Russia also coming up tonight the Venice Film Festival opens with less blips less glamour the show goes on even though the pandemic has kept many stars in fans at home bring you a preview of the top films competing for the golden luck. Its good to have you with us german chancellor Angela Merkel is demanding answers tonight from moscow over the poisoning of russian Opposition Leader alexey she described the attack today as attempted murder test found that snowballed he was poisoned with the chemical nerve agent no. Doctors at berlins hospital where hes being treated say of all me is in serious condition in intensive care and could suffer a long term damage he was transferred to berlin from siberia 2 weeks ago doctors had previously rejected allegations that he had been poisoned. German chancellor merkel she insists now that the kremlin has a case to answer not that spits the other board up when the German Army Special mubarak tree has delivered a clear result like saying a valley was the victim of an attack with a chemical nerve agent from the Nothing Group this poison could be identified unequivocal e in tests so it session that alex a now is the victim of a crime not me he was intended to be silenced and together with the entire German Government i condemn this in the strongest possible terms it will take their guns and when its legal there are now very serious questions that only the russian government can and must would you will salute you went on for. Weeks are there was a german chancellor there with very Strong Language for uncle america we have Team Coverage of todays developments im joined by correspondent kate brady here in berlin and yuri rashad in moscow you both kate let me start with you strong words from the german chancellor what proof do the germans have that this was no big joke well the proof of this poisoning came from a special toxicology test that was carried out by a specific department of the german bundestag the German Military which focuses on chemical weapons and also the protection of civilians and the military against chemical weapons and its this test result Angela Merkel says that is proof that aleksei in the valley was indeed the victim of a crime and they at that the aim was indeed for him to be silenced yury weve got the german chancellor along with other western countries now demanding answers from the kremlin whats the kremlin saying. Well brenton contrast to the strong reactions and growth in the un from the it on for a special from the german chancellor with as authorities here in russia have so far been reluctant to comment on the violence poisoning and be trippin scoff spokesperson of the russian president Vladimir Putin sat that the kremlin would be unable to give a proper response to berlin statement which is in a way all else also a statement i think however the Russian Foreign minister is south of that the berlin statements on not based on any evidence and that the reactions from the Russian Parliament was expected and they called it probably ation dictated by political motives that could be organized by the United States to stop the gas project the north stream to between russia and germany. We know that. Can be produced only in russia leaves us what we know if this wasnt the crimean behind this then who else might it credibly be well not only has quite a few enemies in his corruption investigations he has attacked many high ranking ranking officials and politicians in videos that have gotten millions of views on you tube. Is the largest and most popular investigation for example was reported by the former russian Prime Minister and it meets remitted if saw the list of his opponents and maybe hate us is very long including some original politicians in separate you know us have been risk of this it was the last cd not only has visited before hes was poisoned. I do think a basically that the person who poisoned him didnt expect such a response from germany from the best and nobody in russia would have thought that not only would be flown to bell in and to be guarded like a state guest of chancellor merkel or even more of a pause and not only that person has obviously totally underestimated his importance in the west thats a very important point the medical quickly became political here kate how damaging is this then for german russian relations. But it certainly doesnt improve them by any stretch of the imagination and it was the its interesting the merkel said in her address to the press this evening that novelli had indeed been treated for the past couple of weeks now in the Charity Hospital here in berlin on humanitarian grounds but indeed as you say that humanitarian issue is quickly becoming a diplomatic and political issue so it will be interesting to see in the coming days exactly how germany and its partners also naysay upon his knee forward as well there are different options on the table that they could take but in the meantime they are waiting for a more concrete response from the kremlin. And the European Union and the data theyve had to deal with similar cases before involving. For example and russia are there any clues from past experiences do help deal with this investigation. Well one of the 1st puts of cool which of course be to slap some sanctions on specific people in russia even on businesses or vessels for example but as a review would depend on how moscow decides to cooperate or not ways and in the end it so that part is in the coming days but as your e says so you father response from moscow has been rather hazy. Already that we used to here in berlin your shadow in moscow to both of you thank you as we said nobody choke is the same nerve agent that was used to poison a former russian intelligence agent and his daughter in britain back in 28 team the kremlin is suspected of involvement in that and several other boys names in recent years. In march 28th seen a poisoning in the