the prime minister rejects calls. the country's vaccination campaign gets bogged down by politics. also ahead on the program a medical worker for the government offers them a pay rise of just one person. a dream holiday turned into a. cruise ship during a break which resulted in the deaths of. the refused to inform us that there were cases of aboard the ship that they tested positive there was no suspicion. they refused to give us information.

time to delve into the weekend's big stories. to r.t. . the prime minister of slovakia defended his decision to acquire russia. coronavirus vaccine he's faced a wave of criticism after the country received its 1st delivery of the job earlier my colleagues. went through the story. over the past year we've heard time and time again that unity is needed in the fight against the coronavirus when it comes to vaccines though it seems that our unity falls apart while political shenanigans begin his purchase of russia sputnik seem the latest of around 40 countries globally to do so has made very clear because the prime minister was forced to defend his decision to critics spoke out saying they want to refund the sputnik

vaccine will not go back to russia it will save lives in slovakia i would never give it up our country is a fundamental part of the european union but i cannot turn down a quality vaccine that will save our people because it's made in russia i'm not a murderer so why did the scenes all the sputnik the flying out for most go to the east of here on monday bring about such backlash well the russian vaccine has not been registered by the european union that the approval process is in fact just beginning but as prime minister said he cannot in good conscience allow himself to stand by and wait for red tape to be cut while his citizens are dying so widespread then is this criticism is it a couple of voices or z. really facing some sort of you know substantial revote here while the purchase of those 2000000 jobs has really put the suboxone government in disarray so 2 of the 4 parties who make up the ruling coalition have spoken out one in fact has proposed

a reshuffle of the entire cabinet the other side might even leave the coalition meanwhile the foreign minister foreign affairs minister very diplomatically clad sputnik the is not just a frank scene but quote a tool of hybrid war so it puts people to titian's who are supposed to put the welfare of best citizens of what else are here 5 miles thing in trying to send back a vaccine that could save thousands of lives fritz paused looking at will this play . to call in fighting said ok we'll take the vaccines back and we won't even ask for the compensation as per the contract and this is something that the slovakian pm actually wrote about specifically how it expose the hypocrisy of his critics they have been seeing hybrid war jew political russian weapons all kinds of nonsense that we should be ashamed off when the russians came and offered to take the vaccine back with no repercussions everyone suddenly became quiet why couldn't

the prime minister choose to talk to vice scene that had been approved by the e.u. why he decided to take this route. and of course then we've seen. while it's no secret tool that the european union is failing in its task of vaccinating its 450000000 strong population its production is slow its rollout is even slow it's been such a p.r. and health disaster that brussels was even forced to publicly apologize so frustration desperation pushing sutton even member states to look beyond the block for help and they're looking to russia so hungry has registered sputnik the slovakia to now. sound merino so after it's easy to prove vaccines delayed there are rumors that the czech republic an all star also next in line so pretty appetite is growing as is a lack of faith in brussels as food brussels and the e.u.

which is obviously all about being a single cohesive union where everything is centralized all these individual member states splintering off and breaking ranks is actually quite humiliating and in a sign that it doesn't even really have faith in its own ability to handle this crisis on friday a spokesperson said that countries can independently acquire jobs approved by the block or not whether they're from russia from china or wherever else so we're clearly seeing his shift within the e.u. member states starting to lose faith and confidence splintering from the union when it comes to vaccines and this latest saga in slovakia showing as we've seen from the very beginning not even vaccines in the middle of a global pandemic are immune from being politicized. meanwhile inside the president of venezuela nicolas maduro and 1st lady selina flores been inoculated with their 1st dose of sputnik v. the inaugural 100000 shots arrived in the country last month were given to the most

vulnerable sectors and health personal footage of the presidential couple receiving the russian job was broadcast on state television where. a kick in the teeth that's what the british medical association called the government's proposed one percent pay rise for health kirra workers unions say it is the value of those who quote kept the country alive during the covert crisis despite the u.k.'s national health service set to receive an extra $500000000.00 pounds per year on or the deal it would still likely result in a real term pay cut for stuff as inflation in the u.k. is predicted to reach 1.5 percent this year it comes despite the government's repeated pledges of rewarding from. our n.h.s. is the b. team heart of this country but it is important that we support our really just want

