russia expels diplomats from germany sweden for attending rallies in support of jailed opposition activists say. the global roll out of russia. continues as iran receives its 1st. the parents of a british teenager killed in a road accident involving an american woman. court told she was working for us intelligence we need to find out some more information. and. we're hopeful that the government.

claims diplomacy is back in his 1st foreign policy speech but he didn't sound too diplomatic when it came to russia. from moscow. welcome to the program. russia has ordered 3 european diplomats to leave the country for attending rallies in support of the. russia's foreign minister and the e.u.'s foreign policy chief met in the russian capital. has the details. new fresh cracks in russia on the day when for the 1st time in 3 years the head of european diplomacy arrived in moscow for talks the decision to expel european diplomats from russia has nothing to do with the arrival of joseph borel foreign policy chief but it does

coincide with his visit so diplomats from poland sweden and germany have been ordered to leave russia for taking part in unsanctioned rallies in support of kremlin critic alexina volley during 2 weekends at the end of january the russian foreign ministry has called such behavior by the diplomats unlawful and unacceptable and the swedish embassy was the 1st to deny any violations of russian or international law by a member of their staff the swedish foreign ministry strongly denies claims that the swedish diplomats was involved in recent demonstrations more entering the political development in the country of service is the responsibility of swedish diplomats in accordance with the vienna convention on diplomatic relations this reduce diplomat observed the demonstration since in petersburg within a standard diplomatic procedure eventually we heard the same from the german authorities and the polish government also said that they will come up with

a similar response to the decision by the russian foreign ministry but only a few hours earlier during the press conference by sergei lavrov and joseph borel after talks we saw smiles the press event began with warmth with wards how much it's important to rebuild trust to go back to working together when it comes to the relations between brussels and moscow however soon after that the tone changed and very quickly we were reminded of what these kind of talks between the most senior russian and western diplomats look like it sounds. looks like a game of ping pong when accusations are being thrown at each other those of burrill joined the chorus of leaders who slammed russia for the arrest of a like scene of ali and how the russian government has been dealing with him mr loughborough of in response called the attitude of european officials arab didn't

and also blame them for not backing up their accusations against russia on the alleged poisoning of alexina volley and his arrest with any proof or anything reasonable no we're stuck on the same topic the west is trying to dodge the issue of finding the real truth of what happened when and where it's only seen a felony by focusing on protests in russia on numerous requests to provide us with the results of his tests remain unanswered by germany france sweden and even the pope at the o.p.c. w. they say you already know everything well this is impolite at the very least and such are against on behalf of enlightened europe is absolutely inappropriate and unacceptable and then at some point the conversation began to resemble a different kind of game in which it seemed the ultimate goal was to convince everyone that a your opponent is more brutal in its violent police crackdown of protests it is fair to say though that this was encouraged by the questions from journalists mr

lover of sound he would send you videos of tough police crackdown such protests and you meant didn't menage to watch them and did it change of us to whether the e.u. has a moral right to criticize russia for police action during demonstrations for sure the excessive use of force. it's not only russia that happens. and when this happened in a country where did i draw from all that is due to the sri who has to intervene and these cases can be brought to justice and if there isn't an excessive growth force that his way of putting things in order after friday's events you might want to ask have we really seen much progress in rebuilding trust between the e.u. countries and russia it doesn't look like it the issue of covert vaccines was also raised at the meeting between the 2 top diplomats you're super roddick's 1st hoped russia's support like we could get fast track approval within the block and now i

am hoping that you would be in a medical agency will be able to certify the efficiency of the vaccine you know that will be useful szell into being union the state will be a good new because as you know we are facing a shortage of vaccine well in the middle east the interest in the russian vaccine is increasing daily with lebanon becoming the latest country to approve the jab in while iran has received its 1st batch of sport with a shipment arriving in toronto friday the country has been the hardest hit in the region by the pandemic. a will of the levites 500000 doses of the world's 1st coronavirus vaccine sputnik has arrived in iran the country's health ministry expects to receive more by the end of this month medical personnel they'll do and the most vulnerable will be the 1st in line to be inoculated the vaccine program is

getting underway as iran marks yes another under verse 3 of these limit revolution the sputnik the vaccine proved its efficacy which stands at 91 point one percent according to the lancet scientific magazine in russia there have been no reports of severe side effects after sputnik v so far iran has placed an order of 5000000 doses. the russian iran joint agreement on sputnik v supplies also sets out its joint production on the seeking to diversify its suppliers and at the end of december it completed its 1st clinical trials of a locally produced job and pledged to roll it out by the beginning of april the authorities are aiming to secure 2000000 more doses from russia china and india by the middle of march the health ministry is actively working on procuring 4000000 doses from astra zeneca this steps have been taken despite a ban announced by iran's supreme leader on important american and british vaccines . we are in need of at least $6000000.00 of those snored to get $30000000.00 of our

