stream last. week. the u.s. department of health admits to pressuring brazil not to use russia's vaccine over fears of increasing russian influence in the region also to come major you states including germany france spain initially suspended use of the ash presenting over face it causes broadcloth creating another headache brock's vaccination program. in the u.k. brands russia as its number one danger to deter and defend against a full spectrum of threats emerging from moscow but also also. struggle to contain a 3rd coronavirus many countries being forced into lockdown once again to battle

rising infection. 6 in the evening here in moscow you're watching. now the u.s. department of health claims it used diplomatic ties to pressure brazil into not approving russia's coronavirus vaccine. that increasing russian influence in the region could threaten u.s. security the revelation came in an annual report well earlier i discussed this with our senior correspondent. this is the united states department of health health and human services that is boasting that it is managed to deny potentially hundreds of millions of brazilians a vaccine. the office of global affairs used diplomatic relations in the americas

region to mitigate efforts by states including cuba venezuela and russia who are working to increase their influence in the region to the detriment of u.s. safety and security examples include using the office of global affairs health a touchy office to persuade brazil to reject the russian copied 19 vaccine see brazilians vaccinating themselves with a russian vaccine apparently keeps u.s. officials awake at night this is they argue or threats to their safety and security are unclear how there's no reasoning no logic to it that is explained by them but let me put this in perspective for you brazil is a country that has been ravaged by covert so we all know the death certificate we hear every day from all over the world one in 5 deaths taking place right now all over the world is in brazil from cuba suso the situation is catastrophic it is

desperate and there are these people who profess to care about people's health and well being arguing that denying brazilians or russian vaccine is beneficial is beneficial for both brazil and for the united states of america the degree of double standards here is also a start issue because the united states is wrong championed itself. as a crusader for vaccines and for vaccine vaccination efforts all around the world and they had previously accused russia of undermining global vaccination it is very clear that russia is up to its all tricks. and in doing so is potentially putting people at risk by spreading disinformation about vaccines the different is of course the. back then they couldn't show you

what it is that russia disinform anyone with in this case he you go we have clear evidence their own admission that they had denied people the chance to get vaccinated with an available already in production vaccine especially in these times of global shortages this is story is particularly relating to the united states but even before this we saw a lot of western countries quite happy to dismiss the sputnik vaccine particularly in the early days we will remember the unprecedented smear campaign that they launched again against bootlick last year it was too quick russia couldn't possibly develop a vaccine before anyone else it was unsafe ever since then we've seen this effort to undermine sputnik to undermine any russian assistance to the anyone which is especially astounding given that when it was the united states when it was american lives that needed to be saved back when the pandemic 1st began when they accepted the help from russia aid from russia jets carrying ventilators to new york that was

fun that wasn't seen as a threat to national security but when it's brazilians choosing to get a job of sputnik that apparently keeps u.s. officials awake and not that's dangerous for america and you know lavrov predicted this last year he predicted that there would be vaccine was taking place in 2021 some western states are trying not only to politicize the humanitarian aspect of the fight against corona virus but also to take advantage of the pandemic to punish governments they don't like. and we've all heard about backdoor deals to secure vaccines in europe and the americas this is the 1st time i think that we've heard about backdoor deals to people millions of people a vaccine. ok let's get the thoughts now of a daniel schorr he's a professor of latin american studies at the city university of new york very

welcome thanks for coming on the dan why is geopolitics taking priority over something that could save lives do you think. it through this is deeply unsettling to use vaccines as political football to further. demon urns of russia this is part of this new cold war against china against russia now it's articulating itself. seen more there's already a diplomatic war you know you logical war in an economic war on china on russia on any country that opposes u.s. unipolarity so i think we have to analyze it within that this context that they want to keep brazil in their part in the a sphere of influence in other even using vaccines to do that to the great detriment of the brazilian people including close friends of mine or we were asked to call them in brazil is our just one it is it in brazil was interesting

