the european union strikes. deal with china moving barriers to investment. talks in spite of resistance from washington. on the program or the british government. or the current toughest level of covert restrictions case numbers spiral following the discovery of a highly contagious. news. being detected in the us. challenging for the country globally.

you're chiming in from across the globe this hour welcome to moscow and who are to international my names you know neal good to have your company. and china have struck a london mark deal after almost 7 years of talks it opens up the chinese market to european investment while giving beijing an inroad to some strategic european projects are t. shirt picks up the story. this deal is almost been several is in the making between the e.u. and china and they've really pushed the boat out to get it done before the end of 2020 essentially it means that there is the opportunity for the e.u. for investment in certain industries this is companies within the e.u. to be able to invest in areas of china before it had barriers around them such as the financial sector and the health sector for china it means that there is this possibility of investing in renewable energy so this is something on the table for

each side in this and this deal has been described by many as being the most ambitious deal that china has ever struck with a nation country tomorrow's post covered world needs a strong e.u. china relationship to build forward better but this requires cooperation reciprocity and trust especially in our trade and investment relationship but this deal comes with a huge amount of criticism many have said that the e.u. is far too soft on china on issues such as labor rights and human rights in fact some e.u. countries said they were unhappy with the fact that the e.u. hasn't done enough to secure those issues these countries will countries such as the netherlands and belgium and the was also criticism from some e.u. parliament ariens who said you know essentially this didn't tackle issues such as hong kong and that of the weaker muslims in china e.u. china investment agreements we gained access to the documents and it's extremely

light and human rights and slavery as i feared the french declinations on putting an end to forced labor as a condition for do we just empty words hate from the land the european commission president well just as a bro you should raise recent human rights issues when you talk to see what they steal is also to likely to rub up the wrong way the new incoming. hasn't the united states joe biden just a few weeks ago the e.u. said he wanted to coordinate its interaction its issues with china with the boyden a demonstration in yet just weeks before he takes office it's decided to push ahead with this deal some of those who have suggested that china was going soft on the e.u. in a way of perhaps ramping up those tensions the main deliverable from the genes point of view was to drive a wedge in transatlantic relations and brossel superiors to have complied it's just mind boggling that the you would even consider rushing to

a green investment pact with beijing weeks before biden takes office after claiming for several years that they wanted transatlantic cooperation on china while the e.u. has rejected that criticism saying that washington has done its own deals over trade and investment with china under the trumpet ministration so that's boy the boy but regardless of the geo politics surrounding this deal what is clear is that angle of merkel wanted to get it done before the e.u. presidency transfers to another country next year and it seems for her because she believes that this gives the e.u. a more level playing field the gates china that trumps everything else. i spoke with bruce of gregory mahoney professor of politics at east china normal university he sees the agreement as a major shift in europe china relations. it is something that really appears to indicate a major shift in the aging concessions that got this you know to have really came

from the chinese side you know it's the postcode it reality where you know we all have to get things done deal with difficult times that are here and there to come and the need to step away from i think ideal ideology and ideological standards that are putting food on the table or products on people's shelves and i've seen a couple of negative comments from the by the incoming by the ministration where they say they looking forward to talking to europe about about china's unfair competition practices but i don't think we'll see the next administration pushing europe over this if i think it may encourage biting to take a softer physician towards the e.u. in particular i think brussels is probably calculating that as well so we might see us actually competing with concessions of its own. yet another headline stories millions of people across england are about to be placed under the current toughest

level of covert restrictions known as to or for case numbers have soared since a new highly infectious strain of the virus was the tech that the country's health secretary perhaps predicting a national uproar has said there was no other choice. the new variant means that 3 quarters of the population are now going to be 4 and almost all of the country into 3 and and i know that 23 and 4 measures place a significant burden on people and especially on business is affected but i'm afraid it's absolutely necessary because of the number of cases that we've see so as of one minute past midnight here in the united kingdom all regions will be entering to fall that includes the north east of england northwest they will be joining the south east of england and in fact that takes a total of 3 quarters of the population will be in the type to set of restrictions of course the rules in that area is to stay at home now experts are warning there that to 4 is not even going far enough and many say that what's needed is

