headline story. deal with china removing barriers to investment. the british government most the big. base. following the. new variant of. detective in the us challenging year for the country worst hit.

around the clock across the world this is r.t. from the team and myself you know neal hello and welcome to the. china have struck a landmark deal after years of talks and opens up the chinese market to european investment while giving beijing an inroad to some strategic european projects taking up the story or to. base stealers 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 declarations on putting an end to forced labor as a condition for a deal which just empty words hey from the land the european commission president. of brazil you should raise recent human rights issues when you talk to see how 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 poit in a demonstration and 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 trances line 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 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 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. actually even getting to this was from joseph of gregory mahoney who is professor of politics of east china normal university here but the europe and china they're both trying to put ideology behind them and secure their economic interests. it is something that really appears to indicate

a major shift concessions that got this you know to what 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 providing the incoming by the ministration where they say that it will come 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 level of code restrictions to your

4 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 of you 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 in 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 seemingly even originating here in the u.k. one apparently average meeting in south africa all of this i was placing a huge amount of pressure on the n.h.s. many say that the n.h.s.

a tired 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 what. she has numbers of people where you're from you and susan 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

advanced 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 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 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 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. your all or just told us to leave the surgeon for actions couldn't of go at a worse time for hospitals in the u.k. or. you know it's a very challenging situation in. the us but. tremendous stress at this moment is much worse than what we've been seeing in margin condign and mind you these are all of the crunch. and it is a moment invasion in these critical months and look to what gets going and all of that we've got abandonment so putting the 2 together it's highly challenging it's very very. difficult to manage

a balanced situation. and ambition to be. constraints or any. situation in which you have to make a decision between life and. priority gayman fortunately and you have to be pragmatic because you have to still run us over this and look of the population. 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 new surge and cases we have been talking about potential for spread during christmas. america struggles to deal with the effects of a pandemic or u.s. corresponding killer 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 you wouldn't ask only grow

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 in my life it's been really challenging and we were burned 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 then all of that soup of agencies we were reasonably 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 there was a glimmer of hope over the summer but then a 2nd wave came when it got cold the new lockdowns 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. r.t. new york. still ahead a german politician has suggested using the experience of coded law to fly climate change by extending those reaction to that story and more after the break.

it would be very difficult to forget the year. during 2020 change was the norm and

. many have reflected on what has been. made. a low again at least 20 people helping killed and scores more injured in a wave of explosions and gunfire in the yemeni port city of the red cross said one of its stuff is among the dead and 3 others were wounded. i. think. 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 when people were disembarking from new york it was followed by gunfire and several smaller local reporters say the airport was hit by more drugs the passengers were driven straight to the presidential palace where another explosion took place so far no group has claimed responsibility but officials are blaming the rebels for a pentagon level as michael maloof though believes there are other possible culprits. in terms of that attack it was intriguing because of the denied it and people point even though people are pointing fingers there's a possibility that it was also. isis isis was growing back in yemen after 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. the power vacuum in those areas and. create the kind of turmoil that we continue to see in the. latest tragedy in yemen

follows the u.s. state department giving the green line 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. the trumpet ministration approval of agreement less than a month before the next president takes over the white house 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 of which has been ongoing since march 25th. the saudi led coalition and the. fighting since march 25th seen are responsible for laws of war violations in human rights abuses the conflict has killed and injured thousands of civilians

there are several other arab nation sealing last minute deals with the outgoing us administration kuwait has applied to buy a tele kelly copper 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 could be short lived. this is part of trump's effort to keep the arabian. 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 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. were health workers in argentina have received the 1st dose is a very. vaccination campaign gets underway it is the 3rd country after russia to approve the shield arch in time president alberto fernandez has this missed western diets over the russian there crying what he called a politically driven smear campaign he also said international trade wars over facts things are holding back efforts to get the drugs to where they're most needed . 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 where sister

michelle has been reporting from outside a vaccination center in the. 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 down by race 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'm 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 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. we heard from latin america analyst friend cesco domingo is he thinks some countries are waging an information campaign against the russian taxi billie's a sort of effort to create a whole war almost fear 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 are going to be fighting against that and then because these countries china russia and a few others actually have demonstrated that if you have a. if you poll people before if you actually cared about the population rather than anything you know the results and you know demonstrably good where if you were to compare formants or european countries the united kingdom but also the united

states where you have something close to look at us to prevent that's the reason why it is huge campaign unfortunately it is all the buying it with the media and the occasional all to go to consider the forces around machree and my prison created a must the 1st we're going to be clear of the country controls here there were 3 jobs. a german lawmaker suggested that covert restrictions the centrally locked allan's could provide a template for fighting climate change carlotta bike 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 that are similar to the restrictions of personal freedom and the pandemic a social democratic party member who's also an epidemiologist admitted his ideas are likely to ever happen as you might imagine his use for 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 are you. sure. is one that simply hasn't worked in the code it presented in genuine emergency and the will respond and we have the shooter. doing hunger grows needs to be tackled with this is much good we do not need to look at the kind of the effect

of the in terms of courage reduction during the long period has been equivalent to taking $100.00 the degrees centigrade of the global warming that we expect from spirit by 2030 and we need something which is both much will effect but also something which fork in cruising done in the strewn society actually starts a new industry which will. make us better off and allowed us to live life to the full but in a much cleaner and less in poor block towns were where a certain except for the 1st time around right. now we've got in 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 would be similar especially much the uk

government generation because i have a reason for doing it though you ought to happens to be chirpy time it's an economically wealthy conscious liberal money drain by paying for. the reply to 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 top junction. the rest of the world is not so much of a problem but there's a degree by we should get any personal freedoms whatsoever. as we approach the end of 2020 our website tells lots of stories reviews of the year to get stuck into well what some of your scoring time today i mean only.

6 guys are financial survival. customers go by you're disappointed. in elf well reduce some lower. that's undercutting but what's good for market is not good for the global economy.