement shows that for people over the age of 60 the protection that the vaccine provides is just as convincing as for the younger population now it also reiterate the findings of the phase 3 trials which is that immunity only increases over time so on the fast day of the job the efficacy is around 91 percent but that jumps right up to 95 percent on the 42nd day that's as the antibodies multiply and they start doing their work properly a mass vaccination campaign was rolled out here in russia in early december at the moment it's front line workers that are leading the charge we're talking about medics law enforcement transport workers teachers it's thought that around $200000.00 people so far have been inoculated in russia at the start of next year

it said probably in february the general population will get its chance and now of course we've been told people over the age of 60 will be able to be part of that if they want to apart from of course truly changing the lives of those people over the age of 60 who being and at risk category have spent the best part of this year at home in isolation really this news comes at a crucial moment in russia's fight with covert 19 today the country passed the grim milestone of $3000000.00 total cases this week proved to be one of the most fatal on record since the start of the pandemic with daily deaths between 5 and 700 daily new cases averaging 28000 so this latest development really inspiring hope and of course confidence at a decisive moment in the crisis with covert and such and for those who have been

watching so tirelessly on the sputnik the job over the last 9 months also a sign the sputnik the is living up to its name the we found out only recently often. much speculation being thick tree. the united states top infectious disease expert has made a surprising admission dr anthony felt she has told the new york times that he noticed the numbers on herd immunity upwards to bolster public support for covert faxing the estimate is that you'll need about 70 percent maybe 75 percent of the people in the country vaccinating to get their own breath herd immunity let's say we get the buy. population back we may actually arab or not herd immunity protecting our society and our 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. in the new york times once again admitted to misleading the public yesterday this is not science so we are not smart enough to think for ourselves says the intellects of bureaucrats or 80 year old dr fallon cheney is there a long time 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 pandemic earlier this week 5 she became one of the 1st high profile figures to receive the mood covert vaccine although his core advice tendency to change over the past 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 that is to make sure you do whatever you can to save the safety and the health of the children as well as the teachers close the bars and keep the schools open while they funding editor of the online news site this can't be happening ses the best thing to do is for authorities just to be straight with people well that's not the way to deal with that with a. pandemic and none of them have been 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 them to do stuff i'm not sure i would go with lying i would go with that you know he made a big 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. from trying to garner support in the u.s. to causing yet more public skepticism a doctor in boston reportedly suffered a severe allergic reaction after taking the covert 19 vaccine 6 or so similar cases are being investigated after shots of the fighter job were taken doctor his same day who an allergy to shellfish said side effects including his heart rate doubling dizziness and plummeting blood pressure he used an epi pen to level his adrenaline and was sent to the emergency room he's since been released has told c.n.n. the company is investigating the incident we heard from preventative medicine professor william schaffner who believes there's no reason for concern. i think reaction can

occur after these vaccines you know we've used mostly the pfizer vaccine so that's been associated with pfizer the murder maxine is made in a very very similar way to pfizer and so that we have a reaction a one of these severe allergic reactions with them or vaccine is something that's not surprising and rather expected when we're now giving this vaccine to millions of people so i don't think it's a major concern but we have to contend with that going forward and the plans are in place to do this with maximum safety we should continue our vaccination program. donald trump is up in the n.t. on congress as he tries to boost funds being put into a crew of virus stimulus bill the u.s. leader is yet to sign off on the package saying americans are not getting the help they need from it why would politicians not want to give people $2000.00 rather

than only $600.00 it wasn't their fault it was china give all people to money. well here's the story of the figures congress finally agreed on a $2.00 trillion dollar stimulus package including $900000000000.00 in pandemic aid it includes a one off $600.00 payment to all americans who qualify and also extends on a vixen moratorium $25000000000.00 in rental support funds mr trump our congress to shell out more and give $2000.00 to each citizen the president also received backing when he said having foreign aid in the package was simply outrageous though some 14000000 americans are on employed with the jobless benefits program expiring this saturday millions are also facing a whole host of issues mortgage foreclosures and fictions and with the president reluctant to back the deal

