someone. in the day's headlines san marino becomes the latest european country to start vaccinating its citizens with russia's sputnik shop after supplies allays of the e.u. approved jobs the country's labor minister explained why they went to moscow for help. independent states even within the territory of the european union we have the right to make independent decisions. also this hour the french government is facing flak over its coded an occupation programme after it's revealed hundreds of millions of euros were handed to controversial foreign consultants. divisions deep in armenia where the president rejects the prime minister's controversial order to sack the country's armed forces chief that's ascribes demand that the pm quit. and the b.b.c.

reveals plans to reverse the dominance of american cartoons something extremely ambitious targets to get children watching more british based culture. you're watching arts international coming to you live from the russian capital this and every hour welcome to the program. san marino has begun vaccinating its population with russia's sputniks job after the liveries of approved alternatives failed to arrive microstates surrounded by italy isn't a member so it was excluded from the blocks deals with pharmaceutical giant however it may go she added getting a tiny portion of each delivery to italy but there have been delays to those the medical director at sun marina state hospital said there have been no concerns about using the russian vaccine. the fuck we chose the sputnik vaccine because

there is an agreement between us and italy through the european union for the supply of madonna and pfizer vaccines that unfortunately are delayed at the moment therefore given the excellent diplomatic relations with russia we have chosen to get the sputnik the vaccine faster we saw some excellent reviews from renowned international medical journals like the land set or the spawn sanny in rome that have already tested the quality of this vaccine san marino hopes to use the russian vaccine around 15 percent of its population labor minister explained why they turn to moscow for help. in independence day even within the territory of italy and the european union we have the right to make independent decisions and have excellent relations both with members and countries outside borders at the moment europe showing an increased interest in the sputnik vaccine and we've reached out instead of staying only inside the e.u.

markets we acted in the interests of our own citizens and i'm sure that over time more states will draw conclusions and make similar decisions for a part we have complete confidence in the russian vaccine we can see that technical administrative and bureaucratic this is taken with regard to the production and distribution of certain products significantly slow down the approval process in different countries so we think these processes should be excel aerated due to the critical circumstances in the e.u. we simply did not have a vaccine and we had to make a choice. comes a certain e.u. states also step up talks to get the sputnik shot after in chancellor sebastian kers has spoken was lattimer put in about getting supplies as soon as the european medicines agency approves the vaccine we spoke to one austrian biologist about how the scientific community is approaching use of the russian jap. albert. i think that the lancet publication shows that sputnik the is a high quality vaccine we have promising data of 91 percent effectiveness which is

high demonstrates this this is a vector based vaccine which means it is injected using a virus into our immune system to form immunity the difference between the other vector vaccine since it would make v. is that it uses 2 different viral vectors and this is important as in some cases the immune system can create antibodies to the vector making the 2nd jab less effective. the has 2 different safe viruses it makes the back scene more effective . or france has suffered its worst week in the pandemic since november of last year reporting more than 25000 new cases on friday and m.p.'s want to know why foreign consultants with deep ties to present mccrone are pocketing huge contracts for a vaccine rollout plagued by delays and failures charlotte n.c. reports. as the vaccine rollout in france gains ground questions being asked about

the role of private companies and consulting firms involved they said to be playing a major role in the strategy which to many has been a major disaster several companies were hired by the french government between them they have signed contracts with millions and millions of euros the lion's share went to american food and making easy the lucrative contracts signed with mckinsey and not initially disclosed to the public was supposed to help ensure vaccine doses could be transported across france work you might think is perfectly suited to france's loss network of civil servants so the fact that it's been contracted out to us firm is that many with a bitter taste in their mouths. in government as in our hospitals consulting firm serve policing public administration that astronomical cost why such contempt for civil servants what an admission of an effectiveness and helplessness and how whole state apparatus what is it for absolutely amazing what is mckinsey doing

