A downpour after weeks of catastrophic bushfires and more rain is forecast for the coming days. Plus how much should people have to pay for life saving medical treatment we need a baby boy whose gene therapy cost a staggering 2000000. 00 euros is case of sparked an ethics debate about the astronomical price of some cutting edge new treatments. Im sumi so much gonda thank you for joining us irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that donald trump support for the iranian people is a pretense in a rare sermon during friday prayers in tehran he accused the u. S. President of wanting to push a poisoned dagger into the countrys chest he also called irans airstrikes against the u. S. In retaliation for the killing of general custom solar money a day. I have got. After weeks of National Trauma thousands turned out to see irans Supreme Leader in a rare show of strength i the maimed cheered and chanted as ali how many railed against irans enemies. A spokesman for the wicked governments of america keep saying that we are standing with the iranian people you are lying if you do stand with the iranian people it is because you want to stick your poisoned dagger into the chest of the iranian nation you havent been able to do that so far and you wont be able to do a damn thing. His intervention comes after the countrys top military commander was killed by u. S. Forces earlier this month triggering a nationwide outpouring of grief and a tragic stampede which saw scores killed then came what iran said was an accidental dining of a passenger jet killing all 176 people on board angry protests engulfed the capital. Yet the ayatollah lamented the crash but said iran was being manipulated. Some people follow the ana guided by american televisions an english radio try to portray this incident in such a way that the deaths of these 2 masses would be forgotten. Generally. I message hared loud and clear by president rouhani who sat among the washer person the ayatollahs present underscores the crisis the last time he delivered friday prayers in 2012 amid a standoff over its Nuclear Weapons program in grossly. For more on the story we have a senior journalist with us from arabic thanks for joining us thank you for having me the last time that the Supreme Leader spoke at friday prayers was in 2012 why do you think he chose this but speak now and what do you think of what he said. Actually coming a appeared after 80 years simply because he has to he has to address all the pressure were talking about International Pressure on the also domestic pressure i would concentrate more on the domestic pressure because its more important for coming i think in my own opinion i mean theres anger or the winning. Of the passenger plane theres also anger over economic canonical situation and a sanctions theres anger over killing them so they money theres a lot of anger there so basically hes stepping in of that eightys to say im still in im still they had because there were speculations about his health and also in order to say lets unite all together against the enemy the enemy now its not only the. U. S. But also its the European Union to to also theres another message for the west what they call the west its not we dont underestimate us its true that we had so many bad luck lately but also we can hit a new time and then he would when we want were still strong dont underestimate iran i think this is was the means the main message for the International Pressure ok so came across with a very strong message we saw those images of the protests in iran do you think this is going to be enough to take the pressure off the Supreme Leader i will explain it very simply and then you will understand exactly how it works in iran basically its the Supreme Leader he has the main power in iran the Supreme Leader is elected by something called assembly of experts under this umbrella comes for example the president and also members of the parliament some feel for experts that appointed by something called the Guardian Council the Guardian Council whose members. Appointed by the Supreme Leader so now you can understand a little bit the power is is totally in the hands of the Supreme Leader which has come in the way he has the last say when it comes to military actions he has the last say when it comes to political decisions and also economical decisions and visibly some protestors that they ask for him to step down based on some of the ports from iran they are now most of them they are in jail activists and also protesters so i dont think thats going to happen accused now its not going to happen in my opinion there are tensions in iran what can the Supreme Leader at this dude at this point of to ease those tensions especially ahead of elections in iran in february basically iran is its not playing it very hard they have think its marquis one comes to politics if i want to talk about the nuclear deal for example they are threatening european troops through they are threatening american troops also true but also that opening the door for any negotiation now based on which terms i have no idea we have to wait and see how the negotiations behind the scenes that are going to be but also dont forget were not talking about only. Confrontation military confrontation were talking about also side but when it comes between iran and also the u. S. Hes concentrating the supreme deity that is concentrating on the the most the mystic. Opinion now this is why it was so him today and also his opening another door for diplomacy when it comes to the west the u. S. And also with a little pm so were not expecting somethings going to happen before the elections in iran soon arent the matter here from do you arabic thank you for sharing your analysis with us thank you for having me. Well earlier this week germany france and britain triggered the socalled dispute resolution mechanism on the Iran Nuclear Deal and that move could eventually lead to the end of the deal and a return to sanctions now germany has confirmed media reports that the us earlier pressured the European Union to take action against iran by threatening to impose tariffs on imports of european cars lets bring in Political Correspondent simon young for more on this story hi simon and what do these media reports say and what do you make of this. So some of this all comes from a report in the Washington Post earlier this week