Propalestine activists who called for a boycott of israeli goods. Hello and thanks for joining us here. Its good to have you with us. First, to the u. S. Where overnight, antiracism protetests brought down a statue of jefferson davisis, the prpresidt of the confederacy. This, in richmond, virginia. To some american, symymbols of e slaveholding Southern States invoke a racist past. Nancy pelosi has called for confederate statues to be removed from the u. S. Capitol and top military officials are apparently open to renaming some military bases. The response from donald trump, no way. Line. Drawing the the u. S. President is rejecting calls to rename American Military bases currently named for Confederate Army leaders. His press secretary quoting him any wednesday briefing. My administration will not even consider the renaming of these magnificent military installations. Our history at the greatest nation in the world will not be tempered with. Respect our military. It is a break with his own military brass. Recent days have brought reports that top pentagon officials are open to the idea. The u. S. Has 10 bases named for military leaders of soututhern states to prototect thee institution n of black slavery, sparking the u. S. Civil war. With the country now once again in social turmoil over the killing of unarmed black americans by police, calls for the mobile of confederate symbols seen by many as markers of racism and oppression are once again mounting. Wednesday night saw a Confederate Monument torn down in virginia with a statue of the confederate president toppled in the state capital, richmond. Democratic leaders like nancy pelosi are now calling for the removal of such statues from the u. S. Capitol. The u. S. Marine corps and the navy have both recently banned the display of the Confederate Flag at their r installations. Bannedscar r racing has the flag starting wednesday. A number of retired army leaders have criticized trumps stance with the former commander of fort benning in georgia accusing the president of clinging to institutionalized racism. Now for the latest covid19 developments, the number of cases in the u. S. Is now over 22 million. While in somemearts of the country like new york, the daily number of new cases has sharply dropped, in others, the figure is up. It h has to o be said thathehe w york times points out that part of the explanation is increased testing. Inin latin america, the death tl has passed 70,000. Brazil, the worst affected by far. India is another country easing restrictions despite a surge in infections. For more on the situation in india, we spoke to our correspondent in delhi. She says the country could soon be overwhelmed. Ago, thewo days government announced that they expect that ththe cityty will se nearly half a million new infections by the end of july, and will face a shortage of 80,000 beds. Another estimate suggests that across the country we are likely to see 2. 1 million new infections by early july. Last week, they woke up to horrific news on social media of people going from hospital to hospital largely in the city and being turned away because of the lack of space. We have several accounts of people dying on the way. Beyond cities, Migrant Workers are becoming infected at an alarmingly high rate, taking the virus with them to villages across nororthern india. As farar as the viruss goes, absosolute chaos and the nations headed toward unimaginable crisis and thats not the only crisis india is facing. Here in europe we are fortunate enough to be p past te first spike of c covid19 infections, and many people are starting to plan summer holidays. The internal boaoard is set to reopen soon. One country that has managed the crisis relatively well and is now hopingng to attract a lot of visitors is portugal. Week to goft for the untitil the borders reopopen. Portugal is preparing to welcome visitors again. Are leavingpeople so ensuringg holidaygoers retun is vital to the country. Technology is going to play a role in controlling social distancing. A camera will keep an eye on the number of people at the beach. [speaking foreign language] meanwhile in town, plastic sheeting between tables while lolocal residents canan get free coronavirus tests. 30 of accounts for countries gdp. The government is keen to show that caution is being taken. They have set Safety Standards for restaurants and hotels that will guarantee a certain amount of regular cleaning is done. Cleaning staff now take 30 minutes on hotel rooms, twice the titime they would previousu. [s[speaking foreign languagege] with the Summer Season about to begin, portugal is hoping its efforts will b be enough to reassure businesses. The european course of human rights has ruled against france in a case concerning activists who campaiaigned in favor of a boycott of products from israel. The head of the associciation e ruling a victory for freedom of expression. I am joined now from brussels. David, you start off by telling us more about this ruling . This has been a long time coming, it actually comes from an incident back in 2009 when 12 protesters who were part of the boycotted products. They went into a supermarket outside a french city and they handed out leaflets telling people that they buy products from israel, they are supporting israels crime in gaza. The french state did go after them on the basis of discrimination laws. Reportedly, the french government has been keen for prosecutors to go after protesters on the basis of hasrimination