Live from moscow thanks for joining us that n. R. T. International and Daniel Hawkins welcome to the program. And lets begin with the latest figures on covert 19 the Global Pandemic is into a new month for those confirmed coronavirus cases are still soaring now supporting 3300000 there is some hope though 1000000 people have recovered the grim number there you can see fatalities now at more than 234000. And we start right here in russia the Prime Minister. Has tested positive for corona virus that makes him the highest ranking russian official known to be infected. It just became known that the tests that i took for corona virus gave a positive result in this regard and in accordance with the requirements i must self isolate and comply with the instructions of doctors i have to do this to protect my colleagues im planning to remain in active contact with my colleagues via phone and Video Conference. Yesterday it was reported that he had to see a High Temperature this night celsius but he lead me home machinist and it is he is the most most high ranking official diagnosis with this over 19 disease he announced during a Video Conference call with russian president Vladimir Putin in which he informed the Russian Media that indeed he has this new disease and has to so isolated to which you can wish him good health wish the mystique of race and pointed out that this case really underlines that this virus doesnt discriminate. Whats happening to you now could happen to anyone ive always said so youre someone whos very active i want to thank you for the work thats been done up to no pushing me shifts in the end of this negro virus pandemic for him has been the most biggest challenge as russias Prime Minister is sort of 8 newcomer into this whole big political game in russia because this is the most high profile position for him as well in his own career he only joined the russian government says. Only a couple months back earlier this year and so this 1000 pound amec and the economic fallout of the challenges the Biggest Challenges for him as a position now there have been some speculations some rumors in the media just in might not return to his post after he recovers from over 1000 that brandon has the even lead to night for instance a lot of. This he said this is our question when we dont just him because he will be back right now lima putin pointed at one of his deputies to the russian government. In russia there are more than 114000 confirmed cases of corona virus at the moment friday marked the highest number registered so far only 8000 over 13000 people have recovered in total but 1169 have died. Maybe half of workers across the globe are at risk of losing their jobs thats the stark warning from u. N. Experts although this crisis has been provoked directly at least by covered line tina caleb maupin now explains why the labor market was already under threat. The jobs of 1600000 people are in jeopardy due to coated 1000 lockdowns around the world hours have been cut incomes have decreased unemployment is rising but the problems did not start with the pandemic for millions of workers knowing come means no food no security and no future millions of businesses around the world are barely breathing they have no savings or access to credit. The International Labor organization points out that roughly half of the Global Workforce has a precarious existence where their livelihoods their access to food and health care and other necessities of life can be cut off at any moment due to the problems in the market they often have poor access to Health Care Services and have no income replacement in case of sickness or look down many of them have no possibility to work remotely from home staying home means losing their jobs and without wages they cannot eat 2 to 3300000000 people function within whats referred to as the informal economy they are self employed or they have short Term Contracts their wages have decreased by roughly 60 percent during the 1st month of the pandemic for them the pandemic is not just a time to stay home and relax they have very real fears about how they are going to pay their bills as the International Labor organization predicts massive losses in income are ahead for them in terms of the economic and social effects of this and demi it discriminates massively and above all that discriminates against those who are at the bottom end of the world before those who dont have protection and those who dont have a soul says those who dont have the balls to the types of things that we regard as you send chills of a normal life not everyone is in the same boat amid the pandemic a new study shows that the 500. 00 plus us billionaires have seen their combined well surge by roughly 282000000000. 00 with 8 of them gaining a 1000000000. 00 each since the beginning of the year meanwhile the weekly jobless claims keep rising and rising with roughly 30000000. 00 of them in the last 6 weeks gallup poll shows that one in 7 americans would avoid seeking medical treatments if they had some key symptoms of coded 19 fever and dry cough because theyre afraid of medical costs. And its worse when framed explicitly is believing to have been affected by the Novel Coronavirus 9 percent still report that they would avoid seeking care adults under 30 nonwhites those with a High School Education or less and those in households with incomes under 40000. 00 per year how the groups most likely to indicate they would avoid seeking out cat the crisis in the economy is taking on the identity of its own i would argue and its not just now being driven by whats happening with the virus slowdown it was really quite obvious in the us in advanced economies you could see it in the commodity producing economies especially oil that was already slowing down the price was already decrying you could see the global trade which was barely growing global g. D. P. That was slowing so you know the process was already underway and it probably would have. Unravelled in a much slower way and clearly though the virus of precipitated in the acceleration of the contraction it clearly does this criminal it is hitting the working class harder and certain segments of the working class and even even harder while there may not be many big parades with red flags this may day it seems that the pandemic has made it apparent many of the issues that working class organizations have been trying to highlight for so long it will come up and r. T. New york. With billions around the world shut inside a government german court has ruled in favor of allowing public demonstrations during the pandemic a social distancing must be adhered to protest this could only cover their faces with surgical masks police in berlin have already been busy dispersing those breaking the strict rules and demonstrators in the capital were out on thursday evening ahead of a christian