Transcripts For RT News 20240712

Dont. Know the news millions of furloughed workers have been returning to work in the u. K. But the Economic Impact of the pandemic has seen major cities including london become ghost towns. Other thanks for joining us this is r. T. Internet. Condolences are being sent from all over the world to lebanon where a devastating explosion ripped through the capital on tuesday the nation is in mourning the catastrophe has claimed the lives of at least 78 people and left 4000 others injured springy live pictures now from beirut plumes of smoke still extending as you can see into the sky above the city as always nothing left of the once bustling port that blasts destroyed nearby buildings and caused chaos right across the lebanese capital. More. Of you. Come. In the middle of the. Car i am. Going with. What we heard from whos a reporter in beirut to gave us a sense of the severity of the explosion. The devastation here in the lebanese capital is very modest if it is being estimated by tens of millions of dollars as we said earlier the blahs had was felt 10 kilometers away from the port where it took place i believe this is going to be a sleepless night for the lebanese at the very sad night on social media a lot of lebanese are afraid that the incident unfortunately there are for and through a 1000 lebannon severe shima course theres no comparison between a nuclear bomb and what happened there but its only shows how deeply impacted and how saddened they are and how devastating this explosion has been on the up and on and on the lebanese what are already grappling with a very bad Economic Situation kovac 19 proreform demonstrations or demonstrations asking for that lemonade to option from the power sharing system for failing in the country at the list goes on so this just adds further hurt and injury and tragedy to the lebanese people. Of course. Middle east correspondent paula. Paula weve seen some of the pictures of the devastation is the been any official reaction or explanation as to how this might have happened. Well were now hours after that initial blast at 6 pm local time in lebanon and rescue workers are still sifting through the rubble to try and reach survivors the latest death toll we have is as you mentioned 78 people dead and thousands who have been injured we are hearing from the red cross of those numbers are likely to climb and possibly time quite exponentially it comes as the countrys Prime Minister has said that the cause of the explosion was 2700 tons of Ammonium Nitrate that was stored in a way house he said he would reveal facts soon about the way house but he wouldnt do so now because he did not want to preempt an official investigation thats underway he has declared today a day of National Mourning for the victims of the disaster now hospitals continue to report being in the state of chaos we know that theyve been telling people the way theyve simply been unable to cope with the huge number of wounded and injured they are calling for blood donations and also for generators to keep the lights going all of this comes as the maybe the Supreme Defense Council recommended to clearing baby disaster stricken city theyre also calling for 2 weeks of a National Emergency in the military you have now taken control of the security on the streets were also hearing that the lebanese government has made available 100000000000 lebanese pounds in emergency funding to assist those who have been affected the Prime Minister says that they will find that those or those responsible and bring them to book take a listen. I will not rest until we find the person responsible for what happened so we can hold them to account and impose the most severe punishment its unacceptable shipments of 2750 tons of Ammonium Nitrate has been present for 6 years in a way without any preventative measures. Now the lebanese government has also for assistance theres a host of countries who have responded saying that they sending both humanitarian and medical aid amongst them. Even United States the United Kingdom qatada iran and france we are hearing from the american President Donald Trump who says that this looks like a terrible attack which is a statement that contradicts contradicts the official words that we hear coming from the vinnies officials. Let me begin by sending americas deepest sympathies to the people of lebanon where reports indicate that many many people were killed and ive met with some of the great generals and they just seem to feel that it was this was not a some kind of a manufacturing. Explosion type of event this was a seems to be according to them they would know better than i would but they seem to think it was a attack it was a bomb of some kind. Now im on those countries who have been offering assistance ah is all this is despite the fact that the 2 countries are technically at war we have heard from the countrys foreign minister banning guns saying that 3rd party mediators have been approached and israel has offered humanitarian assistance no word as of yet what has been of a sponsor from they have been on all of this comes as an Emergency Security Cabinet Meeting is due to be held in the lebanese capital this morning it comes as both israel and has been that deny any kind off involvement there has been speculation as to what caused the blast at this stage the official would from lebanon is lets wait until the investigation is concluded ok thank you with the top story the saudis middle east correspondent paula slayer. The. Well given the large number of people injured hospitals there are under immense strain facilities already of course dealing with the Coronavirus Crisis were quickly filled beyond their capacity they issued police for blood donations and for generators simply to keep the lights on there are some 1st hand accounts from people who experienced the shock wave of blast. You might die and all of a sudden we felt a boom