the suggestion we call it misinformation. claim is their own. british media watchdog chinese broadcaster and its license claimed the company does not have editorial control over the channel. to come this hour. the drugs regulated to fast track the evaluation of russia's sputnik feed that if europe continues to be plagued by covert vaccine shortages we speak to the head of an italian. my whole family received sputnik jobs back in november and now we have a high level of antibodies we know that russia has great scientific traditions so we have no doubts about taking the russian job and u.k. food banks are inundated with place for help there's a growing poverty crisis the most vulnerable having to choose between paying for

heating we hear the story of one man he says he could have died. sometimes we hear the really new storms somebody who lives alone has been found dead for several days tension but could have happened to me. good afternoon you watching r.t. international where it's just gone 5 o'clock in moscow now china's flagship news channel has been taken off air in the u.k. . this had its license revoked by the media regulator ofcom over concerns about its ownership with more details his shadow edward stashed. well city t.n. has found itself in deep trouble and its future is incredibly unclear as china's state owned broadcaster has had its license revoked by the british regulator the

media watchdog of common over follows an investigation by the founder of the license used by china global television network had been wrongfully held and therefore doesn't meet the legal requirements here in britain now essentially the company that owns the u.k. license for c t n which is star china media ltd doesn't have day to day control over the channel essentially it doesn't oversee any of the output of the channel again that is totally against the rules of thumb release a statement shortly after the move and said that the company that owns the license didn't have this editorial responsibility we are unable to approve the application to transfer the license to the china global television network corporation because it's alternately controlled by the chinese communist party which is not permitted under u.k. broadcasting law we provide a c.d.n. with numerous opportunities to come into compliance but this is not done so we now consider it appropriate to withdraw the license for c.d.t and to broadcast in the

u.k. so while this all may read as a technicality the regulated does explain that any company needs to have editorial control and it cannot be controlled by a political body the revocation though isn't necessarily political in essence but it does read it as such in the technicalities but looking deeper into all of what this means city and is a division from china central television which is controlled by the chinese communist party obviously that is a political body and obviously that is why the company and the channel is now disqualified by off and it's not as simple as sipek transferring the license on to a suitable body because again of found the crucial information was missing from the initial application so therefore that wasn't an option on the table to see if either of them though did accept that the start. and immediate limited was found to be the distributor but not the producer and that none of the studio and key stakeholders all senior editorial personnel were found to be employed by the

company either there hasn't yet been a comment from nor has there been a comment from c.c.t.v. either so as a result the forecaster will essentially likely face separate sanctions on this matter there is interesting timing in all of this many people would look to the international relations between the united kingdom and china you only have to look at last year to see the numerous mip mishaps from wall way to the hong kong protests and uprisings there so the move is likely to meet with some sort of retaliation and will certainly stoke the tensions between the 2 countries and superpowers once again but just finally there is also a key question here about the freedom of press in the united kingdom as well and what could happen to other media outlets. now a devastating 3rd coronavirus wave led to almost 5000 deaths in portugal last month and with its health care system feeding the strain germany has now flown in a plane with military medics and hospital equipment to try and help the aircraft

transported around 20 doctors and nurses along with ventilators and hospital beds that is a portuguese hospital to remain overwhelmed by the pandemic german member medical staff who spend 3 weeks treating critically ill patients in the country's capital has been before been joined by another team. now with europe's mass vaccination program still plagued by job shortages this really is now urging the drug regulators to fast track evaluation of russia's sputnik the. we must not be afraid of the origins of vaccines what's important for us is the transition to the european medicines agency we have urged the e.u. to scientifically evaluate the russian vaccine and those from other countries the situation in the country has been exacerbated by the dearness saying it would deliver doses than expected in february and the italian government has already said

it would take legal action against both pfizer and astra zeneca over 19 vaccine delays earlier one of the world's most prominent medical journals the lancet published a study which said that they was around 90 percent effective and was also safe for the elderly with no serious side effects we heard from the president of an italian n.g.o.s which is urging the new to approve the russian japp. only going in november my whole family received sputnik the jobs back in november and now we have a high level of antibodies my family and i trust science science has no borders we know that russia has great scientific traditions so we had no doubts about taking the russian job as of today many european countries including germany france italy would like to receive the russian vaccine numerous requests have already been sent these days it is particularly clear as we see pfizer has to seneca and other companies delaying vaccine supplies and fortunately the virus has no limits as well

so these countries have been forced to opt for the russian vaccine whether they want it or not in italy for example despite an unfolding governmental crisis news about sputnik the covers the front pages of virtually all the italian newspapers giorgio paul who the chairman of the italian medicines agency which grants permission for the use of vaccines in italy praised sputnik v in one of his latest interviews. or. the e.u. has been determined to participate in the handling of the pandemic the block has demonstrated it however unfortunately this political will has not been successfully put into practice furthermore there is an issue of vaccines they turned out to be a very expensive trading commodity to give rise to huge competition germany signed a bilateral contracts with pfizer for 300000000 doses it certainly did not go down well with other e.u. countries the deals which the e.u.

