ah ah, top stories to south belgium, suddenly back tracked from the scope, it clamped down and reopened. it says in cinemas that are for its highest court slammed the restrictions as excessive. meanwhile, joe biden, distancing himself from previous promises to shut down the bars. now it says it's up to individual states, not the white house to sort it times. we discuss his response to the pandemic so far. and we look back to with what's been a tough year for americans play tech, which door, leading companies in royal's and political fights with both the republicans and democrats. and we get a reg, lindsay side. one of russia is mostly tories prisons, home to some of the country's most dangerous criminals in the wake of the soviet collapse. in the 1996. talking to sell like this were all these

hard tattooed criminal. you knew this look been rejected by a fellow prisoners, the carmen a pariah, was something they feared are the most good evening. 5 o'clock in moscow, you're watching international. now, despite europe struggling with the new armor chronic strain, belgium has suddenly you turned on some of its toughest code restrictions. it comes off for the countries highest court, ruled the measures were too excessive by its judgment. the council of state suspends the measure of closure of the cultural sector facilities. it rule that this measure was not proportionate and cannot make it possible to understand why the attendance of theaters and cultural venues was particularly dangerous for the health of the population. essentially what you have is belgians highest administrative court saying that the government rules make no sense and as

a result, government will have to backtrack. this follows a legal challenge that was filed by a local theatre producer. and it followed a number of restrictions that the government had only imposed a short time ago, amongst these new restrictions where that all theaters cinemas, and cultural venues had to close christmas parties would have to close early, and sports venues would have no audiences. and this is in addition to already the mandatory wearing of moss and people having to work from home. but now we have a situation where everything's reversed. so the cinema's, the theaters and the cultural venues ought to reopen. and of course, it raises questions as to just what kind of consistency there is to these government rules and regulations. jagow, there are still months and months of the covered crisis ahead of us if the public is not in our side because of a lack of sense in the measures, we will have lost the battle against the virus. now you do have

a part of the public that has been very, very vocal in particularly demonstrating and criticizing these government restrictions in recent weeks, they've taken to the streets to voice their concerns. now in general, the covert situation, a cross belgium has been relatively calm. they figures point to over 500 cases per day, per 1000000 people. but the situation is quite different just across the border. if we look there at fonts, for example, font has registered an all time high of more than $200000.00 new cases per day. and that is a high for europe as well. as a result,

the government has had to re impose restrictions. you have a situation where the french police are saying that everybody from 11 years and older. now when they are doors have to women mosque except if they're involved in cycling, if they're doing any kind of sports or if they're inside the vehicle. so you have within the, you block itself, different european countries dealing with these high covert figures in a very different way. honestly, reporting now the u. s. still tops the global table when it comes to the number of deaths for president biden, is not distancing himself from previous promises to shut down the virus and says, the solution has to come from individual states rather than the white house. there is no federal solution. it gets found state level and then ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road and that's where the patient is in need of help or preventing the need for help or just over a year ago,

biden did slam. the trump administration's co testing efforts is a travesty and said america's vaccine ro lived was well behind that of other developed nations. he then promised to change the course of the disease in his 1st 100 days in office. although that didn't happen over $400000.00 americans have died from cove it under biden's watch, with new cases hovering it around half a 1000000 per day. new york has been the worst hit with case numbers there reach and all time high. since the arrival of fioma cron strain are seats ascii taylor, discuss washington's response to the crisis. vitamin said what, for what that is no central solution. i don't think that is something that one wants to hand from the president. there never was a federal solution to a virus that spreads more easily than chicken box and with each to varian as becomes more and more virulent. the idea that there's some policy or some politician going to stop it, we should have been a, acknowledging that this is not

a pandemic. and that this is endemic, at least a couple of waves ago. politicians that's a 1st duty is not only did g d p and an inflation and everything, but basically saved the health of their, of their countrymen. and this needs to be done. this was not done. joe biden got elected because of donald trump's of failed handling cove. it in the minds of voters in coming up on the year that he was inaugurated and we have covered as bad as it's been certainly case wise. we can now add up all the rough weeks for biden to rough year for bite. 62 percent of americans now, double chance. they said that when we get to a certain threshold, everything's going to be great. that's how immunity we're going to be able to live more normally. in your opinion, is 62 percent in good enough. the terrible, i mean 62 percent is close to 50 percent and that goes to a 100 percent. the reason where we are not vaccinated is because people are misinformed. there was not accurate information, but is vaccines and a fake news that are allowed on social media. basically lead to the fact that