that as you say donald trump applied pressure to the European Partners in this Iran Nuclear Deal and that is to say germany france and britain by saying that he was ready to impose punitive tariffs up to 25 percent for instance on european car imports to the u. S. Now the question of whether those that threat was made has been discussed much today but the government position is that no pressure had any role in the german governments decision and the other european governments as well to trigger the arbitration mechanism which is intended they say to sort of get iran back on track with the nuclear deal the j c p o a which as you know has been sort of abandoned by donald trump and the iranians have said well you know if the americans arent playing their part then we wont either so you know the deal is in peril the europeans want to keep it alive for told possible so theyre saying they took their decision without any pressure now as to the question of whether there was such pressure spiegel online web sites reporting today that a senior official in the German Foreign minister has confirmed that there was pressure it seems according to reports that defense minister and a great crime carabaos also a knowledged that there was such pressure coming from Washington Well the european say that theyve been considering this move triggering arbitration since the end of last year but a lot of people are saying well you know in the end they moved rather hastily they didnt for instance wait for a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency which is looking into irans potential abuses on its Nuclear Program so you can make of that what you will but as far as bowling is concerned they say we did not react to pressure from washington our politics correspondent simon young thank you. Lets brief you now on some of the other stories making the news at least 11 american troops were injured when iran attacked a u. S. Base in iraq on january 8th the u. S. Central command has now confirmed washington had previously claimed there were no casualties in the attack which was in retaliation for the killing of iranian general customs on the money and ukraines Prime Minister alexey one shadow cast submitted his resignation to president followed him in selenski he confirmed the move in a Facebook Post and it comes days after one shot it was caught on tape saying the president knows nothing about the economy which i took says the recording had been doctored. Now to australia where rain is bringing some much needed relief to parts of the country affected by weeks of devastating bushfires but the downpours are also bringing new problems in the form of flash floods and with more rain forecast in the coming days australians are finding themselves moving from one weather driven crisis to another i from flames to flash floods just a week ago stuff of this nature were protecting their animals from oncoming bushfires now theyre having to deal with another extreme theres the dr who is also said absolutely inadequate he never got it coming in the park. Stuff rushed koalas to safety. Back. Well for creatures more used to the wet it was more about keeping them in their place. Heavy rain has fallen across New South Wales one of the states worst affected by bushfires in the state capital sydney residents were remembering how to use an umbrella the orange haze that had taken over the citys skyline now cloudy grey. We need a bit of rain in order to help the 5 is because how dry it was last couple days and i think it will help with the haze is the script everything out there this is what is in many many months weve already got a bill fordyce of writing in the last almost. Let run only short a little while this was well and truly the little spot hurdle. For many in the country the wet weather has a relief and joy. More a case of sliding than singing in the rain. That rain has helped the north of the raid. Bushfires but it does bring with it another set of dangers with the land so dry and vegetation burns away water just bounces off the ground as firefighters here are well aware changing weather doesnt automatically mean changing fortunes. Now to what looks like a breakthrough in efforts to secure a truce in the civil war in libya German Foreign minister heikal moss has announced that the powerful rebel leader. Has agreed in principle to abide by a cease fire now the country and its backers are split between 2 rival governments one of those governments is based in tripoli that is the seat of the un backed government of iraq now the other is in tobruk which is the base of general after selfstyled Libyan National army which now controls most of the country germany and the European Union are pushing for stability in libya to help stem the flow of migrants who are making the journey across the mediterranean but its a multilayered conflict and there are no easy solutions. For a strongman general highly for have wants tripoli. Together with his Libyan National army he hopes to capture the countrys capital and take full control of this oil rich nation. And its partly because of oil that russia and turkey have waded in on either side of this conflict with turkey behind fire as alsa raji is a un backed government and russia supporting have to. Moscow has denied reports it sent a messenger is to reinforce the generals fight is but on thursday turkey confirmed it had started deploying troops to help tripoli despite a u. N. Arms embargo. With libyas so unstable the fear of resurgent islamist terror has worried many European Countries but other factors mean the e. U. Is split over its alliances. Officially the tripoli based government has the backing of europe including germany but italy has openly supported general haftar who it sees as crucial in stemming the flow of migrants across the mediterranean and frances concerns over terrorism as well as its interests in libyas oil wealth has pushed towards with the e. U. s official line there are claims its given Covert Military help to general haftar earlier this week peace talks in moscow broke down. Despite the many interests at stake and the players involved germany seems determined to pursue its mediation role. But even if a ceasefire is agreed the road to peace looks long and bumpy. While the libyan ceasefire talks take place here in berlin on sunday and we will of course be here to bring you all of the latest developments stay tuned for that this we kept. Now Pharmaceutical Company no vargas has announced that it will use a lottery to supply the worlds most expensive drug to children suffering from a devastating genetic disease called spinal Muscular Atrophy but only 100. 