summing up our top stories of the last 7 days for you the deputy head of the e.u. admits critical flaws in the blocks vaccine strategy and it's made worse as a group of european states suspended now the use of the astra zeneca job over reports of significant side effects. britain shuts down for brand new covert emergency hospitals built at a cost of half a $1000000000.00 pounds at the same time as public anger is boiling over the mere one percent pay rise offer for frontline health workers. the most is that it pays to around 3 am. and in many hospitals. cost small pocket. elsewhere in the week french performer seizing 3 of the country's 4 national

theater is saying they can survive the pandemic shutdown of cultural sites you go to report for you from one of those occupied. and away from sister channel. in the headlines in the week suing a top german newspaper over espionage claims regarding the russian opposition figures election of l. me. as ever a busy news week the last 7 days so delighted you join me in here for the next half hour i hope as i take you through a recap of it all here courtesy of. first the e.u. commission vice president has admitted the block's covert vaccination strategy is struggling amid a worsening job rollout crisis as a number of european countries now have suspended the use of the astra zeneca this week over reports of blood clots and even death daniel hawkins bourse the story.

what could be more boring than covert surely not the very thing meant to protect you from the virus yet some are worried countries more than just one or 2 of choosing to put vaccinations with astra zeneca is job on hold concerned about potential serious side effects of officially no link has been found denmark was the 1st with norway and iceland following suit the effects snowballed with another half a dozen nations suspending at least one particular batch of $1000000.00 doses the european medicines agency is urging calm giving it a jab at the benefit of the doubt until further notice the position of the european mats and siege and sea safety committee is that the vaccines benefits continue to risks and the vaccine can continue to be administered while investigation of jesus and from one balik advance isn't going. the world health organization is also remaining optimistic after all there's not enough doses to go around with the

oxford jab if the brakes are put on this vaccine that you use targets of 70 percent of facts unaided by summer would look even more distant than today so blood clots are not for now it must remain a part of the plan even if some experts question in the risks people suffering diseases all the time and you need to be sure that where any of beds that you see any effects that you see of the vaccine or not simply because your 1000 a large group of individuals who have other health conditions and so you have to look at it very very carefully and that's why you need to take a bit of a breather and investigate the possibility that the vaccine is it associated with these effects as if this new curveball with concerns over side effects wasn't enough the e.u. remains divided over its vaccine supply system with at least 5 member states submitting a complaint to top e.u. officials and all countries seem to be equal but some more equal than others you

have to hear and from the book i have together with other heads of government shared our information and compared our own statistics on that distribution among e.u. member states and when you do that you notice that their mounts delivered do not correspond to the respective population numbers. but the bizarre words are still contracts but when a member states and pharmaceutical companies are certain have existed according to austria malta for instance would receive 3 times as many of those as per capita as ball garia allegedly because of backroom deals struck between some governments and big pharma the e.u. says it's up to member states that aside on their own vaccine deals unless of course they get the russian vaccine but more on that later the starting point of the commission is to distribute doses based on population that member states can ask for less all more of a particular vaccine in this context and following talks between member states. it's possible that a new distribution plan is agreed with the company the vaccine shortage is

increasingly looking like a drought out of the round $100000000.00 astra zeneca doses supposed to be delivered just $10000000.00 have been received and the e.u. is really losing patience with being labeled the bad guy we see esther's any case delivering below 10 percent of what had been contracted for the 1st quarter we are tired of being the scapegoat it's not surprising some states are looking elsewhere to solve vaccine supply problems slovakia for one recently recording the highest death rate per 1000000 in the world as requested supplies of russia's sport mcvie what is surprising is the reaction is decision caused with the country's health minister forming on his own sword to stop a complete collapse of the government we are an integral part of the year to congress fuse the chance to save our people only because the vaccine is made in russia and i'm not a killer across the border in the czech republic with the world's 2nd highest number of cobra deaths per 1000000 we could see another minister leave his post

this time for opposing the use of the sputnik job with the country's president insisting he won't wait for the e.u.'s approval while lives are lost i would like to say that the 2 biggest obstacles to delivering sputnik the to the czech republic are the minister of health and also the director of the state institute for drug control the 2 i spoke of are to blame for the fact that our people will continue to die unnecessarily the only solution i see is the retirement of both hungary slovakia the czech republic were all convinced by the publication and peer review of data on sport mcvie in the world's top medical journals many weeks ago the e.u. has discouraged any countries from making their own decisions on the vaccines use calling it a russian roulette yet only began their own medical agency's review days ago a process which could take months they say their protein is safety critics say it's politics whatever the truth and effective mass vaccination program still seems