patients and people at the end of the day will doubt necessity of having a vaccine. there's definitely a lack of trust in the government as well as a lack of trust in big pharmaceutical companies, especially now that an increasing number of so called lead vaccinated americans are being told. now, if you haven't had a booster shot, you're not back need any more. you as bad as all those people that didn't get vaccinated. vaccine mandate for domestic ad chapel. do you think that's the direction of cutting and the vaccines are for your personal protection? we have seen less of evidence that the vaccine limits trans miss ability. if you don't have that part of the puzzle from a political message being and law making perspective, then you don't have the pretends to set up the mandates. put up other restrictions of occupancy restrictions or telling people that they need to wear a mask from when they walk in the building to least sit down and they can take it back off. none of this stuff is going to stop this buyer. we should be deciding for ourself the best way out of this, the sooner we're going to be able to find the best equilibrium that we're going to

have in this new reality that we have. one here in russia, the daily vitale has been declining. but of course, that doesn't diminish the severity of the virus. maybe 600 patients are on critical support in moscow alone, and are receiving vital supplies of oxygen. and the country has been ramping up its production to make sure patients get what they need. oh boy, oh boy. oh boy hm . breathing. how does it person breathe? we don't usually pay attention to breathing. we see it somehow attached to the body, a mandatory component of life. i remember the fear when i felt that my breath was about to stop that i was forgetting have to breathe. ah, what color to put it all new oil. i would say the turning point occurred this year

with the emergence of the delta strain when it became clear that medical treatment required patients to have more oxygen. on average, one patient can assume 50 late as of oxygen for minutes if it's not intensive therapy. but if the case a serious volumes can rise to 60 liters per minute. imagine a commercial truck with a trailer that can produce up to $1.00 tons of liquid oxygen per day. thus, the amount, the average russian hospital consumes daily. ah, it's just monopoly. we're now at a filling station we're oxygen's pumped into cylinders under high pressure. cylinders are needed by hospitals to help transport. patients to their country produces $2700.00 tons of oxygen per day. in the past we have had to and now we have to work in a manual mode. we have close ties, the ministry of defense rose cosmos and rows, atom. all the companies that help supply hospitals with oxygen. mm.

time with ticking every day. if not every hour matter, we have been told to ramp up production to full capacity by any means. that's why as demand has increased, oxygen production has also increased from 200 tons to 600 tons remodeled. so this so called mm hm. with fight for life, fight for oxygen play with fight for all of us. for you. and for me. watching aussie and i still had few vis ads just the few months left for the

president macaroni had convinced french voters to keep him in the job as the competition snaps at his hales. after the break, we'll have a look at his biggest drives. ah oh, you're welcome. nick jam bruno to the show for this christmas week. special nick was casey research for a long time, but he started his own company focused on helping people to see the big economic and geopolitical picture to survive and thrive. the changes ahead harold is driven by dreamers shaped by thinker. so those with

there's things we dare to ask in a ah, welcome back you without the international facebook stuff is that the year has seen politicians on both sides of the divide. putting pressure on the firm it does come off, exposes by whistle blowers and renewed concerns over the companies monopoly. he goes down of looks now at how america's big tech firms have become swept up in the countries polarizing political from multi $1000000.00 fines to watching the lid

blown right off some of their most sensitive secrets for big tech 2021 spelled big problems and facebook got the biggest kicking things started to turn sour 11 of its former employees when rogue and testified that the platform apparently exploited children for profits and failed to sends a hate speech. and there needs to be a radio for a home where someone like me could do a tour of duty after working at a place like this and, and have a place to work on things like regulation to bring that information out to the oversight. or is that have the right to do oversight? regulatory agency within the federal government? yes. taking kindly to whistleblowers is one thing that american officials absolutely can not put on their c v's. yeah. chelsea manning, julian assange, i'm talking about them. but francis hogan turned out to be a very different breed of whistleblower with billionaires and democratic party. top

dogs sticking up for her after all. her demands filled conveniently in line with the government's own grievances against big tech. her testimony dovetails very closely with the democrat censorship agenda. their plan or their desire to heavily sensor social media and to take out their political adversaries. the kind of government intervention that was proposed by how again and those who were pulling her strings is going to take place an opaque fashion behind the scenes. and undoubtedly with input from the intelligence agencies which are by nature opaque and unaccountable to the public. when you're a real whistleblower rich, you are targeted by the government. you are silent when you are prosecuted and sent to prison. but if you are celebrated on capitol hill and finance, i know that by independent companies, i'm sorry, but you're not

a whistleblower europe. political tool, her revelations got massive traction in the media and in the senate. you are a 21st century american hero. here's my message for mark zuckerberg, your time of invading our privacy. promoting toxic content and praying on children in teens is over. big tack is facing peak tobacco's moment of reckoning. mcg zuckerberg try to fight back. my view is that what we're seeing is a coordinated effort selected. we usually document to pay it all picture of our company. alas, his trials and tribulations did not. and that democrats prestone cooling for the ted joined to be dismembered, choked into separate businesses, facebook, instagram, and whatsapp. they also floated the idea that the platform, not just the uses, should bear responsibility for all content on its pages. and again,

