Released we meet once read a lawyer who is getting his life back together so he can fight for rights again. Im sumi so much going to thank you for joining us antigovernment rallies have filled the streets of serbias capital belgrade for a 2nd day and night protesters are angry over what they see as the governments mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic critics say the sharp spike in cases is the fault of serbias president who lifted an earlier lock down to allow for elections authorities are today expected to reimpose a partial ban on gatherings. Pandemic frustrations bubble over on the streets of belgrade chaos erupted as thousands of protesters battles with police and try to storm the parliament theyre angry over the president s handling of the coronavirus. The main reason we are here is to support the protesters during these abnormal times when the country is falling apart. Cases have spiked across the balkan country in recent weeks serbia recorded its highest scope at 1000 death toll on tuesday it forced president alexander to take action announcing a weekend curfew belgrade the protesters have pushed him to backtrack. To east i considered it but the crisis team thinks theres still hope to slow the spread so we may introduce harsher measures but without introducing a curfew. That hasnt been enough to keep the peace as police and demonstrators face off with flares fireworks and tear gas. Demonstrators say they want to return to normal and for the president to resign. Earlier we spoke to belgrade journalist its very and we asked why frustration with the governments handling of the pandemic has spilled into violence there were 2 months serbia was in the. Bronx with that were very using the fender mic. Very hard the citizens. Of serbia a big. Big story. Of the night and then few weeks later there were elections so demonstrators are saying that just trying to fake the figures. Are using this to control the citizens and they were very unhappy 1st of all because he announced that from the friday they will be florals again both of them based say they are not happy with his politics because for the last 8 years see control over everything in this country and they are not happy how the bleeding is politics lets take a look now at some other developments in the coronavirus pandemic the u. S. Has crossed a new High Water Mark in the corona virus that and the pandemic the country has registered more than 3000000 cases of covered 19 the highest number of any country wednesday saw the biggest daily increase in cases so far. German exports fell by almost 30 percent in may due to the pandemic dropping to 80300000000 euros year on year german Car Companies the engineering sector and makers of electronic equipment for among the worst hit by lower demand around the world. 5000000 australians are back in lockdown and as melbourne grapples with a spike of new code 1000 cases the restrictions will be in effect in australia 2nd largest city for the next 6 weeks. The humanitarian group oxfam is warning that the coronavirus is worsening the hunger crisis in the poorest parts of the world oxfam says as many as 12000 people a day could die from hunger linked to the fallout from the pandemic the organizations new study shows disruption to Food Supplies and falling aid funding could push well over 100000000 to the brink of starvation this year middle Income Countries like India South Africa and brazil are especially after its. Lets get more on the story now were joined by Matthew Truscott hes the head of humanitarian policy at Oxfam International matthew its good to have you with us on the w. Your organization is saying the knock on effects of the pandemic are more widespread than the virus itself why is that. Well so were looking at an additional 121000000. 00 people potentially pushed to the brink of starvation by the social and economic fallout of this pandemic and what we have to look at is this is its its a link to a system so when were looking at these numbers we look at the same time as the biggest food and drink companies paid out over 18000000000. 00 to shareholders so we have a dramatically unequal food system and we also have a number of people who are on the edge of starvation already due to things like conflict due to things like Climate Change do things like failure to invest in agro economies and this now with the additional burden of covert up and and difficulties moving difficulties accessing markets and difficulties with the merchants and really do push those people to the edge matthew can you tell us more about those difficulties these driving factors though is it mainly the fact that for example Food Supplies have been disrupted. Food supply disruption is is a big part of it but also another part of it is a lot of people who are on the edge already so we look at about 60 percent of people who are already in an informal economies and they dont have the social safety nets to fall back on so a number of the countries where food through crises were ready on the edge now when people arent able to get to their markets when this closures when people doing day labor on table to get their daily wages that then pushes them to a point where they have most savings to fall back on it really comes back to the system that were working in and also of course Falling International humanitarian aid which is a major concern your Organization Says in its report that its middle Income Countries like India South Africa and brazil that are especially at risk why is that. Well so there you have sort of the that the typical crises of one would look at so yemen afghanistan etc where you know yemen remittances have dropped by 80 percent but a lot of the other countries havent really been worked out and as you mentioned India South Africa brazil south africa for instance you had the pleasure of street food then those few to the lockdowns but that was approximately a half a 1000000 people they were