those. children. for the. international. military exercises in the country. preparing for war with ukraine. politician. also in the u.k. at least 100 people. entering the country with. potentially bringing in new

variants. called for the abolition of america's police force. very well welcome to you from all of us here at the international live from moscow is now just after 4 pm here in the russian capital now russia's military has wrapped up a large scale exercise in crimea more than 40 warships 1200 vehicles and around 10000 soldiers took part in those drills and the russian defense minister. a success. today the armed forces have successfully completed complex drools

will defending russia's southern border on this region is facing increased military activity for me too including reconnaissance operations and massive preparatory activities i believe that the aims of this southern chick have been fully carried out and i notice that the exercises have now finished. let's get some more details on this now r.t. jacqueline for joining us live here in the studio jacqueline you know these were apparently shared jeweled military drills within russian territory i understand the the russian ministry of defense was was saying that we showed you all these over a year ago but the western governments and western media have been crying all sorts of hysteria about the russian invasion next it's going to happen of ukraine now what can you tell us i think you might be putting it lightly if you were to say that all eyes were on this situation the past few weeks but that's it the troops and the military vehicles alike are all going back to their permanent bases at this

point in time pretty anti-climactic ending to the hype over the russian quote unquote aggression that we've been hearing about for the past few weeks right and case anybody missed that let's go ahead listen to a little thing play of what we've been hearing exactly is the highest military deployment of russian army and ukrainian border us ever. it's clear that it's a matter of concern but we were showing a bit we're saying we call upon russia to cease or provocations. to be more transparent about this recent activity we are seriously concerned ongoing developments and they too is monitoring the situation very closely. seriously concerned was of course sort of the rallying cry that we've heard but all the biggies the u.s. the u.k. nato the e.u. they've all been expressing their unwavering support for ukraine and urging russia to deescalate the situation and stop with what they've been calling their

provocations when there's been all these reports of a huge russian military buildup on the ukrainian border and the headlines all but promised all out war was coming if something didn't happen because big big bad russia was taking military people and vehicles over to the ukrainian border but the thing is from the get go moscow has had a very clear explanation as to what is going on military drills plain and simple planned military drills and yes these drills happen to coincide with you know a flare up in the conflict in eastern ukraine but russia repeatedly said that it was in response to threats that they were perceiving from nato and also going as far as to say that they had no plans for ukraine radically in an attempt to calm tensions not that that did anything but of course these drills were impressive there's no denying that as you were mentioning earlier there were 40 warships thousands of soldiers were involved and we can actually take a quick look at some of those drills right now.

that's all been officially wrapped up everyone's going home but it's also worth noting that nato itself is also going to be conducting some of its largest roles ever this year which will course be seen as perfectly normal and that and other actions will not go unnoticed by russia of course on tuesday president putin said that any threat to russia would be responded to quickly and firmly and the russian foreign military has come out saying that nato is continuing provocative activities in the black sea region so while it looks like this particular chapter is coming to a close this story has plenty to come. thank you. well the u.k. is a conservative government is fending off corruption claims over the way it's dished out emergency funding a new report shows that many contracts were awarded to companies with political

connections and without any competition though a track record of supplying goods or services that's crossed live now it's on to use isa more details on this can you tell us. well this is really blown the lid off the contracting and tendering processes that place when of course the pandemic was at its peak in government spending to get p.p. in place as personal protective equipment and other vital equipment to fight the pandemic when all of that was going on contracts were being handed out in there are accusations in this report of contracts being handed out to those with the right political connections and concerns even being raised about the emergence of a so-called vi p. lane that fast tracked offers of contracts from companies who had been directly approved from politicians or lords and others and according to the report all of

these processes raising a number of red flags it is very surprising for the u.k. government prioritise recommendations from politicians given and most of the areas of economic activity this type of association raises red flags and they are not known for their expertise and procuring medical equipment what is even more surprising is that it did not engage professionals such as the british medical association and the royal college of nursing now the focus of this report centers around almost a 1000 contracts awarded between february and november of last year totaling 18000000000 pounds 17 of those contracts were flagged as triggering potential red flags to do with potential lurk conflicts of interest or even corruption and 24 contracts worth 1600000000 pounds went to the so-called politically connected those with ties to government figures or to the conservative party whether as

