Im melissa chan welcome to news asia thank you for joining us in thailand the government has convened a special session of parliament to deal with ongoing prodemocracy rallies Prime Minister has labeled the protests illegal members of the opposition say he should step down echoing one of the main demands of the people on the streets. Amounts of protester carrying off to revive the thief just tax cutting one of bangkoks p. C. s streets with a clear message these protesters have 3 key demands the p. M. s resignation a more democratic constitution and reforms to the monarchy. Even a group of track queens got in on the act we are just the wonder of freedom to talk about sue to talk to talk about anything yet just more nike and you know how to share thailand how to develop talent to live up to help decide that. This is the man they want to get rid of prior to chant led to a military coup in 2014 parliament held a special session to address the concerns me i think i just want to see clashes or riots in the country the government has a duty to protect the rights of every chinese citizen all 70000000 people. Who make protesters and the opposition say last years election was engineers to return private to power. Up the Prime Minister you are the major obstacle in burton to the country. Please resign and everything will end well. But with parliament filled with military support since critics say reform is unlikely. Joining us is patrick jory of the university of queensland in australia patrick weve seen activists out there but do they represent the majority of thai people or is there a silent majority supporting the royalists. Look i think the protesters have had 2 goals theyve surpassed the current military backed government led by general but your general chart says. 2000. And 16 goal is to reform the time want to keep now if you go back to after the elections last year the prodemocratic powers richly almost and. Even after. The military to verify the forward after elections so i think the critical parties will be if they represent the people that would suggest quite considerable support of the protesters in even conservative people are pretty disappointed with the current Leadership Back on is not a popular government given on situation is very difficult indeed even the full of private knocks and any and i think that most people who dont feel that is a is a is a very effective connoisseur i think the majority of time will be happy to see him gone and didnt wear fake gun but the issue of reform in the demonic he is much media and this issue of it is even though it is extremely sensitive in such a silence i think there is if you really listen for the the 2nd the mantle of the reform of the monarchy yeah im not getting the sense that the middle class are antimarket even if theyre not as enthusiastic about this king so what does that put the protesters. Look i think youre right at least at least mine you know its well known inside and is very straight that is messy who are who have to be see a criticism of the tanana he said its always difficult to measure exactly how much support that the marquis has. It is the 3rd time that this issue has been talked to back to ritually in public as part of a protest movement you know its really unprecedented i cant emphasize that enough now as hes saying you know middle class and upper class guys tend to be moralists even though many not happy with the character and behavior of the of the cherokee miter long but nevertheless you know a growing number of ties particularly Younger Generation occur but not exclusively in Younger Generations are really sick and tired of the constant interference the monarchy in title 6 and now i think you know really willing to text then. Its going to see not only that these moves supported by University Students the School Students throughout the country from the top you know some of the top schools in the country dream dont take serenas goal so i think in the future this is going here really wished for here for the monarchy as its students become. Much and so there is a generational shift going on and again you think that the monarchy can or needs to evolve. Im not i think that this yes youre right there is a generational shift so im not i think this poses a real challenge to the teacher of the others hierarchy of course not even if youre on i think my skin can say that but theres not a way that a character and he much along on will agree to enter a fool and hes a deeply is a deeply autocratic ophelia you know he spends his life in the military are his father who succeeds in the struggle and one of he is actually quite you know which in the novel is an odd fiftys he much of the horn came to the age when the molecules are already very powerful hes used to getting what he wants he is reputation for aristos less since a humming king he tried to expand the power while he so at the very moment market reforms along democratic lines hes moved to restore all this you know the power of the symbology tkachuk yuri thank you. In pakistan Prime Minister imran khan is facing a challenge from a new protest movement thousands of people took to the streets in quote a to demonstrate against his military backed government thats just the latest rally of many across the country over the past few weeks the protests have brought together strange bedfellows the party of former Prime Minister nawaz sharif the Muslim