president. ready to get back to work. in the country's. election despite.

the 20. days from. the kremlin has announced that the russian president has been vaccinated against. part of a push to get the country. he said he and he's done it on tuesday evening we did get was now we foster that a job was on the cards on monday journeys video conference between the president and national vaccine manufacturers it was then that he designs them all involved in fact development for the enormous contribution that they've made not just here in russia but of course globally in the fight against corona virus but it was undoubtedly his very casual missed in passing mention that he himself was planning on getting the shot that really grabbed headlines now whilst we do have confirmation that it did go ahead as planned it was not recorded at least not publicly so while some leaders such as joe expired in america as prime minister boris johnson actively invited cameras into that vaccinations president putin

clearly didn't want this to be a p.r. stunt he treated it as a private medical issue and this wasn't probably not surprising given that he had previously mentioned that he wasn't really big into this sort of making a big political show of leaders being faxon ate it we do know that he is feeling very well and apparently the kremlin says that he will be watching a full day on wednesday one question though does remain which job did he get vaccinated with global of course sputniks he is probably the most talked about 0 and it's registered in dozens of foreign countries but here in russia it's actually only one of 3 available we will probably not find out which one was the chosen one with the kremlin reasoning the president didn't want to seem to favor any of them since all 3 are as safe and effective as each other. group we are deliberately not revealing which facts in the president is taking there by stressing the 3 russian

vaccines are absolutely safe and effective we have no need to try to boost the popularity of speaking especially through artificial means to monitor the vaccine is such that our manufacturing capacity can't meet international requests as it is which. is why we are struggling in production in foreign countries now of course saying once president being vaccinated can only be positive encouragement for citizens i'm sure the kremlin is hoping that this will trade or boost uptake domestically but being certain russians vaccination rollout is fairly steady the latest official figures released on monday with that 4300000 people are totally vaccinated of the 6300000 a hof wave that they've received the 1st doses and this is actually something that we talked to the deputy prime minister about specifically about one possibly herd immunity will fall here in russia so finally we can get rid of those masks or as you know well grushka has extensive experience a nationwide vaccination we have got to use its voluntary nature i think trying to

pressure forced people to get the chip or stay home because they haven't been inoculated that's wrong because everyone is different some people have a medical reason to not get a short and for the sake of common understanding we've established the number of people who need to be vaccinated to reach collective immunity is almost 69000000 people we are pursuing this goal rapidly and estimated at the current rate we can reach it by august but we hope the pace will increase so voluntary vaccines for here in russia on tuesday president putin being the latest to take advantage of that certainly a step towards allaying any potential vaccine hesitancy but perhaps more significantly really a sign of absolute faith and pride and russian science and its latest medical breakthrough. account xander way and israel's 4th parliamentary election in 2 years after voting ended just over an hour ago now probably just about even

who's hoping for reelection despite standing trial on corruption charges and the exit polls are going over old ground yet again let's see what the law of the land now let's go live to jerusalem to paula say hi there paula where are we this time. well i'm here it seems it could hit coulter's with the mood is cracked faced of to put it quite simply the initial results have come through and they said he suggests that the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is on course for a now that term in office this might launch we depend on whether or not his full my ally and defense minister nuff to be finished he comes from further on the political right joins in alliance with him but what the turnout who essentially needs is a majority of 61 out of a 120 parliamentary seats and said here as i mentioned actually could have halted interviews slim people think he has many chop tain that it was a bit of sort of a surprise from netanyahu so the main contained in that was the most interest

leftist party. at t.d. hated by it yet you look at that paid and they seem to have done worse than they thought so what we're witnessing here is as has been happening for quite some time a gradual turn more more to the right on the israeli political spectrum and further away from same trust and leftist parties now this election was launched the every 5 range i'm on whether or not netanyahu should remain in office and that was the number one question that people were voting on shout people are certainly very enthusiastic about netanyahu but elsewhere in the country people are very vocal against him. to. voting ended at 10 o'clock this evening local time there was some polls by some

political parties for it to be extended because some people said they had to wait too long queues because of the coronavirus but that did not happen now they would some 13500 voting stations 5000 more than the last round of elections and. 6 and a half 1000000 people illegible to vote what is interesting this time around is that photo turnout was no advantage has been in previous elections mcmichael party t.t. voted the key don't forget that this is the 4th election that is being held in just the space of 2 years it's also the 1st election that israel is holding in the throes of come on a virus it was mission measures and all the polling stations people were forced to a mass simply to maintain distance there was a special wall to sit up in hospitals where patients with one of virus could vote so certainly a 1st for israel in that respect back if we find out in the coming hours that netanyahu is again the country's prime minister and that won't be a 1st. certainly the numbers are going to be something for the pundits to be poring

