A Political Boost for a rightwing ally just before polands national but the. Russians head to the polls today for a controversial vote on constitutional reforms that could allow president Vladimir Putin to stay in power for another 16 years. Terry martin good to have you with us a big day for one of europes Largest Airlines as live tons of shareholders gather to vote on a 9000000000 euro rescue package the bailout would see the German Government take a significant stake in the airline supporters of the deal were boosted on wednesday when look tuns its largest shareholder hell munty revealed that he would vote with them the deal could bring lift tons of back from the brink of bankruptcy. Full of turns of the corona virus pandemic has been a nightmare barely anyones flying belly anyones wanted to fly and the outlooks not much better chances main source of profit is its Business Class but with Video Conferencing getting ever more popular even thats facing an uncertain future solar turns it has agreed a potential government aid package can exchange for 9000000000 euros in help the german state is expecting a 20 percent stake in the National Carrier and it wants an option for a blocking minority of shares empowering its to veto any attempt to takeover the airline under pressure from the competition watchdog live turns or will also have to surrender 20 for takeoff and landing slots in frankfurt and munich and they will be job cuts to affecting all departments cabin crew ground staff and pilots its of cities will also be affected german wings has been permanently grounded Austrian Airlines euro wings and Brussels Airlines will also take a hit look turns a needs help to get off the ground again but even when air travel properly restarts germanys long time leader will never be as it was. For more on the bailout deal and the situation of turns im joined by aviation expert andrea spear address what im going over this bailout package for the turns has gone on for weeks what makes this deal so complicated. They see several really difficult issues in it and i think the most important underlying one is that internal dramedy both most tons and the shareholders critical of any government state influence in leading a company and this also costs what made very clear look undersea or for a long time were also very reluctant to even let the state take any kind of hold but the German Government apparently agreed in this and they promised not to take any active role that in turn has been criticised a lot in turn politics for us im in the green party they really said this morning that inacceptable at this stage in germany pays 9000000000 euros for a company thats only half of it and then still gives a big burden to through to the drone taxpayers. Ok shareholders are expected to vote on that deal today is everybody on board to approve the bailout. Surprisingly it seems to me that yes since last night when hunting or the biggest shareholder suddenly announced that hugh would indeed favored out this agreement he would vote yes today then i think was the most the most amazing stumbling block so far and it seems that most others how it was only 9 and uncalled as well one shelter was saying yesterday the crane lets move trying to lowball the crane wouldnt be a bird any more this take money would not be invested into little towns and the 100 of us saved ok well to keep that bird up in the air whats going to what would be necessary if the deal were to fall through let me put it another way what would happen to look tonsil without this deal. That it is i think its fairly certain that we will get this deal but the deal itself is only the beginning thats the fundamental fundamental base is the base for really starting to actually save enough time to because no one really knows how business will develop as a big structural problem as the main cause of income for fall where Business Trends premium president s who pay a premium fare which probably might not materialize for the near term future or maybe not even for the midterm future as everybody predicts in most times itself that how you want business traffic will dramatically decline and most times its less position this but this isnt for capturing a majority of the loser market. And there is one gets the impression at lufthansa has been hit particularly hard by the pandemic compared to other airlines is that the case and if so why. No i think im trying to block you know what he did the german state is so committed to help them out i mean ive talked to several ally and see all from around the world they come back out are well they dont get one cent in canada from the government and heres how he was quite jealous of bob thurman you. Being so close here and so i think its really the envy of many other im around the world the german case the german state has really taken responsibility to keep enough times a lot i think generally look transfer is not worth on others there are better off that used to be better off because they went into this crisis as a very strong profitable kariya which of course now has been all wiped out within a few months but hopefully it will give them a better starting position through the race after the crisis. Thank you so much for your insights that was aviation expert on their spate. And while were waiting for the all important annual meeting. Business the airline is going on and it includes bringing home new airplanes our reporter Dan Hirschfeld went out to check on the mood at germanys flag carrier. To go there. Live tons of pie little opens the throttle on this airbus a 350 for a test flight in the skies over the toulouse Assembly Plant germanys