conservative party donors and there's also been accusations of a lack of transparency and a lack of accountability with public bodies less than forthcoming with information about these contracts. public bodies across the u.k. fail to comply with their legal obligations to provide timely access to information on contracts now all of these contracts and all of this focus on political connections the lid of which has been blown off by revelations that former prime minister david cameron was attempting to lobby the government during the pandemic on behalf of a company called green capital and he had reached out to the chancellor of the health secretary that hancock all of whom have denied any wrong doing but investigations are going on into the role that politicians play when it comes to

contracting and many here in the u.k. worried about what impact this will have on britain's role on the global stage on britain's image on the global stage particularly when they come to lecturing other countries about corruption. all right i live in london thank you. in the meantime u.k. border guards so you're right 100 people a day or arriving in britain carrying coded certificates potentially bringing in new variants of the virus on the type of because these certificates apparently counterfeit. partridge picks up the story. in the u.k. cases of coronavirus and cope with 19 deaths before the following the look of the vaccine rollout but there are concerns this progress could be scuppered by the variants of the disease being brought into the country by people using fake coded negatives certificates foreign holiday travel or both leaving and entering the u.k. is found that business travels allowed the government website tells travelers to

the u.k. before they settle which they must provide a passenger locator for and proof of a negative coronavirus test taken within the 3 days before arrival this could be a printed documents an e-mail or text message failure to show it could mean no travel or 500 pounds fine on arrival the traveler must ensure the test meets the right standards and the results must be in english french or spanish with personal information matching the travel documents and the tests provide us contact details but border immigration and customs staff say these documents are very easy to forge and in many cases offices have no way of checking whether they're genuine it's get taken on trust we do get a 100 or more and do fake coverage certificates that we catch while the e.u. says police agency europol has already warned travelers to be aware of all denies to criminal gangs selling fake coded negatives certificates these have been found

at british french and spanish airports online and in the netherlands via mobile messaging apps for as much as $300.00 euros each as long as travel restrictions remain in place due to the pandemic it is very likely that criminals will. seize the opportunity of producing and selling fake 900 testator for kits given the widespread technological means available in the form of high quality printers and different software fraudsters are able to produce high quality counterfeits forged or fake documents and up to 20000 people entering the u.k. every day most are corneas who are in the large group of exam jobs and people including children under 11 who don't need to take a test which raises the question of whether the certificate system or any passport ski could work in siri or in practice clearly there are challenges around international travel you know you have to look across the continent and see the rise in case rates in many of our nearest neighbors it has been in the past the

case that those rising infection rates have seen their way through to the u.k. we're hopeful that that won't happen this time around because of our progress with the vaccine and so on but we do need to be cautious about that but the big worry about fake certificates is letting people into the u.k. he was carrying you could variance like those from india south africa and brazil which could be more resistant to antibodies this would diminish the impact of the u.k.'s vaccination program and thought the economic upturn then just one forged document costing a few 100 pounds could cost thousands of lives and millions in lost revenue kate partridge r.t. london. franzl meanwhile wants to be europe's 1st state to enforce covert passports a move heavily criticized by rights campaigners i was discriminating against the unvaccinated yet ministers insist it's all about freedom. it did this summer

i hope we will reclaim our freedom thanks to the vaccination restraint and this digital certification the drop passports will list people's inoculation date or immunity status and will be trialled on internal flights this week officials hope to expand their use across europe within a fortnight shops and restaurants for the meantime remain exempt and we spoke with political analyst to make a buck of it she says the rollout will lead to tensions. people are jittery with that talking about putting their personal information on an app which is managed by the government again if people were confident that people were managing the people at the head of france today were concerned by the health of the citizens and that was paramount to them and that was their primary concern that i think they would be ok but people see that there are it due to human interest personal interest big pharmacy group interest there's a lot of these interests with a lot of people think are more important than the interest of the citizen the safety of the citizen so as long as people will be skeptical about the real