over for the next few days and weeks right for now paula slayer interest and thank you for that. reaction now let's talk to political analyst to eat our road and welcome to our tea so it looks like he's got the numbers again but in terms of diminishing returns as far as turnout is concerned it's getting more and more difficult for him to get a convincing mandate isn't it to do you think is really going to do it this time that 6 time oh that is certainly the wow a $1000000.00 question here it is one of the most extremely difficult elections to predict the final outcome here are it's going to be days until the official are there what we're all of. you now even according to senior pollster serious group pollsters showing on t.v. they have never come across 'd any such complicated political our election to

basically to analyze and i'm very happy because there's a whole there's basically an entire exclusive of cultural ations in that and the viewers hear such statements by other people. the meters whether or not will they join or not and that's pretty much the 2 likely scenario here either netanyahu . what is really easy is referred to as the pro baby blog the reference or benjamin. netanyahu will be able to put together a $61.00 c coalition intact or should the opposition the anti be blah will be it. will pretty much force him not to be able to put together a coalition and then we're heading straight to the ground of the election and the major he kinda make it here there are a few there are a few there and there are some for so but one of the most prominent of them is

called the bennett. essentially he belongs to the far right however he has sworn in vowed to kick next me out a lot of office however before that whatever happened to his for his primary ambition is in the end of the day to be easiest prime minister and that goes by 1st we need the centrist lead and the centrist right likud party the mainstream polity in israel it is something you will have to be one of the party you will have to be one of the party in which he you val has to pick from office to ted so there's so many other cultivations here and there is even one seat only shift you to the right over the left by the very low parties you don't want to have why the low seat floor or votes for seats i'm sorry that is the minimum threshold to meet rielle there's no such thing 3 seats to seats and one seat either 4 seats the minimum or you're

out of parliament if according to what the initial polls are now saying it's going to be extremely difficult to make from that you know a government however things and. so much to open and change. your days and even weeks and what's really on those kingmakers minds with 4 elections in up against a prime minister that's been in office for so long against 38 weeks of protests and a corruption trial are they spying cooperation in a future coalition or are they sensing a scalp an opportunity. well they're uncertain well there is there is some sort of mist near between what was the traditional sort of what was in the mind of the israeli border what it is scary because you know the big question here is not a matter of. will we go with the palestinians or not will be able to strike iran or

not that is not what this election season was all about it is pretty much. either way it's pretty much this election is essentially a referendum for next yobbos continuation in office. it's been a needed lever 12 years he's in office there's a solid block i'm sad enough is enough and it is favorable for ongoing term in office for ham and there is another and there's the the opposition i mean the probated law they say he's one of the greatest prime minister look at how the the vaccination campaign he was able to run we are one of the 1st countries to every ever being able to push through the coronavirus one of the 1st country to ever to get out of this is to run a virus to get out of this tobin crisis behind us and that's pretty much works for his favor. israeli society is indeed shrink to pieces. within within this part of question and yes for you mention. the trial believe it

or not but the trials are not going basically to convince the i'm convinced so we're left one way or another with the israeli atmosphere it's goal the. only being blocked various is the anybody but the block and that's where 1 there's a sort of a mismatch between the class the sort of policies what is the lack right policy what sort of what is the left wing policy what is the right mix of policy and as i said in recent years it's all a matter of referendum all next job of the person. meantime days of number crunching ahead and i suppose a shout out to the world's hardest working election starfall times and maybe we'll be here again in a few months time it's going to be a long and exhausting process and even i would always mention that even if we are able to get your vision resolved it is still unclear whether or not next i'll just

make it very brief it is to argue whether or not netanyahu will be able to draw the one from the far right that one of the king makers one of the king makers and mentioned earlier you his coalition what will enable him to get he decides to get one seat or. even if so it's going to be extra difficult how can maneuver that sort of coalition be round of the election is not are the question thank you ok good to talk to you it out running in israel thanks for joining us. next german chancellor angela merkel's announced yet another round of tough nationwide covert restrictions through to mid april describing the situation as very serious the new measures include a ban on gatherings in the closure of shops and also mean an effective shut down of public activity across the east or. even use it we are in a situation which is very serious the number of cases is rising exponentially and

intensive care beds are filling up again a comes after a german research institute confirmed the countries entered the 3rd wave of infections last week saw the highest number of daily coronavirus cases in 2 months and a massive corruption scandal over face masks has now reached the top with the health minister facing questions our europe correspondent has the latest. the federal government here in berlin has extended covert 19 restrictions across the whole country but that is amid a mask crisis which is ensnared a new face the german health minister a report over the weekend in the online version of news magazine dish claimed again spawned authorize the purchase of more than half a 1000000 masks from a company called bird bird as berlin boss mr spawn's husband himself down your phone care the company insists mr frewen care had nothing to do with this transaction that no commission was paid and denies any wrongdoing whatsoever 1st on