made with various suppliers are still being kept secret we still don't know their terms and why there are delays in the last few days supplies hit the gas though apparently they are trying to overcome these delays related to the deadline which have partly been caused by virus own confusion. over in the u.k. the government there has been accused of neglecting phone rebel groups by not giving them the state benefits that they need during the pandemic welfare benefits for many disabled people in the u.k. have not been increased in line with those of other types of welfare david allen is just one of over 2000000 disabled people left out of pocket he says he felt abandoned after this left him bedridden. sometimes we hear a really bad new storm and somebody who lives alone has been found dead in the home for several days. potentially that could have happened to me and nobody would have

checked up on even if i did have a carer who would cut we could coming and how we would be allowed to unless it was formally recognize a social as a result of the pandemic of the lock down but really we've had to rely on of giving off to shopping delivered to us my shopping bill normally comes to between $25.35 pounds per week but if you're short we mordor is less than 40 pounds you get whacked with a subpar delivery charge so i go to certain pounds i've not budgeted and barely a mind of no increase in my income i have to find it from someone so i have to give something else up in order to get my family to live and the reality is for decades people living with long term conditions the only link reeses benefit socialism has not kept pace with a rise in the cost of living. and that was even before the pandemic his friends and

has been compounded even more now we have a 2 tier system so 100 people who get the universal credit big give the additional support but those of us with legacy benefits have been given nothing. well the majority of disabled people in the u.k. say they have spent more than usual on shopping and utility bills chewing the pandemic nearly 70 percent of gone without essentials and almost half of falling behind on their financial commitments may be told to stay he's even sat in the dark to save electricity and believes that some of the most vulnerable groups have been left badly affected by the pandemic i've left feeling abandoned and forgotten about. and it seems quite convenient for the government to forget people like us and what i find really hard to understand is the mixed messages that we get from

government that have been statements about it's cheaper to look after a people with long term conditions in their own home rather than putting them into care but we don't get support to the small we actually need to remain around homes there are those people that really struggle has been documented people have taken their own lives as a result of this too many people have been left behind and there's too many people really really struggling to make it hard decision nor do you have the how are the lights on do i have a me who don't have the heating the home country believe we're somewhere around the 5th 6th richest country in the world it's outrageous i'm sorry i think our government should be ashamed of themselves. $100.00 stream to another the world's richest man and founder of amazon jeff bezos says he's stepping down as c.e.o.

dedicate more time to charity work among other things but his departure also comes amid accusations he ignored the plight of his own workers during the pandemic with more his dimitry power. everyone likes convenience but in this weird time where the pandemic the stores are all closed and nothing is as convenient as amazon we all use it but let's face it it's becoming harder and harder to ignore the teensy fact that there really a giant soulless monopoly and who better to represent that monopoly and everything that is wrong with having too much money and power then amazon c.e.o. jeff bezos well apparently he has seen the error of his ways and decided to change basis is officially stepping down as amazon c.e.o. so focuses attention on nobler causes like philanthropy spaceflight journalism and given his track record these ventures are bound to be

a huge success i mean the guy is full of life and optimism a firm a work meaningful and fun i get to work with the smartest most talented most ingenious teammates when times have been good you've been humble when times have been tough you've been strong and supportive and we've made each of the left. it is a joy to work on this team and look how happy amazon workers are. will you. be the point of false promises with the words that they haven't released or did he tell you that's it's too late but you trust the virus is not enough to give you. a relief for him it's about protections as well pete wasn't providing back yeah ok maybe not all amazon workers but c'mon it's understandable why

a basis is stepping down i mean just imagine how tired he must be from all these workers strikes protests congressional grillings and throughout the years there's been a lot of very ungrateful amazon workers give us p p stop treating us like robots give us bathroom breaks shut up and work right either way basis should be stepping away from all this negativity it's bad for business and morale and i'm sure his dedication to full length should be another virtuous ventures will produce a much better monopoly next time. so as we heard them jeff bezos also says he wants to focus on his aerospace company blue origin the u.s. space program it used to be strictly in the hands of the government but it's now basically between us now basically been outsourced to him and the law musk who runs space x. now space x.