people inoculated it will require a year until herd immunity develops we consider the russian vaccine an additional option to or vaccine supply to rand's getting the russian vaccine and trying to secure other jobs despite crippling u.s. sanctions and amid public demands to provide the population with a safe vaccine meanwhile iranian health officials have raised the alarm about a new wave of the pandemic which may be even more severe the arrival of the russian vaccine has been seen as a glimmer of hope for an end to the pandemic and joost hardships facing the country . there's been a major twist in the case of british teenager harry dunn who was killed in a road accident involving the u.s. woman in 2019 as the killers fled britain claiming diplomatic immunity yes she's married to a diplomat over u.s. courts has heard she was working for american intelligence at the time of the

incident that means she might not have been immune from prosecution she had it was that has this report. what it's been a year and a half since harry lost his life and the family are still seeking justice but it comes as the latest revelation which could be a potential game changer in the entire narrative is that it's emerged that unsecured us the woman who has been accused of killing her dunn is allegedly working for the u.s. intelligence at the time of his death now it is potentially a vital piece of information and potentially alters the fundamental principles of her rights of claiming diplomatic community at the time of her redone stuff she did indeed came diplomatic immunity she fled to the united states and was they to charge by death by dangerous driving then of an extradition request to face the justice system here in the united kingdom but that was refused all of that was on the basis that she had no specific role in britain so now it has emerged that she was working for the u.s. intelligence and that would therefore put into question her rights to diplomatic

immunity it is indeed a huge step towards justice for her a done on his family because harry downs mother charlotte dunn has long been fighting tooth and nail to get to that. tell you all poorly you look at him to get injustice when he's laying in the. life left in literally every bone in his body. every organ damage to the point we couldn't even do all condonation. someone has to be held responsible for that nobody in this world should be able to take a life away now a court in virginia has heard that her work was especially a factor in her leaving the united kingdom but granting diplomatic immunity was controversial from the very beginning it was extraordinary and it was a loophole between the legislation between the 2 countries which has now been rectified and that loophole has now been closed up between the united kingdom and

the united states but in light of this new information all of us working for the united states intelligence the family are now calling for an investigation but the whole issue of diplomatic immunity in the 1st place has always been questioned i would team key see a lawyer is always very very clear right from the off that she never had immunity at the time the crash but what does retrospective revelation mean today well there's certainly now more of a case to be answered for and indeed there is the entire premise of diplomatic immunity out of the window however the family were really hoping that president joe biden would allow for the extradition of bounce a curious that was a decision that was final according to president trump and has been reaffirmed by president joe biden as well regardless though the case has been adjourned until february the 17th but the latest information from and secured us and her legal team is that she is currently apologetic and indeed she accepts responsibility for the

accident but she feels she would not face a fair trial here in the united kingdom having said all of this this latest information that she was working for u.s. intelligence really could be the final piece of the puzzle in the case for justice a lawyer for her is for what he told us extradition is always some more a political decision a legal one. it was an astonishing revelation on wednesday night from mr couper this is own lawyer in open court and we were completely taken up. and i have to say it's really one settled the parents don't get robbed must come forward and explain what he knew about mr suit who this is employment status and when he found out of that it's very important we need to find out some more information about her status and how it might affect her diplomatic community and we're hopeful that the government will step forward and give us those answers as soon as possible

extradition is always a political decision rather than a legal one if the united states simply refused to extradite her there is nothing anybody can do for me this whole diplomatic community issue as it is is irrelevant because this is not what it's to be used for. you case facing widening policy problem with many grappling with increased hardship because of the pandemic charities and food banks suffer for that a surge in demand as kate partridge reports. coronavirus pandemic could push the amount of people living in poverty in the u.k. to more than 15000000 almost a quarter of the population since then the u.k. seen another surge in infections and deaths in the financial provisions of looked down with more people relying on food banks like this one in east london which last september used to provide 20 food parcels a day and now provides over 83rd as things have happened which made the our numbers of quantity poured so we had a lot of stray homeless people taken off the streets put in the hotels on the line

