we dared to ask. each new officials seek to reassure the astra zeneca. stressing that the vaccine hesitancy is costing lives but there are signs that the damage to public trust is already done. police found on a water cannon fire riots erupted across northern ireland of a post trade barriers. a former us intelligence analyst faces years in jail for exposing america's drone assassination program we speak to a whistleblower who's in close contact with him. he did it because he was exposing a war crime he's not allowed to say that and so he really doesn't have any chance of acquittal.

running down the top stories of the week and all of today this is the weekly on r.t. international for me rory sushi and the entire crew here welcome to it. the european medicines agency is standing by britain's astra zeneca job saying the benefits outweighed the risks while noting that blood clots should be listed as rare side effects the agency has received more than 200 reports of unusual blood clots and those getting the shot that's among the more than 30000000 who have been already inoculated all across europe now over in the u.k. authorities say that people under the age of 30 will be offered alternatives to the astra zeneca job due to the possible blood clot link 18 people in the country have suffered clotting after a dose and 19 have died but britain's regulator is taking the same line as the european medicines agency at least that's according to our correspondent what are.

the takeaway the message that europe's health authorities want to leave you with is that it's still worth it the benefits outweigh the risks the benefits outweigh the risks how does become almost a slogan for the astra zeneca prove it vaccine earth portrait cases of unusual blood clotting following vaccination with the astra zeneca vaccine should be listed as possible side effects of the vaccine it's unfortunate start both vaccinated people and has care professionals are aware of the shrines in simpson's of these unusual blood clotting to cylinders so that they could be spotted quickly to minimize any possible risks so why did it take so long i mean the rumors began months and months ago that it was all in the news on t.v. and the papers and the company kept telling everyone the same thing there's

a new link between the jab and the well dive analysis of our safety data for more than 10000000 records has shown no evidence of an increased risk of billie's or deep vein thrombosis and defined age group gender. or in any particular country unfortunately there was a link and now the astra zeneca job will have i did issue a warning on it can cause blood clots and potentially death in people as young as 8 seed the age the youngest deceased and still they say it's worth it unless of course you can go and get another job in which case probably best to go for that their words adults who are age 18 to 29 years will who do not have an underlying health condition that puts them at higher risk from serious kovan 1000 disease should be offered an alternative 900 facts seen in preference to the astra

zeneca vaccine where such an alternative is available over a dozen countries only counting the european union have suspended vaccination with the astra zeneca vaccine or vax servia please their marketing department though i doubt that a simple rebranding is going to cleanse their reputation i would definitely say is a stupid move because changing the name which means changing your shop window right in the midst of a crisis rather than increasing trust will increase because it always indicates that there is something you want to hide so i absolutely do not understand how a company comes to such a decision at the end of the day i can't help but partially agree with them the alternative waiting for another vaccine could have cost thousands of lives but only partially they let these rumors steward fester for months before coming out and

admitting that essentially people were rights to be afraid and that unfortunately has done irreparable damage to the vaccination drive worldwide so if axion shortages across the e.u. have prompted several member states to question the blocks joint procurement scheme austria is one of them and chancellor sebastian kurtz has already negotiated a possible purchase of the russian sputnik feature. it would help us a lot because the vaccination process would be significantly accelerated i advocate that we do this we are now coordinating this with the federal government i really hope that we will be able to acquire this vaccine as well as use it this is not only my decision but i strongly support it. germany's health minister says his country is also in talks to buy the sputnik v. short from russia however the european a medicines agency has delivered over the decision and is yet to grant approval for the job before the european commission president jiang for junko says if sputnik he

gets the green light the e.u. should included in his procurement program and one cancer surgeon thinks europe has allowed politics to get in the way of saving lives we need the vaccines and the problem is it was a political initially we many people in europe didn't except the russian vaccine and sputnik is a good vaccine and yet they were coming out and saying well this is not what we want let's look at the european at alternatives and you see here the problem is the politicians have fields to cover the nations with adequate back seeing dozes and this is the problem we have we don't have enough back scenes and if you see what she right now is that we're going back and asking russia for sport next we should have done that much much earlier we need all the players all the players on the table and that includes the scrutiny expect scene which has excellent data out there as has pfizer and as has modern so we should have known that much earlier in order to be able to provide our. nationals with adequate vaccine to such as it and

now we are paying for those political shortcomings with human lives. a former u.s. intelligence analyst faces up to 10 years in prison for blowing the whistle on washington's targeted drone assassination program daniel hale pleaded guilty to transmitting and retaining national defense information his case comes amid mass disclosure of similar crimes allegedly perpetrated by the u.s. .

