the enemy yes gave you. the strike some milestone deal with china removing barriers to investment and it comes after years of talks sound in spite of resistance from washington. so ahead on the program the british government punts most of the current level of covert restrictions case numbers spiral following the discovery of a highly contagious new strain. the new variant of code that has not been detected in the u.s. we chronicled a challenging year for the country worst hit by the pandemic.

247 news live from the russian capital this is r t international always good to have your company names in. the e.u. and china struck a landmark deal after years of talks it opens up the chinese market to european investment while giving beijing an inroad to some strategic european projects breaking down the story for us or to charlotte do. 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 they 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 a deal which just empty words hate from the land the european commission president well just as a brill you should raise recent human rights issues when you talk to see what they steal is also likely to rub up the wrong way the new incoming. this isn'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 trying to coalitions and bras also piers to have complied it's just mind boggling that the you would even consider rushing to

a green investment pact with the weeks before biden takes office after claiming for several years that they want to 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 geopolitics 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 get some reaction to this from joseph gregory mahoney professor of politics of east china normal university he thinks both europe and china are trying to put ideology behind them and secure their economic interests. it is something that really appears to

indicate a major shift in the aging concessions that got this 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 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 providing the incoming by the ministration where they say looking forward to talking to europe about about china's unfair competition practices but i don't think that's the ministration pushing europe over this in fact i think it may encourage by them to take a softer position towards the e.u. in particular i think brussels is probably calculating that as well so we might see the us actually competing with concessions of its own. millions of people across england sarra by to be placed under the current toughest level of covert

restrictions tir for case numbers since a new highly infectious strain of the virus was that tempted 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 3 in 4 measures place a significant burden on people and especially on businesses 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 and 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 the 3rd consecutive day that we've seen the daily cases absolutely at a peak has not really basically means that this 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 strands of $191.00 seemingly even originating here in the u.k. one apparently average in a thing in south africa all of this so is 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 the order to move she's numbers of people where you from going 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 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 united kingdom 1st approved by 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 is easy to see why remember just a few months ago boris johnson promised the u.k. that. it would be normality by christmas and rarely we've already done christmas and it couldn't be last. the new covert strain has now spread from the u.k. to the u.s. it's been detected in colorado this comes as the state of new york braces for a news surge in cases we have been talking about potential for spring during christmas well as america struggles to deal with the effects of the pandemic are u.s. correspondent killed than has been looking back at 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 they're told to use one man has only grown old boy. so if you want to talk about the row. it's

part of that i mean if you send at the center of the epicenter it's really it's been tough it's been one of the hardest moments in 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 these the 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 a temporary morgue studio 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 can 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 jail up and r.t. new york. to. go ahead to a german politicians suggested using the experience of covert locked arms to fight climate change reactions to the culture of personal proposal and more after this.

anyone else chose seemed wrong. with just don't. let me. get to shape out these days because educated and indeed from an equal betrayal. when something find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground.

hello again at least 20 people have been killed scores more injured in a wave of explosions and gunfire in the yemeni port city of and the red cross said one of its stuff is among the dead 3 others are wounded. i. well the 1st attack happened. just after a plane carrying newly appointed yemeni government officials flew in from saudi

arabia a local t.v. channel called the explosion and camera when people were disembarking. it was followed up by gunfire and several smaller local reporters say. the passengers were driven straight to the presidential palace where another explosion took place so far no group has claimed responsibility but officials are. former pentagon. told us there are other possible culprits. in terms of that attack it was intriguing because the young lady 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 aden 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. or the latest tragedy in yemen comes right after the u.s. state department gave the green light to a $290000000.00 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. the trump administration 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 u.s. to saudi arabia in recent years it's happening despite repeated warnings over the spiraling civilian deaths in this led bombing of yemen which has been ongoing since march 25th of. the saudi led coalition and the. fights in since march