employed in that and they provided food and nutrition to about 70 percent of the townships so when you have these lockdowns when you have these people losing their income that that has a knock on effect when theyre supporting other people when entire economies around that collapse and if theres no back up this is no social support for them if theres no government funding which of course those governments are trying to develop but it needs to be quicker that there really pushes us people into a point where where they can come back from it and the same when you look at the small scale famines if they arent able to get off if they arent able to harvest if they arent able to bring in their crops thats going to affect them for years because they dont then have the money to pay for new seeds to prepare their farms for the next year in these countries that are particularly at risk and also struggling to control the pandemic what can be done to make sure that people are not going hungry. Well i think this does a few Different Things we can do always see the 1st step is we we need to dramatically increase our humanitarian funding so when we look at the amount paid to for instance those 8 companies that i mentioned earlier thats more than 3 times whats even being asked for in humanitarian funding by the u. N. And the u. N. Appeals only been about 20 of them 24 percent funded so in total theyre asking for just over 7000000000. 00 now that sounds like quite a lot but when you look at the usa for instance this paid over 500000000. 00 to save its eline industry 7000000000. 00 for 7000000000. 00 for urgent humanitarian aid really isnt all that much but beyond that so thats the immediate steps the next steps we need to take is to address the unequal system that weve got we need to develop proper social protection medicines so that when people do needs their incomes due to systems like this theres something this is cash theres social support to protect them and theres also access to things Like Health Care and Going Forward we have to build a safer system we have to build one thats robust thats able to respond to things like Climate Change which is going to bring further hunger crises we need things like better local ceasefires so the people in conflict zones are still able to meet their daily needs not you trust got ahead of humanitarian policy at Oxfam International thank you very much for joining us thank you to china now where some of the 300 lawyers and activists arrested in a 2015 crackdown are being released they had pushed back against president xi jinping has moved to tighten restrictions on free speech but they were arrested and sentenced for subversion of power which are now from one lawyer just out of prison who is rebuilding his life as well as his desire to support individual rights. A family reunited one turned john a prominent human rights lawyer was released from prison 2 months ago hes one of more than 200 lawyers were detained in 2015 when chinas government started an unprecedented crackdown on lawyers. Issue one of those you know you feel when you lose something important and then you get it back i cannot find the right words for this feeling it feels like something exceptionally precious but there is also the fear that i might lose him again. Hypothesis special. One gendang spent almost 5 years behind bars many things are new to him this app that recognizes the names of plants. The farmer a hole where you could now ive been released i feel drawn to nature. I often go out to enjoy it thats how i started paying attention to plants i want to know their names i mean that during these years his and his new also took a toll on his wife. Candida because i was out on call these people came to my house and blocked the entrance. President ial youll be when i try to open the door a man told me if you come out i will kill you. Chinas government was taking their revenge on the compelling on his behalf his son to enter and also witnessed the only see this. Was you know you are 7 going to take my sword and fight against them. This is what i really want to do the terrorists are. Wanton john was taken without warning after that his wife did not hear anything about him until his trial was announced more than 3 years later and indefinitely i am very tense very nervous i could not sleep. On december 26th of 20181 trend john was charged with state subversion a serious offense and trying to leave was hoping to get a glimpse of him in court but again state security had gathered in front of hans kidd which is the words you dont want im nervous ive been in situations often but every time is different. This doctor trip were this is not about the rights of relatives this case is about state secrets here so youre not im not totally off guard. Right off my you. Know the families trying to put these experiences behind them will take time for them to get back to a new movie life. After my release my son and die were very affectionate with each other at least on the surface but the a strange man just quite obvious. When i tell him something he opposes me he rebels this gives me a headache i feel embarrassed. I want to become closer to each other. Right now want to dream has a lot of time to spend with his family of origin his have revoked his war his license with us borat you planning to appeal and to sue the government was wrong too. Debbie is Clifford Conan has reported extensively from china he joins us here in our studio for more on this story good to have you with us do we know what exactly china is accusing lawyers lifelong of doing when it says theyve subverted power with state subversion is one of those charges that rights activists and legal experts really are constantly referring to because it can kind of mean whatever the government wants it to mean it means anything that undermines the power of the communist party in china or the government. Such that it can be used in any way that they want so