to but what immediately the board of hooper birds and media over the health ministry of justice system ask procurement when the german government wants an urgent need for this the c.e.o. of the minister directing that kind of act and the minister defines what that means that the board a representative in berlin mr phone was not informed about the mask business neither by his company nor his husband who had been the direct contact person that contradicts common sense. i can only repeat that according to bird mr spawn's husband was not informed or involved in the transaction at any time but early a version of the article had claimed the bird it was owned by the health ministers husband that was later corrected to reflect mr frewen his role as an employee about how to stop lawmakers from seeking clarification from the health minister this salami tactic with the bit by bit information from the ministry of health about the

procurement of masks undermines the trust in the institutions of our democracy it has to stop we now need an end dependent transparency officer to shed light on what is going on the health minister himself is biased mr spawn's allies have dismissed the article as thin soup but opa zation parties are circling and can smell blood the bird a publishing house owns papers leg 110 bird also deals nascar half a 1000000 went to spawn's health ministry burgess beilin representative in spawn's husband birth like to attend bird parties because somehow the villain has to be paid what does one actually have to do in the merkel kevin and to be dismissed. of course procurement had to be done quickly during the crisis but the wording of $4600000000.00 euro swap out of call for tenders is under considerable suspicion in view of the corruption scandals to ruling coalition politicians of already fallen

jew to personal business dealings in mosques for profit scandals but what started out as a probe into a pandemic profiteering now morphed into a wider investigation into what money german politicians have been making aside from their ministerial salaries the scandal has caused real damage to the ruling conservative union's reputation they suffered for huge historic losses in recent local elections with the green party taking up the slack in one of those areas and nationally when it comes to polling they were merged as a real potential challenger in this september's bundestag elections in what's being called the super election year here in germany there couldn't be a worse time to have the whiff of corruption surrounding you peter all of raffy. excess city near chicago is about to make history becoming the 1st in the united states to offer reparations to black residents for historical discrimination and

slavery evanston city council's approved a $10000000.00 package for reparations initiatives that includes $25000.00 for each eligible family there is a catch though the money supposed to be spent on home repairs or down payments on property the reparations will be funded by income from annual cannabis taxes over the next decade. meanwhile polls have found that only one in 5 respondents agree that the united states should pay damages to the descendants of enslaved people some opponents question how eligibility for such programs will be determined whether by race ancestry or evidence of discrimination well let's go live now to dr yunus a little fresh ologist of the middle east institute at columbia university and also conservative commentator and see brian logan both of you gentlemen welcome to the program 1st of all you dr. testament to the good burghers of evanston for trying to come up with

a solution to this but does it feel like an effort to please everyone affair no wonder they've ended up with this halfway house a gesture that's not really going to hit the mark thank you for having me and i'm no longer with the globe university. but anyway what you just said about the evanston is quite an encouraging development it's quite new and heard of. it is a 1st step towards. repairing or implementing some sort of prison or to justice. or a historical injustice that the black people have suffered from. of course this calls into mind the h.r. 40 which is the bill that has been submitted to congress since 1909 by congressman conyers but have not been adopted so i think this is the 1st step hopefully in golf. ball beyond just the small city. and today i suppose if you

asked 100 people the solution to writing these wrongs you've got a 100 different answers and so you got to start somewhere because these discussions have been going on for generations so it's at least a start. no it's not really anything because i mean the elephant in the room here is that this is not slavery reparations it's only kind of like a housing program disguised days reparations for slavery because there was never any slavery in evanston let alone chicago which is that dinner everywhere was the news ok there was only ever slavery in southern illinois no where near chicago this is really just a housing program to maybe just put a little bit of money and say you how to fix the roof or fix your garage or something like day that's what it's about it's not really about what they're saying it is a peer marketing scam they're pulling dipping in. doesn't feel a bit like it's guilt compensation rather than tackling the root problem of the

legacy of what to those decisions were all those generations ago dr. well you know these kind of issues of reparations whether it's the case of slavery or other type of injustices around the world is always an issue of power balances what can you get more at this stage i mean i know that now with the black. life matters movement with the hope that is now inspired by the new administration you one could feel that this is. a good environment to such in the city but don't forget that these are very complex issues that a lot of people who would be against it whether it's right or wrong what i what this reminds me of is for instance at the global level the durban conference against racism in 2001 which actually called for restore to justice the reparation against slavery and racism around the world but then we know what happens to it in

