the russian president calls out the power wielding tech giants that during a wide ranging video address it to this year's world economic forum. the vaccine supply dispute deepens between britain and the e.u. brussels that threatens to get tougher on exports while accusing drug company astra zeneca of not keeping its end of the bargain also ahead. on story to tell you the number of deaths recorded from in the u.k. post under. the british prime minister is under pressure to explain the country's dire situation as grieving families demand a public inquiry into the government's failings.

this is the. most. and he ran approves and plans to make russia's vaccine the country's foreign minister exclusively tells r t why tehran isn't supporting. the big good. russian the russian mixed about you have a very bad experience with another country but i do not want to name. broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our 2 international i'm sean thomas. now the high flying meeting in the swiss alps for the world economic forum is very different this year davos has gone digital because of the pandemic and a little earlier the russian president gave a lengthy address covering a raft of topics through video link. through the key points he raised. this

is that to me putin's 1st speech appearance or that of all since 2009 when he was prime minister and perhaps you know it hints at how severe the situation in the world is and that is what vladimir putin devoted a significant portion of his speech to this crisis that the world is facing today the severity of this crisis it is an upheaval in technology cultural social as well as economic huge disparities in the world that is that is resulting in a systematic collapse and vladimir putin highlighted that now we're facing a challenge a problem that is unprecedented over the last hard hard century since the 930 s. . 30 percent live with an income level that lower than $3.00 u.s.

dollars a day so that's the kind of misalignment that you can see in the world the cove in $1000.00 pandemic has only exacerbated those issues. the problems of been building up for many years now these evolution revolution in technology and social values in cultural norms. in the economy and led me a putin says that you know the last several decades they've seen an economic boom around the world but that boom has benefited primarily those who are who were already rich on top of all of that these these tech giants these corporations run by billionaires and accountable to the few they have grown in power beyond all control. the digital giants now are playing an increasingly large role we often hear that in conversations particularly regarding the u.s. election campaign and it's not just simply the technology giants their economic giants in some areas they're defacto able to compete with states the problem again

is exacerbated by the pandemic. this course and these corporations as well as select nations can ban and bar people and untasty its from from online you know from online discourse from the world economy at a whim and instead of working together as as a civilization people are all nations and leaders are increasingly looking to find scapegoats foreigners that they can blame and direct people's anger at usually in unresolved social and economic issues could force governments to find scapegoats so that they can then redirect the anger of their people we can see more pressure on those countries who disagree to being satellites we see legal sanctions restrictions in i.t. and telecoms this game without any rules could lead to new hotspots around the world the situation is such lead me putin says the international law has lost its authority it is no longer mandatory but more voluntary but the unit polar

world or rather attempts to establish a uni polar world where a few select nations can dictate to everyone how to behave and want to do those attempts have failed the way forward believes out of this crisis to lift the world out and to avoid a scenario the 2nd world war where you know what the $930.00 s. lead to is to work together and one of the areas where they can work together now immediately without delay is providing a vaccine access to the vaccine to poorer nations which are much more restricted in their access to potentially lifesaving medication. the world needs to join efforts in distributing these vaccines and increasing their accessibility we see that mass vaccination today is available primarily to developed nations while hundreds of millions of people worldwide do not even have the slightest hope for this protection such inequality could pose

a common threat the gist of the public portion of flooding near putin's speech. was that the world is changing had the hectic pace the pace the few food possible and all of these changes being exacerbated made all that much more challenging by the patent demick and now is the time to work together because alone and separate there is no resolving these differences resolving these problems that will only lead to clashes there's more to this discussion but unfortunately as is the tradition of davos the 2nd part of this discussion is private in his davos address of vladimir putin also welcome to the extension of the new strategic arms reduction treaty also known as a new start the president called it a correct step the last minute deal agreed upon by russia and the u.s. which would have otherwise expired next week limits nuclear missile arsenals for the next 5 years just after the agreement was sealed last night vladimir putin and

joe biden held their 1st phone call since the u.s. president's inauguration more on that from correspondent constantine cough. in the tense and rocky relationship between the 2 nations the fact that the 2 presidents have talked and read on a major arms control agreement in their 1st ever phone call well that's reassuring and the 5 year extension of the new start treaty is indeed a bright spot in other words pretty much failing talks on arms control and non proliferation so the new strategic arms reduction treaty signed in 2010 now is the only thing that limits the 2 words old largest nuclear arsenals and is considered as a an insurance policy against a full blown arms race the most important thing is that we have 5 years to engage in negotiations on future arms control without and you has to remember jency the president of the united states is undoubtedly a person who personally understands this issue he has the experience he worked on