25th seen are responsible for laws of war violations and 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 outgoing u.s. administration to kuwait is about to buy a tele calley couplers worth some $4000000000.00 egypt is set to receive defense targeting gear worth around $170000000.00 michael maloof again thinks the flow of u.s. weapons to saudi could be short lived. this is part of trump's effort to keep saudi arabia. well armed and to try and use its influence of iran the biden administration may actually put the kybosh on biden himself as issues with saudi arabia and in addition the 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 would and the 30 day period would be 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. ok just some news to bring you from syria terrorists attacked a passenger bus in terrorists or province killing at least 28 people according to state media now it happened near the iraqi border on a highway leading to palmira you may remember that was formerly in a slum it state stronghold the jihadi group no longer occupies any significant territory in syria but they have purportedly being regrouping in the syrian desert to lebanon where riot police have plush with students at the top university in beirut protesters tried to storm the main campus despite a covert economic crisis situation fees are being doubled also.

tens of thousands of pro-choice activists are up to then to cheers as argentina's senate voted to legalize abortion a deeply divisive issue in the catholic majority country people celebrate the decision throwing green smoke is the color of the pro-choice movement. becomes the 1st major latin american state to. well health workers in argentina have received the 1st doses of russia's sputnik we must call that box a nation campaign gets underway it is the 3rd country after russia belarus to approve the shot president alberto fernandez has dismissed western diet so for the russians to crying what he called the politically driven smear campaign he also

said international trade wars over vaccines are holding back efforts to get the drugs to where they're most. there's a very vicious dispute going on a very cruel dispute and a 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 our sister channel r.t. spot michelle has been reporting from inside a vaccination center in the capital breena stories. soon will 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 the 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 virus 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 it gives 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 triumph of aleutian in the fight against coronavirus the campaign will involve around 7800 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. well we heard from latin america analyst francisco domingo as he thinks some countries are waging an information campaign against the russian taxi and he's a sort of effort to create a call all other north korea deeply by the united states but also by some of the european car. and this is they deeply in russia and china i think the reason needs that they have to come to the conclusion there is certain

a massive over. the. because these countries china russia and a few others actually have demonstrated that if you have a. if you call people before profit if you actually cared about the population rather than anything you know the results of you know demonstrably good whereas if you were to compare formants or european countries the united kingdom but also the united states where you have something close to a catastrophe then that's the reason why everything huge campaign unfortunately she's bored by it with the media and. all of the conservative forces around madly and my prison created a mass the 1st we're going to be the country control of the of the of where the jobs. a german lawmaker suggested covert restrictions could provide a template for a fighting climate change car a larger box set out his views and in the opinion piece for

a newspaper there will never be a vaccine against c o 2 so we need measures for tackling climate change that are similar to the restrictions of personal freedom and the pandemic. the social democratic party member who's also an epidemiologist admitted his idea is unlikely to ever happen as you might imagine his views sparked quite the reaction. to this and pretty much everything that is t. not climate friendly could be banned. the struggle for freedom will never end a lot about is already proposing lock 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 lockdowns and the lock down for climate change begins since we have been so willing to give up our freedoms lockdowns who will now be routine we asked our guest for their views on the controversial proposal. if you.

is one that simply hasn't in the code it presents a good journey with emergence under the will respond and we are the shoot. needs to be tackled with this is not sure it's we do not need to look at the kind of the effect of the internal current reduction during the last one period is the equivalent to taking $100.00 the degrees centigrade or the global warming we expect roots by 2030 and we need something which is much effect but also certainly we're trucking 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 nestle poor block towns where where

a certain except for the 1st time round you're a troll. but now we've got in such a mass that i think this is the reason why we're getting started problems are people of anger rolls out i don't think anyone right and well ready and joyce lucky country stout lost control of the stars testing trace has been a complete massacre rate waste of money on a change of the center especially not the act government generation because i have recently during the iraq to have instability in turkey time it should be on a regular well he talks not so much of a problem but this is i reached my reach to get any personal freedoms also. without as your last point i from the newsroom and studio but the programs keep on rolling here in our to catch a show in moments i'll be here again in 30 of killjoy need. to . be conquered.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports i'm sure. i'll see you then.