Biggest Airline placed its order for the modern efficient aircraft some years ago the fact this acceptance flight is taking place during the biggest crisis in love times is history hasnt escaped the pilots attention. We think its an important signal to my colleagues who are sitting on either at home or in short time work these are tough times but its important to look towards the medium and the long term to see that things do get better and things continue. It. The a 350 has a catalog price of 300000000 euros and look tons of specialists are checking every detail. Before the money changes hands and puts the plane through its paces with a series of stomach churning maneuvers transistor actually in the process of reducing the size of its fleet so the purchase of a flashy new jet is the subject of much debate throughout the carrier including its city line subsidiary in munich this aircraft is almost full much to the relief of staff in the cabin and cockpit but its not enough to overshadow an uncertain future. Course its nerve wracking to see the Shareholders Holding this vote. With their hope for the best. But still worry about your job. Interlude and back on solid ground. Aviation analyst. Thanks love times as Turbulent Times are to a large extent homemade and that blaming the pandemic is all too easy. We love our main mistake was to believe that they could get away with relatively small cash reserves with other airlines have done a better job of that. British airways owner has much more cash and was a lot more profitable before the Coronavirus Crisis look at ryanair an easy jet to which of managed with pretty much no government support. Theres a 350. 00 has been named after the german city of. But theres no guarantee that it will ever carry passengers anywhere full of tonnes of. Say look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world today Australian Flag carrier quantas will cut 6000. 00 jobs and slashed costs worth 10000000000. 00 u. S. Dollars over the next 3 years as it tries to survive the pandemic c. E. O. Alan joyce said the airline must shrink to meet lower demand and that the cuts would preserve other positions at the company. The German Pharmaceutical Company bio has agreed to pay almost 11000000000. 00 u. S. Dollars to settle a lawsuit over the weed killer roundup since it brought bought monsanto which manufactures the herbicide has faced numerous lawsuits in the u. S. Over claims that the product causes cancer. The u. S. Has recorded its biggest daily increase in in coded 19 cases since the pandemic began new infections are climbing sharply in several states including texas florida and arizona shares on wall street plunged on wednesday amid new fears about of it 19. U. S. President says some of the u. S. Troops that hes planning to withdraw from germany will probably be moved to poland trump made the statement during a white house visit by his polish counterpart. A staunch ally of the u. S. President is the 1st foreign leader to visit the United States during the coronavirus pandemic is running for reelection on sunday. So just how likely is it that we will see u. S. Troops relocate from germany to poland the double. Washington bureau chief alexander phenomena sent us this is us. Well at 1st president was quite be doing the press conference saying that polands have had asked for more u. S. Troops and that they will probably be moving from germany to poland but then he got more precise more a more specific seeing that the u. S. Is going to reduce you asked troops in germany some of them are going home some of them are will be going to different places and one of the places will be poland so he seems to have made hes mine and this announcement was a huge win for the polish president whose government is very eager to receive more you ass troops and its of course a punishment of germany and president once again criticize germany for not spending enough on defense. You know as Washington Bureau chief of xander phenomena there youre watching to w. News still to come 70 years after the korean war as 1st shots were fired we meet some koreans who vowed to never reconcile with you and i mean external. Polls have opened in russia for a controversial vote that could allow president Vladimir Putin to stay in office for another 16 years russians are being asked to approve constitutional reforms proposed by putin in january voting at polling stations is underway despite concerns over the spread of the coronavirus the changes would allow her to run for another 2 terms as president and make it possible for him to stay in power until 2036. A massive surprise during the state of the nation address in january russian president Vladimir Putin stumped the country with his plan for constitutional reform that will include his proposal envisages strengthening the role of the state council as well as expanding powers for parliament and creating new entrants hurdles for president ial candidates there a foam would also allow putin to stay in office until 2036 christmas with years the speed with which the changes were rushed through parliament the opposition and much the duma passed 3 foam and the Constitutional Court also gave green light. Now the only thing putin needs is the approval of the russian people. And d. W. Correspondent only sure when is covering the story and joins us now from moscow emily tell us a little more about this vote whats at stake here. Well there are a whole theres a whole mix of measures on these in these constitutional amendments a real mix including for example marriage which is now only supposed to be according to these amendments between a man and a woman