League and the party of former Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto who was assassinated the Pakistan Peoples Party has come together as an opposition force. Joining us in shouts of jilani who is in karachi shut up protests in pakistan happen is what were seeing any different from those in the past. What minnesota cynical view is that bog standard witnessing of the runoff antigovernment protests many of the politicians who are leading these mass rallies across the country are on a different very different ideology the background to hardly have anything in common but the. Parties which are hard boris numbers parties liberal leftist parties and right of center parties in the past many of. Very closely with the army they have got deals to come in the government to win elections but now all the things weve learned our lesson. Targeting obviously the Prime Minister for his alleged ineptitude incompetence in dealing with the economy on policy but the real dog it is the countrys Army Leadership in particular the army chief and the head of intelligence in pakistan these parties are accusing of rigging the election in pretty big behaving to before him run on to become Prime Minister and they are saying enough is enough. And former Prime Minister now was sharif was actually in london these days spoke to a crowd of protesters remotely via video link and directly criticized the military lets listen to a bit of what he had to say good bye to us right. General you have to answer for the biggest electoral fraud in the history of pakistan and for the violation of the publics mandate in the general elections of 2018. General badger you have to give an account for the horse trading of members of parliament and for the violation of constitution and law that you have to wait. Schatz criticizing the military is quite the taboo in pakistan what do you make of it bog study politicians in the past have been very careful not to win. By naming them. Because they dont want to burn bridges but they want to keep a possibility of a back door deal with these people that doesnt seem to be the case this time and many of the politicians were hearing from experience senior politicians. Are not all going out on the limb to do really name and shame the people they believe are responsible for the state of affairs. What options does a man can have to deal with the situation. The prime stream runs cant really has 2 options i mean one would be to engage with opposition to reach out across the aisle to sit down with them to talk through things to find a solution collectively given the. Pieces but thats not really been the start style during last 2 years as Prime Minister or even before that hes always believed in being better than everybody else he doesnt need to engage with anyone and he deeply and firmly believe that everybody else except him is deeply corrupt in pakistan and yet is really the only honest and politician in the country so it looks like we are heading for a bigger confrontation because you the fuses the birds to reach out the top of them. To what extent is the economic crisis contributing to the protests and for those who dont know too much about pakistan and what makes this economic misery worse than others the country has faced in the past. But its a pakistans real problem is is economic the last few days that ive been in the people ive talked to everybody is feeling from high inflation. Price of a vegetable and fruit. Guessing its becoming unaffordable theres been lot of job losses. In the last 2 years that the Prime Minister of montana has been in the government. He obviously blames market starts economic problems on the previous government saw former Prime Minister nawaz sharif and before him president zardari and according to the government this is all because of their corruption the government also says that the grown i put them in. All this effort to put the country back back on track i can honestly. The opposition is also quite a bit off for the misery of ordinary pakistanis and are just trying to capitalize on that sentiment by avoiding these mass relieved a lot of people who supported him run far. More for disillusion and opposition is seeing them. Was going to cure all of pakistans ills he has brought nothing to the country in fact he has made it worse and that just by we need to. Get rid of this government as soon as possible. Thats it for today theres always more on d. W. Dot com for slash asia and be sure to check us out on facebook and twitter well leave you with more pictures from the tied prodemocracy movement where protesters have broken longstanding taboos in calling for reform of the marquis thanks for watching ill see you tomorrow. Too. Literature invites us to see people in particular that i like to see as the time. Might turn. On you to. The fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Has the rate of infection been developing. Measures are being taken. What is the latest research says. Information and context. Coronavirus of data the code that special monday to friday. For his 250th anniversary year beethovens had a pretty bum rap as the coronavirus pandemic has waylaid countless performances and events but germanys good to institute was not to be discouraged well check out its latest project also coming up in the end i dont care whether you love me or you hate me just as long as i win the 1st reading of you so over