i have to tell you when he called me a few hours ago he was surprisingly upbeat and optimistic and he he remarked about how much press this issue has been getting since he decided to plead guilty so in the end i think that he thinks that this is been worth it that americans know more about the drone program now than 8 they did 6 months ago or a year ago and even though he's likely going to go to prison it was worth it the u.s. is flying these drones or at least it was until recently that were used ostensibly to kill terrorists or would be terrorists but in reality to kill anybody who might resemble a terrorist and that included women children the elderly and anybody else who happened to be on the ground i believe that we're we're a nation of laws and we have to abide by those laws whether we like them or not if

we don't like them we should change them go through the process and change them if congress has not declared war on a country we don't have a right to attack it we just can't decide that we don't like the politics of whoever happens to be in charge in a place like yemen or pakistan or afghanistan and then launch drone strikes against them it's a violation of international law data which hale gave to the online news site the intercepted back in 2014 was made available to the public he's now accused of disclosing classified intelligence information his supporters say these kinds of exposures are essential. using the espionage act in this way to prosecute journalists sources and spies chills newsgathering and discourages sources from coming forward with information in the public interest particularly when it relates to national security where government secrecy is at its height these documents detail the secret unaccountable process for targeting and killing people around the

world including u.s. citizens through drone strikes there are a vital public importance and they related to their disclosure is protected by the 1st amendment hale that was arrested 2 years ago and charged with violating the espionage act and other related offenses president biden has imposed temporary restrictions on drone strikes outside most countries but there are reports he aims to boost exports of unmanned weapons to other countries including those with poor human rights records john kiriakou again says however justified was a blow as exposure of drone strikes they have next to no chance of proving to u.s. authorities. this is really the worst part of the of the espionage act this is the reason why ed snowden can't come home this is the reason why i couldn't go to trial this is the reason why jeffrey sterling the other cia whistleblower was convicted because there is no affirmative defense we are prohibited by law from going into

court and saying i did it but i did it for this reason and in in the case of daniel hale this was a war crime he did it because he was exposing a war crime he's not allowed to say that and so he really doesn't have any chance of acquittal the best thing to do for daniel as it was for me as it was for so many others here charged under the espionage act is to take a deal and to hope for the lightest possible sentence the decision that was made early on even before joe biden was inaugurated to pursue the appeal against julian his son it was that decision that made it clear that joe biden was going to pursue national security leaks just like barack obama did and just like donald trump did after him. so twitter has moved to correct reality once again this time the platform has targeted a once classified video showing alleged u.s. well crimes and the account of an r.t.

america correspondent was suspended off the posting the footage with twitter agreeing to lift the ban only off the rachel blevins deleted the post of blevins told us the real issue is that those responsible have still not been held to account. they said that they were doing this because i violated their graphic content policy essentially because in that video you were watching civilians and journalists lose their lives and the context that they give behind that is to say that for the families of those victims that would be hard to watch that would be hard for that footage to be out there and to that extent they're correct about that i mean this is disturbing footage and yet at the same time it's also even more disturbing for those families to know that even though that footage has been out there the attackers the murderers who were responsible still have not been brought to justice released by wiki leaks 2010 of the once classified pentagon footage appears to show the indiscriminate shooting of more than a dozen civilians in a baghdad from an american chopper among those killed were 2 employees of the

reuters news agency we did obtain the video from a number of whistleblowers now over the years the video that twitter claims breaks its rules has been posted by many users it is hoped posed as a journalist and ultimately triggered the system but blevins insists that although graphic the footage still needs to be brought to the public's attention. here in the united states are major media organizations like say c.n.n. or fox news they don't show you footage like that they don't show you how horrific it is a when the u.s. military commit these terrible war crimes in other countries they don't tell you what is actually going on with this so-called war on terrorism and yet it's people like us on to have taken the steps to put that information out there to bring the actual footage to light to show the public public that and now at the same time you see the u.s. government going through from obama by even talking