wrong for dr why we're situated and sorry day that's about 40 or 50 of them that come in and we help them there are more than 2100 food banks in the u.k. of which 1200 a run by the soulsby based charity the trussell trust it's seen at almost 50 percent increase in demand during the pandemic with nearly half of those relying on food parcels being children the body downs community association in east london helped $4000.00 people between april and june last year compared with 622 in the previous 3 months the beaumont lease food bank in leicester saw numbers increase from 40 families before the pandemic to 500 a week since march the new start spewed bank in the wish to shutout of bronze groves said demand had risen by 700 percent over the same period and the dog more community kitchen hob in devon said that of the 130 people died helped since march

only 20 had previously needed charity food aid people who are now rely on food banks come from all walks of life one volunteers said she was left in tears when just before christmas she'd given a food parcel to an n.h.s. nurse a group called the people's army set up a food bank at the angel church in north london and the pastor in charge regan king says the demand from people who were previously vulnerable is striking we have a range of people who come to us we have families with young children all the way up into their teens. and we have people who previously had never used a food bank before they have used this service and we have people who have never really had to depend on anyone much less a church for help and sustenance who have come through the doors and that's in addition to the normal need to fix their butts with the emergence of the u.k. of more transmissible variants of coronavirus some food banks have had to focus

their work on deliveries one charity leader wrote to the prime minister warning him that if the government doesn't act the food banks on which many thousands of people now rely might have to close their doors we have very concerns that the halle can say just new strain of college 19 could put food bank staff volunteers and the people they support at increased risk of infection and that self isolates and measures may involve the reduction in service of closure of food banks. and is not just charity workers who are writing to boris johnson one of the nation senior food policy experts has criticised the government for failing to provide its citizens with nutritious food security in response the government said the system is working we continue to work closely with the food industry who are well prepared to ensure people across the country have the food and supplies they need but an almost 50 percent increase in the demand for food banks during a pandemic that puts their existence in jeopardy could ultimately see the

government forced to maintain a charity sector that's been sustaining the population kate partridge r.t. london there are similar problems on the island of new york where people have been lining up for free food provided by a local convent its head said those in need had increased markedly since the outbreak at least 300 people are said to show up daily. in his 1st major foreign policy speech joe biden budged diplomacy is back and now that he's in the white house though his sentiment see with all this with his statements on russia story coming up right after the break. join me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest on the world of politics or business i'm show business i'll see you then.

welcome back to the program joe biden has delivered his 1st major foreign policy speech since taking office he repeatedly stated the line diplomacy is back but the new u.s. president seemed anything but diplomatic when it came to russia. has more biden's 1st big foreign policy address sent a clear message that america 1st policy is out and diplomacy 1st is in but it seems like for the new president diplomacy means picking a fight with russia before the end of his 1st 2 months in office i made it clear to president putin in a manner very different from my predecessor that the days of the united states rolling over in the face of russia's aggressive actions interfering with our election and cyber attacks poisoning its citizens are over we will not hesitate

to raise the cost on russia and defend our vital interest on our people. these accusations are nothing new really we've heard many of them from the trumpet ministration the obama administration we've also never seen any corrupt conclusive evidence to corroborate these claims but at this point it seems like russia's approach probably used to it in general it's all quite predictable the strategic guidelines are still the same and they still alarming it's a matter of interpretation russia has no malicious intent and does not plan to violate its obligations unless they thought up specifically for the next round of sanctions in other words if the white house wants to see another intervention cyber attack threat to american interests in any corner of the planet it will do even if we do nothing at all if it doesn't want to the space for dialogue is open the choice is with the americans sure biden my biden's administration might be beating the dead horse of anti russian rhetoric but his comments did come alongside a number of 180 degree turns away from the previous administration's policies like

for example reversing trump's decision to withdraw u.s. troops from germany and being support 'd for saudi arabia's military conflict in yemen and also making l.g.b. t.q. politics and integral part of u.s. foreign policy all goals that the biden white house has made clear that it believes will bring america back america is back to plumb has seen is back at the center of our foreign policy as i said of mine are going to address we will repair our alliances in gage's with the world once again not to meet yesterday's challenges but today's and tomorrow's. after hearing that statement though the question you've got to ask is back to what if we're talking about the obama administration for example that means the time of drone strikes on independent nations a time of poor relations with russia and even the heyday of the islamic state as the former secretary of state mike pompei o pointed out back as the mean back to when isis controlled a caliphate in syria that was the size of britain i don't think the american people

can afford to go back to 8 more years of barack obama's foreign policy so we've got a new administration in the white house but a lot of new policies that hearken back to the obama days so for washington's foreign policy stance on russia that's probably going to mean another 4 years of the same old story. meanwhile the senate is monologues amount of power his candidacy for head of the u.s. agency for international development she's biden's pick for the prestigious role powers served as america's ambassador to the u.n. during the obama era she pushed through several big diplomatic initiatives and is on a valued within the democratic party for peacemaking efforts diplomacy 1st approach seems to fall to somewhat when it comes to dealing with russia for years we have seen russia take one aggressive and destabilizing action after another are you truly incapable of shame is there literally nothing that can shame you