u. K. City of solves brief shocks the world. Russian Double Agents surrogate scree powell and his daughter yulia were found unconscious on a park bench they had been poisoned with a military grade chalk nerve agent a u. K. Investigation blamed russia for the attack moscow denied any involvement and while the screen survived others werent so lucky one woman who came into contact with residues of the nerve agent later died and before then another russian defector had been poisoned in the u. K. All members will note. Of the death squads are the. In 2006 the former russian agent Alexander Litvinenko fled to london in 2000 he became ill and died in 2006 after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium 210 a british inquiry found that his killing had been ordered at the highest level. Further. That the. Operation to. Mr litvinenko was approved. But. The. F. S. B. Also president putin another case is a victim. In 2004 he was a ukrainian Opposition Leader running against moscows preferred candidate he fell ill after having dinner with Ukrainian Security officials doctors say he was poisoned with the chemical dioxin he survived going on to become president of ukraine. And activist peoc to vesa love who has ties to russian protest group percy riot managed to survive what he says was a poisoning attempt in 2018 his theories backed by doctors who treated him in berlin says he was targeted because of his activism. Its is more a. Kind of like a warning gesture so as to indicates to other people who might want to go down that path to not do it the kremlin has consistently denied involvement in all these cases and while it can be almost impossible to prove who is guilty versus love and others are sure who is to blame. The 1st major film of it to roll out the red carpet since the start of the pandemic is now underway many stars will miss the Venice Film Festival because of travel restrictions but there are still some big names in town like blanchard the australian actress whos the president of this years jury with coronavirus keys is rising again in italy and elsewhere strict Safety Measures are now in place including the wearing of. Benes. As is rarely been seen with only a handful of 2 ists but the must try the citys annual Film Festival opens today for its 77 sedition along with precautionary measures so show these dancing mandatory mask wearing and temperature taking to Global Pandemic and International Travel rest trick shows or so mean that fewer hollywood stars will be in attendance d. C. At a festival has done better in terms of gender parity with 8 out of 18 films in competition directed by women to many a reach to competition category with jeff on high and says and tomorrow the entire world a drama about politico radicalisation people in this clip and just an democrat to show concerts yallop on the start. Telling these are going to decide to happen on the direction displaced to be dashed and john kerry is going to come its must get in here almost. Like. Another competition film to look out for will be wife of us pie from director kiyoshi chorus our story of love in wartime japan during the 1940 s. Out of competition nathan crossmans documentary about kermit activist creator turned back to premieres thursday. In new york and im sorry. There was this. Morning. On its opening day to festival that honor actress to the swinton with the Lifetime Achievement award the competition mens final at and days on september 12th will find out who will take home this is coveted golden lion. Thing for more im joined by our movie guru scott roxboro was due to be culture he is in venice good evening to you scott i see youve got your face mask on i think a lot of people watching around the world are maybe scratching their heads wondering is it too early to be having a Film Festival and how different are things there compared to times without the pandemic. Yeah i mean its really no comparison as you say were all Wearing Masks we have to wear them inside cinemas and outside at all times and venice you can see behind me has taken a note from Donald Trumps book and theyve built a wall around the red carpet in order to keep people from a gathering here and and create dangerous dangerous crowds so there are a lot of security measures that have been implemented here for for safety. And maybe it is a bit too early maybe some people are right if they are saying that but i think its quite amazing what the Venice Film Festival has man should do here it does feel safe and if it is does have the feel of a real Film Festival and i think thats a huge signal for the Film Industry around the world which has been so hard hit by the krona virus pandemic that maybe things could start getting can start going again yeah and you know that coming from you the quote of the chief for them in venice to be able to get to that level considering the pandemic what highlights then can we expect in the coming days. Well i already have my favorite film its one day and i already have a favorite Film Festival its called apples its not a competition is a great film and its about a pandemic but its a different pandemic a pandemic that cause you to lose your memory its a really touching magical little buoy which i really thought was delightful can really take you away in a way that only movies can and then im really looking forward to the german entry into more of the entire world of Political Drama set in current day germany about the dangers of political extremism a topic that i dont think could be could be couldnt be more topical so those are 2 highlights but theyll be a lot more dickov in the coming 10 days and well be talking with you scott ross perot in business from the start of the Venice Film Festival scott thank you. Youre watching the w. News live from berlin and were in gulf for all of us here in berlin thanks for the company ill be back at the top of the hour with more world news