politicians are not supposed to have dual citizenship according to the amendments and it also is apparently for more accessible medical care that is at least some of the measures that were seeing on the banners that are all over moscow a lot of them are rather populist but critics say that the kind of essence of what these amendments are about isnt actually really being advertised by the author or adiz and what that is is that the term limits putins term limits will be reset by this constitutional amendments that means that he will then be able to run for 2 more terms it doesnt abolish term limits for other politicians in the future but it does of balazs those term limits for him so hell be able to stay in power till 2036 so essentially you might say that some of these measures that were seeing are kind of populist wrapping paper for the central measure which keeps puttin in power. Is. Likely to go into tunes favor early. Well it has already as we just saw in the piece been passed by lawmakers in the duma but the president has repeatedly insisted including this week again that these amendments will only pass if the people vote in favor of them so kind of painting himself as the democrat there for the author or these i think its basically not an option for these not these amendments not to pass at this point their main job now is to ensure that the turnout is very high and essentially this is because essentially this is a referendum and a referendum on president himself and his his numbers in terms of trust have actually been falling in recent months so the authorities have made it very easy to vote in this referendum people can vote on line that weve seen this week the victory day parade which kind of essentially creates a patriotic atmosphere ahead of this vote this week as well announced. Support measures economic support measures for people kind of creating favorable conditions for people to come out and vote for him but the people that ive spoken to here in moscow have been surprisingly negative actually about the constitutional amendment saying you know this is all been decided for us and why didnt they also already is just pay us more money pay us more support during the corona crisis instead of. Holding this expensive vote well speaking of the Coronavirus Crisis its having an impact on the every thing this vote is happening right in the middle of it how is that going into the vote code 19 pandemic. Well the head of the collect Electoral Commission has said that voting will be safer than going to the supermarket and part of that safety net those Safety Measures is the fact that theyve actually spread the vote out over a week so today is just the 1st day of voting voting will go on until july 1st but critics say that actually some of these measures make it easier for ballot stuffing to happen and opposition media and monitors have already been reporting on schemes for online voting so people buying sim cards to vote for pensioners in the place of pensioners and being paid for those votes thats been reported in the media this week so it seems that the pandemic could actually play out in favor of that vote and in favor of more voting schemes in the worst Case Scenario and only thank you so much steve w. Moscow correspondent Emily Sherman 70 years ago today communist north korea invaded the u. S. So starting the korean war 3 years of bloody fighting ended in 1953 with a peace treaty but only with a truce meaning that the war is technically still going on and animosities between the 2 neighbors continue to this day they just tensions were sparked 2 and north of us in the south again launching balloons carrying propaganda leaflets over the border urging North Koreans to overthrow their leadership. As our next report shows animosities between the 2 koreas still run deep. After 70 years Korean Unification still exists only on paper at an anti us protest in seoul we meet a former spy from north korea park he song unmasked in 1962 he spent 27 years in prison and says hes now stuck in south korea a country that is not his home which it ive been here for 58 years officially im a resident of south korea but my loyalty lies with north korea the democratic peoples republic of korea. Parks family members live in the north if theyre still alive if theres one thing he cant abide its people sending anti north korea flyers over the border. To their low lifes how is the north supposed to put up with that money. The man sending the flyers is also named park and hes also from north korea but he despises kim jong uns regime and wants it overthrown. The activist has found refuge in south korea but even here hes under Constant Police surveillance hes seen as a troublemaker and potential target for an attack he agrees to meet us at this playground where he feels its safe to talk. You know the North Koreans need to know that the grandfather of kim jong un and his sister started the korean war thats why ive produced the special brochure for the 70th anniversary i will send it over in the coming days it depends on the wind. One of parks actions in late may prompted the north to escalate pyongyang blew up an inter Korean Leader as an office just north of the border to prevent even more trouble the south now wants to stop parks activities to he says hes not afraid of either side so heres what i would consider it an honor to be assassinated by kim jong un himself out in days a few nights ago parks and his balloon with the brochures northwards but the winds were not favorable and his delivery fell from the sky above south korea. This group of former prisoners from north korea is happy it did park he song a former spy