decades after that nobody hears of it so i think while it is not enough as. my colleague just said it is still a point of departure that could be a related and widespread around the country this depends on the social movement the bans on who is pushing for that bill in the senate in the in congress or the current administration so for me it's a beginning it's beginning but is the beginning antony in terms of who should be paying for this i would imagine if you're a taxpayer under the age of 40 the mindset would be very different to maybe older generations let's put that kindly maybe. you should be really paying for that and today's taxpayers what about all those corporations that have let's face it bill the history on slavery from hundreds of years ago. well i mean again let's go back to what we're talking about here emmett illinois there was never any slavery there so we're talking about who's going to pay for who ever been if it from an embassy and there was no way to every day in evanston so really it shouldn't actually

happen there at all if it was to be paid it should have been pay and slave holding places to former slaves from the former slave owner or from the state that's what it should have been about not you know behind it 200 years later be gone come back and say ok here's a housing program to fix your roof reparations we'll put a label on it it's silly it's ridiculous it is just a thing to try and please people because it all be a limb move me not a kind of stuff going on is a buzz word is being spoken about if they wanted to do it would have already been done it and never had been this is a pipe dream it's a fantasy in pure markets and that is the end that is all and you know is presumably it is almost an impossible algorithm isn't it to decide who gets water because the effects of this haven't been felt equally not just throughout the country but in individual families you know let's face it whatever it's done whatever kind of financial ripper ations would never repay and that historical

injustice that those people have suffered from i mean this is just impossible money would not buy people's lives bad or that suffering it is mostly symbolic it was a point that it. yeah so if this initiative doesn't go beyond just given some money here and there and changes the structural issues of racism in the system then it will it will be just symbolic and would not go further so this kind of preparation just to. make people shut up and say ok now with this is repaired and then let's go to business as usual would not would not be enough what i think when i say it's a begin it's a curse there it is a 1st there but only and only if people keep pushing and the systemic racism is really challenge not only in cities or states but over the country such and actually i would go if we even beyond that is actually

a global issue and an even if maybe the issues of hundreds of years ago was going too far back in history to try and make good now that too far in the past what about those still alive today who lived through some of the racial terror of recent decades although still living with some of those racially discriminatory policies that we're going to hear about after this bullet in a program that they're still living through those issues and those difficulties today presumably they need some sort of financial redress. well what it is a she was talking about i don't really understand what we're saying i mean it does have a sort of racism or some way of saying some mean is somebody mean does that mean that the state has to come in and pay some money there's a me out amount of money after pay or some kind of corporation that wasn't even really involved with it i mean this is not really going to happen the people in d.c. and all over the place all over local politicians will say they will do something about it will look into it will do a study i think joe biden say he will do a study will look into it but then when you really ask a where's the money

a if you'll vote for me you ain't black that's the way joe biden said that's what they pretty much think we're talking about the illegal 'd aliens or to get whatever they want millions of dollars being spent on him why they're breaking the loan television break and it's a country it's never happened and these things this episode of racism people don't even really believe in it goes it really talking about it i don't even believe in it in themselves and if you ask them hey what are we talking about when we say episodes of or he says a pretty margins are all blank because it could pretty much be anything up on it or saying. is there a difficulty also unison trying to put a monetary figure on this that it's just not going to go to the right people throw out the you're going to get people who are pretty successful pretty ok and while they're doing they're going to get a great paycheck and if you're a retired couple in your eighty's or ninety's what you see is a home improvement loan so you. and that is true there will be as you said earlier it's an impossible algorithm who who will get those that money who will be excluded

from it. it is a major issue but to me what is mostly important all this is the symbolic nature of this act there is. a recognition that an injustice has been done to people and this is important for me. beyond that there will be issues of course this will be misused some will be some will use this as a token and say ok you've been paid and that's basically you have to shut up and then we should not ask for more but i think we have to be realistic it is not enough strew but it should be used as a basis force for larger social movement that ask for much more at the national level and this is not easy but so when they have what i next move in with the next thing well the next thing then again this should go this should go at the state level 1st this should be an organization. you know this reminds me of the hopes that president obama brought in at the beginning everybody believe that it's going

to be a new era a new dawn and revolutionary ideas but then people thought ok once obama is in power that's it we can go back home and he will do everything and that's exactly the mistake that was made and nothing happened during those 8 years i think we people should learn that. there is a balance of power it's not it's very difficult these kind of symbolic actions will not resolve the problem because these systemic racism still exist today in a very vicious forms it is not slavery but there are other issues and if we don't use this like way what are these issues are going about. education housing jobs. i mean systemic racism exists only towards black brown people to a. general we have to be the. political sociologist nancy bryan logan political commentator thanks very much for joining us. well as i mentioned next how decades

of discriminatory u.s. housing policy has been a key driver of racial inequality across the united states is up next on r.t. . the government has to determine which zones is it going to ensure and was known as it not going to insure and it does that based on the racial makeup of neighborhoods . neighborhoods that had a certain number of black presidents what have literally red lines trying to round them on the map. and they wouldn't insure mortgages in those areas because they believed that the property is would not hold value the brain turned down a loan the risk really.