a full scale national lockdown to try and take control of this virus nothing on that though from westminster nor was there any talk of a to 5 of course we've heard some rumors circulating over the past few days that potentially there could even be a tear 5 coming out of all of this nothing on that either but this latest set of tide to set of restrictions as much to do with today being the 3rd day of the 3rd consecutive day that we've seen the daily cases absolutely at a peak is not really basically means that the 2nd wave of 19 is much harsher and much worse than the 1st wave and of course we've just been seeing in the last few weeks these 2 mutant strands of 191 seemingly even originating here in the u.k. one apparently average meeting in south africa all of this so i was placing a huge amount of pressure on the n.h.s. many say that the n.h.s. the ta it and frustrated but it's also coming being quite apparent in the hospitals

within themselves we're seeing a shortage of styles but also a shortage of bed spaces as well. control groups are having to make incredibly difficult decision to decide who gets an ambulance and. quite often with huge numbers of people where you from going to susan i know you have nobody left to send while working behind the scenes is the medical and science professionals and some good news coming from them because the latest vaccination has just been approved in the united kingdom by the u.k.'s medicines regulator that's the oxford university astra zeneca vaccination being the 2nd one here in the united kingdom following of course the pfizer biotech vaccine just a few weeks ago so studies show so far * that the full 2 doses provides around 62 to 90 percent efficacy the biotech there was much further ahead and much further

advance when it comes to the effectivity of it because after a top up that's around 95 percent even so the united kingdom has ordered $100000000.00 doses the 1st batch could be rolled out as soon as next week a huge improvement though on the biotech vaccination is that this latest one only needs to be stored in room fridge temperature and normal fridge temperature as opposed to minus 70 degrees so this one is much more easily transported as with the 1st vaccination this one also is going to be abiding by a priority list at the top of the list of courses the over 80 is the elderly but also staff on the frontline as well much like the well the united kingdom 1st approved the bio on tech vaccination the e.u. said actually the u.k. is really rushing things through and the e.u. will be taking their time with things we need additional data about the quality of the vaccine and after that the company has to formally apply but even with this

vaccination it is really difficult to be quite positive here in the united kingdom of course britain has been dubbed plaguy the end after the last few weeks it's easy to see why remember just a few months ago boris johnson promised the u.k. that it would be normality by christmas and really we've already done christmas and it couldn't be. the new covert strain has not spread from the u.k. to the u.s. it's been detected in colorado as the state of new york braces for a new surge in cases we have been. talking about potential for spread during christmas. well as america struggles to deal with the effects of the pandemic or u.s. correspondent killed martin has been looking back on an especially tough year for the city dubbed the epicenter of the crisis new york. they call it the big apple and in 2020 that apple got a giant one minute and that worm is known as ovid when

a national emergency was 1st declared in the city back in march many panicked. stores soon had empty shelves. the hospital soon had capacity and emergency tents were set up in central park. there was a shortage of protective equipment like masks and hand sanitizer health care workers took to the streets to protest their troll you wouldn't ask old old boy.

so if you want to talk about the row. it's part of that i mean if you send over if you sent over if you sent us it's really it's been tough it's been one of the hardest moments of my life it's been really challenging and we were burnt out we're we come in every day and are not getting support from our managers are you know our government is telling us we can wear a simple bandana we don't have many noted that in circumstances like this we had local officials blaming everyone but themselves we was the whole international health community we was the whole national shows of experts the w.h.o. d.n.i. to see this the whole alphabet soup of agencies we was are very we were you were. the intelligence community with the brief videos of trucks used as temporary morgue

to do to an overflow of dead bodies became a horrifying emblem of the era. new york city's hard island became a graveyard amid the overflow of dead bodies. one of the ugliest scandals involve nursing homes at the end of march andrew cuomo the new york state governor ordered coated patients to be sent to nursing homes for the elderly now this order was revised on the 11th of may but it was far too late the death toll in new york's nursing homes was approximately 4800 people remember that the elderly are the most vulnerable such a poorly calculated move is pretty hard to forgive this thing is not going away sir

6300 people died in new york nursing homes that is the most in this country really needs to be able to challenge this wish to leave you would do it you're in a little bit of criticism of your very much like there was a glimmer of hope over the summer but then a 2nd wave came when it got cold the new lock downs have had a devastating effect on the economy restaurant owners and workers have taken to the streets. the state was crashing and burning with the rising body count andrew cuomo took the opportunity to write a book about his personal achievements. and