particularly the president's interests there to back to this pressure considering you know the situation that is countries in and the fact that they've got one of the highest death rates to cope with in the world. you know what wilson out has been extremely callous for the needs of the brazilian people under lula china was able to really make a lot of economic inroads chinese exports and imports to brazil and now twice that of the united states so i think we have to see it in the context of these trade wars but this is typical of u.s. activity it takes me back to 2005 when with hurricane katrina in new orleans and the cubans are free doctors new orleans is right there you know bordering the caribbean sea and the cubans could get doctors there and offer doctors quicker than the president the time george bush could pardon this ideological war into quote leaks that garcia general hospital in havana the life of one person is worth more

than all the private property of the rich in the world and i think we see that for the u.s. that's not the priority this is more about politics than saving human lifetimes. i just want to do just coming back to the point i made you think that both well actually so a grade to this i mean what sort of leverage does america have over brazilian politics i can understand personally why he would just say yeah the russian backed thing. well they'll be elections next year so this was certainly one of the issues that you could be a bombshell seen as u.s. officials try to bribe riverine officials and lean on them to take back scenes from elsewhere putting their own interests in front of us lives in front of brazilian lives and i know ari is reputation has been horrible even at a time when he had colby he downplayed how cold it was affecting the brazilian people and of course who is it most impacting is the afro brazilians the indigenous

in the amazon the most wonderful historical sectors of brazil's population so it's really not surprising that bull sonata we would play this role yeah just looking further afield we've got be reviewing sputnik they do you think the politics will influence its final decision that from day one in july it has when there was for the 1st word of sputnik 5 here in the united states people because of their russia phobia and this whole ideological war against russia people are already making fun of this. this vaccine and saying that they would never take it without looking at the actual science and you've seen in all of the experts in the media here really is going to follow the science why does it matter where the vaccine comes from whether it has acumen label or a chinese label or a u.s. label or russian label which is important which should be important is the science

of people's health yeah absolutely i will leave it there but take good to talk to you tonight i was daniel schorr professor of latin american studies at the city university of new york thank you. thank you. ok well let's go over to europe because serious concerns over the safety of the astra zeneca vaccine have prompted major players to temporarily stop using the n t v jab they do include spain portugal germany france and italy and it comes after reports last week of blood clots and one death among those who receive the not kill ation in denmark european medicines agency says it's yet to decide on the vaccine and that an investigation is ongoing the 1st findings are expected on thursday our europe correspondent peter oliver has more health officials and senior politicians from across europe said that the astra zeneca vaccine is going to be suspended in the country this is while an investigation is carried out to determine whether

there's any link between those who have the vaccine and the development of blood clots inside. the decision is a purely precautionary measure astra zeneca is used as a vaccine by millions of people in many countries around the world we're very aware of the significance of this decision and have not taken it lightly. on the decision which was also taken in accordance with our european policy is to suspend vaccinations with astra zeneca as a precaution hoping to resume it quickly if the opinion of the allows it the question on. the cases that have been flagged that are outside the normal are very infrequent but if importance this is why spain has joined other countries that have decided to make this temporary and precautionary suspension for the next 2 weeks we will wait for the european medicines agency. these suspensions haven't just been happening in europe we've also seen them in central america in asia and in africa

as well we'll be hoping to find out more information on where this investigation into any potential link is going on thursday there's going to be a meeting then between the world health organization and the european medicines agency it was the a.m.a. that 1st gave astra zeneca its vaccine the green light for use in europe and they've been carrying out an investigation since last week when suggestions of a potential link between the the vaccine and blood clots 1st emerged astra zeneca themselves say that there's no evidence of an increased risk while the world health organization says that vaccination outweighs any potential risk that could be there but public perception of the vaccine is crucial to convincing people to well to take the vaccine in the 1st place we took the temperature of people here in germany and how they feel about the recent issues. and toys and he seems to be the right decision to pause it spurts maybe it's the 1st step to getting rid of astra zeneca