everything turned over our hands i was at home with my dad watching t. V. Human being under fell over on me the wardrobe also fell on my daughter. And she needs a surgery now. I. Was. Also. I. Mean what halls heard the sound at the airports about our how Little Things that are possible on that dont you know the just try almost. Certainly. Something its close and Everything Else but. d i was moving and we looked around and we still shouted. Explosion happened in the densely populated port area of the city and the blast leveled buildings in the surrounding area the shock waves reportedly were felt as far afield even as cyprus number of countries of russia to send aid to the already struggling country the World Health Organization has also said medical supplies including surgical kits to beirut. I am sure that it cannot produce such a strong explored in your knowledge of it so just. 50 kilograms of guilty or Something Like that 100 kilograms per year we cant get for dance dance or stunts so this is not so it is for sure accidental explosion this is my feeling this is not a hiroshima leg lake people some people see it because they were here. She looked up once he looked at smut but he is dense of plants but anyway this is a person. Or the country already going through tough Economic Times its feared the tragedy will aggravate the dire financial situation we spoke to experts about the possible impact. With the ground shaking turned into all the windows kind of blowing at the same time some sort of pressure and explosion and its like nothing ive ever experienced and since then ive been around the city and everything i mean no building is left untouched the level of devastation is shocking and the best i can come up with that shocking can even describe to you like everybody is homes are damaged right now the rich and the poor 11 and spend experiencing some of their worst economic crisis in a year or so and this still major port just stared at the action to the world and its been largely destroyed apparently there was food shipments also destroyed i mean this is an incredible tragedy a. Lot of economic assistance they will need to sustain we built that port quickly i dont see how. You know. Just. Unfathomable that just sort of thing could happen theres a lot of conflicting information right now some from the interior ministry have said that it was stored there are moved to africa others including the Prime Minister said it was stored there for 6 years in any case whatever the case may be. The responsible party of course should be held to account what youre likely to see here unfortunately is the game of sort of passing the buck from one official to the next with nobody really wanting to step up and take responsibility for this before this explosion took place logan was in need. Of assistance of aid of a proper Reform Program there are multiple issues built on top of one another and this explosion and the devastation that is wrought in terms of human lives and destruction infrastructure etc is sort of the cherry on top so to speak so ultimately though whats going on needs is a proper Reform Program that needs a cash injection. From from the outside an order to to release funds to people so that they can actually get the economy moving again so as you can see theres compound issues here which make addressing this particular issue very challenging ok much not International Return with more of todays top news stories after the show bike. For her. Is your media a reflection of reality. In a world transformed. What will make you feel safe. Isolation community. Are you going the right way or are you being led. By. What is true. Is faith. In the world corrupted you need to descend. To join us in the depths. Or a maid in the shallows. Join me every thursday on the alec simon show and ill be speaking to guest of the world of politics sports business im show business ill see you then. Come back frances top scientific body is warning that a 2nd wave of corona virus will likely hit the country following the summer restrictions were recently tightened with masks now obligatory outdoors in the worst hit areas young people though are among those who have been flouting the measure and widely being blamed for the surge in cases explains the fault my life. The greek philosopher aristotle once said that young people aha it mind it because they have not yet been humbled by life thousands of years later and little seems to have changed when there is a problem the finger is often pointed at the perceived source the youth as front sees an increase in the number of covert cases and a rise in hospital admissions this age old blame game continues. The but. Instead of being huddled at home in socially isolated bubbles since lockdown ended in france many young people have decided to party thats shocked some and that the World Health Organization to issue a warning young people you are not invincible young people can be infected young people can die. Only young people can transmit the virus to others so when one french Infectious Disease expert suggested this i believe more and more that they should be allowed to infect each other provided they dont visit parents and grandparents otherwise young people will be a reservoir of contamination and we will end up with an unimaginable epidemic by letting them contaminate themselves they will participate in collective immunity you could almost hear the gasps of horror. Young people go to the bakery the baker is not necessarily the go to the poor mysie they meet people of all kinds so this is really a tool to ruin an idea but hold your horses after investigating frances clusters of covert that National Health agency has made a rather startling discovery apparently its not the youth and them ask 3 socially packed parties that are the biggest source of contamination here would you believe it its actually the office. Of the 147. 