which in turn sparked intense pressure from israel who says that these protests are antisemitic against israelis and against jewish people more largely. There has been a backandforthh in the courts in france but in 2015 the Supreme Court in france favor the rulings which found these leaflet distributors guilty of discrimination, hatred, or violence. This European Court of human rights ruling ruled against that Supreme Court ruling. So the court says france was wrong, so what happens now . Well, you can see from the reaction to this that this is a very live issue still, even though it comes from 10 years ago. ,eve had varying reaction Amnesty International came out welcoming the rolling and saying it is a blow against a larger efeffort to call the movemements antisemitic. A court said this was a violation of free speech and that these people have the right to criticize israel in this way. This is an issue everywhere in europepe, germany last year, pat of parliament passed a resolulution calling bds antisemitic. Ofs is the European Court human rights which is part of the cocouncil of europe, it is t the european union, this is all based on a tree including countries like russia and turkey. Not all countries always follow these rulings, they are kind of honor bound by treaty mememrs, but they dont have to. Western european c cntries almomost always do. France, in particular. We could expect the ruling to be adjusted. Whether or not this actually affects Court Judgment Going Forward and more importantly, prosecutor decisions whether to take thesese cases forwardrd wil hahave to wait and see. Theres a lot of cases like this pending throughout europe. This sends a signal to all of those judges and prosecutors that thehey will run ioo trouble in strasburg, and whether or not that really has an effect on judges and prosecutors, we will have to see. Thank you very mumuch, indee. Attack onbeen an with as near the border country which recently has seen a sharp rise in jihadist violence. Now, what can you tell us about this attack . [indiscernible] thank you very much. Quality ofor the that sound. Arrests have been made in connection with the Massive Oil Spill in northern russia. The authorities were not notified straightaway. They apparerently used a faulty fuel tank. It could t take years to clean p the spill. Investigators, the Disastrous Oil Spill in siberia is due to security violations. The power plant has been banned from using the container that leaked 21,000 tons of fuel. [speaking foreign language] the plant director and two engineers have been arrested for breaching environmental prprotection rules. The sasatellite images show the area before the spill, right after, and two days l later. Used pumps toave get the oil into containers. The first phase of the operation will take days, but that doesnt mean the river will be clean. Thorough cleaning will take years. Why . We peperform mechanical cleaning and to completely clean a territory it must retreated with sorbents, organicc product, coagulants which wi process the fuel. The first visible effect of the spill are the dead animals found across the region. This river leads to a freshwater lake, a major source of drinking water. Environmentalilists are even moe concerned by what will happen next if the fuel reaches the sea leading to the arcrctic ocean. They say that would be a disaster. Thats it for this edition. Stay tuned. Welcome to our guests today. She is a pakistani christian who was condemned t to death in her andtry in 2010 0 but came spent nine years in prison before being acquitted. Groups forced her to hide in her country and t to be extradited to canada where she is now living in hiding. She now wants to l live in frane in order to stay with the person who saved her life, with whom she has written her story, a book which is being published cacalled at last, free. Thank you. Thank you very much foror having me. Grateful to the city of paris for welcoming me. Thank you all for your love, your kindness, and your warm greetings. I am delighted to be here in paris. One clarification, however, i spent 10 years in prison. I have the good fortune of being here with you. This is a very special time for me, i cherish it. Id like to go back to a more papainful moment for you. On the 14th of june, 2009, you were out picking fruit and on that day, it was very hot, you decided to drink water from a occurredthen a dispute with two of your neighbors and it was the beginning of your drama. Yes. Day i went very picking. Berry picking. June is a very hot month in pakistan and it was the season taking and there was an altercation over water with some of my neighbors which should have never happened. I was out to fetch water and i was accused of blasphemy for drinking from the same cup. Yes, because your neighbors accused you of making the water impure and then there was a dispute during which you said that everybody should live together in peace, it was true for jesus,s, but also for the prophet muhammad. You were criticized for this by your neighbors and then by the villagers. Yes, yes, absolutely. Those were my words. I called for peace, i called f r peaceful coexistence. That is the message of jesus christ. That is also the message of the holy prophet mohammed. We should all live together in harmony. Thatt these clarify women were settling a score. It was a feud with the head of my village. Previously my daughters. These women who accuse me, they insulted me as well. The abuse had been going on for a