00 Children Worldwide will receive the free treatment which usually costs millions of dollars the astronomical price of such drugs has triggered an ethical debate. Michael story sounds like a modern fairy tale but it also poses questions. He was born with spinal Muscular Atrophy a life threatening neuromuscular disease when his condition deteriorated despite treatment his family launched an online Fund Raising Campaign bad name for him to receive a gene therapy thats not licensed in europe yet it helps the city was. The treatment cost almost 2000000. 00 euros professional athletes and celebrities lend their support bowing to pressure from the Public Health Insurance Company agreed to pay michael received the most expensive therapy in the world. But that. Grew thinner and as it was a miracle that it worked at all then on the 3rd day we had another miracle wonder that he could turn himself over properly and in the 2nd week he even sat up on his own. The joy was shared by very many online supporters but there are other opinions about the treatment. Some say not enough tests have been done to guarantee its safety more parents have been demanding access to it Health Authorities are sounding the alarm. This is about a promise of healing thats and i really hope its one that will be fulfilled but we still dont know if it will be and so this is a game of hope of one happening outside the normal system so its not how we should be doing things. In the manufacture of novartis has issued a statement on its product the decision to implement the therapy must be made by specialized doctors under careful consideration of the risks on an individual basis and we are prepared to offer financial concessions to Insurance Companies. But this Case Highlights another major question in a Public Sector Health Care System how much may a treatment cost many expensive gene therapies are set to gain market approval in the coming years what kind of results justify what kinds of costs at the University Hospital in bonn dr young band kirshner meets families who have the prescription that costs 2000000 euros he says it doesnt make sense yet to start prescribing the therapy on a wider scale i think if you wanted to do it with very new kinds of therapies where were not sure how effective or safe they are we need consensus between all parties between specialist doctors experts centers Insurance Companies and licensing authorities only then can we properly decide which patients we should treat with a therapy thats at such an early stage. Michael seems to be doing well so far although no one knows if the 2000000 euro medication has really healed his disease for good still his story shows how vital it is to regulate costly new gene therapies. A story that raises a lot of questions that were going to talk about with our science reporter Karen Williams and our religious Affairs Correspondent martin good to have you both here in our studio darkened to start with you can you explain how this treatment actually works well this is a completely different kind of treatment than generally comes out of the pharmaceutical industry this is a treatment indeed healing a genetic disorder not genetic disorders cause mean if you have a genetic disorder its down to a faulty gene which isnt producing a particular protein correctly and the lack of that protein can have a greater or lesser impact on your health now what this these kinds of treatments do gene therapy treatments do is they replace that faulty gene with an intact copy of the gene and they do that using viruses they and to inject viruses into your body which are able to enter the cells and add themselves to your d. N. A. So that the from that point on your cells have an intact copy of the d. N. A. And they can produce the protein properly now so ultimately what that means is that this is at least in theory a one shot treatment that heals if after that your body continues to make the protein properly in your diet and your condition is taken care of and it seemed to be effective at least short term it hasnt been around for that long the question is whether or not it really is going to last forever whether its going to be or if theres going to have to be there going to have to be booster shots along the way thats one of the Big Questions actually in this debate right and there are also ethical questions that this gene therapy it raises i mean what do you think the biggest ethical concerns are here me usually one of the biggest issues that we have is that we are facing other misstating illness that affects children intuitively one would see this and immediately sort of you know removed the same time we have. A drug that costs essentially a small fortune for a bar and or for a country for Health System to actually the ploy so i think that at the forefront of those question is a question yes you. Access to medicine and access to cures especially in light of new technologies that is a question derek that people are asking specifically of this homicidal company why does this therapy cost so much money well you have to its not its not only novartis its a question of the pharmaceutical industry the Business Model that its based on its not based on giving us one shot treatments that heal us the fall pharmaceutical industry is based around Health Care Management its based around producing drugs that then continues to possibly sell you for the rest of your life that will eventually allow them to recruit the cost and compensate them for the work that they put into that into the research and development of that particular drug you cant forget that the research and development for every 10 drugs that are that are that are in testing only one drug will actually make it through to the end in fact the pharmaceutical industry says that each and every drug that gets develops nowadays costs upwards of 2000000000. 