. 2021 doesn't look like it's bringing any relief either national health officials are warning us that january could be devastating without substantial mitigation the middle of january could be a really dark time for us some say that the lockdown was imposed too late others are saying that cuts in health care facilities and the closing of hospitals over the past decade have played a role regardless of why there's no question that 2020 will go down as one of the worst years in the history of new york city. r.t. new york. another deadly day in yemen at least 20 people have been killed scores more were injured in a wave of explosions and gunfire in the port city of aden the red cross has said one of its stuff is among the dead 3 others are wounded.

the 1st attack happened at 8 in the airport just after a plane carrying newly appointed yemeni government officials flew in from saudi arabia a local t.v. channel caught the explosion on camera but people were disembarking from new york it was followed by gunfire and several smaller blasts local reporters savior poured was hit by mortar and. the passengers were driven straight to the presidential palace there was another explosion so far no group of responsibility but officials are blaming the rebels former pentagon michael maloof though believes there are other possible culprits. in terms of that attack it was intriguing because the young. the who thiis denied it and people point even though people are pointing fingers there's a possibility that it was also. isis isis is growing back in yemen

it was almost decimated a few years ago and their concentration seems now to be in the area and they would love to create disruption and create power vacuums in those areas and. create the kind of. turmoil that we continue to see in yemen. well the latest tragedy in yemen comes right after the u.s. state department gave the green light to a $219000000.00 arms deal with saudi arabia the state department has made a determination approving a possible foreign military sale to the kingdom of saudi arabia $39.00 small diameter bomb one munitions and related equipment for an estimated cost of $290000000.00. of ministration approved an agreement less than a month to go before the next president takes over the white house and it follows billions of dollars worth of weapons exports from the us to saudi arabia in recent

years it's happening despite repeated warnings over the spiraling civilian deaths in the saudi led bombing 'd of yemen which has been ongoing since march 25th. the saudi led coalition and the. fights in since march 25th seen are responsible for laws of war violations in human rights abuses the conflict has killed and injured thousands of civilians well there are several other are a nation sealing last minute deals with the aren't going u.s. administration kuwait is about to buy a tele kelly company is worth $4000000000.00 and egypt is set to receive defense and targeting gear worth around $170000000.00 michael maloof again thinks the flow of u.s. weapons to saudi arabia could be short lived. this is part of trump's effort to keep arabia. well armed and to try and use its

influence to offset iran the biden administration may actually put the kibosh on it biden himself as issues with saudi arabia and in addition ensues maybe congress does as well and the congress has 30 days in which to disapprove and this is the period in which that would happen so and it worked and the 30 day period would be up during the new biden administration should he be sworn in and that will be and he could biden could put a hold on it at that point. and moving on a german lawmaker has suggested that covert restrictions could provide a template for fighting climate change karl lauterbach set out his views in an opinion piece for a newspaper there will never be a vaccine against c o 2 so we need measures for tackling climate change there are similar to the

restrictions of personal freedom in the pandemic of the social democratic party member who's also an epidemiologist admitted his ideas unlikely to ever happen but his views as you might imagine are quite the reaction. to this and pretty much everything that is dean not climate friendly could be banned the struggle for freedom will never end learnt about it is already proposing look down like measures to combat climate change let's enjoy the festive season and gather strength for the demonstrations and resistance against state violence in 2021 at about the same time the covert log downs and the lockdown for climate change begins since we have been so willing to give up our freedoms lockdowns will now be routine or we asked a number of guests on the program for their views on the controversial proposal on . the. is one that simply hasn't worked in the code it presents it in genuine emergency

and the will respond and we are the shooter. doing kroeger across needs to be tackled with this is much good we do not need to look at the kind of the effect of the term occur reduction during the long run here it is an equivalent to taking $100.00 the degrees centigrade or the global warming that we expect or experience for 2030 and we need something which is much more effect but also something which fork in cruising done in the screwed society actually starts a new industry which will. make us better off and a lot of us live large but in a much cleaner and less in poor block towns were where a certain except for the 1st time around or a troll. but now we've gotten such a mass that i think this is the reason why we're getting so many problems or people