has hopes of this prototype one day going to mars although recently did crash into all of flames during a test flight in texas. plucked a vehicle vertical then transition to one engine trouble and. well that is the 2nd time in its many attempts at the rocket has failed to touchdown r.t. america's rick sanchez and john hardy discuss the space race between the 2 tech giants. i think this is where we have to start because i read a lot about this yesterday after we watched this crash and what is in a lot of mosques beef with the u.s. government 1st of all i love that graphic i mean i could watch it all day i'm going to have to and by the way the space launch commentator said we need to work on that

landing afterwards and anyway on the side so to answer your question basically just kind of you know boil it all down space x. has asked the f.c.c. the federal communications commission to allow the company space x. to basically lower the orbit of its star link satellite so space x. has been sending we've reported about all these satellites into orbit as part of its newly broadband you know world internet broadband service it's called the starling constellation so space x. wants to lower the orbit of those satellites but then amazon objected no that's kind of interfere with our satellites as praga as part of project kiper and the $3000.00 plus satellites that amazon is going to send in orbit you also yesterday the f.c.c. . u.s. government is keeping us from getting to mars he said yeah he also tweeted so when

amazon raised this objection he said he fired off a tweet he said this does not serve the public to hamstring starling today for an amazon satellite system that is that best several years away from operation so it's a battle of the billionaires over their claim to space basically a right to orbit and meanwhile we're looking at pictures like this i understand. he's got to get a rocket up in space with 2 astronauts by the end of this year so it's not only you know must battling and you know over control of orbit for their satellites but also it's the space race to send not only astronauts as part of the public private partnership. that space x. is involved in with nasa but sending civilians i can imagine that i would like to go up while you know my goodness but they've already sent keep in mind they have already sent the dragon rocket remember with the 2 astronauts the nasa astronauts last year that we reported about so they're already working in that partnership the

origin you know bay's osis blue origin really wants to develop a partnership in work with nasa as well as part of this again public private cooperation you know in the space race so this is i mean you could see it a little i guess it's kind of foreshadowing of the space race to come to me tween billionaires battling a jostling for position in orbit. ok let's go about top top stories this hour because china's flagship news channel has been taken off air in the u.k. . it's had its license revoked by the media regulator ofcom over concerns about its ownership an investigation by the regulator concluded that the channel's parent company does not have editorial control over the broadcast which is not permitted and u.k. law what we can get some reaction and speak to neil clark is u.k. based journalist and joins us good afternoon she what do you make of this decision then the. what it comes about of the mood really expecting i know that china

was on investigation it does seem. on the face of. need not be. all aussie and that's. why you could be here and. what. do we need them. and of course there will be people who would argue that. that's always the problem here but you already know that we have a press to. be taken off license off all. about a decade or so ago so there are people who will will argue or will. if we go. do you think it strange about the timing in that has been broadcasting for some time in the u.k. so why why make a fuss about this right now surely should have thought of this sort of thing at at

the beginning. absolutely and the reason why sensible reason why its license has been removed course this business about the parent company i mean editorial control well wasn't that from the word go out and that's been the case all along so it just seems strange what we're hearing that year ago a year all. criticism of the trials coverage of the hong protests claimed they were biased. against the stranger going out february 2021 and we have this decision taken now because surely those who are there. already have been there for a long time and so yeah as you say. it's strange that you know. that we should know too that off calm didn't complain about the content that was being broadcast by c.t.m. but now it's gone or will go i mean it leaves a hole doesn't it in the media landscape because i know the c.t.m. did provide the chinese perspective which is not often easily found in the media.

absolutely. and that's why i think what i said earlier we need to look look the question of what kind of media regulation do we want. as we or as we all know. campaign by certain individuals to try to get the channel or lobby off. political pressure should come to play i mean you have the labor party. the leader the labor party and their spokesman person on the right into. this should be happening we should. politicize asian media regulation and as you say it's great to be able to put on you you want to watch r.t. is a russian news perspective or on the b.b.c. c.n.n. well. you have

a chinese. loss now we used to have an iranian perspective yeah very recent media that's amore though she has many channels as we can possibly have. a proper view all you know different countries from different perspectives that surely what a democratic. media landscape looks like and worry about of call and and how it operates and the pressures that are put on to a. new really good you're going to have to leave it at that was a u.k. based journalist speaking to us from oxford i think i'm guessing thanks. still to come here not a us mainstream media is in chaos facing promising ratings at the moment and also accusations of bias we'll have the details on that plus of the stories just after this break.