completely it is disappointing i don't know what the reasons are if they are justified or unjustified but they make this whole vaccination campaign sowed bureaucratic. without it is not that easy but when there is so much criticism then it should be considered too when it's about new vaccines you always have to be very careful. surely when it comes to vaccines you should be very cautious and if there is a slightest suspicion then it has to be stopped the use vaccination program is moved at a glacial pace and being beset by problems the e.u. commission vice president even admitted that there had been failures when it came to europe's vaccine rollout which has seen it lag behind many other countries including the united kingdom and the united states you know we're starting to see. now patients have these tremendous reactions i mean sometimes people just get a little bit sick flu like symptoms now we're starting to see an aflac reaction

like allergic reactions we see platelet problems and now we see even debts so maybe we need to take a step back and realize is us the right medication or back station for these 'd patients and we also need to ask the questions as physicians does every person need to be vaccinated and vaccines just create herd immunity there are a lot of people who maybe already had the virus like i'm pat and i have antibodies so why would i need a vaccine less if you want to do is put the some of the rug saying everything is fine because clearly it's not fine and we need to look at the numbers any 21 gets a vaccination there's always risk to that always a we need to look at are these numbers an acceptable risk or at least number of exceptionally high risk that we should look at this vaccine in medicine we always see work with the new factors are and then we get let's take a step back is are we on the right track and then renegotiate. the u.k.'s branded russia as its number one danger to deter and defend against

a full spectrum of threats and managing from moscow. as mine. well you'd think that britain would have its hands full dealing with covert 19 the country's still in lockdown the economy has taken a huge hit as doctors are furious off to a tiny one percent pay rise and its astra zeneca job is in the midst of a p.r. storm on top of all of that the e.u. has just taken legal action against the u.k. over alleged breck's that breach has in short the u.k. has got a lot on its plate but it's made room apparently for one more thing and what appears to be a post breck's it show of strength london has come out with a foreign policy report that sets out what role it will pay over the next decade which countries it wants to be friendly with which one it needs to be wary of and it's a throwback to the cold war because russia has resumed its pace as public enemy number one russia is the most acute threats in the region and we will work with nato

allies to ensure a united western response combining military intelligence and diplomatic efforts we will continue to support closer practical cooperation between nato and the e.u. in pursuit of this goal in the around 110 page report russia is painted as a hostile confrontational state on many an occasion london has alleged that russia frequently in ca's into ukase as space on waters that it's responsible for chemical weapons attacks on u.k. soil and that the kremlin generally pursues a very aggressive foreign policy something that moscow denies in short in london's eyes russia needs to be managed and contained now while the report claims to be something brand new the biggest overhaul of u.k. policy in decades the 1st one since it left the european bloc this russia has a bad narrative fails to deliver any novelty because all through we've seen how

presenting russia as the bad guy has been rampant in the u.k. of the past few years. the stretch from russia is one that respects no borders it is seeking to sow discord in the west and undermine our institutions there is scarcely a country that has not been affected in recent years by some kind of malign or disruptive russian behavior irresponsible activity kremlin backed dissin from ation russia must desist through its attacks on the u.k. russia poses an immediate and urgent threat trying national security for its part moscow always said that was willing to engage in dialogue when hard evidence was provided but for as long as phrases such as highly likely almost certainly were used these were nothing but unfounded accusations well apart from the perhaps expected russian element to this report there were a few out that no one of these sections of the u.k.