a distant prospect. hawkins' bringing us that will mean time money down the drain is how the u.k. is huge temporary covert hospitals are being described in the week after it was revealed most are now being closed down having treated only a handful of patients it's led to big questions over the government's approach to the pandemic kate partridge then brought us this report. 4 of england's nightingale hospitals are being closed down they've been built at a cost of 500000000 pounds to preempt a surge in the pandemic but the east london venue treated only 54 patients in the 1st wave while others so not all but n.h.s. officials say they served as the nation's safety net since the very early days of the been there make the nightingale hospitals have been on hand as the ultimate insurance policy in case existing hospital capacity was overwhelmed but many

permanent hospitals were already short staffed and unable to release frontline workers to the nightingales the government felt the need to show some. centerpiece that they could share what they look how rapidly we have created one thing it was rules and another which i know managed to create. and once we even even more so i mean there was an element of basically showing of those who are trying to reassure that they were doing things and when when the government starts to do things your way is injury you're going to get the last waste of money because no one asked the question well do we need to really do we need to as it turned out . it also turned out we start them because the main issue was basically stopping not the actual number of plates that were available so the whole thing was just. to go far as i can see why that new year medics in covert

hotspots were days away from having to choose who should be treated and who wouldn't as record coronavirus admissions forced ambulances to wait outside a n.d. and amid the surge n.h.s. workers had to resort to wearing bin bags due to a lack of personal protective equipment some doctors even received p.p.a. which had gone beyond its expiry date over 2 years the u.k. government has also set aside. cash for its much criticised covert 19 track and trace system 37000000000 pounds of taxpayers' money prompting a scathing report from a westminster spending watchdog despite the unimaginable resources throwing at this project testing trace cannot point to a measurable difference to the progress of the pandemic british experience cannot be treated by the government like an a.t.m. machine we need to see a clear plan and costs better controlled in his budget chancellery she soon x. said the government had spent over 280000000000 pounds during the pandemic over

700000 jobs have been lost and the economy has suffered its biggest drop in 300 years but tough questions are now being asked about how chunks of that 280000000000 pounds have been spent and the impact that they've had. for the closures come as the government says it simply cannot afford more than a one percent pay rise for those from workers nurses the launching a petition calling for a 15 percent salary hike which is so far received the support of over half a 1000000 people one nurse explained to us just what a one percent pay rise looks like. to be honest when dissent is quite frankly an insult to us to the profession and to the n.h.s. it's a home for most nurses that equates to around 3 counts of sea week and in many hostile sites across the it costs more than that to park a car to go to work a market top and we are acutely aware of this financial strain that's the present u.k. by the pandemic. we're not saying that we deserve any more than anyone else we're

just saying that we are also deserving of say what we do and i think what we talk about money and what supportable we've just seen 67000000000 used on it in its extra system that we pay for an n.h.s. to house to 50 percent pay rise and it will still be money left in the pot after that we see nearly qualified nurses and student nurses already thinking gosh you know if i come into the right career here we have over 400000 nurses vacancies in the way and that really causes patient safety issues across all it. so more than 50 performers and employees have become squatters occupying 3 of from since for national theatres in a cry for help they are warning the industry could no longer survive a pandemic shut down of cultural sites forcing the culture minister them to negotiate with them or to shun aduba and ski visited one of those occupied venues.

i know my god. was. the chorus of calls demanding the reopening of cultural venue's is growing allow day in france but with no clear end date in sight to the closure of theaters concert hall cinema museums so mother taking more drastic measures over the last week 3 of france's 4 national theatres including this one behind me have been occupied by protesters it is true that every day several times a day we take another place a new theatre a new national stage is occupied in this way with multiply in the case of resistance to make a claim so good so we've all hit by the o.t. now for a week and for that he serves as a place of residence the odeon is a symbolic place it was occupied in the $968.00 process there are already struggles

that have been expressed in this place in fact it was the base to signal the alarm of the cultural catastrophe which is taking place. protesters who set up shop here at the boat in fear to say they won't leave until their demands are met them not knowing the details now we're determined to hold on until we're satisfied we do not claim the reopening at all costs it is not part of our main slogan contrary to what some media mean we want things to be reopened with social rights for all and massive plan for culture and above all the total reform of the unemployment insurance and the right to unemployment benefits guaranteed for all. the issue has even reached the government with the cultural minister paying a visit to the squatters. i went to the occupied theater audio on i understand the concerns in particular ball the aftermath of the whites here they know it why objective is to continue to protect artistic employment as much as necessary we