a government shutdown is looming large well let's get more on this now from economics professor richard was richard is from the university of massachusetts and jives is live on the program richard some economists fear the aid package could overheat the economy it's simply too large that's their view do you see it like that. absolutely not we have just gone through 8 or 9 months when several trillions of dollars were given to major corporations even sometimes the medium and small ones nobody raised the question at that time about the overheating of the economy that might result it is always very suspicious if the time comes to give money to average people who desperately need it suddenly we hear the concern about the secondary or tertiary affects so i think this is pure

political claim it has to do with favoring business over the general public that's the issue that's what's been going on for a long trial and we're so tied to deadlines we passed the line a few times richard even if everything goes the plan and trump signs off are americans going to be waiting for their help for their benefits anyway. yes let me underscore the americans have been waiting now 8 or 9 months many of them for the kinds of help that they need because that help has not been adequate they have accumulated rents they haven't pay debts they haven't pay income that they have not earned they really are desperate and this is the lay out 1st by the congress now by the president playing their political games is actually hurting the number of weeks between now and when this bill expires in march and so yes it is squeezing people

who are desperate and it is a lesson from the mass of the american people that will have many reverberation from the yes the car i suppose the flip to that coin is that we don't have an end point we don't know when this hopefully eventually wraps up on some kind of normalcy ensues pandemics dragged on for almost a year already does congress not have to think a little bit more long term and make sure there's cash if we're here again at the end of 2021. yes they have to think about it they should've been thinking about it let me give you a simple idea 10 percent of community college students have dropped out cannot continue their education millions of american women have gone back into the home abandoning their careers because they have to take care of children because the schools are closed and or their husbands have no income from their jobs and they are coping with problems that are going to impact the economy for years to come

every day will be costing this society in fundamental ways what's your take on the foreign aid aspect i just touched upon it basically donald trump sais that it had no right to be in this stimulus package there's a lot of opposition to it anyway was he right to to flare it up and say that this should be for americans 1st and then we'll think about the rest later. now that you're a political playing the amount of money involved in the entire foreign aid budget is a trivial small fraction of the money we're talking about in terms of helping the american people it is something that is popular in the base that he has politically they want the money america 1st so he's flying on there not knowing what the actual amounts are because the hold up 900000000000 for the coronavirus elp and another

few. maybe more 1000000000 for the larger economy to do that in the end of the foreign policy would be as if you were deciding not to buy a hall for $500000.00 because you had a debt of $32.00 it is incredible and only possible by me to you know that don't expose the obvious political ploy being used here and just finally richard we should have. another in the white house in a number of weeks at looks like it unless something big happens. president elect biden has voted to pass another stimulus bill and top of the one when he enters the oval office do you foresee that happening and is it the right thing at this stage after so many talks that we have to go back to the drawing board and do it all over again. yes it's very very dangerous what they're doing they should the democrats

agreeing 1st to the $600.00 which is way less than what everyone knows is needed now promising well in the future we will do it if the republicans hold on to the senate he won't be able to do that even if they don't there's a division in the society about it these are promises that are going to come back to haunt him when he doesn't find the capability of pushing it through in the end it will only be really mass action of the american people that will force these things otherwise we're going to continue to have the basic disconnect between what the mass of the people need and what the political structure performs the thoughts of economics professor richard wolfe from the university of massachusetts live on the program thanks richard thank you. ride op i'm going to merkel celebrates her last christmas german chancellor or man in berlin

looks at who could be your successor. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business i'm showbusiness i'll see you then.

20 minutes into the program welcome back the russian military has received its 1st combat ready 5th generation sukhoi fighter jet it's taken over 2 decades for the 57 to go from the drawing board to the skies into production artie's yuliya shape of all about can bring us right up to speed.

a unique combination of speed stealth and super maneuverability the su 5 to 7 miles who will fight who currently has the most modern russian military plane saying here it is all in one it's been designs to gain superior say that meaning it's an interceptor the kind of going guided missiles it's also fallout being able to strike really able targets if the flying is placed herself so that by that place of its current with this there it takes out and if the topic close range stuff i don't think so it's out stuff like when you were a bit see her it's got that but let's give you say. the as if to 7 is a single siege at the duties of the copilot and now the form fi os official intelligence the plane combines the functions of an interceptor and a strike aircraft that just is being billed as a self buys

a thanks to the breakdown of those materials those things that is opposing the missiles accounting special interest in the weapons space that makes it hard to get invisible to any range that they would be using infrared our it's obvious that the outcome of the arrow combat primary depends on this can move and want to retain in the planes in order to set limits for combat pilots they have to push their jets found beyond those limits looking over the edge and risking their lives number 4 did so and it was serious and a lot of water we are the link between all the departments that develop various systems equipment displays information and control field every new generation of aircraft turns out to be more complicated so our task is to make an aircraft easier for combat pilots the more comfortable the pilot feels the more effectively they fulfil their tasks if he's plans that by 202876 mass produced as a 57 aircraft will be in service with the russian air force.