facebook try to say face will well, rather put on a new one, re branding into meta. right. there's martin. i think he's in the middle of a perfect hey mark. i said let me put my feet on so i can beat you. you'll be able to work out a new world even against in a i was a good, persistent stayed virtual object laid on an interactive passer environment. oh you are. yes you are. our company is now met. well, goofy robots may have impressed a bunch of 4th graders, but certainly not the democrats met as in where a cancer to democracy matter sizing for a global surveillance and propaganda machine for boosting, authoritarian regimes and destroying sheila society for profit. facebook wants us to start calling meta, but we're just going to keep calling it what is

a threat to privacy, democracy and children. republicans gave facebook a good walloping to the social media giant, brought their roth upon itself. well, by blocking donald trump, of course, as twitter did to, if they can band president trump, all conservative voices could be next. a house republican majority will reign in big tech power over our speech for every liberal, celebrating trump social media ban, the big tech oligarchy can muzzle the former president. what's to stop them from silencing you? twitters bumpier ended up in a change of leadership project. dorsey stepped down amid reports of growing discontent among investors making way for the new boss. berrago was a man who seemed to have put twitters, use a policy above free speech. oh is not too big, but it was madman, but our role is to, sir, we're head liberally conversation and our moves. there are things that we believe

were hillier, public conversation, the kinds of things that we we don't to worry about. this is focus less on thinking about each, but thinking about how the dance of change each year yields big tech scandals in abundance. 2021 made no exceptions here. raising questions, if there's any way at all to tame the big tech as big oil once was now 2022 is lining up to be a big election year for france. president mack, ron hoping for a 2nd turn, but he's up against some big competition in the final months before polling starts . charlotte davinsky reports. hey ho. hi im is running out on a manual macro ones. first time in the lease a with the french people just months away from a new vote. and it does seem that even after 5 rocky years, macaroni is still in po position. i think it will be mark wrong. micron,

whatever happens, i will vote micro. however, he faces a battle with some new faces in the mix, all vying to unseat the so called president of the rich. and until recently, some predicted this would be an election that would be a run off a 2017 with mack on facing off against the national rallies marine la pen. now, while she still showing favorably in the polls, she may not be his main opponent. for those who missed it, meets eric sim. all. we love by a brand you doesn't mean this. his words is a more blas did into the presidential campaign before he was even confirmed as a possible candidate. initial poll suggested that he could be the one to face up to mack on, in the 2nd round, but he support has since dipped. ah

a however, could his campaign be about to get a boost is more is gaining allies from some unexpected quarters. some kid on the he is the only one who has discernment and courage and who cares about civilization? what he stands for is, will i live for the defense of civilization then? and there is a valerie case, she's already fought off the big names in her room party, let her public on, and now she is angling for the fight her life. she believes that she is the only one who can deliver a knockout blow to mack on every lavender for victory. the french people have understood it would be either micron or us. and she could be right. early polls suggest if the woman who describes herself as part thatcher part merkel will makes

it into the 2nd round of voting. she could give mack on a run for his money. now what's interesting about france's presidential election is just how the vast majority of people are apparently only considering giving their support to right or perceived right when candidates. and what matt connie's seen is the man to beat. he remains incredibly unpopular. ah, with oh, you look at that country like a company, really, it's no less than a company. and if the french people have voted for menu in my core, i 5 years ago, it was because they thought, wow, it's a young business man. he knows how to run

a company, a lot of people who had voted for a menu and michael got disappointed because they said, hey, you know, you are going around the country like a business, like a company, and it's not working. so what happened in our company when it's not working, the shareholders get rid of the, our general manager, and then they get another one. the other scene that has been emerging is a sense of harking back to france, is pass candidates consistently talking about returning to traditional roots about holding on to francis identity. and one name keeps cropping up, is you know how the goal, he's the founder of the current friendship public. and it's a man that for many symbolizes the best of what it is to be french. it seems that may be a winning strategy. so it's important to have a charismatic leader who represents france. well, someone who knows how to make decisions to have someone who is strong,

not necessarily physically, but he shows that he is sure of himself. someone smart when the honesty, respect for the people above all and a commitment to france. 2022 also sees another real task from the viability of mac calls and longer term project for france. he is on the move party, which is created in the wake of his when just 5 years ago, will also find out whether it remains a force in politics here. elections for the national assembly come home on the heels of the presidential vote. will his vision be given the rubber stamp of re approval, or will it be discarded to history? only france can decide geology, even sky r. c. paris. now person peyton sacked russia's prison chief last week as reforms to get underway in the wake of damning video that showed wide spread abuse in the countries jails up next, we visit a notorious form, a prison in st. petersburg that's now been replaced with