00 cost is currently under investigation more than a quarter of them can be traced back to the workplace social gatherings and thats all social gatherings and not just parties only account for 13 percent of clusters well just seeing your extended family accounts for almost the same number of clusters with the facts clearly on display what the people in paris make of them so its very easy to point your finger at the youth. But i think its its kind of both ways because now that im hearing this its are easy for me to put my finger at the elderly so i dont think it does matter who does it just like that its happening and we have to be very careful and for me it is really her like if its us or if its them i dont and. I think theyre right. It its also fact all the people who work im surprised you know some of the why dont you care in the mire is it yours and so it is going to see prince if not even if. You said you stayed home. So unless you intend to stay in bubble best not to point the finger or the bubble might burst pretty quickly so what do you want to ski r. T. Paris. Well lets return to our top story this hour lebanon is in mourning after the countrys capital was rocked by a massive blast that claimed the lives of at least at this point 78 people and many thousands more left injured lets go live to journalist out of our news in route. Weve kind of describe the situation presumably that death toll sadly inevitably is going to rise how would you describe the situation in the city right now. Well since if the Early Morning hours and throughout last night to the Lebanese Army and Fire Fighters have been still trying to put off the fire which is still until today burning through the remains of the warehouses at the ports of these city of beirut up until now we know that at least 100 people have been killed over 4000 others have been injured many of them have sustained permanent injuries we also have around 100 others who are missing and who are nowhere to be found today is a day of mourning here in the lebanese capital beirut also that the lebanese president michel alone has announced 2 weeks emergency state of emergency in beirut today were expecting an emergency session to be held at the lebanese cabinet were expecting a lot of decisions and sacking of poor officials who are accused of negligence and thats had a lot to do oh whos shortcomings ha a lot to do with why this entire situation took the turn it did yesterday as you know around 6 pm local time here in beirut with us from g. M. T. Huge blast ripped through the port the city obeyed with namely through its ports after containers consuming exclusive material namely Ammonium Nitrate and soviet my trees went off this caused a widespread fire also just blast was felt in a radius of 10 kilometers from the courts. Devastation has been estimated at around 11000000000. 00 up until now that is 1000000000. 00 in damages and economic losses at the entire country today has been brought to a standstill by this unfortunate and tragic situation tragic incident today also rescue workers are. Still trying to dig through the rubble to find the remainder or the missing individuals as well as if they can find more bodies unfortunately we are expecting that the death toll is going to continue to rise because of how massive the blast was and because at the top of the porch were the ports the time of the loss or in the time of the explosion bring is the latest from the tragedy in beirut lebanese journalist thank you. The Economic Impacts of corona virus is becoming increasingly apparent in the United Kingdom with london taking a hefty hit from the pound with near empty streets workplaces is predicted that the british capital could lose almost 180000000 pounds a month and 2021 and its feared london will remain a ghost town for some time to come. Reports. So there is a lockdown in london is easing it certainly doesnt feel like it the financial and Business District the heart of the city is usually overcrowded and bustling but now it looks like a ghost town even though the governments pleas to get people back into the office i want people to go back to work. The people should be. Going back to work you. Over own right after saying that Boris Johnson left downing street and set off for checkers his country retreat so much for leading by example and while the government gave employers the right to order stuff back into the office Many Companies are not rushing into that decision but can you blame them when the u. K. Is the worst hit by the coronavirus in europe and considering the governments mantra for months was strictly to stay at home. Stay at home stayed home and sorry for being the countrys economic engine pulling in commuters by the 1000000 london is also the capital of entertainment with plenty of things to do and places to eat but this 24 hour city now seems to be in a tunnel. Still feels like a bit of a ghost town compared to. Has been previously a lot of people i knew very comfortable working at home so they all want to go back to work in offices of engineering or get back to normal its going to take a while with london still in a partial shutdown thats expected to have a devastating impact on the entire economy. If the potential labor force either doesnt come or goes home if people dont think london is where they want to live in hence fail to attract businesses the effect on londons g. D. P. Could be a huge multiple of that a huge chunk of the workforce at lloyds h. S. B. C. And barclays are expected to work from home until at least september and google are not west group also allowing employees to work from mostly until 2021 with many other Tech Companies also following suit its now predicted that in 2021 the new. Normal will be about 30 percent of london based employees still working from home on any one day that would equate to around 178000000 pounds lost on other things like after work drinks cups of tea stationery and other Office Equipment each month its