attacked its own existence as exists. in the headlines this new year's eve england extends covert restrictions and the number of areas affected is the rate of infection spirals following the discovery of a highly contagious new strain of the virus. the e.u. strikes a milestone trade deal with china removing k. barriers to investment it comes after years of talks and despite the incoming tide ministration demanding it be consulted ahead of the deal. and coming up to we speak to some of the medical workers around the world who've become the. heroes in the year of the pandemic. and we seen people die in the scene people coming in they can't breathe we have to be way down what we want. is what we have.

there are a good morning from moscow this 31st of december my name's kevin owen here with the update from r.t. international's world news h.q. the 1st 3 quarters of england's been placed in the toughest stay at home for restrictions after covert cases sought in the wake of a new highly infectious strain of the virus. hancock the health secretary said he had no 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 in all of this nothing on that either but this latest set of tighter 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 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 strands of 191 seemingly even originating here in the u.k.

one apparently every connecting 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 gospel. control you start having to make it incredibly difficult decision to decide who gets an ambulance and. quite often with. 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 a top up 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 though 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 where 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 i 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. exactly what the national or hospital doctors you know wallie the whole services over world was to the point where clinics may soon face her oldest choices over denying some covert potions lifesaving treatment got reaction to that fought through from medical experts. it is one of those very unfortunate situations in which sure we have to do with it look at here and. look at the latest inhibition to be. constraints or any situation in which you have to make

a decision between life and. grow to begin there unfortunately and you have to be promoting because you have to still run and so there's. of the population at large unless we are strict in enforcing this tears it only becomes very symbolic there's a lot of i would call it the wood for the trees stuff here with the weary and strain because i would like to say you still need to get infected whether it is the old strain or the new strain it is dropping your guard from infection that causes you to get infected rather than we now have a new strain and therefore it is the fault of the new strain making all these infections maybe more infectious but still if we exercise infection control you can protect yourself. of course medical workers have become the unsung heroes of 2020 rising to the occasion and saving lives often at considerable risk to their

own health we speak max and the small here's some of those people on the front lines of the worldwide battle against the corona virus pandemic. that phone was going every 15 minutes every 10 minutes as the nurse put. it would ring again and it became so frightening because the patients or piling into the hospital . for me working throughout that covert is same by to a patient and knowing that come back tomorrow and their babies being. made to fresh because they died and we're seeing people die in a scene people coming in they can't breathe well having to put people out because they can't breathe because of convict 19 and then you've got people protested why do why you look. so i feel as nurses most health care professionals it's quite difficult it's difficult for us you know i remember having a patient. she would say that she looked classical music i remembered that she

liked classical music so why did these during my break i was able to go out and get my photo i put the music on my phone and then i put it into a plastic bag and then i was able to when i went back in i was able to just play music to her and just knowing that she could see the happiness usually you see somebody decline *. and you can expect she or you want to see p.d. or you feel like something's wrong they don't look right but this was sort of like the feed off ok and then. you find out they're not ok not only they're not ok but. i don't feel like. a human being who simply cares. wants to help them and make a difference so we have to do. what we want to. do what we had to do

so. i'm proud of all of us. we're going to. be. ok we won't have to give politicians making decisions sitting maybe we can step up to play a little bit more and maybe we can be on top and make the decision so that we can make very choices. that if all of us were running low on oxygen on supplies on you know all the respiratory drugs definitely bad definitely staff this is not over this is far from over the vaccines are not going to i mean yes they're going to help but it's going to take a lot of time before we could vaccinate everyone. at the start there wasn't enough equipment we had to come up with impromptu protective gear repurpose it so that we could take patients it's obvious that the whole european continent was not prepared for such a pandemic not only spain turns out there was no centralized organized policy in

any of the affected countries including spain even to this day spain has many different communities each with their own understanding of how to deal with the pandemic disagreements of the lock down or especially strong communities controlled by opposition parties because they do almost 100 percent the opposite of what the health ministry are asked to do there are mistakes throughout the whole year starting from not closing airports and not implementing controls on everyone entering spain from other countries bodies and demonstrations were allowed for too long many protesters took to the streets without masks obviously that was a huge mistake because we did not manage to stop the virus we should have been ahead of it including those small steps that are still affecting the current situation financially devastated parts of the population is even worse it's always late and not enough from the 1st wave in spain the maybe even europe in march and april it became clear that the european union's a gigantic structure that's not working where equipment is stolen where it's really has to ask you were in russia for help after failing to get aid in europe in spain