will continue our discussions days later though and nothing has changed if the sector already hit badly by the 1st wave of the covert pandemic with performers taking to the streets to make their plight no thank you thank you. thank you who the earth 6. there is going to go to the well small private galleries have been allowed to stay open larger places such as they serve how to remain shut protests to say that it is possible to open up cultural venues and ensure the people remain socially distanced as if you know the louvre museum the also a museum the big museums in paris these a vos places where social distancing would be respected but they are closed. so

these are the decisions which are purely political through this there is a very clear choice of society that emerges what is essential to the market and what is not essential concerns culture it concerns all the things that nourish hope nourish reflection this is what power has in its sights through its political choices frontispiece consented to have one of the most generous support systems of all states in the world but that system has been strained as a result of kobe 19 and many claim that they have fall in through the cracks those hey say that this protest is just the start as more and more regions in france will see similar action chelate even skate oxy paris coming out rocky week it was for the governor of new york cole's now growing for him to resign amid accusations of a cover up a number of care home deaths so after the break. join

me every thursday on the alex simon show and i'll be speaking to guest of the world of politics or business i'm showbusiness i'll see them. 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 led. by. what is true what is faith.

in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or inmate in the shallows. again thanks for watching r.t. today so as i mentioned before the break there pressure mounting on the governor of new york andrew cuomo to step down amid a growing scandal over cover ups of care home deaths in the pandemic the mayor of new york's a leading figure calling on him to go. i think we've seen so many. so many troubling things that have come out just in a matter of weeks starting with the fact that thousands of people died in the nursing homes and we still don't have the truth about that and their families need

and deserve the truth and we know one thing there was a purposeful cover up and that alone is unacceptable and disqualifying while the state's health department initially reported around 8000 fatalities and those who were transferred to hospital and died there were excluded it seems from the figures something deliberately to make the number of casualties seem low and if those victims are added then the real death toll was almost double that reported acknowledged a delay in the reporting of some deaths but victims' relatives still question the county or there is in a nursing home. in the nursing home for 23. when he we're. hearing ended my family and that he ready could no longer stay here in. the nursing home. ways not prepared for any kind of health care emergency and i know my by this still encounter right there governor. and it's you

who cares where they die it does matter because it points to one where where they're you know areas in their policies into why. we spoke to 2 women who lost parents to coronavirus in the nursing facilities and i've set up an advocacy group called voices for scene is they say care home deaths in their view is not a priority for politicians. my father is still among the uncounted because he was released from a nursing home rehabilitation center after next surgery knowingly with the virus he was labeled a covert suspect in his nursing home paperwork and made him test him they didn't treat him they didn't tell us and unfortunately we were the ones when we got him home that had to put him in a hospital when he came home he was in terrible condition and he collapsed on the driveway exposing my whole family to cope and we all got sick shortly there after.

my father unfortunately lost his life on april 14th after being on a ventilator for almost 2 weeks and it was purely preventable he was only 76 years old he was a healthy man and it was a pure covert death the facility failed her. and the state failed her. i think that right now at least many of the deaths that happen in nursing homes were because of a mandate or more but in that ortiz facilities to take in patients when they were not equipped to take care of them so it's a combination of both my mother's for so that he was reporting 40 deaths back in april when my mother died and she was not part of that number because she died at the hospital so when months and months continue to pass and they stayed at 40 we knew that that number could not be correct i mean you're not going to tell me that 40 people die on

a one shot and then no one dies for months so when the number actually came out we were we were basically you know we were found to be true that it was not right. a company made headlines in the way they are to doit sure other assisted channel over in germany filed a lawsuit against billed over claims by the tabloid that our team made its report so you guessed it spot for the crime of well some skit tayla picked up the thread. on the face of it a sin sation old story it's got all the words 7 to draw or read to read spawn i public enemy number one russia but a closer look and not sensation apart basically daniel lined up an r.t. to each employee claims he was essentially used as a spy for the channel and then all the information he was gathering on kremlin critic alex anan found me when he was recuperating in a bill and clinic for legit poisoning was being put straight into the hands of russian president vladimir putin since ational rights were not quite because the

evidence seems more taken from a manual john of his and water one than spying want to one as proof screenshots of a chat with editors i'll tell you these chats a common practice that the easiest way for reporters producers cameraman tech guys to coordinate and also tell you that pretty boring filled with the logistical stuff and despite claims his chart was pretty boring too yes he was also to go inside the shower take clinic one found he was schooled investigative journalism it's called trying to get ahead of other outlets so that you get the scoop in fact build was one of the most active moles inside the hospital as the head of our to do each reminds us to accuse us of spying and at the same time to post images of very little step develop he makes including pictures of his garden to host a word if russian intelligence wanted to get any additional information they would

