protect its own existence and existence. strikes a milestone deal with china removing barriers to investment and comes after years of talks and in spite of resistance from washington. the british government puts most of the england under the courage toughest level of covert restrictions as case numbers spiral following the discovery of a highly contagious new strain. that new variant of code has now been detected in the us we chronicle a challenging year for the country worst hit by the pandemic. and broadcasting live direct from our studios in moscow this is our chief international i'm sean thomas certainly glad to have you with us now the e.u.

and china have struck a landmark deal after years of talks it opens up of the chinese market to european investment while giving beijing an inroad to some strategic european projects charlotte dubinsky picks up the story for us place deal is almost being 70 is in the making between the e.u. in 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 industries this is companies within the e.u. to be able to invest in areas of china that before it had barry is 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. was far too soft on china on issues such as labor rights aren't human rights in fact some e.u. countries said they were unhappy with the fact that the e.u. hadn't done enough to secure those issues these countries were 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

well does dombrowski joins a brill 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 president of the united states joe biden just a few weeks ago that you said he wanted to coordinate its interaction its issues with china with the boy did 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 brussels appears 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 want to transatlantic cooperation on china. you 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 wanted to get it done before the e.u. presidency to transfer to another country next year and it seems that her because she believes that this gives the e.u. a more level playing field the gates china that trumps everything else we spoke earlier with joseph gregory mahoney professor of politics at east china normal university he thinks that both europe and china are trying to put ideology behind them and secure their economic interests. in something that really appears to indicate a major shift concessions that got this you know really came from the chinese side you know it's the postcode that 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. the ology 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 them by the incoming by the ministration where they say that he looking forward to talking to europe about about china's unfair competition practices but i don't think that's a ministration pushing europe over this i think it may encourage biting 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 have now come under the u.k.'s toughest level of covert restrictions no one has to or for the measures entered into force from midnight thursday case numbers have soared since a new highly infectious strain of the virus was detected the country's health secretary perhaps predicting a national uproar 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 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 more regions entering turf or that includes the north east of england north west the south east 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 on all of this nothing on that either but this latest set of

tight a set of restrictions as much to do with today being the 3rd day the 3rd consecutive day that we have 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 covert 191 seemingly even originating here in the u.k. one apparently have written a thing 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. 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 gosh last. question students how. to control you start having to make it incredibly difficult decision to decide who gets an ambulance and. quite often with she's numbers of people waiting. susan i

know you have nobody left to send well 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 top up this stuff that's around 95 percent even so the united kingdom has ordered 100000000 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 a 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 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 just shall be told us the latest surgeon infections

couldn't have come at a more challenging time for you care hospital. you know it's a very challenging situation and the also. tremendous stress at this moment it is much worse than what we were seeing in march and condign and mind you these are the crunch winter months and it has already been pressured in these critical months and look to the world gets going and all of that we've got a pandemic so putting the 2 together it's highly challenging it's very very. difficult to manage to balance the situation we've looked at the latest innovation to be more gun constraints or any. situation in which you have to make a decision between life and dead but. priority gayman fortunately and you have to be pragmatic because you have to still run a so this and of the population at large we the new

a covered strain has now spread from the u.k. to the u.s. it has been detected in colorado while across the country in the state of new york is bracing for a new surge in cases. we have been talking about potential for spread during christmas as america struggles to deal with the effects of the pandemic our u.s. correspondent caleb martin has been looking back at an especially grim 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 hit 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 mind i was only old boy. so if you want to talk about the row. it's part of that i mean if you send over if you send over if you send to 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 when burnt down 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 because. many noted that in circumstances like this we had local officials blaming everyone but them. selves we was the international community. we was the who. the w.h.o. . you see these 2 you don't know. of agency we was or 3 when we were you we was 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 covert 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 forget this thing is not going away so 6300 people died in new york nursing homes that is the most in this country really needs to be able to challenge this wish that 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. while 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 the 2020 will go down as one of the worst years in the history of new york city jail up and r.t. new york the chaos has ramped up in yemen with blasts and gunfire killing over 20 people details about that coming up after a short break this is our international. show seemed wrong. just don't. let me. get to shape. to stay active. and engaged with. the trail.

when something is find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground .

welcome back this is our team international now at least 20 people are dead and scores injured after a wave of explosions and gunfire in the yemeni port city of aden the red cross says one of its staff is among those lost and 3 others are wounded. the 1st attack happened at aden 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 the aircraft it was followed up by gunfire and several smaller blasts local reporters say the airport was hit by mortar and drone strikes 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 former pentagon analyst michael maloof and believes there are other possible culprits as well. in terms of that it is intriguing because the yes the who thiis denied it and

people are pointing 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 and create the kind of turmoil that we continue to see in them and the latest tragedy in yemen comes right after washington gave the green light for 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 trumpet ministration approved of that agreement less than

a month before the next president is slated to enter the white house and it follows a billions of dollars worth of weapons exports from the us to saudi arabia in recent years it is despite happening despite repeated warnings over the spiraling civilian deaths in the saudi led bombing of yemen which has been ongoing since march 2015. the saudi led coalition and the fights in since march 25th seen are responsible for lives of will violations in human rights abuses the conflict has killed and injured thousands of civilians there are several other arab nations sealing last minute deals with the outgoing us administration kuwait is about to buy attack helicopters with $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 the saudis could be short lived. this is part of trump's effort to keep the arabian. well armed and to try and they use its influence.