clearly showing an ambition to promote its idea of democracy abroad this will take the form of sanctions international activism and other tools to shape quote a more open international order how that will be received by those sovereign countries that london is presumably going to promote democracy and i think we can probably guess secondly perhaps more disconcertingly the limit of stockpiled nucular out warheads will be increased by more than 40 percent from 180 to 260 so quite a demonstrative show force here new threats new weapons this comes just in the back of the biggest defense increase in defense spending since the cold war 16 and a half 1000000000 pounds over the next 4 years so london really coming out all guns blazing here and there also some voices within the u.k. who are also getting is this really the time to send this kind of message it speaks volumes of the tory government spending priorities that is intent on increasing its collection of weapons of mass destruction which will sit and gather dust unless the

u.k. has plans to indiscriminately wipe out entire populations rather than address the serious challenges inequalities in our society that have been further exposed by the pun demick. so those are just a few of the key takeaways from this fresh report which might leave some asking the question with it being the u.k. are you talking about being more active abroad about a greater global presence and increased capability is it really russia that one needs to keep an eye on. me mark the united states has kept its place as the world's top weapons exporter it has a market share roughly equal to that of the next 4 largest arms serving nations and that's according to a report by the stockholm international peace research institute over the past 5 years the us has accounted for over a 3rd of the world's arms exports almost twice that of russia which comes in 2nd or most half of all arms exports when t.

the middle east with saudi arabia accounting for a quarter while the volume of exports hasn't increased overall u.s. market share of the market has grown earlier my colleague neil harvey discussed the findings with c. one reason he's a senior researcher at the institute. what the u.s. . and many other countries also use weapon exports as a tool of foreign policy reach in scanner actually grow as imported the middle east has grown very rapidly and standing for a quarter of all total of all. the parts of. the region there are lots of conflicts going on and pouring weapons into it to make it safer if you don't have to mechanisms to otherwise deal with the tensions at the. solutions and if you are to major supply you demand.

that twitter may be blocked in russia within a month communications watchdog has announced that the social network will no longer be available in the country if it refuses to. legal content. has the details. this doesn't come completely out of the blue because russia's communication regulators sent over 28000 requests for the removal of harmful content to twitter since 2017 and unfortunately many of these requests have gone ignored now we're talking about the sort of content that relates to suicide to self harm including hundreds of posts relating to child pornography and hundreds more relating to drugs so it's the sort of content which would raise alarm bells within many countries and in some cases already has in the u.k. for example the recent investigation by the internet watch foundation found that twitter was it was responsible for a startling amount of child pornography content we're talking about 1000 $400.00

instance out of $2800.00 also in the us in the state of california a federal lawsuit was filed against twitter in january this year that was also relating to the spread of child pornography upon the twitter platform now does far twitter has failed to comment the s but a spin given a month by the russian regulator to comply and remove all of this content in the past a regulator has also warns that twitter could face a hefty fine if it doesn't comply we're talking about one 5th of its annual revenue so as it stands the ball is very much in twitter's court. now as the 3rd coronavirus wave sweeps through europe some governments have been left with no one other option but to tighten restrictions once again charlotte risky looks now at how europe is preparing for the worst. european countries were hoping that by this spring it would be the beginning of the year and for the coronavirus crisis there

was a promise that a year of lock downs and curfews would be sufficient in that we would be starting to return to normal instead of 3rd wave is rising as variants of the virus are once more forcing difficult decisions italy is taking a step back with most of the country returning to look down. on the basis of scientific evidence the government has today adopted restrictive measures that we have judged to be appropriate and proportionate in germany that's a question that's also on people's lips too from the data we currently have and with the spread of the british mutation we would argue strongly for returning immediately to a lock down to avoid a strong 3rd wave here in front the english variant has become mainstream accounting for more than 60 percent of all cases as infection rates the prime

minister has described the situation as being on a razor edge in paris intensive care unit so overwhelmed with patients having to be transferred elsewhere in the country iliffe ounce is clearly on borrowed time as you know the english variant is now in the majority this variant is not only more contagious it is also more deadly our resuscitation capacities are such rated the head of the french national health agency who had repeatedly said that the curfew was working is now backtracking admitting it hasn't been enough to let us to make complexity the situation is complex stance and is worsening in the paris region vaccines are seen as being the only hope but instead the rollout program has been more issues. the e.u. is still severely liking behind the u.k. for example so much so that the germans have even admitted that they are

a movie is the e.u. $300.00 of the vaccine program is also the only in the farming line calls are growing from block states for the body which approves stock seems the a.m.a. to speed things up crystal we would all be very happy if you would change your working i was in the european medical agency and the coming months to 24 hours a day and 7 days a week and not approve new vaccines in 3 months but in 3 weeks and there's no surprise europeans feel lost and eager to vent their anger despite all of the restrictions.