intentions of the government and what this is the 1st day or 2 then i think this is going to be a have a hard time going through after a moment if it's an obligation to have this have to travel it's going to be complicated because some people will really feel forced to take the ad because they need the need to see family relatives or even to work so it's going to create a lot of frustration and we risk having some sort of 2 way society with the fast track for those who got the vaccine or who p.c.r. test regularly and those who don't have it and we have less liberties than the 1st and so i think this is going to create a lot of confusion and. tension within the french society and still up and coming on the program here on our france's enlisting celebrities to get people to take the astra zeneca vaccine but is it all going smoothly story just a few minutes. but for now the conviction of former officer derek shogun for the murder of george floyd has only fired up black lives matter demonstrators they poured back onto the streets saying the police shooting of

a black teenage girl on the day of the verdict just goes to show a total lack of progress. the officers claim they were justified in shooting the 16 year old and have launched a probe however protesters have run out of patience calling on the police to be defended and denouncing. donald quarter reports on those rallies and how they've been encouraged by the democratic party. the verdict guilty but the mass is far from satisfied it wasn't long before celebration over chauvinists fate once more turned into anger. don't want you here. you don't want your area. or. right progressive's are paying a lot of lip service to it's not justice and i'll explain to you right it's not justice. it's not justice because justice is

george floyd going home tonight to be with this family this is but a miniscule step on the path to justice next topps independent agency to investigate police misuse of force criminalize violence against protesters do military police departments disband and deconstruct field police departments some are taking a more sentimental approach making sure everyone knows the death of their new martyr makes them very sad thank you. for sacrificing your life for your name will always be synonymous with death. your original is yours you don't know if you get to change the world. now to reduce an afternoon. that he did change the rules since the campaign trail biden has spoken with the victim's family multiple times assuring them that his administration was on the

side of justice even appeared to border on justifying the pressure that activists and vandals were putting on the court process for jury heard the evidence carried out their civic duty in the midst of extraordinary moment under extraordinary pressure. for so many it feels like it took all of that for the judicial system to deliver a just just basic countability naturally that lied and ministrations pandering to police protesters has radicalized the republican party and the opposite direction so much so that it's now illegal for drivers to run over road blocking protesters in the red state of florida we saw really unprecedented disorder and rioting throughout the summer of 2020 and we said that's not going to happen here in the state of florida and we wanted to make sure that we were able to protect the people of our great state people's businesses and property and it is the strongest anti

writing pro a law enforcement piece of legislation in the country one big verdict on a whole lot of unsolved problems and the 2 ruling parties at each other's throats tragedies like the recent police shooting of a 16 year old black teenager in columbus ohio just continue to pile up with neither side ready to come to a compromise the american political structure of the constitutional structure is so antiquated and so shot through with undemocratic practices and. bias that it would take a top to bottom thorough political structural reform in order to put america on a new racial footing and i don't see it happening any time soon but short of that there will be no progress whatsoever i am absolutely convinced your program continues in just a moment. the

world is driven by a dream shaped by. the day or thinks. we dare to ask. i think that will be an interesting new chapter in all of this is that after all the jobs have been shipped to china the majority of american landlords will be chinese and so most people will have lost their jobs from china they'll be addicted

to fence and all chip in probably from china and paying rent if they can afford a house to someone in china. it is good to have you with us today german lawmakers are considering a bill that would let the government overrule regional authorities on covert restrictions it would also give the right to enforce a nationwide co if you and a range of other measures it is certainly sparked anger on the streets of the capital. her. it was. was.

was was was. with her. on wednesday the bundestag the german parliament voted through amendments to the infection protection act which would essentially take powers to impose covert restrictions away from the 16 states of germany and give that power to the federal government here in berlin now this is being called an emergency brake what it will do is it will give uniformity to what is essentially being a year's worth of a patchwork of covert measures that have differed from state to state across germany this will allow the federal government and angle of merkel's government here in berlin to impose things like a curfew from 10 pm until 5 am also restrictions on meeting with all the households there will be the closure of sports facilities and leisure facilities