followed by the day i hope to see you then. Combating the corona pandemic. Where does research stand. What are scientists learning. Background information and news. Hour corona update. Code 19 special next on d w happiness fears for everyone schuman penises are very different from primates funa we have a totally ridiculous romanticized view of nature david and this is Climate Change crisis sex how to improve books you get smarter for free you know where you books on. City life is losing its appeal. To millions of people in asia africa and World Centers like new york and tokyo have been escaping the crowds for the countryside. Space fresh air. Many others have lost jobs and moved back home to their rural families. The mass migration has seen real estate prices saw in outlying suburbs and. The great escape. Welcome to the show were experiencing an historic reversal in the global surge of people getting small towns in the country for the allure of the big city the pandemic is changing so much. New needs water she can no longer open the tap she could quite a few weeks ago she lost her office drop in the city and move back to her village now she has to collect water from a neighbors tank. This was hoping to get more on tank so they can connect my words. Because everything in the city do it inside the house so theres not a good idea. Except going. To wake. Her daughters remains in the village while their mother spent 80 years in the city working to support them trips home where it wasnt making sense anyway because i had to pay rent home. At the same time i took some money to my kids home and also with the percent of us looking after my kids so it wasnt thing at all so i thought i might as well just come back home and be with my kids and do something here. For me and my family now the 38 year old is turning a pastime into a profession and her small house she takes spreads and this fits. She receives up to 7 orders a week and has already made enough to invest in an oven her daughters cell powered they are happy to have their mom back home. Where did you miss most of the region the most places. When youre different. And after living in the city it seemed to offer advice many of us its on the boat. Mary think you. Get. Not so many young men that are uplifted all independent but getting to see women. In their lives it encourages me it helped me go on the move and it helped me even. Cultivating fruit for export is just one of the Business Opportunities she could explore a year in the village. Cynthia is full of ideas and optimism for her new life in her home village but also here in the rural areas people are feeling the pinch of the Coronavirus Crisis and the economic consequences of the lock down. Cynthia is determined to persevere in her backyard shes already working on her next project. I want to uplift and create a small place this small place is like ill be sending. People out and make us so that people do not have to go to town to get pizza because so they can only get it locally the rest of belittlement getting from baking is one thing that im trying to save so that i can be able to do that Cynthia Tom Bonnie is happy to let her daughters move to the city to continue their education but shes certain her own future lies here in the countryside. Sam brannan leads the risk and Foresight Group at the center for strategic and International Studies have cities there are a little or is this just temporary. In my view its temporary and the reason is because of course there are a lot of reasons you would not want to be in a city right now the disease is more transmissible among densely populated populations and it is more transposable indoors both of which define cities and of course through Public Transit we see higher rates of transmission as well some forms of public transport in any case but i think the long term the growth of cities is just unstoppable or in a cot to me in the labor market now where people need to be clustered for innovation economy for flexibility between jobs for technology bases and so everything is moving in that direction and as soon as we have a vaccine hopefully next year i think really humanity will be in a hurry to sort of get back to where things were before this began on the other hand i do think the idea of working remotely the nature of work itself perhaps the reduction of commercial real estate these are factors that were moving before hand and have been excel aerated by the pandemic ive been reading a lot of people feel safe in the country or safer the place they grew up. Ive also been reading that a lot of broke remote communities and and country towns all all it takes is one infected person to enter and the disease can spread like wildfire i mean this is whole concept of safety have you defined that. Yeah so i think the disease obviously moved faster between cities initially they were connected by air corridors there were more people and before we really knew how to take the necessary measures against the virus or we didnt do so effectively you saw a lot of transmission in cities so they were the 1st place the pandemic hit but france is the United States we now see much higher rates of transmission in rural areas. And were beginning to see in rural areas around the world pretty Fragile Health Systems that are rapidly overwhelmed when the virus shows up there so its a bit of a false sense of security really people are not safe anywhere right now from the virus if theyre not taking the sort of distancing and mask wearing and other other measures. And so in many ways youre probably better off in a city right now if youre following those precautions but obviously people are returning home also for economic reasons they may have lost their jobs they may not be pay rent so its really its a its a difficult time its an insecure time no matter where you are and of course the pandemic is an ovum but but what about the next one