there we have a ministry of health the ministry of the interior and the ministry of defense that know how to manage crises if we know how to mobilize them this is decay of the state. mackenzie appears to be a particularly poisoned chalice the firm recently agreed to pay more than half a $1000000000.00 to settle lawsuits brought by u.s. states it was accused of fueling the opioid epidemic for its work bursting with sales of oxycontin a painkiller not a squeaky clean reputation for a firm helping the vaccine roll out. it's a big scam yes for me it's a scam i don't have much to say personally but it's a scam and i'm not really surprised after all it's the government so it is bizarre it's not spoken about in the newspapers here you've spoken about it and we don't talk about it on television or in the newspapers the things that are said in our

country but it can mean nothing but in another country it's a scandal what can we do here in front of you know governments hiring consultancy firms. uncommon these days but what has surprised me is just how quickly this appears to be accelerating calls government to sign some 575 contracts with consultancy firm since october 28th covering everything from economic recovery to. public sector perils of big business to be there for around 10 percent of their overall profits so how do people feel. especially since there was a call for tenders all of that was it for the french firms to the north because i don't understand why would it be a group that would benefit from that's

a bad story you just told me something actually i trust the government listen listen. i think these are things to deserve to be thought about we do need a private company to think about how we do transportation we still have the french railways. on getting business. we could use the move wisely more courage to do more fronts 1st you don't know for example if he doesn't give enough to front we give the impression that mccrone is no longer the president he does not the french government has played down the role played by groups like mckinsey consultancy firms have been used for several years by multiple governments when the elaborate and implement big projects require logistical support and advice from what really got people angry here is just how close the consultancy firms like mckinsey are to president micro and with toys going back many years and with such sums lining the pockets of a private american consultancy firm at the same time when the economy is being laid

low by the pandemic many are now asking questions so much even ski aussie. armenia's president is refusing to approve a controversial order to sack the country's armed forces chief and i said the document back to the under-fire prime minister it comes as huge opposition rallies are under way with crowds calling for the pm to quit we cannot cross live to r.t. is constantly in russia right at the heart of the protests for us today constantine what does this mean for armenia as a whole. you know the fact that the president over media hasn't signed the order to dismiss army's top commander is deemed daisy's small victory for the opposition in the ongoing standoff between the prime minister in the poll question on and the top military command that news was greeted with the wild round of applause from the crowd so for now let's have a listen from the protesters about what they think of the ongoing political crisis

in the country. we've made significant progress it has to create he who betrayed the nation has to leave we've never had such a vile leader who treated us so badly. the old me of the scientific community to all politicians policies everyone is against the. new i think today's a crucial day so many things have already happened and so many things have been disclosed so everyone who's been following pressure now they realized they were misled and will turn away from him he's a lens. he has also reacted to the news saying that the army needs to remain neutral as per mean in law prime minister can still try to fire the out of the general staff again in 5 days the ball is in his court right now at this moment protesters are marching around the city celebrating what they see as

a very important tactical victory as the crowd moves forward some people waving them from their balcony some of them some of the protesters will come back here to camp out overnight in front of the national parliament this is definitely not over as the opposition to pile on ever more pressure on the call question and demanding to step down and you know it seems like the scale of the protest against the country's prime minister is widening similar demonstrators are demonstrations are happening in the border city of and steve panic in. a just when the. pressure from the public will rice and we will eventually make posh union resign we have an unprecedented situation in our country a government that has lost cannot continue to be the government they need to have the courage to think like statesmen enough like adventurers from the streets and to resign. at the time of the 28000 protests people were in

a good state and now everyone is depressed everyone is shocked we've lost the war we've lost thousands of people we've lost territories our prisoners haven't returned so far they're still searching for thousands of people who have gone missing in some. climate it's very hard to do something for a healthy society. the latest round of power struggle in armenia has started after top generals accuse nichol pushing out of being incompetent and called for his resignation he that accused the head of the armed forces of an attempted coup and things began to spiral out of control all in all it's currently a dire situation for the country armenian military and political leaders as well as thousands of people on the streets are revealing whose side they are on in anticipation of a fierce battle for power. artie's constantine risk of reporting live from the armenian capital for us thank you. but to discuss this further we can cross live to