pretty staggering stats even despite the governments latest eat out to help out initiative offering discounts on meals to kickstart the hospitality sector. Is unique we be to be creative so to get customers back into restaurants cafes and parks and protect the 1800000 people who work in them i can announce today that for the month of august we will give everyone in the country and each town to help out discount its offers diners 50 percent off meals up to a maximum of 10 pounds per head courtesy of the taxpayer and its the latest of a series of government efforts to tackle soaring unemployment but its unclear whether or not popular schemes like this one will be enough to rescue the economy especially when the expected 2nd wave of the corona virus hits shutterstock r. T. In london. Meanwhile employers in the u. K. Are required to contribute towards covering the work salaries staff are entitled to up to 80 percent of their normal salary but that doesnt sit well with some employers who are footing the bill owner for example of the u. K. s largest Plumbing Firm Pimlico Plumbers so that some of his staff have been let go for refusing to return to work charlie balances it out at the governments furlough scheme so i mean that some work is a taking advantage of it to collect without working over half of workers furloughed during the coronavirus lock down have been returning to work but millions more have stayed at home charlie once told us his side of the story. You can look at it as you want to look at it bob just be an amish people need to get back to work and. You know the people that are no longer with us all very much want to come back and you know the same people that spend it solemn on the beach not about social decency in their excuse to come up we you know theyre not ready to go back to work but if were going to stop the 80 percent close to morrow theyd be back before the indict if youve got a genuine valid reason not to gods will then what were the top of the well for them all and of course a needle you know and we need to look after them people but the people im talking about a younger people would just. Buy shoes if they dont want to come to work given a cheap percent of their whitefish style its as simple as that you know im all not just question that these are all successful business and unfortunately the system is not just one mob work but in general what there its been. A mystery to National Reports that there were 125. 00 cases of Police Violence against demonstrators during the 1st 10 days of the blank lines matter of protest in the United States thankfully beatings and the misuse of pepper spray tan gas projectiles during those protests that have been growing calls to defund even dismantle Certain Police departments a number of americas Largest Companies have expressed solidarity with the b. L. M. Movement but theyre now facing a backlash over their support for the police in the morgan explains. State ads in social media campaigns companies all over the world getting on board with black lives matter but critical observers have smelled hips ocracy from day one. These companies which rely on extraction exploitation to secure their profits have an incentive to form tight bonds with Police Forces which function to up hold and protect their interests in the face of Community Opposition in many states these companies go so far as to back laws to criminalize protests of dirty Energy Projects such as pipelines openly weaponized in the police and criminal Justice System to protect the profits of the fossil fuel industry and the banks to fund them the chief of j. P. Morgan took a knee to support the protesters Marathon Petroleum was unequivocal in their words Marathon Petroleum corporation stands firmly against racism intolerance and hate of any kind commemorating the ending of slavery in the us is one way were encouraging learning and then prophetic dialogue among our employees as we Work Together to identify meaningful ways we can make progress chevron has spoken up to racism and brutality have no place in america yet these incidents timika inequality in treatment for no reason other than the color of skin is a stain American Society has not yet a raised we reject systemic racism with support diversity equity and inclusion but one of the key demands of the protesters is defund the police boom boom. Boom boom boom you see it barely good to see what was great to see. A report from the Public Accountability Initiative reveals that fossil fuel and Utility Companies as well as Financial Institutions have been contributing to Law Enforcement for years j. P. Morgan chase is an official corporate partner of the police the bank has given 4600000. 00 to the new York City Police foundation was was. Oh. My. God i was released foundations across the country and places like chicago philadelphia and new york city have been showered with corporate money money from the same corporations such as marathon wells fargo and j. P. Morgan that now claim suddenly they are woke. The more these companies sponsor events in dollars that celebrate the police and remind the public that police power is backed up by Corporate Power it looks very good to shell out money in the name of equality but will money speak louder than words when companies claim to support black lives matter but then fund the police i think that theyre placing wagers and bets on all sides that is to say that im sure these Petroleum Companies they feel that Police Departments by their products and they believe that black lives matter of coke by their products as well over i think that those of us in the movement see this is hypocritical we see those as inconsistent and i think ultimately it could backfire against these corporations i think its certainly a p. R. Moment and none of us are fooled by it and that is to say it takes more than she months of sympathetic statements and postings on facebook through her and ugly history