its a bit of a moveable feast a Community Thing for making a critical comment to actually taking action against the state its been 5 years since this crackdown that we mentioned on human rights activists and lawyers in china i know a lot of our attention has been focused on hong kong but if you look at whats happened in china how is the situation developed since that crackdown well i think by taking out so many key figures at the time 5 years ago and then holding them under various charges mostly subversion charges but as you saw mr wong there he was he wasnt even charged for 3 and a half years when he was under detention so basically people were taken out of the system and others theyre being released theyve been released over the period but its very difficult for them to act now the situation is tougher certainly than it was then so its harder for people to for lawyers in particular but also what theyre activists to to be critical of the government and to try and effect on the change so what is the strategy that is driving chinas push towards cracking down here on lawyers and activists well this is all about reinforcing reinforcing and enforcing the power of the commies party in china and it ties in very much with she jim pings image of himself as a strong man hes been 8 years in power now theres no end in sight and normally in 2 years he would be handing over to the next leader so it all ties in with this situation keeping very tight. Control in order to for the Congress Party to meet its goes about. Creating a moderately Prosperous Society as they say so what do you think that we can expect then for how we see china and chinese authorities deal with activists and opponents and critics Going Forward well i think you mentioned hong kong there briefly i think hong kong is going to be one area where were going to see possibly this chinese rules see if theyre going to be imposed in hong kong thats obviously a big fear Going Forward i dont theres no sign of any of these getting on the lesser of the weakening in any way so i think were going to see a continued hardline approach to give you order Clifford Coonan with us here in studio thank you very much for your insights. Lets take a look now at some other stories making headlines around the world catastrophic flooding and landslides in southwest upin have killed dozens and blocked access to more than 3000 homes rescuers are still searching for missing people Japans Meteorological Agency has warned that heavy rains will continue for several days australia has suspended an extradition agreement with hong kong after china opposed the National Security law giving it sweeping powers their Prime MinisterScott Morrison said australia would also extend he says for skilled workers from hong kong and wants to lure hong kong businesses to the country for them and italian authorities have seized a migrant rescue boat operated by the german n. G. O. S sea watch claiming it did not comply with safety rules last month the vessel was used to rescue more than 200 people stranded at sea in april italy banned migrant rescue ships from docking at its ports because of the coronavirus pandemic People Living on the frontlines of the war in Eastern Ukraine are now also battling deadly forest fires the places started earlier this week and engulfed villages where russian backed separatists are active many locals say they dont believe the fire started by accident. Flames fute by high temperatures and fast winds have consumed most of this village in Eastern Ukraine robbing nadia and you record length of everything they own. They were flakes of fire flying in the air like a bombardment not just here fires seem to jump from place to place. Hundreds of firefighters and rescue crews rushed to safety villages and their homes at 1st they successfully battle to the places back but the flames returned resuscitated by gusts of wind. It happened quickly we saw fire in the distance jumping from one patch to another changing direction and then moving closer it became dark as night i know how grecian has been a risky place to go for years because its particularly under the control of pro russian separatists this village is just kilometers from frontline fighting between the separatists and ukrainian forces. The local governor says he believes arson is to blame with the fires out president low to me as the lengthy came to survey the damage and to lend his support. I want to express my condolences to all the families all those who have lost their loved ones because of these fires. And investigation into what caused the fires is underway president selenski sest victims will be compensated with the equivalent of 9700. 00 euros each to buy new homes. Youre watching news still to come on our show the new look of dance in berlin the footwork and grace of the waltz gone solo for the sake of social distancing. But 1st in germany right wing extremism has been identified as the biggest danger that the country faces today germanys interior minister presented an Intelligence Report detailing crimes committed in 21000. This area is the greatest threat to security in germany. Nothing has changed that on the contrary the number of offenses the number of people linked to right wing extremist circles and the number of violent far right extremists has increased further. Use. Lets bring in kate brady with more on the story hi kate the interior minister there was very clear that right wing extremism is the biggest threat in germany right now and its also on the rise what do the latest figures show. Well what this report shows is that 2019 saw a 10 percent increase in the number 0 for right extremist cases here in germany up to more than 22000 and at the same time the report also lists some 32000 far right extremists now as well thats an 8000 an increase of 8000 people on last years report not been largely attributed to the fact that thousands of supporters of the far right extremist wing of t