buy a subscription to build plants and of course we want to remind our colleagues of german that you slay ssion that for now at least protect the media and lowering it to collect information and metis that are considered to be of public interest so bill does that it's true john it's trying to get the latest on a top developing story our team does that it's spying more than a tinge of hypocrisy that claim that this work. group was filled with nefarious spying requests is also undermined by the fact when he questions whether getting a hidden camera recording of what's inside toward one value was rumored to be which is on german military and is appropriate his boss writes clearly no i don't think so not exactly the most ruthless of spying attempts than evidence number 2 is the video agency ruptly park 247 outside the shower take clinic yes that's true in fact for a long time it was a live streamed on you tube talk about money to cover in the same way our tireless

ruptly cameramen camped night and day outside the ecuadorian embassy in london to counter the truly sensational moment the jury and a son was dragged out we were the only ones to get these pictures and every outlet in the world was behind they appreciate to drop his journalism back then but not now and the final damning allegation the anti employee in charge of lying does assignment was photographed with the russian foreign minister froth at a public christmas party the hora never mind that this was one of hundreds of photos taken all that that were hundreds including foreign journalists apparently this one photo is incontrovertibly proof that r t 2 each on the russian government are in cahoots you also have to ask yourself do you believe in coincidence not long ago r t deutsche announced it's opening

a channel in germany shortly after problems started headline summed up a smear campaign appeared then. told the bank accounts in germany would be shot within months fast forward and now are being labeled a kremlin spies like i said coincidence you decide for that part of colleagues in germany convinced. clear attempts to see. this is an attempt this is going to straighten to beat us and i want a lover was staring operation now and in the media at every turn against me and false allegations aimed suppressing our journalistic freedoms and making personal attacks this is what it means to be an alternative voice and jam and it's also worth mentioning that doesn't exactly have the best track record what between 20152028 was hit with 72 reprimands from the german media regulator that's almost

a 3rd of the toll in that time frame something to bear in mind when you jump head 1st into this latest offering from the tabloids and offering that promise is spiced since ancient a bombshell and a juicy spy story but actually delivers well a day in the life of any journalist anywhere in the world. wrap it up the recount let me just take a minute take you through some stories happening right now and pictures to go with the 1st london. and these are the scenes he seems to last evening police making arrests and being criticized for it too and clashing with protesters at a vigil for a woman found dead earlier this month thousands came out to pay tribute to 33 year old sarah despite the vigil being canceled with social distancing comes. a police officer from kent england appeared in court on saturday charged with her kidnapping

her murder. elsewhere police making arrests here clashing with demonstrators whereas here well it's dresden in germany thousands gathering in the city there in the center despite a ban on public gatherings some of the protesters requiring medical attention after it and dozens gathering over america near the capitol building in washington d.c. to protest the miles long 7. high fence massive thing set up around the city to government they called for a movable barrier instead as a minimal alternative to the current razor wire it was put up after the attack on the capitol on january the 6 lawmakers on both sides of congress 2 are really angry about it as well saying the wall in their view restrict access to what is a story building and is absurdly overpriced get this costing more than a 1000000 dollars a week to maintain. well as the news wrap so far more of our news review of the

week with me kevin though in just about 32 minutes time is coming up no 2 or 28 minutes past the hour if you do have to watch the clock hope not though it is the weekend and i hope you have a good time for me kevin owen of the rest of the team thanks for taking time out of you weekend to check in and we hope you enjoy the rest of it. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy

confrontation let it be an arms race is on the dramatic developments only and going to exist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and talk. one of the worst ever mass shootings in america. it was in less vigorous in 2017 the tragedy exposed a little of the real last big women who say elected officials are controlled by can see you know knows the dangers shooting revealed. v.m.p. d. really and now it's part of the stand is sheen and the american public barely remembers that it happened i just shows you the power of money in las vegas the powerful showed that true colors when the pandemic hits the most contagious contagion that we've seen in decades and then you have

a mayor who doesn't care so here's carol i goodman offering the lives of the vegas residents to the control group to the shiny facades conceal a deep indifference to the people could have been saved if they were to take an action absolutely keep the registering and just slot machines doing base is a money machine it's a huge cash register that is ran by people who don't care about people's lives being lost. it's. not. it's.