festival authorities could be seen rounding up those not social. Distancing others who choose not to protest outside put on balconies and rooftops burning flags a may day protests across germany are expected this friday which have in the past been mobbed by violence of reports from budget. May the 1st demonstrations are always a big deal and loud confrontational is frequently spilling over into violence i this years demos were given the go ahead against the backdrop of the Global Pandemic and that raises some issues when it comes to anti corona virus measures its illegal in germany to cover your face at a demonstration or strike or make any effort to try and conceal your identity from the police the times for this years demonstrations have resulted in a change of the rules so if you cover your mouth and nose with a surgical mask or a scarf there would be fine but if protesters holes away or who do use baseball caps or sunglasses we would have to consider the intention behind those items and might request their removal gatherings of over 20 people are banned here in the german capital and more than 5000 Police Officers will be deployed to keep a watchful eye on friday the citys minister of the interior said the chief role of those officers will be making sure that social distancing rules are upheld which at a demonstration you cant imagine is going to be easy many german local authorities banned all protests but a ruling by the countrys Top Court Said the right to assembly cannot be tonight the local authorities had incorrectly assume that the provision by the has the State Government to fight the coronavirus included a general ban on gatherings of more than 2 people who dont live in the same household and has therefore violated the constitutional right to Assembly Earlier this week around 100 people were detained in berlin at an on authorised demonstration its hard to imagine that there wont be more people joining in on friday as people turn up for demonstrations that. Passed of looked like this they were going to be expected to adhere to keeping a distance of 1. 5 meters to wear a face mask to gather in groups of no more than 20 for a limited period of time. One industry has been demonstrating in a plea for help german travel agencies are calling for a rescue fund to be set up a tourism ground to a halt earlier this year among them on comprehensive shield that would support not only big corporations but small ones as well we spoke to the organizer of the protests in munich. We dont have as everybody not a new income no new commissions because we cannot do bookings in the moment and we have to pay back our earnings of the last year sometimes until june to 19 and this is a real big problem and germany are not of their situation and the us and that was a reason why we got on the street even. If the politics listen to us they have to act now and it is not really its a like a last minute acting because if they wait for more weeks many of our companies have to close. For all this is labor Day Celebrations are a lot of people expected to mark the day from the balcony with a lot of instructions a little late for the program look at how this waterfall folded if people have been staying safe at home. The death toll in new york continues to rise rapidly the Virus Outbreak that has left Funeral Homes overwhelmed with dozens of decomposing bodies found stuck to truck by Brooklyn Police as off the locals complain about the smell. Has the details. As new york continues to come down the curve there are still hundreds of people dying from cova 19 every day new york city the epicenter of the outbreak struggling to keep up with the mounting coronavirus death toll one funeral home in brooklyn so overwhelmed it resorted to storing dozens of bodies on ice in an refrigerated rental trucks had to deal with this for weeks while. Theyre filling up the tractor trailer with bodies you will trucks. To let you sit on the street at least a 100 bodies were discovered by city officials after receiving complaints of odors surrounding the funeral home i just got the perspiring speech carol one. By this video showing the workers moving the bodies and refrigerator trucks provided by the city just you can pick them up right here and. Just knowing whats going on. You see what its about some lawmakers pushing for a Bereavement Committee to ensure the proper handling of the citys dead i dont understand this case is the funeral home i heard something about a driver didnt show up or Something Like that why on earth would they not either alert the state who regulate them or go to their the n. Y. P. D. Precinct and ask for help do something rather than leave the bodies there its unconscionable to me but while coronavirus continues to grip the state Governor Cuomo says the number of new coronavirus hospitalizations continues to decrease falling below a 1000 new coven cases slightly down 933 but still unacceptable and as new york continues to work its way down the curve one month after docking in new york harbor the hospital Navy Ship Comfort is charting back home to its base in virginia the vessel was originally brought in to treat patients for overwhelmed hospitals the plan changed when the need for covert beds was more pressing the hospital ship treated 182 patients while in new york. Meantime some good news on the treatment front Health Experts say the a bowl a drug room destiny or could shorten couvade 1000 Recovery Time a promising step for wetter and better drugs coming along either alone or in combination drugs of this type and drugs addressing all the targets of the virus so its good news but i was very serious when i said this is not the total answer by any means but its a very important 1st step meantime back here stateside officials are working out ramping up testing throughout the state currently conducting about 30000 test a day but just yesterday over 4600 people tested positive for the 19 a strong reminder that this is far from being over but the governor says well testing is important here so is Contact Tracing its extremely important to identify those people who are coming into contact with someone who has the virus and he estimates itll take about 30 contact tracers for every 100000 people reporting from home in new york Trinity Chavez are taking. Over streets across the globe increasingly deserted offer of course one of the sort of demons he has a report from paris thats after this break. Join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and ill be speaking to us from the world of politics for. Im showbusiness ill see you then. 30 years ago the berlin wall fell the cold war had essentially come to an end the fall of this cold war symbol was heralded as a new spring of nations and the end of communism decades on what is the legacy of this historic event the promises of 989. 