because were told next one will hit at some stage will cities be better prepared. You would hope so this should be a wake up call i mean in many ways the 2 cities that were hardest hit by this were with china new york city and new york and neither really appeared to be prepared for what happened in cities around the world likewise you know its a very uneven response seattle in the United States on the other hand where theres been a lot of thinking about disease preparedness seem to be much better equipped there was a lot more remote work early part of it for cities is going to be to decide you know can you sort of shut things down rapidly particularly air or air transport appears to have played a really big role in the initial spread here and so having a plan for that next pandemic keeping an epidemic from becoming a pandemic is critical here and really the biggest Lesson Learned i think was that everything moved too slow and there was a sense that something that was overseas couldnt just so rapidly as a plane flight arrive in your own city so theres a lot of work to be done by cities and so much disbelief a lot of people believing it wouldnt hit them or affect them well what about the worlds megacities in developing countries. Yeah so i think thats a particular challenge because when we say cities its a big war but theres a lot of difference between cities that are rich cities and poor cities increasingly there are these hyper dense cities that are developing and in africa and in south asia. And in parts of china as well and you know this is going to put really big strains on the cities were already people are eating out life on the margins and you know i think what we dont see a lot when we talk about migration is that a lot of migration inside of developing countries happens from the countryside to these big cities it within countries before people leave the country so theres a lot of Development Work to be done as well and trying to figure out how to make those cities safer and safer from pandemics Climate Change a lot of things that were going to be experiencing that greater rates over the next decade and beyond sam brown and thank you very much for being on the show today thank you. And youll turn to us the questions is our science correspondent derek williams. My wife has cancer and different on college ists of told her Different Things about her risk levels if she catches curve at 19 so is she more at risk from the disease. Im not a physician so i cant answer this question directly for a specific patient but but what i can do is try to bring you up to speed on what researchers have been finding out about the connections between cancer and covert 19 for many months now trustworthy sources like the World Health Organization and National Health authorities have listed cancer as a comorbidity with clear time is 2 more severe covert 19 outcomes but as a new study involving over a 1000 patients in britain points out cancer is of course not really a single disease but actually a wide range of them which is why the researchers said that blanket statements like cancer is a risk factor arent really reasonable or informative. So what they did was split up Cancer Patients who taught coded 19 by their particular cancer subtypes to see if some of those patients were hit harder by the disease than others and and they found Something Interesting sars cove to susceptibility they say was worse in people who had cancers that affects the blood or lymph system like leukemia or lymphoma which backs up earlier smaller scale chinese and European Studies that came to similar conclusions so the evidence seems to be growing that while cancers in general put you at more risk when compared to the general population some types like these a logical cancers likely put you at more risk than others. And before we go lets see if i can you up with this last story the new york state phase annual butter sculpture of a life size exhibit called nourishing our future is made entirely out of. One panel Shows Parents having their kids food the other side shows kids home schooled with a teachers face on a laptop. Of a stuff. Im hungry i bet see against. Other. Conflicts these days americas religious rights are in the spotlight your worst groups are active in europe and elsewhere seeking to overturn a whole raft of rules for the legalized among other things abortion and gay marriage the World Congress of families provides a powerful platform for such groups from this week one of its pond goes i will carlson joins me from Rockford Illinois conflicts are. Next fall. W. O. O. Zs been robbed of their soul thats what do people experiences when their heritage is taken from them. Countless cultural artifacts were brutally stolen from africa by colonialists and carted off to europe. These thefts left wounds that have yet to heal what should be done with a stone or from africa. Stolen soul starts september 7th on d w. How does a virus spread. Why do we panic and when well all miss. Just 3 of the topics covered and the weekly radio show is called spectrum if you would like any information on the crown of our risk or any other science topic you should really check out our podcast you can get it wherever you get your podcast you can also find us at dot com slash science. Nico piece in germany to learn german english because. Why not learn with him d w z e learning course because fake. They have done a better job in terms of expecting family and he has done oh so. So what amazing way to promote the prolife and juggle she leaving people alone. In their bedrooms were. Really generous these days americas religious rights are in the spotlight as they support Donald Trumps bid to get a 2nd term in the white house but their activities are confined to the u. S. Numerous groups are active in europe and elsewhere seeking to overturn a whole raft of laws for the legalized among other things abortion