a more modern facility. the old jail was infamous in the 19 ninety's when it was home to some of russia's most dangerous criminals. amid the chaos that followed the collapse of the soviet union without his constantine rush, coff has been given rare access to it. just to warn you though, his special report does contain graphic descriptions of violence. me were in saint petersburg and in front of what used to be rushes most infamous for them for more than a century. this was the largest incarceration facility in the whole of europe were the country's most notorious and violent criminals were being kept. now we're going to check out the jails, darkest parts that have been hidden from the general public. for decades. this looks like a perfect sat for a horror movie. even after 4 years since the prison was shut down, its empty cells and court are still sent chills down your spine. this is one of the

solitary confinement cells that were widely used during stalin's role in the 19 thirty's and forty's. i mean, you can see how small it is, i think 3 times smaller than a regular. so you can, i mean, you can even fully stretch out your arms while inside. you have to spend days and weeks in a cell like this where it can effectively only stand or sit on the edge of a small metal bed. lying down during the daytime is forbidden. well then it becomes how on earth in the prison was billed at the end of the 19th century as the most advanced facility of its kind in russia. firstly, because of its iconic architecture, we cross shape of the 2 main buildings. not only gave the jailers unofficial name, but also made it easy for guards to monitor and access every corner of that prison

. at a time when cctv cameras were mostly with history, the prison served as a pre detention facility. yet in the soviet times, there was also we did a good win for those found guilty of the most violent crimes like multiple murders and rapes, which is probably the dark part of the prison death row behind the seal gate. there was a small basement where though sentenced to death were executed. he came to nationwide notoriety in the 9090s when the severe economic crisis of follow the collapse of the soviet union and crime rates through the roof. russian streets became an arena of bloody wars between newly formed criminal gangs. what are you looking at? what are you doing here anyway? who do you think that you're going to cover that cache you?

i mean, it was you that, that would, that was kind of talk was colon back then. there were dictionaries of criminals. lang is out of radical islam bites get used to run among russian criminal circles. in the 9th, 1992, he spent 8 months in this prison on record to your charges. i yeah, of the businesses, someone told me money. so i went off to deal with the guy. i didn't go to raise the meeting, go guns. almost everyone had gone to that time. we arrived at the meeting place in the police to meet with the crime rate was so high in the ninety's, europe's largest prison quickly became too small to fit in all the mob stories and violent criminals. up. i grew up with the door opens and i filled the ugly mug staring at me. their faces of hog criminals. yeah, that's all i sat down on the edge of the bed. it was our place to sit down these guys looking at me like that. we had a lit cigarette and all of these gangs the smoke, they took almost

a whole pack for me. so we smoked together and talked so i realized is going to be okay. next warden who served in this prison at the time recalls some of the night mary scenes he witnessed every day at work. her 15th recorded up to 14 people used to share this kindly cell. is it true that some in and slept on the floor under the bed? otherwise it was impossible to fit. everyone in people slept into shifts. a lack of funding had left the prison without the most basic things like toilet seat inmates ended up rolling their blankets to have at least minimum comfort growing up in russia, in the ninety's seeing videos of this person's overcrowded cells. i vividly remember how terrified i was when i imagine what it would be like, walking into a cell like this, where all these harden tattooed criminals give you this look as the door slammed behind you. and some of the former inmates recalled that being rejected by his

fellow prisoners and becoming a pariah with something they feared the most, some times more than solitary confinement or punishment from the guard. it was not . i mean, this is a terrible place to ruin the loss of people's lives, no doubt. but everyone who came out to the door, they were mentally damaged. if you could. yeah. well yeah, i mean, i get so how young guys will rate what old mom does a couple of times. they raped young guys simply because they wanted sex. the country's future president vladimir putin visited the crosses in 1992. he was particularly shocked that prison dentist pulled out my teeth without painkillers. the decision was made to shut down the notorious jail altogether and build a new one from scratch. in the next episode, we're inside the new prison that has replaced the old one in the city. the most

important to be is that we have a rest. you can look from the inside. we have any prisoner trotted feeling night from you. what happened? i couldn't tell you the language and i killed them. i strangled in little fish. what really wanted to be back with you. he's wait for me. and you can see constantino sac special report here. not say tomorrow that brings up to night. little and you said i, they were back game with mo, nothing ah and it states, it has to be rash, to be able to afford enzyme. and so on. is luxury good for sure? despite having the most expensive health care system in the world, we have poor life expectancy. we have higher info.