independent journalist martin summers as always you're welcome to the program armenia's president has rejected the p.m.'s order to sack the country's armed forces chief how big of an impact will that how about the situation. well it's a situation that's developing very rapidly and it's quite to some extent so it is who's pulling the strings and where the power really lost that clear in the losing the war the air in the west it was obviously in many circumstances you would expect the political leadership to resign i mean at the beginning it will take for example the chain with the 2 result enough to the british who defeated it nobody can norway and churchill than. you could imagine that there would be somebody has to take the blame it isn't going to be the old forces it's going to have to be the political leadership so there's a bit of a tug of war bill in a way but of course it's also about the future direction of all media is it going to be a lot more with the west or is it going to return to its traditional

a lot of this with russia so that much in the us in the 1st year the situation. is this latest development a sign that the prime minister's authority is slipping away. well it would seem so wouldn't it. president's under normal circumstances would accept the put the prime minister's recommendation to sack generals. overseas not done in the us that suggests that within the political class as it were this is all sorts he has been diminished into the demonstrators on the streets who are not happy with what's going on and the results of the war on our imagine you know whatever changes take place there's going to have to be a big soul searching in all mean year of the general direction of the country 'd was filmed rolled from from the court to here of the general population. this is all been unfolding for quite

a while now and the prime minister seems to be the focus of all the pressure there's so much pressure for him to resign from the protesters who are outside of parliament saying they're not going anywhere until he does resign how do you see this playing out. well i think the writing is on the wall for him really isn't the business it's all to see how he can carry on braving the sights on the obvious solution rather than a military coup is to have an election and see who it is who has the confidence of the people to try and pick up the pieces of the very tricky geopolitical situation the regional media forms itself with and it's always get a very tricky situation because essentially this is rounded ball whole story of powers there was not being there who was there who has been extremely vulnerable the sort of pressure. if a snap election does take place do you think there's any chance of fashion and getting reelected well it's hard to say yes it's true you know i'm sitting here in

bristol i don't really know what the opinions on the ground would be but i should imagine the outcome is likely to be anybody puts. as i was saying earlier this has been unfolding for quite a while this all started taking place back in november was the current situation what we're seeing right now always on the cards. mulling that conflict over mccormack. i think so because you know the balance of power between us and an army was changed quite dramatically since the latino entities on the military basis you know the of the serious forces were much better all the noise that they were lost on using things like drains which of course includes. you know they recaptured a lot of the ground that they lost back in the black in that era because you know. that you know if you don't people with the usual be on the that's what. we've been getting a lot of analysis from independent journalist martin summers thank you for your time and your comments thank you. and other news when it comes to

cartoons the b.b.c. wants children and the u.k. to go for homegrown creations rather than american imports as outlined ambitious plans to reverse the dominance of shows like the simpsons saudi edwards daschle has more. let's face it cartoon say it all of our childhood the simpsons tom and jerry rug rats the looney tunes you name it with full respect far too many hours glued to the t.v. . am. actually doomed according to the director of the b.b.c.'s children's department too many cartoons washed here in britain all while not british but i think we can do to set our characters in the british setting or at least european when i'm talking now i'm saying what about roast beef instead of turkey we should be thinking about all these things children grow up with these cultures why not infuse more of our

culture to drive us to develop homegrown animation series aimed at young says a 7 to 12 but should children be told what to watch in favor of promoting british culture or should kids be left to be kids just kind of shift focus i don't think the british people lack identity because they don't have any call to speak out like that and just running around london right they can step outside make things worse and still chat that they need to be understand which coach or resident have that research for a young age sometimes kids like to hear something that's for me it's all of them at school where it's time it's not going to be really makes any difference so it's good to keep it to them to see the cultures but i don't think it's very depends on the country comes around they kind of watch it every couple so it's pretty scary really obviously as broad as possible it's going to be the best answer to anything the b.b.c. is even toying with the idea of recreating british versions of the world's most popular cartoons imagine if we could have a version of the seams as for children and families in the u.k.