that both the senator and his vice president during the obama administration russia was the 1st to offer the extension of the treaty without conditions in early 2020 but the trumpet ministration while showed a lack of interest supposedly because they were seeking a new deal instead it will cover more weapons but anyway the current treaty was expiring on february 5th which is a little bit a week from now and this was an apparent a last ditch attempt to save it and it succeeded so let's 1st have a listen to how the kremlin a welcome the news the president's expressed satisfaction on reaching an agreement on the extension of the strategic arms reduction treaty in the coming days all the necessary procedures will be completed to ensure the further functioning of this important international legal mechanism for the mutual limitation of nuclear missile well the readout of the phone conversation on the kremlin's web page described the conversation as

a businesslike and frank and you know the overall emphasis was on mutual cooperation and normalizing the relationship between the 2 countries in for example it is said that the 2. leaders have discussed the possibility of joining forces in battling the pandemic but if you look at the white house web page and the way the same conversation is described they are you will see a different tone and a single so let's have a listen president biden made clear that the united states will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by russia that harm us or our allies the 2 presidents agreed to maintain transparent and consistent communication going forward so it seems like for biden's administration it is really important to stress that the newly elected american president has confronted his russian counterpart on various issues and didn't just agreed to the extension almost as if you know stopping arms race from asking late in is not good enough and

you know what the american media outlets immediately latched on to this and they saw a dramatic change of tone sort of look how donald trump spoke to vladimir putin and how joe biden just did. although it is worth mentioning that we didn't hear the actual conversation all we have are just the readouts and there is a lot of diplomatic language to it so the important thing is that there is a glimpse of hope that russia and the united states won't fall into the new round of arms race but nevertheless it almost feels like there is a certain ritual that the american president has to follow in order to sell this that how. when biden was asked to comment on the call with putin he laughed it off with a quip to reporters. on the right who. are experts and give us their thoughts on the conversation between the 2 presidents. very much the message as you could see from the u.s.

and white house report of that phone call the emphasis was we're going to hold you know we're going to russia is not going to mess with us russia is going to be held accountable for all the evil deeds that they do. that's a message for the domestic population which honestly. you know he's feeding his he's feeding meat to his dogs. and that is not a sign of a sophisticated foreign policy certainly the phone call this early in the stage of the game is a good sign you know by like give it a round completely and suddenly say you know he wants to. develop friendlier relations with russia so he's going to be talking to best a cli. as though he's a tough guy with russia but i think realistically the goals that biden has domestically are going to require winding down of a. military. confrontation latitude towards russia and church china in

the end. the vaccine supplier rob between britain and the e.u. is escalating brussels claims the british swedish drug company astra zeneca is prioritizing the u.k. and plans restrictions on exports there is growing disparity between their vaccination programs with britain making headway while e.u. nations are like in behind as artie's peter oliver reports. there's been an absolute farce over whether senior personnel from the vaccine manufacturer astra zeneca will or will not be meeting with those from the european union it now seems that after being on and off again more times than a light switch that meeting will go ahead the thing that they've got to discuss is what constitutes a contract as far as the e.u. commission is concerned they have a contract with astra zeneca to provide 400000000 doses of the covert 19 vaccine as far as astra zeneca concerned they say that's not so much a contract is it is as it is an agreement to do the best they possibly can we need

ject the logic of 1st come 1st served. that may work at the neighborhoods. but not in tantra and not in our advanced purchase of lehman's the e.u. says they should have access to doses of the vaccine produced at 2 facilities in the united kingdom not so say astra zeneca and the fact that the e.u. is asking for that well that's upsetting those in the united kingdom who will see restrictions on the on the vaccines all the other ingredients and of course paul graham and i think that's a pretty common sensical i'm sure. we would be widely supported across to you as well and i would. all international partners in fact to be collaborative and working closely together. and i think that i think protectionism is is not the right approach in the middle of it and there have been talks about the use threatening to stop exports of vaccines manufactured here inside the block well but

of course would have an impact on the u.k. getting doses of the pfizer by on take vaccine which is made in brussels that isn't going to happen that's the word coming out of brussels at the moment that plant didn't have the backing of the german health minister again spawn but as i say isn't going ahead according to the e.u. here in germany people are less than happy about what is going on decide the newspaper here saying that it's the best advert for breaks that there ever could be in the main tabloid newspaper here build they're saying that the line is playing down the idea of there being real unease over the ability to obtain vaccines but if you look at what angela merkel the german chancellor has to say there is clearly some concern over the speed or lack there of it which vaccines are being opting out by the european commission puts this isn't often this bit of our action leaves a lot to be desired process often become very bureaucratic and take

a long time. so we have to work on that what we are seeing is in many cases a you nations have the infrastructure in place in order to administer vaccines but don't have the vaccines to stick in people's arms in fact in spain madrid has said they are going to suspend the vaccination program for 2 weeks the reason they just don't have any to give. the british prime minister has been tackled in parliament over his handling of the pandemic after the u.k. passed of the grim milestone of 100000 covert related deaths opposition leader circular starmer gave out called out what he said was boris johnson slow slow slow response in the meantime grieving families are demanding a public inquiry into the government's actions but 1st the who needs the this is a criminal. let's not sugarcoat it we are experiencing the worst humanitarian atrocity that this island is out to see and it's the coolest.