also restrictions and perhaps closures or non essential retail when it comes to schools they'll be a separate market put aside if it reaches $165.00 new infections per 100000 of the population then schools will close their doors to students and revert back to distance learning now it's fair to say that these new measures of resulted in a mixed opinion amongst the german population up this filthy i don't know this new legislation will do much i think we should have done something much earlier also today they see one thing tomorrow something else then they do something and then do not stick to it. it's going to be the new legislation is very very important i'm a doctor myself and can therefore say you can really do it consistently now so it's really bring something everything else will not ultimately bring much success i believe that the new version of the national virus control law goes against our

basic law or at least restricts our fundamental rights far too disproportionately germany is currently in the middle of a 3rd wave of covert 19 and it's expected that this emergency brake would be pulled and last until at least the end of april perhaps as long as the end of may in the last 24 hours journey saw just under $30000.00 new covert infections and the rate of infection currently stands at $160.00 new cases per 100000 of population across the whole country now there are regional differences with some areas faring better than others but it does look like that break is set to be pulled once it passes. in the meantime german politicians told us the changes threaten fundamental freedoms. i was one of the protest protest kosovo was one of the key speakers on the street protests also warned one of these 250 year m.p.'s hello today against.

it is. quite softly speaking to callie didn't fix you protection act yeah it's cold that you fix protection act but it's functor small us like and enabling act yes or no we are very sensitive for him in germany due to truman history about enabling acts. by which government is granted such a huge power that it will never give away any more in the future it will be seen when a building act empowers government troops you saw it for the whole ringback of germany were few and all the other pressing measurements looked on and so on we thought to reach homes. to see the we don't incident in the one on one hand it is that the parliament at least decides. the all now before it was just a group of. presidents of the federal states and the chancellor now it's

a parliament that is about the measures that it says they are contradictionary and in itself you have on the one hand reasonable things that for example you have to. measure since you have reasonable things like if there is a high incidence of security measures that can but on the other hand it's no scientific condiment for doing it because if you from 10 o'clock in the evening that is. abusing the basic right of freedom of movement and that of course causes social discontent and calls a smell that people are frustrated. francaise reportedly planning to use celebrities to entice the public into getting the astra zeneca covert shot but when it was a. shot of whiskey hit the streets of the capital to find out. celebrity power

could be about to be harnessed for its most bizarre campaign to date helping to convince people to have the astra zeneca job questions over its possible links to rare blood clots and its effectiveness have essentially made it roll the design a rouble for some leaving the french leadership scratching its head and wondering how to make it more appealing we have had difficulties convincing people on astra zeneca we must think about communication and our ability to convince if we want the vaccination campaign to improve though the president to may have been part of that given his previous buz own the vaccine the real problem with astra zeneca is that it doesn't work the way we were expecting it to the problem is so bad that in the city of nice a covert vaccination center got to be closed over the weekend when only 58 people

turned up despite some 4000 doses of astra zeneca. grabs so how did change people's mornings that's where those celebs come in it's reported the government is wheezing full blown communication campaign that would be headed by famous people because in a crisis that's who you trust right so the best celebrity is that people like kos i don't think they have more knowledge than the specialists. if it's a celebrity who says that i don't care we don't know what influenced them to do it with social media it's stupid easy for people to be persuaded of anything. i will not get vaccinated because some famous person tells me to it's like they're telling me jump for breach i'm not going to do that. we know that these are product placements and it turns out that they themselves have not been. actually it did it

might influence people but i personally rely more on medical expertise and scientific reports fears over the link to the red blood clots from vaccines isn't confined to front so either in sweden several regions of reported cases of people out refusing to have the extra zeneca joab in my department we had planned for a 150 patients aged over 65 with diabetes who were to be vaccinated there were 20 who cancelled ahead of time and 7 who left once they found out which vaccine they would get one said i don't want to die and left immediately were still is the loser refusals all resulting in vaccines being thrown away and all of this is taking place as the european medicines agency the world health organization and even sweden public health authorities are continuing to stress the benefits of the

vaccine for outweigh any risks so why are people still shelling it probably because of the side effects people don't believe in science and the more think it's. a social media discussion. because of the bad reputation in other countries that have decided not to take the risk a tool since the link with rare blood clots was raised the rollout of astra zeneca remains suspended in countries like norway and denmark but as countries struggle to convince citizens that the short is safe to use the e.u. itself has admitted that they may not be renewing its contract which begs the question why pull the convincing people to.