a song is going after him trying to get his head on a platter more alas i think that what we're seeing is. increasing moves on the part of these digital corporations and we know nothing about them they're completely opaque they know everything about us as forms of censorship for the ruling elite in particular the establishment elites in the republican in the democratic party who are blocking their critics on the left or the right you have to remember that during the obama administration and barack obama's vice president was of course joe biden expanded the targeted assassinations through militarized drone drones and there's complete continuity between republican and democratic administrations on this issue which is why the biden ministration has supported the appeal in london to get julian a songe extradited to the united states. now as we get geared up for monday's

historic anniversary of the 1st human of the plan if he continues our special coverage for you one russian cosmonaut tells us the personal belongings she will be taking to space and the perfect head lengths for 0 gravity. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy. let it be an arms race. spearing dramatic to follow can only. exist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical. to sit down in. media a reflection of reality. in

a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. isolation community. are you going the right way or are you being. watched his way. in the world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the. forum made in the shallows. it is good to have you with us today northern ireland has been gripped by rioting throughout the week police fired water cannon for the 1st time in 6 years as pro u.k. loyalists and irish nationalists faced off for the disturbances come amid

a wave of post trade barriers we'll show you the scene in belfast on friday night protesters torched a trashcan and a car and hold a rock some petrol bombs at police northern ireland's 1st minister. to both sides to show restraint in the british prime minister has expressed his alarm and called for dialogue. i am deeply concerned by the scenes of violence in northern ireland especially attacks on the p.s. and i who are protecting the public in business attacks on a bus driver and the assault of a journalist this week to resolve differences is through dialogue not violence or criminality meanwhile in northern ireland's justice minister has blamed the u.k. government for the flare up and then the long accuse the conservatives of dishonesty over the way it would affect the irish border saying they had promised on affected access while failing to work through the legal consequences she also slammed the british government's decision to suspend the northern ireland protocol

which was part of the u.k.'s withdrawal agreement with the e.u. aimed at simply ensuring an open border the earlier we spoke with jonathan tong a professor of british and irish politics things the government made a series of false promises to the people of northern ireland. for the british government bodies johnson in particular have to bear a considerable amount of responsibility it was far as johnson who went over to belfast and totally democratic party the largest party in the. party conference 3 years ago that it would be intolerable for any british government to preside over the border in the r.e.c. forest johnson says hockey's previously treason make the signing of such a deal within a year for his johnson does not and since then he spends a lot of time to tend the risk the border between great britain and northern ireland so you decide where the single future terrible sense will be trail over what the prime minister has done think that boris johnson needs to go to northern ireland explain what he's done in terms of the protocol and try and also meet with

the you leaders to instigate simile the worst effects the protocol and diminish the number of checks to go between great britain and northern ireland otherwise we are looking ahead to a grim summit potentially of violence in northern ireland. that in 20 past here in moscow this week the international space station welcome to a new 3 man crew 2 russians and one from the u.s. at the launch come ahead of tomorrow's anniversary of the 1st human space flight. the rocket took off from the same side where from where cosmonaut yuri gagarin it made history it was the morning of the 12th of april 961 his vostok one craft

blasted into orbit circling the earth for 108 minutes the flight brought ghar an instant fame and we sent our global correspondents to find out if the memory is still alive. both of them can use it for you to get in you to go out and let them come up and it's all the continental god in your going to court. and i think here you could go right recognizing me and i wish i knew armstrong i'm sorry i don't know what. face recognition skills in the wild actually your car is now if you. have it are supposed. to stop mr padilla's the beast. so you do good god it was true i don't dispute

that jesus is coming again and that judgment would be a judgment is fairly good i mean you're getting. a few. somebody's son out of it all else equal to the last go with i'm going to get you i don't know if you'll be got ready for this trip i did learn as to how far you've ever been to start to feel what if what i did. probably. his name is he. was torn out they say how do you know. to be a good writer so note that will see a picture of a book you'll be going to have these are the goldberg a beautiful. became god really all.