so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race. spearing dramatic development the only really exists i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down in. time says the wall street was one of the last bastions of power to be run by the populace because the high barriers to entry and that's right those very limited because of free trading. while the stimulus made a lot of people lots. of available to do something like this. apparently $65000000000.00 in the war cost of the biggest headline in the world which is right . so they've got a lot. and expertise to go after targets out there that they perceive to have

stolen their money. again i russia's union of journalists is calling on authorities to check the legitimacy of the arrest and imprisonment of the russian journalists. he's been jailed for $25.00 days for calls to join rallies in support of the opposition figure. so let's get more details. of the story 1st just run through them why the has been. for this particular case. andrew hi again surrogate is the editor in chief of an outlet that is considered to be a prominent opposition website on the russian media spectrum and this ban is going to remain under arrest for almost

a month for calls to joint unsanctioned rallies and moscow i can remind you that protests in support of kremlin critic alike saying a volley occurred during 2 weekends at the end of january the biggest protests happened in moscow and st petersburg. but they were illegal because the opposition never got the permission to organize them and the russian authorities had warned against calls for such rallies and mainly attempts to an energized the communities of miners mostly on social network and i can tell you that last month the level of such use involvement 'd in these kind of calls skyrocketed if you opened 'd apps like take to keep swiping and pretty much all you see were posts about protests about politics this is

something we had never seen before so this was the reason why the russian government took a very serious stance and decided that there will be no excuse for those who break the law and incite illegal rallies the court is calling surrogate samir nasri a repeat offender although mr smear nobs lawyers are saying that the reason for his prosecution was merely are we tweet of a post with a joke about this man but actually in that photo there was a different guy and someone compared him to the front man of a rush. in rock band and deed as you can see the 2 men are bold but the court didn't accept that point they were saying that in that tweet you could actually see the date and time of the illegal prose protest that's why they carried

on but like you mentioned the union of russian journalists is calling on the authorities to look into this case again after some dozens of russian media outlets expressed support for mr smear and all. these quotes decision sparked a strong reaction from journalists the union of journalists of russia sent an appeal to the competent authorities of the russian federation requesting to check the legality and validity of bring in sergei snowden off to justice well i can tell you that this isn't the only case when legal action against individuals for things like tweets is causing public debate in russia this is becoming a very serious issue in this country the kremlin decided not to comment on mr smear noffs particular case because they're saying it's not up to them to decide it's up

for the court and the law enforcement agencies to deal with that although mr putin's press secretary said that in no way the russian government is trying to somehow hunt the or silence those who are trying to criticize the russian government again the spokesperson of the kremlin is pointing out that the reason for such action was 'd the number of provocation is during these protests and just the scale of calls for unsanctioned demonstrations. and you could use it to shoot you there is no repression there are measures used by the police against violators of the law against participants in illegal actions during the actions direct and multiple attacks on police took place which naturally became the reason for the adoption of tough but in line with the law countermeasures the ministry of internal affairs announced that each case will be

subject to an official investigation. so further investigations are still to comment. of and a number of other activists remain in custody this is something we're going to keep hearing about in the near future. ok thanks it was artie's are reporting. now there have long been accusations in the us that social media there has been unfairly biased against conservative views however new study by new york university's found that both sides of the political spectrum have been treated equally as much as they condemn suppose social media favoritism conservatives appear to relish wielding the bias claimed even though it's based on distortions and false hoods that said though people still beg to differ notably it was donald trump who suffered the biggest clampdown when he was banned on twitter

then pollo was closed down over claims it was used to incite violence during the rise of capitol hill and facebook is being accused of centering movements like the anti democrat walkaway campaign last year meanwhile news networks have seen their ratings plummet following trump's departure from the white house with some saying they are now facing an identity crisis. president jump was amazing great examine they loved him and they made billions on president trump from the day you now see running i mean he they could not look away from him and he and they had to keep up all of their ridiculous conspiracy theories they had to keep their mom bring about the man they had people see every possible lie they could you know here's the 2nd coming of hitler or you know whatever the hell they are saying and so the ratings are tanking because joe biden boring and nobody cares anymore what's going to happen is obviously these corrupt nasty mainstream news outlets are going to have to come up with something else.