to see our fantastic frontline workers paid properly we absolutely want to. reward n.h.s. staff for what they've done i will be making sure that we fight to have that fair reward i mean i guess the government would have to prioritize and i think nurses and the n.h.s. in general is something that we should prioritize at this moment and i do think they should probably receive more than one percent but it's a symbolic one percent you know but what's that's not going to have any impact on the it just feels like a very it's like a very weak offer from the government it's not right you know there's always companies that made so much money off the back of the number of those who've been in the middle of it haven't done so well and jess is critically underfunded and you know the government can afford lots of other things you look at all the contracts they've been given to their friends leading british nurses union has set up

a fund to prepare for possible strikes over the deal labor party leader cure starmer has also dismissed the proposal saying quote coburn here it was deserved better support but the british health secretary has defended the offer calling it affordable given coverts devastating impact on a commies well we got the opinions all day you can't think tank firstly a nurse on the issue. well not least because one can say as nor as he got his consent or nothing that nazis have done and in each case for us in general for this country gent in the course of the pandemic we've already had 10 years of my stay to tea and ask loizeaux nor me i think you can imagine any 18 staff are anti the demoralized the tango and the saying they've lost some government last night we had at least a small band of all that asked our government and clout for his heavy card to contest budget the may actually show. we are and the appreciation for his and

unfortunately that was a missed opportunity for the government i think it's fairly understandable that public servants who are doing a really difficult job or a really difficult time would feel that they ought to be rewarded more fair in the u.k. he's a wealthy variation if we divided our resources fairly i think there'd be a lot more that you know would be ample sco for low paid workers and critical work as such the system gets a. more substantial pay rise it's not hard to find examples of how better more competent. government administration or a fairer taxation system could find the money to give the nurses who have been literally saving lives keeping the country running through this period of a more generous offer. ok let's cross the atlantic from there now where u.s.

capitol police have requested about more than 2000 national guard troops to remain in washington d.c. for another 2 months and with tensions remaining holy after the january riots police authorities let me dia seem intent on finding threats even when the evidence doesn't always lead their killer martin explained. it is no exaggeration to say that there was serious panic in the lead up to march 4th a new threat against the u.s. capitol a possible militia plot to storm the capitol as early as tomorrow we are watching this threat stream the information social media other sources with respect to this particular day march 4th federal law enforcement is on full alert after warnings from intelligence officials that another attack on the u.s. capitol could be a minute preparations were serious hundreds of national guard patrolling the area capitol police released a statement on wednesday warning possible plot to breach the capitol by an

unidentified militia group a local businesses have warned tenants about possible protests you might have gotten the impression watching me to your reports that u.s. officials were bracing for the purge as citizens rushed to get home before commencement. we advise you to get off the streets as quickly as possible it will soon be a war there. so what happened when the fateful day finally arrived nothing what does it take to put the u.s. government on edge apparently just some lame internet rumors it all started with q. and a on conspiracy theorists on the internet they said that the inauguration of joe biden was a big false flag and that the pentagon was planning to install donald trump on march 4th the original inauguration date in u.s. history well obviously that did not happen now the main conspiracy theory of cuban on is the idea that a group of satanic blood drinking pedophiles have seized control of the u.s. government and media apparatus and that donald trump and his allies are waging

a heroic covert war against them behind the scenes some of blame donald trump for not denouncing the militia groups and cuban on conspiracy theorists who rally behind him you know the president has a responsibility to tell him to stay down this road. is credible it's real human on conspiracy theories and delusions aside joe biden won the election he has been inaugurated so why is the country still on edge and blaming the former president there were no violent actions or big protests on march 4th but law enforcement was on high alert the whole thing was taken very very seriously the department continues to work with all of them. and is based on the intelligence that we have the department has taken immediate steps to enhance our security posture and stuffing for a number of days to include much the fool the u.s. house of representatives even canceled their meeting later nancy pelosi insisted

that the meeting was not cancelled just moved to an earlier time if in fact there's any troublemakers around and it makes sense. i don't think anybody should take any encouragement that because some troublemakers might show up and that we change the whole schedule now we just moved in a few hours there's now a call to extend the national guard presence around the u.s. capitol just in case internet liberals have decided that a secret nazi conspiracy has taken over the republican party their proof the shape of the stage at sea-tac apocalyptic scenarios are now starting to become a regular aspect of american political discourse and i actually have a lot of conservative friends and a lot of populous conservative friends and a lot of trump supporters. and none of the had talked about this until the mainstream you brought it up rumors only cause panic if the rumors are given