year. They use a drink of water as an for beenlaiming i was to drink from the same cup as muslims, saying i was unclean. I was accused of blasphemy, incarcerated for 10 years. By the grace of god, i have now been acquitted. My name has been cleared. I cherish this freedom. I knew i had spoken the truth, i had said nothing wrong. My faith was strong. I had done nothing wrong. I was convicted even though i was innocent and i knew god would set me free. Prescribed the prison, the psychological torture that god and other prisoners, you also described the intervention of two major politicians. Governor said we will for you, we know youre innocent. But t they were fascinanated bee they defended you. At that time, did you lose hope, or did you think that maybe you would commit suicide because you thoughght you wowould never be . Yes, thats true. Individuals were killed for no other reason than standing up for me. They fought injustice. Case, theyed my found insufficient evidence against me. I cried my heart out for five whole days. After each assassination. Looking back, hes our world, unspeakable crimes. Two innocent men were killed. In mywish to say that heart,t, i know they are not go. They still live in our hearts. They now rest with god. My children, too. They paid a very dear price. E. My children were deprived of their mothers love. Disrupted. Ling was hardships ie managed to overcome through patience, through fortitude. That you is striking is were acquitted in october, 2018 months,r that for seven you had to stay in your countryy in hiding, protected by the auauthorities because of religis groups. One thing even worse, you were acquitted by the Supreme Court and you had to live in hiding. Yes. Was obviously an issue,e, security is ststill an issue. It is true that the supreme overturned bytan sentence. I respect pakistan, they ended up finding the not guilty. I was born and raised in pakistan, it is my country. I carry my country i in my hear. Said, i have forgiven all those who have trespassed against me. Pay tribute to your acquittal, quite visibly, he cannot change the law on blasphemy, which has existed for a long time, which was toughened in 1986. Since your appeal, this law could be at least repealed. Yes, that is what i wish for. And i would like to direct this message to the pakistani prime minister. I call for every form of the law. 10 years is a very harsh sentence. I believe the law must be changed. Adjustments must be made. I never had a say. Nobody ever hearard my side of e story. And yet, i spent 10 years in prison. I was sentenced to death and i hope this will never happen to anyone again. This continues to happen. Two other people. Knonow, i know w this is still happening. And itit is heartbreaking g bece it shouldnt. Of lovege is a message and of peace. It is the message e of both h js christ and the holy prophet mohammed. Both wanted us to live together in peace as brothers and sisters. I wish for peace in my country. Europe is called finally free, but you are not totally free. You live hidden in canada under protection. You will probably be living in still feel, do you in danger because of what you now represent . Yes, i have received many threats. I have heard a lot of things. I do believe security measures are necessary. Its true that i am free, but anything can happen at any time. You say you love your country. But when you are excellent traded from pakistan, the authorities said youre leaving but you will never come back to pakistan. Do you think you will ever set foot in pakistan again . Yes, yes i do. I i hope to be back with all my heart. Free, and i do believe i will one day have the opportunity to go home. Thank you very much for having come to the set of france 24 to bear witness. Your book is published, finally free, thank you for having watched the interview on france 24. Thank you all, thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Canada foro welcoming me, to the european union, and many thanks to france for its warm welcome. Anand for mamaking me an honoray cititizen ofof the city of pari. Thank you all. She was the first in france to speak in my name. France holds a very special place in my heart. I feel respected here. Thank you all for your love. Meetingeen a pleasure so many kind individuals including the mayor of paris. Many thanks to the president of for entertaining my request for asylum, many thanks to the people of france. My prayers are with you. Thank you very much. Hello, im alice cooper and im on france 24. This is my new song. Dont give up, it is about the virus. It is about time that we quit being victitims, and itabout time we punched the bully in the nonose and tell the virus whereo go. This is alice cooper talking to the virus. Hey, im valerie j junu. Comingng up on reel south. [randall] some lss are mplyly unjusus [valie] ] a rth cacalina church offerers sanctuar to a grandmother fangng deptatition. [randa] ] theraree titis when people of fai ha t to ma a c choice. E. [v[valer] bubut tion o or silence does come atome cost. Thth call itit haororing fugigitive, and i think that those sanantics are ve impmpornt in n th. Itits n hararbong a f fitive. Its offering sanctuary. [lesvi] whate want is for peoe e to know that this isapappeni, bebecae re not the only one [valerie] wiesess stuarario up n nt on reel south. [narrator] major funding for reel south was provided by the National Endowment for the arts, etv endowment, and south arts
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