is one of them the men gather at this house in seoul run by kwan or he. The group has 14 members south korea calls them unconverted prisoners even though all have been out of prison for a year. We just had i think even those North Koreans who were imprisoned after the war and have paid their dues should be treated as prisoners of war and allowed to return to the north. But thats a nonstarter for the south and so the men are left with their memories and their belief that north korea is paradise. I dont regret coming to south korea as a spy for one second sure it cost me my youth but i dont mind. These men were released early from prison thats something that cannot be said about their south Korean Counterparts in the north. Youre very. Thorough these germanys state of north rhinewestphalia are conducting best coronavirus testing after they were imposed local lockdowns the restrictions affect hundreds of thousands of people in the districts of bombed off and go just go and follow a major Virus Outbreak at a Meat Processing plant as the Summer Holiday season gets underway other parts of germany and europe are imposing travel bans on the affected region. This is what it looks like when the coronavirus restrictions are back long lines formed outside the Testing Facilities in the district of cutest little the new restrictions here and in neighboring valen doff took effect at midnight the mass testing follows a huge corona Virus Outbreak at timmys slaughterhouse where more than 1500 workers have contracted kovac 19 now some 600000 people are affected by the restrictions who just goes mad told d. W. Hes furious. Group is a company of term yes im angry with the system behind of it and groups the system must stop stop stop contractors which is totally in trips in transparent people had to put up with long waits to get tested. I want to get tested and do my bit to help find out whether were all infected hearing go to slow or not. We want to travel to be very err on saturday and the condition is to present a negative coronavirus test thats our goal today indeed with some a vacation about to begin officials in popular destinations like bavaria say good has no residents are not welcome in lest they show proof of testing negative for the virus neighboring austria has gone even further targeting germanys most populous states. Our neighbor germany with its state of north and this failure has shown how quickly the situation can turn dramatically so we were there for forced to issue a level 5 travel warning for the state of mind we hope of course that the situation there will quickly improve and that there wont be a further spread across germany. Overall numbers are still many but the latest local outbreaks of causing concern the Meat Processing industry in particular is under pressure employees Living Conditions are being blamed for the spread of the virus 23 workers have tested positive at the reason health plant geminis biggest poultry pound mass testing of every 1000 work has got underway today. Now its bringing up speed on some of the other developments relating to the corona virus pandemic india has registered almost 17000 new cases its highest ever daily increase the government has called in the army to manage new Treatment Facilities in delhi australias 2nd biggest city melbourne has started testing blitz and 10 suburbs have been named coronavirus hotspots melbourne is the capital of the state of victoria which has just recorded its highest daily rise in cases since may and in the netherlands the government has announced a significant relaxation of measures including reopening high schools promoting Sports Events with fans allowing sex workers to resume their trade. South african authorities who urged water sports enthusiasts to be cautious following recent sightings of great white sharks in the indian ocean east of cape town this drone footage shows a very Close Encounter in bird they the shark circles and unsuspecting cognac or and several surfers in just 2 metres of water in the kayak or appears to spot the creature and raise the alarm. The great white just turns and some way. This is t w news just a quick reminder of the top story were following for you this hour shareholders will vote today on a 9000000000 euro bailout package the airlines largest stakeholder stockholder rather has said it he will be fact he will block the deal a drop in air travel during the pandemic has put the company at risk of bankruptcy. Youre watching news im terry Martin Thanks for being with us. My to my own. Unlimited number of listeners can now turn to the mcguffin holiday on. The join the pandemic something is different. And reach 56 the party seems to be over. The thing is like a laboratory. And what the locals say when the germans come to visit some good spot. On the road. Into the conflict zone with tim sebastian. Lebanese Hezbollah Movement is condemned as a terrorist group by many countries for it also has a powerful political face was seats in parliament and government my guest this week from beirut is one of its politicians even if you lose some weight how does the selfmade party of god reconcile its very different activities conflicts of this. 60 minutes on d w. My smile is most. Likely. To know how to do things he painted me. And. I guess names of those who look at me. My onset. I am im so over the bridge on. The secret of an only son starts to my 3rd d. W. The a. Yearling hello and a warm welcome to focus on europe im peter cup and thanks for joining us these days we are all longing for life to get back to normal while we are gradually moving towards normality in europe the impact of the covered 19 crisis