powerful the weapon the more likely it will never be used i believe it's an element of deterrence like any other weapon we're not creating things to attack but if it is required that we defend ourselves we must be able to do that adequately and respond properly to all the modern challenges of science technology and the still quite a long road ahead for the su 57 it has yet to show you case it's enormous potential and meltdowns we'll hear more about it as it will definitely be on the razor journal and my the aviation industry. the german president has given his christmas address to the nation despite it being a tough old year he did try to look on the bright side of the pandemic the. fellow citizens what a year has been a tiny virus took possession of our lives and our thoughts thwarted plans and shattered dreams the pandemic reminded us how vulnerable we are how fragile what we

call our normal life is but we were also able to experience something else how strong we are when we look out for each other and are there for each other. meanwhile angler merkel has celebrated her last christmas chancellor she's promised to leave her post next year speculation is already rife about just who will replace her peter all over gives us his 1st the take on who and what is next for germany. every year at this time i get to look back on and forward to what's going on in germany european politics with let's face it a usually pretty forced best of moti 2050 most and the most cheerful of years here in europe a month if you will that i've been able to get a hold of the letters to some said it was written by mrs anglo merkel come with me to germany where i'm going to come has been elected to the role of leader of the christian democratic union party this year's a bit special though it's the last festive period with angola merkel as german

chancellor she said this step down from the top job next autumn but i'm also well aware enough to use these festive wrap ups in the past to announce the retirement of a major german political figure only to have them turn over the far more important position stepping down is z. hope for their long serving outspoken leader interior minister holds the office said that he hopes to see all restrictions disappear dance-y. are even listed the help of a very special guest to go through the content is looking to take up residence in the chancellor's office just behind me he's made a list he's checked it twice he's going to find out who's most likely going to win the nomination for the c.d.u. c.s.u. party and then according to reputable polling most likely the election next autumn not really is catchy is the original is that whoa whoa whoa thanks for having me

can i just ask you one question before we start shooting your sons it's just the accent it's a bit. north pole and i'm pretty sure pretty sure the vast reindeer is a dog in a reindeer suit. the lotus word i'd call if i were you to serve and i wanted to remain long the nice list well quite you mention your. famous least they're using math so how do the runners and riders of buying to be the next german chancellor stack up at the moment it looks like whoever gets the nod for the c.d.u. c.s.u. policy they've pretty much got it so i would look tough and they were it's a good time to be a roman catholic more loyal to the buddhist of the country whose model of the 3 main content is 4 in which the brackets and all love song things voters are likely to find a role to be as well as nice let's have

a look i don't little video some to explain to say that well i've done this now. they aren't the only possibilities though are they. there's also a very small 'd chance that c.g. . turned all of the decision to stand. health minister again this could throw his hat into the ring you should get c.d.u.

c.s.u. nomination should be sorted out the early next year but current coalition partners the social democrats they aren't doing too well with polling among voters are they to list the way they were it would seem at least with the voters anyway i couldn't possibly tell you what's all my actual list data protection the words you see. to keep an eye on the greeks though they have been a 'd big cases in recent months while it may be a stretch to say they have a chance of government they may well have a big say in its makeup thanks very much for coming to talk to me it's just been busiest time of course anything coming up in the near future for you safe around of gold for thieves the body next month and then some time in supposed to go. with the tooth fairy that's the pending a lot of back say you know call some months before i want to wish all of the boys

and girls no matter how old you are a very merry christmas wow well that's quite the existence or what's left for me to do is wish you all a very merry christmas from all of us here in the german capital base for all of us . he's left east but i mean this rain. will. not going to come undone your chimney terrifying. boxing day's news headlines are shaping up in what is a pretty busy saturday a lot of your updates again in 30 lifer. the world is driven by a dream shaped by one person those but. the

dairy thinks. we dare to ask. people. because one of them.