russia really needs to stop the cheap point scoring and the grandstanding and the stunts. and focus on what matters. research fellow at the global policy institute of london dr george someway believes biden is heading down a well trodden democratic path with his choice of some of the policy. samantha power is most famous for being an apostle of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention is and that's how she became famous it's all about hectoring lecturing interfering and intervening in the internal affairs of other countries so that's the biden foreign policy and it's really consistent with democratic administrations foreign policy is in the past and i think that's the reason why. the idea doesn't actually do any. 8 international aid for anybody it's there to buy

trays in other countries and others contraries of people who are beholden to the united states in preparation for the ultimate regime change operation so it's not not about helping anyone other than selecting groups of people who will then be working for the u.s. government and i think for that purpose she probably is where the good. is was a world leading mass vaccination program israel has voted to extend the national lockdown until sunday a decision was made just hours before the measure was use to expire for compliance with restrictions including among the ultra orthodox community has shown a top class job program isn't enough to beat the pandemic on its own israel's death toll from the virus passed the 5000 mark today falsely reports from jerusalem. they shouting at us that we know are already here and it will provoke you

a situation where we're not far from the heartbeat of the ultra orthodox community here in jerusalem now we were forced out of play with people shouting at us this community is at the same time of of rao over a lockdown measure has recently thousands of ultra-orthodox mourners many of them without mosques took to the streets to attend the funerals of 2 rabbis it caused an outcry in israel and of wasn't the 1st time as the country struggles to deal with its handling of the koran a virus the society is becoming more and more divided many people in jerusalem do not support the behavior of the ultra-orthodox neighbors i don't know exactly the statistics about the ultra dark or for the fury but i do know that under 65 the statistics says that one out of every 10000 people died for us that's a very very small number i actually think that the bigger problem is the fact that the government over there is. making it convincing everyone to take this vaccine

that no one has any ideas about and no one understands it was a term side effects about. them i think anyone who doesn't put on a mask is like a murderer it is against all the rules of the rabbi the rabbis are against him these are the people who don't have communication they don't have television and they simply don't know what this disease is they don't believe it they don't blame the croon a virus the blame the hospitals you can't understand it the level that people can believe conspiracy theories israeli government has voted to extend the contract down until friday it's double fines and it's keeping the airport shut it's becoming increasingly to me for the police to contralto those who refuse to have hit measures we requested a comment from the police but they declined to comment at the same time the. ultra-orthodox community says it's feeling persecuted you come up with the hatred

doesn't lead to anything good in the world there are a few rabbis who think i don't belong to them they think the coronavirus is imaginary this is what they think this blow from having the lockdown is god giving us clues he's hinting to us that we have to fix something while there are calls for israel to be divided into different covert 19 news zones the country's prime minister says the lockdown rules apply to everyone regardless of their religion the ultra orthodox community comprises some 15 percent of the population but according to the health ministry it also represents more than 55 percent of coronavirus cases the latest word from the government is that the current nationwide lockdown may not be israel's last policy r.t. jerusalem. the phones and political commentator i mean our own believes benjamin netanyahu is treading a fine political line. well you are asking. retinal

question but it is directed at people who may not believe in restaurants by the very fact that they're all for all of the docs they. had gotten believe their spiritual leaders they don't care about the country the government the rule of law and netanyahu is not dependent on the politics representing our d.c. very dear mourners these very drugs for the survival of its date these engage mean and throw their support for anyone else is spinach and if it is spanish politically he's legal situation because he's now standing trial for corruption would be 1 much worse so he's now on a whole sort of a dilemma if he does not enforce the coronavirus regulations properly and it will be. secular voters will turn against him but if he does the all

pro looks policies will turn against him and it appears that he will not manage to do both at the same time for the next month or so. major tech firms in the u.s. are leading that he feel he has leading come russian all figures prepared to take on the new aids giants fog of war and boom bust the team and i are back and often our latest join us again that. secret prisons are not usually what comes to mind when thinking about europe however even the most prosperous can be deceived we've been desirous on the way to view our houses were our prison was located and the only people had

access to the story for investigators sure how they uncovered the darkest dealings of the secret services but i mean there you go read it nor in. hockey see maybe a sore knee yes or no for. crying for justice on r.t. . is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation or community. are you going the right way or are you being legs. direct. what is true what is faith. in the world corrupted you need to descend.