government is been neglectful there has been a lot too much and. most of these lives could have been saved. johnson offered his condolences to grieving families as he had knowledge britain becoming europe's 1st a nation to reach 100000 deaths in the past week alone more than one and a half 1000 people have died the government is now pinning its hopes on carrying out europe's fastest vaccination program johnson revealed that 13 percent of adults have already been vaccinated. i'm sorry to have to tell you the number of deaths recorded from couvade in the u.k. has surpassed 100000. and it's hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic but it's too late or is too little too late for the 100000 people and the millions of those who have lost people to this 100000 people is 800000 bomb

is ok if we think of a family of 5 that's 5 lives to change forever millions of people have been let down by a simple lack of care in policy i mean that will not a prime minister that boasted about shaking hands with people we're talking about the titanic happening almost every day and yes the numbers are coming down but overall the number being 100000 this is not something that we should take on the chin and accept as a population at the end of the day and of an accident neglect family and they did not lives 1st they put the economy 1st which ironically now as not intact the economy has also led to more deaths i don't understand how they could possibly sleep at night knowing that they're leaving things like borders and testing unchecked while we still talking about these things while we still discussing the fact that they keep having to discuss and discuss and discuss maybe it will bring

this in a can bring this and get on with it it's not a hard thing to do to understand that as an island we had a golden opportunity to close up borders to look after ourselves. iran is the latest country to approve russia's covert vaccine and also hopes to manufacture the sputnik v. jab in an exclusive interview iran's foreign minister told r.t. why they chose it over western alternatives here is some of that interview which you can watch in full here on thursday. i think it was a public health problem with some political can considerations about the intentions of the united states and the lack of trust which is which is very clear we have a very bad experience with another western countries that i do not want to name they sent to iran. blood that had. whiteness. and so a lot of people needing blood transfusion to be still need to investigate it. but

that was certainly a major public health problem in you know. the united states did not reduce its pressure. on iraq. it did not allow us to make financial transactions they said it humanitarian purchases were exempt from their sanctions but financial transactions to do those humanitarian because you don't you can't do humanitarian purchases without paying money and the banks who are supposed to transfer that money should restrict it actually has already given us the advantage because. if they had we wanted to wait for the medicine even for the test kits for covert 19 we wouldn't be able to get is from abroad we produced all of it in iran even even masks reproduced it in in iran so sanctions have actually helped us stand on our own feet and be able to not i mean we want cooperation with the wood but we do

not want to be dependent on it. we will get. russian the russian ric's vaccine we will get the chinese vaccine we are in close touch with all of them be real good in the end of a vaccine but our own iranian produced vaccines bed through the 1st cycle of human. clinical testing and we hope by june we will be able to use our own vaccine separately the russian investment fund behind sputnik v. has signed a deal with a malaysian pharmaceutical firm to supply more than 6000000 doses the 1st shipment is expected by the end of march and the russian ambassador to malaysia says local production of the vaccine is also expected the chief operating officer of the company which signed the deal talked to us about the plans and challenges ahead. there are some vaccines and obviously like our there which is about minus the $7880.00 degree celsius requires

a lot more care in distribution and of course we want to make sure that even though this is not as low in terms of the temperature we do want to ensure that the spending the vaccine is transport there is core is basically going through a full proof 1st of nigerian system that will enable good products to basically be delivered to the patients who are going to subject in as much integrity and processes as possible so we don't anticipate that there's going to be much of a problem and we're talking to a few images really sure that you know you're talking to the area to undertake research and development and technology transfer local manufacturing is for suppliers to lucia as well as to the other countries so looking forward to undertake that program as we believe that it will be important in terms of the overall sustainability oh but it could be seen as well as under the influence that

looking. a simmering months long protest by indian farmers boiled over on tuesday as tens of thousands rallied against agricultural reforms one farmer died and hundreds of police were injured as the protests have become increasingly agitated in the capital columns of tractors were seen it moving through new delhi as the country marked republic day the farmers had been held on the outskirts since november in large camps they're angry at plans to open up the industry to private investment more than half of the population works in agriculture which relies heavily on government assistance farmers fear that they will lose what little protection they have but the indian prime minister insists the reforms will broaden farmers right. this get on a go it to farmers are getting so many right what is wrong with that what is wrong with farmers having the ability to sell their. produce and light all year long anywhere they want despite everything because of our and leave during sincerity and