00 euros before Development Cost before its actually on the market so theres that aspect of it and they say that we have to recoup those costs in order to drive further innovation is that there were sponsibility market well its actually a very good question its one that i dont think can be solved by a Single Person sort of making moral or making scientific claims the one thing that i think we should be warned about particularly because of the hero from a cynical company is that the claims about the cost of development should not be taken at face value if you do these true that were all being called to participate in essentially supporting the companies that are developing this life saving cures then it is important that we see that as a matter of fact these are the costs and state of the very same time there is a 2nd argument that is very usually the bloated buy buy from a Suitable Companies which is that there are no charges not only they have to recuperate the cost of the element but as a matter of fact they are in the business of making money i think that this is sort of a problem that is certainly a major ethical problem with this drug because of the pricing and illness that it attacks but its of questions i think that more broadly put to the pharmaceutical industry i think that children are have an intuitive and under. Standing off the fact that we should not be in the business of taking advantage of people in a position of suffering and when we have an industry that pretty creates a Business Model on the idea that growth it is going to be extracted directly for people that are in a situation of suffering i think that we face mean a 1000000 at the called the limit if in fact we have a moral dilemma for most people they would say there is no the limit although its very clear that this is wrong in this case were talking about dead children to put it in a way that maybe 6 plosive but i mean i really want to conjure the mage so stage the question becomes either look more complicated or a lot simpler the ending where you stand well i think the position medicine which is what this field particularly is is really causing us to ask basic fundamental questions about the monetization of health care in general i mean. A pharmaceutical product a medicine thats potentially lifesaving its not a product in the sense that we would think of say an i phone we have to but we still treat it in that way economically and in the Business World its a business its its about making money and the question is is that system has been in place for a very very long time monetizing health care but i think that position therapies like this one are really going to have to force us to question that as we move forward into the future where this is not the only drug that this is happening with there are 5 that have been approved so far and there are dozens more in the pipeline and theyre all going to want to be charging a couple of 1000000. 00 or a couple of 1000000 euros for a single shot treatment and so the question is how do we deal with that both as a society and as a Public Health care and the Public Health care sector its really doesnt help you know part of this image here that they are now offering 100 free injections of this specific therapy to children are affected but based on a lottery system mean is that the right way to go about it but i think i mean its quite simply no i mean clearly no you know that the basic problem is one that again i think that its mostly intuitive for people to look at it from a certain distance lotteries or against the death of children or. Or not and when youre actually sort of formulating the blame and often life saving methods in those terms i mean youre engaging in a pretty sinister game so i mean what youre basically saying is buy the ticket or take the ticket if you get the price your child is safe if not tough luck certainly i think that behind these i have to assume that there is a Good Intention which is actually to the 100 of these cures for free and then of course the question is how we said that we effectively blow this resource but in my estimation this actually is a very good indicator of the very broken them which is if this is going to be presented as something that can only be selectively the ploy to. Then as a matter of fact its very likely that were not going to one to see 2000000. 00 or thereabout as sort of the year for actually acquiring the drug its actually interesting to just one more quick that the companies that are selling these drugs theyre actually selling them as a cheap alternative to conventional medicine as theyre saying conventional medicines to treat the symptoms of the patients that might how this will cost over the course of 10 years 5000000 dollars and were selling it for 2 so its actually a bargain for a really interesting discussion guys that with us here in studio in dark williams thank you both. Coming up on do you have news asia counting the cost of indias lavish marriage ceremonies a wedding planner explains why couples are scaling back on their big day and why hong kong teachers are being blamed for their students activism. There is fraud and she has those stories coming right up please stay with us. Eco india those who love to eat seafood fish calendar of course. Overfishing breeding seasons bio diversity. Which fish can people eat and with without damaging the ecosystem. Know your fish the 1st seafood sustainability guide in india. In 60 minutes on d w. Every 2 seconds a person is forced to flee their home nearly 71000000 people have been forcibly displaced. The consequences of that disastrous our documentary series displaced depicts traumatic humanitarian crises around the world you know. What a good thing i didnt go to university to kill people that i dont want to have my boss come to me and tell me to kill someone having in many if i dont theyll kill me. People feel for their lives and their future so they seek refuge abroad about the arena of bus scares me the most about this state i seem to rise is that someday we wont even see the roofs. But what will become of those who stay behind its a way my husband went to peru because of the crisis and. If he hadnt gone there we would have died of hunger. Let us run out of town. Displaced this week. This is the. Coming up cost cutting a slowing economy in india also has a budget rethink over the top managers so what are families doing differently. Tells us. Judge matters in nepal is a growing problem but many girls are getting married voluntarily we explain why. Ranch teachers in the firing line. Increasingly facing the music over their students activism
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