it would be amazing. but it's not even possible it's come up with new things i think i'm kind of the age of remakes deceived on a lot and i've had enough of. so i got my new stuff and new stories to tower and i think we've been through enough this year tonight as news stories that could probably come up but i would say that yeah would be great to see that like medium come to the u.k. and be more like british and that type of humor i don't know if that would go abroad if he could change it seems pretty well maybe the b.b.c. is on to something here off to rule the have been huge successes like peppa pig in fact it was so popular that kids across the atlantic were hit with the pepper effect and began imitating british accents it's all the 1st time the foreign cartoons have come under fire a few years ago critics lashed out at a russian cartoon musher in the back accusing of having a ball sinister side being wait for it

a propaganda tool. kinds of. things . but it really is something here the cartoons are really used to indoctrinate children's minds and promote interests you start the better i guess. if you're my doctor has reportedly denied treatment to an alternative for germany m.p. because of her political views that's according to the a.f.p. a politician herself told r.t. she was shocked when her doctor said he was taking a moral stance. you know they have. to a chronic illness had to visit my family doctor i had been seen for the past 2 years the conversation went relatively well and then my doctor told me that he would like to terminate the health care contract i was horrified and asked him why he replied that he had learned from the media that i was a member of the a.v.

party and that i had been elected to the bundestag from the electoral district so for moral reasons he could no longer continue my treatment then i asked if i fainted now what would you do he replied that then he would have to help me has a medical emergency case and then i said that if he was alone in the room he could just close the door and you're in there sussed ation press only every 10 seconds. the doctor's clinic has not yet responded to our requests for comment over the insurance company involved in the case says it expects patients to get the best possible treatment regardless of their beliefs and the legal ramifications should be looked into it's far from the 1st alleged discrimination case against a team members and 2019 and a half the m.p. was beaten unconscious in the street a year later the party leaders car was torched a study has found alternative for germany suffers the most attacks of any national party including physical and verbal who was refused treatment claims the media has

been ignoring her case. you know i represent the position of the air of d. and i do not adhere to right wing radical views in the a of d. i feel a liberal conservative need so there was no reason to attack me personally or to deny further medical attention i consider this to be absolutely obvious 3 and cannot understand my case was covered by the media unfortunately not local but only alternative media were covering the story i actually sent a statement to the police with my lawyer who filled a complaint with the physicians chambre and i sent a copy to aoki budden rutenberg because this doctor works on the contract with the insurance company according to the rules such actions are pretty but it says he's providing services on the health insurance policy so i decided to fight it and my fight continues. it white employee of an elite liberal arts college in the us state of massachusetts has quit citing

a racially hostile environment 30 shot claims for physical and mental health have been affected in october of last year she began speaking out against smith called as anti-bias training and the video back then she urges the institution to quote stop producing my personhood to a racial category and stop demanding that i admit to white privilege and work on my so-called implicit bias as a condition of my continued employment smith college denies any wrongdoing and a resignation letter jodi shot said the climate change at the college and a culture war erupted following an instant back in 28 i was when a white staff member called campus police on a black student was eating lunch and they close common area this didn't claim she had been racially profiled but the college immediately apologized and put the employee on paid leave for an investigation later found no evidence of discrimination. we're now joined live by jodi shot herself former employee of the