air by the right you know media i just think it's a justification to not put this in a position where they have to actually face the failures that they've had through almost a month and a half of the people were talking about a $2000.00 check that's what they would. where they're. don't want to hear about that where the money we're in the health care you know what's going on in our economy right now you know those are the things we don't see anyone once again holding biden accountable in the same way that we expected to be unaccountable i promise you nobody going to the capitol. the day the media's been claiming this blood drinking satanic pedophiles secret cryptic nazi symbols false flag inaugurations all of this would make a great hollywood movie or a netflix mini series but in the real world america seems to have some pretty big

problems like crumbling infrastructure unpopular wars and cultural polarization however our political discourse seems to be stuck in fantasyland. artsy new york meanwhile coverage of donald trump's high profile return to the media spotlight the conservative political action conference has been rapidly disappearing from you tube sensibly for making false claims about last year's election results now on his podcast are to spend swallow us the selection of guests for their take on the. governments and the public really have lost control of of what's going on online it gets to a real scary place when every discussion has to be managed by so who knows when in fact we need to actually have a broader discussion it's a fine line between. protecting and censoring and creating a bunch of members of society who can't have critical conversation of the future

because they're afraid and not only might they be cancelled just from from existing online or in an other ways but their whole life we couldn't infect their lives could be canceled if they if they step too far one way or the other when you're right or in a constitutional republic where free speech in the 1st amendment is protected it's the 1st amendment for a reason it's the most important because all the others don't matter if you can't talk about them for some reason we've just focused all of our aggression on donald trump and not really looked at those larger if you logical institutionalized norms that the united states is is based on what may need trump is so all significant and remember he was discounted in the beginning was that he was able to speak to people who felt like they had not been spoken to without donald trump if this part of the republican party would arguably should have had shrunk. to levels that would never win this state local or national level ever again they should be thinking about

something and a key group is since a faction of the republican party that has not been in power for a very long time. again you see elements of the far right which are predated trumps patisserie patient electorial process are you see the elements of war harks are you see even economic interests which have become secondary what he basically signaled is that he is going to get involved in the 2022 midterm elections and he's paying attention. see who is running it what they are running on and how they are whining and how they are treating people and the maggette agenda with which he won handedly in 2016 for the republican party if they don't come forward with somebody else who they actually are should be advocating for social media to to lighten its approach to donald trump because as you only person that people recognize as representing what republicans want. you're watching r

t international still ahead on the program holiday from hell we hear from a passenger who is trying to tell them that tell me in concrete a ship bring a deadly coal but i break more nuts among our story after the break.

join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to us of the world of politics sports business i'm show business i'll see you then. just coming up to 20 minutes into the program welcome back french authorities are investigating manslaughter allegations against italy's costa cruises after 3 people died following a cold that i break on one of their ships last year that was

a brawl they cost that much of a claim they weren't told about suspected infections and were encouraged in fact by the crew to use the ship's facilities or to charlotte spoke to $1.00 of the passengers. sequoias yes if a cruise was a chance to go with my son who was 5 years old to see a magical world and discover the magic of the caribbean instead it was a nightmare i wondered how i would get out of this hell because if i didn't i was going to die stephanie dubois was one of thousands of holiday makers aboard the cost a magical last year when the covert pandemic hit for her and her then 5 year old son it was supposed to be a dream voyage instead passengers found themselves trapped aboard with little information or what was happening as the virus spread through the ship. they refused to inform us that there were cases of covert aboard the ship that they had tested positive there was no suspicion but indeed there were ill people they

refused to give us information and we got it from the media when we were near the coast and could get a signal they concealed it from us and they didn't let us protect ourselves they didn't protect us either health wise they didn't treat us very well and not at all humanely but also the void had to put in place barrier measures which could have protected us and did you ask koester what measures they were putting in place to ensure that your health was the priority. attention increased very quickly we were in a state of tension and anguish which i just can't describe finally after a few days this virus spread strongly we asked them to cut the air conditioning and they refused we demanded that they open all the restaurants and all those outside so that people could escape the crews as soon as possible to avoid gatherings they refused to put in place all these measures the cruise ship was refused permission for passengers to disembark at several ports including only island of lotsa nique