faith in our democracy and because of our dedication to farmers the government is ready for a discussion with the farmers on these issues at any time. and we spoke to a new delhi based journalist and political commentator who says the indian premier is not doing enough to ease farmers' concerns. i can tell you this is the loud just mobilize people. in free india and for a purpose of this size to happen during what would be unthinkable which is why the government started the farmers then finally they said that they would put on all these controversial bills which are boston so it's a huge concession that they had to do something to discredit the farmers i don't think they have succeeded to one because. the os now farmers think they're going to be at the worse off the park ridge who can magically fix prices and on top of it

comes this $11000000000.00. approach the courts certainly the government we now have to call the purpose is for talks again the leaders should be why did the board accepted the demands of it would only show that this is a democracy. hundreds have been injured in covert 1000 protests in the lebanese city of tripoli violent anti lock down demonstrations are continuing for the 3rd consecutive day clashes have erupted between the protesters and military police with both tear gas and water cannons being deployed protestors attempted to break into the headquarters of the tripoli government and threw stones at security forces in total lockdown and round the clock curfew has been imposed in lebanon since the middle of january. disney is removing access to cartoon favorites fearing they could be criticized as

insensitive to modern audiences saskia taylor looks at how far the rush to not offend could go. i was today years old when disney took a sledgehammer to my childhood memories having multi-day over for a few decades the family friendly entertainment giant has finally decided that peta pounds appropriating cultures like that going out of fashion dumbass friends are all racist and so were the aristocrats oh and if you want any of these films before you're 7 years old you will be too can we collectively see you disney for teaching us the wrong values when we were kids i mean without dumbo maybe today he could have been a much better person the disney plus streaming platform is restricting access to be on the sevens to a number of films it says depict harmful stereotypes because if you thought dumbo was an ode to the town or love you clearly missed the bugs mocking segregation in the south. or heard.

one. peter pan playing dress up should have sent the alarm to think about was ringing. and shown goods unbelievable accuracy when playing the piano in the aristocats was a bit well racially insensitive. a point but if we're being sensible little one see a flying out of foot a singing cap and everything else is pretty much a blur also maybe education and not elimination is the way for would bunk in october disney was praised when it decided to put disclaimers before some of its more problematic films why rather than remove this content we want to acknowledge its harmful impact learn from it and spark conversation to create

a more inclusive future together while no more noname from the history of disney apparently new policy segregation didn't exist if you don't. watch dumbo and donald trump wasn't president if you edit out his cameo in home alone 2 it's more about the kids see one someone just think of the children like this disney produce a tit make your kids go screaming hats 1st into the wood chipper so childhood classics getting the full on can't flow culture treatment snow white not to mention the 7 dwarfs are probably that worried actually on 2nd thought that was a safe no one's going to arrest discriminate against that. or that does it for me this hour be back with headlines and say 32 minutes are to trash the.

secret prisons are not usually what comes to mind when thinking about europe however he even the most prosperous can be deceived we've been busy roads on the way to view the houses were allegedly preserved was located and the only people had access to the story investigators l.z. uncovered the darkest dealings of the secret services but i mean. you go read it nor in. hockey see maybe a sore knee. thanks for justice. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to us of the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you then.

imagine advancing and welcome to another lockdown edition of going underground just hours after joe biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the united states executive orders were issued from his office on everything from the paris climate deal to trump's border wall with mexico but what about border walls in the west bank in the occupied territories what about the refugee crisis in the middle east in part 2 we're going to speak to the turn and colonel anthony shaffer a decorated u.s. intelligence official who is on the advisory board of trump 2020 but now joining me from garza is the director of operations for the united nations relief and works agency. might as well apparently while everyone's been talking about the inauguration of joe biden there's been aerial bombardment of gaza by israel armed by the united kingdom the european union the united states and tanks have

invaded in some going to land invasion in girth. so yes indeed we had a couple of nights ago. but that particular incident was triggered by rockets fired from here towards israel and then there was bombardment heavy bombardment heavy heavy bombardment in retaliation for those strikes and that i have to say happens regularly over the last couple of weeks i think there have been 3 such nights now for me to be perfectly honest you know no one got it was even injured in the area stopped the more serious incident was the tanks coming into gaza a few days ago that's in the border area and the reason that's more serious is number one the israelis always claim that gaza runs itself they are not on the ground as in the west bank you know it is.