of anger votes out i don't think anyone has any world ready and enjoys locking countries down we've lost control of this virus testing trace has been a complete mass a complete waste of money climate change will be similar especially much the uk government generation because i have recently during the last to happens to be chirpy time it's an economic leader wealthy conscious liberal the per money drain by paying for. leaders party the carried 19 money completely wasted which they could of course ensued environmental projects to help our well country bridger issues are with that with the country yes well the rest of the world is not so much of a problem but there's a degree why we should get any personal freedoms whatsoever. help workers in argentina receive the 1st doses of russia sputnik me job as a new. vaccination campaign gets underway there argentina's become the 3rd country

after russia to approve the shot president alberto fernandez has dismissed western diets over the russian the vaccine crying what he called the political driven smear campaign he also said international trade wars are over vaccines are holding back efforts to get the drugs that where they are most. there's a very vicious dispute going on very cruel dispute and it's shameful one where by some discredit how this and i think the 1st thing to bear in mind is that a trade war has been unleashed also since the whole world is eager for the vaccine there's a geo political dispute who will be the want to distribute the vaccine or a sister she has been reporting from outside a vaccination center in the capital. soon to be remembered in argentina as the start of the biggest vaccination ever carried out in the country marginson has received 300000 doses of v.

now the focus is on monitoring the vaccination of medical workers and hospital staff caring for people infected with coded 19 they were the 1st to receive the vaccine across medical centers they worked hard to tackle the virus but it's been difficult not least because some of even seeing colleagues lose their lives to delivery of the vaccines cause for optimism. this is a ray of hope for us it's like we've crossed the line of fire and are now moving forward against this damned byron we had a very difficult year there was a lot of fear this is a great hope for us and i'm eternally grateful on behalf of all of the nurses. i am satisfied i am very happy these are the emotions that come to my mind now i remember our colleagues who died because they worked in the health sector and happy because this should end. in the province more than 300000 people signed up for voluntary vaccination with the provincial governor who was the 1st to be vaccinated

in the region detail the significance of this new step in the fight against the pandemic. it seems to me today is the beginning of a new stage for us the largest vaccination campaign in the history of the province of when a serious begin this morning and this is a vaccine that not only prevents disease. but also represents a real trial of a sensitive group aleutian in the fight against coronavirus the campaign will involve around $7800.00 vaccinations centers as a whole distributing doses brought from russia everyone vaccinated will be supervised for possible side effects as well as to inform when a 2nd round of vaccines arrives more than 20000000 doses are expected to be delivered by february 11th major positive effect against the virus we heard from latin america less francisco domingo's he thinks some countries are waging an information campaign against the russian. it eases a little effort to create a whole other. degree by the united states but also some of the.

russia and china reason ethe that they have to come to the conclusion. the. only because these countries china russia and a few others actually have them and if you have. if you people before if you actually cared about the population rather. than the results and you know demonstrably well if you were to compare. all european countries the united kingdom but also the united states you have something close to. the reason. unfortunately. it was the media and. all the conservative forces around magically and prison created the must be going to the country where

the jobs. some news just in terrorists have attacked a passenger bus in syria's dare resort province killing at least 28 people according to state media it happened near the iraqi border on the highway leading to palmira formerly state stronghold although isis officials know more territory there have been reports of their presence in sections of the syrian desert no we're keeping track of the story and will keep you updated on any significant op dates. where riot police have clashed with students of a top university in beirut protesters tried to storm the main campus angry about the spike colbert linked economic crisis cherishing fees are being doubled also. my god. hearing tens of thousands of pro choice of us erupting into cheers as argentina's senate voted to legalize abortion

a deeply divisive issue of with the surety country people celebrated the decision by throwing green smoke folders the color of the pro-choice movement becomes the 1st major loss in american state to make them. more great programs get their start in moments here all. the fight out what's being served up wherever you are today by from the. it will be very difficult to forget the there's about. 22 change was the norm and. many have reflected on what has been the focus should be on what made.

americans love. this was a fundamental part of how our political leadership and our country at large understood the bargain you get a hope and then you know rebel right as the things you don't revolt if you have a stake in the system. and think about the longer deeper history. in the united states not just that question of the american dream but the bigger question of who the dream is for. the world is driven by a dreamer shaped by one person of those. who

dares thinks. we dare to ask. this is boom bust the one business show you can't afford to miss. her and washington coming up a german news agency announced the completion.