hosts. will be present and she put it on me to go to a lot of shelf a lot of them. now all. of the above the security you're getting a lot of the stuff a lot of the on the pacific. you already. know. you were to go to any. kind of hole in a little bit of the kitchen i don't i don't know judy id. you know. that's something i. made with them which i love that i was there with. a big easy anything which will prove it i'm not there yet. invented it fell on me call.

it. good to merkel when i. got from my dog who are bogus will you ask me. i think that. russian guy the 1st guy and. something right. jagger is really like an actor he was in that movie with like chevy chase began a word like that in the eighty's. miracle ready. mystery. and let. me take you to the never and. here we go we are.

supporting the. in the meantime i want russian cosmonaut has told us whether getting along with other crew members is necessary and all the secrets of space travel. but it was legit of course this is an impressive date 60 years and that 1st flight of a man from our country will always be remembered all around the globe is the flea the challenges you went through what you've learnt do you feel completely different now than before starting space training 9 years ago was everything the way you expected it to be here are the most watched i can say i expected something specific had an idea about the cosmonauts training regime but it turned out to be even more intense apart from the physical exercises and work with specialized equipment a lot of attention is paid to education theory and a huge number of continuous tests and exams i didn't expect that if you compare me

with me 9 years ago i can definitely say that i got pumped up the system pumped me the conditions around me my education my training of course this is the goal to acquire skills to strengthen the person to get him ready for flight this is how the system works i love our special training like surviving in different nature conditions it impressed me it's exciting i happily do those every time we form different teams i really like that because i have an opportunity to work with various cosmonauts. whether the teams are always different does that mean a cosmin out is ready to adapt to be not just a leader but a subordinate of course it is a requirement when you are assigned to a team you get your role you could be a flight engineer or maybe a commander the lead to has the most responsibility he makes the decisions and it is important to fulfill your role to know your place it is a way to

a successful safe and quality mission. does a cosmonaut candidate think about empathy whether they like a person or not no matter if you are a woman or a man is it important to feel that the person you're working with is your friend. we are all human and we always have someone we feel more or less comfortable with everyone evaluates the commander in their own way it is normal there is also professional ethics competency in work when there is problems crop up usually people can make suggestions but the final decision is up to the commander and it is not negotiable and no one tries to start a conflict over that you will only make the situation worse and eventually you will achieve their objectives late with the worst resolved or won't finish it all and that is in no one's interests people are invested in the team's success you have to keep your own ambitions in check cosmonauts always take something personal with

them on a flight i think you can take about a kilo can i ask you what would you take with you well yeah but i haven't thought about it but i think something maybe a picture that would remind me of those close to me that the story is a true that it is better for a cost not to have a short haircut yes dear but as it's over though if we look at russian and foreign cosmonauts we can see that in fact there aren't a lot of them with short hair and i see a tendency of not causing the hair short i think it might be that suits have a break for example then you have won't fly apart and will be tied neatly in only bothersome. if you can do stay with us for the next special coverage over the next 2436 hours marking the 60th anniversary of the 1st human a manned space flight yuri gagarin of course thanks for joining us here on r.t. international we are back with more.

but you should look into. this you do. you have to show the 1st one to be the purest we're just going forward. with hundreds. that's awesome you just were doing good except. if it was national guard coming off the. cut throat. but if you

poke a little. it's a local shooter from the films. will support school board if these critics one of the least most of them you didn't need a leash because to be. a shoo in to lie for the smear. full of. opponents someone to be mean it because it does look good still if you avoid it e.g. . i think one of the worst things as a kid is what do you want to do it's not what you want to do why do you do the things you do you could design a life that is focused on your being aware of work as

a way of expression people ask me what motivates me every day and i. i'm just being me i started my company because it was an expression of myself i am just painting on a canvas but i think if we can teach them that think of their work and their life as a place to express themselves and then dream what they see themselves becoming having that strategic mistake makes you think more long term rather than the short term what athletes are told to picture making the shot before they take the shot and i think that the same thing is true for the rest of us we have to picture what our goal is is looking like and not just pick an arbitrary goal but what do we want our life to look like and then create a plan to get there and we can help kids do better but it's in their own hands it's in their hands that's a lesson every kid should learn and those sort of step the responsibility i can make sure that i never will be poverty and my kids in there with a party if i do the right thing.