now these images show this situation off to the islands authority told passengers that they had to stay confined to the cabins tensions were high violence erupted. i was was was. was was. was was was a year later and french investigators approving allegations including mom saw to aggravated to seat and in danger in the lives of others against italy's costa cruises over her mental could be going team cases aboard that ship 3 passengers don't lead from the virus the company denies the accusations saying that it and the crew acted on the scant information that was available about the forests the toyman considering that at that time the situation was

a valving rapidly and the ship's medical team acted on the basis of the vailable scientific information and full compliance with the instructions of the health authorities and in constant coordination with them but the lawyer who represents almost knowing 100 passengers in the complaint filed in france told r.t. that that's not the case and you can see there was no more hand sanitizer it was replaced by water very clearly or it was either totally empty or didn't exist no security or health measures there were 3 restaurants on board the shuttle 2 there was only one open and there were 2300 passengers who came for lunch breakfast and dinner one after the other without health measures and he claims that the company was fully aware before setting sail that there were troubled waters ahead even loyal to holiday makers he said that they had questioned whether there would be a tally in passengers on board as at that time italy had become the latest hub for

the virus costing he says assured them there would be no italians on board he said me they knew a week in advance that the cruise could not last so yes it's true it was a strain. situation near the start or just a little in advance of the pandemic hence the concern of the french passengers to know if there were any italian passengers at this time it was a european country hit hard by covert and they wrote we have the emails and letters from costa which say no there will be no italian passengers yes they lied and they should have cancelled this cruise because they knew what could happen the passengers who have brought these complaints now have to wait to see if they will be taken to stephanie it's already been a long and tough journey but she's determined that costa cruises should be held responsible so it's even ski azzi real. story interesting

a lot of people this week denmark has stripped almost 100 syrian refugees of their residency permits saying they should return home know that major parts of the country including the capital damascus are considered safe it is the 1st european nation to make such and we have made it clear to the syrian refugees that their residence but on the distemper it can be withdrawn that protection is no longer needed the government ses the 94 migrants will be sent to danish deportation camps but won't be forced to leave from there in the hope they'll want to go back to syria of their own accord the move is part of the ruling party's aim to have 0 asylum seekers applying for residency human rights groups have lashed out at the move saying it goes against people's rights to be protected from persecution though we've got the thoughts on this from hello buckman and as a member of the alternative for germany party there's. no perspective

in denmark. in my decide to go back to stay really are. a subject i think it is. important to distinguish different groups there are no dual syrians who fled from the assad regime they probably don't want to go back to the audience who fled from his and for democrats be an option and that might be also an option for dogs who would simply fled from the us who are because they were afraid of their life because. this. war has angered now and it's australia might be safe enough for them to go back have to deal with the government which is still in charge in syria even if. they have related human rights if they want to send syrians back there you have to do you

believe the syrian government because of out the agreement of the syrian government . pursued his policy if you're in the mood to take a little deeper into any of this our stories cal i recommend r.t. dot com as a solid starting point always fresh content being there to see saw. but china after being.

in the early ninety's. just proposed to the. experiment. 2 boys experiment was a. group . over 30 years many children. to raise. the. whole group. through the roof. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy.

hearing dramatic development only. exist. will be very. welcome to redacted and this is a comedy show we're americans in a. america covering american news are called foreign agents take a moment and picture something with me picture yourself living in a small village maybe on an island with good fishing sunny days and coconut have cover nets and madge and there are only about a 100 people in that village now imagine 2 of those people don't have shelter nowhere to get inside nowhere to be safe and secure no one to do their business so to speak and by that i mean check email do you think the village would help them

do you think you and your fellow coconut people would make sure those 2 villages aren't live in miserable lives sleeping on an ant hill in the rain now imagine on top of that there are 7 empty hives with no one living in them no one at all call me crazy but i think you might just maybe give the huntley's people one of the empty hots and fact if you didn't use maniacs so the question is if we understand that behavior morally asked to call as human beings as interacting human beings if we understand it when we're in the atmosphere of the small village why do we allow the complete opposite to go on around us all of the time why do we allow the united states of america to be the most rap.