we're now not in the 2nd wave but the 3rd remissions stage i got the fires a vaccine i would have liked to get the sputnik vaccine but it's unlikely to arrive here in spain with the current narrative where the virus has been made into a political and ideological issue we're going in a tough ways because people are objecting to vaccination antibiotics as bring home with their lies and manipulation in the media it's our every day struggle you know real heroes in the egg are they will serve the unprecedented turmoil of 2020 there are some who are making unprecedented profits 2 will talk about that next multi-billionaire bosses will publicly expressing solidarity with all those in the suffering of pocketed extraordinary earnings this year covering that saskia taylor . 2020 the years that won't be missed coronavirus could a virus a covert 19 entire health care system that is on the very brink of collapse lock down major health crisis hospitals and health care workers are bracing for an

onslaught of coronavirus patients soaring unemployment numbers and so many workers are still hurting very badly as the economy starts to tank. and mass unemployment collapsed businesses whole industries brought to that knees stupidity security and choice just wiped out. we hear in the same refrain all around the world family is a very worried as they are forced to make impossible decisions do they risk the disease as they go out to earn money to buy food will stay home and watch their children go hungry but as some plunged into dire financial straits others soared to unimaginable heights how well it turns out that a pandemic is just the thing to how take the video conferencing up didn't even exist before 2020 no one knows will exist after 2020 no one knows and given its c.e.o. pocketed 17000000000 dollars this year i doubt he's having sleepless nights also

sleeping soundly and jeff bezos with people border home imus and hardy blockbuster yeah but according to the richest model not us who made $75000000000.00 as the global economy just crashed and bought and apparently it wasn't all fun and games there is no instruction manual for how to feel at a time like this and i know this causes stress for everyone my list of worries right now like yours i'm sure is long for my own children parents family friends to the safety of you my colleagues to those who are already very sick and to the very real harm that will be caused by the economic fallout across our communities well that might not be a manual but that is math and it shows that bats also could give $105000.00 bonus to every single amazon waka and still be as rich as he was at the start of the pandemic but he didn't what did happen was grueling knocked down shifts like safety

protocols and no mosques own firing people who spoke out. it was army the border problem or do you have a reason. you don't you just do but you trust the virus it's like what you think it's that they want you to get sick you know you know the way the world is not enough to give you. a relief on this about protections as well he was a party. workers will college of business and other c.e.o.'s as pandemic profiteers who have made billions while putting workers and their families friends and neighbors at risk do you think you could have beat making 75000000000 in a year but you can just tossed in on musk he might have been broken 2008 but he'll raked in 123000000000 in 2020 when the cash is flowing you know

wanted to stop calling it. forcibly imprisoning people in their homes. or their culture for my. breaking people's freedoms everywheres or her want to bring. people into america or the country. so instead of forcibly imprisoning people in their homes musk courage people to get back to walk all face starvation and get evicted on no pay what set lethal virus off to roll you know you're talking about saving humanity but these are humans that die in the process everybody dies 2020 the a one man could afford to just blow up his rocket while hundreds of millions are left picking up the pieces of that lives. up to 60 minutes past 8 in the morning

moscow time for souls in beijing of signed a massive landmark trade deal after years of talks it opens up the chinese market to e.u. investment we're giving beijing an inroad to strategic european projects that but desire to charlotte to bensky explains washington's not happy. this dealer's 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. hadn't done enough to secure those issues these countries were country 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 a broad st john's abril you should raise recent human rights issues when you talk to see how they steal is also likely to rub up the wrong way the new incoming for. 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 jeans point of view was to drive a wedge in trances line 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 after us 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 and 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. let's get a view on this from professor benjamin cho the power a school of business china southwest university of finance and economics so make of the time to be with us well it depends who you listen to here whether it's a success or not the critics say it's a big strategic mistake but the people involved in brokering this is going to be a huge success for everybody what do you think about it. i think it's 7 years in

the making and both sides with civil pressure from the united states understanding there are differences in the ways technology super transfer and government subsidies and so on the 2 sides need time to make a reasonable concession in order to achieve that we need situation you know the u. is is china's largest trading partner and the same is true by say worse or so and even the tray is larger than the trade between the u.s. and the e.u. and the 1st 3 quarters this year so in that sense 7 years is nothing explicitly compared to the fact that the. president said it is a deal in which china has made unprecedented concession to a market entrusted to the church ace who's going to benefit most from the e.u. side of the chinese side well i thing. is