subside administration may actually put the kibosh on it biden himself as issues with saudi arabia and in addition the congress does as well it's and the congress has 30 days in which to disapprove and this is the period in which that what happened was so and it worked and the 30 day period when he knew that by the administration should he be sworn in and that will be and he could buy you could put a hold on it at that point. taking a look at some other news stories making headlines this hour in syria terrorists have attacked a passenger bus in dare is or province killing at least 25 people according to state media it happened near the iraqi border on a highway leading to palmira formerly an islamic state stronghold the jihadi group

no longer occupies any significant territory in syria but they have reportedly been attempting to regroup in the desert. on to lebanon where riot police have clashed with students at a top university in beirut protesters tried to storm the main campus angry that despite a coded link to economic crisis to ration foods are being doubled also. tens of thousands of pro-choice activists are up to into cheers as argentina's senate voted to legalize abortion a deeply divisive issue in the catholic majority country people celebrated the decision by throwing green smoke bombs and color pro choice movement argentina becomes the 1st major latin american state to make that move. meanwhile health workers in argentina have received the 1st doses of a. russia's sputnik vaccine sputnik v. as

a mass vaccination campaign gets underway. now it is the 3rd country after russia and belarus to approve the shot argentinian president alberto fernandez has dismissed western doubts over the russian job creating that he called a politically. driven smear campaign he also said international trade wars over vaccines are holding back efforts to get the drugs to where they are most needed. and there is a very vicious dispute going on very cruel dispute and a shameful one when my son is quoted 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 one to distribute the vaccine our sister channel our spanish has been reporting from outside a vaccination center in the capital buenos aires. be remembered in argentina as the start of the biggest banks a nation ever carried out in the country has received 300000 doses of the

focus is on monitoring the vaccination of medical workers and hospital staff of 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 vaccine. 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 and. province more than 300000 people signed up for voluntary vaccination with the provincial governor who was the 1st time vaccinated in the

region detail the significance of this new step in the fight against. the basic it seems to me to do is the begin the new stage for us largest vixen nation company in the history of the province of when osiris 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. the campaign will involve around $7800.00 vaccination centers as a whole and distributing those. 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 analysts to francisco domingo's he thinks some countries are waging an information campaign against the russian vaccine. it eases of the. effort to

create a full who'll utmost fear dignity by the united states but also by some of the you to be an. dc's they live in a deeply in russia and china i see no reason needs that they have to come to the conclusion that they sent in a massive egos goofy with the fighting against the gun then because these countries china russia and a few others actually have the most play if you have a sense if you put people before profits if you actually cared about the percolation of rather than anything is going to result of you know the most truly good. deal with to compare we. owe you to feeling countries in the united kingdom photos from the united states where you have something close to us to prevent that the reason why the 3 should come back unfortunately she supported by it was the media and the gays in 1980 supported by conservative forces of iran mackey and mackie's and who created the must be professed to be going to be he told the

country control this year that it would be jobs. that does it for me this hour 33 minutes that's when i will be back with another look at your news is art international. finance that i posed the question though. that he had was that he envisioned the euro would you have to. use to make them sit on the the nearest union. side started to buy the. lived in to.

eat or go to church for this new look i will go to a pretty chilled good. to be on your boat it will show you such that it will show in the postal order of the out of this thread to free will do coke with full attention you. want a few that beautiful and hear them. in there. you would be mean. to put so that the new. block. to ravish. for. baskin jenny. gould. at the will. address doc i don't need to just what. i do you will know when you are going in the usual with this.

some people would associate optimism with risky behavior moving because they don't want to invite the trolls they don't want to invite the state they don't want to invite they see out they don't want to live by all kinds of trouble that comes with optimistic saying throughout history optimists have been punished it could be galileo it could be copernicus it could be einstein it could be all sorts of be steve jobs and they were punished for their optimism but now there is no punishment for relentless optimism. has changed american lives but pharmaceutical companies have a miraculous solution. based drugs talk to people who are chronic pain patients and believe that their opioid prescription is working for them in the remedy be certain to. price at the. grocery dependency and addiction to opiates to long term use

that really isn't scientifically justified and i'll study actually suggest that. the long term effects might not just be absence of benefit but actually that very night because we want to. get the boom bust the one business show you can't afford to miss unfair monteux tailcoat in washington coming up after years of negotiation the european union and china reach a long awaited investment deal which could be an option to the incoming fire the ministration we have a panel coming up tough teacher nancy pelosi slammed senate majority leader mitch mcconnell for blocking it.