watershed us election we look at how american president s both real and fictional that fared on screen wars. And in our series 100 german law st get ready for an assault on the senses as we feature perhaps the best selling novel of murder and sensual obsession a few. Welcome to arts and culture it was fun beethoven has been hailed as the man who freed music and there are few composers whose work has been so universally celebrated all now a new project underscores his cosmopolitan qualities with International Artists joining a global exploration of how beethovens music can transcend the most profane of obstacles. Some of the singers might have difficulties with the german text but the melody of beethovens famous ode to joy this perfect. Ensemble sirens is from istanbul one of 6 womens choirs that Cathy Milliken has been working with for the past year the choirs of from the remaining. Serbia bulgaria cyprus and turkey firstly i went to each choir in each city and we had workshops and there i got to know the choirs i got to know how they sing i got to know how they function i got to know how they make decisions and that was incredibly important to me you know how they sort of manage their feelings of joy and how they transcend into song. Collective search for an old foothold in each country the singers develop songs with it and sounds and texts in february they met up in istanbul and sang each of the songs the 36. 00 women from different cultural backgrounds but they mostly agreed on the question of what joint means to them. The family and love and unity and certainly it was the choir that several you know the luxury of time is for us amazing because we are just so busy and another choir said its actually luxury to be sitting here talking because were not used to actually pulling together we used to from another political system to be. Sort of much more isolated. The same care the head of the guta institute in istanbul took on the job of organizing the quiet summit there were some cultural barriers to overcome this was. The to call it was very moving to see the choir from bosnia and the choir from serbia singing to one another many will move to tears because many of the songs of basically the same and thats very bonding and for the choir from cyprus it was hard travelling to istanbul it was emotionally challenging but the ice was broken very quickly here. The results of this musical journey of discovery were presented to the public for the 1st time in an installation in berlin that was supposed to be live singing but the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to that a huge disappointment the old for all still plans to go on tour to all 6 countries whenever that may be possible. And owed for all and im joined by my colleague Adrian Kennedy from our culture desk later and thats one beethoven year event that has managed to take place albeit a little differently than expected tell us what else is happening well as you say a lot of events have been canceled or hopefully i can just say. Because the good news is that the celebrations have been extended now until september 2021 the organizers have announced that most vents will go ahead within this new time frame and as we heard the 6 choirs hope to go on soon as the situation. Allowance lets hope that that is sooner and later than later now obviously in the meantime t w hasnt flagged in its celebration efforts and has launched not one but 3 major documentaries one of which also dealt with this ode to joy in beethoven going around the world this is beethovens 9th symphony for the world it looks at why the 9th is so popular around the world and how it is perceived one story it tells is the japanese premiere of to joy which actually took place during world war one sung by german troops in an internment camp. But from tiny cons to mighty oaks every year now around 10000. 00 japanese choir sing those come together in osaka to pay homage to plato like us that amazing stuff now the full documentary of course can be seen on d w its classic music Classical Music you tube channel but just quickly tell us our because the viewers can also get involved themselves in the beethoven year tell us how google and culture and the beethoven year organizers are asking people to get involved to make videos that inspire joy as a sign of Global Solidarity and hope you dont need to play any music just use the global ode to joy hash turk upload your video to you tube the selection will be will make it onto an official playlist and just ahead of beethovens birthday in december a final video will be current of all the best moments for a special musical version of. Hopefully beethoven will appreciate all the efforts despite the coronavirus and hopefully this stimulates a great amount of creative joy Adrian Kennedy thanks very much for bringing us that update on the beethoven year they can go in. Weve stopped counting the number of times that jaws have collectively dropped over the antics of the current us president and as a bona fide reality t. V. Star Donald Trumps hold on the public imagination is certainly larger than Life American t. V. And cinema have a long tradition of portraying its highest office kevin spacey chilling turn in house of cards of course is just one example because tonight in moscow the present in t. V. In the movie just the american president can be anything you can be an action hero. In the family