00 been fulfilled. Welcome back to the program and may Day Celebrations in france and recent years have been remembered for scenes of tear gas and clashes with Police Presence covered 19 a strain businesses and left many without work the scale of protests this friday are expected to be huge but they will be only online shot at the back of the may day where you might be more familiar with in paris if it wasnt for the locked out. May the 1st is seen as being the traditional day rally by unions here in france now normally here tens of thousands of people would be gathering ready to march for workers rights. In recent years the big protests have been hijacked and they have descended into chaos now i was here back in 2018 on the may day when i saw what has been some of the worst violence i have ever seen in france and it started in the streets basically when people began to throw petrol bombs at this Fast Food Restaurant and then going inside to complete the russian. Claim to be the work of the socalled a black blocs these are all the far left and the case that much of destruction continue down this street smashing windows until they got here where they burned vehicles outside the shop that released a huge plume of smoke into the air that burnt it felt like for at least an hour releasing potentially dangerous toxins into the air and putting the people who live in this building out race. Not. As covert 19 has been in a wave of protests in france when at least out on the streets instead unions of called for people to take to their balconies. On the may day spirit but with the friendship pent up inside and having no way to really vent their anger or frustration against the government perhaps Global Economy or even the environment there is real concern that when the confinement starts to ease up on may the 11th radical groups will have something up their sleeves groups on social media have been calling for people to get ready for a new spate of action our own goal will not be confined was the slogan that i saw on one poster now these calls on social media already being tracked by the Intelligence Services who fear that violence will be used to seize public attention very active rights and ultra left networks have to prepare a number of attacks police also see the calls on social media as being an opportunity to display their hostility towards the police one militant site described offices as being a greater threat than the virus itself and during the lockdown there has already been issues where the police have been accused of brutality particularly towards ethnic groups in the parisians suburbs that led to nights of violence. While the look done for the most part has been peacefully observed there is a real fear that france has become a bit of a Pressure Cooker and not anger towards the government hasnt gone away instead its building up in some boiling away when people are released paris and in other cities they could have open revolts on their hands. So that you can ski out see paris. Its been a month since the growth of our us locked our was introduced here in russia allowing people to leave their homes for essential trips only its left many big cities and popular Tourist Spots as ghost town. I. I. I. I. I. I was. Also for the south crosstalk up next the stress and the legacy of the full of the butler and wallet back in 30 minutes with the latest headlines. Youre sitting somewhere i. Can just one day see yes. I was on the floor some things in my bathroom you know trying praying. I. Was inside her whereas the thought worms i was having children fever i didnt have any sense of space or smell from the most young women or girls would you. Recently she had most of the old world just used to. That was simon is on the grounds of the research. I have heard and. Push myself to do for me in the 5 years ago to. Go. Is your media a reflection of reality. In a world transformed. What will make you feel safer. By salacious or community. Are you going the right way or are you being led. Away. What is true what is fake. In a world corrupted you need to descend. To join us on the death. Or inmate in the shallows. Of the us economy was booming growing numbers of people were made homeless. You can work 40 hours d in a week and still not have enough to get housing everybody believes america still has the lead up to the reality of those who were not financially quality and the lack of Affordable Housing for a living minimum wage gave many people new choice. Thats been a problem with the city knows turn the temperature in told me stay away almost. Half the food if there is no answer because yes that requires resources the most vulnerable are abandoned on the streets to become the invisible comes. Hello and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered im Peter Lavelle 30 years ago the berlin wall fell the cold war had essentially come to an end the fall of this cold war symbol was heralded as a new spring of nations and the end of communism decades on what is the legacy of this historic event the promises of 1989 been fulfilled. In the fall of the berlin wall im joined by my guest John Laughlin in paris hes a political scientist and historian in washington we have harold james hes a professor of history and International Affairs at Princeton University as well as author and editor of a number of books including when the wall came down reactions to german unification and in cork we cross to Geoffrey Roberts he is emeritus professor of history at University College cork and a member of the Royal Irish Academy all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciated let me go to john and paris 1st i mean 30 its been 30 years now believe it or not because i remember it so vividly when it happened a few months before i had been living in poland for a number of years and an avid student of Eastern European communist affairs at the time john 30 years on what is its meaning because i look at cursory reviews of you know that in commenting on it it is the peoples power the rise of the spring of nations in Eastern Europe but thats a kind of a narrative that is very western i suppose but i lived there it was i dont have that same kind of feel for it ok though having said that im very glad those communist regimes are gone and the wall go ahead john. You know well like you peter i lived through those events very directly like you i was studying Eastern European studies at oxford at that point i spent that summer in 1909 in romania and in hungary and indeed in september 89 i was in west berlin and was there when the 1st east berlin as arrived in west berlin having driven through czechoslovakia hungry austria and and the whole of germany so i have a very strong memory of it as well i would make 2 points the 1st is that none of it would have happened without gorbachev decision to pull the rug on the Eastern European communist regimes that was decision he took in june