i think it's a win win situation you know china 'd used to have a foreign direct investment like many countries we have sections in education national security and finance but since china is now 23 trey songz in 2014 we have a lot attract a lot of money in and if you trace sort but now we have this if this investment is rectified. do you could allow european countries countries and companies to further invest in china's health transport manufacturing including the production of electronic carts so i think it depends on which area industry you are in and understandably america has been kicking off this not happy want to be more involved in these consultations but it wasn't. talk about links with america and china and china who's got the most links here the europeans say well hang on we're just doing what you've already done america. you know i think the u.s.

is having still having a cold war minds that the u.s. officials obviously have expressed concern that even the that even though they allege that a court we would help beijing we'd love to lay reform is stage for an economic model and so beijing as ceded to these long sought european requests in part because it wanted to do by brussels and washington from the epidemic we know that there are really. reno's both in the united states in europe and in china in many areas of collaboration depend then make the climate change over the elevation and roll initiative and so on so i think we need to have a bigger mindset more open to it to look for gains by the end of the china's what china's view though of some of the m e p's that have criticized china's human rights record i think is classic opposed tended to meet their rights to have food and to pick your work from 19 receiving

proper care are also very basic human rights and as you can see china is very good very responsible in the making sure that every citizen is being treated properly and effectively from any possible culture in the ocean and also in terms of their rights to have food you know this year martin year in which china put every single person in entire a war profiteer to profit the lie of about one u.s. dollar per day. thank you very much for a given issue of you in this big trade deal has been brokered have a good day and season's greetings happy new year. since creating. ok across this next to least 20 people killed scores injured in a wave of explosions and attacks on the yemeni port of aden the red cross saying its staff are among the dead and wounded this morning.

i. say was the 1st attack happened today near port just after a plane carrying newly appointed yemeni government officials had flown in from saudi arabia a local t.v. channel that caught the explosion on camera as people were leaving the aircraft it was followed by gunfire more blasts local reporters say the airport was also hit by a mortar drone strikes to the passages were rushed to the presidential palace then when their mother explosion took place so far no groups come forward to say they are behind what happened but officials are blaming hoofy rebels now saudi arabia is leading a u.s. backed bombing campaign of yemen against the rebels and the attacks come just a day after washington approved another huge $290000000.00 deal does apply more bombs to riyadh the contract adds to a $1000000000.00 weapons exports from the us to saudi arabia despite repeated

warnings on the spiraling civilian death toll from riyadh 5 year now campaign saudi officials claim their attacks stop arabian influence on the region but rights groups warn the outcome is unacceptable. the saudi led coalition and the who group 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. the outgoing trump ministrations rushing through other vast arms deals to the region to buy $4000000000.00 worth of attack helicopters and egypt set to get defense and targeting gear with around $170000000.00 security expert michael maloof thinks there's a good reason why arms deals are being rushed through to assist terror trumps efforts to keep the arabia. well armed and to try and use its influence of iran the biden administration may actually

put the kibosh on it biden himself has 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. and it was and the 30 day period would be up during the new biden ministration should he be sworn in and he could biden could put a hold on it at that point. in the light no other through the pandemic people's resourcefulness and creativity shine through our system video agency ruptly sculptures of the most touching highlights of 2020.

we were. at the same all the ticket on the parade and us and then that is it because i'm old but i just came on the album aged 60. 6. 60. the.

view know that the who did all the i mean they lost all of. this one of a couple of the newest of them as i. thought she might have thought of us all scholars on the way i mean saw a lot about a couple of those are among the competent i threw that idea. 3 fifths. some people would associate optimism with risky behavior because they don't want to and like the trolls they don't want to invite the state they don't want to invite

the sea out mob they don't want to invite all kinds of trouble that comes with optimistic think drug 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. seemed wrong. but old rules just don't hold. any old belief yet to shape our disdain comes to educate and in games from an equal betrayal. when so many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground.

an entire village in alaska has had to move if another country trying to wipe out an american town. we do everything in our power to protect a. wanted one escaping climate change is the same threat right now alaska does seem some of the fastest coastal erosion in the world we lost about 35 feet. 35 feet of ground in just about 3 months while we were measuring. is fast paced the river is $35.00 closer than howard. was or i don't think we're part of america or earth from.