the 3rd wave of the kovac crisis and more lock down isn't what everyone was expecting after year that's already seen so many restrictions and losses and so much grief the idea that european countries could continuously now find themselves in the art 1 of lockdowns for some time to come is something that will certainly hit a nerve and test everyone's patience so let's even ski paris well earlier we spoke to an italian doctor who told us what he thinks about the new lockdown in his country. well interesting it seems that the introduction of a lockdown is part of a wider strategy this is upsetting because we need to decide who is going into lockdown how and for how long a month ago we were told the infection rates were dropping and in early march there

were talks about the possibility of theaters and gyms reopening and 2 weeks later everything changed it was again decided that the situation was bad so we are wandering in a fog that causes confusion drives people to despair especially restaurant owners and gym workers people who have invested a lot in their businesses but have suffered heavy losses and have not yet opened so all this is wasting time. and glimmer of hope for europe's workers could be extinguished too as restrictive antivirus measures are introduced a new report has shed light on how last year's coronavirus lockdowns left the continent's labor market trailing almost 6000000 europeans lost their jobs in the 1st 6 months of 2020 due to the pandemic that's from a study by euro found an agency that studies living and working conditions it says that those in low paid jobs have borne the brunt of the economic downturn and are significantly worse off even when compared to the 2008 financial crisis tina webber

from euro found brought down the key elements at play here. this again is a very different crisis from the previous one it's not a demand driven crisis it's one that stripped by government health policy intervention and therefore much more perceived neat to step in and to support those affected if you look at the share of g.d.p. expended on these kind of support measures they have ranged between 10 and 15 percent of g.d.p. and in some e.u. member states that's even higher so although i would say at the beginning of the crisis because a lot of these measures had to be introduced very very quickly there may in some countries and march some unintended gap. canadian activist has been attacked to montreal while demonstrating against giving

p.b.t. blockers to children with gender identity issues chris nelson filmed the assault on his phone here it does show several people approaching him demanding that he leaves the area and calling him a transfer he was left with a broken arm after one of the attackers repeatedly hit him with a traffic cone is how he described what happened. what i do i just go out on the 3 and i have conversations with people about the purity blocking drug because the media if you report on what's going on out of nowhere from the road and i think from my left on that i've walked about i don't know how many people 567 it all one woman the reprimand were just on me i only had about one second notice they ripped that bind up me that every time 1000 children not. it seems to me like a 100 percent it's a premeditated they knew i was there and they came to get me. well the issue surrounds the administration of the drugs to stop the onset of p.b.c.

fibro kingson whole mines yes thanks to wear off when the child stops taking them however there are still concerns about the lasting impact peter brock is could have on children if a child goes on puberty blocking drugs from the age of $12.00 to $17.00 and then they come off them there's no magic time machine to get those 5 years that those years of development are gone and studies also that the end of current system doesn't even kick right into gear as soon as you come up and it takes time for the body to adjust and get going again so what's happening is we have all sorts of young adults now in their twenty's who are d. transitioning and canada is going a 100 miles an hour in the wrong direction because we have political people using this as a wedge issue to achieve their political and so they try to say that if we don't want to give kids puberty blocking drugs that somehow we're against the l.g.b. unity but this has nothing to do with that there's no thinking involved in it they

just oh you want to be the other gender ok here you go we're going to stop.