smith college can you tell us a little bit more about your resignation you were citing things such as a racially hostile environment what did you mean by that. an environment in which individual acts of racism are currying and they happen to be occurring against white people in my case white people and also an environment in which i am expected to project stereotypes and assumptions on to others based upon their race and that's asking me to engage in racial prejudice as a continued condition of my employment and that is actually what i am resisting or what i was resisting at the time can you share some concrete examples of this with us. yes so for example. the residence life curriculum i worked in the department of residence life in the residence i've curriculum really is a critical in that teaches students that their identity is actually

a social identity which is made up of immutable characteristics that is their race their gender their ethnicity but usually race that smith race is a big one and it is essentially instruction instruct students to project assumptions on to others based on race so somebody is white then they belong in the oppressor category and if somebody is not white then they are oppressed and marginalized and i find this kind of curriculum really disempowering for students because it's essentially telling them that their skin color is their destiny and it's also setting up this strange dynamic or i would could even call it a toxic dynamic between students of color and white students in which white students of color can only be free if white students confess their oppressor status or their white privilege as they call it. so do you believe that there is an issue when it comes to race when it comes to racial bias against people of color and this

is simply taking things too far. of course that racism exists yes and it's it's a horrible horrible thing but we have now moved from a place where racism is a thing that somebody does to somebody based on their skin color or in other words an action to something that somebody simply is by virtue of the color of their skin and that's really the line that i think it's important for people to know that we're now operating with 2 different dictionaries that smith college believes racism is this invisible force that is everywhere embedded in the institution embedded in all of white people simply by being white are upholding this system of racism as opposed to actual acts of racism in which somebody observable acts where you use reason and logic and evidence to determine whether or not a racist act has occurred so that's that's the big difference and i'm very much

against racism i'm very much a believer in the civil rights act of 1964 and i think right now we are in danger of really. eroding the civil rights act of 64 by and actually making acts of actual racism. making them somehow invisible by claiming that racism is everywhere at all times and there's simply nothing you can do about it and that kind of makes it harder to focus on actual racism in my opinion you've set up a go fund me page to help support yourself you said that you're going to use those funds to help other people who are also helping other people exercise their right to be free from a hostile work environment and you've gotten quite a lot of support online are you worried at all that your case could be used in support of white supremacy. yes the i mean that's always a danger that's always a danger it's very risky and. i would say whenever

a white person speaks out about this kind of thing there inevitably there are people who will label them as white supremacists and that is precisely the problem racism can happen to anybody of any color and we seem to have forgotten that and i think we're headed down a very dangerous road when we say it's ok to discriminate against a certain group of people it's not ok it's not it's never ok and the civil rights act does not make an exception for white people at this point in time we have seen a resurgence of white supremacy in the country itself and frankly across the world are you using your position your attention that is being focused on you right now to still call that out at the same time. i haven't formally called that out but i will say here that i believe that if we continue going in this direction we we will embolden white supremacy if we continue going down the stair action of identity

politics breaking down people into groups based on race and in in a way encouraging them to fight with each other for prefer status because we're not talking about different replying different statuses to people asian people versus black people indian americans like who earns more money who's going to who's getting into college more there's the harvard admissions case encouraging that kind of sentiment is actually the breeding ground for something like white supremacy or supremacy of any racial group really and so that that's part and parcel to my battle it's i'm a i'm i'm against racism and i'm against white supremacy i'm against any kind of supremacy i am for the individual and i am for individual character and judging someone based on the content of their character not the color of their skin it's very simple. are you surprised at all by the way the university has responded to your incident especially given the rise of the b.l.m.

movement and things getting canceled for appearing not in line with today's opinions am i surprised by the college's response is that we're all here is but yes to your specific case. i had really hoped that they would respond differently let's put it that way i i exhausted all of my internal remedies i filed and i 1st started talking to my supervisors then i filed an internal complaint things started getting worse actually after i filed my complaint and then i started writing e-mails to people higher and higher up in the administration and there was very if there was a response it was not adequate and so then i made created the video and when i created my 1st youtube video i it was a good faith effort for me to reach out to the college and ask them to engage with me in an authentic discussion of race the college is very.