kitchen you can be an ordinary guy gathered together. He can even be a sheetz there is that donovan new era when that at her. Throat the house movie president s have reflected our hopes and expectations for the real resident of the white house as well as our greatest nightmare. This american carnage stops right here and stops right now. The regional model for the saintly larger than life hollywood president was walter houston in d. W. Griffith Abraham Lincoln for the people. Not heard it from there. He said the goal always president s are the. Born in the public imagination president s from lincoln all the way down to john f. Kennedy were statesman fighting for the good of their country. When the president then came nixon and watergate to any major city without fear of a hostile demonstration married him only lost confidence in their president they also lost over that. Nixons on screen legacy can be seen in everything from Jack Nicholson smarmy president and mars attacks the conniving kevin spacey in house of cards in the end i dont care whether you love me or you hate me just as long as i win. It took a hollywood actor we store americas space and its commander in chief. After Ronald Reagan movie president s became action stars office and. Good morning. In the 99. 00 d. That the president with will be a simple that. We celebrate. Your tax t. V. Has done a better job of depicting president s who get politics to martin sheen in the west wing was more popular than either of the real candidates for the 2004 election some argue Dennis Haysbert black president and 24 pave the way for barack obama so far however fictional female president s have not inspired americans elect a woman to the white house. Thank you very much thank you for economy of comedians to trump impressions but theres never been a film character anything like the current u. S. President perhaps trump as a reality t. V. Star prepared america for his own reality t. V. Presidency which in turn conspire trump like presence on screen or even really create the sort of. All. These. President s who are unscrupulous. Only interested. Nor is. The you soon to be. In government. But i dont know with. Thank you i have perhaps when it comes to donald trump truth really is stranger than fiction. Well on now to a heady edition of our series 100 german must read heavy because it sort of put your all factory glance through the ringer parts like zeus chintz 985 debut perfume went on to become one of the best selling german novels off the last century well its a page turning tale of murder and obsession and even if its only words on a page its sent. Manure. Rats sweats. Rotting teeth. Time travel isnt always as glamorous as it sounds. Republics these kids but for fear theyll take you on a trip to 18th century paris you understand why the french are the worlds biggest perfume industry. The main characters on but it is born in the stinkiest place of all a pile of fish guts. Obviously is destined to make perfumes perfumes to die for literally he makes them out of people. For a moment he was so confused that he actually thought he had never in all his life seen anything so beautiful as this girl he meant of course he had ever smelled anything so beautiful her sweat smelled as fresh as the sea breeze the tallow of her hair as sweet as not oil her genitals were as fragrant as the bouquet of water lilies as apricots blossoms. His obsession with that sense turns him into a serial killer. Oh yeah theres also a movie. Even with Dustin Hoffman stick to the novel theres no author who has captured the sense of smell as vividly as part of existence so if you want to smile with your eyes. This is the art of. Want to put on your reading list for more on the website as always just go to g. W. Dot com slash culture and with that it is time for me to sign off so stay safe until next time all the best interests. Of. The big. Acts can inspire. The people making the big go africa fantastic night the big joined them as they set out to save the environment learn from one another and Work Together for a letter future the best song see you all for tuning in the code for go. On d w. Nico because in germany to learn german polish beneath. Why not learn with him d w z learning course because fake. The beethoven piece for me. Beethoven is for you. As for hell the 1st beethoven is for. Is for the. Beethoven is for cars. Is for the beethoven 2020 the 250th anniversary here wanted to know. It was the 1st International Tribunal in history. The number of trials. 75 years ago a high ranking officers of the nazi regime a morning judging by the allied forces. Were the 1st criminals to be held accountable for their crimes. But at our count come on bill they are going through dollars 10 years right youre. Our 2 part series the 3rd reich the dog starts nov 12th on g. W. The be. Played the bag play. This is you know we news live from berlin a walk down the lights of germany miles tough new restrictions to tackle the 19th with infections soaring chance on the american is considering fresh action to slow the spread of the virus will find out just what prescriptions are germans could soon be facing also coming up the latest truce between armenia and azerbaijan as each side blames the other for breaking a new cease fire theres no letup in fighting in the disputed the brutal kind of a teacher and a boil over view of germanys foreign minister wants to